Quiet Time

We begin a series this week which is based on this book called Christian Disciplines.

The series is on Christian Disciplines and we're going to be following this over these

next few weeks and today we start by thinking about quiet times in communion with God.

I want to paint three pictures, three scenarios and I want you to kind of try and think yourself

into each of these scenarios.

The first scenario is a way to imagine that you've woken up and you've got to get out to

meet people and you for some reason go without breakfast.

It might be that you've been so much of a rush you haven't had time to have it.

It might be that perhaps you just haven't got the appetite for breakfast, you don't feel

like it, perhaps you're a bit nervous about what's ahead of you and so you can't face eating

it.

But you leave the house without having had breakfast.

It gets to about 11 o'clock and you're sat in the presence of two or three others that

you're meeting with and your stomach begins to remind you and them of what didn't happen

a couple of hours earlier.

At a volume that is slightly out decibelling a pneumatic drill.

That's the first scenario.

Second one is this.

Imagine that you've got a car journey to make and you've done this journey quite a lot before

such that you know the precise mileage.

It's 120 miles.

You've got to be there by a certain time because you've got an important meeting there.

Unfortunately, you are running late and so you get in the car and there isn't really that

much margin for extra time.

About a couple of minutes into your journey, say it's 120 miles, you know that, you glance

down and you remember that you haven't refuelled and the gauge is telling you you've got 98

miles in the tank.

Do you chance it?

Do you just keep going and carry on with that journey thinking it might happen?

Third scenario is you, again, it's first thing in the morning, you're in a bit of a hurry

and you grab your phone.

It's plugged into the charger and you're going out and you know that you're going to need

that phone.

For a start, it's got your diary on it.

But you've got a lot of calls and texts and emails to make.

And then as you're walking down the path, you check your phone for your first appointment

and then you realise that for some reason, though it was plugged into the charger, that

charger had been switched off on the wall overnight and you've got 9%.

Now having hopefully taken you to each of those three scenarios, I want you to imagine that

they're all happening at the same time.

That's what happens when you don't pray.

You run in on empty.

And all the time you can't relax because there's this sense that something's not quite there

that should be there, that could be there, but it's not.

C.S. Lewis wrote this.

The moment you wake up each morning, all your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like

wild animals.

And the first job each morning consists in shoving it all back.

In listening to that other voice.

Taking that other point of view.

Letting that other, larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in.

We can't, we shouldn't try to reduce things to formula.

But experience, wide experience of lots of people will say to us that if we don't grab

that time at the beginning of the day to pray, to get that recharge,

then we will be more vulnerable.

Our vulnerability to anxiety, our sensitivity to sin, and our ability and power to resist sin

is directly proportional to the nearness of our communion with Christ.

We need to pray.

Now, of course, let's be really clear about this.

When we talk about prayer and being a Christian

and setting aside a time, whether we call that a quiet time or whatever we want to call it,

there's a big danger that we can think that it's about compartmentalising.

Even if we don't register, that's the danger, that's where we can go with it if we're not careful.

You know, I do my God bit there and then get on with life.

That would be a distortion of how things are.

Why? Because the reason why that is so important is not because that's the bit that we do,

that's the prayer for the day and then we get on with the rest of it.

No, it's because prayer, as John Wesley said, it was the breathing of the soul.

It's something that needs to happen, but you need to drink that draw breath at the beginning of the day

because it sustains you for that whole ongoing conversation with God

throughout the whole of the rest of the day.

It sets the scene.

It's immersing in his presence at the start of the day.

I had somebody say years ago,

when we look at the life of Jesus, we see two things.

We see his miracles, his teachings, his public ministry, in other words.

All the stuff, the amazing stuff, people healed, people that were fed, water turned into wine,

and the amazing things he said, the proclamation of forgiveness,

all the stuff that is recorded that might be broadly described as his public ministry.

That's the first thing.

The second thing we see is those moments when he withdrew to pray.

