Introduction:
Hold items dug up in the process of moving. Use them as references to all of the change that we have experienced individually and as a church.
File – containing clergy records
Church – nearly 75% of you were not actively involved when I arrived
New article – 911 and all that has happen in reaction
Flyer – 220th Anniversary
Pictures – how my family has aged
Pictures – how some of you have aged
Cell phone – technological changes
Many things have change, but one thing remains the same: the message of God’s grace.
When I arrived, during my first month of preaching, I asked you a question. I told you that it was the most important question I could ask you to think about to consider your spiritual health and well-being. As I depart, after seven years of ministry with you, I want to ask that same question today. It has been the question behind most of my thoughts as I have served with you as pastor. Here is the question: Do you enjoy God?
Perhaps you thought the question would be about you belief in certain doctrines and dogmas. No! The fact is that we can have all our beliefs in proper order and still be spiritually unhealthy.
Perhaps you thought the question would be something to do with your actions and performance! No! We can do all the right things on anybody’s "religious to-do list" and still not be spiritually healthy.
No, the most important question for gauging our spiritual health has nothing to do with whether we believe the right beliefs or perform the proper actions. The most important question we could ask has something to do with relationship.
Here is the question again: “Do you enjoy God?”
Jesus did not say, “I have come that you might be burned-out doing church work.”
Jesus did not say, “I have come that you might have more religious rules."
Jesus did not say, "I have come that you might have more rituals and regulations.”
Jesus did not say, "I have come to give you a few more doctrine and dogmas."
Jesus did not say, “I have come that you might feel burdened and full of misery.”
Jesus said, “I have come that you might have life and have it in all its abundance.”
Now when Jesus speaks of like he is talking about more (much more) than that rush of oxygen in our lungs or the blood that is coursing through out veins. When Jesus speaks of life, he is speaking about having an honest-to-goodness intimate relationship with God. That’s the gift Jesus came to bring. That’s what he was speaking about when he said, "I am the resurrection and the life. He that trust in me, though he dies, yet shall he live. And he who trusts in me will never die."
Jesus came that we may have life, but not just any life. Jesus also says that this life will be of a certain style and variety. He said it would be a life of abundance, a life marked by a joyful and fulfilling relationship with God." Jesus is saying that he came to show us that is it possible for us to enjoy God.
So the question bears repeating, DO YOU ENJOY GOD?
I. SAD NEWS, MOST PEOPLE REALLY DO NOT ENJOY GOD.
Many people view the Christian faith as more of a burden than a blessing.
It produces more hardship than happiness.
It produces more spiritual austerity than abundance.
You know the type. Everything seems to be a battle. Everything seems to be a downer. Everything seems to be a fight. Everything has to be a struggle. There is no joy, little laughter, and no celebration of God’s grace. Everything is a stress or a strain, including the Christian life. They do not enjoy God.
II. WHY IS IT THAT MANY PEOPLE DO NOT ENJOY GOD?
If you listen to them closely, you will see that thy have a LOUSY VIEW OF GOD.
They view God more as a Mr. Law than a Mr. Grace.
They have a lousy idea that God’s acceptance is base their performance.
They have a view that God is a dictator ready to strike us down the moment we fail.
In some respects, it is easy to understand why they feel that way.
In many churches, that is what they hear from the pulpit week after week.
It’s what they read most of the Sunday School literature that comes from the SBC.
It is the kind of stuff they hear and see on religious radio and television.
Is there any surprise why so many people see church as a real downer?
When you have this lousy view of God, it robs worship of any sense of joy.
When you have this lousy view of God, it robs fellowship of even the hint of celebration.
When you have this lousy view of God, giving becomes a burden rather than blessing.
When you have this lousy view of God, ministry becomes a chore rather than a great adventure.
This is the kind of religion that many people create for themselves – do not be one of them.
And do not call a man or a woman to serve as your pastor who will enable this kind of stinking thinking about God.
Have you ever heard somebody say this? “I hope the preacher does not hold anything back. I hope the preacher is not afraid to step on our toes a bit. I just don’t feel like I’ve been to church unless somebody has stepped on my toes!"
Does this sound like the confession of a spiritually healthy person?
My hope, prayer, aim and ambition for the last seven years is that when we encountered God in worship, Bible study, fellowship, prayer, and ministry, that we take away from that experience a sense that we really enjoyed God.
I know that this has been hard for some people to accept.
Some seem to find it easier to be miserable and penitent before God than joyfully dependent on God. They allowed guilt and penance to become a substitute for actually experiencing the life-giving and life-changing presence of God’s Holy Spirit. Then, feeling guilty and miserable, they allow that to motivate them to serve God, rather than being motivated and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
We should never be motivated in the Christian faith by guilt, the desire to impress God, or by the need to try to earn God’s acceptance and favor.
Such motivation are ultimately self-centered, self-serving, and what the Bible calls “self-righteous.” Self-righteousness is anything we do to try to make ourselves “right with God.”
Now here is where the real frustration comes because not matter how hard we try or how much we do, we simply cannot make ourselves “right with God.”
God will not like you or love you or accept you more just because you are more religious than the next person.
God will not like you or love you or accept you more just because you are committed to church work.
God will not like you or love you or accept you more just because you try to live a good life.
Why not? It is simple! No matter how “good” you act or how “hard” you work, you just cannot reach God’s standard.
That’s why so many people in the church live with such an overwhelming sense of guilt.
They realize that they just can’t ever do enough to satisfy a completely holy and righteous God and that’s when the joy departs from the faith of many and religion becomes more of a burden than a blessing.
So what should motivate us? Our motivation should always be that we overwhelmed with joy at the thought of God’s love and amazing grace.
