I LIKE CHURCH, BUT. #7/8

#1 · June 11, 2007, 3:31 pm

Quote from Forum Archives on June 11, 2007, 3:31 pm
Posted by: bhfbc <bhfbc@...>
I LIKE CHURCH, BUT #7/8

IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD

June 10, 2007

Text: Psalm 46:1-11

In his book I Like Church, But, Dan Lupton relates an interesting memory about his childhood: As a teenager, I liked church so much that if the building was locked, I would break in The youth group met an hour prior to the evening service, and some of us would show up early before the doors were opened. One out-of-the-way entrance was fastened with a hook and eye. Opening it was a no-brainer. I would take the church bulletin, slip it between the door and jam, and slide it up until it knocked the hook out of the eye In church I found nearly everything I needed. That probably sounds nerdy, but it was true, and it was exciting. I made my best friends at church. Life there was a constant celebration. The wisdom of the church helped me understand all my circumstances. I established lifelong worship habits in its sanctuary. I also encountered God and that was the main thing. I felt I met God in worship. I often heard Him speak to me in the messages. I saw His Spirit work at the altar. God came to my church. Dan then goes on to write that he still needs God today, more than ever. I long for God, especially when life is confusing. (J. Daniel Lupton, I Like Church, But, Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image Publishers, 1996, pp. 151-152)

Dan is certainly a refreshing change of pace to the world we know today; he seeks to encounter God instead of seeking to reject God. The key concept that Dan expresses in his book is that God expects to meet us at church. Additionally, we should want to meet God at church. Instead of considering the preparation and action of getting to church on Sunday one of the weeks chores, it should be an event of great anticipation because we are going to encounter the Living God in worship. According to Dan Luptons testimony, not even locked doors could keep him out.

To be certain, every born-again Christian wants to encounter God. We are driven to accept Gods invitation to enter into His presence. But do we really have to go through the hassle of getting ready and coming to church to do that? Dont we meet and encounter God in private devotions and prayer? Isnt that enough?

Yes, we do encounter God in our private time with Him. He wants to meet us there, no doubt about that. God spoke to Moses alone through a burning bush in the wilderness. His Old Testament promise was refreshed in Hebrews 13:5, Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you. We can meet God at our kitchen table, at our workstation, on a mountain hike, and anywhere else. But Jesus also guaranteed that where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them. Encountering God individually or encountering Him congregationally is a Biblical tension that is to be appreciated, not resolved. Everyone knows that it takes a battery to start a car engine. That battery has two connections on it. Go out to your car after church, pop the hood, and disconnect the wire from one of those posts. If you do that, youre not going to get anywhere; at least, not in your car. Both posts have to be connected in order to get started. Meeting God individually and congregationally is not an either-or proposition. It is a both-and reality. Disconnect one or the other, and we are not going far spiritually.

An event in the life of Dwight L. Moody illustrates this further. Moody once called on a leading citizen in Chicago to encourage him to attend a church. They were seated in the mans parlor. It was winter, and coal was burning in the fireplace. The man objected that he could be just as good a Christian outside the church as in it. Moody said nothing, but went to the fireplace, took the tongs, picked a blazing coal from the fire, and set it off by itself. In silence the two watched it smolder and go out. I see, said the man. (J. Harry Cotton, Exposition on Hebrews, The Interpreters Bible, Nashville, Abingdon Press, 1955, p. 713). Clearly, God expects to encounter us in church.

What does that mean, though? Well, thats a tough one to answer. Its not tough as in it cannot be answered. Its tough in that the scope of any answer is so broad. The experience of Moses was different than the experience of David. The experience of Peter was different than the experience of Paul. The experience of Moody was different than the experience of the man he visited. In spite of that, however, there are common elements of encountering God, and Psalm 46 gives us a good view of some of them.

First, God is our refuge and our strength, an ever present help in trouble. In just a bit, we will recognize the transcendent nature of God in the third section of this Psalm. But the Psalmist does not begin with a description of God that is abstract or an impersonal force. He begins with the plain acknowledgment that God is a person, not an it or a thing. By the way, when I refer to the Psalmists description of God throughout this message, I am not suggesting that he is making this up on his own. This Psalm, like all the others, is a musical description of the revealed God of the universe. More accurately, it is the description of the self-revealed God of the universe. In this opening verse, God is declared to be personal. He is aware of His existence, and He is aware of our existence. He thinks and decides and loves. As a person, He relates to us and, we relate to Him.

The Psalmist was very aware of the dangers in this world. He uses the typical imagery of raging seas and collapsing mountains to express the message of calamity. The foaming waters and quaking mountains represent about anything in our lives: debilitating illness or injury; financial collapse; a broken relationship; anything and everything that causes our world to crumble.

