Evotional.com - Mark Batterson

The Place Where It All Began
10.12.05
Pastor Mark Batterson

Last week we completed our Wired for Worship series. Next week we'll begin a new series titled The Wild Goose Chase. To subscribe to the podcast or the blog there are links on the right menu.

Chick-Fil-A















This past week our staff flew to Atlanta, Georgia for the Catalyst Conference. Atlanta is known for lots of things so I'm not sure where this ranks, but its right at the top of my list. Atlanta is the birthplace of Chick-fil-A. If you've never had a Chick-Fil-A chicken sandwich, shame on you!

Chick-Fil-A was our first stop when we got to Atlanta. And Chick-Fil-A was the last stop before leaving.

Now here is what is so cool.

We went to the original Chick-fil-A. I wanted to get down on all fours and kiss the ground! More than forty years ago, Truett Cathy made his first chicken sandwich at a little restaurant called the Dwarf House. And the rest is history.

The Dwarf House is the Holy Grail for chicken sandwich lovers. This trip to the Dwarf House was like a pilgrimage. I went back to the place where it all began.

Hold that thought.

Altars

One of the greatest dangers we face spiritually is remembering what we should forget and forgetting what we should remember.

Most of us are good are remembering what we've done wrong long after we've confessed the sin. But we have a hard time remembering the blessings of God.

When you read the Old Testament it seems like God is telling the Israelites to build an altar every time you turn the page. Why? So they wouldn't forget what He wanted them to remember!

He wanted the Israelites to have someplace to go back to-a place where God proved Himself faithful so that when their faith was faltering they could go back there and renew their faith.

So the Israelites built an altar at Gilgal-the place where God parted the Jordan river. Samuel built an altar near Mizpah and named it Ebenezer-the place where God defeated the Philistines. And Jacob built an altar at Bethel-the place where God revealed Himself in a dream.

Let me share a personal conviction: building altars is an overlooked and underappreciated spiritual discipline. We've got to be more intentional about marking dates and marking places of spiritual significance in our lives.

Pilgrimage











A few months ago I took a pilgrimage of sorts.

I went back to the cow pasture in Alexandria, Minnesota where I felt called to ministry in August of 1989. I took some video. You'll find the link under "Top Vlogs."

I also hired a photographer to take pictures. Here's why. I don't want to put pictures on my walls that have no spiritual significance to me. I decided to take pictures of that cow pasture because I want constant reminders of my calling. I want to be surrounded by reminders of God's grace in my life.

To be perfectly honest, I was a scared teenager in August of 1989. I didn't know what God wanted me to do with my life. But He revealed himself to me. That cow pasture is holy ground.

The pictures on my wall are going to be an altar to God's faithfulness. Every time I look at those pictures they take me back to the place where it all began! They don't allow me to forget what God wants me to remember.

What does all of that have to do with communion?

Communion is going back to the place where it all began.

Communion is a pilgrimage back to the cross of Calvary. We go back to the foot of the cross and we build an altar there.

I Corinthians 11:23 says, "For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.' In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.' For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes."

One phrase is repeated twice: "Do this in remembrance of me."

In other words, go back to the place where it all began.

Revisit

Did Peter ever row out to the place on the Sea of Galilee where he walked on water? Did Abraham ever revisit the place on Mount Moriah where God provided a ram in the thicket? Did Moses ever return to the burning bush? Did Paul ever go back to the spot on the Road to Damascus where God knocked him off his horse? Did the lame man who was healed by Jesus ever return to the rooftop where his friends had lowered him down? Did Zacchaeus ever go back climb the sycamore tree where he got his first glimpse of Jesus? Did Lazarus ever revisit the tomb where he was buried for four days? Did Jesus ever go back to the house in Cana where he performed his first miracle?

I don't know the answers to all those questions, but I do know this. We need to revisit the places of spiritual significance in our lives. It's like a spiritual tune up-it recalibrates our spirits.

A few months ago I revisited my childhood home in New Hope, Minnesota. It was sort of surreal. I hadn't stepped foot in that house in more than two decades! The current owner was nice enough to invite me in and it brought back a flash flood of memories.

We walked into the kitchen and I could smell and taste the Christmas cookies my mom and grandma used to bake there. I could see my dad walking through the garage door with a puppy tucked inside his jacket for Christmas. The backyard brought back memories of our pet rabbits, Teddy and Molly. I went into the basement where I used to pretend I was Walter Payton taking a handoff at the goal line and I'd jump over a pile of pillows. Of course, there was the bathroom where I was potty trained. And then there was my bedroom. It brought back my scariest memories. I was sure Big Foot lived under my bed. But it also brought back my best memory.

When I was five years old our family went to watch a movie called The Hiding Place. I have no idea why it impacted me the way that it did, but when my mom tucked me into bed that night I asked her if I could ask Jesus into my heart.

I'll never forget the feeling. All fear dissipated. And I experienced the overwhelming peace of God.

I re-experienced that feeling when I re-visited that place. It's a sacred place to me. It's holy ground. My childhood bedroom is the place where I took one small step and one giant leap toward God.

Part of staying on track spiritually is revisiting those places of spiritual significance in our lives.

That's what communion is all about. It takes us back to the place where it all began.

Diddly-Squat

Ephesians 2:8 says, "God saved you by His special favor when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so that none of us can boast about it."

A few weeks ago I had a thought: without God we're Jack Squat. I had a similar thought this week: we don't deserve diddly-squat.That's my spiritual starting point.

A sense of entitlement is the beginning of the end spiritually. Repentance is coming to a point where we recognize that we don't deserve diddly-squat. When you start there then you recognize the reality of James 1:17--"whatever is good and perfect comes to us from God above."

Here's the bottom line: It's not about what you can do for God. It's about what God has done for you.

Every time we kneel at the foot of the cross we are reaffirming that truth. We go back to where it all began. We go back to the place where our sin met its match-the grace of God. And we discovered that "where sin abounds, grace does much more abound."

I love the way Jerry Bridges says it: "Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of His grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God's grace. Every day should be a day of relating to God on the basis of His grace alone."