An mp3 of this talk can be downloaded from the Bethany City Church website here
Living life ‘in Sync’
What impact should a practical faith in God have on every area of our lives? What does it mean that every area of life is to be lived as an act of worship to God, and as his representatives? Whether we are shopping, cooking, at work, at rest, enjoying leisure or exercise, it is important to answer this question. And one important area we often overlook is the journey to work, the commute, the time ‘on the bus’.
Rarely, I suspect, do we think about how we use our journey into work.
I know people who use their journey to work as a means of exercise – running the 2 or 3 miles it takes to get to the office. Others use it to spend some time in quiet with God. Mr Bean seemed to use his journey to focus on his personal hygiene, finding a roundabout, driving the car round and round the roundabout with a brick on the peddle so he could shave and brush his teeth! Occasionally, I have used my walk to the office to read – (but be careful you don’t walk into holes in the ground!)
For many of us of course we don’t have a commute to make. In fact I suspect that more people don’t ‘commute’ than do! On the surface, as you read this you might be thinking ‘this is not for me’, and on the surface they may be true. But we are going to look under the surface. Whether you are a student or pupil in a school, retired, looking after elderly parents, working in an office in a major City, are a full time Mum who spends most of her time at home with the children or you spend your days doing various other things, what does it mean for you to live a life that is ‘in Sync’, a life that is consistent and matches up?
The knack of using journey times well and fruitfully, especially in the mornings, is a very useful thing to learn. Clearly there is a big overlap with the start of the day, which was considered last week by Dave Burke.
What you do with the time you have will depend on how long the journey is, what your mode of transport is, how prepared you are for the day and even how organised a morning you have. But I want to suggest there are 4 practical things you can do to seize the day as you travel into work.
1. Speak to other people
So often, especially in big cities, the journey to work is a lonely business. I think the Tube in London is one of the busiest, and loneliest places in the world. There is an unspoken rule about not engaging with other people. Infact, you can’t even look at other people with out being presumed to be either crazy or about to hit someone. How about breaking the mould. Pass the time of day with the person next door, say hello and listen to them. Of course, don’t plough in where you are not wanted, but how about being a friendly face where there are so often no friendly faces! And of course, if you do the same route every day, the chances are you will be able to build up ongoing conversations with the same people – and who now where they may lead! (Of course, be sensitive to gender and other issues. Don’t put yourself in harms way!)
2. Read something useful
For many, the journey to work is a great opportunity to read something useful. Take time to read a good Christian book that will develop you in the Christian thinking and discipleship. Read your bible (or get someone else to read it to you via an ipod!) Even read a novel, magazine or newspaper and ask God to help you to think wisely about it, and how it prepares you to face the issues of the day. What is it about other peoples world view which is helpful / unhelpful?
I tend to have 3-4 books on the go at one time. Some days I just don’t fancy reading one of them, but will another.
3. Pray
Use the opportunity to pray your way through the day. Perhaps pick particular landmarks on the journey as a prompt to pray for particular individuals or events.
4. Think
What does it mean that you worship God in every element of the day? Think it through seriously. For example...
One life, different worlds
I think that any consideration of the ‘commute’ must think about more than just the physical journey. It is more than just how we use the minutes we have got to spare when on the bus. For all of us, whether we commute to work or not, we live one life in which we travel between several worlds.
· If you work in an office in a city or town , you leave one world when you leave the house and you travel to another world. Your work.
But you may not do that.
· You may travels between ‘worlds’ when you leave the house to go to school, or the halls to go to lectures.
· My wife travels between worlds in the time it takes her (or me) to hear our boys crying or chatting first thing in the morning, and then walk through to his room - beginning another day of ‘mummying’.
· Those who work from home travels between worlds when they leave the kitchen having cleared breakfast, and enter the study.
· Or it might be when you travel to meet with your elderly parents in their nursing him.
We live one life, but in different worlds, with different areas of influence with different groups of people. Therefore, when we are talking about journeying to work, I think we are really talking about the point of transition between worlds, the point when we ‘go through customs’ on our journey. It is a transition we feel. And we feel it. I’m sure we all know the ‘right – here we go again’ feeling...
Putting on the mask?
Several years ago, a friend of mine told me that, prior to becoming a Christian, the last thing he did before going to work was put on his mask to face the world. The interesting thing was, when he became a follower of Jesus, he didn’t need to do that anymore because he wasn’t alone anymore!
I think we all do that. And it can be a good thing, or a bad thing.
In 1987, Sylvester Stallone starred in a movie called ‘Over the top’. It was an all action movie about an arm wrestler. In the movie, Stallone is a gentle, happy go lucky, baseball cap wearing Father with a gift for arm wrestling. When challenged to a bout, he precedes each contest with a little ritual in which he turns his baseball cap round so the peak faces the back. In that process he turns from a Father into a Fighter. This clever little movie tool illustrates something that we all do.
As a teenager I would be revising at home, nervous about the upcoming exam until the crucial moment when I put my school uniform on – then I was (felt) ready!
The thing is there is a difference between putting on a mask and putting on your school uniform.
Being ‘single minded’
Throughout the Bible, a constant theme of living life as a follower of Jesus is that of being single-minded.
What do we mean?
