May 18 and 19, 2002
Romans 3:10
“Nitty Gritty…Meet Jesus”
Keith Miller wrote the following, “Our churches are filled with people who outwardly look contented and at peace but inwardly are crying out for someone to love them…just as they are- confused, frustrated, often frightened, guilty and often unable to communicate with their own families. But the other people in the church look so happy and contented that one seldom has the courage to admit his/her own deep needs before such a self-sufficient group as the average church meeting appears to be.” Does that resonate with anyone? Perhaps, that statement hits many of us or most of us square in the face.
For as long as I can remember I wanted to be a godly person. Yet when I look at the yesterday’s of my life, what I see, mostly, is a broken, irregular path littered with mistakes and failure. I don’t want to be Saint Francis or Billy Graham, I just want to be remembered as a person who loved God, who served others more than he served himself, who was trying to grow in maturity and stability. Could those words be yours? They could be mine but they aren’t. They are Mike Yaconelli’s. Mike sounds a lot like the weathered, bruised, battered and beaten apostle to the gentiles named Paul who wrote the book of Romans and repeatedly lets us see glimpses of a life that is nitty and gritty.
Mike relates an oft occurring dream, he says, “I often dream that I am tagging along behind Jesus, longing for him to choose me as one of his disciples. Without warning, he turns around, looks straight into my eyes and says, “Follow me!” My heart races, and I begin to run toward him when he interrupts with, “Oh, not you; the guy behind you. Sorry.”
I need to confess to you, even though I am a pastor and even though I think about Jesus everyday and quite often, much of the day, my walk with him is not a straight path. My path seems more like those “Family Circle” comics that always appear in the Sunday paper where P.J., Jeffy or Dolly meander around the neighborhood with a thick dashed line. Climb a tree, jump a puddle, crawl over a fence, pet a dog, twirl on a light pole and finally make it home much later than necessary and much the worse for wear. That is just how my life looks “back there” from “up here.” Evidence? You say? Well how about my most recent victory. Many of you may or may not know that I just finished my Master of Divinity degree and as I have explained in the past few weeks, “It takes a special person to cram three years worth of study into a full fifteen years.” Climb a tree, jump a puddle, crawl over a fence, pet a dog…Get the picture?
The question arises, “How can anyone who doesn’t have it all together speak about the issues of spirituality?” That is like Ronald McDonald explaining quantum mechanics or playing Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony on a jaws harp. That definition might be correct if you define religion and spirituality the way many people define religion and spirituality. Most people seem to have the notion that in order to be really spiritual you must pray all day long, read your bible constantly, never get upset, always be in control of your emotions and are a close confidant of God all mighty. Why don’t we just add faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than the women’s missionary society and able to leap the church steeple in a single bound? You know the folks I’m talking about, you know how they sound, and you know how they act. I wish I could say it the way my grandfather used to but, this is church however and I can’t talk about a mouth full of anything or the smell it would elicit. I just won’t go there. So if we don’t fit that definition of being spiritual, where does that leave us? What about the rest of us who are beaten and bruised in the battles of life? What about the folks who are divorced, have a kid who just drives you nuts or into the poor house or both. What about the person who wants so desperately to be holy and righteous and just can’t seem to drive across town without wanting to commit vehicular homicide? Can the nitty gritty of your life and mine be pleasing to God? The answer is, “Yes, it can.” How do I know that? It is simple. You and me and every nit of our nitty and every grit of our gritty is precisely the reason that Jesus found himself cross ways with the “perfect” religious people of his day and Jesus was very clear that he saw through the smoke and mirrors of their lives. The shocking implication of Jesus, his teaching and his ministry is this…anyone…absolutely anyone can be spiritual.
I agree with one of my favorite author’s, “Spirituality is not a formula; it is not a test. It is a relationship. Spirituality is not about competency; it is about intimacy. Spirituality is not about perfection; it is about connection. Spirituality is not about being fixed; it is about God’s being present in the mess of our unfixedness.
