"Living In Jesus' Name"
(1st message in an 8-part series, "An Ordinary Day With Jesus")
Sermon Transcript for February 3, 2002
By Rev. Mike BeckScripture Reading: Colossians 3:17, Matthew 28:20
I want you to imagine something. I’d like you to think about what it would be like to spend an ordinary day of your life doing the things you normally do but actually doing them with Jesus. When you put your head on the pillow at the end of the day, what would you look back on with excitement and what would maybe make you cringe if you thought He was with you throughout the day? One thing we can say for sure, our life would be different if we lived it that way. For many of us, the thing we struggle with is that we have compartmentalized our life. We’re here at church now; we’re doing spiritual things. But then when we walk out the door we’re not doing spiritual stuff, we’re doing the rest of our lives. What this series is designed to do is to help us to realize we’re not suppose to do that. And we are suppose to realize that all of life is spiritual and to experience the reality of God as we go through every ordinary event of our lives.
Many people think to get close to God they would have to resign from life and go live in a monastery or go be a hermit somewhere. Others think that, "Well, if I could just get out from under the pressures of life. If I didn’t have to go to that job, if I didn’t have these persons to take care of, then I could be the kind of person God wants me to be." But the Apostle Paul says the reverse is true. He says, "Whatever you do in word and deed…", he says, "…do it all in the name of Jesus giving thanks to God the Father through Him."
Let’s think for a moment what it would be like to do everything in Jesus’ name. Now we have to stop for a second and think about these three words "In Jesus’ Name". For in Bible times a name wasn’t just something you called a person. A name signified the whole person, the essence of their character. So when Paul says we are to do everything in Jesus’ name, he’s saying to do everything we do in accordance with Jesus’ character. To do so in the same way that Jesus would do it if he were in our place. Isn’t that kind of what the WWJD bracelets are all about? What would Jesus do? Well, last I checked, when we become a Christian it says, "Jesus takes up residence in us". And so we do life with Him in a partnership. And I think though more often than not we’re inclined to think our life is a performance with God watching instead of realizing that God wants to do it with us.
The other text verse Dan read this morning were the words of Jesus who said, "I’m with you always." Which means that if you have entered into a relationship by faith through Jesus Christ, He is here in you, in me, right now. The heart of the spiritual life then is to do everything with Jesus, in His name, the way He would do it in our place if He were actually present. So let’s look for a moment at what living in Jesus’ day might look like if we spent a whole ordinary day aware of His presence. And what you are going to get in this big list is really a look ahead to the topics we’re going to cover over the next several weeks. Let’s start in the morning.
If someone were to observe you waking up, would they say it’s pretty much like seeing Jesus wake up? I don’t know about that. I don’t know whether I look that way in the morning when I’m crawling out of bed or not. What would it mean to eat breakfast in Jesus’ name? Maybe for some of us it would mean we actually take time to eat breakfast. Would it affect the amount of gratitude we felt, the pace at which we ate? What would it look like to drive in Jesus’ name? If you could actually see Jesus over there in the passenger seat next to you would He look nervous? Would you slow down any? How about your work? Whether you work in an office or home or go to school or if you are retired, how might your daily work be different if you were really mindful that He was there with you and you were doing it in His name? How would you watch TV in Jesus’ name? Because let’s face it, a lot of our day for many of us is spent watching TV. A huge part of an ordinary day for many of us is our concerns and our worries. Scientists in recent years have actually identified a gene labeled SLCA64 that predisposes some people to worry. Now that you know that trivial fact, how many of you are worried that you might have that gene? How would it be to vacuum the carpet or pay bills in Jesus’ name? How would you shop in Jesus’ name? Would you buy different things or fewer things if He were walking along beside you in the mall? And what about your relationships with other people, with your family, friends, and neighbors? For Paul said, "Whatever you do in word and deed, do it in Jesus’ name." "Whatever you do in word…", think of the words you have already spoken today. How many of them would you want to recall if you really realized they were to be spoken in Jesus’ name?
Well, living in Jesus’ name is like the manna God gave to the Israelites in the dessert. It only comes in one-day doses. We can only live in Jesus’ name one day at a time. In Matthew Jesus said, "I don’t want you to worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself." And then I love the next thing He said, "…and the reason I don’t want you to be overly concerned about tomorrow is every day has enough trouble of its own." Shannon Donavan you’d probably say "Amen" to that over these last couple of months, wouldn’t you? The Psalmist said, "This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." Not yesterday; not tomorrow. If I could learn to spend an ordinary day with Jesus it would have to be this day for this day is all I know. And here’s something that will help you relax. Over the next coming weeks, we’re really not going to be talking about doing new things. For the most part, it means doing what we’re already doing, but in new ways more mindful of the fact that Jesus is doing it with us.
Well, if we’re going to live every moment of an ordinary day with Jesus we have to begin the day with Him. So let’s consider how a day begins. I want to give you a multiple choice quiz to get you started. According to the Old Testament, here’s your question:
When does the day begin?
