Pathways to Intimacy with God - It's Not about Rules, Ritual, or Religion, Part 2

For years, I struggled with a warped view of God. Deep in my heart, I believed God wasn't for me.

I believed He was against me. And then something happened that revolutionized my life. And I want to share that something with you today.

Stay with me. Thanks for joining us for this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Chip's our Bible teacher for this international discipleship ministry focused on helping Christians live like Christians. And today we're picking back up in our series Pathways to Intimacy with God, as Chip shares how we can move beyond religious habits and traditions and experience an authentic personal relationship with God. So if you're ready to learn how to do that, let's join Chip for the second half of his talk, not about rules, ritual, or religion. He begins in Luke chapter 11.

Verse 11 through 13, he reveals what I'd like to call the path of communion with God through this one enduring principle. He gave the negative one. Now, now he says to them, okay, which one of you, if your son asked for a fish, will give him a snake instead?

And the grammar here is very clear. The answer, the assumption is no one. I mean, no dad in his right mind. If your boy comes to you and says, hey, could I have some fish?

And you say, yeah, here's a snake. No. Or he plays it out again. Or if he asked for an egg, will he give him a scorpion?

Assumed answer. Absolutely not. If then you, notice the logic, he's building his case, the pattern, the parable, the application, second parable, principle. If then you, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? See, Jesus' point is the path of deep communion with the Father is not about performance.

It's not about keeping rules. It's not about saying the right words at the right time with the right emphasis, oh God. It's not having all your life completely in order so that you've never messed up and, oh, have I measured up?

God, have I measured up? Will you answer my prayer now? It's not about approaching a God that if you get the right words at the right time and say it just right and you've done all, kept all the rules and done all the rituals, that maybe, just maybe, you can twist the arm of God because he really doesn't want to bless you. He really doesn't want to, if you do everything just right, you could twist the arm of God and he'll give you what you want. See, that was the thinking of the day.

Candidly, that's the thinking of most of us. See, most of us, when we think about communion with God, we think, you know what, how long are you supposed to pray? What kind of words are you supposed to say? Should you quote verses when you pray or not quote verses when you pray? Where should you pray? Does God listen more if you're flat on your face or if you're on your knees or sitting? Is it okay to pray with your eyes open? Can I pray in the car? Can I pray when I walk? What's exactly the right way to pray? Now if I write down the prayers, does that give them more power? And we have a million ways to talk about, I want to be close to God. Well, I guess I need to do this. If I mess up, I guess I need to do these two things to make up for it.

I need to tell him I'm really sorry. I've got to figure out a way to try and get God on my team. If only God would bless me, if only God would help me.

I know he helps other people that are more holy and more kind and more caring and more loving and more pure than me, but how could I get God to get on my team? That's the attitude. And what Jesus is teaching is that it's not the right words or spiritual techniques or rituals. It's not about twisting God's arm. It's not praying for long periods of time.

It's not living a perfect life. It's about understanding who God really is. See, most of our focus on commune with God is all about us and what we do or what we don't do. And the entire teaching, it's the classic teaching in all the New Testament on communion with the Father.

And the teaching, the negative parable, the positive parable, and the principle make one singular point. It's about seeing who God really is. Instead of seeing a God who's hard to please, a God who forces you to perform, a God whose arm you have to twist, he is a God who is eager to bless. He is a God that loves you. He is a God that's concerned. He's a God who is warm and receptive.

He is a God that no amount of measurement or performance or technique mean anything to him. He sees through all that and he looks right into your heart. And he is a God who says, come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden and I'll refresh you. He is the God who says every good and perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of lights with whom there's no variation.

He's the God who longs to bless his children, who came to the planet and left all of the glory of heaven and all the angels and all the acclaim and took on human flesh to walk for 30 or so years to live a perfect life and then die upon a cross and be raised from the dead to let you know this is what the Father's like. You want to know how the Father feels about people who've blown it? This is what he did to the woman who was caught in adultery.

