Beth Moore - God Is On The Move - Part 1
I'm gonna have you, if you would please, to turn to Galatians chapter 5, but you're gonna hold for a moment there. Now, we are gonna make seven points about God moving among us and us learning how to move with him. But what I need from you for a little while in this first session is some patience to pour a foundation, because we can't get with what we ought to do to get there and what the process would be to set ourselves in a posture to begin to discern unless we are convinced there is something to go to that trouble for. Is that fair to say?
So I wanna build the concept first, and so it'll seem late in that we start our points, but that's very much on purpose. I want to remind you that God is a God that is moving. That does not mean he is not steadfast and immovable upon to his throne, of course he is. He's immutable. He is never changing. But one of the most brilliant pictures that we have, these prophetic pictures, which is just this almost unimaginable glimpse into the throne room of God in Ezekiel chapter 1 describes the throne of God and one seated on the throne, but it's got wheels on it. It's the most marvelous picture because, in a way, if you just think figuratively with me for a moment, God is always seated upon his throne in the heavens.
So when he moves, he still just takes his throne with him, amen? So everywhere he goes, he's reigning over all. He's King over all things. And from the very beginning, steadfast upon his throne, through his Holy Spirit, he is constantly moving. The first glimpse we see of God, and I'm talking about glimpse in Scripture that we see of God, in the book of Genesis, after creation has been complete is in Genesis chapter 3 when it says, "And Adam and Eve heard the Lord God walking in the garden".
First thing we see is his desire to move among us. We get into Leviticus 26:11, and it says, this is God saying through Moses to the people of Israel, "I will place my residence among you, and I will not reject you. I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people". These powerful statements of his absolute covenant to them and the promises he will keep, his unshakable commitment to his people, "I will live among you, and I will walk among you," and the cloudy pillar. If we just kept going through the historical narrative of God among the people of faith, we would see then in Exodus where it says that he is training them.
Now, I'm saying this part. I'm translating it this way. He is training them to understand: you move with me through the cloudy pillar over the Tabernacle. So he says, "When it stays, you stay. When I pick it up and move it, you pick up camp, and you move". And so, training the people of God in the way of obedience that there is a time we stay and a time we move. But the question on the table tonight is: how do we know which one it is? Some of you came with that very question this weekend in a situation you're in, in a community you may be in, whatever it is, "Lord, am I supposed to stay or am I supposed to go"? 'Cause we know it doesn't have to do with whether or not we're just comfortable there. That's not what God has in play. So we need to know, Lord, what are you calling me to do?
So we see it over and over again. Revelation 2:1 depicts Jesus walking among the lampstands. Now the lampstands have just been translated to us a verse before when it says that the lampstands are representative of the seven churches, which are representative of the churches in this kingdom age. So it's just, like, moving constantly among the churches. God, constantly on the move. He said in 1 Chronicles 17:5, "From the time I brought Israel out of Egypt until today I have not dwelt in a house". He's telling this through the prophet Nathan to David, who wants to build the Tabernacle, or the temple, rather. And he says to him, "Listen, you don't need to worry about it. I'm gonna let your son do that. I'm gonna build a house through your son. But here's what you need to know. All this time, I've just been dwelling in a tent, moving with my people".
And he was referencing the Tabernacle, "I'm on the move among my people". Time and time again, if you just look up, search the word "move, moved, moving" in the Scriptures, and you'll see over and over again, see the move of Christ. Jesus was moved with compassion. Jesus was moved with pity. He moves us with pity. He moves us with compassion. I believe that he's working among us in such a way that we would be able to recognize what is it he has called us to do. I'm pleading for that move among us. I gotta tell you something. No teacher enjoys being predictable.