The mistake we make is when we think of Jesus' life as a life of public ministry

punctuated with moments of withdrawal to prayer.

Because the truth is, it's the other way around.

Jesus' life was a life of communion with his Father

with such intimacy, depth, and power

that what we see recorded in the Gospels

is a life of that

punctuated with moments

of public ministry,

of healing,

miracles, signs, and wonders.

So, let's be really clear about this.

When we're talking about a quiet time,

we're not talking about compartmentalising our lives.

So we've got our spiritual bit,

and we do that at one point in the day,

and then we get on with everything else.

The point of setting that side of time

is the recharge that we carry with us

and through us for the rest of the day.

The fundamental thing here

is presence.

Now, let's come back to Moses,

who we saw in that reading.

Moses, we join Moses' story in Exodus 33.

The Ten Commandments have been given.

They've been announced,

and the people of Israel have messed up.

And Moses finds himself in this position

where he's leading in a state of complete and utter chaos.

And he knows that,

given the enormity of what he has to do,

he has to spend that time with God in prayer.

He has to.

And so what we see is he goes into that place,

that tent of meeting.

It's a place of tremendous holiness

where the presence of God is to be found.

You know, I can't help but think back

to that really old film,

The Ten Commandments,

which I might point out

was quite a few years before I was born.

But do you remember that film

with Charlton Heston?

He comes down from the mountain,

having kind of met with God,

and he's kind of glowing

like he's overdosed on ready brick.

I'm old enough to remember those adverts.

The point is he spends that time

in communion with God's holiness.

And at that point in history,

that was where the holiness of God

was to be found,

in that very focused, designated space.

And such was that holiness,

such was the holy otherness of God,

that you could not look upon God and live.

Elsewhere in the Old Testament,

we see in Isaiah,

Isaiah in the temple where he's called,

and he has this vision of the glory of God.

Even then, he cannot look on God

because God is so holy and holy other.

Even, he says,

that the presence of God,

the bright shining light,

and surrounded, we're told,

by heavenly beings

whose wings are having to cover their eyes

because even they cannot

behold the holiness of God.

Otherwise, they will simply...

In Jesus Christ,

to whom all of these events point,

God is supremely revealed.

God comes to us and among us.

Through his life, his death,

and his resurrection,

we have that access

that is unique.

That the Holy Spirit is now come,

and therefore,

wherever we are,

and we don't need to be

in a particular place,

in a particular temple,

at a particular time,

or we don't need to be

a particularly special person,

any one of us

can commune

with that holy otherness.

And that is something

that we take all too casually

and too lightly,

too often.

Who wouldn't want to do that?

And so it is

that we have that opportunity

to know that presence of God

throughout the whole day.

But the rationale

of having that quiet time

is to have that space

that is set aside

at the beginning of the day.

And incidentally,

I don't think there's anywhere

in Scripture that I'm aware of

that says that it must be

at the beginning of the day.

It's just that logically

it makes sense,

if we can,

at the beginning of the day

to grab that time.

Even if it's just

a very short time,

because it sets us up

for the rest of the day.

So why is it such a struggle?

Well, I want to suggest to you

three reasons,

practical reasons,

why I think very often,

so many of us,

will struggle

with the discipline

of grabbing that time.

The first is this,

and it's busyness.

We have so much stuff,

we live busy lives,

at any stage in life,

that there are so many

other things that can be done.

First thing.

And

in response to that,

we need to be reminded

that the busier we are,

the more manic life becomes,

the more important that time is.

Martin Luther

apparently once said,

I have so much to do

that I shall have to spend

the first three hours

in prayer.

Susanna Wesley,

often regarded

as the mother of Methodism,

she was the mother of

John and Charles Wesley,

plus 17 others.

She had 19 children.

19 children.

And this was in the days

before nappies

and washing machines

and mum's neck

and all the other stuff.

Yeah, she was there

for 19 children

and she had a way

of praying.

She would take her apron

and she would lift it

over her head

to do two things.

