Merry Osmosis
Luke 1:26-38
((Props: You will need a picture of the cardio-pulmonary system and a picture of two hearts… one colored white and the other black)))
This morning I have a very strange sermon for you. I guess you are getting used to that. In the last two weeks I have preached using a communion table and a manger scene.
Today I am going to use an anatomy lesson.
Today we are going to talk about OSMOSIS.
Do you know what osmosis means?
The process of attraction by which gases and fluids pass through a permeable membrane.
I want to illustrate osmosis with some pictures.
Now… this will take just a few minutes and when you understand it, the sermon will make much better sense.
Your blood runs all through your body. It leaves the heart full of oxygen… red blood.
It gives its oxygen to the body and returns to the heart totally spent… like a man after a ten mile race. The heart pumps it to the lungs.
The lungs are full of oxygen, and the blood is full of carbon dioxide.
So the blood dumps its carbon dioxide into the lungs… it passes right through the walls of the artery. The blood does not pass through… just the carbon dioxide.
AIN’T GOD GOOD!!!!
Then the oxygen from the lungs is passed through the walls of the artery into the blood.
Now the blood is rich and full of oxygen. It goes back to the heart and is pumped to the rest of the body where it can share its oxygen with every part.
Then the blood also picks up waste from all of the cells of the body and goes to the kidney.
There the waste products pass right through the walls of the artery into the kidney.
And the blood continues on and, in the stomach, food passes through the lining of the stomach through the walls of the vessels and into the blood stream to be taken to every part of the body.
The beauty… no the MIRACLE of the process is that nutrients, oxygen, waste products and other things that the body needs to transport from place to place can pass right through the walls of the vessels and the linings of the organs in order to get into and out of the blood stream.
Yet… the blood does not pass through… and the unwanted things can not pass through.
AIN’T GOD GOOD? !!!!!!!!!
Now; enough of the anatomy lesson and on to the sermon.
What the heck does all of that have to do with Christmas… or church… or you?
I want you to think of that process… osmosis… passing through… in with the good… out with the bad.
I want to talk to you about SPIRITUAL OSMOSIS.
What is that?
Much like the osmosis of the blood products… spiritual osmosis is “the process of maturity by which Christlikeness, humility, holiness and a lot of other qualities pass through a permeable membrane.
Imagine it like this…
This large white, pure heart is God’s heart. It symbolizes purity, holiness, perfection and Godliness. It is all of the things God wants you to become.
This black heart represents all people… sinful, selfish, worldly, fleshly, materialistic… and all of the things God does not want you to be.
Spiritual osmosis is the process by which God takes out the evil things and puts in the spiritual things.
Some hearts, spiritually speaking, are permeable… allow the bad to be removed and the good put in its place.
SOME ARE NOT!!!!!
Are we permeable…. Spiritually speaking?
Do we want the things of God in our lives?
Do we want to rid ourselves of the ungodly things?
For instance… take your mind.
Your mind is filled, and daily refueled with fleshly, humanistic and materialistic thoughts and thought patterns until it becomes very difficult to walk by faith.
They are constantly getting you into trouble and leading you to turn away from God for answers and turn to the world.
That is one of the things God really wants to change about you.
Just as the body brings nutrients and oxygen to the organs and cells and takes away the spent, useless, poisonous waste products…
God wants to remove the humanistic, materialistic confusion and replace it with God-focused, spiritually based truth.
That truth comes from God’s word, the bible. God wants you to be constantly entering this data into your computer… the brain.
As you do, you need to constantly delete all of the worldly wisdom and counsel.
Soon your computer (brain) will be purged of the corrupt files and only good data will be left.
That will make it much easier for you to process truth.
God’s word is the ultimate anti-virus utility. It will seek out and bring to light all false and misleading data that Satan tries to get into your computer to cause you to crash.
The scripture tells us “As a man thinketh in his heart, so he is.”
There are two important areas of our lives that more than any others affect our thinking… our thought patterns.
Friends and Worship
When it comes to the friendships and associations in your life…
God wants to remove the ungodly and replace it with the Godly.
God wants to remove your sinful, self-serving, pleasure seeking, worldly minded friends away… yes totally away.
In their place he wants to put Christian, God-serving, God-pleasing, spiritually minded friends.
Perhaps you think this is not important, over-reacting… over the top.
From the time you are born until you are about 12 years old… the most important influence in your life is your parent (s).
After 12, the most significant and powerful influence in your life is FRIENDS.
Another important area where God wants to work is WORSHIP.
Worship is not just coming to church on Sunday. That is part… a very important part.
Worship is a daily thing. It includes reading His Word, Praying and Praising Him.
This is important because it goes back to THOUGHTS.
Worship causes us to lift our thoughts above the worldly, materialistic and selfish.
We lift them up to the spiritual, eternal, pure, Holy.
Doing that helps us to see the weakness of the flesh, the futility of earthly striving and the hopelessness of trusting in the things of this world.
Worship causes us to focus on the Majesty of God.
It fills our mind with that kind of Godly-seeking, God-centered, God pleasing wisdom that leads us to think and DO right.
In Luke 1:26-38 we have the story of the angel coming to Mary to tell her about the birth of Jesus.
In this scripture we have the testing of Mary… for SPIRITUAL PERMEABILITY.
Actually, God had been testing Mary since she was a child. We don’t know how he tested her willingness to obey, her openness to learn, her ability to change… but he had tested her.
And he had found her permeable.
This is just the final test… the mega exam… the whole semester grade was hinging on this test.
God tells her his plan and allows her to meditate on the total meaning.
Much to consider…
Joseph---- would be hurt
Trust destroyed
Divorce?
Stoned
Others--- Parents shamed
Call her names
Reproach on God!!!!!!!!
All the angels of heaven, bending low, close to earth, all eyes on this humble Jewish girl… breathless, anticipating, wondering….
Not God… He knew!
Verse 38 was the test results made public…
Mary said, “I am the Lord’s servant! Let it happen as you have said.”
I love the last five words of that verse… “and the angel left her.”
I think he did more than that… I think the angel shouted for joy.
SHE PASSED THE PERMEABILITY TEST…her will was taken away and God’s will was in its place…fear was replaced with trust.
It is the same test that was administered to the disciples when Jesus said, “Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men.”
It was the same test given to Abraham when God said, “Leave your people and follow me.”
It was the same test given to all the people mentioned in Hebrews 11... The test they all passed with flying colors.
And because she was willing…. IT WAS CHRISTMAS!
I don’t want to take long to tell the story but Joseph was put to the same test in verses 19-22.
The test results came back… verse 24... After Joseph woke up, he and Mary were soon married, just as the Lord’s angel had told him to do.
HE PASSED THE SPIRITUAL PERMEABILITY TEST.
Now… for the real heart of the matter… US… YOU and ME.
ARE WE PERMEABLE? Do we want to receive Christ-likeness? Do we want to put away the things of the flesh? Do we really want to obey His call to “FOLLOW ME”?
Illustration for use about friends:
A lady found out that she had a skunk in her basement. Confounded as to how to get rid of it, she called the local police for help.
Their advice was to lay a trail of breadcrumbs from the cellar door entrance into the yard so as to lead the skunk out of the basement. She followed their advice.
A few days later she called the police again asking for help. For now she had two skunks in her cellar.
Rick Pendleton @ randdp@peoplepc.com
