Wild Goose Chase
June 13, 2002Celtic Christians had a fascinating name for the Holy Spirit. It almost sounds sacrilegious at first earshot--the Wild Goose--but I’m not sure there’s a better description. Being led by the Spirit is a wild goose chase. That is the essence of what Jesus said in John 3:8, “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” There is an “element of surprise” or “air of unpredictability” that is part and parcel of following Christ. Oswald Chambers said, “To be certain of God means that we are uncertain in all our ways, we do not know what a day may bring forth.” In other words, we ought to expect the unexpected.
Scripture is full of wild goose chases. Hebrews 11:8 says, “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” Abraham didn’t know where he was going or how to get there. It was a wild goose chase.
In Acts 10:20 Peter is praying on a rooftop and the Lord says, “Three men are downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them.” Peter has no idea where or why God wants him to go with them. It was a wild goose chase.
In Acts 8:26, an angel of the Lord tells Philip to “Go south.” God doesn’t tell him why he’s going, where he’s going, or what he’s going to do when he gets there. He just tells Philip to head south! God was calling him into the unknown.
Outside Union Station in Washington, DC (aka National Community Church) there is a statue in honor of Christopher Columbus. It says, “To the memory of Christopher Columbus whose indomitable courage and high faith gave to mankind a new world.” Here’s a thought: you can’t discover new worlds without leaving old worlds behind. We commemorate October 12, 1492 as the day Columbus discovered the New World, but it might be more appropriate to celebrate July 3, 1492. That’s when Columbus left the old world behind and sailed out of the Port of Palos. Here’s the most amazing fact about the journey: not one of Columbus’ crewmembers had ever been more than 300 miles offshore! Andre Gide says, “People cannot discover new lands until they have the courage to lose sight of the shore.”
On the edge of medieval maps, cartographers inscribed the Latin phrase terra incognita or “unknown territory.” The naysayers and doomsdayers said that if you ventured too far you’d fall off the edge of the earth or run into two-headed dragons. That didn’t keep the explorers from venturing into uncharted waters, unmapped lands, or unknown territory.
God is always calling us into terra incognita. He wants us to go where we’ve never gone and do what we’ve never done. God’s objective is to get us to go beyond what we know! That’s how we grow. Abraham Maslow said, “Growth often means giving up a simpler and easier and less effortful life, in exchange for a more demanding, more responsible, and more difficult life. Each step forward is a step into the unfamiliar.”
Whether you’re a trekkie or not, I think there is a part of all of us that wants to “boldly go where no man has gone before.” Niles Goldstein says we all have “an impetus for the edge.” Soren Kierkegaard called God “The Absolute Frontier.”
Small Steps & Giant Leaps
An angel of the Lord says “go south” and Philip “started out.” Goethe said, “Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius power and magic in it.” The first step is always the toughest.
I was at a pool with our kids recently and my four year-old daughter, Summer, started jumping off the side into the pool. A few minutes later I noticed Summer’s older brother, Parker, standing “on the edge.” I knew he wanted to jump but he was scared because he’d never done it before. I said, “Why don’t you jump?” And in classic kidspeak, Parker said, “My legs won’t move.” His brain was screaming, “Jump!” And his legs yelled back, “No!” I held his hand on the first jump and Parker spent the rest of the afternoon jumping into the pool.
Life is full of what I call “small step/giant leap” moments. The first step, no matter how small, is always a giant leap. All Philip knows is to “go south” and he “started out.” He was willing to take that small step/giant leap.
In Zechariah 4:10, Zerubbabel was trying to rebuild the Temple that had been destroyed. It was an overwhelming undertaking. But the Lord says, “Don’t despise the day of small beginnings.” Like a Father watching his toddler take their first step, God rejoices over our small wins!
Imagineering, a book about Disney’s creative process, says “A raging fire begins with a mere spark. The tiniest spark of an idea is no small thing. Even if born upon the tattered edge of a paper napkin, it may very well grow up to be the size of something special.” How many businesses or inventions were conceived on a napkin?
Let me state the obvious: you can’t finish what you don’t start. Nolan Bushnell, the founder of Atari, once said, “Everyone who’s ever taken a shower has had an idea. It’s the person who gets out of the shower, dries off and does something about it who makes a difference.”
Ministry Happens
“So he started out and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet.”
One of my mottos is “ministry happens.” I think that at least 90% of the ministry that happens in the gospels is spontaneous. Jesus was headed from one place to another and an opportunity would present itself. Jesus was willing to get off the beaten path and take the road less traveled. He didn’t see them as detours or dead ends. Too often we mistake divine appointments for human interruptions.
A.W. Tozer said that one of the greatest dangers facing the church was what he called “the dictatorship of the routine” when “everything can be predicted and nobody expects anything unusual from God.” We need a sensitivity to the Holy Spirit’s prompting so that we can seize opportunities as they present themselves. Spontaneity is part of spirituality. In the words of Winston Churchill, “Planning is important. Plans are useless.”
The Ministry of Proximity
“The Spirit told Philip, ‘Go to that chariot and stay near it.” I call this the ministry of proximity. I think one of the most important things you can do in reaching your friends and family is to simply be there for them.
It goes on to say that Philip was reading a passage from Isaiah and he didn’t understand it so “Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.” Philip started where the Eunuch was at. I think the church is great at answering questions that no one is asking! It’d be great if everyone believed that Jesus is the Son of God and the Bible is the Word of God, but most people don’t. I think too often we expect people to come to us when we’re called to go to them. It’s all about proximity.
I was at Starbucks studying the other night and I had tuned out the music, but the lyrics of one particular song caught me ear. I have no idea who it was, but these are the words of the song, “There’s a church on the periphery, Our Lady of Epiphany.” I think that’s a lot of people’s perception of the church--it’s on the periphery. The truth is that no one is more relevant than God. But too often the church makes God irrelevant. That is the ultimate irreverance.
Footnote: the word proximate doesn’t just mean close in a geographical sense. Etymologically it means “approachable” in a relational sense. One of the things that amazes me most about Jesus was how touchable and approachable he was. People are always touching him. You couldn’t keep kids away. Jesus was always surrounded. He had a ministry of proximity.
The Right Question
“As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, ‘Look, here is some water. Why shouldn’t I be baptized’?”
Last weekend, NCC had it’s first Baptism by the Bay. A dozen NCCers took the plunge. Baptism is about “going public” with our faith. It is a rite of passage for new believers. If you have put your faith in Christ, then you need to ask the same question as the Eunuch. Why shouldn’t I be baptized? The Eunuch had been a believer all of five minutes, and he couldn’t find a good reason not to be baptized.
Aristotle said, “Those who wish to succeed must ask the right preliminary questions.” I think sometimes we ask the “Why should I” questions. Why should I tithe? Why should I get baptized? Why should I go on a missions trip? Those are the wrong preliminary questions. The right question is: why shouldn’t I tithe? Why shouldn’t I get baptized? Why shouldn’t I go on a missions trip?
George Bernard Shaw said, “Some men see things as they are and ask, ‘Why?’ I dream of things that never were and ask, ‘Why not’?”
The Point of No Return
During my sophomore year of high school I took Driver’s Education. During one lesson on stoplights, we learned about the point of no return. The point of no return is that critical point where turning back is not an option. Slamming on the brakes will hurt more than it will help. You have to “go for it.” In the world of aviation, the point of no return is the critical point in the flight where remaining fuel is insufficient for a return to the departure point.
In the words of the old song, “I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back, no turning back.” No excuses. No escape clauses. No backup plans. No contingencies. No loopholes.