The Beautiful Empty

Introduction

A beautiful paradox.

Sounds like something a mother would say to her child congratulating them on finishing their meal.

We usually don’t see something empty and think it’s beautiful.

If we see a bare, empty room....we want to put things in it.

If we know someone who has an empty life devoid of commitments and relationship we want them to have a full life.

If we look at our lives and feel like we are running empty in comparison to where we’d like to be, we try to fill that emptiness.

Maybe it’s with distraction on social media, movies or shows....you can endlessly distract yourself today.

Maybe it’s with noise and never being quiet

Maybe it’s with an endless pursuit of more

more money

more experiences

more relationships.

But what we will see here today is instead of escaping emptiness, we need to embrace emptiness and follow Jesus’ example.

Today we want to see how God can fill the emptiness we fill and leave us better than before.

Object Lesson 1:

The Overflowing Cup Materials needed: A clear cup, a pitcher of water, a tray or bowl to catch the overflow.

Begin by pouring water into the clear cup while explaining that the cup represents our lives, and the water represents the things we try to fill ourselves with (possessions, relationships, accomplishments, etc.). Keep pouring water until it overflows, illustrating that trying to fill ourselves with these things can lead to a mess and dissatisfaction.

Then, empty the cup and pour water into it again, this time stopping when the cup is only partially full.

Explain that when we leave space for God, He can fill us with His love and grace, resulting in a more balanced, fulfilled life.

The reality is, we live in a world that hates emptiness and the first thing many people do is they try to escape emptiness.

Trying to Escape Emptiness

People are always trying to escape emptiness....

But what if the peace God wants us to

What if God wants us to find beauty in emptiness? But God wants us to find strength. And depending on him to give us peace instead of filling our lives with noise.? The reality is stuff is not inherently wrong.

Throughout the Bible, we see God blessing people with possessions. And God wants us to be grateful for how he blesses us. But the real problems show up when we focus on accumulating stuff and extracting our pleasure from the things we have rather than our relationship with God. We feel the emptiness in our lives With possessions rather than the person of God. People can spend a lifetime climbing the ladder of success only to find a hollowness inside them as they rise.

Let’s read what Jesus said:

Luke 12:15–21 ESV

15 And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” 16 And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” ’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

Think about tragic the story is. This man has everything and wants to build more, and yet God demands his life of him that night.

The man was blessed with produce and wealth which are signs of God’s blessings. And produce, wealth and more are not evil things.

Conversation last night with Christy about money and homelessness.

It’s not a question of the existence of wealth and money, it’s how we relate to it.

You see in the story we just read the problem wasn’t in the man possessing wealth, it was in how much he depended on it. How much life he extracted from the wealth he had.

When we try to fill our lives with anything but Jesus, we serve our lives with idols. What do you try to get meaning in your life? It might not be a great fortune. Maybe it’s control of your life, or it’s a relationship, or it’s the freedom to spend your money on what you want or do what you will. If Jesus asked you to let go of something, could you do it?

We get our peace, our fulfillment from our relationship with God, everything changes.

Think about it, if you trusted your money, relationships, things, and work to God.

And you found your greatest fulfillment in your relationship with God.

How would that change how you live?

Would you be able to look at others with compassion instead of competition or frustration?

Would you spend or save money more out of practicality rather than fear or finding fulfillment by buying stuff.

If you guarded against greed....realizing life consists in relationships; not an abundance of possessions....how would you live differently?

When we stop trying to control our lives, we can see the world around us with love and compassion instead of fear and anxiety. When we allow God to fill us, we become the people God wants us to be.

God doesn’t want us to escape the emptiness that we feel in our lives. He doesn’t want us to try to fill that emptiness with piles and piles of stuff. He likes that emptiness to drive us to him.

The reality is embracing the beautiful empty is not easy. It takes ongoing work to stop ourselves from filling ourselves with stuff, but we have an excellent example to follow.

Following Jesus’ Example

The beautiful thing about the Christian life is that we aren’t worshiping a deity who has never taken human form. We’re not trying to imagine God as nothingness. We have an actual historical living example to look to. The Bible is packed with stories about the life of Jesus. Examples of who he is and was for us to imitate.

Hebrews 2:9 ESV

9 But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

Think about it, Jesus didn’t cling to his status as God, but he emptied himself and became like one of us. He went from having the status and position of a king to taking on the identity and nature of a servant. He emptied himself of divinity to help humanity.

But in doing this, Jesus showed us that the best way to accomplish the greatest good is through putting God’s desires above your comfort.

Years ago, I got to teach fitness classes at the YMCA. I enjoyed that you came to my fitness class and left stronger if you participated. So let me give you a few exercises, if you will as we think through this idea of embracing emptiness. Perhaps as you think about this topic in terms of activities you can do, you can find your way to welcoming the beautiful empty that God has for you.

Exercising Emptiness

The first step in exercising our emptiness, and finding the beautiful empty that God has, for us is knowing Jesus. When we know Jesus and embrace the life he has for us, we will find the beautiful empty. Remember when Jesus spoke to the woman at the well? She came to the wall to get water, but she was living a life finding meaning in relationship after relationship. She had been with five different men. Jesus didn’t seek to fill her need for a liquid to drink. He wanted to fill the emptiness that drove her to a relationship after relationship.

John 4:14 ESV

14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

So the question every person here in this must wrestle with is, have you ever been filled with the living water of Christ? Have you invited Jesus into your heart and allowed him to refresh you?

Here are a few practical suggestions for exercising your emptiness.

Make time for silence and solitude.

We live in a world full of so much noise. We constantly have devices around us to distract us and entertain us. And we are swamped in our lives. We need to make sure we have time each day, aside from the noise and distractions of our day, to sit in God’s presence. To embrace the emptiness that’s only fillable by God.

Practice Gratitude.

Isn’t it so easy to focus on what we don’t have? Isn’t it so easy to focus on the problems in our lives? It is so easy to spend her life trying to fill them with what we like. If, instead, we focus on living with gratitude and thanking God for the blessings we already have, we will recognize more of what God’s already given us. We live a life of gratitude. We cultivate a spirit of contentment and fulfillment. I try to make a daily list of at least ten things, people, and situations I’m thankful for.

Serve others.

How can you find ways to serve others? Make space in your life to put others first. How can you find a way to help others in need or offer encouragement or a phone call to someone in the church who is sick.?

Simplify your life.

The one thing I loved about the coronavirus was how much it simplified our life. We went from having a hectic schedule to an empty life in terms of commitments for a while. We had great family time investing in each other's relationships. When you look at your life, when you think about your schedule, are the things that you can let go of? Other commitments you don’t need? Are there TV shows you don’t need to finish? Where can you find space for God to fill? Where can you find space to be refreshed by God?

Conclusion

Today I want to invite you to embrace the beautiful, empty of life, embrace the reality that we need to find refreshment and healing and hope in someone outside ourselves. Embrace the truth that possessions and money busyness won’t fill us. Slow down, make time to invite God in every day.