Communion With God: The Foundation Of Life – Part 2
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Introduction:
1. Did you know that God desires your constant communion? If you look up the word “communion” in Webster’s, it defines it as “intimate fellowship; a close relationship with someone or something.”
2. Mankind was created to have that daily communion with God.
3. Your daily communion with God is absolutely essential. It provides the foundation for everything else in your life.
4. What does it mean to have communion with God? At its very core, it is simply talking with God.
5. Let’s continue looking at the Old Testament story of King Hezekiah in 2 Chronicles 29. Israel had forsaken God, and Hezekiah restored the worship of God and communion with God. There are several principles we can learn from this story that will help us.
First, our communion with God must be based on truth.
Second, our communion with God must be genuine.
1. Wives, when your husband expresses his love for you, the most important thing to you is that he is being sincere and genuine. Example: When he knows he’s in hot water, the flowers don’t mean as much as when he brings them to you for no reason at all.
• What if every morning he got up, and before he left that day he said in a robotic, monotone voice, “I love you, I need you, I’m glad you’re my wife.” After a few days of that, it wouldn’t mean much, would it?
• When he says, “I love you,” you want to know it is coming from his heart, deep inside.
2. Did you know God is the same way? Matthew 22:37-38
• Notice, Christ didn’t say, “Love God with your body, or voice, or fancy, eloquent words.” He said to love God with your all your heart, soul, and mind.
• Let’s look at John 4:24. This is speaking of your inner spirit. You have a spirit that resides in a body, and God designed your spirit to communicate with Him. When you commune with God, it is your spirit responding to God’s Spirit.
• When Christ said to love God with all your heart, He meant that our fellowship with God should be heartfelt and genuine.
3. When you pray and talk to God, it is not an issue of saying just the right words; the issue is that you must mean what you say. Example: Matthew 15:8-9
• The scribes and Pharisees were worshiping and talking to God, but it didn’t mean anything to God. In fact, it was an insult to God. Their lips were saying one thing, but God saw that their hearts were in an entirely different place.
4. In our text, Hezekiah led the nation of Israel in unified worship of God, but the key is in verse 10, “Now it is in mine heart…” (cf. vs. 31) “…as many as were of a free heart…”
• Their communion with God was very pleasing to God because it was straight from their hearts.
5. When you commune with God, be real, be genuine, and be yourself.
• Don’t try to imitate somebody else’s words or style. Some like to commune with God outdoors, some inside, some on their knees, some standing up or walking, some with hymns, some with praise choruses, some by raising their hands, some by somberness, some by laughing and shouting, some with crying and tears (and you may change from day to day).
• A lot of it has to do with our backgrounds and personalities. God made us all different, and so we won’t all express our love to God the same way.
6. When we commune with God, God is simply looking for people who are honest and real before Him. There is no pretense or charade.
Third, our communion with God should be sacrificial.
1. Allow me to share two different scenarios between a husband and wife.
• Illustration: A husband brings flowers home to his wife. He got them from a funeral he went to that day.
• Illustration: A husband gives his wife a sentimental birthday card, and she finds out that his assistant at work picked it out for him to give to her.
o What is her attitude when she finds out about these things? “You mean you couldn’t take the time….”
o What is the problem in both of these situations? It didn’t cost him anything. There was no sacrifice whatsoever.
2. In 2 Samuel 24:24, David said, “…neither will I offer burnt-offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing.”
3. Here in our text, King Hezekiah and all these worshipers sweat, toil, and repair the house of God. They also invest in bullocks, goats, rams, and lambs. vs. 31-32
• They offered these sacrifices and thanks offerings willingly.
• Their time, their strength, their energy, and their material possessions went into their worship of God. Their communion with God meant something to them.
4. Today, God does not require dead animal sacrifices. These all pointed to the day when Christ would be the ultimate and final sacrifice for the sins of all mankind. But once you accept Christ as your Savior, here is what God expects.
• God wants you to worship Him by offering yourself (your entire being) as a living sacrifice. Romans 12:1
o This means spending time with God in prayer, giving of your talents and abilities to serve Him, and sacrificing material possessions, so His work can advance.
• When we love God with all our hearts, it should cost us something.
5. In Mark 12:30, Jesus said to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
• Worshiping God and communing with God takes effort and energy. It is not always convenient or comfortable.
• When you praise God even when you don’t feel like it… when you set the alarm early so you can spend time communing with God through prayer and Bible reading… when you worship Him through giving when you could have spent the money on yourself
• Do we ever really make sacrifices because we love God? Or does God get our leftovers? Many times, God gets the leftovers of our time, our talents, and our treasure.
6. If we are going to truly love God, commune with God, and worship God, it will cost us something. It will require sacrifice. This pleases God.
• Back to illustration of husband and wife: The husband gives his wife a gift, and she finds out that he really sacrificed something to get it for her. The last two months he didn’t play golf so he could do some extra jobs to buy it for her. Now it really means something!
Fourth, our communion with God should be enjoyable.
1. Wives, isn’t it fun when you go somewhere with your husband because you guilt-tripped him into it, and he acts like he’s miserable the entire time? Doesn’t that mean a lot to you? It’s a lot like swallowing cough medicine or going to the dentist.
2. God desires for us to worship Him and enjoy doing it. Look in our text at Hezekiah and the people (vs. 27-30, 36). They’re having a time, aren’t they?
3. God doesn’t want us to fellowship with Him and spend time with Him because we feel guilty – read our Bibles, go to church, pray, give to Him – because we have to.
• He wants us to do these things because we want to. We love Him!
• Worshiping our God is something we should want to do. Communing with God is something we should do out of love, not out of duty.
4. This may seem to contradict my previous point, but that is not the case. When our heart is right, our worship of God may cost us something, but we are glad to do it!
• We are thrilled and overjoyed to be able to bring pleasure to our God.
• Colossians 1:24 Paul said, “I rejoice in my sufferings for you…”
In Conclusion:
1. When you think about the Christian life and boil it all down, it is rather simple. Love God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind.
2. We demonstrate our love for God by communing with Him - spending time with Him. It is the foundation of life. Without it, your life is missing something.
3. There is something inside of you that knows that you need to connect with God and do it regularly, every day.
4. Your fellowship and walk with Christ should not just be a part of your life, it should be your life!
