spiritual_spice

One thing I notice is that not everyone is a great cook. Not everyone is "one with the kitchen." My wife, Sandra is totally at home in the kitchen. People like her, have seasonings like men in Kokomo have plaid shirts! She knows which ones do what and how to use them.

But there is a whole other type of person that's not comfortable in the kitchen, and for them to look at all these spices is like me popping the hood & looking at my car engine. And the thing this type of person most often makes for dinner is reservations ;-) This person's spice rack has both spices: salt and pepper. If you're a salt & pepper spice rack person, when you go to someone else's house for dinner you think to yourself, "WOW, my wife's chicken never tastes like THIS!"

When you're in the kitchen, the more you know about spices & seasonings and the more of them that you have, the more you can do with food. You can bring so much more flavor out of the food and you can bring interesting flavors to the food if you have the right knowledge of spices & seasonings.

Similarly, you ever met people that seem to be pretty together in their faith? The kind of people that seems like they have it going on. They're not perfect, but they seem walk the walk easier than you do, you know? It's like these Christ followers have a spiritual spice rack that they use to infuse their life with God-seasoning. In fact they do. They sprinkle little habits into their day like, prayer, solitude, reading,they seem to have these God spices that they sprinkle into their day about as easily as Sandra reaches for cumin in the kitchen.

This IS Life at the Boiling Point. And today we're talking about heat-building practices, or as I want to call it, The Spiritual Spice Rack.(ppt)And as all of us would agree, there's nothing like unseasoned food. No one wants flavorless, bland food; no one ever "ooo's & aw's" over a totally naked baked potato.

In the same way, no one wants to live a bland flavorless life. No one wants to live a life that's void of spice. In the same way that we crave food that's worth eating, we crave a life that's worth living. And the life we crave is at 212° because it's flavored with God.

So today, I want to help us put some God-flavorings in our spiritual spice rack. I want everyone to walk out of here with some tangible God-seasonings that we can sprinkle into our everyday life.

Just in case I've lost anyone so far in the land of imagery, the spiritual spice rack is a metaphor for spiritual disciplines.

For the record I don't care for the phrase "spiritual disciplines," for the simple fact that I don't know anyone who thinks of the words "fun" or "enjoyable" when they hear the word "disciplines." But let me try to dispel this. A spiritual discipline is (ppt)

Spiritual disciplines have NOTHING to do with being an overly-organized, super-scheduled, PDA-prompted, checklist-loving, type-A person! (Now, all the unstructured people say "Amen!")

So for the rest of the talk, when I say "Spiritual Spice Rack" or "God seasonings" if you're an unstructured, unchurched, non-conformist, just know that we're talking about activities that help you get closer to God.

If you're an old-school, traditionally-churched, or highly structured person, when you hear me say "Spiritual Spice Rack" you can think to yourself, (uppercrust voice) "What he MEANS to say is "spiritual disciplines!" Good? Good!

"Let me tell you why you are here. You're here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness?..."

This verse says, "Don't lose your God-spice. Don't let the day wear you down to the point that God's relationship with you slips onto the back-burner. God says to us in that verse, "I don't want you to give off an aroma or the spices of the culture, I want you to give off an aroma that smells like my son, Jesus."

When we expose ourselves to the spiritual spice rack, as we pursue a 212° life, the result is that these flavors get infused in us. This is what I mean by infused: There are some seasoning like salt, that when you add it to a dish, it dissolves and becomes one with the food. Have you ever over-salted a dish and tried to un-salt it?? It ain't happenin'! (a rub?)

Well that's the goal of these God aroma's in our life. Love, joy peace, patiencebecome a natural part of who we are. They aren't a spice we reach for when we remember to add them to a situation, but rather they flow out of us in all situationsthey become infused in us. That's the goal of spiritual practices, not to "do" but to become infused with God seasoning to the point we naturally give off a Christ-like aroma.//

How many spiritual spices, or spiritual disciplines are there? (audience) As many as we can think of. There are basic ones that come to most people's mind like: prayer, reading the Bible, solitude, meditation; But nearly anything can be an activity to turn our thoughts to God. So the spices or disciplines I mention today are just SOME of them. (Urge to take noteshandout??)

The first one I want to talk about is represented by this crock pot. My wife uses this all the time. One thing we all know about a crock pot as that there are some dishes you just can't rush; something about simmering all day long makes some food melt in your mouth by the time you sit down at 6:00.

