Then Will I Hear From Heaven

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Your ears and your heart will be with your people forever.

Help us to see the privilege that that is and to fall on our knees in worship.

Long more and more for more of you, God.

So be honored in the preaching of your word and we pray these things in Jesus' strong name.

Amen.

Amen.

So with Advent coming next week, we are closing out our fall series.

We've been in a series on the theme of what?

Revival.

Right?

So this is the final sermon on revival.

So no pressure.

Right?

All right?

It's make it or break it today.

Got to bring the fire and let the revival begin.

Amen.

Thank you.

But you know, seriously, every time I come up here to preach God's Holy Spirit-inspired word of truth,

I do pray, I do hope for, I do expect a revival of some kind.

And like, if not in this whole world, maybe in this country.

If not in this country, maybe in this city.

If not in this city, at least maybe in this church.

Maybe if not in this whole church, then maybe at least in some of you.

And if not in even any of you, at least in me.

At least in me.

I'm always hoping for, I'm always expecting revival.

And I'm hoping that that's something we can take away from this series.

That no matter the scale, revival is something that we never stop pursuing.

Deeper intimacy with God.

Fresh experiences of his presence and his power amongst us.

The very dynamic, I imagine, of heaven itself.

This trajectory of plumbing the bottomless depths of our infinite God for all eternity.

Here at Christ Church, we will never move on.

We will never graduate from pursuing revival.

As Jonathan shared last week in our congregational meeting,

we are convinced that revival is the last great hope of the Bay Area,

even of the entire secular West.

Revival.

Not politics.

Not civility and kindness and charity.

Not reason and argumentation.

Not money or prosperity.

Not scientific or technological advancements.

What the Bay Area needs, we believe, is a revival.

The supernatural work of the Spirit of God.

To heal and mend all that's been broken.

So see, this series, this hasn't been some kind of individualistic,

religious insider piety that we're promoting and pursuing just inside the walls of this church.

No.

We are seeking to lead people into deeper relationships with Christ for the city.

For the world.

And you know what I love about the Christian faith?

I love the Christian interpretation of history.

The Christian interpretation of history is that even if we cannot force revival like on command,

the story that God is writing in history actually assumes and expects and guarantees revivals.

So even if we cannot determine or set the when and the where of a revival,

we can be confident that revival is always coming.

It's always on the way.

And that guarantee, that promise, is found right here in our text this morning.

This text we've been repeating and alluding to throughout our series in chapter 7, verse 14.

If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face

and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sins and heal their land.

This guarantee that revival is always on the way for God's people when they pray.

Now maybe this still doesn't excite you.

This guarantee of a revival, maybe this entire series has been uninspiring to do.

Maybe you're quite content to continue living a prayerless life without revival.

But what if I framed it this way?

What if prayer, this global and historic phenomenon that you can find across virtually every culture

and every religious tradition,

what if prayer wasn't some religious task or duty,

but an indication of each and every human being's longing to be heard?

Every person's longing for someone other than themselves to pay attention to their cries.

Every person's longing for someone who can hear and who can help.

You know, Chelsea and I, we love musicals,

and one of my personal favorites is this one called Dear Evan Hansen.

Anyone listen to or see Dear Evan Hansen?

We love it.

You've got to check it out.

And what it's basically about is this friendless, socially awkward high schooler,

his name is Evan Hansen,

who has spent most of his life feeling like he's unseen and unheard and an outsider.

And so the musical opens with him.

He's getting out of bed and his arm is in a cast.

Because that summer, because of self, out of self-harm,

maybe even suicidal ideation,

he's allowed himself to fall from a tree.

And so he's got this broken arm, he's in a cast,

and he's waking up in bed,

and it's the first day of school,

and he's just absolutely dreading it, right?

And in the opening scene, he enters into the high school,

and everyone's so excited to catch up except for him.

And he's smack in the middle of this whole sea of students,

yet at the same time, he feels all alone,

and this is what he sings.

