Refreshing the Spring Proverbs 4:20 23 (NRSV)

Transcription

1 Refreshing the Spring Proverbs 4:20 23 (NRSV) My child, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. 21 Do not let them escape from your sight; keep them within your heart. 22 For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh. 23 Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

2 The Fable of the waters. There once was a town high in the Alps that straddled the banks of a beautiful stream that was fed by the springs that were old as the earth and as deep as the sea. Beside its crystal water, children laughed and played. Swans, geese and rainbow trout swam in it. High in the hills, far beyond anyone s sight, lived an old man who served as the keeper of the springs. He had been hired so long ago that no one could remember a time when he wasn t there. He would travel from one spring to another removing branches, leaves and fallen debris that might pollute the water. One year the town council decided they had better things to do with their money. They had roads to repair, schools to build, services to offer giving money to an unseen stream- cleaner had become a luxury they could no longer afford. So the old man left his post. The springs went unattended; twigs, branches and debris muddled the water. Mud and silt compacted the creek bed; farm waste turned parts of the stream into stagnant bogs. Initially, no one in the village noticed. But after a while the water was not the same. It looked brackish. The swans flew away. Children no longer played along its banks. Some people in the town began to grow ill. The town council reconvened, money was found and the old man was rehired. After some time passed, the springs were cleaned, the water was pure and the village came back to life. (Ortberg, Soul Keeping, 13-14) Just as the life giving waters of the stream had to be kept clean, so our souls must be kept with vigilance in order for us to experience the fullness of life. This morning we are beginning an adventure of looking at the soul and what it takes to keep it healthy. All of us face real enemies of the soul that threaten to rob us of life. Over the next few weeks we will look at some of these enemies and how we can conquer them. What is the soul? I guess a necessary starting place for us is figuring out what is the soul. Some may wonder and question if such a thing exists. Recently, I was talking with Brett Hyberger, our Director of Worship and Musical Arts about how various musicians play. I shared with him an analysis of the various organists who have played in my churches. Some were technically perfect. Others who techniques were good yet they played with soul. As they played it seemed that something was flowing out of them into the music that was heard. What that was is difficult to capture but I knew it was soul. The human soul seems difficult to capture and describe. It has an ethereal quality that makes it difficult to see, put our hands around and to comprehend. As we search the scripture though, we begin to see its abstract sketch of the human soul. Let s start with an analogy. In the past 35 years, personal computers have come a long way from 5 ¼ inch floppy drives to terabit hard drives, 9 inch mono- chrome to 50 inch+ monitors. Software and hardware have changed and improved. The most significant change has been in the processors those devises in the heart of the computer uses the power from an external source, all the memory devices and gadgets, receives the input of an operator then processes all of the bits of info to produce something meaningful. Processors are the soul of a computer. Our souls are our internal processor. God created us as triune beings three parts. In a blessing shared by Paul he wrote: May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 5:23). We are body, soul and spirit. In the beautiful creation story of Adam, this beautiful picture is painted of our triune nature: And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into

3 his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul (Genesis 2:7). It seems that the human soul is this entity that exists at the intersection of the divine life giving breath of God and the physical body. It is at the core of our being. Some amazing things happen in our internal processor. The soul is the well- spring of love. Jesus said that the greatest commandment was to love God will all our heart, with our mind and all our soul. The bible recorded that Jonathan s friendship was so strong that his soul was bound to David. Many of us know something of this type of love because we speak of our soul- mate. Our deep love for God and for another flows from our soul and resides in the soul. The soul is the seat of our desire, particularly our yearning for God. The psalmist wrote of this: As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God (Psalm 42:1 2). It is from the soul that our deepest longings spring forth. Perhaps no piece of music captures this more than Bach s Jesu, Joy of Man s Desiring which was inspired by the poem by Johann Schop: (play music in the background during this) Jesu, joy of man's desiring, Holy wisdom, love most bright; Drawn by Thee, our souls aspiring Soar to uncreated light. For some of you, hearing the Bach s music stirred some emotion within you. The spring of that emotion was the soul. The soul emotes emotion and it is the soul where emotion comes to rest, particularly strong emotion. In Mary s song when she realizes what is truly happening to her, she shares what she was feelings taking place in her soul: My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior (Luke 1:46 47). Mary s soul was so filled with joy that it spilled over into praise to God. It is out of the soul that our worship springs forth. Just as the soul is the reservoir of great joy and elation, it also can become the cistern of negative emotion as well. Job who was in the midst of his darkest days spoke of how the negative emotions had flooded his soul: I loathe my life; I will give free utterance to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul (Job 10:1). Here we hear a man who is down and out, depressed to the core. His soul is in jeopardy of being crushed. In our age, there is another emotion that takes root in the soul. When this takes up residence in the heart, people are paralyzed and unable to function well. Unfortunately we have individuals and groups that perpetuate and desire to stir this emotion that destroys the soul. Long ago the psalmist wrote about it: Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing; O Lord, heal me, for my bones are shaking with terror. 3 My soul also is struck with terror (Psalm 6:2 3). I hope you have a sense that your soul is at the core of who you are. Your overall health and well- being, your ability to function well and be productive and your finding life meaningful is dependent upon the health of your soul. Your soul needs constant vigilance to insure its well- being. What pollutes the soul? Those of us who live in SE Tennessee have a wonderful resource that is essential to our economy, the beauty of this area and our enjoyment the waters of the Tennessee River. As valuable as is that resource, none of us would dare go, dip a cup into the water of the river and drink it. We know that that it is polluted by various sources upstream microbes in the water, decaying plant matter, human and animal waste, industrial pollution, agricultural pollution, etc. So what pollutes the soul? What poisons the waters that flow from our souls?

