11.7.10 // Living on a Spiritual Diet

Have you ever stopped to think how technology throughout the years has freed up man’s time spent on the daily tasks of survival – chopping wood for heat, cooking, and warmth; candles or oil lamps for seeing in the dark, no running water, except the creek, for drinking, baths, cooking. Clothes were handmade and hand washed. Man had to grow his own vegetables, raise livestock or hunt for meat; there were no Wal-Mart’s around the corner. There were no fast food chains, no telephones, no autos, no trains, no planes, no cell phones, and no computers. Hitching up the buckboard or wagon was time consuming and traveled only at one or two horsepower. A lot of time was taken up in living with the little things we take for granted today. Yep, technology has given back to man a most valuable commodity – time. 

Well, in our wisdom what have we done with this extra time on our hands? We filled it in with busy stuff! We are so busy today that we don’t have time for anything or anyone. Busyness, like silence of godly men and women toward unrighteousness in the world, has crept into the lives of believers who can find no time for God; we are just too busy that’s all.

My grandfather, who was a farmer and rancher, was a man of few words. Whenever he spoke to me I listened. Once when I was young he told me while reading the newspaper that we don’t need all the stuff that we have in the world today. I didn’t understand then, but I see the wisdom of his words now. We have done everything but simplified our lives. Technology has freed us from many encumbrances for meeting our daily needs to only become enslaved by a busyness of our own choosing!

Mark Tabb stated “Nobody ever says, ‘I want to throw my life away,’” but this usually happens due to busyness. We are so busy life passes us by. When we get old we will look back at our life and ask ourselves the question where did the time go? We just shake our heads in unbelief without a clue. If we are honest with ourselves we realize that all we have done in life was to attempt to stay one step ahead of busyness! Is that an odd picture – being chased by busyness while we pursue busyness! When we reach that age where we are stripped of busyness due to health or whatever do we gain some perspective on how much stuff, temporal stuff, occupied our time; it’s too late then but not too late now!

During the next three weeks we will be going through Mark Tabb’s material on Living with less, the upside of downsizing your life. This is going to be tough truth to digest living in a more-culture. Though I had already been contemplating living with less, Beverly and I went up to Lookout Mountain to see the hang gliders take off the cliff last weekend and on the way back we stopped by McDonald’s to grab a quick meal. What did I do with my contemplations at McDonald’s? I supersized it! So much for downsizing…. I didn’t say this was going to be easy. Living with less is like losing weight; it’s hard work even when you are pumped up and motivated! 

How do you teach less in a culture saturated and addicted with more? Less is the enemy of want, the antithesis of more. People don’t embrace less they desire more. Let’s have a reality check here! In a more-culture, less conveys the look of being unsuccessful, a failure, and a loser! Nobody wants to be identified with the Have-nots! Rich looks better! We are sorely pressed by every marketing angle and cultural pressure on the planet to keep up with the Haves; you know Harry and Harriet Haves. 

In a more-culture, a man’s worth is measured in dollars and cents, not in character which really defines a man. In a more-culture less is not more; more is more! More is good! It is next to impossible to convince a die-hard materialist that less is more. It is not rocket science to see that America is a more-culture in a materialistic feeding frenzy. We love our gadgets and gizmos, and if I am being completely truthful, so do I. Man can be satisfied with less but never more.

But let’s slow things down a bit and read the warning Jesus gave (Owner of all that can be seen and beyond sight) about the want of things (and we know it’s the want of those things that generate so much busyness in our lives),

“Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses” (Lk 12:15).

To a material-minded person, Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! I said, Ouch! And I am a mild materialist. Who could possibly know better than King Solomon, who was the richest man on earth, about how possessions fail to bring satisfaction and fulfillment apart from God. He gives us valuable insight about life without God in it. Read what he said about that in the book of Ecclesiastes 1:2,

Vanity (useless, futile, empty) of vanities,” says the Preacher; “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity (useless, futile, empty).” 

According to the Preacher, a life lived apart from God is living life “under the sun” – useless, futile, and empty. This is a very insightful summation of a life bent on seeking satisfaction, pleasure, and fulfillment apart from God. Mark Tabb stated that this world does not foster happiness nor tell us how to live well (121). You remember why this is true? 

Because God hardwired us in a way that happiness (Happy, happy is the man, Psalm 1) is wired into holiness; a life lived by God’s standards of living produces real happiness. It is a life consistent with the Word. No earthly things can bring about genuine happiness! Radical stuff, huh? Life needs to be lived not “under the sun” but above the sun, 

After all this, there is only one thing to say: Have reverence for God, and obey his commands, because this is all that we were created for (Eccl 12:13, TEV). 

A friend recently told me in frustration that he had more than he ever had, and yet, he was unhappy; by the look on his face, he was miserable. He went on to say he was happier when he had less. Hmm, you diagnosed it right. He was seeking happiness in things. Happiness is wired to holiness; no man can rewire and circumvent what God has wired.

