by the Rev. W. Maynard Pittendreigh, Jr.
Sunrise Presbyterian Church
Miami Florida
Pittendreigh@aol.com
Are you being fed, spiritually? Are you being nurtured in your faith? Are you taking care of your soul’s health?
Those are important questions. They are every bit as important as whether or not you are eating a balanced diet, getting proper exercise, taking the medicine as your doctor prescribes, wearing your seat belt when you drive, or anything else we do that protects your body and nurtures your physical being.
Is your soul being fed? Are you taking care of your spiritual health?
This morning, we are ordaining and installing elders onto our Session, our governing body. We will ask them questions from the Book of Order, our church law book. One of the questions is (Book of Order G-14.0207i.) Will you be a faithful elder, watching over the people, providing for their worship, nurture, and service?"
How do elders provide for our nurture?
How do you, in your own life, take care of your soul?
This morning, I want to share five very important steps to spiritual health.
First, love. As simple as that.
You need love to keep yourself healthy. In our New Testament lesson for today, the writer says, "As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love."
Love is central to everything written in the Gospels. It is foundational to everything else in the Christian experience. If you want to grow in your faith, if you want to feed and nurture your spiritual life, then learn to love others.
In Matthew (Matt 22:36-40), a man approaches Jesus and asks, "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"
Jesus replied: "’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ’Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
Notice, what is important is not so much that we find someone to love us. What is important is that we love others.
In the motion picture, Marvin’s Room, there are two sisters who have been estranged for many years. When one of them is diagnosed with cancer, the other sister arrives to help take care of her. In one of the final scenes of the movie, the two sisters are talking about their lives, and the one with cancer says, "I’m so lucky. I’m so lucky. I’ve had so much love in my life."
"Yes, yes," the other sister agrees, barely looking at her sister while she cleans the kitchen. "You’ve always had people around you who loved you."
"Oh no," the other sister says with a look of surprise. "I’m lucky because I’ve been able to love so many people."
As we ordain and install our new elders, they are specifically asked a set of questions that come from our church law, or Book of Order. One of them (Book of Order G-14.0207f.) asks, "Will you in your own life seek to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, love your neighbors, and work for the reconciliation of the world?"
It is the loving of others that nurtures the souls of our elders, and that nurtures all of our souls.
John said in one of his letters (I Jn 3:10), "This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother."
Whenever someone says, "I’m not being fed," I wonder if that person is trying to love others.
You want to nurture your soul? Love others.
A second step to spiritual nurture is to study the Word of God.
In the New Testament lesson, St. Paul wrote about how we should work toward spiritual growth "until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature..."
Becoming spiritually mature is dependent on building up a knowledge of the Son of God through the study of Scripture.
This morning, as we ordain and install our new elders, one of the questions they are asked is (from the Book of Order, G-14.0207b) "Do you accept the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be, by the Holy Spirit, the unique and authoritative witness to Jesus Christ in the Church universal, and God’s Word to you?" Inherent in this is the call for them to study the Word of God.
Our Old Testament lesson for this morning says it well. (Ps 1:1-3) "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers."
Elsewhere in the Old Testament, the Psalmist says (Ps 119:11), "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you."
If you want to grow spiritually, then study the Word of God. You have every opportunity to do that here at Sunrise. We have Sunday School classes for every age, including two classes for the adults. For women, there is the Bible Study Fellowship on Monday nights and for the men there is the Wednesday morning Prayer Breakfasts. There is worship on Sunday morning. And soon we will have mid-week programs during Lent, with the mind of whether or not, and how to continue them after Lent.
In the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, there is a wonderful imagery of the study of God’s Word. In chapter 11, the writer says, (Deut 11:18-20), "Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates."
