Why Has the Church Lost the Ability to be Overwhelmed?

                                                                           

For awhile now it has begun to be more apparent that we Christ-followers have lost something that is critical to having deep faith in Him.  Without it, our faith grows stale and pretty mundane.  The affect of it filters into every area of our lives, particularly 

Q: What have we lost? We have lost the ability to be overwhelmed by the greatness of His glory.  The kind of being overwhelmed like Isaiah was in Isaiah 6 or Paul in Acts 9 as he pondered his future after encountering Jesus on the road.

The kind of being overwhelmed you see in the Reformers and the Puritans.

The question comes is why...

Q: Why has the church lost the ability to be “overwhelmed” by God’s presence?  What are those factors that have come in and robbed this once consistent practice in the church?

(1) Lack of Focus - Plague of Severe & Incessant Distractions

We have lost simplicity in our culture and we have stepped totally into the realm of everything around us being more intricate and complicated.  Technology and social media are a big piece of this distraction that gest in the way and robs our time with Him.

We no longer know how to pause and look at God and know what to do when we are there.  There are two powerful texts that speak to this necessity…

Psalm 16:8 I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

David here shares that there is a choice to set things right in front of us and the most critical is to set the Lord right before us so that He is the dominant one in our gaze.  When we do this we know that He is at our right hand and that will result in our not being shaken.

Q: Could it be that we shake not from our awe of Him, but rather from the shifting circumstances in our lives because He is not in our gaze?

Q: Is this the practice of our lives daily?

The 2^nd critical text to consider is…

Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

We are not called to continually add more stuff to our lives making them more complicated, but we are to intentionally “lay aside every weight”, which includes even things that are good.  We are to practice getting rid of that which slows us down in our pursuit of Him.  Not only are we to set aside every weight that can slow us down, but we are to practice ridding our lives of sin because nothing clings and slows us down in our pursuit of Him like sin.

As we do all of that, we are to be “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith”.

Hebrews 12:3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.

We are instructed here in Hebrews 12:3 to think on Jesus, to consider His life and the implication is that as we do this, we will run after Him in such a manner that we will “not grow weary or fainthearted”.

Q: Could it be that the reason we can so easily get weary in our faith is that we simply don’t stop and consider Him?

As I said, I think we live under the Plague of Severe & Incessant Distractions and that is one of the main reasons we have lost the ability to live in wonder and be overwhelmed.

2.  Lack a Knowing the Scriptures Deeply

For far too long too many churches have valued persoanl pragmatism over the pure teaching of the scripture and it has led to a profound lack of knowledge of the scripture. People may have changed their behavior but it has not been tied to the scripture in these churches.

John 5:39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. 

 3.  Lack of Knowing the Biblical Jesus

If we don’t know the scriptures deeply, then there is no way to know the Jesus of the Bible for as we just read in John 5:39 their purpose is to bear witness about Him. 

When you read the pages of scripture, Jesus sure seems to stir up life wherever He went in those who truly knew Him.

When we know Him, He stirs up our lives and brings us more into His power and majesty.

 4.  Lack of a “Yes” first Obedience

The kind of obedience that before we read something or hear something where our heart is already at “Yes” Lord I will follow.  This kind of obedience leads to experiencing Christ on the deeper levels, which expands our knowledge of Him to places of awe.

Embracing these 4 things will lead us back to the road that will get us to the place where we being overwhelmed will be in the picture again.

It is time to get back on that road again and travel deeper into Him.