Practicing the Faith | Silence and Solitude

Jimmy Sourile

Practicing The Faith • Sermon • Submitted 10 months ago • Presented 10 months ago

Solitude

Silence

0 ratings

· 7 views

Notes

Transcript

If you are able, please stand for the reading of God’s word.

Luke 5:12–16 (CSB)

While he was in one of the towns, a man was there who had leprosy all over him. He saw Jesus, fell facedown, and begged him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Reaching out his hand, Jesus touched him, saying, “I am willing; be made clean,” and immediately the leprosy left him. Then he ordered him to tell no one: “But go and show yourself to the priest, and offer what Moses commanded for your cleansing as a testimony to them.”

But the news about him spread even more, and large crowds would come together to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. Yet he often withdrew to deserted places and prayed.

Please be seated.

Have you ever been in the middle of nowhere at night and looked up?

My family hails from the chicago land area, and then we lived in town for many years, but i remember when we moved out to the country south of Brookings when i was in elementary school.

I remember laying down in the grass at night and seeing the night sky for the first time. Sure i had seen the stars before - but if you know you know - you get out of town, away from the light night noise and you look up, it will take your breath away.

You can see constellations and nebula. You can see satellites, You can see the clouds of the milky way. Its mesmerizing. And in a very good way, makes us feel small.

And I saw if just like 5 miles from brookings - go further, and it’s even clearer. Peter and I have made a hunting trip in October right on the bluffs of the missouri river now, and after the grueling hike at 4:30 in the morning, we lay back and just marvel at the skies.

What has always been crazy to me, is when you are out of town at night, you can see the light noise above cities and towns! It’s that bright, and intrusive.

When you’re in the city, you don’t necessarily feel it - your eyes adjust to it, and it becomes your normal, your reality. But when you get out and let your eyes adjust to the reality of the beauty of night, then looking towards the city - it’s glaring and obvious.

In so many ways, this series we have been in, and are ending today, has been about how do we live faithfully as christians while in the light noise of the city. How can we practice the faith and be formed into the image of Christ, into people of Love for the sake of the world - how can we do that, when we have forces and ideologies and peoples trying to malform us all the time.

We’ve talked about prayer, and sabbath, and fasting, and hospitality and generosity. And today we will focus on Silence and Solitude.

We, as a people, tend to dislike silence and solitude at first glance - we think of God seeing adam in the Garden and saying “It’s not good for man to be alone.”

And there is good reason that Solitary Confinement is considered one of the worst punishments for people who are incarcerated. People go crazy, they lose sense of time, they become desperate for interaction.

Though when we read the Scriptures it becomes apparent that silence and solitude are important - we will look at several of those passages this morning.

I knew this, growing up in the church as a good pastors Kid. And I did my best to have a quote unquote quiet time in the morning where i’d read my bible and pray - i often times failed during my teen years to be disciplined. But as I went through college I began to practice it more and more, and if I can be honest - it was really difficult to me.

I was expecting like a hyper-charismatic holy spirit zap after 5 minutes a lone and quiet. And usually instead I just realized how anxious and unhappy I was.

And as a more extroverted person, who enjoys relating with people and coaching people, and praying with people - the silence was deafening.

For a lot of us - silence is strange. And even when we have some time alone - we typically then immediately fill the time space continuum around us with music, podcasts, tasks, and distractions.

At risk of being too repetitive - consider just how much content we have flying at our souls all the time! Cell phones, music, social media, news, TV, Sports, podcasts, bill boards, advertisements, sales men,

and that’s just the external pressure! What about our internal voice barking at us, the spiritual enemies of our souls seeking our destruction and downfall.

I remember a time not that long ago where Car rides were drives with Jesus. Clear off my passenger seat, symbolically inviting JEsus to have a seat, and praying, talking with him and listening to him as I’d drive wherever i was going.

If I’m honest - there are many times where i can feel like there are more important things to do or listen to. I need to listen to the news! What if i miss something important?

Or I’m just so bored I’d rather be entertained for twenty minutes.

Solitude - silence - because they are humble by their nature, can be easy to miss.

But it’s a practice we can’t ignore. We can’t miss the silence. We can’t miss the solitude. Because it’s in those places where there is desolation - we find God.

