His Passion For You
The Passion Of The Christ – part one
(Also if you can get it, play the 3rd day song ’love Song From A Savior...’ the main chorus is "just to be with you" and it talks about all that Christ did just to be with us...)
Show Movie Trailer of the passion…
THIS MORNING – we kick off a brand new series, we are calling, “The Passion Of The Christ.” ON FEBRUARY 25th, Mil Gibson’s movie hit theatres. AND – I hesitate to even call it a movie. IT – is more of an event, an experience. Mel Gibson’s, ‘The Passion foil The Christ,’ have forever intensified and changed how I see in my mind, what Jesus did for me… AND – I think it is SO awesome that a movie about Jesus; about our Lord, our Savior and our friend - is setting all kinds of records. I’ve seen the movie several times. We rented out a theatre at the Mall of Ga. on March the 6th and experienced it together.
LISTEN - the last 12 hours of the earthly life of Jesus, THE CROSS is the pinnacle, the highpoint, the culmination of the passion of the Christ. BUT UNDESTAND – the passion of the Christ, did not start there NOR did it end there. YOU SEE – Christ was the most passionate man that ever walked the face of the earth. AND – over the next 6 weeks we are going to talk about;
• His passion for YOU
• His passion for the HURTING
• His passion for the CROSS
• His passion for HIS PEOPLE
• His passion for CHANGE
• His passion for YOUR FUTURE
AND – to be honest, of all the messages I have preached over the last 13 years, NO SERIES - has both excited me and intimidated me like this one. I’m excited, because I know that the passion of the Christ has the power to change; hearts, lives & this church (it has done so for 2,000 years). I MEAN – what better way to keep the fires of the NYR raging THEN, the passion of the Christ.
BUT – this 6 week series also scares me to death. BECAUSE – I want this series to honor, lift up and bring glory to the Christ. I want it to draw people to Him, to cause people to stand in awe of Him… AND – I feel a bit inadequate for the task…
BUT - as I wrote in my Tuesday Reflections e-mail… I’m not leaving this to chance. INSTEAD – I have put it into the hands of God by asking people to pray for me… Each week, and e-mail when they do.
AGAIN – today’s message is called His passion for you… AND – my objective is really simple… I want every person who walks out of those doors today UNDERSTANDING how passionate Christ is for them…
When you think of the word passion, what do you think of? What pictures come to you mind? Let me give you a few pictures that come into my mind…
A Sports Fan;
NOW – sports fans can be a pretty passionate bunch. They but & wear their teams jerseys. They hang flags on their homes and their cars; they paint their faces; they go without shirts in freezing weather…(and with their buddies they paint the letters of their teams on their bellies, a lovely sight, I might add); They wear Viking helmets, beads, and blocks of cheese on their hands; they wave tomahawks and homer hankies…
AND – this time of year with March madness in full swing, passionate sports fans are everywhere… AND – right now there is probably not a more passionate sports fan around than Ryckie Fernandez. I MEAN – the guy is going crazy with his Tech boys in the elite 8. IN FACT – he said that if they win the championship that he is going run somewhere clothed… WELL – for more details you go ask him.
ANOTHER – picture that comes my mind when I think of passion is;
Someone Dating…
BACK – in the fall of 1996… when I was dating Laurie, I was pretty passionate… WE - talked on the phone one time (actually it was Tuesday Sept 18th) from 10 pm – 6 am… I saw her every day. Thought of her ever minute. Send her 2 or 3 I love you pages throughout the day… We ate lunch & dinner together all the time. YES – when it came to dating Laurie I had a huge hunk of cheese on my head… (in fact I think I still do…)
ANOTHER – picture that comes my mind when I think of passion is;
Someone who is intense about a hobby…
Whether it is; hunting; fishing, golfing, hiking, video-gaming, gardening, boating OR biking.. When people are passionate about a hobby, they go FULL throttle.
YES – whether it is a passion for… a sports team, a person, a hobby, a music group OR a type of food (in out burger..)
WE ALL - recognize passion when we see it… AND LISTEN – people who are passionate about something… HAVE CONCLUDED – that; cost, time, money, weather and comfort are all irrelevant.
