Sermon - No Longer Strangers, No Longer Servants
Especially dedicated to disjecta, cottonmouth_sg, drewadrew and vengerov. I really love you guys!
PREFACE
I was away for work in Bangkok the past week. Clarence asked me last Sunday to take over preaching this week as he had to be away in London this weekend. So I grabbed my Bible and some material I wanted to review and my work gear and boarded the plane. And it was both a good week and a bad week for me.
A good week because being away in Bangkok meant that I would have time in the evenings without the usual social commitments and distractions to spend time with God and I felt very ministered by His presence during this time as I was looking to Him for the message for today’s sermon.
It was a bad week because the laptop with all my work and my sermon that I had prepared was stolen on Friday evening from the hotel I was staying in so yesterday was a mad rush to rebuild the sermon from memory. But God is faithful, and I believe that someone doesn’t want you hear this sermon, because if you really grabbed hold of some of the truths in today’s message, it will have the power to radically change your life.
Clarence asked me a year ago ironically while in Bangkok with him if I could only preach only one sermon what would it be? I don’t really remember my answer then, but I honestly think that today’s message would be that one sermon.
Excerpt -
We need an intimate relationship with God not just because were created for intimacy, but it is so that through intimacy we will be transformed into His image and so we can bring transformation to the world around us... As Christians, we’re supposed to be witnesses of Christ, but many times, our witness pushes people away from experiencing Christ through us. We mix our limited understanding of gospel together with our fears and phobias and then pour judgement on others in the “spirit” of ministry.
NO LONGER STRANGERS, NO LONGER SERVANTS
- A message on finding intimacy with God
16 March 2008
Gary Chan
Free Community Church
+ + +
INTRODUCTION
In the course of doing life with members in our church and my friends, I come across many recurring comments in our conversations or reading their blogs which I’ve always found difficult to respond appropriately. And in these comments, I see people asking important questions about life and God.
Comments like - “I’m not sure what I’m doing is God’s will”, which could be framed as the question, “What is God’s will for my life?” Or, “I think God speaks to different people in different ways”, in which the question would be “How do I hear from God for myself?” Another one I hear often is “I think this or that is a good idea or project or good ministry to start”, which is asking the question “How do I know what God wants me to do?” Another one I get often is “I feel spiritually tried, I’m very drained”, which the question would be “How do I maintain my passion for God?”
And you know what, I don’t think anyone can give one general answer to all these specific questions because many of these questions are both “relational” - between the individual and God and “situational” - between the individual and others.
And so we try answering these seemingly difficult questions for ourselves through various means. Some of us use our intellect and experience. But the problem with that is that we will only ever see the situation from our own perspective. Or we try to listen to what other say about it. And yes, God does use people to reveal His will or impart His wisdom but what happens when we receive contradicting answers? Or most commonly, we just go by our feelings at that given moment, but the Bible says that our heart is deceitful above all things.
So how do we accurately answer these questions for ourselves? How do we discern God’s will? How do we maintain our passion? How do we hear from God?
Today I’m not going to provide specific answers, but I believe that if we know God, if we know His heart, if we are intimate with Him, we will be able to answer these questions accurately for ourselves.
So how many here today can say that you have an “intimate” relationship with God?
This morning as we continue in the “Transformation” series, we are going to be looking at the transformation from “distance” to “intimacy” with God.
INTIMACY WITH GOD
We were all made to love and be loved. In the natural, when we don’t receive love and affection, we suffer, we struggle. This is the same in the supernatural of our spiritual relationship with God. Do you know we have a Father in Heaven who loves us, who is desperate for intimacy with us, for us to draw near?
In church, we have been singing a lot about “How Great is our God”, about His wonder and majesty, how “All the Earth” will sing His praise, but I believe that we lost a sense of intimacy and drawing near to Him. It’s great to sing about the “King of all Days” but we are called to so much more than that. To walk with Him, to be with Him, to sit at His feet, to be His friend, to be vulnerable with Him.
