Live the Little Way
For my preaching class I have to give a 20 minute sermon on Monday on a passage that I was assigned. In order to help me prepare, I manuscripted out what I plan to say. I’ve included it here. I hope it makes sense. Please let me know if it’s unclear or if you have ideas for stories, verse references, etc. Enjoy!
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What do you think is the biggest hindrance to the church’s successful witness to the world? What is the number one reason that missionaries come back from the mission field? What it the single most common thing that destroys ministries and drags pastors out of the pulpits? It isn’t a lack of doctrinal purity. It’s fighting. Conflict. Backbiting. In a word–Disunity.
[Share briefly about family member who had cancer]
What I’m here to tell you today is that the church has cancer. I have a personal passion for the local church. She is God’s idea. She’s sick, yes, but we can’t give up on her. But if the church cannot get along, how can we possibly reach a lost world? What I’m asking you today is to close your laptops, forget, just for a moment, about how much you need a coffee, or that you’re ready for a nap. Come with me for a moment and consider this cancer and the remedy in the Little Way.
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Turn with me to Philippians 2:1-4, and we’ll read it together. 1If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
Sometimes this passage gets overlooked because it comes right before the famous kenosis passage. But it’s packed with power, and contains a message for us today, a remedy for this cancer that’s draining the life from our churches. In it we find four Ps, if you will, which will help us understand the remedy, which is found in the Little Way.
First, in verse one, we see the Premise for unity. A Premise is something on which a line of argument or way of thinking is established. In order to understand how we can have strong, unified relationships in our churches, we must first understand our relationship with God. All our horizontal relationships flow from our vertical relationship. They are inexplicably linked. We must first understand that we belong to God and are secure in our relationship with Him. The conditional clause if here expresses certainty and can be understood as since. Since God is, we can be. Since God has given us encouragment from being united with Christ, since we have comfort from His love, since we have fellowship with the Spirit, since we have tenderness and compassion from Him. We have all these things! We must take a spiritual inventory of our riches in Christ, if we have any hope of having healthy relationships with others. We cannot invest deeply in our relationships with others until we have a firm understanding of who we are in Christ. We see this play out in relationships all the time. Confident, secure people make good friends because they are able to freely give of themselves. Needy, insecure, and emotionally incompetent people cannot give of themselves. We must understand who we are in Christ first. The Premise for our ability to give ourselves humbly to each other is an understanding of the depth of love God has for us and the riches we have received from Him.
When we understand how we belong to God, we can then belong to others.
Secondly, in verse two, we have a Picture of Unity. Since we have these riches in Christ and acceptance in Him, we are commanded to three things. To be 1) like-minded, 2) having the same love, 3) being one in spirit and purpose. What do all these have in common? Like, Same, One. There is a togetherness, a solidarity, a unity of mind, love, spirit, and purpose. So what does really mean? There have been so many well-intentioned pleas for unity that are nothing more than an abandonment of God-created differences. What does this really mean?
There are several things that unity is not. Unity is not being color-blind. I apologize if any of you have this t-shirt, but 15 years ago or so everyone was wearing these “God is colorblind” t-shirts. I understand the idea, but I’m sorry, God is not colorblind! That is an insult to God, as if He had a handicap! He created color. He loves the nations of the world, the races, the differences. He loves that you have black hair and I have blond and that some of us have none.J Look at the glory of creation. The beauty of nature. Look at the tremendous joy we get from eating—I love bright fruits and vegetables, sweet chocolate, cool water. God created diversity, truly. Unity is not uniformity.
Unity is also not something we can manufacture. Hopefully all of you have now read The Search to Belong. In it we read of the circles of belonging, and how healthy it is for people to function and move within all four of those spheres. Unity does not mean that we must all crowd ourselves into the intimate circle of our lives. It does not mean we are best friends with everyone. Unity cannot be forced. Unity and belonging develop and grow as we cultivate the right environment.
But what environment is that? Let’s look at verse 3.
Verse 3 provides us with a Path to unity. 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. The path to unity has a steep downgrade. The road goes down, and down and down and down. At times it’s windy, at times narrow, but always always down. The amazing thing is that this downward path takes you to the mountaintop. The summit of the Christian life is experienced on the mountaintop of humility.
In my life, the answer is always humility. We joke here in seminary that the answer is always Jesus. Well in my in my life, the answer is always humility. Christine shared in her sermon that she found it humorous that God would give her the topic of being free from anxiety. Well I found it equally humorous that God would give me the topic of humility. I’m sharing as a fellow sojourner on this journey because I certainly haven’t arrived. My two favorite books of all time, which I have read probably more than a dozen times, are AW Tozer’s The Pursuit of God and Andrew Murray’s Humility. I cannot read them enough. Their pages always draw me downward, back to Jesus’ feet, back to a position where I can consider others better than myself. I borrow much of what I share with you here from them.
