One of the key things you learn as a baker is that you cannot rush the process. The time it takes for dough to rise, the “rest,” can be influenced by all kinds of things, from the type of bread to the weather. The movement of the Holy Spirit can be like this. Rest is needed for growth.
But waiting is hard. We like to stick to our own time lines, but the Spirit does not work like that. The Holy Spirit works in us even when we do not feel it.
But there is a point when you have to stop waiting on the bread – it will start to lose its flavor and even become hollowed out. Likewise, there is a time when we have to stop waiting – when we have to make decisions and act.
The goal for us should not necessarily be for us to guess at when that time is, but to be open to the leading of the Spirit, and aware that His time is not our time. The goal for us is to have that personal relationship with God that enables us to teach each other, as Paul writes in this passage – and to do so in a “somewhat daring way.”
But this also requires an open heart – teaching each other does not mean an argument. But it does mean different perspectives – it must mean differing perspectives, in fact, because how can we teach each other if we are all the same?
The yeast needs to rest for growth to happen. But that rest is only for a time. There comes a time to act and even to speak into others’ lives about the growth we may have experienced during that period of rest.
We see the difficulty of this waiting in the scripture. King Saul did not wait for Samuel to make sacrifices, and that was the final straw that led God to cut his time short. He acted rashly because he was afraid, and that should be a lesson to us not to act out of fear.
As Paul writes, we are filled with the knowledge and goodness that we need in order to teach each other. Let us not let fear hold us back from that.
– Sermon Notes, Uriel Tzec, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, June 26, 2022