Changing Values

I have been banging on about "impossible living" for some time now - a change of living that sees us existing first and foremost as spiritual beings (rather than physical beings). This involves us being linked so closely with God that we basically don't exist apart from God - a 24x7 existence.

Within this paradigm, we exhibit the fruit of the Spirit - the characteristics that the Word notes as the fruit of the Spirit are not characteristics and behaviours that we can simply "do" or "display" - they are a "by-product" of the Spirit living in us.

OK, so having thought about the back story, I began to dwell some more on the fruit of the Spirit and realised that these fruits were more than characteristics or behaviours of God - they are in fact God's VALUES.

The interesting thing about what we think about as values is that, when it comes to our society, they are really hard to define. I've been trying to find some definitive statement of our values - can't find one. There's some ethereal (mamby pamby) stuff but nothing hard core. What I've basically come to realise is that we don't think much about values - we think a lot about the stuff that surrounds values but not values themselves. We are not (I am brave enough to say) "values orientated".

OK, how can I make such an outrageous comment to you fine upstanding Christians? A very quick picture is in order ....

Remember - I am talking about human values here for a moment. I'll get to God's values but I need to draw a distinction.

If we stick VALUES in the middle of a page, sitting underneath them are BASIC HUMAN NEEDS(food, clothing, shelter). Values mean nothing to the average punter if the basics don't exist. These are non-negotiable, in that you can't trade anything valuable enough to make someone give up these things.

Sitting on top of values are INTERESTS - desires and wants. These are usually negotiable - you might trade or compromise an interest in one area to get a bit of another desire or want. This is where lawyers make money.

On top of interests sit POSITIONS - these are "surface" demands - I won't get into this, sufficed to say that they are the most easily negotiated - sometimes you might take a position simply to make someone angry, fearful, confused, etc. - like arguing about the price of something you are prepared to pay full price for but just want to "tweak" the deal..

Back to values - these are the things that motivate the way we act, think, interact, etc. They are our beliefs. They are the things that we deem to be good and true. It encompasses the concepts of individual and group identity, security, self esteem and justice. The term "values" could in fact be replaced with the term "motivators". These are very hard to negotiate - some say impossible.

Values define the way we look at the world - how we perceive reality.

Take a group of 12 people and define with them their top 10 values - compare the lists - I bet you find that there is some duplication but no two lists will be the same, and the priority of the values will also be different. Multiply that by 20 million Australians. You see why we have such discord and disharmony in society! Perhaps the church.

Given that God's desire is to harmonise us - make into a single spiritual (Spirit-led) entity, it becomes clear that unless our values align that this is impossible.

See, God's values (motivators) are the things that drive His plans and purpose. If we understand His values, we can come to grips with God's purpose and reasoning. Which is, to say the least, incredibly wild!

Which is why understanding the fruit of the Spirit as values is so important - they are not optional, nice to have, Christian "bling" - the fruits are all there is! Non-negotiable "must have's.

In summary:

1. Living as Spirit-first people is crucial - we move from following our bodies and minds and start linking in with God...and we need to force ourselves down that track;
2. As we listen, walk, obey, quieten down, etc the fruit of the Spirit becomes a "natural" resultant of this. We cannot simply be fruitful - the Spirit creates the fruit in us;
3. These fruits are a "value transplant" - we start to be motivated in thought and action in every situation by the fruit...we are compelled by the fruits or values;
4. These compelling values create an environment in which we start to attack life the same way God does - we see what God's purpose is - we understand His heart, His plans. We get vision.

Absolutes

I'm going to shamlessly copy almost verbatim from a friend's response to the draft of this section of the manifesto....I have great friends!

In thinking about defining what our values are (in natural terms....not the fruits of the Spirit), we shouldn't be surprised that we find it difficult to define our values. For the last 100 years or so we have gradually worked away from a position where these things were considered 'absolutes' to a point where we (human society) deny the existence of absolutes. The modern era has seen this happen in philosophy, art and music to a point where we take it for granted in general culture.

The church has not escaped unscathed from this movement - a kind of postmodernism that perhaps doesn't throw away God's values, but either "re-interprets" them to make them more palatable, or studiously avoids discussing values that might either create confrontation or scare away the punters!

(THIS BLOG IS NOT COMPLETED)

Humility

It’s worth keeping in mind where we’re coming from here – we’ve been talking about the desire to relocate from the “natural” world that we’ve been living, and start living lives where our spirit has precedence and where “impossibility thinking” is normal!

Now is probably a good time to discuss an issue that I really have struggled with – humility - not because I disagree with the concept of humility, but because I came to realise that this characteristic is a precursor to just about everything, and it’s a concept so much larger than I first anticipated!

I have had a concept of humility, but I think it was probably based on a whole lot of stuff that I kind of picked up as I ambled along through my life.

My concept of humility carried with it the connotation of weakness and getting walked over. The classic “turn the other cheek” mentality. One the other hand, throughout my life, I’ve been taught that I needed to have boundaries, and that God doesn’t intend for people take advantage of me. As a result, I have lived with this “two headed monster” that seems determined to pull me in two directions at once.

Does this sound sort of familiar?

Having said all that, I had a real sense that if I didn’t come to grips with this whole “humility” concept, there could be a bottle-neck in making the relocation happen.
This section of the manifesto is broken into a couple of parts – that’s how big the concept got! I’d encourage you to check this section out with a very open mind – to put aside your previous conceptions of humility and start from the ground up.

Looking for examples

I needed some examples to begin with – some illustration or pattern that could give me direction on humility. My first point of call was Moses – he seemed like a logical starting point since the bible says Moses was humble “above all the men on the face of the earth” .
Before I did that, I reminded myself of Galatians 5:23 which says that humility is one of the fruits of the Spirit – it’s not a natural thing for humans to have (maybe even contrary to “normal” human nature). Since we’re talking about an “impossible God”, Who creates “impossible things”, I could reasonably go so far as to say that humility is an impossible trait for humans to have (in the way that we need to have it) unless God has some considerable involvement.

This is an important “sideline” (and it helped me a bit to understand this) – if you go back and have a look at fruits of the Spirit, I propose that we have no capacity at all – none whatsoever - to create characteristics such as faith, self-control, godliness, etc on our own. We may be able to create a “form of godliness” , and perhaps generate something that “kind of” godly or “kind of” patient, but it will lack power and efficacy.

Throughout this section there’s going to be a wide range of issues, so you’ll find that I’ll try and reduce this stuff to diagrams wherever possible….starting now!


So, having established that humility is created in us by God (under the circumstances mentioned above) let’s get back to Moses…

Moses started his life from a position of great affluence and advantage. He would have been highly educated inside Egyptian society – a society that at the time was a leader in terms of technology and learning. This place was highly advanced society in 1500BC (around the time of Ramses II) – a lot of the stuff that we see in Egypt today, some 3,500 years later, are the amazing structures, painting, and other archaeological finds that either existed, or were being designed or built, at that time.

Moses escaped to the desert after killing an Egyptian who was abusing one of Moses’ countrymen, and it was in the desert that he got married. Moses ended up spending a long time working for his father-in-law (before leading the Hebrews out of Egypt), and we could be forgiven for viewing Moses’ time in the desert as a negative experience. Forty years of sheep and sand, working for a father in law who treated Moses like a slave. That could be viewed as “negative”!

One day God comes and has a chat with Moses, speaking out of a burning bush. You know the story. But stop and have a think about what was really going on in Moses’ mind…

It is hardly surprising that, after 40 years in desert with sheep, Moses says to God that he cannot go back and talk to the Egyptian king (despite the whole burning bush thing). Moses refusal to go back to Egypt makes me wonder whether he suffered from a physiological speech impediment, or whether it was more to do with anxiety arising from his perception that he could not compete in intellectual terms and speech with the king and the wise men and sorcerers. I surmise that I would be a freaked out and (at the very least) develop a speech impediment at the thought of having to go and mix it up with a group of Egyptian wise men that had such command of the black arts that they could throw a wooden stick on the ground and have it turn into a snake!

