True Freedom 190910
(some key words: lost and free and abide)
Series: Practicing the Presence: Meeting Jesus through Scripture and Prayer
Psalms M5: True Freedom (10 09 19)
Speaker: Ken Shigematsu
Text: Psalm 119:32, 45; John 8:31-33
BIG IDEA: Abiding in God’s Word leads us to true freedom.
There are few experiences that feel quite as free for me as sailing in the ocean—I love the sensation of the sun streaming down on my face and the wind carrying me along.
But, I won’t be free for very long, if I don’t know where I am. This is why a sailor in order to be truly free in the open waters needs a compass, or a GPS device to help her locate where she is.
Now I have heard of sailors who have ventured out on long ocean voyages over several weeks, attempting to cover hundreds of nautical miles—who have gone without compass, a GPS device, or a map. On the surface it sounds romantic, adventuresome, and free, but when you are lost at sea and you have run out of fresh water, food, and fuel, you don’t feel particularly free.
You feel lost.
So it is with our lives.
If we try to live life without a compass or a GPS system or map, it may sound romantic, adventuresome, and free, but we’ll simply end up lost.
Being able to go offshore on a sailboat and sail on the open waters more than fifty miles offshore requires a more advanced set of sailing skills.
But compared to navigating the waters of life, it’s relatively simple.
As romantic, adventuresome, and free as it sounds, trying to live life without any kind of compass or map doesn’t actually work in practice. We end up lost. Each of us needs a guide beyond the compass in our head to navigate the waters of life.
And this is what God’s Word does for us.
In Psalm 119:105 we read “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.”
We are in a series entitled Practicing the Presence: Meeting Jesus through Scripture and Prayer. We have been looking at various psalms that point us to the Word. Today, as we close the series, we are going to look once more at Psalm 119 and specifically how the word of God sets us free.
In verse 32 we read: “I have run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free.”
In verse 45: “I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts.”
The psalmist is saying that the Word of God leads us to a place of true freedom. I am aware that this perspective flies in the face of the conventional thinking of our day. Most people feel that if you live by the teaching of the Bible, you will find yourself always wearing a seat belt in the airplane of life--unable to freely move about the cabin of your world. But the commands of God--the Word--the psalmist tells us set our hearts free.
How so?
A few weeks ago when we looked at Psalm 1, we discussed how many people think the fact that the Bible is old is a disadvantage. But it is not a disadvantage. One of the reasons the Bible is so valuable is that it does not reflect the conventional wisdom of our day because it is not from today. People in any era tend to be over-confident in what they know and what they think they know.
As I said last month in the opening message of the series from Psalm 1, in the Victorian age some people felt they would bring scientific discovery to an end because they had discovered everything there was to know about science. How ironic and naïve! They were just on the verge of a scientific revolution.
Prior to the 1950s, the psychology establishment and pediatricians were advising parents that they should not show loving affection to their children. Dr John Watson, the head of the American Psychological Association, declared: “When you are tempted to pet your child, remember that mother love is a dangerous instrument…there are serious rocks ahead for the over-kissed child.” Dr. Watson defined over-kissing a child as kissing a child more than once a year. Doctors and scientists, and even the government, were saying, “Never kiss your baby. Don’t rock your baby, or play with your children.” We now look back, we scratch our head and say, “How could they have believed that?”
We tend to be over-confident in what we think we know in our own generation. We think that our cultural moment represents the pinnacle of civilization—that no society has ever been as enlightened as we are. But, the fact is that there are things we believe now, that we are so confident about, one day our grandchildren or our great grandchildren will look back on and say, “How could we have believed that!”
One of the great gifts of the Scriptures is that is no ordinary book. It is inspired, literally breathed by God. It contains eternal wisdom and teaches us about the nature of life, God, and ourselves. It contains wisdom that has been tested and confirmed across the centuries. It sets us free from the blindness of our own age.
How can this happen for us? True freedom comes to us from the Word when we abide in it…when we hold on to Jesus’ teaching… meditate on it…pray over it…indwell it, and let it indwell us.
In John 8:31-32, Jesus said:
31 "…If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
Many of us have heard the words quoted: “…you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” We often however don’t consider the words that go just before these words. It is always essential to read the Bible in its context in order to understand it correctly. The words before “…you will know the truth and the truth will set you free,” are “…if you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.” Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. The words hold on to can be translated “abide” or “remain”—it is the same word that John uses in John 15 when he talks about “our need to abide will remain as branches in the vine of Jesus Christ.”
