Pentecost 24

Romans 12:1-2

Now there’s a wonderful thought to take with us today! It’s one of those really simple and down-to-earth truths that can change your life forever. It’s a key to discovering the power of living as a Christian!

“Don’t live like everybody else lives!” is the first part of this simple truth.

You know how most people live, don’t you? Let me illustrate with a parable from our own family.

When our kids were young, we could always tell how life was treating them by the way they came home from school. There were days when our daughter Bethany came through the door, went directly to the piano in our living room, and started playing beautiful love songs! We knew there was a new boy in her life! Other times, she came home and started playing all this dark, heavy metal, emotion-laden music, and we knew – the romance was over! Either she had dumped him, or he had dumped her! We could tell what was going on in Bethany’s life by the music she played.

Same with our son. And with Sandy and me, although we don’t play the piano. And probably, it happens with you, too.

You can tell what’s going on with us – not necessarily through music – but by how we express ourselves emotionally. Things are good, we act happy! Things are bad, we act sad! Things go our way with others, we treat them well. Things go wrong with others, we punch them in the nose – or some variation on that theme. Life is filled with blessing, we give thanks. Life is full of tragedy, or burden or hurt, we shake our fist in anger at the universe.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that the way most of us are naturally wired is to react emotionally to what life hands us.

And here in Romans 12, Paul is trying to show us a better way.

Now, mind you, this is a guy who’s experienced the heights and the depths of life! He has known abundance AND scarcity, gain AND loss, ups AND downs…in fact, maybe we could say that Paul’s life tended to tilt a little more to the down than to the up! I mean, here’s a guy who’s been shipwrecked, falsely imprisoned, bitten by a snake, beaten to within an inch of his life, and even surviving all that, we learn that a New Testament version of Tony Soprano has put a contract out on his life!

Talk about having a bad day! I know the kind of music I’d be playing if my life went like that!

But Paul had found a better way to live. And in Romans 12, he shares it with you and me.

“Don’t live like everybody else lives…but be transformed…”

And that’s the Gospel! There’s an alternate way of living that’s better than the way we’ve been living! There is a more effective way of negotiating the realities of life than just reacting to them emotionally.

And here is the rest of the secret. “Don’t live like everybody else lives, reacting emotionally to everything that comes down the pike, but be transformed by the renewing of your MIND!”

 Some time ago, William James wrote, “The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitude.”  And Steven Mosely points out that today, mental health professionals hammer away at that point: it’s not WHAT happens to us that determines the quality of our lives; it’s HOW WE INTERPRET what happens that counts.  Life doesn’t come to us directly; it’s mediated through our point-of-view, our mind-set, our assumptions.

That’s why some people are able to experience the most difficult problems of life, the most egregious losses, the most daunting challenges, the most hurtful injuries – and yet rise up above them, and even turn them to their advantage.

Mosely, whose book “Secrets Of The Mustard Seed” is a must read if you want to find out more about this kind of transformation, tells a true story about something that took place in a Japanese prison camp located in Shantung, China during World War II. The European detainees were all assembled one day to witness the punishment about to be handed out to a local Catholic priest by the name of Father Darby. The priest had been caught hiding eggs under his robes. Now you know why we wear robes! And Father Darby would slip the eggs to the hungry prisoners when he came from the village each day to pray by the prison fence. But now, Father Darby had been caught red-handed, and the prisoners were frightened for him. They had heard the Japanese commandant was a ruthless man, always looking to set an example to dissuade others from acting up. So they watched as the priest was dragged into the center of the camp.

The chief began his speech in a loud voice, declaring that he was determined to stamp out the black market, and would have to make an example of Father Darby. The weary listeners shuddered; what would he do to this gentle priest?  Then the commandant announced: “I sentence you to one-and-a-half months of solitary confinement!”

There was a momentary pause, and then a great cheer erupted from the prisoners. The Japanese guards were puzzled. 45-days of complete silence and isolation in a tiny solitary cell was a terrible punishment! Most people suffered complete breakdowns! But the guards didn’t know what the prisoners knew. You see, Father Darby had served for 25-years as a Trappist monk, keeping a vow of silence!

And so, Father Darby was marched off to solitary, humming a hymn as he went!

How would you have handled it? For most of us, solitary confinement would be a terrible ordeal. But Father Darby took it as an opportunity. You see, the only difference between hellish isolation and heavenly peace was his attitude.

