Bryan Craddock - Remember God's Nearness

One of the first times I heard the gospel was in seventh grade. A friend invited me to a church outreach event that included a trip to Disneyland. I don’t remember much about what I heard that weekend. What I remember was arriving at Disneyland, and realizing that I had lost my wallet. This was the first time I had done anything like this without my parents, so I was pretty nervous. When my wallet was missing, I panicked. I called my parents and asked them to make the hour drive to pick me up early. About the time they showed up, I discovered my wallet safely tucked away in a pocket in my backpack.  It was there all the time, but I forgot about it.

The same thing can happen to us spiritually. In Jesus Christ we have incredible spiritual resources to face whatever life throws our way, but we often forget. We try to face life on our own strength.

We’ve spent the summer working through the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippians that is included in the New Testament. Time and time again throughout the book, Paul refers to joy, so we have tried to understand what true Christian joy is and how to experience it in our lives. We’ve seen that true joy is a deep sense of satisfaction at the core of your being that enables you to rise above the ups and downs of life. This kind of joy can only be experienced through a vital relationship with Jesus Christ. Each week we have learned something more about having that kind of relationship. Today we turn to a passage that shows us that we will find joy when we remember God’s presence.

Turn with me to Philippians 4:1-5. 

Therefore, my beloved brethren whom I long to see, my joy and crown, in this way stand firm in the Lord, my beloved. I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to live in harmony in the Lord. Indeed, true companion, I ask you also to help these women who have shared my struggle in the cause of the gospel, together with Clement also and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life. Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near.

Paul gives a series instructions here and we’ve seen each of these earlier in the letter. In verse 1 he tells the people to stand firm. In verse 2 he tells these two women Euodia and Syntyche to live in harmony, or more literally to be of the same mind. That’s a picture of unity. In verse 4 he tells all of the people to rejoice. And in verse 5 he calls them to be patient or gentle with others.

We could spend a lot of time trying to figure out who these ladies were and what was the source of their contention. We could also try to figure out who Paul’s true companion is or why he mentions this man Clement. None of these details are really that important for us, and besides we really don’t know for sure.

The idea that struck me in these words was that last statement. The Lord is near. Why does Paul mention that?  What does it have to do with his point here?

I think his point is that we will not stand firm, or live in harmony in the church, or live with joy or patience or gentleness unless we learn to understand and appreciate God’s presence. He is near.

What does the Bible have to say about the presence of God? I think we can summarize the biblical teaching on the presence of God in three statements. (1) God is always physically close. (2) In Christ God becomes relationally close. (3) When Christ returns, God will be close in a new way.

1. God is always physically close.

God is not limited to one location. He is infinite. He has no spatial boundaries. He is present every place all of the time. One of the most profound statements of this is found in the 139th Psalm.

1O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
2You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
You understand my thought from afar.
3You scrutinize my path and my lying down,
And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.
4Even before there is a word on my tongue,
Behold, O LORD, You know it all.
5You have enclosed me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is too high, I cannot attain to it.

So as David begins, he talks about how intimately God knows the details of his life. From sitting to rising, from walking to lying down, from our words even to our thoughts, God knows everything about us. But how is that possible? The answer is in this idea that God is always present.

7Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.
9If I take the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
10Even there Your hand will lead me,
And Your right hand will lay hold of me.
11If I say, "Surely the darkness will overwhelm me,
And the light around me will be night,"
12Even the darkness is not dark to You,
And the night is as bright as the day
Darkness and light are alike to You.

God is always present. That can give us comfort, but not always. As David ends this psalm he says,

23Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
24And see if there be any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.

The Summer Olympics has drawn a flood of attention to China in our media. Every night it seems the television coverage of the games has included some insight about traditional Chinese culture. If you’ve listened carefully, you may have also picked up some insights into the Chinese government. I came across an article this week that said that one of the booming industries in China is manufacturing technology for security purposes. This technology is being sold around the world, but much of it within China itself. Major cities in China are being blanketed with government security cameras. Meanwhile, computer companies are developing software that will enable computers to take an image from those security cameras and identify details of each person’s face. By linking this network of cameras with the government’s national database of photos the government is building of every Chinese citizen, the government will be able to track people wherever they go.

How would you feel about having your government know your every movement? If you’ve got something to hide, it would be very disconcerting. On the other hand, if you were assured that your government had your best interest at heart, it might be very comforting. It’s all a matter of perspective.
The same could be said about the presence of God. It can be disconcerting or very comforting, depending upon your perspective. When we engage in sinful behavior, there’s no place dark enough to hide us from God. Even our thoughts are an open book to him.

Let’s go back to the situation in Philippi. There is some kind of conflict taking place in the church. People are behaving selfishly. They were probably gossiping behind one another’s back. You know how it is, when you get into the middle of a conflict. You cannot help but think all kinds of critical, judgmental thoughts about the other person. But in that kind of situation, we need to remember that God is always present. He knows when we gossip.  He knows when we attack someone’s character. He knows when our minds are wrapped up in bitter thoughts.

On the other hand, when we face suffering, when we are unjustly accused, when we are the object of gossip, God knows that too. We often feel the need to defend ourselves, because we don’t think anyone else will. God knows the situation.  He knows all the details.

