Body Unity 01
By Bill Jacobs
This article is taken from a transcript of an audio presentation given on March 7, 2005
Follow this link to access the audio or transcript.
A man named Monty Roberts wrote a book called The Horse Whisperer . And in this book he detailed his experiences with horses and other animals. And he tells how, when he was a young teenager living in Salinas, California, he made a deal with the mayor to provide wild mustangs for their annual county rodeo. So he went to Nevada, where the wild mustangs were running the high plains there, and he began talking to people about how the herds of wild mustangs roamed those plains. And one of the old-timers told him how the Indians used to catch them. Several braves would follow a herd of wild mustangs on foot for several days. Of course, the horses wouldn't let them get anywhere near. And after about three days of that, they would, in broad daylight, turn and walk into a blind canyon – box canyon – and the horses would follow them – follow them for several days and walk right into a box canyon. And then the others would close the canyon off and they'd have them trapped.
When he got older he remembered how the Indians used to catch wild mustangs. He developed a way of training a horse. Most of the time the way they break a horse is not a very humane process. But what he would do is, he would take an unbroken horse into a round corral and he would stand in the middle. And the horse, of course, is going to try to get as far away from him as he could. So he'd stand off by the fence. And he'd have a big lariat rope that he would flick out behind the horse in kind of a lazy fashion, and the horse would start running around to the left. And he'd keep his face focused on the horse's face. And when it seemed like the horse was about to slow down, he'd flick that rope out there again and get him moving – and just keep him moving around and around and around this corral – for three or four hours. And then without warning, he'd pull his rope in, coil it up and he'd turn so that his right shoulder was at a forty-five degree angle to the horse's head. And he'd stand there. And if the horse came this way, he'd turn like that. If it would back the other way, he'd turn that way. He kept that constant forty-five off his right shoulder to the horse's face. Pretty soon the horse would walk up and put his muzzle on his right shoulder.
How did that happen? How could he do that? Monty calls that joining up . And in his book he explains that wild horses have two drives built into them – that are natural to them. One, is the drive for freedom – to be free. They have to be free so they can run from predators. Being in a box canyon is not a good thing for a horse. They want to be out on the plains where they can see a long way. They can see the wolves, the coyotes, the mountain lions. So they want to be free. They try to keep space between them and predators. But they're also herd animals. They want to be a part of a herd. So they're both hard-wired to keep their distance and also to join up with a herd. They are social animals. So when the Indians chased the herd, they wanted to get away. And when the Indians turned and walked away, they wanted to follow. And they were activating those two different drives. And the reason they pushed the horses first was to create the sense that they needed freedom. And then when they turned and walked away, they created a tension between that drive and the drive to follow. So eventually these horses would resolve the tension in favor of following. And the same thing happened in the corral. He chased the horse around – kind of lazily – for several hours, and then he'd turn. And once the horse realized there wasn't any danger, he'd join up. He walk up and put his muzzle on his shoulder.
Now Monty wrote another book after he wrote this book. You've probably heard of The Horse Whisperer . They made a movie out of it. But most people haven't heard of the second book that Monty Roberts wrote. It's called Horse Sense for People . And he points out that people have the same two drives that horses have.
I use these two drives in my work at school. Last Monday, for example, I had five fifth-grade girls in my office sitting around a round table. And they'd been having a spat for several weeks – so much so that their teacher referred them to me for mediation. And the teacher also told me, when I went to the classroom to pick up these kids, that one of these girls was in a family that was under extreme duress at that particular time. And her grades had been declining, she cried easily in class, she'd been short-tempered with other kids. So I asked this group, when they were in my office doing this mediation – this is a recess, by the way. We don't do mediation during class, because everybody likes to get out of class. But they don't like to miss recess. So the motivation to do the work and be done is caused by having the mediation during recess time. And I don't care how long it takes them to resolve the problem. I really enjoy having them in my office, I tell them, so they can stay there till Thanksgiving, or Christmas, or Labor Day, whatever, Memorial Day. I don't care. I'm happy to have them there. So as soon as they can come up with a story about what happened – why they were mad at each other – that they can all agree to, then we can move on to step number two.