There are some famous passages about silence, solitude, and encountering God.

Let’s start from our scripture reading passage this morning, in Luke 5:12-14 let me read this for us.

Luke 5:12–14 (CSB)

This section shows a common ministry of Jesus. And it’s beautiful for a number of reasons, one of them being because we see the willing and generous heart of God! A man with leprosy sees Jesus, and likely having heard of this miracle working Rabbi, falls facedown - “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”

Jesus extends his hand, touching the man who is ill with a skin disease! This was a big no-no. Lepers were cast out of society as they were unclean and they didn’t want the disease to spread. They were social outcasts, and when people would walk near them they were obligated to shout out “unclean unclean!” to make sure people could give them wide birth.

But Jesus - touches the untouchable one, and says : “I am willing. be made clean” and the leprosy fled, the man fully healed.

Beautiful. We see this as very normative for Jesus’ ministry and it was. Going to the outcasts and the untouchables, and healing those who had diseases and afflictions.

And we see in the next verse that word spreads. Luke 5:15

Luke 5:15 CSB

But the news about him spread even more, and large crowds would come together to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses.

And of course word spread! This Jesus would go into a town and would heal everyone of diseases! Large crowds come and come.

And for a lot of people, a lot of christians - all we want is to see and be a part of this hype. The big crowd. The big concert. With the big name pastor. And the big excitement and music and crying.

What we forget is the next verse. Luke 5:16

Luke 5:16 CSB

Yet he often withdrew to deserted places and prayed.

Jesus. The Messiah. Lord of Lords. The Prince of Peace. The Logos by which everything that has been made was made.

Didn’t sit in the hype. Didn’t chase spiritual conference high after conference high. Didn’t distract himself with all the important work that needed to get done.

No - he OFTEN withdrew to deserted places and prayed.

First - notice the frequency of Jesus retreats. Often. Regularly. Habitually.

1 - Often

There was a lot of things Jesus could devote his time to and to regularly participate in. And they were imporant and good - but Jesus OFTEN withdrew.

And remember, a Jewish Rabbi would have disciples, or apprentices, who would follow their rabbi everywhere. And they would do whatever their teacher did - they wouldn’t just want to teach like their rabbi - but to embody the who life’s teaching of their rabbi.

So the twelve - who were probably enjoying the feeling of importance as crowds rushed to their teacher - would have had to drop their feelings of importance and follow their rabbi and withdraw OFTEN.

If we follow Jesus - we OFTEN need to withdraw too.

2 - Deserted Places

Second - notice where did he go? The text says deserted places. In the greek the word is eremos. It can be translated desert, wilderness, deserted place, desolate place, lonely place.

The idea is that of scarcity. A place out in the boonies where there is no light noise. No crowds around. No hype. No emotional manipulation. No news. In fact - there’s very little or nothing.

Remember - Jesus came and was human. Flesh and blood. Heart and brain. Limbic system and nervous response systems. He was fully divine, yes, AND fully man. And there is so much tangible wisdom here in Jesus. There’s work to be done - and theres noise - and what does he do? Get out of there. Go where there is nothing and nobody to distract from the most important relationship - that with his father.

And if I can just humbly suggest something - if Jesus, who was perfect, needed to get alone to pray - how much more do we, who are not perfect - need to go to deserted places?

There is temptation with a lot of us when we take time to be with god, be it devotions or quiet time, etc - is to fill the space and the atmosphere with stuff and noise. We will listen to a sermon, put on worship music, read scripture - none of that is bad - but, sometimes we can find ourselves just distracting ourselves in a different zipcode, rather than coming to the eremos and letting the reality of God and the universe sink into our bones.

Jesus knows that - and goes to where there is nothing. No distractions. No bluetooth speaker. Just the lonely desert

Why?

3 - Prayer

Third - he went to pray.

Jesus, second person of the trinity - retreated to the middle of nowhere to pray. To be caught up in the relational oneness with the trinity.

We talked about this a bit on our sermon on prayer - but prayer is not just talking to God - it’s listening to God. And beyond that - it’s being with God. Even when words aren’t exchanged - it’s the beholding. beholding God and being held by Him.

