God is a Waiting God

Pastor Stan Mons

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Sermon Transcription:

I'm grateful to be here with you today. As some of you may have noticed, my wife is not here today. She also wasn't here last week. That is because we have the joyous news that we received our fourth healthy baby from the Lord last Monday. Amen. Thank you, Lord.

And in that process, and especially in the first day after little William joining us, the Lord began to give me understanding of something that He had been trying to teach me for a while. I just didn't know that He was doing it. You've ever been there? You kind of realize after the fact, "Oh, now I get it." I have those moments all the time. I'm not very quick. I need Jesus a lot. I need the Holy Spirit a lot. But in that first day that William was with us, we were still in the hospital. A lot of light bulbs went off, and it was very different. Even my children will testify to that. This time around and we didn't know that the Lord was in the mix. It was just—we noticed it but didn't really stop to think about it. And that's where the title of this message comes from: God is a Waiting God.

There's two peoples that this message is for, that I'm speaking to today. And the first group of people is a people that doesn't know the voice of the Lord for themselves yet. You may have been in church services. You may have had moments where the Lord kind of spoke to your heart, maybe through someone else. But when you pray alone at home, or when you open your Bible alone at home, you don't experience the voice of the Lord. He doesn't—clearly, as quiet and as gentle as His voice can be at times—but so clearly whisper to your heart. That happens more so when other people are around, but not so much when you are alone with Jesus. It's a person that personally does not know the voice of the Lord yet. That's one peoples that this message is for. The other people is this: they know the voice of the Lord, but they stopped listening. It's the kind of person that says, "I've known now for two years that there's something in my life that God would like to see removed out of my life." Trust me on this—your flesh didn't tell you that. The devil didn't tell you that. You didn't care before.

The Holy Spirit helped you understand that. That is one of the ways that you hear from the Lord.

And at times we become okay—I’ve been there—we become okay with knowing what God wants, and we're going to do it. And the next week, I'm still talking about, "I know what God doesn't want me to do," or "I know what God wants out of my life, and I'm going to do this." This is going to be a process though. I'm in the process. I'm making this a process. It could be a moment with the Lord, and I'm receiving in the Holy Spirit everything the Bible says that pertains to godliness. I have everything that I need to simply respond to the Holy Spirit when I have direction. But for some reason, I kind of drag on the work, and I kind of carry this idea of "I know what to do next" with me, but I'm actually not really wholeheartedly, with all of my being, doing it—because it's not that big of a priority in my life. I know what needs to be done, but it's kind of a background work for me.

God cared enough to speak about it. But sometimes I think, "Well, this is a work in the background. We'll get there eventually, one little step at a time." And sometimes, in my opinion, God is overreacting. God is speaking about something, but this should not have all of my focus right here, right now. Until this is dealt with, what I'm really saying is, "God, you're overreacting. This should be a background work. It's okay. I can live with this for a longer while. We'll get to that, and eventually it will go away." If you've ever been there, you know it doesn't go away. You just keep on walking with that thing, and you know it's not really supposed to be there. You know—that character trait or the way that you explode in anger or whatever it may be—and however small it may seem, if the Holy Spirit has given a nudge in your heart, and you agree with God, you just don't want to do the following part right now wholeheartedly, for this little thing, it kind of goes on the back burner. And at times, we don't do it that consciously. We don't hate God.

We don't try to choose against Him. But sometimes we do end up in that place, and we can end up two years into the journey. The sin struggle, or the selfishness, or the anger, or whatever it may be—it hasn't really diminished. I still believe in Jesus. I still worship Him. I still try to read my Bible. But because that process—even though I knew in my heart this, according to God, should not stay in my life—somehow it stayed in my life now for a year or two. It can become such a discouraging underlying experience. It's not one to the other day, but over that year or two, somehow, some way, you get a little bit more lukewarm. You care a little bit less about reading that Bible. You care a little bit less about making sure that every day you start with just singing a little bit of worship to Jesus and worshiping Him on your knees as you start your day, saying, "Lord, I know I can do nothing apart from You. I'm giving everything of my day to You, because without You I can do nothing, Lord. I'm acknowledging my need of You."

We go a little bit lukewarm in that area sometimes. And then we wonder, a couple of years down that road, how in the world did I get here? I used to be so passionate when I came to Jesus first. I used to be so excited about all that I believed He was able to do. I just believed it, and I expected it from Him. And now I'm kind of like, "Yes, I know this stuff," but I no longer feel excited. I no longer feel the passion. My feelings are taking a different route nowadays.

