Rethinking The Routine
Sunday School Lesson Notes
Eph.5:21 (NIV) “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”
Eph.5 passage speaks to families – wives, husbands, children, even workplace - service of love to each other
I.e. all about routine stuff of life. Submitting to each other in the routine…
Care for one another is shown in the routine, the chores, the mundane… washing dishes, laundry, driving to work, earning a living in a job you don’t especially like, …
Paul writes in 1 Tim.5:8 (NIV): “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”
It is God’s will for us to do the routine… to care, to provide, it is spiritually affirming thing to do… time spent in the routine, is spiritually powerful. It does not escape God’s notice…
Deut. 30:11-14 (NIV) states:
11 Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.
12 It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, "Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?"
13 Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, "Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?"
14 No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.
Spirituality is not limited to the hermit or the monks in some monastery, or mysterious formula known by Zen masters . It is within reach, the word is near us, it is in our daily routines, not just in the quiet time, Sundays that we meet God. When we obey God’s word in the routine by becoming more and more aware of God in our daily lives, God will transform each task we do as worship to Him.
1 Cor. 10:31 (NIV) “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
Bro. Lawrence, whose little book called “The Practice of the Presence of God”, a classic, worked in a monastery kitchen for 30 years and then when gout got to him, he was assigned the task of repairing shoes. Cooking and shoes, how routine! Yet, he gave to us the gift of seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary. For him to cook was to pray, an opportunity to draw near to God. To cook was an act of worship. His life had purpose in the meals he prepared, in the shoes he repaired. His life was to give love to God and give love to others in the meals, through the shoes. He purposed to care that way in the routine.
1 Corinthians 13
1 If I speak in the tongues [1] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, [2] but have not love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.
11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.
12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Bro. Lawrence, knew with love for God and for others, he will be transformed, because the greatest is love. With love the smallest deeds/actions became sacred, powerfully spiritual! Without love, our deeds become empty and hollow. That is why Christ’s sacrifice for us, is so incredible. His cross, though bloody and painful, is written with love, to draw people to Himself. With His blood He granted to us, access to God’s throne, His presence forever.
Living like this in the presence of God where we know every moment we’re loved, we’re given grace of forgiveness of sins in Christ, where we’re invited to His table, and eat there in holy communion… takes practice.
1. Reflect before you begin each task. Take a phrase from God’s Word. Such as Eph.5:21. reflect how you can do this Christian duty of submission, not inviting answers, just letting the word dwell in you richly, letting in sink into the heart, repeat the word which is near you.
2. Repeat a short prayer, “Jesus, be merciful to me, a sinner” submitting self under God. Be aware perhaps of the Spirit of God moving, convicting, teaching you.
3. Reflect after finishing each task.
4. Work at this reflection and prayer steadily with all jobs.
One wise spiritual adviser said: “God is always present to us. The greatest thing we can do in life is to teach ourselves to be always present to God.” Indeed, after His resurrection from the dead Jesus said in Matt 28:19-20 :
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in [1] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS, to the very end of the age."
Let’s hear God, see God, feel God in the routine. Touch others, knowing as you care for others, seeing them as Christ sees them, significant, worthy because of the image of God in them, you are awakening in yourself something that’s sacred and wonderful. So submit then with joy to another…
