Search Me (Dangerous Prayers series) Morgan Young 7.21.02
In that clip from the Truman Show, we see how every part of Truman's life was known ---how it was watched on camera and broadcast on network TV from the second he was bornnot just watched by the man whose voice we heard, but his whole life was an open book watched by millions of people. That's about as opposite from our lives as it gets!
You and me are NOT "all-access" people!In fact we're more like iceberg people.ppt Most of an iceberg is under the ocean, we see very little if any of the iceberg. A lot of us are the same way---we keep most of us out of sight and out of reach. What people see of us as we skip through our day is a very small part of us.
(PPT Napster icon) Who knows what this is? Yes, this is the icon for Napster.ppt For those in the house who are not "internet savvy," this is the internet site that was in the news big-time last year because the large music companies sued their Napster-pants off
Napster existed so everyone on the internet could share music files for free. Literally every song and every version of a song that existedyou could find on Napster and download it to your computer for FREE! What was the catch?
The catch was, to be a Napster user, you had to make all your music files on your computer available to the Napster community. See, Napster was a HUGE database of everyone's mp3 music files. To be part of it, you had to allow full access to your mp3 music files---you could not have any "secret" music files---you couldn't hide anything.
Can you imagine what it would be like, in a relational sense, if you and I had Napster lives???
What if all your thoughts, emotions, secrets, fears, ---what if your most intimate stuff was in a file on your computer with your name on it and in a Napster kind of way, everyone could access it??
(go to laptoptype in person(s) sitting in audience----play with this)
But that's not how our lives work is it? (Amen! Thank You, God!) In fact, in terms of access to our relational and personal lives, in the Napster scenario, we are more like the music companies. We want to control who has access to our lives we want to control who has access to our personal files.
We don't want anyone to have Napster access to our livestruth be toldprobably not even our spouse. We like to control people's opinion about us. We want to control the picture people see of usI mean the last thing we want is someone we just met to walk away thinking:
"Now there goes a really selfish, unintelligent, irresponsible, Biblically inept person with no self-control, if ever I saw one!"? ----We would rather control the information people have about us so we can keep that kind of extreme scenario from happening.
Here's a good, more realistic example of someone trying to control people's opinion of them:
Way "back in the day" when I was a small fry (PPT pic), my mom would be quite concerned about what I was wearing when I left the house. Although she was concerned about a very specific article of clothing, as I recall it seemed she wasn't that concerned about my shirt or my pantsor my shoes She was concerned that I had on what?_________________
That's right, CLEAN UNDERWEAR!! Was she worried about my underoos because clean ones FEEL better? Was she concerned about my clean little Winnie the Pooh pants because it promotes good hygiene??..
NOme wearing clean underwear was important in case I (finish it) "Got in an accident!"
As if I had gotten into a life-threatening accident the Dr. might have said:
"Nursethe prognosis looks pretty grimI'm afraid all we can do now is check his underwear and see what kind of mother he had"
Or have you ever watched a scene on ER like this:
"Dr. Weaver(hand motion) what do you make of this underwear?" (pause)
Title slide
OK, we laugh, but that's a small but real example of how much we want to control people's opinion of us Our moms wanted us to wear clean underwear so in the RARE case something bad happened, she would look GOOD!
Have you ever told a close friend a secretsomething private or revealing about yourselfthen later someone else comes up to you dripping with that very sincere tone that always makes you feel a little nervousand then they say:
"Heylook, I heard about that thingyou knowthe blah-blah-blah-blah-blaaahand I just want you to know that I'm here for you"
And instead of thinking, "Man, that is so sweet to have that support and caring from this person"
We picture the person who passed on our Napster file without our permission and think: "I am going to kill them I am going to kill them I am going to kill them!"
Why? Because WE didn't grant that other person access to that Napster file!! And "GREAT!"-- now there's one more person in the world who thinks I'm a little less together, a little less perfect, and a little more vulnerable!!(sarcastic>)thank you very much.
