How To Tell If Your Life Is Out Of Focus Isaiah 45:22
“Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else”
Opening:
The story is told of a pastor of a large church who had a dream one night that really opened his eyes. He dreamed that he could see his own church worship service on Sunday morning. But there was something very strange happening.
The choir was singing. The mouths of the choir members were open......but no sound was heard.
The people in the congregation were singing. But there was nothing from their mouths, either.
The preacher himself got up to preach his typical Sunday sermon. He opened his mouth to preach.....but nothing came out.
There was absolutely no sound at all in the entire worship center. Then, the pastor saw a little girl up in the balcony and heard her little voice singing, "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me."
The pastor was confused and suddenly woke up. "Lord, what was I dreaming? It doesn’t make sense to me." He asked.
The Lord spoke to his heart and said, "Pastor, you just saw a picture of what I see in your ministry and in your church every Sunday morning. People are singing and you are preaching.......but I hear nothing. Your heart is not focused on me. You are focused on yourself. The only one I heard in your church last Sunday was the little girl in the balcony who matters to very few people in your church. But she matters to me......because she came to church today with the right motive: to love me with all of her heart!"
If I were to ask you tonight…..what is the focus of the church……..could you answer?
Some may say to reach the lost……that is not our focus….that is our commission.
Some may say to fellowship…….that is not our focus….. that is commendable.
Some may say to learn the scriptures…….that is not our focus……that is commanded.
Our focus is the keep the main thing…the main thing. That is to worship our Lord with all our hearts, souls and minds.
Hebrews 12:1-2(KJV) 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God
So let me ask you a question…..What if Jesus showed you a dream of our church? What would He hear? What would you see? Whose heart is truly focused on the Lord?
Over the past year, God has truly blessed West Shiloh. And can I say that I think the best days are still to come! That is…..IF we are willing to lay some things aside.
One of the biggest concerns to me today….. is when I look at most churches…those churches that God is currently choosing to bless…..they often seem to be losing focus. They seem to become complacent and it seems they are unwilling to lay some things aside. It seems that as long as things are going good….the bills are being paid…..projects are being completed and God is still blessing…..then all is good. BUT IS IT REALLY?
ILLUSTRATION: There is a book called "The Power of Habit" (http://charlesduhigg.com/the-power-of-habit/) and it is about how so much of our daily life is lived by habit. We have to. Our brain needs habits in order for us to be able to function. Just about everything we do is habitual.
How we walk... you don’t have to think about how to move your legs and to lift your foot and bring it forward and to shift your weight. When you’re were 2 and just learning how to walk, your brain spends a lot of energy training your brain to do that. But now you don’t even think about it... until there is some disability or arthritis or when we trip over something... and then suddenly our brain has to move that thought to our conscious brain.
But if we had to think about every single movement or how we do anything, our brain would be so overwhelmed, we couldn’t get anything done. God designed our brains in a way that most of what we do is done in a small part of the brain that just takes over to free up our conscious brain, that takes more energy.
Try something once (just go with it here). Cross your arms.
Now do it the other way. You have to think about it don’t you?
Almost everything we do, we do by habit... or a series of habits. Walking, talking, eating, driving a car... how you get ready in the morning... and so God designed us this way so that we could function most of the time.
When you get to the top of a set of stairs, your brain already knows what this looks like and so the brain hands it over to the amygdale (part of the brain) to do that hard work of which foot goes first and how the stepping motion works, so that you can focus instead on any surprises that might change the habit, like stuff ON the stairs, that you need to avoid.
It’s a really cool function of the brain to help us handle all the decisions we face constantly everyday.
And since this is true, then it makes me wonder …………..how much of what we do is really by instinct and is NOT what God wants us to do? Is it really done more from habit?
Not only is the good stuff habitual... but so are the things we’d rather change... and this is why it’s so hard to change our habits...it is actually because it has been moved to that part of the brain deep inside that tends to work on instinct instead of consciously.
And so a lot of our behavior, the things that we do, isn’t really from Satan per se... as much as it’s just the habits “we” have fallen into and developed over time...stuff we have done so much that it is just the way we respond by instinct without a lot of conscious thought going into it.
My concern is that when the church becomes complacent……when we as church members become complacent…..then the church….and the things pertaining to the church and even our service to the church becomes….no more than just a habit in and of itself. I know that this message tonight is probably preaching to the choir…….but I think we all….including myself need to be reminded from time to time to pay attention to the way and also the things we do…….. so they do not come habitual.