On the outside, always looking in,

will I ever be more than I've always been?

Because I'm tap, tap, tapping on the glass.

I'm waving through a window.

I try to speak, but nobody can hear,

so I wait around for an answer to appear.

While I'm watch, watch, watching people pass,

I'm waving through a window.

Can anybody see?

Is anybody waving back at me?

He continues, when you're falling in a forest,

and there's nobody around,

do you ever really crash or even make a sound?

Did I even make a sound?

It's like I never made a sound.

Will I ever make a sound?

And you know, I wonder if any of us really needs

to be an awkward teenager to identify with dear Evan Hansen.

Like, you may not feel your need for revival,

but everyone, everyone at one point or another feels unheard.

Like nobody cares, like nobody sees.

But that's what I love about our passage today.

Like, what if I told you of a guarantee,

a guarantee that you would always be heard,

always be seen, and not just by anyone,

but by an all-powerful, good, and loving person.

Even if you are skeptical,

in your skepticism about this person's possible existence,

wouldn't you want this guarantee?

Wouldn't you want a guarantee of this person to be true?

And wouldn't you at least be interested

in how to relate with and communicate with such a person?

Well, that's what this passage illustrates for us,

the privilege, the posture, and the promise of prayer.

And those are our three points,

the privilege, the posture, and the promise of prayer.

Now, to set this up a bit,

because we're jumping right into the middle

of another episode of the Bible,

what's recorded here in our text

is one of the most pivotal, great moments

in Israel's history.

King Solomon's world-famous temple

has finally been built as a permanent residence

for God himself,

this historic temple moment

in their capital, Jerusalem.

And so as it says down here in chapter six, verse 12,

the scene for us is this picture

of this kingly son of David, right, Solomon,

and he's standing before the temple altar

in front of the whole assembly,

and he's lifting up his hands,

and he offers up this prayer.

And see, when we observe how Solomon prays

and what he asks for,

we find that even for this great king of Israel,

this son of David,

prayer is not something that he just presumes.

He sees it as a privilege,

and that's our first point,

the privilege of prayer.

Now read with me and notice how he recognizes

the bigness, the transcendence,

the sovereign authority of God

in comparison to all other things.

Verse 14, he said,

Lord, the God of Israel,

there is no God like you in heaven or on earth.

Verse 18, will God really dwell on earth with humans?

The heavens, even the highest heavens,

cannot contain you,

how much less this temple I have built.

See, Solomon knows better than to presume

that this temple is worthy of Yahweh,

or even capable of housing him.

He knows better than to assume

that this temple could somehow harness the power

and the presence of God.

He knows how silly to think this would be.

Even this greatest architectural feat

in all of Hebrew history,

he knows that in and of itself,

even with all the time and the sweat

and all the resources they put into this temple,

that compared to Yahweh's glory,

it was but a tiny and insignificant box.

Solomon understood that apart from God's own

actual commitment to be present

and attentive to this temple,

it'd just kind of be like,

what is this, a temple for ants?

Right?

Zoolander reference, thank you.

And so with eyes wide open,

wide open to the greatness of this God,

who he hopes will dwell in his dinky little temple,

Solomon does not presume that this temple

is already a place of prayer.

Rather, he pleads for this temple

to be a place of prayer.

Look with me at verse 19.

Look at what he asks for,

and especially notice how many times

he uses the word here.

Verse 19.

Lord my God, give attention

to your servant's prayer and his plea for mercy.

Hear the cry and the prayer

that your servant is praying in your presence.

May your eyes be open toward this temple,

day and night, this place of which you said

you would put your name there.

May you hear the prayer your servant prays

toward this place.

Hear the supplications of your servant

and of your people Israel

when they pray toward this place.

Hear from heaven your dwelling place.

And when you hear, forgive.

Verse 40.

Now my God, may your eyes be open

and your ears attentive

to the prayers offered in this place.