Imagine that imagery being practiced. You wake up in the morning, and you leave the house, and there on the doorframe is a Scripture verse. As you drive out of your gated community, there is a sign on the gate that has a Bible verse. While you are riding in your car, you are talking with others about the Bible. As you type on your computer, you see the Word of God because you have, as Deuteronomy said, "tied them on you hands and bound them on your forehead." At the end of the day, you return home and as you enter the house, there is the Bible verse on your doorframe. The Bible saturates your whole day -- your life.
If you want to grow spiritually, then study God’s Word.
But you must do more than simply study the Word. Knowledge is not the same as spiritual maturity.
Jesus warned in John’s Gospel (John 5:39-40) about people who "diligently study the Scriptures" because they think that by them a person is "able to possess eternal life." That is only part of it. Jesus went on to say "These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life." You can study Scripture as an academic practice and still not grow spiritually.
You must go a step further.
The third step in spiritual growth is practice what is preached!
Don’t just study God’s Word. Live God’s Word.
Jesus said in Matthew’s Gospel (Matt 7:24), "Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock."
St. Paul wrote to the Phillipians (Phil 4:9), "Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me-- put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you."
If you want to grow physically, then you must exercise. The same is true with the spiritual life. If you want to grow spiritually, then you must exercise and practice the lifestyle of the Christian.
We talk about how we are saved by faith, and only by the grace of God. We do nothing to earn our salvation. But, that does not mean that there is no expectation placed on us about our conduct. James writes (James 2:26), "As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead."
In our New Testament lesson, the writer says that we are to "live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love."
You want to grow spiritually? Then live with a spiritual maturity. You want to be spiritually grown up? Then act spiritually grown up.
A fourth step toward spiritual growth is to be in a Christian fellowship and to work for the unity of that church.
You cannot grow in the spiritual life in solitude from others. Christianity is, by its very nature, a community of faith.
In our New Testament lesson, the writer says that if we are to grow, then we need to (Eph 4:3), "Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace."
This is so important, that the author comes back to the thought later in the reading, calling on his audience to build up the body of Christ "until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature." (verse 13)
You cannot grow in faith in solitude.
There is an old story about a minister who went to visit one of his absent parishioners. It was in the cold months of winter and when the man arrived at the home, there was a warm fire in the den. The minister and the parishioner sat by the fire as the minister tried to convince the man to be more faithful in attendance at worship. But the man insisted that he could worship God just as well in his home, next to his fire. The man looked at the minister and said, "Give me one good reason why worshipping with others is any better than worshipping alone in one’s home."
The minister quietly took one of the burning embers of the firewood and sat it aside, several inches from the center of the heat. Within a few moments, the embers, which had been red hot, cooled to a gray ash.
An ember next to other embers stays hot. By itself, it loses its heat.
A Christian involved with others stays spiritually active. By ourselves, our spirits die.
We need the church to build up one another. To encourage one another.
In the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon said, (Eccl 4:9-10) "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!"
In Hebrews (10:24-25), the writer says, "let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another."
There is one final step toward spiritual growth. Service!
In our New Testament lesson, we’re told that the reason we have leaders in the church is so they will "prepare God’s people for works of service." (4:12) Service to others is central to the Christian life.
Jesus said in Matthew’s Gospel, (20:25-28) "whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave--just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
There is a legend about a man who had a vision of heaven and one of hell.
The vision of hell showed a great table and a vast assortment of wonderful food. But in the vision, no one was able to eat. No one could bend their elbows, so their hands could not reach the food and take it to their mouths. In misery they were struggling and suffering.
The vision of heaven was exactly the same. A great table. The assortment of food. The unbending arms. But in this vision, the people were being fed. They had learned that while they could not feed themselves, they could feed one another. It is through service to others that they were fed.
And the same is taught in Scripture. We grow spiritually by serving others.
In our New Testament lesson, the writer talks about how we grow and are built up as "each part (of the church) does its work."
If you are not growing spiritually, it may well be that it is because you are not serving others. Until you find ways of service, you don’t grow.
Copyright 2001, Dr. Maynard Pittendreigh
