July 12th 2009
Holy
This is not a SERMON. It is going to be more of a sharing about a journey over the last six months and some ideas about the way ahead. It originates from a conversation I had with Danny way back in February, when I suggested perhaps some of those who attended New Wine could have the opportunity to share a bit of their experience with the rest of the congregation. Then about a month ago Danny asked me if I was still ok to do a sermon on holiness, which was a bit of a shock and taught me a lesson! Don’t suggest anything unless you are prepared to be the one who puts it into place. Anyway, I feel very ill-equipped to give a sermon on holiness: first I am probably one of the least ‘holy’ people I know, and secondly, I would never profess to try to tell anyone else how to live in ‘holiness’!! However, I am blessed to take a little bit of a different approach to the concept of ‘holiness’ and talk a little about my experience at New Wine and where it has taken me since then. By the way, parts of this talk may seem like a promotional for New Wine: I would like to assure you that I am not getting a commission for every person that registers from CPAC, although that might be nice!, however you may hear me say more than once that it might be worth considering for 2010.
I was a reluctant participant in New Wine this year, I have to admit. We have attended approx every second year for the last 8 years, but I wasn’t really into it this time. I was feeling pretty stale in my relationship with God for a start, and as many of you will understand, that can be a real disincentive to getting involved and doing something about it. Secondly I had been involved as part of the music team the last two times we had attended, but when I offered my services was told, no thanks, so was a bit miffed having to attend as just an ordinary person (isn’t it amazing how much our egos can get in the way sometimes?). And finally, when it came down to it, we had just spent 2 weeks in a tent, which is about my limit of airbeds/sand/gas cookers etc, and the thought of 4-5 more days on top of that just didn’t appeal.
So I started a bit unwillingly, a bit ‘not into it’. And for the first couple of days that was how I felt: half-hearted in the worship, enjoying the teaching but not really getting a lot out of it, and kind of wondering why I was there. I was encouraged by a couple of people’s experiences, who clearly were feeling the presence of God, but for me it was, if you like, the usual: other people seemed to be the really spiritual ones, and I felt kind of like it was only for them! I’m sure none of you have ever experienced that!
I think it was on the second evening that I went up for prayer, thinking I may as well, at least no harm can come from this: some real deliverance occurred at that point: I guess some blockages were cleared and suddenly I found I was starting to get something out of being there: following this on the next evening service, the open day which many of you attended, I had one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Kenny Borthwick, who is a wonderful Scotsman and was one of the main speakers, was up front, and many times over those few days he and the other speakers were taking the attitude of, let’s see where God wants to take this, let’s see if we can find out what God wants to do, rather than following a set plan. As he led this particular session, and it was obvious he knew God wanted to do something special, a few people started laughing, and some crying (but mostly laughing!) which he encouraged, and it was very infectious, many more joined in. Normally in these situations I am the absolute cynic, and I’m sure many of you will identify with that: thoughts like, ‘yeah right, who was planted in the audience to start this?’ And ‘how embarrassing, what would everyone think’, and even, ‘come on, if its really You God, make me laugh!!’ This time I thought I would approach it differently, and to do this I had to put lots of thoughts out of my mind and just get down to me and, who knows, maybe God. I knelt down in the aisle (by the way I have never done anything like that before…..) and allowed myself to be open to whatever God was doing, if indeed it was God. And guess what: within a few minutes I also was laughing: deeply, from the depths of my being. I knew, at that moment, that I was in the presence of the Holy Spirit. And yes there have been other times when I have seen God at work and heard His voice (less often than I would like!!) but this was the first time I have really physically felt the presence of God. And it was special. And it was Holy. I felt like I was on Holy ground
Now we are getting to the point. If there was one major thrust or point of the teaching at New Wine, with the theme of ‘Holy’, was, being in God’s presence is Holy. There are of course many approaches one can take to the word holy or holiness: however the approach I would like to take today is, learning to seek out the presence of God, as where God is, that is Holy Ground
The first usage of a word in the Bible is significant: it sets the standard if you like for the rest of the usages. The first usage of the word holy refers, interestingly enough not to God, but to the ground. In Exodus 3: 3-5(which you heard in the reading today,). God says to Moses, take of your shoes, the ground you are standing on is holy ground. How many times had Moses passed or even stood in that spot in his 40 years as a shepherd? Was the ground always holy? What made it holy? Quite simply, the presence of God. When the Israelites built the temple, what was the innermost sanctum called? the holy of holies. Why? Quite simply, it was there that the High priest met with God once a year, Gods presence made it ‘holy of holies’.
