What Does A Soul Do? Sunday, October 7, 2018 Series: Thrive! Scripture: Mark 12:28-31 (pg. 1542) Theme: Defining how our soul is meant to work. There s a woman named Lori N., who tried to sell her soul on ebay back in 2012 She s not the first it s happened a couple times. In 2002, a guy named Adam put his soul up for sale and almost got $400 before ebay cancelled the sale and suspended Adam from using the site. I think what was most interesting about Adam s soul-sale was that a former girlfriend bid $6.66 So it s good she s former, I suppose. Anyway, ebay cancelled Lori s soul-sale attempt They said you have to be in a position to deliver what you sell and human beings do not come in parts. Which is, of course, very true. We do not come in parts, like an Ikea coffee table. But, for convenience sake, we sometimes talk about ourselves as if we are made of parts We might say, My arm hurts, or, we might say to someone, I gave you my heart, --- And we know, really, that our heart and our arm are both part of a whole-body system involving nerves and blood vessels and muscles and bones & it s all one. But it does help sometimes to talk about the parts. -2- Jesus once did this in Mark 12 a religious teacher was listening to Jesus and was impressed, so he asked a serious question of Jesus And Jesus answered by talking about our parts. Here s the conversation: Mark 12:28-31 [SLIDE] ==================================== So, according to Jesus, we are a heart, a soul, a mind, and strength. And, Jesus wasn t the first to say this Jesus is quoting a source that was already 1,400 years old when Jesus said it. This is from the Shema, found in Deuteronomy 6 & it is probably the most well-known sentence for the Jews in all of Jewish Scripture [SLIDE] Most Jewish families have this verse attached to the inside of their front door frames on what is called a Mezuzah. And a Mezuzah contains, in part, that very 1 st phrase: Hear O Israel, The Lord our God is one. [OFF] Now, I think you probably know that this phrase is meant to say, in part, that there is only one God, right?
-3- But did you ever wonder, Why doesn t it just say that? Why not just say, Hear O Israel, there is only one God? Well, because it means more than that: It also means there s a unity to God. Or a wholeness to God Do you know what an integer is? It s a whole number, not a fraction, like ½. It s whole and if you look up the definition of integer it also means, a thing that is complete in itself. It needs nothing else to be complete or whole And this phrase, The Lord our God is one, means more than that there are no other Gods, only 1 It means that there is no need for anything else for God to be God He s whole, he s complete you could say, God has integrity. Because this is where our word, integrity comes from --- it comes from integer - and it s why our word, integrity is such an important soul-word To have integrity means to be whole and true there is no part that is hidden there s no deception To be whole is to be completely and wholly true & truthful. Now, this also where we get our word, Disintegration. To be Dis-integrated means you are no longer whole you are being broken up into pieces. -4- And I tell you this, because not only is this an important idea about God that he is one That he possesses integrity - But it will also be a truly important idea for us when it comes to understanding what our souls are meant to do. So you need to hold this thought: This Biblical idea that God is one that he is whole & unified that he is not dis-integrated is where we begin in understanding what our souls are meant to do for us First: a very quick review so we know how and why we got to this question of, What does a soul do? All of us have an outer-self, or a public self, which includes our looks, our jobs, our hobbies, the homes we live in, the cars we drive, our reputation, our accomplishments it s the part of us the world sees and knows. We also have an inner-self, or a private life that belongs only to me and few people ever see this part of you it s the thoughts and feelings you have flowing through you all day long, your secrets, your ambitions, you daydreams, how you interact with people around you and what you re really thinking when you do, it s your praying, your disappointments and more. Our world reinforces the idea that the outer world is the one that needs the most managing and attention and so we do we pay most attention to our outer world.
