MORE THAN WE BARGAINED FOR

 

"Where two or three are gathered in my name,

there am I in the midst of them."

 

Do we believe that?  That in some mysterious and wonderful way he is here in this gathering with all the power he displayed when he healed the sick and opened blind eyes?

To believe that, if out of this whole assembly, only a handful are actually gathered in his name, the risen Lord is here with all the power of heaven? 

 

If Jesus is here with all the power of heaven, wouldn't you think that he would make his presence known?  Would it be too much to expect that, if somebody came here with a burden, they'd leave today with their burden lifted?  If somebody came with a wound of body or mind, they would walk out of here with the wound healed?

 

What good does it do to say,  "Jesus is in this place," if nothing redemptive ever happens?  ... if we walk out of here week after week as weary and wounded as when we came in?

 

"Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them…" to give them more than they bargained for, more than they could ask or think.  

 

Today we are looking at two men, separated in time by 600 years.  But these men have one thing in common:  they came looking for God … and in both cases, they got more than they bargained for.

 

Isaiah goes up to the temple one day, like he's done hundreds of times before.  He's going to worship God.  He's going to give thanks. Then he's going to stop at Tim Horton's for coffee on the way home, and enjoy the rest of the day.  But this day Isaiah gets the shock of his life.

 

I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple.  Above him stood the seraphim; each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.  And one called to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory."  And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.  And I said: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!"  Then flew one of the seraphim to me, having in his hand a burning coal which he had taken with tongs from the altar.  And he touched my mouth, and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin is forgiven."  And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here am I! Send me." 

                                                                                                Isaiah 6:1-8

 

All those hundreds of times Isaiah had been to the temple before, the same God was there.  But this time Isaiah knows he's there.  And from this day on, Isaiah is going to fit into God's program with a clear vision of what it's all about. 

 

600 years later a Jewish teacher and theologian comes knocking on Jesus' door at night, looking for answers.

 

"Rabbi, we know you're a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him."

 

"Nicodemus, you need to be born from above…..You can neither see nor enter God's world until you're born of the Spirit. "

 

Nicodemus walks away shaking his head.  "Why did I waste my time!"  But those words of Jesus are a time bomb in his heart.  Soon they will explode within him and change the direction of his life forever.

 

Nicodemus would be the first to tell you that he got much more than he bargained for that night, though he did not know it at the time.  He had no idea what Jesus had given him until the bomb went off within him. 

 

"Where two or three are gathered in my name,

 there am I in the midst of them."

 

If that's true, if there is something special about the presence of the Lord when disciples are gathered in his name, the only way we'll know it, is if something happens to us like happened to Isaiah and Nicodemus.

 

But notice how it happened to these men.  Notice where they were reached by God:  they met God at their point of deepest need.  And that is precisely the place where we meet him as we gather in his name: at our place of deepest need.

 

We may not know what our place of deepest need is.  Isaiah didn't know until it hit him….

 

"Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!"  Then flew one of the seraphim to me, having in his hand a burning coal which he had taken with tongs from the altar.  And he touched my mouth, and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin is forgiven." 

 

When God turns on the light, that's when you discover what you really need. 

 

And Nicodemus, this fine upstanding religious man, did not have a clue about what his need was until Jesus turned on the light.  "Me?  I need a rebirth?"

 

"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born anew.'"
                                                                                    John 3:5-7

 

You may have come here today with a burden weighing down your heart.  That burden is a good thing to bring.  You may have come with a concern about yourself or one of your children.  That concern is a good thing to bring.  Name it.  Cry out to God for his help with it.  But don't be surprised, as you cry out in your need, if the Lord turns the light on something in you which needs fixing….which you never realized needed fixing:

 

---An attitude that's blocking the flow of God's Spirit.

---A resentment that's eating away at your soul.

---An obsession that consumes your life.

---A vanity that's distorting your thinking.

 

"Where two or three are gathered in my name,

 there am I in the midst of them."

 

He's here to bless us.  But the blessing which comes to us when we're gathered in his name is usually something quite different, much bigger than we bargained for.

 

So today, if you have come here with a worry or a fear, a financial need, a need for healing of some kind, by all means, name it before the Lord, and cry out for his help.

But don't be upset if, in order to help us with this need, the Spirit of the Lord puts his finger on something in our life that's blocking the flow of God's grace.  Something we need to change.

 

For instance, one time a man came to church bursting with joy.  In his pocket was a check for $10,000 to help the congregation pay off the mortgage.  He planned to put this check on the offering plate without any fuss or fanfare, as an act of thanksgiving to God for getting him through a difficult time.

 

While this man is singing Amazing Grace along with the congregation a thought strikes him like a thunderbolt.  He remembers Joseph, his friend of twenty years, has accused him of cheating him out of $5000, in a business deal.  The man keeps telling himself that Joseph has it wrong.  Everything was legal.  But Joseph is no longer speaking to him.

 

"Something's wrong here," he says to himself as the hymn continues.  "I'm going to put ten grand on the plate, and Joseph has broken our friendship over five thousand.  I can't do this!"  Before the hymn is over, the man is out the door, in his car, and on his way to Joseph's house.

 

"Joseph, what can I do to make it right?"

"You know what to do!  Give me my $5000!"

 

The man pulls out his check book and writes a check.  "Here's $6,000, and I'm asking you for your forgiveness."

 

The following Sunday the man has only $4,000 left to put on the plate.  But as he does, heaven opens on that church, and on him. 

 

"Where two or three are gathered in my name,

there am I in the midst of them."

 

He's here to bless us beyond anything we could ask or think.

To answer the cries of our hearts.

To flood us with the life of heaven. 

 

So we bring him our need.  We tell him exactly what our problem is, as we see it.  And there's not one of us who does not have some need, some problem, some worry.   So name it!  Cry out!

 

It may be that you will walk out of here today with the answer to your cry, as a sign of God's love for you.  On the other hand, it may be that some of us will walk out of here with a gift we did not ask for, as the Lord puts his finger on something within us that's been an obstacle to his grace.

 

"Here's you real problem.  Let's take care of this, and all your other concerns will fall into place."

 

Isaiah didn't know what his problem was until he was blinded by glory…

 

"Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!"  Then flew one of the seraphim to me, having in his hand a burning coal which he had taken with tongs from the altar.  And he touched my mouth, and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin is forgiven." 

 

So here's our prayer today, as we open our hearts to the Master:

 

Lord, give me what I really need.  You alone know what that is!

 

And whether we walk out of here like Isaiah, with a vision, or like Nicodemus with our head spinning with confusion, the days ahead will confirm that the Lord Jesus was indeed among us today….

 

….and that each of us who opened our heart to him received much more than we came looking for.

 

 

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