Like Jesus: Being With Jesus - Solitude

Introduction

Welcome to Cornerstone Church. As we launch into this new series that we started last week called, Like Jesus, I want to start with a call to Christians from AW Tozer that I hope will set the tone for today.

We Christians must simplify our lives or lose untold treasures on earth and in eternity. Modern civilization is so complex as to make the devotional life all but impossible. The need for solitude and quietness was never greater than it is today.

A. W. Tozer

Tozer says that the need, the NEED for solitude and quietness was never greater than it is today. This quote is from Tozer’s book, Of God and Men, originally published in 1960. How much more true do you think this is today? Tozer knew nothing of smart phones or the internet. He couldn’t imagine that for some of us the only time we got peace and silence was in the bathroom and some of us struggle to get it even then.

Today we are going to look at this quintessential human need called solitude. And the question I want to ask as always, is this something that if we practice it, will it make us look more like Jesus?

Let’s turn in our Bibles to Luke 5.

Luke 5:15–16 NIV

Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.

Today, I want to spend our time looking mainly at verse 16, which says that Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. Now there are few key words in this text that I want to point out.

When talking about solitude, notice that the text says that Jesus often did this. That means this was a regular thing for him. He did this often, regularly. He took time to be alone. Now, this isn’t just a one-off statement by Luke, this idea is repeatedly brought up by Mark and by Matthew in their gospels. Jesus regularly took time to be away.

Now, let’s think about this in context for a moment. Jesus, the Son of God, God in the flesh, took time to be alone with God. God himself sought out solitude. He was not the exception, He is the model. Remember, if our goal is to Be Like Jesus, we have to take note of the things, the activities that Jesus participated in and the practice of solitude was one of them. If He needed this in his life and ministry, how much more do we need it? How much more would we benefit from it if we modeled our lives after his?

The second thing to notice in our text today is that Jesus often withdrew. One of the primary aspects of solitude is withdrawing. Some of us have a little yuppie in us and we think solitude is going to the coffee shop alone or others maybe your alone time is going shopping and while that can be relaxing and fun (maybe) or it may even refill your soul, but that is not what we are talking about here. We are talking about withdrawing from input.

What is input? Everything around us that we seek to fill ourselves with, other than God. For most of us it could be music or podcasts or youtube videos or books or tv shows or shopping or our work or ipads or games or whatever. Anything that we seek to silence our souls with that is not Jesus, that is what I mean by input.

With these things in mind, let me remind you that most of the things that I mentioned just now are not aids to solitude, but actually enemies of it. So let’s look at…

The Enemies of Solitude

When we talk about enemies, sometimes it’s helpful to remind ourselves that these types of enemies are not necessarily evil. Most of these things are neutral. They are neither good nor evil in a moral sense. But they are enemies of you doing what God is calling you to, they are enemies of solitude.

Archbishop William Temple once put it this way. “Your religion is what you do with your solitude.”

Timothy Keller

Some of you just realized that “Candy Crush” is your religion. In all seriousness, I think this is incredibly revealing. For most of us we don’t plan solitude and what we find is that when it happens to us, we are extremely uncomfortable. We struggle with it.

Distraction

Busyness

Apathy

Fear

Distraction - We are distracted by a great many things. Most of the ones I mentioned already like our phones or devices, but we are also distracted by work, our own thoughts, our desires, what we are going to eat after church today.

Busyness - Busyness is probably the one most of us in this room struggle with the most. We have filled our schedules to the brim and now we have no time for God…or rather we don’t take time for Him. Because busyness is one thing, but what we are really saying is, God, you just aren’t a priority in my life.

Apathy - The other side of this coin is apathy, meaning we just don’t care to take the time. Our religion is on the back burner and if the God is lucky, I might show up to church once or twice this month. We see the world is spinning out of control and yet we don’t care to do anything about it. We expect others to pick up our slack as we focus on more important things.

Fear - This one might be the root of some of our issues. We are afraid to spend time with God. If I spend time with Him, He might just speak to me. If He speaks, I’m afraid of what He might say. He might say He is disappointed in me. He might say He wants me to give up my favorite vice. There’s no telling what He might say if I stop long enough to listen to Him.

Now, all of these things are enemies to getting alone with God. You will likely find yourself fighting all of these things at certain points in your life. Satan does not want you to seek after the Lord, so he will fill your life with all types of good things or he will put fear into you or he will lull you into a place of apathy, whatever it takes to keep you from seeking time with Jesus. That’s his main priority once you become a Christian. So if you are here and you are thinking, man I shouldn’t be having these issues as a Christian, you are wrong, these are exactly the type of issues that all Christians face.

Let’s transition for a moment to a different side of this coin. Some of us struggle with solitude others of us don’t, so let’s talk about…

The Danger Of Solitude

Now some of you are listening to this and you are introverted and you are really excited about this sermon. You are sitting there thinking, “yes! This is exactly what I needed to hear! I’m going home and going to hide in my room the rest of the day, because Pastor said so!”

