Assume that What Grows Above Ground has God-given Roots

"You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you." 

-- Augustine

Last Sunday, we talked about ways that we get stuck in circles in our relationships (and ways that we can get stuck in discipling one another). The first step out of this futile cycle is to assume that what grows above ground has God-given roots. This first point of the three caused a bit of discussion.

What grows "above ground" are the ways that we communicate and act - the words that we say, the tones in which we say them. What grows above ground may be good lawn or weeds - good, accurate, kind words or mean-spirited, untrue words. Most often, it's a mix of some good plants and some weeds. We get "stuck" when all we do is engage what grows above ground, and especially when assume that there could be nothing legitimate about what the other person did or said. Our first point is to assume that everything we do and say is an expression of a God-given need - that there is something very, very legitimate about it, no matter how ugly it looks above ground.

God made us in His image. One of the many implications of this truth is that God specifically designed us to have core needs that would be satisfied only in Him. This makes us unique from all the other creatures. He made us with the core need to love and be loved, to have purpose and significance, to matter, to have emotional, physical, and spiritual security, to be in healthy relationship with others, and so on. These needs motivate everything we do, and are designed to seek out God for soul satisfaction.

God's Law directs us to find our satisfaction for these needs ultimately in God. Look at the Old Testament Law with this in mind, and you'll see that what God is doing is preventing us from seeking satisfaction for those needs in other things, and furthermore, to pursue satisfaction only in Him. We see this most intensely in His prohibition against idolatry and demand for exclusive worship.

One way to understand sin is that it is pursuing God-given needs by God-forbidden means. Obvious examples include substance abuse (to seek the God-given need for joy or meaning), promiscuity (to seek the God-given need for love and connection), and violence (to seek the God-given need for things to be under control). Less obvious examples include things like gossip (to seek self-righteousness). It's not hard to look at any particular sin and see how it is a failed attempt to satisfy a God-given need by something other than God.

Jesus, of course, was absent of this failed pursuit. He sought satisfaction for all the things His human nature needed, but He sought them only in His Father. The three temptations that Satan threw at Him in the wilderness were precisely to fulfill God-given needs in something other than the Father. His three responses were that He would find what His soul desires only in His Father. Fast forward to the end of the story of man - how is our eternal state described in Scripture other than full satisfaction for all our needs, specifically and exclusively in Christ?

Everything we do is driven by trying to satisfy God-given needs. In relationships, we may say horrible, ugly, untrue things - but what we're trying to do underneath all that illegitimate dialog is to satisfy a God-given need. (We often do not realize this, but it drives us nonetheless - we do everything to scratch God-given itches, and our sinfulness often diverts us in that pursuit)

If we stop assuming this simple truth about one another, then when one of us does speak in weed-like ways, the other will ignore the God-given need being expressed and focus only on the weediness. We get stuck
never attempting to help one another find our true satisfaction in Christ, because we've assumed there's no God-given need to be satisfied. We focus on the illegitimate and ignore the legitimate, and then wonder why we're stuck.

This assumption is essential before we can attempt the next two steps (ignore the weeds and cultivate the deep soil). This assumption is an act of grace.

No Matter How You Voted (or Abstained)...

As I read the social media of my friends and acquaintances across the political spectrum, I see just about the full gamut of emotions about the elections this week. Some are elated (a few are even giddy) while others are angry, some are disappointed while others are pleased, some say, "I told you so!" and others say, "Mark my words!" I won't comment on which set of emotions people should have, but my observation is about the intensity with which they experience them - positive or negative.

The question I wrestled with was why am I experiencing these emotions with such intensity? What is it that's going on deep down inside of me that results in that intensity? What are the basic needs of my soul that are being met or unmet, which then manifests itself at the surface as a set of emotions? All our emotions are expressions of deep matters of the soul that bubble up to the outside. For example, a man may become very angry when insulted because deep in his soul, he is unsure of why he matters in this world, and the insult puts a hot poker on that sore spot. So, what is going on deep in my soul that eventually finds its way up as an emotion?

Whether our emotions are joyous or dejected, what is going on in the soul?

The intensity of the emotions either way tells me that we are expecting government to satisfy something our souls need. If someone is happy with the results, they think that one political way will meet that deep need. If someone is unhappy with the results, they thought that the other political way would have met that need. This is an oversimplification of a very complex human machine, but in my observation, this is a significant reality. I doubt there are few political purists out there whose response is merely relative to a political theory - I think most people are operating from the felt needs of their souls, even though we couch it in terms of political theory.

The only problem is that no human institution, no government, no business, no civic club, no school can satisfy what our souls need. To look to the government, or a political system, or a politician to bring us the real peace that we want, the real sense of "rightness," the sense that things are actually under control, is to look for something only God can give, but to look for it in a source other than God.

Our peace, our joy, our security will not be met, or dashed, by the election this week. Perhaps the intensity of our responses comes from a false expectation of the opposite, whether we responded with hope or despair.

No matter what kind of government, what kind of leadership, what kind of economy, or what kind of job market we have, our task is the same: Be absolutely committed to advancing the Kingdom of God in every situation. If the government is as we prefer, our task is to work for Kingdom purposes. If the government is not as we prefer, our task is to work for Kingdom purposes. God's Kingdom is not confined to a particular kind of government, and His Kingdom workers have their responsibilities already defined for them in every circumstance.

If you are experiencing strong emotions either way, examine your heart for what is really going on in your soul. What are the God-given needs you have that are to be filled only with God-provided means? Furthermore, take a breath and remember your calling - God's Kingdom.

The Greatest Commandment and Worship

It's a little big change - or a big little change. I'm not sure which.

The worship service will be a bit different on Sunday, although not radically so. And yet, the concept behind it is something I've not seen anyone do before. We will structure the service based on Mark 12:30, where Jesus tells a scribe that the greatest commandment is to "love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." We will structure our worship around this statement as a way to live it out together in worship.

With all of our heart: We will worship together in music as the worship team leads us through songs and prayer all related to the theme of the week. The worship leaders work hard to consider the passage and theme in order to select music that draws our attention to the same truths, so that we are teaching the same things, whether by music or by the message.

With all our soul: Dan will lead us in corporate prayer for one another. This is also a time for us to worship through the offering. We often think of the offering as the practical necessity of running a church, but it can truly be another act of worship. The word offering itself suggests the spiritual act of giving of ourselves for the ministry of the church.

With all our mind: We will have our normal short message for the kids, and then send them off to Children's Church and Junior Church. Then we will open up the Word together to worship God with our minds (and hearts, souls, and strength, but moreso the mind).

With all our strength: The last part will include sharing events plus ministry opportunities and needs with the family business of a few announcements. The worship team will send us off with a final song, and then rather than a normal benediction, we will have more of a commissioning to send us all into the week with our mission to the world firmly in mind.

So, the worship service won't be radically different than we're used to, but a few things have been moved around from our norm, plus we want to better reinforce the various aspects of worship as Jesus describes in the Great Commandment, with our final thought being on the Great Commission.

We'll give this a spin for a few weeks and see what we think. Again, it's not a huge change, but I do want you to be aware of the thoughts that have gone into how the worship service will be put together.