Rock Solid Relationship or Relationship on the Rocks? - Part A

At our very core, we want to see and touch and experience God. Isaiah the prophet said, truly you are a God who hides himself.

Same sentiment is expressed. We want to see God to have a relationship with Him. So, once again, I ask the question, how do we have a relationship, a personal relationship, with a being who is so different from us?

Now more than ever, our culture thinks that seeing is believing. But God's Word shows us that the kind of truth that changes your life goes much deeper than what your eyes can see. Connect with Skip Heitzig today as he shares how you can have a more intimate relationship with God that results in real transformation.

Then stay tuned after the message as Skip and his wife, Lenya, share about some Bible resources that will help you dig deeper into God's Word. We invite you to sign up for our devotional email. We call them Devo Mail.

It's Devo Mail from Skip. You can go right to the website and do that. That's connectwithskip.com. Love to be able to get that. And you know what's cool?

It's free. Thank you, Skip and Lenya. Be sure to stay with us after today's message to hear the full discussion. Right now, we want to tell you about a resource that will help you break free from anxiety and experience the peace Jesus offers.

Christians can be ambushed by surprise struggles. You know how that feels. Listen to Skip Heitzig. Anxiety is the problem.

It's a problem all human beings at some point have to deal with. Understanding and overcoming anxiety is possible, and we want to help you move from feeling paralyzed by anxiety to finding lasting peace with three powerful resources. Overcoming an Anxious Mind, a new booklet by Skip Heitzig. His teaching, Worship in the Uncertainty on CD. Plus, the War is Over Worship CD. The cure for worry is to redirect your energy and replace your anxiety. This resource bundle is our thanks for your gift of $35 or more today to help connect more people to the Prince of Peace.

Visit connectwithskip.com slash offer to give online securely or call 800-922-1888. Now, as we join Skip Heitzig for today's teaching, we're in 1st Peter chapter 1. A couple of weeks ago, after a service, a man came up and asked a very good question. He said, Skip, I hear that you speak a lot about God's relationship and a relationship, a personal relationship with God versus having a religious experience. Could you explain to me the difference between religion and relationship?

It's a really well thought through question. This week, one of our pastors received an email that was very similar. It was a lengthy email where the person said, help me understand this whole relationship with God thing you guys talk about. I mean, I'm reading my Bible, and I'm praying, and I talk to God, and I listen, but I'm not really hearing anything. So how do you have a personal relationship with God?

Now think about that. God doesn't engage in the faculty of speech like you and I know it. God doesn't send you a text.

He doesn't email you during the day. God doesn't pick up the phone and say, what's up? This is God. You don't take God to lunch. You don't take him to a park. You don't go on a bicycle ride with God.

I mean, it's not quite the same. How do you have a personal relationship with God? To make matters a little more complicated, he's invisible. So the person you're having a personal relationship with, you can't see.

That makes the dynamic much more difficult, right? Because we are visual people. We like to see people that we have relationships with. And you recall the book? You'd have to recall it much after the event because it was written in the 1800s, but it's been popularized by several retakes on the movie called The Invisible Man.

H.G. Wells, who wrote the book, the idea was that some guy through science discovered a way to become invisible. Now, who of us haven't fantasized that we could be invisible?

Wouldn't it be great to overhear those conversations, find out what they're really thinking about us? And it sounds really great, and it sounded really great to the guy who became invisible, but it became a problem because the invisible man had to touch the visible world. So if he ate food, you could see it when he chewed it and swallowed it, and it was still visible till it was digested.

That's a problem. If you were to take something, you would see that thing that he took float down the road with him. So now the invisible man is suddenly made visible. People could see that he's there, which definitely poses a problem because it's hard to trust somebody you don't see. Hard to have a relationship with somebody that you don't see. It's like a little girl named Lucy who wrote a letter to God and said, dear God, are you really invisible or is that just a trick?

Well, it's a pretty cool trick, but how do you have a relationship with him? We want to see God. Even Moses, who heard God's voice and saw miracles God performed, he wanted more.

He wanted him personally. Moses cried out, show me your glory. I want to see you. And at our very core, we want to see and touch and experience God. Isaiah the prophet said, truly, you are a God who hides himself.

