Edited Version of last week's sermon

Sermon for North Hill Adventist Fellowship, June 30, 2012 edited and preached again at WindWorks Fellowship, July 7, 2012. The changes are merely stylistic, not substantive.

Text: Psalm 1

A couple of weeks ago I was reading an article in Wired Magazine about Olympic hopeful Lolo Jones. You might wonder why Wired Magazine. It more commonly features articles about, hackers, technology innovators, start up geniuses. So why did Wired Magazine feature Lolo Jones, Olympic hurdler, in one of their articles? Because of her use of advanced technology.

The article was about her training to run the 100-meter hurdles at the London Olympics this summer.

To run a perfect race, to get the last tiniest fraction of efficiency out her body, Jones and her trainers plot every foot fall to within an inch or so. Every take off and landing has to be just so.

What Jones learned from the technology was that her left side was not quite as strong as her right side. So she and her trainers worked specifically to strengthen that side of her body. They discovered she sometimes landed with her center of mass slightly behind her lead foot, which would cause the loss of the tiniest fraction of a second.

The unaided eye could not have detected these things. Even ordinary video could not have picked it up. But using high tech monitors on her body and super high speed video, Ms. Jones was able to identify the problems and begin modifying her performance.

As an athlete, if you are going to perform at the highest possible level, you must have input from outside yourself. You can't watch yourself run or dive or swim. You need help from outside.

The same holds true in spiritual life. We need outside input.

Note these words from Psalm 1. (From the KJV just because I memorized it ages ago and like the way it sounds.)

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,

nor standeth in the way of sinners,

nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

But his delight is in the law of the LORD;

and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water,

that bringeth forth his fruit in his season;

his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

The person who stays away from the influence of the ungodly and gives attention to the law of God will be like a fruitful tree.

A couple of years ago, Karin gave me a fig tree. It survived the first winter, but the next season produced only two or three figs. So sometime in the middle of the summer, Karin put a lot of fertilizer on it. Within weeks it was starting to bud out new figs. I was astonished. I don't think I've ever seen such dramatic, almost immediate, response to fertilizer.

So now, we try to fertilize early in the spring and throughout the early part of the season. It's one of the rules for producing figs at our house.

How do we fertilize our lives so we produce fruit? What can we do to cultivate spiritual life, to enhance the quality of our relationships with God and other people? What can we do to build a better world?

According to these first verses of the first Psalm one key to enjoying a blessed life is to be picky about what holds our attention.

Do not walk in the counsel of the ungodly,

Do not stand in the way of sinners,

Don't sit in the seat of the scornful.

Instead,

Take delight in the law of the LORD;

Meditate in his law day and night.

If you want a blessed life, a fruitful life, an optimal life . . . Take delight in the law of the Lord. Meditate in his law day and night. How do you do that? What does this look like?

The phrase, “the law of God,” refers to the entire body of instruction God has given through the prophets, poets, and priests in the Bible. This includes the Ten Commandments and the Two Commandments and much more. When David advised meditating on “the law of God” he was saying, in effect, meditate on the Bible. Our term “Bible” is equivalent in our language and culture to “God's law” in his language and culture.

Note just for preachers:

A while back I was doing one of my favorite things: I was visiting with a couple of young ministers. They are smart people, devoted to God and the church. They are scholars. I love talking big ideas with them. At our last visit, near the end of our time together, I asked them, “What have you guys done this week to cultivate your lives as saints? You are obviously cultivating your minds. That's good. What are you doing to cultivate your souls? “

There was a long silence. Then a bit of confused conversation. It's not a common topic in our conversation. Most of us have opinions on all sorts of issues—issues in the church, in theology, politics, health care, environmental practice, investment strategy. We are ready for debates.

Psalm One calls us to something different. “Take delight in the law of the Lord. Meditate in his law. “

So what does it mean to meditate or in the words of the KJV, to take delight? This is not the same thing as studying. Study cultivates the mind. It is important. Meditation cultivates the soul (or heart or character).

Before I try to define meditation, a couple of anecdotes from campmeeting:

The first conversation: A friend of mine talked about the challenges of continuing to give care to a profoundly needy person. He's been at it for a decade. It taxes him to his limit and sometimes beyond. I am continually astonished at his generosity, his faithfulness, his heroic service. The other thing he almost always talks about when we are together is his quiet times out in the woods and mountains. He gets out into the beauty and quietness and meditates and finds refreshment for his soul. Meditation does not make his life easy. It does make his continued service possible.

