MIDDLE CLASS SYNDROME…
Now… I say especially for a church such as ours truly on the North Shore, because, I think it’s fair to say, most of us fall into the middle~to~upper classes of society… In the week gone by I had a class taught by my lecturer, Mick Duncan. He tackled the topic of class in New Zealand, and he suggested that there is one malady, one malaise… one… sickness, if you like, that is particularly attached to the middle class… Can anybody suggest what that malady might be?
BUSYNESS. Mick suggested that there’s an adrenaline we experience when we’re being highly active… that we’re addicted to busyness, to being active, to being occupied as we hurry from one thing to the next thing to the next thing…
Let’s get a picture of what these things are. (Write on whiteboard as people call out time-using activities. Fill board up).
Last week Amanda spoke about this type of lifestyle and the detrimental effects it has on people, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. You may recall the extreme example of ‘Karoshi’, being death caused by overwork or exhaustion… She talked about the need to rest, to take Sabbath seriously and allow our bodies and souls to catch up. This week, I want to take us down a different path. I want to ask where we see Jesus in all of this, in the modern pace of life. I want to suggest that the practice of silence and solitude is something important and vital to this makeup. I also want to suggest that this practice can lead to a constant understanding of the Spirit’s presence, which allows Jesus not to become just another part of this makeup of our lives, but that it actually allows us to know Jesus in the midst of it all. What’s more, as we become more and more aware of the Spirit’s presence and we learn to submit to his ways in obedience, it’s my belief that the Father blesses us in fruitfulness and in joy, and we get to know the satisfaction of abiding in him. I’ll try to elaborate on some of these concepts as I go.
So before we talk about the practice of silence and solitude, I want to discuss why we’d want to do it in the first place.
ABIDE IN ME – JOHN 15
Picture with me if you will…
“We are Jesus’ disciples… (imagine yourselves as young adult Middle Eastern men who have been walking with Jesus for the past couple of years...)
“There’s Eleven of us now. Last night while we were eating the Passover meal together, Jesus told Judas to take off, and go do what he had to do. Some of us thought he was just going to get supplies for the feast tomorrow, but he still hasn’t come back. John reckons he’s the one who’s going to betray Jesus! We’re all a bit on edge…
“Since he’s been gone though, it’s just been the eleven of us with Jesus, and he’s been telling us some pretty amazing stuff! A lot of it, I have to admit we don’t really understand… I’m sure it will all come to make sense soon enough. Something seems pretty ominous, though I’m not exactly sure what… Jesus has been saying some spooky stuff actually – stuff like, ‘I will be with you only a little longer…’ He says he’s going somewhere we can’t follow… I don’t want him to leave – none of us do!… He’s the godliest person we’ve ever met… In fact… We’ve come to believe that he is the Son of God! That was made clear back when Jesus fed the 5000 men with those few loaves of bread and a couple of fish. Not to mention he walked on water, he’s been healing people, bringing demons out of people… He’s enabled us to do lots of that stuff too! It’s been incredible!
“Yes, it’s clear now: the Spirit of God is in this man, and he’s got it to give! He is of the Father, Yahweh who we worship! And so now it’s just him, and us eleven, and he’s been saying some wonderful things to us! He said that if we continue loving him – well… I mean how could we not?! …He said that if we do this, he will give us the Spirit of truth. Jesus also said to us, “He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.” How much greater is this than what those strict old Pharisees have always been telling us. This is freeing! Before I couldn’t see why I had to keep up all those rules; it just seemed like a whole lot of hard religious work. It seemed dead. But now all I want is to spend time with God, loving him, and loving others! These are exciting days…
“Jesus said some more stuff to us this morning. It was when we were walking through a vineyard on the way to the Kidron Valley. It was pretty powerful stuff - John reckons he’s going to write all this down some day…”
JOHN 15:1-17
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
“As the Father loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no-one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other.”
EXEGESIS
Andreas J. Kostenberger, who wrote the Baker Exegetical Commentary on the book of John expresses that ‘The illustration of a vine and its branches, even more intimate than the shepherd imagery in John 10, focuses on the organic, vital connection between the branches and the vine. In a major paradigm shift, Jesus’ presence among his disciples is about to be replaced with the Spirit’s taking up residence in believers.’ He goes on to suggest that ‘This spiritual relationship must be nurtured if Jesus’ followers are to remain connected to their exalted Lord,’ but we’ll come back to that.