So they'd been there for four days trying to come up with a story they could all agree to, and getting more desperate all the time as they missed more and more recess. Well, I never got stern with them. I tried to show by my behavior that I enjoyed being with them. After that first day was over, I asked this girl – the one that was in the stressed family – to stay behind for a minute. And after the others left, I told her, “Your teacher tells me that your family's having a really bad time right now.” And there was this sort of question mark on her face at first, but as she processed what I was saying, she realized what I was talking about. And you could see the question mark turn into a light bulb. Then I said, “Because your teacher cares about you, she wants me to talk to you about this problem. But I want you to know that you don't have to talk about this with me unless you want to. And I also want you to know, if you ever want to talk about it, I'm hear to listen to you and help you figure out what to do, instead of telling you what to do. So I want to help, but only if you think you need my help.” And with that I smiled at her and told her she needed to get back to class, because recess was over.
So there's the two drives engaged – the desire to be free and not have to tell another bossy adult about a problem and have them tell her what to do, and the desire to come in my office and start building a relationship with somebody. So I said nothing more to her. And while she was there the rest of the week, I treated her just like the others. I didn't pay her any special attention, but I didn't give her any less either – treating her just the same as everyone else. And on Wednesday I noticed that I caught a glimpse of her out in the office – down the hall from my office. Seeing her around, I saw her go into the social worker's office next door to mine, and kind of look in toward my office. Kind of reminded me of a dog kind of sniffing around, checking things out. Yesterday I was walking out to a classroom out at the edge of the school grounds and I saw her coming my way. This is during class time. I don't know why she was out there. But she managed to navigate herself so that we wound up face to face. Two people, right? Usually one takes the right. The other takes the left. No, she managed to stay right in front of me until I had to stop or run over her. So there we are – face to face – right? And she still wasn't sure enough to begin talking about the problem, but any time a child goes face to face with an adult, there's a level of comfort there.
It works. Now it doesn't work every time – just like not every horse will walk into the canyon – but it works. And she doesn't want yet another adult running her life, but at the same time, she also is a social person. She craves relationship. And here's an adult that doesn't get angry with her – like everybody else she knows – and has offered to help. So, to her, this is even maybe more needful than talking about family problems. And if she resolves that tension between those two issues in favor of talking, not only will she gain the relationship she instinctively knows she needs – and is good for her – but she's also going to benefit very much from verbalizing her concerns and feelings that are pent up about her family situation.
Now the title of this sermon is Body Unity . So why are we talking about horses and little girls? Well, to point out two powerful drives in human beings – the drive to be unified and connected and in relationship with others, and at the other side of a continuum, the drive to be independent of others at the same time. And any time we talk about church unity, to be realistic and helpful, we must include a consideration of both of these drives that human beings have, because they are so much a part of it.
My good friend, Jim O'Brien, has started a newsletter for leaders of congregations. And this newsletter called Faith Network crosses a lot of lines – organizational lines and, I think, social lines as well. And the idea of it is to provide sermon ideas for church leadership, news of activities and ideas about what to do, what can be done, what others are doing to stimulate thought, to help congregations share resources. So it's a way to connect, cooperate, to work together and to share – which is appealing to one of the major drives humans have. And he started by calling a number of congregational leaders and talking about the concept, and he said he kept hearing the same desire from everyone he talked to. And guess what it was? And I'm going to paraphrase all the words that were spoken by the 80 or 90 people he talked to, but the essence of what they wanted was connection without control . “We want to be free, but we want to be together.” And as Christians and human beings we desire to be in relationship with others, and at the same time, we also want to be free to decide how we will be Christians and what we will believe and how we will conduct our Christianity. We want to be able to choose those things. And we want to be able to relate to Christ directly with nobody in between us and Him.
