Bridging the Gap

June 13, 2021

OPEN “Hook”

Woooo! Let’s give God some praise! (applause, cheers, etc.) Do y’all feel that? Are you feeling alive right now? That’s what I’m talking about! So now that we’re all the way live we’re going to dive into why having a deep relationship with God and words like these make us feel alive. Y’all ready? I said, are y’all ready?!

[BELL CURVE SLIDE]

Okay, by a show of hands, how many of y’all have seen a graphic like this before? Now, who knows what it’s called? (pick a student) That’s right! Schools use Bell curves to show grade distributions but businesses also use them to assess how product trends form.

[INNOVATION BELL CURVE SLIDE]

Let me break it down for you:

2.5% represents innovators in society (e.g. Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos)

13.5% represents early adopters (pick it up way before everyone else; Music.ly before TikTok)

34% represents the early majority (buy-in based on the early adopters; TikTok)

34% represents the late majority (don’t want to be left behind; FOMO)

16% represents laggers (buy-in only because they have to, not because they want to; e.g. only TikTok available)

[INNOVATION GAP SLIDE]

Now, most businesses will have a 10% buy-in meaning that some people simply “get it” with no added information. It just makes sense to them. Let’s do some quick math, 2.5 + 13.5 + 1 = 17. Since the early majority doesn’t start until around 17%, that means there’s still a gap between something moving from a small group of users to the rest of the world and becoming a trend. Early adopters are key in bridging that gap.

TRANSITION

Now, let’s bring this idea into a Christian worldview to illustrate why having a deep relationship with God is so important.

2.5% represents God, the Innovator of all innovators

13.5% represents mature believers that have found that deep relationship with God (the sweet spot we all are striving for)

34% represents immature believers who have a heart for God (i.e. come to church, maybe serve, and do all the “things”) but don’t really have a deep relationship with Him

34% represents those who are religiously unaffiliated or practice syncretism (a little bit of this, a little bit that = gumbo gospel)

16% represents those who are against God or indifferent (i.e. atheist, agnostic)

[WORLDVIEW TIPPING POINT AND GAP SLIDE]

Knowing this and that there’s a gap between mature believers and the rest of the world, it’s important for us to have a deep relationship with God so we can become activated as mature believers and bridge that gap to advance God’s kingdom.

TENSION

Now that we have this information, we can start to address questions like:

Why should we have a deep relationship with God?

How do we have a deep relationship with God?

What does a deep relationship with God look like?

Many of us have or will struggle with these questions at some point in our lives. The issue is, before these questions arise, our faith is pretty shallow and we probably don’t even care to answer them. I mean we’ve all gone through the motions, right? Maybe we go to church on Sunday morning for a 20-30 minute sermon on why everything is vanity and we don’t even know what vanity means. Maybe we hit up a Wednesday night small group just to kick it with our friends and don’t pay much attention to what our small group leader is teaching. Maybe we attend a Bible study in the summer because our parents just want us to get out of the house and not play video games. Whichever of these apply, or something else for that matter, we go through the motions without having a deep relationship with God. We’re still in an inactive state. We look at our friends and say, “Why do I have to be the one to read and know God’s Word? Why do I have to be the one that’s not afraid to share the good news of Jesus at the lunch table or on the soccer field?”

Now I’ve been saying one word over and over again that starts many of my questions and that word is “Why.” We always ask “Why” questions to get a better understanding of something, right? Why did my teacher give me a B instead of an A on my homework? Why am I not starting on the basketball team when I’m clearly the Lebron James of Flower Mound? Why are we eating pizza for dinner when it’s clearly Taco Tuesday, mom? Talk about questions that need answers! If we can ask these types of “Why” questions, why can’t we ask “Why” questions about and to God? The answers to my earlier “Why” questions are a direct result of understanding His “Why” for our lives giving purpose to our spiritual rhythms like prayer, devotionals, praise and worship, and so on so they’re not just to-do items on a checklist. Asking “Why” doesn’t intimidate God. In fact, it lets Him know you’re interested in His “Why” for our lives which fuels us as image bearers.