The Almighty God who is the very creator of this world is also present when the world crumbles. What does this mean to us? Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. If any man could walk with and know God so closely upon the basis of the revelations and covenants known in the Old Testament, then how much more should believers today be willing to cast themselves in faith upon the mercy of God who has revealed Himself in the New Covenant of the body and blood of Christ? Encountering God in our day is made even more personal because of the revelation of Immanuel, which means God with us. This is astonishing and amazing. It is without precedence. Henry Scougal, a seventeenth-century Scottish minister, wrote, God hath long contended with a stubborn world, and thrown down many a blessing upon them; and when all his other gifts could not prevail, he at last made a gift of himself. (Henry Scougal, The Life of God in the Soul of Man.) Anyone who encounters God discovers that God is our refuge and strength.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most high dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. With this second verse, the Psalmist once again employs a familiar image of his era: that Israel is closely associated with every action God takes. In the time of the Psalmist, to encounter God meant also to encounter and experience the dwelling place of God. In time, that place was the Temple in Jerusalem. As a result, the Tabernacle and then the Temple was treated with awe. There were even places divided off where the unsanctioned person could not go without meeting death.

Encountering God means that we enter into the presence of Him who keeps His promise. In the Psalmists day, that meant the preservation of Israel as the recognized place of worship. As people of the New Covenant, we recognize that God has established His temple anew: Dont you know that you yourselves are Gods temple and that Gods Spirit lives in you? (1 Corinthians 3:16) Gods promise is fulfilled in the life of every believer who encounters the living God. How do we know this? I believe that answer is given in verse 7, The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. The promise of God to Jacob, the promise of redemption, is still being fulfilled in the life of each and every person who encounters God through the saving blood of Christ the Lord.

When we enter into the presence of God, we encounter the creator and sustainer of everything. Come and see the works of the Lord, the desolations he has brought on the earth. God is the mover of nations: He makes wars to cease to the ends of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear, he burns the shields with fire. It is this facet of Gods nature that creates within me a pronounced sense of awe in any encounter with God. Here is the source of all life on earth and even the earth itself yet He knows me and even takes pleasure in my imperfect attempt to worship Him. Since there was no other way to bring about divine reconciliation, God sent His only Son to suffer and die on my behalf. The creator and sustainer of the universe is, at the same time, my personal Savior. Is not that a remarkable, overwhelming thought?

How can we know this? In verse 10, we are told, Be still and know that I am God. There are two meaningful applications to take away from this. First, we are to be still because God is our refuge and strength. We come full circle. To be still means to not fret and anguish over something, especially some perceived threat. As I proceed along in the Revelation Bible study, I read again of the increasing calamities to be visited upon the world. Things will go from bad to worse and then worse still. It is sobering to stop and think just how fragile the world and its inhabitants can be if the wrong set of circumstances happen. Did God give us the Revelation and other prophecies to make us worry and fret? No. Instead, we are to be still and live a life that worships and celebrates God. No catastrophe will separate us from the love of God. In0 Romans 8:38 Paul so wonderfully reminds us, For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

To be still also means just that: be quiet, be listening, be attentive, be open to being in the presence of God. How do we know anything about God? Because He allows us to know Him. Like any relationship we have ever known, it is rich and meaningful only when we take the time to make it so. For those who have moved away from friends or have had friends move away from us, what happens when the relationship is not maintained? There may have been close ties at one time, but failure to call and correspond result in an eventual breakdown of the relationship. The next thing you know, you dont even know where the other person lives any more.

The same is unfortunately true in our spiritual relationship with God. If we do not take the time to cultivate the relationship, it will never amount to much. We will simply forget that God calls us to approach life from a Christian instead of secular worldview. This is why satan bombards the world with so much deceptively good things. We are too busy to pay attention to our spiritual relationship with God. Unbelievers do not have time to learn that God is their refuge and strength. Believers do not have enough time to encounter the presence of God and be swept up into a closer relationship with Him. We do not have time to be a living witness to another person.

To be still means just what we think it might mean: set time aside to anticipate listening for and to God. When it comes down to druthers, we want to know God better. God wants us to know that He knows us. It is awesome to come into the presence of God. It is awesome to encounter the living God. Writes Henry Ward Beecher:

Through the week we go down into the valleys of care and shadow.

Our Sabbaths should be hills of light and joy in Gods presence;

And so as time rolls by we go from mountain top to mountain top,

Till at last we catch the glory of the gate,

And enter in to go no more out forever.

Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.

