“Yes, God is Real” Don’t you like singing that song? You
sing that with relish! So do I! “Yes, God is real, real in my
soul.” We believe that. That’s our faith.
Or is it? Do we truly believe that God is real? If we believe
it, why do we play games with God? Why do we hide from
God? Why do we put distance between ourselves and our
God? Why don’t we get honest before God?
Yes, God is real. God is the ultimate reality -- more real than
you and I are, for we shall die one day, but God is eternal;
more real than this earth, for the geologists tell us that earth
is deteriorating, and one day will collapse and fail. But the
Lord God is from everlasting to everlasting, and will not fail.
Do you believe that? Do you believe that God is more real
than galaxies upon galaxies, winging through space for
billions of miles, from that Alpha point where it all began with
a “big bang”, on its way to some distant Omega point, where
it will all burn out? I read the other day that our sun will burn
out in a few hundred million years; kind of got me worried, so
I stocked up with some extra firewood, just in case! Oh, God
is real, God is beyond time, God is beyond failure, God is the
one who needs neither sun to shine by day nor stars by
night. Isn’t that right? God is ultimate reality. God is real.
Do you agree?.
Then why do we ignore Him? Why do we set Him aside?
Why cannot we deal with God honestly? Why can we not
get real with God?
Let me play out a little scene with you. Picture a home in
which there is a parent and a teenager. They live in the
same house, they inhabit the same space, they sometimes
even eat at the same table. They are family. But listen to
their conversation:
Dad: Hi, how was school today?
Kid: Okay.
Dad: Any grades to report? Anything special going on?
Kid: No, nothin’ happened.
Dad: Well, do you have any homework? Do you need my
help tonight?
Kid: No, I’ll be okay.
Dad: Are you sure nothing special happened today?
Kid: Not really.
Dad: Then what’s this I see on the evening news about a
disturbance over at your school and about the kids tearing up
the place? Why is your principal screaming at the TV
camera, and isn’t that you standing over there?
Kid: I dunno.
If we can live in the some house and not connect, if we can
be at the same dinner table and treat one another as if we
didn’t exist, maybe it is no surprise that we treat God the
same way! Maybe it is no surprise that we barely even
acknowledge that God is around. A number of years ago, J.
B. Phillips wrote a little book called, “Your God Is Too Small”.
He said that our ideas of God are way too limited. If Phillips
were writing today, he might call his book, “Your God Is Out
To Lunch” or “Your God Has Gone on Vacation.” For we live
as though God did not matter; we act as though God were
not a factor; and even in our prayers we pray as though God
were not real.
We need to get real with God, for He is the ultimate reality.
He will deal with us, whether we deal with Him or not. In His
own way and in His own time, He will take us on. We need
to get real with God.
Jesus got real with God. Jesus, the most authentic person
who ever lived, got real with God. Jesus not only believed in
His mind that God was real; Jesus actually treated God as a
living reality. Jesus played no games, but brought His own
self before God. And the results were spectacular! The
results changed human history. You and I can learn from
Jesus how to get real with God.
I
First, notice that Jesus got real with God by admitting His
true feelings, even though they were not pretty. Jesus got
real with God by acknowledging exactly how He felt, without
varnishing anything over or putting on any airs. Jesus let it
all hang out; Jesus trusted God with what He really felt. He
said,
“I am deeply grieved, even to death.”
I am deeply grieved. Now that’s real. That’s a genuine
feeling. Jesus didn’t have to say that. He could have done
what many of us do. We put on a front, we come to church
dressed in our Sunday best, but with all kinds of pain inside,
and make up our minds that come what may, we are not
going to open up to anybody, any time, least of all to God.
We hide our true feelings.
One of you reminded me this week about how you hid your
feelings. You spoke of putting on a very good front. You
told me how you had grown a garden of beautiful flowers, so
spectacular that when people passed by they stopped and
marveled at the color. And you said, when my husband and I
went out, we looked like “Mr. and Mrs. Georgetown”! But,
you told me, inside that house and inside that heart, there
was no color, no beauty, no joy. There was only pain and
anger. The lovely facade just covered over a life full of pain.
