How do you encounter God when He seems silent? How do you know if you are doing what He REALLY wants? This week Kent tackles this question and challenges us to take our relationship with God to the next level. Jump in with us in Sections 2 & 19 of the Gospel Harmonies @ https://www.harmonychurch.cc/tracking-jesus-timeline/. IT’S EASY TO GIVE at Harmony, text any amount to (859) 459-0316 to get started (or give online @ my.harmonychurch.cc/give ).
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OPENING ILLUSTRATION:
When Piper was little, she was the queen of the Silent treatment. Some of you have probably experienced it. Jenni and I laugh about it because people will come up to her and ask her some questions and she will just look at them with her big beautiful brown eyes and stare at them. Jenni took her to the doctor a year ago or so and Jenni said the doctor asked her all these questions, and Piper just played possum. She acted like the doctor wasn’t even there. Then the doctor turned around and Piper just giggled. That little stinker. She’s so quiet that a few years ago I paid her money to talk to adults – just to practice…
She’s the queen of the silent treatment
God happens to be pretty good at silence too…
Did you know that God spent 400 years without talking one time?
Don’t believe me?
Open your bible to the very last 2 verses of the Old Testament
Malachi 4:5-6
5 “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”
And then for 400 years…
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God went silent…
-literally, there was no more prophets
-no more God speaking
-no more miracles
—He was just silent – God’s silent Treatment
and then…
John 1:1-8
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
I think John the Disciple is intentionally opening His gospel in this way to break the silence.
John is taking us back to the creation story – “In the Beginning.”
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This time, instead of God just speaking – John peeks behind the curtain showing us that the word God spoke – His creative force – is Jesus.
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Did you see what John the disciple sets us up within vs 6?
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6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
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John the Baptist was the break in the 400 years of silence
-John was the first prophet on the scene
I wish we could have seen him.
-The bible describes him wearing camel skins
-with a leather belt
-he ate locusts and honey for his diet
He was rough and tough
-he was preaching and baptizing people…
-so much so that people started wondering about him – actually, they thought he might be breaking the silence…
John 1:19-21
19 Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. 20 He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Messiah.”
21 They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?”
He said, “I am not.”
“Are you the Prophet?”
He answered, “No.”
These people recognize something powerful is happening in John the Baptist that John doesn’t even seem to see…
-maybe it was humility
-maybe John just didn’t see it
-but John actually missed how big of a role he played in the scene of what God was about to do…
Listen to Jesus’ words about Johnny B
Matthew 11:11-15
11 Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12 From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence, and violent people have been raiding it. 13 For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. 14 And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come. 15 Whoever has ears, let them hear.
God breaks His silence in the world with John the Baptist
-He does it because John is the one who is the Elijah
-He is the one who prepares the way for Jesus to come into the world
-In John God’s silence is broken…
Here’s what gets me about all this
John didn’t know He was the Elijah, John was just being faithful to God’s purposes in his life
WE:
Can I just get devotional with you for a moment?
Some of you are going through some major life changes right now..
-you are approaching retirement and you are wondering, “what now”
-you have a baby that’s turning into a toddler and you are thinking, “I’m not sure how to do this”
-you have job offers in front of you that you don’t know which way to go
John the Baptist didn’t know the bigger picture – what he knew was to embrace God and he’d encounter God wherever he was
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What if you stopped worrying this Christmas about getting everything right and being perfect at everything?
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And focused more on encountering God?
-stop worrying this Christmas – seriously – STOP
-Instead, start living
-find one person you can start praying for
-give gifts to people who will never repay you
CLOSING ILLUSTRATION:
Years ago, Jenni and I fostered some little boys. we didn’t know if God wanted us to keep him for a long time, or just in the meantime, what I knew was that God wanted us to love the unloveable, and we are going to do for one what we wish we could do for everyone. When you are encountering God, you are giving Him the opportunity to work through you.
I read earlier this little passage
John 1:1-4
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
The thing is, that we can easily miss about Jesus’ entering the world is that He didn’t have to. He could have stayed where it was comfortable and didn’t cost Him anything. But, the darkness would have one. Instead, He came as a light into this world, to give you and me an opportunity to find our way home to God.
If you have never given your life to Jesus or never been baptized into Christ, this morning, I encourage you to step into God biggest purpose for you, finding your way back to Him and come to the back while we sing to meet with me and talk about taking your next step in following Jesus!
