Jonathan Zajas

Deeper

I was honored to have the opportunity to speak on Sunday morning at Full Life in Franklin. These are some notes adapted from that message, I hope they encourage and challenge you today…

DON’T SETTLE

A follower of Jesus has never fully “arrived” in this life. Following Jesus is bold, it requires continuous life-changing, life altering decisions and actions, it requires sacrifice—a living sacrifice. We are continually growing more and more into the image of Christ, continuously being transformed into His image, continually going deeper into all that He is and all that He has for us.

If you’re casually following Christ, if you’ve become satisfied with where you are, if you’ve grown stale or stagnant in your walk, it’s time to become desperate! Desperate for more of God, for more of His presence, more of His word. Desperate to go deeper.

Isaiah 43:18-19 (NLT) “But forget all that—it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.

God just recounted some of the most incredible things he did for the Israelites to deliver them from Egypt, he recounted his greatness. And then he says, “But forget all that”! What?! Forget it?!? Why? Because… it is nothing compared to what He is going to do.

Don’t let the greatness of what God has done stop you from reaching for the greater that God is going to do.

God might be saying to you today: stop leaning on what I’ve done for you in the past, what you have already experienced, stop settling for what I have done and start pressing into what I am going to do. You’ve settled, grown satisfied, but He wants you to hunger, to thirst for more! To be desperate for more! He wants to bring you deeper, he wants you to go deeper!

BE HOT

Revelation 3:16-17 (NLT) But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth! You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. 

Revelation 3:16-17 (MSG) You’re stale. You’re stagnant. You make me want to vomit. You brag, ‘I’m rich, I’ve got it made, I need nothing from anyone,’ oblivious that in fact you’re a pitiful, blind beggar, threadbare and homeless.

Have you grown stale or stagnant in your relationship with God? Your fervor for the things of God? Your desire to see His will done in your life and the life of those around you?

This analogy is interesting because water is useful. It’s essential to life, we need it to survive, it’s vital to sustaining life on earth. When it’s cold, it’s refreshing and replenishing. When it’s hot it can be healing, cleansing, and useful for preparing and making. But stale, stagnant, lukewarm water is useless! Have you become useless to God due to lukewarmness in your life?

You might be thinking, “well, then just consider me cold for Jesus.” It’s true, Jesus would rather you be cold than lukewarm but he desires for you to be HOT!

Donald Barnhouse Quote: “So the Lord is saying, ‘If instead of being lukewarm, you were so cold that you should feel that coldness, then the very feeling of your need might drive you to the true warmth, but now in your lukewarmness, you have just enough to protect yourselves against a feeling of need.’”

Have you protected yourself against a feeling of need? Or are you desperate for more of God—in full understanding of your need for him? See, when you’re cold you’re able to feel and recognize your coldness—your need for a Savior. But when you’re lukewarm, you’ve had just enough that you don’t feel your need.

For example:

• The thief on the cross next to Jesus was cold and clearly saw his need.
• The Apostle John was hot in his pursuit of Jesus and had a deep relationship with him. 
• But Judas was lukewarm, he followed enough to be considered a disciple, but stopped short of giving all his heart to Jesus, stopped short of going deeper. And he paid the price.

In Revelation 3:19, God calls us to be diligent/zealous in our pursuit of him. To be HOT, not cold, and not lukewarm. Hot in our pursuit of Him! His deepest desire is that you be hot, with an on-fire love for Him. With an all-consuming zeal, busy in your pursuit after him, desperate, zealous in your pursuit of him.

BE WEIRD

If you live “hot” for Jesus, people are going to think you’re weird and strange. Anticipate it, prepare for it, be ok with it. Jesus was weird and strange to the culture he was in. He was probably the most counter-cultural force around—still is.

He said things like:

• You are blessed if you’re persecuted! Is that weird?
• You are like a murderer if you are angry with your brother or sister! Is that weird?
• Your lusting after a person is the equivalent of committing that act of lust! Is that weird?
• You are to turn the other cheek when someone smacks you! Is that weird?
• You are to give someone your coat if they steal your shirt! Is that weird?
• You are to go two miles with someone even if they only ask you to go one! Is that weird?
• You are to love your enemies! Is that weird?
• You are to pray for those who persecute you! Is that weird?

