Tuesday, April 22, 2014
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You're missing a lot if you only expect God to speak to you in church. I mean, the other morning I was in a hotel in the shower and God spoke to me there. You see, it doesn't take much. I noticed as I was taking a shower this little gadget in the wall, and I looked at it and it said, "Retractable Clothesline." And I thought, "Well, that's a clever invention." Probably I've seen them before; I never noticed it really before. And I went, "Well, you know, that's a great idea." You pull out the clothesline when you need it to hang up something in the bathroom, you leave it out as long as it's useful, and then it disappears completely when it's in the way. Retract ability - that's a great idea when it comes to clotheslines. It's not such a great idea when it comes to more important things.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Retractable Faith."
Our word for today from the Word of God is in John 18. I'm going to begin reading at verse 15. You remember that Peter promised Jesus that if He were ever arrested that he would stand by the Savior's side and they'd have to take him too. Okay, here comes reality. "Simon Peter and another disciple were following Jesus. Because this disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the high priest's courtyard."
Of course Jesus' awful trial is about to begin. "But Peter had to wait outside at the door. The other disciple, who was known to the high priest, came back, spoke to the girl on duty there and brought Peter in. 'You are not one of this man's disciples are you?' the girl at the door asked Peter. He replied, 'I am not.' It was cold, and the servants and officials stood around a fire they had made to keep warm. Peter also was standing with them, warming himself."
Well, Peter found himself in a situation in a crowd where it was not useful; not convenient to show his Christian I.D. You know what he did? He retracted his identification with Jesus. It got in the way around that fire, in that environment, that hostile setting. So, like a submarine, he submerged. Now, it would be nice to be rough on Peter and just say, "Well, how could he do that?" Come on, we all know the feeling. We can't be too rough on him.
Are there situations where you retract your connection with Jesus? Look, there are places where it's comfortable to belong to Jesus; it's easy, where you sing about Him, you talk big Christian talk, and praise the Lord. "Boy, I'm all Jesus now." Then you're in a place where your identification with Christ might cost you something. There's a guy or a girl you are trying to impress, a client or a customer that you don't want to risk offending. You're in a classroom, a dorm, a barracks, or an office where you're the only Christian. Or a family setting where, let's face it, it's difficult to take a stand for Christ. I guess there's a place for each of us where we want to impress someone or where our faith might get in the way. So do we just retract it? We make our Christianity disappear until we need to pull it out again when it's convenient.
It's interesting in John 13:38 what Jesus called this. He said, "You will disown me three times." Jesus calls it disowning Him. It's like having Jesus by your side, and suddenly you turn your back on Him; you throw a coat over Him so no one can see Him. At that moment you are saying to this person that you want to impress, "You are more important to me than Jesus." When Peter realized it, it says, "he went out and he wept bitterly." You know what? He changed. He stood later on a street corner in Jerusalem, and he led thousands to Christ and he didn't care what it cost. So there's hope for us.
Are you ready to say, "You know what, Jesus? I have disowned You long enough. I've put out my Jesus' loyalty once and for all. Let the chips fall where they may. Whatever it takes, whatever it costs, no more retractable Christianity, Jesus. I'm Yours, and I'm not ashamed. Because You were not ashamed of me."