Pastor Edgar Mayer; Living Grace Community Lutheran Church; Message on Not Wasting Your Life; Date: 16 September 2007

For more sermons and other writings check out pastor’s homepage: http://www.geocities.com/mayeredgar

Hephzibah

One night [1978] a 23-year-old man [Mike Bickle] had a life-changing dream. He had died and was before the judgement seat of Jesus Christ. Jesus was standing there and he was looking up into his eyes. There was a grave look on the face of Jesus who said to the young man: “Saved but your life was wasted.” “No! No! You have the wrong person!” The young man was terrified. “No, no, Jesus, I am yours. I am committed to you. Give me another chance.” However, Jesus simply stared at him, did not answer again, just kept looking at him and the young man realized that it was impossible to manipulate this man. On that day of judgement you cannot alter his thinking. You only have once chance with your life and no other. In his dream the young man was devastated – kneeling and sobbing – sobbing over the fact of loss. Then he woke up and realized that he was indeed on his knees and sobbing – out of his bed, half-way across the room.

The young man realized that the Bible confirmed what Jesus had said in his dream – 1 Corinthians 3:11-15 – I read from the Bible: “ … each person’s work will one day be shown for what it is. The day [of judgement] will show it plainly enough, for the day will arise in a blaze of fire, and that fire will prove the nature of each person’s work. If the work that the person has built upon the foundation [of Christ] will stand this test [this blaze of holy fire], he will be rewarded. But if a person’s work be destroyed under the test, he loses it all. He personally will be safe, though rather like a man rescued from a fire” (J.B. Phillips: The New Testament In Modern English).

As all of that sunk in the fear of the Lord came over the young man. That dream and that truth changed him. And you and I – we – face the same possible scenario of our entire life’s work being burnt up on the day of judgement – suffering the loss of everything – except maybe – barely – our lives. “But if a person’s work be destroyed under the test, he loses it all. He personally will be safe, though rather like a man rescued from a fire.” In other words: “Saved but your life was wasted.”

This book here [hold up the book] is a career guidance book and it provides a comprehensive list of career options – from agricultural scientist to zoo keeper. At times you may want to pick up the book, browse and consider your options. Only – in the light of what we have said so far – can you tell me where this book provides guidance for the day of judgement? As a Christian what career option should you choose so that your life might not be wasted when it comes under the gaze of Jesus Christ on the day of judgement?

I am asking these questions because I want to avoid a misunderstanding. The truth is that every single job in this book can lead to a life’s work of eternal value if the work is done for God and to his glory. For instance, God may lead you to be a carpenter. (He made you good with your hands. He gave you a passion to work with wood.) And then – by all means – be a carpenter with all of your might. God wants us to have furniture and homes and then as a Christian carpenter, who works for Jesus, you could pray over the homes that you work in and you could bless colleagues and customers by your attitude and witness.

Whatever we do in the name of Jesus has eternal value – especially acts of love – Matthew 10:42 (I read again from the Bible): “And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.” Galatians 6:9: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Luke 6:35: “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great and you will be called the children of the Most High … “

Yes! – However – ultimately – we do agree that the most glorious work of eternal value – what we all support in one way or another – what these acts of love promote – the reason why we are church together – is the salvation of sinners for the praise of God’s glory. Wherever we serve, we also aim to have sinners come to repentance and a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ – the one who died for their sins so that they might have peace with God – in eternity. What better scenario can there be than having people in heaven because of what God assigned you to do? The Bible says accordingly – Luke 15:10: “ … there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Thus – on various levels – we can all relate to the following incident between Jesus and the disciple Peter. He received his commission for life in the following way – John 21:15-19: “When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these? ‘Yes, Lord,’ he said, ‘you know that I love you.’ Jesus said, ‘Feed my lambs.’ Again Jesus said, ‘Simon son of John, do you truly love me?’ He answered, ‘Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.’ Jesus said, ‘Take care of my sheep.’ The third time he said to him, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’ He said, ‘Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said, ‘Feed my sheep … ‘ … “

This is a strange exchange – repeated three times. Peter was to feed the sheep of Jesus which meant that Peter was to care of God’s people. Jesus could have simply told him so but – no – he first wanted to know from him: “Do you love me?” What was this about? What is this about for you and me?

The young man from the opening story later became a pastor and one day [1983] – by revelation – he clearly understood that God wanted him to focus on prayer ministry – intercession, spiritual warfare, 24 hour prayer, 21 day fasts, … He became known internationally for global prayer strategies, books, conferences, … He threw himself into the work.

