The Need To Stay Still
Text: Luke 10:38-42
It's good to be here again at the West Side Church of Christ.
The Psalmist said so many years ago that "this is the day that the
Lord has made we will rejoice and be glad in it."
One of the things we need to be constantly reminded of as children
of God and one of the reasons we come here as we do is that we are to
feel at home in the presence of God! Because God's presence is with us
in a special way here, we come as it were, to our home!
The movie Patch Adams told the story of one Hunter
"patch" Adams who became a doctor who changed the role of the medical
doctor in assisting patients. Robin Williams portrayed him brilliantly
in this movie and at the beginning of this movie is these words which
are supposed to be a reflection of Patch himself:
"All of life is a coming home. Salesman, secretaries, coal miners,
bee keepers, swordswallowers, all the restless hearts of the world,
all trying to find a way home. It's hard to describe what I felt like
then, picture yourself walking for days in the driving snow; you don't
even know you're walking in circles. The heaviness of your legs in
the drifts, your shouts disappearing into the wind, how small you can
feel, how far away home can be.
HOME -> dictionary defines it as the place of origin, goal or
destination.
Eventually I would find the right path but in the most unlikely
place."
Then was told the unlikely story of a man who became and still is
a successful doctor!
In a sense that paragraph describes many of us as we have come
today, we have inside of us this feeling that after our journey through
the snow, we have found the right path and are coming home to be with
our Father!
I would like to speak a few minutes with you this morning about
this aspect of our lives as children of God!
I don't know if you have ever been here or not, but when asked by
outsiders why you believe the way you do, or how can you believe the
way you do, is there a part of your faith that you can't possibly
explain? Yet, the part you can't explain is actually one of (if not)
the most precious aspects of it!
It's the same idea as being the difference between that drifter in the
snow and the person who is on his way home!
Let me put it another way, there are many things a parent can
describe about having children, but the most precious aspect is
something felt not told.
How do you explain when the nurse hands you the newborn baby for the
first time?
How do you explain the feeling you have when you look over and the
child instead of having gas is actually smiling at you?
What is it that draws you into a child's room at night to kiss her
forehead and whisper how much you love her?
How does it feel to bring your child on the rink for the first time
and see the look of fear mixed with excitement on her face, as she
doesn't need you to hold her for the first time?
That's the kind of way it is for being here today!
There are a lot of practical reasons for believing the way we do, the
God of the Bible has given ample proof that He exists, but there's
another reason for committing to Him and maintaining that commitment.
This is difficult however for us to relay this message to others!
How do you describe that indescribable feeling of being a child of
God's and coming together in His presence?
Turn in your Bibles to Luke 10:38-42 and come with me to the house
of Martha and watch as her and her sister Mary react to Jesus!
These two sisters are devoted followers of Jesus Christ and this
day is special because Jesus is coming to dinner!
Please read with me beginning at vs.38!
Many of us have heard this story over and over again and we always
notice the work effort of Martha!
We don't like to put her down for this either, because she was
sincerely putting forth an effort for Jesus. Her problem however is
the fact that she wanted Jesus to rebuke her sister for not being like
her!
As I was reading this passage and thinking about this morning's
topic I want you to notice what Mary had! She had what we are talking
about. The feeling that is hard to explain but a feeling that just
won't let you go!
Jesus tells Martha very bluntly, that Mary had chosen the good
thing!
Think about this, who was in the house that night?
Whose presence were Mary & Martha privileged to be in?
It was none other than the One sent from heaven to earth by the Father!
What does Mary want to do?
What else could you do, but simply sit at the Saviour's feet!
Why does Mary not want to get up and work?
Why doesn't Mary realize that there will be other times to sit at
Jesus' feet and listen to Him?
Why doesn't Mary see that there are other things as important as
standing amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene?
I have Jesus in front of me, where else would you expect me to be?
What are we trying to get at this morning?
Simply this, one of the things that ties us here and is the reason for
our believing the way we do and being committed the amount we are is
the fact that in our faith there is something that tells us we need to
stay where we are!
We can't move from this place!
We have understood what it was like to be out in the cold away from the
Father's house and now that we have been welcomed home, we can't
leave!
We feel like Peter did in John 6:67-69. There's no other place
for us to go!
We feel like Andrew and the other one in John 1:37-39, we just
want to see where you live!
We feel like David did in Psalms 27:4- this is the one thing we
desire!
We feel like the healed demoniac did in Luke 8:35-38- J.W.
McGarvey wrote about this passage "Like a frightened child newly
awakened from a horrible dream clings to its parent, so the man clings
to Christ."
It's the feeling that everything is all right in the Father's
presence. It's the feeling that despite all the uncertainty and
lostness in the world, we have been confirmed as belonging here. It's
the idea that the God of everything, is the Shepherd of me. It's the
notion that in the storms of life, God is my refuge! Psalms 46:1-4
What do we do if we can't describe it fully?
How do we tell others about it?
How did we come to know it?
Let us first establish in our minds, that even though it's
unexplainable does not mean it's not real! Just as the feeling of
parenting is real, but inexplicable, so is the feeling of being this
child of God who simply cannot fathom being away from God's home!
(Like the prodigal son after coming home probably never again wanted
to leave the Father's home- Luke 15:11-32, because the Father's home
is a whole lot better than the far country).
Isaiah 40:29-31, Habakkuk 2:20.
Secondly, let us establish in our minds that the feeling we feel
this morning is a feeling that all people want to feel. It's the
freedom of being forgiven, the rejoicing coming from being redeemed,
the power of being at peace, the security of being saved, the knowledge
of being known, the comfort of being part of a community and many more
all rolled up together in one feeling!
Who doesn't want nor need that?
So, when people sometimes ask me about my belief, I do give some
objective reasons for it, but if you were convinced of those, I would
then give you my subjective reason; the feeling is too great, I need to
stay still!
Thirdly, let us establish in our minds that what we have got to
try to do is to show them the joy we feel and then simply invite them
to feel it as well!
Our simple resolution when we look at the world and all the lost
souls who are heading down life's path in so many wrong directions and
eventually facing a God they do not know as their Father is this:
I need to stay where I am & I want to invite you to know this feeling
as well.
Now, that I have been away from home for over 6 1/2 years, going
home is especially sweet. Getting to sleep in my old bed feels like
one of the most comfortable sleeps I can have. If my mom takes a day
off work, I'll get up a little earlier than everyone else will and her
and I go out on to the deck and have a coffee and just talk for as
long as we can. My dad & I go into the backyard and just look around
at the park behind our house, the fence we built together and just
talk. The only way to describe the feeling inside is this: I'm home!
It's the feeling that says I don't want to leave this place!
That's what it's like for a child of God to be in His house!
My friends, do you know what I have been talking about?
Do you have this aspect of your faith that says you're home?
Do you lie awake at nights looking up in the sky realizing that someone
is looking back at you and you are together?
Do you know that you belong?
Do you know that you are a part of something that goes beyond you and
me but reaches up even to the heavens?
Do you know what it means when someone reads that the Lord is in His
Holy temple, let all the earth keep silent before him?
Do you know the assurance that comes from being one who sits at the
feet of the Saviour?
I guess the question is do you know the feeling of being home with God?
You can!
By accepting Jesus' gift on the cross and being baptized for the
forgiveness of your sins (Acts 2:38) you will be at home with God-
Acts 2:47!
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