Right from the very beginning, God created and breathed life into Adam so that Adam would have an intimate fellowship with God. Jesus reiterated this relationship with have with God, calling us “friends”.
John 15:15
I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
So if we are called to intimacy with God, how do we close the distance? How do we go from servants and strangers to become intimate with God?
Are we able to declare like King David in Ps 63:1, where he writes:
Ps 63:1
O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
I believe that there are 3 keys that I want to share this morning that will help you go from distance to intimacy.
1. SETTLE THAT GOD LOVES YOU. PERIOD.
It sounds simple doesn’t it? We’ve been told many times that God loves us. We rattle John 3:16 off the tips of our tongues. But I wonder how many of us have comprehended into our Spirits what this really means? I pray that this morning you will have a fresh revelation of God’s love for you.
What does it mean to have a heavenly Father? What does it really mean to be sons and daughters of the Living God? You know I’m at the age where many of my colleagues and married friends are having babies. It seems that they are just popping them out!
I feel that when we’re starting out our spiritual journeys, we too are like spiritual babies, and if we watch real babies, I think we can learn a lot from them.
Let me first admit that I hate babies. Really hate them. People “ooo” and “aaa” at them, but I’m not one of them! I’ve seen what goes on behind the scenes and how they give parents no end of grief!
First there is the painful labour of delivering the baby which can last more than 24 hours, then when they are finally born I hear from parents that in the first week their shit is like black gooey grease which goes everywhere. And then they keep the parents up all night demanding to be fed and demanding attention. And then there’s all the cost involved! There’s the baby clothes, the diapers, the toys, the car seat. And you know what, that baby, for everything the parents have done, for all the grief caused and cost involved, has not even said “thank you”! There’s no flowers for mum, no smile for dad!
But if you watch the parents, it really amazing! They adore their baby, they love their baby; they can spend hour upon hour simply just gazing at him or her! And it’s not because of anything that baby has done. It is because of who he or she is. That baby is theirs and they love him or her wholeheartedly.
It was that very same picture we see when Jesus was being baptized before the start of His ministry. In Matt 3:16-17 we see an amazing picture of heavens open, voice of Lord booming down proclaiming over His beloved Son.
Matt 3:16-17
As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."
And mind you, this is before Jesus’ ministry began - before He had performed any great miracle, before He had healed any sick people, or raised anyone from the dead. His Father was pleased with Him; His Father delighted in Him.
We need to first really settle that God’s love is unconditional. It is a free gift lavished upon all of us for all eternity. It’s not distributed according to our success or background.
King David was one person who most understood this truth. He unceasingly received and lived in God’s unconditional love. You know, time and time again, David didn’t link his earthly success, of lack of it with his acceptance of God’s love.
Ps 17:8
Keep me as the apple of your eye
That’s a bold assumption that he already is the apple of God’s eye, isn’t it?
Ps 18:19
He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.
We see such confidence again. It’s like David’s saying, “thanks God for rescuing me again, I know how much you delight and love me.”
What about this one?
Ps 41:11
I know that you are pleased with me
That’s a very bold statement. How many of us can truly stand before our Lord and God today and say “I know you are pleased with me?” But He is, and we must learn to do that!
Ps 139:13-16
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.
David was grounded in the knowledge that God loved Him, that God adored Him. Sometimes we can read some of these things and it sounds like arrogance, almost pride. But no, David grasped a truth that we need to hold on to. A truth that liberated, a confidence that gave him full assurance that He was loved, that He could serve God, that He could be all that He could be simply because of God’s amazing love.
Can we be like David and stand in front of God and say to Him, “I know You love me”? Even when David messed up, and he messed up in pretty spectacular ways - affairs, murders, pride, he would stand before God and say, “God, I’m so sorry, I’ve done it again, but I know You love me!”
When David was full of fear, full of doubt, feeling like “where on earth are You God?” He would stand before God and say, “where are you God? I know You love me!” “Show Your face. I know You love me!”
When we truly accept this amazing and startling statement of truth, that we’re loved God, I honestly believe that it has the power to transform us from distance to intimacy.
