God's Presence Goes Before Us

This autumn, as a church, we're following a series looking at what it means to believe

in the supernatural presence of God as a living reality.

And today we think particularly about what it means to think about the living presence

of God as the God who goes before us.

Not only is he with us in the present now, but he goes ahead of us.

One of the many things that I've been struck with once again over the last few days in the events of this last week

is a basic truth, but something that is quite sobering.

That the death of Her Majesty the Queen reminds us that we are all mortal.

That whoever we are, whatever we are in this life, whatever we do, whatever we become,

however rich, however powerful we may be, death is the ultimate leveller.

However, we are all mortal.

Now on the one hand, that could sound very bleak and morbid.

Our Queen was Christian, and throughout her life she spoke very positively about faith.

And the reason why what I've just said does not need to sound morbid at all,

but in fact the very opposite, very hopeful, is because our faith in Christ that was our Queen's,

is our Queen's.

Except now it is not faith, it is knowledge.

It is that it's the conviction that Christ goes before every single one of us.

That's what happens on the cross.

That whatever death is, God in Christ has gone ahead of us, goes ahead of us,

and is there ahead of us waiting with open arms.

And it is that fundamental truth, that conviction,

that enables us to stare the reality of human mortality in the face,

with confidence and with hope.

And because we can do that, so it changes the way that we live our lives right now.

So as we think about what it means to celebrate the living presence of God,

who goes ahead of us and is ahead of us in our future,

that is where we work it out from.

God is there ultimately in eternity, but because we know that,

we know he's ahead of us in everything that lies between now and then.

So here's a question for you.

Have you ever found yourself in a situation

where you've just been overwhelmed

with a sense of worry or concern or fear or anxiety

over the sense of the unknown?

Where you feel like you're stepping out into a situation

and even though you may have this ultimate, eternal faith in the risen Jesus,

nevertheless, it's trying to work that out in the midst of the unknown now.

Have you ever found yourself in that situation?

In 1966, a young woman in her early 20s,

she was from Croydon,

got on board a boat with nothing other than a £10 note

and a prayer that God would tell her where to get off this boat.

The boat incident was going all around the world.

Eventually, after a long time,

she felt that prayer was answered

and she got off in Hong Kong.

This woman then spent the next 50 plus years

in one of the most dangerous places on earth,

working alongside gangs of criminals,

drug pushers,

leading them to Christ and seeing lives transformed.

Her name was Jackie Pullinger.

Now, that may not be your reality,

but I'm sure every one of us can think of some situation in our lives

when we face the future with that sense of,

frankly, being scared,

where we just do not know what lies in that immediate future.

And even if we're not talking about specific scenarios,

there's a genuine sense in which that applies to all of our lives.

We don't know what's going to happen to us tomorrow.

We can look at tomorrow, this next week,

and think with all kinds of questions,

what's going to happen?

What's going to happen?

The truth that we find repeated in Scripture

over and over and over again

is that God goes ahead of you

and is ahead of you in that future.

So let's just turn to the story we had this morning.

It's the story of Saul,

a known persecutor of Christians,

and it speaks directly into everything I've just described.

We've got Saul,

who is a known persecutor of Christians.

This can seem quite removed from our experience

because we don't know what it's,

generally speaking,

in this country,

we don't know what it's like

to live under persecution.

Lots of Christians worldwide do.

Face prison

and even death

for their faith.

But because it's not part of our reality,

we tend not to think it is reality.

But it is reality.

And that was the reality,

as this story was being told,

that Saul,

who was known,

known to be a persecutor of Christians

who would systematically

round up Christians,

have them put in prison,

and have them killed.

He has an experience of the vision,

of a vision of the risen Jesus.

He's blinded.

And we find two,

I would suggest,

at least two situations in this story,

which I heard this morning,

where we're reminded of the presence of God

that goes ahead of us

as we step into the unknown.