Just as we did with unity, let’s look at what humility is not. Humility is not simply self-deprecating. It is not pretending that you lack talent or skills. It isn’t acting sad all the time. It doesn’t mean you have to be an introvert. It doesn’t mean you lack dreams and ambitions. False humility takes on these forms, but is only just another form of pride.
Andrew Murray says humility is the sense of entire nothingness which comes when we see how truly God is all, and in which we make way for God to be all. Humility is losing oneself in God. It is a total lack of concern for self, which sets us free.
While there are many facets to humility, this verse is focused on one in particular: humility before others. Andrew Murray says that humility toward men will be the only sufficient proof that our humility before God is real. We cannot be humble before God unless we are humble before eachother. So we are told to do nothing out of selfish ambition—Lord, what are my motives for doing this act of service? Do I want to be seen? Appreciated? Applauded? Do I consider others better than myself? This doesn’t mean that we pretend that we don’t have gifts or talents, but we willfully choose to place ourselves as the bottom priority. Jesus never pretended to be less than what He was, and yet He placed His own needs below those He came to serve.
So how does this path of humility produce unity in our churches? Let’s look at verse 4.
Verse 4 sends us on a Pursuit of unity. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Our humbling of ourselves before others is not a passive thing. As we follow the downward path, we pursue each other’s good. We turn our eyes off of our precious selves, and look to see how we can lift up, bless, edify, help, encourage, and selflessly love our neighbor. Tozer explains how this path of humility frees us from three things which hinder our pursuit of unity.
First, we are freed from Pride. Tozer says, The burden of self-love is a heavy load indeed. CS Lewis said, “The pleasure of pride is like the pleasure of scratching. If there is an itch one does want to scratch; but it is much nicer to have neither the itch nor the scratch. As long as we have the itch of self-regard we shall want the pleasure of self-approval; but the happiest moments are those when we forget our precious selves and have neither but have everything else (God, our fellow humans, animals, the garden and sky) instead.” Humility, then is forgetting our precious selves. When we do this, we are freed to gain true fellowship and unity with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Second, we are freed from Pretense. This is the idea of “putting your best foot forward.” We constantly strive to look our best for others. We fear that our clothes or car or house are too cheap. We tell stories in a certain light to make ourselves look faultless. We respond to “how are you doing” in a certain way, highlighting hardships or exaggerating how fatigued we are by our service for Christ. This is no small thing. These burdens are real and they are killing the life of the church.
Finally, we are freed from Artificiality. That is living in the secret fear that people will find out who we truly are. We fear that some moment we will be careless and someone will peep into our empty souls. It will be found out that we are not as deep and spiritual as we portray ourselves to be. Humility enables us to be loved for our true, ugly, raw selves. This is why humility truly is the most freeing quality of life. When we can forget ourselves, we cease to worry about messing up, looking dumb, being rejected, failing. We cease fearing what others will think. We quit backbiting, snubbing, and gossiping. We lay down the burden of self and freely give ourselves to the betterment of others.
So you may be wondering, how can I cultivate this? Understand the Premise—we are accepted and loved by God. Gaze at the Picture—Love, Unity, Like-mindedness. Follow the Path down to humility. And lay down your burden of self for the Pursuit of one another. Do you want the secret to this? It’s found in the Little Way. Therese of Lisiex devised a prayer-filled approach to life that is deceptively simple. Seek out the menial job, welcome unjust criticisms, befriend those who annoy us, and help those who are ungrateful. Lay down your burden of self and Live the Little Way.
A Birthday, A Sandwich Shop, and A Life
Today. So much, today. Today we celebrate my mom’s birthday. Read “Dear Mom” to learn more about how amazing my mom is. She is truly remarkable and today I celebrate her life.
This afternoon, we drove down to Corvallis. Our dear friends, Aaron and Candi, the main characters from The Road to Santa Clara (right under Featured), have moved back to Oregon! Jeff and I couldn’t be happier to have them home! As an adventurous business venture, they have bought Big Town Hero in Corvallis, a sandwich shop in a prime location right off the OSU Campus on Monroe. A major univerisity hotspot that’s gone to pot because of some absent-owners. But now, under the stellar management of Aaron and Candi Seifer, this sandwich shop will be the best! If you live in Corvallis (or even if you don’t!), stop by the store and have a sandwich on their fresh-baked-homemade-from-scratch-every-morning bread. We devoured the first batch he made! So, since the store has been somewhat abandoned, there was some major cleaning to be done. As you may recall, Aaron and Candi are the faithful ones who scrubbed the absolutely nasty kitchen and entire apartment of the ghetto window-less cave we moved into in San Jose. Ever since that day almost 3 1/2 years ago, I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to get my hands on something dirty to help them clean–not for paybacks, but just to show them a tiny bit of how much it meant to me how they served us. So today, Aaron, Candi, Candi’s parents, Candi’s sister and we donned our grubby clothes, pulled on the gloves and got dirty–literally. We scrubbed floors, walls, nasty bread pans. They shampooed carpets, scoured bathrooms, and scraped the cooked on goop on the oven. We made the new storesigns with the new hours and I even got to put the napkins and sandwich tissue paper in the bottom of the newly washed sandwich baskets. We all devoured Candi’s homemade chile for lunch then attacked the fresh baked bread with our hands like hungry bears. It was a sweet time with our friends.