Removing yourself from the light noise, from the craziness of the world and the city, into the open skies where you can look up and worship God. Perhaps where we realized that the earth isn’t the center of the universe. That it isn’t about us. that it’s all about and for and around God.

And where we can remember that even with that truth - that we are smaller than dust when we consider the cosmic scale of the universe, we are deeply loved and known and seen by God.

I heard a sermon recently that spoke to me where the pastor said when we are feeling depressed, anxious alone we need to remember the cross and the empty grave.

We may feel insignificant - but remember Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead - because of his great love for us. Well that love will get us through quite a bit.

But there is so much other noise competing for our attention that we can take our eyes off that truth and become distracted, ineffective, and weak.

Jesus often withdrew to the deserted places and prayed.

And it’s not just Jesus - but throughout the Biblical narrative we see this - where people go to the lonely place, the eremos - to meet with God.

perhaps most infamously is the story of Elijah and the soft voice.

This is in 1 Kings 19 - and the context is Elijah had been used by God to defeat the prophets of Baal on Mt Carmel, and Jezebel, wife of the evil king at the time - was determined to kill Elijah.

So Elijah, even after witnessing the incredible miracle on Mt Carmel is destitute and depressed and terrified. God sent him on a journey to Horeb to the mountain of God - the same mountain where Moses had seen the burning bush.

When he arrived, he wanted to meet with god. Let me read this section for you - 1 Kings 19:9-13

1 Kings 19:9–13 (CSB)

He entered a cave there and spent the night. Suddenly, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of Armies, but the Israelites have abandoned your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are looking for me to take my life.” Then he said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the Lord’s presence.”

At that moment, the Lord passed by. A great and mighty wind was tearing at the mountains and was shattering cliffs before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was a voice, a soft whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Suddenly, a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

What a beautiful narrative and object lesson! God told Elijah he was about to be in the Lord’s presence - what a wonderful and terrifying thought.

And we would expect as readers the first time - for this God who just demonstrated his power over Baal on Mt Carmel to come with some epic way?

But he was not in the wind that was shattering the cliffs. He was not in the earthquake. He was not in the fire.

all of these obvious demonstrations of power, overt, loud - but finally there was a voice. a soft whisper. And Elijah seems to immediately recognize it as the Lord - wraps his face and then stands out at the entrance of the cave - entering the presence of God and hearing the voice of God.

Wow.

Now we recognize that, especially growing up in the church - many will know the story of the still small voice as the KJV translates it.

We know the songs “In the secret in the quiet place”

And yet - most of us seek God in the stuff rather that the quiet.

We seek God in the emotional experience rather than the still quiet voice. Many a cult, many a christian has been lead astray by hype and emotionalism rather than the voice of God. They FELT like God - but feelings can be cheap and manipulated.

Elijah, Moses, Jesus - Daniel - John the apostle - they all experience God in the middle of nowhere, the eremos.

And it is essential if we want to live a life deeply connected to Christ, that we take the time to get out of the noise to be with God in the desolate place. and do it often. And do it in prayer.

If we do this well, and regularly, I believe we will see our lives transformed.

Why? Is it because there is something special about being quiet?

Well as a parent of small kids I want to say yes and amen quiet is precious.

But no - we don’t worship the quiet. We do worship the solitude or the eremos.

I believe we will be transformed because we are putting ourselves in a place where we can behold God without distraction. And I don’t think we come away from that unchanged!

So what?

I actually have a so what part 1 and 2 for us today. First on silence and solitude, and lastly closing thoughts on this series of practicing the faith.

First - Solitude and silence - was a regular part of our savior and rabbis life - and it ought to be a part of ours.

How? and How Often? and what should it look like?

Those are great questions we turn to now.

How often should we practice silence and solitude. I think the answer is often. And i think we need it in small doses and large doses.

I think have some time in silence and solitude can and should be part of our daily rhythm with the Lord. It is a great thing to mix in with your Scripture reading and time with God.

Perhaps consider in the morning when you wake up, take a few moments and minutes to pray and be quiet before reading scripture.

I generally pray something like the Jesus Prayer which is: “Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.” and then I’ll sit for an unspecified time as my mind and body and soul all come together. and when I feel distracted, I’ll repeat that prayer.

I’ll ask God to speak to me, and if I have thoughts come to mind or an impression, or a picture, I’ll journal those.

