“Cage of Routine”
from the book “Wild Goose Chase” by Mark Batterson
Sunday, October 24, 2010: Exodus 3:1-5
Introduction: Today we continue our series, the Wild Goose Chase. Last week, we talked about Nehemiah and the cage of responsibility. This week we are going to talk about Moses and the cage of routine. If you brought your Bible, turn to Exodus 3, if not you can turn in your pew Bible to page 49. Exodus 3:1-5, “Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, ‘I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.’ 4 When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, ‘Moses! Moses!’ And Moses said, ‘Here I am.’ 5‘Do not come any closer,’ God said. ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.’”
Illus.- Many years ago I was driving up into the mountains, and there was a thick cloud cover so that you couldn’t see above a certain point. But at one point I passed through the cloud cover and now I was above the clouds. As I looked out all I could see was clouds. I was on top of the clouds! It was almost like being on top of the world. And I began to think of the beauty and wonder of God’s creation. This kind of majesty really defies words. Last week we talked about how the Celtic Christians called the Holy Spirit An Geadh-Glas, or the Wild Goose. Well, the Celtic Christians also had a name for this kind of majesty for God—they called them “thin places.” Places where heaven and earth seem to touch, where God seems to hold back the space time curtain and reveal just a little bit more of His glory; or places where, in a sense, the Wild Goose invades the reality of your life and you are never the same.
I. God shows up- (Exodus 3:1-5)
a. Getting your attention- I think Exodus 3 is one of these moments
for Moses; it’s a thin place, if you will. Moses is a fugitive. In his anger, he had killed an Egyptian task-master and he ends up fleeing Egypt and lands in a place called Midian. For 40 years he finds himself, not in a palace, as he had been before, but in the desert, tending sheep. It is easy to wonder if Moses at this point feels rather forsaken or forgotten by God. 40 years is a long time to be away from your people; to be in exile. It would be easy to feel abandoned.
It’s here that we pick up this story in Exodus 3:1. Now think about this: One day, Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro. He was deep in the wilderness, near the Mountain of God. Something catches his eye. It’s a burning bush. That would startle you, but then he notices that the bush isn’t burning up. ‘Amazing,’ I’m sure Moses thought to himself. ‘Why isn’t the bush burning up? ’Moses then thinks he needs to go check this out closer!
We see that God is using this burning bush to get Moses’ attention. Which He does. And when Moses comes closer, God speaks to Moses out of the bush. Probably by instinct Moses answers back, ‘Here I am.’ He then probably wonders for a moment why he is speaking to a bush!
God continues to speak, telling Moses to take off his sandals, that the ground he is standing on is holy ground.
Last week I encouraged you to read the book of Nehemiah to get a fuller picture of the story. I hope you did it. This week I want to encourage you to read over the next few chapters of Exodus to see how this story unfolds: from the burning bush until the Israelites are safely away from Egypt. But let’s hit a few of the high points this morning… Moses has been tending sheep for 40 years. That’s 480 months, 2,080 weeks, or 14,560 days. He has had the same daily routine for 40 years; day in, day out. I wonder if at this point Moses is a little disappointed that this is what his life has ended up being. He had so much potential. Going from being the adopted son of the Pharaoh, with great responsibility, to being a sheepherder. He must have felt like he was underachieving. We see that Moses is caught in the cage of routine. He probably went out every day to carry out his responsibility, and knew the routine so well that he didn’t even have to think about what he was doing. God knew that He not only had to show up for Moses, but He had to get Moses’ attention to help him break out of this routine.
b. One day- In some versions of this passage they start out by saying
“one day.” One day. This phrase can really epitomize what a relationship with Christ is about. When you are in relationship with Christ, you never know when or where or how God could invade the reality of your life and turn your life inside out and upside down IN A SINGLE DAY. He can show up any place, anytime, and turn your life into a wild goose chase. You can think of it as holy anticipation.
