Common
Pt. 3 - Tag!
Introduction
We are afflicted with apathy. We are so overcome by it that we treat God as if He is "a dime a dozen", ordinary, optional, routine, or common! So I have been challenging our approach to Him. If we reverence Him appropriately then we will approach Him, prepare for Him, and treat Him differently.
One of my favorite childhood games was tag. I know there are several versions of tag such as freeze tag. But I am referring to the purest, the highest level of just straight tag. There are a couple of different ways to play tag. You could be cautious and hang out on the fringe and avoid being caught but never really enjoying the adrenaline rush of the chase. The second way to play, and my preferred method, was to take risk. I would use my amazing, mind boggling quickness and get as close to the person who was it as I could and then right when they would attach their attention to me I would outrun them to saftey. One of the intriguing aspects of tag is the role reversal that can take place in the game. The person who was "it" could go from being the chaser to the chasee in a blink of eye simply on the basis of a reach or a touch. One of the wrinkles of the game was the skill that many of us honed in touching back. We developed the ability to quickly reach back and touch the person who touched us. So we had to often adopt a "no tags back" rule. Otherwise a person could never get free of being "it".
All of that to declare that we are caught in a lifelong game of tag. However, this game of tag is unique in that our "opponent", if you will, is God. What I want to draw your attention to is the role reversals that take place in the divine game of chase.
To give you a backdrop From Scripture let me draw your attention to two of David's statements. The first is found in
Psalms 139:7-10
Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
One version says "Where can I go to avoid Your Spirit?"
So David captures the idea that God pursues us! He is after us. He is chasing us constantly. In fact, David recognized there is no base. There is no safe zone. Anywhere I go He can, will and has found me.
Some of you thought you could escape Him and He has proven time and time again that He will chase you down. You have intentionally tried to escape. You have done your dead level best to offend Him so badly that He would avoid you. You have used every dodge, every duck, every juke that you have fine tuned and perfected in your tag playing career and yet through distancing choices, delaying decisions, tag avoiding words and habits you discover that He corners you with His love, His grace, His touch, His call. Simply stated, "You can't get away!"
You have been tagged.
God has chased you. He has done everything He can to get to you. He begins the chase. No man comes to the Father unless the Spirit brings Him. He initiates. Fortunately there is "no tag backs" rule in this game. There will be moments when He chases you down and tags you with His touch and due to the struggles of your life, sickness, broken relationships, hurt, pain you will reach out and tag Him back and His presence will come after you again! When you have no strength to pursue Him He will run after you. So as I confront apathy towards God if your honest self examination reveals that your lack of pursuit of God has nothing to do with lack of care or desire but is a result of injury or exhaustion then the good news is He will pick up the pursuit again.
David understood the idea of being the object of chase. However, David also experienced the role reversal that takes place in this game. You see the change in
Psalms 42:1-2
As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?
So now the roles have reversed. David is not being chased he is the one chasing. He has discovered that he is now "it". He longs for God. He thirsts for God and is ready to chase Him down. He must chase. He must pursue.
Like David, I think that we need to realize that "Tag you're it!"
He has done His part. He has tagged us and now the roles have reversed and the lack of His presence that we feel is not due to His absence but rather due to the lack of our pursuit!
The proof of desire is pursuit!
We prove what we desire by what we pursue. It is time to shake off apathy and become desperate for His presence to the degree that we will pursue Him again.
Scripture is full of the language of pursuit . . .
Seek while He can be found.
Seek ye first the Kingdom of God.
Hunger and thirst after righteousness.
My soul follows hard after you!
Knock.
Tag you're it.
He must once again become our single pursuit! If your desire is real, then your pursuit will bear that out. Apathy will cause a tagged person to wait for more tagging. Apathy will cause you to fail to realize that you are now it! We have been touched so now it is our responsibility - we are response - able - to seek Him.
Some of you are waiting on God to chase you when He has already chased you. He is literally standing at arm's length saying "nah nah a boo boo you can't catch me!" He has positioned for pursuit. He wants to be pursued and we won't even extend any effort to chase. Perhaps we have become too comfortable with His presence that the chase seems convenient and comfortable. I am asking you to pursue past the distant sightings of God. Push past the glimpses of His glory. Push past the close calls. Let's go hard after and corner Him. Let's chase Him down and touch Him so that He will be it again. Let's embrace the mentality of the woman who had the issue of blood and say to ourselves "I need to touch Him!" "I will push past every obstacle and hurdle every obstruction to get to Him!"
We can have as much of God as we are willing to pursue! I am asking us to shake off apathy and get back to the mentality of pursuit described in Matthew 13.
Matthew 13:44-46 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.
Realizing that we have been pursued, caught, and touched we now become desperate for Him to the degree that we will sell all and sell out to find Him. The parables in this passage are stories of sacrifice for the chance to get the treasure. He is the greatest treasure and if we are not diligent we will allow apathy to cause us to find the treasure and then only remember the experience or visit the experience. I am calling us to sacrifice whatever we must sacrifice to chase Him down again!
If our desire is judged by our pursuit, then what would be the assessment of our apathy level be?
I know you encountered Him when you were 12, but tag you are it!
I know you encountered Him when you were in pain, but tag you are it.
I know last year you cornered Him in one service, but tag you are it.
It is time to destroy apathy and pursue Him again.
