Moments With God Change Everything

Good Morning!

Well, just seven days and we are going to be moving towards re-opening the church.

I’m really excited to get to see some of you next week.

If you missed the video I put on our Facebook page, we are going to start meeting next week, but because of the Phase one precautions, we can only have 30 people in the sanctuary at one time.

Because of that, we will rotate, by life group, who comes to the church each Sunday.

Mike Upshaw will help us to put the service up live on our Facebook page so that everyone else can attend virtually.

This is going to be an experiment until we are done with phasing or figure out a better solution.

There are a lot of things that you need to know, so, rather than repeating that again here, I ask that you go to our Facebook page and I’ll have that video pinned to the top.

I’ll also be sending out instructions to all the LG’s so everyone knows what is expected and needed.

We will need help getting things ready, so watch for those announcements as well.

A huge thank you to the Drapers, Craig Austin, Bethany, and Michelle.

They have already started that process, but there is much more that will need to be done.

I don’t know about you, but this has been a really good week for me.

Busy, but good.

We’ve been planning and praying about all this re-opening and God has been faithful to speak.

We have been separated for a time and now as we are on the cusp of joining back together, God is giving us instructions on how to do that in a way that honors Him and reveals Him.

I was talking with Glen this week as we were discussing how and when to re-gather and Glen asked me what I taught God was trying to teach us through all of this.

As I have communicated with you guys already, I think God has wanted us to spend time learning to lean on Him.

Glen has also encouraged all of us to take this opportunity in which we have extra time, to spend quality time with God.

I think that we often use our God-given relationships with one another, as a crutch.

Just like we see the preacher talking about how we are to use God’s gifts as He intended them, we too need to use the gift of relationships as God intended.

Let me qualify that statement.

We often depend on our relationships to keep us going.

We gather in life groups and at church as a way of “recharging our spiritual batteries”. - This is a good thing.

However, if that is the only thing we are relying on for our relational development, we are missing the point of all of it.

Our relationships are a good gift from God, but we must be careful that we aren’t allowing them to take the place of our personal relationship with God.

Now, more than ever, we need to be diligent in spending personal time with God.

Our personal time with God is fueling each of us as individuals and when we collectively share those moments in the context of the body, we experience God at a deeper level than possible on our own.

We cannot be the people that we all need each other to be if we are not spending personal time with God.

As God speaks to all of us, what He wants to say to us personally, and then we share with the group, we get a much bigger glimpse into what God is doing.

Bethany shared an illustration that she heard in an online YM conference she attended this week.

It is an idea that we have heard before, but as she shared it with me, God connected the dots with somethings He has been speaking to me this week.

(side note, this is exactly what I’m talking about, Bethany is pursing God and so am I, as we shared what God has been saying, He brought those things together to reveal more than we saw on our own)

Iron sharpens Iron - We’ve all heard this.

What we also know is that you don’t scrape two knives together to make the sharper.

You use a sharpening stone or file to hone the edge until it is finer i.e. sharper.

That’s a good word right?

We need the gifts, attributes, and messages of all of us to make us better.

Sounds familiar doesn’t it?

We aren’t done with the illustration yet, we will bounce back into it several times as we go through our text.

Ecclesiastes 4:1–3 ESV

1 Again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them. 2 And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive. 3 But better than both is he who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.

Living in community allows us to see and respond to suffering and oppression in meaningful ways.

Last week we talked about God’s justice and how He operates in His timing.

Even though we don’t always see the results we want, we can be confident that God’s justice will prevail.

So what do we do then when we or someone we know is suffering?

How do we respond to the oppression that we witness?

Most importantly, do we know the right way to respond?

The first part of today’s passage is going to dives right into that.

Hopefully, you guys saw the video that Russ put out Friday that deals with this topic.

He talked specifically about how we join others in their suffering by looking at the discussion between Job and his friends.

As you know, Russ has shared a lot of his story with us and because he has chosen to live in community with us we know that it, not only was it a good word on how we suffer with others, but it was also coming from a place of authenticity and unfortunately, experience.

That knowledge brings us a deeper understanding.

Thank you for sharing that with us Russ.

As you read verse one, where do your heart and mind go?

Ecclesiastes 4:1 ESV

1 Again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them.

Mine gravitates in several directions and I have talked at length with you guys at different times about both.

They are our community and foster care.

I’m not going to spend much time talking about those today, but as I read these words in Ecclesiastes, my heart wrenches because of the oppression and suffering that I know, by experience, that exists in those worlds that are incredibly intertwined.

The easy thing for us to do is to just skim past this passage so that we can continue to live life as we want.

I’ve shared with you guys before that I don’t watch scary movies, because I don’t want more stress in my life.

I don’t find it fun.

I think we do the same thing with scripture sometimes too.

We conveniently skip over some because it is uncomfortable or may bring change.

There is no doubt in me that whatever comes to your mind when you read and hear this passage that the Lord is revealing something important to you.

I know the idea of what God may be saying can be intimidating, but we need to remember, that whatever God is calling us too, He will equip us for.

I joked this week about how many kids are in our life group, but it is no accident that God has brought together our families.

Three of our families have been called to participate in foster care and adoption.

The others have been an incredible support system for us as we have walked through really, really hard times in that process.

I can say with confidence that none of us could have carried the weight of this calling on our own.