2. FORGIVE YOURSELF AND OTHERS
You know, the more I have a revelation of God’s love, the more I see how holy He is and how sinful I am and how much I have fallen short of God’s glory. Whether it is the sin of commission or omission, whether it is a big sin, or a little sin, it doesn’t matter.
You know I had a revelation of what sin is just recently. It’s not just something bad I’ve done which I shouldn’t have. No! I’ve realized that sin is anything - any thought, any action that is not completely dependent on God. Because it would be motivated by self, and my own pride.
And sin really isn’t the problem any more because of what Jesus has done through the cross. The problem is that Satan, the Accuser, works by constantly reminding us we’re not good enough, how we’re not meeting up to the mark. So we end up condemning ourselves when we sin, heaping on guilt and condemnation on ourselves when Jesus has already made it clear that He loves us.
Some of us also end up trying to win God’s favour or earn His approval of us by trying to win the approval of other people around us, like our church leaders.
After I received Christ’s love for myself in 1997, I started regularly attending City Harvest Church. And if you know City Harvest, it is a very large church with lots of activities and programmes. At that time I was also struggling with my sexuality and sexual sin in my life, and I tried to deal with my sin by sweeping it under the carpet and proving to the people around me how “spiritual” I was. So I attended cell group, and seminars, and bible studies, and prayer meetings, and multiple services, and served in the music ministry. And that was just one week’s worth of activity!
When I got to service, I would make sure my cell leader know that I was on-time, that I had brought my friend for the week, and I would sit near the front where leaders would sit so that everyone could see me. I would say the right things that were expected of me. I would maintain the right posture in worship. All this just so I could win the approval of my leaders, and that was how I knew to be a “good” Christian and please God.
Now don’t get me wrong, those things are good and should be a result of a desire for intimay with God. But you know what? In addition to trying to buying God’s approval by getting the approval of my church leaders, I was also mistaking “activity” for “intimacy”.
And each time I fail to live up to the mark, the accuser is at work again reminding me that I’m not enough. And this was a viscious cycle that went on for years which became my baggage to carry - “performance-based Christianity”. And so today we need to learn to forgive ourselves, just as our heavenly Father has already forgiven us.
Not only that, we also need to learn to forgive others who may have hurt us by their representation of who God is.
As Christians, we’re supposed to be witnesses of Christ, but many times, our witness pushes people away from experiencing Christ through us. We mix our limited understanding of gospel together with our fears and phobias and then pour judgement on others in the “spirit” of ministry.
And those on the receiving end, they end up having a distorted view of God’s love because when someone we have trusted has betrayed or judged us, and we project that image onto God as love that is conditional.
A friend of mine recently shared with me that someone close to him “came out” to his close church friends and ended up getting shunned by them, and as a result he converted away from Christianity to another faith because of that experience.
So we first need to settle that God loves us unconditionally and we need to forgive ourselves and others.
3. BUILD YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD
Finally, after settling that God loves us and forgiving ourselves and others, in response to God’s that love, we are called to know God and love God, to build our relationship with God.
Matt 22:36-38
"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment.
That is the first and greatest commandment and it is the thing that will give us most life. That is what we are created to do above all else.
You know, a “relationship” requires two participants - you can’t have a relationship with on your own. You need let God do His part but you also need to do your part in order to draw close to Him.
So how do we put this love in action? There are many passages in the Bible that talk about this but I want to draw you to a passage in Romans.
Rom 12:9-18 - Love in action
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
So here we see Paul writing a list of things to the people in Rome of what it means of putting love in action. Many of this seems common sense, but now again, we need a reminder - that’s why Paul is writing this - because we often forget and neglect it. We don’t forget to eat or sleep, but there are things that we often neglect to do, so we list them down. And this list is for us to build our relationship with God. I also like the way this passage in Romans is written in present and continuous tense. Building an intimate relationship with God is an ongoing process and a journey.