“…be transformed by the renewing of your MIND!”

One of the great gifts of the Christian lifestyle is learning to put our minds ahead of our emotions, and letting proven Christian attitudes shape our response to what life hands us. Contrary to what many say, Christianity is not a faith of the heart, but a faith of the heart and the mind together.

In Philippians 4:8, Paul says, “…whatever is true, or noble, or right, or pure, or lovely, or admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – THINK on these things!”

Developing positive, healthy attitudes helps to shape our emotions. It is the key to happy and productive living in a world that doesn’t always go our way.

Now, there is one particular attitude that is extremely important if you’re going to learn how to overcome life. It’s mentioned more than 60 times in the New Testament alone, and many more times in the Old Testament. It is the attitude of…gratitude! The attitude of thanksgiving!

If you’re like me, though, it’s easy to be thankful when the golf swing is good, the kids are behaving, and the 401k is growing fast! And that’s good – to give thanks when things are going great. But the Bible urges us to be thankful even when the slice comes back, the kids act up, and your broker calls and says, “Oops!”

“Give thanks in all circumstances,” Paul tells us, “for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” In another place, Paul implores the Ephesians to always, “Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the father for everything.”

Can you see the mental discipline the Gospel teaches?

Give thanks! Give thanks always! Give thanks in all circumstances! Hum a hymn as they lead you off to solitary confinement – or when an illness comes – or when disaster strikes – or when you’re feeling depressed – or when you get angry. In good times, give thanks. In bad times, give thanks. Develop an attitude of gratitude!

Now, I know what you’re thinking. “Sure, I can understand the importance of giving thanks when things are good. But when things are bad? I’m supposed to be thankful for BAD things?”

No. Of course not. The Bible doesn’t say to be thankful FOR all circumstances. God would never want you to be thankful for things that hurt and destroy. No, what the Bible says is to be thankful IN all circumstances.

And here’s what you can build this attitude upon. It’s beautifully expressed in Psalm 136.

“Give thanks to the LORD…for he is GOOD…his LOVE ENDURES FOREVER!”

You see, in every moment of your life, there is Someone who is more powerful than your circumstances. There is Someone who stands right there in the middle of everything you experience – the good things and the bad things, the triumphs and the tragedies – and what the Psalm tells us about this Someone who stands in the middle of your life is this:

He remembers you when you’re down…he protects you from being destroyed…and he gives you what you need to make it through the day. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever!

When the Pilgrim people celebrated the first Thanksgiving, they were poor, starving, and mourning the loss of more than half their company during their first year in the New World. Now, the following Autumn, the first harvest was in. It wasn’t so great. The seeds they’d brought with them from the Old World did not do well in the New England soil. Not only that, but around that time, the ship Fortune arrived with 35 new colonists who would need to be fed and housed. And the ship needed to be re-supplied for its journey back to England. They would have to ration food in the months to come. Tradition tells us it got so bad at one point that each person was given only five kernels of corn per day.

Not the best of times. But listen to Edward Winslow’s firsthand description of the day:

“Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, Many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest King Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty.” 

Upon such an attitude of gratitude – a mental toughness steeped in their belief in a God who is GOOD and whose LOVE ENDURES FOREVER – those who first settled our country triumphed over unbelievable odds, and America was born.

And this is a gift Christ offers you today! It may not be a cold winter and a poor harvest that you’re facing – it may be cancer, or depression, or some loss – it may be that your kids are giving you a run for your money, or maybe its your parents who are out of control! – it may be that age is catching up to you, or girlfriend trouble, or difficulty with math in school. We all have to face life, and life is difficult.

But we do not have to face life alone!

“Give thanks to the Lord – for he is GOOD – his love endures FOREVER!”

God knows what you’re going through. God will not let it destroy you. God will give you what you need to make it safely through today!

That is why, on the last night of his life – when the world had turned against him, and a cross stood before him – Jesus did an amazing thing. At supper that night, he took a cup – a cup that symbolized his own poured out blood.

Jesus raised the cup to heaven.

And he gave thanks.

And then he offered the cup to us!

“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever!”

Today, I hope you’ll take up the cup of thanksgiving in the face of your life as it really is.

Through the power of Christ, you will be changed forever!