November 22-23, 1997

Mike Slaughter

I. Creative Movement: God vs. Self
Life is designed by God to be creative movement. To just move in that creative presence of God. To dance to God’s design and plan. But when you’re honest, how much of our movement the last week was not creative? Think about this past week. How much of your energy was driven? How much of your work was compulsive? Did you experience a frantic pace? And who didn’t put in a day on cruise control? That is not creative. You see, because of the urgent, we miss the important, don’t we? We believe in God, but, oh, how we miss the power of God’s presence! And we miss the nurture we need in intimate friendship with Him.

Rest vs. Stress
Psalm 127:1-2
1: A Song of Ascents. Of Solomon. Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.
2: It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.

Well, let’s see what Psalm 127 says about creative movement. Go to Psalm 127 with me. "Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain." Have you forgotten that anytime during the past week? "Unless the Lord guards the city, those who seek security watch in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest." Now listen to this, what do we do? "Eating the bread of anxious toil." We’ve lived there this week, haven’t we? Hello, am I talking to the right folks? "Eating the bread of anxious toil." Now don’t you love this? For it is God who gives sleep or rest - not stress, rest, not stress, rest, not stress - for it is God who gives rest to those he loves.
Well, creative movement. Creative movement is about learning how to live out of God movements not self movements. So many of our movements during the week are self movements. You see, rest, not stress, is the result of aligning my time, my energies, my dreams, my relationships, my resources, with the creative spirit of God. Unless the Lord builds the house, it is not my energy. It is not my ingenuity that is going to make anything of value happen. It is the spirit of God.
Now I want you to keep your finger here because we’re going to come back, so kind of mark this place if you’re following with me in your Bible. Turn over to the right to the third chapter of the Gospel of John. John, the third chapter. A religious leader by the name of Nicodemus came to Jesus. He was a person who had experienced much success. He was part of the seventy leading Jews in Israel. He’d experienced success, he was religious, but he wasn’t living out creative movement. He was living a dogged, religious plod.
You can expend a lot of energy and even accomplish much, but still not move with creative movement. Now you’ll notice in the second verse that he notices something different about the work of Jesus. He looked at Jesus and said, "Jesus, we recognize you as a teacher that comes from God, because no one could work like you work unless God’s hand was in it." There’s that creative mix. Unless God’s hand was in it. Don’t you like that? "There’s something different about your work, Jesus." It’s energizing.

John 3:3,6
3: Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
6: That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

When people looked at your work this week did they say, ‘It’s healing. It does something to me. It’s not centered in greed or self-focus.’ Now notice what Jesus says to Nicodemus in the third verse: " Unless you’re born from above you cannot see the kingdom of God." What is the kingdom of God? The kingdom of God is the presence of God. It is the creative power that comes from God’s presence. Unless you are born from above, you cannot experience that powerful, fresh breeze of God’s creative power.
Now look at verse six. Jesus said, "For what is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the spirit is spirit." What is flesh? Flesh is that which we can most visibly see. It is easy to focus on that which is most readily visible, right? Now here’s the problem when we expend our energy on that which is most readily visible: it affects my identity. My sense of success comes from my accomplishments or possessions when I put my energy in that which is most readily visible. Right? So my sense of identity comes from what I do - my work - and God is kind of out on the edges. I believe in God, but I put my energy in that which I see. What is flesh is flesh is what Jesus is trying to say. I expend my energy there and God is kind of on the edges while my relationships are going to hell.
You see, at one time in my life, my identity came from ministry. ‘Carolyn, don’t you understand, we are doing God’s work? Why do you keep complaining you need more of my time?’ What is flesh is flesh. I didn’t realize it. My identity was coming from what I did, and my family and those closest to me were kind of a side thing.

Mistake #1
Here’s Mistake #1 that we make when we live out of flesh and when we focus our energies, driven energies, on that which is most readily visible. We have our security in the wrong place. We think we are sufficient in ourselves. We believe in God, but we are self-dependent. I mean, after all, we’ve got money in the bank, we vacation on the beach, we have three cars in the garage, and we do the weekly Nautilus workouts. We think we’ve got the world by the tail and all of a sudden your spouse gets cancer.

John 6:27
27: Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of man will give to you; for on him has God the Father set his seal."

