Game of Thrones
Pt. 4 - The Whole Pie
Introduction
After 1 year we have finally come to the final battle in the attack on the 5 principalities that I identified for us. We have fought isolation, poverty, hopelessness and apathy. Now we square off against compartmentalism.
Compartmentalism is pervasive in our society and apparent in the church. We are literally playing a game of thrones.
I think we come to church and talk, sing, and even pray using the language of the Kingdom . . . Words like Lord, King, sovereign, and Jesus positions Himself to sit down on the throne of not just our church life but rather our entire life and then when He tries to rule over those areas we pull the chair our from under Him. We play a game of thrones. We only allow Him to sit on the throne in areas we choose based on whether we like the blessing and protection that comes from allowing Him to reign. If He tries to offer correction, then we pull the chair.
We have talked about the fact that we struggle from mixture. Good ground mixed with rocky and thorny ground. James implored that this double mindedness or double souledness must come to a stop. It is a daily and constant battle to get rid of the mixture so that it doesn't pollute our well and give place to prevailing and pervading evil.
I am convinced that the only way to accomplish this is to refuse to slice our life up. We have talked about this some. We honestly believe we can cut our lives up into carefully controlled slices and that those slices can stay in their respective areas with no bleed over. Our spiritual slice has no bearing on our social slice so we can do things socially that contradict the standards that we embrace in our spiritual life with no guilt or any understanding of the hypocrisy this presents to those around us. We can lie when it is convenient. Cheat when it benefits us. The spiritual is a segmented slice that has no impact on business practices, entertainment choices, dating, or vice versa. Our spirit man is confined to spiritual matters and we will not allow the Spirit to have any rule or reign over any other area of life.
The only way to do that is to gain a new perspective on life. We must look at the whole pie! Giving everything over to Jesus.
TEXT: Ephesians 6:6-8
Don’t just do what you have to do to get by, but work heartily, as Christ’s servants doing what God wants you to do. And work with a smile on your face, always keeping in mind that no matter who happens to be giving the orders, you’re really serving God. Good work will get you good pay from the Master, regardless of whether you are slave or free.
And then again in:
Colossians 3:17
Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.
Immediately following this passage Paul then goes into that famous section of how husbands are supposed to treat their wife and how wife is supposed to treat husband. He instructs children to obey parents. Then he deals with how a slave is supposed to deal with his master. Then he says this . . .
Colossians 3:25
Keep in mind always that the ultimate Master you’re serving is Christ. The sullen servant who does shoddy work will be held responsible. Being a follower of Jesus doesn’t cover up bad work.
What we are being called to is a complete and total integration of Jesus' authority and dominion into every area of life. Another way to articulate this to fit how we tend to think is Paul is demanding a crossroads or intersection of church and life.
Our perspective seems to be that it isn't spiritual unless it is church. Church = Spiritual.
Paul understood that there is no separation . . . everything we do we do as unto the Lord. In other words . . . everything we do is spiritual.
So, the correct equation is Life = Spiritual.
You are involved in the spiritual at every moment. Every minute. Every second. Everywhere.
Our issue is that we have allowed the structure and the hierarchy of gifting in the church to convince us that ministry is reserved for a select few. So, we have this perspective that ministry is a job rather than gaining the understanding or perspective that every job is a ministry. Or better yet . . . Life is ministry.
We have got to gain a new perspective and rip away the dividing lines. I am not talking about blurring the lines. I am talking about completely removing them.
Just because you do church on Sunday doesn't mean that only Sunday is spiritual.
When you clock in at the burger place, walk into your corner office, set down at the classroom table, respond to your parents, or interact with those around you you are literally being just as spiritual as when you raise your hands, sing, or pray on a Sunday morning. When you are kind to someone in need . . . Spiritual. When you respond to anger with grace . . . Spiritual. When you work hard at your place of employment . . . Spiritual. When you give your best effort . . . Spiritual.
I think that in order to remove every additional throne out of our lives and become single throned we must understand that what we do on Sunday is just the corporate celebration of individuals that have been the church all week long. This isn't an event that is separate or exclusive from the rest of life. It is just a stop we take each week to remind us who is on the throne.
So how do we combat this compartmentalism? We must give Him the whole pie. If He has the whole pie, then that means His attitude must invade my attitude. His joy must invade my work. His work ethic must invade my studies. His grace must invade my relationships.
This sounds good and may even sound easy, but this is extremely difficult. This means that we must stop before every response to a crazy boss or an aggravating parent and submit it to the Lord. We must hesitate before every emotional response or angry rebuttal and submit it to Jesus. We must examine every service opportunity and determine why we do it and for whom we are doing it. Our calendar must be invaded by Jesus.
We need a Jesus invasion into every other area of our life. It is easy to say we want Jesus to invade a church service it is entirely different to say we want Jesus to invade my interaction with my spouse, child, classmates, team member, or coworker.
Why do we need a Jesus invasion? If, we don't have a Jesus invasion then, we will have a Judas invasion! Think about this . . . Judas was with Jesus but didn't come to the place that his own will, his own desires, own plans, or his choices were placed under the authority of Jesus. So, Judas ends up betraying Jesus. When Jesus didn't bend to his desires, his chosen path, his plan, his agenda Judas took over the throne of his life and made destructive choices in an attempt to force Jesus to do what he wanted. If we don't give Jesus the whole pie, then we will do the same. we refuse to give Jesus the entire pie of our life we betray Him in attitude. We try to take over the direction of our life when it goes down a path we don't approve and we betray Him. We cut off relationships that were God ordained and we betray Him.
I can point you to example after example in Scripture that illustrate both sides of this:
Separated an area of life: Moses angry at people, David on balcony, Jonah running, Demas walking away from Paul. Each end up in trouble due to one moment of separation of life and spiritual.
Life Invaded: Moses at burning bush - watching sheep has spiritual moment, David fighting lion and bear, Joseph in prison, little boy carrying lunch, Peter fishing and boat becomes platform. Every day life moments but they intersect with the spiritual.
No more pie pieces just pie. The whole thing submitted to Him. Rule and reign allowed in every corner.