The idea here is that we need to indwell Christ’s words. Then we will know the truth deeply. And that truth deeply will set us free.
The Hungarian scientist and philosopher in the early 20th century, Michael Polanyi, wrote an influential book called The Tacit Dimension. Polanyi lived and worked in a time when scientists emphasized pure rational objective knowing, but Dr. Polanyi wrote about how we cannot deeply know something scientifically unless we “indwell the thing we are studying and allow it to indwell us.” Polanyi observed that when we really know someone deeply, we get inside their skin through an act of empathy in a sense we indwell them. Parents in this sense can deeply know their children. They get inside their skin. They empathize if the child falls and scrapes a knee, or is bullied at school.
In a sense, an accomplished athlete or a musician--who deeply knows their sport or music—indwells their sport or music; or a doctor or plumber who deeply knows their field, indwells in their field.
I have a friend named Craig who is a gifted and experienced obstetrician/gynecologist. When he’s with a patient, even though he has a huge cache of knowledge and skills, most of it is not at the forefront of this mind when he sees a patient. He says, “I usually don’t use a check list unless it’s a really difficult problem. What I do is listen to my patient and try to sense what might be out of balance with her body. I then instinctively draw on my knowledge and experience.” He’s indwelled his medical practice long enough that he experiences real freedom.
Like Craig, we may not always have all the facts of the Bible in the forefront of our minds, but if we indwell the Word as Craig has indwelled medicine and has experienced freedom as a doctor, like Craig we experience freedom.
When Jesus told a group of Jewish people: “…If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free," they answered him: “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves to anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?” (John 8:31-33)
And though we live in a very different world than Jesus’ day, we too may assume that we are already free. We may assume we have nothing from which we need to be set free. But, by our very design, we were made to honour and follow something or someone. So if we don’t honour and follow the living God, we honour and follow something else. And we will not be free.
The Greek philosopher Euripides said, “No one is wholly free. You are a slave to wealth or to the law or to the people you are seeking to please. But, you are not free.”
Simone Weil, the famous French philosopher and social activist, said,
“One has only the choice between God and idolatry. If one denies God . . . one is worshiping some things of this world in the belief that one sees them only as such, but in fact, though unknown to oneself imagining the attributes of Divinity in them.”
If God is not the centre of your life, then something else is, because we were made to follow something. If God isn’t God, we will find ourselves honouring and following something else. It might be approval of some person or money. It might be sex or success. But, we will not be free. We will be enslaved to something. But if we hold on to Jesus’ teachings, if we indwell them and let them indwell us, then we will truly be Jesus’ followers. We will know the truth and the truth will set us free from the gods of our age.
Indwelling the Word and letting the Word indwell us will set us free.
I have asked Jennifer Seo, a member of this community, to share how this has been true for her. (For Kits, I have asked Jacqueline Brower, a member of this Kits community, how this has been true for her.)
JENNIFER: MT. PLEASANT
A few years ago, I was going through a difficult time in my life. My boyfriend and I had decided to end a relationship. He had a good career and seemed kind. Part of me was hoping that I could have a future with him. But I also had unrest and doubt about the relationship and we broke up. This was a time of sadness. But, it was also a time I had to ask myself what I wanted with my life.
I felt like there was more to life than working as a dental hygienist. And although my relationship didn’t work out, I sensed deep down that even finding the right person was not all there was to life. I sensed that even though marriage was an important part of our lives, it wasn’t everything. It was a time in my life when I didn’t have a clear sense of direction.
As I thought about my future, I felt lost, worried and afraid.
During this time, I often asked God,
“Where do I go from here?”
“Who am I and what is my life about?”
“Where are you and why are you not speaking to me?”
At the same time, I did set aside some time for God every morning.
I meditated on the Word and prayed.
Some days I didn’t feel like praying or reading the Word.
But I made an effort to spend time with God and I began to see that He has answered the questions I had through His Word. And slowly and gradually the Word of God started to free me from my fear and worry.
When I wanted to know where I should go from here, the Word of God taught me to look to God for guidance. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you.”…”plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
As I meditated on that verse, I came to believe that God will guide me.
When I wanted to know where God was, God reminded me through the Word that He is with me. And that He is in control of my life and future.
He spoke to me through Psalm 127: 1: “ Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.”
And when I wanted to know who I am and what my life is about, God spoke to me through many verses about this question, but I want to share this one with you.
