It is great to be with you at the beginning of another fresh week, I’m so excited. I was talking to a man the other day, in Africa. Over the last few years his country has been going through a bloody strife and conflict. So many people – men, women and children – have been killed in this war. And he’s been in the army. I can’t imagine the atrocities that he’s experienced and he said to me, “You know Berni, after everything I’ve been through, I just can’t believe that there’s a God, and if there is, He certainly isn’t interested in the lives of everyday people like you and me.”

It’s like that sometimes isn’t it? We look at the circumstances of our lives, our own lives, lives of people right around the globe, and those circumstances, they’re so powerful, they’re so compelling. We end up wondering, well, where the heck is God? Is He interested in my life really? If God is God, how can I get close to Him? Well that’s the question we will be exploring this week on the program, from A Different Perspective.

If I look back on my life, when I was a teenager at school, I had everything; a good home, I went to a good school and later in my high school life, I encountered Jesus. I believed I had a relationship with Him. I committed my life to Him. But then, well, then I grew up! And you know what it is like when we’re teenagers, we have a sense of being idealistic; we’re dreamers. Somehow for me it was easier to believe in Jesus as a teenager than when I grew up into adulthood. You know, you have the responsibility and the money and the mortgage and the career and the car and stuff, and for me God was pushed into the back seat.

I still believed in God but I decided to head off in a different direction. I was grown up; you know I had matured: I didn’t need that Jesus stuff. The longer I allowed that to go on – and it went on for a long time, a couple of decades – the less real He seemed. Reality is about what we are living in. If we are walking every day with God, if we are walking every day with Christ, we are praying and enjoying our relationship, that’s real. But if we are focusing on the here and now, if we are focusing on other things, if we let our senses be filled with the sights and smells and sounds of creation, the Creator fades from our view.

Now that’s not just a ‘God’ thing, it happens in every relationship. A husband and wife can get married and love each other and enjoy each other, but if they begin to focus on a whole bunch of other things that crowds their marriage relationship out, eventually – sadly, as happens in almost half of all cases – that marriage will fail, because we need to have that relationship as a part of our present reality.

Well, it’s the same thing with God. We can be focused on a whole bunch of other things and still kind of believe in Jesus; still have that belief somewhere in our heads. But the longer we leave it on the shelf – the longer we focus on other things and not on that relationship – the less real it becomes. And of course, because Jesus is not a physical reality – He’s not here in the flesh and blood the way a husband or wife is – then we can get to the point, which is the point I got to in my life, of thinking, “Well, does He still exist, is He around?”

And the crowd has faded from view then circumstances take a turn for the worse. Maybe we lose our jobs or there’s a broken relationship or we have money worries or we just don’t have a good sense of our own well-being – whatever it is and at that point we go, “Hang on, where’s God, is He real? Look at my mess! How can He let this happen? Does He really care about me?”

I think that is something that every person goes through in their lives. In whatever our spiritual journey and spiritual search looks like, God is a million miles away. What happened? Where did He go, why is it like this? I got to that point, after a couple of decades and then ten years ago, the best that I could pray when my life was falling apart; the most that I could muster in terms of faith was, “God, if you’re real, if you’re out there, I need you – now would be a really good time – if you exist.” That’s all I had; I just didn’t know any more, because for so long I had been walking in a different direction. For so long I had been focusing on other things that He wasn’t real anymore. He was a maybe that was the most I had.

And the question was, “What did I have to do to get close to God? What do I have to do? What do I have to do? What do I have to do, is what we keep playing in our heads, over and over again. Let me share with you an outrageous statement from a man named Paul, one of the Apostles of Jesus Christ. He wrote this two thousand years ago. And the reason it is so outrageous is Paul was a Pharisee; he was a religious separatist. He was so much into ‘religion through works‘ I can’t begin to find the words. And yet after he met Jesus Christ, this is what he wrote, “But now through Jesus, you who were once far off,” (I wonder if he is talking to anyone today?):

You who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. (Ephesians 2:13)

He came to proclaim peace to you who were far off as well as the ones who were near and through that we have access, through Jesus, in one Spirit, to the Father. (Ephesians 2:17-18)

You who were once far off! You who once thought God was a million miles away. You who once thought you had to shout through this huge void for Him to hear you. In other words the only thing we have to do is to believe that Jesus died for us. That’s what he means by, ‘You who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ’, because the simple, the simple story that is all the good news that we ever need, is that all of our failures, all of our wrongs, all of our junk has a price. That price was paid for by Jesus on the cross. That’s what the blood thing is all about. Blood was a symbol in the Hebrew culture for life. He paid with His life; He spilt His blood for us, to pay for our junk.