Instead of it being a concern to you, you can look at it as a “I’m going to wait to see what God is going to do next.” Now, it is easy to get caught up in the daily routine. I understand this as well. Most of my days are not very glamorous; they are average days. I have a routine, and I think I do it well. But we also have to live in the “anticipation” that God can and will do something special in our lives “one day.”
Let me make a point here: I think that it is easy to assume that the people in the Bible were these wonderful heroes. And in many ways they were, because they were faithful in acting out the plan God had for them. But they also had many flaws and sins in their life. If you doubt me, just read up on David, Abraham, Moses, and so on, and see the mistakes they made. In many ways, they didn’t have a clue, just like you and me, until God came along and took them on a journey. A farmer named Noah had no idea that “one day” he would build a really big boat. The shepherd David didn’t know that “one day” he would be king. An orphan named Esther didn’t know that “one day” she would become a queen.
I think Moses thought that he would tend sheep until the day he died. He had gotten to that point where he thought that he was unqualified and disqualified to do anything more with his life. He had no idea that he would go back and confront Pharaoh and that he would become the human vessel that would reveal the glory of God in these ten miracles and he would be the one, after 400 years of captivity, to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt and toward the Promised Land. Ah, but one day, one day, God shows up. God can show up any place, any time, and I hope we are ready for this by living with that reality.
II. God invades our lives- (Matthew 4:18-19; 1 John 1:9)
a. Bruce and me- I don’t know if you saw it, but 8 days ago, on
Saturday, October 16, on the front page of the Press Telegram was a picture of Bruce and Helen Kunkel. The Press Telegram had heard about Bruce’s autobiography, and decided to do a story about the book and about Bruce. What intrigued them was the fact that at the age of 94, mostly from memory, Bruce was able to write his own autobiography, and self publish it. Even more, last Monday I got a call from Bruce, telling me that he was going to be interviewed on the radio; this happened two days ago. I said to him: “Bruce, it is amazing how God is giving you opportunities to share your story.” And he responded: “I guess you’re never too old to be used by God!”
NO! We are never too old, or too young, or too anything. None of that matters to God. What matters is that you are willing to be a servant for the Lord.
If you are really chasing the Wild Goose, you have no idea where you might end up.
I guess it has been quite a few years now, but back when I was in college I started out as a computer programming major. Computers had really become big back in the late 70’s, and I knew that the future was in computers. The problem is that a computer programmer just sits in front of a computer all day, and I am a people person; I need to be with people. So I changed my major from computer programming to music. I did enjoy music (still do), and I thought that teaching would be the way to go. WRONG AGAIN. After I graduated with a Music Education degree, God led me to seminary to pursue a career in ministry!! So while I was in seminary I was working as a junior high director for a church. As I watched the minister preach, I thought to myself, I’ll never be doing that, I will just do youth ministry. You know what, NEVER SAY NEVER TO GOD.
I hope you’ll live with that reality, with that hope that God can “one day” invade your life just like He did with Moses. It can change in a moment. Now, notice the response Moses had: he is caught a little off guard. Yet his response is simple. Really I don’t think anybody can predict how they would respond if God showed up to them in a burning bush! Moses’ initial response was great; he simply said: “Here I am.” He says it like God doesn’t know where he is. OR maybe it is more out of a sense of boredom having done the same thing day after day; a sense of being forgotten. God is finally showing up, and Moses says ‘here I am.’
b. Resistance and release- Many of you know the story: Moses puts
up some resistance; he second guesses himself. He doesn’t believe he is capable of doing what God is asking him to do, and so he tries to put God off. I want to suggest that this is where the Wild Goose chase begins, when you say, “Here I am.” I want to be very explicit. 2,000 years ago, Jesus extended an invitation, He said, “Come follow me.” That invitation is still on the table, and the Wild Goose chase BEGINS the moment we put our faith in Christ and decide to follow him.
