Today, we’re kicking off a new worship series—that will run for 4 weeks—called ‘Fully Engaged’. I’m not sure when you used those words last, but I’m sure you know what they mean—fully engaged. It’s a phrase you use when things are going your way. It’s a phrase you use when you’re really focused on something. It’s a phrase you use when things are really happening in your life—fully engaged. So, I’m wondering when was the last time you remember being fully engaged in anything…
I spoke with Gail Ray a few days ago and she’s just completed her second week of seminary down in Dubuque. She retired from Lands’ End a few weeks ago and now she’s starting her second career as a United Methodist Minister, pastoring a ½ time church in Orfordville, while a full-time seminary student at the University of Dubuque. One thing she’s realizing is this: in order to get through these 3 years of schooling and continue through the process of ministry, she’s going to have to be fully engaged in what she’s doing. Distractions will have to be at a minimum, in order for her to accomplish what needs accomplishing for this time. But her heart’s in it. If you know Gail, you know she’s one of those all-or-nothing people. So, her heart’s in this new gig 110% … if that’s possible! She, folks, is FULLY ENGAGED…
So, when was the last time you were fully engaged? And how did it feel to be fully engaged—fully concentrating on something important in your life?
Folks, do any of you remember this song and this movie? (Play ‘Danger Zone’ clip now.) Of course, that’s from the cinematic classic called … TOP GUN! Do you remember that? There’s Maverick (Tom Cruise) and his RIO, Goose … and having to eject out of their aircraft due to a flameout of both engines, Maverick does O.K., but Goose breaks his neck and is killed. It affects Maverick’s performance. And then in a dogfight in one of the last scenes of the movie, everyone’s wondering if Maverick still has it—if he’s still TOP GUN material. The question is … will he engage the enemy? And if you know the movie, you know the answer. If you don’t, you’ll have to rent the movie to find out…
But folks, there are time in our lives when we need to be Fully Engaged in what we’re doing if we’re to experience success. And for the next few weeks, we’re going to be talking about those times as it applies to being followers of Christ. This week, we’re going to begin by talking about how to be fully engaged in our walk with God. I’m going to ask each of us to examine ourselves, and when we walk out today, we’re going to each have a good idea of just how engaged we are in our walk with God. But first, let me call your attention to the scripture that’ll be our key verse for this whole series. It’s found in the Old Testament book of II Chronicles, Chapter 16, and Verse 9. And I want to read this out loud together. Would you join me? (2 Chronicles 16:9a, NLT, on the screen…)
The eyes of the LORD search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him….
Now, folks, this is a synonym for ‘full engagement’—the last words there in this verse that read … fully committed. That’s another way of saying … fully engaged. So, the Bible tells us that God is looking for people who are fully engaged or fully committed. And did you notice what God will do? God will strengthen us. Fully engaged with God means … God will be the primary source of power in our lives. And, truth be told, some of us are missing out on God’s power in our life. Am I right?
- But when you are fully engaged with God, it means when you go through problems in life, God will be there at your side and God will empower you through those problems.
- It means when we face disappointments, God’s strength and power will come into our lives and lift us up just when we need it the most.
- It means when we are uncertain about our future, worried or afraid, God’s power will come into our lives and give us peace…
That, folks, is a description of a committed life. That’s the power of full engagement. And as we begin to talk more about that life today, you’ll see from your outline we’re going to begin with a KEY TRUTH. That’ll be the foundation; we’ll start there. Then, we’ll be asking ourselves a KEY QUESTION. Then we’re going to wrap up today with a KEY DECISION—a decision about our engagement with God. So, let’s look at this KEY TRUTH, shall we? Here it is…
KEY TRUTH: GOD IS FULLY ENGAGED WITH ME. Folks, if we’re going to talk about full engagement, we have to begin here—with the foundational truth that God’s engagement with me is 100%!
A friend of mine keeps using this phrase to talk about membership in the Church, so I’m going to use it today to talk about God’s commitment to us! God, folks, is one who is 100% committed to us! As a matter of fact God has … ‘skin in the game’—the game of life, that is. God’s engagement (or investment) in your life is no less than 100%!
