STEP ON OUT

February 10, 2002

Exodus 3: 7-12; Matthew 14: 22-33

I must state at the outset that a number of the thoughts and ideas I am presenting today were first shared by Bruce Wilkinson during a message he presented at the Schuller Institute on Successful Church Leadership I attended two weeks ago. It touched me; so what I share today says something about me, but also hopefully will speak to you. The sermon is as much to the preacher as to the people in the pews.

My calendar gets pretty full sometimes. Meetings need to be held; conferences need to be attended; family time needs to be protected; and all the time making sure the regular activities get done and relationships not neglected. Get three people together to set a meeting time and it becomes difficult. Our Supper for Six had to work hard at getting dates for all of us to get together; and it still didn’t work. We have to decide what is important and set priorities. We may have to say "no" to some things in order to say "yes" to other things. We can’t do it all.

On Friday morning as Kathy and I were heading out the door for work, we gave each other a hug; looked each other in the eye and said "I love you." We both recognize that the coming 6 months are going to be very busy, hectic and stressful. Some big events in our personal and business lives are facing us head on. We recognize it; and we are committed to setting aside time for each other while at the same time supporting each other in what needs to be done. We are there for each other; we need each other.

We all have our comfort zones. We all have that area or space around us in which we can operate comfortably. We know how much we can handle and when we get on overload. We know what jobs we can do and what pushes us beyond what we think we can do. Yet, there are times when we need to be willing to step outside our comfort zone; we need to try on a different hat, push our limits, see if we have skills in areas that we haven’t tried. We get called on by someone in the congregation to do a job – teach a class, lead a committee or be on a task force. We need to decide if this is something God wants us to do or if we have the skills.

As a Christian, as a congregation, is God calling us to do more for God? Is it possible that God wants us to step outside our comfort zones and reach into new territories? Is not part of our spiritual growth and journey to move outside our comfort zone? My Great Aunt Goldie Ruth Wells was ordained into the Christian Ministry as a young woman in 1918, and in 1919, a single woman at the age of 26, found herself in the Belgium Congo. In a short period of time she was sent upriver to start a new mission station in a remote area. She went. In 1852 my relatives decided to travel the Oregon Trail for the purpose of starting Christian Churches in the Willamette Valley and establish a Christian college. They left family and friends, faced the long, dusty trail, believing in God but not knowing what lay ahead when many died along the way.

If we are called to step outside our comfort zone and, therefore, to expand our comfort zone, the first thing we face is our fears. Fear of failure; fear rejection; fear loss or death; fear we will get in over our head. Fear that we don’t have the skills and abilities.

Moses was happily doing his job of tending sheep and goats in the wilderness of Sinai when God interrupted his life through a burning bush. "I have heard the cries of my people in bondage in Egypt and I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt." Moses’ response was, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" God responded, "I will be with you." Moses replied, "But who are you; what is your name? They will want to know." God answered and Moses replied, "But suppose they don’t believe me or listen to me…" God gave Moses an answer. Then Moses replied, "O my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor even now; I am slow of speech and slow of tongue." God responded by saying, "Who gives speech to mortals? I will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to speak." But Moses replied, "O my Lord, please send someone else." That made God angry. They brought Aaron into the picture, but God didn’t let Moses off the hook.

If we are going to work for God; if we long for God to work through us, our comfort zone is going to be stretched. We are going to have to step outside that zone. What keeps us in our comfort zone is our fears. "I can’t do that; I’m not good enough; I might fail; people might not like me; I don’t have the skills; we’ve never done it that way before." And if, as a church or as an individual we want God to do more in and through us, we have to face our fears, and then step outside that zone in faith.

The story of the disciples in the boat going across the Sea of Galilee is another illustration. Jesus comes to them in the night walking on the water; for some reason Peter gets the idea of going out to Jesus. Peter has to step outside the boat; he does fine until he looks to the side and sees the big waves. He was okay as long as he kept his eyes focused on Jesus; but as soon as he turned aside, his fears overcame him. The waves that threaten us; the realization that we are in over our heads; the reality that the storm could take our life. Jesus bid Peter to come; he had to step outside the comfort zone of the boat and do what was impossible.

Maybe it would be easier to just stay where one is and feel happy and content with the way things are. Yet the world is changing around us, and if the Gospel of Jesus Christ has any relevance for today, we as individuals and as a congregation have to be willing to step outside the comfort zone of "this is how we have always done it" to proclaim a relevant message for a hurting and broken world today. We are no longer in the 50s and 60s. How church was done needs to be adjusted for a new age. The message is relevant; the means by which it is communicated needs to be adjusted.

I am pointing a big finger at myself in this sermon. This whole point hit me hard as I was sitting in the Crystal Cathedral nearly two weeks ago. If you want God to do more in your life you have to face your fears and move outside your comfort zone. I am confessing that I have my fears, and at times they have stifled my moving forward. They have prevented me from expanding my area of ministry and service.

This past week I was near Portland for the annual theological discussion group of which I am a part. A professor from Northwest Christian College presented a paper on young people and leadership within the church today. He commented that we may desire order and structure, to have control over everything, but we actually are living in a day and age of chaos. Things are swirling around us; this is a time of rapid change; our world changes dramatically from one day to another – September 11 is a big example. New information abounds; life styles and life values vary dramatically. There is no nice orderly and neat package any more. Yet, in the larger and longer picture of things, which we cannot fully see, there is order and structure. God is in our midst, even in the midst of chaos.

God calls us out of our comfort zone to minister and serve. God calls us to stretch ourselves, to risk doing what we may not feel comfortable doing in order for God to work through us. To stay in the boat, to stay in the desert, to stay in our comfort zone, requires nothing. To step outside, to step beyond, to risk something new and different, requires a lot. We call it FAITH. Growth takes place on the edges, not in the middle, not the secure spot. The growing edge is the cutting edge, the edge of faith.

God calls us to take courage and walk with our fear into the new territory, to get out of the boat, to leave the desert, to enter ministry that is outside our familiar zone. For it is there that we will find Jesus Christ.