In this well known picture ‘The Creation of Adam’ by Michaelangelo, showing God and Adam reaching out to each other, one thing that stands out to me is that there is a gap between God’s finger and Adam’s.
Adam seems to be very casual. His finger is not straight and his body is laid back. If only he would straighten out his finger and lean in towards God he could actually touch God.
The painting is obviously about the time before Adam sinned since he is naked. So perhaps the gap is greater now – even in the church.
I’m not suggesting that this picture accurately reflects our relationship with God or that there is any theological significance to it, but it has inspired me to look at how we can touch God.
I have to admit to a certain jealousy of the disciple John – the disciple Jesus loved, who had his head resting on Christs chest.
When I pray, sometimes I just want to put my arms around His neck like a child does to his dad.
So what I want to talk about today is touching God. How do we touch Him? How do we bless Him? How do we please Him?
There are examples in the Bible of God touching people for instance 1 Samuel talks about a band of men whose hearts God had touched. And, of course, the woman with the issue of blood touched the hem of His gown and was healed. Jesus often touched people to heal them as in Matthew 8.3, 20.34 or Mark 7.33.
Often in the church today we want God to touch us, to bless us - it’s all about what we can get from God.
But I’m not talking about touching God for what we can get out of it but just to bless God. I’m not saying God doesn’t bless us, but why don’t we try to bless God?
After all, we don’t deserve to be blessed, He does.
And you must understand that I am not suggesting we must do any of this to be saved for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, that no one would boast. (Eph 2.8-9)
So let’s stretch out our finger and lean in towards God and
see if we can touch Him.
If we want to touch God, I believe we really need to tap into God’s passion. Tap into the one thing that He really loves.
So what is God’s passion? What is it that God really loves?
Genesis
2:7-9 (NKJV)
7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust
of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man
became a living being.
8 The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put
the man whom He had formed.
9 And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is
pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in
the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
The first thing God did when He created Adam was to kiss him and breathe life into him. I imagine this to be like the kiss of life.
Then He planted the man into the most beautiful garden that has ever existed where there would be no sickness and no death because he had access to the tree of life.
Then He gave Adam dominion over every living thing. He made Adam king and ruler over every living thing He had created.
Genesis 1:26-28 (NKJV)
26 Then God said, "Let
Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion
over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over
all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
27 So God created man in His own
image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
28 Then God blessed them, and
God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it;
have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over
every living thing that moves on the earth."
When Adam sinned God sacrificed an animal and made clothes for Adam and He instigated His plan to rescue man.
Over the years, we have all disobeyed God, turned against Him done everything He said not to do. Even His chosen people turned away from Him time and time again.
Why didn’t God just destroy the whole earth and start again? I know I would have done!
Why didn’t He create robots who would always obey Him? Surely He was capable of doing just that.
Was it because God loves man? Was it because He loves us so much, He gave His only begotten son,
Was it because He loves us so much He is not willing that any should perish.
2 Peter 3:9
(NKJV)
9 The Lord is not slack
concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering
toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to
repentance.
When we think of salvation, we often just think of the cross but the story of salvation does not start at the cross.
The story of salvation started 4,000 years earlier on the day Adam was separated from God, the day when God first started to implement His plan.
Genesis 3:15
(NKJV)
15 And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise
your head, And you shall bruise His heel."
God’s plan was revealed and implemented over thousands of years.
He choose Abraham to be not just the father of many nations but the father of the nation that would produce the messiah our saviour.
And He choose Isaac and Jacob through whom the saviour would come.
He chose Joseph and Moses to keep His people safe and alive and to deliver them out of slavery to the land He had chosen for them.
He chose Joshua to take them into the promised land.
He chose David to be their king and the line for the king to come.
He appointed all the prophets and spoke through them to warn us that He was coming.
He revealed His plan for every stage.
Only then did Jesus come and was crucified.
And He continues to reveal His plan and implement His plan two thousand years later through the church.
Why did He go to so much trouble to save a rebellious and mostly evil people?
I think that shows us just how passionate God is about man.
Because of His love for man.
God’s passion is man.
And by man, I mean men and women.
That is why the devil tries to destroy man and to separate man from God.
If we want to touch God, we have to have the same passion and love others in the same way God loves us.
We have to love one another.
We have to love our neighbour
We have to love our enemies.
We’ve got to love one another, help one another, serve one another, show mercy to one another, have compassion for one another.
Only when we truly love His man, with the unconditional agape love, will we truly touch God.
