“When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?” – Psalm 8:3–4
“Rather, His is a revolution of character, which proceeds by changing people from the inside through ongoing personal relationship to God in Christ and to one another. It is one that changes their ideas, beliefs, feelings, and habits of choice, as well as their bodily tendencies and social relations. It penetrates to the deepest layers of their soul.”—Dallas Willard
This post is an excerpt from a manuscript I’m considering publishing about the ‘Character of Christ’. This coming Sunday, February 9, 2020 at Black Rock Church I will begin teaching on this subject during the 11:30am hour. In addition to teaching, I’m looking for feedback to fine-tune the material. Please come join in.
In my last post I promised personal experience with the challenge of living a Sabbath Life. This is my experience with entering into Sabbath Living. I don’t suggest it is a model for every Christian but I will say that it may capture some biblical/universal truths about living out a Sabbath life.
How Real Is my God?
The question was a scary one. How real do I really think my God really is?
I had been following the person of Jesus Christ for about twenty years. All along, I was growing in the knowledge of Jesus and experiencing him in very real ways. But, at this point I seemed to hit a wall.
I was living my faith out of dry bones. How big was my God? What kind of testimony to the reality of God in my life did I have? If someone were to ask me how I could prove God was real, what could I say?
Before heading off on a short-term mission trip with my church, I made a decision. I was going to take this time to begin treating God as more real than I ever had before. How would I do that? My plan was that I would begin reading through the Bible. (Pretty clever, huh?)
I had worked my way through the Bible a number of times before, but this time I was going to pray beforehand with a determination that I would engage with God and listen for his voice—listen for him to speak to me and then listen by reading his written Word. And, if I was truly going to believe God was real, whatever was coming into my head during this dedicated time was going to be his voice. He is big enough and real enough, and he was going to speak. Whatever it was, I would write it down, and then act on what God said. Little did I know what I was getting into.
Here was my biggest question: How would I know that what was coming into my head was from God? I decided on three tests. What I was “hearing” had to pass these tests if I would be confident that it was from God:
- Was the voice I was hearing in my head consistent with God’s written Word, the Bible?
- Was the voice I was hearing for myself or for others consistent with 1 Corinthians 14:3—speaking edification and exhortation and comfort to men?
- Was it consistent with the character of Christ, utilizing the Fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23—love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control?
As I committed significant time and energy to this Sabbath endeavor, God responded and I saw James 4:8, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” and Hebrews 11:6, “[God] is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” being realized. As I drew near and lingered with God, He would speak and continue as much as I was faithful in being a “doer” of His word. God began to deliver more than I could handle. God seemed to be saying, “You want it, you got it!”
Isaiah 44:3 says, “I will pour water upon him who is thirsty.” The Hebrew phrase ‘pour water’ is Yatsaq Mayim. It indicates pouring to overflow of, yes, refreshing waters but with indication of almost violent waters. At times I felt like I was drinking from the proverbial “Firehose.” He was bringing issues and people and situations into my mind and providing me with things I believed he wanted to speak into my own life and into others’ lives. Would I be receptive and his faithful emissary (or dare I say, apostle)?
It was a tremendous season of stretching my faith to not only act on what God was speaking into my own life but even more so for the challenge of speaking into others’ lives.
Let me now say that on the personality spectrum of extrovert to introvert, I fall on the introvert side of the spectrum—I basically find human interaction exhausting. For me, this was a huge challenge!
Offering up what I believed were God’s words of life and peace and joy and comfort that provided others with hope and direction was challenging enough. This was usually well received. But, more than a few times people stared back at me confused, not knowing what I was talking about. Easy enough—I heard wrong and if what I shared didn’t mean anything to them, I encouraged them to put it on the shelf or throw it out altogether. On numerous occasions people came back later, excited that the words had gelled into something meaningful.
The greatest challenge, however, was dealing with confronting difficult issues—bad behavior, sin, addictions, unfaithfulness, unkindness, coarse language, etc. Things in others God seemed to be calling on me to confront. (God wasn’t shy about bringing up my own issues, too.) The problem is that I am not very comfortable with confrontation (ask my wife). Plus, how do I do this and pass the third test of speaking with a voice that is consistent with the Fruit of the Spirit? Does being true to the Fruit of the Spirit mean I can only say nice things?
In these instances where people are behaving badly, the temptation is to jump in and righteously judge and condemn. Surely, the power of the condemnation should be enough to persuade the person of their sin and to change their ways! But it just doesn’t seem to work that way.
The truth is that Jesus was able to do it. Jesus confronted without condemning and by staying true to his character. I realized that I had to know what Jesus would say and how he would say it. Not my words and voice but his words and voice. This required knowing more fully Christ’s true character.
The point of sharing this experience is that if God wanted me to address some difficult situation, he wanted to tell me how to do it consistent with the character of Christ. For those occasions when I have truly sought out his words and his voice, I have seen God touch lives in amazing ways. Don’t get me wrong. Even when I am completely confident I have spoken with Jesus’s voice, it does not always result in the impact I hoped for.
Even Jesus was not always able to have the impact he seemed to be looking for. Even with words that are good and righteous and true, people turned away from Jesus (e.g. the rich young ruler) because the message was too hard. Still, I am convinced that if I am willing to put in the time and effort, any message can be effectively conveyed with the rich, full-nectar medley of all the Fruit of the Spirit, from the full character of Christ.
The truth, though, is that this does not come easy (not in my experience). When the disciples failed to heal the boy as recorded in Matthew 17:14-21, they asked Jesus why not. He replied, “Because of your unbelief . . . However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting” (verses 20-21). I believe part of this answer has to do with not operating in the natural but earnestly engaging God for the words and ways he directs us to best respond, which is always consistent with the character of Christ.
How BIG is my God? For me, perhaps the greatest evidence of His ‘bigness’ and ‘realness’ is through conversational relationship. A God that listens and speaks with a voice that can be heard and can be known.
“To Him who rides upon the highest heavens, which are from ancient times; Behold, He speaks forth with His voice, a mighty voice.” – Psalm 68:33
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” – John 10:27
The above testimony was my experience and my personal challenge. Is God asking something the same of you? I don’t know.
I do know that God is like a parent who desperately wants to spend more interactive time with their kids. Regardless of how much or little time the kids will give them, they love their kids and will cherish and covet any time they can get. Whether the child realizes it or not, it’s their most valuable time spent.
A test Christ-follower’s use to gauge our trust in God is to ask how much we trust God with our Time, Talent and Treasure? Each of the 3 present major challenges. All three are impacted by Sabbath Living. But, of the 3, Time may be the most easily dismissed yet the hardest to comply with. While I covet the other 2, I am so jealous of my time.
The next post I will explore being, On Sabbath Time.
Tucked In and Lamps Burning 