Any cursory look at scripture reveals a long list of people whose nitty gritty collided with great force against the myth of perfection. Noah, that great hero who build this huge boat in the middle of the desert who told his neighbors for over a century that a flood was coming and went right on building against the ridicule and derision of everyone around him was the same guy who ran from the boat after the waters withdrew and immediately got drunk and got naked. Noah, in the best times of his life was faithful and fiercely loyal to God’s call on his life. But, in his nitty gritty he had bouts of loneliness, depression and liquored living. Every biblical character was an interesting mix of strengths and weakness. They were men and women who could be gentle, holy, defenders of the faith one minute and insecure, mentally unstable, unbelieving, grudge-holding tyrants the next. Christianity has a long storied tradition of nitty gritty people. Our prophets are nitty gritty, the disciples were nitty gritty, the apostles had their nitty gritty. The Children of Israel got in one mess after another in the Old Testament and the New Testament was basically written to straighten out the messes in the church. The Bible presents this glorious story of nitty gritty people over and over again. The Nitty and Gritty of their lives and ours unveils the myth of perfection and calls us all to come out of the closet and stop pretending. In all of history, no one ever had it all together. No one today, not even your saintly grandmother has it all together and no one, no where no how ever will get beyond the nitty gritty that characterizes who we are. Our nitty gritty is the workshop for authentic spirituality; it is the greenhouse of faith. Our nitty gritty is the place where the real Jesus meets the real you and me. So, Nitty Gritty…meet Jesus. The real nitty gritty of our lives describes the Christianity that most of us live and that few of us admit. This series is an attempt to break through the walls of secrecy that describes most religion and bring legitimacy to a faith that is unfinished, incomplete and under construction.
I recently had a discussion with one of our members who had had a discussion with someone whose nitty gritty was threatening to overwhelm them. They said, “Religion is for those people who are trying to stay out of hell, spirituality is for those of us who have already been there.” When your nitty gritty meets Jesus you are called to authentic spirituality and authentic spirituality is complicated, perplexing, sloppy and even, chaotic.
I was introduced to this “Peanuts” cartoon many years ago.
It seems that everywhere I turn there is someone who has all the answers for my life. Experts abound who can describe in minute detail God’s plan for the placement of my deck chair, but I still feel as if I can’t even unfold it. I so often feel like a midget in a world of spiritual giants. The tattered rags of who I am spiritually, seem to look all the more unkempt when you place them next to all those immaculately dressed saints. But, AAHHH just move a little closer to the crack in the door, stand just beyond the un-insulated walls of each of our lives and the nitty gritty comes through loud and clear. There are more deck chairs in an unfolded position that those placed neatly in rows, forward or aft. Why? The guilt’s and mistakes of our past make for bad deck chair arrangement aft and the prospects of the future make a forward looking berth absolutely frightening. Our only hope is that our nitty gritty meet Jesus and he unfolds and sets the deck chair where it needs to be. I have a paraphrase of one of my favorite verses today. “Come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest for my deck chair is unfolded and the webbing is tight.” That means; His deck chair is unfolded: He has all the answers. His webbing is tight: it can hold whatever nitty and gritty you commit to him.
When our nitty gritty meets Jesus, what does that look like? First, Jesus calls each of us to quit pretending. When the real us meets the real Jesus, there is no room for pretending. In most churches there exists an unwritten rule, Pretend. Pretend that God is in control even when you don’t think he is. Pretend everything is hunky-dory, and peachy-keen with your life even when it’s not. Pretend to care when you don’t give a flop. Pretend you’ve got great kids, a great marriage when your family is just as dysfunctional as the rest of us. I like that one folks. I love it when someone comes in and starts talking as if their dysfunctional family is the only dysfunctional family that there ever was. Let me let you in on a secret I learned about twenty minutes into my first ministry, every family is dysfunctional. They’re just dysfunctional in different areas.
Pretending is efficient, uncomplicated and quick. Here’s what I mean. “How are you doing?” “Fine, Great!” That is much easier than “Not very good thank-you. I’m having a little trouble ramping myself up to three services a week, most of our musicians and praise team wanted to take this week off, we have never done all the hand outs for LifeLifters here at ABE. We don’t have any of Steve’s books to give to visitors so we had to look for something nice but cheap, which is extremely difficult on short notice. I’m not sure what the income is gonna be so I don’t have a clue as to what we are really going to be able to do. I have had four dozen calls about who won’t be here, who will be here, what so-and-so said about Baptists and I am still angry with Wyatt leaving and Stratton you’re just gonna have to deal with it. And that is just the beginning. Want more?” I thought not. After that kind of response you’re gonna beg for pretend. But when Jesus meets the real nitty gritty there’s no room for unpretending.