So Ananias,

also,

who is a Christian believer,

has this vision

that he is to go

and seek out

this man called Saul,

who is a known killer of Christians,

and go and pray for him.

I can't think that might have been

quite a difficult call

to swallow.

And yet he steps out.

And what might it have been like

even for Saul,

who, you know,

Matt pleads to himself in his shoes

that you've been systematically

persecuting and killing Christians

for quite a while,

suddenly you lose your sight

and you walk into the hands

of those that you've been persecuting.

In both scenarios,

we find two people

stepping out into the unknown

with that conviction

that it is God who goes ahead of us.

And as we look in Scripture,

we find time and time again

that God is in the habit

of dealing with us

in those kind of ways.

For example,

Abraham

was 75 years old

when he was called

to set out on a journey

and was promised

that God

was going to prepare

a land for him,

but he didn't know

where that was going to be.

75 years old.

Moses was called

to lead a whole people

out of slavery in Egypt

with absolutely no idea

how that was going to happen

or how it would unfold.

Joshua,

Moses' successor,

was called

to lead God's people

across the Jordan

and into a promised land,

a place that was full

of unknowns and dangers

and simply told,

you've got to be strong

and very courageous.

Jonah was called

to walk straight

into a dangerous city

renowned for its wickedness

and stand and be

a street preacher

in that place.

Ruth,

when she lost everything

and was stripped

of all security,

stepped out

with Naomi,

her mother-in-law,

into an unknown future.

And of course,

Jesus

called fishermen

to simply leave

their boats,

their nets,

everything that represented

their security

and just go and follow him.

And yet,

throughout these experiences,

time and time again

of God calling people

with the promise

that you don't know

the future that I do

and I'm ahead of you

waiting for you

in that future,

God's promises

are consistent.

Deuteronomy 1.30

says,

the Lord your God

is going before you.

Deuteronomy 31.8

says,

the Lord himself

goes before you

and will be with you.

He will never leave you

nor forsake you.

Do not be afraid

and do not be discouraged.

Isaiah 45,

Isaiah 45:2

verse 2

says,

I will go before you.

I will level

the mountains.

Isaiah 52,

Isaiah 52:12

verse 12

says,

the Lord will go

before you.

Matthew 20,

chapter 20,

Jesus said,

after I have been raised,

I will go ahead of you.

John chapter 14,

John 14:3

verse 3,

Jesus said,

I will go

and prepare

a place for you

in eternity.

So what does this mean

in practical terms then

to talk about

what it means

as a Christian

to believe

and have that confidence

that God goes ahead of you

into that future

that you don't yet know?

I want to suggest

in typical preacher fashion

three things.

Three practical things.

The first thing

is that you can,

with confidence,

embrace the unknown

knowing that God

goes ahead of us

because that is how we grow.

When we don't have

that control over our future

but we are called

to trust

and to trust alone

in him.

That's how we grow

and that's when we grow.

There's a story told

about a boy

who was playing

in a garden one day

and he found a cocoon.

This cocoon was moving

and he looked

for a few minutes

and saw that there was

a moth trying to break

out of this cocoon.

The boy felt sorry

for the moth

so he went inside,

got a pair of scissors

and cut a little hole

in this cocoon

so that the moth

could actually get out.

What the boy

didn't realise

was it was the worst

thing he could do

because what he didn't

understand

was that the moth

actually had to

press outwards

and break its own way out

and struggle out

of that cocoon

because it was

nature's way

of the fluids

in the body

of the moth

being forced

into the wings.

Because the moth

was denied

that struggle

that it needed

to have,

it tumbled out

of the cocoon

with no wings

and it never flew.

Now we've got to be careful

with that sort of analogy.

I'm not suggesting

for one moment

that God deliberately

sends suffering

our way.

I don't believe that.

But I do believe

that it is true

that it is when we are

in those situations

of suffering

and let's be honest

all of us have them

in different ways

and at different times

of our lives.

When we are in those

situations

that is when we grow.