But here’s the mistake I think many of us make, we feel like God just came to save us from our sin. He does that, the moment we put our faith in Christ, when you confess your sins, “He is faithful and just to forgive you your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness,” as 1 John 1:9 tells us. He takes care of the sin problem, He takes care of the past. But I think some of us live as if that’s it, and we’re good to go. We live with the thinking that there doesn’t need to be anything more than that. But it is so much more than that. God takes care of the past to invite us into the future so that we can truly live the spiritual adventure and so that we can realize the God-given potential that He has given to us.
I really believe that God came to save us from boredom. I mean, look at this story at face value. Moses has got to be bored out of his mind. Maybe occasionally, his flock would get attacked by a wild animal and there would be a little rush of adrenaline and it would be an exciting day for Moses. But the next day, back to staring at the backside of sheep. In each of us we have an adrenal gland. God created this adrenal gland. God is the one who designed us in a way that when we experience something exciting or adventurous, we experience a rush of adrenaline. I think what happens to a lot of us is we are just bored silly with our relationship with God, so we try to get that rush of adrenaline in the wrong way. Moses got a rush of adrenaline when he killed that Egyptian taskmaster, but it was sinful. But I want you to notice what happens. When God begins to redeem us and when we say, “Here I am, I’m going to chase the Wild Goose,” I want you to notice what happens. Do you think that Moses experienced a rush of adrenaline when he walked back in to confront Pharaoh? What a rush of adrenaline I’m sure he felt! What about when he took that staff for the first time and he threw it down and it turned into a snake? What a rush of adrenaline, in a God-ordained way. What about the Egyptian army breathing down his neck, Red Sea right in front of him. What a rush of adrenaline! IT’S A HOLY RUSH OF ADRENALINE. Moses is bored silly and God came to rescue and save him from his boredom and said, ‘Let me invade the reality of your life and let’s see what happens.’
III. From spiritual formation to spiritual adventure- (Deuteronomy 6:4-9)
a. Spiritual routine- In Exodus 3:4 we see that God calls Moses by
name to capture his attention. The simple fact that God has to capture Moses’ attention tells us that God had lost Moses’ attention, or Moses had stopped paying attention to God. I think that’s what routine does. Just like responsibility, that we talked about last weekend, routine is a good thing. We need routine. Without routine, life is absolutely chaotic. Most of us have a morning routine that involves a shower and toothpaste and deodorant. On behalf of your friends and family, continue with that routine, it’s a good thing. But here’s the catch, once a routine becomes a routine, you need to disrupt the routine.
Let me put it in physiological terms. If you work out your muscles in the same way every time you go to the gym, eventually your muscles will adapt to the routine and you will stop growing. What you need to do is confuse your muscles by disrupting the routine, maybe changing the order of the exercises, or doing different exercises for the same muscles, and your body will begin to respond again and grow again. The same thing is true of spiritual routines. You might know them better by the name spiritual disciplines: things like prayer and fasting and Bible study and fellowship. It is so easy to forget to regularly do these disciplines or to go through the motions. When this happens, at some point we stop worshiping God in spirit and in truth and we just go through the motions.
Sometimes God has to call out: ‘Chris, Chris, I’m over here!’ and sometimes He has to do something to catch our attention. Maybe it is a diagnosis we find out about, or a tragedy in the family, or your kids getting into trouble. These are the more severe experiences that can remind us that we have forgotten about God. Hopefully God doesn’t need us to go through something so drastic for us to remember about the need we have to be close to God. Sometimes just disrupting our spiritual routine can help us to discover God again more fully.
b. Take off your sandals- How to disrupt your spiritual routine:
NUMBER ONE. Try a new translation of the Bible. This is very simple, but different words cause different synapses to fire. Our pew Bible is the New Revised Standard. When I quote from scripture in my sermons, and when I teach at the adult Sunday School class and the Wednesday night Bible study I use the New International version. I also have the version called “The Message,” which is a more narrative style of the Bible. Different versions can give you deeper insights as well.