Before going any further let me say that there is no suggesting whatsoever in this series that having more is sinful. Having lots of stuff (a good word for things – stuffers) is not necessarily evil or having less is any nobler. God created matter so material things are amoral, neither good nor bad. It is how we use them that determines if a thing is good or not for our spiritual and physical health. Very few believers can handle stuff which may explain why God limits stuff in the lives of most believers. So much for the value of prosperity preaching….

So this idea of “living with less” and biting into the carrot that there is an “upside” to downsizing our lives will be a tough diet. So I hope you will join us for the next three sessions. It is important to read Tabb’s take on this for I will be giving a second look and emphasizing this and that and the other, less than more! 

Living on less and downsizing is just another way of saying that dreaded word D I E T! I not only am the kind of person who sees the glass as half empty, but when it comes to dieting, my mind always focuses on the first three letters of the word diet – DIE. It is said that the stuff that tastes good is bad for you, and the stuff that tastes bad is good for you; and what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger. Are these more ironies of life…?

The author made a statement on page 121 that “the only way to get more out of life is to choose less.” This got me thinking about some of those paradoxes found in Scripture. You know those truths that do a 180 turn in the same breath and seems to contradict logical thinking! It is one of those incongruities on what is expected and what actually occurs. Yes, the Lord likes those kind of things for He is not bound by our logic or reasoning. Remember He is the I2P God, making the humanly impossible 2 possible a reality! Let me give a couple of instances:

· To go up we must go down

· Before honor is humility

· To live we must die

· To get we must give away

· Okay, let’s throw in less is more since we are on paradoxes!

So Tabb’s less is more idea is not a contradiction but another strange kind of truth that is counter-intuitive to normal thinking, but the neat thing is that in actuality leads to a glorious reality in the life of a believer when we buy into it. We unload so God can unload His blessing on our lives! My objective today is not to convince you that less is more but to get you thinking that it might be beneficial for us to begin heading in that direction. Want to hear “more?” 

What follows is built around a MS PowerPoint presentation, so I will post up the best that I can. There will be gaps because it is built on being there to hear the gaps. As one fatalist so aptly put it, “It is what it is.”

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”

-- Jim Elliot, The Journals of Jim Elliot, 10-28-1949

You know the story of Jim Elliot who died along with four other men in an attempt to reach the Auca Indians in Ecuador in 1956. Let me tell you a quick story related to Jim Elliot. I was visiting in Naples, Florida years ago and went into a secondhand store. There was a book that caught my eye entitled Through Gates of Splendor by Elizabeth Elliot. 

That summer I read Under the Shadow of the Almighty by Elizabeth Elliot like a daily devotional. It was inspiring; Jim Elliot was and is one of my heroes in the faith. A couple of years later Dr. Dwight Patterson, a retired translator for Wycliffe who spent several years in Ecuador, was traveling through Chattanooga on his way back to Florida and spent the night at my home. I told him of my admiration of Jim Elliot and he took me to his car and showed me one of the spears that killed one of the five missionaries on that fateful day in 1956.

As I held the spear in both of my hands my eyes swelled up with tears, and I thanked God that I was given an unimaginable opportunity to hold a spear that could have been the one that took the life of Jim Elliot. It was an incredible moment. I will never know why God allowed me this grace, but I hope He will let me know in glory.

The truth of the matter is that we are ultimately going to lose every possession we own. There is no U-haul trailer hitched to a coffin. Jesus asked, 

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul (Mk 8:36)? Now that is the ultimate picture of more to the max!

We all possess the opportunity to convert that which we can’t take with us into silver, gold and precious stones at the Bema seat if we do it right. We cannot lose when we are living in light of eternity. Less unloads a ton of blessing in the here and now and in eternity.

 

This is where it all begins. Mark Tabb believes, and I certainly agree with him about this verse, that “if Gen 1:1 is not true, then everything that follows is irrelevant and so are our lives” (MasterWork, Fall 2010, 122).

There are only two types of people in the world: the unsaved sinner and the saved sinner. We mentioned this last week and can be absolute about this based on the authority of the Scriptures. The unsaved sinners far outnumber the saved sinners. So a Christian’s worldview point will be in the minority. There are two basic worldviews: naturalism and supernaturalism. But before discussing these let's first talk about what is a worldview.

