How To Have A Holy Week
Rev Dr Mark Porizky
11/19/06
1
Timothy 4:1-5
Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by giving heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, through the pretensions of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and enjoin abstinence from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving; for then it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.
I want to ask you a question today: what is the holiest thing that you
have done all week? Take a moment to answer that question. There really aren’t
many wrong answers.
Here are some answers I would expect to hear.
We normally think of some parts of our life as holy:
--Reading
the Bible
--Going
to church
--Listening
to a Gospel Music
--Praying
And since we consider these things to be holy, by implication, we see
other parts of our life as what is called secular, sometimes even profane:
--Working
--Sleeping
--Cooking
a gourmet meal from scratch
--Drinking
a bottle of vintage wine
--Intimacy
with our spouses
--Playing
cards with friends
I’ll bet that nobody said, “The holiest thing I did this week was to
play cards with friends.” Or, “The holiest thing that I did this week was to
spend all day Saturday preparing a dinner for my in-laws using an old family
recipe.” We see part of our lives as holy, and the rest of our lives as normal
and ordinary.
The reason I want to talk about this today is because this way of viewing
life - separating life into what’s holy and what’s not - is very common.
It’s probably the way that most of us see our lives. It’s common, but it’s
a lie, says Scripture, straight from the demons of hell.
That’s strong language, and it may surprise you. I’d normally say,
“That’s a wrong way to see the world, and I’d like to suggest an
alternative,” except that this wouldn’t be strong enough. I’d like to look
at a passage of Scripture that uses very indelicate language to describe this
way of seeing the world. This passage tells us how to stop separating our lives
into what’s holy and what’s not. Instead, it teaches us how to make all of
our lives sacred, so that maybe the holiest thing you do this coming week is to
push a child on a swing. Consider what is written in this morning’s Scripture
passage in 1st Timothy 4.
The author, Paul, describes the issue problem of separating life into
what’s holy and what’s not in verses 1 to 3, especially in verse 3:
The Spirit clearly says that in
later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things
taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose
consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and
order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with
thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth.
(1 Timothy 4:1-3)
There’s the problem in verse 3: some people who claim to be Christians
taught that to be holy, you have to stay away from marriage and certain kinds of
food. What would make them take such a view?
The reason is actually pretty common today, even in churches. We often
talk about our lives in two worlds, the spiritual world, and the earthly or
material world. I even had a pastor
say to me a few weeks ago, “I am not a human being having a spiritual
experience; I am a spiritual being having a human experience.”
In other words, there are two levels to life. The lower level is human,
in which we eat, sleep, procreate, and work. The higher level is the spiritual,
in which we meditate, grow our souls, and have a relationship with God. The
goal, with a world view separated like this, is to live at the higher level.
The underlying view is that the material world is evil and we should
avoid it as much as possible. So spiritual things like going to church and
praying and meditating are associated with godliness. The things down here at
the human level - eating, working, procreating, playing soccer - are anything
but holy. To be holy, you have to do more up here - going to church and praying
- and less down here - going out to eat with friends and going on vacation and
so on. The big word to describe this idea of less worldly activity and more
spiritual demands is
“asceticism,” which means “self-discipline and abstention from all forms
of indulgence, typically for religious reasons.”
It’s understandable how people get to this point. Some of the people
Paul is writing too had very destructive experiences in their past involving
food and sex. Now that they were Christians, they went to the other extreme, and
ended up rejecting every good pleasure because of past hurts.
Think for a minute about some of the things you’ve been told that holy
people don’t do. Holy people don’t...fill in the blank. They don’t go to
clubs. They don’t drink certain beverages.
They don’t run in the church. They don’t play cards. We’ve been
told that some things are holy and other things aren’t. The unholy things
should be avoided.
People’s response to my not having a television, or being a vegetarian,
or choosing not to drink (much). Not
spiritual choices. Each is a
lifestyle choice because I want this life to be more fulfilling.
TV (reading, sleeping). Vegetarian
(digestion). Drinking (day after,
modeling)
Please note that none of the above activities are unholy, evil, bad.
They simply don’t work for me. What
they are not is unspiritual activities that I have given up to live with God on
a higher plane of existence.
What’s the problem with separating life into what’s holy and what’s
not? Read verses 1 and 2. “The Spirit
clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow
deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through
hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.”
Do you get the idea that Paul is serious here? He doesn’t say that
these people are well-intentioned but mistaken. He says that they aren’t who
they seem to be - they’re hypocritical liars. He says that what they teach is
false. What’s more, it comes from demons. It’s demonic teaching. And he says
that their consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.
So instead of thinking in terms of abstinence and refraining from this
world’s pleasures, as if mere denial of God’s good creation made us more
spiritual, here’s what we’re to do instead: Make all of life holy.