BECAUSE – if you are passionate about something you are willing to suffer for it. IN FACT – the word passion comes from the Latin word, ‘passeo’ - which means to suffer.
(I have some people in my subdivision that are passionate about biking… 10 below zero wind chill freezing rain and about 10 guys in their spandex head out… they are willing to suffer because they are passionate about biking… when your dating – you can have no time or energy BUT you will still find a way to be with that person…
PASSION – is an amazing, inspiring, motivating & powerful thing…
QUESTION – is hard for you to believe that God feels that way about you? That He has that kind of passion for you? THAT – He is more passionate about you THEN Ryckie is about GT; then a hunter in a deer stand at 5 am is about hunting; then I was when I was dating Laurie…
AND LISTEN - if you do have a hard time believing that God is feels that way about you, you are not alone. YOU SEE – David also struggled with this….
“O LORD, our Lord, the majesty of your name fills the earth! Your glory is higher than the heavens…When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
(when I think about how huge, awesome & mighty you are!)
what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?” Psalm 8:1,3,4 (NLT,NIV)
“I look at my…self and wonder, Why do you bother with us? Why take a second look our way?” (Msg)
AND UNDERSTAND – God does much more than just take a second look at you…
“GOD…I’m an open book to you; even from a distance, you know what I’m thinking. You know when I leave and when I get back; I’m never out of your sight. You know everything I’m going to say before I start the first sentence. I look behind me and you’re there, then up ahead and you’re there, too — your reassuring presence, coming and going. This is too much, too wonderful — I can’t take it all in!” - Psalm 139:1-6 (Msg)
God is passionate about you…. AND [TIM…} THIS – is true whether you find it hard to believe or not;
Prayer…
The Focus Of His Passion – being with YOU
QUESTION – have you ever been the focus of someone’s passion? Where someone was willing to do anything to be with you. Where like a sports fan when their team has made the final four OR a hungry man eating a steak, they pursue being with you, with great passion.
LISTEN – we all long to be pursued, we all long to have someone passionate about being with us… AND FRIENDS – the good news of the passion of the Christ, is that the focus of his passion is being with you. UNDERSTAND – there is no escaping the truth as you flip through the pages of Scripture that God is crazy, is nuts, is passionate - about being with His people, about being with you.
IN FACT – we see this passion… in the very first chapter of the book of Genesis, (the book of beginnings). In Genesis 1 we read…
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning-the first day…” Gen 1:1-5
THEN – in verse 26 we read…
26Then God said, "Let us make people in our image, to be like ourselves. They will be masters over all life--the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the livestock, wild animals, and small animals." So God created people in his own image; God patterned them after himself; male and female he created them. 28God blessed them and told them, "Multiply and fill the earth and subdue it. Be masters over the fish and birds and all the animals." 29And God said, "Look! I have given you the seed-bearing plants throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food. 30And I have given all the grasses and other green plants to the animals and birds for their food." And so it was. 31Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was excellent in every way. This all happened on the sixth day.
NOW UNDERSTAND – even though it was not until day 6 that God created man… Man was on God’s mind long the whole creation process started… IN FACT – (when you peal back the layer, you see that man (that you & I) were the reason behind it all…
“Long before He laid down earth’s foundations, He had us in mind.” Eph 1:4
PICTURE – this scene. A couple is about to have their first child. They are turning their guest room into a nursery. I MEAN – they are spending all kinds of time & money; painting walls, hanging border, buying furniture, decorating like crazy… BECAUSE – before too long that little bundle of joy with come home.. AND – if you think about it, every thing in that room speaks to that couples desire for that child to be with them…
AND LISTEN – just as the border, the crib and the decoration speak to a parents love and passion for their child… in a very real way, the entire world, the stars; the skies, the towering red woods, the snow capped, mountains, the thundering water falls…every sunrise and sunset - speaks to God’s desire to be with you… UNDERSTAND – the reason he spoke them into existence in the place – is you!