But the thing about teaching the Scriptures is there are certain things that ought to be predictable, and that's that we're going to get into the gospel, that we're gonna be talking about Jesus, that we're gonna be talking about the one and only name under heaven by which people can be saved. Those things, we can't get away from. There's a certain kind of being new that then leaves the Scriptures entirely. That's not what we're after. But when we say the words "God on the move," for many of us, it immediately makes us think of Aslan. Anybody know what I'm talking about? Or Aslan, I'll say it the way that you're supposed to say it, in the Chronicles of Narnia, in the very first book by C.S. Lewis, "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe".
And so there's this line in it, and the reason why it's so familiar, and why I have to bring it to you is because it's fabulous. That's why we hear some of the same excerpts over and over, because they're good, and nobody's written anything better. So here we go. So I wanna read this to you. And of course, this lion is representative of Christ in the book. So this is C.S. Lewis. I'm quoting straight word for word out of "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe".
"They say Aslan is on the move, perhaps has already landed. And now, a very curious thing happened. None of the children knew who Aslan was any more than you do. But the moment the beaver had spoken these words, everyone felt quite different. Perhaps it has sometimes happened to you in a dream that someone says something which you don't understand, but in the dream it feels as if it has some enormous meaning, either a terrifying one, which turns the whole dream into a nightmare, or else a lovely meaning, too lovely to put into words, which makes the dream so beautiful that you remember it all your life and are always wishing you could get into that dream again. It was like that now. At the name of Aslan, each one of the children felt something jump inside. Edmund felt a sensation of mysterious horror. Peter felt suddenly brave and adventurous. Susan felt as if some delicious smell or some delightful strain of music had just floated by her. And Lucy, she got that feeling you have when you wake up in the morning and realize that it is just beginning to be the holidays or the very beginning of summer".
Might we risk hoping again? I wonder who in this room is kinda like, "You know, I'm sort of over all that 'cause I've been there and been disappointed". What if you had faith enough to just go, "All right, I'm gonna believe God for a move. I'm gonna believe it". And I'm thinking about some people that came with friends this weekend, you're already mad at 'em. You haven't spoken to 'em since it started. It's like, "This is not what I signed up for". You're thinking, "For one thing, we don't sing that loud". Neither do we at our church, which is why I get here and I just basically yell praise. I'm just like, it's just primal. I just let it come all up all the way from down low.
But let me tell you, I wonder if when we say that God is moving and he's moving among us, if even you, knowing nothing whatsoever about what we're even discussing, have that sense inside of you that C.S. Lewis is talking about, that you know something is real, that it feels like something somewhere may not be the same. What is a move of God among us? I keep thinking to myself because I've tried to define that, that I believe it will be something we cannot explain any other way. Do you think that's fair to say? Something that can't be explained any other way, a supernatural force but not irrationally forceful.
I think that's fair to say. A compelling, Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 that he is, he said, "You may think I'm crazy," and I'm translating that in my own words, but he said, "We are," and I'm not translating this, this is straight out, "compelled by the love of God". I wanna ask you: What would it be like if you began to be in tune enough with what God is doing, in tune enough with him to know that he wants to use you and make you a blessing in your sphere of influence? What would it be like if you were just, like, compelled by love? Do you know how much of the irritability it would take out of it if you actually wanted to and actually wanted to serve that person or do that thing? Because we were compelled.
What would life be like for you if you began to live in the practice, not perfection, in the practice and pursuit of a life being compelled by the Spirit, compelled by the Spirit, by a force that you know is outside of yourself and working in you and through you? What would it be like if we began to say, "I wanna move with the Spirit"? Everybody say back to me, "The Spirit moves". "And I wanna move with him". The Spirit does what? The Spirit moves. And what? Look at somebody and say, "The spirit moves, and I wanna move with him". And you know what? You know you do.
Well, I think you may know you do because I'm gonna tell you something. Maybe this is news to someone and it's the best news of all: that Jesus, literally before the foundation of the world, works for you to do things that will matter in eternity were set aside for you. You're his workmanship. I'm his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works that he prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Imagine that. You can't beat that. If there really is a plan.