It’s John 15:5. 5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
I came to realize where my fear and worry came from. I didn’t know where I was going in my life’s journey; I was like a person lost in darkness. I felt afraid and worried because I didn’t know what lay ahead of me.
But to me, the Word of God has been like light in the darkness. And God has indeed guided me thus far.
There are still uncertainties about my future. But I know who is in control of my future; God is, not me.
When I didn’t walk with God wholeheartedly, the future was something I was afraid of.
But knowing that God holds my future and trusting that He will guide me every step of the way, I have freedom and peace.
Though life is still full of challenges, I look forward to spending time with God daily and meditating on the Word of God, who is in control of my future.
JACKIE BROWER: KITS
The rain had finally let up and I was sitting in a coffee shop on a February day reading the Voice of Jesus by Gordon Smith. I was at a point of transition: wondering if I should go back to school for a Master’s degree, or join staff with InterVarsity at UBC. InterVarsity is a Christian ministry that helps introduce university students to way of Jesus Christ. In order to work with UBC students. I was intimidated by raising my own salary and committing three years of my young life to student ministry. In his book, Gordon talked about ways to soften ourselves to the voice of Jesus. I was reading about holy indifference, which is coming to a place where we are willing to have God do whatever He pleases in our life. I closed the book and said to God, “Okay. I’m ready. Whatever you want. It could be anything. Anything at all. Let me know.” I then got up, walked out the door and started praying as I walked down the streets of Kitsilano.
A biologist by training, I noticed some new flowers popping up in soggy grass patches: escapees from the neighbourhood gardens. I reflected the passage in the Bible that talks about the lilies of the field and sensed God saying to me, “Seek first my kingdom and all these things will be given to you.” I felt peace flow through my anxious indecision. I knew God would take care of me if I responded to his call. I was specifically thinking about how He would take care of my finances and basic needs. But, I still did not know what I was supposed to do. God drew me back to the purple flowers and as I examined them I started thinking about how I desired to be like one of the flowers: rooted in Jesus and growing up to be a person of beauty, who could cast seeds and see communities of beauty sprout up in unexpected places. This desire had come from meditating the seed parables throughout the year. God said to me, “Okay. Where can you learn to do that?” I knew I could probably learn how to grow up and cast seeds in many places, but from my experience and present options, I decided working with InterVarsity could be a good choice. Finally, I felt free of my indecision.
God used Matt. 6 to free me from my anxiety around financial security. He also used nature along with the seed parables to free me from my anxious indecision.
As I went on to fundraise, I experienced God’s provision as people gave in unbelievable ways. I was raised in a home that valued financial security and independence. I also am naturally thrifty, and a little tight-fisted with my money. But, with the peace and freedom that God gave me through his words in Matthew 6 (Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well) I was able to step out in faith. In one summer, God provided $40 000 so I could start on campus right away. $40 000. Just imagine thinking about trying to raise that in 4 months so that you can do the job you are doing. God is amazing and his people are generous. I feel a new freedom when it comes to money. I don’t have to hold onto my money as tightly and I actually enjoy being generous now, rather than feeling like I am obliged to give.
(Respond to both stories)
Jennifer said that after she and her ex-boyfriend broke up, “I sensed that deep down even finding the right person was not all there was to life.” Though initially she felt lost and worried about the future after the break up with her boyfriend, but because God’s Word so richly indwells her, she felt like her anxiety and worries were blown away, and she sensed that she was assured from Jeremiah 29:11 that whether she was single or married in the future, God had a good plan for her. No longer lost, but freed by abiding in the word. She was freed from the pervasive message of her culture that you have to be with someone in order to be someone. The Word of God freed her from that bondage. And for other people who have always been afraid of being “tied down” in a relationship, the Word of God has freed them to enter into a long-term, committed, faithful relationship. The Word can free us to be single or in a relationship with a partner.
Jacqueline Brower, a member of our Kits community, which is a wonderful, smaller community that meets at Kits High School, recently graduated from UBC, shared about how she had been anxious about her financial future. She described how she had been raised in a home which valued financial security and independence. She said she naturally a little tight-fisted with her money, but she shared how God’s words, specifically the words in Matthew 6: “Seek first my Kingdom and all these things will be added to you as well” freed her to step out in faith and to pursue a vocation that isn’t financially lucrative, but would enable her to use her gifts to serve people. No longer lost in worry about money, but freed through abiding in word.
(Money, of course, and status in a company are such a powerful force in our lives.
