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This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. 1 Corinthians 4:1-4

Intro: Paul is considered Christianity’s first and foremost theologian

What is not always recognized–and is an embarrassment to some pastors–, Paul was also a mystic
– this was Albert Schweitzer’s assessment in his work The Mysticism of Paul the Apostle
Schweitzer, “. . . when all is said and done, Pauline personal religion is in its fundamental character mystical. . . . its own essential life lies in the mystical.”
“Paul is therefore a mystic.”
• I see this too – how could Paul not be a mystic, given his conversion encounter with Jesus Christ?
◦ his letters are as mystical as they are theological
◦ he fills them with the message of what had been revealed to him
– this is why Paul can guide Corinthians into a deeper experience of God
• they had a certain kind of religious experience and spiritual knowledge,
◦ but still, Paul could not address them as spiritual people (1 Cor. 3:1)
• what they needed was not more information or new information
◦ but a new awareness, a new consciousness of God
◦ he opens some of those doors for them in this chapter

They needed to understand Paul and his role

The “us” Paul refers to in verse 1 was himself and the other apostles; especially himself, Apollos and Cephas (1 Cor. 3:22)
– they are servants of Christ and stewards
• a steward was a slave who had been given the position of household manager
◦ this person handled all of the master’s personal finances and belongings
◦ it is obvious why the steward’s primary qualification was to be found faithful
• what belongings did Paul and the others “steward”?
◦ the mysteries of God – (Greek, musterion, something secret or hidden)
◦ Paul has already used musterion – in 2:7, secret wisdom

A mystic knows mysteries – truths that are hidden from the rational mind
– years ago, during a prayer meeting, I had a vision
• it wasn’t a fall-down, angels with trumpets, Book of Revelation vision
◦ at the time, I was enamored with theology
◦ I felt like I was learning all these wonderful truths about God
• then, the vision, which at first I assumed was only my imagination,
◦ but when I put it out of my mind, it kept coming back–I so went with it
◦ when vision ended, I heard a clear inner voice say, “I am not a concept”

We all have beliefs about God – what we’ve been taught as Christians
– but if you think about it, these are merely pieces of information
• I think lots of people pray to their concept of God
◦ they pray to the God inside their heads, the God defined by their doctrines
◦ and such prayers rarely move out to the God who IS (the “I am”)
– it is not that our concepts are wrong, but they’re inadequate
• and that means they are also misleading
• the emphasis of evangelical theology: God is person, and so our beliefs are relational
(we talk about having a personal relationship with God)
◦ the emphasis of Eastern Orthodox theology: God is mystery, and so their beliefs are reverential
(they talk about the inability of the human mind to comprehend God)

God is not a concept – and you are not a concept
– you’re not an object that can be studied and reduced to raw information
• your inner-self, that is your spirit, is hidden
– our North American society tries to avoid mystery
• even in our Christian faith, we try to “clarify everything”
◦ it’s easier to be a pious Christian than a mystical Christian
• piety allows us to obey the rules and ease our conscience,
◦ without ever having to face God
◦ or get close enough to him to be scared
• mystery takes us down a path we cannot control

We come to terms with mystery when we accept not knowing
– I don’t know how God is with me when I pray, but I want to be there
• I don’t know what will happen tomorrow, but I’m here now
• saying, I don’t know is a way of giving up control
◦ as we practice saying it, we begin to see world differently,
◦ because we never know where mystery might appear next

They needed to stop pronouncing judgment
Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God 1 Corinthians 4:5

Our minds were designed to make quick judgments
– recognizing and reacting to danger could be the difference between life and death
• but our judgments have a tendency to run amok
• we feel we must judge everything, either affirming or condemning each thing

Two reasons why we need hit the brakes regarding judging others:
1. we don’t know everything, and definitely not enough to get it right
2. it’s is not our job
• we can learn to catch ourselves, discern why we judged,
◦ and immediately let it go
• this doesn’t mean we trust every stranger or ignore our gut
– in verse 3 Paul says, I do not even judge myself – a few of us need to learn this
• he’s not saying he never does anything wrong,
◦ or never apologizes, or never corrects his behavior
◦ but he does not condemn himself
• we do not have to judge every thought or feeling,
◦ or always be thinking, life “should” better, or “ought” to be different
◦ we can simply hold our thoughts in awareness before God without grading them

They needed to learn receptivity
For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? 1 Corinthians 4:7

We cannot congratulate ourselves or take credit for a gift we’ve been given
– we cannot treat what’s been given to us as an accomplishment
• the most important things in life come to us through grace
• for instance, our relationship with God and relationships with others
– it turns out that receptivity is what unlocks the mystery of the Spirit
• our usual conscious state is not one of acceptance of all that is
◦ our minds tend to be active, reactive, biased, and grasping
◦ our attention is focused on our immediate need or goal
• in the receptive mode, our minds are not trying to grab things
◦ our attention is relaxed and focused on what is in front of us

Sometimes these two modes of consciousness are referred to as doing and being
– doing is: goal oriented, controlling, temporal (past, present, future), material, segmented, and looks for closure
– being is: experience-oriented, surrendered, present moment, spiritual, holistic, and remains open
Henri Nouwen was meditating on Nathanael’s encounter with Jesus (Jn. 1:43-51)
• Nathanael came to see he saw Jesus, but when he came to Jesus he discovered Jesus had already seen him
Nouwen, “The story speaks deeply to me since it raises the questions “Do I want to be seen by Jesus? Do I want to be known by him?” If I do, then a faith can grow which proclaims Jesus as the Son of God. Only such a faith can open my eyes and reveal an open heaven.
Thus, I will see when I am willing to be seen. I will receive new eyes that can see the mysteries of God’s own life when I allow God to see me, all of me, even those parts that I myself do not want to see.”
• we cannot make God show up
◦ we can only watch so that we don’t miss him when he does make his presence known
◦ we can welcome him and surrender to him in the moment he is near
◦ the watching and waiting pleases him and conditions us to be awake

They needed to loosen their grip on the world
Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you! For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. 1 Corinthians 4:8-9

Paul is using sarcasm to make his point – he made the same point clearer in Romans
Do not be conformed to this world (Ro. 12:2)
– Paul gives example from his own life (vv. 10-13) – his values were other-worldly
• a teacher who is caught up in and conformed to world, can hardly help us escape its grip|
◦ that person cannot guide us into Christian mysticism
• preachers who offer training in how to succeed at worldly goals, become financially secure, or the best versions of ourselves,
◦ can hardly help us find the meaning and purpose of our lives that we crave
◦ the Teacher in the Book of Ecclesiastes declares these very pursuits to be meaningless
George Muller, “A servant of God has but one Master. It ill becomes the servant to seek to be rich, and great, and honored in that world where his Lord was poor, and [humble], and despised.”

They needed to be more than talk
But I will come to you soon, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. 1 Corinthians 4:19-20

I do not think he’s referring to a visible power,
– but to a hidden work of the Spirit that makes a person real

Conclusion: Sometimes we turn on music for background noise

That way we feel less alone or less bored while doing other things
But when we really listen to our favorite music,
we are sometimes in that receptive mode
and the music enters us, speaks to us, and changes us
The same is true when we sit and look at the ocean
or stare at the stars
Receptivity to God in the present moment,
allows him to enter us, speak to us, and awaken us to himself

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A Primer In Things Unseen
But I, brothers [and sisters] could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now your are not yet ready. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? 1 Corinthians 3:1-3

Intro: I’m sure most of you know the history of my dad’s ministry

The explosive growth of a small congregation into mega-church overnight
– hippies poured into it from the streets, turning from drugs to Jesus
• during that time of the “Jesus Movement,” several strange spin-offs appeared
• cults and individuals who alleged they had been in Satanic cults
– one young man gained notoriety for supposedly being a former Satanist
• he claimed that his directors used him to infiltrate Calvary Chapel and attract hippies
◦ he also said that the church of Satan funneled money through him to start Maranatha! Music
◦ some churches were happy to hear his message
• mostly those who doubted Jesus’ love for hippie freaks

My parents got word of a church in Pasadena that hosted this person regularly
– Mom decided she had to hear for herself what he was saying
• so we drove up there with a couple of friends and my cousin (Chuck Fromm)
◦ hearing his nonsense, she found it impossible to sit back and do nothing
• she stood up in the middle of the church, she interrupted him,
◦ calling him out, she rebuked him, identified herself as the wife of Chuck Smith
◦ and then delivered a scathing message against lies and misrepresentations
– later, my cousin told me that Mom was awesome
• he said, “You know how your mom is when she gets prophetic”
◦ Oh yeah, I knew — I almost felt sorry for the guy

You may have heard that Mom passed away two days ago
– I’m not going to talk about that or about her life right now
• but only say that at times she could be brutally direct
• many people who heard her speak appreciated that about her
◦ they knew where they stood and what they had to change
◦ I think they also knew she was open and honest because she loved them
– I thought of Mom when meditating on the verses I just read
• Paul is being brutally direct with his Corinthian friends
• he lets them know:
◦ what’s wrong, what needs to change, and the next step they need to take

Paul’s assessment: You’re not as spiritually advanced as you think

At the end of chapter 2, Paul identified two types of people:
– the natural person and the spiritual person
• the natural is simply out of the loop regarding things of the Spirit
◦ these are normal human beings without any awareness of spirit
◦ natural translates psuchos: the soul or animal life-force
• the spiritual discerns the realm of the Spirit
◦ beyond animal life, they have the mind of Christ
◦ this suggests the possibility of a direct awareness of spiritual reality
– now, in chapter 3, Paul identifies a third type of person
I could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh
• like natural (psukikos) and spiritual (pneumatikos),
◦ of the flesh is one Greek word: sarkinos
◦ this is the lower level of human nature
• so the Corinthians were within the realm of God’s Spirit,
◦ but they weren’t living or behaving within it
For while there is jealousy and strive among you, are you not sarkinos?
◦ that behavior had stunted their spiritual growth

This is a miserable place for Christians to find themselves
– my dad would say,
“They have too much of the world to be happy in Jesus,
and too much of Jesus to be happy in the world”
• if anything heartbreaking has come to light in last two years,
◦ it is how much of American Christianity fits this description
• a retired Baptist preacher wrote Experiencing God Directly
(a work that I find uncharacteristic for a person of his background and education)
Marshall Davis, “Evangelical Christians are not born again. That is my assessment from ministering among evangelicals for most of my life. . . . I have known evangelicals–clergy and laity–for a long time. My opinion is that very few are ‘born again’ in the way that Jesus describes it.”
“I am not suggesting that evangelicals are not ‘saved,’ in the way in which they understand salvation–in terms of life in heaven after death. Evangelicals certainly believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and they trust in Christ for eternal life. If that is what it means to be born again, then evangelicals are born again. That is what evangelicals mean by the term ‘born again,’ but that is not what Jesus meant when he used that phrase.” “According to Jesus, being born again means to see the Kingdom of God.
“Would any evangelical say they see the Kingdom of God? Not too many that I know!”
– that may seem to have a hard edge, but it’s not any harsher than Paul saying,
You are infants in Christ
• it was the truth that needed to be told and the Corinthians needed to hear

Why were the Corinthians stuck in this condition?

