God’s Favorite House
A House with a View
July 23, 2006
For five years my office had no window
None of our offices had a window. We were located in the basement. There was no view. I didn’t know when it was sunny and nice. I didn’t know when it was rainy and cold. I didn’t know when the wind moved the leaves or when the heat was unbearable. I had no knowledge. There was no revelation.
When this happens you really begin to lose touch with the reality of the world around you. There is no connection with any other life except for that which is in your own little tiny comfortable and safe world.
This is not a good place to be.
Last month, we moved our offices. I have a window that looks over a landscape of trees. So far I’ve seen a rabbit, a squirrel, a chipmunk, and lots of birds. I expect to see a deer in the woods behind the office at some point in the coming days. The world around me has been revealed.
A House with a View
Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the law.
Proverbs 29:18
King James translates this passage as “Where there is no vision the people perish” The word that KJV translates as vision is better understood as knowledge or revelation. The word translated perish is better understood as without restraint – actually the word literally is naked.
What the writer is saying is that “where there is no revelation or understanding of God and his ways there is no restraint or purpose in the lives of his people.
The view we have of our world is a crucial element in how we live and what we do – individually and as a church.
What is our view of the world? Do we even have a view or are we sitting comfortably in a closed room devoid of any outside revelation of the world around us. Are we isolated from what is happening in our community and separated from the people surrounding us?
Meridian Christian Church, since that first Sunday in the outer six theaters at the Meridian Mall, has been and still is a church with a view… a worldview that is God colored.
The important question this morning is “How do we keep that view clear? How do we make sure that our understanding of God’s revelation is not blurry and how do we make sure that it doesn’t fade into the background noise and clutter of our everyday life?
We must match up God’s view with our view of His world!
We can begin best by seeing the world through the eyes of our Lord Jesus.
A Good View of the World
35 You have a saying, ‘Four more months till harvest.’ But I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields ready for harvest now.
John 4:35
A Good View of the World
36 Already, the one who harvests is being paid and is gathering crops for eternal life. So the one who plants and the one who harvests celebrate at the same time.
A Good View of the World
37 Here the saying is true, ‘One person plants, and another harvests.’ 38 I sent you to harvest a crop that you did not work on. Others did the work, and you get to finish up their work.”
John 4:34-38
Yoggi Berra, “You can see a lot if you look”
Helen Keller was asked once “What would be worse than being born blind?” to which she replied “Having sight without a vision.”
How is your view of the world? The vision I am talking about goes beyond the natural sight of our physical eyes. It goes to the heart of the matter – not what we see but what is present to be seen.
When Jesus spoke to his disciples he was not talking about the grain in the fields that surrounded them. He had just finished speaking with the woman at the well while the disciples had gone to town for some food. He had been energized and rejuvenated by his conversation with this spiritually hungry woman. She had gone back to town and was telling everyone about what she had learned about Jesus and God.
So what was Jesus saying? He was saying don’t look with the physical world that surrounds you – instead look at the world and see the spiritual hunger that surrounds us – it is all around us.
He doesn’t stop there. Jesus continues with some solid teaching about us and the world we live in.
Don’t worry about the future; Trust God for the present
35 You have a saying, ‘Four more months till harvest.’ But I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields ready for harvest now.
Jesus, John 4:35
When there are four more months to the harvest – we’ve got lots of time. We’ll do it later.
One of the most important tactics of our enemy is not a full blown attack on the church. It is simply the persuasive argument that we can do it later. There’s no need to move forward now. The harvest is four months off yet!
Listen, to have a view of the world that is good and Godly you have to disregard what the world says (disregard = turn a blind eye to). This means that we must listen in to all the ways that God speaks to us about the people in our world, our community, our neighborhood.
This starts with prayer! Last week we offered you prayer flags. All summer I want to encourage you to go out to the land on Bennett Road and to pray for our community. Take a flag. Write a prayer on it. Go out to the land and stake your prayer in the land while you offer up your prayer to God.
Go by yourself. Go with your family. Go with your Home Group. Go with a friend. Call me up – I’ll go with you! All summer long – let’s pray for our community.
Why? Well I’ve discovered that when you pray – coincidences happen. When you don’t, they don’t. Pray for people and trust God to make some things happen in your life.
