Stage 1
Last week we discussed that our spiritual journeys were a series of stages. We shared how for some of us stages were marked by denominational affiliations. Others shared that circumstances precipitated levels of growth and stages of development in individual spiritual journeys.
We also laid the foundation for this week’s study by defining some key terms.
Quick review:
We said that faith is more then belief, it involved action.
We said that the journey was both the process and the passage.
We said that stages were fluid that one moves back and forward between them regularly.
We said that stages were not goals to be achieved but rather places where we could evaluate where we have been and consider where we’re going.
A home stage is where you operate most of the time. It characterizes your life of faith.
Cages are where we get stuck, when we stand still and refuse to move.
Crisis is the time to move. Crisis requires faith in God.
Do you remember the first time you rode a two-wheeler? Hit a baseball? Drove a car?
How about your first love? Can you remember the first time you met? What was he or she wearing? Where did you go?
Those memories stay with us for a lifetime. They are milestones.
Stages of spiritual development are milestones too. They mark encounters with God.
Stage 1 The recognition of God.
Stage one is where we began our journey of faith. It is the discovery and recognition of God.
A recent survey of American households conducted by George Barna showed that
- 95% of Americans believe in God (1997)
How do they recognize God?
- 69% believe God is an all-powerful, all-knowing, perfect creator of the universe who rules the world today. (2004)
- 7% believe that God is the total realization of personal human potential. (2001) So when man reaches his full human potential he becomes god.
Big difference there!
- Almost nine out of ten people (87%) say the universe was originally created by God. (2000)
- 15% of Americans say God is no longer involved in their life. (1997)
For the believer, Recognition of God is accepting the fact that God is real to us.
Let’s look at a Biblical example of someone discovering that God is real. This individual comes from a family with a rich heritage of service to God. The Grandfather served God, the father served God, and now the grandson is about to discover for himself that God is real.
Gen 32:22-31
22That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. 24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”
But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
27 The man asked him, “What is your name?”
“Jacob,” he answered.
28Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.”
29Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”
But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.
30So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
31The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip.
You see that Jacob recognized God. The God of his father and grandfather became real to him at the banks of the Jabbok River.
Astronauts have said that when they saw the earth from outer space, they knew that God is real.
First time parents will say that after witnessing the birth of their child, they knew that God is real.
An addict might say that AA, or NA was their experience of spirituality.
People enter a relationship with God in one of 2 ways
1. A sense of Awe
2. A sense of Need
Let’s work backward through my examples, you tell me if you think this is a sense of awe or a sense of need?
Addict – sense of need
New parents – sense of awe
Astronauts – sense of awe
Jacob? That’s a little tougher. Let’s consider Where was Jacob going? Back to his homeland,
Why did he leave his homeland in the first place?
Tricked his brother out his inheritance.
Esau was going to get him.
So him mother sent him to live with his uncle.
Married Rachel & Leah, and had served his 21 years.
Was now coming home, was still afraid of his brother
Jacob – sense of need, Jacob needed God’s protection. Yet when he met God he experiences a sense of awe. “I have seen God face to face.” What did he get in the process? God’s blessing.
We can conclude from these examples that when one encounters God through a sense of awe, it is a very natural process. He is awed by the beauty in creation. He is awed by the birth of his child. He simply, innocently accepts that only God could be responsible. We call this child like faith.
Luke 18:17-17
16 but Jesus called for them, saying, “Permit the children to come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
17 “Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.”
I did some research to see what the probability is for an American today to develop a relationship with Jesus Christ. Now remember Jesus said we needed child-like faith. I found
- Children between the ages of 5 and 13 have a 32% probability of accepting Jesus Christ as their savior.
- The probability of accepting Christ drops to 4% for those who are between the ages of 14 and 18.
- Those older than 18 have a 6% probability of accepting Jesus Christ as their savior, during their mortal lifetimes.
We see that as Americans get older, they tend to loose their sense of awe.
Let’s look at the other side: When one encounters God through a sense of need, the process involves crisis. Remember we said that crisis is the time to act.
One very common crisis is the need for fulfillment. Think about it, how many of you have heard unsaved friends and family say that they’re unhappy, something is missing from their lives? They love their spouses and children, but it just isn’t enough…
Let me give you another Biblical example, this time let’s look at a man who had great worldly success. And yet, it wasn’t enough. His encounter with God came out of a need for fulfillment, and need required him to act.
Luke 19: 1:10
1 He entered Jericho and was passing through.
2 And there was a man called by the name of Zaccheus; he was a chief tax collector and he was rich.
3 Zaccheus was trying to see who Jesus was, and was unable because of the crowd, for he was small in stature.
4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree in order to see Him, for He was about to pass through that way.
5 When Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, “Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.”
6 And he hurried and came down and received Him gladly.
7 When they saw it, they all began to grumble, saying, and “He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.”
8 Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.”
9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham.
10 “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
Now before we share our experiences at Stage 1, I want to identify what it looks like for someone to be caged at stage one. Have you ever wondered why some people just don’t get it? They have nature. They can see that our lives are different. Why don’t people know that God is real?
1. Worthlessness
Some people have so low a self-image that they think if they can’t live up to man’s expectations, they will never live up to God’s. They constantly feel guilt or shame. They might say, “I can’t possibly go to that church, I hear they have prophets there, someone will expose my secrets, and everyone will know how bad I am.”
2. Spiritual Bankruptcy
This person feels there is no where to turn. They are at the end of their rope. “No one cares about me. If there was a God, he would fix my situation, he would send someone to help me. But there’s no God, just look at me!”
3. Martyrdom
The world is out to make life rough for them. These people carry a lot of anger. They punish themselves and think God is happy when they suffer and are persecuted.
4. Ignorance
They don’t want to know. Many of theses people have a religious tradition. They are very superstitious. If they don’t pray, God is going to get them. All they know about God is what somebody once told them. They can’t get beyond that point..
What is the crisis that moves a person from Stage 1 to Stage 2? What do you have to do?
1. Accept Self-worth. Accept that God loves you just the way you are.
2. Reduce Isolation. Accept that there is a caring community of believers who will love you like Christ loves the church. And they’ll do it because God said so.
How do we help move a caged person on?
1. Include them. Invite them to your home for a social event and invite some people from church too. Let the caged person see that there are loving Christians whom they can feel comfortable with. Invite them to church functions. Make them feel like they belong. Be persistent, ask again and again. Offer to pick them up and drive them.
What if the caged person is you?
1. Let life take on more significance. Accept that there is more. Life is meaningful. You do value. God does love you.
2. Join in. Step out and allow yourself to have some fun. Check out a Bible Study group. Ask questions, and check the answers you get. Don’t accept everything you hear as gospel. Desire for God to reveal more of himself to you.
Discussion:
1. When did you know that God is real?
2. Can you characterize it as a sense of awe or a
sense of need?
3. Was it a natural process or a need for fulfillment?
Lisa: Sense of awe
Good Friday when I was 13…
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a Israel means he struggles with God.
a Luke 18:35
1 Lit rejoicing
a Luke 7:13
1 Lit am giving
b Luke 3:14
c Ex 22:1; Lev 6:5; Num 5:7; 2 Sam 12:6
a Matt 18:11