So let me remind you that our lives are meant to be lived out in balance. Too often we run from one ditch to another. There is a thing as too much solitude. Jesus wasn’t a hermit. In our passage today, he had just healed leper and then great crowds gathered round him. He didn’t always run from the crowds, but his life was full of balance, he spent time in community and he spent time alone. We would be wise to do the same.

Let him who cannot be alone beware of community.… Let him who is not in community beware of being alone.… Each by itself has profound pitfalls and perils. One who wants fellowship without solitude plunges into the void of words and feelings, and one who seeks solitude without fellowship perishes in the abyss of vanity, self-infatuation, and despair.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

So one of the dangers of solitude without fellowship is that we can become self obsessed or self-centered. We can also enter into despair. So this message is not to encourage you to get in your own head and stay there. Remember, that while Jesus often withdrew to lonely places, he didn’t stay there. He entered back into the world and continued to love on others and do life with them. So this isn’t a call to be a hermit or a monk. This is a call to be with Jesus.

The latter half of this series is going to focus on us Living Like Jesus, which is a life of community and a life pouring ourselves out for others, but we have to start here. We have to start with the foundation and this is the foundation -

Our doing for God must flow from our being with God. Not the other way around.

Our belief that Jesus is who He said He was and that He is present with us today and desires to have relationship with us. This is the key to understanding that our doing from God must flow out of our innermost parts, our deep parts. When we do that, it’s healthy. When we reverse it, it is unhealthy. With these things in mind, it leads us to…

The Invitation of Solitude

Solitude or spending time with God is an invitation. Listen if you never do this, there is no condemnation on you. Jesus died because we aren’t perfect, so no judgment. That’s why this is an invitation though. Jesus said that He came that we might have life, a life more abundantly. Rather than life more abundantly, many of us though have settled for a life more busy.

True growth in our spiritual life starts with being with Jesus. We have to get alone with Him. There is no bypassing this. True growth always starts here.

Solitude is the furnace of transformation.

Henri Nouwen

If we want truly see our lives transformed, if we are tired of living the same old way and getting the same old results, it’s time for something different. It’s time for you to try this. Get alone with God.

You are invited into this opportunity with Jesus. So let’s discuss briefly what this might look like practically. Please remember, everyone’s walk with Jesus is a little different, so these are just some ideas of what this might look like.

We withdraw. We find a place and plan it. We schedule it. Whatever you need to do to get there, do it. Now, don’t neglect your duties in life. Don’t skip work or church to do this. That’s not the point. We withdraw. Perhaps for you, you need to set your alarm for earlier. Jesus would often withdraw early in the morning to spend time with the Father before a day full of ministry.

We eliminate inputs. Solitude requires us to withdraw from the world, all of the distractions, all of its busyness and find time alone. These means you don’t need to take anything with you. You don’t need your phone, you don’t need your music, you don’t need your books. You just need to get alone and get quiet before Him.

We don’t bring expectations. One of the primary things we find when we enter into solitude is that we will meet with God. Now for some of us, we expect something earth-shattering to happen. We think, if I do this, He will speak to me! Or maybe, I’ve got an important life decision, so I’ll give this a try and then when we don’t get an answer, we get discouraged. Empty yourself of expectations. The only expectation you should have is this, if you draw near to God, God will draw near to you. (James 4:8 “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” )

We Pray. For many of us when we go to a place of solitude with the Father, we probably need to unload a few things. It’s ok, He is there to listen. He is wanting you to come and speak with Him. We will spend more time on this subject in the near future.

We Listen. For some of us it’s easy to talk, it’s much harder to listen. God wants conversation. When you read the Bible and you really pay attention, God enters conversations with people. He responds. He’s not a brick wall that you are talking to, He is alive and He hears you, but He is also speaking to you. We will visit this again later as well.

We simply be with Him. This idea can be the hardest for me sometimes. I’m good with all of this as long as I’m doing something. It’s hard to just be sometimes. Part of our desire should be to just be with Him. This is the way I feel about my wife, but I need to work on feeling this way toward God. Just longing to be with Him.

1. We withdraw.

2. We eliminate inputs

3. We don’t bring expectations

4. We pray

5. We listen

6. We simply be with Him

So these are all the practical practices that make up solitude with God. Again, not exhaustive, but these are the main principles.

Conclusion

What this comes down to is a simple question. Will you seek after God? Will you eliminate all of the things in your life that are keeping you from seeking him with all your heart.

Will you eliminate distractions? Will you pursue him just to be with Him? Are you willing to stop being so busy and take time to seek after Him?

If you are, listen to the promise of God from Jeremiah…

Jeremiah 29:13 NIV

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

The promise is that we will FIND Him! If we will be like Jesus and get alone with the Father, we will find Him! Jesus is our model. Model your life after his, often withdraw into solitary places and pray. This is our example.

Prayer & Journaling Points

Father, where can I find time alone with you this week?

Jesus, what distractions are you asking me to give up?