Walking with God

Tonight, I want to attempt to combine what brother Terry spoke about last night regarding the Three Rules of Discipleship. For those who were not with us last night, the three rules of discipleship are 1) follow me, 2) come and see, and 3) see greater things.

At one time we ran with the devil. Paul writes in Ephesians 2 that we were dead in our sins, we walked according to the course of this world, but God who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ, by grace you have been saved. I want to remind all of us that we cannot walk with God and run with the devil at the same time.

Too often, I have seen church folk go to church on Sunday looking like they are following God, then Monday morning comes, and they’re running all over the place, filling their time with busyness until they’re exhausted to even give God a thought, let alone a few minutes in prayer.

There is a new song entitled “Monday Morning Faith” and one of the stanzas it says “hell is not scared of a Sunday faith if it only leads to empty praise. What really makes darkness run is when the saints arise and praise in quiet on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. To know God, to love him and to choose him first.” Friends what we must do as disciples and if we want to make the devil afraid of us is to walk with God. And so, what does Enoch have to do with discipleship? It’s all about how we walk.

The few scriptures that deal with Enoch tell us that he walked with God and his testimony was pleasing to God. Walking with God, I believe, is essential to being a disciple of Christ.

In Genesis 5 it appears to be nothing more than a list of names interesting only to historians and theologians. But there is a recurring theme that is of interest to every human being. The theme is: “he lived… then he died.” It is important to remember that humanity has been given only two things to master: “how to live” and “how to die.”

What we see in the beginning is that life lived in the image of God is drastically different from life lived in the likeness of sinful man, as the sad saga of Genesis clearly outlines. It is only when we recognize the difference that we can start coming to grips with life. If we see ourselves as independent of God or refuse to acknowledge our tendency to sin, we are doomed to repeat the fatal errors of our ancestors. Adam hid from God, Cain went from the presence of God, but Enoch walked with God.

That simple phrase is full of great meaning for us as believers. Micah the prophet said it well: “And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” The writer of Hebrews says that before Enoch was taken away, he had this testimony, that he pleased God.

It is not uncommon to hear glowing eulogies at funerals which sometimes lead one to wonder if one has wandered into the wrong event. We do tend to say nice things about “the departed,” but the difference with Enoch was that people said nice things like “he walked with God” before he departed. The New Testament called this termination of his earthly walk “his translation” as if to suggest that his walk down here had been so precious and intimate that God chose to deliver him from the pains of death and simply transfer him into a walk with Him on a higher plane.

If nothing else is said about me at my funeral, I want someone to at least say he walked with God. I am not here for the accolades. I'm just a nobody trying to tell everybody, about somebody, who can save anybody. We as creatures must walk hand in hand with our creator striving to grow closer to him. However, if we find ourselves complacent with our spiritual growth, it becomes a deadly foe.

As we become complacent in our faith, in a sense that we have arrived at holiness, it is the beginning of our downfall we become distant from God. Distance from God is a frightening thing. God will never adjust His agenda to fit ours. (Illustration Walk down the pews… We walk before God, or God drags us, or we walk in step with God.)

God will not scream and shout over the noisy clamor; He expects us to seek quietness, where His still, small voice can be heard again. God will not work within the framework of our complicated schedules; we must adapt to His style. It doesn’t say Enoch convinced God to talk with him on a certain time, or Enoch checked his calendar to see if he had time for God. No Enoch made it a priority to walk with God, just as Jesus’ early disciples left it all behind to follow him. Just as Philipp tells Nathaniel come and see the one, we have been waiting for.

As disciples of Christ, the kingdom of God must be part of our daily lives. Don’t you want that. I want that for you more than any other thing. I want that for every soul here tonight to walk with God. But the hardest thing in the world, it seems, is for God to have our full attention so that intimacy with Him glows from within and can be seen by others as a passion that is authentic.

God wants no mere show of religion but a passionate spirituality, where God still does miraculous things through His people—often in spite of us—where God reveals His will in ways that are full of mystery and surprise and wonder. A humble spirituality that leaves us, the clay, willingly soft and malleable in the hands of the Potter, our sovereign God. I want that for me, and I want that for you.

So how do we walk with God today? Enoch did not have the Word of God as we have it now, he didn’t have the outpouring of the Spirit, he didn’t have a church to attend, he didn’t have a lot of believers to encourage him, he didn’t have teachers to show him the way, and yet he was able to walk in faith.

When we walk with somebody it implies relationship. Enoch had an intimate relationship with God. The same God who walked with Adam and Eve in the garden, wants to walk and talk with us. “And he walks with me, and he talks with me, and he tells me I am his own. And the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known.”

If you stop and think about it, what greater privilege could be given to any man or woman today. That the king of the Universe could be right here alongside of us by His Spirit. You can sense him. If you walk with him long enough, you get to know his presence. You can be in the middle of a crowd. at Wal Mart or at the grocery store and sense Him. You can be in the lowest valley and know He is there. You learn that God walks the dark hills, and he is there continually to show you the way.

Some would say, I don’t know how to walk with God. If you want to walk with God, you have to spend time building a relationship with God. It is more than saying a sinner’s prayer. It takes time. It takes time in prayer. It takes times in worship. It takes time in the word. It takes time practicing solitude, listening for his voice. I am here to tell you that we can walk with God just like Enoch did. Spend time with him. Acknowledge Him throughout your day. Practice the presence of God.

Paul describes how a relationship with God will affect our walk on the earth in his epistles. In fact, he uses the word walk over 25 times in his epistles. If you have a relationship with God, it will affect your walk.

You will walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh.

You will walk in love.

You will walk properly as in the day, not in partying or in drunkenness.

You will walk by faith and not by sight.

You will believe God’s promise that he will dwell with you and walk among you.

You will walk in the good works God has prepared for you to walk in.

You will walk as children of the light.

You will walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise.

You will walk in wisdom.

You will walk in peace.

Enoch’s faith pleased God. Enoch’s faith manifested itself in the day-to-day decisions that he made for 300 years.

I can tell you that there have been seasons in my life when I have sought God more and sought God less.

I cannot tell you that every single day of my life I sought God. But I think that this man had such a passion, that he got up in the morning and he sought God. Until God one day said, “You have become so close to me, why don’t you just come on up here? And leave the world behind?”