01.03.2010 A Better 2010
3rd January 2010
01.03.2010 Grace Summit Sermon - A Better 2010 from Grace Summit on Vimeo.
We are kind of in between things – in a couple weeks we’ll be starting Galatians with about 6 other churches in the Akron area. We’ve done that in the past…
So, in the meantime, I’ve started a series that I call, How to have a Better 2010
Lord, thank You for the opportunity to be together here in the new year. May we fix our attention and eyes on you. You have been our protection and foundation – a refuge and a rock of salvation – everything we need. You are faithful and will be from here on. No matter what we face, - we don’t know what 2010 has for us – we know it has You – as the Lord of all and Lord of time. Your faithfulness never ends – May this year be one in which we experience YOU. May the prayers we have been praying for years come true in You. We ask that You open our eyes up that Your word would become more and more real because it teaches us of You. In Jesus Name we pray.
If I was looking back – how you can have a better 2010 – I’d tell you to stop having quiet times (at least the way we’ve always thought of them!) They teach you in preaching class to open with a startling statement – and that is why I said that! The next thing is to have a great ending – and the next most important thing is to put them as close together as possible.
Sometimes, through the years, I’ve found there is a lot of guilt associated with quiet times. Also, boredom – My grandfather, Rocco, was from Sicily. “Sit on the couch and be quiet!” As an 8 year old, that was pretty boring.
Third – we become dependent upon them and they become idolatrous. “You are doing well if you are having them.”
I’d like to talk about how to not better your devotional life, but to have a life of devotion.
The problem is, we focus on the devotional life, but focus on a life of devotion and that will change your devotional life! The typical approach to quiet times can sometimes cause us to miss what a true relationship of life is like.
Take out Psalms – start at the beginning. If you have a pew bible – it is Psalm 1.
I’m going to go through about 15 of these. Read the 1st and 2nd verse of each psalm – it is a lot of fun – and a lot quicker. Psalms are like poems, poetry, songs – and how people enter into a relationship with God. When you start your time with God – whatever you call it – how do you enter in – “Oh dear God…Peace be unto my heart today!”
4:1 Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! Thou hast relieved me in my distress; Be gracious to me and hear my prayer.
5:1 Give ear to my words, O Lord, Consider my groaning.
Oh no, you don’t groan! The bible says no groaning
13:1 How long, O Lord? Wilt Thou forget me forever? How long wilt Thou hide Thy face from me? 2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul, [Having] sorrow in my heart all the day? How long will my enemy be exalted over me?
What a way to start! The first few are on the negative side, and then we’ll see a few on the positive side.
22:1 (For the choir director; upon Aijeleth Hashshahar. A Psalm of David.) My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning
42:1 (For the choir director. A Maskil of the sons of Korah.) As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for Thee, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; When shall I come and appear before God?
Is it simply a time to check off a checklist – or is it something you long for? Like the deer who have to go to the pond where the alligators are – but they have to do it because their thirst drives them.
60:1 (For the choir director; according to Shushan Eduth. A Mikhtam of David, to) (teach; when he struggled with Aram-naharaim and with Aram-zobah, and Joab) (returned, and smote twelve thousand of Edom in the Valley of Salt.) O God, Thou hast rejected us. Thou hast broken us; Thou hast been angry; O, restore us.
63:1 (A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.) O God, Thou art my God; I shall seek Thee earnestly; My soul thirsts for Thee, my flesh yearns for Thee, In a dry and weary land where there is no water.
Some of these we can relate to more – because this is how we worship:
95:1 O come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. 2 Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms
96:1 Sing to the Lord a new song; Sing to the Lord, all the earth.
97:1 The Lord reigns; let the earth rejoice; Let the many islands be glad
98:1 (A Psalm.) O Sing to the Lord a new song, For He has done wonderful things, His right hand and His holy arm have gained the victory for Him
99:1 The Lord reigns, let the peoples tremble; He is enthroned [above] the cherubim, let the earth shake!
100:1 (A Psalm for Thanksgiving.) Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth. 2 Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing.
That is one reason we shouldn’t call them QUIET times! They should not be quiet – they should be noisy! Shout joyfully! Sing! It is a time to express to God – either sorrow and hurt or the joy and thankfulness – but it needs to be expressed. We are created in God’s image – and what we see in the Bible is real emotion comeing from deep down inside! Our European roots tend to close that down.
139:1 O Lord, Thou hast searched me and known [me.] 2 Thou dost know when I sit down and when I rise up; Thou dost understand my thought from afar.