We’re not so self-sufficient, are we? That’s why Jesus said, "Don’t labor for food that spoils." Don’t work for food that spoils. Our hand is an important metaphor. We’ve talked about this in the past. It means all kinds of things in the Bible. One, it means our worship or relationship with God -- lift up holy hands to the Lord. What are you doing with your energy? Your hand has everything to do with work, so one of the things you do with your hand is worship, lifting up holy hands to the Lord. Another thing you do with your hand is relationships. You serve. The Bible says that the hand represents work, putting your hand to the plow. Lift up holy hands, relationship with God. We serve, and when we work our hand tends to take this form.
Now where was the energy of your hand this week? Where did you expend most of your energy? Relationship with God? Relationship with those around you? Or work? What are you trying to touch? What are you grasping for?
I was speaking in Washington, D.C. several years ago at a Christian conference at the Grand Hyatt. We took our kids with us because we wanted to do the Washington D.C. scene with them. Our kids had not been there before. So we went over to the Smithsonian Institute and I noticed this large line. There weren’t lines really anywhere else, but there was a huge line that snaked outside this building and down the sidewalk. I said ‘What is this line all about?" They said, ‘Oh, the moon rock. The moon rock is in there and you can go by and touch the moon rock’
Well, like everyone else from different places in the world - and people were there from all over the world - we got in line. We waited in line long enough to have time to twice leave the line and take the kids to the restroom and buy a Coke. Waited what seemed like forever in line. When I got up there and started looking around, people were touching the moon rock. You could literally slide your hand under this little plastic thing and rub your hand on this little rock that came from the moon. Well you know what I noticed? People expended all kinds of energy to touch the moon rock. They touched the moon rock and nothing happened. Nothing happened.
I want to tell you something. When you touch the hem of Jesus’ garment, something happens! What are you reaching for? There’s only one thing that I have ever touched that has totally changed and is changing my life, my brothers and sisters. Hear me. It is hard to know God if you don’t understand your need for God. Do you hear what I’m saying? It’s hard to know God unless you know you need God. I mean, we believe in God, but we’re not dependent upon God, my brothers and sisters. You know how you’ve lived your week. What have we done with our hands this past week?
It’s kind of like we say to God, ‘I can do it by myself!’ Right? ‘I mean, I know you’re over there, God, kind of like a rabbit’s foot, just in case I ever need you like cancer or something that I can’t handle. But most things I can handle by myself.’ Right? ‘We believe in you, God, but we don’t depend upon you, God.’ It’s hard to know God unless you know your need for God. You see, when you know your need for God it’s not hard to spend an hour or two in the morning in prayer because you know you need God. It’s not hard to listen to God, to look at God’s word, to see God’s direction when you know you need God. But it’s hard to know God when you think you can do it by yourself and God’s only there like a rabbit’s foot when the big problems come your way.
You know what? This may burst your bubble. All of us important people, so many of us college-educated and everything, this may burst our bubble. Listen to this. Do you know God doesn’t need you to build anything? Did you hear what I just said? God doesn’t need you to build a thing. He only needs you and me to return His love. You see, this is why so many of us are stressed and we don’t know rest. Well, what is of the flesh is flesh. That’s what happens when we give our hand to that which is most readily visible.

Mistake # 2
Here’s the second mistake we make. We presume God will always be blessing us. We presume God will always be blessing. Now you’re sitting here, and you’re pretty aware that you’re blessed, right? Of those of us here, no one has missed a meal. If you did, it wasn’t because you had to. Some of you are sitting here and thinking, ‘I can call my children today, I know where they are.’ You’re going to go to the parking lot, you assume the car is going to start, you know that God’s hand is on you and you’re blessed and you just kind of assume that you’re always going to be blessed.
No! Do you know when God’s spirit blows, that spirit can give life but it can also take life away? Jesus walked up to a fig tree to take fruit to eat - but the fig tree was barren. It was fruitless as it related to the need of the Lord. So through the Holy Spirit He cursed the fig tree because the fruit tree was fruitless. The spirit of God moved over the fig tree causing the fig tree to wither.
You see, if you’re resistant to what God wants to do, God will remove his blessing. King Saul the first king of Israel, was God’s choice. King Saul, the first king of Israel, was going to be God’s servant, to be a channel of God’s blessing to God’s people. But guess what? Saul forgot that. He forgot the blessing was not something that would always be there. No! God’s love will always be there but his blessing is dependent upon your obedience, my brothers and sisters, your alignment of your time, your resources, your energy, your dreams, your money, to the whole will of God.

I Samuel 15:10-11
10: The word of the Lord came to Samuel:
11: "I repent that I have made Saul king; for he has turned back from following me, and has not performed my commandments." And Samuel was angry; and he cried to the Lord all night

King Saul forgot that. Instead of realizing he was the Lord’s king, he thought God was his servant, to run to like a rabbit’s foot when he got a problem bigger than he could handle. He even built a monument to himself. And you know what? The Bible says that God grieved the day that he made Saul king. When the prophet Samuel went to Saul, God said through Samuel, ‘Saul, God is going to remove your blessing, and you’ll no longer be king of Israel.’
Blessing is dependent upon the alignment of your time, purpose, dreams, and resources with the will of God. Jesus says what is of the flesh is flesh. Don’t work for food that spoils. But what is of the spirit is spirit.