NUMBER TWO. Do a fast. The Bible talks often about fasting, and how through fasting we are drawn closer to God as we remember that we are to rely on Him for all of the needs in our lives. When I fast, I let those hunger pains lead me to be a little more diligent in my praying for others. NUMBER THREE. Keep a journal. A gratitude journal, a prayer journal, a dream journal. I journal about once a week and use it to reflect on what God is teaching me, and what is going on in my mind and my emotions about my life and ministry. NUMBER FOUR. Go on a retreat. Retreats are great opportunities to get away from the routine of life and let God impact you deeply in your spirit. I am glad to say that the Session just approved setting aside $10,000 to be used toward retreat and missions opportunities, and I am hoping that sometime next year we will have a church retreat. More spiritual formation takes place in a weekend retreat than in six months of weekly meetings!! NUMBER FIVE. Plug into a small group. We will be starting small groups in late January, and I hope that you will really think about being a part of one. I have been in many small groups myself, and these are always very meaningful and help bring a lot of spiritual depth to my life.
We need to understand that these spiritual disciplines are all meant to lead us into an encounter with God. God told Moses to “take off his sandals,” because Moses was there encountering God. There are many people who have experienced “miracles,” but I believe encountering God is a miracle in and of itself. And when we read the Bible, or fast, or go on a retreat, or study the Bible together in a group, we are encountering God, and in essence we should be taking off our sandals and honoring God with the experience!!!
In Deuteronomy 6:4-9 we read: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind. These commandments I give you today are to be upon your heart. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you get up. Hide them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gate.” God told the people this so that they would not forget who He was, but also so that they would not get bored with Him.
Conclusion: The Wild Goose chase isn’t just about getting to a particular destination, it is about enjoying the journey, the spiritual adventure that we are on. Living in the moment day in and day out. Seeing the miracles that are all around us all the time. It is about saying to God, “Here I am.” It is about taking off our sandals and worshiping God right here and right now. It is about a moment-by-moment sensitivity to the Holy Spirit that literally turns every day into a spiritual adventure. I hope you will begin today to finds ways to get out of your routine, and keep your relationship with God fresh and alive. Amen.
from the book “Wild Goose Chase” by Mark Batterson
Sunday, October 24, 2010: Exodus 3:1-5
Introduction: Today we continue our series, the Wild Goose Chase. Last week, we talked about Nehemiah and the cage of responsibility. This week we are going to talk about Moses and the cage of routine. If you brought your Bible, turn to Exodus 3, if not you can turn in your pew Bible to page 49. Exodus 3:1-5, “Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, ‘I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.’ 4 When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, ‘Moses! Moses!’ And Moses said, ‘Here I am.’ 5‘Do not come any closer,’ God said. ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.’”
Illus.- Many years ago I was driving up into the mountains, and there was a thick cloud cover so that you couldn’t see above a certain point. But at one point I passed through the cloud cover and now I was above the clouds. As I looked out all I could see was clouds. I was on top of the clouds! It was almost like being on top of the world. And I began to think of the beauty and wonder of God’s creation. This kind of majesty really defies words. Last week we talked about how the Celtic Christians called the Holy Spirit An Geadh-Glas, or the Wild Goose. Well, the Celtic Christians also had a name for this kind of majesty for God—they called them “thin places.” Places where heaven and earth seem to touch, where God seems to hold back the space time curtain and reveal just a little bit more of His glory; or places where, in a sense, the Wild Goose invades the reality of your life and you are never the same.
I. God shows up- (Exodus 3:1-5)
a. Getting your attention- I think Exodus 3 is one of these moments
for Moses; it’s a thin place, if you will. Moses is a fugitive. In his anger, he had killed an Egyptian task-master and he ends up fleeing Egypt and lands in a place called Midian. For 40 years he finds himself, not in a palace, as he had been before, but in the desert, tending sheep. It is easy to wonder if Moses at this point feels rather forsaken or forgotten by God. 40 years is a long time to be away from your people; to be in exile. It would be easy to feel abandoned.