Being in the presence of God is significant, lifechanging: You will all know what happened to Zachariah, John the Baptist’s father, when he went into the holy of holies and met with the angel of God; and how Moses looked after meeting God face to face. Holy is being in the presence of God. It can be terrifying. Zachariah was paralyzed with fear. As Rob Bell shares in his book, Velvet Elvis, which I will refer to later, he became aware of the presence of God in a terrifying way. But in a good way. As Rob says, the word that springs to mind is holy.
So, how do we seek out the presence of God, seek out this holiness: to paraphrase Kenny: “find out what God is doing and go and be part of it”. Now I am sure that many of us have experienced, or possibly even done, the opposite: deciding what to do and asking God to bless it, or starting a service/event etc then inviting the Holy Spirit to join us? Do you see the difference? How can we approach this, seeking out the presence of God, seeking out Holy ground.
This is a very individual walk. You are each journeying your own individual journey with God and I can not stand up here and say you need to do such and such and you will find holy ground. But I am happy to share with you some of the ways I have been approaching this and give you some food for thought. In fact, preparing for today has been a good exercise in that it has forced me to sit down and think, and ask, has this affected my walk with God? Since New Wine, has my journey developed/changed? It’s very easy to go to an event like New Wine and be all Rah Rah, Hallelujah, etc then the busyness of everyday life takes over and we go back and settle into our old daily routines: and there certainly has been some of that for me. Again to quote Rob Bell: “ Do you and I walk in holy ground all the time, but we are moving so fast and returning so many calls and writing so many emails and having such long lists to get done that we miss it?” How often are we too busy to miss it?? I would say for me its pretty often!
Anyway, back to the journey: First, and in fact this is something I’ve been working on for a while: I remind myself that I am a human being, not a human doing. That means that its ok to take time when I can just be, I don’t always have to do. Or put another way, take some Sabbath time. This may be daily, weekly, (sometimes for me it is termly….) But at the end of a day it is ok sometimes to look back and say, I did nothing. The first reference to the Sabbath day in Genesis in fact uses a Hebrew word which is closely related to the word for holy: Sabbath time is holy, time to be, time in God’s presence.
As well there are a couple of books that I have started to work through, that really have helped in the seeking the presence of God: one I shared about a few weeks ago: The Shack, by William Paul Young. The other which I have already referred to today is Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell: there is much in both of these books that is worth delving into, but one of the points that has really stuck for me is the difference between ‘expectation’ and ‘expectancy’. We often go to God with expectation: I know I have many times gone to Him with an expectation that He will answer a prayer, or do something, in a certain way. When I have done that I have often been disappointed: I have not had an answer, not seen God at work. Yet if we go to Him with an expectancy that we will meet with Him or experience Him in some way, we are allowing the Spirit of God to work rather than setting our own boundaries. A simple analogy is a pregnant woman: we say she is expectant: she does not have expectations that her baby will be beautiful, intelligent, a great netball or rugby player: but she does have an expectancy and excitement about the life to come. Rob Bell puts it similarly when he talks about ‘obligation’ or ‘anticipation.’ Do we come to church for example out of obligation, or with an anticipation that something amazing could happen?
This has also helped me in my approach to worship, and music in general. If I approach music with the expectation that it will be all perfect and amazing sounding, or with a feeling of obligation or duty, I am likely to be disappointed. But, if I go into music with an expectancy and anticipation that somehow through the music we might see/hear/feel/know the presence of God, then maybe that will be holy ground.
