Campus Community | Josh Rutledge
Overview
Pastor Josh taught us the spiritual discipline of silence and solitude. Pastor Josh began his teaching by reading the scriptural account of Jesus being tempted by Satan. The Savior of the World meets the serpent of the garden. This is the showdown we have all been waiting for. Our finite minds see this moment as the time for Jesus to engage in combat with the enemy. Pastor Josh voices our questions about this moment. This moment in the dessert is just a conversation between The Savior of the world and the lying enemy. In this conversation the enemy speaks his native language of lies and deception. The world around us has perverted reality. We have allowed the voice of the enemy to determine what we expect from God. In the garden we see the tempter perverse what God has said to Eve. The tempter did not force Eve to eat the fruit; he planted the idea in her head and waited for her to act. Silence and Solitude is not the action of escaping the noise to be alone and recharge. The end goal of silence and solitude is to trust God. In this discipline Pastor Josh invites us to remove distractions and realign our minds to make The Lord our reality and truth.
Verses
Matthew 3:14-17 4:11
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.
16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted[a] by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
Matthew 4:4-11
4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple.
“If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’[c]”
7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’[d]”
8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’[e]”
11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
1 John 3:8 – The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
Genesis 3:1-4 – Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” 4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.
John 8:44
You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Luke 5:-15-16 – 15 Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. 16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
Luke 4:42 – At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place.
Matthew 14: 13 – Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself.
Quotes
“Reality is what you run into when you’re wrong.” ~ Dallas Willard
“The purpose of silence and solitude is not to get away from reality, but to get in-touch with reality.”
“Solitude is a muscle that has to be worked.”
“Silence in Solitude is where you center back on the truth of things that matter” “It’s not important to just get away. It is what we do when we get away that is important.”
“The Circumstances of life do not reflect the truth of what God thinks about you.”
“Solitude is ultimately about trust.”
“Perhaps more than anything else, silence brings us to believe that God can care for us — ‘reputation and all.’” – Richard Foster
Questions
1. Why are silence & solitude so crucial in our lives?
2. How has temptation hidden itself behind a false reality & how will you combat it?
3. Are YOU disciplined in silence & solitude? Why or why not?
4. What is the lie, that you have made your reality? How was it revealed to you that your created reality was a lie?
5. Reflect with each other on what it looks like “to get away” for you. What lies have you believed about silence and solitude?
6. How can you be proactive in creating silence & solitude in your day-to-day?
7. On your own, come honestly and humbly before the Lord and ask Him to reveal the lies that you have allowed to be your reality. Ask Him to replace them with His truth from scripture.