And you know, you're saying, "Well, you know, I've got my life going here". Listen, you don't have to go, like, get a job at a church to fulfill your calling. That's half the reason why so many of us don't walk in our calling is that we think it's limited to a few different roles. He spreads us out throughout the... it's like putting white Christmas lights or colored Christmas lights all around a tree. He's stringing us as the light of the world all the way around the globe in all sorts of spheres of influence. But what if, like, I mean, it's a good word. We don't want to miss him.
Whatever he's got for you, this is what you were born for. This is what you were set in this generation for in moving with the Spirit. In Exodus, we're told that the Holy Spirit moved upon the artisans to make the various things that went in the Tabernacle. That literally, he gave them, like, the Spirit of God to move them to artistry, creative works. It says that he moved them. It said that people were so moved 'cause Moses announced to them as the Lord had told him, "Go tell them that if there's anything they want to bring to be part of the Tabernacle, if there's any giving they want to do, it's totally voluntary that they can bring anything they want. Nobody has to".
And so, he gives that command to the people. They have to stop them from giving, why? Because it said that the Spirit moved them to generosity, that finally Moses had to go, "Listen, you've given more than we even know what to do with. So you're gonna have to..." I mean, imagine your pastor saying to you, "Stop your giving! This is ridiculous"! But think how it would feel if we gave out of our compelling instead of giving out of guilt or giving out of just obligation. Listen, I believe in commitments, but how much better that we're compelled to generosity, that we're just like, God puts it on our heart, "You know what? Somebody needs $40," and that we're just compelled by God to go. Like, we can't wait. Like, "I only have $40 in my purse". Yeah, I know that, but you know what? You got another $40 in the bank, and that person does not have a dime, a dime.
In Exodus 35:26, it says, "And all the women whose hearts were moved spun the goat hair by virtue of their skill". Let me tell you something. God can move you to spin goat hair. There is just nothing, nothing that is too difficult for him. It says in Ezekiel, and I want y'all to remember this one. This one needs to go down in your memory. Jot this down because it's a very important address. Ezekiel 36:27, the Lord says, and I'm quoting now, "And I will put my Spirit," capital S, "I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and to be careful to keep my laws".
When we're willing to cooperate with the work of the Holy Spirit, when we learn how to yield to him, and again, this is our pursuit, not something we will perfect, but something we follow hard after, we press after, as the apostle Paul said in Philippians chapter 3. What he's saying is, listen, you're thinking like, I really wanna do what God wants me to do, but we don't have the power and capacity to do it. You do not have what it takes in your natural person, and I do not have what it takes in my natural person, to be obedient to God and to do the things that he wants to gift me to do. I have to have God to serve God. Everybody say that: "I have to have God to serve God". Say it again. I have to have God to serve God.
So, so often, the reason why we feel no compelling whatsoever is we want so much to serve and we go out, "You know what? You need me to do that. I will put my Spirit. You figure out how to yield more to my Spirit, and I am going to move you to obedience". You will want to do, God will work in you to work and to do according to his good pleasure, Philippians 2.13 says, through his Spirit.
That's why we're open to Galatians chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5, verse 16, I'm starting to read there: "I say, then, walk by the Spirit and you will certainly not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit desires what is against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you don't do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousy..."
I just wanna say something here just a minute, and it's not because I am downplaying sexual sin. I'm not by any stretch of the imagination. But I'm just gonna tell you something. We are fixated on it and never ever deal with our idolatry, our rivalry, our jealousies, and our strife. It says the kingdom of God does not belong to that and does not belong to those. We're so worried about somebody else's sins that we never take responsibility for all our envies and our covetousness. I'm gonna tell you something. In these lists, and there are several of them that he does, when he begins to call out the kinds of things that quench the spirit, over and over again, he puts, and I'm talking about "he" is the apostle Paul. He is coupling in with sexual immorality and impurity. He goes straight into covetousness. It happens over and over again.