Now at this point I want to mention something for you to think about. David said that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. And God has created us with both these drives in us. And a long time ago I was taught that that drive to connect to other people is good and the drive to make my own decisions about how I would be a Christian was bad. But God made both of those drives in us. And one of them is not good and the other bad. They're both according to His plan. The both tend toward godliness, actually. The drive to connect speaks directly to our destiny in the family of God, where we're going to be in relationship with Him and each other for all eternity. That drive is in us. So that will be something that we'll want . And the drive to make our own choices, and to decide how we're going to be Christian, speaks directly to our need to become spiritually mature and complete and capable of making Godly choices. Because that's how you build Godly character, isn't it?
We've said for years that God can't put a funnel in our head and pour character into us. Character comes by how we live our life from the choices we make – the commitments we make – and how we stick to them, and all of that. So that drive to make our own choices is very much necessary if we're ever going to have Godly character.
And yet these drives – even though they're both good – are at the opposite extremes of a continuum. Complete freedom on one side and complete connection on the other. Now if we're going to be completely free – making only choices as it pleases us without regard to others – then we're going to have give up healthy relationships, because such a life is ultimately hurtful to other people. Just stay out on the extreme – and your whole motivation is just to make decisions based on what you think is right and what you want – and you'll wind up being alone a lot, because most people won't tolerate that. It's too self-centered. It's true that God doesn't want us to give up our beliefs just for the sake of connection, on the other hand. If we're going to be completely connected with others, then we're going to have to give up all freedom of choice. And He doesn't want us to do that either. He doesn't want us to give up connection to other Christians just for the sake of being right or free. And He doesn't want us to give up our beliefs for the sake of connection. So, if you take it all the way out to the ends of the continuum, neither extreme is healthy. But, because God built both drives into us, to be healthy we have to deal with both of them at once. And that's the trick.
Health is found somewhere in the tension between the two of them. With God, it's never simple, is it? This whole process of becoming like Him is so complex and so difficult. And it's always about finding that point on the top of the fulcrum where you have to stay balanced. And it's so easy to fall off, one way or the other, all the time. Nevertheless, that's how it is.
Because of some changes I've had to make in my life recently, I've been forced to survey the spiritual landscape around me more than I ever had before. And I've been looking around me at how various people have tried to resolve this tension between relationship with other Christians and the freedom of how our Christianity is going to be expressed. Have you surveyed the landscape lately? Well, I'm speaking to a group here, but I think most of the people who are going to hear this have probably been surveying it for longer than I have. But a fresh look might be helpful.
A woman wrote me a letter recently, and in interest of surveying the landscape, I want to read an excerpt from this letter. And I'm going to disguise who she is and who she's talking about. If you think you know who I'm talking about, it's not my purpose to belittle any group, but only point out one approach to the resolution of this continuum of control and relationship. Here's what she says: “I have many friends in other Church of God organizations that refuse to acknowledge, or even visit, across organizational lines for fear that they will upset the leadership and their own standing in the church. This is the case in which I find myself now in my relationship with my husband. When we were married two years ago, we were in the same organization, he became involved with another organization and is now destroying our relationship. He no longer will associate with our previous friends, or attend church with me, or have Bible study with me because he feels he owes allegiance to the leadership of his church. I have never known such a controlling and dominating organization, which wields such power over its people that they fear to cross the line or use common sense in their relationships with anyone who are outside their church.”
That's quite a statement, isn't it? And it's kind of sad, too. The only choice people get in that kind of religious situation is the choice to be a part of it or not. Those are the only two choices you have – no choices about how to be in the organization, or what the organization will be like, or how to live life in that organization. You get to be in it, or you get to not be in it.
Now, what are the pros and cons of that kind of situation? Well, all the effort – all the energy – in that organization is very efficiently focused on the goal set by the people in charge. It's all aimed at that. And you have uniformity of behavior. Everybody does the same thing. But you don't have unity of mind. You just have uniformity of behavior. Those people who are not in charge don't get to make any decisions about how things will be done and what will be done. So if they're going to be in the organization, they might conform with their behavior, but you haven't necessarily convinced them that's the right thing to do. Many people in this situation will be quietly rebellious. And certainly there's very little opportunity to build Godly character, because you even have to be somewhat dishonest to be in the organization if you have any sense of yourself whatsoever.