Did you catch that?

Here in this most momentous occasion

of King Solomon's reign,

his highest prayer and petition

is basically for the gift of prayer,

the privilege of prayer itself.

He's praying for prayer.

He acknowledges that God is not obliged

to hear and receive their prayers,

so he pleads to God

that God would hear them,

hear their cries, hear their prayers,

hear their supplications

all the way from heaven,

hear their pleas for mercy and forgiveness.

Even for this son of David,

the wisest king of Israel,

prayer is not an entitlement,

but it's an endowment in his eyes.

It's not a presumption.

Again, it's a privilege.

And I wonder how many of us

perceive and practice prayer

for the great privilege that it is.

Or do we take for granted,

do we take communication

with the creator and sustainer

of the universe for granted?

You know, we live in this modern,

egalitarian internet age

where for better and for worse,

people can be heard like never before, right?

Like think about it.

Any one of us could conceivably

go viral tomorrow, right?

With just the right perfect video,

we could get the attention

of all the media outlets

of the president of the United States.

You can shoot off messages,

get into people's DMs,

capture thousands of people's attentions

just like that, right?

You can share on a GoFundMe page

about your personal financial struggles,

and Kim Kardashian just might see it

and donate a few thousand bucks.

Like this is the world that we live in.

Or if I just tweet something

that's clever enough,

compelling enough,

I might get retweeted by Steph Curry, right?

We can get the ears

and the attention of more people

than has ever been possible in history.

And thus it can be easy

to take for granted

our very right to be heard, right?

And the obligation of others

to listen to our cries for attention

and our cries for help.

And I'll be the first one

to say that we should indeed

lend our ears to our neighbors,

to one another.

That there is a real sense

in which we owe our ears

to one another

as fellow human beings.

And it is truly awesome

to think that you can tweet

at Taylor Swift

and she just might see it.

But while I mean no offense

to the Swifties in this room,

Taylor Swift's ears

and God's ears

are on two totally different levels,

all right?

Like just because Taylor Swift

might give her attention

to your tweets

does not mean

we now have the right

to God's ear.

Just because.

The right to God's attention

and to God's responses

to our pleas.

God is God

and we are not.

And he is not obligated

to listen to

or to heed our prayers

and the request

of sinful creatures

just because we want him to.

Do we realize

that there are

over seven and a half

billion people

on this planet?

And before any of us

there were billions

upon billions of others,

each one created

by God

in his image,

each with their own needs

and concerns

and hurts

and longings.

And yet do we presume

that God would give his ear

to any single

one of us?

One speck of sand

amidst the vastness

of the seashore

of humanity.

humanity.

And not to mention

his holiness.

Do we even know

who we presume

to be talking to

in prayer?

The Lord Yahweh,

the high and exalted one

seated on his throne.

Pure and sinless angels

cover their faces

day and night

in his presence

unable to speak

anything else

than holy,

holy,

holy is the Lord

God Almighty

who was and is

and is to come.

Do we presume

to pray to this kind

of a God

with our unclean lips,

lips we've used

to deny him

and dishonor him

and disparage those

made in his image?

You know,

some of us

might be stuck today

and hung up on this mystery

of why God doesn't seem

to hear

and answer our prayers.

But what if the greater

mystery was that

he might even be

willing to?

In Solomon's

unsurpassed wisdom,

he was preoccupied

with this greater mystery,

marveling at the privilege

and the possibility

of prayer,

the possibility

of having a conversation

with God,

being heard by God

with all the attention

of a patient

and empathetic parent

toward their beloved child,

the possibility

of bringing a personal request

to the one

for whom nothing

is impossible.

Christchurch,

we must pray.

No,

it's not that we

must pray,

we get to pray.

We get to pray.

We aren't doing God,

we aren't doing the church

a favor

when we get on our knees,

when we show up

to the boiler room,

to Wednesday,

even song

or to our prayer vigils.

