Title: Hollow and Empty
Scripture: Romans 14:7 For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. 8 If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9 For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.
I once received a bag of peanuts from someone as a gift. The peanuts still had the shells on them, so I tried to show my appreciation for the small gift, as it was given out of kindness.
Now, you have to understand something, I’m not the kind of person that likes to work when I eat. Meaning, when I am eating, I want to eat. I don’t particularly like to ‘crack open’ lobster, or dig out clams, or de-vein and shell shrimp, or peel oranges, or crack peanuts.
But, I still received the gift of the peanuts still wrapped in their shells with a smile and when I got home I decided to try one. Well, I picked one up. I chose one that looked like it might have as many as three peanuts in it! I briefly looked at the outside, then cracked it open. To my surprise there were three peanuts in there, but all three had stopped growing and were only the size of a sesame seed! The shell was basically hollow and empty. The outside was fully developed but the inside was still in the infant stage!
Going through life, for many people, is like that. We grow on the outside, but the inside has yet to catch up. I’m sure that if we went around and “cracked” some people open, we’d find spiritual development that is smaller than a mustard seed.
Being afraid of being alone is another thing that takes some development. Loneliness is one thing that for many people is just something that is, well, it is difficult to endure.
A man goes on a business trip for a month. The trip is intended to allow his family to get some extra money because of the company’s policy on paying out travel expenses. The company rewards travel, and it pays lots of money to those that volunteer. However, 15 days into the month, the man gets lonely. He starts calling his wife everyday and sometimes two or three times a day. The telephone bill begins to eat away at the profits that the man would have made simply because he is alone.
It’s difficult to be alone. It’s difficult to go two or three days, or four or five days, without any human interaction. That is our physical self talking to us. Within each one of us there is an innate, or inborn desire to be around other people. Some have a stronger desire than others, while there are some that may be able to escape from any form of interaction or communication with others. Again, these things that I have talked about are all mental and physical, or body and mind. And, if we let them, our body and mind can shape our spiritual concepts and actions. But, the reverse is applicable as well. The spiritual can shape the body and mind.
In our verses today, Paul is talking about how we can allow God to shape our spiritual self that will then allow Him to mold and shape our whole being. Paul is telling us how to handle our spiritual relationship and appreciate (not depreciate) the spiritual relationship that others have with God.
These verses tell us that what we do is in fact a projection of our mind, body, and spirit, our entire selves, toward God, while at the same time appreciating those around us and understanding their walk with God as just that…their walk with God.
Paul understands that everyone is different. He knows that there are varying levels of faith, love, temperance, devotion, commitment, etc.
Take a look at the first six verses of Romans, Chapter 14:
14:1 Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. 2 One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3 The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. 4 Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. 5 One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.
Paul realizes that everyone is different, and, as oddly as it may sound, everyone has differing everythings.
In that first verse of chapter 14, Paul makes a rather broad statement. Did you know that in that verse you can insert baptism by immersion or sprinkling? That’s a disputable matter, isn’t it? One person believes in reading a certain amount of scripture a day…and for them, they will stand or fall. And, he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. One person considers another’s way of dressing ‘down’ for church inappropriate and that they should dress up more. One thinks that fasting once a week is important. It is, for them. But, for someone else it may be twice a week or once every two weeks.
Paul wants us to know that people are different. Look at the person sitting closest to you. Does that person look exactly like you? Is their hair the same length? Is their clothing the same? Is their shoe size the same as yours? NO! And, what’s more, Paul tells us that they are just as different in God’s eyes as well.
Their “SPIRITUAL SELF” is much different, too. Their way of worshipping God may require them to do certain things in the Lord. Or, yours may require you to do something in the Lord.
Every relationship that you have is different. Every way that you treat one friend is much different than you treat another. Oh, you treat them all nice, that’s not what I mean. But, with one you may be able to share more from your heart than with another.
I believe that God is that way as well. If He isn’t, why did Paul say:
One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.
My faith in God is my faith in God and not yours. And, fortunately, the opposite is true, too. Your faith in God is your faith in God and not mine.
Second Corinthians 3:17 says,
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
Isn’t that great? Isn’t that grace?
Now, with all of that said, Paul cautions us to be careful with how we express this freedom or liberty that we each have in the Lord. As a matter of fact he tells us in 1 Corinthians 9:22:
To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.
He’s letting us know that the liberty that the Lord has granted to us, because the Lord knows that it is not a stumbling block to us, could become a stumbling block for others that are watching us.
So, now we are ready to jump into what Paul is talking about in our verses, verses 7-9. Again, those verses are,
7 For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. 8 If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9 For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.
Paul doesn’t waste any time in cutting right to the heart of the matter. We live to the Lord, he says!
What does He mean by that? This is definitely one time where the NIV doesn’t really help us capture the thought that Paul intended. Let’s try the KJV.
7 For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.8 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s. 9 For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.
Every thing that we do needs to be given over to the Lord. People joke about:
Well I turn everything over to the Lord, but I’m not going to trouble Him with what socks I’m going to wear, or what tie goes with my pink shirt.
Paul says, for whether we live… So, what does that exactly does that entail?
Thinking? Does it involve your thinking? Is the Lord involved in your thinking? Do you communicate through your thought processes during the day with the Lord? Do you allow the Lord to dominate your thoughts so that your thoughts will be clean, pure, and acceptable?
Yes, thinking is part of living, and if we live to the Lord, it must involve our thought process. Every bit of it.
Studying? Does living involve studying? Is the Lord involved in what you’re studying? Have you prayed over what you study and know that God is leading you in a certain direction in your study?
Yes, studying is part of living, and if we live to the Lord, study is a part of living and involves the Lord.
What about your job? Does living involve your job? Yes it does. Every thing that we do, whatever it is, fall under the umbrella of living. Therefore all of that should be dedicated to the Lord.
Armed with this information, we can then sing the song Waves of Mercy(every move I make) in a more ‘informed’ way.
Every move I make, I make in You
You make me move, Jesus
Every breath I take, I breathe in You
Every step I take, I take in You
You are my way, Jesus
Every breath I take, I breathe in You.
Chorus:
Waves of mercy, waves of grace
Everywhere I look, I see Your face
Your love has captured me
Oh my God This love
How can it be
(David Ruis - © 1996 Mercy / Vineyard Publishing (ASCAP))
Back to our verses:
7 For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.8 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s. 9 For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.
We will be hollow and empty if we are living our lives to ourselves. If we are living our lives to ourselves, we will be the grinch, or we will be Ebenezer Scrooge. Our insides will eventually be so messed up that we’ll soon be living a life of fear and paranoia, feeling that everyone is out to take something away from us. Pretty soon, we’ll be convinced that no one is on our side and that everyone is just looking to use us.
For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.
Paul tells us also in 1 Corinthians 10:31:
Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
If you’re not living to the Lord, well, frankly, you’re not living…