I thank you – you know who you are – for sharing with me
how much you know you were covering up, how much you
were unreal.
We have a hard time doing what Jesus did. Jesus admitted
His our true feelings and acknowledged His real pain. “I am
deeply grieved,” He said. “Even to death”. Don’t miss the
depth of what Jesus is saying, “I’m suffocating here. I can
hardly breathe. This thing that is hanging over my head – it
is so awesome that I feel I’m about to die”. I’m not at all
suggesting that Jesus was suicidal, but I do know that
sometimes people speak about being nearly ready to die,
about just wishing it were all over. We need to hear that.
We need to take that seriously. Sometimes others will say,
“Ah, don’t listen to her. She just wants attention. She’s just
a drama queen.” But I have to say, no, when somebody
speaks about how she feels stifled and cramped, when
somebody says his life is bolted down and oppressive, I want
to listen. I want to take that seriously. I believe God wants
to take that seriously. Brothers and sisters, if you feel you
are on the edge, say it! Spit it out! Get it out there! You do
no one any favors – not your family, not your friends, not
yourself, and not your God – you do no one any favors if you
do not admit what you feel, however painful it may be.
John A. T. Robinson was a bishop in the Church of England.
He was a scholar and a church leader. If anybody had it
together, you would have supposed that he did. But Bishop
Robinson got very sick and had to spend a long time in a
hospital. It brought him face to face with who he was and
what he felt; it brought him face to face with the absence of
God! He found that he did not know God; he had never
really spoken honestly with God. Oh, he had said many
prayers. Day after day, all the right things. Bishop Robinson
knew the drill, sort of like a child with his “Now I lay me down
to sleep” routine. But John Robinson says that until he
became desperately ill, he had not trusted God with what he
really felt. And now he wondered if indeed there was a God
out there whom he could trust. If he were to speak, was
anybody out there listening? He didn’t know, for he had
never admitted his true feelings to God.
A friend of mine suffered a bitter loss. His little girl, ten years
old, took ill with leukemia. This man and his wife waged a
valiant battle. They and their doctors did all they knew to do;
it was one of those up and down things, where today you
think the child is getting better and tomorrow she suffers a
setback. It was agony. I’d love to be able to tell you that
prayer turned this thing around, but it did not. The child died.
All my friend could do was to weep and to wonder, “Why?”
He could do no more, he was so numb with grief. But then a
pastor friend sent him a telegram. Its message was brief and
blunt, not very pretty or churchy. Said the telegram to this
grieving father, “God is going to have a hell of a lot to answer
for if He lets a child like yours die.” Now you may not like
that language, and you may think that is not proper, but let
me tell you, that word released my friend. It freed him to
pour out his bitterness to God. It started him on the path to
healing, just because He could get real with God and
acknowledge his true feelings.
You can start getting real with God, as Jesus did, by
admitting what you really feel. “I am deeply grieved, even to
death.” If you feel it, say it. God can handle that!
II
But the second step is equally important. The next step is
vital too. If we are going to get real with God, not only must
we tell God what we really feel. We must also tell Him what
we really want, even though that may not be what He wants.
Even though you may fear that what you want is not what
God wants, don’t back off from telling God what you really
want. Discover the rock-bottom need of your own heart, and
spit it out. Get real with God by telling Him what you really
want. Jesus did:
“Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from
me. Yet, not what I want, but what you want.”
Remove this cup – you know what He is talking about: the
cup of sorrow, the poisonous cup of death that He could see
coming. Remove it, Lord. This is what I want. Take it away.
I don’t want this pain. I don’t want this suffering. I do not
want to go where it seems I am headed. He boldly asked for
what He wanted, right now, though He knew it was not what
God wanted, down the road.
The Bible tells us that we are to ask and we will receive, to
seek and we will find, to knock and it will be opened to us. I
believe that we fail to receive or find or have things opened
to us because we fail to tell God what we really want. We
treat God as if He were not real. The issue is that we do not
know what we really want, down deep, rock bottom. We
know what we want now, but we have not listened to our
own hearts, to God’s heart, to figure out what our heart’s
desire really is. We are in such a hurry to win a skirmish
now that we forget what the big battle is.