That is, live like Jesus. The most common charge against Jesus is not
that he was a blasphemer or a heretic, but that he was drunkard and a glutton, a
man who was criticized for enjoying life too much. A feast at a restaurant, a
well-cooked meal, a passionate embrace, playing golf, serving the poor, a night
out with friends - these are all holy experiences. Don’t separate your life
into what’s holy and what’s not. All of your life is holy.
Why? Because God didn’t create us to withdraw from what he created. He
created all things as good, and we glorify God when we enjoy his gifts. Verses
Everything God created is good, and when we enjoy what he’s created, we
bring glory to the Creator.
So eat food, and praise the master cook who invented more tastes and
taste buds. Look at the sky at night and take in all the colors. Run with the
wind blowing on your face. Take all that life has to offer, because in enjoying
the gifts of God you are bringing glory to God. Don’t detach yourself from the
world, but find evidence of God’s glory in the everyday and the ordinary.
Here’s how you do that. It’s deceptively simple.
You say grace. Verses
4-5 say, “nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because
it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.”
Here’s the rule: if it isn’t prohibited by Scripture, then it can be
made holy no matter how ordinary it is if you receive it with thanksgiving and
say grace. It becomes sanctified - holy and set apart - if you pray a prayer
according to Scripture thanking God for what you are received.
The famous Christian author of a century ago, G.K. Chesterton, wrote a
poem, it says :
You say
grace before meals. All right.
But I say grace before the play and the opera,
And grace before the concert and pantomime,
And grace before I open a book,
And grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking,
playing, dancing;
And grace before I dip the pen in the ink.
It’s
all a gift from God.
Some people say that to be holy you need to separate and withdraw from
the world. Scripture teaches us, and Jesus showed us, that it’s the opposite:
that we move into this world and live as God’s people, and soak it all up. We
were meant to be part of the created universe; proper enjoyment of what God has
made is appropriate as long as it is received with thanksgiving. We are not
called to abandon our humanity, but to celebrate its rescue, redemption, and
remaking. Embed all of life with sacredness. Make every moment holy.
We could learn from a monk who found he didn’t connect as well with God
through meditation, contemplation, silence, and written prayer, as much as he
did through ordinary daily living. This monk, who lived in the 1600s in
“I gave up all devotions and prayers that were not required and I
devoted myself exclusively to remaining always in his holy presence...I flip my
little omelet in the frying pan for the love of God, and when it’s done, if I
have nothing to do, I prostate myself on the floor and adore my God who gave me
the grace to do it, after which I get up happier than a king. When I can do
nothing else, it is enough for me to pick up a straw from the ground for the
love of God.”
Brother Lawrence teaches us that ordinary life is holy. Flipping an
omelet can be as holy an act as going to church.
God can be worshiped in church buildings and in religious services. But
God is also worshiped when we enjoy all that he has made and embrace all of life
as holy. We can worship God in cathedrals and in prayer, but we can also turn
the making of a bed or dinner with friends into a sacrament, a holy act of
worship before God.
A pastor named
Live. And Live Well. BREATHE. Breathe in and Breathe deeply. Be PRESENT. Do not be past. Do not be future. Be now. On a crystal clear, breezy 70 degree day, roll down the windows and FEEL the wind against your skin. Feel the warmth of the sun.
If you run, then allow those first few breaths on a cool Autumn day to FREEZE your lungs and do not just be alarmed, be ALIVE. Get knee-deep in a novel and LOSE track of time.
If you bike, pedal HARD… and if you crash then crash well.
Feel the SATISFACTION of a job well done—a paper well-written, a project thoroughly completed, a play well-performed. If you must wipe the snot from your 3-year old’s nose, don’t be disgusted if the Kleenex didn’t catch it all… because soon he’ll be wiping his own.
If you’ve recently experienced
loss, then GRIEVE. And Grieve well. At the table with friends and family, LAUGH.
If you’re eating and laughing at the same time, then might as well laugh until
you puke. And if you eat, then SMELL. The aromas are not impediments to your
day. Steak on the grill, coffee beans freshly ground, cookies in the oven. And
TASTE. Taste every ounce of flavor. Taste every ounce of friendship. Taste every
ounce of Life. Because-it-is-most-definitely-a-Gift.
I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Thanksgiving than that. Make
all of life holy by saying grace. Thanks God, for all of your gifts. We enjoy
you when we enjoy what you have made for us. Everything you made is good, and we
receive it today with thanksgiving, because it is sanctified by the Word of God
and prayer.
This is how to have a holy week, every week.
Say grace. Will you pray with me now?
St.
Andrew Presbyterian Church,
Web Site: SAPC-CT.HOME.ATT.NET
Office Email: SAPC-CT@ATT.NET
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