Being hot after God will cause you to appear weird. Look at Noah. I’m sure he looked a little weird when he was building the first boat! Can you imagine? How weird that must have seemed to others. Or Abraham, the promised father to many nations called out of his home to go… somewhere… somehow. Without knowing how! Imagine him trying to tell others what he was up to with his life, how weird that must have seemed! Or Moses, “Hey Moses, who are you talking to?” … “uh… you know, just this talking bush which also happens to be on fire and claims to be God… you know, nothing too weird.”

Going deeper by being hot after God will cause you to look weird in others’ eyes. Find your self-worth and self-image in God alone, don’t be concerned with what others think of you. After all, God’s opinion of you is the only one that matters. Life hot for God, be bold and don’t be afraid of being seen as weird. Go deeper. Regardless of what others think.

HOW TO GO DEEPER: #1 Read the Bible

Only 44% of Christians reported reading the Bible in the last week outside of church.

John 8:31-32 (ESV) …”If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

If we intend to be followers of Jesus, we must abide in His word. There is no other way. We must know it. No money can buy it, no status can obtain it, no works can earn it, and nothing can match it! Read it. There are no shortcuts, just read.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NLT) All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.

Sounds like a formula for going deeper doesn’t it? We have to know His word, without it we can not hope to have faith because…

Romans 10:17 (NKJV) So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

So how then should we read? How should we get to know His word? There are countless excuses: no time, don’t understand, too complicated, lazy, not fun enough, and on and on. But we always make time for the things that matter to us. So does God’s word matter to you, are you making time for it?

Here’s an easy, simple method to follow when reading God’s word (courtesy John Driver):

The SARA Reading Method

1. Set a time and place (Early/late, solitary, short is okay. If you miss it, slip away and try again. 5 minutes is better than no minutes. Think relationship instead of checklists).
2. Ask the Holy Spirit to meet with you and speak to you.
3. Read to be changed, not to get done (for transformation, not just information).
4. Ask questions and listen to God’s voice for insight (write down observations/reflections as you go, journal!).

Reading Plans

If you need a reading plan, something to dive into rather than just randomly cracking open the bible there are incredible resources out there for free and in incredible numbers.

• YouVersion.com (free reading plans, countless versions, great features, a personal favorite).
• One Year Bible
• Devotionals (personal favorite available free online: My Utmost for His Highest)

HOW TO GO DEEPER: #2 Pray

You know the perfect way to start praying? Pray.

It’s important when trying to start a consistent prayer life or when trying to improve ours to remember that God always meets us where we are and slowly moves us along into deeper things. And that the most important thing is to start now recognizing that prayer involves a learning process.

Jesus modeled two things for us in his own prayer life during his ministry on earth: (1) constant communion media and (2) isolated intimacy media.

Constant communion is simply 1 Thessalonians 5:17 lived out:

1 Thessalonians 5:17 “Never stop praying.” (NLT) or “Pray without ceasing.”

Begin making a practice of acknowledging that His presence is with you wherever you are. Throughout the day, chat with Him, praise Him, rest in Him. It doesn’t require verbal outbursts in the midst of crowds or while sitting in our cubicle. It can happen within an internal dialogue with Him and a listening spirit to Him.

So the first part of prayer is constant communion with God, don’t stop, continue praying throughout your day in small simple ways. You won’t be great at this to start with but as you continue practicing this and working at it you’ll find yourself going deeper than you ever imagined with God.

Isolated intimacy was exemplified by Jesus in how he withdrew from the crowd to get alone and pray. And that’s all it is. Start your day off by reading the bible and then spend some time in prayer alone. You could start small: 5 minutes maybe.

So the simple disciplines of bible reading and prayer round out the fundamentals of going deeper with God. There are definitely more fundamental ways that we go deeper with God (the next logical one would be to SERVE!) but this is all we’ll go into for now.

In closing, let me challenge you: begin now—everyday!—to read the bible and spend time in prayer. Start with a small easy to accomplish goal. God will meet you were you are and begin to slowly move you along into deeper things. And what an exciting journey that is!