So, let me ask you again, “Do you enjoy God!”
Maybe you want to. You want to enjoy God, but you are just not sure how.
III. HOW DO WE ENJOY GOD?
There are three things that must be at present in our lives if we are going to enjoy God.
A) We need a new perspective of God.
The way we view God will make a huge difference in whether or not we enjoy God.
So let me ask you another question, How do you see God?
This is such an important question. In my pastoral counseling, I have discovered that the most unhealthy people I deal with are those whom have unhealthy views of God.
Here’s what I hear. They come to mean in a spiritual crisis.
Perhaps they have heard a bad report from a physician.
Maybe they have watched as a spouse or a child has died.
On some occasions, they have lost a job and the ability to support their family.
Do you know the first thing that tends to come out of their mouth?
"God is punishing me?" OR
"I wish I knew what I did to God to deserve this!" OR
"God is getting even with me for the time I did such and such?"
As strange as it may seem, this how many people view God.
That being the case is it any wonder that why most people seldom enjoy God.
How can you enjoy God if you think He’s out to get even with you for your sins?
We need a new perspective on God.
That’s what Jesus gives us, a new perspective on God!
Most people have such an ungodly view of God!
I’ve felt that way about God—until I saw Jesus.
In Jesus I began to see God in a new light.
Jesus changed my perspective on God.
Jesus revealed to me what God the Father is really like.
He is a God who loves me.
He is a God who forgives me.
He is a God who accepts me!
Read the words of Jesus—they are God’s words.
Look at the actions of Jesus—they are God’s acts as well.
Look at the attitudes expressed by Jesus—they are his attitudes as well.
Look at how Jesus suffered—that’s how God suffers.
See Jesus…as a friend of sinners…filled with kindness and compassion…crucified.
See him on the cross and ask yourself,
“Alas, and did my savior bleed, and did my sovereign die!
Would he devote that sacred head, for a sinner such as I?"
The answer is YES—he would! That is what God is like.
See Jesus. Come to the cross and see Jesus. Come to the cross and see God in Jesus.
Come to the cross and see God’s love for you in Jesus.
This love will melt down your “religion” and recast it into the mold of joyous and loving relationship.
My friends, to enjoy God we need a perspective on God.
We need a perspective of God that comes from looking to Jesus.
But that’s not all. When we have a new perspective on God that will also give us a …
B) New way to approach God
How do most people approach God?
Too often, they (we) of us come to God with fear and trembling on the basis of the law.
We come trying to please God and earn God’s favor.
We come trying to obey the “Ten Commandments,” do “good deeds,” and “observe religious rituals.”
Will that make God like us? NO!
Will that make God love us? NO!
Will that convince God to accept us? NO!
Listen, God did give us the law to be a tool used to develop new schemes to impress God
Why did God give us the law? Why did God give us “the Ten Commandments?”
God gave us the law so we would know how far we have strayed from God.
God gave us the law to drive us into God’s loving and inviting arms of grace.
How are we to approach God? We are to approach God through His GRACE.
Grace means…
…God loves us first, long before we were aware of it.
…God loves us freely, not because of who we are and what we have done, but because of…
…God loves us always, no matter how far we stray.
Grace means that we should stop trying to impress God.
Grace means that we should stop trying to merit God’s favor through our efforts.
Grace means, instead, that we simply receive God’s love using nothing except the empty hands of faith.
If you are here today trying to live a “good life” and trying to be a “committed church member” and "trying to do the right things" in order to merit God’s favor, then let me tell you that you will always get in the way of your enjoyment of God.
The most unhealthy and unhappy people I know are those who try to impress God by their righteousness.
If you are trying by your own efforts to please and earn God favor then…
…the church will always be a place of burden to you.
…your faith will always be a chore.
…your prayers will never seem to lift beyond the ceiling.
That’s not the gift Jesus came to bring us!
He gave his life for you, to put his life in you, to live his life through you.
Jesus said, "I have come that you might have life, and have it is all its abundance."
Listen—if you have confessed faith in Jesus as your Savior, Lord, and Life--then God’s already accepts you.
God already likes you! God already loves you.
Stop trying to “live the Christian life.” You cannot do it anyway.
Let go and allow God’s grace to live through you.
When the meaning of God’s grace begins to unfold before you, you will not be able to contain the joy.
If you want to enjoy God then you need to approach Him in His grace.
To approach God in His grace and enjoy his presence, there is one more thing you will need! You will need a…
C) New relationship with God
If you are one of those people who live with the nagging feeling that God is always on your back, let me give you a simple/biblical cure. To get God off your back, you need to get God into your heart.
I was talking to somebody recently who knew I was a pastor. He made some references to his business and the bottom line being all about numbers and profits. Then he said something that blew me away. He said, “I guess it is a lot like that in the business of organized religion!”
He was right. Organized religion is like a business. As I listened to this guy speak, I started to pray, “Lord, I don’t want to be about the work of “organized religion.” and true Christianity.
Organized religion is based on externals…numbers…ceremonies…rituals…rules…regulations.
There is no joy in attending church externally if internally we are empty.
We could tinker with the programs and the leadership—but that would not change a thing.
We could overhaul our style of worship—but that would not make our gathering more joyful.
The externals will not make the difference—the internals will!
What is most important is not what goes on “out here,” but what is going on “in here.”
Conclusion,
Who can make it possible for you to enjoy God? Only God!
And here’s the good news, God has already done his part.
He gave his life for you, to put his life in you, to live his life through you.
What’s left? Simply respond to His loving grace in the empty arms of faith.
Simply learn daily to CAST YOUR LIFE INTO HIS AND DEPEND ON HIM!