It’s here that we pick up this story in Exodus 3:1. Now think about this: One day, Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro. He was deep in the wilderness, near the Mountain of God. Something catches his eye. It’s a burning bush. That would startle you, but then he notices that the bush isn’t burning up. ‘Amazing,’ I’m sure Moses thought to himself. ‘Why isn’t the bush burning up? ’Moses then thinks he needs to go check this out closer!
We see that God is using this burning bush to get Moses’ attention. Which He does. And when Moses comes closer, God speaks to Moses out of the bush. Probably by instinct Moses answers back, ‘Here I am.’ He then probably wonders for a moment why he is speaking to a bush!
God continues to speak, telling Moses to take off his sandals, that the ground he is standing on is holy ground.
Last week I encouraged you to read the book of Nehemiah to get a fuller picture of the story. I hope you did it. This week I want to encourage you to read over the next few chapters of Exodus to see how this story unfolds: from the burning bush until the Israelites are safely away from Egypt. But let’s hit a few of the high points this morning… Moses has been tending sheep for 40 years. That’s 480 months, 2,080 weeks, or 14,560 days. He has had the same daily routine for 40 years; day in, day out. I wonder if at this point Moses is a little disappointed that this is what his life has ended up being. He had so much potential. Going from being the adopted son of the Pharaoh, with great responsibility, to being a sheepherder. He must have felt like he was underachieving. We see that Moses is caught in the cage of routine. He probably went out every day to carry out his responsibility, and knew the routine so well that he didn’t even have to think about what he was doing. God knew that He not only had to show up for Moses, but He had to get Moses’ attention to help him break out of this routine.
b. One day- In some versions of this passage they start out by saying
“one day.” One day. This phrase can really epitomize what a relationship with Christ is about. When you are in relationship with Christ, you never know when or where or how God could invade the reality of your life and turn your life inside out and upside down IN A SINGLE DAY. He can show up any place, anytime, and turn your life into a wild goose chase. You can think of it as holy anticipation.
Instead of it being a concern to you, you can look at it as a “I’m going to wait to see what God is going to do next.” Now, it is easy to get caught up in the daily routine. I understand this as well. Most of my days are not very glamorous; they are average days. I have a routine, and I think I do it well. But we also have to live in the “anticipation” that God can and will do something special in our lives “one day.”
Let me make a point here: I think that it is easy to assume that the people in the Bible were these wonderful heroes. And in many ways they were, because they were faithful in acting out the plan God had for them. But they also had many flaws and sins in their life. If you doubt me, just read up on David, Abraham, Moses, and so on, and see the mistakes they made. In many ways, they didn’t have a clue, just like you and me, until God came along and took them on a journey. A farmer named Noah had no idea that “one day” he would build a really big boat. The shepherd David didn’t know that “one day” he would be king. An orphan named Esther didn’t know that “one day” she would become a queen.
I think Moses thought that he would tend sheep until the day he died. He had gotten to that point where he thought that he was unqualified and disqualified to do anything more with his life. He had no idea that he would go back and confront Pharaoh and that he would become the human vessel that would reveal the glory of God in these ten miracles and he would be the one, after 400 years of captivity, to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt and toward the Promised Land. Ah, but one day, one day, God shows up. God can show up any place, any time, and I hope we are ready for this by living with that reality.
II. God invades our lives- (Matthew 4:18-19; 1 John 1:9)
a. Bruce and me- I don’t know if you saw it, but 8 days ago, on
Saturday, October 16, on the front page of the Press Telegram was a picture of Bruce and Helen Kunkel. The Press Telegram had heard about Bruce’s autobiography, and decided to do a story about the book and about Bruce. What intrigued them was the fact that at the age of 94, mostly from memory, Bruce was able to write his own autobiography, and self publish it. Even more, last Monday I got a call from Bruce, telling me that he was going to be interviewed on the radio; this happened two days ago. I said to him: “Bruce, it is amazing how God is giving you opportunities to share your story.” And he responded: “I guess you’re never too old to be used by God!”
NO! We are never too old, or too young, or too anything. None of that matters to God. What matters is that you are willing to be a servant for the Lord.