When I was in my senior year in seminary, I began to think
about what I wanted to do after graduation. I knew a couple
of things. I knew that I was trained for ministry, and wanted
to get into that. I knew that I had strong academic interests,
and wanted to get into higher education, probably to teach.
But I also knew that the two of us, Margaret and I, were on
the way to becoming three, and so I needed to get to work
and support my family. A brisk prayer or two later and I was
very clear: I would serve a church on the edge of a university
campus and would enrol at that university to study in its
doctoral program. Nice and neat, thank you so much,
goodbye Lord, nice knowing you! Well, I spent a frustrating
summer, preaching in churches near university campuses,
but never getting a call to be anybody’s pastor. At the end of
the summer, the most perfect situation you could imagine
came up – a church eight miles from the best university in
the country for what I wanted to study. They asked me to
preach there for a couple of Sundays, and I thought I was all
set. Plan A was working out – my plan, my what-I-want-
right-now plan.
Except that it didn’t work out. They phoned and said, “Not
you, not now. If we are going to have a pastor, we don’t
want one who is going to school too. Sorry about that.” I
wept that night. I was so disappointed. God had forgotten
about me. It wasn’t that I had forgotten about Him, you
notice. He had forgotten me. Well, a few days later, I picked
myself up, dried my tears, applied for and got a position
doing campus ministry at a small college in Eastern
Kentucky. Second best; not the real thing. Not my will. But
within six weeks I knew: I knew that I was in God’s will, I
knew that I was where I was supposed to be, for I had not
really understood my own wants and wishes! I had not
understood what I wanted, rock-bottom. I thought I wanted
to become a high-powered academic; what I really wanted,
but did not tell the Lord, because I hadn’t stopped to find out
for myself, was to serve Christ in the world of higher
education. I got confused. I didn’t really know what I was
asking for until after I got it! Not my will but yours be done,
for God’s will will be even greater and better than my will.
We ask for little and receive little; we seek nothing and so
find nothing; we knock at nothing and nothing is opened to
us – because we do not find out what we really want and
then tell that to God, for what God wants for us is even
greater than what we want for ourselves. Jesus learned
what was in His own heart. He knew what He wanted, and
He said so. He knew He wanted the cup of sorrow and
death removed. He got real with God. And even though He
did not get what He wanted right now, He got more than that.
He lost His life, but He became our Savior, He was obedient
and, the Bible says, God has highly exalted Him and given
Him the name above every name! Tell God what you really
want; get real with God. And you will find that what God wills
is even greater than what you asked for.
III
But now there is a third step. There is another element here.
Not only did Jesus get real with God by telling God what He
really felt, and not only did Jesus get real with God by telling
God what He really wanted, but also Jesus got real with God
by enlisting others to pray with Him, even if they were
inadequate, lazy, and imperfect. There is something about
getting others to pray with you that steels you and
strengthens you, even if they are not very diligent about it.
Jesus got real with God by telling His friends, his imperfect
friends, what was on His heart and by enlisting their spiritual
energy alongside His own.
Jesus had an inner circle, Peter, James, and John. He took
them into His confidence. His assignment was really rather
simple, wasn’t it? “Sit here while I pray.” Just be with me.
Just anchor me, just hold my hand while I struggle. Such a
simple thing. But Jesus prayed and came back and found
them sleeping.
“Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep awake one hour?”
I didn’t ask much, Simon Peter. Can’t you just stay awake
for me? It’s a little thing. He went away and prayed some
more, came back, and found the same three slumbering
souls, sacked out on the hillside, and tried once more.
“Keep awake and pray”
Do this for me, at least this. I really need a friend tonight. But the
third time, the same story. Asleep again, all of them. Some
folks you just can’t count on! But here is the glory, here is
the gift: Jesus announces anyway:
“Enough! The hour has come ... Get up, let us be going..”
