(1)In the book, Living Your Strengths, we read, ‘One of the most common mistakes people make in their spiritual lives is to focus on the steps to spiritual growth rather than on the outcomes of spiritual growth.’ (2)Then in his book Ancient-Future Time, Robert Webber wrote, ‘As far back as I can remember I was told that Christ should be at the center of my life.’ He goes on to share how that was reinforced through various Sunday School lessons, hymns, and admonitions such as ‘Don’t do anything that you would be ashamed of in front of Jesus.’ He goes onto say that while these are fine admonitions, he asks, ‘How do you work them out in your life? How can you ‘be like Jesus?’ How is your life a life with Christ?’
We have been focusing during the first two months of this year on steps to spiritual growth. Steps that I believe are important ones with the goal of two important outcomes that are implied in the final two steps that we view this morning. Let’s briefly review the steps that we have studied so far in this series: (3)
We first examined steps 1 and 2:
Step 1 says, ‘We admitted we were powerless over our rut that our lives had become unmanageable.’
This is a step about the admission of powerlessness in our lives because of the ‘ruts’ that we have dug for ourselves. It is a step we take when there is a crack in our denial as well as when we are working to break the power of our denial.
Step 2 says, ‘We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.’ This is a step about the importance of belief in our lives and specifically belief in God, the God of the Bible, who, through Jesus Christ makes possible freedom from the ruts that we create.
Then we examined steps 3 and 4: (4)
Step 3 says, ‘We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the power of God, as we understood Him.’ This is about the necessity of surrendering to God our will and our life in order for His power to begin to change us and free us from the ruts we are in.
Step 4 says ‘We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.’ This step is about the difficult, but essential task of taking stock of our lives. We need to step back and take a look at our lives with the Lord and the Holy Spirit at our side and acknowledge the good, the bad, and the uuugly of our lives.
(5) In Step 5, (We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs), we came to understand the necessity of confession to God and at least one other human being because by ‘sharing our story’ with a trust worthy person, we are able to let go of our pasts and place them in God’s hands.
In Step 6 we came to another critical decision point, a point of being willing to change by being ‘entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.’ Change must take place in our lives if we are going to get out of the ruts that we have dug for ourselves. This change involves a decision to change as well as a willingness to give God the habits, choices, and attitudes that have caused us problems.
As a result of taking these steps, we now begin to realize that there are shortcomings or defects of character or attitudes and habits that have caused us, and others, some problems and created many ruts in our lives. So now, we have to become intentional about allowing the Lord to make changes in us.
(6) The first step in that intentional practice is Step 7 which says, ‘We humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings.’ This is a step in which humility becomes a key ally in our quest to get out of our ruts and clean house with God, others, as well as ourselves. And I would remind us that humility is not beating ourselves up but having the desire to get out of the way and let God do His good thing in us.
A key aspect then of Step 7 flows into Step 8 which says, ‘We made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.’ This is a step about forgiveness. Forgiveness is vital and critical for us if we truly want to get out of ruts and reconnect with both God and others that we have wounded. It is a ‘where the rubber meets the road’ step that requires the humility and honesty that comes as we take the first seven steps.
(7) This brings us to Steps 9 and 10, two steps that serve as the end of one phase of our journey and the beginning of a new phase of life with God and others. Step 9 is a step about reconciliation, a key action in God’s way of living. ‘We made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.’ Most, if not many of our ruts involve our relationships with others because living with people is at times a difficult business. Just read the Bible all the way through as a reminder of that difficulty.
When Jesus was asked to summarize the Law that had governed the Jewish faith from the time of Moses to the time of His life, death, and resurrection here on earth, He spoke of loving God as well as loving your neighbor as yourself. Relationships are key to life and faith. Rick Warren reminds us ‘four of the Ten Commandments deal with our relationship with God while the other six deal with our relationships with people. But all ten are about relationships!’