As I read on (in Exodus 4), I began to think that maybe Moses was suffering from poor self-esteem. God did a number of miracles back to back for Moses to prove He was with Moses, but Moses argued with God, saying that the people wouldn’t listen to him, that he couldn’t talk properly, etc. God had given Moses the power to perform miracles, but Moses still keeps on arguing, at which point God gets really angry and tells him to engage Aaron to speak for him.

Just a reminder - Moses was the most humble man that God had ever dealt with – and given that humility is not a human characteristic, that humility must have been developed in him. This humility that Moses had was specifically mentioned in the bible – it is mentioned so prominently that it must have had some real significance. In fact, it was a defining characteristic.

Now that I’ve somewhat cryptically introduced Moses (without explaining too much about his humility) we’ll come back to him in just a moment and look at what it was all about, but I need to choke you with scripture first!

What’s the bible say about humility?

I said I needed to question my concept of humility, and to do that I went back and looked at the scriptures that might help.

I mentioned Galatians 5 that says that humility is a fruit of the Spirit – so we know that it’s something we can’t simply generate or develop on our own. So before moving on, I’m going to blast you with a whole stack of “humility” scriptures to look at…

Ephesians 4:1-3 I therefore, the prisoner for the Lord, appeal to and beg you to walk (lead a life) worthy of the [divine] calling to which you have been called [with behavior that is a credit to the summons to God's service, living as becomes you] with complete lowliness of mind (humility) and meekness (unselfishness, gentleness, mildness), with patience, bearing with one another and making allowances because you love one another. Be eager and strive earnestly to guard and keep the harmony and oneness of [and produced by] the Spirit in the binding power of peace.

Philippians 2:3 Do nothing from factional motives [through contentiousness, strife, selfishness, or for unworthy ends] or prompted by conceit and empty arrogance. Instead, in the true spirit of humility (lowliness of mind) let each regard the others as better than and superior to himself [thinking more highly of one another than you do of yourselves].

1 Peter 5:5 Likewise, you who are younger and of lesser rank, be subject to the elders (the ministers and spiritual guides of the church)--[giving them due respect and yielding to their counsel]. Clothe (apron) yourselves, all of you, with humility [as the garb of a servant, so that its covering cannot possibly be stripped from you, with freedom from pride and arrogance] toward one another. For God sets Himself against the proud (the insolent, the overbearing, the disdainful, the presumptuous, the boastful)--[and He opposes, frustrates, and defeats them], but gives grace (favor, blessing) to the humble.

Deuteronomy 8:2 And you shall [earnestly] remember all the way which the Lord your God led you these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and to prove you, to know what was in your [mind and] heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.

Proverbs 11:2 When swelling and pride come, then emptiness and shame come also, but with the humble (those who are lowly, who have been pruned or chiseled by trial, and renounce self) are skillful and godly Wisdom and soundness.

Luke 14:11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled (ranked below others who are honored or rewarded), and he who humbles himself (keeps a modest opinion of himself and behaves accordingly) will be exalted (elevated in rank).

Romans 12:16 Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty (snobbish, high-minded, exclusive), but readily adjust yourself to [people, things] and give yourselves to humble tasks. Never overestimate yourself or be wise in your own conceits.

James 4:6 But He gives us more and more grace (power of the Holy Spirit, to meet this evil tendency and all others fully). That is why He says, God sets Himself against the proud and haughty, but gives grace [continually] to the lowly (those who are humble enough to receive it).

The concept of “Self-X”

You’re probably drowning about now in all these scriptures…pretty much the same way that I did! I went away and “soaked” in these concepts for a while, trying to distil everything down into something I could hook into.

I began to think about what was at the other end of the spectrum to humility, and the bible talks at length about pride, arrogance, high-mindedness, selfishness, etc, and these things seem to be the counterpoint to humility. So boiling all that down, what I came up with was one simply concept – the concept of “Self-X”…..


So, lot’s of things starting with “self”! More thinking followed, and all the “self’s” reduced down into just one item….SELF-SUFFICIENCY. This might sound a bit strange, but all will become clear (or clearer at least)!

These two things (humility and self-sufficiency) are at opposite ends of a fairly broad spectrum. Whilst I may not think of myself as proud, conceited and arrogant, I have no defence against the charge that I try (consistently, and in lots of ways) to be self-sufficient.
The reason that I settled on self-sufficiency as the counterpoint to humility is because of the dictionary definition of self-sufficiency…

self-suf-fi-cient

• able to supply one's own or its own needs without external assistance:
• having extreme confidence in one's own resources, powers, etc.

So I’m proposing a fairly simple but potentially powerful concept….when bible talks about “PRIDE” we can immediately think “SELF-SUFFICIENCY”, and that this is the direct opposite to “HUMILITY”.

See, now I’ve made life difficult…it was kind of easy to get around pride and arrogance (because we don’t like to think that we’re that kind of person) but when I start thinking of self-sufficiency I have a much harder time avoiding the issue.

Let me back up my proposed concept from scripture…

1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh [craving for sensual gratification] and the lust of the eyes [greedy longings of the mind] and the pride of life [assurance in one's own resources or in the stability of earthly things]--these do not come from the Father but are from the world [itself].

Paul implies in Philippians that without a “true spirit of humility” we will act from factional motives, or prompted by conceit and empty arrogance. Peter twists the knife and equates a lack of humility with an attitude of pride, arrogance, etc. In Ephesians, Paul equates “humility” with “lowliness of mind”. Add in the above scripture in 1 John, and what we end up with is this – a humble person is a person that is not self-sufficient, and has none of the “self-x” characteristics.

Humility is a state of being where our tendency for self-sufficiency is put on hold… we suspend our self-sufficiency. And not just temporarily. It has to become part of my character, and something that cannot be stripped from me, even in situations where my own self-sufficiency seems to be more than adequate for and equal to the challenge.

I quickly add that the self-sufficiency that I’m talking about here is the type where we think that we can do it all on our own i.e. we think we don’t need God, or more appropriately, we think we don’t ALWAYS need God.

Let’s take self-motivation (an element of self-sufficiency) as an example:

• A self-sufficient person has self-motivation…they set their mind to the task at hand and drive themselves through sheer determination, confidence and focus on the outcome
• They don’t need someone telling them to “go for it” - they are already on the road “going for it”
• They undertake the task without the need to be prodded or supervised.

Does this seem like a bad thing – at first glance not so much. But looked at from the viewpoint of impossible living, where we are a “spirit-first” being, and our life perspective are focussed on the spiritual rather than the natural, it’s actually quite a bad thing. This is because self-motivation:

• is dependant on our own internal desire and energy to get motivated;
• focuses on the things that satisfy our own natural desires (attain something good or avoid something bad);
• can often result in us refusing to hear appropriate criticism or counsel;
• is generally maintained by focus on a pre-defined outcome.

We’re talking about developing a spirit-first life where we are not dependant on our own energy and desires; where we are open to redirection from God (either directly or through trusted people); where our own self-defined purposes are overridden by God’s much bigger and far more satisfying purposes; where we may not necessarily understand or comprehend the outcomes. Self-sufficiency can’t handle this environment. Trying to be self-sufficient in a spirit-first life is like trying to run a petrol engine on diesel...powerless, noisy, and damaging.
(MORE TO COME)

Linking with purpose

I’m going to dig into the idea of purpose a bit more later, but just at this stage I remind you of what I said earlier in the manifesto…that God has a comprehensive purpose for us that goes down to the fine detail of our lives. It’s not just a “big picture” purpose – God has a purpose in every hour, every minute even, of our lives.

(MORE TO COME)

Why humility is a good thing

We might give some sort of mental consent to the fact that humility is a good thing, but do we truly think that humility is a good trait to have? Put aside your standard “good Christian” response for a moment…do you really think that humility is a good trait to have, or do you think it’s just one of those characteristics that we are obliged to have as Christians? Is it just the “cost of doing business” as a Christian?
(MORE TO COME)

Deny the battle

OK, while I’m on a roll, let me make another bold admission. I like my self-sufficiency - it’s one of my defining characteristics. So this new concept of pride and humility has started to become a real challenge, since I am “wired” to be self-sufficient.
I can’t escape from what the bible says – that there are two ways of approaching life:

• I can be self-sufficient (which is quite bluntly another way of saying I am proud, arrogant, opinionated, wise in my own mind, reliant on my own resources, capable of keeping things under control, etc); or




• I can be humble (which is pretty much the opposite of everything I just mentioned).

