If you brought your Bible with you I would like to invite you to turn with me to Matthew 6:25-34, where Jesus gives us a very helpful perspective on life.
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, `What shall we eat?’ or `What shall we drink?’ or `What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
This weekend I’ve decided to talk about something that I’ve learned the hard way.... How to burn on without burning out.
I just took a couple weeks off, at least from teaching. One of the reasons I did that, is I used to look at ministry as a sprint. (I wanted to get there fast.) I now look at it as a marathon. (I’d like to get there in one piece).
Because God has been speaking to me about: How to burn on without burning out. Burnout is depletion, tiredness, exhaustion, being worn out, fatigued, frustrated, spent.
On the way up to Mt. Rainier there is a place that they call "Poop Out Point." It’s most of the way up, it’s the place beyond which many don’t make it. I read how on one particular hike, 150 hikers started up Mt. Rainier. Only 7 made it past Poop Out Point. Only 5 made it to the top. On some rare days from the top you can see Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Hood and Mt. Shasta from the top of Mt. Rainier.
Many followers of God do not make it to the breathtaking vistas that God has in store for them, because they poop out along the way. Hikers call it "bonking", or "hitting the wall". Bonking happens when you’ve exhausted your energy and you can’t go on. Hitting the wall is when you lack the oxygen necessary to replenish your muscles to keep going, and all of sudden you find it difficult to make it.
Some of us are at Poop Out Point. You can only borrow from tomorrow’s energy for so long before we have to pay it back.
Jeremy Rifkin is a futurist who wrote Time Wars. He cites 4 reasons many of us are spent:
1) an expanded work week (we now work 81% of our waking hours)
- leisure time is down 37% since 1973
2) technology has complicated our lives rather than simplified them
Mariah Carey just checked herself into a psychiatric ward for a nervous breakdown. The day before she checked herself in, she had 300 messages on her pager.
3) women in the workforce
Not that a woman’s presence makes things more stressful in the workplace, but because women are now in the workplace, our lives are more stressful at home.
4) baby boom (born between 46 and 64)
1/3 of population...simultaneously in their peak work and child-rearing years...sandwiched between caring for kids and parents
[Kristyn and I have a 12 and an 11 year old daughter. We had lunch with an out of town guest from the Bay Area and he said, "Yeah, it’s the American experience."
2000 years ago, Jesus asked 2 questions that still resonate today,
Matthew 6:25: "Isn’t life more important?"
Matthew 6:26: "Aren’t you more valuable?"
They’re rhetorical questions. The answers, of course, are yes and yes.
What Jesus was teaching us was 3 things...
First, to....
1. View burnout as a serious threat to your spiritual well being
I’ve included in your program a Burnout Checklist, developed by Dr. Archibald Hart.
1 = No or little degree of change
2 = Just noticeable degree of change
3 = Noticeable degree of change
4 = Fair degree of change
5 = Great degree of change
Assign a number in the rating column that reflects the degree of change you have experienced in the past year.
1. Do you become more fatigued, tired or "worn out" by the end of the day?
2. Have you lost interest in your present work?
3. Have you lost ambition in your overall career?
4. Do you find yourself becoming easily bored?
5. Do you find that you have become more pessimistic, critical or cynical?
6. Do you forget appointments, deadlines or activities and don’t feel concerned?
7. Do you spend more time alone, withdrawn from friends and family?
8. Has any increase occurred in your general level of irritability or aggressiveness?
9. Has your sense of humor become less obvious to others?
10. Do you become sick more easily (flu, colds)?
11. Do you experience headaches more than usual?
12. Do you suffer from stomach pains?
13. Do you wake up feeling extremely tired and exhausted most mornings?
14. Do you find that you deliberately try to avoid people?
15. Has there been a lessening of your sexual drive?
16. Do you find that you tend to treat people as "impersonal objects"?
17. Do you find that you are not accomplishing anything worthwhile in your work?
18. Do you find that you have lost spontaneity in your personal activities?
19. Do you find that you spend much time each day thinking or worrying?
20. Do you feel that you are at the "end of your tether"?
Interpretation:
20-30 There is no burnout. You may be taking your life or work too casually.
31-45 This is a normal score for anyone who works hard and seriously. Make sure you do relax periodically.
46-60 You are experiencing some mild burnout and could benefit from careful review of your lifestyle.
61-75 You are beginning to experience burnout. Take steps to better control your life.
76-90 You are burning out. You should seek help. Reevaluate your present life and make changes.
Over 90 You are dangerously burned out and need immediate relief. Your burnout is threatening your physical and spiritual well-being.
Jesus said, to get your life back in order, look down at the flowers, and look up at the birds and ask yourself 2 questions,
"Isn’t life more important?" "Aren’t you more valuable?"