So let's call this first spice, Slow the flow,(ppt) the act of slowing. Probably the best biblical example of this habit is the fact we can't find Jesus in a hurry anywhere. He loses his cool a couple times, but he's never in a hurry, even when Lazarus is dying.

When we're moving fast, be it in a car or at Meijers, or at homewhen we're moving fast we can only be focused on that thing we're doing at that time. Like, if you're driving fast, you'd better be focused solely on driving. And here's a question: Have you ever been flying around the house in that precious gap between work and the soccer game and had thoughts like:

Or, have you ever been zooming around the last isle headed for the shortest check-out line at the grocery store and thought:

"God really wants me to love people. Not just the neighbors in my subdivision, but that little weasel who just took my place in line #4."

1.) (ppt)Take off your watch. It's Saturday, it's Sun afternoon, or it's a week night. You're home, the kids are home, the only true needs are in your head. Untie the ropes that a timepiece can have on you. Most of the time a watch represents the things WE think we need to do. Take off your watch and ask God to impress upon you the things in your life, in your home that HE deems important. Take off your watch, stop serving your agenda and start listening to God's perspective. When you take it off, bring God into the picture by saying, "God, I'm gonna slow down, so I can sense you more."

2.)(ppt) Eat dinner around the table more than you do now. When you slow the flow enough to sit down & eat together, you slow down to talk. To listen. To interact. When you slow down to eat together you slow down enough to look your kids or your spouse in the eyes to see what kind of day they really had; if you slow down, what you see in their faces that are just a couple feet from you, may be more revealing than what their words tell you.

Sitting down as a family is so much more than eating. What other opportunities do we as families have to be around each other without any other distractions going on?

When do we have the opportunity to share with each other about what we're all dealing with? Slowing the flow enough to sit around a table is an opportunity for children to learn and for parents to impart God's principles and wisdom to our children. Oh yeah; and it's a good excuse to slow down enough to pray together as a family.

I cannot tell you how many times, a serious issue at school in the lives of our kids comes up at the table. Or how many times after the kids have cleared the table and ran outside, that Sandra and I have talked about real important life stuff. Honestly I think it's one of our primary arenas where Sandra and I live out the command in Ephesians 6:4 to "train up our children."

Sometimes at the table I just sit and look at my kids; getting a sense of who they are, who they're becoming and what God needs me to do in their lives.

3.) (ppt)DRIVE SLOWER. If you're driving on a 4-lane street, drive in the slow lane at the speed limit. Make a game out of it; pray for everyone who passes you.

Don't take the shortest way to work this week; slow the flow and take a more scenic or visually interesting route and invite God along. When you're driving slower, or driving through the park, it's amazing the space you make for God to talk to you.

4.)(ppt) When you're at the store, get in the longest line at the checkout. (OK, this is hard if you have "ankle-biters" w/you!) When you pull up (in shock that you're doing this) say to yourself, "OK, God, now what?" Take this time to sense His nudges in your life.

5.) One of the best ways to slow the flow is to take a hike.(ppt) Literally. Take a ten minute walk. Slow down at lunch and walk around for 5- 10 minutes outside. When I'm slammin' away on something at work, I'll simply walk around the building of our "luxurious" office and clear my head and look up & ask God what He's up to. Or take a long walk or a hot bath.

All it takes to slow the flow in your life is a little creativity. What are the boring and tedious labors in your week? Whatever they are, get creative & look for ways to sprinkle God-spice into them.

As we slow down, we trust God to help us do all we need to do. As we slow we will actually sense God's presence more. When we slow, we become aware of details. Details about our kids, about our spouse, about a co-worker, a neighbor we saw on a walk. We just might notice things that God's been wanting us to notice for a very long time.

Do you know where most of the work is that God wants to do through you? It's right around you. It's not usually OUT THERE somewhere... It's really close around you. And if we'll slow the flow, odds are we'll pick up on the details that God wants us to notice; we'll notice people and needsthings we can help with, like never before.

And when you slow the flow you create space to connect. To connect with kids, spouses, and people who don't know Christ. Christianity is all about connection. Connection between us and God and between us and everybody else. If we're in hurry mode, we're not in connection mode, we're in disconnect mode.

And just for the record, people who don't rush around don't accomplish less than people who do. According to the book, The Life You've Always Wanted, researchers have proven that there's no correlation between hurry and productivity.