Then I began to realise (one of the reasons) why I try so hard to be self-sufficient…it’s the basis of all of the other “self-x” characteristics:

• I am constantly concerned for my own well-being, so I want enough self-sufficiency to solidify my own position (self-preservation).




• My happiness is important, so I want to have enough self-sufficiency to determine my own path (self-determination).




• The world is not out to do me any favours and will tell me I can’t do things, so I need enough self-sufficiency to keep going when everything is against me (self-motivation).

And on and on it goes.

There is a particular and inescapable “by-product” of self-sufficiency – CONFLICT.
Because all these self-x factors are self-focussed, I end up in various levels of conflict everyday with something or someone. My interests, my self-x factors, will invariably clash with other people. Now, maybe you don’t think you’re quite as aggressive as I am making myself out to be, and that may well be the case. But even in our personal lives, away from the demands of work, we experience conflict when what we want doesn’t match with what someone else wants. And conflict is an incredibly destructive, distracting, and energy-sapping thing to have in your life…which is why Satan loves it and uses it to full effect.

James 4:1-3 What leads to strife (discord and feuds) and how do conflicts (quarrels and fightings) originate among you? Do they not arise from your sensual desires that are ever warring in your bodily members? You are jealous and covet [what others have] and your desires go unfulfilled; [so] you become murderers. [To hate is to murder as far as your hearts are concerned.] You burn with envy and anger and are not able to obtain [the gratification, the contentment, and the happiness that you seek], so you fight and war. You do not have, because you do not ask. [Or] you do ask [God for them] and yet fail to receive, because you ask with wrong purpose and evil, selfish motives. Your intention is [when you get what you desire] to spend it in sensual pleasures.

According to James, conflict inevitably arises when my own desires override everything else. Why? Because my desires are inevitably selfish – I want things that are good for me, I am prepared to expend significant amounts of energy to get them, and (quite frankly) what I want is more important than what you want! (Oh, did I say that out loud?)

This conflict is an incredibly strong thing – it’s at the heart of human nature because we are “hard-wired” to seek after the things that make us happy and that fulfil our own desires. Self-sufficiency is in our DNA - you can’t easily escape from this because it’s human nature. But what you can do though is “deny the battle” by allowing your spirit to be dominant.

How is this possible?

Your spirit is not motivated by your natural desires and tendencies because it’s the part that is responding to God. Basically, your spirit and God’s Spirit become “linked” with common purposes and desires. This creates space for God – it gives God the opportunity to empower you – the Holy Spirit is able to work with and in you – this results in the Spirit’s character becoming evident in you (i.e. the fruit of the Spirit).

Because of that, the conflict dissipates…when your spirit (linked with the Holy Spirit) is dominant, you remove yourself from the field of battle - your desires are not clashing with someone else’s desires because you have exchanged self-sufficiency for reliance on God.
So to answer the question…how is this possible? I have found that the best way to start to let my spirit link with God is to adopt the “traction” principles that I previously outlined.

How things progress from that point onwards becomes a bit more “specialised” – what I mean is that, having started with the acknowledge/include approach, God absolutely starts to point you in the right direction. By “right” I don’t mean your “preferred direction” or even “comfortable direction”. I mean that your heart starts to tune in, slowly and unsteadily at first but with increasing clarity and confidence, to God’s voice. A sudden awareness that you should do something; a knot in your stomach when you go to do something you shouldn’t; your heart suddenly because concerned about some person; there is a motivation to undertake a certain task or go a certain way. Small steps lead to bigger steps. But you’ve got to start stepping.

You can’t be humble – you are made humble

What I mean by this is that you simply cannot be humble in your own strength – it is created as a result of the Spirit living in you. Great, we have an excuse not to be humble – clearly I am not humble (and have to be self-sufficient) because God isn’t generating humility (and reliance on the Spirit) in me.

Do you really think that you’re going to get away with that!

Yes, it is true that humility is a fruit of the Spirit, and results from the Spirit living in us, but do you wonder why God’s character isn’t more evident? I mean, if God is living in us, and He’s so powerful, and has such an amazing personality, wouldn’t you think that God’s character would overtake everything?

It comes back to the fact that God has created us with the capacity to choose, and in this case our capacity to choose is focused on how much space we allow God. So read on…

You’ve only got so much space

Whilst we have been saying that living in the spiritual realm is a much bigger way of living, the fact remains that you’ve only got so much space in your life. There are many things that we have to pack into our day, and there are only so many hours.

As a result, what we try and do is create “life slices” – parts of our life that we set aside for God…and other areas that we set aside for us (because we “need our space”). The slicing varies, but at any given point in time, our lives can divide up this way. Sure, God’s involved…but only in those slices we permit at any given time.

There are any number of ways that we both do this and justify this – I’m not going to give examples but I’d like you to think about it. Are there those times when God simply doesn’t even get a thought? Let me twist the knife…are there those times when you think about God, but make a decision that this is your time, your activity, your money, your relationship, your hard-earned break?

The “Two masters” dilemma

You might have read this verse (about a million times)…

Luke 16:13 No servant is able to serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will stand by and be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (riches, or anything in which you trust and on which you rely).

Another one of those scriptures that we’ve come to accept more or less on face value – we generally employ it when we want to communicate that the love of money is evil. In fact, that’s usually the only situation in which we use it. But the implications of this scripture are more extensive, and it goes to the heart of the whole humility issue. “Mammon” is more than money – it’s anything that you rely on and anything you trust in. Roll back to the self-x factors…things like self-motivation, self-reliance, self-determination require large amounts of “mammon”.

If you read on (vs.26) Jesus talks about the birds that don’t sow, reap or gather…yet God keeps feeding them (and the fact that we are more valuable).

The “two masters” scripture is not about the love of money – it’s about making a “sufficiency” choice – I can either choose to totally rely on my own resources or I can choose to totally rely on God’s resources. And the bible is indicating that we cannot “mix and match” our sufficiencies.

This change in where we focus our sufficiency is not proposed lightly – in fact, it goes entirely against human nature. It seems wrong. It doesn’t make sense. It seems pretty stupid to the average man, in fact.

Basically, the “slicing” changes – instead of life becoming a mix of “God space” and “us space”, we end up with something that looks a little the diagram below.

Hierarchy of Needs

One of the issues that I ran into with this view of humility is that it flies in the face of some of the foundational ways we work as humans, particularly when it comes to the way in which we prioritise our lives, how our needs are fulfilled, etc.

I keep boring you with psychology, but it’s useful because we can look at how the natural man operates then compare it with how God intends our “impossible life” to operate. Remember that we are still focused on humility…this is just a “small” sidetrack to highlight the importance of humility and how central and critical it is.

You might have heard of a guy called Abraham Maslow (April 1, 1908 – June 8, 1970), an American psychologist famous for developing what he called the hierarchy of human needs. Maslow contended that humans have a number of inherent and instinctive needs, arranged in a hierarchy (or pyramid) in terms of their potency. The lower the need is in the pyramid, the more powerful it is. The higher the need is in the pyramid, the weaker and more distinctly human it is.

Maslow proposed that unless the lower needs were fulfilled, the focus on the higher needs was put on hold.

The base of the pyramid is formed by the physiological needs, including the biological requirements for food, water, air, and sleep.

Once the physiological needs are met, an individual can concentrate on the second level, the need for safety and security. Included here are the needs for structure, order, security, and predictability. These safety needs manifest themselves in such things as a preference for job security, grievance procedures for protecting the individual from unilateral authority, savings accounts, insurance policies, Personal security from crime, financial security, health and well-being, safety nets against accidents/illness and the adverse impacts.