Nathan Hatch, the president of Wake Forrest University, says, “A disproportionate number of young adults are trying to cram into the fields of finance, corporate law and specialized medicine because of the high salaries and the aura of success these professions now bring. Students, for the most part, are not asking the larger questions of meaning and purpose. They are not asking what job will help people flourish, but what job will help me flourish financially. As a result there is a high degree of frustration as people are unfulfilled in their work.”
The Word of God has helped free Jacqueline from this slavery that makes you do what you are made to do just because you a slave to money or prestige.)
God’s Word not only frees us from the need to serve the gods of our age, whether they are money, sex, approval, power, success, the Word also frees us to become a certain kind of person. We have a blog at Tenth to give people an opportunity to respond to this sermon series to describe their experience with the world.
On our blog, this week a woman in our community wrote this story about her husband:
Watching the impact of the Word. I am an observer – we are all observers of those close to us and as I have been married now for almost 30 years I have watched, seen and experienced much of my husband. I know his little quirks, I know his strength, his weaknesses, I know where he has grown and where he has got stuck. I can say with all honesty that I do not think that anything has had as much impact on him as his daily quiet times with the Lord. Not in a huge dramatic way where he gets up from his quiet times transformed or glowing but in a slow steady softening of character and grace. He is beginning to look more like the Jesus I meet in the Bible – wise, gentle, kind, compassionate. Now he could never say this – first he doesn’t see it the way I do and it would be most arrogant to write personally of this sort of thing but I as his wife, have observed it and say it not to make him proud but to encourage others to go after the same faithful walk with the Lord. Daily now for well over 20 years my husband has first thing in the morning sat himself before the Lord, reading his Bible, journaling on what he has read and learned, and praying offering our kids, his work, me, our family and friends up to the Lord. He has read through the Bible in a year many times now and the themes of Scripture have made their way into his very being. Over that time the Lord has just worked things through with him molding his character, giving him wisdom and insight that he would not otherwise have, giving guidance and instruction, softening his rough edges and loving him in ways that no human can do. God has encouraged him and he has grown to love and depend on His heavenly Father. We have often said that we hear many people at the end of their life with regrets of what they did or did not do, we have never heard of anyone who regretted that they had spent too much time with God in his Word – it is worth every minute – one day at a time.
It frees us from the idols of our age; free to know God and his Son Jesus and to become like him.
The wife in the blog says the Word has softened her husband’s rough edges. As a result of the cumulative effect of God’s Word, he has become a person more like Jesus Christ. Freed by abiding in the word.
Psalm 119:32 says:
I have run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free.”
Jesus in John 8:31-32:
"If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
The only tragedy in life is to not become a saint, by saint I mean one who reflects the integrity, courage, and love of Jesus Christ because this path has been opened to us through the portal of God’s Word which enables us to indwell Jesus Christ and to have Christ indwell us.
It is not a tragedy, as Jennifer pointed out, to not be married; (or as Jacqueline shared at Kits to not be in a career that earns you heaps of money). It is not a tragedy to experience a special suffering, or to even fail in some way, because the Word tells us that if we are called by God, he can take all of these things, our suffering and even our sin, and work them together for his good purposes in us.
The only tragedy in life is to not become a saint, because this path has been open to us by the living Word which leads us to go deeper into a life-changing relationship with Jesus.
Throughout this series I have said whatever we do repeatedly has the power to shape us. If we are in the daily habit of spending time with God, even if is not marked with ground-breaking insight or deep emotion; even if there days when it feels perfunctory or sleepy, this practice will shape us. If we are regularly in the Word and let the Word lead us to Jesus, as has been true for Jennifer and Jacqueline, and for this man described by his wife, we can become more like Jesus.
As we close this series Practicing the Presence: Meeting Jesus through Scripture and Prayer, practice suggests this is something we do. So, I would like to invite you to join us in our movement to commit to spending time in Scripture and prayer for at least 15 minutes a day 4 days a week from now until June, which roughly follows the school year… Allow this practice to enable you to abide in the Word, in Jesus, and allow yourself to be set free.
There is a response card in your program that I invite you take in your hand or reach in the pew rack in front of you. If you don’t have a card, please raise your hand and keep it up and an usher will move toward you. If you sense God calling you in this direction and would like to respond, please take a moment now to fill out the response card and put it in the offering basket as it goes by in just a moment.
(read it)
Earlier this week the board of elders and our staff filled out these cards. Your actually filling out this card will encourage us because we are planning to take some of these cards to create a collage as a way to artistically remind ourselves of the commitment that we have made.
Offering: We offer our tithes and our time as a way of saying we offer ourself to you.