Go and sin no more. You want to hear how the Father feels about people who fake it and are religious and exterior and hypocrites? Just listen to the harsh words of Jesus towards Pharisees. If you want to know what the Father's heart is like about people who have loss and discouragement and they've lost their only son or their only daughter, he's filled with compassion and he's moved within and he touches people and he heals people and he raises them from the dead and he feeds them and he loves them and he says, I care. And Jesus says the path of communion with the Father is not so much about doing or performing or rituals or techniques. It's about understanding this one true and abiding principle. And the one true and abiding principle is the God of the how much more. He's how much more than your Father, the God who longs to bless, who loves unconditionally, who hears and wants to give exceedingly abundantly more. The God that is honored, are you ready for this?

He's honored when we really believe and perceive him for who he is, that he is good and generous and kind and loving and available and willing and open and receptive and concerned and then based on that truth we come. I spent a lot of years with my kind of performance mentality and my Marine upbringing if you will in the Christian life. And the first few years I was a Christian I was around a group that with great intentions kind of said, you know, we're the Marines of the Christian world. We're going to be the few, the proud, the Marines.

We're going to be disciplined. So I got up after, you know, rejecting this for about a year and a half. I finally caved in and decided every morning I'm going to get up and meet with God. And then I had a very long list that grew and grew and grew. It was my prayer list and I found a janitor's closet and every day I spent a half hour to an hour, hour and fifteen minutes in prayer. And I prayed through every name and every person.

And I found that, you know what, you can become a Pharisee in the 21st century. And I memorized hundreds of verses. And you know what, I went for a year, two, three, I never missed a day praying. I can remember coming in from a basketball game where we played far away and I got in about 2.30 in the morning and I just wanted to fall into bed.

Nope, can't fall into bed. I've got a list to pray through and I went to the janitor's closet in mindless mumbling, help Bob, help Fred, help Joseph. And I just went through it. And no matter how long I prayed I always thought what if I left somebody out and what if there's one person I was supposed to pray for. And if I prayed this long, well maybe you're supposed to pray this long. And if I prayed this long, well maybe you're supposed to pray this long.

And how deep do you pray and how do you know when to stop praying and has God ever pleased. And I had a God in my mind who was impossible to please. No matter what you did, He raised the bar.

No matter what you did, He raised the bar. And guess what, I didn't like to pray. I didn't want to, who wants to pray to a God like that? But you pray to a God like that because you're afraid of what might happen if you don't. You know there's Christians that really don't experience communion with God, but their prayer life and their attempts at touching their Creator is really revolving around all kind of rules written and unwritten.

Some from your family, some from your background, some from your teaching. And other Christians really it's all about rituals. You know I feel okay but if I don't go to church on this day or you know some other people you got to pray a certain direction so many times a day and other people I got to wear certain colors of certain robes at certain times and light so many candles and say so many repetitious words so many different times, so many people. I mean there are rituals and rules and religions and all that revolves around one fundamental thing and they miss the path. The path is knowing what God is really like. And prayer, if you will, is very simply keeping company with God.

If you really believe that God was for you, if you believe that every moment of every day He was on the edge of the throne of all of heaven and kind of looking down and you're just sleeping and He's waiting for your eyes to open and the very first thoughts on your mind and your heart He would like is I want to bless you today. I'm for you today. I'd love to talk. I know what's coming up today. I know where the challenges are coming.

I'd like to give you a few tips. You know what? About 3 o'clock this afternoon you're going to have a really difficult meeting and tell you what I like to do is I like to put my arm around you. Wednesday of this week you're going to get some very, very bad news.

Someone you love is going to be in an auto accident and I'd like to give you some truth and some promises to hang on to because otherwise it could really shake you. I love you. I'm for you.

All I want you to do is come. You don't have to perform. It's not about rules. It's not about how long. It's not saying the right words.

It's not impressing anyone. I see your heart. I want to be with you. I want to bless you. I want to love you. I want to wrap my arms around you.

