Courage or Cowardice

 If you were to do a survey, how many would consider themselves courageous and how many would see themselves as cowards. Many people's opinions is there are more cowards than courageous people in society. That is not easily measured or verifiable. Many people prefer comfort and conflict avoidance. They want to take the safe route. They surround themselves with security. 

There are times when courage is called for. Like after the bombing at Pearl Harbor. Like after the 9-11 terrorists attacks on the U.S. Like protecting your family from an intruder. Like performing a risky surgery to save a life. Like stepping into risky and unsafe environments to enforce the law. There are times it takes real guts and courage to take a stand for God when everyone cowers in fear. It is one thing to own our faith in the safety of a worship service. It is another thing to maintain that faith with a gun pointed at your head like Rachel Scott and Cassie Bernall did at Columbine High School in Colorado. 

In I Samuel 17, we find the story of David fighting Goliath. What strikes me in that story is the cowardice of the entire Israel army who were taunted and challenged for a total of 40 days. Day and night the champion Goliath challenged the army to send out a man to fight. Not one person in the Israel army volunteered. Some even fled each time Goliath approached. Saul did not opt to take a stand. Neither did his son Jonathan. Nobody until David arrived on the scene to deliver food to the soldiers. He was only a teenager. Something different happened when David heard Goliath defy Israel. David was provoked. Offended. He took issue with the uncircumscribed giant. David did not look at the size of Goliath. He looked at the size of God. The living God. David volunteered to do what no grown man had done in 40 days. 

David did not have a theoretical faith. It was real and practical. David relied on God killing a lion and a bear while protecting his flock of sheep. He refused to give into fear. He chose the risky path of faith. My favorite part of the story is when David approached Goliath. He did not walk out sheepishly. He RAN toward Goliath. He took one stone and slung it hitting the giant in the forehead. Then he cut off the head of Goliath in a courageous act that made him famous. After David exercised courage, it inspired the army to attack the Philistines and win the battle. 

Which one are you? Courageous or a coward? There are times in life when God calls us take courageous steps of faith. They may be scary. The outcome may not be certain. These are the times when faith is tested. When fear must be ignored. Times when we must run toward risk like David trusting God for the victory. Not foolish risk. Risks God calls us to run toward. It is on the other side of such courageous steps that God does mighty things. May He inspire us to become people of courage.   

Shop Window

 I have just been rereading Leonard Ravenhill's classic book on revival, Why Revival Tarries. I'm chewing on a paragraph he wrote in the first chapter. "One does not need to be spiritual to preach, that is, to make and deliver sermons of homiletical perfection and exegetical exactitude. The pulpit can be a shopwindow to display our talents, the prayer closet speaks death to display."

Many a preacher will carefully craft their sermons. They focus on eloquence, a wealth of information from their education, and preach for the applause of people. I've heard many such sermons. They are as dry as the Sierra desert. Cold as Antarctica. Often boring as a late afternoon math class in school. The pulpit is not a place to showcase talent! It is a place to declare, "Thus says the Lord."

I prefer preaching through books verse by verse. I don't have to concern myself with the next week's sermon text. I dig into the next set of verses. A month ago I was preaching through the gospel of John. I got to chapter five and studied the verses in the first part of the chapter. All week long I had an uneasy feeling that I was not supposed to preach that message. I felt God change the message late into the week. The next week I just assumed I would preach the prepared message from John. God again did not allow me to preach that and changed the message in the prayer closet early on Sunday morning. I learned my lesson. I was convicted that I had not even prayed about whether I should I preach from John 5. I have not made that mistake since then. Each week I sit before the Lord and ask Him what He wants to say to His people. It is not the most efficient way to prepare a sermon. Sometimes He does not reveal the message until late into the week. I write this on a Wednesday and I have already spent significant time asking the Lord's guidance but not received clarity as of yet. 

I'd prefer a fresh word from God born out of prayer than an eloquent message born of the flesh. In the course of 45 years of preaching, I certainly have files filled with sermons. Some of those sermons I've preached repeatedly at revivals, camps, and other churches. I'm not trying and showcase my talent in preaching. The pulpit is not a shop window. It is a sacred place where I'm tasked to say to the people what He says to me. I often pray, "Lord, what do you want to say to your people?" Then I wait on Him to reveal it. 

I'm not preaching for pats on the back. I preach for the sole purpose of proclaiming what I sense God wants to say to His people. Whatever that message is I preach to secure that decision in people. Sometimes it is to encourage. Other times the message is a strong rebuke calling for repentance. There are messages for salvation, to build up faith and perseverance, to pray, and fully surrender. God lately is determining the direction of those messages. I believe all of God's word is inerrant and truth. Many choose a different path of preaching through books as I have done and still do on Wednesday nights and for our connection class on Sunday mornings. He is directing me differently during the Sunday morning worship service. 

It is much harder to wait on the Lord in prayer. It requires humility and surrender. You don't lean on your education and experience in the prayer closet. You empty yourself and fully lean on God. God produces the fire in the soul for messages. He creates volcanic lava of truth in the heart and the eruption happens when the message is delivered. It is all about Him and what He wants to communicate. I deflect the applause of people. I prefer them to say God spoke through me. It is all about Him and nothing to do with me.