Step 10 ‘We continued to take personal inventory and, when we were wrong, promptly admitted it,’ is a step in which our vision turns from the past to the present and the future. It is a step about continuing to have a very important honesty (rigorous honesty my 12 Step friends call it) with ourselves that enables us to live in the present and in the power of God. It is a step of perseverance, a key quality that we are to develop if we are going to walk with the Lord, by His power and in His plan. (8)In Hebrews 12:1 we read, ‘Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us.’
We now come to the final two steps, 11 and 12.
(9) Step 11 says, ‘We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.’
This step is about developing and maintaining our relationship with the Lord through prayer and meditation. Someone has said that prayer is our talking to God and meditation is God talking to us. (10)In Colossians 3:16 we read, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” How does that take place? Through prayer and meditation on God’s word because in the Bible, the Lord has given us clear instruction as to what His will is for us and through the Holy Spirit we have the power to carry out His will for us.
Now there is a phrase in this step that gives some pause for concern, ‘as we understood Him.’ One of the charges leveled at the 12 Step community over the years is that this phrase allows for a fuzzy view of God that is not Biblical. Granted not everyone who enters a 12 Step group or practices the 12 Steps believes that Christianity is right.
Let me make clear at this point that I believe that the God spoken of in this phrase is the God of the Bible. It is Jesus Christ who died on the cross for our sins and who rose again from the grave to offer us eternal life and who will come again one day and judge all of humanity for what they have done on this earth. It is the spiritual power that has been released by Christ’s work that is the spiritual power behind these 12 Steps.
But the important focus of this step comes after this controversial phrase – ‘praying only for knowledge of God’s will for us and the power to carry that out.’ This step draws what I call a sharply smaller circle as to God’s will for each of us because a major step in getting out of our ruts is to let go of what we believe is our responsibility for God’s will as illustrated here. (11)
(Click)This first circle illustrates what many believe is their responsibility for God’s will. But in this step, which is a step about spiritual health, it requires a redrawing of our boundaries to only what God’s will is for us as follows. (Click)
For some of us this is very discomforting because we want to make a difference or quite simply, we want to be in charge. But, for us to grow spiritually we have to let go of some things (attitudes, relationships, priorities, habits) and stop over functioning. (Click)For many of us, our rut digging tool is over functioning.
Over functioning happens for many reasons. For some, it is because they are high achievers and they want to make a difference. For others, they over function because they are afraid if something important to them does not happen, it will be a disaster.
Guilt is a big reason for over functioning. There are times when I feel guilty because I am not trying out the newest ministry fad or going to the newest and hottest ministry conference or I am not on the front lines of some great cause because some well-known Christian personality says I should be. If we want to get out of our ruts we have to draw some new boundaries, new limits, and let go of some things that God does not want us to be concerned with.
This brings us to our main text for this morning. (Finally!)
The man in our story this morning is in serious condition. He is in a big rut that threatens his very life. He is in bondage. Bondage to something or someone is the biggest rut there is: bondage to money, lust, power, anger, violence, alcohol, and a host of other things. In verse 27 we read, ‘homeless and naked, he had lived in a cemetery for a long time.’ This is not the way that God wanted this man to live.
We have become very aware of the seriousness of meth addiction. It is a problem here in Noble County. It is a problem here in Kendallville. (It became a problem on my street last month.)
I asked for a couple of pictures from Drug Free Noble County to illustrate what bondage to drugs does to you. Here are some before and after pictures of meth users via the ‘Faces of Meth’ program in Oregon. They are not pretty.
(12)Here is a woman who shows the effects of meth after 18 months. (13) Here is a man after 3 months. (14) Here is a young woman after 8 months.
These individuals, and many others like them, are in a deep, deep life threatening rut. But, for others, the scars and sores from their bondage, their ruts, never show themselves externally. They are internal scars. They are internal wounds that no one sees or knows about.
And the ruts those individuals find themselves in are just as devastating and life threatening as meth. There is: (15)
• (Click) Anger that comes from feeling powerless over the choices of others to go a different direction or anger with God over an unresolved disappointment that makes faith difficult.
