Light Service Sermons for the Month

What does Christianity teach about.
How to Experience God
DATE: April 8, 2001
TEXT: Mark 8:34-38

We have a full morning today so you are in for a treat not only because of the drama this morning, not only because of the special music number the band is doing but also because I am going to keep my message short.

Today, we will be talking about "How to Experience God." I saved this message for today because today is Passion Sunday. It is the day each year when we especially remember how much God loves us. Today we especially remember something rather unbelievable. God put on skin. God left heaven, put on skin in order to communicate with us and to accomplish the most important work of life, of all of life.

Can you picture God, as God put skin on, with elbows? Can you picture God with knees; ears and arms and legs and a spleen. God tried for thousands of years to communicate with his people. He tried to figure out what was the best way to connect, to communicate, and to accomplish what's most important in life. And the best way was to come and be one of us. To come to the earth and live among us and show us the way.

Well, today, as I poured myself into the verses that Sheila read a little earlier, I came out with two thoughts about this Scripture passage. The first: experiencing God is more important than any other single factor in life.

Soren Kierkegaard tells the story of a king who had it all. This king decided one day he wanted to find out how people in the kingdom were living. What real people were like, what their real struggles and real needs and hurts were all about.

He got in his chariot and rode around the countryside taking a look at the people. He went into a particular rural village and he saw a beggarly woman who looked like a rag doll. She had tattered, torn clothes and a begging cup. He looked into her face and there was an interesting attraction, something happened in his heart.

The next day he asked if he could go to the same rural village. The king went by and sure enough, this beggar woman was sitting there, outside of the city. He did it again the next day and the next day and pretty soon he realized that he was falling in love with her.

But what was interesting was that he couldn't figure out how to communicate with that woman. If he would get out of his chariot and command her, "You come and be my wife, I'm in love with you," that would just be an exercise of power. You cannot force love by power. Well, maybe his fame and notoriety as the king would attract her as his wife but is that a good basis for a lasting relationship: fame and notoriety? You can't capture love by fame and notoriety. He knew that. And also he thought that if she sees all the riches and all the wealth, maybe that's what she'll love and she won't love me.

And so the king did the only thing that he could do to win her love. That was to give up his position, his power, and his royal clothing. The king put on beggar's clothes and went out into the countryside and sat beside the beggar woman and became a beggar. And they fell in love; he won her love.

God has done that for us. There is power as we get to know what God is like, we look at Jesus. As Jesus came, he demonstrated there is indeed nothing we can do to make God love us more and there is nothing we can do to make God love us less.

The second interesting discovery I made this week as I was studying these verses, is that the only thing more absurd than God putting on skin and coming to the earth and then dying on a cross for our eternal salvation is our unwillingness to receive it.

Here God comes to us and offers us everything that we need, but many refuse. God today is coming and knocking at the door of our lives. The Bible tells us, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in." I'll live with them; I'll be their friend. I will love them and fill them with hope.

John Ortberg, a great writer, has described a situation when he was ten years old, in the late 60's. He was a great Chicago Cubs fan. One of the catchers, a star player on the Cubs at that time was Randy Hundley. John worshipped Randy. He got his trading cards and when he would go to the games, he would just love to watch Randy.

One day the phone in his home rang. It was the next-door neighbor girl. She said, "Mrs. Ortberg. Randy Hundley wants to come over and see John." Well, she had never heard of Randy Hundley and thought it was one of the kids in the neighborhood so she told the little neighbor girl, "Well, John has a piano lesson right now so tell Randy he can come and play with him at another time."

After the piano lesson was over John's mom said, "Randy Hundley wants to come over and play with you, but I told him he couldn't because you had a piano lesson." He wrote, "Mom was a pea brain! I couldn't believe she did that. I was going to call the Child Protective Services and tell them my mother was practicing child abuse! I couldn't believe it. Randy, my hero, wants to come over and see me."

So John was in serious depression. Five o'clock and a knock came at the door. He goes to the door and opens it and guess who is there? Randy Hundley, the catcher for the Chicago Cubs, star baseball player and holder of the most games caught in a career! He laid down his glove and he laid down his bat and he laid down his stardom to come to a little boy that he heard was admiring him. And the reason Randy came was to tell John to live his life not for him but for Jesus Christ.

Randy said, "I came by because I spoke at a little meeting and on my way back to the stadium, I just wanted to come by, John, and tell how you how important it is for you to follow Jesus Christ."

It changed John's life. But that's what God does. God did that through Jesus. He knocks on the door of our lives. So today we ask, "How do we get to know God?" Through Jesus. We get to know God through Jesus.

Laurie Beth Jones in her book Jesus in Blue Jeans, writes, "Many years ago I dreamed that I was standing in a meadow. Suddenly a large man approached me and as he got nearer, I gasped to realize that was Jesus in blue jeans. When he saw the expression on my face, he said, 'Why are you surprised? I came to them wearing robes because they wore robes. I come to you in blue jeans because you wear blue jeans.' I fell in love with him at that moment. There is something so familiar, so powerful about this man in blue jeans." To get to know God, we get to know Jesus? Through followers of Jesus Christ.

I rented and watched the movie, Almost Famous. Its screenplay won an academy award a couple of weeks ago. It the story of a young boy, Cameron Crowe, a rock star fan, who gets to travel with his favorite band and write a story for Rolling Stone magazine. His was a lover of the music; he was a fan. There are a lot of fans out there just like him

Hanging around the band are also a group of young girls known as "Band Aids," young girls that were obsessed with the musicians. They would stand up and cheer and love the guys and really get into the music. They were obsessed fans. There are also a lot of fans out there just like them.

There are also fans of going to church, even obsessed fans. People love to go to church. But then what happens on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday.are they followers or are they fans?

Tiger Woods is a great golfer. I will be talking more about him at our next service. There are many people who have said, "Boy, I wish I could play like Tiger Woods. And have all the fans, all the media attention. But what most people don't see are the hours and hours and hours in the cold, in the rain, hitting ball after ball, practicing until your hands are bloody from the rubbing of the grip. What we see on TV is the glamorous side of the sport. What we don't see is what is behind all that?

I think that's an example of the difference between a fan and a follower. There are a lot of fans of Tiger Woods but to be a follower, a disciple, is another matter. It is the willingness to learn from the master. There are a lot of fans but to get out there and run and practice and stay in shape takes commitment and perseverance.

Today Jesus invites us to be followers not fans. He wants followers because people get to know the real Jesus through His followers not his fans. I would ask you today, would you describe your relationship with God by sincerely saying, "I love you with all my heart?" Can you say that? Is that descriptive of what being a follower means to you? I love you with all my heart.

I pray that if you haven't experienced God through Jesus that you would open up your life because there is nothing you can do to make God love you more and there is nothing that you can do to make God love you less.

Let us pray.

God we thank you today. Thank you for coming to us when we couldn't come to you. Doing for us what we couldn't do for ourselves. Lord today, now if there are those here who have not experienced God, may you find a way, as they open their heart, to come in and transform their life and make them new. And those of us who have been just fans and not followers, Lord, show us what it means to deny ourselves and take up the cross and follow, faithfully follow. And Lord before we leave this place, may silently form our lips come the words, I love you with all my heart. I love you with all my heart.

AMEN

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