Caring for the Most Important Part of You

 “Caring for the Most Important Part of You”

 Message @ Jericho Ridge Community Church – Sunday, May 25, 2014

Text: Mark 8: // Series: (UN)INTENTIONAL

Good morning.  Today we want to explore a question that has fascinated humankind since the very dawn of time.  It is a simple but amazingly complex question and that is: “What is the soul?  If I were to ask you to explain precisely what the word soul means, what would you say?  It’s a word we use all the time but it is notoriously slippery to define.  What is the soul? 

When I was a little kid, we would pray a little prayer each night at bedtime “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep.” – Looking back on it, I’m not quite sure what I mean by that.  I was at Starbucks this week and I noticed on their new beverage sleeves they invited me to Steep My Soul.  I’m not sure how to do that, but it seemed to have something to do with Oprah and her new line of teas that they are selling.  The concept of soul has been used to sell all kinds of stuff, including vehicles but can a car be soul-ful?  If it can, I’m not sure that it helps us answer the question. 

We can’t seem to talk about music or art without talking about how it touches our soul.  People in literature and movies are forever selling their soul, usually to the devil.  Remember that episode of the Simpsons where Homer sells his soul to the devil.  Do you remember what he gets in return?  A donut.  A soul donut, which he puts in the fridge with a label: “Do not eat: Soul Donut”.  Can the soul really be bought or sold, though? At what price?  To whom or by whom?

Our confusion about the definition of the soul doesn’t seem to stop us from using the language of soul all the time.  Much to Pastor Keith’s dislike, Derek Jeter has been called the “soul of the Yankees”. Can a Sports team have a soul?  People will say “The eyes are the window to the soul”.  Others will say that they found a “soul mate”?  What do they mean? 

Believe in the soul is incredibly pervasive.  Researchers and philosophers tell us that most people, at most times, in most places at most ages have believed that human being have some kind of souls.  How do you know you have a soul?  Vancouver based writer and artist Douglas Coupland expressed a profound thought when he penned these words “I don’t deserve a soul, yet I still have one. I know because it hurts.”  What is the soul?  Does it have to hurt in order for you to know you have one?

Even if we can’t define it precisely, all of us likely have some desire to have a healthy soul.  Here at Jericho, we are in a spring teaching series titled (UN)INTENTIONAL where we are exploring some of the areas of our lives where we want to grow in purpose and focus and intentionality.  Caring for your soul is the area we are exploring today.  Because the soul is in many ways, the most important part of you. But here’s the kicker: unless you can define something, you can’t really care for it effectively. 

So where would we turn to become more intentional about understanding for and then taking steps to care for our souls?  The Bible has a lot to say about the soul, in fact, some would say that one of the most important words in the Bible is soul.  So, What does the Bible say about souls? 

In the very beginning of the story of human beings, we are told that God crated each of us with a soul.  In Genesis 2:7 after He has created the world and everything in it, “Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living soul.”  The soul is the God-breathed, eternal part of every human being who has ever lived or ever will live. As such, it is the deepest expression of our personhood.   

The Bible teaches us that The soul is distinct from our heart, spirit, mind & body.  We because of its centrality to who we are, we are instructed repeatedly in the Bible to love God with our soul.  Nine times in the book of Deuteronomy alone this command appears.  “And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5 NLT)

We learn from the Bible that the soul can be bitter – For example, Job when he is in the midst of his incredible agony and suffering, speaks about not just his body, or his mind being in pain but his soul becoming hard and jaded.  In Lamentations 1:20, we learn that our soul can sink into despair or anguish.  In the Psalm 31:9, we see that our soul can wither.  In Proverbs 22, the writer warns us that our souls can be endangered or ensnared.  In the New Testament, God is named not only as the creator of our souls, but also the guardian in I Peter 2:25.  Pastors and those in spiritual leadership are told that their primary job description is to watch over and help care for your souls (Hebrews:13:17). So clearly the Bible sees the soul as central to who you and I are.  Now, sometimes in the Bible some of those words soul, spirit, will are used interchangeably, which can add to the confusion.  But there are distinctions.  For example in Hebrews 4:12 we are told that God’s words divide even the soul and spirit.  So we come back yet again to the question we started with: What is the soul?  If we are going to care for it well, we need to understand it well. 