There’s a pretty smart guy named Simon Sinek who created something called the golden circle. By a show of hands, does anybody know what that is? Okay, let me break it down for you then I’ll show you how this activates us as mature believers. There are 3 circles:

[WHY HOW WHAT SLIDE]

The outer circle is “What”

The middle circle is “How”

The inner circle is “Why”

[WHY HOW WHAT INWARD SLIDE]

Most businesses start with the outer circle and work their way in. They tell us “Here’s WHAT we have” then “Here’s HOW we do it.” They don’t really tell us WHY directly because their “Why” is all about making money. A prosperity gospel of sorts. Jesus makes it plain in Revelation 3:17 when He said, “Because you say, ‘I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,’ you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.” The Fall Fest 2021 translation of that verse simply says, “That ain’t it!” Steve Jobs took a different approach. I remember when Apple first came out with the iPod. It was this bulky all-white device with a colorless screen that made a loud clicking sound as you scrolled through songs using the trackpad. It was a completely separate device from your phone just for playing music. Up until that point, computer companies didn’t make music devices, it didn’t make sense. But then Apple came along and changed all of that with the iPod. Why was Apple different? Why did people, including myself, flock to get their hands on this new portable music device? It's simple. They didn't just say here’s what we have and how we do it. They said here’s why we do it and got us to believe what they believe which was to challenge the status quo. Having an iPod made you different, it set you apart from everybody else.

[WHY HOW WHAT OUTWARD]

You see, great companies start with the inner circle and work their way out. They tell us “Here’s WHY do it,” then, “Here’s HOW we do it,” and lastly, “Here’s WHAT we do.” The HOW and WHAT are dependent upon the WHY, not the other way around. Their “Why” is to inspire, not to make a paycheck. Their “Why” creates experiences, not expenses. They want to stir something up inside of you that when people see you with their stuff, they want it too. This is important because every person or business knows WHAT they do in life but only some know HOW they do what they do and very few know WHY they do what they do.

But doesn’t God do the same thing? His “Why” gives us purpose because it challenges the status quo. It gives us a reason for existence. It’s what gets us out of bed in the morning because we feel so alive. I don’t know how familiar y’all are with Ephesians but the church at Ephesus was a pretty good group of church folk. Paul even said they are “faithful in Christ Jesus.” But even the faithful become inactive. Jesus speaks of the folks in Ephesus in Revelation 2:4 by saying, “But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.” The key word here is first because your first love always involves passion. The first girl I was in love with I went above and beyond to show her I loved her. I drove past my high school an extra 10-15 minutes every morning to pick her up for school. I tutored her in classes she was struggling with. I even tried to get my mom to let her stay with us when she and her mom were going through a rough patch (although my mom wasn’t having that). It was an active pursuit of a deep relationship with her. But after a while, that passion became a process. A program that I was just participating in. My duties had replaced my devotion and I no longer felt alive in that relationship so it ended. Isn’t that what we do with God, our true first love? When we focus so much on the WHAT and HOW, we miss the WHY and end up with a belief system that’s shallow and based on works instead of worship. It’s easy to want to do the WHAT first because that’s what everyone else sees on the outside. It’s harder to start with WHY because that begins on the inside. (Let me hear y’all say “start on the inside”) That begins during moments in isolation when your thoughts are running wild. That begins when you’re laying in bed at night wondering if there’s something more to life. You ask, “Why is there something instead of nothing?” Knowing the “Why” helps you to open up Genesis 1 and see why God challenges the status quo, which was formless and void, to make something out of nothing. The first thing He did was turn the light on. The more you think deeply about God, the sooner the light bulb turns on and you realize that God made you (something) out of nothing because He has a purpose for your life.

TAKEAWAYS “Took”

Your existence is to worship God by extending His rule and reign to all nations and to the ends of the earth so that everything can be very good. That is God’s “Why” and that should be your “Why.” In Revelation 2:26-27, Jesus says, “He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron…” The world wants you to believe that you’re nothing. That you’re formless and void. Starting with “What” causes you to just do things for the sake of doing them. Starting with “Why” controls your behavior and helps make sense of the things you do. It’s the difference between reading a devotional when you get a moment versus reading one when you first wake up because you want to start your day with God and know His purpose for you that day and the next day and the next day.