A long standing prayer int he church is to pray “Come Holy Spirit” before reading scripture - that’s good.

But we can practice moments of silence and bringing our selves back into the reality of God on the throne throughout the day - and we should.

And there is wisdom in having a place to do that. And eremos - perhaps we all don’t have access to mountains int he wilderness in our back yard - but we can all find a place where we are not distracted. For me when I’m really doing business with God, I literally will go into my closet.

For others while its still dark before the sun rises, go sit at your table and light a candle.

And there is great wisdom in taking an extended time to be alone with God. Classically we call these retreats. And they can be good fun to go on an organized one - but we need to find time and space on those to be alone with God in the quiet.

Because if we are going to hear from God - and I believe he speaks to us - it seems the biblical precedent that we are going to need to quiet our noise down to hear the soft quiet whisper of God. And I really do believe we will hear from him - in fact we probably hear from him more than we realize and recognize.

One word of caution on that - when it comes to hearing from God.

My heart has grown increasingly concerned by how often some people throw around “God told me.” “I got this word from God.” It feels like there are more prophets on youtube saying the most off the rails stuff more than ever recently.

I just want to strongly encourage caution and humility.

God can and does talk - but we also can be incredibly wrong and deceived. We are to test all things - and that means take the thoughts and images we believe may be from God and subjecting them to scripture, and other christians.

If we feel something is from God - good - have the humility to say it just like that. I feel like. I think. I am starting to believe that.

But just bold declarations - “God told me this.” I want to just caution us. That is a bold claim. Especially when it comes to other people = “God told me this about you.” Did he? are you sure? Cause if your not sure I wouldn’t say it like that.

In stead, test things together.

Something like“Hey, I was praying for you and this came to mind. I don’t know if it’s something from God, but because I love you I want to tell you. Here’s what I felt: Do what you want with that. And if it’s nothing - please disregard it. I know I can get things wrong.” See how honoring that can be?

Let’s practice an abundance of caution before we put words in Gods mouth that may not be his. And let’s submit to each other in love. let’s test things together. and let’s follow Jesus together.

We practice solitude and silence not just to receive from God - it’s not just about hearing form him - it’s about being with him. Submitting to him. Worshiping him. Realizing that we are smaller than dust when it comes to the cosmic scale of the universe - and yet he loves you, meets with you, knows you, speaks to you.

Now as we look at Practicing the Faith just two final thoughts.

Remember - we are saved by grace through faith. you are not saved by doing all of the spiritual disciplines. You can fast every day and get to the end and GOd can tell you “depart from me I never knew you.”

We are only saved by grace through Faith in JEsus Christ. That he is the messiah. That he died in our place and he is lord and was raised on third day. We must believe on him to be saved.

The practices are to help us grow in faith. To help us live out the faith. To become more and more like him. To crucify the flesh and to become people of love for the sake of the world.

And lastly - none of these are over night transformations.

As Eugene Peterson defined discipleship - a long obedience in the same direction.

There is no shortcut to sanctification. God declares you righteous when we in faith come to Christ - and then he grows holiness in us through the process of sanctification.

Ariana and I have been practicing the Sabbath for two years - and we are just starting to see how transformative it is. And there are still many weeks where it feels like we just miss it.

We can practice prayer and silence and solitude and not “feel” like we are talking to anything but a voice mail machine in heaven - and we can do that for months and years. Do not be discouraged. A long obedience in the same direction.

We don’t worship God because we FEEL like it - we worships him BECAUSE HE IS GOD! And by his grace he bestows upon us love.

This is a whole life journey to follow Jesus - just like his disciples were told to drop there nets and follow him - the Rabbi Jesus, Savior Jesus, invites us to follow him.

That means orienting our whole lives around the person and practices of Jesus Christ - so that we too can become people of love for the sake of the world and that the world would see our good works and praise the Father and so that more and more people hear and are introduced to Christ and are saved.

And we pray that as we continue to practice the faith - and we grow in faith - we turn up the spiritual temperature in our own lives - so that we increase the spiritual temperature all across south eastern south Dakota - and so that as my friend Terry Walters Rasmussen has often prayed - that it would be difficult to go to hell if you are in centerville south dakota.