The Next Steps: Just Try It...Giving of time

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been exploring what it means to become more spiritually mature through a sermon series titled, “The Next Steps”. I designed this time as a follow-up to the Vitality Days program that we have also just completed and as a way for all of us to begin thinking in terms of what’s next for us individually and as a community of faith together. Being together now for nearly 3 years, it is time for us to begin focusing on what is to come rather than on where we have been, if we truly desire to do more in this world.

A Recap...

With that being said, let’s take just a moment to look over the last couple of weeks…the first week of the series, we shared that God wants us to grow in spiritual maturity. Don’t mis-hear me here, God loves us just the way we are, but God doesn’t want us to stay right where we are. God desires for a deeper relationship with us and for us to have a deeper relationship with God. And so, we said that in order to grow, it’s about TRAINING, not TRYING. Like preparing to run a marathon, you do not just get up off the couch and go do it, you need to spend time preparing your body, your mind, and your spirit to endure the long hard road that lays before you...we also said that merely trying isn’t enough when it comes to marathons. The same is true when it comes to growing spiritually. Spiritual disciplines are tools that help us grow further into who God made us to be.

A Recap...

Last week we spoke about the one spiritual discipline that we must start doing in order to fully become who God intends for us to be…and that is spending time alone in prayer. We reflected that while the Bible is the primary way God speaks to us, prayer is the primary way we speak back to God. So, we focused our time on how to overcome Spiritual A.D.D., i.e. how to get our minds focused upon what God desires for us to do and be in this world.

In this the final time of reflection on this series, we will spend some more time talking about growing in spiritual maturity and growing closer to God, but before we do that, I wanted to address the elephant in the room: Why do we so often struggle with making time with God a priority?

B - U - S - Y

I’ve yet to meet anyone who responds to the question, “How are you?” with the reply, “Well, for starters, I’m not very busy.” I recently took a quiz to see just how busy I am, and I want to give it to you this morning to determine your busyness as well. One caveat and a bit of a warning: it might be little challenging and possibly convicting. There are seven questions for you to reflect on…no need to answer out loud, just keep your answer in mind. Ready? Here we go, first question...

Are you haunted by a fear that there are not enough hours in the day to do what needs to be done?

Do you find yourself nodding along and maybe even faster when listening to someone else who encourages a speaker or person driving in front of you to accelerate?

When approaching a stoplight and there are two lanes, do you find yourself guessing which lane will get going the fastest?

At the grocery store, if you have a choice between two checkout lines, do you find yourself counting the people in line and estimating how many items are in their cart? Then do you watch the line you did not choose just to see if you picked the right one?

Do you check work emails and phone messages at home? Do you find yourself, when you have a moment of down time, looking at your phone and therefore, your email to see if anyone replied to that important email you sent before you left work on Friday?

Has anyone ever said to you, “I didn’t want to bother you or trouble you, because I know how busy you are or that they did not want to give you more to think about?”

If tomorrow evening, you were unexpectedly freed up, would you use it to do work?

If you answered “yes” to any of these, then I would say that you are probably an extremely busy person…and I know a lot of us might be thinking, “Yeah yeah yeah. I know I’m too busy, and you are going to say some things that are going to make me feel guilty about being busy, and I’ll get convicted to slow down to make time for God. That will totally work until tomorrow when my life happens. Pastor, you just don’t know all the stuff I have going on. I can’t just stop being busy.” I’ve got some good news. I’m not going to lecture anyone on how to be less busy. Take a deep breath and put down the rotten tomatoes or anything else you might be considering throwing at me; I’m not taking us on a guilt trip. Here’s the reason why, Jesus was a really busy guy too.

One Day in Jesus’ life...

In fact, today we hear Mark relate just one 24-hour day in the life of Jesus and I would think that the day we just heard about might just put your busiest days to shame. Regardless of what you believe about who Jesus was, there is no denying that he was a man that got stuff done. I want to see anyone today try to, in the course of three years, start a movement that would last for over 2,000 years, grow to over two billion people and, oh yeah, also pay for the sins of all mankind so that they could spend eternity in Heaven.

Here’s the thing though, as busy as Jesus was, I’m fairly confident he would also have said “no” to every one of the questions I asked earlier. How is that even possible? Well, today we are going to look at one of the most incredible passages in the Bible and learn one principle that, if we apply it to our lives, could be the game-changer in how we see life and our interaction with God.

The Story...

We are going to look at Jesus’ first day of public ministry according to Mark. Just to place us physically in the life of Jesus, this takes places in a village named Capernaum. Read the excerpt from Mark...