The third level is the need for love and belonging. Included here are the needs for friends and companions, a supportive family, identification with a group, and an intimate relationship. In the absence of these elements, many people become susceptible to loneliness, social anxiety, and depression.

The fourth level is the esteem needs. This group of needs requires both recognition from other people that results in feelings of prestige, acceptance, and status, and self-esteem that results in feelings of adequacy, competence, and confidence. Lack of satisfaction of the esteem needs results in discouragement and feelings of inferiority.

Finally, self-actualisation (i.e. the need to make the most of your abilities, striving to be the best we can, working toward fulfilling our potential, etc) sits at the apex of the pyramid. This includes stuff like:

• Clearer perception of reality
• Acceptance of self, others, and nature
• Spontaneity
• Problem-centering
• Detachment and the need for solitude
• Autonomy, independent of culture and environment
• Continued freshness of appreciation
• Deep interpersonal relations
• Democratic character structure
• Ethical means towards moral ends
• Philosophical, unhostile sense of humor
• Creativity

Personally, I like the sound of being “self-actualised” – it sounds like a pretty amazing way to view and live life. The only problem is that I have to get all the other levels of the pyramid sorted out before I can effectively get to that top self-actualisation level.

Which brings me back to my tendency to “life-slice” – I usually focus my energy on the lower levels of the pyramid because once I’ve got that sorted out then I’m far more useful to God – I can start to focus on the higher level stuff - or at least that’s how I have perceived things. Apparently I was wrong!

God’s hierarchy of impossible living

As with a lot of things we’re looking at in this manifesto, you can usually take the way that the natural man lives, turn it upside down and back to front, and you come up with the way that God intends us to live. So that’s what I did with the pyramid of needs…

What’s the implication of turning things around like this?

Firstly and most obviously, the “self-actualisation” comes before everything – it becomes the highest priority in our lives so that our energy is focussed on this before we think about anything else.Whilst Maslow and others have defined self-actualisation in quite comprehensive terms, I have defined it as one “simple” concept…humility.

How does this affect “slicing”?

Taking this approach to our needs affects the way in which we “slice” our lives – dramatically! In fact, what happens is that there is no slicing…none whatsoever.
(MORE TO COME)

Supply and demand

Philippians 4:19And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

Kind of comforting isn’t it to know how rich God is? It’s a concept that we’ve been taught as children – God owns everything, and all we need to do is ask Him for stuff!

Matthew 7:7-12 Keep on asking and it will be given you; keep on seeking and you will find; keep on knocking [reverently] and [the door] will be opened to you. For everyone who keeps on asking receives; and he who keeps on seeking finds; and to him who keeps on knocking, [the door] will be opened. …. If you then, evil as you are, know how to give good and advantageous gifts to your children, how much more will your Father Who is in heaven [perfect as He is] give good and advantageous things to those who keep on asking Him!

Then there’s the caveat (because you’ve always got to have an escape hatch if things don’t work out) – the principle that “Sometimes God says YES, and sometimes He says NO, and sometimes He says LATER”. Have you heard that from the pulpit? I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard it. So I checked the concordance…there is no scripture that says this. There is nothing scriptural to back up this “principle” that has been presented as a truth.

Keep reading on from where I left off in Matthew 7…

Matthew 7: 13-14 Enter through the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and spacious and broad is the way that leads away to destruction, and many are those who are entering through it. But the gate is narrow (contracted by pressure) and the way is straitened and compressed that leads away to life, and few are those who find it.

The “ask and keep on asking” scripture has an underlying and exceptionally powerful principle behind it that only comes to light when you read on to verses 13 and 14….the principle that we should not be self-sufficient…and that taking the path of “suspended self-sufficiency” is pretty much about what I talked about really early in the manifesto….the “tight squeeze”.

So no need for superannuation?

Clearly there is a discussion here about where being responsible about money and planning for the future fits into this picture – and I’m not suggesting that you simply ignore this requirement. In fact, it’s a biblical principle:

1 Timothy 5:8 If anyone fails to provide for his relatives, and especially for those of his own family, he has disowned the faith [by failing to accompany it with fruits] and is worse than an unbeliever [who performs his obligation in these matters].

But money is only part of the issue – whilst we need to eat (as do our families) we are talking about our need for both natural and spiritual resources.

Establishing the principle

It was interesting to read how Jesus sent the disciples (72 of them, not just the 12 main players) out into the countryside to minister, and He said to them to go out without taking money, baggage, etc.

Luke 10:4 Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.
Luke 22:35 Then Jesus asked them, "When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?" "Nothing," they answered.

There is was a reason for this – Jesus was telling these guys to suspend their self-sufficiency (which they did, to their credit). Jesus “closes the loop” (12 chapters later!) at the Last Supper, pushing the point home.

Humility and wisdom

There is another link here…

James 3:13 Who is there among you who is wise and intelligent? Then let him by his noble living show forth his [good] works with the [unobtrusive] humility [which is the proper attribute] of true wisdom.

(MORE TO COME)

Humility is part of God’s personality

Humility is a central part of God's character - it's one of the defining characteristic of Who God is, and in part this characteristic explains why God acts the way He acts. This is true of all the characteristics spelt out in Galatians 5 (the fruit of the Spirit) – this scripture gives us a great insight into what God’s character is like.

Now that’s a pretty wild concept – that God could be humble – after all, He created everything, has infinite power, etc. Why would God be humble? I can understand Him demanding that we be humble, but it’s a little more difficult to imagine God being humble.
This challenged me to go back and look at my concept of humble, having got a bit of background on Moses.

Matthew 11:29 Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and you will find rest ( relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet) for your souls.

Philippians 2:5 Let this same attitude and purpose and [humble] mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus: [Let Him be your example in humility:]

Getting "traction"

I began writing this section of the manifesto as a response to a number of conversations that I have been having with friends, discussing the various ideas and principles raised as I’ve studied this whole impossible living concept.

One of the questions that keeps cropping up is, “How do you start?”

And the less than satisfactory answer is that it’s different for everyone. Just as we have different relationships with our most trusted friends, so too God’s relationship with each of us has its nuances and particular characteristics. We are individuals. God is an individual. It stands to reason that, whilst God loves us all equally, the subtleties of our individual relationships with God will vary.

I think that there are several simply principles that apply regardless of how we progress along the path of spiritual maturity.

I’ve headed this section “getting traction” because, personally, I have found getting the principles of impossible living to “stick” and being able to continually practice them has been no small task. You get busy at work, and hours later you realise that you have not thought about God even once. You find yourself in a stressful situation, and it’s not until you’ve stepped away and had time to breathe that you think maybe God might have had some answers…if only you’d got Him involved! You look back and see that there was a missed opportunity because you weren’t aware at the time of what God intended. I know because I suffer from these same problems.

So let me ask a pointed question - do you find that your relationship with God seems to swing from “intimate” to “transactional”? You might have those times when you are consistently aware of God being with you – you don’t even necessarily have to talk – just be aware of Him being there. That’s intimate. Then there are those other times where God only gets acknowledged when the situation demands His intervention – a cry for help if you like - this is the “transactional” relationship.

I think that we’d agree that the “intimate” relationship with God is preferable - a situation where we are constantly aware of God with us and working through us. This is a pretty powerful way to live!

So how to start in turning our “cry for help” relationship with God into something more meaningful. Here are my “Top 6” ideas on the matter, entitled (rather ineloquently) the “Flick, Walk, Chat, Freeze, and Jump Approach to Getting Traction”. Email me with alternate titles. Preferably shorter ones.



Flick...

Unless you’re reading this in deep well, there’s probably some noise around you. We seem to be surrounded by noise. People talking to us, phones ringing, television ads that seem to be louder than the program you were watching. All while you try and listen to the radio, the kids, and your partner simultaneously. The dog joins in for good measure.

Noisy little world we're living in!

Here’s an activity for you – walk down the street and count the number of people with ear phones in their ears. Kids going to school. Business people rushing to a meeting. Everyone has their iPod plugged in, and it’s not simply to enjoy the music. How do I know this? Because I’m one of those people, and the reason that I have my iPod almost surgically implanted is because, in a noisy world, I want to choose the noise! I don’t think I’m alone.