Dallas Willard, one of my favorite authors was a long-time Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southern California.  In one of his books, he defines the soul as the operating system of your life.  “What is running your life at any given moment is your soul.  Not external circumstances, not your thoughts, not your intentions, not even your feelings, but your soul.  The soul is that aspect of your whole being that correlates, integrates and enlivens everything going on in the various dimensions of the self. The soul is the life centre of the human being.” – Dallas Willard  

That’s kind of philosopher-speak. But the notion of the soul as the OS or operating system is a helpful one, I think, because it causes us to see the soul’s role in integration of all of the different parts who we are.  Our thoughts, our intentions, our feelings, how we process our circumstances… It’s all the work of the soul.  Aristotle says “the soul never thinks without a picture so Willard goes on to draw this out as a series of concentric circles:  The Soul as Operating System

The operating system exerts a controlling influence on but is also influenced by the other parts of who we are.  Our will (intentions), mind (your thoughts, feelings, values and conscience), body (face, language, actions).  This is why the soul is the most important part of you.  Because when there is a harmony and integration between these parts of who I am, I have a healthy soul.  And when I have a healthy soul, I am a well person.    

In Mark 8, Jesus gives us perhaps what is the most insightful but brief assessment of your and my responsibility to care for the most important part of who we are.  Jesus is speaking to people about his death which is shortly to come.  And when you begin to speak about the cessation of your physical body’s existence, you often begin to use the langue of and speak about the existence of the soul.  Here in Mark 8:35 Jesus says: “If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. 36 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? 37 Is anything worth more than your soul?

John Ortberg, in his most recent book “Soul Keeping” relates a conversation he had about this text with Willard.  Ortberg says it this way: “I have always thought that this verse meant that in the long run, it wouldn’t do you any good to acquire a lot of money and have a lot of sex and other sensual pleasures if you ended up going to hell.  When I mentioned that to Dallas, he gently corrected me: ‘That’s NOT what Jesus is saying.  Jesus is not talking here about people going to hell… Jesus is talking about a diagnosis, not a destination…. For the ruined soul – that is, where the will and the mind and the body are disintegrated, disconnected from God, and living at odds with the way God made life in the universe to run – acquiring the whole world cold not even produce satisfaction, let alone meaning and goodness.  To lose my soul means I no longer have a healthy centre that organizes and guides my life.  I am a car without a steering wheel. It doesn’t matter how fast I can go, because I am crash waiting to happen.”(44)  

I find that language profoundly helpful: Jesus is taking about a diagnosis, not a destination.  Jesus is saying asking his hearers and by extension you and I, to assess the condition of our lives not by external measurements or standards but rather to have as our primary assessment point be the condition of our soul.  Nothing is worth more than your soul.  It is the most important part of you.  The Quakers, a religious movement that has produced many of the contemplative writers and thinkers of the past two centuries always ask each other when they get together “how is it with your soul?”.  Try that at coffee and connection time next week J.   

You can have a lot of money and have a sick and anemic soul.  You can have a happy successful family life and have an unwell soul.  You can have a very fit body and sharp mind but have soul that is out of kilter or off-centre.  But if nothing is more valuable or worth more than your soul, how do you and I go about caring for this precious part of who we are? 

The challenge I find in that other areas of my life come with a bit of a dashboard of indicators or warning systems.  For example, my physical body tells me when I am over-tired or unhealthy or hungry.  And I know what the remedy is for all of the above – eat, sleep, eat some more.  I know how to feed and stimulate my mind and keep my intellectual world sharp and well-fed.  But the soul is harder to care for. What does your soul need in order not to be lost?    

Ortebrg suggest that “You are only able to live in a way that really helps and loves others when your soul feels it worth. Yet we often pay far more attention to our work or our bodies or our finances than to our souls.  But the soul is what we will take into eternity.  Attending to the soul does’ mean we neglect those practice things like career of health.  The soul lives at the center of them all.  It means I don’t simply ask ‘how can I be more successful in my work?’ or ‘how can I acquire more money?’ Instead, I learn to understand how my involvement in each area of life is marking my soul” (Ortberg). How is my handling of my money marking my soul?  How is how I invest my time leaving a mark – positively or negatively - not only on my own soul but also on the souls of others?    

What does your soul need in order to not only not be lost, but to thrive?  The Bible gives us some very clear diagnostic indicators of what our souls need in order to be healthy.  So let’s get intentional as we look at some of them.  Before we look at these four questions, I don’t want you to make the mistake of thinking that all of these things need to be put on your “TO DO” list for this week.  As we explore diagnostic questions and some exercises that may remedy areas of malady, I want you to pick one.  One description that you think aligns with how your soul is doing these days and one activity that should you chose to engage in it, could produce a deeper level of soul health. If you are a note taker, don’t write all of them down, just the one action point for you.

