Where two realities collide

what is reality?

if you look the definition up, you will get things talking about what is real, what exists whether we know it or not.

We can look at reality on so many levels. our realities that change frequently, like how we feel temperature outside/inside. what our experiences are at the moment.

I will also tell you that other realities are coming and are here now, through vr and ar, we are entering into a time that we have never understood. and then there is ai coming in the future as well that we don’t even understand.

All I can say is that we better be ready to know what reality truly is, because it is going to get crazy in the future!

We can also look at realities that don’t change frequently, but last a good amount of time, like the earth, stars, air, and so forth. these are things that make up our reality, but what I want to talk about today is the two realities that everyone ultimately could possibly live in. there is an original reality and one that is man created.

the original reality

The bible begins with, in the beginning God.....

we see God creating our physical reality and so it goes to say, God is fully in the reality of earth. He is the creator of our reality as well as existing in it. The bible says that God is Spirit and Truth, that He exists everywhere, all the time as well as taking on a physical presence at times. In scripture, we can see God existing in heaven, on earth, in angelic or human bodies as theophanies.

The original reality in light of God existing was God being fully present with humans where they could physically see God and talk with God, yet God was not physically present with them all the time.

think about when Adam and Eve ate from the tree. Did they need faith that God existed? they talked with God face to face, so no, they didn’t need faith that God existed. Did they need faith for anything? Yes, they needed faith that what God said was the truth and if they had trusted God’s word, they would not have eaten from the tree that God told them not to eat from. So they broke faith, they didn’t trust God at that moment, but trusted themselves as the serpent deceived them too.

God physically shows up and you know the story..... God deals with them and sends them out of His presence. this developed the need for faith in His existence from then on until the end of history. this is why we need faith that God exists today, because we do not see Him face to face.

side bar.... when Jesus lived on earth, those people got a chance to see God wrapped up in a human body.... can you imagine that!

today, we need faith. and faith is what divides the two realities. Hebrews tells us that we need faith in order to know that God exists.

Hebrews 11:6 ESV

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

in this verse we can see a connection between faith and action. What happens when we live in the presence of God and how it affects our action.

James speaks on that as well with saying faith without works is dead.

We will talk more about this in a bit, but lets look at the other reality first.

So, what is the other reality? this man created or sin created reality?

it is simply that God does not exist. So many people think this way and it is no wonder.......This is the reality we are all born into now.

We could look through scripture and see so many locations that display this. Maybe as you read scripture, you can keep this thought in the back of your mind and see it pop out.

today, I would like to take you to one place that displays this. the Prodigal Son parable. Jesus tells this parable for the people to understand the need for repentance because of the situation they are in due to their separation from God and He shows an incredible picture of Gods grace, love and mercy.

Luke 15:11–24 ESV

And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.” ’ And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

there is so many things we can learn in this parable, but as we are thinking on reality, can we see the sons reality and how his reality changes?

Lets talk about this, what do we see happening to the Father and Sons relationship at the beginning of this parable? Verse 12 the son asks for his portion, his inheritance.

When would the son normally get his inheritance?

So, what are the implications of the son asking the Father for this prior to the Fathers death?

Father, I think of you as dead. I want to go do my own thing. And the son did.

Verse 17 is a picture of repentance. The son came to himself, had a realization, a reality check!

He humbles himself, goes back to his Father in a state of humility and confesses his sin.

This is such a great picture of the Father, I don’t want us to miss this! the Father is looking for the son, waiting for the son.

Luke 15:20 ESV

And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

Jesus so often points to how God the Father loves seeing people repent, or turn back to Him, and what a great picture of that here.

in that culture, a father would never run towards a child to receive him but we see the Father here running.... he saw him from a far way off, it implies that he was looking for him, waiting for him. the compassion he felt for his son drove him. then the Father fully restored the son back to his original standing in the family with the robe, ring and shoes. plus celebrates with a fattened calf.

in light of the two realities, one when a person believes that God exists, and the other that He doesn’t, this text is showing us what happens when a person goes from the one to the other.

the son was living like the Father didn’t exist, but turned and came back to the reality that the Father did exist.

listen how the Father describes the son....

Luke 15:24 ESV

For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

Mankind that doesn’t believe God exists doesn’t stop God from existing. they are just living like He doesn’t exist. they are living like God is dead. but actually from God’s perspective, they are the ones dead and lost until they turn back to Him.

and look at how God sees those who turn back to Him! look at the love, grace and mercy! at the compassion, and the complete restoration!

Did God allow the son to live apart from Him?

It was all those hardships that caused the son to think to turn back to the Father.

hardship can make us look for and realize we need God.

this could also be why Jesus says it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom.

this turning, this conversion or transformation the son experienced is really the born again experience.

as we look at two realities, God exists or God does not exist, lets think about how we are all born.

Are we born as believers?

Since Adam and Eve, we are all born not knowing that God exists. We are all born in the pig pen, where the prodigal son finds himself!

its not until we realize, we have sinned against the One who created us and have broken the relationship with Him, that we start being led to come back into relationship with Him. We discover the need to make right.

the need to turn to Him,

the need to confess,

the need to be humble,

the need to be honest, open, vulnerable.

this is all because we are having faith in Him, that He exists and that He is Good.

And how do we know that He is so good? We were told the message that God sent Jesus, who dealt with the very thing that was between God and mankind since Adam.

Sin.

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

this gives us access to a whole new reality.

this is a born again experience. we were born physically as babies with no knowledge of God, and when we have faith in God, we are new,

It changes our reality.

We are changed from the Kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of light.

Now we see another way with God being in our presence.... we live in His presence.

our first reality we were born in was from the affect of Adam and Eve’s sin and the disconnection from God, but being born again takes us back to the original reality where God’s presence is. This is God’s plan of salvation.

and this is the actual, one true reality.....

John 17:3 ESV

And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

knowing this can give us such a heart for others. If they are still living in the sin created reality, they don’t know any other way.

We that know this restored reality can share the message.

How about us? Do we always live with the awareness that we are in God’s presence? Or do we toggle back and forth?

Is it a struggle to stay in the Kingdom of light while living on this earth of two realities colliding?

We need each other to give encouragement. there is a verse in Hebrews that points to this.

Hebrews 3:12–13 ESV

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

When we toggle back and forth between the two realities, we can see how sin can draw us in and cause us to be pulled away from God.

I have heard and seen people fall away from God. this is heart breaking! If we take these verses seriously, we will help each other by encouraging each other.... daily. I know I need that. How about you?

How can we do that? lets share some ideas with each other right now in small groups.