April 13

Transforming the CORE: The Mind, Part II

April 13, 2008 Rev. William “Buck” Day

Well, we want to turn to God’s word and we are going to be looking at a new version called Glaciations. I think that is just a little Freudian slip just because of our weather lately. It is actually Galatians and it is from chapter 5. So I invite you to follow along with me.

(Galatians 5:16-25)

Live by the Spirit I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh. For these are opposed to each other to prevent you from doing what you want. …Now the works of the flesh are obvious. …By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. … And those that belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live be the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.

This is God’s word for us today. Would you join me in prayer?

Lord, we do thank you for your word and we thank you for this church. We thank you for music. We thank you for the way you are moving in amongst us. So quicken our hearts to hear what you have for us this day. We ask that because of Christ our Savior. Amen.

Well, this is one of my favorite weekends of the year. I know someone else already talked to me about that. This is Masters’ weekend. It is the Masters Golf Tournament and it is a chance to see one of the most beautiful golf courses in America, probably also one of the more difficult golf courses, being tackled by the world’s best golfers. The members of Augusta National Golf Club, which is the name of the course where the Masters is played, work very hard to put on a good tournament, and they do; but they also work very hard to control every element of that tournament. They control things like what the course looks like, the condition of the course. They control things like the clothes that the caddies have to wear. They control things like who and what kind of television coverage you are going to see, as well. My mother-in-law, before she passed away, we had this kind of running dialogue every time it was the Masters weekend. The dialogue was that I believed that there was a certain part of the television coverage that was a little suspect for me. If you have ever watched the Masters tournament you will notice every now and then there are birds singing in the background. It’s not all the time, but it is just kind of one of those times when it might be appropriate; and I would say to my mother-in-law, “You know, they are just adding that to the sound. That’s a sound track that they are just adding over, all in the desire to create this almost Shangri-La idyllic kind of perfect golf environment.” And she would go, “No, no, no, Buck. They don’t do that.” “Yeah, they do. Yeah, they do, mom. Yeah, they do.” “No these are real birds and they are just picking them up on microphones.” So we would go back and forth every time this weekend would come on, and I invite you as you watch the tournament today, if you are going watch as I know I am, and I know Alan is going to, I invite you to listen. Listen, not for the commentators, listen to what is in the background, and then judge for yourself.

Whoever wins the Masters tournament at the end of the day today will be crowned Masters champion and will be given the fabled green jacket, along with the Masters’ logo. The winner will have been considered to have mastered Augusta National Golf Course. And that’s a good thing, isn’t it? When we master something, we kind of hold that up as a good thing. But when we are mastered by something, that takes a very ominous turn, doesn’t it? It has a potential to be something very dangerous. Our feelings are one of those kinds of things. Our feelings can be very good servants to us but it becomes disastrous when they become our masters.

Today we want to continue a series that Stew started last week on Transforming the Core. We are talking about spiritual transformation, and this is building on something we did a couple weeks ago before Easter, if you remember, the Essence of the Core, in terms of V.I.M., remember the acronym V.I.M.? Vision, Intention and Means. Well what we are going to do now, we are going to take that, V.I.M., and apply it to our transformation in the six areas that Dallas Willard lays out as the dimensions of a human in his book, Renovation of the Heart. The dimensions are the mind, the will, the body, the social context, and the soul. These are from Willard’s book, Renovation of the Heart, and we are using that as background information. I also talked about this, a companion book called Renovation of the Heart in Daily Practice. It is taking what is in his book, which is way more than what we have time to cover, and it kind of breaks it down into individual, more applicable bites, about sixty of them. I’m guessing that if you go through these, maybe one a day, when you get done you will want to go through it again. So I highly recommend this Renovation of the Heart in Daily Practice to you, as well.

So, Stew got us rolling by looking at the Mind and, in particular, he was focusing on our thoughts and our images as a part of that. Today I take the next step and we kind of continue to explore the mind by looking at feelings and what that is all about. So as we jump into that area I want to say right out of the gate, we are in an uphill battle. We are in an uphill battle because the world, and sadly many of us in the church as well, allow our feelings to become our primary source for making decisions. Our feelings all too often become the masters in how we live our lives. Our thoughts and our will, which we will talk about in two weeks, are secondary. They become governed by our feelings.