Again – to allow – we have the complaining part – then the rejoicing part – but there has to be a part that allows Him in to search what is going on in there. “My Heart, Christ’s Home” – it goes through every room in the house – do you allow Him into every area of your life? There are parts we tend to shut down – closing it out to God. The psalmist says, Search me and know – and then allow Him to reveal it to us.
148:1 Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens; Praise Him in the heights! 2 Praise Him, all His angels; Praise Him, all His hosts! 3 Praise Him, sun and moon; Praise Him, all stars of light! 4 Praise Him, highest heavens, And the waters that are above the heavens! 5 Let them praise the name of the Lord, For He commanded and they were created.
We took Tony down to OSU again last night. There was something weird in the atmosphere – the moon looked about 4 times too big and it was squished! We know the moon was not squished but we wondered if the terrorists had done something with it (We’ve seen too many disaster movies!).
God uses nature to bring us into worship – not to WORSHIP NATURE – but to make use of nature in our worship.
Psalm 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. 3 There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. 4 Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun, 5 which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. 6 It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is hidden from its heat.
In nature, again – it is limited, but legitimate to understand – as we look at the world around us – what we see is God! Why does the sun come up? We know the earth spins, but it is an indication that God is faithful and dependable. We do this that we might live in awe of Him – the One who has the power to hold it all together. For some reason – in today’s world, we are afraid of that.
He goes on:
7 The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple.
He makes a big switch here.
Lord = Yahweh – The relationship God – In creation we see God’s power and can see who God is – but in His word, we come into relationship with Him. It is the Law of God where a person grows in relationship with God. When Jesus comes, the ultimate relationship – he is called the Final Word.
You can see him building this:
Perfect/Trustworthy/Right/Pure
8 The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes. 9 The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the LORD are sure and altogether righteous. 10 They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb. 11 By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.
We tend to, in our quiet times, have a get and go mentality – but that is not what Bible reading is all about. “Get yourself a little promise and move on!” – but it says it is perfect – reviving the soul. The Word is to be internalized, to such an extent that it transforms us.
Some say, don’t use your quiet time to study God’s word. WHAT? Of course you do! Otherwise, how would you ever get to know it and understand it. That doesn’t mean to read commentaries in your quiet time, but study it!
You don’t get to know God without digging deep and studying the law of the Lord. That doesn’t mean to take 3 hours a day – but to take a different approach to understand and know what God is saying. In 30 mintues a day, you can do a lot in getting to know God’s word.
More desired than gold…
Why do you go to work? To support your family. If you weren’t getting paid, would you do it? Just ask that! Well, He is saying that is the approach we need to take. Gold doesn’t come easy – to pay your bills is hard work – to have the same view – God’s word is to be more desired than wealth – than that which is most valued by man – the Word of God should be valued most.
To get gold – you don’t just find it on the street – it takes time and energy – the same with God’s word – it takes time and energy. To be people of God’s word is so critical – I challenge you to challenge yourself to know this book better.
There is a program out there to read through the Bible in 90 days – do you know how many pages it takes? To read through the Bible in a year – you need to read about 3 chapters a day. You see people reading Harry Potter – and 12 year olds read them in a couple days! Take the time – get to know the word! I cannot emphasize this enough! I wish I knew the word better 15/20 years ago – and I am devoting myself to knowing it better this year. And this is my job. Having this as a job is a cool thing – and the really cool thing – the more you read it – the more cool it gets!
10 They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb.
How many of you read Leviticus and think – ooo – sweeter than honey!
We, at Christmastime – have homemade lasagna with a recipe handed down through the generations. My kids eat it all and don’t miss it! Maybe you don’t like honey – but is this how you approach the word? What is it that you love and do you love God’s word as much?
11 By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.
12 Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults.
It is like he switches all of a sudden. He has purpose in this.
13 Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression.
The Word of God warns us and reveals to us things we cannot see. You have things inside of you that you don’t know about that will lead you astray – wrong thinking, heart, desires – that is how fallen – how deep of sinners we are. We aren’t just slightly sinners – or even mostly sinners – but sinners through and through – to such an extent we can’t even understand.
Yes, we are forgiven sinners…
14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.
The whole purpose behind all of this – He is the Redeemer – who buys us out of trouble – he has forgiven us and brought us back into relationship with Him. We have been forgiven – blameless – acceptable in every way to Him. You know – as we make God’s word a priority, we understand that more and more. We begin to see God as One who loves us and accepts us and longs for us. We’ll see His mercy and His grace poured out for us. Let’s pray.
Lord, we do want to give You thanks – may we – this 2010 – love You and have a relationship with you and aproagh you in honesy to know Your