The day begins when the alarm clock goes off. (Now a little detour. Think about it, isn’t that a horrible word – the alarm clock! Should we really begin the day thinking, being alarmed each day? Something bad is going to happen. Maybe we ought to rename it a "resurrection clock" or a "seize the day" clock.)
The day begins when the alarm clock goes off for the fifth time because I know I can hit the snooze button four times and not be late. (And when I saw this one I thought about my youngest son Adam who just amazes me. That kid, when he was in a fraternity at college if he got to bed by 3:00 a.m., that was early. He now manages a Speedway gas station and has to be at work at 5:00 a.m. in the morning. Any of you relate to that? Love to hit that snooze button?
The day begins when Starbucks opens. (True story – I heard about a church that put in a Starbucks coffee shop in their church and their attendance increased something like 50% in one year’s time.
The day begins at night. What’s the right answer? The right answer is "D". According to the Old Testament the day actually begins at night. Genesis 1:5 says, "There was evening and then there was morning the first day." The same principle applies to the Jewish Sabbath. According to Jewish law what signaled the beginning of Sabbath? Sunday If you’ve ever been to the Holy Land as Barb Irving recently got back, you learn if you need anything from the store you get it before sun down of when the Sabbath begins because everything is going to close up. Eugene Peterson, the author, explains why this is so important for us to understand. He says, "When we think about night as the beginning of the day it reminds us that everything doesn’t depend upon us. We go to sleep and God is working in us all through the night. So we don’t have to be anxious or rash when we wake up, we simply join God at what he’s already been doing."
Well, if we acknowledge that an ordinary day begins at night then maybe the first thing we need to talk about is sleep. Believe it or not the Bible has got some things to say to you about sleep. It tells us, first of all, that sleep is an act of trust. In Psalm 3:5, David writes, "I lie down and I wait to sleep, but I wake again because the Lord sustains me." The Bible teaches that sleep is a gift from God. In 127 Psalm it says, "It’s vain to rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat, God grants sleep to those that He likes." So how do we practice sleep discipleship? I bet that’s never a phrase you’ve heard from the pulpit. First of all, try to get enough sleep. Despite the Bible’s affirmation of our need for sleep, many people go to bed exhausted and wake up the same way. And that’s not just a consequence of living in our modern fast-paced society. Sleep was a problem in Jesus’ day too. Do you remember the disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane? Jesus said, "Pray with me." And what happened? They fell asleep.
I came across a shorter series of sermons that I want to preach sometime in the near future on "Rest for the Weary Soul". Because a lot of you out there are working really hard for the sake of the kingdom of God and I don’t want to see you burned out. I want to see your souls restored. And that sermon series of which I’ve listened to the first part says, "Fatigue is one of the greatest barriers to prayer and spiritual growth." If you don’t believe that try hanging out with a sleep deprived person and see how much they are living in Jesus’ name. For some of you the single most important thing you can do is to get a little more sleep. Go home on Sunday afternoon and take a nap and not feel guilty about it. This afternoon, just get up in time to watch the Super Bowl. That’s my plan for today.
Well, the second thing you can do to sleep in Jesus name is to try and resolve conflicts before you go to sleep. For you see what we’re thinking about when we’re drifting off to sleep often shapes how we feel the next morning. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor, who was martyred by the Nazis wrote, "It’s a decisive rule of every Christian fellowship that every dissension that the day has brought out to be healed by the evening. It’s perilous for the Christian to lie down with an unreconciled heart." That’s what Paul said in Ephesians 4 when he said, "Don’t let the sun go down on you while you are angry. If you do you are going to give the devil a foot hold in your life." Now, that’s hard. I realize that. But as much as is humanly possible, make peace with members of your family before you go to sleep. It may mean a simple, "Forgive me" for the unkind word I said to my spouse or to my children. And in other cases it may be the only thing you can do is lie there on your pillow and say, "God, I can’t fix what’s going on right now so I want to give it to you. Will you hold it tonight so that I might sleep?"
And then once you are getting enough sleep and resolving conflicts before going to bed, the final thing you can do as you drift off to sleep is invite Jesus to be with you when you wait. Say a simple prayer like this, "God when I wake up, let my first thoughts be with you." Al Reynolds was something of a spiritual mentor to me during my first pastorate in Greensburg. And Al said to me often, he said, "Mike try to let your last thoughts of the day before you go to sleep and your first thought in the morning be on your Heavenly Father." That’s a good rule to live by.