Put a jar in your spiritual spice rack and label it slow the flow. Think about sprinkling it into your life starting this afternoon. ///

When you're in the kitchen, you have to know "when to say when." In the fridge, in the pantry, on the table, there always seems to be more good food than is good for us. (Amen??!) With food, too much of a good thing is a BAD thing! Eating in a healthy way involves being able to say "no." Or as I want to say it today, the practice of NO-ing.

The living of our lives is no different. There is no shortage of good things for us, our kids, our families to be involved in. Adults with kids in school are literally bombarded with good opportunities:

Join football, cross country, basketball, scouting, reading club, science fair, chess club, gymnastics, committees du jour, driving lessons, Golf team, baseball, be a chaperone, can you help with the Christmas party? Anyone relate?

Truth is, it doesn't matter what phase of life your in, you're busy! The busiest adults I know got nothing on the teenagers I know. Some of these high school kids are involved at church, involved in multiple activities at school, hold a part-time job and somewhere in there go to school, do homework and sleep (hopefully).

I talk to retired people, thinking certainly they're the ones really chillin' and here's a common response: "I'm busier than I've ever been." I talked to a guy the other night at the Chili Cook-off at Oakbrook Valley, he's retired and asked how it's going. He told me they begged him out of retirement for the last several months; they truly couldn't live without him. He said he's ready for things to settle down again.

Well in the same way that there's too much good food in this world, there's too much good STUFF in our world too. So we need to sprinkle this habit of no-ing into our life often, because I just don't see any shortage of great opportunities on anyone's horizon!

Last year, little 1st grade mini-me, Slater, came home with a flyer to join the Cub Scouts. He's fired up about. And I'm fired up about it because my dad did scouts with me. So every Wed. night he and I'd go to scouts together.

A little while later, on another night, pee-wee wrestling starts up. He did it the year before, so he's fired up for round two. After a month of both of those going on, Slater says in a not-so-excited voice,

Then of course by the time Wrestling is winding down, Little League is cranking up; before you know it, from Sept thru June, this 7 year old is pretty scheduled.

So this year, the cub scout flyer comes home again and Slater's all fired up. This time, we have a conversation about making decisions. I reach for the habit of no-ing from the spiritual spice rack and we have a conversation about making choices. And so this year, we decided to say "no" to scouts and yes to wrestling & little league. ///

That little example of choosing, needs be a regular part of all our lives. And I want to give you a verse that will help you gauge how to discern between a "yes" & a "no."

Now you may be thinking, "Hey Morgan, look, I'm not turning away from God over here; it's not like me & little Jenny joined the "Pagan god Club" at school this year, you know!"

Here's the deal: When we or our kids are involved in enough things, that when it comes around to gathering at church, we're too tired, or we don't really want to go.

Or when we've allowed our schedule to be a series of non-stop hops from activity to activity and at the end of it all, we didn't figure out how God fits in it then it might be time to sprinkle in the habit of no-ing. If after a blur of activity, we didn't see a hint of the Almighty, then unconsciously we have chosen whom we will serve.

212° Christ followers realize that certain activities are non-negotiables. Fully devoted followers roll up their sleeves and serve. They make time to worship together. FDFs, make time for heat-building relationships. The habit of no-ing says first & foremost,

"As for me and my household we will serve the Lord." And that doesn't mean sports is out, it doesn't mean band is out, it doesn't mean hobbies, and refueling activities are out, please don't mis-hear this message.

What it does mean is I won't let my faith; or my families faith get bumped or overshadowed in the never-ending list of things we could be involved in. It means I will sprinkle the habit of no-ing into my family when I feel like the schedules are getting a little whacked. And I'll help my kids understand how to apply the habit of no-ing in their lives. But first & foremost it starts with me; I have to live it.

In your life, in your family, what does the activity schedule feel like? If you videotaped your life recently, would it be an expression of, "As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord?" (pause)

(Back to the kitchen) (cookbook w/bookmark) (ppt blank) My wife not only has a Humvie-sized spice rack, she also has a slew of cookbooks. And a fun time for her is to flip thru them and to then try a new recipe. You can tell the ones that are hits because she marks them with these annoying little torn post-it notes. She marks them so she won't forget that these are "A1" recipes.