Now Christians have heard this stuff so many times, it’s parse’, it washes over us sometimes and we end up believing it in our heads but what about believing in this with our hearts? Believing in the fact that Jesus died and rose again to pay for my sins, my wrongs, my junk. To take that deep truth, and let it sink in, drink it in, soak it in, so it becomes a part of us. There’s peace; the separation is over, there’s no more distance. That’s the promise. We who were once far off are brought near by the blood of Christ.

It’s time to start living our lives in that outrageous promise. If you won millions in the lottery, would that change the way you lived your life? Well, this is better than winning millions in the lottery, this is more than that. This is believing that we are set free for eternal life. The war is over, peace has been declared and it may not feel like that, but that’s the promise that we can believe in. There’s no more gap – far off becomes near. It’s like a marriage covenant, a marriage promise. It’s a promise that God will never leave us again.

Father, I pray that each one of us would know this promise with our hearts. That we would learn to live in it and to walk in it and to rejoice in it, because it is a fact – it is a promise that cannot be changed. “But now through Christ, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” What a promise!

For most people these days, life, well it’s pretty hectic – family, work, mobile phones, email, taking the kids here and there – somehow we seem to be working longer and playing less and for the most part life’s fun, it’s great, it’s vibrant, there are possibilities and there are opportunities, and well, some days there are tensions and stresses, that’s the down side I guess. But somewhere in the middle of all that it’s like, well, where’s God today? I wonder if he’s going to show up?

But it’s only a fleeting thought because we’re so busy, our minds are focused on the stuff that we’re involved in, then you get to the end of the day and you feel drained, and you wonder, “Why God didn’t show up today, what’s the matter with me? Isn’t he interested? What do I have to do to get close to God?” Now that is a very good question and it’s exactly the question that we’ll be exploring today from A Different Perspective.

What do I have to do to get close to God? We’ve been looking at that over these last few days. On Monday we saw how the first part of God’s promise to be close to us is like a marriage vow. God said, “Those of you who were once far off are brought near by the blood of Christ”. In other words when we believe, when we believe that Jesus Christ died for us on the cross, not just kind of a distant head belief, but when we believe with our hearts, with our lives that this Jesus the Son of God died for us, we are brought close through the faith in Christ – promise of God. And the second one we looked at yesterday; if we love him and obey him, He and the Father will come and make their home in us, with us – amazing promise!

It’s like a marriage you know, you propose and you then have the vows, and then husband and wife come together and set up a home together, and this is the same pattern that God’s following here. They are foundational promises that we can stand in, and walk in, and live our lives in. They’re not for some distant belief, they’re not for some heady knowledge, something that we put on the shelf and forget about. ‘Ah yeah I’ve got an insurance policy somewhere in the top draw, I believe in God, when I die I’ll be cool’ no! God wants to make his home with us, God has made his home in anyone who believes that Jesus Christ died and rose again for them. Even when we’re out there, especially when we’re out there in the cut and thrust of life.

Let me ask you something, you’re a mother, you’re changing pooey nappies, bubby’s got nappy rash and teething and you haven’t had sleep, whatever happened to being able to go to work, whatever happened to adult conversation? My world’s falling apart. Let me ask you, is God in that place? Is God in that place where that mother who’s going through that whole dirty nappy, sleepless night thing? Or maybe you’re at work and you go to a tough meeting, the politics are running rife, you’re under threat and you’re so tense you could cut the air with a knife; you’re tired, you’re threatened, you’re at risk.

Let me ask you something, is God in that place with you? Come on is God in that place? Or whatever your place is today and tomorrow and the next day? If you believe in Jesus is God in that place with you? Do you believe it or don’t you? See that’s what I mean about living our lives in those promises. It’s not good enough just to believe them from a distance. God wants us to believe in them in our lives, God wants us to believe that He has promised to be with us and make His home with us if we believe in Jesus. He wants us to believe that right in every circumstance that we walk through in life, good, bad, beautiful, ugly, Jesus is there.

Now in my life I’m basically involved in full-time ministry doing what I’m doing now. But I also still do a bit of secular IT consulting work, that’s the background that I’ve come from, and it’s a great contributor to our ministry. Now some of the organisations that I walk into to do that little bit of consulting work, they’re tough organisations, the pressure is on.