At least that is

when we can grow

when we allow our focus

to be on God

and not the struggles

themselves.

So the first thing then

is that when we know

that God is ahead of us

it means we can embrace

struggles with that knowledge.

The second thing

is that we can be confident

that God will never ask

more of us

than we can handle.

He won't.

Toscanini was an Italian conductor.

He lived from 1867

to 1957

and he was renowned

for having a very hot temper.

The musicians in his orchestras

were terrified of him.

One particular evening

they were just getting ready

to, it was minutes

before a concert

was going to start

and a bassoon player

and very nervously

to this man

and said

I'm really sorry

but I've just had an accident

with my instrument

and I can't get this instrument

to play

an E flat.

It's not going to work.

I can't play tonight.

He watched with horror

as Toscanini

just closed his eyes

and said nothing

and covered his ears

for several very long minutes.

Apparently then

Toscanini opened his eyes

and said

you don't need to worry

you can play this evening.

E flat doesn't come up

in any of your scores.

He played through

the entire concert

in his mind.

Such was his intricate knowledge

of every single part

that formed part of that orchestra

for that entire evening.

Multiply that

by infinity

and you have something

of an image there

as to the way

God regards

your future.

He knows it.

Every single one of us.

That's hard for us

it's impossible

for us to get

our mortal minds

around that

but that's the truth of it.

He knows

what you can do

and what you can't do

and that brings me

on to the third

and the final point there.

Is that actually

when we're faced with it

we'd be surprised

actually what we can

we can actually do

and we can be taken

by surprise.

Time and time

and time again

I've found in ministry

people say to me

I didn't

I had no idea

how I got through that

but I somehow did

but I couldn't have done

had it not been

for my faith in Christ.

God has this mysterious way

of giving us

what we need

just when we need it.

When it's lying ahead

we think to ourselves

that's never going to happen

I'm never going to be able

to face that

I don't know how

it's going to happen

I can't face it

but when we get there

God surprises us.

One final story.

Corrie Ten Boom

tells a story

when she was a little girl

she was worrying

about something

with her father

and she was telling him

how she was worried

about the future

and how something

was going to unfold

and he said

look

God will take care of it

he's got it.

he said

think of it like this

when we get on board

a train

we travel together

by a train

what do you need

to get on that train

and she said to her dad

well a ticket

he said of course we do

I get a ticket

he said when do I

give you that ticket

do I give that ticket

to you months

or even

or just weeks

before we travel

she said no

he said when do I

hand you that ticket

he said dad

you give it to me

the second we get

on the train

God seems to be

in the habit

of meeting those needs

right when we need them

from our perspective

we look at a future

that we don't know

and we wonder

how on earth

are we going to get

through that

but we can

and we will

because God

is ahead of us

just as he always

has been

just as he always

will be

and he always

keeps his word

let's pray

for each and every

one of us

in this room

right now

this will be

a slightly

different answer

but just

to answer the

question

as to what

is it

that you see

when you look

into the future

and think

of the

uncertainties

as we think

about what

our futures

look like

and the things

that perhaps

concern us

whether that's

in the short

term

or the longer

term

let's just

take a moment

now

to hold

those uncertainties

in prayer

before God

knowing that

even though

we do not

know

what's going

to happen

he does

living God

you go ahead

of us

thank you

that you know

the future

that we don't

forgive us

for when we

become distracted

and we focus

on the struggle

and we

lose

our gaze

upon you

be our focus

be our hope

be at the

centre of our

thoughts

and our

meditations

and our

contemplations

when we're

tempted to

worry

or to feel

anxious

help us

to shift

that focus

onto you

and to have

that mysterious

confidence

renewed

that you

are ahead

of us

just as

you are

with us

right now

you go ahead

into that

future

remind us

of that

in ever

greater measure

right now

as we

continue to

worship

and in the

time to

come

in Jesus

name

Amen

Amen

in the

Lord