Let me show you how pervasive this is in our world. Complete this sentence for me. If it feels good,________. Do it, right? That is the mantra that much of the people in our world live by. If it feels good, do it. If it feels good, do it. I saw a recent study that said by a three to one margin adults believe that truth is always relative to a person’s situation. When that same question was applied to teenagers, the rate is even higher. People are making moral and ethical choices based on whether it feels right, whether they are comfortable in that situation. We have confused our feelings with reasoning. If you think about it, much of the addictions that we have come from this desire of wanting to feel something. When we are addicted to something and it doesn’t give us the same feeling that it did before, what do we do? We increase the addiction, whatever that is, don’t we? We think about that around drugs and alcohol but it also applies to other things we are addicted to – things like food, things like shopping, things like sex. There are people that cut themselves on purpose. They are known as cutters, or the practice is known as cutting. It is usually seen among teenagers; and lots of times the reason teenagers, or whoever is doing the cutting, are cutting themselves is because they want to feel something. When you talk to them they say, “You know I don’t feel anything, and so I would rather feel pain than feel nothing.” How sad is it when we don’t feel anything; because we are called to feel, that is part of how God wired us up. Feelings are not bad, in fact, they are welcomed. We were created to have feelings. They move us, just like they did with our music today. That is part of the feeling. We like being moved like that. It makes us feel alive. So having feelings is essential for us. It is essential for a healthy, well-ordered life and denying and repressing our feelings, which some people do, can be just as dangerous as allowing our feelings to control us.

For when feelings become our master they tend to spread into the other of the six areas of our lives that we saw a moment ago. They change the overall tone of the person and how they live in the world. Have you ever thought, or maybe you have heard it said, “You know, that person is really hard to reason with.” I think that happens in those people because their mind has been taken over by their feelings. As a result they will serve those feelings; they will defend those feelings, at all cost, even if it means denying logic and reason. Hebrews, and I think it is the twelfth chapter, calls that “the root of bitterness.” I think that is what they are talking about there.

So as we begin to think about this notion of feelings and transforming our feelings so they begin to reflect Christ’s feelings, that can be a really daunting undertaking as we begin to think about that. Because we all know, and Stew even said it last week, we can’t simply redirect our feelings by will power. We can’t will ourselves to stop feeling something or to will something else. I think if we are all honest with ourselves, we also have to acknowledge, and we probably know in our heart of hearts, that we give into our feelings much more than we ought to.

So what is the next step then? What is this process of trying to transform our feelings? Well I think they’re hinted at in this scripture right here from Ephesians, chapter 1. This is the King James version and I like this version just because of the way it is phrased. It says:

You are accepted in the beloved. (Isn’t that wonderful? You are accepted in the beloved.) You are favored. You are blessed. You are made lovely in Jesus Christ.

And focusing on our divine relationship with him, when we focus on this notion of being “accepted in the beloved”, then we focus on that that provides then a foundation, a foundation for the reconstruction of positive moods in our mind. Maybe you heard a little bit in the video, they were talking a little about moods and a mood is simply good or bad, We all have moods, both good and bad, and they simply are the feelings that pervade ourselves and everything around us. It is kind of an aura that kind of walks around with us when we are in a good mood or a bad mood. So the first step, I think, is instead of trying to repress or deny what we are feeling, and those destructive feelings that I think come over all of us at some point in our lives, and as a result maybe even control us, rather than going down that avenue, we go down another avenue, an avenue that is based on being “accepted in the beloved.” That other avenue is to replace those destructive feelings with thoughts and their associated feelings. Notice how thoughts and feelings go together -- replacing destructive thoughts with positive or constructive thoughts and their associated feelings that reflect our understanding of who we are in Christ. “You are accepted in the beloved.”

As we take those constructive feelings and they take root, what they do is they begin to replace those destructive feelings. Those destructive feelings are things like fear, anger, unsatisfied desires, wounded ness, rejection. And these positive feelings as they are brought in, as we understand who we are in Christ, they begin to act as a wedge and begin to move into our heart and mind and begin to push out those destructive feelings. They crowd them out so they no longer have the room to operate that they once did. Those positive and constructive feelings come from this – from the understanding of who we are in Christ, his view of us as his beloved, as his beloved.

