May 30, 2010Josh Broward
Proverbs 8:1-11, 17, 22-23, 29-31
Romans 5:1-5
John 16:5-7, 12-15
Today is Trinity Sunday. Our belief in the Trinity was born out of the experiences and teachings of Jesus the Messiah. When he was raised from the dead, his disciples faced the unlikely truth that God had come to them as a human being. On Pentecost, the disciples experience the Spirit of God like never before, and our understanding of God as Trinity was unstoppably begun.
Followers of Jesus began to see hints of the Trinity in the Old Testament. For example, we read the description of “Wisdom” in Proverbs 8 today. Theologians debate whether this is a reference to Jesus or to the Holy Spirit, but there is clearly some “part” of God that “was born before the oceans were formed” and that participated in creation.
The combination of Christian experience, the life and teachings of Jesus, and the hints in the Old Testament led Christians to the doctrine of the Trinity. The word “Trinity” was first used by Theophilus of Antioch in about 170 A.D. About 150 years later in 325, the Council of Nicea declared the doctrine of the Trinity to be fundamental to Christianity. Now, we say with Christians around the world, “We believe in one God the Father Almighty ... We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ ... We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life.” We believe in the Trinity.
But what does it mean? What is the point? What difference does the Trinity make for us? Well, it makes lots and lots of difference for us, and it means lots and lots of things. However, today, I want to narrow our focus to one point. GOD IS IN US.
Jesus said that it was good that he would leave his disciples. He said that something better would happen if he went away (John 16:7). That’s hard to imagine. What could be better than living and walking and talking with Jesus, the Son of God, the God-Man, the Messiah, the Creator of the Universe? What could be better than that?
There is only one thing that could be better than being right next to God. Just one thing. Having GOD-IN-US.
Jesus (God-next-to-us) couldn’t tell us everything he wanted to tell us. The Holy Spirit (GOD-IN-US) will “guide you into all truth” (John 16:12-13).
Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection give us peace with God (Romans 5:1). The war is over. The hostility is finished. It’s not like there is a DMZ - with us and God staring at each other across barbed wire ready to pull the trigger. There is peace - real peace - between us and God. The barriers are gone. We are reconciled.
Jesus said what God wants is simple: to love God with all that we are and to love people. Sometimes this seems impossible, but not with GOD-IN-US. God has poured out his love into our hearts through his Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5). GOD-IN-US.
Proverbs 8 says that Wisdom is more valuable than gold or silver or rubies. That Wisdom now lives in us as the Holy Spirit who will guide us into all truth. Whoever finds this Wisdom finds life (Proverbs 8:35). GOD-IN-US.
I’ve been reading a little book by a Quaker teacher named Thomas Kelly. It’s called Testament of Devotion, and I’ll quote from it several times today. The first paragraph of the book goes like this:
Deep within us there is an amazing inner sanctuary of the soul, a holy place, a Divine Center, a speaking Voice, to which we may continuously return. Eternity is at our hearts, pressing upon our time-torn lives, warming us with intimations of an astounding destiny, calling us home unto Itself. Yielding to these persuasions, gladly committing ourselves in body and soul, utterly and completely, to the Light Within, is the beginning of true life. It is a dynamic center, a creative Life that presses to birth within us. ... It is a seed stirring to life if we do not choke it. It is the Shekinah of the soul, the Presence in the midst. ... And He is within us all. (p. 3)
GOD-IN-US.
Our great calling is to attend to this GOD-IN-US. “Attend” is actually a good word for this calling. Many of us are teachers. Every day, we take attendance. The students aren’t going to learn if they aren’t in class ... if they are absent.
The Spirit of Truth is holding class in our hearts. Professor Truth is always with us, working to guide us into all truth. But most of us are usually absent from the Spirit’s classroom in our hearts. We are skipping class, sleeping in, daydreaming, playing video games, working our part-time jobs. All our jobs are part-time jobs because our full-time calling is to attend to GOD-IN-US.
We are slacking spiritually.
I don’t mean that we aren’t working hard enough. I don’t mean that we need to sleep less and pray more. In many cases, we are working too hard and sleeping too little.
