Every morning, whether you are consciously aware of it or not, you have a routine.
Tag: talk
Let there be Light!
Readings:
- Genesis 1: 2-3
…And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
- Mark 1:4-11
4 John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. … 8 I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.
Another version that I read of Mark 1, verse 4 says:
“So, John the Baptizer appeared in the wilderness, calling for baptism and a change of heart that lead to forgiveness of sins.”
- Acts 19:1-7
And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them
Without the power of the Spirit, there is no light! And without repentance – in other words, “a change of heart”, there is no filling by the Spirit!
I want us to consider two definitions for repentance: first the definition provided by Marcus Borg: repentance is not how we understand the word now (repentance from sins), but rather a “return from exile”. To repent is to enter the kingdom of God: we die to the old way of being and we are “born again” into a new way of being. Matthew uses this same opening: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” So once again, we have this message that our relationship with God is changing: God is near to us (not far away) and that we simply have to turn around and return from exile (separation). But this goes hand in hand with the idea of repentance from sins, if we look at it in the following sense.
Repentance is more than simply asking for forgiveness or confessing that we have done something wrong and saying sorry. I read this morning
Saying “I’m sorry” is something anyone can do. Sorry doesn’t require change, only an acknowledgement that you messed up. Sorry is a way out of a problem, not the beginning of a new path. …Simply saying “I’m sorry” allows that a problem exists, but does nothing to bring about a genuine change of heart.
The idea of metanoia, which has been translated as repentance, is one of admission to God of our deep sorrow for the pain and hurt caused by our actions and sins, and a resolve to change our way of being and life to act correctly in the future. It is adopting a new way of life, a new way of being.
A little bit like trying to lose weight and get fit, as many of us do at the beginning of every year: but the reality is that it isn’t enough to go on a diet. We need to change our lifestyle and adopt a new lifestyle that allows us to be healthy and fit. It is a complete changing of our ways: adopting new eating habits, adopting a new morning routine, perhaps starting each morning with warm lemon water. And the first weeks and months of this new way of life are a struggle: you feel like you are on a diet, rather than adopting a new lifestyle. But you also are aware that if you go back to your “normal habits” you will go back to that weight and that body that you were trying to improve.
David admits: He struggles with addiction. He is determined to beat his habit but gives in, feels bad, intends to make a change, but ends up slipping time and again. When he does, it deeply hurts his wife and children. He sees the pain in their faces and feels bad that he has hurt them. David is remorseful but not repentant.
Regret and remorse have consequences, but do not necessarily address the wrong-doing of those consequences. People get caught and can feel remorse because there are consequences to their actions. For example, you can speed down the highway, get caught and feel remorse. But you may not feel repentant over the speeding. You have remorse because you received a ticket. The ticket temporarily slows you down, but eventually you creep back up to that speeding level.
Repentance would be sticking to the speed limit, rather than speeding. Repentance for alcoholism is getting into rehab, and then once out changing the lifestyle he has so that he has more human connection and less need to give into the addiction. Repentance would be living a new way of life, in spite of his weakness and addiction.
The same is true spiritually for us. It is not enough for us to be sorry or feel guilty for our sins. This feeling of guilt or remorse achieves nothing for us! Being sorry or feeling remorse is not enough either. To repent is not simply an emotional act, but rather requires a change of moral purpose, and requires regret of the past and pursuit of a new direction.
2 Corinthians 7:10 explains this as follows:
For godly sorrow produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly sorrow produces death.
The Message explains this a little better:
Distress that drives us to God does that. It turns us around. It gets us back in the way of salvation. We never regret that kind of pain. But those who let distress drive them away from God are full of regrets, end up on a deathbed of regrets.
It’s not enough to regret what you did. Repentance is about turning things around and living life a completely new way! Repentance is adopting a new way of thinking, it is a change of mind, transformation of your mind and thoughts, deciding to live your life with a new purpose. It is interesting that baptism is an immersion to complete saturation: it can just as well be immersion in a transformed mind and way of thinking, and not simply immersion in water. Water is simply symbolic of this immersion to change. The purpose of baptism by John was repentance: to bring about a change of mind, a change of way of being. The water baptism symbolizes a cleansing process, the letting go of the old way of being.
The fundamental idea with this repentance is not sorrow or remorse: it is change. But profound and deep change: not just a change superficially of our actions to follow the rules, but rather as Jesus taught us, a profound change of being. There’s a reason that Jesus spoke of forgiveness being not 7 times, but rather 7 times 70 (7X70) times (490) – because you need to be sorry and forgive yourself this many times in order to truly change your way of thinking and being regarding a certain situation or action. This repentance is the first step in the realization of Truth and knowing God. The Word (Jesus) dissolves, breaks up and washes away all thoughts of the material world. And it leaves us as spiritual beings that need and hunger to be connected with Spirit.
