Go

Contact Us

  • Phone: (509) 747-3007
  • Email:
  • Mosaic Address:
    606 West 3rd Ave., Spokane, WA 99201

Service Times

  • Sunday:  8:30 am, 10 am, 11:30 am
  • Infant through 5th grade Sunday School classes available
  • FREE Parking!

Sermons

FILTER BY:

Back To List

Feb 24, 2013

Finding God in the Silence

Passage: Psalms 46:1-10

Category: Faith, Christian Walk, Encouragement

Keywords: faith, patience, love, goodness, stillness, meditation, silence

Summary:

The Lord’s staggering invitation for us to come to the banquet he is preparing. “He said to his servants, ‘the wedding banquet is ready…Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find…” Matthew 22:8-9

Detail:

Finding God in the Silence.

 

Introduction:

 

The Lord’s staggering invitation for us to come to the banquet he is preparing.

 

“He said to his servants, ‘the wedding banquet is ready…Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find…” Matthew 22:8-9

 

We begin our journey this morning with some confession and transparencies. We begin this journey at a point in this man’s life where pain has been my food, shame has been my light, and fear has remained a force yet to be reckoned with fully. Yet I stand before you as David stood before his people, broken, lost yet with a heart seeking the very person of God in every area of his life.

 

I want to extend to you the same Invitation..

 

Myra Perrine writes in “What’s Your God Language”, “At the center of the invitation, preceded by a desire and a longing. God desires relationship with humankind… He invites us to come be with Him.”.

 

We begin this journey this morning together. I invite you. I ask you and enjoin you to allow God to speak to you today, as he has spoken to me. We will be touched by his words, stirred by his challenges, and perhaps even shaken from our shackles in life. Come let us journey now together.

 

Myra Perrine continues…

 

We were made by God, for God, and we bear His image on our hearts. …woven into the fabric of every human soul. We have been created in the image of our creator… [this] assumes our need for connection with Him.

 

Yearning… for communion with our unseen, present Lord, who comes to us as Father, Son, and Spirit, is in every son of Adam and daughter of Eve.

 

“The thin place… where the veil that separates the eternal from the temporal becomes so thin and permeable that… through a vibrant sunset or a child at play… I get a whiff of celestial air..”

 

When we chose to respond, we taste again a rich morsel of what our first parents knew so well.

 

There is a classic story in the Old Testament that involves the prophet Elijah, Elijah has taken on the world power of King Ahab and his wicked queen Jezebel. He called the prophets of Baal to a duel. Two piles of wood were placed on two stone altars. Then a bull for an offering was placed on top of each pile of wood. The challenge was that all the prophets of Baal would call to their storm gods to send lightening to consume the sacrifice, and Elijah would then call on the God of Israel to consume the sacrifice of the other altar.

 

The prophets of Baal prayed, but nothing happened. They danced and cut themselves, but there was no response. Their god who held a lightening bolt in his hand was powerless. Then Elijah stepped up. He poured water over the wood on the altar and uttered a simple prayer, Lightening fell and consumed the sacrifice, the wood and all the alter in the trench around the water. Then the people began to cry out, “The Lord…he is God! The Lord… he is God!” It was a great victory.

 

But Jezebel was angry and threatened to kill Elijah, as she had so many of the Lord’s prophets. Elijah was afraid and discouraged, so he ran and hid in the cave. While he was there, the Bible says, “Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind, there was a great earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.

 

[Listen] When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood in the mouth of the cave. (1 Kings 19:11-13). We are accustomed to the spectacular (the Noise), and we love it when God moves in that way. But the presence and voice of God are more often experienced in a gentle whisper… the still; small voice…God says to Elijah, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”  and you will not hear it unless you are in a [place to hear it] Where is that place for you? Where does your heart need to be? Perhaps God is asking you and me that question this morning.

 

[Let’s Pray]

 

Rodney Buchanon, a pastor of a Methodist church in Canada makes a statement I think we all need to hear:  “It is the interior life where we make preparations for the exterior life.

