“GOD ALONE”

Psalm 62:1


1. this picture you see of a gate into a garden is from the Abbey of Gethsemani outside of Bardstown, Kentucky (where they brew Barton’s Bourbon). Etched into the stone above the gate are the words, God Alone.

2. I first saw this gate in July of 1994 on a weekend retreat at the monastery chasing Thomas Merton’s ghost. They engraved themselves into the pictorial directory of my mind & have stayed there ever since. They move me, challenge me, examine me, inspire me & haunt me, depending on the day.

3. I knew these words – God alone – were from the Psalms. A little over 18 months earlier God led me to Psalm 62 on a day of
prayer I was observing at Mt. Angel:
My soul finds rest in God alone
my salvation come from him
He alone is my rock and my salvation
he is my fortress
I will never be shaken.

4. since then I have read, prayed & pondered these words more than any other in Scripture – my soul finds rest in God alone . They grabbed me on that February day, 1992, up at Mt. Angel. They grabbed me on that July day, 1994, at the Abbey of Gethsemani. And they are still grabbing me. And I want them to grab you today!

A New Year
1. we begin a new year today. A year full of new hope. New promises. New dreams. And new challenges.

2. I want to challenge all of us to make this a God alone year as we learn to live a God alone life.

3. lately I’ve been slowly reading my way through Practicing God’s Presence by Brother Lawrence, a spiritual classic from the 17th century. One phrase from the book that jumped out at me this week is – faith needs revival. Meaning our faith is always in need of cultivation, renewal, examination.

4. TIME magazine named Bill & Melinda Gates & this guy named Bozo, I mean Bono, as their persons of the year for 2005. In the article on the Gates, Melinda was quoted as saying every month she & Bill step back & evaluate how they spent their time – at Microsoft, with their children, with their foundation.

5. that is what I want today to be & this whole month for our church. A time of examination & evaluation of our faith & how we are spending or not spending it…on, with, or for God alone.

My
1. this means you. You matter to God. He created you. He put this wonderful world in place to sustain you, for you to enjoy. He loves you. He sent his Son to die for you.

2. no one can take your place before God. You have to take ownership over your life – your decisions, your relationships, your attitudes, your stewardship of pain, your enjoyment of life’s blessings, your walk with God.

3. God alone for each one of us begins with my.

Soul
1. soul does not mean that invisible part of you that relates to things spiritual – as opposed to – the physical part of you that relates to the natural world through your 5 senses.

2. in the Hebrew Scriptures soul means your very self, you, and all that you are. It’s another way of saying ‘you’ as a person.

3. soul is not a part of you; soul is you. The part of you that relates to God, to others, to the world & to yourself.

4. what I want you to get is that this statement – my soul finds rest in God alone – is talking about the full meal deal, all of you.

Finds
1. finds speaks of looking, searching, scouting for something. Finds speaks of effort, action, steps. This is not a passive soul but an active soul.

2. behind the looking, searching, scouting is a hunger for something. Hunger, longing, yearning.

3. this is tapping into the deepest longings of our soul, our lives, our hearts. This is what rises to the surface when all the noise disappears, when activity stops, when busyness ceases. When quietness begins to flood your life. Those inner voices that are always speaking but seldom heard.

4. what are we looking for?

Rest
1. we all of us are looking for rest. Rest is what Adam & Eve enjoyed & took for granted in the garden. It’s part of what they lost when they sinned against God. The relational unity & harmony they had with God, each other, themselves & the natural world. Now we are born into a fallen world estranged from God, each other, ourselves & our world.

2. the result? One being that we lack rest for our souls. Rest is the absence of the spiritual relational emotional & mental dissonance that marks our lives.

3. this Psalm 62:1 rest is deeper than 7 days on the beach in the Bahamas. This rest is far more than a day at home to read in your pajamas with the shades pulled & phone off the hook. This rest stumps a perfect day of skiing up at Mt Hood. This rest swallows up a growing, bulging bank account. This rest dwarfs the closest we can get to marriage intimacy & family togetherness. This rest beats anything that money can buy, earth can give, or hell can seduce with.

