TOWARD EMOTIONAL AND MENTAL HEALTH: GOD-CENTEREDNESS

TOWARD EMOTIONAL AND MENTAL HEALTH: GOD-CENTEREDNESS Philippians 3:1-3 October  31, 1999 Given by: Pastor Rich Bersett [Index of Past Messages] Introductory It happened to me again the other day.  It was Wednesday afternoon, about 2:30.  I was headed home to get some work done on the computer there, because my office unit was down.  There were three or four pieces of communication that needed to be handled right away.  As I drove I scanned my "To Do" list and, OH YES--the car license sticker was ready for pickup, as well as the prescription at the pharmacy downtown.  I arrived home just as Joni arrived home from the bus.  But the guy with the new counter top was going to be at the house any minute, and I didn't want to miss him.  Let's see, the sticker had to be picked up by 4:30 and the pharmacy was closing at 5:30. Gee, I hoped that guy with the counter top wasn't late.   Then, in big letters on the list--SUPPER.  Oh, that's right, Charlotte was visiting her sick step mother and I promised to get dinner going because we were having company for dinner at 6:00 so Charlotte could eat with us before leaving to go to teen cells at 6:40.  I pulled into the driveway just as Joni's bus arrived, and I really needed to spend some quality minutes with her--Hi, honey, how was school?  Did you have a good day?  What did you have for lunch?  What did you learn today?--And I knew that I had to be sincere and really, truly interested--if not, I wouldn't be a good dad!  Then there were five messages on the answering machine, and the meat had thawed and left a mess in the kitchen, and the phone rang as soon as we walked in the door, and the mail needed to be reviewed, Joni wanted the after-school snack, and the guy with the counter top was late, and if I didn't get that prescription in time I was going to be really sorry... DID YOU EVER HAVE ONE OF THOSE DAYS? When all the dust settled, I asked myself "What went wrong?"  I was ten minutes into my review of the day when I realized.  The night before I had set the alarm for 5:30, but I forgot to set that interesting switch over to the "alarm" position.  As I dozed merrily on I overslept my 6:30 meeting with the half dozen men I meet with on Wednesday mornings.  Charlotte answered the 6:35 phone call, awakened me, and I began running a race that lasted all day long.  Miraculously, I got to the office at 7:05, and the rest of the day's schedule was met in a timely, albeit frantic manner. But I realized I had overslept not just my meeting with the guys--I overslept my time with the Lord.  And all day long my teeth were on edge. Ironically, somewhere between the prayer meeting with the area pastors, the meeting with the realtor and my other obligations, I took some time to work on this message, and the passage I focused on was Isaiah 26:3 - "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee" is the way the King James Version reads. I had not met with the Lord and made Him my first priority, so my entire day was off kilter.  Oh, I got things done, and all-in-all, it wasn't a bad day--but it wasn't the very good day it could have been--and should have been!  The experience (all too common, I confess) was a vivid reminder to me that I must practice what I preach--and making that lesson even more poignant is the fact that I have been planning to begin a short series in Philippians 3 on "Mental and Emotional".  And the first in the series is today's message on "God-Centeredness".  Will you take a moment just now to join me in prayer and will you lift up your teacher, fresh from his mistakes and lesson-learning? The Healing Command - Philippians 3:1 In stark contrast with the frantic and frenzied way we often live, keeping us prisoner in the insane asylums of our own madding making, here come the words of the man who, in his prison cell, had the insight and maturity to write, Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord!  It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a SAFE-GUARD FOR YOU.  (Philippians 3:1) Paul had already told the believers to rejoice with him (2:18), and he says it again, and then, later, he will bring additional reinforcement to this command at Philippians 4:4 - Rejoice in the Lord always.  I will say it again: rejoice! Two questions rise up in me as I consider this commandment. QUESTION #1 - How do you command someone to rejoice, and expect them to do it?  Here was a church full of believers who had some problems with dissension, infighting and the kind of ill-conceived pride that kept them from serving one another as they should.  And Paul sends this nice Hallmark card and says "Rejoice, brothers!"  We look at this command and we say,"Oh, sure!" But I am here to remind us this morning that Paul made no mistake in prescribing this simple antidote to our stress, pressure and anxiety.  He meant just what he said.   And we do well to note that this counsel is not just glib, simplistic advice.   The Holy Spirit told him to write it.  It is divine direction, godly guidance, spiritual prescription. I'd like to point out to you the THREE KEY WORDS which move this command from the prosaic, superficial, unsympathetic advice it appears to be at first glance to the life-changing, mind-mending, heart-healing, soul-satisfying truth that it really is.   Did you already catch which three words I'm talking about? There is a three-word phrase in this verse that makes Paul's command more than the trivial drivel the world offers like, "Don't worry, be happy". Three words that make his counsel far more than the superficial sappiness you hear from shallow friends who have nothing more to say to you than, "Have a nice day!" Paul does not just say "Rejoice!"  He says "Rejoice IN THE LORD!   These three words make all the difference!  