Sermon Tone Analysis

*The Pillars of Community VII: Alone with God*

*Psalm 131*

*/February 8, 2009/*

 

 

*Prep: *

·         Pss 131, 46

·         POC I, II, prayer sermons

·         Bon.

76-89

·         Skim: OPW, Sacred Pathways, Connection sermon

 

 

*Intro*

 

So far in this series on community, we have talked about how vital community is for growth and for living the Christian walk.

Today we explore a seemingly *paradoxical* *statement*.

·         If we cannot be alone with God, we will not be able to be with him in community.

*Solitude* is vital for *community*.

This series has been in part a *correcting* to our culture has an *overemphasis* on “*personal* *faith*,” but even this was a *corrective* to a previous overemphasis on the *faith* of the *community*, via the Catholic Church.

·         An important effect of the *Reformation* was to bring faith back to the lives of the individual.

It is also possible to have an *unhealthy* *reliance* on community, especially when you use the community to *vicariously* provide what you need to *find* by *yourself*.

In this sermon, we will first look at the *importance* of *solitude* and being *alone* with *God*, for both the *individual* and the *community*.

After that, we will look at some *practical* *habits* and disciplines doing so.

*Prayer*

 

Help us examine ourselves and our busyness, even with good things, and see if we need to slow down and be with You.

*codependent community?*

One major source for this series has been Bonhoeffer’s *Life* *Together*, a classic work on true Christian community, written while he was leading an *underground* *seminary* in Nazi Germany.

·         He devotes an entire chapter (out of five) to “The Day Alone.”

“Let him who *cannot* be alone *beware* of community.

He will only do *harm* to himself and to the community.”

There are many *similarities* between *family* and *community*.

It is a vital part of our lives and if we grow up without one, our growth will be *severely* *stunted*.

·         Also like a family, it’s possible to have a *dysfunctional* attachment and for a community to be *enabling* and *codependent*.

·         In order for us to be a *healthy* *part* of a community, we must be healthy when we are *alone*.

*More for some*

 

This sermon is a *balance* and *corrective*, which means that it will speaks more to some than others.

Some of you are plenty fine alone, and need to be encouraged into community.

·         Even still, we all can *improve* our time alone with God.

 

 

*Delight yourself in god*

 

The main purpose of this sermon is to encourage each us to develop a *closer* *personal* *relationship* with God and a healthy *inner* *life*, for the *sake* of the community

 

·         Obviously this is *not* the *ultimate* *purpose* of developing a closer relationship – it is the *ends* to *itself*:

 

*Psalm 37:4*  Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.

·         In other words, as you find that God is your *highest* *delight*, you will be *rewarded* with *more* of him.

·         But this series is about *community*, so we’re looking at the role of the *personal* *relationship* to the *entire* *community*.

*A rich inner life*

 

*Gordon* *MacDonald* wrote a book Ordering Your Private World that talks about this very subject: The importance of being *whole* and *healthy*, *connected* with God, on the *inside*, where no one sees.

He describes it as having a “*rich* *inner* *life*.”

Q   Would *you* describe yourself as having a “rich inner life”?

Q   When you go *home* and are by *yourself*, is there still life, *depth*, and *vibrancy*, or do you feel *empty*?

MacDonald describes this as a *private* *garden*, cultivated solely for your time with God, a thing too *private* and *personal* to be shared, a place of peace and calm, of *being* not *doing*.

King David spoke about this:

 

My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty;

I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me.

But I have stilled and quieted my soul;

like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me.

O Israel, put your hope in the LORD both now and forevermore.*

Psalm 131:1-3 NIV*

 

·         David is quite clear about a “*weaned*” child because they do not need anything, just *content* to be there.

Q   Do *you* have as hard time with this as *me*?

For many of us, *quieting* our souls is no *small* *task*.

It’s almost *painful* to stop and do nothing, and to *calm* our *mind* and *wait*.

Why?

Because we are doing anything, which means we have to *trust* God to do it *all*.

·         We have to remember it’s okay to do *nothing*.

·         Some need to remember it’s okay to do something!

This *call* to *quietness* is founded upon *trust* in God.

For us to slow down requires that we trust that God is in *control*, hence we put our hope in God, *not* *ourselves*.

The challenge of being alone with God is to *trust* him and find our *nourishment* from him, not our *own* *effort*.

That is not to say that effort is not involved, but it is about what God does, not what we do.

*A barren inner life*

 

But what if our inner life is *barren*?

What if we afraid to *slow* *down* enough to feel the *emptiness*, the *distance* from God, the *loneliness* and *pain*?

We might be able to *continue* at *that* *pace* for some time, but sooner or later it will *catch* *up* with us.

And it usually happens at a time of *crisis*, so we will find ourselves in the greatest need, but *without* the *resources* to thrive through it.

The *danger* of *community* for the person who cannot be alone and has a barren inner life is that it can become a *drug* to *numb* the pain or a *band* *aid* to *cover* the real problem.

·         We also use *busyness* of *all* *sorts* to ignore the emptiness.

·         That is why Bonhoeffer says community harms the person who cannot be alone.

“One who wants fellowship without solitude plunges into the void of *words* and *feelings*.”

As moving as *worship* might be, or as great as Community Group *discussion* may be, they could simply be a *distraction*.

·         This is very like *marriage*: You cannot have a healthy marriage unless you are healthy alone.

*Harms the community*

 

So how does lack of a healthy inner life harm the community?

1.

Robs us of what God would have you *contribute* to the community through you.

I have defined community as a place where you “*belong*, *grow*, and *serve*.”

You have a *part* to *play* and a place to serve that no one else can.

*1 Corinthians 12:18-21 *  18 But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.  19 If they were all one part, where would the body be?  20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!”

And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!”

So we *all* *need* what the *other* has to offer, but it has to flow from an *abundance* of what is inside.

*Matthew 12:34-35 * For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.

35 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.

·         And the *empty* man brings *emptiness*.

2.

Causes you to be a *drain* up of the community.

Not only do we lose what that one person has to offer, but we have to work harder to carry to *carry* the *dead* *weight*.

·         The entire *body* *suffers* when one part is weak, like trying to walk with a *leg* that has *fallen* *asleep*.

Have you ever talked to a person and prayed with them, thinking that you were really able to help them, only to see them 2 weeks later in the *exact* *same* *situation*?

People like that can *empty* an entire *home* *group*.

If you look to the *community* to give what you are supposed to get *from* *God*, you will be a *continuous* *drain*, and you will *not* ever get *healed*, only getting a salve or band aid.

·         And you may end up *bitter* at the community for what is really your *own* *fault*.

Community is kind of like *AAA*, or other *roadside* *assistance* programs.

They are very clear that “It is not intended as a *solution* for a *pre*-*existing* *condition* or a substitute for *proper* *maintenance*.”

They don’t mind towing you *once* in a *while*, but if keep getting your car towed instead of fixing it, they will *cut* *you* *off*.

·         Ask me how I know.

A community should be very willing to help you through a *rough* *time*, and as part of the community *you* will in *turn* have a chance to *help* *another*.

·         But we can’t be towing someone *everywhere*.