When we love the unlovable. When we love people despite their race, colour, religion, attitude, disability, despite what evil they have perpetrated.
You know, I often think of Eva Braun. She found something lovable about the most evil man in the world.
So many women love their husbands despite the evil things they have done and even the evil things they did to their own wives.
Parents love their children despite their disobedience and the bad things they have done.
God loves His people Israel despite the many many times they have turned their back on Him, worshipped other gods, denied Him and done all sorts of evil.
Yet He still waits for them to return to Him.
And God even loves us. As Paul says
Ephesians 2:11-13 (NKJV)
11 Therefore remember that
you, once Gentiles in the flesh--who are called Uncircumcision by what is
called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands--
12 that at that time you were
without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from
the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
13 But now in Christ Jesus
you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
Yes, God loves us who once were not His people. He gave His life as much for us as He did for the Jews and aren’t we grateful for that?
But getting back to other people,
We don’t have to approve of what they have done,
We just have to love them.
If you look carefully enough, if you try hard enough, you will be able to love people.
The Bible says that God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Ghost.
If that is true, then we can love just as God loves us. We just have to choose to.
Sometimes, this seems an impossible thing when we consider what they have done or said but if we have God’s love then the truth is we can love them.
Often we take offence when people are against us but that’s just a test of our love. I think its no accident that the word offence includes the word fence – or wall that we build around us to protect us but also to keep others out. We need to bring down those walls.
Paul calls us to be imitators of God;
In fact, Ephesians
5:1-2 (NKJV) says
Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ
also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God
for a sweet-smelling aroma.
We have to imitate God and walk in love. Love as Christ loved us and gave Himself for us.
I have to admit I find that last bit very hard. If someone came in here with a gun I would probably be the first one to duck. I am unlikely to be the one who says “shoot me and let the rest go”.
But that is the challenge – to love as Christ loved us and gave His life for us.
The Bible tells us to go and preach the gospel to all men and I think this is something we do very badly. If we are to preach the gospel, it’s not good enough to have a passion for the Word or a passion for Jesus. We have to have a passion for the people.
First impressions are so important, so are second and third impressions. People want to see us doing the right thing. Seeing that we live honestly, that we do care about people, that we do care about them.
If we want to get our message across to others, we have to show them we love them, respect them, feel for them, and earnestly want to help them before we even mention Jesus and that takes time.
It took God 4,000 years to get to the cross, it takes more than five minutes to preach the gospel. We have to preach it with our actions before we can preach it with our mouths.
Jesus commanded us to love our neighbour. He also commanded us to love one another.
In fact, in John chapters 13 and 15, He told us to love one another four times.
John 15:12-17 (NKJV)
12 This
is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
13 Greater
love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.
14 You
are My friends if you do whatever I command you.
15 No
longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is
doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My
Father I have made known to you.
16 You
did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and
bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the
Father in My name He may give you.
17 These
things I command you, that you love one another.
I read of an evangelist who ministers
manly to women and has a ministry helping people caught up in trafficking who
had to have an operation for cancer of the thyroid. She says;
I was grateful for the faith of a
friend who has walked through this process with me every day for these past ten
weeks. She texted me that morning, “I will be on my face praying for you
while you are on your back. I will be wide awake praying while you are asleep.”
That’s love, that’s the kind of
friend we all need and should be to others.
I wish I could say that I was like
that.
Then there are those who intercede
for hours, days, weeks for others. Why
aren’t we all like that?
And many people who minister,
serving, helping those in need.
Jesus commanded us to love one
another. It’s not a suggestion.
And to help us do that, He has poured
His love into our hearts.
He commanded us to love one another
as He loves us and laid down His life for us.
That’s pretty strong stuff!
Do we love one another here as Jesus
loves us? Are we prepared to lay down
our life for one another – or at least give each other a bit of our time when
they need help?
And He says if we obey His commands
which includes this one to love one another, we will be His friends.
In John 13.35 it says that when we do
love one another like this, it says the world will know that we are His
disciples.
If we love one another like this, we
will proclaim the gospel louder than any words we can say.
I have a friend who was going through
a particularly tough time. She had three
children, one severely disabled. Her
husband was out of work. Two Mormons
came knocking at her door. She told them
she couldn’t stop and talk and explained why.
That evening the Mormons came back with a big box of food. Then they rolled their sleeves up and went to
work cleaning her house up for her. How
many Christians would do that?
If you asked non-Christians what is a
Christian, they will mention many things but it is unlikely that they will
mention the word ‘love’.