However, five years after the initial call into prayer ministry – one morning [1988] – he received a wedding card and on the card was printed the Bible verse of Song of Solomon 8:6: “Place me like a seal over your heart.” He thought: “What a cool verse.” He had never read the book of Song of Solomon but now he was intrigued and opened up the verse in the Bible. He kept reading: “Place me like a seal over your heart … for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like a blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away … “

The Spirit of God began to move on this pastor. He began to yearn that God might place him like a seal over his heart. He prayed that God would release love in him – divine fusion, flames of consuming love, stronger than death. It takes God to love God. He wanted that love that was supernatural and amazing. He began to weep. Something unusual was happening. He told the receptionist not to let anyone interrupt him – something which he had not done in 30 years. He had never had an encounter with God like that before. Something heavy was happening to him – weeping – feeling the presence of God – giving himself to the Lord … Ten minutes later the phone rang.

The receptionist said: “I know that you don’t want any phone calls but Bob Jones is on the line saying that he had just heard audibly from God.” That had happened four or five times in the past and each time the word was subsequently confirmed.

This time Bob Jones said to the pastor: “God is going to call you and deal with you according to Song of Solomon 8:6-7.” Wow! No one knew that the pastor was reading this very passage at that very moment. Bob said: “I’ve just heard this but haven’t even looked it up yet. This is now at the very center of your life calling for the rest of your life. Whatever promise that is God is going to release this promise on the church world-wide.”

The pastor was so excited. He called his wife. He was weeping. He took the rest of the day off. He finally had clarity about his life’s mandate and purpose but then he began to read the Bible book Song of Solomon from beginning to end and was no longer impressed: Chapter 1 – kisses, perfume, vineyards, … chapter 2 – roses, lilies, flowers, … chapter 3 – chapter 4 – fawns, lilies, perfume, gardens … chapter 5 – chapter 6 … Oh my goodness.

When he came home to his wife that night, he didn’t want to talk about it. As far as he understood, he was mandated to prison for the rest of his life by the audible voice of God. He said: “God, give me anything but this. Don’t let me be stuck for life with this book.” It took him a while before he realized that the content of the book did not undermine his manhood. In time he discovered that he had received a most dynamic calling – revealing the affections of God’s heart for us.

Only he was confused. Five years earlier he had received a mandate for prayer ministry and now there was this other mandate of delving into the passionate love of God. What was to be his priority? Another eight to nine years later [1997] the pastor had another spiritual dream. He was standing in a crowd of people on a platform and a voice came saying: “Tell them. They are Hephzibah. Tell them that the Lord delights in them.” He woke up and again was so excited. He thought: “This is really cool that God gives me the message for next Sunday.” At that time he did not understand that this was related to his life’s mandate.

Where was the Hephzibah word in the Bible? He knew that it had to be in the book of Isaiah the prophet and so he began searching chapter by chapter. Chapter 1 – chapter 2 – chapter 3 – and so on – flicking through the pages. When he came to chapter 62 of Isaiah he skipped that particular chapter because that was the chapter he had studied more than any other in the Bible. Since he was focused on prayer ministry, he had developed a passion for Isaiah 62:6 which says: “I have posted watchmen on your walls … they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the Lord give yourselves no rest.” He had preached more than one hundred sermons on this particular verse admonishing constant and ceaseless intercession – praying to God about his kingdom to come. The pastor’s Bible was average looking – in good condition – but that one page of Isaiah 62 was worn out – used again and again. So the pastor skipped that particular chapter in his search for Hephzibah and continued with chapter 63 – chapter 64 – … He didn’t find the word in Isaiah and thus continued to search all the prophets – right on to Malachi – but he had missed the reference.

Thus, (since he is a man and does not ask for directions) he began again with looking through Isaiah chapter 1 – chapter 2 – chapter 3 – and so on. He skipped Isaiah chapter 62 because he knew it so well and then kept searching once more until the end of all the prophetic books. Where was that word Hephzibah?

He had wasted another hour, at last broke down, conceded defeat – and used his concordance. He could not believe his eyes. The concordance must be wrong. He was shocked. There it was right at the centre of his most favourite Bible passage. He had always preached on Isaiah 62:6 but had never understood that the entire prayer movement was built on the previous verse: Isaiah 62:5 and verse 4– where the people of God are called Hephzibah – meaning “I, God, delight in them.”