Well, now that we come to thinking about what we typically think of as the start of the day, lets think about waking up. What are you normally like in the morning? Do I dare ask that question? Someone once said there are two kinds of people in the world—those who love to wake up in the morning and those who really don’t like people who love to wake up in the morning! A newlywed wife was once asked, "Now that you are married, do you sometimes wake up grumpy in the morning?" "No," she replied, "I usually let him sleep." Well, when you wake up in the morning, check in with yourself. What fears or anxieties are you carrying even as you still lay there on your pillow before your feet ever hit the floor? Here’s a routine that you can use as you get up. First of all, when you emerge from sleeping to waking renew your invitation to Jesus. He honors our freedom; He usually doesn’t force Himself into our lives. So simply with a prayer as simple as this, "Lord, before I get up I want to invite you to join me again today in every activity of the day." And then speak to him about what you are worried about. What are the anxieties, the concerns that you are feeling? Don’t make it a long, drawn out prayer. Just something like, "Lord, I’ve got a meeting today and I’m really nervous about it." Or "I’m not getting along in this relationship as well as I should, I need you to help me with it." Or "Lord, I’ve got a tough decision to make, give me wisdom." I love I Peter 5:7, I claim it for you who are going through, many of you hearing my voice are going through an incredibly hard time in your life. I Peter 5:7 says, "Cast all your worries on God for He cares for you." And then acknowledge your dependence on Jesus. Matthew 11:28 is a wonderful verse as well when Jesus said, "Come unto me all you who are weary and burdened." And then He gives us a promise, "…and I’ll give you rest." Take Him up on His offer with a simple prayer each morning to acknowledge your reliance on Him.
And then what we are going to be doing in the coming events is looking at the events of each day. So we’re kind of passing over that now moving us back to evening. But what we are going to be looking at in these coming weeks is what John Elliott’s been teaching me that you’ve heard me allude to many times—to learn how to see Jesus in the ordinary events of the day. Not just spiritual stuff that goes on in church but in the little ordinary things. Here’s an example that might shed some light on how this works. How many of you remember a popular series of children’s books that came out a few years ago under the title, "Where’s Waldo?" Raise your hand if you remember that. Now, as I describe it it will probably ring a bell with some of the rest of you. Those books were filled with page after page of very detailed cartoon drawings but hidden in the details of every drawing was this little character named Waldo in a red and white striped ski cap and glasses. And the challenge was to be able to look at this detailed picture and find Waldo. And he was always there. Sometimes it took some time to find him but he was there. So what we are going to be doing in the coming weeks is kind of like trying to learn how, not to find Waldo in the picture, but to find Christ in every event of our lives.
I brought you full circle now, and again the events of the day we are going to talk about in the coming weeks, but I want to leave you today with a tool for how you can begin to identify God’s presence in your life. I said this is going to be a very practical series of messages. When you go to bed at night, and I tried this last night – it works, review your day with God. He’ll help you. If you’re having trouble getting to sleep, review your day with God. That’s a very ancient form of prayer. It’s a whole lot like what sports teams do. How many times do you reckon this week the New England Patriots have watched films of the St. Louis Rams and reviewed those films to try and learn from them in preparation for the big game tonight at 6:00 p.m.? So I’m going to let you do this in a very abbreviated form right now as we draw to a close. Close your eyes – don’t go to sleep on me just close your eyes. Be still; quiet your mind. Acknowledge that Jesus is with us. Invite Him to guide us. I want you to think back on yesterday. Pretend that you are watching a video tape of your day yesterday and hit the pause button on various scenes starting in the morning and review them. What do you like? What do you see in those scenes that you don’t like? What of those scenes do you need to thank God for? What do you need to confess as you scroll through the video of your day yesterday? In that video you will see other people that crossed your paths. Do you know you can pray for them right there as your head’s lying on the pillow? Just review your day in that very practical way and end with a prayer of thanksgiving and ask God to refresh you as you sleep. Now you can open your eyes.
But, if you’ll learn to engage in that routine at the end of the day…do you remember what I said a moment ago? Last thoughts be on your Heavenly father? If you do that regularly two things will begin to happen. First, you will become aware of certain recurring negative patterns and you kind of get tired of seeing those and it will encourage you to grow and change. But then the other thing that will happen is, as you review those, you’ll say, "Oh yeah, God was there with me. I wasn’t aware of it at the time. But like the footprints poem, He was there, He was in the picture; if I’d just been able to find Him."
Here’s where we are headed in the weeks ahead. Next week we are going to look at relationships, and then work. Then we’re going to ask how we sense God’s meaning. We’ll talk about solitude; and we’ll talk about spiritual pathways and there are different pathways for every individual depending upon how God wires you together. We’re going to talk one week about the pace of our life. How in the world can we slow it down a little bit? And then we’re going to end the Sunday before Easter talking about how can we make the ordinary Dan mentioned at the beginning of the service extraordinary because we’ve learned that Christ is with us every part of our day. Would you pray with me? "Lord, we thank you for the gift of each new day. We want to learn how to find you in the ordinary events of our life.
We want to lie down each night resting in you, putting our heads on the pillow in complete confidence you are in control. And then we want to wake up ready to go each morning with our lives surrendered to you relying on your everyday grace to help us through every challenge. In Jesus’ name we pray these things that the one who is with us and in us right now and the one who is going to be in us and with us as we are watching the game tonight wherever we might be, that we want to learn how to make even that spiritual. Bless us, Lord, through these weeks together. In Christ’s name, Amen."
E-mail Comments to: Reverend Dan Sinkhorn