That's the other people group. They've known the voice of the Lord. They've stopped listening, and now that voice seems to have quieted down in their life. I mentioned William, our youngest son. There was a very interesting thing that began to take place as we were expecting William to join our family. We all grew very uncontent—not in a bad way, in a good way. And my daughter Lenie here in the sanctuary, my son Sion, even little Esther—all of them, they were hugging the belly and coming to talk to brother, and waiting for that baby brother in a very unusual way. It wasn't really like that extreme before with the other kids, and we noticed it but didn't notice it until a couple of days ago that we realized everything.

Inna, my wife, had the same thing. She felt so like—we're really waiting for him to join, and until he joins, the family's not complete. And like something is missing, and life is on pause. And it was in a very different way than before, and I had the same thing. And I'm secretly talking to you now about William, because we hadn't shared the name and everybody wanted to know it. So I made up a different name—Maximllian—and that's the name I used around everybody else. But with Inna, we would talk about William, and we would talk about what his name means and what God has put on our heart. And we were so waiting for him because the family is not complete. And I'll be honest with you—we did not have that experience that same way the last time around, when the Lord was giving us Esther. It was a very different expectancy. Not lesser in any kind of way, but different, because God was teaching us something about Himself this time around. And then, when little William joined us, one of the first words out of my wife's mouth in the hospital bed was, "Now the family's complete." And the Holy Spirit said, "Do you see now?" while I was sitting there at the hospital bed. And all of a sudden, as if I looked back over my shoulder at everything that had been happening over the last months, it's like finally I could notice and finally I could see.

All this time, we were waiting. All this time, even the kids felt incomplete, like something was—someone was—missing. And until that baby boy, until William joined, it's almost like now we could kick into gear and fully enjoy life again together. You're going to see by the end of this service what the Father taught us about His heart. Let me take you to a story that explains to us how people become born again. William became born into this world and filled up our family. And the Bible tells us that even though we have been born once into this life, we have to become born again in order to become a part of a different family. Let me take you to the story of Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a smart guy. He was an educated guy. And he comes to Jesus in secret. At this time, it's a little risky for people of renown to hang out with Jesus. That may put a bad taste in the mouth of some of the people. So Nicodemus, playing it safe, comes to Jesus by night. He did respect Jesus, but he also liked to have the respect of the people. So he tries to have it both ways.

He comes to Jesus by night. He greets Jesus very properly and politely. And very quickly, Jesus takes the reins of that conversation and just takes a left turn and takes over. And that's where we drop in—John 3. We're going to read verse 5, verse 9, and then 13, 14, and 15. Starting in verse 5, Jesus answered to Nicodemus: Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God." Now, like I said, Nicodemus was a smart guy. He was an educated guy. He knew the Scriptures very well. He knew what Jesus was referring to. He knew that a Messiah was promised who would be the living water and would cause living water to spring up in the hearts of God's people. He knew that only the Messiah would have the ministry of giving God's Spirit to those that are the children of the living God. That is the messianic ministry. The Messiah still holds this ministry and gives the Spirit of God to those that become born again. And here He tells Nicodemus, out of nowhere, "Unless you are born again, unless you are born of water and the Spirit, you cannot enter the kingdom of God."

Verse 9: Nicodemus answered and said to Him, "How can these things be?" Very famously in this story, he asks, "Can a man go back into his mother's womb and be born again?" In other words: Jesus, what are you talking about? What do you mean? How can these things be? How can someone that is already an adult be born again into a kingdom that clearly they are not born into yet? They're not a part of that yet. How can these things be? And then Jesus, in verses 13 to 15, says this: "No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness..."

You recently heard that story—anyone looking up to that serpent was healed and saved from their death. "...Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,That whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." "How can this be, Jesus?" is what Nicodemus says. What are you talking about—being born again? What are you talking about—you can't be a part of God's kingdom unless this thing happens?

I thought—Nicodemus speaking—I thought I was a part of the kingdom of God. I'm a Jew. I'm part of God's people. Jesus, what are you talking about? How can this be? How can one be born again so that God's family becomes more complete? How can you become born again?

You see, this is the very thing that God the Father is waiting for. The title of this message: God Is a Waiting God. Just as God, in a very small measure, put that divine wait in our heart—even in the hearts of our children—where we were waiting and waiting and just feeling such incompletion to our family until little William joined us... In the very same way, the Father is waiting, because someone still has to join the family. There's some incompletion to that family.

How can that be? How can someone be born again? The Word tells us: when anyone—when anyone—believes on Jesus Christ, turns the eyes of their heart to Him, believing that He is the Son of God, that He is the reason that I can be forgiven—that’s when a man or a woman becomes born again into the family of the Father.