We all want light in our lives, we all know that Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Light. We all know that after the baptism of repentance, we make room for the baptism of Spirit. But are you willing to pay the cost for this power and light – filling of the Spirit?
What am I talking about? Why am I talking about paying the cost? Isn’t this a free gift? Yes, the indwelling Spirit of God is a gift: but throughout the Gospels, Jesus would say to the sick or the blind or the lepers that he healed: “Go and sin no more.” The healing that took place was a physical and spiritual healing: and this required a new way of life and being! And you: have you had this transformation? Are you working out your salvation with fear and trembling?
… for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13)
And so, we are told as children of God to do everything without grumbling, murmuring, complaining, arguing, hesitation or disputing. (Philippians 2:14) Everything. What does this “everything” refer to? God’s will and God’s work for God’s good pleasure: because it is God who works in you to will and to work. THEN you will shine like stars, a bright light in this world, full of Spirit, and showing to all the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self-control.
Every Christian is indwelt by the Spirit, but every Christian does not heed the direction and instruction of the Spirit in their lives. Some Christians are still caught up listening to their material needs, their fears, their ego, their selfish ways. But those guided by the Spirit can rest in the assurance that God’s good will be done. Those who are spiritual “live by the Spirit” (Gal. 5:16), that is, they walk, or live their life, in the power of the Holy Spirit.
God says in Genesis 1 – “Let there be light” – and Jesus says to us in Matthew 5: 14
You are the light of the world.
Not Jesus – YOU! A city on a hill cannot be hidden. And if the Spirit fills you, that light cannot be hidden! So – let your light, of a changed way of being, of thinking, of speaking, of acting be the beacon of light that draws others to God.
Sermon: Handling Failure
Last week’s sermon focused on Isaiah 49, verses 1 to 7 and in particular verse 4.
But my work seems so useless! I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose!
As part of that sermon, we looked at the warning that Jesus gave the disciples on the night of the betrayal, that on this night ALL of them would desert him. Which they did after the was arrested, in spite of Peter’s assertion that while everyone else might desert Jesus, he would be faithful. And we watched Peter fail.
I reminded you that Jesus expected them to fail and wasn’t judging them for their weakness. In fact, he knew it was a lesson that they needed to learn. I ended that sermon asking the following 2 questions, that I would like to address this morning:
How do you handle failure? What do you do in the face of fear?
The first thing I would like to remind all of us is that we don’t grow through our successes: we learn from our mistakes and failures. Think of Peter, and his many mistakes and opportunities to learn:
- This is the disciple that gets out of the boat and starts sinking when he takes his eyes off Jesus and looks at the storm
- The one that rebuked Jesus for talking about his crucifixion and death
- Was told “Get behind me Satan” by Jesus
- Promised that he would never desert Jesus and yet denied him 3 times
- Even doubted when he saw the empty tomb!
Failure… and yet this was the rock on which Christ chose to build the church! Because he got back up and learnt from those mistakes.
John Maxwell wrote a book a good few years ago now titled “Failing Forward: how to make the most of your mistakes”. If you haven’t read it, I would encourage you to scrounge a copy and take time to learn how to make better mistakes! Sorry – how to make the most of the mistakes you’ve made.
I would start with looking at 2 aspects of the mistakes and failures in our lives:
- How do you view your failure?
- How do you respond to your failure?
HOW DO YOU VIEW YOUR FAILURE?
There are 2 ways we can look at our mistakes and our failures.
We can react like Adam and Eve: It was the serpent’s fault, it was the woman you gave me who caused this, and play the blame game. Maybe it was your staff’s fault, the secretary, the economy, the supplier that failed to deliver on time. Many times, we try to hide or conceal our failures, living our lives covering up or becoming prisoners of pretense. It’s hard to learn from something that you are hiding from!
Or we can look at it like David: “I have sinned”, with true repentance in his heart.
The second part of looking at and viewing your failure, is whether you can look at it as actions and decisions and not circumstances or part of who you are. When David says “I have sinned”, he talking about his actions and his decisions – he doesn’t say “I am a failure, my life is a disaster”. He takes responsibility for his his actions, but doesn’t automatically assume that this is his entire life. He doesn’t take this on as a complete way of being: believing that therefore he can succeed at nothing!
How do you talk about your failure and yourself?
- I just can’t keep going
- I’m ready to quit, walk away and not look back
- Why are people always doing this to me?
- Why does God allow this to happen to me?
- I’m just such a failure, idiot, etc.
- I’m so stressed, I just can’t handle this.
- There’s just not enough time, there’s no way I could get this done.
- How could I be so stupid? Look at the mess I made!
