A GOOD QUESTION: Why don’t I sense God’s closeness more often?
- Most of us can tell you about moments in our lives when we sensed God’s closeness.
- One such moment for me was when the Holy Spirit spoke to me at 4 a.m. in Guangzhou, China. The presence of the Holy Spirit was so palpable and near that I knew I was in God’s presence.
- Those moments are incredible. Whether they are big life-changing moments or just little everyday glimpses of God’s movement, I think we would all say that we would like to have more of those. Is that possible?
A HOPEFUL SIGN: The kingdom is near.
- Matthew 10:5-7.
- This was good news that Jesus shared. You don’t have to wait many years for the kingdom. You don’t have to go something distant to find it. It is near.
- I believe the kingdom is still near today. We have the opportunity to embrace it, to participate in it, to be a part of it every day.
- The unfortunate reality, as we’ve already said, is that many of us don’t sense that very often. Could it be that the kingdom is hiding in plain sight?
- I want to argue this morning that we often get caught up in what the world says is important and worthwhile. In so doing, we get distracted from the daily opportunities to catch a glimpse of the kingdom right here beside us.
- Why would we do that? The things of the world are easy and shining. They attract our attention and cause us to forget that there are more worthwhile ways to spend our time. For example, we all know that playing on our smartphone is a largely wasteful way to spend our time, but it draws us in nonetheless. We lose out on more meaningful ways to spend our time, but we come back to it again and again because it’s bright and shiny.
- I think that is analogous to what we’re talking about this morning. There are opportunities to have a deeper moment on seeing the kingdom, but we get caught up in the cheap, easy, shining things of the world. I want to redirect us this morning back to some of the most likely places to see the kingdom breaking through all around us.
WHERE TO LOOK:
1. Do I hang with my equals or the least of these?
- Matthew 25:31-46; Luke 14:12-14.
- Our natural tendency is to be around our friends and those who are our equals in life: my social class, my income level, my education level, etc. It’s the way of the world – we are networking and connecting, we are climbing the ladder, we are moving up.
- So much of what we do in life is segmented in this way:
a. Most people live in neighborhoods where their neighbors are the same social class.
b. Most churches tend to be predominantly one social class or the other.
c. We love meeting someone who can be useful to us because they’re important in their field.
d. Within companies, the workers and the management don’t usually eat lunch together.
- It’s the way of the world.
- There are a couple of passages worth thinking about on this point:
a. Matthew 25:31-46.
- This is the famous “least of these” passage.
- In many ways, this is the most direct of statements on where to sense more of God in the world. Jesus here tells us that when do these kindnesses to the least and the lost, we do it to Him. Many of us have felt this before. You go serve at a soup kitchen and you sense God near. You reach out to a friend who has lost everything and you sense God near.
- This makes our “hang with my equals” tendency a problem. I rob myself of opportunities to sense the kingdom nearby when I live my life exclusively in an upwardly mobile mode.
b. Luke 14:12-14.
- Jesus offers some specific teaching in this regard. He tells us that instead of always inviting out those who can return the favor we instead should invite those who have no ability to repay us. Then we will be blessed with the kingdom.
- In a small way, we are trying to do that with the Scott meal – sitting down and eating with the struggling students there.
- Still, I have to confess that that isn’t exactly what Jesus says to do here because He isn’t just speaking of a church ministry but of our individual lives. And, so, we must admit that simply ignore Him on this point.
- Let’s go back to the opening point. It’s easy to shrug off these things as good ideas, but not anything that I’m willing to change my life to experience. And yet we’re surprised when we don’t sense God very often. Maybe the kingdom is near but we’re too busy networking to experience it.
2. Do I give them what they deserve or am I eager to share mercy?
- Matthew 5:43-47; Luke 6:27-36; Luke 7:36-50; Luke 15:22-24.
- Mercy is beautiful.
- Almost all of us have had our hearts touched by a display of mercy. Seeing that grace moves us. One reason why it does is that mercy is at the heart of God’s response to humanity. Rather than giving us what we deserve and letting justice rule the day, God has shown mercy toward us in Christ. Yes, we deserved punishment and judgment, but He chose to extend mercy instead.
- Additionally, for us to show mercy often means that we are acting with a measure of maturity since revenge is our default. We sense God’s Spirit flowing through us as we act like Him.
- For both of those reasons, sharing mercy brings a closeness to God.
3. Do I prefer shallow politeness or honest, uncomfortable emotion?
- Romans 12:15; Galatians 6:2.
- There is something powerful about being in the presence of someone and sharing an honest, open moment of emotion.
- To make that connection, to gaze deeply into someone’s soul, to have them share what’s hidden in their heart – those are holy moments.
- Most of us are too chicken to ask real questions and be in the presence of real emotion.
- Instead, we settle for shallow politeness.
- I really believe that most people would like to have more meaningful conversations. Most of us love it when we get into a deep talk with someone and can share real truths from our heart. But those opportunities are relatively rare.
- This is largely our own fault. We choose to play it safe.
- I’m not at all saying that we walk up to strangers and ask what their greatest fear is. I am saying that when the conversation veers toward something substantial that we not retreat to safe and stupid as quickly as possible.
- Those are holy moments when we are talking about such things.
- Why is this so important? Because we are to concentrate our ministry on seeing people come to know Christ and grow in Him. Our focus is people. That means sharing those personal moments of honest emotion are deeply meaningful.
- When we help someone walk out of their grief, that’s God work.
- When we give someone hope to deal with their depression, that’s God work.
- When we encourage someone with the potential that we see in them, that’s God work.
- We are meant to pour ourselves into each other.
4. Am I constantly inundated with noise or do I embrace the silence?
- 1 Kings 19:11-12; Psalm 46:10.
- The TV is on. The radio is on. People are talking. And, of course, we always have something up on our phone. We are constantly inundated with noise.
- Could it be that God is trying to speak to us, to nudge us about what He’s up to, but we can’t hear Him?
- One of the great moments in my life of hearing God happened late at night while I was doing the bills. I believe it was then because it was I had not been silent for days and that was the first chance God had to speak to me.
- God still speaks today, but we have to be quiet to hear Him.
- There are two helpful passages:
a. 1 Kings 19:11-12.
- This passage reminds us that God doesn’t always speak through loud signs, but often it’s through a “still, gentle whisper.”
b. Psalm 46:10.
- This passage teaches us that we need to be still and consider that He is God. It’s a thought that many of us would do well to ponder more often.
- A parallel issue is that we are always busy. We never sit quietly and just be present. Our cell phones are there to ensure that we are constantly distracted and continually entertained.
5. Do I play it safe or step out in faith?
- Genesis 22:8; Joshua 14:12; 1 Samuel 14:6; 1 Samuel 17:37; Daniel 3:17; Hebrews 11:1-40.
- Even if we pray about it, most of the things we do we only pursue if we have the resources to be able to complete ourselves. Generally the only time we step out in trust is when we have no choice but to trust Him.
- That’s too bad for at least two reasons:
a. We miss out on seeing God doing greater things that require our faith.
b. We miss out on having our faith grow.
- When we trust God with something and then He comes through for us, that causes our faith in Him to grow. That allows us to have even more faith for the next step of faith.
- These are powerful moments of knowing that there is a God and He is paying attention. To see God show up in an obvious way and supply what you need is an amazing thing.
- To go back to the point we established earlier, if we want to see God move it’s helpful to put ourselves in the positions where we’re more likely to experience Him. One big way is stepping out in trust.
- In the Bible we see people stepping out and seeing God reward their faith. I’ve listed a few examples in your sermon outline. In fact, their faith encourages our faith because we can see how God came through for them.