THE TRIUNE RELATIONSHIP
As we read Jesus’ dialogue in the gospels, as we look at the major theological points of the Bible, and as we see how Jesus related with his disciples and the people he met, it’s plain to see that loving relationships are at the core of it. In the chapters of John leading up to Jesus’ being taken by the Roman officials in chapter 18, Jesus speaks in a massively Trinitarian way. By that, I mean he talks about the oneness of the Triune relationship between the Holy Spirit, himself and the Father. He talks about how they remain in each other; they dwell in each other; they love and adore each other. If you like big words, in theology we call it perichoresis. It refers to the mutual inter-penetration and indwelling within the threefold nature of the Trinity, God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
WE’RE CALLED INTO THE RELATIONSHIP
In these chapters he also makes promises and gives pictures inviting us to take part in that intimate relationship. In the previous chapter – chapter 14… Jesus explains that he when he goes… so when he returns to the Father after his death and resurrection, he will ask the Father, and the Father will send the Holy Spirit to us. By sending the Spirit, Jesus enables us to be in that relationship. In 14:20 he says, ‘On that day you will realise that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.’ The passage we have here in chapter 15 perhaps shows that intimacy God has called us to most clearly, as he tells us to remain in him like the branches are attached to the vine. In this we have a picture of Christ having invited us into the perfect loving relationship between the Father and Son by the Holy Spirit. By the chapters that follow and the rest of the New Testament, we find that Christ has made this possible by his life, death and resurrection.
RELATIONSHIP THE KEY
I think before we talk about silence and solitude, before we go seeking God to transform us into Christ-likeness, we need to understand that at the core of that likeness needs to be a love of the Father, and a joy simply in being called up into that supreme relationship. As Jesus said, ‘I have told you this that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.’ We need to taste the gospel and understand the wonder of what it is Christ has done for us. I think this video interview with the theologian Baxter Kruger is a pretty wonderful demonstration of the gospel, and gives us a similar image to the vine passage.
http://www.gci.org/yi/kruger5 13:15-17:00 (WATCH THIS!)
We’ve been included! So… through this story, and through the passage about the vine, what I’m wanting to say is that provided we believe and accept Christ and the salvation he has offered us, we’re invited to partake in this amazing relationship, that previously we had no access to… Christ called into relationship with him, and he calls us to abide in him and enjoy it! Which brings us to the topic of silence and solitude. I now come back to what Kostenberger suggested, that ‘This spiritual relationship must be nurtured if we are to remain connected to Christ.’
CHRIST’S RHYTHM
Now before I go making statements that I think are wise and helpful, I want us to turn again to scripture…
Then I’ll try making the wise comments ;)
Ok, so there is a strong Pauline notion that Christ’s set the example for us in the way he lived, and that we should strive to imitate this example. While Jesus never specifically teaches about the need to go away on your own and be quiet, we certainly do see that it played a significant role in his ministry, and by implication, it should take a significant role in our own walks of faith.
So to start us off in looking at solitude, let’s look at some examples of Christ seeking solitude.
LUKE 4:40-44 (Sick come to Christ, he heals all, demons rebuked. Morning – desolate place. More ministry that evening).
Talk about the practical implications of the miracles being done – physically exhausting. Extremely busy schedule, yet stopping to spend time alone in the presence of God remained of utmost importance to Christ – more than sleeping. Compare to our busyness. (Write up what Jesus' schedule might have looked like on white board)
Compare to Amy Cleary on Mercy Ships in Togo... http://mercyships.org.nz/assets/files/Feb%2026%20Northern%20Advocate%20Amy%20Cleary.pdf
MARK 1:32-39 (Sick come, many healed; morning, finds quiet time before disciples urge him on to the next think, to which he obliges.)
MATTHEW 14 from 13b. (Jesus feeds the 5000, then in verses 22-23 we see Jesus dismisses the crowds, before going up onto the mountainside alone to pray. Immediately after this, Jesus performs another ridiculous miracle, walking across the waves to the disciples who were across the Sea of Galilee.)
What am I getting at here? RHYTHM!!!
