10.18.2015 Why Doesn't God Make Himself More Obvious?

10-18-2015 Worship from Grace Summit on Vimeo.

10-18-2015 from Grace Summit on Vimeo.

SermonAudio

I don’t normally teach with a big podium in front of me – this is a joy – but strange.
Many of you are curious – are supporters – and have been praying for us at Kent State. God has really blessed us – this is probably the biggest year – we don’t know why that is – we do things with excellence – we are not the coolest show out there – but God has been helping us to grow.
I have been married for 9 years – I’m 33 years old – some say I look younger. My wife is pregnant with our third child – Mason is 5, Phoebe is 3 and the third is due right around Thanksgiving.
Why doesn’t God make Himself more obvious to us?
We were going through a series called ‘WHY?’ – and a few disclaimers – this message was designed for college students – but maybe a good way to think about this – this is an apologetics type teaching - and even if you don’t struggle with this, it can equip you as you deal with the world.
When I first met Tiffany – she was still in High School and I was in college. We had a mutual friend. I wasn’t quite sure if she liked me back. For college students – this is funny – but our relationship started to take shape over Yahoo Messenger. We would hang out in these chat groups – and she would do this thing that would throw me off – just when I thought she really liked me – she would call me – like Buddy – or man, or dude – what girl, if she likes a guy, calls him buddy? She did like me… we’re married now. And I kept thinking – why can’t it just be obvious – I like you, you like me, what are we going to do about it. I know this is a silly story – but something we bring into the spiritual realm – why can’t God make Himself more obvious.
This question unites the Christian and non-Christian. We think our questions are diametrically opposed to those in the world – but I want to find common ground – and this is a question that everyone asks – skeptics and spiritual seekers – it is part of our common humanity – and can be a great starting point for relationship.
The way I could answer this – I could go scientific… - Creation screams for a Creator – scientifically – no one knows the origins of the universe.
My wife is pregnant – there is this tiny person living inside of her – and it screams CREATOR! I think it is obvious – but I don’t think that is why people ask why God isn’t more obvious? – Because we ask it with our hearts – why isn’t He more obvious to ME?
I come to the conclusion – the question under the question – why do we want God to be obvious? We want to know the One in whose image we have been made.
You know the story – we rebelled against God – we were to reflect back God’s image – but it was fractured and broken and cracked – and the broken pieces cry out –
Could it be that God is obvious in our inescapable longing to know Him?
How do we experience this God we long for?
Most of the students I interact with will say something like – Just give me a sign – do something extraordinary – then I’ll believe. I honestly – as I read the Bible and look at the testimony of the people of Israel and those Jesus interacted with – I don’t know if that is true.
Can you imagine God dropping into the campus – and instantly turned the ugly library into something beautiful – what do you think would happen?
Some would say – God is real, God exists!
But I don’t think they will say – I will follow Him and obey Him with all my life.
Did God really speak the universe into existence so we would acknowledge His existence? No – He wants us to know HIM – to experience Him in the ordinary
Seeing the supernatural doesn’t require faith – walking with God each day does. People claim they need the extraordinary – but I don’t think it works that way – that does not get us to where He wants us to go. He is after our hearts.
Walking with God requires faith –
Heb. 11: 6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
The question that God might pose to us – to you – to those seekers and skeptics I interact with – do you earnestly seek Him? The question gets flipped back to us – we say – God, you have not done anything supernatural to lead me to you – but God could ask – have you sought me? Do you pray and serve and give your life away – to do those things that bring us into closer intimacy with God?
I often tell college students – I think this works – I made this up – this could be wrong – I always say – Faith opens the door behind which God stands.
We want God to be so obvious that we don’t need faith – but God says that without faith He will not be obvious to us. We don’t want to walk by faith – but to chase one spiritual high after another. Without faith
God WILL make Himself obvious one day. But in the meantime – He calls us to walk in the murky darkness and to walk by faith – to see that He is with us.
Nathan Ference – by the way – All of the Grace Summit students are the cream of the crop – and Nathan leads a small group – and there is a girl – actually about 5 who are not Christians – who say they are not Christians – who don’t just buy into it – and I am laying out the vision for the year – sharing how we should be sharing Jesus – and this girl says – aren’t all religions basically the same? Isn’t the Bible just full of errors? And I am thinking – you are interrupting me – but she is just the type of student we are trying to reach – and she came to the meeting with a list of 34 questions – all very good and very hard questions relating to the Christian faith. And we will walk through all 34 – and Nathan doesn’t think he can answer these, but I believe he can. Nathan said to her – We can’t eliminate the faith element – we can answer every question you have – we do have answers – it is true and real – and yet God has not made us to just give good answers to questions and not have to live by faith. No amount of intellect and knowledge will eliminate the faith element. At the end of the day – we die – but this is not the end – ultimately – it is about faith.
Heb. 11: 6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
What is the reward? God Himself.. When we live by faith we see God in our everyday lives.
I have seen it in my life, my friends’ lives, and in the stories of the Bible. We see God’s strength come through in our weakness – and He gives us the boldness to share Him – and when we live by faith – He shows us more of Him.
One of the best examples of this is my son – Mason. Mason played what could be called soccer – in like, a micro-league – there are no goalies – but Mason is pretty shy – and he has changed a lot in the last year. During H2O on Sundays, he tended to latch onto my leg. We thought putting him in soccer would be great – so we put him on a team. He didn’t want to do it. We take him to the first practice – and he doesn’t go out on the field – he stands by me. At age 4 - you have one practice before the first game! So I talked to the coach and we developed a game plan… - It was a battle to get him to sit on a blanket with the team – so for the next game we set a goal to sit with the team – and maybe to go in. Next game – would he come out on the field? Game 3 comes - the strategy - Maybe I could go out on the field with him? The coach says, sure - so here I am, 32 years old, running around on a soccer field - and it took everything in my power to not dominate and score 100 goals! Game 4 comes – and all you have to do is stay between the painted lines. He doesn’t chase the ball. Then game 5 – we are talking and praying about this – maybe a chance for him to experience God. That game – he ran around – didn’t touch the ball – and then game 6 came and he eventually kicked the ball some. We had been talking to him all the time – Mason – you did it! Remember what it was like when you first started? Isn’t it crazy to see what God did? And he said to me – yeah, of course I went out there and played, because God gave me the courage to do it! This simple 4 year old way – he chose to see soccer with eyes of faith – trusting God and believing God is real.
We will remember that first experience where Mason learned to live by faith.
I go to discipleship mentoring times –and usually we just talk about how God is teaching us things through our kids. He still talks about that first season – now it is God help me score that goal or block that ball as a goalie –
One question – But isn’t this faith too great a risk – what if God doesn’t become obvious to me? What if I give it all and He doesn’t come through? We have an amazing opportunity to proclaim the gospel – he already HAS become obvious – the eternal God put on skin to be one of us – to go to the cross –
Romans 5: 6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will hardly die for a righteous man; [d]though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
The most obvious revelation of God is Jesus Christ. The God who came to die. The God who rose and conquered all that separates us from Him. I cannot think of a more obvious or captivating way for God to make Himself known. I ask college students – do you know that this gospel is the most beautiful real story – with verifiable evidence – He said He would die and rise again – it is this story that God beckons us into – will we choose to live by faith? It is not God, will you do something supernatural, but will we choose to live by faith – in the joy and pain and ordinary – as we serve others and love our families – He becomes obvious to us. That is my challenge to you – I don’t know where you fall in that – but we live in a world where God is put on trial often – and the fact that Christianity is real and there is evidence for a creator, we must never eliminate the faith factor – so what can you do to live by faith? Let’s pray…