When was the last time you took, when was the last time I took my covetousness as seriously as we take everybody else's sexual immorality? I'm just saying to you, we just have our pet sins, and the thing about pet sins is they're always someone else's. And anyway, it's such a bunch of bull, because a lot of those same people are neck deep in pornography. How do I know that? Well, just statistics. This is, we love throwing stones at people. Listen to what he's saying. They're obvious: "Sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar. I am warning you about these things, as I warned you before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God". Y'all, own the list. I'm just saying.
Now go with me here: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another".
This is the call to the life that we were born to live: Walk by the Spirit. Be led by the Spirit. Live by the Spirit. Keep step with the Spirit. But I'm putting this question before you, and this is what we're gonna seek to answer: How in heaven's name do we do that? How could we become more discerning of what the Spirit of God wants to do in us, what he's doing around us, and what he's doing through us? Now, here's the catch, 'cause this is so important. If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Okay, now listen carefully, listen carefully, listen carefully. He's talking about the Mosaic law.
I wanna make sure that you know that. He said you are not under that covenant. You are under promise. This is grace. Galatians just screams it over and over again, and he will not budge on it. I mean, he will not budge. This is the apostle Paul I'm talking about. But what he's saying... he's not saying that there are no commands. He's saying you are not under the mosaic law, because Jesus himself said, "If you keep my commands, that's the one who loves me". What are those commands? Well, we can look at lots of places in the New Testament, but what it is going to boil down to over and over again, do you remember on the night when he was gonna be betrayed, and he was gonna be arrested, and the next day he'd be crucified? Remember he said to them, "A new commandment I give you, that you love another".
Both the apostle Paul, in Galatians by the way, and James, the half brother of Jesus, in the book of James say that the whole law is fulfilled. It's what James calls "the royal law" in this, that we love God and we love our neighbor, that the law of love, so overarching all of it. So, I just want you to understand, it's not that there's no commands that we obey, but he's saying you are not under the Mosaic law. Okay, so that's really good news until we begin to think, okay, then here's what happens. Because what the children of Israel did is what we tend to do with God ourselves. Because they said to Moses, "Listen, you go up there," I mean, "and would you come back and you just tell us what he said? And we're gonna do it".
And so, of course, Moses is going, "No, you're not". And that's why he takes the bowl of the blood of the sacrifice, and he sprinkles them all. I mean, can you imagine the shock of being sprinkled like that? Because he's going, like, "You are not going to be able to do it". 'Cause we can't, we can't, we're incapable of it. Jesus had to come to fulfill the law in our place 'cause we could not possibly do it. But it's that same mentality. Go find out and tell me.
See, that's the beauty of law. Just write it down, and then I'm just gonna live like a good girl, or I'm gonna live like a good guy, and I'm gonna try to do the right thing. I'm gonna try to live righteously. That's not what he's talking about. He said, "That's not how you're led. You're led by the Spirit, where you know when I'm moving in you by the impulse of my love when I'm sending you over here or I'm taking you over here. I really want you to minister to that person".
I'm not saying that we live in this mysticism. Don't misunderstand that. But let me tell you something. If we've got to have the mystic police all the time, how in the world will we...what do you call it? What do you call it when it says, "We walk by the Spirit, we're led by the Spirit, we live by the Spirit, and keep step with the Spirit"? What name do you wanna give it? I mean, that's not down where we can just go, "Well, this is how our day will always look". No, no. Because the Spirit, we're yielding to his authority, and he's going, "I'm gonna tell you something. Every 'no' I ever give you in that list of the flesh is to get you over there to that list of things in the Spirit. That's where you thrive".
That's where you thrive, so how do we discern being led, living, walking, and keeping step with the Spirit. Imperfectly, that's how, because we are fallible human beings with finite understanding, and we will do much of what 1 Corinthians 13 says in that "we will see in a mirror darkly". We'll never master the art of discernment. We're not always gonna get it right. Much of the time even our clear understanding will be partial, 'cause God's always doing more than we can translate, but we can seek to understand and discern divine direction.