"Holiness – Part 3 – Jesus is our Pattern"
1 John 2:3-6
Pastor John Bright
1 John 2 “3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. 6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.”
Pause right there. Those words I just read; they were “Breathed by God”! God wants you to hear His Word right now! So, what is your response? Do you want to transformed by that Word or do you want to be informed about the words? You must choose.
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It’s tough to be like Jesus. Old story about two kids fighting over the last pancake, so Mom asks the older brother, “What would Jesus do?”
He replied, “Jesus would let the other person have the last pancake.”
Mom smiled and said, “I think you are right.”
Then, the older brother grabbed the last pancake and told his little brother, “You can be like Jesus this time.” 😊
What about us? We should be like Jesus – especially us pastors! But that is hard and we often fail. I have been sharing some of the beginnings of my path to greater and greater holiness of heart and life. Let me give you a little picture of what I used to be like (it’s not pretty).
I used to take all criticism or any question about the way I was doing something as a personal attack. I used it as an excuse to strike out - especially with my words. (Notice – did not say it caused me to do something – I chose) It was bad at home with Lynn and it was worse at a church meeting. I would get so mad if I had to explain myself to anyone. It was horrible! I have taught you something – “hurt people hurt people” – remember? I needed inner healing – from past memories and distorted mirrors.
As I started down that road, I got some tools. I used to keep a Q-tip taped to my rearview mirror and inside my notebook that I took to meetings. It was a reminder to Quit Taking It Personally – QTIP. Nobody ever got out of bed in the morning and planned to do something around me on the road. I could have grace for them because I have done stuff on the road that others did not like. I also learned to walk away for a bit. During church meetings, I would go to the bathroom. My Council chair thought I had a bladder problem for a few months. 😊
When we receive that inner healing and start down the road toward holiness of heart and life, we need guidance – we need a pattern. I am going to offer you that today, but I have to confess up front that I am still in the process of establishing this pattern. I told you before, until last October (2022) – I was a Sabbath breaker. That was when I took a course on Sabbath Keeping. The practice of Sabbath Keeping and the others I will be sharing with you are all seen in the life of Jesus. We call these Spiritual Disciplines.
HURRY – HURRY - HURRY
The world we live in exact opposite of what is needed for us to practice holiness of heart and life. Everything today conspires to make us hurry from one thing to the next. I’m going to be relying on the best book from my Sabbath Keeping class – “The Relentless Elimination of Hurry: How to stay emotionally healthy and spiritually alive in the chaos of the modern world” by John Mark Comer. He lays out the pattern of following Jesus with a purpose – to unplug from a culture that is designed to pull you further and further from your Heavenly Father.
Comer uses a quote from Ronald Rolheiser – “We, for every kind of reason, good and bad, are distracting ourselves in spiritual oblivion. We are more busy than bad, more distracted than nonspiritual, and more interested in the movie theater, the sports stadium, and the shopping mall and the fantasy life they produce in us than we are in the church. Pathological busyness, distraction and restlessness are major blocks today within our spiritual lives.” (pg. 26)
“We are more busy than bad.” That one jumped off the page at me.
Much of what Comer focuses on is our constant connection to our phones and social media. One of the documentaries that really disturbed me came out in 2020 - “The Social Dilemma” – if you use social media or have kids, you really need to watch – let me share a couple of quotes so you can get a feel for it:
“If you’re not paying for the product, then you are the product” — Daniel Hövermann (It’s actually your attention that is the product – they want to keep you on the apps)
“There are only two industries that call their customers “users”: illegal drugs and software.” — Edward Tufte (That’s scary)
“We’ve created a world in which online connection has become primary. Especially for younger generations. And yet, in that world, anytime two people connect, the only way it’s financed is through a sneaky third person who’s paying to manipulate those two people. So, we’ve created an entire global generation of people who were raised within a context with the very meaning of communication, the very meaning of culture, is manipulation.” — Jaron Lainer, computer scientist and virtual reality pioneer
(https://usustatesman.com/six-chilling-quotes-from-the-social-dilemma/)
How do we compete with all of this? We don’t.