Mark 1:21–28 NIV

They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an impure spirit cried out, “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” “Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!” The impure spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek. The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to impure spirits and they obey him.” News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.

The passage starts with, “when the Sabbath came”. So, this means that all of this activity happened on a Saturday. Here’s what we know so far...Jesus got up and went to church. While there, he stood up to speak and people were amazed at how good he was as a preacher. Then, right in the middle—as he’s gathering some momentum, Mark tells us that “a man in their synagogue...” got up and challenged Jesus. We can tell from Mark’s retelling of the story, that this guy was a part of the regular community. Here’s the most interesting part…Jesus doesn’t rebuke the man or tell him to sit, he just looks at him and says, “Be quiet. Come out of him.” And the spirit comes out of the man. If Jesus didn’t have people’s attention yet, he had it then.

This story of Jesus is extreme, but I think we can relate a little bit…think of it this way, sometimes we get busy with the urgent. For example, maybe you are in the middle of something important and you get a call or an email or a demon-possessed guy starts yelling at you. What do you do? If you are like most people with whom I am associated, you just drop everything that you were doing and deal with whatever presented itself. All other things stop until the situation that has come up is dealt with, right? If this ever happens to you, trust me, Jesus can relate.

Next Jesus, instead of going out for brunch or sitting on the porch for the rest of the afternoon, moves on. Just listen to what happens next.

Mark 1:29–31 NIV

As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they immediately told Jesus about her. So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them.

Upon entering Peter’s mother-in-law’s house; Jesus recognizes that she is ill. She had a fever. So, Jesus just walks in, grabs her by the hand and she is healed.

In today’s world, sometimes we are busy with family responsibilities. Jesus is helping out his buddy Peter here. If you’ve ever sped on the freeway or went through a light that was 1 percent yellow, 99 percent red to get to your kids’ game or dance performance or a family dinner, I think Jesus can relate. We move from there to the evening of that same day...

Mark 1:32–34 NIV

That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.

Here’s what we have here…after sunset, the whole town comes out. News has spread fast that Jesus is in town and he is doing some pretty amazing things. The Bible says that Jesus was fully God, but it also says that God was fully man in Jesus. And we read in a bunch of places in Scripture that Jesus grew weary. We have to think that this might have been one of those days. We read in other accounts that when Jesus would do a miracle, power would come out from him. I’ve never done a miracle before—but I can imagine it must be extremely draining.

We don’t know how late Jesus stayed out, but I would think quite possibly it was well after midnight and he had just seen the whole town. Jesus’ evening was filled to the brim with everybody else’s needs. Ever felt like all you do is help one person after another? If you are a parent, I guarantee you do. If so, Jesus can relate. Can you picture Jesus and his disciples finally walking or maybe even staggering away to where they were going to sleep that night? “Man, I’m exhausted but THAT WAS AWESOME!” That’s quite a day, huh? If someone says to you Jesus wasn’t busy, tell them they should read the Bible. Check out the next few verses; here is where we find out about his secret.

Mark 1:35 NIV

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.

The next morning, Jesus got up while it was still dark, maybe after only a couple hours sleep. He got up, left the other disciples—who were no doubt out cold in the middle of their REM cycles and went to a solitary place. He got away to a place with no distractions where He could really concentrate. Jesus isn’t that much different from us…for Jesus, this time was not just helpful for Him in life; it was imperative for him if he was going to live out the mission that he was on the planet to live out. Jesus needed that time to recharge to be re-energized and to be changed so that he could live out that calling of being the savior of the world.

Here’s what I am hearing in this part of the story…if you actually slow down to be quiet, then God will start changing you from the inside out. If we apply three simple principles to our lives, God will start changing us to become more and more like what God intends for us to be. If you hear nothing else this morning, here this...God is constantly molding us into being better people. When we make time to listen to God, God takes the time to guide us and help us grow.

Three Disciplines...

Last week, we walked through how to start having a regular quiet time with God. In our remaining time, I want to walk through three things Jesus did here in this passage that enabled him to not just live a life driven by being personally directed by God’s voice. They come from Richard Foster’s book, Celebration of Discipline.

