Experiencing God XII: ‘Continuing to Fellowship’
Sermon Summary
24 June 2001
1 John.2:15-17Introduction
Dictionaries generally define ‘real’ as ‘actual; not sham; not fictitious or imaginary; true, genuine, authentic, existent, absolute, certain’. In life there are many realities. For example, physical reality like buildings, roads, hills, rivers or gravity. Or more abstract realities like love, hate, revenge, or kindness, trust, and loyalty. Or the reality that we can fume, deny, attack, or ignore any or all of these realities; we can pretend, fantasise, and fictionalise them all, yet this will not stop them from either being real, or us suffering the consequences of treating them in such ways.
Realities are called realities precisely because they are genuinely real. Ignoring reality is dangerous. It can kill! Drug induced belief in ones ability to fly has short shrift when gravity asserts it’s reality on the person who jumps out of a tall building. Belief that fidelity in a marriage is unimportant comes mightily undone when the guilty person finds out that their partner is cheating on them also.
Throughout this series we have been confronted with certain spiritual realities well attested in the New Testament. The first set of realities tell us that God is always at work in and around our lives, pursuing a loving and personal relationship with us, speaking and inviting us to be involved in His work. The second set of realities tell us that responding to His invitations will often lead to crises of belief that require faith, action and adjustments in our lives to resolve and obey; but when obeyed, will result in a person coming to experience God in their lives.
Now you and I can fume, deny, ignore, consider unjust, or simply argue and resist these realities, or fantasise about their fictional nature or insignificance, yet they will remain firm and real and authentic, exerting all sorts of consequences in our lives if we ignore them. However, on the positive side, if we will structure our individual and church life on them - if we will act on them and organise our lives in conjunction with them, then we will satisfy that deep hunger to know and experience God in personal ways in our church and individual lives.
Continuing Experience:
So what can we do to ensure that we continue to take these realities seriously?
Firstly, we need to take notice that that none of these realities are one-offs. They require ongoing appreciation and application. Therefore we need to keep acting as if God is working in and around us, wanting to communicate specific directions or truths to us that will require ongoing adjustments, faith and action to obey – we need to learn to persevere 1Pet.1:6; Heb.10:36 etc. It should go without saying that we need to keep immersing everything in prayer, treating all planning and decision-making as primarily spiritual concerns, seeking God’s guidance, and using the faith we have to adjust our lives and obey what we believe He wants us to do. These things are obvious.
Secondly, we must take sin seriously, for sin offends God, grieves the Holy Spirit, and breaks our fellowship with him. When we sin against God, our fellowship is broken. Our sense of acceptance, consciousness of his presence, and stimulation of his approval evaporates. In the O.T. this broken relationship is symbolized by God’s hidden face eg. Isa.64:7 ‘You have hidden your face from us and made us waste away because of our sins.’ For God to turn his face away was a sign of rejection, disapproval, and the absence of his presence.
As the greatest privilege of the child of God is fellowship with him, the worst consequence of sin is his distancing himself from us, and his disapproval of us. In 1John.2:15-17, John warns that even exemplary Christians are open to transferring their love for God, to the world that they were caught up in, so don’t think your present commitment to God is immune from change.
The sad truth is that human nature can make anything in the world a source of sinful desire, even if good in itself, because we are fallen and damaged people. Even natural desires for sensual and pleasurable things such as food, drink, sex, physical comforts etc., can become sinful in their use or misuse ‘lusts of the flesh’. Or what one sees and enjoys - from sunsets, paintings, cars, and people, to stars, plants and buildings, can become associated with greed and possessiveness, or sinful preoccupation ‘lust of the eyes’. Even our capacity to feel appropriately proud, like God at creation ‘it is good’, can degenerate into arrogance and boasting, inflated egos and a distorted and unhealthy view of the value of personal accomplishments and things like material possessions ‘pride of life’.
Concern for God can so easily dwindle and die when dwarfed by such thinking and attitudes. The wise and wary will remain consciously aware that it is not only the blatantly bad or wrong that can become causes of sin and defection from God.
In this day and age it is often so hard to take sin seriously - even blatant sin like sexual promiscuity! Too often we fall for the notion that if something feels right it can’t be wrong nor offensive to God. Or if we are not punished immediately by God, then it’s okay! We are immersed in a society that operates on moral beliefs that are quite contrary to the Christian, and they influence us terribly.
How hard then is it to consider so called ‘petty’ things like harsh words, indifference, resentments, condescension, arrogance, or a few lies, swearing, or prejudice need be taken seriously by us! By and large we are too quick to provide excuses and justifications for ourselves rather than repenting and seeking forgiveness from those effected by our wrong attitudes, actions, or general behaviour.
Yet, if we want to make our application of the 7 realities that we have explored throughout this series, then we need to take sin seriously, humble ourselves and repent by confessing to God and turning our back on such behaviours etc. Holiness is not optional: Heb.12:14
Blessings