7UP:
Stagnant Bottom
1 Corinthians 2:6-16
September 14, 2008
Bishop Davis liked to golf and he was pretty good. But at one point, his game started to flounder a little so he swallowed his pride and signed up for golf lessons. When he arrived, he was greeted by the golf pro, who Bishop Davis thought looked like he just graduated from high school. This young guy set up this video camera and feed and then asked Bishop Davis to take a few swings and hit a few balls. Bishop Davis was thinking that he was paying this guy a lot of money for what? To shoot a video?
The young pro told him that was enough and took him into the clubhouse where there was a computer and monitor. He pulled up Bishop Davis on the monitor and split the screed with a clip of Tiger taking a swing and then went through Bishop Davis’s swing, comparing it to Tiger, and picking it apart.
At the end, the Bishop finally asked if there was any main thing that was the problem in his swing. The pro turned a little red and sputtered and avoided for a minute clearly uncomfortable with the diagnosis. Finally he just said, “You have a stagnant bottom, sir.” “I beg your pardon!” “Yes sir, a stagnant bottom. When you swing, your back side, if you will, just sits there doing nothing. If you want the full power of your swing, you need to get your entire body including your bottom into the swing.”
So how’s your spiritual life? How is your walk with God? Suffering from stagnant bottom? How many people are suffering from “stagnant bottoms” because their spiritual life is flat? Maybe even just non-existent? Just going through the motions? They aren’t really getting their bodies into action. We just sit there and say, “Feed me.”
Symbol Area Deadly Sin
Fire Spiritual Pride
Water Emotional Wrath
Oil (anointing) Physical Gluttony
Light Mental Lust
Soil Environmental Sloth
Air Social Envy
Metal (gold) Financial Greed
What does it mean for us to give up to God the spiritual area of our lives? What does this mean to give God control “spiritually?” For that matter, what does it mean to be spiritual?
As we fleshed out this on Tuesday, we looked at several different dynamics and tangents that arise. It was extremely helpful to hear what God was saying through those who were present and I think the participants are going recognize how much more focused things are today. So let’s begin by looking at what does it mean to be spiritual?
What is spirituality?
• Religious but not spiritual.
On Tuesday we looked at some tough passages in Romans that it seems Paul may be communicating some form of this. Paul was a very religious man before following Jesus. He was on fire for God except despite all his intense study of God’s Word, he had failed to understand what God was saying and doing. There is a reason and we will look at this in a moment. Basically Paul would have described himself before his Damascus Road experience as religious but not spiritual.
This could be someone who does all the right things with even the right reasons but never is personally invested in the rituals. Rituals are great. We all have rituals. They bring order and balance. Rituals are great as long as they don’t become ritualistic.
Now I don’t thin anyone would say this about themselves. I’ve never heard anyone say that they were religious but not spiritual. However, this is an observation that the Spirit-filled person makes. Paul saw this because he first say it himself. A second way that people seem to understand spirituality is the reverse.
• Spiritual but not religious.
Ever hear this phrase? There is some truth there. In this perspective, religion is seen as something negative and even detrimental at times to one’s spiritual walk. Common conceptions here might include the idea that I really don’t need a religion or a church or a faith community as long as I still believe in God and sometimes recognize those powerful “spiritual” experiences that might occasional come. Some might even conclude that while God (and this is a Generic God not a name-brand, religious God that we might even call Great Value God) loves them, they really couldn’t possibly talk to God directly even though they are pretty good people who will go to “heaven,” where one doesn’t have to work and every desire is satisfied.
But is that really what it means to be spiritual? It certainly doesn’t sound very healthy or holistic. It doesn’t sound as if one needs to give control to this Great Value God of the spiritual area of one’s life. And this type of “spirituality” in my understanding is far different than what Paul and the early church described as being spiritual.
• God’s Spirit in us.
Paul in 2 Corinthians has defined what is means to be a spiritual man or woman. The truly spiritual being is one that is guided, directed, and taught by God’s Spirit. This Holy Spirit is not out there but in some mysterious, remarkable way is with us and in us. It is a life completely yielded to this Spirit. To be spiritual in this sense is to turn control of your life over to God. To be spiritual is to turn your will over to God’s will.
A terminally-ill man was determined to take his money with him. He told his wife to get all his money together, put it in a sack, and then hang the sack from the rafters in the attic. He said, "When my spirit is caught up to heaven, I’ll grab the sack on my way." Very soon he died, and the woman raced to the attic, only to find the money still there. She said, "I knew I should’ve put the sack in the basement."
God’s Spirit in us doesn’t mean:
o It doesn’t mean you are a puppet.
God’s Spirit in us doesn’t mean that you lose consciousness or you never make any decisions again. God has given us the ability to choose. We make choices—some good and some not so good. The idea is that we seek to hear what God is saying and doing. We seek to do the next right thing—right in God’s eyes. But even then, we make mistakes. We are stubborn. We are full of pride. We aren’t perfect.
o It doesn’t mean you are perfect.
The great struggle that we have is determining what it is that God is saying and doing. And sometimes we get in our own way. Paul says we need godly wisdom. Paul said that God’s Spirit gives us discernment, that is, the ability to discern all things. However, some are better at it than others. However, at least for me, it takes intentional effort and practice to do it. I think over time, we get better at it, if we are aware of our shortcomings as well as our strengths as how they get in our way.
