SPEAKER_00 0:01

Depending on your upbringing, you may view God either as a taskmaster, a father, or a companion. Listener, what relationship does God want to have with you? Mr. Stanley Tay brings the word this morning entitled A Call to Intimacy, Becoming Friends with God.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

Very good morning to all of you, dear brothers and sisters. It's good to be back here today to continue with our sermon series on communing with God. Well, last Sunday uh we started our series with the first sermon, which was titled A Call to Conversation, Being Honest with God. And we looked at how God is constantly inviting us to be in conversations with Him. And his desire is that we will always be honest with Him, particularly when He engages us to talk about the condition of our heart or the state of our relationship with Him. Now, for today, for today, the second sermon in our series, I've titled it A Call to Intimacy. A Call to Intimacy, Becoming Friends with God. Those of you who are a bit more observant, you will notice that there's a slight change from the original title. But the reason, the reason for the change will become obvious as you listen to the whole sermon today. Anyway, I'd like to start today's sermon by looking at a very important aspect of our relationship with God, and that is our intimacy with Him. Our intimacy with Him. And you really don't need me to tell you that actually that how intimate we are with God will affect very significantly how well we commune with Him. Let me start by asking also this question with regards to intimacy. Now, what comes to your mind when you think about intimacy with God? Intimacy with God. I mean, what kind of picture best portrays for you what intimacy with God looks like? Well, for me, for me, when I think about intimacy, I think the character who depicts best what intimacy with God looks like, it's really the disciple John, the writer of the Gospel of John. You see, John is often referred to as the beloved disciple or the disciple whom Jesus loved. And that's how he's described in uh John chapter 13, verse 22, as the disciple who leaned against the bosom or the chest of Jesus at the Last Supper. Now, that for me is a picture of what it means to be intimate with God, always in his presence, being close to the heart of God, and close enough to listen to his heartbeat. And John must have been uh intimate with Jesus because that was the only way he knew how to respond to a God who wants to be intimate with his people. And and that's exactly uh what scriptures show us about God. God's desire to be close to his people can be seen right from the first book of the Bible to the gospels accounts. So, for example, in the book of Genesis, right, if we look closely at chapter 3, uh verse 8, we can see that after God had created Adam and Eve, he was walking intimately with them in the Garden of Eden and in the cool of the day. But that intimacy between God and our first ancestor was lost when Adam and Eve sinned and hid themselves from God, and so their communion with God was broken. Well, God did not let their relationship remain that way, he redeemed the situation, restored their communion, and that has been the story in the rest of the Bible and in the history of the world. Now, coming back to the disciple John, I am quite sure that he also learned about the intimacy that God desires for his people through stories that Jesus told about his ebble father. Example, the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15. Well, we all know, right, that the father in this parable was meant to represent the heavenly father. Now, the father had never wanted the prodigal son to leave home because home is where they can continue to enjoy an intimate relationship. But instead of enjoying the intimacy that was offered to him, the son turned his back on the father, left home, and left his father heartbroken. He broke communion with the father and he went on to live a life of sin and wasted away all his inheritance. But the father never gave up. The father never gave up on the son all this while. We saw how he waited and waited for that day when his son would repent and come home again. Well, the son did return, right? And what we read about in that touching scene between father and son when they were reunited and reconciled. Now, that for me is one of the most beautiful pictures we'll ever see of the kind of intimacy God desires to have with his children, even for those who have broken communion with him. Now, let me let me now read uh for you something that uh my friend and author Tony Hosford wrote, and and I really like the way he describes how God is always inviting all of us into a relationship of intimacy with him. So let me quote him Jesus invites us into a living relationship. The invitation is a call to intimacy, to closeness, to oneness, and intimacy is what the Christian life is all about. It is a love relationship, and we are called into friendship with the one who is the lover of our souls. Unquote. And so, what I would like to do uh in the rest of the sermon today is for us to look at someone in the Bible who had experienced such an invitation. That is