I want to prepare you and protect you. When you see God for who He is prayer becomes a joy. Does it mean there aren't times where you have to pull your mind in from wandering? Of course. Does it mean you won't have to exert some will power and discipline yourself and move through some of the flesh?

Of course. But by and large more and more I have learned that God so longs to just simply bless and have me in His presence. And when I'm there it is out of His goodness that He convicts me of sin. When I'm there it is out of His goodness and generosity that He brings things to my mind where I need to correct. Because every relationship out of kilter what's it going to do?

It's going to bring destruction to me and pain to them. You see the path of communion with God is not about what you do, how long you do it, where you do it. It's all about knowing who He is. We make prayer all about us. How do we do it? What do we say? Are these the right words? How long did we do it? Did we go through all of our lists?

All those can be effective tools or all of them can be ways to deter you from the very point. It's keeping company with God. You are related to the God of the how much more. Every one of us that are parents and those of you that aren't even parents, I mean if you had a child and they ask you for something are you going to give a snake or a snake?

No. What's your heavenly Father? Your heavenly Father longs to bless you.

Now that doesn't mean you're going to get a Lexus tomorrow in the second house and everything goes your way and you're going to get in Harvard. It means He wants to give you the highest, the best, the deepest, the richest of things that last forever that will fulfill and satisfy your heart like no thing, no accomplishment, no amount of money, no relationship, nothing on this earth. He wants to love you and bless you and reveal Himself to you and have you be a son or a daughter who feels so affirmed and significant and loved and valued just for who you are that you go through life in ways that other people never understand.

Is that the God that you pray to? If you believed, see we honor God the most when we believe what He said about Himself and then respond accordingly. That's why Jesus said without faith it's impossible to please Him. He didn't say without keeping rules it's impossible to please Him. He didn't say without doing all the rituals it's impossible to please Him. He didn't say without being religious it's impossible to please Him. He said without faith. Faith is believing what God has said about Himself.

It's trusting His promises to the point of acting on what is true. The Lord Almighty is with me. The Lord my God is with me. He's mighty to save. He will quiet me with His love. He will rejoice over me with singing. And to think that my day's starting and I haven't seen anybody and I haven't filled out my to-do list, I haven't made any phone calls but I just thought the God of all the universe He's my God and He's with me and He's more powerful to deliver.

That's what the word save means to deliver from any situation, any conflict, any pressure whether it's mine or with another person or any circumstance. He's mighty to save and when I get uptight He's waiting. He's waiting at any moment at any time the Spirit of God dwelling in me. He wants to quiet me with His love. And when He thinks of me with all my ups and all my downs and all my struggles and all my three steps forward and two steps backwards and my mixed motives and the things that come out of my mouth that I wish I wouldn't and when I lose my temper and want to get frustrated in the line of traffic, He still rejoices over me with singing because I'm the object of His affection because I am His Son purchased by the blood of Christ and my relationship isn't based on my performance. Of course He's moving and transforming me and making me little by little more and more like His Son but He loves me.

Not if I do something and not because I did anything. And so I pray a prayer of affirmation. For me the second is prayers of adoration. I didn't used to do much of this.

I used to spend most of my time praying sort of, I was a marine, right? Take the hill. Lord, take care of this. Lord, what about this? Okay, Lord, bring that person to Christ.

Lord, and I would just go in, you know, okay, take the hill. And I've learned that God delights for me to adore Him and to enjoy Him. And I gave you a passage for me, Psalm 103, it says, Bless the Lord, all my soul. Bless the Lord, all that is within me.

Forget not one of His benefits. He's the one who heals all your diseases. He's the one who renews your youth like the eagle.

He's the one who delivers you from your enemies. Bless the Lord, all my soul, and all that is within me. And often I just, I've encouraged you here, prayer of adoration. Bless the Lord, all my soul. And then in each phrase where it says who's delivered you from, just pause and say, Holy Spirit, would you bring to mind where you've delivered me? Thank you, thank you, thank you. Who heals all your diseases. Would you just bring to mind, you know, times in the ICU with the kids or where I was at with this and what I prayed about.

