I am Here; Did You Notice?
August 12, 2012
Intro:
I am learning a valuable lesson lately – about things I’ve never noticed. Things I’ve taken for granted for a long time. Things that have been around, doing their job, with never a celebration or a word of thanks or the smallest bit of appreciation.
I broke my toe two weeks ago. It is the middle toe on my right foot. I confess to you that until recently, I have taken the middle toe on my right foot for granted. I never thanked it. I never celebrated it. In fact, I never paid it any attention at all except to clip the toenail along with the rest of them. And I never realized how much I actually use it until it got broken. (You are all curious, so I’ll tell you how – I simply slipped on some slick mud and rammed my foot into a concrete parking block). It is not painful, certainly not life-threatening, but now that I don’t have proper use of the middle toe on my right foot I am discovering just how much it actually does.
I can’t really walk properly – I sort of have to limp a bit. I certainly can’t run. We were camping last weekend, Joanne and Thomas got to play in the James river and float in a tube and ride bikes around; I sat in a chair and read novels with my foot up. I use my toe all the time, for movement and balance, and until it was broken I never even knew all the things it does for me.
Do you know where this is headed?!
Faithful Promises:
We believe the promises of Scripture:
Jesus said, “16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. 17 He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth.” (Jn 14)
It is promised throughout the Old Testament as well, one example comes from the end of Moses’ life: “6 So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.” (Deut 31)
It is repeated in the book of Hebrews: “For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.”” (Heb 13:5).
So we believe God is faithful, constant, and with us always. We believe, when we stop to think about it, that the sun rises and sets, the rains come, the plants and animals grow and give us food, because God is good and faithful. We believe that we can count on God, that He is there, and that we have placed our trust in Him. He will “never leave”, He will “neither fail you nor abandon you.”
But God must never become like the middle toe on my right foot – there but never really noticed.
Awakening:
See, it comes down to awareness, and awareness is a result of intentional focus. I wasn’t aware of my toe because I never intentionally focused on it, until pain forced me to. I know for a fact, from reading Scripture, two things: first, God does not want us to experience pain in order to intentionally focus on Him; but second He will allow us to feel pain if that results in us intentionally focusing on Him.
But that second fact is, I think, a “last resort” for God. Think of it like this: say as a parent, you want and need for your child to learn something important for their own best good. For example, you want them to learn to properly care for themselves – they are dirty after a full day playing outside and need to take a bath. First, we ask: “you’ve had a great day playing in the sand, please go get cleaned up and then come have dinner”. If they don’t, we remind again: “Hey, what are you doing? I told you that you need to get cleaned up. It is dinner time, I’ve got a great meal for you to enjoy but you need to do what I told you to do.” If the child continues to disobey, the situation escalates into a conflict resulting in punishment of some kind or another. The parent didn’t want that, they wanted their child to come enjoy a meal after a great day; but the child’s stubborn disobedience necessitated some sort of pain to intentionally focus the child on the need.
Isn’t it so much better when we just obey the first time?
I don’t want this sermon to be about punishment and pain and disobedience and how that forces our loving God into a place where He must discipline us as His children, because of His love for us and His deep desire for us to enjoy full lives. I don’t want it to be about how we ignore God until something breaks and we are forced to intentionally focus on Him. Because the real message is so much bigger and more important and honestly more powerful.
Love:
God Loves Us. Way down deep, deep within my soul, and probably yours as well, we know this to be The Truth. In my written notes, that is capitalized: “The Truth”. It is “the BIG truth”; the one that starts it all and undergirds it all and that empowers it all. It is why we exist, why we live, why we serve. It is the single biggest, most important, most powerful truth we know and we ever will know. God Loves Us.
And the key word among those three words is not the one that usually forms the focus of our lives. The key word is not “us”; the key word is not “me” if you want to make that phrase “God loves ‘me’”. This is where we get most mixed up, this is where we get most off track, this is where we get most deceived. The key word is not “us” or “me”, the key word is “God”.
When I talk about “awareness” and “intentional focus”, the shift we need is from that “me/us” and onto “God”. See, I think this is one of the root problems with our faith and our culture and our lives: we’ve placed the awareness and focus on what God can do for us. God can forgive me. God can heal me. God can bless me. Even “God loves me”. All true, all wonderful truths. But the danger is the focus on the “me”, rather than “God”.
God:
When, instead of focusing on “us/me”, we focus on God, we move into something entirely amazing. Intentional focus on God leads to a deeper awareness of God, and into a knowledge and experience of His love. And this is what transforms, empowers, brings life, and invites us into something really huge, really purposeful, really significant. You and I have the opportunity and invitation to step into something far beyond ourselves, to be part of something huge that changes eternity and that wraps us up into something incredible. Have you grasped the opposite yet – I am not talking about us being filled with God; that puts us back at the focus and causes us to imagine God coming and filling us. Instead, I am talking about us focusing on God and letting ourselves get absorbed and wrapped up and enveloped in Him and in His all-powerful yet all-gentle arms. And yes He forgives me and heals me and blesses me but that happens as a result of my being absorbed, adopted, enveloped in Him.
So who is this God, and when did I, or you, last stop to intentionally focus on Him. To become aware, awakened, absorbed into His love and His life and His will? To stop talking and listen. To stop our activity and shut out the outside bombardments from media and entertainment and seeking comfort and pleasure? He is here, and when we stop and notice, and intentionally focus, and choose to listen, God does this incredible miracle.
