A.M. Sermon
Spring Hill, TN
1/7/07
Series: “Discovering the Spiritual Realm” (Pt. 1)
Text(s): Matt. 7:24-27, 12:43-45; Eph. 5:15-16; Prov. 23:7, 20:27; 1 Sam. 16:7;
Summary: This lesson focuses upon distinguishing the difference between one’s public life and his private life and how that a chaotic inner world will cause an eventual spiritual implosion of self. (This lesson is adapted from chapter 1 in Gordon MacDonald’s book Ordering Your Private World. Thomas Nelson, 1985).
“The Spiritual World Within”
Introduction:
A. The Sinkhole Syndrome
1. Recently, a friend of mine recommended a book to me called Ordering Your Private World by Gordon MacDonald, it has been an extremely insightful read.
2. In opening lines of the book, the author discusses what he called the “Sinkhole Syndrome.” He begins by painting a visual picture.
3. “The residents of a Florida apartment building awoke to a terrifying sight outside their windows.
4. “The ground beneath the street in front of their building had literally collapsed, creating a massive depression that Floridians call a sinkhole.
5. “Tumbling into the ever-deepening pit were automobiles, pavement, sidewalks, and law furniture.
6. “The building itself would obviously be the next to go.
7. “Sinkholes occur, scientists say, when underground streams drain away during seasons of drought, causing the ground at the surface to lose its underlying support. Suddenly everything simply caves in, leaving people with a frightening suspicion that nothing—not even the earth beneath their feet—is trustworthy” (13).
B. A Life On the Verge of Total Collapse
1. There are many people today whose lives are like one of Florida’s sinkholes.
2. Most all of us have likely at one time or another perceived that we were on the verge of a sinkhole-like cave-in.
3. Feelings of fatigue, the taste of failure, and the weight of life’s burdens cause us to sense that something within us is about to give way.
4. We feel that we are just moments away from a total collapse that will threaten to sweep our entire world into a bottomless pit.
5. It seems that there is almost nothing that can be done to prevent the inner collapse. It doesn’t seem that we can sure-up the foundation that is cracking within.
6. What has happened? What is wrong?
I. LIVING IN TWO WORLDS
A. Building on a Weak Foundation
1. If we meditate upon the problem very long, we will likely become keenly aware of an inner space within us—a “private world”—that suddenly comes into sharp focus.
2. When we neglect this private world within, it soon becomes weak and cannot sustain the weight of the events and pressures of life upon it.
3. Many people in our world, maybe even you and I, have spent the majority of time and energy building and maintaining a strong life on the visible level. We accumulate good assets, academic degrees, strong relationships, and physical strength and beauty.
4. While these things are not wrong in themselves, we often discover only too late that our lives on the invisible level are in a state of disorder and weakness.
5. When this is the case, we are building our outer lives on an unstable foundation that constantly is under the threat of the sinkhole syndrome; a spiritual implosion where our spirits cannot sustain the tremendous stress and weight of our outer world.
6. The only way to successful navigate this life, is to give careful attention to building a strong inner self. The only way that any of us can carry the weight of the world’s pressures, is if we have lives build upon a strong foundation.
7. This is the instruction that Jesus gives us in the conclusion to his sermon on the mount. We must build a strong spiritual world within if we are to stand against the world’s pressures.
8. Jesus said, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against the house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock…” (Matthew 7:24-27).
B. The Inner and Outer Worlds
1. We must all come to more of a realization that we are living in two very different worlds.
2. The “outer world” is our public lives that are visible to all; this world is easier to deal with, it is more measurable and visible.
3. It consists of our social contacts, our work, our hobbies and things we do for fun, our possessions, our retirement funds, investments, church involvement, the house we live in and the cars we drive.
4. This is the part of our lives that are most often evaluated in terms of success, popularity, wealth, and beauty.
5. But the inner world is more spiritual in nature.
6. It is the center where choices are made, where values and convictions are held, and where solitude and reflection take place.
7. It is place where true worship occurs and where confession is made.
8. It is the quiet place of rest and prayer within each of us.
C. Managing the Public World
1. Most of us do not have any problem managing our public worlds.
2. Most of us have learned to take orders, make schedules, and give directions.
3. We have learned how to best navigate relationships and proper social behaviors.
4. We have decided upon proper forms of leisure, entertainment, and pleasure.
5. We have the capability to choose friends and relationships that work well.
6. There are constant demands made upon our public worlds; demands upon our time, our loyalties, our money, and our energy.
7. The outer world screams for our attention and our immediate action; and most of us put priority upon the visible demands of our outer worlds.
8. As a result, our inner worlds are often cheated and neglected.
II. CHEATING THE PRIVATE (SPIRITUAL) WORLD
A. Neglecting the Spirit
1. Because of the immense and ever present demands upon our outer and visible worlds, too often our inner worlds are neglected and starved.
2. Unlike the “outer world” that loudly screams when it is neglected, the “inner world” only quietly whispers for attention.