He doesn't simplistically tell us nail-biting, frantic, frenetic believers to just have joy.  He reminds us of the source  of our joy!  It is IN THE LORD!   In fact, this seemingly trite advice is actually a word of healing, a word of deliverance, a word of holistic health. Let me go so far as to say that we have, in these words, "Rejoice in the Lord" the entire foundation of mental and emotional health. In the next few weeks I want us to mine several foundational spiritual truths from chapter three of Philippians - keys to mental and emotional health - like biblical self-esteem, vision, hope, positive attitude (as defined by God) and growing into genuine, mature adulthood as human beings. But the morning we take our pick-axe and we make our first strike into the mother lode of mental and emotional health - GOD CENTEREDNESS. That brings me to my second question:  how do we actualize this command in our lives?   How do we move "Rejoice in the Lord" from theoretical words on the page of holy scripture, and make it relevant and practical in our practical daily lives?   How can this mental & emotional health prescription become real and usable in our lives here in the rat race?  (Someone said, the worst thing about being in the rat race is, whether you win or lose, you're still a rat!)  At the close of this teaching I am going to offer you some very practical, easy to apply, down to earth counsel on how to make rejoicing in the Lord areality in your life. First, I want to define a little more carefully, biblically, what it means to rejoice in the Lord.  Then we will look at the common misconceptions about rejoicing in the Lord that we almost always fall into.  Then, finally,that very practical counsel. What it means to "Rejoice in the Lord" I can remember one night at a Junior High camp at Little Galilee Christian Campground near Clinton, IL.  It was a perfect evening as about a hundred 7th and 8th grade kids and a handful of adult counselors made our way from the commons area toward what was arguably the campers' most favorite spot in the 40 acres we knew as Little Galilee--campfire.  I was the dean, it was Sunday night, the first day of six in that camp week.  We had a good crew of workers, there was a good attitude among the campers already, and by anyone's guess our first of five campfire experiences was going to be an encouraging experience for everyone.  But it was not.  We trekked through the woods about a quarter mile to the little clearing where thousands of camper had made serious commitments to the Lord after the challenge of a faculty member's devotional words.  The young college musicians were ready with guitars in hand to launch into singing the silly, then spiritual songs that are campfire tradition.  It began, innocently enough, with the familiar chorus, "I've got the Joy, Joy, Joy, down in my heart..."  The guitars hummed and the ditty began.  But after only two lines of the kids singing, I've got the joy, joy, joy down in my heart, the song leader screamed at the top of his lungs,"No, you don't!"  Everything went silent, the campers, the counselors, even the other praise leaders.  We all sat there, stunned.  Even the fire stopped crackling, as the 19-year old, self-appointed prophet began to berate the kids about how they can't have the joy of the Lord in their hearts if they just sat there half-heartedly singing, without any smiles on their faces! "Where's your joy?!" he demanded.  Several of the girls started to cry.   I shook off the shock of the moment and, as the camp dean, recommended we skip the rest of campfire that night and go into the dorms for devotions and prayer.  As 120 stunned people left the campfire, their own lights of enthusiasm doused, they didn't say a word.  They just marched dutifully back on their trail of tears.  I stayed and did my deanly duty of bringing strong correction to our young  Jeremiah.  He tried to assure me that he was only trying to get the kids to get a little joy of the Lord into their lives.  And I assured him that his methodology was exactly the wrong way to get joy instigated anywhere, especially in the hearts of sensitive pre-teens.  The next day, he apologized and for the rest of the week he just played and let the others lead the singing. We all know how it is to be cajoled into happiness and joy.  It doesn't work. The truly meaningful attitudes in our lives rise out of the heart--they are not branded onto us.  Well, if that's not the way to create a rejoicing heart, was is the way we get the joy, joy, joy down into the hearts of people who've never known true joy, or believers who've temporarily misplaced their joy?  you remind them that it is IN THE LORD where their treasure is to be found. To rejoice in the Lord is to find such intimate relationship with Him that joy happens in you as a glorious by-product.  That's why Galatians 5 doesn't say that things like love, joy and peace are the consequence of the Holy Spirit beating these good things into you--rather, they are the FRUIT of the Spirit. I sat in the Indianapolis Convention Center Friday evening at the Praise Gathering and heard the testimony of a man who said he had found fulfillment in his life through his relationship with Jesus Christ.  He stood there weaving a little because both of his legs and his right arm were ravaged by polio when he was 18.  He was a star football player, and was going to get his polio vaccine the next week, when the devastating illness gripped his body.  One day he was running scrimmage, the next day he was in severe pain.  And he has not run since then.  But, because of the living presence of the Lord in his life, he said he knew joy.  Why?  Because it comes not from outward circumstances, but from an intimate relationship with the only joy-Giver there is--Jesus Christ. Another old camp song says it best, "If you want joy, real joy, wonderful joy, let Jesus come into your heart."  