Prayer is the privilege

of the people of God

and when we grasp

the absolute privilege

of prayer

to the holy God

of the universe,

it should make sense

that there is also

a proper posture

of prayer as well

in point number two,

the posture of prayer.

Like just because

we are given

the privilege

of being heard by God,

right,

doesn't mean

we should just come

before him

in any way

that we want.

And I know this might

fly in the face

of our kind of

I'm just gonna do me,

let me be myself

culture,

but honestly,

unless you are

a sociopath,

everyone gets this

at some level.

This is true

of any respectful

relationship.

Just because you are

given the privilege

of a relationship

with someone

does not mean

you should treat them

and approach them

in whatever manner

you choose.

If you are given

the privilege

of entering into

the Vatican

to meet the Pope,

entering the White House

to meet the President,

you don't just go in there

however you want,

like yo, yo, yo,

what's up my guy,

right, fist bump, yo,

no.

Or a better example,

a better example

might be this,

if you've wronged someone,

say you've cheated

on your partner

and they've granted

you the privilege

of entering back

into a relationship

with them,

you don't approach them

in any way

that you want,

in a lighthearted,

flippant way

as if they had not

just shown you

an incredible mercy.

If someone

who is way out

of your league,

if someone

you owe

a great debt to

grants you

the privilege

of a relationship

with them,

this cannot but

affect your posture

toward them.

How can you not

be humble toward them,

personal toward them,

even penitent

toward them?

And that's what we get at

in chapter 7,

verse 14.

God says,

my people

who are called

by my name

will humble themselves

and pray

and seek my face

and turn from

their wicked ways.

See,

a proper posture

of prayer

is one

of humility.

How could we

not be humbled

when we consider

the great privilege

of God

lending his ear

to our unclean lips?

Prayer is inherently

an act of humility,

right?

It's an act of dependence

and it's an admission

of our need

and abandonment

of our self-sufficiency

and you know,

I honestly think

that this is the biggest reason

why many of us

don't pray.

One of our elders

this past week

in our session meeting,

he was saying that,

it was Wes,

Wes Selke,

he was saying that,

he thought that

our biggest problem

and I agree with him,

our society's biggest problem

is that we don't feel

our need for God

and this is not

outside society,

this is the church's

problem as well,

this is why we don't pray.

It's not because

we don't have enough time,

it's not because

we're not pious enough,

it's not because

we're not disciplined enough,

it's because we're not

humble enough,

it's because we are not

humble enough,

it's that simple.

Humble people pray,

prideful people don't.

People who believe

they need God

are in touch with God

and people who don't

believe they need God

will not be in touch

with him.

Now a humble posture

is also a personal posture,

one that seeks God's face,

that seeks God for God.

Remember prayer is not

a transactional exchange

offered up to this

cosmic gumball machine

or this like

your wish is my command

kind of a genie.

Proper prayer does not

ultimately seek God's goods

but God himself.

prayer is not just

worrying in the direction

of God,

it is seeking him,

it's pursuing him,

a relationship

with the living God

and this is the kind

of prayer that God

loves to respond to.

Listen to his words

through the prophet Jeremiah

to an exiled people,

you will seek me

and find me

when you seek me

with all your heart,

I will be found by you

declares the Lord.

Isn't that such

an amazing promise?

Isn't that an amazing promise?

God is after our hearts

and what this also means then

is that our humble

and personal prayers,

they also need to be

penitent prayers.

Turning away

from our wicked ways,

God is light

and in him

is no darkness at all.

If we say we have

fellowship with him

while we walk in darkness,

we lie

and do not practice

the truth.

Like real talk here,

if you don't want

to be forgiven,

God is not going

to forgive you.

If you do not want

to be healed,

God will not heal you.

And I know this all

seems kind of like

no duh,

but are our prayers

really marked

by this kind of humble

and personal

and penitent posture?

