The King's Church in Ilford
The following is the text of the talk given on 20th September 2009 by Robin Hawkins
"Keep Moving On"
Keep Moving On
Reading: 2 Cor 3:7-18
Paul was taking his readers back to Moses in Ex 34:29 . Moses had gone up Mt Sinai to meet God face-to-face. It was the place where God gave Moses the Ten Commandments - the teaching that would show Moses and the people how to live their lives. Each time Moses went to meet God on this mountain, he came back glowing.
He had an encounter with God on this mountain; and it was so remarkable that Moses was transformed. His appearance was altered. He shone! He looked different. So different that the first time he came down that mountain, the people were afraid. The change was that significant.
Moses had to put a veil over his face when he came down from the mountain - to hide this radiance. Even though it was fading, it was still too bright and too scary for people to look at. It had started fading the moment Moses left the presence of God. With each step away from that mountain, the glory decreased.
Now Moses had to cover his face; but our faces are to be uncovered. We are not to wear a veil because God wants His glory seen by everyone. I'm not talking about sunlight now. That was just a picture of what was to come. Now Paul's talking about Jesus, the Light of the world, shining out of us. Unlike Moses, our glory is not diminishing. In fact opposite should be true. The glory on us - the Spirit of Jesus - should be increasing. This is because we don't ever have to leave the mountain. The mountain is in us.
The Spirit of God lives within us. We have a relationship with God that even Moses did not have - potentially a much greater level of intimacy. We are in the New Covenant that brings righteousness and life, not the Old Covenant that brings condemnation and death (2Cor 3:9).
Just as God transformed Moses as he spent time in God's presence, He transforms us when we likewise place ourselves in His presence. We don't transform ourselves. We can't. Too many of us have become very disheartened trying to do so. Fortunately, the way Paul's written this shows us that it's God who does the transforming. Transformers used to be the "in thing". A modest-looking toy car would, with a few twists and turns, be transformed into a mechanical monster! In God, ordinary-looking humans can be transformed into supernaturally-powered saints of God, who do exploits way beyond their ability.
This change is going on now in each of us. It's more than an outward change of behaviour. It's a heart change. The very way we are wired changes. Like a nasty, wormy, creepy-crawly insect turning into a beautiful butterfly, so personalities that are bitter and self-centred, are being transformed into gracious and caring people. This is the transforming process that God wants to bring us through. He wants us to be changed to be like Jesus, and He wants to do so in ever-increasing measure.
So far, I've simply been reminding us of what most of us already know. In theory our spiritual growth should be like a constant gradient. In practice, it's probably more like a Big Dipper with lots of ups and downs - hopefully more ups than downs. Perhaps Snakes and Ladders is another way of putting it. There we are, getting up the board, growing in holiness - then suddenly we hit a big slippery snake of temptation, and Bang! We're back to square 1!
I wonder if it would more realistic to suggest we each have a dozen or more Snakes and Ladders Games on the go at any one time. That game's about Love. That one's about purity. That's the Gossip one....and so on. We can be winning one game - in, say, the area of Truthfulness. But then we keep going back to square 1 in the area of anger. So we can look quite mature in some areas, but in others, there's a long way to go!
Then, of course, there's growth in the area of ministry and fruitfulness. Jesus promised, "If you abide in Me, you will bear much fruit." That sounds very much like spending time in the presence of God. Either way, growth implies moving forward in Jesus. Jesus told people, "Follow Me." That requires movement. Early Believers were called Followers Of The Way. More movement.
My question to us today is, what happens if we stop going forward in God? Do you ever find yourself saying, "Whew! I've had enough of this discipleship malarkey for a while. I'm going to take a break." A bit like Abraham's father, Terah, who set out for Canaan, but got as far as Haran - about half way, and decided to stop there. - And he never made it to the Promised Land. It was left to his son Abraham to finish the journey - and he got the blessings.
There's an old poem that goes:
When I was young, I set my sights
As high as they as they could be
But now I'm old, I've brought my sights
A little nearer me.
When we stop climbing the mountain, we plateau. We stop growing spiritually. That zeal we had in our younger days for the Kingdom, becomes accommodation as we grow older. "Well, I'm only human," we say. "Everyone's got weaknesses." And so we learn to live with those little foibles that God calls SIN! The challenge we face as Believers is that we can't stand still. If we try to do so, we end up going backwards. Spiritually, we stagnate. Those Living Waters of the Holy Spirit with which we got filled, were intended to overflow out of us to others. Every time we talk about Jesus to someone, the Living Water flows out of us. Every time we help the needy, do an act of kindness, show ready forgiveness, God's Spirit flows out of us, and more of that Living Water flows in.
I would like each of us to ask ourselves, "Am I still growing in God?" Am I aware of changes still taking place, or is it so imperceptible, I'm not really aware of it? Have I plateaued in my growth as a disciple of Jesus? How would I know anyway? I can think of minor character issues where God's changed me. I used to get really upset if someone parked across our driveway, until I realised it wasn't a very good witness to Julie's clients - who were the main culprits. But that was while ago. More recently, it feels like God's turned the pressure up a bit. It's as though He's saying, "OK, you can handle minor issues. Now let's try something more difficult to handle. But I've got a long way to go. I haven't been betrayed by a friend, arrested falsely, tried by a kangaroo court, tortured and imprisoned. I don't know how I'd handle those things.
Are you feeling spiritually stagnant this morning? It's easy to blame others for being so. Maybe family circumstances are difficult, or church life isn't all I'd like it to be, work's a drudge. But I always used to think that I could be in prison simply for being a Believer. How would I manage then for my spiritual fulfilment? I'd have to turn to the Well of Living Water within me.
I want to close by giving you a few suggestions for getting off the plateau, and starting to move on in God significantly.
There are the obvious things like repenting of anything we know to be wrong in our lives.
There's the need to forgive anyone who's upset us, and do all you can to put relationships right. I'm assuming most of us know these things. We need to make sure we're doing them.
Spend time in the presence of God. Are you getting quality time with God? The other morning, I was trying to get down to prayer, and my mind kept wandering off. So I prayed in tongues and bypassed the mind. After a while I found myself praying for various people, and into different issues that are important at the moment. The Spirit took over, and we had quality time together. Stay filled with the Holy Spirit.
Put yourself in the way of Faith and Love. These things are infectious. If our doubts and negative outlook can affect others, so can faith and a positive outlook. Give it. Receive it. Let the promises of God build you up.
Look for opportunities to put Faith into action. Offer to pray for someone who's sick, or who's in need. Stand with them in agreement for that need to be met. Look for opportunities to show love, kindness, mercy.
Look for ways to give hope to those who those for whom life seems hopeless. It may be telling someone about Jesus, and what He has done us.
It may be that we are simply the answer to someone's prayer.
I want to encourage all of us this morning - young and old - to keep going on in God. Keep your passion for Him. Don't let it go. The day we think we've been discipled, so we've got that sorted, is the day we start to stagnate and go backwards. We will never stop learning as disciples. There will always be growth in character to lay hold of, greater depths of ministry, bigger steps of faith to take. I, for one, want to go on increasing in fruitfulness, as long as I'm alive and able to do so. Let's aim at that together.