So in review, if you are going to transform your relationship with God from one of distance to one of intimacy, you need to:
1. SETTLE THAT GOD LOVES YOU. PERIOD.
2. FORGIVE YOURSELF AND OTHERS.
3. BUILD YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD.
WHY INTIMACY?
But have you asked yourself “why intimacy with God?” Is it just for me, so that I know what I need to do to solve my problems? Or is there something more than that?
As I grow in my own relationship with God, I realized that my view of the gospel was too small in the past. I used to think that the gospel was just meant for us to get a ticket into heaven. But if that’s the case when I was being baptized, they should have just held me a bit longer under water till all the bubbles of air are gone! No!
2 Cor 3:18
And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness (the image of the invisible God) with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
We need an intimate relationship with God not just because were created for intimacy, but it is so that through intimacy we will be transformed into His image and so we can bring transformation to the world around us.
CLOSING
So this morning, if you have no intimacy with God today, it begins with a fresh revelation of God’s love for you. If you feel the distance, if you can’t hear his voice, it begins with a fresh revelation of God’s love for you.
I want to close with this testimony that Tim Hughes shared. For those who don’t know Tim Hughes, he was the guy who wrote the famous song that we sing “Here I am to worship”.
Tim shared that there was one time a business man wanted to take him out for lunch. And Tim knew that this business man was pretty rich and he wanted a nice lunch he went out with the business man and they had a very nice lunch.
At the end of lunch, the business man says to Tim, “Tim, I want to pray for you.” And Tim says, “Sure”. As the business man was praying, he had a vision and he told Tim, “Tim I have this vision, and in this vision you are kneeling before Christ and you’re singing “Here I am to worship” to Christ. And you’re singing the words, ‘You’re altogether lovely, You’re altogether worthy, You’re altogether wonderful to me.’”
Tim thought, “sure, that nice enough picture.” But the business man wasn’t finished. He continued, “Tim, then I see Jesus turn to you and now He’s singing back to You, ‘Tim, you’re altogether lovely, you’re altogether worthy, you’re altogether wonderful to me!’”
And it completely floored Tim. How amazing that God is singing that over Tim! And to be really honestly, he found it very hard to take. He thought “no that can’t be right, Jesus will never ever sing that over me.” Yet, as we dig in to the scripture, we see that God delights over us with singing. He wants us to know how loved we are.
Today He’s singing, “Shane, you’re altogether lovely, you’re altogether worthy, you’re altogether wonderful to me.” “Susan, you’re altogether lovely, you’re altogether worthy, you’re altogether wonderful to me.”
Jesus is singing over every single one of us, “you’re altogether lovely, you’re altogether worthy, you’re altogether wonderful to me.”
God delights over you with singing; He wants you to know how loved you are. So as we close this morning, as we start this Holy week which proves to us the depths of God’s love for us, can we have a fresh revelation of God’s love for us, be like David and stand in front of God and say to Him, “I know You love me”?
Regardless of who we are or how badly we’ve messed up, can we have the confidence to say this morning, “I know You love me”?
ALTAR CALL
At the Cross
Oh Lord you searched me
You know my way
Even when I fail You
I know you love me
Your holy presence surrounding me
In every season
I know You love me
I know You love me
At the cross I bow my knee
Where Your blood was shed for me
There’s no greater love than this
You have overcome the grave
Your glory fills the highest place
What can separate me now?
You go before me
You shield my way
Your hand upholds me
I know You love me
And when the earth fades
Falls from my eyes
And You stand before me
I know You love me
I know You love me
You tore the veil, You made a way
When You said that it is done!
PRAYER
Dear Lord, truly you’ve searched our hearts and know our ways. We know that we’ve messed up and fallen short of Your glory. But today we have a fresh revelation of Your love for us. That at the cross, Your blood was shed to cover every sin. Things that we have done or should have done. The big sin and our little sin. And at the cross You tore the veil and there is now no separation between us. Father, we know we are no longer strangers, no longer servants. Draw us into a closer relationship so that we can live our lives to see Your kingdom come, Your will be done in our lives. And so this morning we come boldly into Your presence and declare - “I know You love me, I know You love me!” Hallelujah!