this invitation and the call to a friendship of intimacy with God. Now, the person we're going to be looking at is not John, but Moses. And the passage we shall be looking at is from the Old Testament reading that you just heard in Exodus 33. And what I hope, what I hope is that as we listen to Moses' conversation with God, we will learn something. We will learn something from his friendship with God that can help us commune more intimately with God. And so there are several aspects of this friendship that Moses enjoyed with God, which I want to highlight in the rest of the sermon. Okay, and they are four aspects. First, their time together, their time together. Secondly, their honest conversations, thirdly, the way they relate personally, and finally, being known. Being known, how Moses is being known. Okay, so uh first point, uh, time together. But before we look more closely at Moses' friendship with God and try to learn from him uh how we can commune intimately with God. I I think it's important to first recognize this. Becoming friends with God is something that God himself has always desired. Let me let me read for you this quote from uh William Barry. William Barry is a Jesuit priest who has written many books on the subject of friendship with God. And this is what he said in one of his books. What does God want in creating us? I believe what God wants is friendship. God has, from the arrival of human beings, wanted our friendship, and as a result of that desire, deep in the heart of every human being, is a reciprocal desire for friendship with God. Unquote. Well, this idea that what God really desires is an intimate friendship with each of us, it is something we can find throughout the whole Bible. In the Gospels, for example, Jesus proclaimed this desire not just to his disciples, but also to all of us who are called his disciples, right? And he said this in John chapter 15, verse 15, which is our gospel reading for today. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends. For all that I have learned or all that I have heard from my father, I've made known to you. Now, this desire for us to become friends with him can also be seen in the Old Testament. In fact, the Old Testament highlights two particular characters whom God specifically referred to as his friends. His friends. First person, Abraham. And in Isaiah 41, verse 8, we find God calling Abraham what? My friend. My friend. And James also tells us in his letter in the New Testament that Abraham was called a friend of God. A friend of God, James 2, 23. Now the other person is of course the one we are going to be looking at today. And this is what Exodus 33, verse 11 tells us about Moses. Thus, the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And if you take a look at the book of Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy 34, verse 10 also tells us this fact about Moses and his intimate relationship with God. The verse says this since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew what? Face to face. So what is it about uh Moses and the way he relates to God that makes him become like uh you know the the Old Testament poster boy or the model of what an intimate friend of God looks like. Well, from Exodus 33 as well as 34 and also Exodus 3, passages where we find Moses talking with God. I I think it's quite obvious that um it's it's very obvious that what makes Moses' friendship with God most intimate is the amount of time they spend together. In in verses 7 to 11 of Exodus 33, for example, which you heard read for you, we we find Moses in the tent of meeting, spending that time alone with God almost throughout the day. And and then in the next chapter, Exodus 34, in verse 28, we are also told that he was alone with God on Mount Sinai for a period of 40 days and 40 nights. In fact, Moses was so immersed in the presence of God, we are told that his face was shining when he came now from Mount Sinai. And and this is what verse 29 of chapter 34 tells us that the skin of his face shone because what he had been talking with God. And so, my dear friends, it's very clear from Moses' example, isn't it? That God does take great delight in being with us because he wants us to have an intimate friendship with him. Now, when it comes to our part of this friendship, we need to understand this intimacy with God can only come about when we are willing to set aside the necessary time on a regular basis to be in his presence, to enjoy his company, and simply to converse and talk with him. Or if I can put it in stronger terms, uh time together with God is a non-negotiable. And there's really no other way if we want to cultivate and maintain an intimate friendship with God. And so, if I can encourage all of us to be open to what the Lord uh is wanting to say to all of us this morning, I believe this is what the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is inviting each one of us this morning into a friendship, into this friendship of intimacy with Him. Listen to these words. Come, my dear children. Come, my good friends. Set aside some time, step inside that sacred cave, be in my presence and enjoy my company. Let's keep communing with each other