Community Covenant Church - Sermons - Communication with God

January 7, 2007

Communication with God

Luke 11:1-10; Philippians 4:4-7; John 15:1-8

Scripture Readings

Philippians 4:4-7

4Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

John 15:1-8

1"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

5"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

This is indeed a landmark day in the life of Community Covenant; our first Sunday with the use of a new facility. History will better remember a few weeks from now when we formally dedicate it to God.... but today we rejoice and thank God for what we officially received on Friday; occupancy to classrooms to better teach what it means to live life in relationship with God, and occupancy to a Fellowship Hall that welcomes people into deeper relationships with one another.

While the past months have demanded a church focus on design, building materials, subcontractors and inspections, beginning this month I want to pull our attention away from the “what” of our building and push it toward the “why” of the facility we have received from God.

In a nutshell, the “why” of our facility is not self-glorification; it is not to make a name for ourselves among our neighbors. If that were the case we will suffer the same fate as those who built the Tower of Babel to make a name for themselves. No!

The “why” of our building can be summed up in one word; relationships. This building exists to welcome people into a deeper relationship with God, and as the Body of Christ present in the world today, to grow in deeper relationship with one another. This is why we are here and why this facility exists. And it is into those two relationships that we invite our neighbors to grow with us.

During these cold (warm!) winter months, I plan to lead us into exploring our relationships with God and with one another by looking at important components of relationships. In weeks ahead we will consider the different roles we play, we’ll explore conflict resolution; we will see what God’s Word teaches us about developing common goals and about dealing with finances. But today, I want to explore what is perhaps the most essential component in any relationship, whether we speak of our relationship with God or with each other; and that is communication. For where there is no communication there is no relationship.

It is sad, and probably true, that most of us can think of couples married for years, who suddenly stop communicating. The reason may have been anger or guilt; it may be abuse or low self-esteem. But for whatever reason, these two people who legally have a relationship, in fact have no relationship any more. Without sharing or hearing words, these two will only drift farther apart over time until the emptiness of their relationship becomes public in divorce.

Next week we will explore communicating with one another, and hopefully hear good news that will help couples as well as us as a church family, but today I would liken the problems of human miscommunication with our miscommunication with God. Simply put, where there is no communication there is no relationship.

When you consider communicating with God, I want you to remember three truths:

1. God desires communication

In his insightful book titled Hearing God, Dallas Willard reminds us that while the experiences of Adam and Eve “walking with God in the garden”, of Enoch “walking with God” for 300 years (Genesis 5:22) and Moses coming face-to-face in conversation with God may seem to us as “exceptional” moments in religious history, they are really the “normal” human life God intended for us. (Willard, Dallas, Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God, IVP 1984. p, 18 Having just come out of the Christmas season, we could even conclude that God’s Word spoken to Mary & Joseph, to shepherds in the field and Magi from the East, are likewise indications of the “normal” human life God intended for all of us. What is “abnormal” is for human beings not to hear God’s voice.

From the beginning of time God has been a communicating God; existing in a relationship we’ve called the Trinity, and then reaching out in love to create and communicate with His creation. The psalmist would describe God’s heaven’s... the skys as pouring forth speech. The psalmist would conclude that there is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. (Psalm 19:1-3)

It is important to remember that it was not God who stopped communicating with us, but we who first hid from God in fearful silence because of our sin. It is important to remember that God’s desire to reestablish communication with us was immediately seen after Adam & Eve sinned, when He came into the garden looking for them and calling out their names. But most central to our experience, is that God came looking of us through Jesus’ birth. God came to speak to us His Word of love in a language we could most easily hear. What do God’s actions say about His desire to communicate with us?

Imagine you met a person in your neighborhood, someone who only spoke an unfamiliar language to you, but over time that person learned to speak fluent English just for you. Wouldn’t you conclude that that person had a deep desire to communicate with you?

Have you ever thought that God doesn’t want to talk with you? Well... you’re wrong. He has done everything to reestablish communication with you. The question is, are YOU interested in communicating with God?

A second truth I want to you to remember is that;

2. God speaks by Word & Spirit.

In addition to His incarnation in Jesus, God’s desire to communicate with us is also obvious in the written Word He has given to us. Sixty-six amazingly different, yet unbelievably coordinated “books” of the Bible that speaks to us through a common Spirit... the Spirit of God working through 40 authors over a span of 1,500 years. First through oral then a written Word, God communicates to us through story, through history, through laws, through songs, through prophetic utterances, through gospels and through letters.