Now that you know the “Why,” you’re ready for the “How.” The “How” consists of things you do that aren’t just activities on a checklist but responses to a deep relationship with God. There’s a saying that goes, “I got it out the mud,” meaning I made something out of nothing but only God truly did that. He literally made Adam out of the dirt then Eve out of Adam’s rib. When God made Adam, He “built” him. When God made Eve, He continued that “building” process. Then he told the both of them to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it which furthers the “building” process so God can rule and reign. That is God’s “How.” He built things not just to be good but to be very good and it wasn’t until God made us in His image that everything was “very good.” In fact, things were so good after He made us, He took the next day off.

So, if we became the “How” to God’s “Why,” how do we actually live this out? Through the power of the Holy Spirit. We’re incapable of living out God’s “Why” on our own as we saw with Adam and Eve in the Garden. When we’re in a deep relationship with God, we make Him a priority and He knows we’re doing our best but also knows we can’t do it alone. There’s a difference between refusing God’s “Why” and simply struggling to carry His “Why” out. The Holy Spirit empowers us to talk that talk and walk that walk that is right with God.

An example of this is how much of what we do is useless without the internet? I remember when we had that snowmageddon back in February and my family lost access to the internet. When we tried to turn on Netflix, nothing. I tried to watch the news on TV and computer, nothing. We literally couldn’t look at anything. We had all this great stuff but no access. It wasn’t until I took a moment, thought deeper, and said, “What about the hotspot on my phone?” I turned it on and just like that I could use my computer again. We went from fancy electronics that couldn’t serve their purpose to getting the latest updates on my computer with no problem. That’s how we can be with the Bible sometimes. All of this great stuff that’s inspired by God yet we’re not tapped into the very God that inspired it making it seem useless. But when you’re connected to the Source through the power of the Holy Spirit, it’s as if the words jump off the page and make you feel alive. You start to read things that help you get through life’s storms. We realize that reading the Bible is not a “have to” but a “get to” and is better than any Netflix show we can watch. We also see the benefit of purging certain friends, activities, and entertainment so we can make new friends and have new experiences like mission trips and Fall Fest that allow us to be a light in the world instead of a short fuse. Also, I’d be doing you a disservice by saying I don’t fall back into the rhythm of “doing the work” without worship. I’m human. But Revelation 3:1-2 says, “I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain.” Just as we need to be activated there are times where we need to be reactivated when we get too comfortable in daily rhythms.

Once we know God’s “Why” and “How” for ourselves, we can then truly present the “What” to others because we have a better understanding of it. For us, the “What” is the gospel. If we try to present the gospel first without ourselves being alive to God then it’ll fall on deaf ears. People will receive the information but it’ll be just that, information. God’s “Why” is all about formation. It forms your behaviors and makes sharing the gospel easier, more enjoyable, and more relatable for others. When they see that God’s “Why” is your “Why”, they’ll start to want what you have just like that iPod years ago. The hardest thing you can do is help someone who doesn’t believe in Christ, believe in Him and His purpose. But if you don’t believe what He believes, why would someone else? In Revelation 3:20, Jesus says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.” Do you hear Him knocking? Whether you’re an unbeliever who wants to know Jesus or an immature believer who wants to know Jesus more, He’s waiting on you to respond. Words alone won’t get it done, it’s gotta be so alive inside you that it overflows out of you to the point you’re busting that door down every single day. Presenting mere information about Him without heartfelt passion for Him makes the “What” less attractive and meaningful. This is why we can’t be so legalistic and by that, I mean doing whatever we can to check boxes. The law was created to point us to God but it’s easy to get caught up following rules and rhythms for the sake of doing them that we no longer know why we’re doing them. But Jesus came to fulfill the law meaning that it’s always pointed towards God and we lost sight of that. Don’t go blind trying to be busy.

So, why should we have a deep relationship with God? We’re created in His image to worship Him and grow His kingdom.

How do we have a deep relationship with God? Through the power of the Holy Spirit and spiritual rhythms.

What does a deep relationship with God look like? Sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with others so they can experience the joy of being loved by God.

Now, let me ask you, are you ready to get activated as a mature believer and bridge the gap?

CLOSING PRAYER