Do we assume

a Godward posture

or a selfward posture

when we approach

God in prayer?

Do we pray,

thy will be done

or my will be done?

Are we truly

humbly dependent upon him?

Do we really want God

for God alone?

And are there any

wicked ways

we might be holding on to

that are obstructing

our communion with him?

God has laid out

for us the kind of posture

that pleases him,

that captures his attention.

He says in Isaiah

Isaiah 66 · chapter mention

chapter 66,

this is the one

to whom I will look.

He who is humble

and contrite in spirit

and trembles at my word.

That's how we get

the eyes of God.

It's not some

manipulative technique,

to force his hand,

but it's a blueprint

for walking in his light

and life and love.

It's a posture

to set ourselves up

for revival.

You know,

my pastor in college,

Peter Kim,

he talked about this

really helpfully.

He said,

you know,

we cannot force

the hand of God,

we cannot manufacture

revival,

but though we cannot

control the wind

or the sea,

what we can do

is we can put up

our sails, right?

We can correct

our rudders

as we wait

for the fresh wind

of God's spirit

to move us

as he so desires.

When our prayers

are postured

in humility

and in seeking

God's face

and in turning

from our wicked ways,

God promises,

he promises

to hear,

he promises

to forgive,

he promises

to heal

and that's amazing

and that's an amazing

promise

and this is where

we'll end

the promise

of prayer.

You know,

this book,

2 Chronicles,

though it records

Solomon's prayer

and God's response,

you know,

with the fire

coming down,

it was actually

written hundreds

of years later

and in the traditional

Jewish ordering

of the Old Testament,

this would be

the very last book

that you would read.

So in Jesus' Bible,

this would be

the very last book

that he read.

So the actual

original readers

of 2 Chronicles

are not those

Israelites who are there

at the moment

with Solomon,

but they are the

generation of Israelites

who had returned

from exile.

They're the ones

who had returned

from Babylonian

captivity.

So I want us

to imagine

reading 2 Chronicles

like this generation

of post-exilic

Israelites,

right?

Imagine being

a post-exilic

Jewish person

reading this account

in 2 Chronicles

2 Chronicles 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6 and 7.

You're back

in your homeland

but you don't have

a king, right?

And technically

you are still

under the jurisdiction

of the Persian Empire.

Now imagine

reading this event,

Solomon's prayer,

God's response,

the fire coming down

and God promising,

promising that he

would definitely

hear his people's

prayers at

Solomon's temple.

But then you look

outside your window,

right?

Do you see

Solomon's temple?

No, you see

the second temple

that you yourself

built post-exile

and you are told

that this second temple

pales in comparison

to the original temple

that Solomon had built

where the fire came down

and God met

his people.

So like what

do you do

with these

century-old promises

that were given

to Solomon

and those people

back in verses

14 and following?

When God said

hundreds of years earlier,

if my people

who are called

by my name

will humble

themselves and pray

and seek my face

and turn from

their wicked ways,

then I will hear

from heaven

and I will forgive

their sin

and will heal

their land.

Now my eyes

will be open

and my ears attentive

to the prayers

offered in this place.

I have chosen

and consecrated

this temple,

God said,

so that my name

may be there forever.

My eyes and my heart

will always be there.

What do we do

with that kind of a promise

that's so tied

to Solomon's temple,

right?

If we put ourselves

in the shoes

of the original readers

of 2 Chronicles,

it would be really confusing,

I think,

to read these words

and figure out

how they exactly

applied to us.

God,

you said you'd be attentive

to the prayers

offered in Solomon's temple,

but what about our temple?

You said your name

and your eyes

and your heart

would be there forever,

but we messed up

and we were actually exiled.

We turned from you

and the temple,

the original temple

where you made these promises,

it's gone.

So where is your name now?

Where are your eyes?

Where is your heart now?

Are you still with us?

Do you still see us?

Is your heart still for us

or has our sin

disqualified us

once and for all

and is our land

beyond the possibility

of healing?