Series: Practicing the Presence: Meeting Jesus through Scripture and Prayer
Psalms M5: True Freedom (10 09 19)
Speaker: Ken Shigematsu
Text: Psalm 119:32, 45; John 8:31-33
BIG IDEA: Abiding in God’s Word leads us to true freedom.
There are few experiences that feel quite as free for me as sailing in the ocean—I love the sensation of the sun streaming down on my face and the wind carrying me along.
But, I won’t be free for very long, if I don’t know where I am. This is why a sailor in order to be truly free in the open waters needs a compass, or a GPS device to help her locate where she is.
Now I have heard of sailors who have ventured out on long ocean voyages over several weeks, attempting to cover hundreds of nautical miles—who have gone without compass, a GPS device, or a map. On the surface it sounds romantic, adventuresome, and free, but when you are lost at sea and you have run out of fresh water, food, and fuel, you don’t feel particularly free.
You feel lost.
So it is with our lives.
If we try to live life without a compass or a GPS system or map, it may sound romantic, adventuresome, and free, but we’ll simply end up lost.
Being able to go offshore on a sailboat and sail on the open waters more than fifty miles offshore requires a more advanced set of sailing skills.
But compared to navigating the waters of life, it’s relatively simple.
As romantic, adventuresome, and free as it sounds, trying to live life without any kind of compass or map doesn’t actually work in practice. We end up lost. Each of us needs a guide beyond the compass in our head to navigate the waters of life.
And this is what God’s Word does for us.
In Psalm 119:105 we read “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.”
We are in a series entitled Practicing the Presence: Meeting Jesus through Scripture and Prayer. We have been looking at various psalms that point us to the Word. Today, as we close the series, we are going to look once more at Psalm 119 and specifically how the word of God sets us free.
In verse 32 we read: “I have run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free.”
In verse 45: “I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts.”
The psalmist is saying that the Word of God leads us to a place of true freedom. I am aware that this perspective flies in the face of the conventional thinking of our day. Most people feel that if you live by the teaching of the Bible, you will find yourself always wearing a seat belt in the airplane of life--unable to freely move about the cabin of your world. But the commands of God--the Word--the psalmist tells us set our hearts free.
How so?
A few weeks ago when we looked at Psalm 1, we discussed how many people think the fact that the Bible is old is a disadvantage. But it is not a disadvantage. One of the reasons the Bible is so valuable is that it does not reflect the conventional wisdom of our day because it is not from today. People in any era tend to be over-confident in what they know and what they think they know.
As I said last month in the opening message of the series from Psalm 1, in the Victorian age some people felt they would bring scientific discovery to an end because they had discovered everything there was to know about science. How ironic and naïve! They were just on the verge of a scientific revolution.
Prior to the 1950s, the psychology establishment and pediatricians were advising parents that they should not show loving affection to their children. Dr John Watson, the head of the American Psychological Association, declared: “When you are tempted to pet your child, remember that mother love is a dangerous instrument…there are serious rocks ahead for the over-kissed child.” Dr. Watson defined over-kissing a child as kissing a child more than once a year. Doctors and scientists, and even the government, were saying, “Never kiss your baby. Don’t rock your baby, or play with your children.” We now look back, we scratch our head and say, “How could they have believed that?”
We tend to be over-confident in what we think we know in our own generation. We think that our cultural moment represents the pinnacle of civilization—that no society has ever been as enlightened as we are. But, the fact is that there are things we believe now, that we are so confident about, one day our grandchildren or our great grandchildren will look back on and say, “How could we have believed that!”
One of the great gifts of the Scriptures is that is no ordinary book. It is inspired, literally breathed by God. It contains eternal wisdom and teaches us about the nature of life, God, and ourselves. It contains wisdom that has been tested and confirmed across the centuries. It sets us free from the blindness of our own age.
How can this happen for us? True freedom comes to us from the Word when we abide in it…when we hold on to Jesus’ teaching… meditate on it…pray over it…indwell it, and let it indwell us.
In John 8:31-32, Jesus said:
31 "…If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
Many of us have heard the words quoted: “…you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” We often however don’t consider the words that go just before these words. It is always essential to read the Bible in its context in order to understand it correctly. The words before “…you will know the truth and the truth will set you free,” are “…if you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.” Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. The words hold on to can be translated “abide” or “remain”—it is the same word that John uses in John 15 when he talks about “our need to abide will remain as branches in the vine of Jesus Christ.”