In terms of soul diagnostic questions, let’s start with the statement that Jesus makes in Mark 8:35 and that is “if you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it.”  What is Jesus saying here?  The core of what He is driving at is that because the soul was created by God to be vitally connected with Him, that is the first and most enduring need that your soul will ever have:  Connection with God.  Is My soul vitally connect with God?  The Bible speaks of God as the anchor for our souls, the guardian and shepherd of this eternal part of us.  The one “Though you do not see [God] now, you trust Him; & you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. The reward for trusting Him will be the salvation of your souls” (I Peter 1:9)

Your soul will never be satisfied until that deepest longing and thirst is satisfied by being connected with the One who created your soul.  So here’s the Action point: If you soul is distant from or not connected to God, today is your day to resolve that disconnect.  The way to do this is to trust God with the care and keeping of your soul, not only for today, but for all of eternity.  You Mark 8:35 says that you must “give up your life” in order to find it.  The focus of that action is God, the only one in the whole universe who can be totally trusted with the care of your soul.  If you’ve never done that, in a few minutes I am going to lead you in a prayer of surrender.

The second diagnostic question is speaks to the reality that as we go through life, our souls can get beat up and buffeted by the circumstances that come into our lives.  And for some of you here today, your soul is in a state of Is my soul in pain and distress?  Things have happened in your life that are hard.  They may have caused you to question God and His care for you.  This is a normal part of the human experience and it is given powerful and soul-ful voice in the Old Testament Psalms.  Just one example from Psalm 13… The writer asks God:

“How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul?... Turn and answer me, O Lord my God!” (Psalm 13:1,3)

Some of you are walking through deep waters. Your soul is in pain and distress.  The universal signal for distress is SOS – save our souls.  You might need a life-line here today.  We will be moving into a time of response and prayer and I want to invite you to come and have one of our team pray with you.  Deb Jarvis, Curtis Cottrell, myself and others will be available.  Look for someone with the lanyard and they would be privileged to stand with you in this time and lift your soul and your circumstance to the Father who knows, who sees, the dark night of the soul that you are enduring.  He longs to give you strength and comfort in the midst of it.  So your action point is simple: pray and come for prayer.   

That brings us to the third diagnostic question. Sometimes, you’re not in the midst of a crisis, but over time, you feel that your soul has grown tired. 

Is my soul weary?  One of the most prolific promises when it comes to our souls in the Scriptures is the promise of rest.  Jesus says it best:  

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your soul. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly” (Matthew 11:28 The Message)

Does your soul need some recovery time?  Perhaps your calendar is not ordered to serve your soul well.  You might need to create some calendar white space in order to achieve some spiritual white space.  This doesn’t have to be some massive week long spiritual retreat in the mountains… For me, I find that my soul is restored when I get out on the water in my kayak.  Or go for a walk in nature with my family.  What restores your soul?  For some of you, your soul is in a good place.  But you know what it feels like to slip into soul fatigue.  And you can see it in those around you.  Exercise care for those around you.  Help guard the souls of your kids.  Help protect the spiritual health of your friends.  We’re going to talk more about that next weekend when we explore spiritual friendships. 

Last soul question:  What are you feeding your soul these days? 

Is my soul being well fed and nourished?

“O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you… I will praise you as long as I live,   lifting up my hands to you in prayer. You satisfy me more than the richest feast. I will praise you with songs of joy” (Psalm 63:1, 4-5)

Every human soul is hungry and needs to be well fed.  And as such, the soul grows anemic when you don’t seek out the right kinds of inputs.  What are you putting into your soul?  Are you making it a priority to hear from God in prayer and in His word?  We launched Life Journaling test drive groups for you to experiment with that – there’s still one week left in the test drive so I’d invite you to jump in if you want to learn to read the Bible.  Make time for Christian community.  Life Groups, the Men’s retreat, her Table, Sunday mornings… we are committed to providing opportunities to helping your soul be well fed and nourished but you have to take us up on them. 

Through the history of Christianity, the communion table has been a good picture of a nourishment for our soul.  Its representative – not a full meal for our physical bodies by any stretch of the imagination, but it is food for our souls.  Because it points us back to the only true source of nourishment the human soul can have: a relationship with God.  If you are not in relationship with God and with others, we respectfully ask you to abstain.  We invite all who are members of God’s family, not just people who are from JRCC to the table.   We don’t police the table but we do remind you that coming with a clean heart and soul that is open to receive is vital. Make any amends necessary. At JRCC, the way we do this is to have the team lead us in songs of response and invite you to come to the table when you are ready.  Then you can take the elements – the bread – which represents Christ’s body – and the cup, which represents his shed blood for the cleaning of our souls – back to your seat. I invite you to this table as you reflect on the condition of your soul and find here a place of deep and sustaining nourishment for the road ahead.  Let’s pray together as the worship in song team & the servers and the prayer team comes and we centre our souls on God and His amazing love for us again today.

Media note: [Put up photo slide with quote on it]