The Irony of Searching for God

SLIDE The Irony of Searching for God

THANKS - To all who supported the our mission ministry yesterday by purchasing dinner tickets. And thanks to our missions group for … some incredible food.

Thanks to all who worked to help us have a great easter weekend last week. A big thanks to Jessica who put together a plan to bless our day care kids and our church kids with a bunch of easter treats and baskets and gifts and a book telling of the true meaning behind Easter…the story of our saviors death and His return to life.

Some of our grounds crew has been active as well…the grass is growing…Yes! have you enjoyed the weather we’ve had. I don’t know i think that coming out from this pandemic makes spring time extra special this year. I was out and about yesterday…and almost everyone I saw on a front port yesterday waved and smiled even though I was a stranger. It was as if we’re all neighbors and enjoying this life God gave.

We’ve covered some hefty topics these last six weeks haven’t we? The life death and resurrection of Christ is no small matter. And we’re going to for sure reference that today…that of course is the good news…that there can be a new life for those who believe and follow Jesus…and so today though we’re going to be a little lighter. Is that ok? I’m not even sure this is one point sermon. It’s more like a concept message. Something that might help you think a bit differently. Is that alright?

So for the past 6 weeks

We looked at the life of Jesus in a way that helped us to see life…a life that can be lived…a way of life that reminds us of how it was meant to be in the beginning.

We have temptation, but Jesus showed us how to battle it. With truth…with God’s own words.

He showed us the foundation of how to live out the “Love God and Love People” commandment through His humility.

He showed us that it is super important to get away from the noise and spend time with God…to contemplate…to think about Him and simply enjoy His presence with us.

We read how Jesus encourages us to confession…to see the humility behind it. To acknoweldge what it is in our own lives that separate us from Him. Our own sin.

Then He showed us how humility leads to sacrifice and how love for others greather than ourselves does that too. He gave the ultimate sacrifice, His own life for ours. And it was with “JOY” that He walked that path for us.

And then, this past week we talked about the resurrection. We don’t worship at the door of a closed tomb. We worship a living Jesus…He came back to life. And we looked at just a little of the evidence we have for that…we don’t have a blind faith.

And so in what we celebrate at Easter…Jesus is saying…this can be you too! Brand new life…both for now while here and then into eternity later.

THat’s the life we’re going for. Life in Jesus’s Kingdom. New Life....Life getting closer and closer to what it was in the beginning.

And even though we’re all kind of getting our feet either wet for the first time here or maybe again (if we’ve been believers for awhile)…with this information…we still need to live each day…in all of that truth.

Life. Even though we know we’re blessed now…and will be in the future …it might be that we still have that other life that we want to get rid of. Or there are things that we’d like to change or have changed. We know…but we still search. We still seek…and sometimes it feels like the train’s going off the tracks. And even if it’s not, sometimes we see what’s happening around us and …we might be ok…but things around us seem a mess.

And sometimes God does NOT feel close, or personal, or interested, or at times even real.

Ever been there? Has life ever taken you there? I see a lot of heads nodding.

Think about this past year - We’ve had a pandemic....still there in many ways aren’t we? A virus seemed to stop the world from turning for a time. It was all we were focused on. It changed our daily habits. Caused fear and anxiety. Some of you, in different ways, are experiencing grief and loss because of it.

Politics and Government - Those topics have been on the top of many of our minds through this past year plus…haven’t they? No matter what your background or platform is, things have been crazy…almost overwhelming at times.

I think through all of this, many of us have learned (maybe unfortunately) how to react quickly rather than thoughtfully and gracefully respond to someone with a different point of view.

Right now there seems to be a non-stop battle for right and wrong, morality, ethics. And in many cases…whoever is the loudest or whoever is the majority is right. And there’s been another move here too…whoever is assumed wrong isn’t just of a different opinion, they’re possibly hated and vilified.

We’ve learned that Twitter and Facebook and Instagram and TikTok can move and change culture rather than just being a method of recording it. They are sometimes entertaining and useful for sure…but then they seem powerful too…like almost consuming.

Our news feeds on our phones and tablets and laptops are filled with opinions and rants…and sometimes news.

Our lives are filled with schedules and meetings and have-to’s.

There are bills and things that need fixed and sickness and debt.

And there are all of those other things that we want to do and accomplish and all of those other people to help and serve.

Life is full. The chasing of life is full. The search for the Best Life can be exhausting. But we all know this… this search of ours doesn’t always equal out to a full and abundant life …the one Jesus was often referencing does it.

Now in our gut we know we’re missing something…that something isn’t right. And we continue to search for that missing peice....maybe even that peace that Jesus can give.

Some of you might have read the Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. Its a neat story....and this little illlustration will give you a picture of

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All too often we miss what God is doing because we are either too busy doing something else or we have a better idea of what God would do. Here’s a story reminiscent of the Screwtape Letters:

Satan called a worldwide convention. In his opening address to his evil angels, he said,

"We can't keep the Christians from going to church. We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth. We can't even keep them from forming an intimate, abiding relationship experience in Christ. If they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken. So let them go to church, let them have their conservative lifestyles, but steal their time, so they can't gain that experience …that new life in Jesus Christ. This is what I want you to do, angels. Distract them from gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day!"

"How shall we do this?" shouted his angels. "Keep them busy in the nonessentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds, "he answered. "Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow. Persuade them to work for long hours, to work 6 - 7 days a week, 10 - 12 hours a day, so they can afford their lifestyles. Keep them from spending time with their children. As their family fragments, soon, their home will offer no escape from the pressures of life and work."

