Sunday 23rd June 2024 | Message by Pastor Rolly Stahl | Fitness for the soul (Worship series: Balancing life’s demands) | Joshua 1:1-9; 1 Timothy 4:7-8; 2 Timothy 3:14-17
We’ve been using the picture of a wagon wheel to talk about balancing life’s demands. Each week we’ve come back to the hub of the wheel. Jesus is the Hub of life, the Centre of the universe. In him all things hold together – including us! Jesus wants to be the centre of your life, so God can bless the rest of your life. Otherwise, your life will be incomplete, chaotic, or unbalanced. Let me illustrate.
When doing a section of a jigsaw puzzle, you can find pieces with the same pattern or colour that should somehow go together, but you can’t work out how. It doesn’t make sense – until you discover that one special piece. Once you find it, the other pieces fit together around it – and it all makes sense.
Friends, Jesus is the piece of the puzzle who brings peace to the puzzle of life.
When Jesus is the Centre of our lives, all the other parts can fall into place. So far, we’ve looked at the mental, physical, and emotional dimensions of life. Today we’re exploring the spiritual dimension: Fitness for the soul.
What do we mean by “the soul”?
Writer on Christian spirituality, Mindy Caliguire gives some insights:
- “Our souls form the very foundation of who we are.”
- “Everything about our lives, about our personhood, is in some way a function of the soul.”
- And: “Our soul, and thus our soul’s health, is the driving force behind everything that matters to us.”[1]
In his book, Renovation of the Heart, Dallas Willard writes:
- “Fundamental aspects of life such as art, sleep, sex, ritual, family, parenting, community, health, and work all are, in part, soul functions, and they fail to be meaningful as soul diminishes.”[2]
- And: ”When we speak of the human soul, then, we are speaking of the deepest level of life and power in the human being.”[3]
In the Bible, the words “soul” and “heart” are pretty much interchangeable.
Proverbs urges us: Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. (Proverbs 4:23 NLT).
Jesus says: “A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.” (Luke 6:45 NLT). Our attitudes, desires, words, and actions reflect our character. They flow out of our heart or soul.
Our souls are constantly being formed by the people close to us; the culture around us; and whatever matters most to us. These keep moulding us into the people we are becoming – for better or for worse.
Friends, I wonder: Who or what is forming your soul? To what extent are you allowing God to bless and nurture your soul?
Mindy Caliguire writes: “Quite simply, a soul is healthy to the extent that it maintains a strong connection and receptivity to God.”[4] I’d say that she is right.
Towards a healthy soul
Listen to what Paul advises his apprentice Timothy: Keep yourself in training for a godly life. Physical exercise has some value, but spiritual exercise is valuable in every way, because it promises life both for the present and for the future. (1 Timothy 4:7b-8 GN). Did you hear that? The health of our soul requires spiritual exercise – with present and future benefits.
Friends, God created you in his image so you could do life with him: both now and in eternity. How do we enter the present and future life God wants for us?
- By turning away from our self-centred existence – including our efforts to make ourselves right with God.
- By trusting Jesus’ death on the cross to make us right with God. At the cross, Jesus took the blame for all our mistakes and failures, so we can be reconciled to God as his loved and forgiven children.
- By trusting Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and following him each day until we inherit eternal life.
A Christian is a person whose heart and soul is surrendered to Jesus.
A Christian is a person who allows the Holy Spirit and the Word of God to nurture their heart and soul into the character of Jesus. Hmm. How does that happen?
How can we stay connected with God towards a fit and healthy soul?
Three practices that can help us:
1. Worship weekly with other Christians
Many of us struggle to maintain physical exercise. We start and stop. We make resolutions, and trash them two weeks later. We make endless excuses: “It’s too hot. It’s too cold. I’m too tired. I don’t have time. I’m too busy.”
But by exercising with others, it gets a whole lot easier. There’s something about being together in a group with a common purpose that spurs us on. It’s the same with weekly worship. Friends, when it comes to following Jesus and doing life with God, your church family is your ‘training group’, your fellow travellers. As we celebrate God’s blessings and share God’s word and sacrament, the Holy Spirit is nourishing and shaping our souls.
Think of a coal in the fire. If you take it out and leave it on its own, what happens? It stops burning. Put it back in, and it comes to life again. Likewise, if we are to stay alive and growing in Christ, we need close relationships with other believers. Only believers will point you to Jesus and remind of God’s promises. Only believers will pray for you and remind you of God’s love. Only believers will assure you of your destiny in Christ.
That’s why the writer of Hebrews reminds us: And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. (Hebrews 10:25 NLT).
2. Develop a daily personal ‘Quiet Time’
Weekly worship will stop you dying spiritually – if you do it regularly. Yet consider this. If you ate just one meal a week, what would happen? Can you keep healthy on one meal a week? Likewise, our soul health requires more than one meal a week.
