A Glimpse of Who God Is to Me
Candidating Sermon ¡V Steve Simala Grant
July 8, 2001
This morning is somewhat unique for me ¡V I¡¦m preaching a ¡§candidating sermon¡¨, or sometimes called ¡§preaching for a call¡¨. The idea is that after hearing me preach you can determine whether you feel that this is the right match for our church right now, and then cast your vote accordingly. Part of what I need to do this morning is communicate a sense of who I am, so that you have something to base your decision on me as an interim pastor. So this sermon has to be a little different from the way I prefer to preach, which is to take a passage of Scripture and work through it methodically, seeking first to understand its meaning and second to understand how it applies to us today. That is how I plan to preach in the weeks and months ahead. But because this morning is unique, I need to preach more topically in order to accomplish the things that need to be accomplished this morning. So what are my two goals for this morning? First, to give you a sense of who I am in Christ, and Second, to talk a bit about how I believe we need to face the challenges ahead of us in the months ahead.
I could spend my time this morning giving you basic biographical information ¡V like the fact that I was raised in the church, which wonderfully filled the unique needs I had in a single-parent family, first came to faith at age nine, had significant experience in ministry and leadership as a teen through my church and through Gull Lake Baptist Camp, and then when I was 19 was hired as ¡§Director of Youth Ministries¡¨ at Laurier Heights Baptist Church in March 1990. But rather than go into detail about that sort of thing, I want instead to share with you my heart and my passions ¡V give you a glimpse of who God is to me and what my convictions are about Him and about the church.
There are three areas I want to share with you:
1. God is Holy; we must live obediently.
2. God¡¦s greatest desire is to save us from sin; both from its eternal consequences but also from its temporary consequences.
3. God calls us to be His people, serving selflessly so that all people can have the opportunity to respond to Christ¡¦s offer of salvation.
1. GOD IS HOLY; WE MUST LIVE OBEDIENTLY.
On a few occasions in the Bible, a prophet was privileged to get a glimpse of God in a vision. In all of these, the characteristic which emerges most strongly is the awesome holiness of God. It is often described symbolically, and when we dig to discover the meaning of the symbols what we find is they reveal to us God as Supremely Holy ¡V Distinct from us ¡V Complete Purity ¡V Awesome, Scary, Beyond our comprehension. Jeff read one of these earlier, from _______. I want to read another:
picture is clear ¡V God is Holy. The symbolism of ________ means ________. The overall sense of the vision intends to communicate how wholly ¡§other¡¨ God is ¡V how separate from us. And it is the power of His moral purity that brings Isaiah to his knees in recognition and confession of his sin.
For me, the holiness of God has been a fairly constant theme in my life. There were a couple of books I read that were very influential here, and as I studied Scripture more this sense of God as Holy seemed constantly reinforced to me, it was what stuck with me and impacted me. Of course, God¡¦s love has been a huge theme also ¡V without God¡¦s love we would simply have a holy God whose character demanded our eternal punishment because of our lack of holiness. Yet even here I find myself focussed on the purity ¡V the holiness ¡V of God¡¦s love, and so the theme is consistent.
Because God is holy, we must be holy also. His holiness demands a response on our part. Isaiah¡¦s response was to fall in repentance and beg for mercy; our response needs to be the same. I think that in general, we don¡¦t really understand sin ¡V we don¡¦t understand what it does to God, to us, or to our ability to witness for Christ in our world ¡V but I¡¦ll say more about that in a moment¡K Suffice it to say for now that any encounter we have with God should result in us contrasting our sinfulness with God¡¦s holiness and thus seeking His forgiveness and power to live obedient lives.
I need to be careful here - motivation to live holy lives ¡V NOT to earn favor/salvation, etc. Some of us respond to an awareness of our lack of holiness by beginning to doubt God¡¦s forgiveness, and thus we try to ¡§be better¡¨ so that God will like us more and find us good enough for heaven. That is not what I am talking about!! Our motivation to live holy lives comes not from a need to earn God¡¦s favor but rather it is our response to God¡¦s character ¡V gratitude for what God has done for us in Christ¡¦s sacrifice becomes our motivation, a desire to reciprocate the love God has shown to us leads us to obedience, and taking seriously God¡¦s commandment for us to represent Him to the world becomes a final reason for our desires to live holy lives. It flows from who we are as God¡¦s children.
Oh, I wish I could stand before you today and claim that I¡¦ve got it all figured out ¡V that I know how to live a holy life ¡V that I¡¦ve got sin in my life under control. But I¡¦m a sinner too ¡V just like you. But I DO believe that it is a fight we can win with the power of the Holy Spirit! I do believe it is possible to obey God¡¦s command to be holy!! And I do believe that as we mature in our faith, the times when we sin should become farther and farther apart, and we should learn how to deal with them more quickly. We learn as we become more like Christ how to recognize our areas of weakness and stay away from them, and thus progress on our journey to be more like Christ.
How little people know who think that holiness is dull. When one meets the real thing, it is irresistible.
C.S. Lewis, Letters to an American Lady, New Bible Commentary, p. 28.