Lord, thank you. And just go through a time in an unhurried way where you adore God, where you take the truth of Psalm 103, and this is the God who longs to bless and you offer them back in just an unhurried, not trying to accomplish anything, and you sit in His presence. And I do it even with a cup of coffee. And I ponder over people in times of blessing and deliverance. And I focus on enjoying God's presence. God, we are made in His image. And God is the only being in all the universe who we could say wonderful, good things about Him forever and ever and ever and ever.

And we would fall infinitely short of what is true. He is the center of the universe. And you get realigned in your focus and realigned in your emotions and realigned in what matters when you get your focus off of you and your day and your needs and your stuff and your agenda and get it on to who He is and what He's done. The third way I've learned this path is prayers of renewal and cleansing. And later on in Psalm 103, after he talks about the blessing, then I love this. It says, He's compassionate and gracious, verse 8, slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness. He'll not always strive with us, nor keep His anger forever, nor reward us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His loving kindness toward those who fear Him.

As far as the east is from the west, so far He's removed our transgressions from us. And then I love this. Just as a Father, I can identify with this, has compassion on His children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him. And then I look at verse 14, for He Himself knows our frame and He's mindful that we're but dust. I mean, we cover ourselves over with such shame. You think God's really surprised when you blow it? I mean, do you really think it's like, oh, Gabriel, I can't believe Ingram did that today. Michael's going, I can't. Does God excuse our sin?

No. But you know, we get, we put up such walls, we spend an inordinate amount of energy hiding from God and not being honest and playing games. And the only one we're fooling is us. He's all knowing. He's all powerful.

He's all wise. And so prayers of renewal and cleansing, deliberately pray back to God verse by verse 8 through 14. And then thank Him and dwell on the completeness of the forgiveness. And as He brings something to mind, oh, boy, I lost my temper or, you know, that was inappropriate in that meeting.

Or instead of giving my wife a compliment, boy, I was sharp with my tongue. Say, Lord, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. You've been so good. But I thank You that as far as the east is from the west, that's how far You've taken away my sin. Thank You that You understand. Thank You that just like a father, and I understand that my kids blow it. That's how You feel about me.

See, if you do not have a right view of God, you'll never share communion with God. You will play games, and you'll play games that make up rules. And if you don't like other people's rules, you'll make up your own. But I got news.

You can't even keep your own. And if rules don't work, then you'll come up with little rituals. And if I do this so often, and if I do this now, and I do this now, and I do this at this right time, and I pray so many minutes, and I read two chapters, and I put a little check mark over here, and I always come to church, and I do this and do this and do that, and you know what?

It's just yet another game. All those things as means done to honor and glorify God out of relationship can be extremely meaningful and very helpful. But left to themselves, they have absolutely no power. And we become religious people. And the most dangerous people, the most dangerous people in the New Testament are religious people. The people farthest from God in the New Testament are religious people. People who discover and make up ways to appear righteous in men's sight, but whose hearts are far from Him. The final way for me is prayers of asking.

And I encourage you to read Luke 11 one through 13 a couple times. And then, before you ask, put this picture in your mind. This good, generous, kind, warm, receptive, non-reluctant, absolutely on my team, ready to bless me, how much more, better than I could ever dream or expect.

That's who I'm coming to, so this is what I like. He always wants to do how much more. Why? So everything's better for us?

No. So we get a higher, clearer, more genuine view of Him. What would happen if you believed the God of the Bible is the God of the how much more, and that He was for you, and that He loved you, and that instead of what you ought to say, or how long you say it, or what body position you're in, or whether you do it at morning, noon, or night, or what you read or don't read, if your heart began to be attuned, that He would just love to be with you. And He's not down on you. And He wants to bless you. And then the forms and the patterns and the discipline will flow out of your heart's desire to know Him as He is and enjoy Him.

And then you express your love by what? Obeying Him, because He's the God of all goodness of the how much more. You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, and the message you just heard, it's not about rules, ritual, or religion, is from our series Pathways to Intimacy with God.