-5- And we believe that if we get an upgrade to our outer world, then we get an automatic upgrade to our inner world But it doesn t work that way. Making our outer world look better does not make our inner world be better. Although we think we can fix inner-world problems with an outer-world fix, it just does not work that way. In fact, our goal ought to be the opposite: Wise people have known this for thousands of years we ought to be aiming to have an inner life that is strong and resilient and healthy and right regardless of what is going on in our outer world Because if our inner-self is strong, then nothing going on in our outer world can ruin us Sadly, the flip side is also true: If our inner-self is not strong, and not healthy, and if it s brittle, then nothing in the outer world can redeem us. So, our goal must be to make the inner world the driver of our lives And this is exactly the job of our souls Our soul your soul, my soul, is intended by God to be the driver of our lives. So, how does this happen? What does a soul do? -6- [SLIDE- KEEP EACH NEXT SLIDE ON] Jesus talked about 4 parts to a human being: There s our will in the Bible, this is usually called our hearts But because we think of our hearts as kind of our emotional center in our culture This can be a little misleading for us. Your will, what the Bible calls your heart, is where you make decisions and choices We re given dominion in the Bible and that means we get to exercise our will and make choices. I can say Yes or No to things and people. Now our will is very good at make simple choices like, Do I want the butter pecan ice cream or that ice cream sandwich for dessert? Your will is even good at making huge decisions, like Do I want to marry this person? Or, Do I want to take the job offer in Texas? Now, these might be hard decisions, but your will is very good at managing all the processes that go into decision-making. What you will is not very good at is over-riding habits Or overcoming patterns of thought and behavior that are engrained in you. And when you try to change your life, or improve your life using your will alone You exhaust yourself and here s why follow:
-7- [SLIDE-KEEP] There is your mind. You mind is where your thoughts and your feelings live. I know we divide these up we think of our thoughts as very rational that s or mind And our feelings as very emotional- that s our heart and we think they re separate But they re not We have thoughts and feelings flowing through our minds constantly even when we re sleeping. Our thoughts and feelings are actually connected Every thought has a little jolt of feeling attached to it and we really can t have a feeling without having a thought attached to it So, what the Bible calls our mind what wise people have always thought of as our mind is the place where thoughts and feelings are flowing through us constantly non-stop. Usually, our thoughts and feelings flow through in habitual patterns Your will, or what we call will-power, is not enough to change all those habitual patterns of thinking and feeling. Take just one example: Prayer you may choose to pray that s your will You may choose to pray for a particular person or cause or event But 3 minutes in, your thoughts and feelings have taken you to an entirely different place -8- And then your will tries to pull you back This is going on constantly Your will isn t enough to corral all of your thoughts It s exhausting to try And the exhaustion is hard on your mind Because your mind craves peace And anyone who has ever had a sleepless night because of the thoughts racing through your mind, knows all about a mind that craves peace. [SLIDE-KEEP] Then there s your body Jesus called this your strength because our bodies are really and power packs It gives a place to our minds and our wills. Plus, our minds take all kinds of things we do every day and our minds kind of say to our bodies, Here, you do these so that I don t have to work so hard Things like tying shoelaces driving a car breathing brushing your teeth and on and on. We do habitually without thinking, we say. Now, because our bodies are both our power pack and because our bodies take over lots of routine activities Our bodies are filled with all kinds of appetites things our bodies need or think they need our fuel for our power packs, right? And all kinds of habits things we do automatically without having to involve the will and the mind in having to direct every little thing we do: Bodies!
-9- [SLIDE-KEEP] Now, finally, there is our soul. Think of your soul like the operating system of your computer similar kind of function. When all is well in your computer, there is a kind of master system that you don t even think about because it s all working well You can type open up files open up and look at pictures play games send e-mails Skype do banking All possible because you have this master system that is pulling everything together and making all the parts work together as a whole as one. This is the job of your soul. Your soul is the operating system of you It s the master system that is trying to take all of your parts your mind, your will, and your body and make them all work together as a whole as one. Now, there s a really important phrase I just said there Your soul wants to make all the parts of you work together as a whole as one. Do remember what we discovered about God earlier, when we talked about the Shema Hear O Israel, the Lord your God is one. Not only does it mean that there is one God But it also means that God is whole. God lives in harmony w/ himself He has integrity remember? -10- Because we are made in the image of God, this is exactly what our souls desire for us Our souls seek harmony Our souls seek unity of mind, body & will. Our souls want integrity oneness. Our souls want us to be whole. [OFF] And sometimes we get to experience that in life. Athletes and people who work in what sometimes is called peak performance talk about flow or being in the zone And flow is that state of being completely absorbed in a certain activity Sometimes it s called energized focus It s full involvement and full enjoyment of whatever it is you re doing. You can lose all sense of what s going on around you Not because they are bad things, but because they provide distractions We don t usually experience flow because we have too many things we re trying to do with our time And our thoughts are flowing in such a way that we get pulled in too many directions. But every once in a while, it happens Our bodies and minds and wills get unified and focused and full involvement & enjoyment happens And this is what our souls seek It s wholeness it s integrity it s oneness.