face to face, heart to heart, just like Moses and I did as intimate friends with much love and in close affection. Point number two, honest conversations. Now, besides spending time with God and and really enjoying God's presence and company, I think another thing uh that makes Moses' friendship with God very intimate is how he would always talk to God about everything. And and that is what good friends do, isn't it? Well, if you take a look at all the conversations that uh Moses had with God in the various parts of the book of Exodus, you would notice that he was very honest with God concerning how he felt about things. Take, for example, the conversation he had with God when God wanted him to go back to Egypt to lead his people out into the promised land. If you have read through Exodus chapters 3 and 4, and I want to encourage you to do that, you would have seen how he told God as honestly as he could how he felt about himself and how he felt that he really cannot make it. Well, of course, we all know about what happened after that, right? God was able to convince him and he did lead the people out of Egypt. But throughout the whole journey, right from Egypt into the wilderness, uh, and all the way up to before the promised land, Moses never stopped talking with God, never stopped communing with God, and he was always telling God about everything, including how he felt about the people of Israel. On one occasion, on one occasion, when he got so tired of their complaints, he actually said this to God in Numbers 11, verses 10 to 15. Let me read for you, huh? God, why did you lay the burden of all these people on me? Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? That you should say to me, carry them in your bosom as a nurse carries a nursing child. And where am I to get meat to give to all these people? I am not able to carry all these people alone. The burden is too heavy for me. If you will treat me like this, kill me at once, Lord. You know, uh last Sunday sermon, right? We were talking about how when God calls us into conversation with Him, He He wants us to be completely honest with Him, right? Well, what we have just heard from Moses in Numbers 11, that's a very clear example of a conversation that is as honest as you can get, isn't it? And friends, I I really do believe this, uh that the fact that Moses was able to pour out his heart and told God exactly how he felt is due mainly to how Moses sees God. Moses saw God as his close friend, and so he knew it was safe for him to talk like that. And he also knew that God himself would have wanted Moses to be totally open to him, just like you would do the same with a close friend. And that's really the hallmark of an intimate friendship, isn't it? You you you know you can pour your heart out to this someone who's willing to listen, and you know this friend appreciates you telling him or her everything and not hiding anything from this person, this friend. And so, may I uh encourage all of us today to see God as a very close friend, particularly in the way we commune with him. Take that time to come to him regularly and talk to him about everything that's in your heart. You can tell him about your week, you can tell him about your dreams, your fears, your your decisions, your discouragements, especially. But most importantly, make it a point to always tell God what you feel about him and how much you love him. Point number three, relating personally. Relating personally. Now, if you take a look at the other parts of the Old Testament, you will find that Moses is sometimes also referred to as the servant of God, a servant of God. So, for example, in Joshua 1, when God was talking to Joshua, he said this to Joshua, Moses, my servant, is dead. And then in uh Numbers, Numbers chapter 12, verses 7 to 8, when God was speaking this time to Aaron and Miriam, he said this to them about Moses. He said, But not with my servant Moses. Of all my house, he is the one I trust. I speak to him face to face, clearly, and not in riddles. He sees the Lord as he is. Now that comes from the New Living Translation. Now you you can see from this passage in Numbers 12 that while Moses is still a servant, in the sense that he has always served God as his Lord and master, that does not take away the fact that Moses is also more than just a servant in the eyes of the Lord. He is a friend of God, not only because God trusted him, but also because God relates to him differently from the way a master relates to a slave or to a servant. Now, unlike how you would relate to a servant in those days, God relates with Moses in a more personal way, and God is certainly much more open with Moses, and and so what I believe, and I so I believe what Jesus said in John chapter 15, verse 15, can be applied to Moses, and it's not unreasonable to imagine that these words are also relevant for Moses. No longer do I call him servant, for the servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have called him friend. For all I have heard from my father, I have made known to him. Now, personally, I have actually been reflecting for quite a while on this whole matter of what it means to relate to God more like a friend