The Heart of a Transforming Community A Special Message for Second Anniversary Sunday Psalm 63

Psalm 63 [ESV] 1 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. 2So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. 3Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. 4So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands. 5My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,

Psalm 63 [ESV] 6when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; 7for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. 8My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me. 9But those who seek to destroy my life shall go down into the depths of the earth; 10they shall be given over to the power of the sword; they shall be a portion for jackals. 11But the king shall rejoice in God; all who swear by him shall exult, for the mouths of liars will be stopped.

REVISITING THE VISION OF CROSSWAY Our vision is to BE Christ’s transforming community.  Transforming ourselves, our friends, and our world. The essential “transforming element” is our “saltiness”—radical difference of Christ-followers individually and corporately.  Spiritual vitality (= loving God),  Authentic community (= loving one another),  Missional lifestyle (= loving the world). The focal point of all of our three priorities is: GOD-CENTEREDNESS.  The key question, then, is “How do we keep our focus on GOD—seeking, desiring, and delighting in God?”  Our direction for 2010: is THIRST [= desire/delight of God].

THREE QUESTIONS FOR PSALM 63 AS OUR SCRIPTURE-GUIDANCE 1)WHY is it so important to thirst after God? 2)WHAT does it mean to thirst after God? 3)HOW can we cultivate a deeper thirst for God?

THIRSTING AFTER GOD: CULTIVATING OUR DESIRE & DELIGHT 1)WHY is it so important to thirst after God? 2So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. 3Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. 4So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands. 5My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, Psalm 63:2-5

THIRSTING AFTER GOD: CULTIVATING OUR DESIRE & DELIGHT 1)WHY is it so important to thirst after God?  We are created to desire God (v.5)—“God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.” [John Piper].  This is the OPEN SECRET: God’s steadfast love is better than life! (v.3). A spiritual-vitality barometer: the healthier we are spiritually, the deeper our thirst for God will be.  The nature of worship is this thirsting for and savoring God (v.4).  To substitute our desire/delight of God is to give in to deceitful desires of our old self—to turn to “broken cisterns” that cannot satisfy us (Eph. 4:22; Jer. 2:11-13).

11 Has a nation ever changed its gods? (Yet they are not gods at all.) But my people have exchanged their Glory for worthless idols. 12 Be appalled at this, O heavens, and shudder with great horror," declares the LORD. 13 "My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water. Jeremiah 2:11-13

THIRSTING AFTER GOD: CULTIVATING OUR DESIRE & DELIGHT 2)WHAT does it mean to thirst after God? 1 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water… 6when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; 7for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. 8My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me. 11But the king shall rejoice in God… Psalm 63:1, 6-8,11

THIRSTING AFTER GOD: CULTIVATING OUR DESIRE & DELIGHT 2)WHAT does it mean to thirst after God?  It does NOT mean: That joy itself is our end goal (God is). That we need God to give the joy of his blessings (God himself is the blessing). That we ought to wait for “wilderness” to create thirst for God (our lack of thirst may bring wilderness to us).  Thirsting after God means: Seeking God—not gifts of God—earnestly (v.1a). Desiring God with intensity and desperation (v.1b). Delighting/rejoicing in God (v.11)  Thirsting after God involves clinging to God alone as the source of our true lasting joy (v.8).

Our Need for Stronger Desire The New Testament has lots to say about self-denial, but not about self-denial as an end in itself. We are told to deny ourselves and to take up our crosses in order that we may follow Christ; and nearly every description of what we shall ultimately find if we do so contains an appeal to desire. If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased. - C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

THIRSTING AFTER GOD: CULTIVATING OUR DESIRE & DELIGHT 3)HOW can we cultivate a deeper thirst for God? 1 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. 2So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory… 9But those who seek to destroy my life shall go down into the depths of the earth; 10they shall be given over to the power of the sword; they shall be a portion for jackals. 11But the king shall rejoice in God; all who swear by him shall exult, for the mouths of liars will be stopped. Psalm 63:1-2, 9-11

THIRSTING AFTER GOD: CULTIVATING OUR DESIRE & DELIGHT 3)HOW can we cultivate a deeper thirst for God?  It begins with thirsting after God in a covenantal relationship—“You are MY God; earnestly I seek you” (v.1). How about you? Have you ever made a COVENANT to seek God as YOUR God with your deepest longing?  To cultivate a deeper thirst, worship ought to be our ultimate priority—personally & corporately—as a primary means of thirsting/savoring after the worth of God (v.2).  Scripture and “wilderness” [trials/sufferings] are instrumental to deepen our thirst for God (vs.1,6).  Two things must be embraced together for joy in God: (1) Fight for joy in God (vs.9-11) and (2) Trust God to give us joy as the gift of God (Psalm 90:14).

Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4

Fighting for Joy In God Do these two things really go together? Fighting and joy? Fighting sounds so pressured and violent. Joy sounds more relaxed and peaceful. It just seems strange to talk about fighting for joy. You may as well talk about fighting to like hot fudge sundaes. Either you do or you don’t, right? What’s the fight? No, it’s not that simple. Physical tastes like hot fudge vs. caramel are morally neutral. It’s not right or wrong to like the one over the other. But having a spiritual taste for the glory of Christ is not morally neutral. Not to have it is evil and deadly. Not to see and savor Christ is an insult to the beauty and worth of his character. Preferring anything above Christ is the very essence of sin. It must be fought… Oh, that the church would waken to the warfare we are in and feel the urgency of the fight for joy. - John Piper, When I Don’t Desire God

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS FOR OUR EVERYDAY LIFE 1.Thirst after God by FIGHTING FOR JOY IN GOD.  Turn away from your broken cisterns.  Turn away from complacency and passivity.  Fight for joy as a daily spiritual battle. 2.Taste and savor GOD HIMSELF rather than the gifts of God.  Make a covenant to thirst after God.  Savor GOD daily—“The appetite grows with eating” [Francois Rabelais,1534]  Envision a THIRSTY community as a renewed dream for CrossWay!