Marriage is an interesting matter.
Not all marriages last.
I found some cynical observations on marriage sent to me on the internet the other day.
Here’s an example:-
Men who have pierced ears are better prepared for marriage. They’ve experienced pain and bought jewelery.
Such views of marriage funny though they are are somewhat cynical
Husbands and wives become disillusioned, because they are either focusing on the wrong things, they had the wrong expectations of what their spouse should’ve been, or they just don’t understand how marriage is supposed to work, and so they become apathetic in their marriage, and they loose the passion that they once had.
Today I want to suggest the same problem can operate in your relationship with God if you let it.
The problem when something goes wrong with your relationship with God is – unlike marriage – you realise that the other part of the relationship is perfect. If God is perfect where, then, does the fault lie??
What a lot of people do is they round on either the World they live in – the people they live with or the Christians they worship with.
None of these, however are the critical issue when it comes to our relationship with God!
And so today I want to talk about how to keep your love for God alive, and how to keep the passion in your relationship with Him.
I want to look at three images of Spiritual passion:-
MT 3:1 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea 2 and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." 3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:
"A voice of one calling in the desert,
`Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.’ "
MT 3:4 John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. 5 People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. 6 Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
MT 3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not think you can say to yourselves, `We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 10 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
John had passion
But he knew how to rest before God.
He came out of the desert not down town!
Gordon MacDonald gives this illustration:-
On our first visit to Africa, my wife and I visited a tiny, up country village in the Ivory Coast, called Sepikaha where we met Chloe, a blind evangelist. That day the man had walked several dozen miles from his own village to get to Sepikaha where he preached reguarly to a small group of Christians. We watched him in action, breathless with admiration for his courage to preach in a town where the religion of islam was militantly practiced.
A few months after we had met Chloe, he was attacked and severely beaten by those who resented his presence in Sepikaha. His blindness gave him no opportunity for defense. Yer when he had recovered from his wounds, he went back.
I have often pondered over the extent of the spiritual passion which repeatedly drove that man to walk those miles to villages like Sepikaha, preach to people he could not see, and keep doing it after he came within an inch of losing his life. The beating had not destroyed his passion..
Paul knew those sorts of moments only too well. And there are indications that his own passion may have been threatened at one time or another.
A weariness is expressed in his words to the Corinthians,
2CO 1:8 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. 9 Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11 as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.
This morning I want to isolate three keys that will restore your Spiritual passion.
There is a Peanuts cartoon in which Charlie Brown was talking to Lucy. He remarked about the tragedy of so much apathy in the world today. And Lucy responded, "Yeah, it’s terrible. But who cares?"
The first answer to restoring your spiritual passion:-
Is finding The place of Secrets with God:-
One of the things that a used car yard does is it takes our old car that was once brand new.
The car may be dented – the brakes might be grabbing it may not have been serviced as it should.
Inside the upholstery may be torn and the registration might have expired.
What the car yard does is – first of all it cleans the car up – it gets rid of all the dirt and damage from the previous journeys.
It is tuned up – mechanical defects are repaired – paint is touched up – tires are painted black and they put that nice smell in.
In one day the car goes from a $3,000 trade in to a twelve thousand dollar motorists delight.
We too every now and then need to go into God’s sales yard.
The Christian journeys through a broken world. That world can take the shine off our lives and we become in need of restoration.
MK 6:30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 31 Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest."
If you have been living your life in the world there is no doubt that you will be like that used car. In need of preparation.
When we come to the quiet place – then there is some things we need to do.
One thing is Repentance – We need to confess all known sin and turn from it. We can pick up some pretty tardy habits and sins and we do need to clean them up before God. People seem to blame all kinds of things for their failure to live the victorious Christian life but the need to confess our personal failings before a loving God and to turn from our sins is one of our greatest needs.
Another thing we need to do is, having sorted out the offences we have committed we Establish a place where we can be with God.
Seek God’s direction from here on – try to understand what God would have you do after spending quality time with him.
And:-
Take care, to put into practice the things that you have learned
R is Repentance – We need to confess all known sin and turn from it.
Establish a place where we can be with God. (On our knees – walking – on a Hill in a church!)
Seek God’s direction from here on
Take care, to put into practice the things that you have learned.
Hebrews chapter 4 verse 9 9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.
Much more could be said about the need for the restoration process in the life of the Christian.
But let’s move on from there:-
The second great thing that will restore Spiritual passion is hope.
Presuming that we have taken the time to rest and restoration with God and in the process have been both filled and synchronised with God’s Spirit – What now?
The greatest injection the Christian can receive is hope.
Hope is an amazing thing it lifts the heart and performance of the person who has it.
RO 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
According to this passage Christian hope is gained through trusting in God. As you inject the precepts of God into your life then you see the virtue and blessing of trusting in Him. Paul suggests that as you do that you will overflow with hope.
Jim Hurn at Promise keepers a few weeks ago in Gore was telling us that he recently went to talk to the founder of Bethlehem College in Tauranga. Jim asked the founder – “How much would this facility be worth.”
The man replied:- “About $20 million!”
Then Jim told us that not too many years ago this same man stood on this site with nothing but a dream and only $40-00 in his pocket.
RO 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
If you have hope you will always return to the grand task that God has given you – and hope and faith are partners.
Noah had faith and hope when he built the ark over many many years.
You have to have hope when you are building an Ark with no flood in sight
So we need that place of rest for restoring passion and we need hope – The third aspect of Passion I would like to raise for you is community.
Nothing produces Christian Passion than likeminded people who want to work together in mission.
This is the new Testament norm – whilst it is true that Christians sometimes are forced to work in isolation in remote situations – the Christian church is meant to work together.
Jesus – God’s son, when he began his ministry wasted no time in gathering a group of followers around him and the gospels take us on an exciting walk with these disciples.
2nd Chronicles 12:14 tells us that King Rehoboam, "did evil, because he did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord.” We must prepare our heart to seek the Lord. 1st Kings 15:3 tells us that King Jeroboam
We don’t want to end up like him.
Can I close by suggesting you undertake the three things we suggested under the numonic R.E.S.T
Take care, to put into practice the things that you have learned
R is Repentance – We need to confess all known sin and turn from it.
Establish a place where we can be with God. (On our knees – walking – on a Hill in a church!)
Seek God’s direction from here on
Take care, to put into practice the things that you have learned.