God is always physically close. He is always aware, but there’s more here.

2. In Christ God becomes relationally close.

Throughout Paul’s writings he often uses the expression “in the Lord” or “in Christ” or “with Christ.”  He uses it so often, that we may not even stop to think about what it really means. Look at how Paul uses the expression in these opening verses of Philippians 4.

v. 1 – stand firm in the Lord
v. 2 – live in harmony in the Lord
v. 4 – rejoice in the Lord

We may tend to think that this is just a religious way of speaking, but there is a significant idea here. Turn back a few pages in your Bible to Ephesians 2:4-7. There Paul writes, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

In some mysterious way, when we believe in Jesus Christ, we are united with Him so that we are in Him and He is in us. This has tremendous significance for us when we talk about being relationally close with God.

Our sin separates us from a relationship with God. In the Old Testament, God portrayed this graphically through the Tabernacle, the tent that was used in Jewish worship, and later through the Jewish Temple. God is present everywhere, but he was present in a special way in the central room of the Tabernacle and the Temple. It was called the Holy of Holies, and God appeared there in a brilliant shining light. The average person could not get near that Holy of Holies. God’s presence was walled off from people with a massive veil. Only the high priest could enter into that place, and even that only once a year with elaborate preparation and special sacrifices.

The Bible presents Jesus Christ as the perfect high priest. Hebrews 4:14-15 says, “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.”

As the Son of God, Jesus has a perfect relationship with God the Father. Since he became a man and experienced temptation, Jesus perfect identifies with us. Yet he maintained his perfect righteousness because he never gave in to the temptation to sin. Since we are united with Christ, we have access to God the Father.  Hebrews 4:16 says, “Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
Without Jesus Christ, we are hopelessly separated from God. He is physically near, but he is relationally as distant as he could be. But in Jesus Christ, we have access to God. We can draw near to Him.

In fact, being in Christ is so significant that Paul turns this imagery around.  Not only do we have access to the Holy of holies, we become the temple of God. In 1 Corinthians 6:19, Paul says, ”Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?” We are in Christ, but He is also in us through the Holy Spirit. When you believe in Jesus Christ, you have this kind of closeness with God.

So when Paul says “stand firm in the Lord,” he is talking about having a strength that comes from your closeness with God. When he says, “live in harmony in the Lord,” he is talking about a unity that we should maintain as Christians since we are each individually united with Christ.  When he says, “Rejoice in the Lord,” he is talking about a joy that is only possible because of our relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

The sad part is that even though as believers we can have this relational closeness with God, we often fail to take advantage of it. Think of it like a marriage. When two people are married, they enter into the closest of human relationships. Their lives are woven together emotionally, financially, and even physically. But it’s so easy to neglect this relationship. With the ever present demands of life and work and children, couples begin to live independent, separate lives. They fail to cultivate their relationship. And even though they are physically near each other, living in the same house, they fail to enjoy the privilege of a marriage relationship.

The same separation can happen in our relationship with God. That’s why we need to be reminded.  God is present.  He is near physically. If you are united with Christ, God is near relationally. What are you going to do with that incredible privilege? Are you going to take advantage of this relationship with God and draw your strength and joy from Him?

3. When Christ returns, God will be close in a new way.

When Paul says that the Lord is “near,” this might also be a way of referring to the return of Jesus Christ. Jesus used this same term to say that the kingdom of heaven was “at hand.” In the book of James, the word is also used this way and applied to similar circumstances as we read of here in Philippians.

James 5:7-9 says, “Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains. You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. Do not complain, brethren, against one another, so that you yourselves may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing right at the door.”

When Christ returns, the presence of God will transform life as we know it. Jesus will come as judge. Those who have ignored and rejected the gospel will not be allowed into His kingdom. Those who have been following Christ will be rewarded for their faithfulness.

James says that the reality of this future event should change the way that we look at life now. We should have great patience and strength to overlook the irritations and the differences of opinion and the difficulties and even suffering. One day everything will be different and so many of the things that concern us now will seem petty and insignificant.

In launching this campus, we felt that it would be worthwhile to invest in an air conditioning system. But imagine for a moment that Michigan was going through a severe climate change in which summer temperatures would drop by twenty degrees. If we knew that something like that were going to happen, would it be wise to purchase air conditioning? It would be a waste. The nearness of Christ’s return gives us that same kind of perspective on some of the decisions we make in life.

So when Paul tells the Philippians to stand firm, the return of Christ encourages them that there is something worth waiting for and they won’t have to wait forever.  When Paul tells these ladies to live in harmony, the return of Christ gives them the right perspective on whatever their disagreement was. The return of Christ is what gives someone the hope and freedom to be able to rejoice.

As you go through life, ask yourself, “What difference will this make for eternity?” We allow ourselves to get wrapped up in so many insignificant issues.

Conclusion

These are probably not new ideas to you.  You probably know of God’s omnipresence. You probably understand the closeness of our relationship with God through Christ. You have probably considered before the reality of Christ’s return and what it means for us.  The challenge is remembering these things. We need to remind ourselves of these realities, because they open the way for us to experience joy and peace and harmony in our relationships. Remember God’s presence.