They had not seen the problem in themselves,
– so without knowing any better, they were following the wrong protocols and using the wrong tools
Paul asks them, are you not sarkinos and behaving only in a human way?
• “behaving like every other human person?”
– I think this took them by surprise
• every day they would get up and go about their business
◦ doing their chores, going to work, shopping in the marketplace
◦ they would haggle with vendors, gossip with neighbors, and so on
• in other words, they were living normal lives in the world
◦ doing what had to be done in the only way they knew
◦ and that is how they approached life with God;
the same way as they took on every other human task

I mentioned last week – that when Jesus scolded Peter he said,
you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man (Mt. 16:23)
– perhaps it would help if we heard this from a different version
You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not Gods (NLT)
• Jesus and Paul use the same word, anthropos (the root of anthropology)
• there is nothing wrong with being a human person,
◦ but we trip up when we approach God’s things in our normal way
Francis Schaeffer, “We must do the Lord’s work in the Lord’s way.
“There is no source of power for God’s people—for preaching or teaching or anything else—except Christ himself. Apart from Christ anything which seems to be spiritual power is actually the power of the flesh.
“A person cannot be a Christian without first recognizing his need of Christ. And as Christians we too must comprehend something of our need for spiritual power. If we think we can operate on our own, if we do not comprehend the need for a power beyond our own, we will never get started.
“If we try to influence the world by using its methods, we are doing the Lord’s work in the flesh.”
– Paul asked the Galatians, Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? (Gal. 3:3)
• he described for them how the Spirit and flesh work against each other
◦ as long as that battle continues, it renders us powerless (Gal. 5:17)
• do we realize how much we’ve been conditioned by our culture?
◦ the way of the Spirit calls us to transcend culture

How could Corinthians get unstuck and grow up?
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? Verse 16

Christian spirituality requires a certain kind of knowing
– it is not like the knowledge we get from school or books
• it is not something our brains think up, but that our spirits discern
• it is knowing more than we can gather with our senses,
◦ or than we have learned or can deduce through reason
• it is knowing that has a “special kind of contact with ultimate reality”
◦ an immediate experience of God’s transcendent presence
– almost every Christian I know has had a moment,
• when they had a strong impression to pray for some else
• this knowing is something like that

We need vital contact with God’s Holy Spirit
[God] saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ (Titus 3:5-6)
– as a child, I imagined that poured out would look like the day Pentecost (Acts 2)
• I had seen dramatic manifestations of emotional release in Pentecostal meetings
• looking back – it wasn’t as supernatural as I imagined — it was more like group hysteria
◦ Pentecostals and Charismatics want miracles, they want signs and wonders
– the Corinthians were also eager for manifestations of the Spirit (14:12)
• and they could produce noise and flash
• but Paul wanted them to find an energy in the Spirit,
◦ to change lives and build up other members of their Christian community

In the Titus passage, Paul says we receive the Spirit through Jesus Christ
– Paul stresses the centrality of Jesus here also, in 1 Corinthians 3
For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ Verse 11
• spanning the dimensions of our universe and also the greater dimension of God’s realm,
◦ Jesus is always our bridge to the Spirit of God and the things of God

Conclusion: You know what? I am encouraged by Paul’s criticism

I am grateful for God’s correction
– when he names my problem, I realize he also has a solution
• he corrects me, because he wants me to live closer to himself
• it is frustrating to constantly resist the forces of culture, consensus and conformity
◦ but there are moments when I find myself not in a fight, but in a flow
◦ those moments are when I’m in a state of a fuller awareness of God’s presence
Then nothing in this world concerns or entices me

Floating is a different experience from standing on your feet in shallow water
Floating for the first time creates a new experience of water
And it can introduce you to a new world of experience,
swimming, snorkeling, or scuba diving

Practice floating

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And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—
these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 1 Corinthians 2:1-10

Intro: Is there a foreign country you’ve always wanted to visit?

Russia was never on my bucket list – it seemed dark and foreboding
– a man I kept running into at conferences pressured me to visit orphanages in Russia
• one morning I felt like God told me, “Do this”
• so twenty years ago this summer, I made my first trip
– a small part of my experience was what I expected
• but there was a great deal more I had not anticipated
◦ mile after mile of incredible natural beauty
• but most of all, underneath language and cultural differences,
◦ Russian men and women were like us
◦ the have the same dreams, the same love of poetry and music, the same national pride

Travel is a unique education – you step into history, geography, and culture
– it is an education by immersion
• what I am getting at, is a specific challenge Paul faced
◦ and how he had to provide a unique education to those he led
◦ to inform them of intangible realm that could not be seen, heard, or imagined
• the only way they could know it, was to experience it — to have an education by immersion
– last Monday, while reading in Colossians I came across these verses
. . . pray for us, that God may open a door for the word to declare the mystery of Christ . . . that I may make it clear (4:3-4)
◦ I scrawled my meditation, and here is some of what I wrote:
“This is my current challenge, to communicate the mystery of Christ. Much of Jesus’ story is comprehensible, because like us he was a human person in the world. Yet his entire existence is enveloped in mystery. John’s gospel demonstrates this from the start. How do I make clear a reality that words cannot describe? A reality that can only be experienced, but not explained?”
Arthur Deikman, “According to mystics, the fundamental reality underlying appearances is not accessible to the senses. It cannot be described in terms derived from the ordinary world, but it is accessible to mystical intuition. The perception of that underlying reality gives meaning to individual existence and does away with the fear of death and the self-centered desires that direct the lives of most people.”
• a couple days later I came to an answer–we’ll get to it,
◦ but first I want to go over a few intriguing phrases in this chapter

“Plausible words of wisdom” (v. 4)

To me, plausible sounds like “credible” or “believable”
– here the Greek word it translates means “convincing,” “persuasive”
• Paul avoided the known rules for winning arguments
◦ centuries earlier, Aristotle had identified elements of a persuasive speech
• Paul perceived a potential weakness in using those tools
so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God (v. 5)
◦ if people can be argued into the faith, they can be argued out of it
– however, there was a deeper wisdom running through Paul’s message
• that brings us to another intriguing phrase

“Not a wisdom of this age” (v. 6)

Here is a German word you can use to impress your friends and terrify your enemies
– Zeitgeist: the “spirit of the age”
• zeitgeist is the defining thought or mood of a particular period of history
◦ in verse 12, Paul says we have not received the spirit of the world
• what God imparts to his people,
◦ cannot be found in curriculum of any college class
◦ cannot be examined in a lab or explained intelligibly
– spiritual wisdom is unknown to the rulers (“authorities”) of this age
. . . for if they had [understood this], they would not have crucified the Lord of glory
• they just don’t get it
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned (v. 14)

Now, we cannot assume this isn’t a problem for us too
– the world we inhabit in our daily lives is the world of human culture
• we live in it like a fish lives in water, often unaware of its presence
• we don’t think that much about culture or its influence,
◦ until we bump into another culture
– the more our minds are absorbed with this fabricated world,
• the thicker the wall between us and God will be
even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case, the god of this world had blinded the minds of the unbelievers (2 Cor. 4:3-4)
◦ do you remember when Jesus said to Peter, Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me?
◦ why was Peter a hindrance to Jesus?
For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man (Mt. 16:23)
◦ the spirit of the age is a powerful narcotic
• over-exposure to an environment that is exclusively material and human,
◦ a world devoid of God can wreck a person’s faith
◦ it interferes with our awakened experience of God
◦ even a Christian of many years can stop believing in God,
◦ or at least behave as if living in a world where no God existed
Arthur Deikman, “The Sufis made the particular point that most people are ‘asleep,’ because their consciousness is taken up with automatic responses in the service of greed and fear. The brain, thus occupied, is said to be incapable of the special perception whose development is the true destiny and task of human life. Thus, ‘the secret protects itself.’”

The next intriguing phrase: “we impart a secret and hidden wisdom” (v. 7)

Paul is not saying that God unlocks for us the secrets of universe
– or enlightens us to hidden mysteries of supernatural realms
• rather, God makes himself known to our spirit
• we pick up this wisdom through our encounters with God
– some churches teach: “Test your experience by theology”
• I agree, but I would add: “Test your theology by experience”
◦ if your beliefs are ideas you can only think about,
◦ they are somehow flawed
The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law (De. 29:29)
◦ divine revelation demands a human response
• God gives himself to us in an experiential knowing

“these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit” (v. 10)

This is where things get tricky
– we can hear about Christian salvation (the “gospel”), perhaps from an evangelist
• we can understand the basics, and we can respond to the message
◦ but what happens next is inward–invisible and intangible
◦ as Jesus said,
The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit (Jn. 3:8)
• no one can say “how” the Spirit works God’s life into us
– we have received “the Spirit who is from God” (v. 12)
• how are we awakened to this?
◦ some people are ready for it, and it just “happens” – for them, it seems to be an intuitive awareness
◦ others of us need a wake up call (a near-death experience can do it)
◦ all of us have to practice “receiving” God’s Spirit
• not with our greedy hands and not with our rational minds
◦ but with our spirit
(of course, that means we each need to find our spirit)

“We impart this in words” (v. 13)

Again Paul emphasizes the message is not framed by human wisdom,
not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit
– now, back to my meditation last Monday – it kept me thinking of the Bee Gees’ song
“It’s only words, and words are all I have”
• I know that I use too many words
some of what I wrote in Wednesday’s meditation included the following:
. . . you received the word of God . . . not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you (1 Thes. 2:13)
“Recently I have been concerned for our Reflexion community; that my current talks will be of little benefit. I can communicate ‘ideas,’ but we need more than that. Education in ‘things unseen’ does not bring us into the experience of those things. We can thumb through a travel brochure, but never visit the country described in it.
But what do I get from the gospels or the letters of Paul? Words! Ideas, concepts, information. But how are these presented? In stories, parables, statements that challenge our worldview, and so on. The words of Jesus are the foundation for a solid life in God; they are seeds that grow into fruit-bearing trees. Paul tells us that the words he used were not his, but God’s. And with that word there came the power of the Spirit to give his words life–and to bring life to those who heard.
My words, lame as I am, can help people wake up to life–to God’s presence. My words are not everything, but neither are they nothing.”
– the last line of verse 13 is difficult to translate
• I take it that the way God teaches us is by combining spiritual things with the human spirit
• or, God communicates with us Spirit to spirit (cf. Ro. 8:16)
The Message Bible, verse 13 reads like this: We didn’t learn this by reading books or going to school; we learned it from God, who taught us person-to-person through Jesus, and we’re passing it on to you in the same firsthand personal way.