Then, as we drive home, we receive word about Ron. Ron, son, husband, father, and grandfather. Ron who came to know Jesus just in the last year, who now loves Jesus with all his heart. Ron and Holly who come to the Foundations Bible Study class that Jeff teaches. Ron who has had multiple heart surgeries and suffered terribly from a serious heart condition. Ron who came down with the flu this weekend … Ron who is now home with Jesus. For about three hours now, he’s been home with Jesus. Of course my first thoughts and prayers are for Holly, his precious darling bubbly wife, who must be absolutely stricken. With his kids, with his little toddler grandbabies.
Just this past Tuesday, in our Bible study, Jeff taught on Heaven. The timing of it all is just so miraculous to me. Ron sat there, absolutely engrossed in the study, nodding as he understood and swallowed and digested what Jeff was teaching. Though I tried not to, I couldn’t help but look at him, watch him, during the study. Something in me realized that he would be there sooner than the rest of us. Something told me he was ready.
One of my thoughts this evening is, I wonder if Ron is thinking, “Wow–Jeff was really wrong about this heaven thing–it’s way better than he even described!” I have no idea. But I know he’s there. I love Ron loved Jesus, and I know he’s with Jesus.
So much today. Today. My mom’s life continues. Aaron and Candi birth a new beginning in their life — a new baby girl in their arms and new sandwich shop–a crazy adventure for the two of them to embark upon together. And an end, an end to life here on earth for Ron Hordichok–a dear father, husband, friend. ANd in that end, a new beginning too–a new life for him with Jesus.
In all this, God is good. It’s strange how things so good and perfect and so devestating and tragic can be taking place at exactly the same time. In it all, God is good.
Father, please surround this hurting family with Your grace and love that works in miraculous ways. I cannot even begin to fathom the pain. The shock and sorrow and confusion and pain and even anger. Please make it ok for them to feel those things. Please be near to them, God. Somehow, in Your power, please comfort them. Thank You that Ron is with you. Thank you, God. Amen.
Dear Mom,
Dear Mom, (of course others may read this and celebrate her with me!)
Happy Birthday! Today, even though we will spend most of the day apart (because you so generously gave up your birthday plans so that we can help our friends clean their new business!), I will be celebrating you. What can I say to the woman who has devoted her entire life to my good? How on earth can “thank you” even begin to scratch the surface of the enormity of how you have loved me, trained me, forgiven me, cherished and nurtured me? I’m only finally beginning to understand your love for me now that I have a little one, toddling around and capturing my heart all over again every second. Well, I cannot begin to cover all that I want to thank you for, but let me start …
Thank you for loving Christ. I remember always having worship songs on when we were little and me dancing around to the music while you watched from the kitchen. I remember dad listened to Elvis and I used to cry because somehow I thought he would go to hell because he listened to Elvis (where do kids get these ideas?!). But you always reassured me that it was ok for him to listen to Elvis and that he wouldn’t go to hell. Thank you for doing all your Bible studies and letting me witness you reading your BIble and praying and gathering with other women to do the same.
Thank you for loving Dad. Your witness as a wife is perhaps the most amazing way you have impacted my life. I cannot name a better wife. You are the epitome of selfless love. I love how you love Dad. I love watching you two, after 37 years, still loving each other and better friends now that ever. Thank you for demonstrating, silently and faithfully, what it means to love and respect and serve your husband. You have never criticized Dad to me. That is astounding. What a witness. And in return he has been such a loving faithful husband to you as well. You two make marriage look like what it’s supposed to be!
Thank you for loving us. Kris and me. Thank you. You sacrificed your career to stay at home and be with us, even to homeschool us when most moms couldn’t wait for their kids to get school-aged so they could get out of the house. Thank you for field trips in the woods behind our house, collecting leaves and bugs and flowers for our plant books. Thank you for the preschool you taught, where we got to play with other kids. Thank you for letting us experiment with what we loved. Piano, soccer, basketball, ballet, tap, tumbling, t-ball, football–goodness! We did it all. Thank you for your faithfulness to give up your car-vanity and drive a mini-van (you’re worlds ahead of me in that department!) to tote us and all our stuff around. THank you for taking us in when Daddy was work and letting us go in his office and visit.