 

Big Idea:

 

It is the Interior that Prepares the Exterior. It is in Silence we are Prepared to handle the Noise. I. e. We must learn the art of listening in the silence.

 

The author of the Psalms writes….. (Psalms 46:1-3, 8-10)

God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change
And though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea;
3 Though its waters roar and foam,
Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride. Selah.

8 Come, behold the works of the Lord,
Who has wrought desolations in the earth.
9 He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth;
He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;
He burns the chariots with fire.
10 “[Be Still] Cease striving and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

 

[Experiment] Let’s take the next 120 seconds (2 minutes) and simply close our eyes, and ponder the expression… “Be still (Cease striving) and know”, that’s all just ponder the words, “Be still (Cease Striving) and know”.  Just LISTEN!

 

Question: What struggles did you face in these last 2 minutes with trying to stay focused on these words? What did you hear in the silence?  KEEP THIS SHORT!

 

Before we go on, let’s tackle an issue. The issue is,

 

Does Mediation belong in the Christian’s life?

 

Meditation and Misconceptions

 

In his book, Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster points to four misconceptions.

 

1.         First, it is assumed that mediation is synonymous with the concept of meditation             centered in Eastern religions. In reality, the two worlds stand apart:

 

            A.  Eastern meditation is an attempt to empty the mind; Christian meditation is an             attempt to fill the mind.

 

            Eastern forms of meditation stress the need to become detached from the   world… an emphasis upon loosing personhood and individuality… the merging             with the Cosmic Mind. There is a longing to be freed from the burdens and    pains of this life and be released into the impersonality of Nirvana. Personal    identity is lost and, in fact, personality is seen as the ultimate illusion. There is no     God to be attached to and to hear form. Detachment is the final goal of            Eastern religions.

           

            B.  Christian meditation goes far beyond the notion of detachment. These is no             need for detachment… “a Sabbath of contemplation” as Peter of Celles, a             Benedictine monk of the twelfth century put it.

 

            [Scripture warns of] a danger in thinking only in terms of detachment as Jesus             indicates in his story of the man who had emptied of evil but not filled with good.             “When the unclean spirits had gone out of the man…he goes and brings seven             other spirits more evil then himself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last             state of that man becomes worse then the first. (Luke 11:24-26).

 

2.         Second misconception is that Mediation is that it is too difficult, to complicated.       I.e. for the professional only)

 

            The giants in this field would simply say, “…we were doing what was natural             human activity, as natural and as important as breathing itself.”  They would tell      us that we do not need any special gifts or psychic powers, Listen to what        Thomas Merton writes:

 

            “Mediation is really very simple and there is not much need for elaborate     techniques to teach us how to go about it.”

 

3.         Third misconception is to view contemplation as impractical and wholly out of             touch with the twentieth century. 

 

            Meditation is one thing that can sufficiently redirect our lives so that we can deal             with human life successfully. Again Thomas Merton writes:

 

            “Mediation has no point and reality unless it is firmly rooted in life” (I.e.,        grounded)

 

 

 

4.         The most common misconception is to view mediation as a religious form   of             psychological manipulation.

 

            Yes, we must admit that when you or I meditate, or focus on His Word, his creation, His created circumstances in life or His act of “centering us” on        Himself. Something magnificent happens to us psychologically and even perhaps           physically… HOWEVER…

 

            Read from Foster’s book, page 22-23.  “…But the idea of actual contact and             communion with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob sounds unscientific and             faintly unreasonable. If you feel that we live in a purely physical universe, you will             view [this concept of] meditation as a good way to obtain a consistent alpha brain             wave pattern.

 

            But if you believe that we live in a universe created by the infinite-personal God             who delights in our communion with Him, you will see mediation as communication between the Lover and the one beloved.”

 

            [Read the quote on Page 23]  “…The two concepts….(ff)”

 

[Listen] 

 

It is the Interior that Prepares the Exterior. It is in Silence we are Prepared to Handle the Noise

 

Still want to go on the journey with me?