PREFACE
I was away for work in Bangkok the past week. Clarence asked me last Sunday to take over preaching this week as he had to be away in London this weekend. So I grabbed my Bible and some material I wanted to review and my work gear and boarded the plane. And it was both a good week and a bad week for me.
A good week because being away in Bangkok meant that I would have time in the evenings without the usual social commitments and distractions to spend time with God and I felt very ministered by His presence during this time as I was looking to Him for the message for today’s sermon.
It was a bad week because the laptop with all my work and my sermon that I had prepared was stolen on Friday evening from the hotel I was staying in so yesterday was a mad rush to rebuild the sermon from memory. But God is faithful, and I believe that someone doesn’t want you hear this sermon, because if you really grabbed hold of some of the truths in today’s message, it will have the power to radically change your life.
Clarence asked me a year ago ironically while in Bangkok with him if I could only preach only one sermon what would it be? I don’t really remember my answer then, but I honestly think that today’s message would be that one sermon.
Excerpt -
We need an intimate relationship with God not just because were created for intimacy, but it is so that through intimacy we will be transformed into His image and so we can bring transformation to the world around us... As Christians, we’re supposed to be witnesses of Christ, but many times, our witness pushes people away from experiencing Christ through us. We mix our limited understanding of gospel together with our fears and phobias and then pour judgement on others in the “spirit” of ministry.
NO LONGER STRANGERS, NO LONGER SERVANTS
- A message on finding intimacy with God
16 March 2008
Gary Chan
Free Community Church
+ + +
INTRODUCTION
In the course of doing life with members in our church and my friends, I come across many recurring comments in our conversations or reading their blogs which I’ve always found difficult to respond appropriately. And in these comments, I see people asking important questions about life and God.
Comments like - “I’m not sure what I’m doing is God’s will”, which could be framed as the question, “What is God’s will for my life?” Or, “I think God speaks to different people in different ways”, in which the question would be “How do I hear from God for myself?” Another one I hear often is “I think this or that is a good idea or project or good ministry to start”, which is asking the question “How do I know what God wants me to do?” Another one I get often is “I feel spiritually tried, I’m very drained”, which the question would be “How do I maintain my passion for God?”
And you know what, I don’t think anyone can give one general answer to all these specific questions because many of these questions are both “relational” - between the individual and God and “situational” - between the individual and others.
And so we try answering these seemingly difficult questions for ourselves through various means. Some of us use our intellect and experience. But the problem with that is that we will only ever see the situation from our own perspective. Or we try to listen to what other say about it. And yes, God does use people to reveal His will or impart His wisdom but what happens when we receive contradicting answers? Or most commonly, we just go by our feelings at that given moment, but the Bible says that our heart is deceitful above all things.
So how do we accurately answer these questions for ourselves? How do we discern God’s will? How do we maintain our passion? How do we hear from God?
Today I’m not going to provide specific answers, but I believe that if we know God, if we know His heart, if we are intimate with Him, we will be able to answer these questions accurately for ourselves.
So how many here today can say that you have an “intimate” relationship with God?
This morning as we continue in the “Transformation” series, we are going to be looking at the transformation from “distance” to “intimacy” with God.
INTIMACY WITH GOD
We were all made to love and be loved. In the natural, when we don’t receive love and affection, we suffer, we struggle. This is the same in the supernatural of our spiritual relationship with God. Do you know we have a Father in Heaven who loves us, who is desperate for intimacy with us, for us to draw near?
In church, we have been singing a lot about “How Great is our God”, about His wonder and majesty, how “All the Earth” will sing His praise, but I believe that we lost a sense of intimacy and drawing near to Him. It’s great to sing about the “King of all Days” but we are called to so much more than that. To walk with Him, to be with Him, to sit at His feet, to be His friend, to be vulnerable with Him.
Right from the very beginning, God created and breathed life into Adam so that Adam would have an intimate fellowship with God. Jesus reiterated this relationship with have with God, calling us “friends”.