The pastor cried out: “Lord, did you know that the bridal paradigm [the love relationship with you] is the key to the prayer movement?” God knew that but it took the pastor years to work out that the mandate for prayer ministry and the mandate to preach the Song of Solomon were in fact the same mandate. Intimacy and intercession go together. Unless we are immersed in the love of God and overflow with his love, there can be no sustaining power for prayer or anything else. Only he who loves, can handle the task – whatever it may be.

Listen to Isaiah 62:4-7: “ … you will be called Hephzibah … for the Lord will take delight in you … as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you. I have posted watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem [O church]; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the Lord, give yourselves no rest, and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem [his kingdom] and makes her the praise of the earth.”

Do we hear this for ourselves? Hephzibah – the Lord delights in you as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride – you are immersed in love overflowing and divine – and then as Hephzibah you take up your post – perhaps – as watchmen on the walls calling on the Lord and giving him no rest until he has established his kingdom in eternity.

This is crucial to understand. The revelations which were given to the pastor are not only foundational to him but to all of us and they clarify the strange exchange between Jesus and Peter. Jesus asked Peter first and he asks us first: “Do you love me?” Only then does he give us the mandate for our life: “Feed my sheep.” Or whatever it may be in your case.

It took the pastor years to figure out the significance of love before action – of being before doing – of saying “Yes, Jesus, I love you” before “Yes, Jesus, I feed your sheep”. Visitors to the pastor’s prayer centre frequently made the same mistake. They were most interested in the method and structure and principles of doing the prayer work because they wanted to get busy but at the same time they failed to realize what lies at the heart of the entire ministry – the ongoing love encounter with Jesus as the bridegroom – being loved by him and loving him.

And the same danger lurks for us all. Especially when you are young and bursting with energy – keen to make your mark and prove yourself – you feel capable of forging ahead without pausing for too much intimacy with God. Even Jesus seemed to know that the disciple Peter shared that same tendency for he continued to say to him – John 21:17-19: “ … ‘Feed my sheep. I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.’ Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him: ‘Follow me!’”

As a young fire-brand Peter may have been able to dress himself and go wherever he wanted – make many of his own plans and get busy – but notice that he was just as valuable or even more valuable to Jesus when he could no longer do anything by himself. Jesus said: “When you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God.

Therefore, I say it again: You and I – we – fulfill our life’s mandate and purpose first and foremost when love comes before action – when being comes before doing. Like Peter in his old age, you may in a sense be sidelined. He was in prison and you may be sick in bed or too young to venture out or whatever. It does not matter because you can glorify God even when you do nothing – simply by having your heart right with him – by being his Hephzibah (the one he delights in).

In preparation for this service I asked some of our youth this question: “What do you like doing?” I thought that any reflection on not wasting your life might benefit from knowing what we actually enjoy doing. It concerned me that most of our youth could not answer the question. In like manner I was disturbed when the other day a friend of mine told me that he asked a few colleagues: “What fills your tank?” And they could not answer the question. Are we so pressed into performing a full schedule of tasks and duties at school and at work that we are no longer in touch with what we want? Have our hearts become so starved of emotions that we no longer feel passion towards what we do?

I close with this piece of good news. The intriguing and exhilarating truth is that what we desire deep down most of all and what God desires most of all actually coincides. Whatever we might do and whatever we might achieve – wealth, fame, power – whatever we might even accomplish in the kingdom of God – miracles, healings, signs and wonders, conversions, revival – nothing, absolutely nothing, satisfies our most urgent personal want and need except the love of God which is described so well in the Song of Solomon: “ … love . as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave … burning like a blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench [that] love; rivers cannot wash it away … “

The intriguing and exhilarating truth is that we are called to enjoy the burning and blazing and unquenchable love of God as the primary calling of our life and then return that love to God. Jesus asked Peter first: “Do you love me?” Thus – again – what we desire most and what God desires most actually coincides. It’s the same: a consuming love relationship, which binds up our hearts.

Believe the truth. Let yourself be loved by God. Allow yourself to spend time soaking up God’s love language when he says to you – Isaiah 62:4-7: “ … you will be called Hephzibah … for the Lord will take delight in you … as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you … “ Only then go and feed his sheep – perform the work which he assigns to you.

God give that on the day when we will stand before the judgement seat of Jesus Christ, he will say to us: “Saved and nothing was wasted because you loved me. Hephzibah.” Amen.