Ryan Hale

As I was growing up, this was a popular saying: We have all of the time in the world. Of course, it simply means that there is no rush, no hurry. We can do whatever we want. We can take our time and slow down. We have nothing that we need to be concerned about at this point.

Louis Armstrong, as it turns out, even solidified this saying into a song that became a theme for a 007 James Bond movie. Just for fun, here is that song. I think it even appropriately sounds like the sentiment itself:

Jesus pointed out to his disciples that they had a similar saying in their day and in their culture. The Samaritans from the town of Sychar had heard about Jesus from his “chance” meeting with the woman at the well and many of them were coming out from the town to the well to meet Jesus and see if his claim to be the Messiah could actually be true.

As the people were on their way, Jesus was speaking to his disciples and said to them:

Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’?

John 4:35

Jesus is quoting a proverb to them from their culture. He’s saying that they are essentially saying:

There is no need to hurry!

We have plenty of time!

The harvest isn’t for another four months…

…You can’t do anything about it anyway. The grain just needs to grow.

But then Jesus immediately follows up this retelling of the proverb with a rebuke of this mentality. Instead of thinking, “We have all the time in the world” or “It’s still four months until harvest”, they should instead be thinking:

I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.

John 4:35

Jesus is saying that there is urgency to this task. Get going! The fields are ripe for harvest and we are just sitting here.

Jesus wants his disciples to realize that there is work that has been done, and is continuing to be done amongst the people. Seeds have been sown. God’s work is going forward. It is his work, and now it is time to bring in his harvest.

Cruise Boat or Battleship

I have a friend who used to say that we, as the church, need to decide whether we are cruise boat or a battleship.

What was he saying?

The point to his statement was that the church can see itself as a nice place where we have received the blessing of God and enjoy one another in a nice environment. We can relax. We don’t really need to do anything. We’re forgiven, right? We can sort of just cruise our way into heaven.

Or, on the other hand, we can see ourselves as a battleship. We can not only say that we are ready, but we can train. We can prepare – theologically, practically, and in any other way that is needed… and then we can go to war.

Our war is a war of love for the people around us and a desire for God to receive glory for who he is and what he has done for us.

It is time for God’s people to decide. The church must come alive and come out of its stupor to realize that God made us to be a “battleship” of sorts. He intended that we go into the enemy’s territory and take people from him and back into peace and reconciliation with God. Will we complete the role that God has given to us? Will we be the ambassadors that Christ has intended us to be?

Or will we continue to slumber and cruise along because we have all the time in the world?

David wrote these words in what is now Psalm 142 as he hid from the king, Saul, who was hunting him. David expresses this sentiment:

Look and see, there is no one at my right hand;
no one is concerned for me.
I have no refuge;
no one cares for my life.

I cry to you, LORD;
I say, “You are my refuge,
my portion in the land of the living.”

Psalm 142:4-5

Even when we feel like things are crumbling around us, God is there. He is our refuge, the one we can run to and cry out for help, and he will respond.

There are stories that we hear as children that, at the time, we may or may not know are not real, but they enthrall us. If you think of Peter Pan, the story of a boy who is able to fly over Neverland, fighting the evil Captain Hook, and leading the Lost Boys to victory, you find a great story that any one of us would like to relate to. Good vs. evil. A love story with Wendy. Even the ability to fly with magic pixie dust… How great is that?

Or consider Santa Claus. How cool it is that there is someone who packs up a sleigh, flies it a light speed all over the world with flying reindeer, only to deliver toys to young boys and girls who will be excited to wake up the next morning.

In our post-Christian western culture, I think that we often have the tendency to look back to the stories that we heard about Jesus, either in church as we were growing up or in other places, in a similar way. We know that they should be true, but we can’t really put our finger on them, so it is easy to discount them. The facts become fuzzy and the reality, not to mention the implications of the reality, become difficult to comprehend.

And therefore, there are many that dismiss what they have heard and move on with the rest of their lives.

But these aren’t the stories of Peter Pan. These aren’t the stories of Santa Claus.

Peter, who was Jesus’s disciple and who became an apostle 2000 years ago, said this:

For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.

2 Peter 1:16-18

Peter is saying that the disciples didn’t create, nor listen to stories that someone else told. He says, in summary:

We were there.

