The Unified Life

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

March 1, 1998

by Dave Wilkinson

If you were here in worship on November 12, 1995 you had the privilege of hearing a guest preacher named John Ortberg. John is now a teaching pastor at the Willow Creek Church in Illinois. If you were here when he spoke to our congregation, you remember how John has a great ability to combine offbeat humor with a penetrating analysis of spiritual issues.

Late last year John wrote a book called "The Life You’ve Always Wanted." We’ve made it available at our Fifty Day Book Table I encourage you to pick up a copy this morning. It’s well worth a read.

In this book, Ortberg frames the issues we face as we seek to live a unified Christian life. He writes:

"Since my job involves teaching about spiritual life, I find myself often returning to a single question: Is the life I’m inviting other people to live the life I'm living myself?

"I'll tell you about one of the first times this question struck me. Some years ago we were taking our three pre-school age children to KinderPhoto, for a pre-Christmas family portrait This is the kind of experience that can overwhelm a pre-schooler, because you have to hold still and look happy for an extended period of time, and to not be frightened by strange people and bright lights.

We went through several stages. The first is a kind of naive optimism ("This will be fun.") That faded pretty quickly. The next stage was bribery ("Mrs. Fields is right next door. You kids pose well for this shot and you can get anything you want.") Then came outright threats ("When I said smile I meant smile. Do you want me to give you something to smile about?" This is not an effective way to get authentic-looking smiles). By now a dozen or so other families are watching us while waiting for their turns, and their children are being rapidly demoralized, so the crying is becoming epidemic. I know what the other parents are thinking.

Finally, I pulled aside one of our daughters who was most distressed -- shoulders heaving, eyes red, tears running down her little green velvet dress, I thought of what would calm her: "Honey, I'll bet Daddy knows what you want," I said in my most comforting voice. "I'll bet right now you wish you had Baby Tweezers."

(Baby Tweezers was her favorite doll; her confidante, companion, and port of safe harbor in times of storm. Mallory had named the doll herself. We're not sure about the origin of the name. She was not a forceps delivery child.) "Do you wish you had Baby Tweezers here?" Not trusting herself to talk for fear the sobs would start again she shook her head violently, a deep longing for Baby Tweezers welling up in her little pre-school soul.

"Well honey," I went on, "if you ever want to see Baby Tweezers alive again..."

"It wasn't until the next day, reflecting on this moment, that I realized my concern was not my kids, their fears or worries. It was about my inconvenience, and my need to look in control. Why was I so angry? Where did this impatience come from? How was it that I was so busy and preoccupied I had no time to love my children?

And eventually the question took this form: "Is the life I'm inviting people to live the life I'm living myself?." Why was I so often driven, unsettled, anxious, angry, envious, and exhausted? I tell people that it is worth sacrificing everything to enter into Jesus' way of life. But the danger is that I get so caught up in the little project I call my life that I become competitive, frazzled, over committed, and resentful. I sacrifice the very life that I'm trying to convince others to sacrifice everything for!

"But with Jesus, it was not that way. He invited people to live in a kingdom marked by truth, courage, joy, and love; and that's the kind of life He himself led-- even though He lived a fully human life. For all the demands on His time and energy, He pursued a rhythm of engagement and withdrawal that kept Him constantly connected to the Father. He was never too hurried to respond in love. He simply embodied his message. The life He invited people to live was the life He lived himself. And that life is what he offers still. His plan is that you and I do the same."

Deuteronomy 6 says: "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with your entire being, and with all your might. And these words, which I am commanding you this day, shall be in your own mind and heart; Then you shall whet and sharpen them, so as to make them penetrate, and teach and impress them diligently upon the minds and hearts of your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up. And you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as forehead bands between your eyes. And you shall write them upon the door posts of your house and on your gates."

God never intended for us to have faith only on Sundays. In fact, he wants us to live for Him 24 hours a day, seven days a week. He says that the things of the Lord should be on our minds when we go to sleep and when we get up.

