Tuesday
Jul292008
Holy Spirit Groans
Tuesday, July 29, 2008 at 09:09AM
Just to note - I gave Jake's homily the title Holy Spirit Groans to distinguish it from others in the series.
Romans 8:26-34
HOMILY -- Sharing our Faith
July 27, 2008
Jacob Pauls
Sharing our faith! When Steve asked me if I wanted to share on this subject, my initial response was: Have not really thought about … nothing has come to mind! Then while I drove home from that night’s meeting I began to ask the Lord. Immediately he said, “That’s my agenda!” And with that I began to wonder what the Lord was doing with that agenda. And then Romans 8 came to mind, specifically the verses that speak of the Holy Spirit’s groans and intercession for all of creation and Jesus interceding for us as well. When I got home, I looked it up and begun pondering these thoughts.
Next Sunday Steve asked if any thing had come to mind. Well, matter of fact something had, but I had no idea if this would interface with any of the readings through the summer. Promptly he informed me that the only Sunday open was July 27. When I looked up the Scriptures for today … you got it. The epistle reading was Romans 8:26-34. I took that to mean that I was to share.
The Holy Spirit and Jesus are interceding for us … for all of creation… with deep groans. What’s the focus of their intercession?
- That we might become daughters and sons of God. (vs. 23 )
- That we may all be transformed into the likeness of God. (vs. 29)
They are crying out to the Father to the end that we may know the Father and our true identity in God. This is their agenda, their mission … you get the sense that all of their creative energy is going into this mandate. I wonder what it would be like, if our groans became synchronized with the groans of heaven?
It reminds me of Matthew 28:18 ff: All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the end of the age. “ With that it has become our mandate as well. But not ours alone, it is in partnership with the Holy Spirit and Jesus. In fact, our message is exactly that: our partnership with The Holy Spirit and Jesus. God with us, always. That is in essences what we have to share.
About two years ago, still in Waterloo, I was sitting in my recliner after supper. At that moment I felt a deep weariness in my waiting, waiting for my closest friend to return. So I begun to lament to the Lord, verbally trying to articulate my weary groans of waiting. Suddenly Jesus said, “I know, I understand, I am waiting too!” Tears began to well up in my eyes, as I felt the deep comfort of that statement. And after a brief pause, the Lord asked, “And will you wait with me?” And at that point I began to weep, as I felt my whole being, being filled with the presence of God. Wonderful! And in my tears I responded: “Lord, I can’t think of a better person to wait with then you. Yes, I want to wait with you as best as I can.”
The waiting of God! Jesus is waiting! The waiting of God had never been so immediate to me. I began to ponder the waiting of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Suddenly I felt the magnitude of God’s waiting. Here I was waiting for one person, groaning on behave of one person … and God, for whom all is He waiting? He is waiting for all of creation … everyone! And again I began to weep as I sensed the overwhelming love of God, which motives his waiting. We don’t groan and intercede for another person, unless we are moved by the love and compassion of God. It’s too painful.
Waiting with the Lord … I believe it was next day in my further ponderings on Jesus invitation to wait with him. An all-important question began to emerge in my spirit. “Lord, what do you do while you are waiting? Never mind my waiting, what do you do while you are waiting?” In the days following the question grow in intensity, so I kept asking, but he didn’t answer me. Then after 3 weeks, again in my recliner, when I wasn’t even asking the question, he gave me a one liner: “While I wait, I share my kindness!” And at that moment I was flooded with the kindness of God and my tear ducks opened up and I wept. The kindness of God is totally kind. No adjectives can define his kindness. It’s his kindness that defines kindness. Everything in me wanted to stay in that place of kindness. When the Lord imparts himself to us, it becomes a defining moment, and those defining moments deeply move us to tears of joy, deep joy. “While I wait, I share my kindness!”
Ten days later, I go to River of Life worship. Laura, one of the leadership team members, began her teaching by reading Romans 2:4. “It’s the kindness of God that leads to repentance.” And spontaneously the kindness of God floods my spirit again, exactly as it did 10 days previous. Oh the wonderful kindness of God. Laura had no idea why I was weeping, although I told her after the service. I had certainly read that passage before, but had not remembered it in the present context. The kindness of God is a step towards repentance. I have the sense that it’s not very popular to invite folks to repent. And yet that is the all-important step toward God. That profound sense of realizing that we are sinful, yet totally loved and embraced by God. With honest repentance comes that defining moment that God is totally for us. And if that is so, then no one can be against us.