YES – in the opening pages of the bible; in creation, we see in a powerful way God’s passion to be with you…
AND – after God created Adam & Eve and placed them in that garden paradise, what did God do? He hung out with them. Genesis 3:8 tells us that God used to walk in the garden with them in the cool of the day. THINK ABOUT/PICTURE – God walking with them, being with them…it had to be awesome!!!
NOW – I am sure that you know the rest of the story. One day in that garden paradise… Adam & Eve turned their backs on God, they choose to sin. AND – that sin, that choice, caused a great separation between God and His people, between – God and the people He so longed to be with…
BUT – let me make one thing clear here. THIS – situation. Did not take God by surprise. IN FACT – God even before He created man…KNEW that this was going to happen.
“The Lamb…was killed before the world was made.” Rev 13:8 (NLT)
[TIM…] - God knew. The Father knew that we would mess up, yet He created us anyway… UNDERSTAND – the focus of Christ’s passion is being with you…
NOW – in life many times we feel that nobody really wants to be with us. MAYBE – even right at this moment you feel kind of lonely, maybe you feel like an outcast, like you’re not worth being with… more than one friend have ditched you, a parent walked out on you…your spouse served you divorce papers; your family never seemed to have time for you… your e-mail in box is constantly empty except for forwards and spam.
BUT LISTEN - one thing, that the passion of the Christ should tell you; should make clear to you beyond any doubt whatsoever is that God the father, God the Son & God the Spirit, the all knowing, all powerful king of kings and Lord of Lords… the creator & sustainer of you see. Wants to be with you…
“God wants to be with me…”
AND - [TIM…] that’s what this book is all about… God wanting to be with you… AND LISTEN – right after the fall in Genesis chapter 3, God begins His passionate quest, the greatest quest of all time, a quest - to remove the barriers and the distance that was created because of sin…
THIS BOOK – is a powerful story. AND UNDERSTAND…
WITH - each book, each chapter, each verse
WITH – every flip of the calendar and tick of the clock… that distance is shortened…
UNDERSTAND – ‘this’ book, like creation SCREAMS of God’s passion to be with you…
IN – Genesis 1; we read of God creating His people… In Genesis 12; we see Him calling one man Abraham to leave his country, his family and his gods – to become the Father of a new nation, a nation that would be God’s very own people. (It is here that God really begins the process of getting His people to be with Him once again).
AND - God blesses these people, speaks with these people, he delivers these people from Egyptian slavery… AND – in the desert He revels to them His ultimate passion, he reveals where this whole thing is heading…says to them
"I’ll set up my residence in your neighborhood; I won’t avoid or shun you; 12I’ll stroll through your streets. I’ll be your God; you’ll be my people.”
- Lev 26:11,12 (Msg)
GOD SAY’S – this whole thing is heading to the time, when I am going to be your neighbor, live with you, hang out with you, - throw some steaks on the grill and watch the final four together…
FRIENDS – the focus of the passion of the Christ is to be with you… AND – let me tell you. THOUGH – the Christ knew that one day he would as John so richly puts it; He would become flesh and make His dwelling among us… The wait hate to be very difficult…
(Laurie and I are in the early stages of a difficult wait. Most of you know we decided in early February to adopted a child from an orphanage in another country. We are busy doing all kinds of paper work; but the real hard part cokes when we send it all over to China and have to wait for 8 -10 weeks for Lydia to get here. The wait is hard because we want to; see her, hold, her, love her be with her)
FRIENDS – when you are passionate about being with someone.. Having to wait for it to actually be reality is hard. AND – God the son had to wait for centuries to be with us… THAT – is one of the reasons why I think that the Christ, that Jesus, shows up on this earth, so many times before the manger… let me explain…
YOU SEE – several times in the OT we read of ‘The Angel of Lord’ showing up to be with people. NOW - most scholars conclude and I agree with them that this is some kind of manifestation of Christ before his incarnation. NO – He was not yet flesh and blood, BUT – he made some kind visible appearance to his people. AND – the times and circumstances of these manifestations are pretty awesome…
In Genesis 16; we see Christ showing up to be with a single mom who felt she was all alone
In Genesis 22; we see Christ showing up to be with Abraham to provide him with a sacrifice other than Isaac… providing a faithful man another way.