Conclusion: A weakness of mine is that I’m always thinking I need more information

I need another book, do more research, ask more questions,
but eventually all of that gets in the way
What is working for me presently
is that I am training myself to be receptive
One day last week, while walking the dog, I asked myself,
“What am I seeing?”
and then I noticed the world around me,
simply experiencing the sight of it, without labeling anything
Then,
“What am I hearing?”
and I listened
“What am I smelling?”
“What am I feeling?”
“What am I thinking?”
that question reminded me to let go of my jumble of thoughts
and return to the sensate experience of the world around me,
finding my place in it,
and opening myself to God and his Spirit

We do not raise ourselves up to God,
he comes to us
We just need to clear stuff out of his way,
That is one way that we train our spirit
to be receptive to his Spirit

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For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but life to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men 1 Corinthians 1:17-25

Intro: My wife, Barb, and I were told something lives in our home,

Something bad – and invisible to humans
– so a guy came to our home with a small electronic device
• it could supposedly detect the invisible presence
• we had to take his word for it — I had no idea how his gizmo worked
– this was not a “haunting,” and the technician was not a psychic
• we had water damage to our home and it had to be treated for mold
• the mold detector collected and measured spores in the air

We accept this story because it is grounded in rational science
– we cannot say the same thing regarding 1 Corinthians
• if not grounded in scientific fact, what then?
• one page back,
Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God . . . . (Rom. 16:25)
and Ephesians
. . . the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ (Ep. 3:3-4)
– mystery in this context is not like a riddle – it is not a problem we can solve
• it is unknowable, because it belongs to another reality
◦ the only way it can be known is if it is revealed
• only way it can be trusted, is if we have a broader perspective of reality

Paul is leading the Corinthians into the realm of mystery

Christian education is not what we have be led to believe
– it is not Bible reading, Bible study, or Bible memorization
• it is not learning to decode clues that shed light on the end times
• it is not training in apologetics so we can defend the faith
– it is becoming conscious of another dimension of reality
• it is a process of coming to know God whom, we are told,
alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see (1 Tim. 6:16)
• the Bible is vital to our education, but it is not the goal
◦ if we do not wake up to God, we’ve missed the point
◦ we aren’t transformed, but stay same, only with a Bible education
(may God protect us from narcissists who are well-versed in scripture)

Paul is trying to bring the Corinthians along, but their growth was stunted
But I, brothers [and sisters], could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ (1 Cor. 3:1)
– in this first chapter, he begins to unfold the problem
• to me it feels like Christian Spirituality 101
◦ or as I introduced this series last week, “A Primer In Things Unseen”
• one of the first lessons that must be learned:
◦ our concept of reality is too narrow
◦ we have to be open to more than the eye can see or the ear can hear
– this means our standard methods of knowing our world will break down
• they won’t work in this new reality
◦ it’s sort of like quantum physics
◦ the physics of Isaac Newton do not work at the quantum level
• for instance,
But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord 1 Corinthians 1:27-31
God chose . . . things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are . . .
◦ that is not possible in our four-dimensional universe

Paul uses two well-known worldviews to illustrate the situation

The Jewish approach to truth and the Greek approach (vv. 22-23)
– we make similar distinctions: East/West, Oriental/Occidental
– Paul is addressing two systems of thought, that I will call, first:

A philosophical worldview – demands rational evidence

Paul says, Greeks seek wisdom, which is quite true
– sophia (wisdom) + phileo (love) = philosophy or “love of wisdom”
• wisdom to Greek philosopher covered all that existed
◦ therefore, in its entirety it was was beyond the capabilities of the human mind
◦ however, philosophers could know something of it
• they developed methods of reasoning
◦ Socratic dialectic – use questions and criticism to challenge and clarify ideas and concepts
◦ Aristotle’s syllogisms – a way to test a statement’s logical validity
– a belief had to be “reasonable” for a philosopher to accept it
• before coming to Corinth, Paul had been in Athens
◦ there he had an interesting experience
◦ he was invited to address Epicurean and Stoic philosophers
Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new (Acts 17:21)
• Paul began with their shrines and an altar inscribed “To the unknown God”
◦ he described the God revealed in the Scriptures
◦ but when he began talking about Jesus, the meeting broke up
Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” So Paul went out from their midst (Acts 17:32-33)
◦ he knew by experience that the message of Jesus crucified was foolishness to them

The journey of philosophy has progressed from then until now
– for the most part, it has moved even further from finding any kind of deity
• many cannot overcome arguments against God’s existence
• so all the wisdom of the philosophers has brought us no closer to God
– we cannot reason our way into God’s presence
• nothing in our prior has prepared us for the mystery of God–so get used to it
If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know (1 Cor. 8:2)

A religious worldview – demands supernatural evidence

We might assume the religious mind is more open than the philosophic mind
– but it can become biased and shut off to truth
• the central problem is that religion falls into human hands
◦ the tendency is to bottle spirituality – like a genie in a lamp
◦ then release it only under strict control – to grant wishes
• even our most wonderful spiritual experiences can lose energy
◦ but religion tends to hang onto those milestones of the past
◦ and then it suffers from a “hardening of the categories”
– institutions require management – but we cannot manage the Spirit
• so something new comes along, religion says, “prove it”
And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven (Mt. 16:1)
• it is often assumed that a miracle will win any argument
◦ but that is not what we see in the gospels
◦ Jesus’ miracles intensified the hostility of Jesus’ critics (Jn. 12:9-11)
◦ they credited his exorcisms to the devil, not God (Mt. 12:24)

Science was not on Paul’s radar

But we could add that worldview to our own challenge
– here I will only offer couple of quotation
• the subject has to do with the worldview of psychology
Arthur Deikman, “Freud’s view of reality and that of most contemporary theorists of psychotherapy is based on a nineteenth-century physical and biological scientific model that is far too narrow to encompass human consciousness. Consequently, certain sources of suffering cannot be dealt with from within a Western framework. We are faced with major problems that call for broadening our perspective and extending our science.”
“Human beings need meaning. . . . The religious framework that formerly defined meaning has been replaced by a scientific world view in which meaning does not exist. . . . According to this view, human beings are complex biochemical phenomena, of considerable scientific interest but not essentially different from anything else that science examines.”

Paul says that he was called to preach the gospel, but
not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power (v. 17)
– for Paul, worldly wisdom did not enhance his message,
• but undermined it – nullified its power
• we’ve inherited a legacy from the Reformation
◦ and that is the attempt to clarify everything
◦ but some of the most important things cannot be clarified
– learning to drive – when you first pressed your foot on the accelerator,
• were you ready for the car’s response?
◦ we did not learn how to drive by studying it in “driver’s ed.” or a book
◦ we learned by feel – and today we drive our cars by feel
◦ spiritual education is not the same, but it is similar
• we need to wake up to the fact:
◦ there’s more to universe and ourselves than we have known or experienced

Conclusion: How do we go forward?

In the first part of this chapter Paul refers to Jesus repeatedly:
Christ Jesus, our Lord Jesus Christ, and simply, Christ
– Jesus was the lens through which Paul first saw the invisible God
And Jesus is the lens through whom we will see both God and ourselves
Jesus walks us into mystery, enlarges our perspective, and shows us his kingdom
For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery which is Christ, in who are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2:1-3)
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set you minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:1-3)

So now we are on our way,
and it is going to be a wonderful journey

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And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart Luke 18:1
– And he told them a parable –

Intro: Wednesday night, this was the first verse we read in our Lexio Divina meeting

Immediately I knew I would be reading it today, because of what had been on my mind
– Jesus gave people what they needed
• he gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf
◦ health to the lame and to the lepers
◦ he gave hope and forgiveness to the sinners
• and to everyone, Jesus gave parables
With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything (Mk. 4:33-34)
– Jesus used parables to introduce people to kingdom of God
• in John’s gospel, Jesus used “hard sayings” (Jn. 6:60)
• why did Jesus use these obscure ways to deliver his message?
◦ because he spoke of things outside their everyday world
◦ a reality that none of them had ever experienced
They had to learn a new way to think

There is something I would like you to know about me
– if we were to trace my spiritual journey it would be scribbled all over the map
• I’ve logged many hours in the Bible and commentaries, theology, and a dash of philosophy and physics
◦ I am deeply interested in psychology and neuroscience – especially theories of human consciousness
◦ besides all the rational stuff, I have at times revisited the charismatic experience
• all my exploration has been driven by one passion
◦ a desire to have a real and continuous awareness of God’s presence
◦ I have wanted to learn: Is awareness of God always a gift of grace
or is there an innate capacity in the human brain that can open to God’s nearness
and that can be developed?
– I have often thought about a footnote in the Old Testament
Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he said, “Come, let us go to the seer,” for today’s “prophet” was formerly called a seer (1 Sam. 9:9)
• if you want to know about a seer – stories of Elijah and Elisha
◦ just knew things – saw more than human eyes could see
◦ was that given to them or was there a combination of potential and purposeful development
• during that same time we learn about a prophetic community
◦ the sons of the prophets – were they devoted to learning and developing spiritual sight?
◦ Arthur Deikman captures the question I have been asking 30 or forty years:
Deikman, “. . . is there any evidence supporting the idea that human beings can develop in themselves a new form of perception, one that is latent but requires special conditions for its development?” “Are we possessed at birth of neuronal circuits with a developmental potential for the kind of direct, intuitive knowing that mystics say is possible? . . . Can that potential be revived by specific exercises that would make special demands on the organism?”

A recent trend among a few theologians and Christian writers

They have adopted a materialist view of the human person
– we are a biological organism, that’s all – no spirit
• what can be said of them is same Deikman, regarding some psychologists
Deikman, “Western psychotherapy, in basing itself almost exclusively on the world view of scientific materialism, has impoverished its model of human consciousness and lost the meaning and significance of human life.”
• the biblical worldview is supernatural
◦ it reveals a larger view of the universe and larger view of the human person
Deikman, “. . . it is possible that the conclusions of scientific materialism are wrong. From time to time we sense a larger reality than the one science provides, a subtle perception pointing to a better, meaningful existence.”
– our normal methods of science, research, and education,
• cannot give us access to this larger dimension
◦ it is not like learning math or history
◦ Paul argued that God
determined allotted periods and the boundaries of [mankind’s] dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for
“In him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:26-28)
• we need to develop a different kind of perception
◦ we need new eyes to see and new ears to hear

Chuck Kraft is a very rational theologian and anthropologist

I once heard him give a lecture on listening to God’s Spirit
– he emphasized that this requires a shift from our normal patterns of thinking
• I asked him how we could make the shift from the rational to nonrational
• he gave two answers:
◦ “a credible guide” can assist you in the process
◦ and, “analogy can be useful”
• Jesus used parables, riddles, metaphors, paradoxes, hard sayings
Kenneth Leech claims that an “essential feature” of mystical teaching is “the process of ‘illumination by metaphor’, that is, a way of knowing based upon an intuitive grasp of situations, an openness to the myths and symbols of experience. The spiritual guide speaks the language of myth and metaphor.”
– on the first day of 1988, I wrote on the first page of my daily journal,
“Heavenly Father, when I asked You for a credible guide . . . You spoke to me through Psalm 32:8,
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my eye upon you.”
• God’s Spirit is the teacher and guide who brings us along (Jn 14:26)
◦ but God has also appointed teachers in church (1 Cor. 12:28)
◦ Jesus has given us “shepherd-teachers” (Ep. 4:11)
• what I have in mind for us over the next few weeks is “A Primer In Things Unseen”
◦ a beginner’s course – Paul provides us with a foundation for the development we desire
◦ we can learn the basics – or at least have a reliable starting point

What can we hope to gain from a shepherd-teacher?