The Father is waiting because someone still needs to be born into this family. It was almost as if we couldn’t, for a season, enjoy the— the satisfaction that you do get as a parent, out of the kids that God gives you. Such a joy, such a pleasure, such a blessing. It’s almost like the Lord allowed us to see how He feels—when all the other kids don’t matter as much until this one comes home. Just as the parable of the good shepherd, who leaves the 99 just to find that one that needs to be brought home—that emotion, that feeling of incompletion until one is born into this family. How can this be? When anyone believes on Jesus Christ with all of their heart, they will be born into a family they were not a part of yet. They will complete something in God’s heart that He was waiting for and longing for. It’s you. He loves you. He waits for you. He desires for you to be a part of His family. The Word tells us that there are many rooms in the Father’s house.

John 14:2–3, Jesus speaking: “My Father’s house has many rooms;If that were not so, would I have told you that I’m going there to prepare a place for you?And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me, that you also may be where I am.” See, God is a waiting God. He is waiting for you to fill up a room. He has many rooms prepared in His house, and He’s waiting for you to join His family. His family feels incomplete until you are born again into this family. His house feels empty until you have a room with your name on it.

It doesn’t matter for a moment—it does not matter—who’s already in that house. He’s missing you. He’s waiting for you. He’s longing for you to be a part of that family. And the Father sent Jesus Christ so that you can come before God and be born again into His family—without you doing any good works, without you doing all of the performance, making it right with God. You don’t need to do any of it.

Jesus was sent to do all of the work so that you can be brought into that family. God is waiting for you. What a joy, church, to be the person that brings such a joy to the Father’s heart. What a joy to realize that you, as a man or a woman, bring joy to God’s heart. God, finally feeling: Now the family’s complete. Now that room is filled. Now your eyes are on Me. Now you are with Me forever. Now I have you home. He’s eagerly waiting for your arrival. Maybe you say today, online or here in the house:“Pastor, I’m not really a Christian. I don’t really know how to behave in the presence of God. I don’t even know if I belong here. And sometimes I just feel like a lost cause. I feel like I don’t fit in. I feel like I’ll never fit in. I feel people don’t understand me. And I feel God doesn’t notice me.”

Let me take you to Luke 14:16–23. Jesus, sharing a parable: Then He said to him, “A certain man gave a great supper and invited many,and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited,‘Come, for all things are now ready.’But they all with one accord began to make excuses.The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.’” Very polite. “Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen’” Big investment. “‘…and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.’Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’So that servant came and reported these things to his master.Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant,‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city,and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.’And the servant said, ‘Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.’Then the master said to the servant,‘Go out into the highways and the hedges, and compel them to come in,that my house may be filled.’”

You know who was in the highways and the hedges? Those were the robbers. They were hiding along the highways.They were hiding in covered places to rob the next innocent traveler. Jesus shares this parable, and He shows that the people who had their life good together—He was referring to the religious elite of that time—they didn’t need Jesus that much. They asked to have themselves excused.They didn’t love God’s plan for that time that much. They had their own plan for what to do.And the Lord turns and says: “Go and find the sinners. Go and find the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind.” And then He says: “You go ahead. You find every robber, every sinner, every evil man, every evil woman you can find—because I am waiting, and there’s still room in My home. Go find the people that are a mess and their lives are a mess—because there is room,and I am waiting for them to join the party.The party is not starting in My house until My people have filled up the house. Until My people have taken up room.”

God is a waiting God, church.

No matter what you have done, no matter how un-Christian you may think you are—He is waiting for you to come home so the party can get started. Let’s bless our Lord. Lord, we bless You. We thank You. There’s not a person online or in this place that is disqualified to come into Your house.Thank You, Jesus. Maybe you say:“Today, my situation’s very different. I’ve been calling myself a Christian, maybe for a long time—but in secret, I’ve been living like a devil.I’ve been making peace with a sin struggle.Yes, I repent… but I run back to it all the time. I’m that man. I’m that woman that knows what God wants—but it’s been a dragging-on, going-on journey. And really I still know what God wants. I still agree with Him. But nothing has changed.

I have not given my all to the simple direction of what God has already spoken to me.I’m waiting for Him to say something else—then I’ll give my all.But just for this small direction of the next step that God has for me—what needs to go, or what I need to step into—it’s just… clearly it hasn’t been important enough to me. What God says—it’s still there.

But I've been calling myself a Christian. Maybe you have been showing up to church all this time, but you don't feel like God is waiting for your presence anymore. You don't feel that you showing up brings unexplainable joy to the Father's heart. You feel you're just grateful if you're still allowed into the home. If you feel that way about God—about how He looks at you—then the devil, through sin, has accomplished inside of you what he intended. Let me explain. The devil always tries to change the image of God in your heart—the way you see God in your heart. Because if the devil can trick you and change the way that you look at God, it will change the way you respond to Him. At times, it'll change even if we respond to Him. See, only through Christ Jesus can we see God clearly. The Bible tells us that Jesus says, "If you've seen me, you've seen the Father." So when we look at Jesus, we see exactly what the Father is like. When we see Jesus choosing death so that we can be reunited with God, we learn that's exactly what the Father is like.