We saw it.

And I’m telling you, this is for real.

Imagine what it would mean if there was a God who created you and me and everything that we see around us.

Imagine what it would mean if God decided to come in human form to live amongst his people.

Imagine if God himself spoke from heaven, declaring and confirming that this man, Jesus Christ, was actually divine. That he came from a spiritual kingdom that reins over all other kingdoms.

Imagine that he came to pay a ransom price of blood specifically for each of us, to win us back to be with God once again.

If that were true, it would change everything about our lives. It would change all of the priorities of our lives. We would no longer be so concerned about our positions of power or how much money we made. We would want to concern ourselves with knowing this One that came seeking us. We would want to align ourselves with him and everything that he says.

But we don’t need to imagine. Peter is clear: We were there.

And he isn’t the only one. There are many just like him. They aren’t making up Peter Pan and Santa Claus stories. These are facts that they are telling us. Let us live in the true story that God has told and that he is continuing to tell in our time, even today.

This last Friday, we had a meeting with a man that has believed, and continues to believe deeply, in changing the world through politics. But in this discussion, there seemed to be a crack in his way of thinking because he started the conversation by saying that the people that he saw politically protesting that day were wasting their time.

“Why do you say that?”, we asked.

“Because they are just out there yelling and no one is listening. If you are going to protest, you need to be specific and you need to get people to listen.”

He went on to talk about how, in the 1970s in our area, people were committing violence to get the politicians to listen. He said that, while he didn’t condone what those people were doing in committing violence, he did understand it because it finally made the politicians listen to what was being said.

We went on to talk about needing true and lasting change, not just a temporary political change – one that goes into effect in one council or one administration and then changes with the next. Is there any way that could be accomplished? Is that even possible?

My other friend explained to this man that this is the nature of the revolution that Jesus started. What Jesus came to re-establish was the kingdom of God, with he himself as King over all. But instead of a kingdom that would have politicians who held up power, greed, or fame as its ideals, this kingdom would bring humility, generosity, and self-sacrifice as its modes of operation.

And so I was reminded of this when I was reading 1 Peter 5 this morning and I came to this section:

In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,

“God opposes the proud
but shows favor to the humble.”

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

1 Peter 5:5-7

Interestingly, I have a situation going on my life at the moment where I have been experiencing anxiety related to a scenario like this one. But I love the reminder that Peter gives here when he says that we must not be proud and instead be humble. Often my pride can rise up and bring me to the point of demanding what I perceive to be my “rights” if I allow it to do this. But instead I need to cast my anxiety upon God in humility and he will make everything go forward in its right timing.

And so I think that this is the answer that our friend, from the beginning of this story, is looking for. If we mutually submitted to the authority of Christ and his ideals, we wouldn’t have scenarios of one person lording over another or one attempting to unjustly gain from another. Instead, we would have true and lasting change. Not change that can be made through politics, but a change that is made through a new and changed heart.

Peter was writing to new believers that were scattered throughout the area that is roughly today the nation of Turkey. Many of these people have come to Christ through Paul’s church planting work and now Peter is calling them to continue to grow in their faith.

In chapter 2, Peter says:

Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

1 Peter 2:2-3

What is it that Peter is saying when he says that these new babies should “grow up” in their salvation? Growing up, in a spiritual context, would refer to a few different things:

Righteousness: First and foremost, growing up means growing in righteousness. We have been reborn and made into a new creation, so we leave behind our old life of sin and live a life of righteousness. This is the first meaning of growing up.

Produce fruit of the Holy Spirit: Instead of producing fruit of the flesh, we begin to produce fruit of the Holy Spirit. Growing up in our salvation means to preemptively act in ways that accord with the fruits of the Spirit.

Produce fruit in the Kingdom of God: We look for ways to see the Kingdom expand. We make disciples of Jesus. We equip others to do good works. This produces more fruit.

In this particular case, Peter says that the people should crave pure spiritual milk. Very simply, Peter is saying that the people need to take their first steps in growing in their relationship with Christ. Peter is saying that this isn’t a simple “transaction” where the people were saved and now can just go on living their lives as they did before. No. Instead, he is calling them to growth, to become mature, to live as people who are growing beyond their infancy into maturity to adulthood.