And while God speaks with a consistent voice throughout the holy scriptures, through His Spirit at work among us we also hear God communicating; when the world’s heart was touched this past week by the heroism of a New York subway rider, or when a man named Hoppy Anderson told us 8 years ago that renewal at Community Covenant meant “bring in the children” and “building a steeple”, or when a Christian comes up to you with a word from God which answers the exact question you prayed to God.

Believing that God is actively speaking to you is a crucial element in communicating with Him. Again, if a friend was talking to you in a crowd (and the world we live in is certainly a crowded and noisy place); if that friend is talking to you but you don’t believe he is speaking to you, what is the likelihood you will tune into what he is saying to you? To hear God you must be actively listening for His familiar voice.

One of the great scripture stories we have in the Old Testament is found in 1 Samuel 3, when the young Samuel hears a voice waking him four times from sleep, but it took the ministry of the Priest Eli to help Samuel recognize God’s voice. Today we get to know God’s voice as we read and study His Word, so that when we pray and when God’s Spirit speaks, we recognize a voice that is always consistent with His Word. When Jesus told his disciple Judas... not Judas Iscariot but the Judas also known as Thaddaeus, that after he ascended into heaven that He and the Father would come to them and make their home with them, Jesus was speaking of the Holy Spirit who would teach us all things and would remind us of everything He had said to us. (John 14:23, 26)

When we spend enough time with God, reading His word, praying and waiting for His responses, we get to know God’s voice. Like that of a friend we’ve know for years.... when he calls we will know who is speaking. While likening himself to the good shepherd... that shepherd willing to lay down his life for his flock, Jesus made this same point by teaching that “The sheep follow (the good shepherd) because they know his voice.” (John 10:4)

And trust me, if sheep can get to know their shepherd’s voice, we too can learn to recognize God’s voice as well.

A final truth I offer you about communicating with God is that....

3. When we speak with God through prayer, we are transformed even as our world is affected.

By his example Jesus taught us the importance of prayer. As has been pointed out by others, if Jesus needed to pray, what does that say about what we need to be about?

When we look at Jesus’ life we see that prayer was an intimate time spent with the Father. Prayer was what he did before choosing upon his twelve disciples (Luke 6:12-16). Prayer was what Jesus did when facing the reality of the cross (Matthew 26:36-37).

But it was also through prayer that Jesus became aware of his identity (Luke 3:20-22) . Through prayer Jesus was empowered to stay on course and to affirm his purpose clearly through the haze and temptations of popularity (Mark 1:29-39; Luke 5:15-16).

Many people view prayer only as something to solve a problem or get an answer. However, prayer is more about inner transformation than about those exterior issues. It is about our transformation into a Christ-like person, characterized by the fruits of the Spirit; love joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and self-control. Inner transformation.

When asked by his disciples to teach them to pray, what did Jesus included?

Luke 11: 2-4

2He said to them, “When you pray, say:
   “ ‘Father,
   hallowed be your name,
   your kingdom come.
3Give us each day our daily bread.
4Forgive us our sins,
      for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
   And lead us not into temptation.’ “

When we communicate with God by listening for His voice... the voice of a loving “Abba” Father, and praying for His Kingdom to come; when we limit our personal requests to the needs and temptations of today, and seeking to treat others with the same mercy God has shown to us.... then our prayers to God will first and foremost transform us. Then we in turn, as redeemed-transformed children of God will properly and lovingly deal with the needs and temptations which characterize our world.

As Dallas Willard wrote in The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives:

How misguided are those who regard prayer as irrelevant to social conditions! No doubt many things called “prayer” are quite useless in every respect, but nothing is more relevant to social conditions than the transformation of persons that comes from prayer at its best in the life of the disciple of Christ.

Willard, Dallas, The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives, HarperSanFrancisco, 1988. p. 185

As we begin considering our relationships with God and with one another, today I simply encourage you to nurture your relationship with God by communicating with Him. Take time to read His Word written for you. Join with Christians around the world as Covenanters unite in a week of study and prayer. Use the “Philemon” study in your bulletin and listen to God as He speaks to you everyday.

Take time to read His Word and take time to pray; pray as the “Philemon” study guides you, but also share your thoughts with God as you seek His transforming power. Allow His Spirit to connect you with your Creator and Redeemer, and allow His Spirit to pray for you when you are unable to find the words.

And most of all, discover just how much God desires to walk in an intimate relationship with you amid this chaotic world, and how wonderful it is to know that God hears us and responds to us.

This hour we celebrate God’s intimate love for us communicated in the Lord’s Supper, and hear again Jesus invitation to remember him in the breaking of the bread and the sharing of the cup.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (r).