Don't lose the Awe

Amen.

What an awesome God that we serve.

And I'm grateful to be here with you today.

I'm thankful that you chose to be here and worship with us at Chisholm Hills this morning.

Have you ever really thought about the saying, it is what it is?

You know, we say it all the time, and but the question is, what does it really mean?

Sometimes things happen that we can't do anything about.

And what do we say?

It is what it is.

Or maybe it's something that didn't work out the way we wanted it to.

And we say, it is what it is.

But what does that really mean if you think about it?

It is what it is.

Okay, uh, yeah.

It kind of sounds profound when you say it.

Like we've just offered someone a little piece of wisdom, but what are we really saying?

It is what it is.

It doesn't make sense.

Jerry Seinfeld has a funny routine about this.

He points out that apparently if you repeat a word in a sentence, you can say it with tremendous confidence, kind of like business is business.

Yeah, okay.

Or rules are rules.

Or you can come back and say, a deal is a deal, and you can say it with confidence, but what are we really saying when we say these things?

Whatever happens, happens.

We say these things like we've really said something, and it's funny because sometimes the words have become so familiar that we don't even just stop to think about what they actually mean anymore.

We can say it, but what are we really saying at the end of the day?

So that's not a very big deal when we're saying it is what it is.

But what happens when we do that with God?

What happens when our words, when the things we do become so familiar that they lose the impact of the moment, that they don't really mean what they ought to mean anymore?

What happens when things that ought to mean everything to us become so familiar that we barely think about them anymore?

Can I sing a song I've sung hundreds of times without really thinking about what I'm saying?

Absolutely.

Can I bow my head during a prayer without actually praying?

Sure.

Can I open up my Bible and read an entire chapter and walk away and barely remember anything that I've read?

I think it's true.

I've done it.

Can I take the bread and the cup while my mind remains somewhere else?

Can I walk into a church building, take my normal seat, sing the songs, take communion, listen to a sermon, say amen, and then walk out and never really be overwhelmed by the fact that I've just come to worship God.

Been there before?

I'm afraid that's the challenge for us.

As our world becomes increasingly busy, as our minds continue to be jumbled with information after information, we get so lost, we get so caught up in other things.

And then as we come back to worship, as we come back to sing praises, as we come back to God's word, as it becomes routine, sometimes it loses the awe.

And I think that's what makes this so dangerous.

Because we've been talking for several weeks about growing in favor with God.

We've talked about what God delights in.

We've talked about having a heart that knows God's heart and a heart after God's own heart.

We talked about walking with God.

We've talked about trusting Him.

And I think there's a danger that comes with walking with God for a long time.

Because I think we can become familiar with the things of God.

And I think that in and of itself is not a bad thing.

In fact, that's a great thing.

I hope the Bible becomes familiar to you.

I hope prayer becomes familiar in your life.

I hope communion becomes familiar.

I hope talking about Jesus becomes as natural as breathing to each and every one of us.

But here's the danger: familiarity should never mean ordinary.

Because we're talking about God.

You see it?

The creator of the universe, the one who spoke, and the world came into existence, the one who loved you so much that he sent his son to die on that cross.

The one that took your place when you couldn't do it on your own.

We're talking about God, the one that's here today, the one that's everywhere, the one that knows your every thought, the one that's in space and time, everywhere.

And yet sometimes he becomes ordinary to us.

Somehow we can get so accustomed to talking about him that we barely even think about who we're talking about.

And I think as the song we sung just a few moments ago, our God is an awesome God.

But I think even as we use that word, we forget what it means.

Maybe it's that new Mexican place.

Man, did you have those tacos?

They were awesome.

Have you ever said that before?

How about this one?

You know, as you're driving down the interstate and there's like a new Buckeys around, they put up these billboards hundreds of miles in advance to say there's a Bucky's coming.

And one of the things they advertise more than anything else is we have the cleanest bathrooms around.

And I promise you, I've heard somebody come out of one of those bathrooms and say, Man, that bathroom was awesome.

Like, are you serious?

The toilet is awesome?

I don't think so.

When you think about what it means to be in awe of something or someone, it's God.

But yet we use that word, we think about that thought so much, it becomes so familiar that we use it to describe toilets?

No, our God is an awesome God.

And when's the last time you stepped back and just took a moment to observe?

Took a moment to see how he moves and breathes and how he's in every moment around us.

What does it mean that we have an awesome God?