One of the problems that arises is that this constant assault of noise, and our attempts to control it, has the undesirable effect of making us bad listeners. Like many things in the modern world, communication has become a consumer item – tell me what I need to know, then go away! Better still, send me a text message.

I think you’d agree that trying to develop a relationship with someone with this approach would be somewhat difficult. Here’s another experiment. Next time you want to talk touch down with a friend or partner, and find out what’s been happening and discuss things of some importance, make sure that you turn a television up really loud then talk to someone else on your mobile phone at the same time….really loudly…you know, like people do on trains. Top it off with an iPod and you’ve got an incredibly appropriate forum for developing a relationship with your friend – they are going to feel really important, and you will have effectively communicated your interest in them. Am I being sarcastic? You better believe it!

Do we truly think that God is any different? We are trying to develop a relationship with Him, but we don’t always take steps to dial down the noise and give Him our attention.

This doesn’t sound like a particularly deep principle, but I think it’s an important one. What I am talking about is creating an environment where the noise doesn’t distract us from God - dialling down the noise that assaults our physical ears and, just as importantly, the “noise” in our minds.

King David was a very busy guy – he had a big kingdom to run – but he still understood the importance of dialling down the noise.

Psalm 131:1-2 My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me.

David had “great matters” to attend to, and he was also aware that God wanted to do “amazing things”, but he regularly made time to dial the noise down.

Flick off the radio in the car. Flick off the TV. There are things that you must do each day, and demands that must be met, but flick off those demands for a moment. They’ll still be there, but you need to actively dial down this noise.

Why do you need to do this? Read on!

Walk...

I know who my close friends are – for three reasons. Firstly, they are the ones who I can communicate with without either of us actually saying anything. The smallest facial movement says more than words. Secondly, my close friends are the ones that I know so well that I know how they would react in any given situation, or I can at least have a pretty good guess at how they would react. Thirdly, my closest friends only have to say “hello” and I can tell exactly where they are at – angry, sad, happy, whatever. It could just be the inflection in their voice, and the words they use – you can just feel what’s behind a single word.

The reason that this level of communication exists is because I’ve spent time with these people, sometimes over a period of many years. I’ve played music with them. I’ve gone out to dinner and concerts with them. I’ve finished work at some ridiculous hour of the night, and gone around to their house and sat on their balcony and drunk their coffee until they’ve thrown me out - which they can do because they’re my close friends!

God is the same – and it’s why I’m encouraging you not to pray. That right….stop praying! OK, maybe I’ll clarify that a little before you send the boys around to “counsel” me for such sacrilege.

Often when we spend time with God, we do a lot of talking…in fact, we’re usually doing one of two things – complaining or asking for something. These two things usually constitute “praying”. Now, convert that into the natural world for a minute – how much time do you want to spend with those “friends” that either complain to you about something or are asking you for something? I’d speculate that you’re desire to be with these people, and your level of relationship with these people, is “limited”.

And it's for this reason that I’d encourage you to simply “walk” with God, and I’m not talking about some sort of super-spiritual thing here. It is valuable to spend time with God, and recognise that He is “around”, without actually needing to say anything. Just like I enjoy being with my friends without the need to be in constant conversation with them, I enjoy the same experience with God. It’s nice to just be in the same room as my close friends – even if we are not doing something together. Again, it’s the same with God – just recognising that He is in the “same room” is a great way of developing an awareness of Him. You can get closer to God just by positively recognising that He is with you.

Don’t think you’ve got to say something or do something. Just be in the “same room”. Communicating with God consists of more than asking for something - in fact, it's more "walk" than "talk".

Chat...

I said before that you should stop praying, with some clarification around the comment…so I’ll take the clarification a step further. We should ask God for assistance, and we should bring our issues to Him, and He’s happy about that. It’s just that our communication with God has to be more than the “complain/ask” stuff.

What I have been finding beneficial is the habit of chatting with God – talking to Him about what I am doing, how things are going, etc.

What’s the benefit in chatting? My aim is to two-fold:

• By chatting to God I am including Him in what I am doing…even the really small and insignificant stuff like what’s for lunch, or how bad the coffee was at the new coffee shop (and how we’re never going back there again!)


• It makes opportunity for God to talk to me – not with some thunderous voice necessarily, but usually through my thoughts and attitudes being directed by Him. God has a chance to “impress” some particular idea or thought on me when I engage Him in simple interaction.

I learned that God likes to chat…and indeed He always has.

Genesis 3:8-9 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?"

At this time, Adam and Eve had eaten the fruit that they weren’t supposed to, and had raced off the sew fig leaves together to cover themselves. Why? Because God would come down to the garden to walk, interact and communicate with Adam and Eve, and I think it would be fair to say that this was such a regular thing. It must have been - Adam and Eve were pretty keen to get their wardrobe together because God was going to be “dropping in” at any moment. God calls out to them “Where are you?” With great respect I would suggest that God was keen to chat! How was the garden going? Had they tried the fruit that was growing on the eastern side? Had Adam come up with a name for that big grey thing with a long trunk?

My encouragement to you is absolutely to bring your needs to God, but don’t let that constitute the majority of your interaction with Him. Be inclusive, even in the smallest things.

Freeze...

OK, so you’re going to scream if one more person tells you that you need to read your bible. Well, you’ll be happy to know that I am not one of those people…I’m an “entirely different sort of people” that says you need to constantly think about the bible, and it’s hard to think about if you haven’t read something to start with. Which is kind of a roundabout way of saying it’s important to get into the bible…I’m pretty sneaky!

Since you might be inclined to skip this section, let me use the following analogy to press the point.

I like cooking, but I’ve got to have the time to do it. Week days normally consist of a mad rush to work in the morning, followed by a day of racing around, finally culminating in a crash on to the sofa when I get home. I don’t generally feel like getting all “Jamie Oliver” when I walk in the door of a night…in fact, I’m generally thinking “Colonel Sanders”. In a valiant attempt to avoid an early death and lower my cholesterol, the large wok kindly given to by my mother is loaded to the top with vegetables, meat, spices and various other items from my cupboard and I cook enough to last an entire week. The culinary surprise is lovingly ladled into Tupperware and frozen, ready to be whipped out on the ensuing nights.

What the heck does my apparent lack of domestication and poor time management have to do with the bible? I’m glad you asked!

The bible contains a lot of principles and laws that we should give attention to, but it’s far more than that. It is actually the result of God putting on paper the things that are in His heart – it outlines His intentions and attitudes. And it’s comprehensive – God has prepared the bible the way that He has to ensure that we can, in any given situation, understand how He thinks.

So, why read the bible? And not just read the bible – why think about what you’ve read? A couple of reasons, the first being that we are talking about living a life where our attitudes line up with God’s way of thinking. A pretty significant shift from our natural tendency…but then again we are talking about becoming spiritual beings! Secondly, we are not only wanting to know how God thinks, but also to know what God would have us do in a situation. We want to get on board with God’s purpose, acting in a way in which our lives have a significant and positive effect on the people around us.

We’ve talked about communication, and the need to “walk” and “chat” - now it’s time to “freeze”. What I mean by this is that reading the bible is not always about getting some “bolt from the blue” when you read it, which is kind of what many people expect. This will happen (regularly) but many times there is a need for us to “cook and freeze” the bible – spend the time to read it, think about it, link it together with other scriptures, study particular areas of it, etc so that it’s stored away ready to be “defrosted” when we need it. Unlike my cooking, the things that you've "frozen" will retain their "freshness", ready for any situation.

I quickly add though that, just like frozen food, the "freshness" of the principles I'vehave stored away isn't guaranteed indefinitely. I can't read the bible say in January 2008, then expect that it's going to remain "ready for use" in my heart unless there is a constant intake of study and attention to the Word. The analogy starts to break down here (as analogies often do) - bottom line is that find I need to sustain myself with both the Word frozen/defrosted in my heart AND the new stuff that I read and study each day.

Jump...