We are overwhelmed with our obligations. Thomas Kelly explains something we have all felt:
Even the necessary obligations which we feel we must meet grow overnight, like Jack’s beanstalk, and before we know it we are bowed down with burdens, crushed under committees, strained, breathless, and hurried, panting through a never-ending program of appointments. ...
And we know and regret that our life is slipping away, with our having tasted so little of the peace and joy and serenity we are persuaded it should yield ... And in guilty regret we must postpone till next week that deeper life of unshaken composure in the holy Presence, where we sincerely know our true home is, for this week is much too full. (p. 89-90)
But life isn’t meant to be lived like this. We were made for the Trinity. Kelly says, we were made for the GOD-IN-US:
Life is meant to be lived from a Center, a divine Center. Each one of us can live such a life of amazing power and peace and serenity ... on one condition - that is, if we really want to. There is a divine Abyss within us all, a holy Infinite Center, a Heart, a Life who speaks in us and through us to the world. (p. 93)
But here’s the problem according to Kelly:
We have not counted this Holy Thing within us to be the most precious thing in the world. We have not surrendered all else, to attend to it alone. Let me repeat. Most of us, I fear, have not surrendered all else, in order to attend to the Holy Within. (p. 93)
But if you say that you haven’t the time to go down into the recreating silences, I can only say to you, “Then you don’t really want to, you don’t yet love God above all else in the world, with all your heart and soul and mind and strength.” For ... we find time for what we really want to do. (p. 96)
We all find time for what we really want to do. Let’s not fool ourselves. We do what we really want to do. We are not trapped. We are not slaves. We are not robots. We are free people who make free choices. If we are not going deep with God, then it’s because we love other things more.
What do we love more than God?
- Money. We love money more than God.
- Success. We love success more than God.
- Respect. We love respect from others more than God.
- Independence. We love our own independence more than we love God (and we are terrified of losing our freedom by going deep with God).
- Test results. We love good grades and college entrance exams more than God.
- Pleasing others. We love to please others more than we love to please God.
I do not believe God wants us to fail. However, I believe God wants us to risk failure to spend time with him, to live life his way. God is calling us to deep relationship, and that requires some time and some sacrifice. It requires trust - trust that God’s way is better than our way.
If you love God, you will make time for GOD-IN-US. If you love God, you will develop the habits that help you attend to the GOD-IN-US. If you don’t, then you don’t love God with your whole heart.
It’s that simple. It’s difficult. It’s harsh. But it’s simple. Either God is most important in your life ... or ... not. And if God is not most important in your life, then ... God is not your God. Something else is your god. Work is your god. School is your god. Fun is your god. Pleasing people is your god.
We all make time for the things we really want to do. Do you really want to live in constant communion with GOD-IN-US.? You can. Do you really want to love God with all that you are? You can. Do you really want the simplicity that comes from living from your Divine Center? You can have it. But you must want it more than anything else. GOD-IN-US must become the supreme focus of your life.
Here is the paradox. If you make God most important in your life, if you take time to go deep with God, if you live out of the GOD-IN-US, then you will experience a peace of mind and heart like never before. This peace will probably give you the strength to have greater effectiveness and success. But first you have to trust God’s way and make time to attend to GOD-IN-US.
You might be thinking, “Josh, this sounds great, and I want to love God like that, but I just don’t have time. I really don’t have time. Even if you say I have time, I don’t.” Listen to what Kelly says about that:
I’m talking about a revolutionary way of living. Religion isn’t something to be added to our other duties, and thus make our lives yet more complex. The life with God is the center of life, and all else is remodeled and integrated by it. (p. 97)
Life from the Center is a life of unhurried peace and power. It is simple. It is serene. It is amazing. It is triumphant. It is radiant. It takes no time, but it occupies all our time. (p. 100)
Can I be really honest with you for a minute? (I guess you can’t stop me.) I struggle with attending to the GOD-IN-US. My natural tendency is to work harder and to plan more projects not to be quiet in prayer.