• (Click) Fear that comes from a deepening anxiety that life is out of control and I cannot stop terrible things from happening to others or that the walls of life will cave in on me financially or occupationally.
• (Click) Resentment that comes from unmet expectations or through losing out to someone else a new job or opportunity that you had hoped would come your way.
• (Click) Jealousy that comes from feeling like you are on the outside looking in and you just don’t fit in or through the good fortune that seems to come to others and not to you.
• (Click) Envy that comes out of no-where when someone else is rewarded for something that you, or some one else you know, did without fan fare.
• (Click) Hopelessness that comes when all of your hopes and dreams for you, family, friends, even the church, seem to come crashing down in a moment and there is nothing left.
This is why we need to improve our conscious contact with God and seek out His will and power for us. Without his power and will in our lives, we have no hope of ever getting out of our ruts because we need His help and power in doing so.
This possessed and in bondage man, needed the power of God to get out of his situation because it was only the power of God that could deliver him. But, when we face the truth about our ruts, our bondage, our addictions, we will likewise encounter the demonic as well.
We will feel the battle within us between right and wrong, good and evil. Notice what takes place between Jesus and the man starting with verse 28: (16)
‘As soon as he saw Jesus, he shrieked and fell to the ground before him, screaming, “Why are you bothering me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Please, I beg you, don’t torture me!” (17) For Jesus had already commanded the evil spirit to come out of him. This spirit had often taken control of the man. Even when he was shackled with chains, he simply broke them and rushed out into the wilderness, completely under the demon’s power.
A terrible and terrific battle ensues within this man and between Jesus and the forces of darkness. I wonder what the man looked like. Did he have moments of quiet when he would sob and cry because of the powerlessness in his life and the sense of hopelessness he felt?
No family around to help or comfort him. No friends to confide in and lean on for help and comfort. He was viewed as a madman who could not be trusted. But, as we continue to read, Jesus delivers this man and he is set free!
But something interesting happens and it is something we must take note of because it can happen to us. In verse 35 and following we read, ‘A crowd soon gathered around Jesus, for they wanted to see for themselves what had happened. And (18) they saw the man who had been possessed by demons sitting quietly at Jesus’ feet, clothed and sane. And the whole crowd was afraid. Then those who had seen what happened told the others how the demon-possessed man had been healed. And all the people in that region begged Jesus to go away and leave them alone, for a great wave of fear swept over them.
Why? Why were they afraid? Why weren’t they glad that this man was healed? Don’t you think that they would have been happy and rejoicing at this change?
Fear is one reason for their reaction. Perhaps they feared the return of the demons. Jesus notes this possibility in Luke 11:25 and following: When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, searching for rest. But when it finds none, it says, ‘I will return to the person I came from.’ So it returns and finds that its former home is all swept and clean. Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before.”
Maybe they could not handle the change in this man. It has been reported that families in which an alcoholic has changed sometimes cannot handle the changes that have taken place and the family falls apart.
Sometimes the changes that we will make in our lives as we make the decision to ask God to help us get out of our rut will impact others in ways that we do not imagine. But, we cannot let their response keep us from living the life that God wants to give us.
Well Jesus leaves at their request and as he gets back in the boat to return to the other side of the lake, the man begs to return with Jesus, but Jesus tells him in verse 39, “No, go back to your family and tell them all the wonderful things God has done for you.” So he went all through the city telling about the great thing Jesus had done for him.’
(19) Which brings us to Step 12 ‘Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.’
This now sane man did exactly that. He went and told his family (the best place to begin by the way though at times the hardest place as well) and then others what God had done for him. He ‘carried the message.’ But, he also had to learn to practice these principles in all areas of his life.
This is what Jesus was hinting at in the Luke 11 passage that I read a few moments ago. The reason for the re-occupation is that good and healthy change requires constant attention. Letting one’s guard down opens one up for greater problems because evil will do what it can to negate the commitment to God and His way of life.