So how do we maintain our focus? Or better yet how do we refocus?
Turn with me to Matthew 14:24-33
I am sure we all know the story of Peter walking on water. And within this story are many great truths …..and truth being told…….. many different sermons of life application could be preached and taught from these verses.
But I want to focus on the eyes tonight. We know from the story that there was a storm going on….the Bible said the little shipped was tossed in the waves and the winds were contrary (verse 24). Verse 26 said the disciple SAW Him…..in other words their eyes were FOCUSED ON JESUS. Peter also had his eyes…his focus on Jesus……..In fact, he was so focused that he did not miss out on what Jesus was doing. He wanted to be a part of this great miracle…..not to be praised…..but to do something that most men would say could not be done.
Allow me to ask you a question? Could you walk on water?..................NO? Why not? Peter did!
I will tell you why the answer was “NO”…..it is because we are not focused! Jesus said we could move mountains if we had the faith of a grain of mustard seed. In other words…if we have the right focus…..then we will have the right faith. Peter had enough faith to step out of the boat…..and his focus was on walking to…. and with Jesus. Not only did he have enough faith to step out….but he had enough faith to walk on water……that is until he lost his focus…..and that is when he began to sink.
This reason I am telling you this tonight….is I believe that West Shiloh may be complacent at times. We do thing out of habit rather than focus. Why did you come tonight….was it habit? Or were you focused? Why is that we have a full house on Sunday mornings…..yet very few on Sunday Night and even less on Wednesday? The reason……mostly because the ones who come on Sunday Morning……are coming out of habit. Everyone knows that you go to church on Sunday Morning? MY QUESTION…is WHY?
When our altars are empty most of the time……..It shows me that people are afraid to use the altar because it is a habit not to. When people are asked to do something……and they immediately say……“I can’t”……it is because they are in the habit of saying this.
Folks….I am praying that God will redirect our focus. In fact, I am praying that God does something so big here…..that just like disciples on the boat……”you too” will be afraid. (Notice the words of Jesus in verse 27…..”be not afraid”). So my prayer is that we begin to break some really bad habits…..and we begin to refocus on the Lord Jesus Christ . And since this is the part of the church that I feel is truly is wanting to see something from Jesus……Then I think this is the best place to start.
So notice our text again in Isaiah 45:22: “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else”
The day we were saved…it began with a look. It began with focus not on who we were, but who Jesus was. Then there was the second look after noticing who Jesus really was…to notice who we really are!
Can I say that we need to focus like this one again? Who is Jesus? He is our Savior…..our Redeemer…our Comforter and our Guide.
Who are we? We are His children….saved by the precious blood of Jesus ….to serve Him!
Notice the words of Isaiah…….”For I am God, and there is none else”. SINCE He is God……Does He not deserve total praise? YES HE DOES! And if our praise is just habitual praise….then is really praise? So if we are going to praise Him the way He deserves to be praised….then we must REFOCUS. How do we do that? Allow me to share FIVE quick things with you.
I. WE MUST HAVE A FOCUS ON PRAYER
How much do you really pray? 5 minutes? 15 minutes? 1 hour? 2 hours? ……….Can I say to you that this still is not enough.
We all fall short…..including me. The reason we pray is because quite frankly….. we have been taught that we should. In other words….we pray out of “habit” that we feel we need to. Prayer should not be on a need to bases…it should be on a want to bases! You should want to pray!
1 Thessalonians 5:17 (KJV) 17 Pray without ceasing.
If we have to remember that we need to pray…then we have a bad habit! We need to understand that praying is continual conversation with the Lord……and when we are focused on Him…..then we do not have to remember that it is time to pray. Prayer should be natural. It is a conversation just like we have with anyone else. We all need to develop a good habit of continual conversation with Jesus Christ. This is a good habit to get into.
II. WE MUST HAVE A FOCUS ON BIBLE STUDY
Where do you learn the most about the Bible? At Church? Well then, if that is the case we need to refocus once again.
2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV) 15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
John 16:13 (KJV) 13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
When you were in school, the teachers taught you the basics….then you were expected to go home and do what? “HOMEWORK”! That is correct……you were to go home and study even deeper what you were taught.