To awaken us to everything we have missed
– if we never see beyond the material world and our lives in it,
• we will be brainwashed by it and obsessed with it
I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? (Mt. 6:25)
• this “more” is the larger dimension that we have missed
◦ life is more than what sustains it
◦ the body is more than a biological organism

We may find that our teacher rejects us – this is not unusual
– the disciple is told, “This is not for you,” “You won’t be able to do it,” “You’re not qualified,” “You’re not strong (determined, sincere) enough”
– at first the student may argue or try harder, but will eventually fail
• sometime later the student returns to the teacher and says, “You were right, I cannot follow this path”
• and teacher says, “Now you are ready. I will take you on as my disciple”
“. . . choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” ¶ Then the people answered, “ . . . we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God.” But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the LORD, for he s a holy God. . . . And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the LORD.” (Jos. 24:14-21)
◦ we have to realize that nothing in our past education prepared us for this new education
– a shepherd-teacher enables us to see what helps and hinders our progress
• we will be forced to look at our motives
Deikman, “Most people bring to meditation an acquisitive, self-centered orientation that is the cultural norm. According to the mystical literature, such an attitude determines the outcome of meditation. For this reason, the instructions that accompany the classical descriptions of meditation deal first with the necessity for ‘purifying the heart’–developing a selfless orientation–before aspiring to special powers.”
◦ notice, this is where Jesus begins his lessons in the Sermon On the Mount,
Blessed are pure in heart, for they shall see God (Mt. 5:8)
• our guide will question our basic assumptions
◦ just as Jesus challenged the religious assumptions of his hearers
You have heard that it was said . . . But I say to you (Mt. 5:21-22)
– our guide helps us see the limitations of the rational mind and overcome them
– our guide is someone who is where we want to be
• at least two steps ahead of us
– our guide can hear our questions, objections, and concerns
• and respond with the wisdom of that larger realm of understanding
• they answers may not be satisfying rationally, but they will be right
– our guide will help us discover our spirit–our aware self–and how to instantly return to that self
• we will be awakened to God, in whom we live and move and have our being
• we will discover how our spirit is a bridge, between the four-dimensional world and the spiritual dimension
– our guide will help us discern our most effective ways to pray
– our guide will challenge, console, and lead us to our own discoveries

Conclusion: We will follow Paul through 1 Corinthians

This will not be a “Bible study”
– we will be looking for specific insights into the life of the Spirit
– many Evangelicals are discouraged, disappointed, frustrated today
• they are longing for that larger dimension in God
• they are looking for a faith that, as Jim would say, produces lovers
◦ lovers of God, lovers of others, lovers of all that God has made
– this is where we can go when all the resources of what Evangelicalism offers have been exhausted,
and we are still hungry, thirsty, and desire more

I want you to imagine Jesus with Nicodemus
That poor Pharisee must have been so frustrated,
misunderstanding Jesus because he took literally what the Lord told him
But Jesus was patient, wanting Nicodemus to learn to see

God will provide us what we need
to find our way to a more certain experience of his presence,
that persists through every sort of situation
We will have to stick with the process,
until we get our breakthrough,
our miracle

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In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. . . . God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. . . . And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. . . .So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. . . . And God made the beasts of the eaerth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creep on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. . . . And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. Genesis 1:1-4, 10, 12, 16-18, 21, 25, 31

Intro: The Bible begins at the beginning – the story of creation

It is important that we read this passage as a story and not as a scientific account
(I do not have a problem with people trying to harmonize it with science, but that was not how Genesis was written nor how it was meant to be read)
– stories have a plot, characters, setting and mood
• in this story, the universe does not merely exist by itself
◦ it has an Architect, a Creator – and he has a purpose for it
• each new addition as it unfolds, is inspected and approved
◦ once the project is complete, all of it is very good
– the goodness of the created world is repeated and celebrated in the Old Testament
• in the Book of Proverbs, wisdom is personified and sings:
The LORD possessed me at the beginning of his work,
the first of his acts of old.
Ages ago I was set up,
at the beginning of the earth.
When there were no depths I was brought forth,
when there were no springs abounding with water. . . .
when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
then I was beside him, like a master workman,
and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always,
rejoicing in his inhabited world
and delighting in the children of man (Pr. 8:22-31)
◦ also in the Psalms
The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof,
the world and those who dwell therein . . . . (Ps. 24:1)
You cause the grass to grow for the livestock
and plants to cultivate,
that he may bring forth food from the earth
and wine to gladden the heart of man,
oil to make his face shine,
and bread to strengthen man’s heart (Ps. 104:14-15)
◦ and on and on, the Hebrew Scriptures celebrate the created world
• the Catholic saint who caught this better than any other was St. Francis of Assisi
◦ in his “Canticle of the Sun,” he sings,
“Praise be to you, my Lord . . . through Brother Sun”
“Praise be to you, my Lord . . . through Sister Moon”
“Praise be to you, my Lord . . . through Mother Earth”

We are made of the same stuff as the rest of our universe

Our relation to the earth is organic
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return (Ge. 3:19)
– our spirit may belong to God’s realm, but the body belongs to the earth
– today I will conclude my series of talks on body parts
• what I’ve tried to stress is that our bodies are not only material, but spiritual
◦ not two different realities – but spirit belongs to another, larger dimension
◦ we are spiritual bodies
• today we’ll explore our embodied connection to the earth
◦ what will be our attitude to Earth? how will we treat it?

We know the world through our bodies

Our sense of direction, our orientation in world begins with the body
– so depending on what direction my body is facing,
• “north” can be to the right of me, the left, in front of me, or behind me
Arthur Vogel, “The fundamental role which being-in-the-world-through-our-bodies plays in our personal lives can be simply and convincingly demonstrated by the role played by prepositions in our thought. Such terms as in, between, over, under, behind, within, without, beyond, beside, are basic to our thinking, but they come to us from an experience of the world . . . The world of our personal embodiment.”
• with this basic knowledge, we can conceptualize other objects
◦ for instance, “Voyager has traveled outside our solar system”
◦ our body-knowledge is how we understand what “outside” means
– let’s bring this down to earth
• remember relief maps? colors are used to indicate elevation
◦ some were even molded with 3-dimensional mountains and valleys
◦ topography maps are similar, but more technical
• suppose you had to create a relief map using only words?
◦ a technical description of landscape; its height, depth, width, breadth, shapes and configurations?
◦ that would take some imagination

The Bible does this, using what we know from our bodies
And the east boundary is the Salt Sea, to the mouth of the Jordan. And the boundary on the north side runs from the bay of the sea at the mouth of the Jordan. . . . Then the boundary goes up by the Valley of the Son of Hinnom at the southern shoulder of [Jerusalem]. And the boundary goes up to the top of the mountain that lies over against the Valley of Hinnom . . . . (Jos. 15:5-8)
• two body parts used for the contours of landscape are obvious
◦ the mouth of Jordan and the shoulder of Jerusalem (the side of a hill or a slope)
• but there are other body parts not obvious in our English translation:
◦ bay is literally tongue
◦ top of the mountain translates a Hebrew word for head
◦ over against is the Hebrew word panyim, “faces” (in this instance, facing the Valley of Hinnom
• another familiar expression is the foot of Mount Sinai (Ex. 19:17)
– Old Testament maps were drawn up using analogies of the human body
• in Joshua, these maps were made to establish boundaries between the twelve tribes
◦ each territory was like a body, and the borders were like its skin
• do you see how the human body is superimposed over the earth’s body
◦ this is possible because we are alike
◦ in Genesis, the human body and earth are mutually dependent
The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it (Ge. 2:15)
. . . and you shall eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread . . . (Ge. 3:17-19)

Thinking about all of this, two of the Bible’s books came to mind

Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs – they appear side-by-side
– both are relatively short, and both are controversial
• when studying them, question that comes up most often is:
◦ “Why is this book in the Bible?”
◦ neither mention the name of Yahweh, and the Song does not even mention “God”
• Ecclesiastes is Utilitarian and pessimistic; the Song is Epicurean and optimistic
– I thought of them, because the backdrop for both is the created world
• if we ask, “What does it mean to be alive in the world?”
◦ each of these books gives a very different answer

Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
What does man gain by all the toil
at which he toils under the sun? (Ecc. 1:2-3)
This is how Ecclesiastes begins and ends (Ecc. 12:8)
– the writer claims to be a descendent of David,
• and describes himself as “The Preacher” – “one who gather an audience”
◦ vanity is a poor choice for translators to make
• the Hebrew word hebel is your misty breath on a cold day
(cf. Jas. 4:14, For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes)
◦ it is nothingness, emptiness, futility
Robert Alter, “For the most part . . . his observations are properly philosophic, inviting us to contemplate the cyclical nature of reality and human experience, the fleeting duration of all that we cherish, the brevity of life, and the inexorability of death, which levels all things.”
Alter describes Ecclesiastes as a “radical dissent, in which time, history, politics, and human nature are seen in . . . a bleak light” and “the world is a theater of continuing frustration and illusion; that is the way that God/fate/the intrinsic constitution of reality has determined that it should be.”
– contrast this with beginning of the Song
Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!
For your love is better than wine;
your anointing oils are fragrant . . . (Song 1:2-3)
• immediately we see the pleasures of physical love
◦ there is touch, and taste, and fragrance (soon all of the senses will be stimulated)
• for the lovers who sing to each other, the earth is teeming with life
◦ love thrives in its mountains and valleys, its vineyards and gardens
◦ it seems that everything in nature finds a counterpart in the human body
Ariel and Chana Bloch, “Nature is the mirror of the human lovers. . . . The poet’s metaphors keep shifting between the actual landscape, suffused with erotic associations, and the landscape of the body. The Shulamite waits for her lover in a garden, but she herself is a garden . . . .” “The images are not literally descriptive; what they convey is the delight of the lover in contemplating the beloved, finding in the body a reflected image of the world in its freshness and splendor.”
Robert Alter, “The Song of Songs is the great love poem of commingling—of different realms, different senses, and of the male and female bodies. . . . there are abundant cross-overs from the luxuriance of the landscape to the luxuriance of the human body.”