Sharing our faith! As best as I understand it, sharing our faith has to do with sharing the person of Jesus, introducing the person of Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Did anyone watch the homerun derby, prior to the All Star Baseball Game? Who put on the greatest show? (Josh Hamilton) And did you hear him being interviewed?
Who is Josh Hamilton? Josh began his major league baseball career several years ago. Got into drugs in a major way and for three seasons he was essential out of the game. He met Jesus, cleaned up his act and got into the game this spring with the Texas Rangers and doing well. At the home-run derby he put on a show by hitting 28 home runs, before he missed 10. The second closest contestant had 8. So the reporter was complimenting him for his speedy recovery and miraculous show he had put on. Josh’s response and I paraphrase: “I am so grateful to God for helping me recover in such a short time. I just want to give praise to Jesus Christ for being with me.” It was such a simple statement from his heart. I was so blessed to hear his witness, although I sensed the reporter didn’t quite know how to go beyond that. In fact another sports reporter in his commentary referred to Josh’s recovery, saying: “He has become religious!”
A final thought from Romans 8: “All things work out for good for those who love the Lord.” What a great declaration! It’s easy to make this declaration when things are going well. But have you ever been in circumstances where you were “Faith Challenged?” I confess that I have. And I have asked the Lord, “Don’t I love you enough, because right now things are not working out the way I had planned?”
I feel like I am on a journey of learning to love God. Not just love God as a theological truth, which it is, but love the Lord relationally, as I love my first love. I have discovered that the more I have cried out to the Lord in my tears and lament, the more he has loved me. And in response I have been experiencing a greater love for Jesus and the Father. I need God’s love-to-love God! And the more love I feel for the Lord, the more time I want to spend with him, the more I want to share with him, the more I want to hear from him, the more I valve what’s important to him, the more I continually reference my life to him, the more I begin to feel the groans and agenda of Jesus, the more I want to be in the presence of his kindness and share it, to the end that others may repent and also enter into the kindness of God.
Amen
Romans 8:26-34
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
HOMILY -- Sharing our Faith
July 27, 2008
Jacob Pauls
Sharing our faith! When Steve asked me if I wanted to share on this subject, my initial response was: Have not really thought about … nothing has come to mind! Then while I drove home from that night’s meeting I began to ask the Lord. Immediately he said, “That’s my agenda!” And with that I began to wonder what the Lord was doing with that agenda. And then Romans 8 came to mind, specifically the verses that speak of the Holy Spirit’s groans and intercession for all of creation and Jesus interceding for us as well. When I got home, I looked it up and begun pondering these thoughts.
Next Sunday Steve asked if any thing had come to mind. Well, matter of fact something had, but I had no idea if this would interface with any of the readings through the summer. Promptly he informed me that the only Sunday open was July 27. When I looked up the Scriptures for today … you got it. The epistle reading was Romans 8:26-34. I took that to mean that I was to share.
The Holy Spirit and Jesus are interceding for us … for all of creation… with deep groans. What’s the focus of their intercession?
- That we might become daughters and sons of God. (vs. 23 )
- That we may all be transformed into the likeness of God. (vs. 29)
They are crying out to the Father to the end that we may know the Father and our true identity in God. This is their agenda, their mission … you get the sense that all of their creative energy is going into this mandate. I wonder what it would be like, if our groans became synchronized with the groans of heaven?
It reminds me of Matthew 28:18 ff: All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the end of the age. “ With that it has become our mandate as well. But not ours alone, it is in partnership with the Holy Spirit and Jesus. In fact, our message is exactly that: our partnership with The Holy Spirit and Jesus. God with us, always. That is in essences what we have to share.
About two years ago, still in Waterloo, I was sitting in my recliner after supper. At that moment I felt a deep weariness in my waiting, waiting for my closest friend to return. So I begun to lament to the Lord, verbally trying to articulate my weary groans of waiting. Suddenly Jesus said, “I know, I understand, I am waiting too!” Tears began to well up in my eyes, as I felt the deep comfort of that statement. And after a brief pause, the Lord asked, “And will you wait with me?” And at that point I began to weep, as I felt my whole being, being filled with the presence of God. Wonderful! And in my tears I responded: “Lord, I can’t think of a better person to wait with then you. Yes, I want to wait with you as best as I can.”