In Exodus 3:2; we see Christ showing up to be with a man in the desert who was certain that God had no use for him (Moses)
In Judges 6; we see Christ showing up to be with a guy named Gideon to encourage him and let him know that he was much more than he thought he was…
In I Kings 19; we see Christ showing up to be with a man named Elijah who a burned and depressed because all his work for God didn’t seem to making a difference…
AND - in Daniel 3; we see Christ showing up to be with 3 men who had been thrown into a fiery furnace…
WHEN – His people;
• Felt alone
• When they need another way
• When they felt they were of no use
• When they needed to be encourage to do great things
• When they were tired & burned out
• When they needs someone to go with them through the fire
Christ showed up…
CHRIST – is passionate about being with you! AND – when the Christ did show up 2000 years ago. He showed up in the flesh as one of us… CHRIST – did not come thundering on the top of a distant mountain.. he did not come issuing decrees from some ivory tower… He came near. He came as one of us. AND – everywhere you turn in the Gospel we see the Christ hanging out with people (all kinds of people – I think he really had a last!)
YES – without any doubt whatsoever we can see that the focus of the passion of the Christ is to be with His people – to be with you….WHY - does this passion run so deep? WHY – are it’s flames so hot? WHY – is He so unrelenting in being with you? WHAT – is it, that fuels this passion…
The Fuel For His Passion – His LOVE For You
“For God so loved the world…” Jn 3:16
LISTEN – there is nothing that makes you more passionate, more obsessed, or more crazed then being in love… WHY – do sports fans; paint their faces & their bellies; WHY – do hunter wake up so early and stay so late…? WHY – do people dating always have to be with each other? WHY – do all of these people act so crazy, so intense?
BECAUSE – they love their, team; they love to hunt; they love the person they are dating…
Why does God? Why does Christ act so crazy? Why would he give so much? Why is He so passionate about you? What is it the fuels the fire of passion? The answer – is one word, LOVE….
THIS WEEK – in my studies I came across the writings of a fiery num from the 14th century…
O eternal, infinite God! O mad lover! And you have need of your creature? Is seems so to me, for you act as if you could not live without her, in spite of the fact that you are life itself. And everything has life from you and nothing can have life without you. Why then are you so mad? Because you have fallen in love with what you have made?...You clothed yourself in our humanity, and nearer than that you could not have come. - Catherine of Siena
Why then are you so mad?
Because you have fallen in love with what you have made?
“Long before He laid down earth’s foundations, He had us in mind, and settled on us as the focus of His love, to be made whole and holy by His love.”
Eph. 1:4 (Msg)
UNDERSTAND – if God were standing right here this morning – he would say - you are a product of my love – a product of the love I have with the Son and with the Spirit. YOU SEE – our love for each other was deep, so awesome, so strong – that we created you just so that we could share our love with you…
YOU (Tim, Laurie…) – are here because I love you; you were created by my love and you were created to be the focus of my love. My love for you is undying, unfailing, unstoppable, unquenchable, unconditional and nothing can separate you from it.
FRIENDS – love is a powerful fuel… It is unrelenting no matter the cost.
RECENTLY – I rented the movie, “The Missing,” with Tommy Lee Jones. It was a pretty good movie, a western about a lady whose daughter has been kidnapped by Indians to sold as a slave. AND - her love for her daughter, her passion to be with her again… causes her to reconcile with her father who walked out on her years earlier (Tom Lee Jones). AND – to go up against an enemy greater then she was. ONCE – during her pursuit she has a curse put on her by one the Indians and nearly dies…
Shortly after that her father – tells her that things could get worse. That she ought to just give up this pursuit and go home & and try to put it behind her.. BUT – she says, “I don’t know how to do that…” IN OTHER WORDS – how can I she stop pursuing the one that I love! How can I she put out the passion to be with my daughter once again. I can’t!