I think that process has a couple different approaches to it. It is kind of twofold, based on allowing the fruits of the Spirit, which we read in our scripture today, to take root; and, in particular, we are going to focus on those top three, love, joy and peace. Those then become the piece we want to build up; but secondly, it is also knowing then that the foundation that undergirds those are faith and hope. That is the starting point on which we have to build. Those are, if you will, the footings upon which love, joy and peace and the rest of the fruits of the Spirit can begin to take hold.

Romans 5:1-5

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

So with that as you can read there, from Romans 5, we want to start with that notion of faith and hope. There are lots of places in the bible that talk about that but I like these first five verses out of Romans.

And we start with this in Romans and it says, faith in Christ – that is the starting point – since you are “justified by faith,” faith in what? Faith in Christ -- that is the starting point for us. We have to answer that question, where is my faith? Is it in Jesus or is it in myself? That has to be answered and then, once that is answered, it begins to bring us to a point of beginning to understand some things about God. It begins to help us see that, you know what? God is good. God actually has my best interest at heart, and God gives me unending grace. As we think about grace, grace is for sure that idea of being forgiven from our sins and Christ’s penalty on the cross for us. That is all great stuff too; but grace comes in lots of other ways, very tangible, very real, very concrete ways grace is given into our lives every day. That is the grace that we begin to see being poured into our lives as well. As we begin to see, you know what? God really is interested in me. Then out of that it brings hope, hope that God’s goodness, God’s grace, is going to serve as the foundation, the basis, for my life going forward in eternity. That then, in turn, allows my character to be open to change; so that when things like suffering come into my life, I am not ravaged by them but rather I can see them as a good thing. They are a good thing because I know God has my best interest at heart. All things work for good, all things, even suffering, work for good for those who love Christ.

That results in hope. That results in hope and hope begins to invade our lives and hope does not disappoint us, because God has been pouring his love into us through the Holy Spirit. And all of that then reinforces this notion of being “accepted in the beloved,” “accepted in the beloved.” So it is out of that foundation that love, joy and peace lead the fruits of the Spirit. Love is coming to us in all of its fullness. God pours it into our lives through the Holy Spirit. God just continue to pour it into our lives. All too often followers of Christ just keep drinking it in, drinking it in. We need to drink it in, but if we just drink it in we are not doing what God would have us to do with that love. We are to receive it but then we are to also give it back. We are to give it back first to God, and one of the ways we do that is what we are doing right here, worship. When you worship, you are giving love back to God, love you have received. The grace that you have received, you are giving it back to God. But it is also giving it to the people around us. It is giving the love to those around us and that brings joy, and I think that is one of the most powerful things about a short-term mission trip. How many times have we heard, “You know, I got more out of a short-term mission trip than what I gave.” We hear that all the time, don’t we? We do that because we are receiving joy. As we give out in very tangible ways, it comes back to us from those that we serve, and that brings joy. Joy is simply the natural presence of love in our lives. That’s what joy brings. As we give God’s love away, we receive it back and we can give it away to others as well. So it is kind of a continuous loop – as we receive it, we give it out, we receive it back, we give it back – and you can see how it begins to circulate. That brings joy and out of that then comes peace. The peace is the assurance that things will work out. The important thing about this, I think, is that love, joy and peace kind of work together as a tandem; they can’t be separated. When they are brought into our lives, then they have the strength to begin to crowd out those destructive feelings, because we are experiencing who we are in Christ, not in ourselves and how we view ourselves, or how the world views us; but we are looking at ourselves as God looks as us.

So how do we do that? How do we cultivate that love, joy and peace? What does that process look like? Well I might be stating the obvious, but I think we need to say it anyway. And that is that we first have to understand that, in fact, God wants us to experience love, joy and peace. God wants that. That is his desire for us. But then he also acts on that and he wants to give us love, joy and peace. We have to kind of say that, and say that that is part of God’s desire for us. But then practically, start with that foundation -- start with that faith and that hope piece.