THE ORIGINAL DESIGN FOR OUR TIME AND ATTENTION
Last week, I talked to you about how human beings were originally designed. We looked at the sixth day of creation where we were made in the image of God – the Imago Dei. Then came the seventh day: Genesis 2:1-3 “1 Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. 2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”
Sabbath Keeping is the spiritual discipline that calls us to reorder our weeks around a day that is different from all the others. For the Hebrews, Sabbath began at sundown on Friday and ended at sundown on Saturday. It marked their holy day. For our great grandparents – it was all day on Sunday. They cooked and cleaned on Saturday because you did not do those on the Sabbath. We had Blue Laws that kept almost all businesses closed on Sunday. Today is different – amen?
For the Hebrews in the wilderness, it was a reminder of being delivered from slavery in Egypt: Exodus 20:8-11 “8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.” In slavery, there is no break – no vacation – no weekends off. So they were commanded to Sabbath – the word means “to stop” – from working. On my Sabbath – Monday at sundown to Tuesday at sundown – I try to avoid all the pastor stuff. It doesn’t always work – this week somebody needed a letter from the church for the bank. It took me about half an hour on Tuesday afternoon. Not a big deal because I don’t want to get caught up in a long list of dos and don’ts – that’s legalism.
Mark Comer focuses on rest and worship. When I took the Sabbath Keeping class with Dan Wilt and JD Walt, they focused on the “3 Fs” – fun, food and fellowship. On my Sabbath, I like to light a candle (electric) and keep it burning. I like to start with a prayer for the Holy Spirit to work in me during my Sabbath Keeping. But I don’t do those things every time – Monday night I was getting ready for guests to come over. This couple comes over to play cards with Lynn and me. It was a night of fun and fellowship. There was also some good food. You see what I mean about not getting all caught up with the rules.
One of the practices that is good on your Sabbath is solitude – being alone with God – which always reminds me of the beginning of Psalm 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God;”
THE SOLITUDE OF JESUS
Jesus needed time alone with the Lord. So the question for us – If the Son of God needed time alone with the Father, can we neglect it? Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness right after his baptism. The first chapter of Mark records the events of a Sabbath (most of Jesus’ recorded healings are on the Sabbath) – there are demons cast out, many healings and then we get to that night: Mark 1:35-37 “35 Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed. 36 And Simon and those who were with Him searched for Him. 37 When they found Him, they said to Him, “Everyone is looking for You.” We see this pattern of Jesus all through the Gospels.
Comer combines two spiritual disciplines that are always related – silence and solitude. He uses a quote from C.S. Lewis in “The Screwtape Letters.” The senior demon, Screwtape, describes how silence will be taken from the Christian – “We will make the whole universe a noise in the end.” (pg. 132) (Updated version – handout - https://www.theareopagus.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/T-Kingdom-of-Noise-A-Screwtape-Letter.pdf)
Comer has searched the historical teachers who showed the pattern of Jesus to the Church and finds agreement among them – silence and solitude are the most important of all the spiritual disciplines. He includes this quote from Henri Nouwen – “Without solitude, it is virtually impossible to live a spiritual life… We do not take the spiritual life seriously if we do not set aside some time to be with God and listen to him.” (pg. 135) He includes a long list of negative effects that result when we neglect solitude: feel distant from God and ourselves, an undercurrent of anxiety, getting exhausted, turning to our “escape of choice”, becoming easy pray for the tempter and we live in a state of emotional un-health where every little thing bothers us. (pg. 137-138)
What about some positive effects if we practice solitude? He has that list also:
• We find quiet places in the midst of our everyday life
• We take our time and decompress
• We slow down and breath
• We rediscover joy and gratitude – along with other emotions
• We face what is inside us – the good, the bad and the ugly
• We begin to hear God’s voice above the noise
• We come to the place of freedom that is above all our failures and successes (pg. 138-139)
We are coming up on Lent. Historically, it was a season to recommit to your spiritual practices. This is a perfect time to start a new spiritual discipline or commit to a practice you have let slip. This sermon may be enough for you – good! Go for it! Maybe you need some more information or a little training – I would be glad to help. If you are new to spiritual disciplines, let me suggest a book you can find used almost everywhere they sell books – Richard Foster’s “Celebration of Discipline” 1978.
Want to say more next week – let me leave you with this – you can’t expect a child to learn a sport, a skill, a lesson in school or task at home in one day. It will take weeks and months of practice. The same is true on a job. It takes time to learn the new skills and tasks of a job – every job gave you weeks to learn. It took me a long time to discover the importance of inner healing and then it took years to live into it with a few tools to help. If you want to learn the spiritual disciplines of Sabbath Keeping, solitude and silence – practice, practice & practice – it will take time as does everything worth doing!