than as a servant. You see, not not too long ago, not too long ago, my spiritual director was sharing uh something with me that's related to this point. And and what he shared not only caused me to think more deeply about how I relate to God, but it also affected the way I pray and commune with God. Now, basically, what my spiritual director by the name of Alex Tang had shared with me was this. He said that as he entered into his 60s, he noticed that God was doing something specific in four particular areas of his relationship with God. And and one of these areas has to do with how God is teaching him and forming him from being a servant to becoming a friend of God. And and the reason God is doing this in his life, Alex said, is because God wants him to grow in intimacy with God. And as I reflected on what Alex shared, it it dawned on me that God is really more interested in my intimacy with him than in my service to him. And I realized that this was an area of my walk with God that I had struggled with for the longest time. You see, for the last uh 20 years or so. Especially during the time when I was working in church as a pastoral staff, I was relating to God more as a servant than as a friend. To me, God was like a master, right? To whom I was answerable for everything that I did as an employed pastor. I mean, I was paid by the church, and we are always told, right, that God is the big boss. And so when I spent time with God in prayer, what occupied me most of the time were concerns that were always work-related. A lot of my prayers were about asking God for help to solve problems and challenges that I face in ministry. And very often I would come to God with a shopping list that's dominated by all kinds of petitions and intercessions. And on those occasions, when I do take a break from bombarding God with all kinds of prayer requests, I would do a kind of a work reporting, you know, to Him, updating Him or whatever ministry work that I've completed or am doing or was still doing. Like the way a servant would give an account to his master for everything he has been tasked to do. And that was how I related to God. And that was how I prayed. Prayer time for me was very functional and transactional. Because there was always an agenda when I come to God, and there were always business matters I needed to settle with Him. And so my prayer times were more like for me opportunities to get something out of God. And it's always about me asking, getting, and acquiring or achieving. Well, all that started to change when the Holy Spirit led me to John 15:15. And through this verse, I was reminded that God has always desired that I come to Him as a friend more than as a servant. And this reminder was further reinforced when I came across a quote by Theresa of Avela. As I continued to question the way I was praying, her words reminded me that I needed to start seeing Jesus as my friend. And this was what Teresa of Avela said prayer is nothing else than being on terms of friendship with God. And so I have been learning to relate to God more personally as a friend and less functionally as a servant. And what that has meant for my prayer life is that I'm learning to enjoy his presence and company more and taking time to listen to his heart while also sharing with him freely and honestly about what's in my heart. Now I need to clarify something here at the same time. But those should not be the only type of prayers we bring to God all the time. And we should also not think that for certain types of prayers, if we can master them properly or pray them correctly, then God will surely answer these prayers, maybe even instantly. Praying to God and conversing with Him is not about technique. And it's not about whether we are doing it correctly or not. But the problem is many of us are actually brought up with that kind of teaching, isn't it? Where prayer has often been taught as a technique to be mastered. And so many Christians hold the belief that effectiveness in prayer is largely dependent on how well we master prayer as a method. Well, I hope you would have read, I hope you have realized by now that such kind of attitude towards prayer or towards God is actually treating God more like a machine than as God. It's an insult to God and to who He is. To think that just because we pray in a certain way or use the correct words, then God has no choice but to automatically answer our prayers. Like as if you know we have pressed the right buttons on a vending machine and the answers to our prayers will automatically pop out or be dispensed like a drink from a machine. That is not how prayer works, my dear friends. Prayer is about communing with God, it's about relating to someone who is a living and personal being. So never forget that prayer must therefore flow out of our relationship with this God. It's a relationship that is personal, it's a relationship where we can relate to God personally and where we can talk to each other as friends, as intimate friends. Right? Final point, final point, being known. Look with me again at our passage in Exodus 33. And let me read for you parts of uh verses 12 and 13 as well as verses 17 and 18. Moses said to the