-11- Now, we know that this isn t normal, right? Last Sunday morning, I saw a Facebook post from one of my friends it was hilarious and I printed it, thinking I d use it last week: [SLIDE] This morning I decided [will] to do something I haven't done in years. I went for a run. I had my route all carefully planned out, my new running sneaks, a sense of purpose. It wasn't until halfway around the block that I realized that my body wasn't as pumped up about this as my mind, and that maybe my three-mile goal was a bit lofty for my first attempt. So, I limped home and refueled with a few chocolate chip cookies while I pondered where I went wrong. Isn t that wonderful? Is there anyone here who cannot identify with that? Sometimes our bodies and our minds and our wills do not cooperate with one another, right? [OFF] Do you ever find yourself doing something that goes against the kind of person you really want to be? Do you ever find yourself not doing something you really want to do? (Want to be generous but ) In the language we re using this morning do you know what this is called? Dis-integration We re no longer whole w/ our minds and bodies and wills all working together we re dis-integrated. -12- It actually seems like they might even be working against one another Your will your desire to do these noble things Gets so frustrated with your lazy body and your selfish thoughts Right? I don t know if we do this consciously, but we actually use language all the time that shows we really do feel like we are dis-integrating We know we re no longer whole [SLIDE] We say, I feel like my life is falling apart. I can t seem to pull myself together. I m going to pieces. I have to get my act together. I m coming apart at the seams. See? We know that what the soul wants is wholeness. Integrity. Oneness. And when our souls don t get it It seems, we say, like we re falling apart. Dis-integration. [SLIDE] This is what Jesus was talking about last week we looked at Jesus statement: What do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? Matthew 16:26 Said: This isn t a destination (how we think of it.)
-13- This is a diagnosis a lost soul is not a healthy soul, we said It s a diagnosis of a person who is [quote us!] falling apart I can t seem to pull myself together. I m going to pieces. I have to get my act together. I m coming apart at the seams. A person who is trying to navigate through life disconnected from his soul. And, to state it positively, this is why, when Jesus was asked, what s the most important thing? Jesus answered by quoting wisdom that was ancient even when he said it: [SLIDE] Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one. So love the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul, your mind, your strength. And love others as you love yourself. Jesus pictured a person made in the image of our wonderfully undivided, marvelously whole, God And he said, What God is after is whole-souled people. Human beings whose soul is pulling everything together a will, a mind, a body all desiring nothing more than to be in love with God our Father and the human beings he s placed around us. It really is quite a simple idea It s not complicated: This is what a soul does.[off] -14- It s what our souls crave: Wholeness. Integrity. It s why we struggle so much when we feel pulled apart. Why so many of us despair of ever pulling ourselves together Because we do not like dis-integration. Our souls crave wholeness But we ve tried to pull ourselves together w/ calendars or exercise or vacations All of which are good truly are But it s trying to use our will to do what our wills cannot do alone Pulling ourselves together starts with our souls. This is what our soul does. It s how God made us: W/our souls designed to be the operating system of our lives. Now, we have much more to unpack over the next few weeks and months, about how to care for our souls How to have a healthy soul. But we start here: Knowing we must become wholesouled people And our souls need to be healed. So, God offers exactly that. For broken people people who feel pulled apart, God offers to us what we cannot do for ourselves: Healing for lost souls pulled apart souls. And in this act of communion: We remember how. [COMMUNION & PIC]