The second conversation: A self-important Adventist bureaucrat told me about a new battle in Adventist prophecy-preaching circles. The “scholars” are fighting over the identity of the king of the north and the king of the south in Daniel 11. The bureaucrat cheerfully talked about his work to advance the “correct view.” In talking with this man, I heard a lot about study. I heard nothing about meditation.

Study may make us smarter regarding things that don't matter. Meditation makes us sweeter. And that does matter.

Study of obscure prophecies may enable us to articulate sophisticated-sounding speculations about the future. (This is not too far removed from fantasy.) Meditation will enable us to act wisely and effectively here in the real world, right now.

Let me be a little more pointed: When people study prophecy they always identify the “bad guys” as someone else. It's the Catholics or the Muslims, Republicans or Democrats, it's the communists, the Chinese, the Russians, an Arab. I have never heard a preacher on prophecy say, “Revelation here speaks about me, about us.” Instead preachers of prophecy congratulate themselves that they are not like the evil people described in Revelation.

Beware of an approach to the Bible that encourages you to damn others and congratulate yourself. And nearly always prophecy specialists fall into this trap.

Psalm One urges us: Delight yourself in God's law. Meditate on it day and night.

So how do you meditate? What does meditation mean? It means to give attention to something.

Coming to church is a form of meditation.

When we sing, we are giving our attention to the goodness, the promises, the grace of God. We are not learning anything—at least not in any academic or cognitive sense. When we sing, “Amazing Grace,” we are not analyzing or dissecting or critiquing grace. We are opening our souls to the flow of grace. We are savoring, celebrating, tasting the sweetness of grace.

The same is true of the sermon. When I tell you, “Tell the truth!” This does not come to you as new information. I am merely declaring what you, what we, already believe. I try to come up with interesting illustrations. I try to say things in a way that will hold your attention. But the bottom line is that I am telling you nothing you don't already know. God is love. You ought to avoid debt. Work hard. Study hard. Keep Sabbath. Savor sweet down time with God and family and friends. Is any of this really new information? No.

You might come to a new understanding of how some principle or rule applies in your life. You may suddenly realize you need to alter some pattern in your life. But this is most likely not because you suddenly received new information, but because you allowed the information greatest access to your life. And that is one of the great values of meditation. In meditation, we allow God's truth to move around in our minds, to shape our hearts.

When you participate in the music and when you listen to the sermons and when you text comments or questions you are meditating. You are allowing goodness and light to flow in and over and through you, conforming you more closely to his image. Meditation becomes a way for us to receive outside input on our performance. It provides guidance for enhanced living.

Since church attendance and listening to sermons is a form of meditation, be deliberate in your choice of preaching. Avoid preaching that specializes in condemnation. We may love it when preachers thunder against evil people. Beware. Such preaching can feed our own critical spirits. Not good.

Optimal spiritual life needs more meditation than an hour and a half once a week. Church attendance is great. It is probably not enough if you are interested in spiritual excellence. Daily practice is best. So how do you meditate when you're not at church?

One of the first and easiest ways to meditate is set up by your participation in church. We come to church and sing songs over and over. With time, these songs become deeply rooted in our minds. They sing themselves to us spontaneously for no apparent reason. This past week, snatches of three different songs kept running through my mind.

Lord have mercy

Christ have mercy

Lord, have mercy on me.

Hallelujah, grace like rain falls down on me

Hallelujah all my sins are washed away.

Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades

Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame

The songs are confident, bright, full of grace and hope. And when they were running through my mind, my thoughts are confident, bright, full of grace and hope. This is a form of meditation. I know many of you play religious music on the radio or CD player during the week. This music is a form of meditation. It is giving attention to the grace and rules of God.

It is a standing invitation to God to shape your heart.

Another way to meditate is to use the words of the Bible. Here's an example:

Take a short passage of Scripture, for instance, Matthew 7:11. “If you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.” Read it, then use your imagination to amplify it, to roll it around in your mind.

If you had a million dollars what gift would you give your children? What would you give them if you didn't have a million dollars? If your kid or grand kid needed something, what would you be willing to go without so they could have what they needed? How many nights did you forgo sleep to be present with your sick child? How many nights would you be willing to be miserably awake if your kid needed you to?

Your own regard for your children is a window into God's regard for you. God is at least as nice, as generous, as forgiving, as merciful toward you as you could imagine being toward your children.

If you—plain, ordinary, unremarkable you—would be willing to lavish education, medicine, discipline, hours helping with homework, trips to Disneyland, or the hassle of dealing with a puppy . . . if you would be willing to this and more for your children, how much more will your Father in heaven do for you.