Rev. Charles A. Layne, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Bunker Hill, Indiana

765-689-7987

www.bhfirstbaptist.com
-- To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: abesermons-unsubscribe@welovegod.org   

Posted by: bhfbc <bhfbc@...>

I LIKE CHURCH, BUT #7/8

IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD

June 10, 2007

Text: Psalm 46:1-11

In his book I Like Church, But, Dan Lupton relates an interesting memory about his childhood: As a teenager, I liked church so much that if the building was locked, I would break in The youth group met an hour prior to the evening service, and some of us would show up early before the doors were opened. One out-of-the-way entrance was fastened with a hook and eye. Opening it was a no-brainer. I would take the church bulletin, slip it between the door and jam, and slide it up until it knocked the hook out of the eye In church I found nearly everything I needed. That probably sounds nerdy, but it was true, and it was exciting. I made my best friends at church. Life there was a constant celebration. The wisdom of the church helped me understand all my circumstances. I established lifelong worship habits in its sanctuary. I also encountered God and that was the main thing. I felt I met God in worship. I often heard Him speak to me in the messages. I saw His Spirit work at the altar. God came to my church. Dan then goes on to write that he still needs God today, more than ever. I long for God, especially when life is confusing. (J. Daniel Lupton, I Like Church, But, Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image Publishers, 1996, pp. 151-152)

Dan is certainly a refreshing change of pace to the world we know today; he seeks to encounter God instead of seeking to reject God. The key concept that Dan expresses in his book is that God expects to meet us at church. Additionally, we should want to meet God at church. Instead of considering the preparation and action of getting to church on Sunday one of the weeks chores, it should be an event of great anticipation because we are going to encounter the Living God in worship. According to Dan Luptons testimony, not even locked doors could keep him out.

To be certain, every born-again Christian wants to encounter God. We are driven to accept Gods invitation to enter into His presence. But do we really have to go through the hassle of getting ready and coming to church to do that? Dont we meet and encounter God in private devotions and prayer? Isnt that enough?

Yes, we do encounter God in our private time with Him. He wants to meet us there, no doubt about that. God spoke to Moses alone through a burning bush in the wilderness. His Old Testament promise was refreshed in Hebrews 13:5, Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you. We can meet God at our kitchen table, at our workstation, on a mountain hike, and anywhere else. But Jesus also guaranteed that where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them. Encountering God individually or encountering Him congregationally is a Biblical tension that is to be appreciated, not resolved. Everyone knows that it takes a battery to start a car engine. That battery has two connections on it. Go out to your car after church, pop the hood, and disconnect the wire from one of those posts. If you do that, youre not going to get anywhere; at least, not in your car. Both posts have to be connected in order to get started. Meeting God individually and congregationally is not an either-or proposition. It is a both-and reality. Disconnect one or the other, and we are not going far spiritually.

An event in the life of Dwight L. Moody illustrates this further. Moody once called on a leading citizen in Chicago to encourage him to attend a church. They were seated in the mans parlor. It was winter, and coal was burning in the fireplace. The man objected that he could be just as good a Christian outside the church as in it. Moody said nothing, but went to the fireplace, took the tongs, picked a blazing coal from the fire, and set it off by itself. In silence the two watched it smolder and go out. I see, said the man. (J. Harry Cotton, Exposition on Hebrews, The Interpreters Bible, Nashville, Abingdon Press, 1955, p. 713). Clearly, God expects to encounter us in church.

What does that mean, though? Well, thats a tough one to answer. Its not tough as in it cannot be answered. Its tough in that the scope of any answer is so broad. The experience of Moses was different than the experience of David. The experience of Peter was different than the experience of Paul. The experience of Moody was different than the experience of the man he visited. In spite of that, however, there are common elements of encountering God, and Psalm 46 gives us a good view of some of them.

First, God is our refuge and our strength, an ever present help in trouble. In just a bit, we will recognize the transcendent nature of God in the third section of this Psalm. But the Psalmist does not begin with a description of God that is abstract or an impersonal force. He begins with the plain acknowledgment that God is a person, not an it or a thing. By the way, when I refer to the Psalmists description of God throughout this message, I am not suggesting that he is making this up on his own. This Psalm, like all the others, is a musical description of the revealed God of the universe. More accurately, it is the description of the self-revealed God of the universe. In this opening verse, God is declared to be personal. He is aware of His existence, and He is aware of our existence. He thinks and decides and loves. As a person, He relates to us and, we relate to Him.

The Psalmist was very aware of the dangers in this world. He uses the typical imagery of raging seas and collapsing mountains to express the message of calamity. The foaming waters and quaking mountains represent about anything in our lives: debilitating illness or injury; financial collapse; a broken relationship; anything and everything that causes our world to crumble.

