I used this particular
title as I reflect on where I am today and where I have come from. What I am
referring to, is spending time in awe and joy over where God has brought me in
my spiritual growth and maturity. I am dumfounded and even embarrassed at the philosophies
and theologies that I have clung to and what I have come to understand as truth
today. I am just enamored at the evolution of my understanding and the growth
of my intimacy with my Heavenly Father. I call this “Today’s Sermon” because
that is where God has my heart today as I anxiously await where he will have me
tomorrow.
I was recently part of a
conversation among good, honest, solid Christian men. As in any time where earnest
believers are gathered together and sharing on their faith, discussing Jesus
Christ, (always AWSOME) and attempting to sort through the struggles of everyday
life in Christ; the conversation will inevitably cover the topic of what should
be preached from the pulpit related to specific subjects. Now I am not going to
bring up the specifics of our most recent discussion. I will however note that
these conversations are always born out of one of the hot topics of the day,
usually social topics in nature.
That conversation sent my
mind into overdrive. I haven’t been able to think of much since and what it has
brought me to is the “sermon” that I would like to hear on Sunday morning. I
know that this is quit self-serving; but after all, this is my blog. So anyway,
my ideal Sunday morning sermon would go something like this:
There is a great and
powerful creator; one that existed before time, one that created space. Nothing
existed before it was created by God. There was nothing that existed before
Him, and there will be nothing that lasts beyond Him. God has created all! In
the vastness of the universe and all that exists, God took the time to create a
one-time only, one of a kind, unique being…you. God took the time to create you
out of a most profound act of love. All he wants from you is a relationship. He
wants to know you; He wants you to know Him.
God so wants to get to
know you and is offering Himself to you to the extent that he wants to spend an
eternity with you. Not a lifetime, but an eternity. Here is the catch; His love
is so great that He will not force this relationship on you. Though it is in His
power to create all, in any way that He wants, in his infinite love God has
granted you free will. God has given you a choice. You don’t have
to do anything.
Now understand that God is
a perfect God and a God of perfect order. Everything has been designed
perfectly. Everything has been designed so perfectly and yet so complex that
science has been defining and calculating and categorizing everything around us
for centuries. In this perfect design, there are laws. Laws of nature, laws of
science, laws of motion and so on. Newton, Einstein, Galileo, Copernicus all
wrestled with the perfect order and design of creation.
There is one law that we
all operate under and we all have an understanding of, but for the life of me,
I couldn’t find it mentioned as a specific law anywhere! What I am speaking of
is the law of relationships. There are rules, or laws if you will, that govern
how we act in relationship to one another. Rules that if adhered to draw us
into closer relationship, and rules that if violated drive us apart. Examples:
If you get married and continue to date around, you will not stay married very
long. If you have a girlfriend and you kiss another girl, no more girlfriend.
If you physically or emotionally abuse someone you are in relationship with,
you destroy the relationship. Now there are thousands of books written on
relationships, marriage, parenting and the like. Everyone and his brother have
an opinion on how to improve on all the various relationships we find ourselves
in life. But what they all agree on is there are rules.
Now with all laws come
rules. If you violate the rules, there are consequences. Once again, obeying
the laws of relationship draw you closer; violating the laws of relationship
drive you apart. To some this may be oversimplified, but I believe it really is
this simple. This is where things begin to get a little scary. These laws of
relationship apply to God as well. (I will allow a minute for all the air to
return into the room after the gasps.)
Here’s the deal, God
created us to have free will. In that free will He understands that allows us
choice and inevitably when given choices, bad decisions will be made – sin. Sin
I am going to simply define for you as any decision that violates the law of
relationship between you and God. Now God being of perfect order understands
that we will, by design, violate those laws of relationship and we will sin.
Now in understanding that choice does not exist without consequences (again another
pause to allow that to sink in, you may need to read that again…take your time),
God has already paid the consequences of your violations through the sacrifice
of His son Jesus Christ.
Recap: Laws of
relationship; you are either moving towards a greater relationship or moving
towards separation. Laws of choice and consequence; every choice gives you a
positive or negative consequence. There is one last law I want to discuss and
that is the law of what the Bible refers to as your fruit. To make it very
simple; your actions reflect your heart. Saying you are in a relationship while
violating all the laws of relationship means…you are NOT in relationship.
I started out searching
for which bible verses I would use in this. I very quickly realized from the
Genesis to Revelations, that the entire Bible is about the joys and the
consequences of either being in or out of relationship with our Creator, our
God, our Heavenly Father.
The message of this
sermon is this: If you are violating Gods laws and/or Gods commandments, you
are violating the laws relationship. If you are living in relationship with
your Heavenly Father, it will change you and you will desire to be in greater
relationship, which means submission to relationship in Him; submission to His
authority, His rule, His laws. Jesus Christ came to pay the price, to pay the
consequences of our sins, our decisions that violated our relationship with
God. He did not come so that we could dance on His grave and then pull out our “get
out of jail free card”. To know Jesus Christ, to know your Heavenly Father is
to live in relationship. One prayer, one statement, one act of baptism is not
going to get it done.
Your salvation is freely
given by the grace of God; not by your works (or your actions), but by your
relationship. My warning today is this: If you consider yourself a Christian and
you are living your life in violation of the laws of relationship with your
Heavenly Father; your day of judgment is going to be a very bad day. (Matthew
7:21-23)
Pray with me; Heavenly
Father, I know that I have sinned against you and I have violated your laws,
your commandments and your will for my life. Father, I know that my heart is
weak and I pray for your Holy Spirit to fill me, to guide me, to strengthen me
and to teach me as I commit to live every day of my life in greater relationship
with you. Amen.