I can be sitting in a meeting in some flash big board room looking out over the harbour and the city with a view, and you press the button and they bring in the coffee, and there are two million dollar paintings hanging on the wall, and you’re dealing with tough, complex, corporate issues with these client organisations. And if you ask me, ‘Berni does your wife still love you while you’re in there?’ The answer is, ‘Well darrrr, of course she does’.

I mean I may only be able to give her a fleeting thought in the middle of all that cut and thrust but you know in a split second I can just picture her, and think of her and the knowledge of her love for me just warms me, you know I can be cold and lonely and I just get that sense, I’m going home to Jacqui. It’s a joy, a delight and maybe during a break, well I’ll give her a quick call on the mobile, maybe send her an sms, just hear her voice and connect with her and have a quick chat, might be only 30seconds, but in the cut and thrust of life I can do that. I can connect with her even though she doesn’t sit in that boardroom with me having the meeting. So even if I can’t call her, even if I haven’t got time to think for five minutes about her, I can remember her love in a split second and it’s fantastic. We can be close when we’re apart. It makes sense, you know what I’m talking about.

Well it’s exactly the same with God only God goes one step further. Jacqui can’t be with me in that meeting but God is. Sometimes if you’re a mum changing a dirty nappy and you’re husband’s off at work, he can’t be there in the middle of the day when you’re dealing with all that stuff but God can, God is. God’s there he’s sitting with me in that meeting. And God is one big step closer than Jacqui can ever be when I’m not physically with her; He’s in that room. And when I sit in that room and it’s tough and my mind’s working at a million miles and hour, and I’m trying to help my clients, and maybe the politics is difficult, in a split second, in a quick fleeting moment, I can turn my spirit towards Christ and just know that He’s my Saviour. And can I tell you that is the most incredible joy and peace that I can’t find words for. His Holy Spirit just floods over me and fills me.

You know when this first started happening I smiled and people would say, ‘What are you smiling at?’ So I had to teach myself not to smile when I have those moments, because it’s such an awesome experience. God is in that place and because I am walking in his promises, because I can recall that, because his spirit is in me, ah it’s awesome! And now I don’t need a mobile phone to talk to God; I can have a quick prayer in an instant with God, anywhere that I am. I can just say, “Ah thank you Lord that was awesome’, or sometimes I’m in a meeting and I go, ‘Help, God’ that’s all that I think, and God is in that place. Maybe ‘Lord I just don’t know what to say, what should I say?’ And in a split second God is in there with me.

And whatever your situation is; nappies, or business meetings, whatever, God is in that place with you. It’s a promise, it’s an unbreakable promise, he will never leave you or forsake you if you are someone who has placed their faith in His Son Jesus Christ.

And when we start walking in those promises, wow what a radical transformation in life, something that became distant head knowledge becomes real. Because we stand in the middle of what we stand in, we sit in the middle of what we sit in, we walk in the middle of what we walk in and we know that Jesus Christ is with us, and there’s a peace, and a joy, and a comfort, and a help that words simply cannot describe.

It’s great to be with you again today. This week we’re taking a look at how we can get close to God in the midst of a busy life. So far this week we’ve looked at two of God’s key promises about our relationship with him, promises that we can stand on, walk in, promises that we can live life in. And yesterday we took a look at how we can be close to God right in the middle of a busy day. If you’ve missed those programs I’ll let you know a little later how you can listen to them again.

Today, well today we’re going to take a look at the whole attitude of ‘I’m so busy I don’t have time to pray’, yeah right!! ‘No, no you don’t understand, I just don’t have time’. Hmm.. Ok… well let’s have a look at that from A Different Perspective, because many people, well that’s just the reality of their lives, and then they wonder why it feels like God’s a million miles away.

It’s kind of like the husband and wife relationship, over these last few days we’ve really been looking at our relationship with God in parallel to the relationship between a husband and wife. Because when you look at that marriage relationship, really it’s a metaphor for the wonderful rich relationship we can have with God.

On Monday we looked at God’s promise that anyone who places their faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus, that is that Jesus died for them and rose again to pay for their sins, is brought near through Christ, so you who were once far off are brought near through the blood of Christ.

And Tuesday we looked at how God wants to move in with us. The natural next step of a man and woman getting married is that they make a home together and God’s the same. Jesus said, ‘Look you know if you love me and you obey my commandments my father and I will come and make our home with you,’ imagine that!

