"Spiritual Trasnformation" Oct. 19th, 2008

DATE: Sunday, October 19

SPEAKER: Michael Fedunec

TITLE: “The Gap”

TEXT: Psalm 39:4-7

THEME: Spiritual Transformation

INTRODUCTION

I want to start this message by talking about a prayer from the Psalms.
It really is a request to be given the right vision, and not to be deceived by the wrong one.
This is what the psalmist said:

Show me, Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days. Let me know how fleeting my life is. Everyone is but a breath, even those who seem secure. In vain, they rush about, heaping up wealth, without knowing whose it finally will be. But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you. (Psalm 39:4-7)

Show me, God, my life’s end.
Show me the number of my days.
Show me how fleeting my life is.
The psalmist says, God, I know. My life goes by so fast. And it’s odd how this is always a surprise to us, even though it’s inevitable.
The psalmist says,

I see other dudes rushing around, trying to heap up wealth, trying to acquire, thinking they could attain security.
And it’s all in vain. I don’t want that to be my life.

I don’t want that to be my vision, because that vision cannot sustain something as weighty and potentially glorious as a human life.

But, God, I know, without Your help, that’s the only vision I’ll live by. I want to have another vision, a better vision.

ILLUSTRATION : RUBBER BAND
Now, here’s where the rubber band thing comes in.
So, at this point, if everybody would take out your rubber band
Take out your rubber band, because this is going to be a little kind of a memory deal.

Stretch it as tightly as you can.

Put it right next to the face of the person beside you... Let it go.

No, don’t do that.
And don’t shoot them up here if the message is not good,

Here’s the idea of the rubber band.
This end of the rubber band here represents vision—for our purposes, God’s vision for my life
Who it is that God wants me to be? God wants me to be this glorious creature: generous and courageous, truthful, loving, humble, pure-minded.
This is the vision that God has for our lives.
Jesus would often talk about this. One of the most sobering statements of it, in Matthew, Chapter 5 Jesus says, simply,

Be perfect, therefore, as your Father in heaven is perfect. (Matthew 5:48)

That’s kind of daunting, isn’t it?
And of course, that’s not like obsessive perfectionism that is so defeating.
That’s just perfectly joyful, perfectly loving, perfectly generous.
That’s God’s vision for your life.
God make “up there come down here” in my body, my life.
That’s this point. That’s God’s vision for my life.
This point represents current reality—where I am, right now, today.

Mass confession: how many of you would say there is at least a small gap between God’s perfect you and the current, real-life you?
Raise your hands, would you? How many?
Kind of what I thought.
How many of you’d say you’re doing pretty well, but the person next to you has a really alarming gap you’re concerned about?
Well, it’s precisely this gap between current reality on the one hand and God’s vision for my life on the other hand.
It produces tension.

The gap between my current reality and God’s vision for my life represents the tension produced

And I feel pulled in two directions simultaneously.
That’s the tension. And tension always cries out to be resolved.
It always cries out to be released.

Two Ways To Resolve The Tension Between My Current Reality and God’s Vision For My Life

Now, there are only two ways for this tension to resolve itself.

1. Pull The Vision Backwards Towards My Reality

One way is I can pull the vision backwards towards reality.

I can lower my aspirations. I can learn to settle for mediocrity.
And if I do that, I will engage in certain strategies.
You can take it to the bank.
I will compare myself to people that I think are worse than me.
I will avoid self-examination.
I will get distracted by money or by alcohol or by pleasure or by busyness or by TV or something.
I will avoid accountability.
I will withdraw.
I will try to not get into authentic relationships with people.
I will hide. I will get used to sin. I will get used to sin.
There are only two ways to resolve this tension. One of them is to pull the vision back towards reality.

2. To Actually Take Steps Towards Experience God’s Vision For My Life

And the other one is to have reality moved closer to the vision, to actually take steps towards experiencing Jesus’ vision of a Kingdom kind of life. And a lot of it depends on: do I keep this vision always present before me, and am I always coming to understand it more clearly so that it becomes compelling, so that I find myself saying,

I want this more than I want anything else?
In a couple of weeks, Pastor Kevin is going to actually launch into a series on the Holy Spirit.
It is a series that will explain the vision of what does Kingdom life looks like when it is lived out in this world, in your life or my life?
If I hold onto Jesus’ vision, it will produce tension.
And that tension creates energy to move towards the vision.
And that energy is actually the Holy Spirit at work in you.
And that’s always a constructive energy.
A lot of times, we don’t like tension, but tension can be a really good thing.

Problem Signs

1. No Tension means spiritual complacency

Now, if a rubber band is too loose, then there’s no tension and there’s no energy.

And that’s spiritual complacency, and that’s apathy. That’s drift.
And when that’s going on in your life, you can be sure the Holy Spirit is not doing that, because the spirit is never about apathy.

