The Going in Risk - February 22, 2015
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Scripture Reading: 2Kings
7: 3 – 9
I have been presenting a series messages around the theme: ‘GO TIME.’ Or if you prefer: ‘Putting The Git In The Go.’ This message deals with the same theme but around the issue of risk.
THEME: The GOING In Risk
When considering the issue of risk and going we tend to frame it in a single two-part question: What is the risk in going, or what is the risk in not going? I want to move far beyond that issue and look at risk and going in this way: Do not think in terms of the risk in going, but in terms of the going in risk.
In other words going is built into the very nature of risk; it is inherent in the attitude or spirit of risk. We do not risk in going nearly as much as we go because of an attitude or spirit of risk that fills our hearts. A person whose heart is filled with a spirit of risk never has to be pushed to go; if anything they have to be managed and governed in their going.
This amazing story is packed with meaning. I will lift about four key points from it.
First – “Why do we sit here until we die?” The future does not belong to those who choose to sit down in present experience and cease being forward reaching in their thinking, their faith and obedience. The choice to sit down comes with an iron clad guarantee: You will die right where you sit – right where you last chose to reach for the future.
Second – these words from verse 6: ‘For the Lord had caused....’ What would these four men have missed had they remained where they were; had they chose to sit rather than walk forward? It was not full bellies they would have missed; it was not all the valuables and provisions and weapons of war they would have missed. They would have missed (and this is always the great tragedy) the immediate evidence and manifestation of the powerful act of God. Please hear my heart when I say- we can afford any and every possible loss; but what we cannot afford is the loss of His manifest presence, His manifest glory and power in this present moment – this present now.
Third – and this is incredibly interesting – Where did these four men go before witnessing the act of God? And the answer is – right into the enemy’s camp. “The gates of hell shall not prevail...” – so spoke the Lord Jesus. But how can we hope to know that truth beyond mere theory, beyond Bible memorisation; how can we expect to know that truth experientially except as we press the very gates of hell?
Perhaps I could restate that like this: The gates of hell shall not prevail except when the church decides to sit down in present experience, content to manage what is rather than be filled with forward reaching vision of all that remains to be done. An attitude of protectionism is absolutely deadly because it is void of true faith regarding those Kingdom purposes in the heart of God respecting the future.
Fourth – and perhaps this is the most major point of the entire story – look at the men who made the journey. They were leprous, broken, wounded in soul and body; they were outcasts, disenfranchised and sat just outside the gate of the city. There is something about all of that we need to understand. These men had nothing to lose. This indicates an attitude. It’s an attitude that can only be arrived at when we run out of options; when there is nothing to protect, to control, to guard and hang on to, and most of all we have no reputation to polish. It is what I and many others refer to as Divine desperation – Divine discontent – Divine frustration. And usually it is born out of our own brokenness and woudedness; usually it is found first in those on the fringe just outside the gate.
To those in this house who feel that you can never make a difference because you are too wounded and broken I would encourage you to understand and accept that just the opposite is true. Your long vulnerability has been working a vital work in your heart. The future belongs to the vulnerable because only the vulnerable are willing to risk leaving present position to journey right into the enemy’s camp.
I have been presenting a series messages around the theme: ‘GO TIME.’ Or if you prefer: ‘Putting The Git In The Go.’ This message deals with the same theme but around the issue of risk.
THEME: The GOING In Risk
When considering the issue of risk and going we tend to frame it in a single two-part question: What is the risk in going, or what is the risk in not going? I want to move far beyond that issue and look at risk and going in this way: Do not think in terms of the risk in going, but in terms of the going in risk.
In other words going is built into the very nature of risk; it is inherent in the attitude or spirit of risk. We do not risk in going nearly as much as we go because of an attitude or spirit of risk that fills our hearts. A person whose heart is filled with a spirit of risk never has to be pushed to go; if anything they have to be managed and governed in their going.
This amazing story is packed with meaning. I will lift about four key points from it.
First – “Why do we sit here until we die?” The future does not belong to those who choose to sit down in present experience and cease being forward reaching in their thinking, their faith and obedience. The choice to sit down comes with an iron clad guarantee: You will die right where you sit – right where you last chose to reach for the future.
Second – these words from verse 6: ‘For the Lord had caused....’ What would these four men have missed had they remained where they were; had they chose to sit rather than walk forward? It was not full bellies they would have missed; it was not all the valuables and provisions and weapons of war they would have missed. They would have missed (and this is always the great tragedy) the immediate evidence and manifestation of the powerful act of God. Please hear my heart when I say- we can afford any and every possible loss; but what we cannot afford is the loss of His manifest presence, His manifest glory and power in this present moment – this present now.
Third – and this is incredibly interesting – Where did these four men go before witnessing the act of God? And the answer is – right into the enemy’s camp. “The gates of hell shall not prevail...” – so spoke the Lord Jesus. But how can we hope to know that truth beyond mere theory, beyond Bible memorisation; how can we expect to know that truth experientially except as we press the very gates of hell?
Perhaps I could restate that like this: The gates of hell shall not prevail except when the church decides to sit down in present experience, content to manage what is rather than be filled with forward reaching vision of all that remains to be done. An attitude of protectionism is absolutely deadly because it is void of true faith regarding those Kingdom purposes in the heart of God respecting the future.
Fourth – and perhaps this is the most major point of the entire story – look at the men who made the journey. They were leprous, broken, wounded in soul and body; they were outcasts, disenfranchised and sat just outside the gate of the city. There is something about all of that we need to understand. These men had nothing to lose. This indicates an attitude. It’s an attitude that can only be arrived at when we run out of options; when there is nothing to protect, to control, to guard and hang on to, and most of all we have no reputation to polish. It is what I and many others refer to as Divine desperation – Divine discontent – Divine frustration. And usually it is born out of our own brokenness and woudedness; usually it is found first in those on the fringe just outside the gate.
To those in this house who feel that you can never make a difference because you are too wounded and broken I would encourage you to understand and accept that just the opposite is true. Your long vulnerability has been working a vital work in your heart. The future belongs to the vulnerable because only the vulnerable are willing to risk leaving present position to journey right into the enemy’s camp.