Video Link: https://youtu.be/8O8tlfGlmuQ
Learning by Experience:
Kia Koutou and good morning everyone.
Mark Twain once said, ‘If you hold a cat by the tail, you learn things you cannot learn any other way.’
In other words, some things you cannot be told. Some things can only be discovered through personal experience. What you discover when you hold a cat by the tail is not to hold a cat by the tail. We tend to learn more from our mistakes than our successes.
Albert Einstein, another dude with bushy hair and an impressive mustache, put it this way, ‘Learning is an experience. Everything else is just information.’
The point here is that we learn by doing. You don’t learn how to hammer a nail by watching The Repair Shop. You learn to hammer a nail by hammering a nail.
Or take parenting as an example. Parenting books and Ted Talks may provide helpful information, but the real learning comes with the experience of trying to settle a crying baby or being there to support your kids when they need you or managing your feelings of powerlessness as your son or daughter leaves home.
So does this principle of learning by experience work with God as well? Because God is not like us. God is Spirit. We can’t really see God or take him out for a coffee to get to know him.
Well, learning about God is not exactly the same as learning to hammer a nail or be a parent. But we still learn by experience.
We learn faith by being trusted.
We learn hope by being made to wait.
We learn love by being forgiven.
And we learn about God through Jesus.
Yes, you will pick up some helpful information by listening to sermons and reading spiritual books but the real learning about God comes with an experience of Jesus’ Spirit.
When Mary (the mother of Jesus) first learned she was with child, she went to visit Elizabeth who was about six months pregnant with John the Baptist.
41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43 But why am I so favoured, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
Through the experience of the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth learned that Mary was carrying the Messiah of God. Elizabeth felt God’s presence in herself, and it was the experience of pure joy.
When the angels appeared to the shepherds, proclaiming the birth of the Messiah, the shepherds didn’t just say, ‘O yeah, good to know.’ Rather they hurried off to find Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger.
They were not satisfied with mere information. They wanted to experience the presence of the Christ child for themselves, and that experience affected them. It compelled them to share the good news.
When the wise men saw the star shining in the east, they knew from their research that it was significant. These wise men understood that real learning comes through experience. So, they set off on a long journey to find the King of the Jews and experience his presence for themselves, in person. They were not disappointed.
Fast forward 33 years and we read about Thomas, the disciple who would not take other people’s word for it. When Thomas’ friends told him the information that Jesus had been raised from the dead, Thomas wanted to experience the risen Christ for himself. Let me touch him. Let me put my fingers in his wounds.
A week later Jesus appeared to Thomas and Thomas discovered firsthand that Jesus is both human and divine. Learning is an experience.
What is your experience this Christmas? Is it a busy time for you? A stressful time, a week of running around trying to fit everything in. When Christmas is uncomfortably full it can be difficult to experience the presence of Christ. Difficult but not impossible.
The very first Christmas was busy and full, messy and unpredictable. Nevertheless, Jesus was present in the most unlikely of places, a feeding trough. The Spirit of Jesus has a way of showing up where we least expect him. Make room for the Spirit.
What is your experience this Christmas? Is it a lonely time, a sad time, an empty time when you feel the absence of those you love. Everyone around you seems to be happy but you cannot wait for the season to end and for things to return to normal.
When Christmas is painful and joyless it can be difficult to experience the presence of Christ. Difficult but not impossible. Jesus was born into a violent world, a sad world, a troubled world. The good news is Jesus was born to redeem this world through his death and resurrection.
Blessed are you who are sad or lonely this Christmas. You are closer to God than you think.
Let me pray for you…
Loving God, we thank you for entering into the human experience through Jesus. May you be real for us this Christmas and always. Open our hearts and minds to the presence of Christ, that we would learn from you. Amen.
Tawa Baptist 