2. Extreme Tension means despair, discouragement (Graphic: someone looking hopeless)

On the other hand, if a rubber band is stretched too tightly, what happens?
It breaks. It snaps.
And spiritually speaking, that’s despair, that’s discouragement, that’s “I’m hopeless.”
And again, that message never comes from the Holy Spirit.
The next time the spirit of God whispers to a human being, “You’re hopeless, “ will be the first time in human history.
It never happens. That’s why Paul says things like, Work out your salvation.
That is, keep moving towards Jesus.

Keep moving towards this vision. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. (Philippians 2:12-13)
When I feel this energy, this tension, this prompting inside me, that’s an evidence that the Spirit is at work.
Spiritual survey that has involved approximately 80,000 people, over 200 churches,

Revealed that the number-one request that people had of the church,

is not better not better programs.
It’s not for different music.
It’s not for longer messages.
It was “Challenge me. Come on, challenge me to grow deeper with God in my spiritual life.”

Not Comfort me.
Not even Teach me.
Challenge me to grow deeper with God.
Increase this tension in my life.
And then help me to actually discover: how can I move towards God’s vision for my life?

I just think that’s a tremendous desire.
For those of you who are here this morning would you agree with this desire
And we want to take that really, really seriously.
Now, how does that happen?
What are next steps that take place in folks’ spiritual lives?
Well there is kind of a process, it’s not linear and it tends to be kind of chaotic and messy, but there is, generally speaking, kind of a progress to spiritual life and according to now eighty some thousand folks who have filled this out, you can put them in about four buckets.

Spiritual Process Involves For Levels

Companions of Jesus

Followers of Jess

Believers in Jesus

_Seekers______

1. Seekers

There are folks who are seekers.

These are people who are saying I have not made a commitment relative to God in my life yet but I’m curious,
I want to learn, I’m interested and so they’re seeking.

2. Believers In Jesus

And then when they cross the line of faith, what a great thing that is, then they become what might be called believers in Jesus.

And these would be people that say, I have made a fundamental commitment in my life to belong to God, but now I have a lot to learn.
I’m trying to figure out what does this mean for my ordinary, concrete real life.

3. Followers of Jesus

And then as there’s more growth, people become what might be called followers of Jesus.
And these are folks who would say, not only have I made a basic commitment to Christ but He’s become so important to me that now in my daily life, I’m trying to have Him guide me.
I’m trying to realize His presence and His leadership in my daily life

4. Companions of Jesus

Then this leads to a set of folks who might be called companions of Jesus.
And these would be people who would say, Jesus has become so important to me that to abide with Him to abide in Him has now become the top priority in my life.
The most important thing in my life is to know Him, love Him, serve Him and then love the people who matter so much to Him.
Love God and love people.
I’m trying to arrange all my life as best I can from my time, my energy, my money, my work and so around this one great goal.
OK, so there’s this process of growth towards that vision of Jesus’ kind of life.
I think the single most important truth about this process is that the farther folks move along this kind of continuum, this spiritual path, the farther they go,

the less that just increased church activity, going to more and more and more church stuff, predicts actual spiritual growth.
Coming to love God and love people more.
Now being involved in a church, gathering together to worship and to learn and stuff—that’s always fundamental to a spiritual life, but this is kind of sobering.
There was in lots of churches, and I think I’d always kind of thought this way, an assumption that if you want to keep growing spiritually just keep coming to more and more and more church activities and you will keep growing in your love for God and your love for people.
And what we’re finding out is that’s not exactly true.
That in the early days, when somebody first makes a commitment to Christ that kind of makes sense.
They don’t know anything about the Bible or worship or prayer
Every time you come to church you feel like you’re learning.
It’s brand new.
You’re growing and so maybe there’s some kind of superficial habits, maybe use of profanity or something like that, that you find is kind of dropping away.
But then over time, given some years, what begins to happen often is this;
You know before I was ever a Christian I wrestled with extreme low self-esteem and I find it’s still in me.
- I had problems I had problems with sexuality and lust or whatever it is, it’s still there.

As time goes on I discovered these deeper habits that go way down below the surface that are unable to get rooted out simply by coming and hearing a talk once a week or even two or three times a week.
Again to be part of a faith community, to gather for worship and learning is always critical, but over time it turns out that wise involvement in what might be called personal, spiritual practices

—that is, learning to abide in Jesus, learning from one moment to the next moment, to the next moment
—how do I stay connected to Him?
When I wake, when I eat and when I sleep and when I talk with people and when I’m alone, learning to abide in Jesus becomes the key predictor of continued growth in loving God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength
—loving other people.
That means the biggest challenge is what we’re talking now about.
What’s the spiritual challenge that all of us need, that you want?

THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE: Is that you make abiding in Jesus the most important priority in your life.

That is what you become wholly devoted to and the biggest temptation that you will face, and me too,

THE BIGGEST TEMPTATION: is to get used to the kind of life where that’s not my number one priority.