Our faith in God should be like a sign on our hands. Everything our hands touch, including our employment, should bring glory to God. Christians should be the best employees in the workplace.

Our commitment to God's Word should be like a forehead band between our eyes. The Jewish people often wore Scripture in little boxes on their foreheads. Everything our mind thinks about should bring glory to God.

Our devotion to God should be evident in our homes. The precepts of God are to be written upon the door posts of our homes. We need more than a Sunday morning religion. If Christ came home with you today after worship, what would he find? How many things would we have to put away? What videos would we hide? Would our language change? Everything about our homes should bring glory to God.

But none of this is possible unless one thing happens first. Deuteronomy 6:6 says that God's Word must be first in your mind and heart. If God's Word is not first in your own heart and mind, it will never be first in the workplace. It will never be first in your home. It will never be first with your children. You can not share something you do not have.

We are the new people of God. We need to live like who we are.

The theme of this week’s Fifty Day Spiritual Adventure is on what it looks like for us to live as Christians -- not just here in church for a few hours on Sunday morning but twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. We are looking at this theme this morning and many of you will explore it in depth in your small groups.

It’s a very good theme. Its a solid, biblical theme.

But I have a problem with all of this in the context of out 50 day Adventure.

As I have looked at this twenty four hour a day, seven day a week theme,

I have been struck by the question: "In what way is this a resource for tapped out Christians?" On the surface at least it sounds like a whole lot more expectation on people who already feel burdened with too much expectation. In what way is this 24/7 theme "good news?"

As I have reflected on this question it seems to come down to the fact God that calls us to a life of wholeness -- and that it takes a lot more energy to live a life that is spiritually divided than it takes to live a life that is spiritually unified.

Let me explain what I mean.

If you are living a life that is spiritually divided, you have to think about how to act. If you act one way with your buddies from school or work and another way with your friends from church. You always have to remember who you are with and what language and behavior go with each group. And if, heaven forbid, you end up with friends from church and your buddies in the same place at the same time, you will have to figure out a third way to act -- one that will keep both groups happy. That’s a lot of work. It’s a lot less stressful to be able to be the same person no matter who you’re with.

It’s the same way with lying Lying is hard work. When you tell lies you have to remember who you told what story to; keep it consistent, and keep people with different versions apart from each other. In the long run, it’s much less stressful to tell the truth.

A third downside to a spiritually divided life is the intense dissonance we can experience between the people we are and the people we claim to be. It puts a strain on us. Sometimes this strain becomes so intense that it can cause a person to check out on the church entirely.

People sometimes blame the church for not meeting their needs. That’s the version for public consumption. But very often the private truth is that there is something in their lives that they know is displeasing to God. It’s amazing how young people often claim to have lost their faith just about the time they’ve moved in with their boyfriend or girlfriend. They haven’t lost

their faith. They just don’t like what their faith is saying. They don’t want to stop what they’re doing. So it’s seemingly easier to try to silence God’s voice by staying away from worship and keeping away from His word.

Living a spiritually divided life is very hard. It’s destructive. But the promise of God is that if we do it His way we will experience a life and relationships that are full and rewarding. The question is, do we trust God enough, and believe that he knows us well enough, to try it.

Before the national boundaries were surveyed between Vietnam and Laos, the kings of the two countries used a simple method to determine who would collect taxes from people living in their border regions. Those who ate short-grain rice, built their houses on stilts, and decorated them with Indian-style serpents were considered Laotians, while those who ate long-grain rice, built their houses on the ground, and decorated them with Chinese-style dragons were Vietnamese. Where these people lived was less important than how they lived.

The way we live outside these walls tells all the world to what kingdom we belong. God has claimed up to be His own. That claim is what the Lord’s Supper is all about. We are the People of God -- and God calls us to a life that is spiritually unified -- a life that shows who we are by the way we live.

God calls us to this with the promise that it really works. It’s not another burden. It’s freedom.