This step is a step about staying the course. How does that happen? Two important practices. (20)
Practice number one is ‘An increasing knowledge and application of God’s word.’ We read in Hebrews 4:12 about the power of the Bible and what it does to us as well as for us. “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”
To practice these principles and to become more spiritually healthy and mature, regular study and application of the Bible is required. A bible study group or Sunday School class are important here. Create time in your schedule for reading the Bible and ask God to help you understand it. (Let me suggest reading one Psalm per day as a starting point. There are 150 of them and you may want to take two or three days to read through Psalm 119. That would give you nearly 6 months of reading.)
(21) Practice number two is ‘Staying connected with other believers.’ We read in Acts 2:46, “They broke bread in their homes and ate together…” Getting together for a meal or fellowship is vital to keep us healthy and growing in our life and faith.
Isolationism is not an option if we want to get out of, and stay out of, our ruts. We need to be connected to 3 or 4 other believers as a way of helping each other keep moving forward.
What this Step is describing is a whole new way of life – as illustrated in our text for this morning. He had been in bondage and now he was free! The Lord wants to do the same for each of one of us.
Last Sunday, the student speaker from Anderson University shared a couple of songs that really caught my attention. One was called ‘Time.’ (22)
Watching the clock tick tock away
Every second sounds a new day
Always on the rush,
Quick, get away
Sound the alarm for judgment day
Gotta hurry up, or be late
Gotta find the time to make it straight
(23)
Do you have the time to make it
Do you have the time to fake it
Do you have the time to take
Do you have the time to waste away the day?
(24)
Counting the line, can’t stand the wait
Every minute to hour, delay
Til’ tomorrow becomes yesterday
Now is the time, don’t hesitate
Every minute of mine will be made
Hit the clock it’s time to stop the race
(25)
Don’t you feel like there’s something that’s missing
Don’t you feel like there’s something that’s missing
As time keeps slipping
Don’t you feel like there’s something, that’s missing?
The questions asked by the song writer are pointed and reflective and they force us to stop and consider our use of time. ‘Do you have the time to fake it?’ ‘Do you have the time to make it?’ ‘Don’t you feel like there’s something that’s missing?’ Important questions to ask as we think about the ruts in our lives.
The second song was called ‘More Than Fine.’ It is a song that challenges us to experience more than just the day to day. It is a song in which the song writer expresses a hope that life is going to be more than ‘just ok.’
(26)
When I’m up with the sunrise
I want more than just blue skies.
I want more than just ok, more than just ok.
When I’m wet with the sunshine.
I want more than just a good time.
I want more than just ok, more than just ok.
I’m not giving up, giving up, not giving up now.
I’m not giving up, giving up, not selling out.
More than fine, more than just ok.
More than fine, more than bent on getting by.
More than fine, more than just ok.
Which song do you resonate with? Which song is the song of one who has counted the cost and is willing, ready, and able (through the power and strength of the Holy Spirit) to take these twelve steps and walk with God throughout life?
The season of Lent begins this Wednesday. Some of us have celebrated Lent for years. Others of us have not. Lent is a time of serious reflection and remembrance of Jesus’ death.
It is a time in which we consider the depth of God’s love for us through Christ. It is a time to take stock and evaluate our lives.
God did not create us to merely just ‘get by.’ He created us to live and live with a joy, a love, a passion, and a purpose that goes beyond us to Him. He died so that might live.
What is the Holy Spirit saying to you this morning? Is he saying, ‘come home, come home!’ Is he saying, ‘come back, come back?’ Is he saying, ‘don’t give up, don’t give up?’
What ever He is saying, obey His voice today. Reach up and out of the rut you find yourself in with both hands and allow the Lord to pick you and help you start walking and living with Him! Amen.
Sources:
Living Your Strengths by Winseman, Clifton, and Liesveld. Page 100.
Ancient Future Time by Robert Webber. Page 22.
Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. Page 125
Power Points for this sermon are available by e-mailing me at pastorjim46755@yahoo.com and asking for ‘022606svgs’ Please note that all slides for a particular presentation may not be available.
