Welcome to our Together on Mission Podcast, when we seek to be with and like Jesus. As we begin a conversation with Jesus in the morning, the scripture, prayer and meditation, and then continue that conversation with him throughout your day. Your hopes to strabish find you, the pastor at the Inland Vineyard Church in Corona, California. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Daily Together on Mission Podcast.
My Bible is open to Matthew, chapter 16. I'm just going to read one verse this morning, and we're going to talk a bit about it, and the title is Show Me a Sign. Show me a sign. And I would say that we often want, or probably I would say that we often expect, God to give us a sign.
Make it obvious, God. I mean, speak clearly. I can't believe you won't give me clear direction. You know, why won't God do this?
Or why won't God do that? Or why won't God just? Or why won't He make it clear? God, why won't you just make it obvious?
I'm wondering if you can relate to that. I mean, I can't tell you how many times I've thought or said something along those lines. But what if God doesn't work the way we think or the way we expect Him to work? What if it wouldn't even be good for God to work the way we expect Him to work?
What if always having a sign or always getting clear direction? Or God always doing this when we want to do this, or always doing that we want to do that? What if having a sign isn't always the best thing for us? What if that keeps us from actually taking the journey that we actually need to take and ironically that we actually want to take a journey that sometimes needs to be without a sign?
So Matthew chapter 16 verse 1, the Pharisees and the Sadducees came up to Jesus and they tested Him by asking Him to show them a sign from heaven. Now, that's the only verse that I'm going to read this morning. So I'm going to read it again. The Pharisees and the Sadducees came to Jesus and they tested Him by asking Him, show us a sign.
They wanted Him to show them a sign from heaven and there are numerous occasions in the gospel where the Pharisees, the Sadducees come up to Jesus and they say, show us a sign, do something, make it clear, prove it, say it, you know, make it obvious. This is very, very common. Just make it clear, just do something powerful right here, right now. And as many of you know, Jesus never does signs on order.
Jesus often does signs, miraculous signs. He often makes things incredibly clear, but He never does signs on order. It seems that He provides signs when it is what is best, but refuses to provide signs when it's not best. And of course, we always think it's best though, right?
I mean, I think it's always best for God to make it clear as to what I'm supposed to do. What I'm supposed to say, show me a sign, make it clear. God, you know, just tell me. I always think that it's best.
And to be completely honest, if it were up to me, I would never walk by faith. I would always want to walk by sight. And I think that's the case with you too. If we had our choice, we would never walk by faith.
We'd always just walk by sight. You know, I want everything clear. I want everything with God to be clear. I want everything with everybody else to be clear.
I want it all laid out clearly, articulated. And again, I don't want to walk by faith. I want to walk by sight. I hate the darkness, right?
I only like the light. I love God's presence is I love to feel His presence and I hate when I just feel His absence. And, you know, I don't think that God is ever absent, but sometimes the only thing that I can feel is His absence. And so I am very much like these Pharisees and these Sadducees show me a sign, make it clear, tell me what to do, exactly what to do.
I want that feeling back. Why won't you? I can't believe that you won't speak. You know, the Pharisees always wanted a sign and you might be wondering, what's wrong?
Where are you going with this? Well, I think that demanding a sign or a feeling is one of the most detrimental things to the Christian spiritual life. And I'm just going to say that again. I think that doing what the Pharisees and the Sadducees are doing in this verse.
I think that demanding a sign or demanding a certain feeling from God is one of the most detrimental things to the spiritual life. And I think we do this all the time, whether we're alone with God, whether we're in a worship service, whether we're trying to figure out a problem or whether we need clarity or whatever it is, we demand a sign, we demand a good feeling from God. And of course, there are seasons where we experience all kinds of consolation, all kinds of pleasure, all kinds of signs and it's wonderful and it's good for us. And then there must be those seasons where we experience desolation and no pleasure in the things of God.
And that doesn't mean that you and I have done anything wrong. And some of us need to hear that this morning. I just don't think that we've done anything wrong. Sometimes we just have to walk through darkness in order to see the light and assign, although it would be what we want and a feeling, although it would be what we want, it would not be what is best.
And God knows that. Sometimes it's just not supposed to be clear so that we can actually enter into a deeper clarity. Sometimes we have to fall forward so that we know what we didn't know before we fell. And maybe you're in a season right now of desolation and you're wondering, God, where'd you go?
You know, God, what did I do? God, why won't you just show me a sign? Give me a feeling. Give me that feeling that I used to have.
You know, sometimes we have to go from the bottle of spiritual pleasure to the mirror of spiritual growth. Sometimes we need to go from the honeymoon to the marriage. Sometimes we need to walk in darkness without a sign and without clarity and without that feeling so that we can actually enter into the next season that God evidently feels like we are ready for. Sometimes we need to be purged of our addiction to feeling good.
You know, sometimes the darkness is a time of purging so that we no longer need that feeling or need that sign. And here's the thing. God isn't expert. I mean, Jesus in this passage, right?
The Pharisees and Sadducees are asking him for a sign. Again, Jesus will give signs when it's good. He will never do signs on order, but see, God is an expert in leading saints to be like Jesus. It's the journey of a lifetime and there's going to be dark valleys and there's going to be green pastures and there's nothing wrong with receiving signs and feelings.
But God, I'm discovering will only give a sign if it's good for us and only give us good feelings of pleasure if it's good for us. And if it's good for us to walk through darkness or to walk through a season of feeling God's absence, God will lovingly lead us in that way as well. And so I think a good prayer for this morning would be something like this. God, give me all that you want to give me and nothing more.
I trust you. If it's a time for consolation and for the, you know, the bottle of spiritual pleasure, wonderful, I'll take the bottle, but if it's time for desolation, God, give me the mirror. Let me take a look at myself. I trust you.
Give me all that you want for me to have and nothing more. I trust you. I want the marriage. I want to love you more than I love a feeling.
I trust you. We'll talk soon.