I think that's something we should dwell on, something we should live in, something that means something to us.

So our challenge here this morning and each and every day of our lives is don't lose the awe because we serve an awesome God.

Our first point this morning, if you're using your outlines, familiar words, and lose their awe.

Jesus says something in Matthew 15 that ought to make religious people a little uncomfortable.

He says, These people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

Notice something there.

Their lips were working just fine.

They knew what to say, they knew the language, they knew what religious people were supposed to sound like in this moment.

Their words weren't necessarily wrong.

Jesus' concern was that there was a growing distance between these words that were coming out of their mouths and the heart that was behind them.

The heart that belonged to the people that were uttering these words.

This past week at our weekly real estate meeting, we had a mortgage broker come over and just present some new products and a lot of the great things that his company was doing.

It was a great presentation.

He seemed like a really genuine guy, and I enjoyed what he had to say.

He gave us a lot of great information.

As he was talking about his experience in the mortgage business, he talked about his former work history and how he spent over a decade working at Chick-fil-A.

He said he made his way up through the ranks.

He even became a general manager over a store, and it was it was a big part of his life.

He said when he got into mortgages, one of the things he wanted was to find the Chick-fil-A of mortgage companies.

And I think that's a lofty goal, right?

That's a good thing.

He wanted to be, and you know what that means when we say that.

It's a place that isn't that finds customer service important.

And he mentioned that for a reason.

Here's what I thought was funny.

At the end of his presentation, uh the owner of our company looked at him and he said, Thank you so much for being here.

Thank you for this presentation.

And you know what he said?

You can get my pleasure.

And I caught, I said, Did you really just say my pleasure?

And he said, Yeah, I guess it's just ingrained in me.

All those years at Chick-fil-A.

And I think in and of itself, that's not a bad thing.

But I think sometimes those words, those phrases get so ingrained in us as we go through the motions that it's more about what we're supposed to say than the heart behind it.

And the same can certainly be true about our Christian lives.

What happens when the words stay, but the meaning does not?

Because I think familiar words can lose their awe.

Some of us have been Christians for a long time.

You know the words you're supposed to say, you know the times when you're supposed to say amen.

And when somebody says, finish this one for me, God is good.

Come on, I know you know it.

God is good.

There we go.

And all the time, you know the words.

But is it more than just a word to you?

Like we know the proper response, but we know what do we know what we're really saying when we utter that phrase?

Because it's more than just words.

Because the truth behind it is we serve an awesome God and we know He is good all the time.

The danger comes when that becomes routine.

Because the question is, did I just confess something I deeply believe about the character of God?

Or did I just finish that sentence because I knew what was next?

You know, you may have uttered a phrase like, I'll be praying for you, but did you actually go pray for that person?

We know the words to amazing grace, we can all sing it.

But when we sing amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.

The question becomes, does that grace still amaze you?

Can you still look at what God has done and stand amazed in his presence?

Or do we just know the song?

Is it just a familiar hymn?

One that sounds nice.

Or is it something we live every and experience daily?

Jesus says, These people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

See, the words stayed, but the heart wandered.

And I think growing in favor with God means more than just learning how we're supposed to talk.

Learning how Christians are supposed to talk.

No, God wants a heart that means the words.

So don't just say the words.

Remember who you're talking about.

In other words, don't lose the awe.

Number two, familiar actions can lose their awe.

It's not just our words, our actions can also become too familiar.

I talked about real estate.

In real estate, I've been in a lot of houses.

And more than once I've been in a house, like during an inspection, and they go through and take a look at everything that's working properly and what's not.

And in some cases, you find a nice looking smoke detector that's in the proper place in the room.

But then when they're going through the inspection, they go and push on the button on that smoke detector, nothing happens.

They go test that smoke detector and it's not working.

You're like, it looks good, it's in the proper place.

Then you open it up and there's no battery inside.

So you may inquire to the owner, yeah, it started beeping about two years ago, and I took the battery out and just never put a new one back in.

It looks right, it's it's it looks like it's ready to operate when needed.

But what happens if a fire comes and smoke fills up that room?

That smoke detector is never gonna go off because there's no battery inside.

It looks good, it it may look like it's gonna act right, but if a fire starts, it's completely useless.

Here's the thing something can look exactly right and still fail completely at what it was designed to do.

And I think that's essentially what God sees in Isaiah chapter 1.