1) The discipline of Solitude

Feeding off that last passage that I read, Jesus lived inward. He sought out places where he could be just in the presence of God. We normally don’t and it is hard for us to find those places…but we must if we want to grow. And I am not talking about being lonely or being a hermit here, I am talking about finding a place of rest and a place of comfort where we can go from time to time to seek out God’s voice. A place of quiet and peace where we can easily focus on God and what God desires for us to know. So, we need to understand the connection between inner solitude and inner silence. The two are inseparable. God grows in us the ability to really listen when we train ourselves not to constantly fill our minds with noise. We must seek out the re-creating stillness of solitude if we want to be with others meaningfully.

The second thing we learn from Jesus in this passage is…

2) The discipline of Submission

Jesus did not stay in Capernaum, he carried the messages that God desired to be spread out and around the area…he even says, let us go somewhere else so I can preach there also...It’s almost as if Jesus is saying this out loud not only for the disciples to hear but for himself as well. I picture Jesus the night before, excited about going back into Capernaum because God had been so well received. After this time alone, Jesus’ plans have changed. God has reminded him that he had a specific mission not to reach rock-star status in Capernaum but to preach the good news to those who had not heard it yet. Although the latter would be more difficult, there was no doubt that Jesus would submit to God’s plan for his life.

When we go into a time of training by using the discipline of submission, God builds in us the ability to lay down the terrible burden of always needing to get our own way. The obsession of demanding that things go the way we want them to go is one of the greatest bondages in human society today. People can spend weeks, months or even years stewing on something small that didn’t go our way, but in the discipline of submission, we are released to drop the matter and forget it, to move forward with a clear conscience. God wants to grow in us the peaceful realization that most things in life are not major issues, so we can hold them much more lightly. Unfortunately, because we lack in this area, marriages end in divorce, families get fractured and even churches split. In submission, we are at last free to value other people more than we value ourselves and that is really important. Because when we fully submit, other people’s dreams and hopes become important to you, too. We have a freedom to give up our own rights for the good of others and to actually love people unconditionally. This is the hardest one, trust me...

After we’ve fully submitted all the parts of our day to God, we can move to one other discipline we learn from Jesus in this passage.

3) The discipline of Service

The passage tells us...“So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.” - Mark 1:39

Jesus didn’t finish his quiet time and check an imaginary box meaning he had did his Christian duty. He left that morning on a mission. He didn’t just look for opportunities to come to God; he walked into each village ready to bless whoever he came in contact with.

I believe there are two kinds of people in the world: “Here I am” kind of people, and “There you are” kinds of people. Jesus lived a life serving other people. The “Here I am” person walks into the room and wants to make sure people know the “party has arrived.” They talk about themselves and find a way to make every topic revolve around something about them. Whereas the “There you are” person walks in the room looking for those who are on the fringes and disconnected from the whole. They go out of their way to make that person feel like they are the most important person in the room. They ask great questions, listen intently and lift other people’s spirits.

You might think this doesn’t sound so much like a discipline as it does just something any good Christian should do. But, when you’ve spent time in solitude in God’s presence and been quiet enough to hear God’s voice, God actually fills you up to then be able to overflow to others.

Solitude. Submission. Serving.

How could you incorporate all three or even one of these disciplines into your life starting tomorrow? I am going to share that I am an expert in getting challenged to do something and doing nothing about it. Before I close, can I just share some consequences if we don’t live this out and just allow our busyness to rule our lives?

There are physical consequences: Over two-thirds of medical office visits are due to busyness and stress related issues. There are hundreds of billions of dollars spent every single year to medicate people who are addicted to being driven. “Our mode of life itself, the way we live, is emerging as today’s principal cause of illness.” – Dr. Joel Elkes, University of Louisville

There are relational consequences as well. One of the leading causes of divorce is feeling like your relationship was/is not as important as other things in our lives. One of the leading causes of people turning to substances and to abuse of those substances is stress. Stress creates not only ill health but leads people to find ways to escape from reality.

There are spiritual consequences: Like the disciples, you can do a lot of good things, but you’ll miss all the God things God wants to do in your life. Somewhere along the way, we got it all mixed up. God is not desperate for what you or I can do for God. We should be desperate for what God can do in you and because of what God does in us, how others can be touched through you.

When we work out our salvation, God works to fulfill all the good purposes God has for your life. So, what’s your move?

Challenge…

So, I challenge us here and now to start doing rather than trying. To start being in the presence of God and taking advantage of our solitude so that we can actually hear God’s voice. To start doing something that changes us from the inside out because I guarantee that when we do, others will take notice and when others take notice, we will have folks wanting to be a part of what we are and who we are in this world. God does not desire for us to be in our comfortable place and to stay there…I have to believe that God actually put this community here to do something to make the world a better place to live…