John 15:15
I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
So if we are called to intimacy with God, how do we close the distance? How do we go from servants and strangers to become intimate with God?
Are we able to declare like King David in Ps 63:1, where he writes:
Ps 63:1
O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
I believe that there are 3 keys that I want to share this morning that will help you go from distance to intimacy.
1. SETTLE THAT GOD LOVES YOU. PERIOD.
It sounds simple doesn’t it? We’ve been told many times that God loves us. We rattle John 3:16 off the tips of our tongues. But I wonder how many of us have comprehended into our Spirits what this really means? I pray that this morning you will have a fresh revelation of God’s love for you.
What does it mean to have a heavenly Father? What does it really mean to be sons and daughters of the Living God? You know I’m at the age where many of my colleagues and married friends are having babies. It seems that they are just popping them out!
I feel that when we’re starting out our spiritual journeys, we too are like spiritual babies, and if we watch real babies, I think we can learn a lot from them.
Let me first admit that I hate babies. Really hate them. People “ooo” and “aaa” at them, but I’m not one of them! I’ve seen what goes on behind the scenes and how they give parents no end of grief!
First there is the painful labour of delivering the baby which can last more than 24 hours, then when they are finally born I hear from parents that in the first week their shit is like black gooey grease which goes everywhere. And then they keep the parents up all night demanding to be fed and demanding attention. And then there’s all the cost involved! There’s the baby clothes, the diapers, the toys, the car seat. And you know what, that baby, for everything the parents have done, for all the grief caused and cost involved, has not even said “thank you”! There’s no flowers for mum, no smile for dad!
But if you watch the parents, it really amazing! They adore their baby, they love their baby; they can spend hour upon hour simply just gazing at him or her! And it’s not because of anything that baby has done. It is because of who he or she is. That baby is theirs and they love him or her wholeheartedly.
It was that very same picture we see when Jesus was being baptized before the start of His ministry. In Matt 3:16-17 we see an amazing picture of heavens open, voice of Lord booming down proclaiming over His beloved Son.
Matt 3:16-17
As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."
And mind you, this is before Jesus’ ministry began - before He had performed any great miracle, before He had healed any sick people, or raised anyone from the dead. His Father was pleased with Him; His Father delighted in Him.
We need to first really settle that God’s love is unconditional. It is a free gift lavished upon all of us for all eternity. It’s not distributed according to our success or background.
King David was one person who most understood this truth. He unceasingly received and lived in God’s unconditional love. You know, time and time again, David didn’t link his earthly success, of lack of it with his acceptance of God’s love.
Ps 17:8
Keep me as the apple of your eye
That’s a bold assumption that he already is the apple of God’s eye, isn’t it?
Ps 18:19
He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.
We see such confidence again. It’s like David’s saying, “thanks God for rescuing me again, I know how much you delight and love me.”
What about this one?
Ps 41:11
I know that you are pleased with me
That’s a very bold statement. How many of us can truly stand before our Lord and God today and say “I know you are pleased with me?” But He is, and we must learn to do that!
Ps 139:13-16
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.
David was grounded in the knowledge that God loved Him, that God adored Him. Sometimes we can read some of these things and it sounds like arrogance, almost pride. But no, David grasped a truth that we need to hold on to. A truth that liberated, a confidence that gave him full assurance that He was loved, that He could serve God, that He could be all that He could be simply because of God’s amazing love.
Can we be like David and stand in front of God and say to Him, “I know You love me”? Even when David messed up, and he messed up in pretty spectacular ways - affairs, murders, pride, he would stand before God and say, “God, I’m so sorry, I’ve done it again, but I know You love me!”
When David was full of fear, full of doubt, feeling like “where on earth are You God?” He would stand before God and say, “where are you God? I know You love me!” “Show Your face. I know You love me!”
When we truly accept this amazing and startling statement of truth, that we’re loved God, I honestly believe that it has the power to transform us from distance to intimacy.