And yet according to 1 John
4:7-8 (NKJV) which says,
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is
born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is
love.
I was listening to a Derek Price sermon to an American audience. He said that he saw statistics that suggested 47 percent of Americans were Christians but applying this scripture he estimated it was less than 5 percent.
What would he say about Australian Christians?
So if there is only one thing you take away from my message today, let it be to determine to love more.
Love God.
Love our neighbours.
Love one another.
Love our enemies.
I hope I am
not coming across as being critical of anybody here. What I am preaching applies to me more than
anybody else. I am really preaching to myself, telling me that I need to
improve my game - but you’re welcome to
listen in!
The next area I would like to mention is obedience.
There’s a lot of other things we could think of doing to please God but
if it not God’s will for us then we would be disobedient.
God says He would rather have us obedient than any offerings or
sacrifices we could make.
1 Samuel
15:22 (NKJV)
22 So Samuel said: "Has
the LORD as great delight
in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than
sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.
God would rather we were obedient than we make sacrifices. We could give up everything we have and go to
Africa as missionaries but if God has called us to Perth then we would be out
of order.
The good news is - It’s not too late to be obedient.
Matthew 21:28-31 (NKJV)
"But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he
came to the first and said, 'Son, go, work today in my vineyard.' He answered and said, 'I will not,' but afterward he regretted
it and went.
Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he
answered and said, 'I go, sir,' but he did not go.
Which of the two did the will of his
father?" They said to Him, "The first." …
Even though the first son rebelled and
said no initially, he is still regarded as the obedient one because he did the
will of his father.
Even though we have been disobedient
and rude in the past, if we do the will of God now we will be considered
obedient.
Adam was disobedient and look at what
happened.
Jesus was obedient and look at what
happened.
Romans 5:19
(NKJV) says;
19 For as by one man's
disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will
be made righteous.
Paul
commended some of the people in the church in Rome for their obedience.
Romans 16:19
(NKJV)
19 For your obedience has
become known to all. Therefore I am glad on your behalf; but I want you to be
wise in what is good, and simple concerning evil.
Will he
commend us?
Jesus obeyed The Father in going to the cross. There was a tremendous penalty for that obedience but He still obeyed. And that is why we are here today.
The next thing we need to do (although these things are in no particular order) is to have faith.
If we want to please God, we have to have faith.
Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV) says
6 But without faith it is
impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He
is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
That’s two things we have to believe about God. That He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
We have to believe that God is by faith – that God is real.
We have to learn to receive His blessings by faith.
We should remember that God is God. In recent times I think we have become perhaps too familiar, not respecting God for who He is.
Yes, He is our mate, He is our dad, He is our brother but He is also God. The supreme almighty, all powerful, all knowing, all present, all everything.
We must treat Him with respect, with awe, with honour, with fear. Simply because he is God.
Isaiah 45:22 (NKJV)
22 "Look to Me, and be
saved, All you ends of the earth! For I am
God, and there is no other.
Psalm 46:10 (NKJV)
10 Be
still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the
nations, I will be exalted in the earth!
God is God, He was and is and is to come, He is the
one who created the heavens and the earth.
He is the one who made man from a piece of dirt and woman from a piece
of bone.
He deserves all glory, all honour, all praise. He is far greater than we can imagine.
He is not a man, He is God. He is the Father, He is the Son and He is the
Holy Spirit.
Hebrews 11.6 also says we have to believe that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. In other words, we have to believe that He answers our prayers.
The Bible is full of God’s promises to reward those who diligently seek him.
Hebrews 11:1
(NKJV)
1 Now faith is the substance
of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Faith is believing the things we can't see. We can't actually see God but by faith we believe that He does exist.
In the same way, we can't see the answers to our prayers but by faith we believe we have those answers.
We need to be Stubborn in our Faith - we should not accept anything less than God’s best. The devil will try to substitute the answer for something you didn’t ask for – don’t accept that, only accept God’s best.
Some people are stubborn in their rebellion. That is sin. We must be stubborn in our faith.
We need to have faith to please God. In fact, we are called to live by faith.
Hebrews 10:38 (NKJV) says
38 Now the just shall live
by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in
him."
Associated with faith is Trusting God.
I have to admit, I usually trust my credit card for my finances more than I trust God.
I trust the doctor more than I trust God – and look where that got me!
I may pray about things but then I do whatever I can to get around the situation – which is good if I am being led by God but usually, I don’t take the time to listen and just go ahead anyway.
