"Invitation to follow the way of Jesus"

Finding God in the Midst of COVID  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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Greet the Church-Explain the title. (I know you are saved but there is more)

John 14:12-14: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do’ and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”
Now this scripture is usually used in order to encourage you that you too can pray and see miracles and this is good biblical truth! But I think there is a simpler application for these verses that often gets over looked. That we can follow the WAY of Jesus. However there is an obstical that often gets in our way when we try to follow the way of Jesus.

The problem

If I were to ask you what the greatest problem facing spirituallity in the Lower Main Land or Canada is what would you say? You might say post christian society, government oppression, redefinition of gender and sexuality, racism, COVID, or any number of things. And those thing are impactful but the Devil has employed an even more effective technique than those mentioned above. And we have all fell into it at one point or another.
Corrie ten Boom a devout follower of Jesus who helped hide Jews from the Nazi’s during WW2 said it best: that if the devil can’t make you sin, he’ll make you busy. There’s truth in that, that I have personally experienced. Before COVID I was working two different jobs (vastly different hours), constantly out of the house at events, and in Post-Secondary. Every spare moment I had was devoted to something (good things). This began to take a toll on my physical, mental, and spiritual health. I felt like I had no time to just be in God’s presense. To rest, and sabbath.
It makes sense though when I think about it both sin and busyness have the exact same effect on us—they cut off our connection to God, to other people, and even to our own souls.
COVID hit and I was forced to slow down and re-evaluate my life. It was in this place of forced stillness that I found God in the midst of COVID.
A book and podcast I read over COVID which revolutionized my thinking in this area is called “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry” written by John Mark Comer a Pastor of a large church in Portland Oregon ( a context quite similar to ours).
John Mark says “Hurry is the root problem underneath so many of the symptoms of toxicity in our world” P19 This seems counter intuitive to our North American Capitialist minds. But think about our society. Everything we want and do is instant, orders from amazon come in two days, we have any information at the tips of our fingers, if we are bored we just go on our phones for quick entertainment.
When was the last time you just waited in a line without your phone? Just stood there peacefully aware of God’s presense. When was the last time you drove somewhere and just took your time in the right lane? (I still struggle with this one).
Busy has become a badge of honour in our society. When someone asks you how you are doing the most accepted response is “ I am good, just busy...”. It’s a response I have given countless times.

Illustration

The story of The Hare & the Tortoise.
“A Hare was making fun of the Tortoise one day for being so slow. "Do you ever get anywhere?" he asked with a mocking laugh. "Yes," replied the Tortoise, "and I get there sooner than you think. I'll run you a race and prove it." The Hare was much amused at the idea of running a race with the Tortoise, but for the fun of the thing he agreed. The race began and the Hare was soon far out of sight, and to make the Tortoise feel very deeply how ridiculous it was for him to try a race with a Hare, he lay down beside the course to take a nap until the Tortoise should catch up. The Tortoise meanwhile kept going slowly but steadily, and, after a time, passed the place where the Hare was sleeping. But the Hare slept on very peacefully; and when at last he did wake up, the Tortoise was near the goal. The Hare now ran his swiftest, but he could not overtake the Tortoise in time.
I have myself often attempted to live my life at the pace of the Hare.... But when I examine the life of Jesus I dont see a life full of hustle, hurry, and worry. But rather I see a life of contemplation, space for spontaneous encounters with people, space for God to move, prayer, quiet time, and meals with friends. The WAY of Jesus is not a frantic, unsustainable sprint to success rather it’s a steadfast, intentional, way of being with God.

Question:

How have you been Church? I mean really? Deeper than the polite Canadian “i’m fine”. How has your soul been?
Have you felt numb? Stuck? Feeling afraid with an undercurrent of anxiety. Have you dealt with loss and are heart broken? Or have you just felt bleeehh spiritually? Have you replaced the busyness of life that was halted during COVID with more stuff? More Tv? More Hobbies? More books? You name it?
OR
During COVID have you spent more time with God. More time in the word. More time in silence in God’s presence. More time in worship. More time slowing down and just being present with God.

Conclusion:

So throught COVID I have been forced to slow down and realize what a cheap counterfit busy spirituality is compared to following the pace and WAY of Jesus. That the metrics I was using to measure what a “successful” relationship with Jesus were off. You can be a successful person in Church and still be a failure of an apprentice of Jesus.
I have decided to change my life. To re structure the rythems of my life to bear the fruit of Jesus.
John 15:4-5 “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
Abide in this verse is MENO in Greek which means to remain; stay; reside.
I know this is radical Church and that the temptaition in hearing this new life style could be for you to dismiss me as young, unexperienced, unrealistic, or lacking understand of your life. But i’m not commanding you to change. I am simply inviting you to try and step into a journey that’s just a bit slower. That abides in Jesus a bit more. That advances the Kingdom by actually physically slowing down and just being with God. That is the invitiation today. To start following not only the words of Jesus but the Way of Jesus.
If we don’t advance we may become stagnant. Like a pond that sits still rather than a river or stream that has a fresh flow.
“Your cup is upside down” We to need flip it over to recieve.
We need to work on our muscle of speaking to God individually so when we come together we can be in unity.
We should NOT be conformed to the image of this world…
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