4 Perhaps you have already heard that there are outside forces that contribute to polluting the soul with negative emotions such as bitterness and terror. Often we have little control over these forces. But there are things in our lives which we do have measures of control that often pollute the soul. There is nothing more fundamental about being human than having appetites and desires. It seems that most appetites in and of themselves are benign neither good or bad. Yet if we allow our desires and appetites to govern what we do and think, they quickly pollute the soul. Peter understood this when he urged his readers to keep their distance from the desires of the flesh because he said they wage war against the soul (1 Peter 2:11). If we use our appetites and desires as the filters of life actions, habits and lifestyles, they will pollute and destroy our souls. Our actions often pollute the soul, especially those which are sinful. I probably need to say little about these because most of us understand how that works because of our personal experience. While our actions can pollute the soul, our inaction also has a polluting impact. If we fail to exercise those things that bring health to the soul worship, prayer, services, etc. our souls become corrupted. It seems that just living in general pollutes the soul. Have you ever been driving your car and turn in a direction in which the sun is shining directly into your windshield. Immediately you notice that ugly film obstructing your view. If you are like me, you can think of no actions that caused it you don t smoke in the car, barbeque, do chemical experiments, etc. Yet there it is. I understand that the film is a collection dust, water vapor and chemical gases from the car s components. Windshield film just happens. Soul pollution just happens. Vigilance is needed to keep the soul clean. How to clean the soul So how are we to clean our souls? What must we do to keep the waters pure? While there are many important exercises, I want to share with you one of the main ones. Solomon gave us an important clue to it listen to my words, don t let them escape your sight, keep them in your heart. Solomon of course was talking about his words of instruction and wisdom which were aimed at shaping a meaningful and productive life. There are words that cleanse the soul. In the NT this idea was captured by another author who clarified this cleansing agent. Peter wrote of purifying our souls by obedience to the truth. Knowing, experiencing and living according to the truth is an agent which cleans the soul. It is the soap that washes away the debris from the soul. For Peter, the truth had two components. It was/is words, thoughts and understanding that flow from God that enlightening the mind and soul of people that led them in the right way. It reveals that which is harmful and points to that which is wholesome. The truth empowered humans to live as God designed and desires. The truth was the words of wisdom that led to the fullness of life. If we want to keep the spring clean, we must invest ourselves in hearing and experiencing the truth. Reading the Bible, reading spiritual books, listening to sermons, being part of Bible studies, small group studies, being sensitive to the Holy Spirit are all means by which God speaks. God speaks all around us but we must put ourselves in environments where we can hear and understand. In this New Year, invest in hearing and experiencing the truth. There was a deeper aspect of the truth for Peter. He was present when Jesus had said, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. For Peter the truth was embodied in Jesus. He was the

5 truth. The truth was a person. To know the truth was to know Jesus. It was through Jesus that people are purified by the truth. As we surrender our lives to Jesus, we will have the cleansing flow of his love flowing through us. It will renew our souls. Remembering our baptism. My desire is that on this day, Christ will do a cleansing work in all our souls. I believe Jesus is with and among us. As a means of experiencing his cleansing grace, we will have a time of remembering our baptism. We have long believed that the waters of baptism are a cleansing agent. You will be invited to come to a station with water in order to remember. Water will be placed on your forehead in the shape of cross and you will hear, Remember you baptism and rejoice. You are not be re- baptized but are receiving a sign designed to remind you. Some of you have vivid memories of that moment. Others have none because you were baptized as young children. My hope you will receive and experience a cleansing of the soul. If you have never been baptized and you sense the Spirit of God moving you to come to be baptized, please tell the person presenting the water. They will administer the sacrament of baptism.