How often do you take notes on Sundays when I preach? Even Wednesdays when I teach? If not….then I ask… why not? When you were in school you took notes and then you went home to STUDY and try to learn more. Why should we not do the same thing for our Savior? If our focus is on Him…..then our focus will be on learning as much as we can about Him…in order to please Him! If we don’t study at home…then it is because once again…..we have a bad habit and we lack focus.
III. WE MUST HAVE A FOCUS ON TRUE WORSHIP
True Worship requires True Commitment! (Repeat this with me)
There are two kinds of Worship that we need to know about. First there is Corporate Worship. This is what we do when we are together in God’s House. SO once again….why do you come to church? I hope the answer is not, “Because I am suppose to”, …..but rather, “Because I really want to”. Worship begins when we really WANT to worship Him. We Worship Him in our singing….in our praying….and even when are truly listening for Him to speak to us in a corporate worship setting. The Bible says where two or three are gathered together, He is in the midst with them. He is their because He is wanting…..and should I also say deserving….or our praise.
But there is also private worship. How many of you understand what I am asking and can fully explain what private worship really is?
Private worship begins at home. It is when we spend time PRAYING (aka talking to Jesus), when we spend time studying (aka listen for his response) and even in our daily walk. It begins at home, but can I say that private worship can happen in car on the ride to work. It can happen on the job when you need to take just a minute and focus on the Lord to ask for help to get through the day….it can even begin on the way to church when you begin to pray for God to work in a mighty way here at West Shiloh.
How many of you believe that our mandate is to reach the lost? If you do, then how many of you actually personally pray for someone that you know is lost? I am talking about on a daily or even hourly timeframe? OUCH? I know, that hurts…but when we begin to truly understand private worship….It changes HOW we worship God.
James 5:16 (KJV) - The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much
IV. WE MUST HAVE A FOCUS ON SERVICE
How much does God use you? Where does God use you? When does God use you? And are you really doing what He wants you to do?
Service is one of the toughest areas when our life is out of focus? If you are not focused on God…there is no way you can accomplish what He wants you to accomplish. Peter could not have walked on water….even if was briefly….if he had not been focused on the response of Jesus. Jesus TOLD HIM to come….and He did. And can I say that Jesus is speaking too many of us each and every day…….yet the problem is……that we are not focused on hearing what He is asking us to do. And when they do hear his voice…the typical response is….” I can’t! “
I Can’t is a cancer to the Christian life. It is a BAD HABIT and needs to be completely eradicated from our vocabulary. Paul did it….and you can too! The Apostle Paul did away with those words and replaced them with “I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS ME! Imagine what you could do if you got over the bad habits of the “I Cant!” Think about how healthy spiritually you would be without this cancer in your life tearing you down!
V. WE MUST HAVE A FOCUS ON GIVING
There are four areas of giving that we have to be focused on. And all four areas also relate to our worship.
A. Time – We must focus on giving part of our time to Jesus. It hurts me so that I see so many in this church and many other churches that give God one hour on Sunday Morning and that is all the time they allot for Him. That is unless we have a meal……and Baptist somehow have time to show up for that. They also seem to have time for entertainment……..they can rearrange a schedule for that….but heaven forbid that they should rearrange a schedule to come to a Bible study.
B. Tithes – We must focus on giving our tithes to Jesus. This is the one thing that so many refuse to give to Jesus. They say they cannot afford to give to Jesus. We had better get out of that habit really quick. God gave us the strength to work….and the job to go to…and He could easily chose to remove both to make us understand who is the true provider.
Malachi 3:8 (KJV) 8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
Gods Words…not mine!
C. Talk – We must focus on our talk…..or lack of? What I mean is we need to guard our speech and even bad or offensive thing that may be uttered over our lips. We must also learn to speak up for Christ when we are given the opportunity. Learn to praise Him. Learn to share your testimonty? Learn to invite others to accept Christ as well.
D. Talents – We must focus our on using our God given talents. God has blessed every one of us with specific talents and gifts. You may not have the gift of preaching….but you may have the gift of exhortation. If you do use it. Perhaps God has given you the ability to sing…then sing like a bird for His glory. Perhaps it is to teach, then teach for His glory. Perhaps it is in another area…whatever area it is…..our focus must be on giving to Him the talents He has given to us!
CLOSING:
So how is you spiritual vision? A little cloudy perhaps? Then maybe it is time to get refocused on what is important. Perhaps it is time to develop the right kind of habits.......Notice the words of Isaiah......
““Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else”
He is God.....and he deserves our focus!