If you are really chasing the Wild Goose, you have no idea where you might end up.
I guess it has been quite a few years now, but back when I was in college I started out as a computer programming major. Computers had really become big back in the late 70’s, and I knew that the future was in computers. The problem is that a computer programmer just sits in front of a computer all day, and I am a people person; I need to be with people. So I changed my major from computer programming to music. I did enjoy music (still do), and I thought that teaching would be the way to go. WRONG AGAIN. After I graduated with a Music Education degree, God led me to seminary to pursue a career in ministry!! So while I was in seminary I was working as a junior high director for a church. As I watched the minister preach, I thought to myself, I’ll never be doing that, I will just do youth ministry. You know what, NEVER SAY NEVER TO GOD.
I hope you’ll live with that reality, with that hope that God can “one day” invade your life just like He did with Moses. It can change in a moment. Now, notice the response Moses had: he is caught a little off guard. Yet his response is simple. Really I don’t think anybody can predict how they would respond if God showed up to them in a burning bush! Moses’ initial response was great; he simply said: “Here I am.” He says it like God doesn’t know where he is. OR maybe it is more out of a sense of boredom having done the same thing day after day; a sense of being forgotten. God is finally showing up, and Moses says ‘here I am.’
b. Resistance and release- Many of you know the story: Moses puts
up some resistance; he second guesses himself. He doesn’t believe he is capable of doing what God is asking him to do, and so he tries to put God off. I want to suggest that this is where the Wild Goose chase begins, when you say, “Here I am.” I want to be very explicit. 2,000 years ago, Jesus extended an invitation, He said, “Come follow me.” That invitation is still on the table, and the Wild Goose chase BEGINS the moment we put our faith in Christ and decide to follow him.
But here’s the mistake I think many of us make, we feel like God just came to save us from our sin. He does that, the moment we put our faith in Christ, when you confess your sins, “He is faithful and just to forgive you your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness,” as 1 John 1:9 tells us. He takes care of the sin problem, He takes care of the past. But I think some of us live as if that’s it, and we’re good to go. We live with the thinking that there doesn’t need to be anything more than that. But it is so much more than that. God takes care of the past to invite us into the future so that we can truly live the spiritual adventure and so that we can realize the God-given potential that He has given to us.
I really believe that God came to save us from boredom. I mean, look at this story at face value. Moses has got to be bored out of his mind. Maybe occasionally, his flock would get attacked by a wild animal and there would be a little rush of adrenaline and it would be an exciting day for Moses. But the next day, back to staring at the backside of sheep. In each of us we have an adrenal gland. God created this adrenal gland. God is the one who designed us in a way that when we experience something exciting or adventurous, we experience a rush of adrenaline. I think what happens to a lot of us is we are just bored silly with our relationship with God, so we try to get that rush of adrenaline in the wrong way. Moses got a rush of adrenaline when he killed that Egyptian taskmaster, but it was sinful. But I want you to notice what happens. When God begins to redeem us and when we say, “Here I am, I’m going to chase the Wild Goose,” I want you to notice what happens. Do you think that Moses experienced a rush of adrenaline when he walked back in to confront Pharaoh? What a rush of adrenaline I’m sure he felt! What about when he took that staff for the first time and he threw it down and it turned into a snake? What a rush of adrenaline, in a God-ordained way. What about the Egyptian army breathing down his neck, Red Sea right in front of him. What a rush of adrenaline! IT’S A HOLY RUSH OF ADRENALINE. Moses is bored silly and God came to rescue and save him from his boredom and said, ‘Let me invade the reality of your life and let’s see what happens.’
III. From spiritual formation to spiritual adventure- (Deuteronomy 6:4-9)
a. Spiritual routine- In Exodus 3:4 we see that God calls Moses by
name to capture his attention. The simple fact that God has to capture Moses’ attention tells us that God had lost Moses’ attention, or Moses had stopped paying attention to God. I think that’s what routine does. Just like responsibility, that we talked about last weekend, routine is a good thing. We need routine. Without routine, life is absolutely chaotic. Most of us have a morning routine that involves a shower and toothpaste and deodorant. On behalf of your friends and family, continue with that routine, it’s a good thing. But here’s the catch, once a routine becomes a routine, you need to disrupt the routine.