Enough .. let us be going. Jesus found the strength to do
what the Father wanted, and his friends were a part of that,
even though they weren’t very good at it. It was enough for
Jesus. It was enough that they had been there for Him, as
imperfect and as ineffective as it seems they were.
Somehow, when we reach out for others, and enlist them to
be with us, ask them to pray with us, we can reach down into
our souls and get the courage to go on. The one thing we
cannot do is to go it alone. The one thing we cannot manage
is to take the difficult, slow, and painful steps, all by
ourselves. To get real with God and to do what God wants
us to do, we need the companionship of others, even if they
don’t get it, even if they don’t seem to understand, yes, even
if they fall asleep. We need one another to be real with God.
One of you told me this week that her psychiatrist actually fell
asleep during one of their therapy sessions. She told me
she probably should send her check to her pastor instead of
the psychiatrist. I won’t argue with that. But it is not always
easy to be an active listener. It is not always easy to get into
the needs of others. And yet this is what the church is about,
this is why you have brothers and sisters in the church.
Many of us are very imperfect and sometimes dull-witted and
even sleepy companions. We don’t get it all of the time.
Some of us have our own issues to deal with, and so we are
not very attentive to others’ issues. Maybe we have issues,
like Peter did, with our own egos. Maybe Peter went to sleep
just because he was bored talking about anybody but
himself! We have issues, like James did, with wanting
places of rank and privilege, but not being prepared for all
that involves, and so maybe James went to sleep because
he felt guilty for asking to be at the Lord’s side in the
Kingdom. Lots of people sleep off shame. We have issues,
like John did, with being immature and emotionally needy,
and so maybe John went to sleep because he didn’t want to
face the possibility of losing Jesus, his prop. Whatever it
was about them, whatever it is about us, we are not very
alert, we aren’t all that we could be, and we may not seem to
be very helpful when you are struggling. We are, bottom
line, very ordinary creatures, we church folks.
But if you will enlist your brothers and your sisters, it will
surprise what their presence means. They will strengthen
you, just by their presence. They will help you stay honest,
they will help you get real with God, just by being there. And
when you have become fully real, before God, whatever cup
you must drink, wherever you must go, you will be able, like
Jesus, to announce, “Enough. The hour has come .. get up,
let us be going.” We can finally be real with God and do
what He wants us to do only if we have some companions
for the journey. That is the glory and the promise of the
church; imperfect people, full of issues, but companions for
the journey, supplying the courage to do what God wants us
to do.
“We’re not in Kansas anymore,” Dorothy said after the gale
winds blew. She was in a strange new world. First Dorothy
met a scarecrow, who didn’t have a brain, only stuffing in his
head, who if he only had a brain could think of things he
never thunk before, if he only had a brain. And then a tin
man, all hollow inside, because they forgot to give him a
heart – and if he only had a heart, he could register emotion,
jealousy, devotion, and really feel the part, if he only had a
heart. And finally Dorothy met a cowardly lion, who looked
all big and brave, but if he only had the nerve, he’d be as
brave as a blizzard, gentle as a lizard, clever as a gizzard, if
he only had the nerve. Truly flawed, all of them. Quite
imperfect. How could Dorothy depend on a straw scarecrow,
a hollow tin man, and a cowardly lion? And yet, once they
had shared their secrets and their needs, they were off to
see the Wizard, the Wonderful Wizard of Oz. And, in
Emerald City, the Wizard gave each what was needed –
Dorothy got her heart’s desire, to go home again; and to
each of the Wizard gave what he wanted most – a brain, a
heart, and a nerve.
If Dorothy stood before the Wizard with her friends and got
the courage to go on, and her friends with her, how much
more you and I can stand before the King of Kings and Lord
of Lords, and tell the truth and go on. If Dorothy stood
before the Wizard with her friends and received her heart’s
desire, how much more you and I can speak with Abba,
Father, how much more can we be real with God and receive
what He wants us to receive. How much more, for “we have
told Jesus all of our trials. We cannot bear our burdens
alone. If we but ask Him, He kindly will help us. He ever
loves and cares for His own.”