And yesterday we saw how we can take those two promises, the promise of being brought close through our faith, the promise of God making his home in us, and live them out by connecting with God in the middle of the cut and thrust of the busiest of our days. We looked at how we can do something about those promises, and live in the promises, and walk in the promises. But no relationship can get by on a fleeting phone call or an sms message.

It’s great that we can connect with God in the middle of a busy day; I do it all the time. But a husband or wife who live marriage that way, well like almost half the marriages that’s going to end in divorce because we need more than just fleeting interactions, as nice as those are. Why is that? Well because a close relationship relies on a deep intimacy, an intimacy that comes from being together, spending time together without any other people, without any other distractions.

As I said the other day when Jacqui and I were married, it was a wonderful wedding, we just really enjoyed the celebration but by far the best part for me was when the car came to pick us up and we left all the people, the reception, and we headed off on our own because that was our time. That’s when we became husband and wife with no one else around.

That’s the whole idea of a honeymoon is that you can have intimacy, and rest, and time to be and to become husband and wife. But here’s the thing about intimacy, a one-off, a honeymoon is not enough. A honeymoon won’t sustain a marriage, intimacy needs to be constant and ongoing, it’s a natural part of a loving relationship between a husband and wife. There’s a deep connectedness that when we experience that emotional and physical intimacy between a man and a woman, well it’s that deep closeness that we all yearn for.

And when intimacy breaks down, then little by little the relationship breaks down, and when the relationship breaks down intimacy becomes much harder because the trust goes. And so this whole intimacy and relationship thing, if one of them breaks, it becomes a downward spiral. The loss of intimacy leads to a loss of relationship, which further feeds and reinforces the loss of intimacy. If it’s true between a husband and wife it’s also true between us and God.

Jesus said this, he said “look”, he was talking about some of the religious leaders, these people who were into public displays of their religiosity, people dressing up and praying out loud and in effect saying, “Look at me, look at how super spiritual I am”, Jesus said “No, no, no, no. When you pray go into your room, close the door, pray to your father in secret, don’t babble a whole bunch of meaningless words and phrases. Pray like this, ‘Father, my Father in heaven, hallowed by your name’.” And that’s when Jesus taught his disciples what we call today the Lord’s Prayer.

The radical thing though, that Jesus talked about here, was calling God, Father. He actually used the Aramaic word Abba and Abba means, in our language we would say, dad. Dad is a really familiar, loving, respectful term, right? And it was almost heretical, in fact it was heretical for Jesus to refer to God as dad as Abba because for the Jews in that day, they wouldn’t even utter the name of God on their lips because they held God in such reverence. So for Jesus to come along and say well, ‘pray like this… Dad you know hallowed be your name’, well no wonder they strung him up and nailed him to a cross.

For Jesus it wasn’t about outward appearances of religiosity, for Jesus it was about a very deep, private, intimate time. When you pray, go into your room, close the door, pray to your father in secret. Let me be blunt. Do you want to have a close relationship with God, and that awe, and that joy, and that peace? If you want that relationship you need intimacy with him, to share your deepest secrets, your deepest needs of your heart in a quiet, private place regularly every day. It’s not a chore, it’s not about wasting time. This is fun, this is intimacy, this is joy, this is peace. Let me ask you do you have time to eat? Do you have time to sleep? Do you have time to work? Do you have time to watch TV? How we spend our time is purely a matter of priorities.

For me I have a busy life, and so I’m up at four or five in the morning because I’m at my best at that hour of the morning, that’s just me, I’m just a morning person always have been, I am at my best, everyone else is asleep, it’s quiet, I’m alert, it’s an awesome time to pray. Now that may not work for you. Maybe for you, you’ve gotta get up early in the morning and commute, well Jesus is on that train, Jesus is on that bus, that can be your time where you just close your eyes and pray. It’s as private as my study at four o’clock in the morning because no one else knows what you’re praying. Well maybe it’s the half hour after the kids go to school, or instead of watching that inane show on TV, how many times do we go to the television at night and go, ‘Ah there’s nothing on, isn’t it useless, isn’t it hopeless.’ Well what if we use that time to spend with Jesus? How much do you want to experience an intimate relationship with God? How much?

Jesus said, ‘The most important thing that you can do in life is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment’ said Jesus. It’s the most important thing in life, and it’s the thing that Jesus died to give us, he died so that we could believe in him and be brought close to God. Come on! Wake up! How much do you want to get close to God? If you want to have a close relationship we have to have intimacy, and intimacy takes time and Jesus calls that prayer.