Well, what happens to humans in this kind of spiritual environment – where they get to choose to be in the environment or not, but nothing else? Well, Paul says something very interesting in the fifth chapter of the book of Hebrews. And I don't think that he was saying that the Hebrews were in this situation, but what he says, I think, applies to that situation we were talking about. He says in Hebrews 5, and verse 12:
Heb. 5:12 – For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God – about the revelations of God. He just got through saying, “I'd really like to teach you about Melchisedec, but you do not know your Bible well enough to hear it.” He says, And you have come to need milk, and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. So he's making an analogy here between a baby, that's immature and can only take milk, and somebody who's spiritually immature and can't handle major decisions, as we will see in a minute.
V-14 – And he says in verse 14, But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. And the word here for evil is a big clue as to what he's talking about. It isn't just talking about evil as we use the word today. It's talking about what doesn't work – what's not appropriate, what isn't effective. That's kind of the sense of the word. So he's talking about what works and what doesn't work in life situations. And he's saying these people, because their senses were never exercised in this area, they're behind. There's a spiritual arrest. Arrested spiritual development has taken place with these people, because they haven't made the hard choices about how to live life – how to live Christian life. So what he's saying is that people who are allowed the freedom to participate, and who have the will to participate in church will gradually learn more about Christian life. And they will become mature. And those people who abdicate those positions will not. So when you're in that kind of organization that makes all the decisions about how things are to be…if you're going to be in that, you're going to have to abdicate the responsibility to make those choices. And so you tend not to grow spiritually because of it.
Now our little congregation in Albuquerque is currently working on our core beliefs as a group, and we've been having discussions about them. This is all new to us. And in my opinion, we are clumsy at that, because we've never had the chance to exercise our senses in this area. Some of us are finding out that we have very strongly held beliefs, but we can't prove them to save our lives. But while we look awkward and clumsy, and we hurt each other's feelings, and we get upset because we just think everything's supposed to be just the way it's always been. If we keep struggling, if we keep trying, if we keep exercising our spiritual senses, we will grow in these things.
We used to have fights about money, but for the last nine years we've learned how to handle money, and we hardly ever have a ripple any more. There's a set of norms set up, and a process is established, and nobody feels like anybody's going to get the money – or use it unfairly – and we trust each other, and we just have all come to terms with that. And now we're going to have to do that in this area. We grew spiritually when the money issue was resolved, and we're going to grow spiritually as we resolve these things in the doctrinal area as well. We're going to learn how to listen to others without being defensive. We're going to learn how to say things to others without causing defensiveness. We're going to learn how to say things in more loving ways – or considerate ways. We're going to learn a lot more about those others that worship with us – about what they believe and why they believe what they believe. And in all that process we're going to learn to love and respect each other more. Those are good things, aren't they?
However, these discussions are not pleasant. They're not fun. They're difficult. It's hard for us to act converted when we're really marginal, because we haven't exercised the characteristics of the Holy Spirit in these areas. And that kind of brings us to the reality that growing is intensely painful. It's embarrassing and it's upsetting – much more so than sitting and listening to someone tell us what we believe. And yet, this latter easy thing doesn't produce the desired relationships, nor does it produce the desired courage of convictions. There just isn't any easy comfortable way to grow in Jesus Christ. You can have the comfortable way, but you don't grow. To grow, you have to be willing to suffer pain. Growth hurts. And those not willing to suffer the pain of growth, they can find a place where they can go and sit and listen, and that's going to feel good to them right up to the end.
Now, that's one extreme – selling out decision-making freedom for close connection or association to a group. The other end of the spectrum gives up relationships in order to exercise the freedom to make decisions. And looking around me at the spiritual landscape, it seems that some people cannot function in any group for long, because they put making decisions about their faith way above connection to others. And we know God wants us to be together with other people. And yet, they put being right ahead.
