I Have Nothing. Let's Celebrate!

“Shout for joy, O barren one who has not given birth! Give a joyful shout and cry out, you who have not been in labor! For the children of the desolate one are more numerous than the children of the married woman,” says the Lord. Make your tent larger, stretch your tent curtains farther out! Spare no effort, lengthen your ropes, and pound your stakes deep. For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your children will conquer nations and will resettle desolate cities.” (Isaiah 54:1-3)

Reverend Ronald shared with us that, in this passage, the barren woman is called to rejoice while still in her state of barrenness.

How strange. The command flies in the face of our post-modern, post-Christian culture here in the Bronx. Here, we are taught to celebrate after we have gained some tangible thing. We see the report card, or we see the raise in our paycheck, or we walk out of the hospital feeling better. It’s easy to rejoice when we’ve gotten what we want.

But God calls us to rejoice when the cupboards are empty and we have no tangible success. We are called to rejoice simply on the basis of His word. He has promised fruitfulness to us, and Scripture informs us that His promises are “Yes” and “Amen” (See Second Corinthians 1:20).

This is the core of our faith. God speaks, and we believe what He says. God sends His prophetic word, and we believe the prophets who He has sent to us. We have this intangible, yet solid, evidence.

Perhaps the challenge we face is that we like having faith for the things we want, but our faith wavers in the face of things we don’t want. So if we don’t want to work hard, if we don’t want to see people of all races and creeds coming into our church, if we don’t want to touch homeless people or gang members, then we trade our faith for a string of negative comments. What a sad place to be, especially in light of the fact that God has told us (for years!) that He has called Bronx Bethany to be a place for everyone.

How do we enlarge our tents in preparation for the spiritual children God is sending? We change our perspective. For many, that will mean approaching ministry with intentionality. A first and critical step is a rejection of nationalism as a tandem of salvation. Just as Paul exhorted his contemporaries to bring new believers to Christ and not to Judaism, our ministry must bring people to Christ and not to Jamaican culture (and, as Reverend Ronald pointed out, not even to Nazarene culture.)

I hope that you, dear reader, are on board with God’s agenda for Bronx Bethany.

Embrace God’s glorious future for His church. Make room. Have faith. Rejoice!