David was said to be a man after God’s own heart.
He was also a man who trusted God.
He trusted God no matter what the situation he was facing.
Psalms is full of stories of how David trusted God.
If only I could trust Him like David did.
Psalm
31:11-15 (NKJV)
11 I am a reproach among all
my enemies, But especially among my neighbours, And am repulsive to my
acquaintances; Those who see me outside flee from me.
12 I am forgotten like a dead
man, out of mind; I am like a broken vessel.
13 For I hear the slander of
many; Fear is on every side; While they take counsel together against me,
They scheme to take away my life.
14 But as for me, I trust in
You, O LORD; I say, "You are
my God."
15 My times are in
Your hand; Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, And from those who persecute
me.
In fact the whole psalm goes on like this. David telling of his troubles but trusting God to deliver him.
Does this sound familiar. Don’t we know this to be the truth and yet we carry on as if we don’t trust God?
Psalm 37:1-6
(NKJV)
1 Do not fret because of
evildoers, Nor be envious of the workers of iniquity.
2 For they shall soon be cut
down like the grass, And wither as the green herb.
3 Trust in the LORD, and do good; Dwell in the land,
and feed on His faithfulness.
4 Delight yourself also in
the LORD, And He shall give you
the desires of your heart.
5 Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, And He shall
bring it to pass.
6 He shall bring forth your
righteousness as the light, And your justice as the noonday.
You know, in these days when evil, war, terrorism, violence etc seem to prevail, we need to trust in God all the more.
Psalm 37 applies to us today as much as it ever did to David.
This year, in my personal prayer time, I seem to be focussing on the Lord’s prayer. I find it to be encouraging as I am sure the answer to all our fears is for His Kingdom to come and for His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.
And if your fear is that you will not have enough for your basic needs, the Lord’s prayer has the answer.
If your fear is that sin will separate you from God, the Lord’s prayer has the answer.
Or if you fear evil, the Lord’s prayer has the answer.
Another way to touch God is to be faithful.
Numbers 12:6-8
(NKJV)
6 Then He said, "Hear
now My words: "If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, make Myself known to him in a
vision; I speak to him in a dream. Not so with My servant Moses; He is faithful in all My house. I speak with
him face to face, Even plainly, and not in dark sayings; And he sees the form
of the LORD. Why then were you
not afraid To speak against My servant Moses?"
Psalm 101:6
(NKJV)
6 My eyes shall be on
the faithful of the land, That they may dwell with me; He who walks in a
perfect way, He shall serve me.
If we are faithful,
we will dwell with God, speak to Him face to face, walk with Him and serve Him.
Luke 19:17 (NKJV)
17 And
he said to him, 'Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a
very little, have authority over ten cities.'
Do you see that? If we are faithful in very little, He will truly bless us. Not that we are faithful to be blessed but we can't avoid being blessed if we are faithful.
1 Corinthians 1:9 (NKJV) says
9 God is faithful, by
whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
God is faithful and
if we want to be like God, we have to be faithful too.
The book of Genesis tells us how God walked in the Garden of Eden calling out to Adam. It also tells us that Enoch ‘walked with God’ and Noah ‘walked with God’.
God’s desire is that we walk with Him. Just to be in His presence and communicate with Him. He wants to communicate with us, to hear our requests, and to reveal His will.
I don’t know why God created man although Colossians 1.16
says “All things were created by him and for him” but
it seems He has a strong desire to communicate with us.
Today, there are 3 basic ways people communicate.
We tend to communicate with God in the same ways.
1. The first way is by
Letter or email
You send your request and hope that one day you may receive a reply.
Sometimes you get a reply in about a week or two, sometimes a month or so but often never.
Often our prayers are like this One way communication from us to God hoping that one day we may receive an answer..
2. The next way is
SMS/Texting
More likely to get a reply and often the same day.
You often see people constantly texting each other where they send a message then the other person sends a message one at a time.
Do we wait for a reply from God when we pray?
3. The third way is
Skype
When you can see their face, you can take it in turns or interrupt each other. You can see their reaction to what you say.
You get Instant feedback.
Easier to show empathy, love, support one another’s feelings.
But there is an even better way to communicate. That is when you are actually in their presence.
If we can get into God’s presence when we pray how much more effective will our prayers be?
The Lord’s prayer tells us when we pray to first of all, honour God, pray for His Kingdom and His will. That’s putting God first and inviting Him to come and be with us.
