04 - The Road from Conspiracy to Intimacy

Text: “For thus the LORD spoke to me with mighty power and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying, “You are not to say, ‘It is a conspiracy!’ In regard to all that this people call a conspiracy, And you are not to fear what they fear or be in dread of it. “It is the LORD of hosts whom you should regard as holy. And He shall be your fear, And He shall be your dread” (Isa. 8:11–13, NASB; cf. Isaiah 7-9).

Theme: The Father is leading us from mere knowledge about things to knowledge of him.

Intro: The time was eighth century BC, and both the Kingdom of Judah and the city of Jerusalem were shaking. Conspiracies abounded. Rumours spread that the King of Israel, Pekah, and the King of Aram, Rezin, were plotting to overthrow Ahaz and Jerusalem. Ahaz was trembling, and Jerusalem couldn’t stop talking about what they feared: upheaval and destruction. Then the word of the Lord came strongly to Isaiah. It was a word that called the Jews not to fear what everyone was fearing. It was a call to stay calm, put your faith in Yahweh and stand in awe of him alone (Isa. 7:9). אִ֚ם לֹ֣א תַאֲמִ֔ינוּ כִּ֖י לֹ֥א תֵאָמֵֽנוּ׃

1) The fear of the Lord displaces all other fears (Isa. 8:11-13).

In Hebrew, the word for conspiracy is QEsher קֶשֶׁר (qešer).

It comes from the root קָשַׁר (qāšar) meaning bind, knot, tie, be in league or conspire.

In Isaiah 8:12 it refers to a treasonous conspiracy.

And, of course, treason is something we naturally fear.

Our English word ‘conspire’ is quite similar to the Hebrew word.

It’s made of two components: ‘con’ meaning ‘with’ and ‘spire’ meaning ‘breathe’.

There were numerous conspiracies in Scripture. People plotted against the prophets Jeremiah and Amos. Others conspired to overthrow kings, kings like Ahaz and David. But there was one conspiracy that outweighed them all.

The greatest conspiracy in history was the plot to crucify Jesus (Matt. 12:14; Mark 3:6).

Christ had no need to fear the conspiracy because God was with him. And he had no need for Peter’s sword that cut off the high priest’s servant’s ear because Christ’s Kingdom is not of this world.

Jesus saw that his Father was sovereign and that the enemy’s animosity only led to his own demise.

The same way Christ responded to the conspiracy to kill him is the same way we should respond to the multitude of conspiracies: we don’t need to worry because God is with us (Isa. 7:14, 8:8, 10, immanu el עִמָּ֥נוּ אֵֽל ).

We fear the Lord and the fear of the Lord displaces all other fears.

Early in my Christian walk, I got caught up in conspiracy theories. It was the early 90s, and the internet was uncommon.

My friends and I subscribed to the mailing list of a few different secret societies to find out about the advances of the one-world government.

Back then, we thought that George Bush Senior was probably the anti-christ since he talked about the New World Order.

We would eagerly await letters in the mail (physical mail) l from these secret societies.

One of them was the Skull and Crossbone society.

We began to pressure our youth pastor, Steve Hodulick, about the secrets we knew.

We said, “You need to know this stuff.” We started thinking we were better and brighter because we had this secret knowledge about the conspiracies.

I remember the exact place that we were trying to corner our youth pastor, and he gave this response, which I still remember today:

“I don’t know about all that stuff, but what I know is I love Jesus.”

Of course, at the time, we dismissed him as a simpleton. Our response: “‘I love Jesus’...haha.”

But these simple words began to grow in me and wake me up.

You see, I was getting caught up in the web of conspiracy theories.

My Christian faith was based on information rather than intimacy with Jesus.

This awakening in my Christian life started me on a new road.

My faith shifted from being based on my knowledge to seeking the face of God and being based on intimacy with God.

No one can shake a faith that is founded on a real, dynamic and living relationship with the Father and his Son, Jesus.

A shift happened within me from fearing the world to fearing God.

Scripture, rather than speculation, became my everyday foundation.

I believe I went through all of that in the early nineties to let you know in the twenties (around thirty years later) that there’s a better way than getting caught up in conspiracies.

2) Intimacy is spelled T-I-M-E (2 Cor. 11:1-6)

T - Take Time (Matt. 6:6)

To get to know God, it takes time.

Like I’ve said before, busyness is one of the number one killers of intimacy. We need to slow down and stop.

You’ll need to give God your time.

To grow in relationship with Jesus, it takes undivided time, whole hearted attention.

This is why Jesus taught us that when you pray to ‘shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret” (Matt. 6:6).

If you’re spending quality time with your Father in the secret place, you won’t be worried about the secret plots of men.

Taking time means training yourself, it means love-motivated discipline.

I - Invest in Intimacy (2 Cor. 11:1-3)

Observe what the serpent is trying to do in 1 Corinthians 11:1-3 and in Genesis 3.

The serpent is trying to distort God’s word and move Eve away from intimacy with God to mere knowledge about stuff.

The serpent wants to make everything very complicated, introducing death and confusion.

The serpent does not want us to have a single and pure devotion to Jesus. He wants to mix it with other things and replace it with our own works.

M - Make Music (Ps 27:6; 33:2; 57:7, NIV, etc.)

The Psalms continually exhort us to make music to God.

Music––if done rightly––cultivates intimacy with God.

Music transcends words and helps your soul communicate to God.

Music also allows God to communicate with you, superceding our own reasoning and logic.

Since our reasoning and logic is often faulty.

God is the creator of music.

E - Express Your Emotions (Ps. 42:4; 62:8; 142:2)

The whole book of Psalms is an example of the Psalmists pouring out their heart, soul and emotions to God.

Your pouring out yourself to God gives God space to pour back into you.

3) Cultivate communion with Jesus instead of being caught up with conspiracies.

Communion with Jesus is the way to transformation.

And being transformed is how the harvest of lost souls will come into the Kingdom.

The Father wants his family at peace so that he can bring new people into his family.

He doesn’t want to bring a harvest into a family feud.

Conclusion: The fear of the Lord will displace all fears. The fear of the Lord is also the gateway into intimacy with God. And it’s through intimacy––communion with Jesus––that you are transformed.

Related Media

Related Sermons