Chip will join us in studio to share some insights from today's talk in just a minute. Most of us would consider ourselves faithful, church-going, Bible-reading, praying Christians. But let me ask you, are you close to God?

Do you really know Him? Through this 10-part series, Chip challenges us to move beyond the rituals and customs of the Christian life and experience an authentic relationship with God. Stay with us to discover what it looks like to walk step-by-step with the Creator of the universe.

Now, if you missed any part of this series, catch up anytime on the Chip Ingram app. Well, I'm joined in studio now by Chip, and Chip, as many of our regular listeners know, our mission is to help Christians really live like Christians. And I understand you have a story that really brings that idea to life. I sure do, Dave.

At some point you wonder, you know, is Living on the Edge really making a difference? And I got a note in the mail that I just have to share. Listen to this.

Dear Chip, we don't have enough words to show our gratitude. At one point, my husband and I both thought things were so bad they'd never get better. But thankfully, I heard one of your sermons that spoke to our situation. So I started listening on a regular basis.

Now my husband listens too. Through God's transformation in our lives, we've started seeing restoration in our family. Even though we're still a work in progress, we can see God's hand making direct changes in our lives. Recently, we decided to make a monthly donation to help keep your broadcast going. We realized that if your ministry helped us this much, then it can help others too. Thank you for all that you're doing to furthering God's kingdom. Signed, DR. And I just remind you, you know, we're all so personally focused and we're human that, you know, over a million people this week will hear what you're hearing.

And not only that, but then the broadcast and the teaching and the small groups will go to China, to the Middle East and places all around the world because people pray and because people partner financially. And so if you're one of those partners, can I just tell you thank you very, very much? If you're one of those partners that kind of gives now and then and would ever consider prayerfully to say, you know, I bet I could give just a little a month. Boy, those monthly partners really help us understand what we can project and making budgets. It's a huge help. And if you have never partnered with us financially, would you just today say, Lord, is this something you want me to do?

And if he nudges you and says yes, follow that good prompting and thanks so much in advance. Thanks, Chip. If you'd like to be part of ministering to believers all across the world, prayerfully consider becoming a monthly partner with Living on the Edge. Your gift will go places and accomplish ministry work like you wouldn't believe. To set up a recurring donation, click the donate button at livingontheedge.org or the Chip Ingram app. Or if it's easier, text donate to 74141.

That's the word donate to 74141. Well, with that, let's get to Chip's application for this message. As we close today's program, I want to remind you of the concept of God. You know, when the disciples came to Jesus and wanted a formula, teach us to pray, he taught his disciples. And what Jesus understood was the whole goal was intimacy. There was passion. There was a relationship that he shared with the Father. And that's what the disciples were picking up on.

But they thought it was a formula and candidly, so do we sometimes. And so this idea that we come with, I have nothing, to the how much more God is really rooted in an accurate picture of our Heavenly Father. If you could understand that he's a son and a shield, if you could believe in your heart that he gives grace and glory and that no good thing will he withhold from you who walk uprightly. I mean, it would change your desire to pray. It would change how you pray. If as I spoke and taught today, you thought, wow, I want to see God like that, let me encourage you, go to the website and check out The Real God.

We have it on audio. It's in a book. It's in a small group. I mean, there's lots of different ways, but I want to encourage you to pause and realize everything rises and falls with your view of God. And if you, like the disciples, if I, like those disciples could ever see God for who he really is, I will tell you prayer will become a joy.

Prayer will be intimacy with the Almighty and nothing is better or sweeter than that. Let me encourage you. Get to know God.

Thanks, Chip. Well, if you want a high, accurate view of God, we have a handful of resources that can help. Go to livingontheedge.org and search for The Real God. You'll find the small group studies, our popular broadcast series, and Chip's insightful book. Our hope is that through whichever tool you use, you'll better understand and appreciate the God we serve. To order any of our resources for The Real God, search for them at livingontheedge.org or call us at 888-333-6003. Well, for all of us here, this is Dave Druey saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.