"Over stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still small voice. Entice them to play the radio or their favorite playlist whenever they drive. To keep the TV, Netflix, Prime and Hulu and their PCs going constantly in their homes. Keep their phone in their hands.And see to it that every store and restaurant in the world gives messages and music and advertising that willl not remind them of God. This will jam their minds and break that union with Christ."

"Fill the coffee table with magazines and newspapers. Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day. Invade their driving moments with billboards.

Flood their mailboxes and inboxes with junk mail, sweepstakes, mail order catalogues, and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering free products, services, and false hopes."

"Even in their recreation, let them be excessive. Have them return from their recreation exhausted, disquieted, and unprepared for the coming week.

Don't let them go out in nature to reflect on God's wonders. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, concerts and movies instead."

And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences and unsettled emotion."

"Let them be involved in soul-winning. But crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from Christ. Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause."

It was quite a convention in the end. And the evil angels went eagerly to their assignments causing people, even followers of Jesus everywhere to get busy, busy, rush here and there…searching after many things in this life…excluding the one important thing…their personal search for God and the new life and relationship He’s offering them.

Has the devil been successful at his scheme? You be the JUDGE.

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David writes this in the book of Psalms…and we’ll have this on the screen.

SLIDE Psalm 14:2 “The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.”

At the beginning of this Psalm, David writes that there are not many who do good or who even think about God. But towards the end, David writes that there is hope that in the end, when God begins the process of restoration for His children, there will be joy, happiness, maybe a realization that God has made a way for His family to have new life. And it will be for those who search after God.

There are so many passages about this search for God…I’m going to read some to you. I think you’ll get a picture of what God wants from us…what pleases Him.

1 Chronicles 22:19 Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God

Hebrews 11:6 Now without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who diligently search for him.

Isaiah 55:6 Seek the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near.

Amos 5:4 For this is what the LORD says to the house of Israel: "Seek me and live...

Proverbs 8:17 I love those who love me, and those who seek me will find me.

Matthew 7:7-8 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

Luke 12:31 But seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you. …as though the things of regular life here are just bonuses…real life comes to those who seek out God.

Psalm 34:10 those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

Lamentations 3:25 The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.

Psalm 105:4 Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!

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What does God want us to do? Search for Him.

How often? All the time

If you read these....and all of the other passages I didn’t mention…what is the picture you get? It is almost as if God is begging us to search for Him.

And what is the promise?

When we search we will find. We will be blessed. If we search for Him we will begin to see that New Life he is offering us…and our family and friends and neighbors. And that new life comes through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Seek God.

What does this mean? I think this means that we’re diligent about thinking about God. To consider that God might be real and that He is the designer of all there is and that His ways are higher than ours. Making a conscious decision to do something with what we find. …that we’ll keep an open mind knowing that what we find might have us think differently than before. It might challenge what we consider to be right wrong. It might challenge us to change. Right? And if God is who He says He is …then that change isn’t only possible…maybe hard…but well worth the journey. Does that make sense?

Seek God. Search for Him...

The title of this message though is… The irony of searching for God.

Let’s look at the big picture from God’s point of view.

Through the Bible....ok....God creates the universe…for us. Creates this planet …for us. Creates a place here that is essentially His throne room on earth…a place for us to be with Him face to face - heart to heart. Humanity has no needs. His presence supplies everything we need.

…and then we have the fall…and we find that sin separates humanity from God. That’s the first three chapters of this book. And then, immediately in chapter 3, we have God making a statement. He’s going to receive justice for sin…for what Satan did to humanity. He will make things right. And the whole rest of the story is God’s master plan of bringing humanity back to Him…ultimately through His own son, Jesus.

Let me read to you just a little bit from the opening chapter of this book by John Stott.

I n the beginning God.” The first four words of the Bible are more than an introduction to the creation story or to the book of Genesis. They supply the key which opens our understanding to the Bible as a whole. They tell us that the religion of the Bible is a religion of the initiative of God. You can never take God by surprise.

You can never anticipate him. He always makes the first move. He is always there “in the beginning.” Before man existed, God acted. Before man stirs himself to seek God, God has sought man. In the Bible we do not see man groping after God; we see God reaching after man.

Many people visualize a God who sits comfortably on a distant throne, remote, aloof, uninterested and indifferent to the needs of mortals, until, it may be, they can badger him into taking action on their behalf. Such a view is wholly false. The Bible reveals a God who, long before it even occurs to man to turn to him, while man is still lost in darkness and sunk in sin, takes the initiative, rises from his throne, lays aside his glory, and stoops to seek until he finds him.

St. Augustine wrote many many years ago…that....“Our hearts are restless, until they can find rest in you.” The irony in searching for God is that we find that all along…He’s been searching for us.

Here’s a final verse I’d like you to hold on to …many of you know this…but I want you to remember it as though it is personal...

SLIDE Luke 19:10

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Translated personally this says...”Jesus came to seek and save me.”

Challenge this week. Search for God. Remember, all of Satan’s tactics lead to one motivation. Keep humanity…you…separated from God. He knows God is searching for you. He wants you to forget that and give up the search. God though…doesn’t stop. Jesus came to seek you out, save you, and begin to recreate you. To give you new life.

Amen?

And in our search…maybe we can bring someone along with us…helping them to see God’s light through us as we simply try to find God more in our lives. Maybe they’ll just see that He’s what theyve been searching for all along too.

Prayer....