When speaking about money, Jesus says –
‘No-one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.’ (Matt 6v24)
Jesus is talking about people who are not ‘single’ in their dedication and worship of God. They have split personalities, worshipping more than one God. Time and time again in the pages of the bible and in the lives of those who Jesus spends his time with, we see people who are double minded. We see the Pharisees pretending to worship God whilst really wanting people to worship them. At times we see some of the apostles wanting the seats closest to Jesus because they are the places of greatest honour.
And we can be like that. It can be tempting to be someone else at work, or at school, to show a different side to our personality because we are with different people who value different things. When you are at home you are with people who value consistency, gentleness and care. But when you are at work it is easier to be a bit of a lad, laughing at things you’d keep quiet about at home, giving the impression you are someone else.
It can even be that we find our identity when we are at work, in our work rather than in the God who made us and loves us. Ring any bells?
The contrast that Jesus constantly paints is a picture of a consistent life, ‘single’ in its worship. A life lived ‘in sync’ even as you travel from world to world in your daily experience. This is what ‘integrity’ means and is all about.
Integrity is one of those characteristics you can see in people from a mile away. It is attractive, magnetic and ultimately like Jesus. There is a great definition of integrity in 1 Corinthians 4v15-17.
‘So I ask you to follow my example and do as I do. That is the very reason I am sending Timothy – to help you do this. For he is my beloved and trustworthy child in the Lord. He will remind you of what I teach about Christ Jesus in all the churches wherever I go.’(NLT)
Paul wanted, and expected the Christians in the town of Corinth to follow his example in the way that they lived, to ‘do as he did’. On 6 different occasions Paul tells various Christians to follow his example, to ‘imitate him’; literally to ‘Mimic’ him. The ‘impressions show’ is not far from the mark.
But look again at the verses. What is important is the link between the behaviour and what Paul teaches. Paul’s behaviour matches up with what he teaches about Jesus in all the churches. The NIV makes this even clearer
‘[Timothy] will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church’ (1 Cor 4v17 NIV)
Paul set an example that he wanted others to mimic because he lived a life ‘in sync’, which pointed people to Jesus. And that is what it means to be single minded, rather than a split personality.
So, when you think about your life, whether leaving home for work, or school, or when looking after the children or parents etc. Does it match up? Are you living a life ‘in sync’?
What would your wife or husband think about the way you interact with people at work if they could see you? Does it match up with the person who leaves home in the morning? If not, what is happening during the ‘commute’?
What would your school or college friends think of the way you are at home if they were a fly on the wall?
Jesus calls us to single-minded living, lives ‘in sync’.
And he knows.
Before God there is only one Pete Chilvers. He knows who I really am, and is not convinced by the person I might try to be when in the dental surgery or the office. And he wants me to be me single-mindedly living in sync, mimicking his son.
The thing is, there is a difference between hiding who you are (and putting on a mask), and trying to be like someone else (mimicking Jesus).
The problem is, as we move between worlds, we do have different functions and roles where different things are expected of us.
A little later in 1 Corinthians Paul says these words.
‘Whatever you eat or drink, or whatever you do, you must do all for the glory of God. Don’t give offence to Jews or Gentiles or the church of God. That is the plan I follow, too. I try to please everyone in everything I do. I don’t just do what I like or what is best for me, but what is best for them so they may be saved. And you should follow my example, just as I follow Christ’s.’ 1 Cor 10v31-11v1
So, when Paul is with Jews, he becomes one of them in order to reach them. When he is with Greeks, he becomes one of them. When with the weak, he becomes weak, when with the oppressed he becomes one of them (see 1 Corinthians 9 v 19-23). As Paul travels from one world to another, he is in the process of transition. He ‘ tries to please everyone in everything he does’. But he does it by following Jesus example and adapting to the world he is in, so that he may best love and reach those he ministers too!
Not masks, but armour
Different things are asked of us in the different worlds we operate in. Indeed, God wants different things from us in the different worlds we operate in but we are only one person, the same person we always are before him. He wants us to remove our masks, to seek to mimic him and to live lives that are in sync because they are built on the security of knowing we are his and he loves us.
So, how do we live consistent, coherent lives despite our travelling to different worlds where people DO speak different languages? And how can our checking in through customs (how can our commute, our time on the bus, our walk to the office, our walk to the babies room) help us to live lives that are in sync?
Rather than putting on a mask, we put on armour.
Pauls description of the Armour of God that equips us to stand for him in a world which is, in reality, a battlefield, is compelling.
· Paul tells us to put on the belt of truth – a life that rests on God the absolute rock that our world, truth and reality rests upon. Before going into battle, a Roman soldier would gather his robe up and tie it tight with a belt so as to not get snagged when fighting. This is about being ready for battle
· We put on the breastplate of righteousness, a life that revels in being right with God and wants to reflect that in the manner that it is lived.
· We wear Gospel ready feet, people whose every move, every place we go to and thing we do is prompted and empowered by the gospel of peace.
· We wear the shield of faith, a trust in God that means we believe him and which protects us from any flaming lies that oppose God, or seek to influence us!
· We wear the helmet of salvation, so that our minds are protected by the work Jesus did on the cross
· We wield the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. It is our weapon, never far from our grasp.
· And we pray, that constant communication and dependence upon our commander that orients and directs us on the battlefield.
And so, as we transition from one world to another let’s not go unprepared, and let’s not go with our masks up. Task off the mask and seek to mimic Jesus Christ. And as we do, let’s put on the armour that will enable us to stand. So, let’s get on the bus...