The Song and Ecclesiastes share same themes, but develop them differently
– the wind in the Song:
Awake, O north wind,
and come O South wind!
Blow upon my garden,
let its spices flow (Song 4:16)
– the wind in Ecclesiastes
The wind blows to the south
and goes around to the north;
around and around goes the wind,
and on its circuits the wind returns (Ecc. 1:6)
• what’s did the Teacher conclude about traveling in circles? You never get anywhere
• all worldly pursuits are a striving after the wind (Ecc. 2:17)
◦ Alter translates this, herding the wind
– the sun in Ecclesiastes describes the environment of human endeavor
under the sun (Ecc. 1:9, 14, etc., etc.)
• this is a materialistic worldview in which death makes everything irrelevant (Ecc. 2:15-17)
◦ even the sun and moon are eventually darkened (Ecc. 12:2)
• but the lovers see the beauty of sun and moon in each other’s body
Who is this who looks down like the dawn,
beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun,
awesome as an army with banners? (Song 6:10)

Conclusion: There’s so much more here to contrast and compare

If you’re interested, you can continue this study of the two books on your own
– my concern here is that we see these books as a challenge of two doors
• what happens if we take our bodies through door one?
• and what happens if we choose door two?
I am not a doomsday person
– and I do not spend my time in scripture trying to figure out the day and hour of Jesus’ return
• but anyone who happens to be noticing, can see that we have done great damage to our planet

If we commit our bodies to an Ecclesiastes view of life,
we will go on abusing Mother Earth
If we take a Song of Songs view of life,
there is hope for redemption for the earth body and the human body
• we share a destiny with our planet
For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. . . . For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies (Ro. 8:19-23)

James Hall, “It is in the gospel stories of Jesus that we recognize how present and intimately available God is in creation. The story begins with Jesus’ birth in a manger-a place where animals were kept, most likely a cave in the hillside. God’s incarnation in human form begins in the earth itself. Years later, Jesus responds to the cry of John the Baptist, ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord.’ Then and now, John and his cry embody the undomesticated wildness of God. In that remote setting, Jesus was baptized . . . .”
– think of how much of Jesus’ teaching referred to nature
• seeds and soil, lilies and birds, fig trees and vineyards
• he is himself is the true vine and the Spirit is living water
Hall, “Throughout his ministry Jesus withdrew to remote mountain and desert places to pray. On the night before he was arrested, he went to a quiet garden to pour out his anguish and grief. For Jesus the most intimate moments with God took place in the desert, on the mountain, in the garden, among the wildness and beauty of God’s creation.” “. . . when we lay the written scripture, so full of images from the natural world, beside the scripture of the earth, our understanding of each is enhanced.”
“Only recently have we lost contact with the earth out of which we were made, and on which we depend for life and sanity. Some think that this is why we are blindly destroying our habitat. In our alienation from the earth, have we gone mad?”

If we are looking for the redemption of planet earth and our bodies with it,
– we will need to treat our bodies as part of nature’s song
• and treat our planet’s body with same care we give our own
• we will want to connect with the created world as Jesus did
◦ and like Jesus, pray with our bodies
Hall asks, “How do we learn to pray the prayer of embodiment with all creation? One way we can begin is by going to a less inhabited, natural place. . . . Such a place, if it is accessible and we go there often, will become a special and sacred place where we can meet God in the things he has made.”

What is required of us to have a role in redemption?
– perhaps re-learning how to be a child
Rachel Carson, “A child’s world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement . . . . If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the world would be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantments of later years, the sterile preoccupation with things artificial, the alienation from the source of our strength.” (quoted in James Hall)

Our hope is to become as children,
enter the kingdom of heaven
and recover our sense of wonder–
for the Creator of this fantastic universe,
for the beauty and wonders of nature,
and for our own bodies
as we present them to God,
again and again,
living sacrifices

And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” Mark 14:22-25

Intro: While talking with an old friend recently,

I discovered something about myself – it was a senior citizen moment
– as I age, I experience nostalgia more intensely
• it is not that I would want to return to my past
• but I experience memories of it with a deeper resonance
– I graduated high school in 1969
• a couple weeks later, we put humans on the moon
◦ that doesn’t trigger moody memories or warm feelings
• a band appeared and disappeared that same year
◦ they left behind one album that reached the top of the charts in the US and UK
◦ a song from that album evokes nostalgia in me
“Come down off your throne and leave your body alone
Somebody must change
You are the reason I’ve been waiting all these years
Somebody holds the key
Well, I’m near the end and I just ain’t got the time
And I’m wasted and I can’t find my way home”
(from “Blind Faith,” written by Eric Clapton and sung by Steve Winward)

One interpretation of those lyrics is that Clapton was working through addiction at the time
– he began writing songs in which he spirituality and recovery
• “Come down off your throne” — stop getting high; stop messing up your body
◦ “Somebody must change” — and you, the addict, must make that change
◦ “Somebody holds the key” — someone else, a “higher power”
◦ “I’m near the end and I just ain’t got the time” — I can only do this for so long before I overdose
• a side note: on the same album included there is another song Clapton wrote:
“I have finally found the way to live – in the presence of the Lord”
– when I first heard the line “leave your body alone,”
• it struck me as being relevant to a body-obsessed culture
◦ the emphasis on one’s media image, the fashion industry, medical interventions that kept bodies alive
• other than drug use, hippies celebrated the body’s natural state
◦ they cared for it with health food, Chinese medicine, and naturopathic healing
This is what came to mind while preparing today’s talk
“Leave your body alone”

I began our current series of talks on Easter Sunday
– we began exploring the Scriptures,
• to see how our body parts experience our relationship with God
• we began with the head, then the face–eyes, ears, mouth, lips, tongue
◦ all the way down to our feet
◦ and inside to our blood, bones, and internal organs
• last week we explored the life of our body
◦ the soul – which is physical, the life-force of the body and its parts
◦ the spirit – the invisible part; the added dimension
this is where we connect with God
. . . you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God (Ro. 8:15-16)
– today’s talk won’t be as intense as the previous ones
• it will be more lab than lecture
• we will leave our bodies alone so they can experience Jesus for themselves

Jesus held in his hands the broken loaf, presented it to disciples

This is my body – I want us to hear this in a specific way
– we have collected all kinds of biblical information about our bodies
• but now we hear Jesus say, This is MY body
• we focus our attention on the bread in his hands,
◦ and on his hands holding the bread
◦ and on the eyes that search us and the lips that speak to us

The first thought that comes to me is “touch”

If Jesus is embodied and we are embodied, there can be touch
– Jesus touched people
• one of the first was Peter’s mother in law (Mt. 8:15)
◦ in fact, Jesus took her by the hand and helped her up (Mk. 1:31)
• soon after, a leper (Mk. 1:41)
• Jesus also touched Jairus’ dead daughter (Mk. 5:41)
• he touched the eyes of two blind men (Mt. 9:29)
• on the mountain where he was transfigured, Jesus woke his disciples with a touch (Mt. 17:7)
• he touched small children whose parents wanted his blessing (Mt. 10:13)
• another child he took in his arms (Mk. 9:36)
– Jesus used his body in extraordinary ways
• his feet took him over all kinds of terrain,
◦ even across the surface of a lake
• his hands were filled with healing and blessings
◦ in fact, the last thing he did for others was with his hands
And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven (Lk. 24:50-51)
◦ those hands were nailed to the cross

I have often wondered what Jesus’ touch would feel like

Jesus himself, was touchable

[Jesus] told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him, for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him (Mk. 3:9-10)
– there was the woman whose hemorrhage doctors could not resolve, but touching the edge of Jesus’ cloak did (Mk. 5:27)
• and the woman who kissed Jesus’ feet (Lk. 7:38-39)
• after his resurrection he appeared to the women who had come to the empty tomb
And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him (Mt. 28:9)
– one of my favorites, also after resurrection when Jesus appeared to the disciples:
See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see (Lk. 24:39)
• he invited his disciples to touch him
• and he invites us to touch him
◦ think of that when you hold the bread in your hands
This is MY body

The next thought that comes to me, is the role he gives us

Mark tells us that after blessing the bread and breaking it,
– he presented it to the disciples with one word: Take
• he did not hold it just out of reach
◦ he did not say, “Now you’re going to have to work for this!”
◦ their part was easy – all they had to do was receive it
• the Lord who gave us our bodies, now gives us his body
◦ we did not earn this gift,
◦ so we don’t have to worry that we may lose it
– still, we do need to take it – to receive it
• I think we have to learn receptivity as a spiritual exercise
◦ free will means we can choose
◦ we can receive or reject
• we have wisdom when we can discerning when to receive and when to resist
◦ James says this in his typically blunt way:
Submit yourselves therefore to God (receive). Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (Jas. 4:7)
– receptivity offers us a different way of going through life
• getting up in the morning, we can receive the day
◦ or we can reject it, fight with it
◦ but fighting only intensifies frustration, anxiety, disappointment
• we can receive each chore as it comes, or resist and complain
◦ if we remember, we can receive Jesus in each moment

And Jesus tells us to remember
This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me (Lk. 22:19)
– scripture tells us–you and I– that we are the body of Christ
• each one, a member of Jesus’ body
◦ this past year we have been dis-membered
◦ we’re here today so we can be re-membered
put back together
• the bread and wine put us together with Jesus
◦ and today it puts us together with each other
The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread (1 Cor. 10 16-17)
◦ Jesus’ body, entering our bodies, making us one body in Christ
– but why would he ask us to consume his body and blood?
• why would we want to?
• because we want his touch on our innermost self
◦ we’ve seen, internal body parts hold our deepest feelings
◦ emotions, motivations, needs, commitments, decisions
• we want his touch to reach down into the depth of our souls
◦ Jesus Christ within us, and taking us into himself
In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you (Jn. 14:20)

Conclusion: I want to make a suggestion for receiving bread and cup

We all know how to say something in sign-language
– you may not have realized this before
• the sign-language that we know is a way to pray with our bodies
• even if you’ve never made the sign yourself, you at least have seen it
Tertullian, “In all our travels and movements, in all our coming in and going out, in putting off our shoes, at the bath, at the table, in lighting our candles, in lying down, in sitting down, whatever employment occupies us, we mark our foreheads with the sign of the cross.”
– that is what I am suggesting that you do
Richard Rohr tells us that “we have this wonderful body language . . . practiced by the older churches that we call ‘the sign of the cross.’ . . . If you’ve never enacted the sign of the cross before, I hope you’ll consider its value. And if you’re familiar (perhaps overfamiliar) with the practice, I hope you can do it now in a conscious and trustful way.”
“First of all, the very ritual says that we can know something in our body—that our body has to be reminded in whose ‘name’ it lives and moves and has its being.”
Signing the cross “is often seen as both a shielding and an honoring of the body itself. We begin with the forehead, honoring our thoughts and minds as the source or the beginning point of all our decisions to act: ‘In the name of the Father’ is certainly offering our thoughts and our mind over to God as the Ultimate source.
Then we move directly downward, crossing over our heart, toward the solar plexus, or stomach, which is certainly blessing our own enfleshment and incarnation as the body of Christ: ‘And of the Son,’ we say.
And then, now trusting and enjoying the flow, we cross our body from shoulder to shoulder, again crossing the heart, and say, ‘And of the Holy Spirit.’ Note the sweep, the movement, and the fullness of both vertical and horizontal.”
“This is a way for the body itself to know holy things, to honor itself as the temple and container of the Mystery, and to live with an newly conscious and self-declared dignity.”
“If you’re used to doing it in a mindless and perfunctory way, try letting the rote go and breathe through it each step of the way . . .”