Same sentiment is expressed. We want to see God to have a relationship with him. So once again, I ask the question, how do we have a relationship, a personal relationship with a being who is so different from us? I mean, you know his attributes, right? He's all-knowing. You're not. He's all-powerful. You're not. He's everywhere present.

You're not. I mean, you don't have a lot in common with this being. So how do we have a relationship with God? How do we have a meaningful, rock-solid relationship with him? Well, I want to give you three principles to answer that question.

Actually, it's simple. It's actually two principles, two ingredients that make for any personal relationship with your wife, husband, friend, children, and God. Two ingredients, three principles.

And the third principle is based on the two ingredients. In any personal relationship with any person, visible or invisible, there are two things that must be present. Love and trust. Love and trust. Inseparable.

Love and trust. Now I want you to look at the verses that we're going to consider. Verse 8 and 9 of 1 Peter chapter 1.

And if you don't mind, I'd like to get a little context with it. So I'm going to begin in verse 6. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Now for our verses to consider today. Whom, having not seen, you love, though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

You will notice in verse 8 those two ingredients are mentioned. Love and believing or trust. Love and trust.

Those are the two ingredients essential for any personal relationship. If you violate love, the relationship disintegrates. If you violate trust, the relationship disintegrates. One source said love and trust are requirements in any relationship to make it lasting. When these two characteristics leave from our relationship, then that relationship becomes weak.

So using verse 8 and verse 9, we're going to unpack these phrases and we notice what Peter is saying. This relationship with God is based on love. This relationship with God is based on trust. And this relationship that is based on love and based on trust is a relationship that is deeply satisfying beyond words, joy inexpressible and full of glory. Let's just take one by one.

First of all, this is a relationship based on love. Verse 8, look at it, read it with me, whom having not seen, you love. Actually, the original Greek language is much stronger, of whom having never had a glimpse, you love. Now, think of the audience to whom Peter was writing. Peter was not writing to apostles who had been with Jesus personally.

He was writing to scattered believers throughout Asia Minor, as we have seen a few weeks ago, who had never ever met Christ. They had never seen Him with their eyes. They had never heard His voice. They never gazed into His eyes when He spoke. They never ate with Him.

They never walked with Him. In fact, they were not personal followers of Him at all, merely converts of those who had been personal followers, right? I mean, Peter had seen Him. He was an apostle. And these were converts of apostles. These were the very ones Jesus prayed about in the 17th chapter of John, when after praying for His own apostles, said, I pray not for these alone, but for all of those who will believe in Me through their word.

That's who He's writing to. They had no firsthand experience with Christ, but they believed in Him. And according to Peter, they loved Him, whom having not seen you love.

It's normal to love, let's put it this way, it's normal to fall in love with somebody when you see them. You know, in the old days, they used to plan for marriages before you even saw the person. Not a great idea necessarily, because you could be surprised once you see the person. Now, when I first met my wife, I saw her across the room. I hadn't really met her yet, but I saw her across the room, and I noticed her. And I can tell you to this day what she was wearing, what she looked like. Red jeans, white blouse, flip-flops, beautiful hair, and I looked at her across the room and I thought, I want to meet her.

But it was visual. I saw her, there was an attraction, later on it was verbal, we exchanged words, we had met each other. But Peter is saying, you love someone you don't see, and you are growing in love with that someone you don't see. In fact, that's really the intention of the language here. It's in the present active indicative, whom having not seen you are loving, is ongoing. An unbeliever in hearing what I'm talking about will say, impossible.

This is not possible. I mean, how do you Christians know that you didn't just make this up? Maybe Jesus is simply a projection of yourself, and you're just loving a projection of yourself calling at God, or calling at Jesus, but he's a mythical figure. You can't love somebody you don't see.

Au contraire. After I met my wife, and after we had started dating, she had moved to Hawaii, and she was there for two years. And two years being separated visually, you know what? I grew in my love for her. I wrote letters, she wrote letters, I still have them. We made a few phone calls, but I discovered phone calls from California to Hawaii are pretty expensive, so not many phone calls. I was cheap. But a lot of letters, and through those letters and those few phone calls, there were things that I understood about her. I discovered her character, I discovered her values, I discovered her dreams, I discovered her fears.