Pray with expectation for people in your life. Don’t be controlled by the logical, believe there is more to life than meets the eye. We are guilty of limiting God.
A 5th grade S.S. class was asked to go home and count the stars in the sky as part of their next S.S. lesson. They came back with various numbers. Some said 100, some said 1000, some said a million. Finally the teacher asked a little boy who had said nothing, "How many stars did you count?"
He replied, "3". The teacher asked how did you only see 3? He said, "I guess we just have a small backyard."
That’s our problem when it comes to believing -- we have a small backyard. Our faith needs to be strengthened and that is through His word. You don’t need much faith. Faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains.
Don’t be overwhelmed by the size of the task; Be energized to do what you can do.
37 Here the saying is true, ‘One person plants, and another harvests.’
John 4:37
It is so easy to look at God’s view of the world and to be overwhelmed by the needs – spiritual and physical.
That’s why a lot of people quit looking. They find it easier to paper over the window and to quit looking. It’s a little like what we do when another starving baby with flies walking on their face comes on the TV screen – we look away or flip the channel to something more pleasant. But the result is that we no longer see what God sees and the memories of the people and spiritual hunger outside of our comfortable little world fades into the twilight of our minds.
Don’t look at all the needs. Look at the needs you can do something about. There are people you can love. There are people you can tell about church. One person plants the seed another harvests the crop. We all do it together- and it’s a lot more fun!
There are alot of factors that influence our service for God which we have no control over -- your background, your age, your giftedness, but there is one important factor that we do have control over.
Bruce Lee had a fighting style unlike any other because he developed it himself. The main part of his fighting style was aim 6 inches beyond your target. WHAT A CONCEPT FOR CHRISITANS. Are we aiming at our target?
No most of the time we have to aim just about 6 inches this side of our target.
What if we could adopt this concept of aiming beyond? What could we accomplish?
Don’t think too highly of yourself; God makes it grow.
5 Is Apollos important? No! Is Paul important? No! We are only servants of God who helped you believe. Each one of us did the work God gave us to do.
1 Corinthians 3:5-9
Don’t think too highly of yourself; God makes it grow.
6 I planted the seed, and Apollos watered it. But God is the One who made it grow. 7 So the one who plants is not important, and the one who waters is not important. Only God, who makes things grow, is important.
1 Corinthians 3:5-9
Don’t think too highly of yourself; God makes it grow.
8 The one who plants and the one who waters have the same purpose, and each will be rewarded for his own work. 9 We are God’s workers, working together; you are like God’s farm, God’s house.
1 Corinthians 3:5-9
It’s not about me. It’s about us. We have each other and God.
Mat 18:19 says 19 “Also, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about something and pray for it, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20 This is true because if two or three people come together in my name, I am there with them.”
We so often want to keep a hold onto the things we can physically change or alter. We want to never reach beyond that limit of our own scope. We have got to reach out and let God have his beautiful handy work involved or we will fail every time.
Look at what God asks most of our Bible Heroes to do. God ask them to attempt the impossible.
What if these so Biblical heroes did not want to move beyond their comfort zones?
Noah would have said - Sorry God I don’t do boats
Moses he would have said - I don’t like people
David – I don’t do giants or kingdoms God I am just a lowly shepherd
Mary – I don’t babies, the son of God?
The biggest Goliath in most of our lives is our self. We wake up and look in the mirror everyday and see the same person we saw yesterday. We don’t look beyond the reflection and see God’s handy work.
Why don’t we have more faith, courage, vision? It’s not God’s fault.
In fact, if we could kick the person responsible for our doubts, we couldn’t sit down for a week!
God help us to be courageous in the task before us.
God’s Favorite House
we love God
with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength – every Sunday and all week long
Not a seeker service – not about entertainment, about worship. This is God’s family room.
we do life together
Celebration Service
Home/Life Groups
we teach children to know God
with excellence and intentionality
Paradise Island
we are salt
that flavors our community
through ministry
Provoke to love and good deeds
we are light
that reveals Good News
revealed through Jesus, God’s son.
We do these things because of the view we have of the world and the spiritual hunger that surrounds us.
And every day we do all we can to help people find the way home.
Columbus’ dairy at times seems to be very repetitive. Page after page simply says, "This day we sailed on!"
What a great motto for a Christian.
Anybody can start the race, but they don’t give out the awards until you finish.