If you heard someone else talk about you the way you talk about yourself, you would probably stand up for yourself! But we often talk toxicly without even realizing what we’re doing. When you beat yourself up, a blunder or a moment becomes a hurricane of failure!
How you handle setbacks in life will shape you: will you focus on the failure or on the change that you need to make? Will you allow it to define who you are, or choose to become someone that will overcome? Like I mentioned last week, most of the so-called heroes in the Bible were ordinary people who accomplished extra-ordinary things! They were humans who overcame their weaknesses and mistakes and went on to learn to do greater things.
It’s one thing to identify the behavior, actions, attitudes that are wrong and another thing entirely to self-deprecate ourselves. It’s not the same to say “I’m an idiot that just ruined my career”, as saying “That was a really poor choice of words and I could have done better”. Life is much more than just an event or a series of events: no one is a total failure and no one falls all the time.
This season, this moment does not have to be final: if you throw in the towel, it’s final. But a ball game isn’t over until the last man is out!
I’d like us all to try a little experiment this morning, to show you the power of your words.
HOW DO YOU RESPOND TO FAILURE OR MISTAKES?
If you have viewed your failure as “it was inevitable”, or “there was nothing I could do” or “it was someone else’s fault”, there’s a strong possibility that you could allow anger, bitterness or resentment to grow inside, and be destined to repeat the same mistake again. If we live on the defensive, like King Saul in 1st Samuel, justifying ourselves and our actions, it’s hard to learn the lessons.
In particular, when we look at King Saul, we find someone who never takes responsibility for his mistakes – I didn’t keep the animals alive, the people did. I only did it because the people pressured me to do it. And more so, his “repentance”, if you can call it that, seems to have no interest in the cause (or why he really did it) and therefore no cure for it! One of the beauties of poor decision making is that if you can identify the cause of your weakness, you can make better decisions in the future.
Remember this:
“A mistake repeated more than once is a decision.”
“Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
Or you can choose to learn from this, growing wiser and making better decisions in the future. We can look at why we failed and when we failed. We may have to follow back a chain of events to get to that first decision that set us up on the wrong path. The decision we put off when we should have made a choice.
But when we admit our failures, we conquer pride. There’s possibilities of change.
We read in Isaiah 9, verse 2 earlier:
“ºThe people who walked in darkness have seen a a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness on them light has shined.”
Now, it’s true that the process of learning, picking yourself up, dusting yourself off and getting back into the game may be painful. I never promised that it wouldn’t hurt a little! But I’m saying it will be worth it! The kid on the bike may have grazed his knees, those of you who are still working out and getting fit as part of your 2017 resolutions are still feeling the pain in your muscles as you train!
Hebrews 12, verses 11 to 13 remind us:
“All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight the paths for your feet…”
Become more like Christ will stretch you – and stretching will take you outside of your comfort zone. It’s going to be uncomfortable and sometimes even painful. God uses everything in our lives to transform us into the people He means for us to be – mistakes and failures should be responded to as learning experiences, rather than being considered character traits. It’s not who you are – it’s what you did or what happened to you.
THERE IS ALWAYS A THIRD WAY – AVOIDANCE
Some people will do anything not to fail, even doing nothing. The person who does nothing will certainly not fail… they risk nothing. But there is no gain, no lesson, no wisdom to be gained in sitting on the sidelines! They become just like the servant in Matthew 25 that hid his talents in the ground, well at least I’ll still have them!
They say that the only thing worse than a quitter is the man that is afraid to begin! Achieving low aims, low goals, can be a greater failure than aiming for a higher target, and missing! You will always miss 100% of the shots what you fail to take!
Have you ever heard anyone say: “I achieved everything I have because I am a perfectionist.”? Probably not! That’s because it’s not until you are free to fail that you are free to succeed and do greater things!
I want to close this morning with the analogy of an acorn. When an acorn looks at itself and the possibilities that life offers, it may see itself just as an acorn, or it may dream of one day becoming an oak tree. So you take that acorn, and you throw it in the ground, maybe you put a little dirt over it. It’s not very nice to have dirt thrown on you!
That acorn may choose that it’s not willing to change, and it’s not willing to let go of being an acorn. But in order to become an oak tree, that acorn needs to die! It has to die to its littleness and smallness and embrace the idea that God gave it the divine possibility of becoming a great oak. But becoming a great oak means letting go of what it is right now. Being willing to let God transform it into something completely new and different.
You can either choose to hold onto and embrace who you are today and your ideas of what you are, or you can embrace the vision that God has of who he would have you be, letting go of what you are today, risking failure in order to learn, moving outside of your comfort zone, and taking a chance of becoming that strong oak that God envisions you being.
Lets pray!
Divine Presence: Letting the Infinite flow in my life 