So the spiritual landscape I'm looking at is littered with splits, schisms, off-shoots, splinters, movements, condemnation-oriented, warning groups, grudge groups, doctrinally divergent groups, fringe activists, the imbalanced, the spiritually superior, and the uninformed but dogmatic. They're everywhere. And I could add etcetera to that because I didn't cover the spectrum at that end – there's even a spectrum within that end of a spectrum. And from my observations – and everybody certainly is free to make their own; I'm not trying to say anybody has to see it the way I see it – but all of those folks at that end of the spectrum are also characterized by strongly held, but uninformed opinions, and a disregard for the beliefs of and respect for other people. So spiritual health is to be found somewhere in between those two extremes.
Now there's a concept to think about, isn't it? Spiritual health. What is that? Well, that's the state where we're growing, involved, learning, changing and becoming more like the perfect example that we have in Christ. And we can't get there without others to relate to, nor can we get there without conviction of our beliefs, nor can we get there in a group where all we do is sit and be told what to think, and never contribute ourselves, our time, our talents or our gifts. Most of the people that I'm talking to today live in North America, and we see everything from the perspective of North America. Naturally. It's the only perspective we have. Our North American experience with church is one of sitting in a congregation, listening to professional prechers talk to us. That's what church is. I never knew there was any other way that church could be done – but that way. But we think that is what church is supposed to be. And we think that church is a place that you give money to, so that the church can hire people to do the church's work. And we get to sit and listen to professionals, and enjoy the environment that we paid them to create for us. So we become spiritual spectators. And what is the result of that kind of church activity over time? I mean, we've been in North America now, as a people for 300 years or more. Right? So we ought to be able to tell what the results are. Well, in North America, across all Christian denominations, attendance is declining, commitment is a thing of the past, spiritual weakness predominates, churches are drying up and closing down, morals and values in North America are tumbling down a steep and slippery slope. Commitment to God is fine as long as it doesn't interrupt our plans for Sunday afternoon. I mean, we don't understand anymore what it means to be committed to God. And that's all around us. If you're in a church like that, you will suffer a slow, creeping, sleeping weakness that's characterized by compartmentalization of your religion. And by that I mean, church is something that is done for an hour or two once a week and then the rest of the time is yours to do as you please – rather than a way of life to which we're fully committed.
Let's read a parable and think about what it means. It's in Luke16, verse 19.
Lk. 16:19 – There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. He had a nice house. He wore nice clothes. He got to eat good food. Now there's a spiritual lesson in this parable, so I'm going to characterize this rich man as someone who was a “ spiritual fat cat.” He was a “fat cat” in life in the parable, but this is about spirituality, so let's be aware of what's going on here. He's somebody who had not had to suffer much for Christ's sake, because his money insulated him from that in his life.
V-20 – But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate. Got the picture? There's this street guy in rags who is so weak he has to be laid at the gate of the rich man, where he's hoping to get something from the household of this rich person. …desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table. You know, this man doesn't have any ideas about what a great person he is. He's suffering. He's willing to take whatever's given to him – even if it's just the crumbs swept off the floor. This man knows he's only one step away from death. He's hungry. He feels like a nobody. Jesus really paints the picture for us when He said the dogs came and licked his sores . You know, if you've ever worked with people on the street, you know that after a while the hygiene, and the elements, and the lack of diet starts to take its toll on the body. And the skin is where you can see that. And after a while the skin just starts to break down and sores erupt. So that's the state of this man. He's covered with these unsightly sores and he's so weak he can't walk. He had to be laid at the gate.