In Christ’s life we see a constant rhythm of engagement, withdrawal, engagement, withdrawal… So we see that Jesus had a high esteem for the quiet place. In the midst of his intensely busy schedule, we see that he craved and consistently made time to be alone with his Father. This was where his abiding in the Father was rooted; it’s where he focused on his relationship with the Father – that’s not to say he wasn’t always in relationship with the Father – he definitely was! Rather, this was his quality time… his one-on-one time where he truly got to know the God he loved and adored. Jesus loved finding quiet places because he loved just being with his dad! And as in the vine story that we’ve looked at, the Father pruned him and tended to him, so that he would be able to bear more fruit. And so my point about the vine story and all that I’ve said so far, is that in Christ we too are loved by the Father, and that we too get to abide in him, and be tended by him. John 1 verses 12 to 13 reads: ‘to all who received him (… - that’s Christ), to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of the natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.’ And so as children we spend time with our dad, who is the most wonderful dad imaginable! In this sense, quiet time isn’t a chore; it’s not a religious role to make God love us more, but it’s a privilege, a right! It’s awesome that we get to hang out one-on-one with God. Yet it seems that many of us don’t!
A FEW THOUGHTS ON SOLITUDE…
1: FINDING TIME FOR SOLITUDE IS HARD, BUT IMPORTANT.
So I’ve known I’d be speaking on solitude for a while now, and up until a couple of weeks ago I thought I had it all figured out in my head. You see, being a slovenly uni student, I was still on holiday until the end of February… so I spent the whole month working down south of the Bombay Hills doing a big gardening project. My role was to spruce up a new boarding school by planting hundreds of plants, so I would stay the week down there digging holes and come back to the Shore for my weekends. The school is in the country, on the edge of the Hunua Ranges, and it’s a really beautiful place: there’s a stream that goes right past the school; there’s a tramping track in the ranges that ends right at the school driveway; the road is just a quiet back-country road, nice and flat and perfect for bike rides and running… It was also really nice and sunny! So I was there for five weeks, just planting, and a lot of the time I was just staying down there on my own. I had nothing to worry about in the evenings, so basically it became a time of relative isolation, and it gave me a chance to be purposeful about quiet time. I started getting up at 6am to spend an hour and a half with the Lord. I mixed my ritual up each day, sometimes reading the Bible, sometimes going for a good walk; I went for a couple of bike rides, wrote in my diary, and sometimes I sat at the end of the grape vines, looking over the dewy green hills… as the sun rose… with cows munching grass…. It was pretty great times.
So basically my plan was to come back here, still on fire for Jesus. I figured getting up at 6am every day would continue to go well, and that before long I’d be completely in tune with the Spirit, pretty much being a perfect Christian.
Of course, reality struck with the return of uni and the city, along with the rest of my North Shorian busyness. I found going to bed at 10pm and getting up at 6 became a lot harder, with hang outs and activities like youth group to attend, with Facebook and the internet at my fingertips, and a never ending workload…. Of course, rather than saying ‘no’ to these things, the thing that I’ve been saying ‘no’ to is my quiet time… It’s always the first thing to go isn’t it? … I’m good at making excuses as to why other things are more important, even if they do seem like legitimately good things – uni work, chores, planning a sermon… But I want to challenge that attitude, because I believe it’s not what Jesus modelled for us… In Matthew 8 verses 18 to 20, we see him purposefully avoiding crowds who wanted his help. This isn’t to say that solitude constantly took Jesus out of important roles of serving – clearly from the passages we looked at before he was devoted to his God-given mission. But it does suggest that he placed a high value on his quiet time, and that constantly serving and working isn’t part of God’s will for us. As with the Sabbath in our week, we need to be making time for solitude in our day, to stop… and breath… and abide in the God we’re living for. Solitude is often hard to find and maintain, but it’s important and needs to be more highly valued.
A couple of suggestions about how to make solitude happen: accountability helps. For a while I had three friends who were committed to waking up at 6 and having quiet time too, so every morning at 6 we’d text each other, encouraging one another to get up. Often one person would be feeling really alive, while others would be not really into it. But because of the texting, which was usually quite funny, with inspiring Bible verses and funny quotes often being used, we’d manage to get each other up. Another suggestion is to make it fun! Solitude doesn’t have to just be sitting silently in your room – although this can be a good way of doing it. Me and my friends often did different things each day. Like I said, sometimes I’d go for a casual bike ride, or a walk, or find somewhere beautiful to sit. And so at the end of the week when we hung out, we’d compare what we got up to. It’s good to make your solitude something special! Something enjoyable! It doesn’t have to be a boring activity. Just remember, keep God as the focus of your quiet time. Don’t let it become a fitness activity. Don’t let it achieve something else at the same time – your quiet time with God is your quiet time with God.