The idea here is that we need to indwell Christ’s words. Then we will know the truth deeply. And that truth deeply will set us free.
The Hungarian scientist and philosopher in the early 20th century, Michael Polanyi, wrote an influential book called The Tacit Dimension. Polanyi lived and worked in a time when scientists emphasized pure rational objective knowing, but Dr. Polanyi wrote about how we cannot deeply know something scientifically unless we “indwell the thing we are studying and allow it to indwell us.” Polanyi observed that when we really know someone deeply, we get inside their skin through an act of empathy in a sense we indwell them. Parents in this sense can deeply know their children. They get inside their skin. They empathize if the child falls and scrapes a knee, or is bullied at school.
In a sense, an accomplished athlete or a musician--who deeply knows their sport or music—indwells their sport or music; or a doctor or plumber who deeply knows their field, indwells in their field.
I have a friend named Craig who is a gifted and experienced obstetrician/gynecologist. When he’s with a patient, even though he has a huge cache of knowledge and skills, most of it is not at the forefront of this mind when he sees a patient. He says, “I usually don’t use a check list unless it’s a really difficult problem. What I do is listen to my patient and try to sense what might be out of balance with her body. I then instinctively draw on my knowledge and experience.” He’s indwelled his medical practice long enough that he experiences real freedom.
Like Craig, we may not always have all the facts of the Bible in the forefront of our minds, but if we indwell the Word as Craig has indwelled medicine and has experienced freedom as a doctor, like Craig we experience freedom.
When Jesus told a group of Jewish people: “…If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free," they answered him: “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves to anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?” (John 8:31-33)
And though we live in a very different world than Jesus’ day, we too may assume that we are already free. We may assume we have nothing from which we need to be set free. But, by our very design, we were made to honour and follow something or someone. So if we don’t honour and follow the living God, we honour and follow something else. And we will not be free.
The Greek philosopher Euripides said, “No one is wholly free. You are a slave to wealth or to the law or to the people you are seeking to please. But, you are not free.”
Simone Weil, the famous French philosopher and social activist, said,
“One has only the choice between God and idolatry. If one denies God . . . one is worshiping some things of this world in the belief that one sees them only as such, but in fact, though unknown to oneself imagining the attributes of Divinity in them.”
If God is not the centre of your life, then something else is, because we were made to follow something. If God isn’t God, we will find ourselves honouring and following something else. It might be approval of some person or money. It might be sex or success. But, we will not be free. We will be enslaved to something. But if we hold on to Jesus’ teachings, if we indwell them and let them indwell us, then we will truly be Jesus’ followers. We will know the truth and the truth will set us free from the gods of our age.
Indwelling the Word and letting the Word indwell us will set us free.
I have asked Jennifer Seo, a member of this community, to share how this has been true for her. (For Kits, I have asked Jacqueline Brower, a member of this Kits community, how this has been true for her.)
JENNIFER: MT. PLEASANT
A few years ago, I was going through a difficult time in my life. My boyfriend and I had decided to end a relationship. He had a good career and seemed kind. Part of me was hoping that I could have a future with him. But I also had unrest and doubt about the relationship and we broke up. This was a time of sadness. But, it was also a time I had to ask myself what I wanted with my life.
I felt like there was more to life than working as a dental hygienist. And although my relationship didn’t work out, I sensed deep down that even finding the right person was not all there was to life. I sensed that even though marriage was an important part of our lives, it wasn’t everything. It was a time in my life when I didn’t have a clear sense of direction.
As I thought about my future, I felt lost, worried and afraid.
During this time, I often asked God,
“Where do I go from here?”
“Who am I and what is my life about?”
“Where are you and why are you not speaking to me?”
At the same time, I did set aside some time for God every morning.
I meditated on the Word and prayed.
Some days I didn’t feel like praying or reading the Word.
But I made an effort to spend time with God and I began to see that He has answered the questions I had through His Word. And slowly and gradually the Word of God started to free me from my fear and worry.
When I wanted to know where I should go from here, the Word of God taught me to look to God for guidance. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you.”…”plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
As I meditated on that verse, I came to believe that God will guide me.
When I wanted to know where God was, God reminded me through the Word that He is with me. And that He is in control of my life and future.
He spoke to me through Psalm 127: 1: “ Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.”
And when I wanted to know who I am and what my life is about, God spoke to me through many verses about this question, but I want to share this one with you.
It’s John 15:5. 5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
I came to realize where my fear and worry came from. I didn’t know where I was going in my life’s journey; I was like a person lost in darkness. I felt afraid and worried because I didn’t know what lay ahead of me.
