Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. | Galatians 6:7–10
On Sunday, I preached on the idea of change; specifically that we live in a world of constant change and we serve a God who does not change. This puts us in an uneasy place, because it means that we live amongst and serve people who experience change, while calling people to live a life of standing firm in God’s unchanging truth. As a church, we have always been committed to this idea of ‘a long obedience in the same direction;’ an unchanging means to an unchanging end. We do this because we believe that living out God’s truth allows God to work in and through us.
The way this works is that we live out the ordinary means of grace: prayer, Bible reading, and sacraments – along with the gathering of the church, trusting that God will use these seemingly simple efforts to accomplish His plan. Our hope is in God’s extraordinary work, not in the power of our efforts. We do what seems weak to the world, knowing that our weakness reveals God’s strength, as He uses our simple commitment to accomplish eternal things.
The challenge of this is that we don’t always see the ends. Sometimes this is because what we are working towards is years in the making; other times is because God’s ends do not match ours. Either way, it is hard to keep going when the results are not seen.
In response to this, too many people adjust their means. I mentioned Sunday that we are constantly changing our lives in an attempt to achieve outcomes. We approach our spiritual life from an industrial mindset, trying to develop efficiency and success. We jump from one thing to another without allowing any of them to come to fruition. We don’t get to experience the joy of watching God fulfill His promises. We settle for quick answers and miss out on God’s more complete fulfilment.
We need to fight against our shortsighted desire to speed up God’s plan. The best way to do this is to remind one another of God’s goodness; to point to the moments when we can see long-term consistency bear out. Sunday was one of those days for me.
Part of this is because an anniversary allows you to look back over a long period of time as a unified whole. Rather than a series of consecutive events, you look at a decade as a single unit – this causes you to connect dots that you otherwise wouldn’t. One of these was to simply look at the group of people gathered together and to realize that without the unifying factor of the church, these people would not know and support one another in the way that they do. For all of the ups and downs of ten years, there were a few hundred people gathered Sunday who care for one another in a multitude of important, unexciting ways.
I was reminded of another image of God’s long term faithfulness as I came out of the water after baptizing 14 people. One of our long-time Communionkids volunteers mentioned to me that it was amazing watching the kids who grew up in our church getting baptized, because he remembered teaching them lessons for years. As I thought about it, I realized that there is no more complete picture of God’s faithful work through simple means than watching our kids grow up in and into faith. Our children are not only being taught every Sunday by people who love Jesus, but they are being given examples of faithful living in the people of the church. As they start making sense of life and seeing the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives, they have trusted guides to help them think through and navigate the faith. As we baptize them into the church, we are acknowledging that one part of this journey is complete and a whole new part is opening up. God has invested (and will keep investing) in them through these witnesses and now they commit to investing in others.
This was especially meaningful to me as I baptized my daughter Sunday. When we planted the church ten years ago, my daughter had not yet been born. This has been her only church and these are her people. As she celebrates the sacrifice of Jesus and the life that He gives, she is also revealing to all of us God’s ends. While her faith is entirely a gift from God, it is a gift that has been provided by God’s people living out God’s means. God has done the work of drawing one of His sheep to Himself through the efforts of His people.
Let us not become weary of doing good. Though it may not provide the outcomes we desire on the timeline that we would like, God’s goodness promises us that in due season we will reap. May we spur one another to keep going to that we all get to experience the fullness that God has planned for us.