3. As a result, we can neglect our “inner worlds” for long periods of time with seemingly no ill effect.
4. But if the “inner world” has been neglected, when the incessant demands of the outer world become stressful and heavy, the foundational inner world will not be strong enough to carry the load.
5. The result of a neglected “inner world” is what some would call a “nervous breakdown,” or what MacDonald calls a sinkhole-like cave-in, but in reality it is a spiritual implosion.
6. Job had an almost total collapse of his “outer world.” He lost everything in a day; his business, his children, his health. His wife even turned against him.
7. For most people, the stress of this experience would have been too much to bear. Most would have buckled under the pressure.
8. Yet, the Bible says that during his suffering Job, “held fast” to his “integrity” (Job 2:9) and under the tremendous strain of his crumbling “outer world” Job “did not sin nor did he blame God” (Job 1:22).
9. Many people in Job’s circumstances would have collapsed having neglected their “inner world.”
10. But this is precisely why Job did not suffer the “sink-hole syndrome” because Job had maintained a strong private world.
11. Job is introduced as “a man blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil” (Job 1:1).
12. Job had build his life upon a strong foundation by giving priority to his “inner world” and when the weight of his “outer world” came upon him, his spirit was strong enough to carry the load.
B. Loosing Control of the Private World
1. The author Oscar Wilde writes about what happened in his life when he neglected his “private world”:
2. “…I let myself be lured into long spells of senseless ease…Tired of being on the heights, I deliberately went to the depths in search for new sensation. What the paradox was to me in the sphere of thought, perversity became to me in the sphere of passion. I grew careless of the lives of others. I took pleasure where it pleased me, and passed on. I forgot that every little action of the common day makes or unmakes character, and that therefore what one has done in the secret chamber, one has some day to cry aloud from the house-top. I ceased to be lord over myself. I was no longer the captain of my soul, and did not know it. I allowed pleasure to dominate me. I ended in horrible disgrace” (qtd. in MacDonald, 15).
3. When we cease to maintain our spirits and cease being what Wilde calls “captain of the soul” the inner world is in shambles and life is on the verge of caving in.
4. The greatest battle of our age is that of the private world of the individual.
5. Many Christians today are people who work hard, and shoulder massive responsibilities at home, work and in the church. “They are good people, but they are very, very tired” (MacDonald 15). These people are living on the verge of a sinkhole-like collapse of self.
6. Why? Because priority has been given to the “outer world” to the neglect of the inner self.
7. To have a healthy, peaceful life that can sustain you through the strains of life, it is essential to maintain your spirit (your inner world).
8. The writer of Proverbs expresses this truth often: “For as he thinks within himself, so he is” (23:7); “The spirit of man is the lamp of the LORD, searching all the innermost parts of his being” (20:27).
9. God instructs us that we should be most concerned with our “inner worlds.” We should have the perspective of ourselves that God has toward us, “for man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7).
C. Outward Focus of the Western Culture
1. Our Western culture has blinded us into seeing our natural tendency to be focused on the “outer self.”
2. Eastern cultures emphasize the need to have solitude, rest, and meditation time. An important focus is placed upon the inner self in many eastern cultures.
3. In our busy Western lifestyles, we are always rushing to get to the next appointment, hurrying to get ahead, going to the next meeting, and making the next acquaintance.
4. Al the while, the most important part of ourselves the inner self is being neglected and starved.
5. But this is not just a cultural concept, it is a biblical one!
6. The Bible stresses the concepts of meditation, prayer, fasting, and self-reflection.
7. Jesus would often retire to the wilderness and spend the night in prayer and meditation (Luke 6:12).
8. As his followers, we are encouraged to make times of quiet peace when we can reflect, pray, study and examine ourselves (Ps. 77:6; Matt. 6:6; 2 Tim. 2:15; 2 Cor. 13:2).
9. Too often we neglect these exercises of keeping a strong inner self and thus our spirits become weak and cannot handle the loads of life.
10. We often ask one another “how are you doing?” This is a question that mostly focuses upon our “outer world.”
11. Perhaps it would be better if we asked (as I was recently by a dear brother), “how is your spirit?” This question focuses upon our “inner worlds.”
12. I’m afraid that there are too many Christians who have moved for years in Christians circles, who have good reputations for doing Christian things but whose inner worlds are in total shambles.
13. It is possible to be so busy working “for” the Lord that we forget to “be” with the Lord! That is, we are focused on the “outer world” of our faith and we neglect the “inner world.”
Conclusion: Take Time to be Holy
A. On the desk of Fred Mitchell was a plaque that read, “Beware of the Barrenness of a Busy Life” (MacDonald 17).
B. In our noisy, hurried lives we must make it a priority to find quiet times when we can replenish and nourish our spirits; we must make times for private study, prayer, and meditation and keep our spirits strong.
C. As we often sing, we must “take time to be holy.”
D. The inspired record instructs us to do this very thing, “…be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.”
E. Certainly the fast past times in which we live are evil, and we can easily become swept away in an outer-world focus, while our spirits quietly waste away and crumble.
F. We must “make the most of our time” by making sure we carefully take time for our inner-worlds, our spirits.