"Holiness does not consist in mystic speculations, enthusiastic fervours, or uncommanded austerities; it consists in thinking as God
thinks, and willing as God wills."
John Brown, Nineteenth-century Scottish theologian, quoted in J. Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness, p. 51.
2. GOD¡¦S GREATEST DESIRE IS TO SAVE US FROM SIN.
I mentioned briefly that I first gave my life to Christ when I was nine ¡V it was then that I first experienced Him as my Saviour. And so the second characteristic of God that is of great significance to me is that God¡¦s greatest desire is to save.
Most of you know the Gospel message ¡V it is a message of salvation from sin by the marvelous work of God. We know that humanity has sinned, rebelled against God and determined to go our own way. But God, in His great love and mercy, sent His Son Jesus Christ into the world to pay the penalty for our sin. He thus provides a way back into relationship with Him by offering forgiveness through Christ. He requires that we accept this free gift, and allow Jesus to become both our savior and our Lord.
My own testimony is not of God saving me from a life of depraved debauchery, of some sensational deliverance from a whole raft of vices to which I was enslaved. But my soul was just as corrupt, and just in need of salvation as every other soul. My testimony is rather one of praise to God for saving me from ever sliding in to many of those addictive sins ¡V God has protected me from the harsh consequences of many common sins, and even through my teen years God kept me from situations where I would have been tempted with alcohol, sex, drugs, violence. And for that I praise Him!!
God¡¦s greatest desire is to save us from sin.
¡§I¡¦m sinning right now¡¨ story.
point ¡V sin is destructive. Eternally, yes ¡V but here and now as well. I wonder if Satan hasn¡¦t conceded eternity to us as Christians, but blinded us to the reality of how destructive sin is to us here and now; how it robs us of joy and fellowship with God and the blessings God has for us. And ultimately, it robs us of our ability to witness effectively for Christ and thus keeps us from taking as many people to heaven with us as possible.
The gospel is not simply a message of eternal salvation ¡V it is a message of hope for today as well. I¡¦ve been growing in my understanding of the devastation caused by sin in our world, both personal sin and sinful systems that oppress people. Like holiness, this is a Scriptural theme that I find repeatedly, and I¡¦ve also been experiencing more of both the devastation of sin in other¡¦s lives as well as the incredible salvation of God in those situations. I¡¦d like to preach about this for a long, long time, but I won¡¦t this morning. I¡¦ll just leave you with knowing that one of the big big things God has been teaching me over the last several years is that God¡¦s heart yearns for justice for all people, and He desires to save us from sin both eternally and during our lives on earth.
1 Tim. 1:15-17.
3. GOD CALLS US TO BE HIS PEOPLE.
God is holy and demands our obedience. God¡¦s greatest desire is to save us from sin, both now and for eternity. The third area that is of great importance to me is that God calls us to be His people.
What does this mean for me? I have the strongest conviction that God has called me first and foremost to be His child. That means that I live with Jesus as Lord of my life ¡V I seek to live a Christlike life by the power of the Holy Spirit ¡V I seek to live each day in obedience and joy. Before I am anything else, I am an adopted child of God.
The second calling of God on my life is to be a Godly husband and father. God has richly blessed me with a Godly wife, Joanne, and an amazing child, Thomas. And my calling to love them is second only to my calling to love God. And I will not compromise that calling. My wife is my best friend, my confidant, my support, and my chief challenger. Our relationship is not quite perfect, but it is strong and vibrant and is my greatest source of joy. Joanne and I made a decision before we even thought of starting a family that one of us would stay home to raise our child (children?), and for a variety of reasons I am the primary, stay-at-home parent for our 9 month old son. And incidentally, its really great!! The elders board and I had numerous, long conversations while we considered the possibility of me returning to ministry, and for both of us the issue was whether we could make this work without compromising my commitment to stay home and raise my son. Obviously, we came to an agreement and worked out the logistics (and after the service I¡¦ll outline how we envision this working¡K). My point for now is that I firmly believe that God has called me to make my role as husband and father the highest priority after my relationship with God.
So what am I doing candidating for a half-time, interim pastor position? Good question, and the answer is in my third calling and my convictions about the church.
My third calling is to serve God¡¦s Kingdom. God has given me certain gifts ¡V just as He has given you certain gifts ¡V and expects me to use them in service of His kingdom ¡V just as He expects you to use them in service of His kingdom. In addition, I have been greatly blessed with additional education and training. But my calling to service in God¡¦s Kingdom is not the primary reason why I am here this morning ¡V I believe I would be serving God¡¦s kingdom well by devoting these pre-school years to raising my family and in seeking to develop relationships with others in my community who don¡¦t know Christ. A few people have said to me ¡§you need to be using your gifts!¡¨; to which I always replied ¡§I am using my gifts!!!¡¨ No, the more important reason why I am here this morning is because of my convictions regarding church.