But to me, the Word of God has been like light in the darkness. And God has indeed guided me thus far.
There are still uncertainties about my future. But I know who is in control of my future; God is, not me.
When I didn’t walk with God wholeheartedly, the future was something I was afraid of.
But knowing that God holds my future and trusting that He will guide me every step of the way, I have freedom and peace.
Though life is still full of challenges, I look forward to spending time with God daily and meditating on the Word of God, who is in control of my future.
JACKIE BROWER: KITS
The rain had finally let up and I was sitting in a coffee shop on a February day reading the Voice of Jesus by Gordon Smith. I was at a point of transition: wondering if I should go back to school for a Master’s degree, or join staff with InterVarsity at UBC. InterVarsity is a Christian ministry that helps introduce university students to way of Jesus Christ. In order to work with UBC students. I was intimidated by raising my own salary and committing three years of my young life to student ministry. In his book, Gordon talked about ways to soften ourselves to the voice of Jesus. I was reading about holy indifference, which is coming to a place where we are willing to have God do whatever He pleases in our life. I closed the book and said to God, “Okay. I’m ready. Whatever you want. It could be anything. Anything at all. Let me know.” I then got up, walked out the door and started praying as I walked down the streets of Kitsilano.
A biologist by training, I noticed some new flowers popping up in soggy grass patches: escapees from the neighbourhood gardens. I reflected the passage in the Bible that talks about the lilies of the field and sensed God saying to me, “Seek first my kingdom and all these things will be given to you.” I felt peace flow through my anxious indecision. I knew God would take care of me if I responded to his call. I was specifically thinking about how He would take care of my finances and basic needs. But, I still did not know what I was supposed to do. God drew me back to the purple flowers and as I examined them I started thinking about how I desired to be like one of the flowers: rooted in Jesus and growing up to be a person of beauty, who could cast seeds and see communities of beauty sprout up in unexpected places. This desire had come from meditating the seed parables throughout the year. God said to me, “Okay. Where can you learn to do that?” I knew I could probably learn how to grow up and cast seeds in many places, but from my experience and present options, I decided working with InterVarsity could be a good choice. Finally, I felt free of my indecision.
God used Matt. 6 to free me from my anxiety around financial security. He also used nature along with the seed parables to free me from my anxious indecision.
As I went on to fundraise, I experienced God’s provision as people gave in unbelievable ways. I was raised in a home that valued financial security and independence. I also am naturally thrifty, and a little tight-fisted with my money. But, with the peace and freedom that God gave me through his words in Matthew 6 (Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well) I was able to step out in faith. In one summer, God provided $40 000 so I could start on campus right away. $40 000. Just imagine thinking about trying to raise that in 4 months so that you can do the job you are doing. God is amazing and his people are generous. I feel a new freedom when it comes to money. I don’t have to hold onto my money as tightly and I actually enjoy being generous now, rather than feeling like I am obliged to give.
(Respond to both stories)
Jennifer said that after she and her ex-boyfriend broke up, “I sensed that deep down even finding the right person was not all there was to life.” Though initially she felt lost and worried about the future after the break up with her boyfriend, but because God’s Word so richly indwells her, she felt like her anxiety and worries were blown away, and she sensed that she was assured from Jeremiah 29:11 that whether she was single or married in the future, God had a good plan for her. No longer lost, but freed by abiding in the word. She was freed from the pervasive message of her culture that you have to be with someone in order to be someone. The Word of God freed her from that bondage. And for other people who have always been afraid of being “tied down” in a relationship, the Word of God has freed them to enter into a long-term, committed, faithful relationship. The Word can free us to be single or in a relationship with a partner.
Jacqueline Brower, a member of our Kits community, which is a wonderful, smaller community that meets at Kits High School, recently graduated from UBC, shared about how she had been anxious about her financial future. She described how she had been raised in a home which valued financial security and independence. She said she naturally a little tight-fisted with her money, but she shared how God’s words, specifically the words in Matthew 6: “Seek first my Kingdom and all these things will be added to you as well” freed her to step out in faith and to pursue a vocation that isn’t financially lucrative, but would enable her to use her gifts to serve people. No longer lost in worry about money, but freed through abiding in word.
(Money, of course, and status in a company are such a powerful force in our lives.
