Jesus and solitude
How exciting to be like Peter was, called to be a follower, an apprentice, of the Lord Jesus! What a day that was for Peter! How amazing to in the Synagogue as Jesus set free a man from a demon; and then, the same day, after the service, they went to Peter’s house where the wife's mother was in bed with a fever – and Jesus healed her instantly. By sundown that day, crowds had gathered outside Peter’s front door, wanting to be healed. So it's kind of frustrating that next morning, just as things are taking off and the crowds are coming back for more, Jesus is nowhere to be seen. He's up a hill somewhere, praying to his Father.
And the fact is, that Jesus kept on doing that. Matthew and Mark give us specific instances: Luke tells us that these weren't just occasional moments. They were repeated over and over and over. Mornings, before the day started; evenings, when the crowds had begun to disperse, Jesus withdrew to a quiet place to pray.... It was his regular habit.
He did it when he started his ministry: out into the desert (led by the Spirit into the desert, where he faced down the big temptations associated with the works his Father had called him to do. He did it when he was experiencing success. He did it when he was grieving – like the day he fed the five thousand, when he was still smarting from the death of John the Baptist. He did it when he had to make important decisions – such as before finally appointing the twelve as Apostles. He did it when he was facing the cross and needed to courage and strength to go to Calvary. He did it all the time.
Solitude and us
So solitude – getting alone with God, is vital – at times of commitment, times of mission engagement, times of decision, times of challenge. If Jesus needed to get alone with the Father, how much more do we need to do the same. Jesus not only showed us by example; he explicitly taught his disciples to pray alone. “But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” Mt 6. 6
It is vital that we have the habit – like Jesus did, of getting alone with our Heavenly Father. to find solitude to
Pray – some things we may need to say to God that we don't want other people to be part of... personal thanks, confession and requests.
Listen – as we were learning last week. Kenny Borthwick of Holy Trinity Church Wester Hailes once asked a significant question: if we won't spend time listening to God, what are we afraid of? If we are afraid of encountering god, of being alone with him, because we are afraid of what he will say to us, then we don't really know him as Father.
Read the word. Both Bible Study and bible soaking. We need to be taking in the word any way we can. If you can't read, or can't see to read, you need to take particular measures to get into the word: either to get (and use!) Scriptures on CD or else to hold in your mind the scripture from last Sunday's worship, and consciously to recall it and think about it each day in the week.
Solitude allows us to develop a relationship with our heavenly Father. You can't grow a relationship with someone without spending time with them. Part of the process of getting to know someone is working together, learning how they are with other people...but part of it has to be time alone, with with uninterrupted conversations. Try only ever taking your girlfriend to football with your mates and see how you get on!
We can be working with our hands, creating something, listening to music, walking, exercising. But even. If we may are unable to remove ourselves completely from the presence of other people, we need to turn aside from them for a time of talking and listening to god, and giving him our full attention. We need to be alone with God.
That getting alone with God is essential. Hearing the word on a Sunday in Church is no substitute for reflecting on the word alone with God. Prayer on Sunday, quietness in Church, is no substitute for quieting your heart and seeking God's face alone. Praying with friends is no substitute for praying alone. If you don't get alone with God, you're missing out. If you don't get alone with God, you're not obeying Jesus.
Solitude has Limits...
Some of us – probably a minority – will find this too easy! We love to curl up in a quiet corner, read a book, walk alone... Some people could easily take to prayer in solitude, enjoy it, separate themselves from fellowship and think that they get all their spiritual food from times alone with God.
Others will find it more difficult. We like to be active, doing. We enjoy meeting up. We get encouraged and built up as we worship with other Christians. Some Christians can get carried along by the praise, the prayers, the preaching, and imagine that times alone with God are only for those who are good at that sort of thing. The rest of us don't need to bother.
Of course there are limits to solitude. . Nobody is suggesting that we should all become hermits.
God calls us to be the Body of Christ and finding that experience of “body life” is a vital part of begin a Christian. (Eph 2. 19-20; 1 Cor 12. 27) Following Jesus was never meant to be a matter only of our own private relationship with Him. The experience of Christian community is not just an add-on to a private and personal faith.
We are clearly told, not to abandon the habit of worshipping together. (Heb 10. 25)
We need fellowship. There are times when we can support, encourage, challenge and correct each other.
We need to be involved in ministry and mission.
Solitude and fruitfulness...
But... it is precisely in the place of solitude that we charge our batteries and get ready for the challenges of mission and ministry. Solitude and shared life are not two different options. They are two different sides of the same coin. For Jesus they were a rhythm: breath in, breathe out. Time with Father, time with friends; time alone, time in the crowds.
And that produces fruit...
In ministry to other Disciples. In Mark 6. 45-52, We learn how Jesus spent time alone in prayer - then through the miracle of walking on water, taught his disciples about faith and about who he is. Paul says (1 Cor 14. 26) “When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation.” If when we come together “each one has” something, where do they get it from? Surely, from time alone with God. If we want to have something to share in open worship we need to spend time alone with Father.
In mission. In Mark 1. 38, When Peter interrupted Jesus' prayer time, Jesus refused to go back to the Capernaum crowds, but said “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” Time alone with Father was what spearheaded the times of advance – whether that meant going to new places, or appointing an apostolic team (Luke 6. 12-16). And the thing that enabled Jesus to break new ground for the Kingdom of God, is what can maintain a missionary trajectory for us too.
In power. The times alone with Father, for Jesus, were the empowering times for Jesus. It was “one of these days” punctuated by time alone with Father, when the paralysed man was lowered through the roof to Jesus. And Luke tells us that on that day “the spirit was with him to heal.” (Lk 5. 17). It was another of those days when a huge crowd came together in the open air, and Luke tells us “power went out from him and healed them” (Lk 6. 19). Isn't it interesting that Dr Luke with his particular interest in medical things, twice places solitary prayer and significant power together.
Real time with Father, will draw us close to Father's heart; will cause us to feel within us the father's heartbeat for the last the lost and the least, will motivate us to do Father’s will, and maintain the momentum of mission.
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