And this is true not only for those who have not yet tasted the kindness of the Lord, and have yet to come to Jesus in faith; it is also true for those whose relationship with their Savior has grown cold.  Jesus welcomes anyone who will to come and have fellowship with Him, deep, sweet communion.  Out of that fertile soil grows real, wonderful joy. So when you read or hear the words, "Rejoice in the Lord," remember that it means draw near to the Lord, your only source for genuine joy.  Center your life on Him.  Make Him your primary object of service and devotion, and very soon you will be, as C.S. Lewis put it, "surprised by joy." Futile Religious Attempts at Rejoicing in the Lord Don't try to find joy by being religious.  You will not only not find joy,  you will drive it far from you.  I know you can testify with me that some of the most joy-less people I know are very religious.  How can this be?  You know the answer--they have lost their relationship in their addiction to religion. They've taken the "Christ" out of "Christian".   Now this is no blame game, where we sit around taking pot shots at those who don't seem joyful.  No, it is a warning to all of us that we continue to "center" on the Lord, and not on religious trappings.  Let your Christian behaviors rise out of your Christ relationship. There is the story of a woman who came to know Christ after her husband died.  Out of pure devotion to the Lord she committed herself to getting up early every morning and praying and reading her Bible for the first hour of the day.  As she meditated on the Word and prayed, her cat would jump up onto her Bible and get in her way, so she developed a habit of tying the cat to the bed post during that hour of devotion.  Her little girl watched her mother's holy habit, and when she grew up, she, too, wanted to devote her first hour to the Lord.  She wasn't much into prayer, however, but did discipline herself to read the Word for an hour every morning.  She too had a cat who would jump up onto her Bible when she tried to read, so she did as her mother did, and leashed the cat to the bedpost during her hour of reading the Bible.  She too had a daughter who watched her mother's routine. and when she grew up, she didn't find much use for prayer either.  Neither did she find much use in reading the Bible.  But every morning, she dutifully tied the cat to the bedpost for an hour. Notice what Paul says to the Philippians in this regard:  Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flash.  For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh... (3:2-3)   We will not take the time to completely unpack these verses, but notice that Paul says that those around you who are determined to put religious behaviors ahead of spiritual relationship with the Lord are like dogs, they are evil-doers, even though they are doing religiously-prescribed practices.  What is the right way to relate to the Lord is to glory in Christ Jesus, and Him alone.  We will see this issue come up in coming weeks, but suffice it for now to say that legalism and faulty religion will not help you, but will rob you of relationship with the Lord, and thereby steal your joy.   If you want to be an unhealthy person, mentally unstable and emotionally distraught, get tangled up in legalism. What will bring us joy and health is not religion, not even highly developed religious disciplines.  Only when we are radically in love with Jesus and do all we can to keep that relationship alive and well will we know how torejoice in the Lord. You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast because he trusts in You.   Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord is the Rock eternal.  Isaiah 26:3-4 Healthy people are God-loving people.  People who have not allowed other things to come between them and the Lord.  Things like religious behaviors which are devoid of genuine meaning (although those who do serve the Lord in deep faith will always end up developing spiritual disciplines with the right motives).  Things like other gods.   People are starved for God-relationship. The only trouble is, though they know they are hungering for something, they don't know (or refuse to believe) it is God they need.   And they try to satisfy spiritual hunger with material or carnal substitutes.   And the devil is ready to hand out substitutes like drugs and food and illicit sex and shopping (materialism) and a host of other wanna-be satisfiers.  Chasing these is what constitutes mental and emotional illness.  God is your portion. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.  And all these things will be added to you.  Therefore don't worry... Matthew 6:33-34 Every time I have experienced a dip in the peace and joy in my life, it has been because I have fallen in love with something other that the Lord. And, every time I came back to giving Him first place in my life, He brings gifts of joy, and peace and satisfaction.  And that is when I am mentally and emotionally healthy. Practical Counsel on Cultivating God-Centeredness I promised that I would close this teaching with some simple, practical counsel on how you can cultivate a vital, intimate relationship with the Lord. The answer is THE LISTENING ROOM.  This is not so much a place as a promise.  It is a promise to get alone with God every day, without distraction, to commune with Him and to hear from Him.  Nothing I know of will help you stay God-centered and therefore healthy, without falling into the traps of religious rigmarole devoid of meaning, like this simple practice. • Quiet place/time • Devotional segment of the Word • Speak to Him • Ask Him to speak to you. • Listen and obey                   [Back to Top]