My suggestion is that you take the bread and the cup with this sign of cross
– the Communion ritual is all about the cross
• all about the broken body and the shed blood
– this is only a suggestion
• if it seems right to you, then sign slowly and mindfully
• practice receptivity
Receive the fullness of the gift of Jesus

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You clothed me with skin and flesh
and knit me together with bones and sinews.
You have granted me life and steadfast love,
and your care has preserved my spirit Job 10:11-12

Intro: When I first started reading all the way through the Bible,

I would dread coming to the Book of Job
– it seemed like I always got more depressed reading it, or bad things would happen
• but as I came to a better understanding of Job, I began to enjoy reading it
• I see Job as the hero of all who suffer–innocently
– Job stood up for himself – against his friends – against his culture
• he even stood up to God – of course, he didn’t win that one
◦ but he didn’t lose either
• his complaint here: “What’s the point of making and caring for me, just to tear me apart?”
◦ note the poetic description of his fetal gestation in verse 11

Job’s ordeal began with circumstances relating to possessions and family,
– but in the second round, the ordeal entered his body
• the Adversary’s challenge to God regarding Job had been:
Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life, But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face (Job 2:4-5)
– we have been itemizing body parts and their spirit dimension
• eyes, ears, mouth, head, neck and shoulders, hands and feet
• today I will talk the biggest body part of all: the skin and flesh

There are a surprising number of references to flesh in Bible

The first mention of it, connects the man and the woman
– remember, everything so far was affirmed to be “good”
while [the man] slept [God] took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh – from it God fashioned the woman – the man’s response, This at last is bone of my bones / and flesh of my flesh – then the storyteller adds a brief commentary, Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh (Ge. 2:21-24) — the original intimacy
• the next mention of flesh, however set a limit on human longevity
My Spirit shall not [contend with man] forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years (Ge. 6:3)
◦ that was because all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth (6:12)
◦ God determined to make an end of all flesh [and] to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven (Ge. 6:13 and 17)
◦ after the flood God made a promise, an everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth (9:16)
– the Hebrew word for flesh is basar
• and already we can see it has a variety of meanings
In its broadest sense, flesh can refer to all animal life (Ps. 136:25)
– the shared existence of creatures with skin and hides, feathers and fins
• but it can refer more specifically to all human life (Ps. 65:2)
Yahweh is the God of the spirits of all flesh (Nu. 16:22; 27:16)
◦ or a specific group of people (Ps. 56:4)
– basar is the bond of family relations (Laban and Jacob or Joseph and his brothers, Ge. 29:14; 37:27)

Flesh is the external part of the human body (Ex. 4:7; 28:42)
– and also what lies just below the skin
• so basar also means “meat” (Ex. 29:32)
– the law of Moses is very body-conscious – especially regarding what enters and exits the body
• this extends to the body’s coverings
◦ Leviticus 13-14, diagnosing a breach in body’s covering
◦ it moves outward through three layers progressively: skin, garments, and houses
Thomas Staubli and Silvia Schroer, “No illness is mentioned more frequently in the First Testament or treated at greater length than leprosy in the flesh (Leviticus 13-14). Those who suffer from that illness are counted among the dead, because they have to live cut off from the living.”
• being the external part of a person, the flesh can be superficial and disconnected from heart
◦ a ritual in the flesh should also affect a change in the heart (Jer. 4:4; 9:25)

People in Scriptures were acutely aware of psychosomatic distress
– they felt their emotions in their flesh
For my sides are filled with burning,
and there is no soundness in my flesh.
I am feeble and crushed;
I groan because of the tumult of my heart (Ps. 38:7-8)
When I remember, I am dismayed, / and shuddering seizes my flesh (Job 21:6)
My flesh trembles for fear of you (Ps. 119:120)
• regarding a positive psychosomatic response:
Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;
my flesh also dwells secure (Ps. 16:9)
– the flesh defines the limits and boundaries of human existence
Staubli and Schroer, “[the] word basar is the only one among the many Hebrew words for the body and its parts that is never applied to God, and is frequently contrasted to YHWH as the very symbol of all that is mortal . . . .”
• so we read:
The Egyptians are man, and not God,
and their horses are flesh and not spirit (Isa. 31:3)
– the flesh represents human frailty, weakness, and vulnerability
• we are not to put our trust in the arm of the flesh (2 Chr. 32:8; Jer. 17:5)
• we were not built to be impervious to wounds and injury
Is my strength the strength of stones, or is my flesh bronze? (Job 6:12)
[God] remembered that they were but flesh,
a wind that passes and comes not again (Ps. 78:39)
◦ an unavoidable fact is that flesh is impermanent – it dies
A voice says, “Cry!”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”
All flesh is grass,
and its beauty is like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flower fades
when the breath of the LORD blows on it:
surely the people are grass.
The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand forever (Isa. 40:6-8)
◦ this is why our flesh longs for God
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you,
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water (Ps. 63:1)
– in the Proverbs, wisdom can bring healing to the flesh (3:8; 4:22)
and a tranquil heart gives life to the flesh (Pr. 14:30)

Jumping to the New Testament

Flesh and blood refers to what is purely human (Mt. 16:17)
– so flesh can give birth only to more flesh (Jn. 1;3; 3:6)
• in other words, there’s no human way to obtain the life of the Spirit
• being limited to the flesh, we judge according to the flesh (Jn. 8:15)
◦ that is, according to our limited human standards, criteria, perception
– flesh can also refer to descent from an ancestor (Ro. 1:3)
• Paul noted that not all flesh is the same (1 Cor. 15:39)
• So, like the Old Testament, flesh can mean:
◦ the body (2 Cor. 4:11; Gal. 2:20)
◦ all animal life (1 Cor. 15:39)
◦ all of humankind (Acts 2:17)
– the most radical statement about human flesh in scripture
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth (Jn. 1:14)
• as such, Jesus could use his flesh as a metaphor–e.g., that it is like bread
And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh (Jn. 6:51)
• what prevents us from taking this literally?
It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life (Jn. 6:63)

There is something I have come to see is of critical importance

It has to do with Paul’s teaching on life in the Spirit of God
– it is tricky, because he draws on spiritual wisdom,
• and that is not the same as rational knowledge
◦ it is not even the same as biblical or theological knowledge
• it turns out that flesh is one of the key themes in this teaching
◦ if we get stuck in the flesh, we cannot make spiritual progress
– think about this:
• our rational thoughts can bring us to knowledge of the Spirit
◦ but we cannot receive the Spirit through reason or the knowledge it yields

The way Paul uses flesh in this teaching; it is not a body part!!!
– however, it can influence what we do with body parts
For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members [body parts] to bear fruit for death (Ro. 7:5)
• this can be very confusing, because when we hear “flesh,” we automatically think of the body
• but Paul is using flesh as an analogy (as Jesus used bread as an analogy)
◦ the body can be demanding, adopt bad habits, and can be tricked
◦ these are characteristics of the flesh as well, only they are internal and mostly hidden
– in Paul’s dark use of the word, flesh is sort of like a psychological energy
• it is not a specific sin, but the source and potential of all sins
• the flesh it cannot be corrected, redeemed, or transformed
◦ it has to go – and that we can’t do by ourselves
But I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh (Gal 5:16-17) Read more on this in Romans 8:1-11

Yesterday morning I was meditating on 1 Corinthians 12
– I had in mind all I had read up to that chapter
• I am going to share with you the last paragraph of my meditation

Ultimately, Paul’s intention was that through his teaching he could bring the Corinthians to a new consciousness of God, Christ, and the Spirit. This would result in their maturation from their infantile concrete thinking to their adult experience of God. In their mature spirit-consciousness, they would arrive at a love that would fuse them to God in Jesus and erase the ego needs that drive individuals to think they are superior to others, separated from them by their greater knowledge, charismatic powers, or affluence. Mystics realize that when they have nothing, at last, they have everything.

Conclusion: There’s so much more to this!

For now, here is what I suggest:
Let the confusion we have relating to our (sinful) flesh and body become a reminder
That when we think the problem we have
resisting temptation,
fully trusting God,
remaining consistent in prayer,
being always mindful of God,
when we think the problem is with our body,
let’s bring our awareness to a larger reality
and open a door to the Spirit

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Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him John 13:1-11 (Please read the entire text)

Intro: Jesus is doing something rather dramatic in this passage

Look at the verbs! He busies himself with the menial task of a slave
– Jesus is teaching his disciple through a living parable
• he’s not telling a story this time – not explaining a truth
• he is acting out a lesson
– in the Synoptic gospels, Jesus explains the difference of how hierarchy is ordered in his kingdom
You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mk. 10:44-45)
• so here, Jesus shows them what that means
◦ you can be sure, Peter wasn’t only disciple that felt the impact of this lesson
• they would never forget the night Jesus washed their feet

In our Reflexion community we have a specific interest

Our shared spiritual journey
– ongoing progress in living more God-filled lives
• so let’s suppose you’re with us today,
◦ because you want to deepen or enhance your experience of God
◦ you want a greater awareness of him, greater sensitivity to his touch and to the sound of his voice
• so here you are, and I’m talking to you today about your feet!
◦ how disappointing! How ordinary and unspiritual!
– but if we cannot discern how we live to God through our feet,
• then it’s possible that we present our bodies to God in worship is just talk
Nicole Roccas, “In Orthodox Christianity . . . [we] sometimes burn incense, or use prayer ropes, or set certain corners of our homes apart for prayer. These rituals are not meant to be rote or mindless, but to nourish reverence and to remind us that we are incarnational beings—our bodies must learn to pray as well as our minds.”
• so the body part we’ll look for in scripture today is the feet

