Following Jesus, part 6
God is Out There!
Wildwind Community Church
November 6, 2005
Isaiah 55:9 (MSG)
9 "For as the sky soars high above earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think.
We have a hard time grasping how God thinks. I listened to a radio program recently where a celebrity described her journey from Catholicism to atheism. I felt for her as she seemed so badly to have wished that she could have found a reason to hold on to faith. But that was precisely the issue. She was trying so hard to make spiritual things fit her current way of thinking, rather than seeking to have her way of thinking molded by spiritual things. In one place she derides Jesus for teaching in parables that few could understand, saying a really good teacher would have chosen to communicate in ways that his students could better comprehend. That would be the obvious human conclusion, wouldn’t it? But of course Jesus spoke in parables because he was trying to describe The Matrix to his followers. Remember, in The Matrix Morpheus says, “Unfortunately no one can be shown what the Matrix is – you have to see it for yourself.” Jesus had the incredibly difficult task of explaining to human beings stuck in this reality what HIS reality – his world – was like. He had to try to communicate to people who think like us what our world looks like to Him. He had the nearly impossible task – one I believe only God could accomplish – of explaining something that his listeners would have no frame of reference for understanding at all. Why do you think that in attempting this task Jesus nearly always used things his people DID understand? Mustard seeds and sheep and gates and trees and bread and needles and camels and water. The language he used to describe all this was language that inspired curiosity and encouraged his listeners to look at the picture more intently until they could see it for themselves.
And many did. In trying to grasp the mind of God we have to be prepared to go beyond the way we currently think. Because God is way, way, way out there. And we will not begin to see another world (The Matrix) until we begin to suspect, and perhaps to hope, that this one isn’t all there is.
Clearly God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. Not only is God infinitely smarter than us, His thoughts are of an entirely different order – a different kind – than ours. Because he comes from a different world – lives in a different reality than we do. Our text this morning says God’s thoughts are “beyond” us. How beyond are they? So far beyond that Jesus was able to think up and say these words:
Matthew 5:3-12 (MSG)
3 "You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.
4 "You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.
5 "You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.
6 "You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.
7 "You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ’carefull,’ you find yourselves cared for.
8 "You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.
9 "You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.
10 "You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom.
11 "Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable.
12 You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don’t like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.
We’re so used to hearing these words that we take them for granted, but this stuff is out there! No one had ever said or heard words like this before.
How beyond us are God’s thoughts? So beyond us that Jesus was able to say:
Matthew 5:22-24 (MSG)
22 I’m telling you that anyone who is so much as angry with a brother or sister is guilty of murder. Carelessly call a brother ’idiot!’ and you just might find yourself hauled into court. Thoughtlessly yell ’stupid!’ at a sister and you are on the brink of hellfire. The simple moral fact is that words kill.
23 "This is how I want you to conduct yourself in these matters. If you enter your place of worship and, about to make an offering, you suddenly remember a grudge a friend has against you,
24 abandon your offering, leave immediately, go to this friend and make things right. Then and only then, come back and work things out with God.
Man, that is out there! God is out there! Every system of man-made religion before the time of Jesus was obsessed with how men and women could relate properly to God. Jesus was the first ever to say that we cannot relate to God if we have not learned to relate to each other. Unheard of before Jesus.
How far beyond us are God’s thoughts? So beyond that it made sense to Jesus to tell a story of a son who selfishly took his inheritance from his father, snubbed his family, and went off and partied himself half to death, then pathetically returned home hoping to become a servant in his dad’s house so at least he could have something to eat.
[Projectionist display: "Luke 15"]
And instead of punishing him, instead of lecturing him, the father welcomed him home and celebrated his return and restored him as his son. Unheard of. Totally out there. This makes sense in the mind of God, and in his world.
How out there is God and his way of thinking? Far enough that Jesus was able to see the hypocrisy of the religious elite of his time and condemn that hypocrisy, while embracing those religious teachers like Nicodemus who were really searching for the truth.
[Projectionist display: John 3]
How far beyond us are God’s thoughts? Far enough that when he had the encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4, he did not feel the need to say to her, “You know, I just think it’s important for me to say here that I don’t approve of your behavior. I don’t want anyone thinking that by associating with you I approve of the life you are living.” How often do we think that in loving someone, we must still make it clear verbally how much we disapprove of something they are doing? As if God won’t get close enough to them through our love, so a bit of a rebuke might drive the point home. What are we thinking? Clearly we have a need that God, who is so far out there, somehow makes an impact in here (pointing to heart). As he does, the God who is out there will begin to change your thoughts and your feelings so that you too are eventually “out there.” And that’s why Jesus said,
Matthew 5:11-12
10 "You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom.
11 "Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable.
12 You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don’t like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.
God is out there. Jesus was out there. Those who follow Jesus will be out there. But we’ll be out there where God is. We’ve looked at all these passages today that give us a glimpse into the mind – the reality – of God. You know, I believe the Bible is one of the main ways that we can be exposed to the mind of God. In the pages of the Bible we encounter a world where God is the final measure of all things, and that is the world we seek to live in if we are pursuing a life of obedience to Jesus.