Thank you for becoming a friend. I’ve read that you can’t be your child’s friend until you first become their parent. You definitely did it the right way. You were my parent, training and nurturing and disciplining me while I was young, so that now you can be my friend. And that you truly are. You’re my best friend (other than that guy I married! :-)). I’d rather sit and talk to you than anyone else. You are the most amazing listener, totally compassionate, loving, sympathetic and wise. I value what you say. I value your insights, thoughts, perceptions. You are truly wise. I pray someday I can be half the woman that you are.
So today I just wanted to say that Mom, I’m proud of you. I’m proud of how you’re handling the difficult things in your life. I’m proud of your courage, your joy, your perspective on life. I’m proud to be called your daughter. Yesterday, someone at the retreat suddenly made a connection and said, “Oh! You’re a Zyp!” ANd I had to smile and proudly say, “Yes I am.” ANd I am proud, Mom. Proud to be your daughter. I love you so much. Thank you for being my Momma.
Happy Birthday.
Love,
me
The Shack
The Shack. Have you read it? It’s all the rage up here in the Northwest. I actually attended a book review with the author, William P. Young, a few months ago (before I’d even read the book!) because Jeff was invited to intend, so I joined him. In the process I got a free signed copy. I was definitely drawn to the author, who spoke humbly and authentically about how God had led the writing of the book (as a gift to his children with no intent of publishing it!). As a full-time seminary student, I’d convinced myself that I should only read my seminary books right now … but I finally decided that was silly and tore through a fabulous novel called Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos. For me, reading a good book is like eating a doughy chocolate chip cookie–it’s delicious and makes you want more! So, with my reading-appetite as voracious as ever, I decided on Sunday that I was taking a Sabbath and instead of working on homework, I’d settle down with The Shack and see what all the commotion was about. Well, I read the whole thing that day. Yeah, that’s how I am–it’s a sickness. I couldn’t stop.
So, all that to say–have you read it? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I would say that it’s certainly not gospel-truth … and it’s not meant to be. It’s an interesting Theodicy and a creative method of understanding the Father Son and Holy Spirit in a startling and paradigm-shifting manner. The book made me uncomfortable, and I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to sleep last night, mostly because of its bold ability to stare evil, pain, and death in the face. It surfaces your greatest fears and lets them hang out like raw, bleeding wounds.
As far as its ability to stand as a Theodicy, or a way of justifying God in the presence of evil, it seems that (and I’m using my husband’s words here) there are three legs to the stool–God’s omnipotence, His omniscience, and His Goodness (or Love). A solid theodicy must uphold all three. The book majors on the Goodness or Love of God, but doesn’t address much about his omniscience or omnipotence, which could make it fall prey to Open Theism. But, the book accomplishes what it’s meant to–demonstrating the love of God, the incredible mystery of the trinity, and the absurdity of our demanding our rights and judging others and ultimately God.
With all that said, I do have some reservations about the underlying themes in the book. I would encourage you to read the reviews (click on The Shack above). Not all of what The Shack teaches lines up with orthodox Christianity, and with Scripture, but that can be argued. But I think what saddens me the most is this–the Shack represents an entire movement that seems to greatly degrade and discount the value of the local church and of seminary training. Now, please hear me: I think the book is phenomenal. I was moved. Deeply moved. I find myself already praying to my Father in a different and more intimate manner than before. I am not judging the book, but seeking to discern truth. I think Mr. Young is a sincere, incredibibly gifted man of God who genuinely wants to see people love God like never before. And I know that the local Church, as we know her, is pretty messed up. And I know that seminary education, as many know it, can be so cerebral and void of intimacy with the Father. But let’s not give up on them! I for one have had a life-changing seminary experience. Just because I’m learning theology doesn’t mean I’m drifting from my Savior! The opposite! THe more I learn of Him the more I love Him! And His Church, His bride, yes our attempts at organizing local congregations to be His hands and feet is greatly lacking, but let us continue to try! Let us continue to gather together and reach the nations and our neighbors with His love.
All in all–it’s worth a read. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it to a young believer, or one who is trying to newly construct a theology about God (although, aren’t we all?). But it’s a fabulous book for addressing evil and for enabling us to take an honest look at how we view God. And William P. Young is a genius, even though he swears he’s not.
So, let me know what you thought of the book–I’d love to hear from you who have read it. And you who haven’t: Read it, and let me know.