V-22 – And so it was, verse 22, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. Now this does not mean that Lazarus went to heaven. This didn't happen. This is just a story to make a point. And He's telling this part of it, I think, from Lazarus' point of view right now. Lazarus died, and the next minute – the next instant – right? That's what happens when we die and the resurrection comes. On our time, it's instantaneous. We're resurrected. We don't know about all the intervening time. So to Lazarus he was alive and miserable one minute, and the next, he's being tended lovingly by none other than the immortal patriarch, Abraham, the father of the faithful. Nobody ever paid any attention to him in life, but now, you know, the “Big Kahuna” is there – you know, one of the most important people in the whole Bible is tending to him. What an honor for someone who's never been honored in this life – who was not wanted – who was shunned, who was ignored, who was cast off! It says in the end of the verse, The rich man also died and was buried.
V-23 - And being in torment in Hades – that's the next thing that happened to him – he came up in a resurrection, and he was facing a lake of fire. And being in torment in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And then he cried, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue: for I am tormented in this flame. If this was really about going to hell and burning forever, would you want somebody to come up and put a drop of water on your tongue, or would you want the Mississippi River? And want it right now? No, in this story, this man who was spiritually indolent – this fellow who took the easy way in life – didn't make it. And he's standing on the shore of the lake of fire – he's facing death by fire. He's terrified. His mouth is so dry he can't talk. And he wants just a bit of moisture so that he can beg for mercy for his family. But you know, it's too late, isn't it? The time for begging for mercy and promising to change has passed.
V-25 – But Abraham said, Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. We all have to suffer. If we want to be in the resurrection to life, we have to be willing to suffer. And if we are willing to suffer now – to do the work now – you know, to sacrifice ourselves for Christ's sake, and enter into uncomfortable conversations with people that don't agree just like we do, because we love them and want to maintain a relationship with them – if we're willing to do that work now, and build that character now, and learn to have love and respect for each other, instead of condemning one another, then we won't have to suffer later. But if we're willing to subject our ideas to the scrutiny of other people – and that's never fun, is it? – then we are going to be well off for that in the end. But if we take the easy road, the safe road, the non-involved road, the non-committed road, then we're going to pay later.
V- 26 – It says in verse 26, Abraham said to him , Besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us. Do you know what that great gulf is? It's the gulf of immortality. He was still physical, and they were immortal. So, in this story with a point, Lazarus, by his humble willingness to submit himself to the process of God, gained the mercy of God. And the rich man? Well, he'd already had his reward in this life. He had it easy.
V-27 – And he says, in verse 27, I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment. And Abraham says to him, They have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them. And he said, No, father Abraham. But if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent. But he said to him, If they do not hear Moses and prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead. We have one that's risen from the dead – that's told us what needs to happen. So Abraham, in essence, says, “We've been sending that message for two and a half millennia through Moses and the prophets, and through Jesus. And the people had their chance to listen and to follow back then. And now it's too late.”
So the point of this story – at least one of them – is, that once we arrive – perish the thought – at the shore of that lake of fire, crystal clear insight will be ours. And who are you going to call. Well, there is no one to call. It's too late. The time for change will have passed us by. It's time now for crystal clear insight for us – for wise choices based on Godly character and on the humility to become interdependent with other Christians and with Christ. We can't give in to either one of those two extremes. We've got to fight the battle and live in the middle. Christianity is not a spectator sport. We can't sit and buy a ticket and watch. We have to be fully involved, like Christ was for our sake, if we hope to enter into the Kingdom of God. We have to suffer to grow. Paying others to do what we should be doing feels good, but it doesn't work. Neither does being right all the time – or thinking we are – and putting other people's ideas down, and just blowing other people off because they aren't exactly like we are.
Of course, it's easy to point out problems, which is what I've done so far today. The trick is to teach solution. And I'm way too foolish to know any. But God is not. And He's given us a book full of instructions about how to live life. And He has, in the pages of the New Testament, provided us an example. It's an example of how to be a fully independent, decision-making Christian, who is also able to work interdependently with, and with loving respect for others. And that example we will examine in the next sermon on this short series. We will learn how Jesus shows us to be independent like He was and interdependent like He was at the same time. And in that, perhaps, we can avoid the many unhealthy extremes we see around us today in abundant array.
Access the audio or download this article.
Download an audio or transcript, or find the next in the series.