Anyone that knows me will tell you what a huge fan I am of physical exercise. OK, that’s not true…in fact, I would drive to the bathroom if my pesky car was narrow enough to fit down the hallway of my house. It’s not that I’m totally lazy – it’s just that rapid movement seems like such a waste of the limited number of heartbeats God has kindly provided to me!
Secondly, by way of further insight into my personality, I am not a risk taker. Don’t get me wrong, I will take risks, but the risk is calculated to ensure that I can afford to lose. You won’t find me bungee jumping or mountain climbing. More power to those of you that do those things. I’ll take risks in business, put myself in uncomfortable situations, speak to large groups, kick off big projects, etc but I’ve weighed the risk eight ways to Wednesday before doing it.

So here’s where things might start to get uncomfortable.

It goes without saying that we’re talking about a different way of living (even though I keep saying it) and that this new way of living is in many ways unfamiliar territory. Because of that, I’ve suggested we need to be thinking the things that I’ve mentioned above.

In the middle of all this, God is giving us wisdom (which is comprehensive insight into His ways and purposes). God provides this wisdom as we develop a relationship with Him, spend time talking with Him and getting the principles of the Word under our belts.

It’s what happens next that might challenge you. Wisdom is not given to us simply so we can be wise – this life is not an academic exercise in gaining knowledge. God intends for us to “jump” – take the wisdom and direction that He has given us and take some action. Wisdom is referred to as “comprehensive” because it presupposes that we are going to need the fine detail to do what needs to be done. And we need to jump when God says so - not to do so would result in a missed opportunity.

There is a significant element of risk here, at which point I get nervous. I don’t want to look stupid, and I don’t like making mistakes, but God wants us to become risk takers. He gives us direction and insight for a reason – so we can take action – but all that is useless if we are afraid of failure.

My proposal is to take a chance when you feel that God is taking you down a certain path. I’m not talking about big stuff here – it’s part of the chatting with God piece. God gives us direction in the smallest of things – as small as where to get lunch! So it is not inappropriate to get direction from God on even the smallest, seemingly insignificant areas of our lives, and begin to act on what God impresses on us at that time. This builds our confidence in our ability to hear from God.

I quickly add that you should read again the section on “safety nets” – I have found this to be invaluable as I have started to do some risky things i.e. things that I would not normally do because they’re uncomfortable or I might look stupid. I have people around me that I talk to about things – people I can trust that I know hear from God (and that are taking risks themselves). We keep an eye on each other, and we have given an overarching permission to one another to talk honestly and frankly if there seems to be a problem.

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Part 9 - Is this life boring?

Who called the Fun Police?

Before we go any further I have to kind of balance out what’s going on here. I asked a question in a group of friends not long ago – one of those “off the wall” questions that sometimes rolls around in my confused little mind! The question was “Were the apostles fun at parties?”

I mean, really, the bible talks about the apostles doing amazing works and really hearing from God, and I just did not get the impression that they were the type of people that got invited to parties. To put it bluntly, I started to think that people like Paul, Peter, John etc were nerds!

In fact, you could even be excused for thinking that the bible even backs up this type of thinking.

Acts 5:12-13 Now by the hands of the apostles (special messengers) numerous and startling signs and wonders were being performed among the people. And by common consent they all met together [at the temple] in the covered porch (walk) called Solomon's. And none of those who were not of their number dared to join and associate with them, but the people held them in high regard and praised and made much of them.

Let me put this verse in context – a couple called Ananias and Sapphira had just tried to pull a swifty on the church, and Peter called them on it – the upshot was Ananias and Sapphira dropped dead on the spot. Generally speaking, people don’t drop dead when I speak to them – bored to death maybe, but they don’t fall dead where they stand!

The apostles seemed to have reached a stage in their relationship with God where they became intimidating to those around them – they were respected, and people had a lot of time for them, but they authority of God that they exhibited scared people to death – literally and figuratively.

These people were not boring – they lived a life that was out on the edge – there was always something amazing, confronting and occasionally scary happening around them. You could always count on the extraordinary happening when an apostle was around.

But did they have a fun life?

In saying that the apostles experienced a pretty full-on lifestyle, I still have not answered my own question – did these people have a fun life? Or to put it another way, did they really enjoy life when there was so much going on, so many demands, and a demand to be “in the game” every single day?

Quite frankly, I don’t want to live a life that doesn’t have some fun in it – I want to enjoy my time with friends, listen to my music really, really loud (and yes, my iPod has a “LOUD” playlist), and take joy from life. So if I’m supposed to become this spiritual person, does this mean that the "Fun Police" are going to ensure that I don't enjoy life?

The bible is pretty clear on this front – the life we live is intended to be exciting, fulfilling and edgy. Jesus makes this clear when He says…

John 10:10 The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).

But it really becomes a matter of perspective. Or to put it another way, what’s “fun”? There are many things that we might consider gratifying, exciting and fun right now. Will that be the case as we become spiritual people?

Then I read what Peter had to say (which at first glance I did not find all that encouraging):

1 Peter 4:1-4 So, since Christ suffered in the flesh for us, for you, arm yourselves with the same thought and purpose [patiently to suffer rather than fail to please God]. For whoever has suffered in the flesh [having the mind of Christ] is done with [intentional] sin [has stopped pleasing himself and the world, and pleases God], so that he can no longer spend the rest of his natural life living by [his] human appetites and desires, but [he lives] for what God wills.
For the time that is past already suffices for doing what the Gentiles like to do--living [as you have done] in shameless, insolent wantonness, in lustful desires, drunkenness, reveling, drinking bouts and abominable, lawless idolatries. They are astonished and think it very queer that you do not now run hand in hand with them in the same excesses of dissipation, and they abuse [you].

What an incredibly uncomfortable scripture for us “fun people”!! The fact that Peter is suggesting that we’ve got to be ready to suffer doesn’t seem like much fun. Then Peter goes on to say that it was time to give up their old lifestyle, and he spells out what he’s talking about in no uncertain terms.

Now, I read this, and I didn’t think that I was living “in shameless, insolent wantonness, in lustful desires, drunkenness, revelling, drinking bouts and abominable, lawless idolatries”, and so Peter could not be giving me a lashing, could he? But then I started to think about the people that were living in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, and what their lifestyle was and what was important to them.

Something's rotten in Cappadocia

I went back and had a look at what was happening in this region at the time Peter was writing. The first thing I learned was that Peter was writing in about 60 A.D. which is when the fire that burned Rome occurred - the Emperor Nero basically blamed the Christians for this and started down a path of persecuting them.

The next interesting thing I found out was that the Amazon women (think Xena the Warrior Princess!) were reputed to have come from Pontus, which is now part of Turkey and was quite a wild place. Bithynia was right next door, forming part of a dual province. Galatia sat between the two states (the Galatians being pretty big Zeus followers at the time). During Peter’s time, these places were part of the Roman Empire. Cappadocia was a state that had changed it allegiances regularly until Rome got it under control. This region is now in modern day Turkey.

This was a time in Roman history where the focus was on entertainment – games, sport, drinking and eating etc. The people of that time would have been exposed to and encouraged to participate in a fairly reckless and immoral lifestyle – in fact, there are considerable parallels between the activities then and the current Gen Y mentality we see today. There was great emphasis on fun.

On top of that , Nero (despite being as crazy as a cut snake) had opened up trade with many countries and there was increasing wealth. People were focussed on making money.
It was also a time when Nero saw that there was an increasing gap between the “haves” and the “have nots”, and he took at least some steps to try and help the disenfranchised (although some might say it was only to buy votes). Again, there are some parallels with our own point in history.

So the things that were going on at the time that Peter wrote to these churches seem to parallel in many respects the things that are going on now – there is a focus on entertainment and money. There is an all-pervading self-centredness evident in society. Many people are being disenfranchised whilst the rest of society chases after self-gratification.

Put aside the words “drunkenness”, “wantonness” etc for a moment - Peter was encouraging the people in that region to shift from the social norm that existed. Maybe we don’t go out and get drunk every night, and maybe we haven’t been caught sacrificing to some golden idol at a pagan temple, but perhaps we might become a bit uncomfortable when we realise that we are conforming to many inappropriate social norms.

