“Don’t Play Hide and Seek, with Your Faith!”
Isaiah 6:1-8
John 3:1-17
How many of you played listening played hide and seek as a child? A quick review of the basis, someone who was “it” would cover their eyes count to one hundred, giving the others playing time to hide. The rules of the game simple, hide then as the “it” person looks for those who’ve hidden, they are to get back to place “it’ person counted to one-hundred before being discovered or touched and told you’re now the “it.”
Movie came out last year titled “You’re It,” it traces the lives of some close friends from childhood to young adults who gather yearly to play you’re it. Nerdcam, a hi-tech company has an apt that now allows persons with smart phones, and iPhone to play a hi-tech version of “hide-n-seek.”
When Jesus was preparing and sending out his disciples to testify, and give witness for God, Jesus shared these words with them;
“There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed or hidden that will not be made known. What I tell you in the dark speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear proclaim from the roofs.” (Matthew 10: 26-27)
Luke writes; “For nothing is hidden that will not become evident, nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light.” (Luke 8:17)
There has to be public element to our faith, yes on so many levels, it is a very deep personal decision to follow God, not lead God, and become a baptized believer and follower of Christ Jesus, the only begotten, and beloved Son of God.
In the John text of today we read of Nicodemus, who was Nicodemus, and why did he visit Jesus under the cover of night to conceal and hide his visit and inquiry of Jesus?
Nicodemus was a member of the Sanhedrin Council, the top ruling religious body of the Jewish nation. That meant he was a powerful individual, highly respected as a holy man, in John 3:10, we read he was also a teacher of Israel, in other words Nicodemus was no ordinary everyday Jew or Pharisee.
Many of Nicodemus colleagues on the Sanhedrin Council viewed Jesus at a minimum as a disruption if not as a total threat to arranged agreement they had with the ruling Roman occupancy of their nation.
Not wanting to be easily seen or noticed Nicodemus having witnessed some of Jesus’ miracles, hearing his words and teachings he came under the darkness of night to hide his inquiry and association with Jesus.
I’ve spoken and preached previously about how we who profess to be followers, and baptized believers of Christ Jesus give or lessen the glory of God by how we live…
Don’t be ashamed of the love of God, don’t hide from others your love of, and intention to honor and follow Christ Jesus… Yes, there are actions and images given and presented to us daily by persons who boldly professing and presenting themselves to be Christians do that which is not pleasing nor acceptable to sight and presence of God. They do that constantly and continually run counter and opposite to the will, nature and teachings of Christ Jesus.
It has been revealed what the LORD God wants and expects of the believer, the prophet Micah spoke of it; “The LORD God has shown/revealed o you, O Mortal what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8)
It is not hidden, it has been revealed, what God wants, it is in the Ten Commandments, about our relationship with God, then with each other… it is when we wonder or move away from that which God has blessed, that which God has ordained that we find ourselves in messes and disarray.
This is what we discover in the first five books of Isaiah, he is preaching to a people who have become and live a life of disobedience to the ways, will and nature of God…
But what is revelatory is what we read in chapter 6 of Isaiah, as he is called and presented in the presence of God hear both Isaiah’s confession and proclamation concerning the nature of himself and the people he preaches to;
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
Isaiah understood, we are all in this together, yes, you may sin, I may sin, others are sinning, but we are all caught up in a mutuality of existence. Dr ML King stated it this way;
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow provincial of outside, disgruntle agitator.” (Dr ML King, Jr)
So as I conclude, let me share this; God’s will and God’s ways have been revealed, they are not hidden. There are those in our midst, in our presence who reject, ignore forget or are downright disobedience to the revealed nature, way, will and plan of God. Their actions lessen the glory of God.
Again, the glory of God which has been revealed, it by our witness, our service, our ministry, our testimony reveals hour-by-hour, day-by-day week by week the glory and love God declared, lived, witnessed and experienced. Don’t play hide and seek with your faith, God does not hide God’s love, patience nor grace from us, let us follow that example.
AMEN