Forgetting seems to be something humans do very well and we have a long track record. We find the nudge to "remember" over 200 times in the Bible. The Old Testament is veritable Homer Simpson-like "D'oh!" moments of the people of Israel forgetting the miraculous things that God had done for them.

And it's not like you and I are much better. How many times do we stuff ourselves and get painfully full and say, "I'm not going to do THAT again!" Right, until the next DAY comes along!

The ultimate remembrance happened at the Last Supper. Jesus ate with the Twelve this last time. And he took the wine and the bread and said what? This wine represents my blood that will be spilled to pay for all the sins of man. And this is my body that will be broken. Keep this habit of wine & bread going. Why? To REMEMBER Jesus Christ. To remember that there was a horrific crucifixion that paid for our sins. Jesus said no matter what, don't you dare forget this!

The $5 churchy word for Communion is it's a Sacrament. It's not Jesus' blood & it's not his body, but they take our mind to those places. A sacrament is something that takes our thoughts to the Almighty. So I want to take this word sacrament & put it into our spice rack and call it Sacramentalize (ing). (ppt)

And so you and me, these forgetful types, we're going to look for ways to sprinkle some sacramentalizing into our world. Cause the truth about us is, it's not that we don't KNOW who God is and that He's important in our life, it's that we FORGET about Him in the midst of our chaotic lives! We're not stupid; we just forget.

Sacramentalizing is a lot like slowing the flow, it's really about how creative we can be. Here's how you start: Think of something you struggle with. If you're not sure what you struggle with, ask your spouse of close friendtrust me THEY KNOW!

Right now I'm trying get back in the habit of heading south in the area of weight loss, so on my computer screen I have this verse: "I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my daily bread." Job 23:12

Sacramentalizing is not putting a bumper sticker on your car or wearing a shirt that we want "pagans" to see. Sacramentalizing is all about something we need reminded about.

Think about where you struggle. I always tell teenagers, you need something in your locker at school that reminds you of whatever you struggle with: peer-pressure, a bad tongue, roaming eyes? You're gonna open that locker up about 6 or more times everyday; put something in there that will redirect your thoughts to God's perspective when you see it.

And the cool thing is, this THING you come up with just needs to mean something to YOU. You don't need a big Jesus poster behind your desk. You don't need a 6-ft. oak cross strapped to the roof of your car. Maybe it's a little ring or piece of jewelry that you wear.

If you struggle with being loving and sensitive toward people, then you need some little thing that fits in your pocket, or on your keys or fits on your wrist, or a finger that reminds you that every person matters to God and therefore better matter to you.

I'm going to take about a 1-2 minute non-commercial break and I'm going to give you time to think about what you struggle with and how you could sprinkle some sacramentalizing spice into your world.

(ppt) If you look at the handout, you'll see a lot of different ways to infuse God-spice into your day. The truth is, just relying on one or two of those practices will probably leave you feeling somewhat "flat" in your relationship to God---much the same way food tastes boring just using salt & pepper.

The mature Christ followers I talk with agree that we need to break-up the spiritual practices to keep them fresh. There are seasons to bring in new ones & put some on the shelf. That's why today I tried to bring you some ones that are perhaps a little different. ///

I want to give you a caution about today's message, especially if you're not new to following Christ. You may be tempted to think that things like slowing down, saying "no" and putting spiritual reminders in your life, isn't very deep teaching. You may hear a message like this and say, "That's different, but I didn't really learn anything earth-shattering or new."

I want to remind us that at its core, following Christ in a 212° way, doesn't take graduate-level understanding of the Bible. For the most part, the ideas and concepts of following Christ are not complex things to grasp.

Like the things I talked about today, they're quite simple. But be careful; because they're simple to UNDERSTAND. In reality, they're much harder to live. If you think the habit of slowing is easy, then I challenge you to try to live it this week.

Making time to think about what we struggle with and come up with a way to sacramentilize our space to help us unleash God's power in that area, doesn't take seminary grad to understand it; but how many of us will take the little time it takes to do it.

Who would have every thought a few decades ago, that sitting down around the dinner table would become as difficult as it's become in our lives?

These things that I've put before us are simple things. And this thing we're talking about in this series, of becoming 212° is about just one thing. And instead of me explaining what this one thing is, I want us to listen to a song by a modern day Psalmista quirky young man named Charlie Hall, whose song is the WHY behind the whole spiritual spice rack. Listen(Psalm 27)