Lord, see, you say to me, bring up this people, but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight. Therefore, Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, please uh please show me now your ways that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. And the Lord said to Moses, This very thing that you have spoken, I will do. For you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name. And Moses said, Lord, please show me your glory. Now, did you notice that the word know appears both in what God said to Moses as well as in what Moses said to God? In verses 12 and 17, we are told that God said this to Moses, right? I know you by name, you have found favor in my sight. And and what God is saying to Moses here, according to one commentator, is this He is pleased with Moses, and Moses is special to him, and so they have a special relationship to each other, as can be seen in this intimate conversation that we have just read, right? Now, in saying to Moses, I know you by name, God is also saying to him, I know you very well, Moses. And not only do I know your name, I know who you are, I know what you are like, and I know everything about you because I made you. Now, as I reflected on what this meant for Moses, uh, you know, to have God tell him that he knows Moses very well, I'm I'm reminded of another passage in the Old Testament where the writer was also reflecting on the same point. The passage I'm talking about is Psalm 139, a psalm that's written by King David. And it's a psalm that describes David's amazement at how God knows our every movement, how he knows what we're gonna say, what is in our thoughts and heart, what we feel, etc. And if there's a phrase to summarize what this psalm is all about, it would be this Lord, you know me so well. Now, Psalm 139, together with Exodus 34 and 33 and 34, and Isaiah 43, and I encourage you to look at all these three passages, were some of the passages that I've gone back to in the last many months. These are scriptures that really help me to understand what it means to be friends with God and what it means to be known by God. And so, what I'd like to do now is to share with you the prayers that I wrote to God as I meditated on these passages. And as you listen to my prayers, I hope it will help you to also appreciate how precious it is to be known by God and how wonderful to be treated as his friend. And I also hope that it will you will be inspired to set aside some time on your own with God to converse with him about these passages and to thank him for his friendship. Let me read for you my prayers, huh? Lord, you have always known me, and you know me so well. No one knows me like you do, and nothing about me surprises you what I do, how I think, what I feel, why I'm like that. And this is comforting because I know at least I won't be misunderstood by you. But it's also scary because you can see through me. I cannot pretend before you, Lord, but it's good that I can be totally honest with you. And I want to be an open book before you, hiding nothing from you, but giving you free access to my soul and my heart. Lord, thank you for knowing me. Thank you for knowing my name and my face. I am not anybody to you, and I'm not a nobody to you, and I'm not faceless or nameless to you. You you don't look past me like I don't exist. I am somebody to you, and I matter to you, and nothing about me is too trivial for you, and for that I thank you. Thank you that I am known by you. Now, my dear friends, being known by God in is what makes our friendship with Him special and intimate. And as we saw in Moses' relationship with God, Moses himself also desired to know God in return, and that is why he said this to God Lord, show me your ways that I may know you, and show me your glory, verse 18, that I may see your face. And and this desire to know God, to see his glory and his face was also the prayer of another friend of God, someone who's also known for his intimacy with God. Now listen with me to the words of Psalm 27, a psalm that's written by King David. Listen to his prayer about beholding God and about seeking the face of God. Let me read for you verses 4 and 8. One thing I ask from the Lord, and this only do I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temper. When you said, Oh Lord, seek my face, my heart said to you, your face, O Lord, I will seek. Now, as I close this morning's sermon, I would like us to take some time to look into our hearts as we come before the Lord right now. God is inviting us into a friendship of intimacy with him. What is your heart's response to this invitation? Do you also desire to have this intimacy with him, to draw close to him, to constantly be in his presence, to relate to him as a friend, to be open with him? And as God knows us so well, he is also inviting us to get to know him more deeply. Is your heart, is your heart willing to pray these same words that both Moses and David said to the Lord, show me your ways, oh God, and show me your face in God.

SPEAKER_00 34:32

We pray that you've been ministering to the Word of God today. If you'd like to know more about Eastern Christian Church, please visit our website at ycc.com.