While Solomon

and the assembly before him

saw the fire come down

and while they received

the promise of God

to meet them

in their temple,

these original readers

of 2 Chronicles,

these 2 Temple Israelites

were left in the same shoes

many of us

find ourselves in today,

posing the same question

as Dear Evan Hansen.

Might it be

that we will go on unseen,

unheard,

unloved

for the rest of our lives?

For while the first Temple Israelites

had their own son of David,

their own wise king

pleading on their behalf

for the presence of God,

their own consecrated Temple

upon which the very fire

and glory of God's presence

visibly descended,

what did the second Temple Israelites

have?

And what do we have

to assure us

that God sees us,

that God hears us,

that God loves us,

that we have his eyes,

his ears,

and his heart,

that the forgiveness

of our sins

and the healing of our land

are possible?

What assurance do we have?

I mean,

if only we too

had a son of David,

right?

An all-wise king

to plead with God

on our behalf.

If only we had

maybe even a son of God

whose requests

would never be refused

by his Father.

If only we had a temple,

a glorious point

of access to God,

a place for a real experience

of the presence of God

here with us on earth.

If only we had

such an incorruptible Temple

that even if it was

violently torn down,

it could rise again

in three days.

If only, right?

Or is that not

what we have

in the person

of Jesus Christ?

The better and ultimate

son of David,

a king who,

while crowned with thorns,

begs his father

to forgive them

for they know not

what they do.

And by his wounds,

we are healed.

Jesus is the ultimate temple

who grafts us in

and even makes us

a temple with him

of the very Spirit of God

dwelling within us,

a spirit interceding for us

with groans

too deep for words.

You know,

in the musical

Dear Evan Hansen,

the kind of big

feel-good song

of the show

is this song

where he preaches

the good news

to all the misfits

that you will be found.

You'll be heard,

you'll be seen,

you will be found.

There's a place

where we don't have

to be alone.

But it's never really clear

how he can guarantee that.

It's never really clear

how this is anything more

than a wishful encouragement

that outsiders will be seen

and heard

and loved.

But you know

the beauty of the gospel

is that in Christ

we have the guarantee.

We have the Spirit

crying within us,

not just you will be found

but Abba,

Father,

you have already been found.

Our Father in heaven

has seen his prodigal children

when they were so far off

that they could not

even see him

and he has run to us

in the person of Christ.

And just as God promised

to David's son,

King Solomon,

that he and his people

would have his eyes,

his ears,

and his very heart.

Guess what?

All the promises of God

are yes and amen

in Jesus Christ.

And so much more

has he promised

to David's son,

King Jesus,

that he and his people

will always and forever

have eyes,

have his ears,

and his very heart.

And this,

this is the gospel.

The promise

of prayer.

The privilege

of prayer

secured for us,

guaranteed

in Christ.

Christ.

So Christ,

let us be

a people of prayer.

Let us be

a church of prayer.

Christ,

let us be

a people

of humble,

personal,

penitent prayer.

And not just because

we got to,

but because we

get to

in Christ.

Let's pray.

Lord,

these are your words.

Let's pray.

If we will

humble ourselves

and pray

and seek your face

and turn from

our wicked ways,

then you will

hear from heaven.

You said it.

I will

hear from heaven.

You didn't say,

I might hear from heaven.

You didn't say,

I'll think about

hearing from heaven.

You said,

I will

hear from heaven

and forgive

their sins

and heal

their land.

Impress upon us,

Lord,

the privilege

of prayer.

Help us to assume

the posture

of prayer

and help us

to glory

in the promise

of prayer

made possible

by Jesus Christ,

the great

son of David,

the temple

we never deserved,

who has come

near to us

and brought us

to you

at great,

great cost

to himself.

We love you,

God,

and we want

to love you more.

So would you do

that in us,

we pray.

In the name

of Jesus,

amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.