Are we walking as Jesus walked? Is that a worthy goal for our lives? When will you start?
I am suggesting today is the day! Amen
TEACHING SHEET
"Holiness – Part 3 – Jesus is our Pattern"
1 John 2:3-6
The practices I will be sharing with you are all seen in the life of Jesus. We call these Spiritual Disciplines.
HURRY – HURRY - HURRY
“The Relentless Elimination of Hurry: How to stay emotionally healthy and spiritually alive in the chaos of the modern world” by John Mark Comer. He lays out the pattern of following Jesus with a purpose – to unplug from a culture that is designed to pull you further and further from your Heavenly Father.
Ronald Rolheiser – “We, for every kind of reason, good and bad, are distracting ourselves in spiritual oblivion. We are more busy than bad, more distracted than nonspiritual, and more interested in the movie theater, the sports stadium, and the shopping mall and the fantasy life they produce in us than we are in the church. Pathological busyness, distraction and restlessness are major blocks today within our spiritual lives.” (pg. 26)
“The Social Dilemma” – if you use social media or have kids, you really need to watch – let me share a couple of quotes so you can get a feel for it:
“If you’re not paying for the product, then you are the product” — Daniel Hövermann (It’s actually your attention that is the product – they want to keep you on the apps)
“There are only two industries that call their customers “users”: illegal drugs and software.” — Edward Tufte (That’s scary)
“We’ve created a world in which online connection has become primary. Especially for younger generations. And yet, in that world, anytime two people connect, the only way it’s financed is through a sneaky third person who’s paying to manipulate those two people. So, we’ve created an entire global generation of people who were raised within a context with the very meaning of communication, the very meaning of culture, is manipulation.” — Jaron Lainer, computer scientist and virtual reality pioneer
(https://usustatesman.com/six-chilling-quotes-from-the-social-dilemma/)
How do we compete with all of this? We don’t.
THE ORIGINAL DESIGN FOR OUR TIME AND ATTENTION
Genesis 2:1-3 “1 Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. 2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”
For the Hebrews in the wilderness, it was a reminder of being delivered from slavery in Egypt: Exodus 20:8-11 “8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.” In slavery, there is no break – no vacation – no weekends off. So they were commanded to Sabbath – the word means “to stop” – from working
John Mark Comer focuses on rest and worship. When I took the Sabbath Keeping class with Dan Wilt and JD Walt, they focused on the “3 Fs” – fun, food and fellowship.
One of the practices that is good on your Sabbath is solitude – being alone with God – which always reminds me of the beginning of Psalm 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God;”
THE SOLITUDE OF JESUS
Mark 1:35-37 “35 Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed. 36 And Simon and those who were with Him searched for Him. 37 When they found Him, they said to Him, “Everyone is looking for You.” We see this pattern of Jesus all through the Gospels.
Henri Nouwen – “Without solitude, it is virtually impossible to live a spiritual life… We do not take the spiritual life seriously if we do not set aside some time to be with God and listen to him.” (pg. 135) He includes a long list of negative effects that result when we neglect solitude: feel distant from God and ourselves, an undercurrent of anxiety, getting exhausted, turning to our “escape of choice”, becoming easy pray for the tempter and we live in a state of emotional un-health where every little thing bothers us. (pg. 137-138)
What about some positive effects if we practice solitude? He has that list also:
• We find quiet places in the midst of our everyday life
• We take our time and decompress
• We slow down and breath
• We rediscover joy and gratitude – along with other emotions
• We face what is inside us – the good, the bad and the ugly
• We begin to hear God’s voice above the noise
• We come to the place of freedom that is above all our failures and successes (pg. 138-139)
Richard Foster’s “Celebration of Discipline” 1978.
Want to say more next week – let me leave you with this – you can’t expect a child to learn a sport, a skill, a lesson in school or task at home in one day. It will take weeks and months of practice. The same is true on a job. It takes time to learn the new skills and tasks of a job – every job gave you weeks to learn. It took me a long time to discover the importance of inner healing and then it took years to live into it with a few tools to help. If you want to learn the spiritual disciplines of Sabbath Keeping, solitude and silence – practice, practice & practice – it will take time as does everything worth doing!
Are we walking as Jesus walked? Is that a worthy goal for our lives? When will you start?