A few minutes ago you saw a video featuring Psalm 139. One day a couple years ago I was reading that passage and was trying to get my arms around it, and I found myself reading a verse and then putting it in my own words so I could understand it better. I want to read that to you today. I’ll have Katie put each verse up as I read it so you’ll be sure to know the difference between the actual scripture and my commentary on it. I’m not trying to re-translate this passage or claiming that my ideas on the verses are totally the intent of the original – just sharing with you how these verses kind of brought me into God’s world and helped me think of God in a new way.
Psalms 139:1-18; 23-24 (NIV)
1 O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.
You know all my faults. You know all my weaknesses. You know all my strengths.
2a You know when I sit and when I rise;
You know when I am tired and need to rest – when my legs can barely stand. You know when I am ready to walk again.
2b you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You know all that is in my mind – my insecurities, the grudges I hold inside – the fear that haunts me at night – all of my hopes and every dream.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
You know when I spend a night on the town. You are there when I fall into bed exhausted. You know when I am open, vulnerable, out among those who might try to harm me. You know when I am safe in the comfort of home.
4 Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.
There is nothing I can say that you do not already know. When I’m with you I do not need to struggle for words, for you know what I mean before I have begun to speak. Whether words of hatred or love, joy or sorrow, you know them all, because you know the heart from which they come.
5 You hem me in--behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.
Like a baby wrapped in a blanket, you provide security for me. You set limits out of love. Like I caress my child’s cheek or run my fingers through their hair, so you touch me. You are overwhelmed with affection for me and desire my company and my love.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
How can I live with this? How can I ever grasp, understand, or contain your love for me and your acceptance of me? Try as I might I will never really understand it.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
I could never get away from you if I tried.
8a If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
In my highest highs, you celebrate with me.
8b if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
In my lowest lows, you mourn with me.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
Whether I am experiencing jubilant success, or crushing loneliness, you will show me the way. You will keep me from falling.
11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,"
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
There’s no point trying to hide my flaws and sins from you. Even when I have found a dark place to hide them, you will show up. And you bring light with you wherever you go. Nothing can hide from you. You will expose all my sins, all my flaws, all my insecurities. You will bring everything into the light, so that it can be clearly seen for what it is.
13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
You made every single piece of me, precisely the way you wanted me to be.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
The complexity of my physical and mental and emotional life is almost frightening. You are truly incredible.
15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16a your eyes saw my unformed body.
Even though no one else knew who I’d be or what I’d look like until I was born, you saw me completely, as if I already existed. Even in the womb at conception, you were standing close by.
16b All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
You know how many days there will be in my life, and you know how, and exactly when, it’s going to end. You knew this far before I was ever conceived. There is nothing about me that you do not know.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
18a Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand.
I long to understand the way you think. It is beyond my ability to grasp. I cannot begin to imagine how things look from your point of view.
18b When I awake, I am still with you.
While the long day is passing, you are right there with me. When I lay down to sleep, you stay by my side. Through the hours of the night, while I am asleep and not aware of you, you remain close by. Whether I am aware of you or not, you are just as present with me.
23a Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Look me up and down. You already know it all anyway.
23b test me and know my anxious thoughts.
Sometimes I am afraid. There is so much in the world to be afraid of. But I take comfort in knowing you are with me in my fear.
24a See if there is any offensive way in me,
You know there’s going to be. Show me what I need to change. Help me see myself through your eyes, the way you see me.
24b and lead me in the way everlasting.
I have walked in my temporary way long enough. I’m tired of things that don’t last. My only hope of finding anything that lasts is if you lead me to it and through it. Help me face the truth of what I find. – Amen
That’s what things look like from God’s perspective. That’s the world He lives in. He’s out there! Did you get the sense that God is out there? Did you experience God as being distinctly other? Did you sense your smallness? Did you experience awe, or wonder, or even a sense of tranquility at the hugeness of God? Did you see the way he knows you and how passionately he loves you still?
Here at Wildwind, I hope we can be a community of people who have chosen the red pill; a group of people who are willing to face the often not-so-good truth about our lives and jump dramatically out into what seems like nothing, with faith that we will land in the arms of this God we try so hard to get to know. Can we begin to understand every day as another chance to experience mystery and wonder? Can we stop searching so hard for answers, and learn to find God in our questions? Questions are mystery, my friends, and mystery is where God dwells. Can we restore to our lives a dangerous wonder? Can we ask God to give us His mind so that we can join him “out there,” learning to think the way He thinks and feel the way He feels?
This week I’d love to see you get in touch with the mystery of God. So I’m going to suggest an activity for you. Take it or leave it. I want you to consider writing up a list of questions you have – about God, about the world, about suffering, whatever you want. And I want you to make no attempt whatsoever to answer those questions. Simply look at your list and realize that God dwells there in your questions – that you don’t have to know all the answers. We need to get more comfortable with mystery. Pray over your list and ask God to help you become okay with trusting him with what you don’t understand – and what you think you do understand.
If you are here today and have never thought much about spiritual reality, I want to challenge you to stare it down this week. Consider reading through the Gospel of Mark – read it like a story. Look at Jesus. Think about the things he said. Try to get a sense for how “out there” some of that stuff was and is. Try to get away for a moment from the pain you may have experienced in a past church, or the notions you may already have about God – and just listen to the life of Jesus. God is out there, and He wants to also be in here (heart).