Let me put it in physiological terms. If you work out your muscles in the same way every time you go to the gym, eventually your muscles will adapt to the routine and you will stop growing. What you need to do is confuse your muscles by disrupting the routine, maybe changing the order of the exercises, or doing different exercises for the same muscles, and your body will begin to respond again and grow again. The same thing is true of spiritual routines. You might know them better by the name spiritual disciplines: things like prayer and fasting and Bible study and fellowship. It is so easy to forget to regularly do these disciplines or to go through the motions. When this happens, at some point we stop worshiping God in spirit and in truth and we just go through the motions.
Sometimes God has to call out: ‘Chris, Chris, I’m over here!’ and sometimes He has to do something to catch our attention. Maybe it is a diagnosis we find out about, or a tragedy in the family, or your kids getting into trouble. These are the more severe experiences that can remind us that we have forgotten about God. Hopefully God doesn’t need us to go through something so drastic for us to remember about the need we have to be close to God. Sometimes just disrupting our spiritual routine can help us to discover God again more fully.
b. Take off your sandals- How to disrupt your spiritual routine:
NUMBER ONE. Try a new translation of the Bible. This is very simple, but different words cause different synapses to fire. Our pew Bible is the New Revised Standard. When I quote from scripture in my sermons, and when I teach at the adult Sunday School class and the Wednesday night Bible study I use the New International version. I also have the version called “The Message,” which is a more narrative style of the Bible. Different versions can give you deeper insights as well.
NUMBER TWO. Do a fast. The Bible talks often about fasting, and how through fasting we are drawn closer to God as we remember that we are to rely on Him for all of the needs in our lives. When I fast, I let those hunger pains lead me to be a little more diligent in my praying for others. NUMBER THREE. Keep a journal. A gratitude journal, a prayer journal, a dream journal. I journal about once a week and use it to reflect on what God is teaching me, and what is going on in my mind and my emotions about my life and ministry. NUMBER FOUR. Go on a retreat. Retreats are great opportunities to get away from the routine of life and let God impact you deeply in your spirit. I am glad to say that the Session just approved setting aside $10,000 to be used toward retreat and missions opportunities, and I am hoping that sometime next year we will have a church retreat. More spiritual formation takes place in a weekend retreat than in six months of weekly meetings!! NUMBER FIVE. Plug into a small group. We will be starting small groups in late January, and I hope that you will really think about being a part of one. I have been in many small groups myself, and these are always very meaningful and help bring a lot of spiritual depth to my life.
We need to understand that these spiritual disciplines are all meant to lead us into an encounter with God. God told Moses to “take off his sandals,” because Moses was there encountering God. There are many people who have experienced “miracles,” but I believe encountering God is a miracle in and of itself. And when we read the Bible, or fast, or go on a retreat, or study the Bible together in a group, we are encountering God, and in essence we should be taking off our sandals and honoring God with the experience!!!
In Deuteronomy 6:4-9 we read: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind. These commandments I give you today are to be upon your heart. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you get up. Hide them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gate.” God told the people this so that they would not forget who He was, but also so that they would not get bored with Him.
Conclusion: The Wild Goose chase isn’t just about getting to a particular destination, it is about enjoying the journey, the spiritual adventure that we are on. Living in the moment day in and day out. Seeing the miracles that are all around us all the time. It is about saying to God, “Here I am.” It is about taking off our sandals and worshiping God right here and right now. It is about a moment-by-moment sensitivity to the Holy Spirit that literally turns every day into a spiritual adventure. I hope you will begin today to finds ways to get out of your routine, and keep your relationship with God fresh and alive. Amen.
posted by Logan's Blog at 11:28 PM
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