2. FORGIVE YOURSELF AND OTHERS
You know, the more I have a revelation of God’s love, the more I see how holy He is and how sinful I am and how much I have fallen short of God’s glory. Whether it is the sin of commission or omission, whether it is a big sin, or a little sin, it doesn’t matter.
You know I had a revelation of what sin is just recently. It’s not just something bad I’ve done which I shouldn’t have. No! I’ve realized that sin is anything - any thought, any action that is not completely dependent on God. Because it would be motivated by self, and my own pride.
And sin really isn’t the problem any more because of what Jesus has done through the cross. The problem is that Satan, the Accuser, works by constantly reminding us we’re not good enough, how we’re not meeting up to the mark. So we end up condemning ourselves when we sin, heaping on guilt and condemnation on ourselves when Jesus has already made it clear that He loves us.
Some of us also end up trying to win God’s favour or earn His approval of us by trying to win the approval of other people around us, like our church leaders.
After I received Christ’s love for myself in 1997, I started regularly attending City Harvest Church. And if you know City Harvest, it is a very large church with lots of activities and programmes. At that time I was also struggling with my sexuality and sexual sin in my life, and I tried to deal with my sin by sweeping it under the carpet and proving to the people around me how “spiritual” I was. So I attended cell group, and seminars, and bible studies, and prayer meetings, and multiple services, and served in the music ministry. And that was just one week’s worth of activity!
When I got to service, I would make sure my cell leader know that I was on-time, that I had brought my friend for the week, and I would sit near the front where leaders would sit so that everyone could see me. I would say the right things that were expected of me. I would maintain the right posture in worship. All this just so I could win the approval of my leaders, and that was how I knew to be a “good” Christian and please God.
Now don’t get me wrong, those things are good and should be a result of a desire for intimay with God. But you know what? In addition to trying to buying God’s approval by getting the approval of my church leaders, I was also mistaking “activity” for “intimacy”.
And each time I fail to live up to the mark, the accuser is at work again reminding me that I’m not enough. And this was a viscious cycle that went on for years which became my baggage to carry - “performance-based Christianity”. And so today we need to learn to forgive ourselves, just as our heavenly Father has already forgiven us.
Not only that, we also need to learn to forgive others who may have hurt us by their representation of who God is.
As Christians, we’re supposed to be witnesses of Christ, but many times, our witness pushes people away from experiencing Christ through us. We mix our limited understanding of gospel together with our fears and phobias and then pour judgement on others in the “spirit” of ministry.
And those on the receiving end, they end up having a distorted view of God’s love because when someone we have trusted has betrayed or judged us, and we project that image onto God as love that is conditional.
A friend of mine recently shared with me that someone close to him “came out” to his close church friends and ended up getting shunned by them, and as a result he converted away from Christianity to another faith because of that experience.
So we first need to settle that God loves us unconditionally and we need to forgive ourselves and others.
3. BUILD YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD
Finally, after settling that God loves us and forgiving ourselves and others, in response to God’s that love, we are called to know God and love God, to build our relationship with God.
Matt 22:36-38
"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment.
That is the first and greatest commandment and it is the thing that will give us most life. That is what we are created to do above all else.
You know, a “relationship” requires two participants - you can’t have a relationship with on your own. You need let God do His part but you also need to do your part in order to draw close to Him.
So how do we put this love in action? There are many passages in the Bible that talk about this but I want to draw you to a passage in Romans.
Rom 12:9-18 - Love in action
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
So here we see Paul writing a list of things to the people in Rome of what it means of putting love in action. Many of this seems common sense, but now again, we need a reminder - that’s why Paul is writing this - because we often forget and neglect it. We don’t forget to eat or sleep, but there are things that we often neglect to do, so we list them down. And this list is for us to build our relationship with God. I also like the way this passage in Romans is written in present and continuous tense. Building an intimate relationship with God is an ongoing process and a journey.
So in review, if you are going to transform your relationship with God from one of distance to one of intimacy, you need to:
1. SETTLE THAT GOD LOVES YOU. PERIOD.
2. FORGIVE YOURSELF AND OTHERS.
3. BUILD YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD.
WHY INTIMACY?