The biggest temptation is anything that would get in the way for you of abiding in Jesus.

Now here’s the deal. It’s your life, your house, your soul. Any beeping sounds?

Any warnings that something’s not the way God wants it?

Here’s the danger: I get used to the beeping sound.
Here’s the danger: I get so busy, I get so noisy I don’t even hear the beeping sound. Here’s the danger: I assume it’s somebody else’s job to get up and take care of the beeping sound.
And so the spirit comes along and this is it folks.
This is your life.
And as a faith community, as a church, we want to learn together, we want to partner together, but nobody else, not a pastor, not a program, not a church can make the decision to say the number one priority of my life between this day and the last day will be to abide in Jesus.
And whatever I need to learn how to do to experience the reality of His presence and power in my life, I will do.
OK. Any tension any beeping?
Let me make the challenge a little more specific.
Where is there a sense of discontent in your spiritual life?
Where’s the spirit calling you to stretch?
Maybe it has to do with how I know God, how I think about and experience God and the calling.

Next Step Is To Engage With God Through The Scriptures

The next step for me is to engage with God through the Scriptures.
Now this is huge, very interesting.
Reflecting on Scripture—not just reading it, but reflecting on it and my life in light of it and allowing it to shape my thought and my mind.
Turns out that that is the number-one personal spiritual practice that predicts spiritual growth across all of these stages of the spiritual life

—THE number one—because your idea of God is the single most important concept in your head.
And the reality is that my attitudes towards life, my hope, my worship, my confidence, humility, all flow from: how do I think about God?
How do I know God?
And what’s kind of surprising to me is sometimes people in churches, even churches that teach the Bible, actually get quite passive about this one.
Have you ever said or heard someone say of a church “You know, we’re just not being fed. I’m just not being fed”
And what was striking is sometimes people would say this who had been around the church for 10 or 15 or 20 or 30 years. “I’m just not being fed.”
Now, when you don’t know anything about the Bible early on in your spiritual life, absolutely, you need to be fed by somebody else.
It needs to be somebody who understands something about the Bible, to come and help you be able to understand it.
But at a certain point in spiritual life, it’s time to take off the bib, get out of the highchair, pick up a fork, and feed yourself

Let me just say, if you do not have a plan for reflecting on, for immersing your mind in the Scriptures on a regular basis, make a plan.
We have groups and classes all over the place to help people begin to do that.
Let somebody else know that you want to begin to do that.
Be in a group where you can be accountable for it.
Find creative, different ways.
If it helps you to get a CD with the scriptures on it, do that.
If it helps you to be out in nature, do that. But make a plan.
Maybe where God’s calling you to stretch, maybe, is when it comes to your finances, when it comes to giving, generosity.
Because where we live, materialism, acquisition, the desire for security and affluence, and the busyness that flows out of all that is the primary obstacle of spiritual life.

God’s saying to you, “You know what? Just trust me. I will provide. I will watch over you. I will give you what you need. Let go. You have been resisting forming a plan to become a generous person, to be a giving person. You’ve been resisting that for a long time, and God’s just producing a stretch in you right now when you hear these words.”
Folks, spiritual friendships and mentors are key to spiritual growth.

And we have small groups here, and we encourage everybody to be a part—not just because of what happens in them, but primarily because everybody needs folks to know them and love them and be accountable with.
That’s where that can happen. And you can receive people like that, and you become somebody like that for other folks.
Where’s God calling you to stretch? If you’re not sure, I want to give you a little exercise, again, just to help this be real concrete.
Sometime this weekend, when you’re alone, do what the psalmist did, those words that we looked at, at the beginning of this message. Ask God,

God, would you remind me how fleeting my life is?

Imagine that it’s the last day of your life. What would be your biggest regret?
What’s that part of your life that you’d look at and say,
Oh. God, I wish I would’ve turned that over to You a long time ago.
Where is that? And you’ll feel that tension.

PERSONAL TESTIMONY: I want to invite you to listen to Tammy Lee as she shares about her spiritual journey.

CONCLUSION

I want you to bow your heads right now.
“Show me Lord, my life’s end, the number of my days. Let me know how fleeting my life is. Everyone is but a breath. God, so often we take for granted that we get to be alive—the people that we love and the people that love us. We’re just going to stumble blindly through days and weeks and years. But now, God, we acknowledge that we are here on this Earth because You put us here. You have something for us to do. You have a purpose for our lives. It’s bigger than just us. Father, would You listen now as each person speaks to you?”
If you’ve never given your life to Christ, if you’ve never asked for His guidance and His forgiveness, you can do that right now.
Wherever you’re aware of there being a gap between what God wants for you and where your life is right now, just tell Him,

God, I want You to be my top priority. I want to know You. I want to love You.
I want to be used by You.
When I get to the end of my life, I want to look back on it and be able to offer it to You as best I can with your help.

Just talk to God right now for a moment, and then we’ll all sing together with Him

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