2: SOLITUDE IS DONE WITH THE COMMUNITY IN VIEW.
A lot of people tend to think of solitude as avoiding people and just being quiet and brooding. They get a picture of someone going off to a shack in the woods, or maybe some monk… Someone who avoids hang outs and just sits in their room all day… Dalton Lifsey puts it differently: “Solitude is a deliberate pursuit of God with the people of community in view; isolation is a deliberate avoidance of God and people.” He says, “You’ve got to disengage from community so that when you re-enter you look at those people through the eyes of Jesus, not your broken and insecure eyes.”
Solitude is disengaging from the community and from life temporarily, so that you can deliberately pursue alone time with God, and abide in his love, with the intention of returning to the community, and to regular life refocused, and aware of the Spirit’s presence in the midst of it. It’s no surprise that at the end of the vine passage, after Jesus has talked about abiding in the Father and being tended by him, that his command is that we should love one another. We spend time in solitude, so that we can abide in Christ, so that we can love the people around us, and so that we can bear fruit in all that we’re doing! You need to disengage in order to engage!
3: SOLITUDE IS NOT JUST FOR INTROVERTS!
We are ALL called to spend time with our Father, and we all need to know the quiet place.
4: SOLITUDE IS DANGEROUS.
Solitude tends to bring things to the surface - things which in busyness are often avoided…
Early last year, when I was working fulltime at Café Windsor, I had plenty of time to myself to just think about things. I’d come out of a busy three years studying architecture, and so it was really the first time when things were going at a slower pace for me. It meant I had a lot of time in solitude, and I was talking to God about heavier stuff than I usually would. As I had more and more of this time, I found that I went from just filling it with saying things… You know, like praying for different people and different events. Telling God about the weather and about girls… By a process of time, I went from that to just being quiet and really reflecting on things. And that’s when things actually started to get painful. A lot of baggage came up, stuff that I hadn’t realised I was a part of me. Feelings of loneliness surfaced, even though I’ve always been surrounded by good and loving people… Feelings of dissatisfaction, of meaninglessness came up. I realised I was hurting quite a lot. And it’s not just me – this happens for most people. As we spend time in quiet with God, things that are deep inside us, that we perhaps weren’t even aware of come up, and it forces us to deal with them. And this is why most people avoid it.
I want to suggest that while this may be a painful process, it’s one that we mustn’t avoid. Henri Nouwen says, ‘Instead of running away from our loneliness and trying to forget or deny it, we have to protect it and turn it into a fruitful solitude.’ … Solitude is a process of honesty, where we discover ourselves for who we really are, and we realise that the world is actually a lot harder than we originally perceived. But it doesn’t just leave us there! God doesn’t leave us in that bitter place. He enables us to endure it, and he fills us with a great hope. In that time of discovering my loneliness and dissatisfaction, he filled me with a passion to know him deeper and personally, to learn to find my satisfaction in him and only him. I think that’s the real beauty of solitude: that God takes all that we place our hopes in – our relationships, our ambitions, our possessions, and he shows us that these things aren’t enough and they never will be. He then shows us that he is, and that he loves us, and that he is more than enough.
And once we realise this, once God reveals this to us and we know it deep in our soul, we can’t be shaken. This is where our foundation is found, in the secret place, in quiet time with our Father, who loves us! And with this as our base, he enables us to go back into the world and to bring him glory! With this as our base, by being attached to the vine, he enables us to love others for who they are. When we’re not attached to the vine, we demand things of people that they can’t fulfil. We get them to fill a void that they can’t fill! But when we learn to abide in God, when our source of joy is in solitude and silence with him, we are empowered and freed to live life to the fullest! This is why solitude is important, and why we must seek and desire it: it’s the source of our joy!
FINAL WORDS.
By withdrawing to pray, Jesus was able to keep himself aligned with the will of the Father, and because he spent that time in quiet keeping familiar with the Father’s voice, he was able to recognise it in the midst of all his busyness. We need to spend time getting to know the Father’s voice by abiding in him. Jeremiah 29:13: ‘You will seek me and find me when you seek me with ALL your heart.’ Psalms 47: 10 ‘BE STILL and KNOW THAT I AM GOD.’ We need to get this. We need to learn to stop… and breath… and just spend time with the Lord.
BREAK INTO QUIET TIME.