One, to signify

to all of these 19 children

that was her time

when she was in prayer.

And two,

to withdraw

and to create that space

she knew

she needed to pray.

Who knows

what impact

that determination

of that woman had

on the spiritual life

of this nation

and indeed the whole world.

So busyness is one thing.

Secondly,

very closely connected

is the sense

that we can feel,

is the way we feel

about it.

We can feel

spiritually rubbish.

And the reason

why we feel

spiritually rubbish

is because

we've convinced

ourselves we're too busy

and we haven't

got around to it

and therefore

we've missed it

and then we feel

rubbish and we feel

we're lousy Christians

because we haven't prayed

and we haven't done that

and we carry around

in our head

this sense of all

the stuff we haven't done

and we say to ourselves

I'm so worthy,

I'm unworthy,

I'm a rubbish Christian

because I never pray

and I never do this

and I never do that

and I know I should

and a proper Christian

would be far more spiritual

and would have a really,

really highly disciplined

spiritual life

and would read their Bible

and they would pray

and they would spend time

listening to God

and they would see all this,

that and the other

and that's not me.

Get over it.

Christian faith isn't

and never has been

although tragically

we try to make it into

ritual rules

and religion.

It's not.

It's relationship.

That's what it is.

And the third reason

why I think we struggle

is simply we make it

more complicated

than it is

or we think it's

more complicated

than it is.

Now there is no formula

but it makes sense

that in that time

to read the Bible,

to listen to God

and to talk to God.

That's it.

It's as simple as.

There's no special

sort of spiritual

thing you have to do.

There's all sorts

of tools out there.

There's Bible reading

programs,

there's notes,

there's all different things.

There are different

approaches to prayer,

there's centering prayer,

there's meditation,

there's loads of

different things

that are marvellous,

marvellous tools

in the toolbox.

But we don't need

to make it more complicated

than it needs to be.

It boils down

to one simple truth.

That isn't any

human relationship,

whether you're talking

marriage,

whether you're talking

friendship,

whether you're talking

neighbours,

whether you're talking

family,

that if you're going

to grow

in a relationship

with another

human being,

it ain't going

to happen

if you don't

spend time

with them.

It won't.

Why should it?

We need that time

to pray,

to talk,

to listen,

to read God's word.

In an old song

that was written

in the late 60s,

1970s,

by Ralph Carmichael,

said this,

Far from the rapid pace

where God can soothe

my troubled mind,

sheltered by tree

and flower,

there in my quiet hour,

with him my cares

are left behind.

Whether a garden small

or on a mountain tall,

new strength and courage

there I find.

then from this

quiet place

I go to prepare

to face

a new day

with love

for all mankind.

I want to leave you

with one last image.

I'm going to grab

a glass for this.

It's not a magic trick

by the way

so don't get excited.

I'm going to pour

some water.

The purposes of this

illustration,

that

that glass is you and me

and the water is

whatever we fill

our lives with.

we set out

the beginning

of the day.

Susie,

could you just

give my hand

a gentle nudge?

A bit harder.

A bit harder still.

Go on.

There we go.

Thank you.

What fills out

just then?

It's not a trick question.

Water.

Because that's

what's in the glass.

If it was full of milk,

milk would flow out.

If it was a cup of tea,

it would be tea.

The point is,

and forgive me,

it seems like it's

screamingly obvious,

but the thing that

the vessel is filled

with is what

we'll fill out.

Now get this,

every single day

of our lives

we face knocks.

We do.

I've never known,

never known anything

such as a perfect day,

literally.

Something will go wrong.

Might be tiny,

might be massive,

but we have knocks.

The question is,

is what flows out?

when

those knocks come.

Because whatever

our lives are filled with

will be the very stuff

that flows out.

Christ gives us

that gift,

that opportunity

to be filled

and to go on

being filled

with his presence,

with his power,

with his Holy Spirit.

my prayer is,

is that we will do that

just now

and every day.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.