The Law of Gravity

Preliminaries:

It’s great to have all of you with us here tonight at Gravity Young Adult Ministries for our first ever service!

I want to thank Lov A-Da Coffee, and their wonderful staff, for letting us use their facility free of charge and for taking such good care of us.

As a Pastor I made a commitment to never endorse a political figure as to not alienate my congregation. As a small business owner I’m all about supporting small businesses. Therefore, I gladly endorse Lov A-Da Coffee. I think it’s safe to say that I won’t alienate any of you by doing so.

Let’s face it: whether you’re a coffee drinker, a smoothie slurper, a sandwich eater, or cookie monster, there is something here for you.

AND DID I MENTION THEY LET US USE THIS SPACE FOR FREE?!? So show your appreciation to Lov A-Da by drinking enough coffee to float home on, okay? We want to take good care of the people who take good care of us. Amen!

Introduction:

Have you ever driven home after a late night and ever wonder how you ever made it there?

The whole drive is a blur. You may remember turning the steering wheel once or twice. You may vaguely recall the reflection of your headlights on the asphalt. But how you made it from point A to point B is a mystery.

Sometimes we run on autopilot. We get from point A to point B, never really feeling a thing or noticing what’s happening.

With all that goes on in the life of an adult, it’s no wonder we find ourselves running on autopilot sometimes. We are constantly overwhelmed with things to do, TV shows to watch, bills to pay… the list goes on.

It affects our work, friendships, marriages, and even our relationship with God. We find ourselves just going through the motions of our faith.

We just go through the motions.

We wake up, go to work each day, go to church, and never stop to ask: “Why am I here this Sunday? How did God speak to me the rest of the week?”

I’ve been there so many times; just going through the motions. I found myself in out of those ruts in these past few weeks.

I was just going through the motions of my faith. I wasn’t feeling God, and I certainly wasn’t hearing his voice; and I was sick of it.

But as I lay in bed tossing and turning, upset with the distance I felt between me and God, He opened my eyes to the solution to my problem.

So tonight I want to share with you the Biblical “Law of Gravity.”

Text: James 4:8 NLT: “Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.”

Central Theme: It’s so easy to get wrapped up in the day-to-day aspects of our lives and find ourselves in spiritual auto-pilot. But just as the law of gravity tells us that whenever we drop something it will fall, the Bible tells us that whenever we draw near to God he’ll draw near to us.

Transition: Three keys to the Spiritual Law of Gravity

I. We have to draw near

a. “Come close to God, and God will come close to you…”

i. This is one of my favorite verses in the Bible.

1. It’s a great verse to preach or encourage someone with.

2. But like most things in life, it’s easier to:

a. say it someone else who’s having a hard time

b. Rather than believe it yourself when you’re feeling distant from God.

ii. Here in this verse we not only find:

1. The Gravity theme verse

2. But we find an irrevocable promise from God.

iii. You could call this the Spiritual Law of Gravity

1. [Object lesson] When I let go of this ball, we know that it will fall to the ground. That’s physical gravity at work.

2. Even so, when I draw near to God, I know that he will draw near to me. That’s spiritual gravity at work.

iv. Notice that James doesn’t say you might draw near to God.

1. He says you will draw near to God.

2. It’s the Spiritual Law of Gravity.

3. It’s a promise!

v. Yet we cast aspersions on God’s goodness and nature by saying

1. “I tried to get close to the Lord, but He is just so far from me.”

2. The Bible says He will draw near—always.

vi. The key to gravity is movement.

1. When I let go of this ball it’s going to fall. That’s gravity.

2. Even so, when I let go of my agenda and move towards God by seeking him, he will meet me where I’m at. That’s spiritual gravity.

vii. If we want to draw near, we’ve got to move near.

1. For me that meant getting out of bed, putting on some worship tunes and saying

a. “Lord I’m going to draw near to you today.

b. Come draw near to me.”

viii. We have to decide to let go of our frustration, let go of our control, and draw near to our Father.

II. We have to get clean

a. Sometimes there can be a roadblock that gets in the way of the spiritual law of gravity.

b. The first is unresolved sin.

c. James instructs us to “…Wash your hands, you sinners…”

d. The Bible tells us that we all sin and fall short of the glory of God.

i. We all have these offenses we’ve made against God.

ii. Since God is without sin, we see that sin separates us from God.

1. So if I have sin in my life, that’s going to keep me from drawing near to Him the way he intended.

iii. Thankfully, we know that God sent his son Jesus for us!

1. Jesus died a brutal death for us.

2. He took all of our sins on his blameless back so we could be set free from sin.

e. When we come to Jesus, repent and turn from our sin, he forgives us and washes us clean.

f. So when you are trying to draw near to God, yet feel a separation from him, perhaps it’s because you have unforgiven sin in your life.

i. When I know my heart is distant from the Lord I ask for him to reveal any sin in my life, forgive me of it, wash me clean, and help me grow closer to Him. His love and grace never fails.

III. We have to get focused

a. The second road block that can get in the way of the spiritual law of gravity is our focus.

b. “…purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world…”

c. In a task-oriented, media-driven, non-stop world like ours, it’s easy for our focus to get skewed.

i. James warns us here not to let our loyalties become divided.

ii. Jesus told us that a man can not serve two masters.

d. If I draw near to God will he draw near to me?

i. Yes.

1. When you’ve repented of your sins

2. and you’ve refocused on Jesus

ii. When you’re serious about seeking God, he will draw near to you.

iii. The idea here is to press in and get serious about seeking God

1. Turn off American Idol

2. Turn off the Dave Matthews CD

3. and take some serious time and effort to seek his Heart and listen for his voice

e. Prophet Ben’s “transmission” object lesson

f. The purpose of getting clean and getting focused is to cut out the interference and tune-in to the proper frequency.

i. Go to the park.

ii. Get away.

iii. Do whatever it takes to change your setting and say,

1. Lord, I’ve been tuned in to work

2. I’ve been dialed in to parenting

3. I’ve been positioned to pursue my hobbies

4. But now I’m taking time to hear from You

5. because I know You’re broadcasting twenty-four hours a day

6. and I want to hear what You say

7. and draw near to you.

For me, as I wrestled with this issue this week, it meant getting out of bed, declaring before God that I was going to draw near to him, repenting of any unforgiven sin in my life, throwing on a worship CD and listening to God’s heart.

When we understand the spiritual law of gravity, and deal with the roadblocks, we can draw near to God, knowing that he will draw near to us.

We don’t have to go through the motions.

Close:

It’s easy to go through the motions. But I believe that when we do so we are lukewarm. God said in Revelation that he will spew the lukewarm out of his mouth. We are called to walk in intimate relationship with him. We are called to be world changers. And you can’t change the world for God when you’re feeling far from the one who has called you.

Our vision for Gravity is to be a place that raises up people who laugh in the face of mediocrity.

Our vision is that we would be a people that refuse to play church but would be the church.

Our vision is that we would be radical lovers of Jesus; world changers for the sake of Jesus.

Our vision is to lift each other up and help one another grow closer to Him.

Our vision is that through our lifestyles we would walk out spiritual gravity: that we would draw near to Him, and He would draw near to us.

And that His love would be so real in us and through us, that we would be a giant gravity well to everyone around us, so they may grow closer to Him too.

Response:

Running the other direction?

Need to get clean?

Need to re-focus?

Altar Call