View burnout as a serious threat to your spiritual well being
- as a Satanic threat
Tombstone in Uniontown, PA cemetery:
Here lies the body Jonathan Blake
Stepped on the gas instead of the brake
If Satan can’t stop us, by pressing the brake, he’ll try to stop us by getting us to push the gas pedal all the way to the floor.
As I think about the Christians I’ve seen go down, very few of them rusted out. Most of them flamed out.
Satan would have us believe two myths about leisure
1) We can’t afford it (6:25-30)
"What will we drink?"
"What will we wear?"
Jesus: "O you of little faith."
This myth flows from the belief that
* We have to provide for ourselves
- a lack of faith that God will provide for us.
2) We don’t deserve it (6:31-34)
Jesus: "Your heavenly father knows"
This myth flows from the belief that Our Father is a task master
- a lack of faith that God understands us
Leisure -- Latin "to give permission"
Jesus: "God has given you permission. If he’s given permission to the birds and the flowers, he’s given permission to you."
The problem is we have not given ourselves permission. Maybe we will when we begin to view burnout as a serious threat.
2. Learn a rhythmic lifestyle by cultivating your inner life
Matthew 6:32-33
For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
These things -- need a certain amount of our attention.
Not all of our attention.
These things should come in somewhere after
Spirituality -- a heart of worship for God -- is THE thing that will keep your life in perspective...By worship, I’m not just talking about Public Worship but Private Worship
Psalm 19:14
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.
Psalm 51:6
Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
"The Difference"
I got up early one morning
And rushed right into the day;
I had so much to accomplish
That I didn’t have time to pray.
Problems come tumbling about me
And heavier came each task
"Why doesn’t God help?" I wondered;
He answered, "You didn’t ask."
I wanted to see joy and beauty
But the day toiled on gray and bleak;
I wondered why God didn’t show me
He said, "But you didn’t seek."
I tried to come into God’s presence;
I used all my keys at the lock
God gently and lovingly chided
"My child, you didn’t knock."
I woke up early this morning
And paused before entering the day;
I had so much to accomplish,
That I had to take time to pray.
Gordan Dahl: "Most middle class Americans tend to worship their work, to work at their play, and to play at their worship. As a result, their meanings and values are distorted. Their relationships disintegrate faster than they can keep them in repair, and their lifestyles resemble a cast of characters in search of a plot."
A theology of self-care
Jesus, Others, You
The Biblical underpinnings of a Theology of Self-Care
1. Passages that speak about caring for others clearly remind you to care for yourself.
* Philippians 2:4 -- don’t only look at your own interests
* Galatians 6 -- bear others burdens/bear your own burdens
* Matthew 22:39 -- love your neighbor as yourself
2. Jesus was very good at taking care of himself
* 3 months of activity in a 3-year career
(can you imagine if you had the ability to heal anyone)
* didn’t apologize
(disciples....where were you?)
No "I’m sorry, I should have been here for you"
The more responsibility you have, the more proactive you have to be about sharpening the saw. You cannot spend all your time around people and continue to impact them
3. God modeled the sabbath as the rhythm of life
Deut. 5
* 6 parts work, one part rest
- burnout is when every day looks like every other day
To recap....
1. View burnout as a serious threat to your spiritual well being
2. Learn a rhythmic lifestyle by cultivating your inner life
3. Know your limitations and stay within well defined boundaries.
Matt. 6:25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?
Matt. 6:34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Time
Money
Emotions
Strength
The longer you remain outside well defined boundaries, the more depleted you will become. The sooner you get back inside your box, and stay there, the sooner you will be rejuvenated. One of the reasons we are outside the box is we’re not trusting God.
Worry is an attempt to control things that are outside of your control.
Worry is doing more than you should do. The beginning of faith is the end of worry. The beginning of worry is the end of faith.
Rest is a form of spiritual warfare. It means trusting that God is going to do what God is going to do even when you are not doing what you do.
One of my favorite cartoons all time is the Jetsons. The beginning introduces us to this family ("Here’s George Jetson...Jane, his wife....daughter, Judy; son, Elroy, and eventually down to the dog, Astrol) and all the while showing some scenes of their lives...and it looks like utopia.
George flying home from work in his Flying Saucer, in no time at all, with no traffic, to be immediately greeted at the door by a robot housekeeper, who promptly fetches his newspaper, while Jane presses a button and obtains an instant five-course dinner
Everything seems to be pretty utopian until George Jetson goes to walk his dog, Astro...on a treadmill. Disaster strikes....a cat shows up.
I don’t know about you, but I can see myself in that picture. Jesus could see us in that picture too. He said there’s more to life than increasing its speed.