He reveals Himself to us. He shows us His love. It is like He is waiting, eager, with this incredible gift and experience that He wants us to join. Like He has this amazing party going on, a celebration, a wedding feast, and we are just outside the door, but looking away. And God knocks, He opens the door, He whispers “I am here! Come on in!! It is pretty great in here!!!”.
The party isn’t about us – we are not the guest of honor. We are not the star of the show. We are not the focus of the celebration. The party is about the God of the Universe – the Creator and Sustainer and Redeemer! The party is about the God who loves humanity so much that He would give His one and only Son, so that all people, including you and me, might come in from the darkness, in from the cold, in from the pain, and be welcomed to a place in the Kingdom of God. Would you like to come in? Would you like to join in? The party is pretty fantastic.
And what gets me most is that it is happening right now. And often, my back is turned. My eyes are looking out into the darkness. My focus is not on God and His incredible Kingdom, that I have the opportunity to enjoy and be part of, instead it is on me. Some fleeting shadow I am chasing, that promises comfort or amusement or luxury. It is like some faint light in the distance that I chase after, hoping for some warmth or joy, because I’ve believed some lie that I need that or such and such will make my life better and make me feel important and loved. So instead of turning around and walking into God’s incredible party I chase off into the night after this thin false promise. Sometimes I chase after that for a long time, getting colder and more lost, and then sometimes I blame God and say “where are you? Why aren’t you here for me?”, and when I come to my senses I realize it isn’t God, it is me.
See, the promises of God’s presence with us always, which I read earlier, are in a broader context:
15 “If you love me, obey my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. 17 He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. (Jn 14)
5 The Lord will hand over to you the people who live there, and you must deal with them as I have commanded you. 6 So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.” (Deut 31)
4 Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage. God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery. 5 Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.” (Heb 13).
There are different specifics, but the context is the same: it is of obedience. God doesn’t invite us in, then lock the door behind us and remove responsibility and choice from us. We can’t enjoy a party we don’t want to be at, or that we are at but not convinced there is something better “out there”. Love doesn’t force, it offers and woos and invites, it romances and seeks and sacrifices, but it never forces.
Our role is one of obedience. And when we obey, when we accept, when we pause, when we awaken, when we realize and recognize and receive, love transforms everything.
I asked a few moments ago when we last stopped to intentionally focus on God. I hope it was this morning as we worshiped – we had the chance. It could have, it might have, hopefully it did invite you into a place where it was possible to intentionally focus and encounter the God who loves us (emphasis on God, not “us” ). Because such experiences are really incredible. They are what our lives are supposed to be about, because that is where life is at its very best. Let me close with one such story.
Conclusion:
One of the weeks I was away this summer was taking 8 of our older boys to camp at Gull Lake. Back in February I told a story from last summer, where our boys and I met God at the beach, and they were all eager and remembered and wanted to “do that again”. I was cautious, trying to manage their expectations that it “wouldn’t be the same” as last year so as to avoid disappointment and disillusionment. I should have known that I could trust God more than that!
We planned to go again on the last night of camp, after campfire, to “sneak” down to the beach. But I’m old enough now to know that nature is not at my beck and call, and that it could just as easily be pouring rain on the last night, and I do try to be attentive and keep some intentional focus on God. And so, the second last night of camp we had had an evening campfire session that was unique: rather than listening to a speaker, the speaker had set up space and time and set the campers free to go and listen to God and respond to Him, in child-friendly and appropriate ways. I took the time to listen and ask God for things He might choose to say to each of our boys, and wrote down what I thought. I was watching out for my boys, and it didn’t seem they were fully engaged in the activity which was fine, none of us wanted to “force” it.
But as the evening was coming to a close, and we were preparing to go back to our cabin to get ready for bed, I noticed the sky through the trees. And the gentle whisper of God promised something. So I said “come on boys, let’s hustle to the beach… I think we might get a sunset…” Of course, I got the “really! Can we?? Are we allowed?!?” Of course it was muddy and at one point I had to pick up and carry each of them across a mini lake (and there may be another sermon in that little detail), but we got to the dock. And they started to intentionally focus. And listen, to God and to one another. And I realized that their desire to “do it again” was not so much an expectation for a repeat of the year before, but rather a hunger and expectation that the God they met the year prior would once again meet them and speak to them. And, of course, God did.
We lay there for about 45 minutes as the sun set, and every one of them started to talk and listen to God and share. They said things like “I think God is saying that His love is like this great big lake, it is so big and amazing”; and like “Yes, and the ripples are like God trying to show us is love”; and like “ya, and that sandbar over there is like the things in our lives that keep God’s love away from us”, or “maybe the sandbar is like the things that keep us from sharing God’s love with others that need to know about God’s love”, and on and on we went for about 45 minutes. 8 boys, who stopped. Who intentionally focused. And who experienced the incredible love of God speaking, inviting, reaching out to them.
And honestly, it isn’t that complicated. It isn’t that difficult. It isn’t that hard. All it takes, I really honestly believe, is that we choose to make some time and space, and intentionally focus on God. Not on us, not on the things going on in our lives, not seeking our own needs and wants and desires. Remember Jesus’ words: “seek first the Kingdom of God, and all these things will be added…”. But just seeking God. With the innocent expectation of a child. With the promise that God is here.
The door to the party which is the Kingdom of God is open. The invitation is given. The opportunity is before you. What is stopping you? What is holding you back? What resistance have you put up? It is not worth it. Please, don’t stand outside a moment longer. Enter in. Turn around. Let nothing stop you, let nothing hold you back, let nothing get in the way. Join the party, let God speak His love for you, throw yourself into His arms and His Kingdom, and enjoy.
(close in prayer; opportunity to choose a time or space…).