The Almighty God who is the very creator of this world is also present when the world crumbles. What does this mean to us? Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. If any man could walk with and know God so closely upon the basis of the revelations and covenants known in the Old Testament, then how much more should believers today be willing to cast themselves in faith upon the mercy of God who has revealed Himself in the New Covenant of the body and blood of Christ? Encountering God in our day is made even more personal because of the revelation of Immanuel, which means God with us. This is astonishing and amazing. It is without precedence. Henry Scougal, a seventeenth-century Scottish minister, wrote, God hath long contended with a stubborn world, and thrown down many a blessing upon them; and when all his other gifts could not prevail, he at last made a gift of himself. (Henry Scougal, The Life of God in the Soul of Man.) Anyone who encounters God discovers that God is our refuge and strength.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most high dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. With this second verse, the Psalmist once again employs a familiar image of his era: that Israel is closely associated with every action God takes. In the time of the Psalmist, to encounter God meant also to encounter and experience the dwelling place of God. In time, that place was the Temple in Jerusalem. As a result, the Tabernacle and then the Temple was treated with awe. There were even places divided off where the unsanctioned person could not go without meeting death.

Encountering God means that we enter into the presence of Him who keeps His promise. In the Psalmists day, that meant the preservation of Israel as the recognized place of worship. As people of the New Covenant, we recognize that God has established His temple anew: Dont you know that you yourselves are Gods temple and that Gods Spirit lives in you? (1 Corinthians 3:16) Gods promise is fulfilled in the life of every believer who encounters the living God. How do we know this? I believe that answer is given in verse 7, The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. The promise of God to Jacob, the promise of redemption, is still being fulfilled in the life of each and every person who encounters God through the saving blood of Christ the Lord.

When we enter into the presence of God, we encounter the creator and sustainer of everything. Come and see the works of the Lord, the desolations he has brought on the earth. God is the mover of nations: He makes wars to cease to the ends of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear, he burns the shields with fire. It is this facet of Gods nature that creates within me a pronounced sense of awe in any encounter with God. Here is the source of all life on earth and even the earth itself yet He knows me and even takes pleasure in my imperfect attempt to worship Him. Since there was no other way to bring about divine reconciliation, God sent His only Son to suffer and die on my behalf. The creator and sustainer of the universe is, at the same time, my personal Savior. Is not that a remarkable, overwhelming thought?

How can we know this? In verse 10, we are told, Be still and know that I am God. There are two meaningful applications to take away from this. First, we are to be still because God is our refuge and strength. We come full circle. To be still means to not fret and anguish over something, especially some perceived threat. As I proceed along in the Revelation Bible study, I read again of the increasing calamities to be visited upon the world. Things will go from bad to worse and then worse still. It is sobering to stop and think just how fragile the world and its inhabitants can be if the wrong set of circumstances happen. Did God give us the Revelation and other prophecies to make us worry and fret? No. Instead, we are to be still and live a life that worships and celebrates God. No catastrophe will separate us from the love of God. In0 Romans 8:38 Paul so wonderfully reminds us, For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

To be still also means just that: be quiet, be listening, be attentive, be open to being in the presence of God. How do we know anything about God? Because He allows us to know Him. Like any relationship we have ever known, it is rich and meaningful only when we take the time to make it so. For those who have moved away from friends or have had friends move away from us, what happens when the relationship is not maintained? There may have been close ties at one time, but failure to call and correspond result in an eventual breakdown of the relationship. The next thing you know, you dont even know where the other person lives any more.

The same is unfortunately true in our spiritual relationship with God. If we do not take the time to cultivate the relationship, it will never amount to much. We will simply forget that God calls us to approach life from a Christian instead of secular worldview. This is why satan bombards the world with so much deceptively good things. We are too busy to pay attention to our spiritual relationship with God. Unbelievers do not have time to learn that God is their refuge and strength. Believers do not have enough time to encounter the presence of God and be swept up into a closer relationship with Him. We do not have time to be a living witness to another person.

To be still means just what we think it might mean: set time aside to anticipate listening for and to God. When it comes down to druthers, we want to know God better. God wants us to know that He knows us. It is awesome to come into the presence of God. It is awesome to encounter the living God. Writes Henry Ward Beecher:

Through the week we go down into the valleys of care and shadow.

Our Sabbaths should be hills of light and joy in Gods presence;

And so as time rolls by we go from mountain top to mountain top,

Till at last we catch the glory of the gate,

And enter in to go no more out forever.

Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.

Rev. Charles A. Layne, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Bunker Hill, Indiana

765-689-7987

http://www.bhfirstbaptist.com

-- To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: abesermons-unsubscribe@welovegod.org