The waiting of God! Jesus is waiting! The waiting of God had never been so immediate to me. I began to ponder the waiting of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Suddenly I felt the magnitude of God’s waiting. Here I was waiting for one person, groaning on behave of one person … and God, for whom all is He waiting? He is waiting for all of creation … everyone! And again I began to weep as I sensed the overwhelming love of God, which motives his waiting. We don’t groan and intercede for another person, unless we are moved by the love and compassion of God. It’s too painful.
Waiting with the Lord … I believe it was next day in my further ponderings on Jesus invitation to wait with him. An all-important question began to emerge in my spirit. “Lord, what do you do while you are waiting? Never mind my waiting, what do you do while you are waiting?” In the days following the question grow in intensity, so I kept asking, but he didn’t answer me. Then after 3 weeks, again in my recliner, when I wasn’t even asking the question, he gave me a one liner: “While I wait, I share my kindness!” And at that moment I was flooded with the kindness of God and my tear ducks opened up and I wept. The kindness of God is totally kind. No adjectives can define his kindness. It’s his kindness that defines kindness. Everything in me wanted to stay in that place of kindness. When the Lord imparts himself to us, it becomes a defining moment, and those defining moments deeply move us to tears of joy, deep joy. “While I wait, I share my kindness!”
Ten days later, I go to River of Life worship. Laura, one of the leadership team members, began her teaching by reading Romans 2:4. “It’s the kindness of God that leads to repentance.” And spontaneously the kindness of God floods my spirit again, exactly as it did 10 days previous. Oh the wonderful kindness of God. Laura had no idea why I was weeping, although I told her after the service. I had certainly read that passage before, but had not remembered it in the present context. The kindness of God is a step towards repentance. I have the sense that it’s not very popular to invite folks to repent. And yet that is the all-important step toward God. That profound sense of realizing that we are sinful, yet totally loved and embraced by God. With honest repentance comes that defining moment that God is totally for us. And if that is so, then no one can be against us.
Sharing our faith! As best as I understand it, sharing our faith has to do with sharing the person of Jesus, introducing the person of Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Did anyone watch the homerun derby, prior to the All Star Baseball Game? Who put on the greatest show? (Josh Hamilton) And did you hear him being interviewed?
Who is Josh Hamilton? Josh began his major league baseball career several years ago. Got into drugs in a major way and for three seasons he was essential out of the game. He met Jesus, cleaned up his act and got into the game this spring with the Texas Rangers and doing well. At the home-run derby he put on a show by hitting 28 home runs, before he missed 10. The second closest contestant had 8. So the reporter was complimenting him for his speedy recovery and miraculous show he had put on. Josh’s response and I paraphrase: “I am so grateful to God for helping me recover in such a short time. I just want to give praise to Jesus Christ for being with me.” It was such a simple statement from his heart. I was so blessed to hear his witness, although I sensed the reporter didn’t quite know how to go beyond that. In fact another sports reporter in his commentary referred to Josh’s recovery, saying: “He has become religious!”
A final thought from Romans 8: “All things work out for good for those who love the Lord.” What a great declaration! It’s easy to make this declaration when things are going well. But have you ever been in circumstances where you were “Faith Challenged?” I confess that I have. And I have asked the Lord, “Don’t I love you enough, because right now things are not working out the way I had planned?”
I feel like I am on a journey of learning to love God. Not just love God as a theological truth, which it is, but love the Lord relationally, as I love my first love. I have discovered that the more I have cried out to the Lord in my tears and lament, the more he has loved me. And in response I have been experiencing a greater love for Jesus and the Father. I need God’s love-to-love God! And the more love I feel for the Lord, the more time I want to spend with him, the more I want to share with him, the more I want to hear from him, the more I valve what’s important to him, the more I continually reference my life to him, the more I begin to feel the groans and agenda of Jesus, the more I want to be in the presence of his kindness and share it, to the end that others may repent and also enter into the kindness of God.
Amen