Spiritual Practices: “Awareness of God’s Presence”

02/18/18—Highland—Meute

Spiritual Practices: “Awareness of God’s Presence”

Genesis 28: 10-22; Mark 9: 2-8

Pearl: Attending to God’s presence.

Function: To sharpen our sensitivity to God’s abiding nearness and interest in our lives such that we would respond in such a way that positive change in this world will be realized.

Jacob’s life is a profound testimony to God’s faithfulness and not Jacob’s goodness or faithfulness. Jacob was the conniving, deceiving son of Isaac who with the help of his mother Rachel stole the birthright from his elder brother Esau. God overlooked that nonsense and related with this one who now held the birthright: Jacob.

1. God appeared to Jacob in a dream/vision while he was sleeping with his head upon a stone. (Sleeping with a head upon a stone might explain the bizarre experience he had while sleeping!).
   1. In that dream God revealed that Jacob would be the father of descendants as numerous as the dust of the earth! This was the same promise that was made to Abraham when Abraham did not even have a son as of yet.
   2. This promise is the promise of promises that God was establishing a people for his own who would carry his salvation beyond to the rest of the world one day.
2. Jacob awoke from his dream/vision and declared: “Surely the Lord is in this place and I did not know it!”
3. In response he took that stone upon which he was sleeping and set it upon other stones to make a pillar and poured oil upon it.
   1. Pouring oil upon the stones was a way of setting them apart as holy, a very appropriate action to mark God’s appearing to him at that spot.
      1. This baptismal is a kind of altar of stones which serve a holy purpose. Last week a few of us needed to move the baptismal about a foot. Have any of you ever lifted this baptismal? It took three grown men to lift just the top portion of the baptismal font. These are very weighty stones…for a reason. Their purpose is holy. The spot for that baptismal is special.
      2. Speaking of holy spots, I recall an Elder from another church telling me on a number of occasions that he remembers the precise spot on the floor of the sanctuary in the church of his youth where he kneeled down at his ordination. I often think of that when we ordain people as we did last Sunday and will do again in the next couple of weeks. Sometimes I notice the floor where you kneel down as being special.

• Being ordained, set apart for service for the Lord, is one of those holy moments where you might want to mark the spot.

1. If you were married in this church you likely remember it when you walk up here near to the communion table. It is close to the spot where you spoke your vows. It is a holy spot!

1. Not only did Jacob anoint the stone he even changed the name of the area from Luz to “Bethel.” That Hebrew word “Bethel” means “house of God.” The place got a new identity! Now do you understand why so many churches are named Bethel?

Because God is near to us, very much present, and very interested in our world and in our lives, unlike Jacob, we KNOW that God is in this place! Jacob was caught by surprise as he did not know that God was in that place.

We are not caught by surprise that the Lord is near, present, and very interested in our world and in our lives. This is because God is more accessible to us today than in Jacob’s day.

1. After Jesus ascended into heaven he promised that the Holy Spirit would come to be with his people and to be with his world. Ever since the Day of Pentecost, God is all around us. God is everywhere.
   1. But even before Christ, King David wrote about keenly feeling the presence of God with him. His words are recorded in Psalm 139:
      1. “Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?
      2. If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol [the place of the dead], you are there.

• If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast” (Vv. 7-10).

1. We like King David and even more so than David should be able to sense the presence of God all around us.

2. I maintain today that it is not so much about developing skills to recognize God’s presence as it is about paying attention! For us it is more the question of whether we will ignore God or will we pay attention to God?
   1. I think many of us think of God often. God is in our thoughts many times throughout the day. We are aware of God’s presence.
   2. It is not so much about being aware of God’s presence as it is about that reality making a difference in our lives. It is about what we are going to do about God’s intense interest in our lives and in our world.
   3. We followers of Christ cannot ignore God’s presence, and interest in this world of ours and in this life of ours.

Because of God’s intense interest in our world we know that it is our responsibility to act to change our world.

1. In light of another school shooting this week in Parkland, FL, and in light of our awareness of God’s intense interest in our world we know that we must act in response.
   1. Too many spots in our world are being marked by evil. Too many locations are being burned into our memories for violent, evil acts: Columbine, Virginia Tech, Nickel Mines, Sandy Hook, Charlottesville, Las Vegas, Parkland, and on and on. Too many spots in God’s world are being marked by evil.
   2. God’s people, unlike Jacob, who are very aware of God’s nearness and presence, have got to act to redeem the names and the places and the earth where evil broke loose.
2. Keenly aware of God’s presence as we are, what will we do about it?
   1. Let’s not do as Jacob did. After this dramatic experience with God and after anointing a stone and changing the name of the place of God’s presence, Jacob set up all kinds of conditions with God.
      1. Jacob said, “If God will be with me, and if God will keep me in his way, and if God will give me bread to eat, and if God will give me clothes to wear, and if God will bring me safely to my father’s house,” etc., etc.
      2. After that profound experience of God’s presence Jacob bargained and negotiated terms with God. Jacob, Jacob, Supplanter, Jacob, expecting God to be like you!
   2. Much more aware of God’s presence than Jacob was, will we do better than Jacob? We have much more reason to do better.
   3. This past week showed us vividly that we have a serious problem in the US. The proliferation of mass shootings are a uniquely US problem. We have a problem of violence in our land.
      1. We could continue to bargain and negotiate and vacillate and rationalize and dodge the issues or because of our keen awareness of God’s holy presence decide to act to deal with the problem of violence in our land.
      2. Aware of God’s presence we should strategize ways of responding.

• The weight of God’s holy presence and nearness is becoming heavier and heavier upon God’s people such that we have to take action.

1. People are waking up. This shooting last week in FL on Ash Wednesday which was also Valentine’s Day, seems like the straw which is breaking the camel’s back. People are waking up!

3. God’s people are responding because we are profoundly aware of God’s intense interest in our world and because we are very aware of God’s real presence among us.
   1. We are aware that God is looking at us and waiting for us to act to bring heaven on earth.
   2. We know that God is not willing to have hell on earth. We his people should not be willing to have hell on earth, either!
4. It is time for the church to strategize and to work and to plan and to do everything that we can to reclaim all of these places known for hell, to be places known for heaven.

Because we are keenly aware of God’s nearness, of God’s presence, and of God’s intense interest in our world we his people have got to see everything through the lenses of the gospel, through lenses of the kingdom.

1. John Calvin, the father of Presbyterianism, is said to suggest that we look through God-seeing glasses. When we put on those God-seeing glasses, when we see as God sees, what do we see?
2. After seeing, what will we do?
3. After seeing, what will we say?

Keenly aware of God’s presence as we are, very aware of God’s will as we are, fully aware of God’s expectations as we are, we will respond according to God’s good and just nature.