The Father desires my presence so much, it is allowed to cost Him anything. And the devil tries to come into our lives and tries to paint God the Father as this stern judge. Jesus is on our side—and the Father, not really. That's what the devil tries to paint into our heart. Especially when you have a sin struggle that has somehow, by you, been allowed to stay there. He has an entryway to try and convince your heart that God sees that sin. He sees you run back to it time and time again. He's getting a little tired of you. It's becoming a little bit annoying. It's a little bit hypocritical that you keep coming back to Him asking Him for forgiveness. And slowly but surely, he tries to whisper into your heart a new way to see the Father. And our heart begins to believe: the Father’s not waiting for me. I don't put joy in the Father's heart. I don't put excitement into the Father's heart. I'm a little bit of a disappointment. And we hear it in the way people speak. What does the Bible say? Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. When you listen to people long enough, you know exactly what's going on in their heart. People say, "Oh, God feels so far away." Clearly, that's in your heart. You believe God is not near to you as the Bible says He is. "I feel God has no plan for my life anymore. I feel God this, that, and the other thing." All things that show that sin and the devil have been working so hard to get your heart to look at God differently than what Jesus came to show us. Now, if that's you—if you say, "I'm a Christian, but I'm a very poor example."

Here's Luke 15:11–24, and we're going to read it from the NIV version.Again, a parable. Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them. Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had and set off for a distant country, and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.'" Let's stop right there. This is that perfect picture of someone that belongs in the Father's house. But with everything the Father’s given them, they've been doing the wrong thing. And somehow, some way, they end up in a place where they say, "I'm not a legit son anymore. I can't expect to be treated like a child of God anymore. And we don't say it, but our heart feels it. I'll read verse 19 again: "I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants." So he got up and went to his father.

But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him. Church, you know why Jesus in this parable says the father saw him? Because the father was waiting. The father was waiting. Because the house was not complete. The father wasn't content. Even though he had another son in the house, the house was not filled up. There was a room that was empty. The father is waiting—and he sees his son coming. "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him. He ran to his son, threw his arms around him, and kissed him." And the son said to him: "Father, I’ve sinned against heaven and against you. I’m no longer worthy to be called your son." But the father said to his servants: "Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found." So they began to celebrate.

Church, no matter who you are, no matter what you’ve done, and no matter where you are today in your journey with God—you need to come home, because God is a waiting God. And He wants you to come home to Him. The party will never start until you get home. The family is not complete until you come home. And God’s heart is not content until you fill up a room in the house. And His greatest expression to try and help us understand this is: He sent His only begotten Son to make sure you would have to do none of the work to make your way into that home. You would have to do none of the work to wash your sins off of you and put a nice robe on yourself. You would have to do none of the work. That's how much He desires for you to know that He wants you in His presence. That He loves you. That He is a waiting God—waiting, full of expectancy—until you are born again into His family. Now the family, finally, we can enjoy. Remember Nicodemus? "How can these things be? How can I be born again? How can I come home?"

John 3:15 again: "That whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." You see, to become born again, it is the man, it is the woman that says: "I believe I can come home because of Jesus.I believe the Father is eagerly waiting for me because of Jesus.I believe, despite all the things I’ve done wrong, all the ways I have failed—I believe I can come home because of Jesus.I believe God eagerly desires me to come because of Jesus.I believe Jesus made all this possible." That’s the man or the woman that has abandoned the belief that somehow I have to become good enough for God, somehow I have to first work sin out of my life to impress God and make a way into His presence for myself. No. It is the man, the woman that becomes born again that says: "There’s no reason except Jesus that someone like me can come to the Father.There’s no other reason. And I don’t need any other reason." "Pastor, that sounds too simple."

Church, God is a waiting God. He loves you. He is waiting for you. He has a room prepared for you. He has the party on hold until you have been brought in. No matter what you’ve done, no matter where you’ve been—He loves you. He has prepared all things because He desires you with all of His heart. It wasn’t easy. It cost Jesus everything. But He gladly paid the price because you are so worth it to Him. If you would stand with me for a moment. This altar call is for everyone. It is for people online, people here in person. It’s for you if you call yourself a Christian, if you’ve been walking well, if you’ve been walking poor. It’s for you if you say, "I’m not even a Christian." Here’s the altar call: If you believe today that you can come to the Father because of Jesus, would you come forward? I know I’m going to be here. I believe I can come because of Jesus. You may have believed it for years. But if you believe this, would you come forward and would you celebrate with every person that may decide to believe this for the first time today and to become born again? The Lord Jesus Christ will send His Spirit into your life. If you say, "I believe today," God will cause you to become born again. The party will start in heaven. You know the Word says that for one sinner that repents, there is a feast in heaven. The angels rejoice. The party starts—when you come home.

-Pastor Stan Mons