Isaiah 1 · chapter mention

Israel is still worshiping, they're still bringing sacrifices, they're still gathering together, they're still observing all the religious days, they're still praying.

And then God says, What are all your sacrifices to me?

I have had enough.

I think from the outside looking in, that's a little shocking.

Because God commanded many of those things.

These weren't pagan rituals that Israel invented.

God had told them to sacrifice, he had given them their festivals, he commanded their worship.

So what's happening here?

It's not that God suddenly decided sacrifices were bad.

The problem was that the activity had become disconnected from the God that the activities were supposed to honor.

I think that can be our challenge.

They had the form, they had the routine, they had the worship.

God said, Where's the heart?

Where's the truth behind it?

Everything looked right, but it wasn't doing what it was designed to do.

You think that's possible for us?

I can attend worship without actually worshiping.

I can sit in these pews and sing songs without praising God.

I can bow my head without praying.

I can give without generosity.

I can read scripture without really listening to God's word.

I can take communion without remembering the sacrifice that was made for me.

You see, everything can look right from the outside.

But singing wasn't designed merely to produce beautiful music.

Prayer wasn't designed to merely fill the silence.

Our communion was not designed simply that every Sunday we eat a little piece of bread and drink a little cup of juice.

Worship wasn't designed merely to put Christians in the same room for an hour on Sunday mornings.

See, all of that, every single one of those things were designed to turn our heart to Him, to point to Jesus, to remember what He's done for us, to honor Him, to praise Him, to give Him glory and praise and everything we are.

And here's the danger of familiarity anything we do enough times, eventually we learn how to do without thinking.

And of course, as Seinfeld would remind us, church is church.

See, you can say it confidently, but it doesn't mean anything, but you can say it confidently.

And maybe that's exactly the problem.

If church just becomes church, worship just becomes worship.

And communion just becomes communion.

And before long we've taken things that ought to leave us in awe and they become ordinary.

That's dangerous.

Because we can become familiar with worship while becoming increasingly distant from the one that we are worshiping.

Let's not fall into that trap.

Because God wants the worshiper, God wants you.

He wants your heart.

And that's why it's vitally important that we don't lose the awe.

Number three, God gives us reminders to restore our awe.

Now, I want to make sure we understand something.

The problem in itself is not the repetition.

The problem isn't being familiar.

I think sometimes we talk about going through the motions as if the answer is to stop doing things repeatedly.

But God actually built repet repetition, if I can even say it.

God built repetition into the life of his people.

Why?

Because God knows you.

Rapid fire.

Anybody?

We forget how quickly we forget things.

Anybody looked at your kids and said, hey, and then you have to think about their name for a while.

If you have enough of them, it probably comes more often.

Things we love, things we care about.

So God built this repetition into our lives.

Have you ever found an old photograph?

Maybe you haven't seen it in a few years.

Maybe you're cleaning out out of a drawer, or maybe someone sends it to you.

Maybe you're scrolling back through pictures on your phone and you suddenly stop.

And in that moment, that photograph takes you somewhere.

You remember where you were, you remember what you were doing, you remember what was happening in your life in that moment.

I want to share a couple photos with you from my life.

One of those things that kind of bring me back to a time in my life.

The first one is playing basketball growing up.

I think I was fifth or sixth grade right here.

Yeah, I got tall quick and then that was it.

I didn't grow any further than that.

But I still remember that blue heat jersey that I wore.

I still remember my dad being my coach as I was growing up playing basketball.

I still remember bringing out a boombox with a cassette tape inside, and he would sit it on the bleachers and he would play The Heat Is On.

Anybody know that song?

It's an old one.

We'd be going through our what we thought we were hot stuff, man.

Because the heat is on, it's playing, and we're we got the blue heat going.

We're ready to take you on in basketball.

And those are some of those moments in my life where I look back and just smile.

Because it was a lot of fun.

It was one of those moments where I got to bond with my dad.

It's a special moment.

And when I see that photo, it brings a smile to my face.

It transports me back to that time in my life.

The second one is one of my favorite pictures in all the world.

It's a picture of the first time I held my daughter.

In that moment, I didn't realize how much my life was going to change.

But it certainly did.

Everything shifts when you have a child.

But I still remember just holding her and thinking how beautiful she is, how perfect she is.

And I can still feel myself sitting in that chair at Nancy.

I can still just feel that moment holding that innocent child.

Something about a photograph that reminds us, that brings us back to that moment.