• Anti-supernatural – Supernatural is not relevant to truth and reality because God does not exist or if one does he is not involved in the affairs of man.
• Pro-evolution – the world evolved through the mechanisms of natural processes and natural selection (the survival of the species, Darwinism), a by-product of random chance and millions of years.
• Moral relativism – Moral order is determined by an individual and/or culture; there are no absolutes only relativity – “How dare you judge me!”
• No universal purpose or meaning to life – we live; we die.
• Some related philosophies
  • Existentialism – truth perceived or experienced, no absolute truth, individual truth discovered in the moment.
  • Pragmatism – Accepting the facts of life and its practical consequences.
  • Utopianism – belief in social perfection, a human paradise where man lives in harmony with man and nature.
  • Humanism – Man is his own god. Exalting man’s potential.
  • Materialism – things bring fulfillment and satisfaction – live to own.
  • Epicureanism – another word for Hedonism, playboy philosophy, feels good do it. Unchecked indulgences of the flesh.
  • Fatalism – Everything that happens is predetermined and inevitable. Go with the flow. Encourages passivity and un-involvement. Powerless to change. It is what it is.

• Pro-supernatural – belief that God exists and actively involved in the affairs of man.
• Pro-creation – the world was created by God in six literal days.
• Moral absolutes – morality is ordered by God according to His holiness.
• Universal purpose or meaning to life – God has a will for every believer.
• Christ-minded – the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control

Why did I spend so much time on worldview?

You have a worldview point!

Even if you may have not heard or thought about it much, whether or not you can articulate a worldview point, everyone has one, even the rednecks at large, and you know their world is rather small!

You will act upon your worldview!

If you do not have a biblical worldview you will live contrary to the principles of Scripture. Having a biblical worldview point is no guarantee you will attempt to simplify your life. That is what the wonderful privilege of choice is all about. 

Keep in mind that the unsaved sinner will not agree with a biblical worldview point. We are definitely in the minority of minorities. The reason for this is found in 2 Cor 4:3-4.

The gospel is hidden from the unsaved sinner because of unbelief – “who do not believe.” Therefore, God has given Satan the authority to blind their minds to where they cannot see the light.

What is in less versus more – “Little is much when God is in it!”

• Grain of mustard seed
• The widow’s mite
• The widow’s oil (Elijah) last through 3 years of famine
• Mk 9:41 the power of a glass of water in Jesus’ name – people spend an entire life building a name. All those people assisting others around the church are stockpiling wealth in Jesus’ name! A friend of mine who was a businessman was teaching a SS class in another Baptist church in Chattanooga. He seemed discouraged, so after class I asked him what was wrong. He was bummed out that his peers were making more money than him because he chosen to follow Christ. I told him it was the devil who was telling him he was foolish and losing money. I reminded him of giving a glass of water in Jesus’ name will not lose his reward. You are faithfully giving the water of life to others. What you made today alone in eternity was probably more than your worldly peers will ever make in a lifetime!
• 1 Cor 1:27 choosing the wise over the foolish, the weak over the strong
• Strong when weak
• Trumpets and shouting brought down the mighty walls of Jericho
• Gideon’s army reduced from 32k to 300 to rout the armies of Midian
• Shamgar killed 600 men with an ox goad
• Samson killed 1k men with the jawbone of a donkey
• The Lord fed over 5k with only a few loaves and fishes

Why is less more and important to God? Because of 1 Cor 1:29 – that no flesh should glory in His presence. God is an I2P God. He delights turning the impossible into possible.

Tabb suggests that humility is the starting point. It takes humility to simplify and run the risks of being perceived as a failure because you are not surrounded by the symbols of worldly success. Maybe you are driving an old clunker because rather than making new car payments you are sending that money to support missions around the world, et cetera.

The transition must take place in the mind – But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness (Mt 6:33).

Since you were raised with Christ constantly seek (persevering) to obtain those things which are above. (2) Keep on thinking on things above, not on things on the earth (free translation of Col 3:1-2). We are to be so heavenly minded that we become of earthly good. Our heads are in the clouds but our feet are on the ground.

Why should we do this?

We are commanded to seek the things above over the things of earth.

To gain back the time we allowed to be stolen from us. 

“Everything material has the stamp of oblivion upon it” (BBC) 

2 Pet 3:10-12

2Pe 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.

2Pe 3:11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,

2Pe 3:12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? 

All matter will be destroyed. The heavens will pass away means the atmospheric heavens and may include the stellar heavens but not the dwelling place of God in the third heaven.

Only what is done for Christ will last! 

Contemplate on the following four slides:

 

The planet after the day of the Lord

The Universe after the day of the Lord

 

Here is living on a spiritual diet. Tabb suggests that we can live in the eternal by investing in people (2^ndcommand), investing in principles (be holy, God’s character is always consistent with His Word. We need to be consistent with God’s Word), and investing in passion (do all for the glory of God). 

We’re stuck in the temporal for now but we don’t have to eat temporal food, spiritually speaking. Dieting on the eternal things is the only way to lose that excess weight of the world that keeps us so busy. As we live for eternity we begin to shape up into Christ-likeness, but it begins with the mind; Christ-minded results in Christ-likeness. Living on a spiritual diet is a choice, a choice to downsize or supersize. What is the upside of living with less – you shall in no way lose your reward.

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” Jim Elliot is still getting dividends off of his short life on earth in eternity! Living with less is truly more in glory. <><