And at one point even, I sent a bouquet of flowers with a little note attached that said, I love you. And you could say, well you can't love her because you can't see her. That's not true. And that's my point. Invisible doesn't mean unlovable. My love was actually growing for her even though I couldn't see her. And isn't this really the essential part of Christianity?

Isn't the irreducible minimum? As a description of a Christian, here is someone who loves the Lord. That's really a good description. He, she, loves Jesus Christ. With a love of the will. That's what agape love means.

It's a choice that one makes. So he says, you've never seen him, but you love him. In fact, would you look with me at chapter 2 verse 7? Therefore, to you who believe he is, what does it say? Precious. Isn't that precious? To you believe he is precious. That's how much you love him.

He's precious to you. Now that's personal relationship. And that's what Jesus meant when he summed up the entire law by saying, here you can sum it up all by saying this, love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your mind, all of your soul, and all of your strength.

That is the essence of relationship. It's based on love. Now, as opposed to that, unbelievers are described in the Bible as those who do not love the Lord.

They don't love him. 1 Corinthians 16 verse 22, if anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. The Lord comes. Now let me suggest to you, this is where we should make our examination.

This is where we should make our probe. Ask a person, do you love Jesus? Try that. When you're witnessing to somebody, instead of saying, have you heard of the four spiritual laws? Just ask a basic question. Because I'll go, four spiritual what? I didn't know there was one spiritual law. Just ask them this, do you love Jesus Christ? You just be amazed by the answers. Now if you hear somebody describe a consuming, intimate love for Jesus, you're dealing with the transformed heart.

But often you're gonna hear things like, they'll get real nervous with that question. Do you love Jesus? Uh, you know, my grandma went to church. Good.

Let me ask that question again, maybe you didn't hear me. Do you love Jesus? Well, you know, me and the big guy, we have an understanding going on. You know, they just get uncomfortable with the whole idea of emotion and love for Christ. Now if the person says yes, I do love them because that's, that's a nice thing to say and it's pretty easy thing to say.

Let me ask a deeper question. How do you know you love them? I'll just ask you, you say you love the Lord, how do you know you love them? What's the proof that you would love them? Obey his commands. That's exactly what Jesus said. If you were to say, well I know that I love them because every time you say that name I get really warm and fuzzy inside.

Okay, not good enough. Jesus to his 12 apostles, his men in the upper room sharing Passover before he died. By the way, that whole upper room discourse, especially in John chapter 14, there are two themes that run through it.

You know what they are? Love and trust, love and trust, love and trust. You believe in God, that's trust. Believe also in me, that's trust.

Believe me or believe me for the very sake of the works themselves, that's trust. But then he speaks about love. This is John 14 verse 15, if you love me you will keep my commandments. That is Christianity 101. If you love me, obey me, keep my commandments. Verse 21 of the same chapter he said, he who has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me and he who loves me will be loved by my father and I will love him and manifest myself to him. Verse 23, Jesus speaking again, if anyone loves me he will keep my word. Very next verse, verse 24, he who does not love me does not keep my words. Listen, if you don't love Jesus Christ enough to do what he says, you don't love Jesus Christ. Love, basis of relationship.

How do you prove it? You do what he says. It shows that you love him. So invisible does not mean unlovable. Also invisible does not mean unavailable. Just because you can't see God doesn't mean he's not available to help you.

He is your helper. I can prove that point in the physical world. Try calling 911 and see what happens. You'll talk to somebody you can't see on the other end of the line. But I guarantee you, you will see a visible manifestation of the call that you just made because they will send people out. They'll respond to that call. Invisible doesn't mean unavailable.

A couple weeks ago I had to call a fencing contractor because this last storm that blew through blew an elm tree that almost took my house out but it took my fence out in the backyard just wiped it out. So I made a phone call to him. Never met him. He was invisible to me. A couple days he had somebody sent out, a representative, and now it's fixed.

Invisible doesn't mean unavailable. Now when I called him he could have been in his office. He could have been out on the golf course. Maybe the golf course was his office. Doesn't matter.

I couldn't see him. I didn't know but he made himself available. And God does too. Jeremiah 33 it says, call on me and I will answer you.

God says call on me and I will answer you and I will show you great and mighty things which you do not know. That's availability. That's all part of the love relationship. Invisible doesn't mean unlovable.