Spend time imaging what you would do for your children, then turn it around and imagine your tenderness toward your children as a mirror of God's generosity toward you.

Then, after spending some time imagining this as God's affection toward you, bring to mind others in your life—family, friends, neighbors, co-workers. Not the whole world, but specific people that come to your mind as you are doing this practice of meditation. Imagine God's affection toward these others. Request that God show them his affection, give them the capacity to understand the richness of heaven's love. Ask God to demonstrate his love in their lives by providing for them concrete tangible blessings.

Once you have learned to pray this way for people you naturally love, then try it for the people you naturally loathe. Pray for politicians. Not for all of them generically, but for the ones you most despise. This will move you away from the company of the mockers.

A serious threat to the health of our nation right now is the way Christians are ignoring the counsel of Psalm One when we step into the political realm. We are nice at church. We are generous to our neighbors, then, when we step in the realm of politics we succumb to the temptation to join in with mockers and repeat their words via email and facebook. The most astonishing example of this was a ninety-year old elder who forwarded to his large email list (including me) a picture of a nude woman. The reason he forwarded it was because supposedly it was a picture of President Obama's mother, and the good elder was so eager to mock the president he couldn't help himself. So instead of hitting delete when he received it, he hit forward.

We all know—or should know—the Bible's stern condemnation of gossip. But somehow when it comes to politics we freely pass on every rumor, every juicy bit of slander, no matter how unrelated to actual policy. God expects better of us.

Psalm One warns against standing with sinners or hanging out with mockers.

Let me be explicit: This passage warns against Rush Limbaugh. He is a superb mocker. He is brilliant in the use of invective, sarcasm, half truths, hinted lies, distorted quotations. His personal life is a case study in venal wickedness. He has a foul mouth. We may love it when he skewers politicians we disagree with, but that love rises from an unhealthy place in our souls. God calls us to higher, nobler forms of political discourse. Christians ought to stay away from Rush's influenece.

Blessed is the person who does NOT walk in the counsel of the ungodly or join in with mockers. I pick on Limbaugh because he is the so famous. There are plenty of other people with foul mouths and a very loose commitment to respect—people on both sides of the political divide. They are skillful at mockery. They are not our models. The Bible warns us away from them and their methods.

Let's circulate ideas about legislation we would like to see passed. Let's argue about the optimal way to structure government so that it protects without stifling, so that it brings us together as a genuine community without hindering private initiative and individual freedom. There is plenty of room for vigorous debate over optimal forms of government. There is no room for mockery, no place for character assassination. Obviously, we can't control the world's delight in mucking around. We can choose a better way for ourselves.

Let's delight ourselves in the law of God. Let's deliberately take time to give happy attention to the principles of life outlined in the Bible. This begins with refusing to join in with mockers and sinners as they heap scorn and abuse on everyone who disagrees with them.

Now let me turn from politics to something every trickier: home.

Parents, never mock your children. Do not mock them for being slow or stupid or noisy or careless or thoughtless or rebellious. Never, ever mock your children. There are times, of course, when you must correct them. You may need to pronounce stern words of condemnation on particular behaviors: “That is not right!” “That is unacceptable!” But never mock your children. And hopefully they will absorb the culture of respect you establish and refrain from mocking you when they are changing your diapers or answering for the hundredth time the same question you've been asking all day.

When we delight in and meditate on God's law we will be like fertilized fig trees, like well-coached Olympic athletes. Or in the words of Psalm One, we will be like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in season and whose leaves never wither. Whatever we do will prosper.

Let's be clear: In meditation we are deliberately choosing what we focus on. Even when it comes to the Bible, not every part is equally useful for meditation. If your goal is to deepen your compassion and mercy, to fill your life with greater sweetness and light, you'll want to choose passages that fertilize those things. Don't spend your time focusing on the dreary passages of the book of Obadiah. Don't waste precious life studying Daniel 11 or the Trumpets of Revelation. There are far richer, sweeter, more nourishing passages. Focus on Psalm 23, John 3:16, Luke 4:16 or Luke 15. Focus on passages that increase your confidence in God's grace, that enhance your skill in loving and serving.

Lolo Jones wants to run a perfect race, so she makes use of the best available tools to help train her body for that perfect run. We want to live a perfect life, coaxing one hundred percent from ourselves. One of the greatest tools available to us is meditation. It is a way to allow the wisdom of God to permeate our entire being. It is a way to soak in the light and love of God.

This week take some time to give attention to God, and to good words about his compassion and grace, his wisdom law. Your life will be enriched. You will make the world better.