But have you asked yourself “why intimacy with God?” Is it just for me, so that I know what I need to do to solve my problems? Or is there something more than that?
As I grow in my own relationship with God, I realized that my view of the gospel was too small in the past. I used to think that the gospel was just meant for us to get a ticket into heaven. But if that’s the case when I was being baptized, they should have just held me a bit longer under water till all the bubbles of air are gone! No!
2 Cor 3:18
And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness (the image of the invisible God) with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
We need an intimate relationship with God not just because were created for intimacy, but it is so that through intimacy we will be transformed into His image and so we can bring transformation to the world around us.
CLOSING
So this morning, if you have no intimacy with God today, it begins with a fresh revelation of God’s love for you. If you feel the distance, if you can’t hear his voice, it begins with a fresh revelation of God’s love for you.
I want to close with this testimony that Tim Hughes shared. For those who don’t know Tim Hughes, he was the guy who wrote the famous song that we sing “Here I am to worship”.
Tim shared that there was one time a business man wanted to take him out for lunch. And Tim knew that this business man was pretty rich and he wanted a nice lunch he went out with the business man and they had a very nice lunch.
At the end of lunch, the business man says to Tim, “Tim, I want to pray for you.” And Tim says, “Sure”. As the business man was praying, he had a vision and he told Tim, “Tim I have this vision, and in this vision you are kneeling before Christ and you’re singing “Here I am to worship” to Christ. And you’re singing the words, ‘You’re altogether lovely, You’re altogether worthy, You’re altogether wonderful to me.’”
Tim thought, “sure, that nice enough picture.” But the business man wasn’t finished. He continued, “Tim, then I see Jesus turn to you and now He’s singing back to You, ‘Tim, you’re altogether lovely, you’re altogether worthy, you’re altogether wonderful to me!’”
And it completely floored Tim. How amazing that God is singing that over Tim! And to be really honestly, he found it very hard to take. He thought “no that can’t be right, Jesus will never ever sing that over me.” Yet, as we dig in to the scripture, we see that God delights over us with singing. He wants us to know how loved we are.
Today He’s singing, “Shane, you’re altogether lovely, you’re altogether worthy, you’re altogether wonderful to me.” “Susan, you’re altogether lovely, you’re altogether worthy, you’re altogether wonderful to me.”
Jesus is singing over every single one of us, “you’re altogether lovely, you’re altogether worthy, you’re altogether wonderful to me.”
God delights over you with singing; He wants you to know how loved you are. So as we close this morning, as we start this Holy week which proves to us the depths of God’s love for us, can we have a fresh revelation of God’s love for us, be like David and stand in front of God and say to Him, “I know You love me”?
Regardless of who we are or how badly we’ve messed up, can we have the confidence to say this morning, “I know You love me”?
ALTAR CALL
At the Cross
Oh Lord you searched me
You know my way
Even when I fail You
I know you love me
Your holy presence surrounding me
In every season
I know You love me
I know You love me
At the cross I bow my knee
Where Your blood was shed for me
There’s no greater love than this
You have overcome the grave
Your glory fills the highest place
What can separate me now?
You go before me
You shield my way
Your hand upholds me
I know You love me
And when the earth fades
Falls from my eyes
And You stand before me
I know You love me
I know You love me
You tore the veil, You made a way
When You said that it is done!
PRAYER
Dear Lord, truly you’ve searched our hearts and know our ways. We know that we’ve messed up and fallen short of Your glory. But today we have a fresh revelation of Your love for us. That at the cross, Your blood was shed to cover every sin. Things that we have done or should have done. The big sin and our little sin. And at the cross You tore the veil and there is now no separation between us. Father, we know we are no longer strangers, no longer servants. Draw us into a closer relationship so that we can live our lives to see Your kingdom come, Your will be done in our lives. And so this morning we come boldly into Your presence and declare - “I know You love me, I know You love me!” Hallelujah!