When people know things about us, we perceive them as having a little more power over uswe lose a little control of the picture of us that WE want people to see.
I want you to get a picture in your mind of the person or people that you are the closest to Everybody have one?
Why are you close to those people? _______________
I would paraphrase people that we're close to with these words:
Ppt "They see the real picture of usbut love us anyway."
Now here's an interesting thing about us We KNOW how much we value and love these people we're close to and we KNOW that the reason these people are special is because they've seen more of our Napster files than anyone else
BUT, somehow knowing that doesn't make it any easier for us to share personal stuff with people in general.
We see this in our small group all the time I'm sure everyone in our small group would tell you that some of the richest, most impacting small group experiences happened when someone offered up a Napster file that nobody else had access to. Our best small group times happened when someone shared something deepwe all felt closer and we all cared a little more for that person.
But at the same time, the most difficult part of our small group is for us to collectively share at a deeper, below the surface levelto reveal a little more of the iceberg.
Why all this talk about relationships?? I thought this was supposed to be about a dangerous prayer?...the program says "Search Me"Why all this relational and personal Napster file stuff?
Because today's big deal has everything to do with our ability to give someone Napster access to our life
In ONE WORD, Christianity is a RELATIONSHIP!ppt It's not a list of "dos" and "don'ts"it's not a clubit's not a self-improvement organization Christianity is a RELATIONSHIP!
The key to any relationship that's worth "squat" is INTIMACY pptit's giving people Napster access. So because Christianity is a relationship, that means we need intimacy w/God for it to work! Today's prayer is about us having intimacy with God.
And if we have a problem with the concept of allowing access to our lives, it will be nearly impossible to pray this prayer.
Let me show the intimacy factor in these verses from Psalm 139: (ppt) (together)
"God, investigate my life;
get all the facts firsthand.
Investigate my life, O God,
Find out everything about me;
Cross-examine and test me,
Get a clear picture of what I'm about;
See for Yourself whether I've done anything wrong" Psalm 139:1,23-24
This prayer says, "God, search me! Take a real-deal Napster all-access search of my lifeall my thoughts, all my actions, all my motivesGod search me and don't leave one stone unturned!"
Jeepers creepers!! Our nature is we like to control access---we like to manage the picture people see of us"we're iceberg people" and now we're going to pray that we want the all-powerful God of the universe to access EVERY SINGLE THING!
I believe that everyone here has to know how dangerous that is
The reason we don't give people Napster access to our lives is because there have probably been times when it's come back to bite us in the derriere--- full access to our lives is scary and it feels dangerous---if I grant full access I have no where to hide---and I have no control over the picture of me that person sees now. Praying to God to search me feels dangerous
We're going to take the picture of us that NO ONE else sees, and reveal it to God We're going to expose God to all our flawsall our hang-upsall our bad habitsall our immoral thoughtsall our embarrassing stuffeverything we're ashamed ofeverything we're not proud ofour sinour lifestyle moral issueshow we treat our boss things we think when we're in the heat of an argument with a spousein fact, we're going to let God see where we're really at with our faith in Himeverything!
Are you feeling the danger yet of praying this Psalm?
Here's the danger: We know that God will point out things in us that are not kosher. He may even point out a LOT of things. And perhaps based on your life so far, all you know is the more someone knows about you the more scared you get that they're not going to love you as much. And maybe you wonder, "Can God really love me if He knew all of my junk?"
So there's a "Will God really love me?" fear.ppt If that's where you're at, praying for God to "search you" probably feels extremely dangerous.
Another thing that's dangerous is that if we pray for God to search us, it's a pretty good bet He will probably ask us to change something(s) in our life. I hear a lot of people make statements like, "God is so mysterious, I wish could hear His voice."
I believe that most of the time we KNOW what He's trying to tell us---we know what He wants us to do---but we'd rather hear SOMETHING ELSE!
It's like the old joke about a man on the side of a cliff hanging by a thin little branch he yells up the cliff, "Help!! Is there anybody up there?!"
And he hears a voice: "Yes. I your God am hear."