However, over the past few months, I have felt God begin to correct that in me. God is giving me a fresh hunger for my first calling: to go deep with God. My most fundamental obligation as a pastor and as a human being is to be in deep relationship with God. This will set the frame for everything else. This will adjust the lenses of my mind to put the rest of life into focus. More than anything else, I need and I want to go deep with God, to attend to the GOD-IN-US.
Let me explain a few simple tools that have been helping me in this journey. I didn’t invent them, and I don’t use them perfectly. But they help a lot of people live close to the GOD-IN-US.
I call the first tool the HOLY 5. It’s a simple practice of stopping several times throughout your day to reflect on God. It is a chance for us to reconnect with GOD-IN-US, so that we can keep that connection going throughout our day.
Here’s how it works for me. In the morning I have a longer quiet time with God. I read. I pray. I sit in silence. Then, around lunch time, and some time around supper time or before bed, I stop for 5 minutes - a HOLY 5. Sometimes it stretches to 10 minutes, but I say “5” to keep myself from cutting it short.
During this HOLY 5, I start out with silence. I’m just trying to quiet my mind and heart. I want to “center down,” to get in touch with God who lives in me, GOD-IN-US.
Then, I read the Bible for a few minutes - not much - just a few verses, and I think about them. Usually one of the verses or phrases seems significant to me, so I meditate on it - kind of soak in it for a little bit.
Then, I finish with a prayer - often a written prayer. Sometimes, I pray the Lord’s Prayer. I’ve also printed a prayer from Francis of Assisi and put it into my planner.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me plant love.
Where there is injury, let me plant pardon.
Where there is doubt, let me plant faith.
Where there is despair, let me plant hope.
Where there is darkness, let me plant light.
Where there is sadness, let me plant joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in forgiving that we are forgiven;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
We can all find 5 minutes for God. Do this, and it will change your life.
Here’s another tool. It’s simple, but it’s difficult. This amazing tool is the “No.” Use the “No” well, and your life will never be the same. Thomas Kelly says that our “poverty of life is induced by the overabundance of our opportunities” (p. 90).
So many things are calling on our time. There are so many good things to do that we can’t possibly do them all. The most difficult thing in life is not discerning between good and bad. That choice is usually fairly obvious. The most difficult thing is discerning between good and best.
Develop a fiery passion for the best. Remember Kierkegaard’s famous phrase: “Purity of heart is to will one thing.” Will deep connection with GOD-IN-US, and let that deep connection filter all your choices. Commit to GOD-IN-US, and let God guide you on when to say “Yes” or “No.” Let God strengthen your “NO-muscle.” Say “No” to that extra project. Say “No” to that extra movie. Say “No,” so you can say “Yes” to God.
Here is the last tool that has been helping me lately: the chant. I want to stay connected to God all day long, no matter what I’m doing. But sometimes I don’t have anything special to pray. Sometimes, I just chant, quietly, “Yahweh ... Yahweh.” That is God’s name in Hebrew. Chanting this quietly helps me to focus my heart and mind on him. I remember that He is with me and that He is God. “Yahweh ... Yahweh ... Yahweh.”
Other times, if there isn’t anyone around, I’ll chant/sing some of God’s other names from the Bible: “Jehovah ... Jehovah Rapha ... Jehovah Jireh ... Adonai ... Elohim ... Messiah.” Sometimes I’ll chant these names of God while thinking about a person or an issue I want to pray for. Somehow it helps me to chant in another language. Somehow it bypasses my head so that the prayer can come from my heart. It’s like I become free from the need to put my prayers into words, and I can pray with pure emotional longing that God will be active in that person or issue.
“Jehovah ... Jehovah Rapha ... Jehovah Jireh ... Yahweh ... Yahweh ... Yahweh.”
Church, our mission is to be a loving community that changes our world. That mission starts with the first point of our vision: being renewed in God’s love. God’s love makes us new. It all starts with God’s love. It all proceeds from God’s love. That’s why every member here commits to developing our relationship with God. It’s one of our 10 Commitments. This is the core of who we are. We are people who are filled with God’s love.
Go deep. God is in us. GOD-IN-US is calling. Heed the call. Pursue GOD-IN-US more than all else. Go deep with God, and this will surely change the world.
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