We need to take time to worship God and allow the Holy Spirit to come and experience the presence of God.
Allow Him time to speak to us, to give us His thoughts and feelings and to change ours and it will be the most beautiful and fruitful prayer experience you’ll ever have.
Sometimes people say here that there is a presence of God. Well, you can experience that in your own home too.
Usually when I go to pray I just sit down and I go through a list of things I normally pray for. For my family, for our friends, for our church, etc.
But I then when I finish I look at my watch and realise I have so much to do so I get up and go having competed the daily chore.
One day I sat down to pray and started thinking about God and various scriptures. I imagined myself preaching and what I would say. Before I knew it, an hour and a half had passed and I hadn’t prayed a thing.
So I asked God to forgive me for not praying and started to pray my list of requests. Then I felt God saying to me. “What are you talking about, we have just spent 90 minutes together”.
Prayer is not just a matter of speaking to God. It is also listening to God.
In fact, we probably miss out on many answers because we don’t take the time to listen.
David tells us to wait on the Lord;
Psalm 37:9
(NKJV)
9 For evildoers shall be cut
off; But those who wait on the LORD,
They shall inherit the earth.
Psalm 130:5
(NKJV)
5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, And in His word I
do hope.
There are two other ways to wait.
1. The first way is to allow time to pass.
We are not in the fast food business. If you want a quality meal, you have to wait for the food and often wait a long time.
If you go to a really good restaurant, you wait to be seated, you wait to be served, you wait for your drinks, you wait for the first course, then the main meal then dessert.
But the meal is well worth waiting for,
If you get fed up with waiting and leave, you don’t get fed. You miss out on the good food.
I don’t know about you, but I get very impatient, I want the answer now.
But sometimes we just have to wait for the answer.
2. The second way to wait is to serve rather
like waiters and waitresses.
We can wait on God by serving Him and serving His people.
Hebrews 12:28 (NKJV)
28 Therefore, since we are
receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may
serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.
The term ’serve’ in this respect can also be translated ‘worship’ so we
serve God by worshipping Him. So service is a form of worship.
We serve God when we serve His people and in this respect it means to
help, to serve food, to minister to and share and comes from the word that
means ‘to be a slave to’.
Galatians 5:13 (NKJV)
13 For you, brethren, have
been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for
the flesh, but through love serve one another.
Is that verse not appropriate for this church?
In Acts we see how Paul waited on the Lord, serving both Him and the
people
Acts 20:19-21 (KJV)
19 Serving the Lord with all
humility of mind, and with many tears, and temptations, which befell me by the
lying in wait of the Jews:
20 And how I kept back
nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have
taught you publicly, and from house to house,
21 Testifying both to the
Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord
Jesus Christ.
Of course, we know how Jesus served the disciples, washing their feet, serving them the bread and wine at the last supper, serving them by teaching them, training them, healing people, showing His love for people.
Jesus was the great servant and example to us all.
And we can lean in to God by following His example.
We need to wait and listen to God
Psalm 81:10-14 (NKJV)
I am the LORD your God,
Who brought you out of the land of Egypt; Open your mouth wide, and I will fill
it.
"But My people would not heed My voice, And Israel would have none
of Me. So I gave them over to their own
stubborn heart, To walk in their own counsels.
"Oh, that My people would listen to Me, That Israel would walk in My
ways! I would soon subdue their enemies,
And turn My hand against their adversaries.
So take time, not talking but listening and waiting.
Listen to what the Bible says, Listen to what the Holy Spirit says.
So we have talked about;
· Tapping into God’s passion – loving the people He created.
· Being Obedient to God.
· Having Faith that God is and that He rewards us.
· Trusting in God
· Being Faithful.
· Communicating with God, listening and waiting on Him.
I am sure there are many more ways we can touch God but time doesn’t permit for me to go into them.
I know I haven’t said anything about praise and worship – that could take up the rest of the day. I’ll leave that to Julie who’s holding a praise and worship seminar on the 1st August.
As I said, I have been mainly preaching to myself. I am sure this is what God is saying to me. Maybe it’s hit a chord with you too!
The Bible does compare the church to the physical body of Christ. We are all members of His body.
So if we touch one another, you could say we are touching God. If we hug one another, pray for one another, love one another, serve one another, be faithful to one another, maybe you could say we are doing that to God.
So, that’s somewhere we can start today and right now, if you need prayer, I’d be happy to lay hands on you and pray for you but for the rest of you, why don’t you give someone a hug.