We need each other to help us through the hard things that God leads us to do.

Going back to our knife illustration, we need to understand something about how knives are sharpened.

As a knife is sharpened, there is steel dust that is created.

Have you ever wandered where that comes from?

Small amounts of the knife are ground away as the edge is made finer.

Part of the knife is sacrificed in order to make the whole useful.

We all must give up portions of our time, resources, and self in order to care for the oppressed and forsaken.

As I have talked through this, you may be thinking, “This is great Will, but God hasn’t called me to any of this.”

Hasn’t He though?

Let’s look at some other places in scripture where God says similar things.

Jeremiah 7:2–7 ESV

2 “Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the Lord. 3 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. 4 Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’ 5 “For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another, 6 if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, 7 then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever.

God is saying that if Isreal doesn’t stand for the oppressed, they cannot live in the land He gave them.

He is proclaiming that there is a major shift that needs to be made in how they are living.

This is a serious issue to God because how we respond reflects to the world the nature of God’s love for them.

Isaiah 58:6–11 ESV

6 “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? 8 Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. 9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, 10 if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. 11 And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.

God is saying that it is our responsibility as children of God to take care of one another.

He says in verse ten that we are to “pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted”

This goes back to my illustration of the honing of a blade.

Living in obedience way will cost us, but that doesn’t negate our calling.

Life being busy or hard is not an excuse to ignore God’s leading.

I want to point out what he says in verse eleven; “the Lord will guide you continually...”

We are not individually responsible for all oppression in the world, but collectively as the “Church”, we are.

The only way the church can do this is if we as individuals are abiding and obeying as the Lord guides.

This isn’t just old testament theology.

You may remember Jesus speaking in the same vein when teaching about His return.

Matthew 25:31–46 ESV

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ 41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Scripture is clear and has the same message across the board.

We are expected to take care of one another.

This is why Jesus tells us to love God and to love one another.

How we love one another, speaks to how we love God.

1 John 4:8 ESV

8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

We cannot say that we love God and ignore the oppression.

In our passage today, the preacher says he “saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun.”

Even though we aren’t 100% clear who the author of this book is, it is obvious that he is a man of great power or was at least in close proximity to a person of power.

In our passage, the preacher doesn’t dole out responsibility, nor does he take any.

He is simply observing and sharing his thoughts.

He has learned that the oppression in the world is so bad that, he counts those fortunate who have already died and escaped it.

He goes on to say that it is better for a person to never be born than to have to experience the oppression that exists.

That’s a heavy statement and it shows just how bad things were.

I would venture to say that things aren’t any better and maybe worse.

The church has the opportunity and responsibility to make this world better.

We have talked at length in at previous times that we are God’s plan for making Himself known in our world.

God makes Himself known by calling us to love people in extraordinary ways.

There are not enough “good” people in this world to fix it.

If the world could fix poverty, abuse, oppression, abandonment, and all the other issues, it would have done so already.

The problems of this world are God-sized problems that require God-sized solutions.

We cannot come up with God sizedThe time ideas to fix these issues.

However, if each of us will individually obey the things God is calling us too, we can start making real impacts in the lives of people in the midst of real suffering.

This circles us back to where we began today.

We can only accomplish all this through God’s direction and power.

The only way to receive either of those is to spend time, alone, with God.

If you are longing for a change in your life, if you are longing to make a difference in the life of someone else, if you want to do something significant, it starts with your quite time.

There is no workaround.

We must allow God to speak truth into our lives and change us as necessary.

Jumping back to our illustration, you cannot be a knife with out being forged into that shape.

We have to take the time, go through the process of being heated, hammered, and pressed into the specific tool that God needs.

There are people that God has revealed in your life that are struggling.

You are God’s plan to make a difference in their lives.

Colossians 3:1–4 ESV

1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

When we gave our lives to Christ, we died to ourselves and our selfish desires.

If our lives are hidden in Christ, then our minds should be one with His.

We should see what He sees, which is a world in pain.

The time is now.

Galatians 5:13–14 ESV

13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Here we sit, with an abundance of time.

The time that we can seek the Lord and let Him shape us into the too that he needs.

How have you spent the time you have been given at home?

Are you using your freedom for yourself or are you using it to love and serve one another?

“Every age has its own characteristics. Right now we are in an age of religious complexity. The simplicity which is in Christ is rarely found among us. In its stead are programs, methods, organizations and a world of nervous activities which occupy time and attention but can never satisfy the longing of the heart. The shallowness of our inner experience, the hollowness of our worship, and that servile imitation of the world which marks our promotional methods all testify that we in this day, know God only imperfectly, and the peace of God scarcely at all. If we would find God amid all the religious externals, we must first determine to find Him, and then proceed in the way of simplicity.”

God has given us a gift of some time separated from religious activity.

You all know that our church doesn’t have many programs etc., but we are still prone to make what little we do be the god.

We have been given the opportunity, as Tozer says, to experience the simplicity of Christ.

Next week we are going to begin meeting together, well partially, but please take this week to seek simplicity.

We have an opportunity to make a fresh start and I want that to be marked by a people of God that are pursuing Him and loving others in extraordinary ways.

God can and will do amazing things in our body, community, and families if we will only let Him.

Join me this week in making purposeful time to pursue God.

I’m excited to see the beauty of God expressed through the love of His children.

Let’s do this.