The man says: "I don't want to die yet, will you help me?"
And God says, "Yes I will. Just let go of the rope."
And the man says, "Is there anybody ELSE up there?!"
Many times we know what He wants us to do. Let me show you what I mean
I'll give you 10 seconds to answer 1 of these 2 questions in your own mind: "What is 1 thing you feel God wants you to change in your life,?" or "In what area of your life do feel God wants you to grow?" _________ (Hands??)
So praying this prayer to "search me" is dangerous because there's pretty good odds it's going to force us to deal with some kind of lifestyle issues, sin issues, bad or destructive habits---c'mon--we know us!we know these things are there, so it's a no-brainer that God is going to bring them to our attention.
So there's a very real danger that, "I'm going to have to deal with some STUFF in my life,"ppt if I pray this prayer
This is why we don't share a lot of times we know if we share about things in our life that need to change, and then don't do anything about them, we'll look weak, or we'll look like we don't have will power, or we'll just get depressed because this same ol' deal is just the same as it ever was. That feels dangerous too. (Cover this topic in full next Sun.)
Let's look at some other verses from Psalm 139:
pptI'm an open book to You;
even from a distance, You know what I'm thinking.
You know when I leave and when I get back;
I'm never out of Your sight.
Ppt You know everything I'm going to say
before I start the first sentence.
I look behind me and you're there,
then up ahead and You're there, too---
ppt Your reassuring presence, coming and going.
Is there anyplace I can go to avoid Your Spirit?
to be out of Your sight?
If I climb to the sky, you're there!
If I go underground, you're there!
Ppt If I flew on morning's wings
to the far western horizon,
You'd find me in a minute---
You're already there waiting! Psalm 139:2-5, 7-10
These are only some of the verses in this Psalm that tell how concerned and how close God is to us everyday. They tell us that he is intimately aware of everything we do And when we look at these verses, we see something that can be a little unsettling:
It clearly tells us that God already has Napster access to us---ppt "I'm an open book to You; even from a distance, You know what I'm thinking." God has Napster access to all of us. We CAN'T keep secrets from Him!
(shake head) "So, why do we have to pray for Him to search us, if He already knows all our stuff?" If we're already IN God's Napster community why do we have to pray, "Search me, God."? (pause)
Because God will not force Himself on us. In this last set of verses God says, "Dude, I am hereI am intimately acquainted with who you are so if you want to pursue this relationship with Me I'm already right here ready to go just ask."
So the question today is, "If God already has Napster access to everything we've been through and all our thoughts and emotions How will we respond?" (repeat)
Some of you aren't sure where you're at with God this morningso you just need to start by figuring out who God is maybe you need to read Psalm 139 several times and ask yourself if you really believe this is God. Before you can ask God to search you, you need to start by searching out God. You need to ask tough questions like:
"Is God who He says He is?"
"Is He trustworthy?"
"Does He love me?"
"Is the Bible true?"
If you can come to terms that those things are true, then you can pray for Him to search you.
I want to share one more verse from this Psalm. It's verse 14 and I'm going to use the New Living Translation. It says,
Ppt "Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex. Your workmanship is marvelous"
This a KEY verse in this Psalm. Because when we talk about having our whole life "examined" and "searched" some of us can easily get overwhelmed with everything that's NOT RIGHT in our life, and we'll see this relationship with Christ as such of big list of stuff that God has to change in us that we won't see any hope---and instead of praying, "Search me O God," we might start praying, "Take me now O God!"
Everybody drink in this verse: (together)"Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex. Your workmanship is marvelous"
This key verse says that no matter how much bad stuff we have in our Napster files, we are always God's workmanship that no matter WHAT is going on in our lives, we are wonderfully made in God's image. It says that YOUevery person in every seat is "marvelous workmanship!" So don't measure your self-worth based on a lot of stuff that God needs to change Base your identity on WHO YOU AREYou are marvelous workmanship.