The insidious part of all of this is that, because social norms are socially acceptable, conforming to them is not seen as a bad thing – it’s just what we do in this society! And our frame of reference for what’s “fun” generally fits inside this social norm.

Peter has not called the Fun Police on us to break up our party – what he’s done is confront us with the challenge of non-conformity, and dared us to think about a life that redefines what is fun, gratifying and fulfilling.

Hummingbird Syndrome

You would be forgiven for thinking that God has called us to a life where there is no fun, despite the fact that we are given “life more abundantly” – there seems to be a disconnect between God’s promise of this full life, and the indication the bible gives us that there is going to be suffering in our lives. It appears that God wants us to enjoy life (and not simply “suffer through” it), but how can you be suffering and still have a full life?

The word “enjoy” is based on the word “joy” – this is significant. The dictionary defines joy as the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying, keen pleasure, or elation. Despite sounding like a pretty good thing to have, the concept of joy doesn’t get much attention as a sermon topic, except to say “You’re a Christian, so you should be happy” – which is kind of patronising, since there are a lot of things going on that are particularly “anti-joyful”. Life is not an easy ride, and if we are pushing for the spiritual life being discussed here, life can get even more complicated!

So how do I get this “emotion of great delight or happiness”?

Well, actually, you don’t!

Let me clarify that – what I mean to say is that “emotional” joy is a very fleeting thing – it is, as the definition says, caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying. Going back to some first principles, we talked about the fact that we consist of three separate parts – body, mind and spirit. Emotional joy is something that is experienced in our minds, and our minds are fickle little beasts that can switch from one emotion to another quicker than you can blink. The experience of emotional joy is very much dependant on our environment, most of which we cannot control, so we do one of two things:

• We find an environment where we can find some joy (even if just for a little while);


• We avoid environments where there is likely to be no joy, or what little we have will get sucked out of us

The fact is that people spend their entire lives doing one of these two things, and it’s a full time job. Think about it – what things do you do every day just to grab a moment of joy, and how many of those things are there? They might be weekly events that give you a major “joy kick”, or they might be smaller daily rituals that top up the joy factor. For me, my first cup of coffee in the morning precipitates an emotion of great delight or happiness!

It’s kind of like being a hummingbird. For those of you who have never been a hummingbird, or have no immediate intention of becoming one, here are a few interesting hummingbird facts:

• They are known for their ability to hover in mid-air by rapidly flapping their wings, 15–80 times per second (depending on the species). Capable of sustained hovering, the hummingbird has the ability to fly deliberately backwards (this is the only group of birds able to do so) or vertically, and to maintain position while drinking nectar;


• Their heart rate can reach as high as 1,260 beats per minute;


• Hummingbirds are specialised nectarivores – they feed primarily on nectar from various plants. The problem is that nectar is a poor source of nutrients, so they eat some insects and spiders, but nectar remains their primary food source.


• They typically consume more than their own weight in nectar each day, and to do so they must visit hundreds of flowers daily. At any given moment, they are only hours away from starving;


• They are capable of slowing down their metabolism at night, or any other time food is not readily available. They enter a hibernation-like state known as torpor. During torpor, the heart rate and rate of breathing are both slowed dramatically (the heart rate to roughly 50–180 beats per minute), reducing their need for food.

Why the ornithological detour? Well, the search for joy that the natural man is constantly engaged in is what I’ve termed “Hummingbird Syndrome” – and here’s why:

• Most people spend their entire lives having to strive to keep their heads above water – to maintain at least a moderate level of peace and enjoyment. They are like hummingbirds that beat their wings at a remarkable rate simply to remain in one spot long enough to get a feed;


• It takes a remarkable level of joyful situations and “things” to keep some feeling of enjoyment going in people’s lives – our consumer society is evidence of the need to consume our body weight in “stuff” to do this;


• If people can’t get the joy that they need just be “normal”, they exhibit a range of behaviours, many of which are anti-social.

You see, whilst it is God’s intention that we enjoy life, the joy that we experience is not “normal”. In fact, it’s so abnormal that 1 Peter 4 (see above) indicates that people will be “astonished and think it very queer that you do not now run hand in hand with them in the same excesses of dissipation”, to the point where they might even abuse us.

Abnormal joy

The joy we are talking about here comes from living in the spiritual realm, with a focus on what’s happening in the spiritual realm rather than what’s happening on the natural place. It’s kind of like a passenger jet that flies above the weather – whilst it’s close to the ground, it’s battered by the elements, and has to brave driving wind, rain and turbulence. Once the jet climbs up to 30,000 feet, there is less of this type of nonsense going on. You can see more of what's going on, and what's ahead. You are more "situationally aware".

This joy is an inevitable result of living as a spiritual being – a person that is controlled by the Holy Spirit, and has a constant perception of the issues we raised in the “faith” section. It is not unusual that faith, hope and love get mentioned together on many occasions – these things are inextricably linked. In particular, there is a strong link between “joy” and “hope”.

(MORE TO COME)

Part 8 - Safety Nets

I want to jump out here for a moment and talk about the concept of “safety nets”. What I mean is that we’re talking about some really radical stuff here – a way of living that really goes against the norm and is to a certain extent not part of any model that we see operating in the church. Effectively, we’re talking about taking some principles that were laid down a long time ago and getting them back on the road again, and so we’re having to “re-blaze” a trail that has become overgrown and infrequently travelled for some time.

There are risks associated with doing this, not the least of which is that we could get it wrong and end up following something that really isn’t scriptural – and that scares me to death.

Fortunately, and unsurprisingly, God looked ahead and knew that we might face this situation, which is why He established the principle of the safety net.

1 Thessalonians 5:19-21 Do not quench (suppress or subdue) the [Holy] Spirit; do not spurn the gifts and utterances of the prophets [do not depreciate prophetic revelations nor despise inspired instruction or exhortation or warning]. But test and prove all things [until you can recognize] what is good; [to that] hold fast.

We are not supposed to take things on face value. Testing what is being said and done is part of what we should be doing to make sure that it’s right.

The safety net involves being accountable and open to others that we trust to give us a nudge when we go off the track, but we also need to be highly self-critical.

Galatians 6:2-5 Bear (endure, carry) one another's burdens and troublesome moral faults, and in this way fulfill and observe perfectly the law of Christ (the Messiah) and complete what is lacking [in your obedience to it]. For if any person thinks himself to be somebody [too important to condescend to shoulder another's load] when he is nobody [of superiority except in his own estimation], he deceives and deludes and cheats himself. But let every person carefully scrutinize and examine and test his own conduct and his own work. He can then have the personal satisfaction and joy of doing something commendable [in itself alone] without [resorting to] boastful comparison with his neighbor. For every person will have to bear (be equal to understanding and calmly receive) his own [little] load [of oppressive faults].

2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine and test and evaluate your own selves to see whether you are holding to your faith and showing the proper fruits of it. Test and prove yourselves [not Christ]. Do you not yourselves realize and know [thoroughly by an ever-increasing experience] that Jesus Christ is in you--unless you are [counterfeits] disapproved on trial and rejected?

Paraphrased, we’ve all got issues and we’re got to help ourselves and each other through this stuff - we have a responsibility to do this.

Accountability = transparency

Being transparent is a hard thing for most people. I personally don’t like admitting to everyone that I have faults, or that I have got it wrong, or that I have caused some problem and I need to “come clean”.

I don’t think the intention is that we have to tell everyone that we’ve made mistakes – that would simply not be helpful, and may in fact present a stumbling block to some.

I do think however that God is establishing an order in the church, and identifying people that are exhibiting God’s characteristics and attitudes, and it is these people that we can turn to for support and safety. I am not suggesting that we lean on these people instead of God – what I am saying is that God sets us people and works through them to provide a “covering” – they are people we can be accountable to and transparent with because they command (not demand) trust and confidence.

We’re trying to push the boundaries of spiritual experience here – we need to make sure we keep an eye on one another as we start swimming in deeper water.