Nathan Hatch, the president of Wake Forrest University, says, “A disproportionate number of young adults are trying to cram into the fields of finance, corporate law and specialized medicine because of the high salaries and the aura of success these professions now bring. Students, for the most part, are not asking the larger questions of meaning and purpose. They are not asking what job will help people flourish, but what job will help me flourish financially. As a result there is a high degree of frustration as people are unfulfilled in their work.”
The Word of God has helped free Jacqueline from this slavery that makes you do what you are made to do just because you a slave to money or prestige.)
God’s Word not only frees us from the need to serve the gods of our age, whether they are money, sex, approval, power, success, the Word also frees us to become a certain kind of person. We have a blog at Tenth to give people an opportunity to respond to this sermon series to describe their experience with the world.
On our blog, this week a woman in our community wrote this story about her husband:
Watching the impact of the Word. I am an observer – we are all observers of those close to us and as I have been married now for almost 30 years I have watched, seen and experienced much of my husband. I know his little quirks, I know his strength, his weaknesses, I know where he has grown and where he has got stuck. I can say with all honesty that I do not think that anything has had as much impact on him as his daily quiet times with the Lord. Not in a huge dramatic way where he gets up from his quiet times transformed or glowing but in a slow steady softening of character and grace. He is beginning to look more like the Jesus I meet in the Bible – wise, gentle, kind, compassionate. Now he could never say this – first he doesn’t see it the way I do and it would be most arrogant to write personally of this sort of thing but I as his wife, have observed it and say it not to make him proud but to encourage others to go after the same faithful walk with the Lord. Daily now for well over 20 years my husband has first thing in the morning sat himself before the Lord, reading his Bible, journaling on what he has read and learned, and praying offering our kids, his work, me, our family and friends up to the Lord. He has read through the Bible in a year many times now and the themes of Scripture have made their way into his very being. Over that time the Lord has just worked things through with him molding his character, giving him wisdom and insight that he would not otherwise have, giving guidance and instruction, softening his rough edges and loving him in ways that no human can do. God has encouraged him and he has grown to love and depend on His heavenly Father. We have often said that we hear many people at the end of their life with regrets of what they did or did not do, we have never heard of anyone who regretted that they had spent too much time with God in his Word – it is worth every minute – one day at a time.
It frees us from the idols of our age; free to know God and his Son Jesus and to become like him.
The wife in the blog says the Word has softened her husband’s rough edges. As a result of the cumulative effect of God’s Word, he has become a person more like Jesus Christ. Freed by abiding in the word.
Psalm 119:32 says:
I have run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free.”
Jesus in John 8:31-32:
"If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
The only tragedy in life is to not become a saint, by saint I mean one who reflects the integrity, courage, and love of Jesus Christ because this path has been opened to us through the portal of God’s Word which enables us to indwell Jesus Christ and to have Christ indwell us.
It is not a tragedy, as Jennifer pointed out, to not be married; (or as Jacqueline shared at Kits to not be in a career that earns you heaps of money). It is not a tragedy to experience a special suffering, or to even fail in some way, because the Word tells us that if we are called by God, he can take all of these things, our suffering and even our sin, and work them together for his good purposes in us.
The only tragedy in life is to not become a saint, because this path has been open to us by the living Word which leads us to go deeper into a life-changing relationship with Jesus.
Throughout this series I have said whatever we do repeatedly has the power to shape us. If we are in the daily habit of spending time with God, even if is not marked with ground-breaking insight or deep emotion; even if there days when it feels perfunctory or sleepy, this practice will shape us. If we are regularly in the Word and let the Word lead us to Jesus, as has been true for Jennifer and Jacqueline, and for this man described by his wife, we can become more like Jesus.
As we close this series Practicing the Presence: Meeting Jesus through Scripture and Prayer, practice suggests this is something we do. So, I would like to invite you to join us in our movement to commit to spending time in Scripture and prayer for at least 15 minutes a day 4 days a week from now until June, which roughly follows the school year… Allow this practice to enable you to abide in the Word, in Jesus, and allow yourself to be set free.
There is a response card in your program that I invite you take in your hand or reach in the pew rack in front of you. If you don’t have a card, please raise your hand and keep it up and an usher will move toward you. If you sense God calling you in this direction and would like to respond, please take a moment now to fill out the response card and put it in the offering basket as it goes by in just a moment.
(read it)
Earlier this week the board of elders and our staff filled out these cards. Your actually filling out this card will encourage us because we are planning to take some of these cards to create a collage as a way to artistically remind ourselves of the commitment that we have made.
Offering: We offer our tithes and our time as a way of saying we offer ourself to you.
posted by Shigematsu at 6:29 AM
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