1 Cor 12.
Laurier is my church ¡V it has been for 11 years. I am a part of this body. I have one good friend and colleague in ministry who was adamant that I leave Laurier after resigning as Minister of Youth and CE; I was equally adamant that this is where God has called me to fellowship. And for the last 9 months, I have enjoyed being a part of this church in a non-official-pastoral role. And then Dave resigned. And through the last number of months, I have done what each of us need to do ¡V I¡¦ve re-examined my role and gifts in light of the needs left by Dave¡¦s leaving. I wasn¡¦t looking for a job ¡V as I said, being a stay-at-home dad is great! And I realize that I have to give up some of that. And Joanne has to sacrifice too. But my church has some needs, the elders believe God has gifted me in some areas that can meet some of those needs, we believe we can work it without compromising my commitment to raise my son, and so here I am.
I spend time detailing that because I believe very strongly that this is what we each need to do. God has gifted each of us, and desires for us the joy of serving Him through the exercise of our gifts. I¡¦m not calling you to some dreary, duty-bound obligation ¡V but to incredible joy, purpose, and fulfillment that comes from being where God wants you in serving His Kingdom. God made us as people and as a church to need one another. I love vs. 18 ¡V ¡§God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as He wanted them to be.¡¨
My prayer and the prayer of the elders and staff is that you will find the joy of serving within your giftedness in God¡¦s body, the church. We strongly believe that this time of transition will be exciting as the Holy Spirit stirs up gifts in each of us that enable this body to be strong and vital. Dave had many gifts, perhaps the strongest of them was his gifts of care ¡V and I think this is the biggest area where the Spirit is going to stir up gifts among us, enabling us to care for one another and thus influence our world for God¡¦s Kingdom.
I want to make one final point about a healthy church before telling a parable to close. And that final point is this: a healthy church is not one where everything is functioning smoothly and all the Christians are being fed and having all their needs met. God did not design the church to be a well-fed body that was cut off from the world we live in ¡V rather it is the opposite. God designed the church, and us as His people who make up the church, to be His witness in our world. To be a lighthouse, a role model, a signpost, a hospital. A healthy church is one where all of us are using our gifts NOT TO SERVE ONE ANOTHER, BUT TO SERVE OUR WORLD.
We need to change our focus to meeting the needs of a desperate, dying world that is enslaved to sin. A healthy body is not one that sits on the couch feeding itself, but one that is active. Spiritually, we are health when we are daily walking in the power and giftedness of the Holy Spirit so that the world may know who Jesus is and be drawn to Him. That was Jesus¡¦ prayer for us in John 17:20-23.
TIE ALL THREE POINTS TOGETHER HERE „³
GOD IS HOLY, and because of His Holiness, He needs to save us from our sin so that we can have a relationship with Him. And then He calls us to be His people, to be witnesses for Him through a unified body.
So those are three of the areas God has been impressing on my heart recently. I hope you have a glimpse of the journey I am on, how I find myself in this place today, and what I believe the challenge for us as a church is in the next few months.
Let me close with a parable.
There was a group of people gathered in a hospital community. They had all arrived the same way, though at different times ¡V each had been deathly ill and had ended up getting healed at the hospital. They remained there, and became ¡§health care professionals.¡¨ Some became doctors, with skills in all sorts of specializations ¡V gifted diagnosticians, surgeons, internists, infectious diseases, pediatricians and specializations in geriatrics. Some became nurses, highly skilled and trained in caring for body and for the emotional health of patients. Some joined other specializations too ¡V from technicians to therapists to dieticians. Some became support staff ¡V from chief administrators to secretaries to building maintenance personnel. Once a week, this group got together for seminars and conversation to sharpen their skills and increase their knowledge.
Each of them spent much of the rest of the week away from the hospital. Everywhere they went, they met sick people ¡V dying people ¡V people just like they used to be ¡V some who knew they were sick and some who denied it. But few of these formerly-sick-but-now-healed people said anything to any of the sick people about there condition. Some were afraid they would be laughed at. Others didn¡¦t want to be pushy or interfere. Still others said ¡§I only work in my area, it is someone else¡¦s job to let the sick people know where to find help.¡¨ Every once in a while, one of the really brave hospital workers would tell the sick people that they worked at the hospital, and that they had been sick once too. But even these brave people hesitated to tell the sick that they could find help and healing at the hospital.
One day, word got around that the best healer in the world was coming to this community. The hospital workers got busy ¡V they cleaned and shined and put up welcome signs. They brushed up on their own skills in case the Healer asked them a difficult question. They planned a huge celebration.
The day arrived, but the Healer did not show up at the hospital. All the hospital workers were gathered in their finest hospital duds, waiting to honor the Healer. But he did not come.
A few started to leave, and as they did they noticed a great commotion in the streets. People were scurrying about, converging around a single man, who was touching them and talking with them and healing them. These few ran back into the hospital to share the news ¡V ¡§He¡¦s here! The Healer is outside!!¡¨ The hospital big-wigs jumped up, and ran out, pushing their way through the crowd, shoving sick people aside. They finally made it to the center, and confronted the Healer: ¡§what are you doing??? The party is ready for you inside ¡V come away from these dirty, sick people, come inside where it is clean and cozy and feels warm and fuzzy.¡¨
The Healer looked up at them, and said ¡§It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go, and learn what this means: I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.¡¨ (Matt. 9:12-13).