Being grounded begins with the feet

Pat Ogden, “The lower extremities of the body—feet, calves, thighs, and pelvis—provide our base of support and connection to the earth. As a somatic resource, grounding is the physical process of being aware of our legs and feet and their connection to the ground, and to directing our energy downward into the earth to sense the support of gravity. . . . To ground ourselves, we need to relax the tension in our bodies so we can let our bodies yield into the support of the ground beneath our feet, yet the muscles should maintain tonicity.”
– David was very much aware of his need to be grounded
He made my feet like the feet of a deer
and set me secure on the heights (Ps. 18:33)
You gave a wide place for my steps under me,
and my feet did not slip (Ps. 18:36)
• feet that slip or avoid slipping occurs a lot in Job and the Psalms
◦ slipping destabilizes people, makes them vulnerable (Ps. 38:6; 94:18)
◦ so firm grounding would be feet set on a rock (Ps. 40:2) or level ground (26:12)
◦ feet can also be steadied by God (Ps. 94:18; 121:3)
• enemies can set a trap for David’s feet (Ps. 140:4)
◦ God plucked his feet from one of those nets (Ps. 25:15)
◦ then enemy’s foot is caught in their own net (Ps. 9:15)
◦ in the end, God put enemy under David’s feet (Ps. 18:38)
• David rejoices when feet stand w/in Jerusalem’s gates (Ps. 122:1-2)
– our bodies need grounding and support
• Barb takes courses to stay on top of advances in Physical Therapy
◦ a current course is entitled, “When the Feet Hit the Ground, Everything Changes”
◦ it’s about the biomechanics of the foot and ankle when standing, walking, or running
• similar course was entitled, “Chain Reaction”
◦ when the sole of the foot comes in contact w the floor, it sets off a chain reaction
◦ from the ankle to the knee, from the knee to the hip, from the hip to the pelvis,
• all the way up to the brain, which reads all this information,
◦ and makes adjustments to maintain balance and stability
Jon Kabat-Zinn–when backpacking with his family in the Teton wilderness, “With each step, the foot has to come down somewhere. Climbing or descending over boulder fields, steep inclines, on and off trails, our feet make split-second decisions about where and how to come down, what angle, how much pressure, heel or toe, rotated or straight. The kids don’t ever ask: “Daddy, where to I put my feet? . . .” They just do it, and I’ve noticed that they find a way . . . .”

Feet have a wide range of meanings in scripture

LORD has blessed you according to my foot (Gen. 30:30)
– that is, how he managed his uncle’s flocks
God keeps the feet of His godly ones (1 Sam. 2:9)
– in other words, he guards their steps
To have no resting place for the sole of the foot (De. 28:65)
– means endless wandering, to be homeless
a place forgotten by the foot (Job 28:4)
– is a lost or abandoned trail
– stamping the feet (Eze. 6:11) can indicate intense frustration or anger
– the person who cuts off his own feet (Pr. 26:6) self-destructs
– if others try to trip up my feet (Ps. 104:4), they are trying to ruin me or catch me in their net
– the temple was no more than God’s footstool, the place of My feet (Is. 60:13)
– feet that run to do evil belong to people who do not exercise any impulse control (Pr. 1:16)
the wise son does not walk with them, but keeps his foot from their path (Pr. 1:15)
– similarly, God told Jeremiah that his people had not kept their feet in check (Jer. 14:10)
David, however, restrained his feet from every evil way (Ps. 119:101, NASB)
it helped that he turned [his] feet to God’s testimonies (Ps. 119:59)
– Jesus’ disciples were to shake the dust off their feet when leaving a town that rejected them (Mt. 10:14)
this may have been a way of affirming that they had not come there to take anything from anyone

The knees
to be born on someone’s knees refers to the first person to hold and care for the infant (Gen. 50:23; Job 2:7)
– upon the knees to look upon is to cuddle a small child (Is. 66:12)
– knees could be weak or strong (Job 4:4; Ps. 109:24)
– knees knocking refers to panic or terror (Nah. 2:10)
– kneeling in prayer was a way to be at God’s feet in spirit (1 Ki. 18:42; 2 Chr. 6:13; Ep. 3:14)

Ankles
have not slipped means to limp or be unsteady (2 Sa. 22:37)

Heel
In most instances the heel is used in reference to someone being chased (Jdg. 5:15; Job 18:14; Hab. 3:5)
– in other instances it refers to a person attacking someone (Ps. 41:9)

There are also references to the sole of the foot
– the lowest part of the body, opposite the crown of the head (Job 2:7)
– the body part that has direct contact with the earth (De. 11:24)

All these reference have to do with what we experience through our feet
– what our feet feel — what our feet do — what our feet express
– referring to the feat in this way brings attention to physical ways we experience life in this world

Sometimes the foot can represent the person to whom it belongs
Let your foot be seldom in your neighbor’s house,
lest he have his fill of you and hate you (Pr. 25:17)
– or it can refer to a person’s whereabouts
Go, make yet more sure. Know and see the place where his foot is, and who has seen him there (1 Sam. 23:22)
• the direction a person’s foot takes indicates
◦ behavior that is faithful (Job 23:11) or deceitful (Job 31:5)
◦ changing the foot’s direction changes behavior (Isa. 58:13)
When I think on my ways,
I turn my feet to your testimonies (Ps. 119:59)
I hold back my feet from every evil way,
in order to keep your word (Ps. 119:101)
Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path (Ps. 119:105)
◦ but feet that walk in darkness stumble (Jer. 13:16)
• wisdom can hold the foot back from the path of evil (Pr. 1:15)
◦ wisdom can also provide secure footing and protection (Pr. 3:23, 26)
• like the hand or the eye, the foot can cause us to sin (Mk. 9:45)
– moving from the moral significance of feet to the more practical:
• putting on sandals can be preparation to move out (Ex. 12:2; Ep. 6:15)
◦ the same as being told to get on your feet (Acts 26:13)
• encounter with the sacred requires removing sandals (Ex. 3:5; Jos. 5:15)
◦ meditate on that! Why must we approach God barefoot?

Many times Jesus healed lame or crippled feet
– he sent this message to John the Baptist as proof that he was the Messiah (Mt. 11:5)
• invalids were placed at Jesus’ feet to be healed (Mt. 15:30)
• Peter and John were later used to heal a beggar’s feet and ankles (Acts 3:7)
– the foot can be a measurement (Acts 7:5)
• a step can refer to progress (Pr. 4:12)
◦ or one stage of a journey (Isa. 41:2) or a plan of action (Pr. 14:15)
◦ steps can also refer to keeping pace (Gal. 2:14, in step with the truth)
• a step down could signify humiliation (Eze.26:16)
– steps could be footprints, where someone had walked (Job 29:6)
For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps (1 Pe. 2:21)

Many times people threw themselves at feet of another person
– this happened frequently with Jesus
• especially poignant are the instances of two women:
◦ every time Mary, the sister of Lazarus, appears in the gospels, she is at Jesus’ feet (Lk. 10:39; Jn. 11:2, 32; 12:3)
◦ then there was woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears (Lk. 7:38)
Thomas Staubli and Silvia Shroer, “With her actions of washing and drying, anointing and kissing Jesus’ feet the woman sets up a sign. She touches the human being and at the same time she touches the feet of God, who gives protection and mercy.”
– David prayed that the foot of arrogance would not step on him (Ps. 36:11)
Bruce Malina, Since ‘hands-feet’ refer to activity and power, to be set ‘under the feet of’ someone means to be subject to that person, to be under that one’s control . . . . Similarly, to put one’s foot on the neck of a person is to indicate total defeat . . . . The neck both holds up a person’s honor which is associated with the head-face (Isa 3:16), and is the channel of life because the breath-soul passes through it.”
• to be trampled by enemy was a severe humiliation (Isa. 26:5-6)
Staubli and Schroer, “The foot, much like the hand, had a symbolic power of its own in Israel: it was associated with subjugation, domination, and the seizure of others’ property. To ‘tread someone or something under foot’ was regarded even then as an act of the greatest humiliation. . . . Thus YHWH promises King David of Israel:
‘Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies your footstool’ (Ps 110:1).”
• Israel’s hope was to see God tread down their foes (Ps. 108:13)
◦ this, in fact, is God’s ultimate victory, first promised in Genesis
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel (Ge. 3:15)
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet (Ro. 16:20)
And [God] put all things under [Jesus] feet and gave him as head over all things to the church (Ep. 1:22; cf. 1 Cor. 15:25-27)

Conclusion: In 1 Corinthians Paul compares the Christian community to a body

We are all body parts – we belong to Jesus and to each other
– Paul tells us, the head cannot say to feet I have no need of you (12:21)
• the head may be top part of the body and the feet the lowest part
◦ but they need each other
• one person may be like the eyes, another like the ears, another like the mouth
◦ but we all have to be the feet
◦ that’s the point Jesus made when he washed his disciples’ feet

Go barefoot when you can – and pay attention
Your feet have something to say to you
about the earth on which you are walking
about its Creator – about others who share it – & about yourselfEXERCISE

EXERCISE:

I have left out several other aspects of legs and feet
– in particular, I have not mentioned walking
• walking with God is not a mere metaphor
And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day (Ge. 3:8)
Enoch walked with God and he was not, for God took him (Ge. 5:24)

The idea of walking can be expanded so that it refers to the course of one’s life
Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him (Col. 2:6)
If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth, but if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin (1 Jn. 1:6-7)
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love . . . (Ep. 4:1-3)
Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us . . . (Ep. 5:1)

Pat Ogden, “The way we walk speaks volumes about who we are and how we feel. Whether we shuffle, stride, saunter, glide, traipse, or trudge with heavy footsteps, we are telling the world how we feel today, how we feel about ourselves and what we expect from others. We may plod along, dragging our feet behind us as if we have very little energy, giving the impression that we are tired or depressed. We may walk with a hurried, rushed gait, leaning forward, eyes focused straight ahead, giving the impression that we are preoccupied, busy, harried, and have not time to spare. If we feel afraid to be seen, we may walk cautiously and hesitantly; if we feel uncertain, we may slouch and shuffle with our eyes cast downward. We may stomp our feet with every step if we feel angry or bounce with a spring in our step if we feel joyful. Our gait changes with our mood, but our characteristic style of walking, like all our physical habits, is formed over time from a variety of influences.”
“Our gait changes depending on how we feel, the environment, and who we are with. If we are with someone with whom e feel good and who treats us well, our gait may become more confident, arms swinging, posture more aligned, and head lifted.”

I used to take the most wonderful walks with a friend of mine
We spent our whole time talking about Jesus, scripture, and God’s work in our lives

So here’s the exercise I am suggesting for you:

Imagine that you are taking a walk with Jesus
He’s not scolding you, not giving you all kinds of instructions with each step
The two of you are simply enjoying each other’s company

Where are you?