Part 7 - Love

Which side of the playground?

There is one thing that you can say about God and that is that He is a great teacher – He understands that we need to learn how to be the people that He wants us to be, and He doesn’t simply make demands and expect us to muddle our way there on our own. That’s why so much of the bible has a certain logic about it – principles are laid out in a logical fashion, with one principle building on another.

I said in the previous section that there was only one pre-condition that God has for us to be ready to for Him to give us the gifts of the Spirit – we’ve got to have love. And at this point I draw a big line down the middle of the playground and ask everyone to take a side…

There are some people that are naturally “loving” – they have a disposition towards helping people, and have a caring nature. Loving people isn’t really that hard. All of you can go over to one side of the line.

Then there are those people that finding loving people difficult, maybe even impossible. People just aren’t lovely. Loving people involves a level of vulnerability that you’re just not about to buy into. Caring for people is a chore. All these people should shuffle over to the other side of the playground.

Now there is a group (probably the majority) that has a foot on both sides of the line, and this is probably where the majority are – capable of exhibiting love and care to some people, but definitely not everyone.

So does this mean that only people that have moved to the “loving” side of the playground will be capable of receiving the gifts? Everyone else goes into the “too hard basket”?

This is where we might have to throw away our concepts of love and start again from the beginning – find out what love really means, without all the hype and dogma and emotion that has been associated with love.

What love looks like

This is going to be a bit back to front – I want to start by talking about what love looks like, rather than what love is (I’m saving that up for a surprise!!)

The best starting point is over in 1 Peter 1, where God shows us what love looks like.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily. It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God's love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong]. It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail. Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening]. Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end.

What are we looking at here? Simply put, God’s given us a copy of the “spiritual licence test” and given us the answers to the test – He’s told us how love will be exhibited in our lives (if we’ve got it). This bit of scripture is what God tests us against before “signing off” that we are ready to receive the gifts. Isn’t that great? Or do I sense hesitation in some people! If you’re like me (you poor soul) then your answers might be something like “Actually, no that’s so way not great” or “Can I please have another test?” or maybe you’re thinking there’s a way to “cheat” on this test?

I mean, at first glance, the test is impossible! And you’re right – it is an impossible test, created by a God Who likes the impossible. And God is basically saying that He expects us to pass it? He sure is – and He wants us to pass with flying colours.

I hate tests!

You’re not a fan of tests? You think that tests are basically a teacher’s way of legally inflicting pain and anguish upon you, now that public floggings and institutionalised torture has more or less been outlawed? If someone mentions the word “test” you break out in hives and find yourself hyperventilating? Am I getting the impression that you think tests are not fun?

I teach post-graduate law at university, and as part of my role as a teacher I regularly put my students to the test. My teaching style is highly practical – I want students to walk out of my course with the capacity to apply the learning. The course is not simply an academic exercise – it is meant to be useful to them and to their prospective clients.

There are a few important principles that I apply when it comes to testing:

• Firstly, I am not testing my students because it’s fun for me to watch my students experience pain – I am testing them to make sure they “get it”. I can bang on in lectures for hours, but the test ensures that the student has heard and comprehended what I’ve said, and also understood how to apply that learning;
• Secondly, the test is absolutely about applying the principles under pressure – when they have to appear in court for real, with everyone watching and someone’s future livelihood at stake, they have to be able to work under the pressure of the court’s expectations, their client’s expectations, and society’s expectations;
• The test can never fully simulate what will happen in the real world – there are certain things that we can only contrive and “mock up”. We can’t have real plaintiffs with real injuries, real car accidents to create those injuries, real surgeons who have conducted real operations….it would just become too expensive for the university! But we can give the students enough reality to make it useful.
• There is no single right answer – there are many roads to the correct conclusion and result. The path that a student takes depends on their personal experiences, their personality types, and their understanding and perception of the challenge set before them. No two practice trials runs the same way, and two students may get identical marks by attacking a problem with high differentiated methods

I’m making an important (and potentially highly controversial) point here, and in doing that I’m thinking about what love looks like when we’ve got it. The testing that we are experiencing at the moment is not the real world – it’s like the practice courts that I run at university where students get to act as lawyers in made-up criminal and civil trials. Similarly, your “trials”, the experiences that you are having at work, at home, at church, etc., are just tests to make sure you “get it” – because the real stuff is yet to really take off.

The “love testing” God is giving us right now is just to get us to our “P” plates – we’re not quite ready for the full force of “reality” to hit just as yet. God is going to let us experience some of the things that are going to happen once we step outside, but it cannot ever fully simulate what will happen in the future.

Right now we are being tested so God can get us on the road – the testing that comes later is more geared towards “perfecting” us.

1 Peter 4:12 Beloved, do not be amazed and bewildered at the fiery ordeal which is taking place to test your quality, as though something strange (unusual and alien to you and your position) were befalling you.

So how do we pass the impossible test?

It would not make sense that God would set what appears to be an impossible task before us and not give us some direction on how we deal with the situation.
A summary of where we are at:

• We want to receive the gifts of the Spirit
• We won’t be able to handle the gifts of the Spirit if we don’t have love
• When we look at how love is exhibited, we realise that it's an impossible task
• God is intending to test our love to make sure we understand what love is and what is means to have it – He is not testing us to cause us pain, but to make sure we “get it”.
  BUT we have established that God wants us to live in a state of impossibility, where we aren’t bound or held back by what’s “possible” in the natural realm.
  

So let’s have a think about how we start to exhibit all those impossible characteristics that go along with love.

To that end, welcome to the Love Principles!!

Love Principle #1 – You’ve got to have love to exhibit love

Undoubtedly, this statement is a contender for the “Captain Obvious” Comment of the Year. But it makes sense – how can you show the characteristics of love if you don’t have love in you. Clearly it’s impossible.

Love Principle #2 – “Loveless” is the same as “Useless”

Let me flick this around – if you’re not displaying these characteristics of “what love looks like” then you don’t have love. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been a Christian, and it doesn’t matter what church programs you’re involved in or the position you hold or the money you give – you don’t have love.

What’s the implications of not having love? Check out 1 Corinthians 13, which says that a person that is not exhibiting love is a “noisy gong” or a “clanging cymbal” – in other words, a grating, tuneless noise – useless in fact!

Love Principle #3 – Love is the end of the road

This is a big one! Let’s start with 2 Peter 1 where we read about the fruit of the Spirit, and how one fruit comes before another.

2 Peter 1:5 For this very reason, adding your diligence [to the divine promises], employ every effort in exercising your faith to develop virtue (excellence, resolution, Christian energy), and in [exercising] virtue [develop] knowledge (intelligence), and in [exercising] knowledge [develop] self-control, and in [exercising] self-control [develop] steadfastness (patience, endurance), and in [exercising] steadfastness [develop] godliness (piety), and in [exercising] godliness [develop] brotherly affection, and in [exercising] brotherly affection [develop] Christian love.

The bible kind of lays out a logical build up from one fruit to another – for instance, you can’t effectively have steadfastness unless you’ve got the self-control that precedes it, and the knowledge that precedes that, etc.

Love comes at the end of the line, and there’s a really good reason for that. Love is actually the essence of God’s personality, and when we allow the Spirit to work through us, we are actually displaying elements of God’s personality.

It follows that when we truly display God’s personality in us, we are relocating from the natural to the spiritual.

(MORE TO COME ON ALL THIS)

Love Principle #4 – Love isn’t “thing” – it’s a “being”

It is for the reasons stated at the end of Principle #3 that I say that love is absolutely not natural – in fact, it is impossible to even think about displaying the characteristics of love unless we are becoming “spirit-first”, with the Holy Spirit working with us.

Love is not a thing – it’s not an emotion or even a characteristic – it’s a state of being. In fact, it might be said that we don’t exhibit love as much as “be” love.

This raises the issue of how we look at the spirit part of our lives – that part of our make-up that we want to become the most prevalent. I am proposing that we need to strive for our spirits to “BE LOVE”.

(MORE ON THIS)

Love Principle #5 –
Love Principle #6 –
Love Principle #7 –