And unlike our tendencies, God’s engagement with us isn’t up one day … and down the next. Sometimes we feel that. I hear people talk about how far they feel from God … or how they feel close to God. Well, I want you to understand this today; at times like this, when we’re feeling either up or down in our relationship to God, it isn’t God who’s moved! God’s engagement in my life and in your life … never vacillates! God remains fully engaged in our lives at all times…
There’s a scripture that speaks to this and I want to share this with you now. It’s Psalm 139. And in this psalm, written by King David, he was talking about how God is engaged in our life. Follow along with me, would you (Psalm 139:1-6, NLT)?
O LORD, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. 2 You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. 3 You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. 4 You know what I am going to say even before I say it, LORD. 5 You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand!
Did you catch that? There’s nowhere you can go that God’s not engaged with you. You can go to the highest mountain; God’s there. You can go to the deepest part of the ocean; God’s there. God knows your thoughts before you think them. God knows what words you’re going to say before you say them (and, if that’s the case, I sure wish he’d stop me sometimes). But folks, this is FULL ENGAGEMENT at its highest level…
Psalm 139 goes on to talk about more ways that God’s fully engaged in our lives—knowing us even in our mother’s womb, knowing our personalities, our quirks … and still wanting to be engaged in our lives. Isn’t that amazing? And then at the end of the psalm, it says this (vv. 23-24): “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.” So, David ends this psalm with an examination where he basically says, ‘You know, the issue is not if God is engaged with me; the issue here is am I engaged with God?’ That’s the real question…
Let me remind you that we can see God’s engagement in our lives through the sending of his Son. It’s as if God’s saying, ‘Look, if you don’t believe my words, then look at history. Look at what I did for you. Look at my very best I sent you, my Son.’ Jesus Christ is the ultimate demonstration of God’s engagement in our lives. Do you want to know how much God loves you? Look at Jesus. Do you want to know how much God desires to be involved in your life? Look at Jesus. Do you want to know how engaged God is with each and every one of us? Look at Jesus… One of the most popular verses in all of scripture speaks to this–John 3:16 (NLT): “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” God gave the life of his one and only Son! That’s how much God loves us. So, there’s no question of God’s engagement with us—no uncertainty about that at all! But, the question is: How engaged are we? And how do we show our engagement with God? And that leads us to the KEY QUESTION for today…
KEY QUESTION: AM I FULLY ENGAGED WITH GOD? Again, there is no uncertainty about God’s engagement with us; the question is: Am I fully engaged with God?
Now, I wish I had time to sit down with every single one of you and ask you (as John Wesley used to do), “How is it with your soul today?” In other words, ‘What is your engagement level with God?’ If I could do that, some of you’d tell me that you’re more engaged with God now than you’ve ever been. Some of you are on the fast track to becoming Christ-like, which is the point of discipleship. Others of you might say you’ve been pretty static lately. You feel like your relationship with God has been a bit flat. Unfortunately, those who feel this way many times do the very thing that causes their relationship with God to go flat—they start falling away from God, stop reading their Bible, stop going to church—stop all the things that would help them grow in their relationship with God. And yet others might be in a place where you’d say, ‘Rom, I don’t even know if God exists.’ If any of these describe you, I’m glad you’re here today. But, it’s a good time to ask yourself where you are when it comes to engagement with God. If you don’t have a starting point, you’ll never go anywhere, especially toward God… So, we need to examine ourselves and ask: Are we fully engaged with God?
