The Golden Moment
Sometimes believers make a great mistake. They think at some point there will come a golden moment at which time they will "go forth and do great things for God." But for most of us the golden moment never comes. We graduate from high school, maybe from college. A few years pass and we get married. A few more years pass and we retire from our work. The next thing we know we are in a hospice in denial at the thought of dying. It happens to the best of us.
You have to make up your mind to serve God today in the midst of your "impossible" problems. Call on God with all your might. The golden moment is now!
We know we should get busy and serve the Lord. "Of course we cannot really mean business with God when we are young children." Oh no? In our assembly we expect children from the age of four to think of themselves as disciples of the Lord Jesus, as members of the Body of Christ.
We take the children and their worship seriously. As soon as they can waddle around in diapers they are waving the flags of worship. They are an extremely important part of our assembly. It is from such as these that God ordains strength. Their golden moment is now.
The children between seven and twelve often come up to the altar on their own, during the Communion service, and take the elements as a personal covenant with their Lord. They are not forced to do this, just invited sometimes. They need no prodding. They love to do it.
"Of course our teenagers are too young to really serve God. They must wait until they are older." Not so. We are giving part of our Sunday evening service to the young people to conduct as they will. They understand the planning and presentation is up to them, that if it flops it flops. Again, we regard what they do as serious and significant, not some sop we are throwing to them, some cute little "young people's" activity. We expect them to mean business with God and we listen to what they have to say.
The teenagers can become very capable with flag and banner routines, with mime, with drama, with tambourines. They can participate in what we call yadah. One or two of the youngsters will stand before the congregation and act out with appropriate movements the worship songs being sung. This is yadah. When we take our youth seriously they take themselves seriously.
I think the Lord has charged me and no doubt numerous others with making the new covenant clear. The Christian new covenant has become lost under the rubble of salvation by grace, mansions in Heaven, an any-moment "rapture," and the rest of the current traditions. The new covenant actually has to do with a transformation of our personality so we keep God's commandments by nature. Our teenagers understand the difference between what we are preaching and the prevailing traditions and they can verbalize our message. They can portray it in mime. They mean business with God.
On occasion, as the Spirit of God seems to be directing, most of us in the assembly get up and march around the church. The only music is the drum. Some of the young people get the banners, including the great banner portraying our Champion on His white horse, while others come to the front and hurl their banners downward as an expression of the destruction of the enemy. The golden moment of the teenagers is now.
"We can't expect much from young adults. They are in college or getting married or just starting a career." We do not accept this. We expect the young adults to find out from the Lord what He wants them to do, whether service on some foreign field, or at home, or whatever God wants. Should they pursue higher education or not? This is the time they must look to the Lord for guidance so their life will not be wasted on accumulating money or assisting the world in its mad rush to destruction. Their golden moment is now.
"We know of course that those in their forties cannot really get down to business with serving God because they are in the middle of their careers, looking forward to serving God when they retire." This is the biggest lie of all.
The American culture is eating the life out of those in their forties, making increasing demands on their time and strength. Pharaoh is commanding them to make bricks without straw. They are hanging on, hoping to make a lot of money so they can retire in comfort.
These men and women are at the peak of their ability. It is now they are to be serving the Lord in some significant manner. God has something for them if they will look to Him. It may mean abandoning their plans for retirement. Their golden moment is now.
Perhaps the greatest delusion of all, one that snares American Christians, is the idea we can make a lot of money and then retire and serve the Lord. Do not deceive yourself. One of the bedrock principles of ministry is a willingness to trust the Lord for enough money to continue.
It is not possible to store up a great deal of money so we do not have to trust God, and then bring the Word of life to people. The Word of life comes only from the servant who is crucified with Jesus and living by His Life, from nowhere else. Apostles dwell in the Divine fire, not in walnut-lined studies surrounded by their commentaries and Greek lexicons, receiving their retirement check every month so they do not have to trust the faithfulness of God.
Then we come to the senior citizens. "Of course we cannot expect the seniors to go as missionaries or serve in some significant manner. They are too tired." The truth is any person at about any age can find significant Kingdom work to perform if he or she will seek the Lord. The elderly (at seventy-nine years of age I hate the term) can develop a ministry of prayer and intercession, or write to missionaries, or work with the children. If they have served Christ during their life they are a fabulous source of wisdom and inspiration for the young. God will show them how they can serve in the Kingdom if they are willing to do so. The golden moment of the seniors is now.
You can be sure that whenever you decide to serve the Lord some seemingly insurmountable obstacle will confront you. You have to serve Him in the midst of your problems. There will never come a day when you have no problems and can serve the Lord conveniently. Your golden moment is now.
How tragic are those elderly people who now realize they have wasted their life waiting for the golden moment that never came. Now they wish they had served the Lord when they had energy and health. When they look to the Lord they know He is disappointed. They do not know what to expect when they die. They wasted their one and only chance to show their love for Christ.
Your time to serve the Lord is right now even though the obstacles are monumental. You are a mother with young children. You are building a business. You are planning to get married. Go ahead and wait for a better time. You will find it never comes.
You are too young, too busy, or too tired. You would love to spend time in prayer but you have no time or strength left.
Of all the forces that immobilize Christians, one of the most damaging may be the idea that one day there will arrive a golden moment when it all comes together, when we are free to serve the Lord without worrying about money, when we are strong and healthy, when we have no family responsibilities, when we are in another place, another land where the people will come flocking and everyone will cheer us on.
For most of us this moment never appears. We have to do the best we can today in the middle of the mess.
You may in the process of losing your spiritual inheritance. What are you going to do about it?