The Wind of God
Now are you still with me there in John? And you’re still holding your finger on Psalm 127? Good. You’re going to have a strong finger at the end of the night. Look at verses seven and eight, third chapter of John. Jesus said to Nicodemus, "Don’t be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it chooses and you hear the sound of it but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes, so it is with everyone who is born of the spirit." You see, when you say ‘yes’ to God, when you invite Jesus into the core of who you are as a person -- I didn’t say believe in Jesus-- I said invite Jesus into the core of who you are as a person, then God blows his life into you.
Do you believe that? I mean all of that creative power, energy, presence of God. We’re not talking about compulsive work, driven work, but the same creative power and force with which he created the world, the universe. You know when I see skies of blue, that same creative force is in you.
Now how many of you have ever been sailing? Have you done this? Now the first time, in fact the only time Carolyn and I went sailing, we went to one of the Ohio lakes and rented one of those small sailboats. We got in it, no problem and went right down the lake. When we turned around to come back, it took us four hours! A twenty minute trip down took four hours to come back. All of a sudden I made an incredible discovery. A sail boat is not a power boat. See, we want to be power boats. Just go right on through the wakes and storms that come over us. We want to power our way through.
Well, you know what you have do in a sailboat? You have to tack. Tack means zigzag back and forth, because you’re totally dependent upon the creative movement of the wind. A sailboat has no power of its own. I know you want to go straight ahead like you’ve got a power boat. That’s how we go through life, but you can’t do that with a sailboat. You’ve got to zigzag, back and forth, back and forth, because you constantly have to adjust that sail to the wind of the Holy Spirit.
My brothers and sisters, we’re not power boats. What is of the flesh is flesh. But what is of the spirit is spirit. You’ll never know the creative energy of God, you’ll always experience stress and not rest, your relationships will always be shallow, until you realize you’re a sailboat and not a power boat.

II. Moving in Harmony
Psalms 127:3-5
3: Lo, sons are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.
4: Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the sons of one's youth.
5: Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

Now you see, this changes my identity. Because now I have a God-centered identity, not an identity that is centered in my job, my accomplishment or my possessions. It totally changes who I am and what I’m doing. How do I measure success? Not by my accomplishments or my position. Are you ready to go back to Psalm 127? How do I measure success? Look at verses three through five. Through harmony in my relationships. When I realize it’s God who builds the house, it’s God who watches the city, and makes sure that I’m secure, then I focus on my relationships, not my accomplishments or possessions.

Home
What does verse three talk about? Do you see that? Our children. Our families. It says, "Sons indeed are our heritage from the Lord." Do you see how my focus changes? It’s no longer I’m building a house or guarding the city. Now it’s on the children, it says in verse four, "The sons and daughters of my youth." That gift that God gave me in my youth that I have not been focused on. Do you see that in the word? You see, here’s how I measure success. It’s not by my accomplishments. It’s not by my possessions.

People
It’s about harmony in my relationships, (Graphic 17 - Moving in Harmony) the gifts of relationships that God had placed in my life. Now, God’s work becomes my work. Do you know what God’s work is? It’s not building economies. It’s building people. Did you know that we’re not here to build a church? Our business is not to build a church. Our business is to build people. That’s the business of God. In my own home, my identity was coming from what I did, ministry, so I was neglecting my relationships because I was focused on what I did, my accomplishments. But now I understand, accomplishment or work is not the business of God. The work of God is building people, so now I’m focused on harmony in my relationships.

Work
This same principle works the same way at work. You know when you’re moving in God’s creative spirit when you’re not being that power boat, but when you realize you’re a sailboat. You’re not trying to get right there to the end of the goal. You zigzag back and forth as you’re opening your sail, finding the movement of God’s spirit, and opening your sail to that movement. Do you know what happens? You do not see the people you work with as a means to accomplish the task. No. The task is there to build people! Can you believe it? You see, that’s why the task is there. The task is there for you to help people become God’s champions.
It’s about relationships, it’s about friendships. We see that in verse five where it says "Blessed is the person whose quiver is full of them." What it’s saying is blessed is the person who is constantly birthing new relationships. Blessed is that person who is discovering new friendships. Isn’t that great? But guess what? This doesn’t come from driven, compulsive movement. Did you know that? It comes from opening my sail to the wind of God’s spirit, and realizing I’m not a power boat, I’m a sailboat. Life is fun. Life was designed by God to be creative movement.

Commitment to Alignment
You know, today we come here, to not do just a little church activity where we fill out a card and put it in the basket. It is about something much more than that. We’ve been talking all fall about dance. Here’s what we’re doing today. Realigning. Where has your hand been? Where has your focus been? Has your identity been what you do, or is it a God-centered identity? And today, it’s taking time to realign my time, my dreams, my relationships, my money, with the creative movement of God’s spirit.
You’re going to be dismissed in a moment, and here’s how we’re going to do it. Come as you would on a normal communion week, but don’t come until you’ve talked to God and dealt with God. Come, and if you’ve brought your card, drop it in one of these baskets at the station closest to you. If you want to come up here to kneel and pray, if you want to go back to your seat and pray, whatever you need to do to let God love on you, do it. God doesn’t need you to build anything. What does He need for you to do? To return His love. After you put your card in the basket, pick up this purple ribbon, and the symbol of the dance. Put that someplace where you have the tendency to focus on what is most readily visible, and remember. Don’t work for food that spoils. What is flesh is flesh, what is spirit is spirit.
I’m going to dismiss you, but stay as long as you need to stay. When you’re ready, drop your commitment card which is an offering of yourself. It’s not an offering of a piece of paper, it’s an offering of yourself. And remember, you’re called to dance. Because this is a serious moment of prayer and reflection, would you please wait to talk to each other until you get out to the entryway. Would you do that?
God bless, see you next week.

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