One scripture that calls us to do this is Psalm 26:2 (NIV), which says, “Test me, O LORD, and try me, examine my heart and my mind.” And I think today’s as good a day as any to do just that. I want us to take just a few minutes right now to test our heart and our minds. So, pull the insert out of your bulletin today that says ‘Ten Pillars of a Fully Engaged Walk with God’, would you? This is a survey from the Gallup organization, who studied tens of thousands of Jesus followers, and determined that those who answered TRUE to these statements are those most fully engaged with God. Let’s look at them briefly together…
10 Pillars of a Fully Engaged Walk with God
_____ My faith is involved in every aspect of my life
_____ Because of my faith, I have meaning and purpose in my life
_____ My faith gives me an inner peace
_____ I am a person who is spiritually committed
_____ I spend time in worship every day
_____ Because of my faith, I have forgiven people who have hurt me deeply
_____ My faith has called me to develop my given gifts and talents
_____ I will take unpopular stands to defend my faith
_____ I speak words of kindness to those in need of encouragement
_____ I talk about my faith with those who are not yet Christians
(Adapted from www.gallupfaith.com)
So, that’s the survey we’re going to do today. That’s the examination of our level of engagement with God. Now, I’m going to give you about 2 minutes … and I want you to go back over this and I want you to write down the first number that comes to mind—from 1 to 10. 1 = lousy … and 10 = fully engaged. Alright, I’m going to give you two minutes on the clock. Here we go…
OK, if you’re all done … I need you to now add up the numbers on the left hand side, and put a total score at the bottom. It’ll be a number between 0 and 100. Do not copy off your neighbor’s paper! Tally up your score, if you would, then I want you to put that number on your ‘Connection Card’—on the top—and circle it, if you’re willing to share your number with me (and only me). Now, I’ve been hesitant to do this, but let me share my number with you: 89. What’s going on? I’m a pastor. Shouldn’t mine have been 100? Folks, it doesn’t matter what your number is today … 89 or 29. Whatever it is, here’s the most important thing, as it applies to our engagement with God … and this is our KEY DECISION for today…
KEY DECISION: TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR MY ENGAGEMENT. Those two words that you just filled in are SO KEY! Why? Because I want you to own that score—whatever it is! Maybe you got an 89, like I did; if so, own that … but know you still have things to work on… Maybe you got a 29; if so, that’s O.K.; own it … and then keep moving ahead in your relationship with God—your engagement with God…
The #1 problem I see when people have been Christians over a long period of time is … they refuse to take responsibility for their spiritual growth! Yes, I’m talking about mature Christians now; sometimes we get way too comfortable and feel like ‘we’ve arrived’ … and then we become complacent! Or, even worse, instead of taking responsibility for their spiritual growth, they begin to blame others for where they’re at with God—people around them, folks at work, the way they were raised (parents), the circumstances of their lives, or even the Church! And so it becomes everyone’s responsibility to feed them, because they refuse to take this responsibility themselves… As my brother, Stan, would say: They’ve chosen to take off their aprons (servant), and put their bibs back on! And when they do, they fall back into old habits, old unhealthy patterns, and feel distanced from God… But, folks, it’s not because God’s not engaged; that’s for sure! And so I’m calling you today to take responsibility; no matter where you’ve ended up on the ‘engagement scale’, do not be satisfied!
As we finish up today, I want you to do one more thing. In your sermon notes—toward the bottom, it says ‘my engagement measurement’ and there’s a scale from 0 to 100 there. Take a moment and place an “x” where you are today. Just record where you are, no matter what your number is. This is the number you came up with on the ‘Pillars’ insert, the one you marked on your Connection Card, and now I want you to make a mark on this line … between 0 and 100—wherever you are…
My Engagement Measurement
0—————————————————————————————————————100
Then, I want you to ask yourself this: What is God nudging me about right now—one action step that I can take in the coming week to be more engaged with God?
- Maybe it’s to forgive someone…
- Maybe it’s to get back on track with your daily quiet time (Bible, prayer, etc.)…
- Maybe it’s to start giving like God has asked you to give, generously and without constraint…
- Maybe it’s sharing your faith with someone who you know needs to hear about God, but you’ve been afraid to approach the subject with them…
Folks, James 4:8a tell us this: “Come close to God and God will come close to you….” Who has the responsibility? YOU DO! God’s closeness is not up for debate; God’s engagement in your life is not up for debate. God’s fully engaged with you. And in pulling God toward you, instead of pushing God away, what you’ll experience is God’s closeness. And then James says (James 4:8b), “…Wash your hands, you sinners [pretty strong language]; purify your hearts [and then get this], for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.” Folks, you can’t live a divided life and experience full engagement with God! It’s only when you bring everything together, and focus all your life on one thing, that you can experience the power of a committed life. That focus is … becoming more and more like God’s Son, Jesus. Let’s take that step together today…