“VISIBLE” 1 Tim. 1:15-17
INTRO – Is the invisible God visible in your life? If He isn’t, what is in your life that is causing Him to not be visible?
- Is there unconfessed sin there?
- Is there fear of failure there?
- Is there a lack of commitment and dedication?
- Is there apathy?
- Is there a lack of understanding of what needs to be in your life so that He can be visible?
The world is tired of seeing people who claim to love God, but their lives say they love the devil. The church and the cause of Christ has taken so many hits, suffered so much ridicule, been dragged through the mud so many times by so many who have not made the invisible God visible in their lives. There are so many – so many – who are like the people that Jesus was talking to and about in Luke 6:46 when He said, “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?”
There are so many people in our world who need to see the reality of God in our lives. They need to see and know and touch people who are truly living the Christian life and not just going through the motions. They need to see that God is real; that His love is truly unending; that His grace is truly amazing. God needs to be clearly visible in our lives.
And while they do need to hear the Gospel preached and proclaimed – “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear w/out someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’” (Ro. 10:14-15) – they need to see the Gospel at work in someone’s life.
- They need to see someone who is stepping outside the box, living outside the lines, breaking the mold and some of the rules.
- They need to know someone who has been changed by the living, invisible God, and who is still in the process of being changed, someone who has a holy dissatisfaction w/ their walk w/ Christ, someone who knows they have not arrived yet, but is still straining, striving, and deeply desiring more of God in their lives.
- They need to encounter someone whose Christian life means more to them than just having their name on a church roll (which has nothing to do w/ eternal life and heaven).
- They need to touch someone whose passion for Christ causes them to truly sacrifice ordinary comforts, someone whose passion for Christ causes them to be so unsatisfied w/ the status quo, someone who truly takes seriously Christ’s claim on his/her life and is denying self daily, taking up their cross (the implement of death and sacrifice), and following Him.
- They need to know someone who is wholly devoted to Christ and His Church, who is joyfully serving Him, zealously worshipping Him, and anxiously awaiting His return.
- They need to see and know someone who loves God passionately and worships Him w/ a reckless abandonment, unconcerned about what others think or say, but simply desiring to have the heart of the David when he said, “O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in your sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. B/c your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as w/ the richest of foods; w/ singing lips my mouth will praise you.” (Ps. 63:1-5)
- They need to experience what it is like to be a part of a church that is truly seeking God, willing to truly do “whatever it takes” to share the Gospel w/ the lost; willing to do whatever it takes to preserve and protect the unity of the Body; willing to do whatever it takes to minister to those who have been crushed by life’s pressures and pain; a church that is willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that every one of its members have the privilege of serving God w/ their gifts; a church where there are no hidden agendas, no power struggles, no selfish pursuits, no territorialism; a church that keeps its doctrine centered on the Word of God, strong and unchanging, but is willing to change anything and everything else for the sake of the Kingdom of God if that is what it takes; a church that has a God-given vision for taking the Gospel to all nations, beginning in its own backyard; a church that walks by faith and not by sight.
- They need a relationship w/ a church whose members are deeply, desperately, devotedly passionate about their love for God; whose members are serious about living in obedience to Christ; a church that is willing to challenge the traditionalism and paralyzing sameness that is present in so many churches.
- They need to see the invisible God visible in our lives!
How do we live our lives in such a way as to make the invisible God visible?
I. REALIZE OUR INADEQUACIES.
A. Get brutally honest about the status of your walk w/ Christ. May as well b/c He knows where you are anyhow.
a. Gen. 3:9 – “But the Lord God called to the man, ‘Where are you?’” God didn’t do this b/c He didn’t know where Adam was. He’s God; He knows everything.
b. He did it to force Adam to see the reality of his sin and the reality of what his sin had done to their relationship.
B. God says to all of us, “Where are you?” Wants us to take a hard look at our hearts and our lives and see the things that are there that are not pleasing to Him.
a. 2 Cor. 5:9 – “So we make it our goal to please Him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.”
b. When we are harboring sin and rebelling against the commands of God, there is no way that we can please Him. We’ll never reach the goal of pleasing Him when there is sin in our lives. There’s no way that His Spirit can rise within us if we don’t deal with our inadequacies and sin right now.
C. Dave Busby, youth speaker, used to say, “My only hope is you!” Realized his total inadequacy, his tendency toward sin, and his desperate dependence on God. He made the invisible God visible to hundreds of thousands of students and adults during his life.
II. RELEASE THE HOLD THAT YOU HAVE ON YOUR LIFE.
A. We place way too much emphasis and priority on this life and the things of this life. We hold on to our lives so tightly, believing that we know what is best for us, for our families, for our church. It’s as if we are hoping and praying that we won’t hear God speak to us so we won’t have to decide whether or not we are going to let go.
a. We forget that Scripture teaches us that “you are not your own; you were bought at a price.” – 1 Cor. 6:19-20
B. If we are going to make the invisible God visible, we must release the death grip we have on our lives (and that’s exactly what it is) and offer ourselves completely to God.
a. “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.” – Rom. 12:1
b. “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” – Jim Elliott
c. Last week, talked to a missionary who said, “Don’t pray for our safety. We are not called to be safe.” He has released his hold on his life and is trusting God, no matter what may come.
III. REMEMBER THAT YOU ONLY HAVE ONE SHOT.
A. If you’re not living your life in such a way as to make the invisible God visible, you are wasting the one chance that you have to do that.
a. Someone once said, “Remember the shortness of life and the length of eternity.”
b. “What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” – Jas. 4:14
B. We simply do not have time to play games and lose the valuable time that God has given us.
a. We only have this one life to live for Him.
b. We only have this moment to worship Him, to serve Him, to experience all that He has for us.
c. The time is coming when our lives here will vanish.
d. If we are going to make the invisible God visible, we need to start doing it now!
i. In this worship service
ii. In our homes tonight
iii. At work and school tomorrow
CONCLUSION – Let’s conclude tonight by committing ourselves to making the invisible God visible in our lives from here on out.