 

Meditation and Biblical Witness

 

1.         The Bible uses two different Hebrew words to convey the idea of mediation, and             together they are used some 58 times. Many meanings…

 

            A.         Listening to God’s Word, Reflecting on God’s works, rehearsing God’s                                deeds, ruminating on God’s Law,

           

                        Richard Foster notes, “…in each case there is stress upon changed                                    behavior as a result of our encounter with the Living God. Repentance                                and obedience….

 

            B.         Listen to the following: (Examples) (Ps 119:97, 101, 102; Gen 24:63; Ps                              63:6; Ps 119:148; Ps 1:1-2 )

 

O how I love Your law!
It is my meditation all the day

 

I have restrained my feet from every evil way,
That I may keep Your word I have not turned aside from Your ordinances,
For You Yourself have taught me

 

Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward evening; and he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, camels were coming

When I remember You on my bed,
I meditate on You in the night watches,

1How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.

Mediation and Truth

 

We cannot burn the eternal flame of the inner sanctuary and remain the same, for the Divine Fire will consume everything that is impure.

 

[Still want to go on this journey?]

 

            A.         Mediation is Simply…the Ability to Hear God’s Voice and Obey his                          Word.. Ephesians 6:10

 

            B.         No secret mantras, no hidden mysteries, no mental gymnastics, no                          esoteric flights in the cosmic consciousness.

 

            C.        God simply invites us to shut off the noise, sometimes close our eyes,                                 ignore the temptations of distraction, focus on Him and simply LISTEN!

 

            D.        Remember our passage… “Cease striving and know….”

 

Meditation and It’s Purpose (The Why?)

 

            A.         Meditation (Presence with God) moves us from mere theology and                          knowledge to what Foster calls, “a radiant reality”.

 

            B.         The great hymn verses of, “He walks with me and talk to me” ceases to                               be pious jargon and instead becomes a straightforward description of                                  daily life.

 

            C.        In meditation we create the emotional and spiritual space which allows                                Chris to construct an inner sanctuary of the heart.

 

            D.        Meditation becomes the “portable sanctuary that is brought into all we are               and do.”

 

Meditation and Forms of Approach (Four…Richard Foster, pages 29-32)

 

            A.         Mediation on Scripture (meditation Scripturarum)

           

            B.         Meditation of Re-Collection.

 

                        A time to become still, to enter into the recreating silence, to allow the                                 fragmentation of our minds to become centered.

 

                        A time when you give God the roadblocks, the sin, the struggles, the                                   realities of your life…

 

                        A time when you release… when you give up the fight… if only for                           minutes… you simply say, “God, I give up… I have no more strength!”

 

Trust in Him at all times, O people;
Pour out your heart before Him;
God is a refuge for us Ps 62:8

 

            C.        Meditation on Creation (Not to worship it but the Creator of it!)

 

The heavens are telling of the glory of God;
And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.
2 Day to day pours forth speech,
And night to night reveals knowledge.
3 There is no speech, nor are there words;
Their voice is not heard.

            D.        Mediation on the Circumstances and Events of our Times

 

                        Thomas Merton writes… “That the person who has meditated on the                                   passion of Christ but has not meditated on the extermination camps of                                Dachau and Auschwitz has not fully entered into the experience of                                       Christianity of our time.”

 

                        It is entering into mediation and prayer with a Bible in one hand and the                               newspaper in the other.

 

 

Meditation and You

 

            How’s the journey going for you? Are you willing to respond to the Great Invitation?

           

            Here’s the Challenge…

 

            1.         Close your eyes for a few seconds now… and hear it again…

            2.         “Cease striving (Be still) and know that I am God!!”

            3.         Take it into you…

            4.         Struggle with it

            5.         Hear it

            6.         Pray it…. “Lord God HELP ME!!” “Lord God, FORGIVE ME!”

                        “Lord God, I can’t HEAR YOU!”  “Lord God, I give up!! I am tired of the                                fight! I give up!”

            7.         Sit and let the silence speak to you… listen… listen…. God is speaking!                              Do you hear Him?

 

It is the Interior that Prepares the Exterior. It is in Silence we are Prepared to Handle the Noise