AND – Tim neither can The Christ!!! UNDERSTAND – He’s hooked. There is nothing he can do about it now… He has fallen in love with the one he has made. He has fallen in love with you! He is nuts about you…
Have you ever gotten a love letter? Aren’t they cool? I like to read them over & over again -- when you read those words from their ‘own’ hand - it makes you feel loved. Well, God has written you a love letter that express His love for you....
“Not to us, O LORD, but to you goes all the glory for your unfailing love and faithfulness.” - Ps 115:1 (God’s love 4 U is unfailing)
“I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself. Jer 31:3 (God’s love 4 U is everlasting)
“...God shows his great love for us in this way: Christ died for us while we were sinners...” Rm 5:8 (God’s love 4 U – is unconditional)
“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” 1 Jn 3:1 (God has lavished His love on U and calls U His child)
“God showed how much he loved us by sending his only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.”
-1 John 4:9,10 (NLT)
(God’s love for you is passionate & sacrificial, He is willing to suffer for you)
LISTEN – believe it or not… God simply cannot help himself. YOU SEE – He has falling madly in love with you. NO ONE – will ever love you like Christ does. You have never loved anyone like Christ loves you (you’ve never even come close) THINK – about something or someone you really love…(wife, husband, child, job); God loves you so much more…
He can’t stop thinking of you. He can take his eyes of you, IN FACT – you are the apple of his eye. (that little phrase, the ‘apple of your eye’ is used a number of times in scripture.. Dt 32:10; Ps 17:8; Zech 2:8)… The apple of your eye, is your pupil… and what you look at, what you focus on is reflected in your eye… LISTEN – if you were to look into God’s eyes you would see yourself reflected in the gaze of your Father.
[TIM…] – God can not, not love you! Nothing can separate you from his love…
“I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can’t, and life can’t. The angels can’t, and the demons can’t. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can’t keep God’s love away. 39Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:38,39 (NLT)
Unfailing, unconditional, everlasting, passionate and willing to do anything to be with you…
Some of you are so thirsty for this type of love. Those who should have loved you didn’t. Those who could have loved you didn’t. you were left at the hospital. Left at the altar. Left with an empty bed. Left with a broken heart. Left with your question; “Does anybody love me?”
PLEASE – hear heaven’s answer; God loves you. Personally. Powerfully. Passionately. Others have promised and failed. But God has promised and succeeded. He loves you with an unfailing love…
CHECKOUT – one more quote from… as we wrap up this point…
Eternal Trinity, Godhead, mystery deep as the sea, you could give me no greater gift than the gift of yourself. For you are a fire ever burning and never consumed, which itself consumes all the selfish love that fills my being. Yes, you are a fire that takes away the coldness, illuminates the mind with its light, and causes me to know your truth. And I know that you are beauty and wisdom itself. The food of angels, you gave yourself to man in the fire of your love. - Catherine of Siena
The Extent Of His Passion – He Endured For You
IN – that great chapter on love that we find in 1 Cor 13, we read;
“Love…endures all things” 1 Cor 13:4-7 (NASB)
He could have given up. No one would have known otherwise. Jesus could have given up…
UNDERSTAND AT – any step along the way he could have called it quits.
WHEN – He who has never been bound by time, all of the sudden become limited by the clock, he could have said, ‘on second thought, I don’t think so…’
WHEN – He saw the size of the womb, he could have said, “no way, I’m not going in there..”
WHEN – He saw how tiny His hands would be, how soft his voice would be, how hungry his stomach would be, how sore his feet would get, he could have stopped.
AT – the first whiff of the stinky stable, at the first gust of cold air. The first time he scarped his knee or blew his nose or tasted some really bad food he could have turned and walked out.
WHEN – he saw the dirt floor of his small Nazareth house. WHEN – Joseph gave him a chore to do OR chewed Him out for something he didn’t do. WHEN – his friends goofed off or slept when his words were read in the synagogue. WHEN – his neighbor used his name in a curse.