Invisible doesn't mean unavailable. So that's the first ingredient in a personal relationship with God or with anybody else for that matter. It's based on love. Second, relationship is based on trust.

Look again at verse 8. Though now, second sentence, though now you do not see him yet believing or trust. Same idea, trust. You see love and trust go together. You can't really separate love and trust. The soul that believes cannot but love. The soul that loves cannot but trust.

You can't separate love and trust. They go together. It's like a baseball and a mid. It's like peanut butter and jelly. It's like coffee and donuts. I didn't say it's like policeman and donuts.

I wouldn't go there but it's like coffee and donuts. They're inseparable. Like popcorn in a movie. Like a lock and a key. Love and trust go together. You will recall the great chapter, the love chapter, 1st Corinthians 13.

Paul said, love bears all things. Love hopes all things. Love believes all things. True love trusts. Notice something in verse 8.

It's the word now. It's very important. Though now you do not see him.

You know what that implies? You will. You don't now but you will sometime.

You will then. There will be a time when that which is invisible becomes apparent and visible and tangible. 1st John chapter 3. When he appears we will be like him for we will see him as he is.

That was the great hope of Job who suffered the loss of his family, the loss of his health, the curses of his wife. And he said in Job 19, after my skin is destroyed this I know that in my flesh I shall see God whom I shall see for myself my eyes shall behold and not another how my heart yearns within me. So now you don't see him but now you trust him. You believe in him.

In fact until we can see that's what we have. That's what Paul said for we walk by faith and not by sight. But you got to know something and here's the part of the hope.

That which is faith right now will one day pass away and you'll see him. Horatio Spafford who was a lawyer in Chicago wrote one of my favorite hymns called it as well with my soul. And he wrote that hymn after his wife and children died. He lost them all.

They died at sea and over the very spot it is said where his boat sailed as he was out there to recover the damages. He wrote it as well with my soul. And you remember one of those phrases one of those verses in that great hymn? Oh Lord haste the day when my faith shall be sight.

The clouds be rolled back as a scroll the trump shall resound and the Lord will descend even so it is well with my soul. That's trust and that is personal relationship. So now right now we trust.

We have faith and when I say we have faith we trust we believe that it doesn't just mean I believe God exists somewhere up there. It means I personally lean on him. I depend on him. I confide in him.

That's trust. So these two things bind us together in intimacy with Christ love and trust. That concludes Skip Heiseck's message from his series Rock Solid. Now here's Skip and Lenya as they share about some Bible resources that will help you dig deeper into God's Word. Skip thank you for always sharing the truth of God's Word in your many years of ministry.

You've placed such an emphasis on doctrine and equipping the Saints. What are some of the resources you make available to equip our listeners? Well let me run down a happy list.

It's happy because so these resources we get to give out for free. You can go to connectwithskip.com that's connectwithskip.com and get a number of those resources. Also the best version app in the world on your little cell phone is called YouVersion and we have devotional such as the biography of God, Keep Calm and Marry On, tools about strengthening your marriage.

So we have a number of devotions on the YouVersion Bible app. Also we have a podcast called Connect with Skip. It's on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Play.

We have a YouTube channel that has just been gaining an audience growing around the world, especially since COVID. So it's the Skip Heiseck YouTube channel. Then you can go to Connect with Skip Heiseck. That's an app and the app will give you access to everything that you can carry on your mobile phone, listen to at will. You can and we invite you to sign up for our devotional email. We call them DevoMail.

It's DevoMail from Skip. You can go right to the website and do that but we will deliver God's Word, God's truth in daily increments to your inbox. That's connectwithskip.com and sign up for the devotional email. Love to be able to get that to you.

And you know what's cool? It's free. If it's free, it's for me.

It's for me. But anyway, please enjoy all these things. You know, the Bible says, freely I have received, freely I give. And so it's just so great to give these resources. Thanks Skip and Lenya. Our goal is to connect listeners like you with God's truth so you can stand on the unshakable foundation of His Word.

That's why we've made these teachings available to you. If they've inspired you, please consider giving a gift today to help more people experience that same blessing and to keep these messages coming to you. Just call 800-922-1888. That's 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. That's connectwithskip.com slash donate. Thank you. Tune in tomorrow as Skip Heitzig shares just how fulfilling your new life in Jesus can be. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.