It made something that happened years ago feel close again.

It brought something back.

In Joshua 4, Israel crosses the Jordan River.

And in that moment, God stops the water.

The people walk across on dry ground.

You know what God tells them after it's all done?

He says, take twelve stones from the Jordan and stack them up.

Why would he tell them that?

Well, Joshua tells them that one day their children are going to ask, What do these stones mean?

And he says, When they do, tell them.

Tell them what happened here.

Tell them what God did.

Because there's going to come a day when crossing the Jordan doesn't feel like yesterday anymore.

There's going to come a generation that wasn't standing here.

So put something here that makes you stop, that makes you look.

That makes you remember.

God didn't need the rocks, but Israel needed the reminder.

And you see that same truth throughout Scripture.

Deuteronomy 6, we talked about last week.

Talk about these things when you sit in your house.

Talk about them when you walk along the road.

Talk about them when you lie down and when you get up.

Just teach them to your children.

He says, remember, God talks about the Passover.

He says, eat the meal again.

Tell the story again.

Remember Egypt.

Remember slavery.

Remember the blood on the doorpost.

Remember how God delivered you over and over again.

God has built reminders in our lives.

Then centuries later, Jesus sits at a table with his disciples, takes the bread.

What does he say?

Do this in remembrance of me.

Jesus knew we forget too.

That's why God has built these reminders in our worship.

Not because remembering is easy, but because forgetting is human.

So gathering every Sunday isn't the problem.

Taking communion every week isn't the problem.

Singing familiar songs is not the problem.

Reading familiar passages is not the problem.

Sometimes repetition is actually God's gift to a forgetful people.

But here's the danger in all of this: when we become so familiar with the reminder that we forget what it's reminding us of, then the stone becomes rocks.

Passover simply becomes dinner.

The bread becomes bread.

The cup simply becomes a cup.

The song becomes just music.

Prayer becomes words.

Church becomes more about attendance.

And that's when we need to stop and remember again.

Because remembrance doesn't simply give us information, remembrance turns familiarity back into awe.

See, those weren't just rocks.

Man, our God stopped a river so his people could cross on dry ground.

How amazing is that?

When we gather for communion, that's not just a cup of juice that you're taking.

That's the blood of Jesus.

The blood of Jesus that was poured out for your sins.

How awesome is that! It's not just an old story.

God has always been fighting for the hearts of forgetful people.

So remember and don't lose the awe.

Finally, this morning.

When you've lost the awe, man, there's a remedy for that.

Look at Jesus.

Look at Jesus again.

What happens when we've lost it?

What if I'm listening to this and thinking, hey, that's me?

I fall in this category of forgetting.

I remember when worship used to move me.

I remember when prayer wasn't something I felt obligated to.

I remember when I couldn't get enough of Scripture.

I remember when the cross actually overwhelmed me.

But somewhere along the way, something has changed.

What do I do?

Where do I go?

Jesus answers that question in Revelation 2.

He's speaking to the church at Ephesus.

And listen to what he says about them.

He says they work, they labor, they persevere.

He says they won't tolerate evil.

They care about truth.

They've endured difficult things.

They haven't given up.

You were looking for a church.

Ephesus might sound like a pretty good option.

They're active, they're faithful, they're doctrinally sound.

They're still doing the work.

But Jesus says, Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love.

Think about it.

The activity remained, but the love did not.

See, they didn't quit church.

They didn't abandon everything that they believed.

They didn't stop serving, but somewhere along the way, they lost something.

And Jesus doesn't tell them, go find something new.

What does he say?

Remember.

Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen.

He says, Go back.

Remember what this was.

Remember what I've done.

Remember grace.

Remember the cross.

Remember how I poured it all out in your stead.

Remember what it meant when you first understood that your sins have actually been given.

You remember that moment?

And I've heard a lot of people describe coming out of that water in baptism, just feeling like light as a feather.

Because your sin had been weighing you down.

You remember that moment?

That moment you experienced God's grace.

All your old self is being left behind.

You've been raised to walk in newness of life.

What a beautiful moment.

Don't forget it.

Jesus says, remember what it felt like to realize that the God who created everything knows your name.

And how awesome is that.

Remember.

And then he says, repent.

Recognize that your heart has drifted.

Don't pretend that everything is just fine because you're still doing all the right things.

He says, No, turn around and then return.

Remember, repent, return, do the first works, go back, not to better religion, but we return back to Jesus.