WHEN – the lazy farmer blamed his poor crop on Him… Jesus could have said, “alright I’m out of here…” – but he didn’t…
(some of this is adapted from Max Lucado, A love worth giving book)
“Love…endures all things” 1 Cor 13:4-7 (NASB)
The extent of his passion – he endured for you…
UNDERSTAND – didn’t have too, the choice was his the whole time. AND – Christ could have stopped. He could have given up…
WHEN – those who should have treated Him best, treated him worse…
WHEN – the crowds left because His teaching became to hard.
WHEN – the accused him of being a drunkard, a glutton and a friend of sinners; he could have just thrown up his hands and went back home… but he didn’t…
AND DURING THOSE 12 HOURS WHEN – His passion reached it’s climax…
WHEN – the disciples fell asleep in the garden
WHEN – the temple guards arrested and beat him
WHEN – the roman soldiers shredded his body with the cat of 9 tails
WHEN – crowd shouted crucify him
WHEN – he carried that cross through those streets for 2 miles
WHEN – both his hands and his feet were nailed…
AS – he hung suspended between heaven & earth…
He could have given up but he didn’t…
QUESTION - How did Christ endure treatment like that? BETTER YET – why did Christ endure treatment like that? I MEAN – at any point he could have said, “I quit. That’s enough. I’m out of here.” BUT – he didn’t. Why didn’t he? What kept his passion enduring…?
I THINK – Lee Ielpi understands the answer. He is a retired, New York firefighter. He gave 26 years to the city. BUT – on September 11, 2001, he gave much more. He gave his son. Jonathan Ielpi was also a fireman. When the Twin Towers fell, he was there.
NOW – fireman are a loyal clan. When one perishes in the line of duty, the body is left where it is until a firefighter who knows the person can come and pick him up. Lee made the discovery of his son’s body his personal mission. He dug daily with dozens of others at the 16 acre graveyard. On Tuesday December 11, 3 months after the disaster, his son was found. And Lee carried him out.
HE – didn’t give up. The Father didn’t quit. He refused to turn and leave. Why? Because his love for his son was greater than the pain of the search.
UNDERSTAND – the same can be said about Christ… WHY – didn’t he quit? BECAUSE – his love for you and for me was greater than the pain of the journey… BECAUSE – his passion to be with you…
“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.”
1 John 3:16
“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends..” John 15:13,14
But God showed how much he loved us by having Christ die for us, even though we were sinful. Rm 5:8
The focus of His passion – being with you
The fuel for his passion – His love for you
The Extent of his passion – he endured for you…
Your Response To His Passion – Stop Hiding
OKAY – raise your hand if you have ever played the game hide & seek…
Now hide and seek is a very simple game. One person seeks and everybody else runs off and hides. And, if you are playing hide and seek, the fun part is to be one of the hiders. BECAUSE - If you are one of the hiders, you get to be in control. You get to decide where you are going to go. You get to keep your eyes open. You get to call the shots.
YOU SEE - the hard job in hide and seek is to be the one who has to seek. I mean – after you get this job you have to let everyone run away from you – AND THEN, you have to keep looking for people who are trying to evade you, people who are laughing at your inability to find them… That’s why nobody wants that job, because if you take it, everybody is going to run from you.
AND – have you noticed that in the game of hide and seek, that the one who gets stuck with the job of seeking doesn’t even get much of a title. I MEAN - in other games you at least get an exalted job description. TAKE – basketball for instance, you have a center and he is the one around whom the action flows. Then there is a forward, and at least that has a progressive kind of sound to it. The guard is somebody who is protecting something that matters. But in hide and seek, it is not that way.
QUESTION – what do you call the one who seeks in hide and seek? Anybody know? "It, they are called it.." Not "Commander It," not "C.E.I. - Chief Executive It," not “Mr. it” not even "Cousin It" (for old Adams Family fans), just plain old "It." And nobody wants to be "It." In fact, at the start of the game, what does everybody say? "Not ’It.’
ALRIGHT – another question, what happens at the end of the game, if people have hidden themselves too well, what happens if everyone has successfully eluded "It" through the entire game? (or if it gets called home for dinner?) . "It" cups its hands and opens its mouth and shouts as loud as it can, 4 words that penetrate the entire neighborhood. "It" ends the game by saying, "Ollie, Ollie, Oxen free."