Now let’s go back to that very basic, very starting question: Is your faith, is your hope rooted in Jesus Christ? You’ve got to answer that folks. You can’t give it lip service; you can’t do that by simply coming to church on Sunday. You have to say, “Yes, my life is rooted and grounded in Jesus Christ. My life and the way I live my life is based out of my faith, based out of my hope.” You have to settle that question in your own heart and with God. And if you have never done that and you want to talk about that, I will be down here after the service and I would love to talk about that with you. But that has to be settled before any of this goes forward.

Then after that, then you go to love. When I think about going to love, my default is, are we letting God love us? Because I know more often than not, in a room this size, there are for sure some people who just don’t believe that God could love them. “If God only knew what I did, he could never love me.” He knows. “If God only knew what I think about, He would never love me.” He knows. He knows. Are you letting him love you? You are his beloved. You are his child. He gave his Son, not only to pay for the penalty of sin, not only for eternal life, but He gave his Son so that you could be adopted, you could be adopted into His family; so that you are now a son of God, you are now a daughter of God. You are his beloved. You are of utmost importance to Him and there is nothing you can do to change that.

Let me add this other caveat, too. I know this is a little off track, but I want to say it anyway. Think about all the people that you have ever laid your eyes on ever in your life. Just kind of run them through your thoughts right know, kind of a speed video in your head, all the people that you have seen. Every person you have gazed on with your eyes, Jesus loves them too. Jesus wants to call them beloved as well. Jesus wants to adopt them into his family as well. That is how much God wants our love to go out into the world.

So if you are wrestling with this issue of, “Can God really love me?” This is where you ask God to help. You ask God by saying, “God I’m stuck here. Here’s what I am stuck on. I can’t get past (whatever it might be for your situation).” Ask God to help you. He will help you through that. Then once you have kind of settled that piece, then give that love away. Don’t hoard it. Give that love away. Give it away in your attitude. How do you give love away in your attitude? I will let you wrestle with that one. How do you give love away in your prayers? How do you give love away in the area that most of us think about, in our actions? Think about something to do and do it. That’s that intention and means piece we have been talking about. Ask God to show you how to translate love into your life. The result will be joy. The result will be joy and peace that is brought into your daily lives. And have faith. Have faith that God will do that. And then, I think, the hardest thing for many of us is simply coming to terms with what we are feeling. We probably can’t always name what we are feeling because lots of times our feelings get crowded by other thoughts and other feelings, so we can’t really ever get to the root. It gets crowded out by actions as well. And yet Paul calls us to “love without hypocrisy.” “Love without hypocrisy.” So we if have negative feelings for people around us, that is going to prevent that love, joy and peace from ever really taking root the way God wants it to. And those negative feelings can be healed. They can be healed as we name them. Lots of times we just need to name those feelings and give them up to Christ. If you don’t know what you are feeling, you can’t kind of quantify it, that’s where I think the power of God’s word and the ministry of the Holy Spirit have significant power to work together. God’s word is sharper that any two-edged sword; it cuts to the marrow and God’s Spirit will show that and use it in your life to help you find out what you are feeling; where those destructive thoughts are; why you just can’t get past the anger that is so much a part of your life. And as you do that, God will show you and then give it up, give it up to Him, give it up to Him. Power of the word of God and the ministry of the Holy Spirit can do that. The ministry of the word and the Spirit also help if you are wrestling with “Can God love me too?” I just want to say that. That is why it is so important to be in God’s word. That’s why it is so important to be taking it in and allowing the Holy Spirit to work in our lives and be listening for what the Holy Spirit is laying on our hearts. Give yourself away to Jesus, and, as you do, you will begin to recognize your feelings, both as those constructive feelings as well as, perhaps, those destructive feelings. With those destructive feelings you can now agree with Jesus that they are destructive and they lead you down the wrong path and you want to abandon them. For those constructive feelings that come with love, joy and peace as they begin to work themselves into your life, you can celebrate with Christ as well. Write a letter to the Lord. Let Him know you are working on this and ask Him to show you how to make progress. Receive prayer in those places that you get stuck. We have a growing prayer ministry. Part of it is right down here right after the services. Prayer is a great way to kind of move through those hard places. All of us, I think, will admit that feelings have more control over us than we want, and they lead us many times into sinful action. But when we put our perspective squarely on Jesus and his great love for us, it lets us bring his grace and his goodness into our lives so that our feelings can begin to take on the feelings of Christ. Amen.