The Lord urges Joshua and us to keep reading and ruminating on his Word: Keep this Book of the Law (God’s promises and instructions) always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. (Joshua 1:8 NIV).
Friends, hands up if you want to be successful and prosperous in God’s eyes? Me too! Then we need God at the centre for more than just an hour on Sundays! We can cultivate a daily personal “Quiet Time”: a few minutes daily in Bible reading, reflection, and prayer.
The Lord not only tells Joshua to meditate on his word – but to be careful to do what it says. Growing spiritual muscle comes by first knowing what God says …and second by doing what God says. You don’t get fit by reading exercise books, but by doing the exercise. Likewise, spiritual exercise is putting God’s word into practice.[5]
Friends, our heavenly Father loves you, has chosen you to be his child in Christ, and has good things in store for you. When we trust the Lord has our best interests at heart, we’ll be careful to do what he says. Let me share:
One way of having a ‘Quiet Time’
- Get a Bible you can easily read, one with introductions to the various books, and study notes at the bottom. My recommendation: NLT Illustrated Study Bible.[6]
- Find a spot free of interruptions – e.g. a comfy chair, a corner in your bedroom, or a desk with a lamp. Wherever it is, meet with God there. Ask God to bless your time together. e.g. “Father God, please bless me as I read your word. Help me to understand what it means and to apply it to my life. Amen.”
- Read a section of the Bible – a few verses, or story, once or even twice. If you’ve never done this before, I suggest you start with the accounts of Jesus: Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. You can underline or circle important words or phrases; or record in a journal anything that jumps out at you.
- Reflect on how it might apply to your life. Is there something to remember, to believe, to receive, to change, to confess?
- Pray. Use the reading as a kick-off for prayer. Be real. Talk to God with an open heart, humbly and honestly. Decide before God any practical action you will take – and ask him to help you with it.
I suggest starting with 5-10 minutes a day and try to keep regular (e.g. 5-6 days/week). If you miss a few days, don’t beat yourself up. Just get back to it. Invite 1-2 Christian friends or mentors to ask you how it’s going.
Friends, let me say that nothing will impact your relationship with God, your life, your character, your relationships, your work, or your emotional health more than getting into God’s Word for yourself. God will renew you from the inside out. God will give you wisdom and truth for all the dimensions of your life. God will equip you to bless others. Who wouldn’t want that! Through the Word of God, the Spirit of God grow us in the Son of God.
3. Share faith at home with your family, or with believers in a small group
Since parents are the most powerful influence on the faith formation of children, we encourage families to share Jesus at home. We also want people in our small groups, meetings, and gatherings to nurture their souls by sharing in God’s Word and prayer.
Over recent months, we’ve been promoting our Bible Discussion Bookmarks:
As you read or discuss a bible passage, use the questions on this card to reflect on it:
- What questions do you have about the text?
- What is God telling us to do in this text?
- What is God giving, promising, or doing for us in this text?
(What is the Good News?)
- How does this connect with what’s going on in your life – or in our congregation?
- How might we live this out and share this with others?[7]
It’s an easy way to explore God’s story – and discover our place in it. You might have other ways that are working well in your setting.[8] Fabulous. Keep up the good work! The important thing is sharing our faith journey with other disciples; and encouraging one another in our relationship with the Lord.
Wrapping up
‘…a soul is healthy to the extent that it maintains a strong connection and receptivity to God.’[9]
Cultivating any relationship requires giving enough time and attention for it to develop. Friends, it’s the same in our relationship with God.
For soul fitness:
- keep worshipping weekly with your brothers and sisters in Jesus.
- invest in a daily quiet time: reading God’s Word, reflecting on it, and asking the Holy Spirit to help you live it.
- regularly share life in Jesus with your family and/or other believers.
May the Holy Spirit reveal the depth and delight of our Father’s love for you. May the Spirit of God renew your joy in Jesus – so you will become more like him. And may the love of Jesus ripple out to others through us all. Amen. (c.1900)
[1] Mindy Caliguire, Discovering Soul Care, (IVP: 2007), 15.
[2] Dallas Willard Renovation of the Heart, (IVP: 2011), 172. Emphasis is mine.
[3] Ibid, 175.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Jesus: “Anyone who does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mark 3:35 NLT). Jesus: “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock… it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.” (Matthew 7:24-27 NLT). But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. (James 1:22 NLT).
[6] Last week, the NLT Illustrated Study Bible (Black letter Edition) was on special at Koorong $42. https://koorong.com/product/nlt-illustrated-study-bible-black-letter-edition-_9781496402004
[7] You could even use these 5 questions in your personal quiet time.
[8] The Faith 5 is another outline for practicing faith at home or with friends:
1. share your highs and lows
2. read a bible verse or story
3. talk about the verse and how it might relate to your day
4. pray for one another
5. bless one another
[9] Mindy Caliguire, Discovering Soul Care, 15.
St John's Lutheran Church, Tea Tree Gully 