Because that's ultimately the answer of everything we've talked about this morning.

The answer isn't try harder to concentrate during communion.

No, the answer isn't pay more attention when you sing.

Those things may help, but ultimately the answer to all of this is just look at Jesus again.

Recognize who he is and what he's done for you.

Think about looking through a window at your home.

When the glass is clean, everything's clear.

But then slowly over time, dust and pollen, fingerprints, maybe it's a smudge from the dog's nose day after day.

It happens so gradually, you don't even notice how cloudy that the glass has become.

Until one day, you say, hey, it's time to clean the windows.

And you go back and suddenly you realize, man, I didn't even realize how dirty that window was.

Here's the thing the view never changed.

It was there the whole time.

Just weren't seeing it clearly anymore.

Maybe that's where you are this morning.

Jesus hasn't changed.

The cross hasn't changed.

The gospel hasn't changed.

God hasn't become less glorious.

But the truth is, maybe our view has just gotten cloudy.

And maybe you don't need a new window.

Maybe you just need to look again.

Look at Jesus again.

Look at the cross again.

Look at God's grace.

Remember, repent and return.

So in conclusion, let me ask you a question.

When was the last time you were genuinely amazed by God?

Not asking when the last time you came to church, or was the last time you read your Bible, or when's the last time you prayed?

When was the last time you just stopped and thought, man, our God, it's awesome.

This story of grace.

My story, what Jesus has done for me, and it is incredible.

If you haven't had that thought recently, maybe you're reading a different story than I.

When I stop and realize what Jesus has done.

A life that was going nowhere, He gave me purpose.

God gives us something that's a complete game changer to everything we were before.

The God who made everything.

Listen to this.

The creator of the universe hears your prayers.

If that doesn't give you goosebumps, and maybe you're not listening.

The Son of God died on the cross for me.

Here's the thing the tomb is now empty.

You hear that?

My sins are forgiven.

I didn't hear an amen, so I must not have said it right.

Did you hear that?

My sins, your sins are forgiven.

Because of what Jesus did for you on that cross.

Man, how amazing is that! We serve an awesome God.

Grace is actually mine.

When was the last time any of that has completely overwhelmed you?

Because maybe the greatest danger for those of us who follow Jesus for a long time isn't that we suddenly stop believing.

Maybe it's that we become too familiar with what we believe and it stops being amazing to us.

We'll keep coming, we'll keep singing, we'll keep praying, we'll keep taking the communion and reading our Bibles.

We'll keep saying all the right things, but slowly our hearts drift.

The word stayed, but the heart wandered, Jesus said.

These people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

And to Ephesus, you have left your first love.

So maybe you don't need a new song.

Maybe you need to remember who you're singing to.

Maybe you don't need a new way to take communion.

Maybe you need to remember whose body it was that was broken for you.

Maybe you don't need a new Bible.

You just need to remember whose voice you're hearing when you read these words.

Maybe you don't need some brand new spiritual experience.

Maybe you need to look again at the Savior who's been standing in front of you this whole time.

Look to the cross.

Look to Jesus.

Repent, remember, return, and don't lose the awe.

Because growing in favor with God isn't about becoming comfortable with God, it's about standing in awe of him.

It's about knowing him more deeply, walking with him more closely, and somehow becoming more amazed by him because of it, not less.

May we never become so familiar with the things of God that we cease to be amazed by God Himself.

Serve an awesome God, a God that died on that cross to make you whole again.

If you've not named him as Lord and Savior of your life, my question is, what are you waiting for?

Look at what he's done.

Look at the grace that he's offered.

When you had nowhere to turn, when death was your future and your present, there was nothing you can do.

Jesus died on that cross so that you can be saved, so you can be resurrected, so you can have hope if you've never taken part in that death, burial, and resurrection in that watery grave of baptism.

Please, this is my prayer for you this morning is that you will do that before it's too late.

Choose Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

Give your life to him and be raised to walk in newness of life.

Perhaps you've made that choice, but life has gotten in the way.

Perhaps we've become so busy, maybe we've lost the all.

Come back to him this morning.

It's time to rededicate your life to him.

If we can help you with that this morning, let's pray together.

We want this to be a place where we can all celebrate together.

We can all experience life together.

We can walk this journey with him no matter where it may lead.

And we want to be there for you this morning.

We can pray for you if you need to be baptized.

If we can help in any way, please come.

As together we stand and