4. this rest is what the whole world is looking for.

in God
1. these are scandalous words to we who are born into this world wanting to be our own god. Our souls are seared with streaks of rebellion against this God.

2. rest in God. In God. Not in beauty. Or health. Or career. Or accomplishment. Or money. Or power. Or pleasure. Or houses. Or cars. Or vacations. Or iPods. Or Xboxes. Or relationships. Or knowledge. Or success. Or a fat nest egg for retirement. Or you fill in the blank.

3. we chase after a thousand gods in this life. I’m afraid we are just as guilty of idolatry as the Israelites of the Old Testament. We just don’t call them gods.

Alone
1. most if not all of us want God in our lives. That’s probably why we’re here today. We just don’t want him alone. We are ‘plus’ people. My soul finds rest in God +
* the idol that is my home – that place of shelter that consumes so much of your time, energy, attention & money
* the idol that is my private time – that you guard religiously to the exclusion of your God, your family & your neighbor
* the idol that is my bank account – it’s my money, I worked hard for it, I’m entitled to it, I can do what I want with it
* the idol that is my pursuit of pleasure – youth or adults, men or women, married or single…are you remaining sexually pure?
* the idol that is…you fill in the blank

2. that which neutralizes the alone in many of our lives is our sin. Some of us are in love with our sin. Our sin has become part of our identity, who we understand our selves to be.

3. your soul will never find rest in God alone unless you identify the idols in your life & slay them.

4. your soul will never find rest in God alone unless you identify the sin in your life & turn from it.

January 22, 2006 @ 6pm
1. November 18-19 the elders & Gov Bd went on a prayer retreat. No agenda but to listen to what God wanted to say to us about our church.

2. when all was said & done we felt like God was saying 2 things to us. #1 – in & through the difficult events of the past year I am doing a new thing in CAC. A new day is dawning. #2 – I want you as a church to come together and examine yourselves to make sure there is nothing in your past that will hold you back from the future I have planned for you. Are we right with God? Are we right with each other? What do we need to repent of – individually & as a church body?

3. Sunday evening, 6pm, January 22 has been set aside to do this. This is not a time to come & throw stones at others, or complain, or criticize. This is a time to come together to repent of our sin.

4. we have 3 weeks to get ready. 3 weeks to pray. To listen. To seek God’s face. To start our repentance.


Ten Steps for Spiritual Cleansing

1. Get alone in a quiet place with paper, pen, and your Bible.

2. Quiet your heart before God - put away all distractions and worries until you are finally quiet before God (this may take some time!).

3. Pray to God and thank Him for bringing you to this place in your life where you desire to be cleansed before Him and His holiness. Commit yourself to God and ask for the courage to not run away from the deep work that He wants to do in your life.

4. Ask the Holy Spirit, "please reveal to me the specific sins in my life - even the ones I may have forgotten - which lie between You and me. In Jesus name, amen."

5. List everything the Holy Spirit reveals to you. Don't give into the temptation to skip some of the harder ones. Give this some time, expect some struggle. When you have completed your list, number them in the order of how difficult they will be for you to confess and make necessary restitution.

6. Anticipate the personal struggle you will face, as you have not been willing to face these issues and confess them before the Lord until this point.

7. Confess your sins one at a time before the Lord, beginning with the hardest first. "Lord, I confess to You that I committed the sin of _____________. Please forgive me for this sin and thoroughly cleanse me from it." Go through your list one by one until you are finished.

8. Expect to have to humble yourself to at least one other person as you seek to make all things right in your life. Take the hardest first and personally visit with that person. If that's not possible, telephone, if that's not possible, write a letter. Always take the upper road and do more than what would be expected of you in order to satisfy the Lord and the offended person.

9. Write "DONE!" across your sheet of paper after you have "confessed, made restoration, forgiven, and received God's cleansing!" Then burn your sheet as an act of assurance of the Lord's total and complete forgiveness.

10. Thank the Lord when you have completed your list. Praise Him for His forgiveness and thank Him for His cleansing.


(taken from the book Personal Holiness in Time of Temptation by Bruce Wilkinson, p. 112)