QUESTION - did you ever wonder where that phrase comes from? WELL – actually it is a Latin phrase that means, "Liberate the oxen." No, I’m just kidding – I really don’t have any idea what it means or where it came from and I don’t really care either.
BUT – whatever ‘ollie ollie oxen free’ means – in hide & seek – it means you can come home now. It means - it is now safe to come home. No one will chase you. No one will tag you. You won’t have to suffer any penalties – YOU won’t have to be “it.” YOU SEE - ollie ollie oxen free, is the cry of grace to people who are hiding, that it is now safe and it is now time, to come home.
A few years back there was a bumper sticker campaign that was trying to spread the word about faith, and about the possibility of knowing God. AND – all over the place you’d see bumper stickers and bill boards with these 3 words on them, "I found it."
IT was a way of striking up a conversation… What did you find? WELL – I found faith, I found truth, I found God… BUT LISTEN – from a theological perspective this is actually backwards. BECAUSE – what the bible teaches is NOT, that I found it – BUT that it found me…
NOW – many times people who are on spiritual journeys, think of themselves as "seekers" or as "searchers." Why? BECAUSE – they searching for truth, they are and searching for God. And that’s an awesome thing. They ask questions, read books, they go to classes and they attend church in their search for the truth… AND LISTEN - it really is a good thing to search. In fact, the Bible says in Jeremiah 29:13, "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” YES - we are searchers.
BUT - that is not the whole story about us, is it friends? YOU SEE - the truth about us is, that we are not just searchers, we are also hiders. LISTEN – it is important for you and I to come face-to-face with our tendency to get lost – to hide from God.
QUESTION - who hides from God?
The man whose priorities are so messed up that his kids don’t even know him and he can’t remember the last time that he prayed or thought seriously about God. NOW - he knows that there are things that he should be getting around to, and he says, "I’ll do it some day when there is time, when things settle down…." He’s hiding.
The woman who is so filled with anger… SHE IS – angry at her mother, at her husband, children AND she’s even angry at God… Because God hasn’t given her the kind of husband or children that she wants & deserves. BUT - it is kind of a frozen anger. Not many people see it. BUT - every once in a while it comes to the surface and it frightens her. She is hiding from God.
FRIENDS – hide and seek is a game that people have been playing with God since the garden. YOU REMEMBER – after the fall, after they ate the forbidden fruit – Adam & Eve hid from God in bushes… “I can’t believe we did that, Oh no I hear God coming.. quick let’s hide.. I hope he can’t see us…’
BUT – the good news, the great news is that the passion Christ means we can stop hiding… We are free to come home…
The penalty has been paid…
AND – once we have stopped hiding we need to do 2 more things…
Start Living…
Let the passion of God, let the love of God change you…
We cannot be loved without being changed. When people experience love, they begin to grow more lovely.” THINK about the people that Jesus reached out to in love… People who experienced maybe for the first time in their life, ‘real’ love…
A sinful tax collector named Zacchaeus
A women living in adultery who Jesus met by a well in Samaria
A proud Pharisee named Paul
The leper who came back to thank him
A demon possessed men from the
A prostitute named Mary
A Roman Centurion
UNDERSTAND – on the other side of love – these people were not the same….they became lovely… LISTEN – knowing that we are loved by someone, warts and all, feeling loved, being loved & accepted despite our sins, our shortcomings and our past, experiencing love not for what you have or what you do – but just because of who you are - BRINGS ABOUT - a powerful transformation in us…we become lovely… there is a gleam in our eye, a strut in our stride, a smile on our face… “I’m loved”
Start Telling…
“God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing.” - 2 Cor 5:19,20 (Msg)
Start telling people, about how passionate Christ is about them.
O eternal, infinite God! O mad lover! And you have need of your creature? Is seems so to me, for you act as if you could not live without her, in spite of the fact that you are life itself. And everything has life from you and nothing can have life without you. Why then are you so mad? Because you have fallen in love with what you have made?...You clothed yourself in our humanity, and nearer than that you could not have come. - Catherine of Siena