One of the things Rob Bell teaches in Velvet Elvis is that with the new covenant and the breaking down of the barriers to the Holy of holies, it opens the door for us to see and meet God everywhere: in creation, in nature, indeed in life itself, for without God there wouldn’t be life!! I would like to share a simply lovely passage in here about how the presence of God can be seen and felt even by those whom God loves, but do not yet believe:
(Velvet Elvis p76 and 92) “Last year some friends asked me to be their pastor for their wedding ceremony. They had been together for a while and decided to make it official and throw a huge weekend party……They said they didn’t want any Jesus or God or Bible or religion to be talked about. But they did want me to make it really ‘spiritual’. The bride said it in her own great way: “Rob, do that thing you do. Make it really profound and deep and spiritual”. So we decided to meet the morning of the wedding to actually plan the ceremony. It was a stunningly beautifully day……The wind was blowing the tops of the trees……the sun was coming through in yellow and white beams……an eagle flew overhead. I asked my friends why they wanted to be married in such a natural organic setting………They talked about the beauty of nature, its peacefulness, and the way they fell in love in this part of the state. The the groom said something I will never forget: “Something holds this all together”. So then I asked them if they thought it was a mistake that they had found each other. And they said no, they believed they were meant to be together and it was no accident they met and fell in love. I then asked them: “Do you think that whatever it is that holds all this together is the same thing that has brought you two together?” They said yes, same thing. So I said that maybe what makes their relationship so meaningful to them is that it’s a picture of something much bigger. The same force that brought them together holds the whole world together. I then asked “So today your wedding is about something far more significant then just the two of you becoming husband and wife isn’t it?” They then said they would call this glue, this force, “God”. ……. Jesus was up on that cliff with us that day. It is not that God is over here and real life is over there. If it is real, then it is showing us God. It is not that passion and love and exhilaration are in one place and Jesus is somewhere else. Wherever you find those you are finding God. In affirming and celebrating all that they did that day on the cliff, my friends are closer to Jesus than they could ever imagine.” (end of quote)
So one of the greatest ways to seek and to be in the presence of God is to live life knowing that He has made it all possible, that He is there, that He binds it all together. Whether it is in good music, good food, good company, beauty, love, simply life itself, God is present. Dare we ask, is all ground holy ground?
Of course this does not mean that we can live any way we choose and still expect to meet with the Spirit of God: when I was a young Christian I was taught that as the Spirit came to dwell in us, as it says in Ephesians 2:22, so we were always in the presence of God, and that is at one level absolutely true. However, because of that I was always a little wary of the idea of looking for or seeking the presence of God because, hey, He’s there already. But one of the teachings of New Wine put this in perspective for me: Kenny related a little story as told by RT Kendall, (some of you may be familiar with the name): A missionary and his wife were living in a small house on the mission field and a dove had made its home in the attic. They noticed however that at times the dove was not there. After observing this for a while, they realised that whenever they argued/raised their voices the dove would leave for a while. Then when peace had descended the dove came back to the attic. The couple rather liked having a dove living in their attic, being a symbol of the holy spirit, and realised that they had two choices: either they could train the dove to put up with their arguments and shouting, or they could modify their behaviour so that the dove was comfortable to stay. I will leave you to work out which was the only possible option.
For me this is a lesson: yes God is with us always and dwells in us, but there are times and places where He chooses to let his spirit descend like a dove in a certain situation or on a certain person or group of people. Some of those at Summer Wine experienced the dove, as I did in laughter, some by weeping, some by a wonderful perfume, some by prophetic words. But it is easy to grieve the Spirit of God, the dove, like the bird itself, is sensitive, we can scare it away (see Ephesians 4.30 and context: some great guidance in how to walk in holiness). How we approach God and life can determine whether we see/are aware of the spirit: do we approach God with cynicism or openness, with obligation or anticipation? Do we look for God in the creation around us or do we simply get blinkered and stuck in our everyday routine? Do we seek out what God is doing and long to be part of that or do we decide what to do and expect God to turn up and bless it? Do we desire to walk on Holy ground in the presence of God Almighty, or do we simply scare away the dove? I would like to leave you with these questions and hopefully something to think about. And yes, I would suggest that getting involved with something like New Wine is a good thing: I can honestly say that I met with my Heavenly Father there and that it has changed my approach to how I try to relate to Him. No the change is not dramatic but it is happening and I believe is making a difference to my life. Perhaps it would make a difference to yours.
I will leave you with a Parting thought: I Peter 1:18 says in the Message translation: Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God. Let’s try to be conscious/be aware/be longing for the presence of God as we live in the world this week. After all, if it wasn’t for God there wouldn’t be life/awareness/ consciousness /even a world in any case! Thank you.
Tim Jenkin
12/7/09