The other thing I love is how this verse says, "You made me marvelously complex." Isn't "marvelously complex" the most politically correct way of saying, "I am REALLY hard to figure out!" ;-)
If there was ever a reason to pray for God to search you, this is it! Can't we all go on record here agreeing that the most difficult person for us to figure out in our life is US!!??
Right?! We're pretty good with everybody else's deals & problems aren't we? But when it comes to looking in the mirror and figuring US out--- all of a sudden it looks like RainMan is staring back at us!! (elaborate?) Can I get an "amen?!"
When we pray, "Search me O God," we are asking for helpasking for Divine guidance from the One who made us. From the One Who knows us better than we know ourselves. From the One who loves us and always has our best in mind. When we pray for God to search me, He has an amazing way of cutting through the stuff that's hard for us to understand about usand letting us know what HE thinks is important in our life today.----asking God to search us brings CLARITY to our life---not overwhelmed confusion.///
In the first part of this message, I went very heavy on relational intimacygiving people access in your life. The reason I did that is because I don't see a whole lot of it in people's lives. I don't see a whole lot of us really sharing their deep needs, their fears, their insecurities, their deep down concerns & hopes with each other.
Here's my theory: I believe that our intimacy level with people is directly connected to our intimacy level with God. And here's my question for you that you can use to see if what I'm trying to say makes sense:
If I can't have relational intimacy and honest vulnerability about the most important and deepest parts of me with a 100% accepting, grace-filled loving God will I ever be able to have relational intimacy with my spouseor my friendsmy kidsor my small group?
In terms of "safe", God is as safe as it gets---we can spill our guts to Himask Him to "search us"---and He doesn't openly laugh at us, never looks at us like we're stupid. He gives us 100% acceptance. Grace.
In my life, I can chart my capacity for relational intimacy with people along the path of prayer and working on my relationship with Christ. (disclaimNo "relational guru!") But growing in intimacy with people in my life has been a result of working on my intimacy and relationship with Christ. My relationship with Christ spills out in the earthy relationships around me.
Between us and Godit's a relationship. Between all of us as the church bodyit's a relationship. Without more Napster accessneither will work like they were designed to. Christianity is a relationship---and intimacy is the key to relationships----and intimacy with God starts by inviting Him in on the process---begins by praying "search me, God".
So here's the question: Will you ask God to search you this week? Will you pray to Him to poke His light into your life this week?
YES, praying this Psalm is dangerous---it's vulnerable---and as a result God could very well ask you to make changes in your life. Your life may not be the same ever again. That my friends is dangerous.
But whether you pray this prayer comes down to one of two things: If you want life CHANGE, pray the prayer. If you want life SAME, don't.
Look at your life and ask yourself this question: "Which is more dangerous? For my life to change with God guiding it?Or for it to stay the same as it ever was, holding tight to these Napster files that God can see anyway?" LifeSAME or lifeCHANGE?
(Invite kids up)
I took Psalm 139 and showed you parts of it today---it's a beautiful Psalm written by King David. And we thought it would be really nice to hear this Psalm in its entirety from the mouths of kids.
Have you ever heard the phrase, "Out of the mouths of babes"? That's a King James version of Psalm 8:2 which is, "You have taught childrento give You praise."
And He has--He has taught our children well. And Jesus tells us in Matthew to have "Childlike faith" and to humble ourselves. So let's allow these children to minister to us as they read Psalm 139 in its entirety and let's try to have a Childlike faith and be open to how God may want to impress some things from this Psalm to our hearts as they read.
(kids read)
A dangerous prayer that I'm asking you to pray this week is the last 2 verses from Psalm 139. If you would like to, allow me to lead you in these as a prayer for God to search you---(bow heads & repeat after me)
"Investigate my life, O God,
Find out everything about me;
Cross-examine and test me,
get a clear picture of what I'm about;
See for yourself whether I've done anything wrong ---
Then guide me on the road to eternal life." Amen. (Psalm 139 last 2 verses)
Setup worship----"opt out for seekers"--- worship is a form of intimacy w/God