What do you notice about your pace?
Fast, slow, unhurried

What do you notice about your stride?
Big steps? Small steps?
Is there a rhythm you both fall into

What is different about the way you walk when you’re with him?
How does it feel in your body?
How does it feel emotionally?

Does it feel different than walking by yourself?

Does it feel different than walking with someone else?
If so, what is the difference?

How important is it to you that you reach a destination?

What do you notice happening in regard to your relationship with Jesus?

Now, at your first opportunity, take a literal walk with Jesus
Relax, breathe, take it easy
Be mindful
Notice whatever Jesus points out

Intro: In a moment, I will ask you to read Psalm 17

It is a simple prayer–and there are other psalms like it
– poet is petitioning God for justice – he begins and ends with sedek
• he is going to bring a case into God’s court, as it were
• in the first movement, he argues his integrity
◦ in the next, he petitions God to intervene
◦ next, he presents details of what his deadly enemy has done
◦ then he suggests the sort of punishment they deserve
◦ at the end, he makes a confident assertion regarding the outcome
[now, please read Psalm 17]

– I did not choose this psalm for its message
• I chose it, because every stanza mentions a body part: ear, lips, face, eyes, heart, mouth, etc.
◦ it illustrates how scripture makes use of the body;
◦ the drama of life is played out from head to toe

The poet mentions God’s hand twice – he specifies the right hand in verse 7
– the subject of today’s talk is the hand/s – and it’s a huge challenge
Hans Wolff, “By far the most frequently mentioned extremity is the hand (yad). The part of the body that grasps and can be grasped . . . .” (yad appears 1600 times in the Old Testament!)
• in many instances, hand is an obvious sub-theme
See Job 1:10-12, where Satan claims that Job is an upright man only because God has blessed the work of his hands, but if God were to stretch out his hand, Job would turn and curse him. God puts all that Job had into Satan’s hand, but with a command that against Job he was not to stretch out his hand.
– another example can be found in 1 Samuel 24:4-20
• when reading the Bible, and you come to the word hand,
◦ take note of how it is used – is it a subtle theme?
• in scripture, the hand is the agency of mind and heart
◦ how we externalize our intentions and imaginations
◦ how we make creative changes to our world
Thomas Staubli and Silvia Schroer, “Human action is concentrated in the hands. Action means ‘doing.’ Our doing gives information about our thoughts and desires; it is their expression. In our work we continue God’s creative task. Therefore doing/working is service to God. Work without reflection (heart) is only reproduction.”

In our English language, hand can represent variety of actions

If I have to hand it to you, I’m either handing you a literal object
– or I’m giving you a compliment; “You certainly know what you’re doing”
We can be dealt a good hand or a bad hand
– in a card game, or a specific situation, or in life in general
We can lend a hand literally,
– or by watching grandkids so their parents have a date-night
A handout can be cash we give to a panhandler
A hired hand is not an appendage,
– but someone who is paid to do a specific task

In the past year we have been reminded to wash and sanitize our hands
– more than ever before –
• we have been made aware that our hands can pick up more than the objects we grab

In the Scriptures, the hand is used to signify many different things

Of course, it is frequently the literal body part
– the tribe of Benjamin was famous for its left-handed soldiers (Jdg. 3:15; 20:16)
• but they could also be ambidextrous (1 Chr. 12:12)
In general, the right hand was favored (as in our psalm)
– the seat of honor was at the right hand of a king (Mt. 14:62; Heb. 1:3)
– priests were anointed on right ear, right thumb, and right toe (Ex. 29:20)
– God’s right hand is filled with righteousness (Ps. 48:10)
• and at his right hand are pleasures forever more (Ps. 16:11)
People are taken by the hand (Ge. 19:16; Mk. 8:23; Acts 9:8)
A person could die by the hand of someone else (Jos. 20:9)
– messages were delivered by the hand of servants (1 Sam. 11:7)
– and by the hand of God’s prophets (Hag. 1:3)
The main symbolic significance of the hand is power
(see Pr. 18:21, where “the yad [hand] of the tongue” is translated “power”)
If a hand fell upon someone, it could either
– harm them (Ge. 37:27; Ex. 9:3) or help them (Neh. 2:8)
To take someone one from the hand of another is a liberation
– the same with taking something harmful from the hand of someone (Ex. 2:19; Isa. 51:22)
To place a hand on one’s mouth is to silence oneself (Mi. 7:16)
Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you?
I lay my hand on my mouth.
I have spoken once, and I will not answer;
twice, but I will proceed no further (Job 40:4-5)
The hands can clap for joy and praise (2 Ki. 11:12; Ps. 47:1)
– the sound of clapping can even be heard in nature:
Let the rivers clap their hands;
let the hills sing for joy together (Ps. 98:8)
For you shall go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills before you
shall break forth into singing,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands (Isa. 55:12)
But clapping can also be a form of insult (Eze. 25:6)
– or a way to ward off someone else’s misfortune (Lam. 2:15)
– clapping can also signal a warning (Eze. 6:11; 21:14)
To shake the fist or wave the hand at someone can be a threat
(Isa. 10:32; Zech. 2:9)
Washing the hands could be declaration of innocence (De. 21:6; Ps. 26:6)
– Pilate’s futile attempt to absolve himself of Jesus’ blood (Mt. 27:24)
– the Pharisees’ ritual hand-washing did not cleanse their hearts (Mt. 15:1-20)
In my hand: to possess something (1 Sam. 12:5)
Into my hand: to be given something (1 Sam. 17:46)
Into your hand: to give something (Ge. 9:2)
Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” And having said this, he breathed his last (Lk. 23:46)
The work of the hands means something is handmade (Isa. 17:8)
– or it could also refer to manual labor (Pr. 12:14)
To open the hand is to give freely (De. 15:8)
If the hand falls limp, it signifies exhaustion (Isa. 13:7; 35:3)
To take a person’s hand can form an alliance
And when [Jehu] departed from there, he met Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him. And he greeted him and said to him, “Is your heart true to my heart as mine is to yours?” And Jehonadab answered, “It is.” Jehu said, “If it is, give me your hand.” So he gave him his hand. And Jehu took him up with him into the chariot. And he said, “Come with me, and see my zeal for the LORD.” (2 Ki. 10:15-16)

In ritual contexts, hands can be lifted in prayer (2 Chr. 6:12-13; Ps. 63:4)
– it is as if the person is reaching out to God
• reaching like this reveals the direction one’s heart is going
The hand can be raised to swear an oath
(most frequently it is God or an angel who does this (De. 32:40; Is. 62:8)
– but it can also be used to get the attention of an audience (Acts 13:16)
A hand on the head of a sacrificial victim transfers sin and guilt (Lev. 4:32-35)
The hand is used to bless – e.g., a child (Ge. 48:14-15)
– when parents saw what Jesus did with his hands, they begged him to touch their children
And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them (Mk. 10:16)
• with upraised hands, the priests pronounced blessings on worshipers (Lev. 9:22)
Laying hands on people can be done to impart healing (Mk. 8:23; Lk. 4:40)
Laying hands on people can be done so that they receive the Holy Spirit (De. 34:9; Acts 19:6)

I wanted to mention the arms and fingers – I’ll cut this short

– we’re must not put our trust in the arm of flesh (1 Chr. 32:8; Jer. 17:15)
• fingers represent more dexterity than the hand that grasbs
• fingers appear in the design and sculpting of idols (Isa. 2:8)
Staubli and Schroer, “In a human hand it is determined whether a piece of wood or stone will be used for plowing, grinding grain, or killing someone [or manufacturing an idol] (Num. 35:16-17).” (also, see Isa. 44:9-20)
Wolff, “When idols are not only called the work of men’s hands but expressly the work of their fingers as well (Isa. 2.8, 17.8), they are no doubt thereby being exposed not only as being the works of man’s own powers and capacities, but also as being the products of his art, formed by the fingers.”
– we see God’s finger when inscribing the law on the stone tablets (Ex. 31:18)
• and again in his artistry when creating the heavens (Ps. 8:13)
• we learn what God can do with just one finger (Ex. 18:19)
◦ Jesus told his critics that if he was exorcising demons by “the finger of God,” then the kingdom of God had come
Staubli and Scroer, [Lk. 11:19-20) “Jesus’ words rely on their knowing the Exodus passage, for only then can one understand why Jesus speaks of the finger of God in this context. He uses a typical rabbinic move, from the lesser to the greater: Moses, with the finger of God, conquered a political power and thus brought liberation; Jesus, with the finger of God drives out demons, and where that happens the reign of God is breaking in.”

I have left out so much I could say about the hand of God 🙁
– it shatters and pulverizes, but also wounds and heals (Job 5:18)
– it supports the life of every living thing (Ps. 104:28; 145:16)
– with it God measures oceans in his palm and spans the universe with hand (Is. 40:12)

Conclusion: A nineteenth century preacher told a story

A boy whose dad was a doctor, asked him,
“Why didn’t God make all our fingers the same length? Wouldn’t it be perfect if they were all the same length?”
– his father handed him an orange and said, “Grab a hold of this”
• when he did, all his fingers, and also his thumb, were even as if they were the same length
T. de Witt Talmage, “You see the Creator makes no mistakes. The whole anatomy of your hand as complex, as intricate, as symmetrical, as useful as Gould could make it.”

The human hand really is amazing
The deaf and mute speak with their hands, especially their fingers
The blind read with their finger-tips
We can love with both hands
His left hand is under my head,
and his right hand embraces me! (Song 2:6)
We can wound with our hand
Blessed be the LORD my rock,
who trains my hands for war,
and my fingers for battle (Ps. 144:1)
By shaking hands, we can build a bridge of communication
Enter a new relationship, a new partnership, or a new friendship

We can bless with our hands
Henri Nouwen kept a journal in which described his visit to Canada
– he went to meet the people at Daybreak, a home for adults with mental disabilities
– a few days before he was to leave, one of the residents was hit by car
• it was touch and go at first for Ray
• the morning that Nouwen left Canada for home, he visited Ray
◦ Ray’s parents were there too
Nouwen, “I showed Ray’s father how to make the sign of the cross on Ray’s forehead. He had never done this before and cried as he signed his son in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. A father’s blessing is so healing.”

I would have thought only priests were qualified to do this
But whose blessing on a child’s life
could be greater than the parents?

A friend tells me that every time he passes my house,
he sends me a blessing
You can do that too – for your friends – for your neighbors
raise your hand toward their home and bless them with peace, with love, and with hope

Pray over your hands
imagine how God can use them

We need to realize, our hands are tools
God’s Spirit will train us in their best use
and he will empower them
to touch and bless the lives of others