Secondly, we have to admit our unfinishedness. Real spirituality is not about being finished and perfect, it is about trusting God in our unfinishedness. That means we are under construction folks. Have any of you ever trued to live in a house that was under construction? It is a hair raising, patience stretching, argument causing, down right messy experience. That’s why we yearn for finished. I’ll let you in on the secret I learned in the second half our of my first day of ministry, “The work of God in our lives will never be finished until we meet Jesus face to face.” (Yaconelli, p.29) God begins a good work in us, he starts changing us, but the finished process is more than a lifetime process. Be of good cheer though friends, the word of God is true. Paul tells us in Philippians, “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” We are told in that verse that our nitty gritty will remain nitty gritty until the day of our Lord and that day is not here yet. You don’t have to pretend and you don’t need to be ashamed of your unfinishedness, that is God’s plan. And, if you are pretending, shame on you, God does not intend to finish you here. He only intends to finish you there. So, trust God for your unfinishedness.
Third, in the nitty gritty of your humanity, you will always be incompetent. And, Jesus cares more about your desire than your competence. Having Jesus meet your Nitty Gritty is the humiliating recognition that I don’t do holy living very well. I don’t know as much of God’s word as I would like to. I don’t pray as often as I should. But, look at whom Jesus responded to in scripture. He responded to those who interrupted him, yelled at him, touched him, busted through ceilings to get at him, he even responded to those who yelled obscenities at him. Each of these things shows extreme desire. Desire to be close, desire to be healed, desire to be noticed. Jesus responds to desire more than competence. So do I. A hundred things are left undone every week in this church and others because someone maybe everyone is waiting for someone who knows what they are doing to step up and do it. Folks, this is the same principle behind the saying that if you wait till you have enough money for kids you’ll never have kids. I would rather have an attempt that gets half the job done than no attempt that gets none of the job done. That reminds me of the story of the lady who got in line with a bunch of soldiers with guns slung across their shoulders as they marched into battle. This lady had a broom resting on hers as she marched. One soldier said, “Lady, you can’t do anything with that broom.” She replied, “Maybe not, but they can tell whose side I’m on.” At least let you neighbors, your family, the world and all eternity know whose side you’re on. I believe this church and this ministry is the place where the incompetent, the unfinished and even the unhealthy are welcome. I believe Jesus agrees with that.
Finally, when your nitty gritty meets Jesus you realize that Christianity is more than a pleasant distraction, a nice alternative or a positive influence. Nitty gritty is where desperation meets Jesus. In Jesus’ day desperate people who tried to get to Jesus were surrounded by religious people who either ignored or rejected those who were seeking to have their hunger for God filled. Not much has changed in 2100 years. Desperate people don’t do well in most churches. They don’t fit. Desperate people very rarely are worried about the mess they make on the way to Jesus. Have you ever watched a kid who desperately wants something how single mindedly they are attuned to getting it? Go look in the basement after any worship, there will be cookies trampled in the carpet, who cares about looking for cookies on the floor when you want a toy on the shelf? Who worries about putting it back on the shelf when you want the goldfish crackers the nursery worker just got out? That is the old bull in a china shop syndrome. Friends we want safety. We don’t reach for brass rings anymore because we might fall off the horse. We don’t shout for joy anymore because we might look silly. Don’t let em see you sweat. Don’t get excited, don’t act desperate and for heaven’s sake don’t be desperate. But folks, when the nitty gritty meets Jesus, and I know it as a fact, you get desperate to get what you don’t have and desperate to keep it once you’ve got it.
The Bible relates such a spectacle. Four friends so desperate for the healing of their friend that they were willing to carry their friend across town to see the healer. When they arrived the crowd was so large and pressed so close that they could not get him in. In desperation, they went to the roof and cut a hole and from there lowered him into the midst of the throng, at the feet of the healer. The Bible says when Jesus saw the faith of these friends he told the man to take up his bed and walk. The nitty gritty of these “friends” lives was desperation. When the nitty gritty met Jesus that day a man was healed and friends, I am sure, were blessed. Have you pretended too long? Pretended you were finished or competent or perhaps that you have it all together, you’re not desperate, you can take it or leave it?” Well nitty gritty… meet Jesus, got a deck chair that needs unfolding? Let Us Pray.