In a book called The Grace Awakening, Chuck Swindoll tells about a Missionary family who left their Work because of Condemnation from other Missionaries. What was the theological disagreement over? Peanut butter. You see, the Mission field where they went did not have access to Peanut Butter. So, that particular family arranged for a friend to send them Peanut Butter from the States every now and then. The problem was that the other Missionaries considered it a mark of their true spirituality that they did without Peanut Butter. They explained, “We believe that since peanut butter is not available here, we should give it up for the cause of Christ.” Well, the new family disagreed. And the end result was that they were pushed out of that mission. Of course a part of me thinks that if there’s anything worth fighting over, it’s probably Peanut Butter! But a more mature part of me agrees with Swindoll who concluded, “What we have here is a modern-day example of a group of squint-eyed legalists spying out and attacking another’s liberty. Not even missionaries are exempt.”
The bottom line is not to have a stagnant bottom. The bottom line is that Paul and Jesus and the rest of the early would never have defined spirituality apart from the presence of God’s Spirit. Paul said that the person without God’s Spirit doesn’t get it. One translation says that this person is the natural man or natural person. It is the way people are and live until they surrendered their lives and will into God’s hands.
I think what people often call spirituality is more about the capacity that God creates within each human. It is the capacity for having God’s Spirit with us and in us. It is a capacity is innately, in my opinion, in every human being but sometimes squashed by life and the choices we make. Here it is. This is what it means to give up this area to God. This is what it means to follow Jesus. If we are to be holistic, it begins with this area. It starts with these basic questions of life.
Are you led by God’s Spirit? Is God in control? Do you seek to do God’s will? Do you ask what God’s desires in each matter? Or do you believe that it is enough to assume that God is directing you? I think that making this assumption leads to a stagnant bottom and eventually something worse.
So what needs to be done? I asked the group what they do to keep from having a stagnant bottom. (We didn’t talk about it in those terms). What do you do to maintain your spirituality? What do you do maintain or even grow deeper in your connection to God’s Spirit? If it begins with a choice by surrendering our lives including our spiritual lives into God’s hands, then how do we keep from drifting away?
Spiritual Maintenance
• Self-examination
One person expressed how important it was to see her part anytime she needed to forgive someone or when there was conflict in a relationship. This is not always easy. Pride is a powerful thing. But God’s Spirit keeps prompting and speaking to see our role. This helps us develop compassion and mercy as we often begin to see how weak we are and then see those that have hurt us people who are spiritually sick just as we can be. Forgiveness is tough work but it is necessary and powerful in order to keep spiritually fit.
• Small group (community)
Several expressed how important it is to be connected beyond Sunday morning and even beyond immediate family and friends (that is friends who are not connected deeply with God).
• Disciplines
Reading God’s Word. Praying. Meditating and contemplating on God’s Word. It is not this churchy thing to do as much as it practicing and learning how to discern what God is saying. Can you really have given up this spiritual area of your life with taking some time and effort to at least attempt to converse with God. Jesus often left his disciple to spend time alone with God. If Jesus needed this, how much more do we need it?
• Shake your booty
Kendra said this was important to her. No one said this phrase but I think it summarizes the thought flow. Sometimes in life, there are seasons when doing the normal bible reading and devotions is simply not enough. Sometimes one needs to really spend some quality and quantity of time in the arms of God. One has to really get out and “shake that booty” so to speak.
It may mean some extra time with some worship music. It may mean getting out helping others in need like serving the elderly, or at a homeless shelter, or helping the disabled, or visiting a shut-in. Anything that gets you out of yourself and off your behind.
In Texas during the depression, there was a guy named Yates. Mr. Yates was a sheep herder but times were tough. The government paid him a subsidy but it wasn’t enough to pay all the bills. He wasn’t sure what he would do. Perhaps, he should just start to sell off the land to pay his bills and maybe he would get back on his feet and buy it back. But he knew deep in his heart that if he sold the land, he would never get it back.
Then a seismic crew came and told him that there could be oil on his land. He signed and lease and they drilled an oil well. At 1,115 feet they struck gold, black gold, Texas T. The first well came in at 80,000 barrels a day. Subsequent wells were twice as large. 30 years later, a government test of one well showed it still could flow 125,000 barrels a day!
Mr. Yates owned it all. He had been a multi-millionaire living in poverty on government relief. The problem was that he didn’t know the oil was there.
Many “spiritual” people live in spiritual poverty. They may not even know that more is possible. Some might even be religious. Being truly spiritual means letting God have control of your life, spiritually and all. It means being led by God’s Spirit. Don’t allow yourself to have a stagnant bottom.
I want to give you something. It is a symbol to remind you to give God control of the spiritual area of your life. It is a reminder that the Spiritual Man or Spiritual Women is not lukewarm or cold but on fire for God. As an act of worship and response and as a way of expressing a desire to allow God to have control over this area of your life, I invite to come forward pick up this symbol to remind to continually allow God’s Spirit to lead you in every way and to seek knowledge of God’s will as well as the power to carry it out. (Just keep it out of the hands of children).
