MINIMUM DAILY REQUIREMENTS
Various Scripture Passages

For years children have been taught about our body's "minimum daily requirements." Remember the "four food groups?" Dieticians drilled into us how many servings of meat, dairy, fruits and vegetables, bread and grains we should consume every day. Now after several decades what we believed to be our "minimum daily requirements" have turned out to be far more minimal and not even daily. Suddenly we are informed we no longer need all that meat, or all that milk. Fat is out; fiber is in. The pasta lovers of the world can rejoice, as the daily demand for carbohydrates climbs and proteins plummets. Even if we are no longer sure what exactly our "minimum daily requirements" should be, we do recognize that our bodies need certain things everyday to maintain health and strength.

Just as we all have physical "minimum daily requirements," so our own spiritual body must be constantly nourished with a carefully balanced diet of prayer and praise, worship and work. For too long our spiritual health has been ignored or taken for granted, as though it were an aspect of our lives that would simply take care of itself. Not true. Unlike the still new and burgeoning field of nutritional science, Christians have a long tradition of those elements necessary to meet our spiritual MDRs. The prophets, the saints and Jesus himself demonstrated how a vital life of faith is dependent on the presence of certain spiritual One-A-Days.

MDR#1. Communal Rituals -- This was the requirement stressed so strongly by the Ephesians' writer last week. Christians are not found in singles. Christians grow like grapes -- in clusters. Participating in a community of faith is not an elective. Daily communal rituals must be a part of any healthy spiritual regime. Whether family devotions, prayer breakfasts, study circles, Bible studies, we need each other to practice love, keep the faith and have hope.

MDR#2. Spiritual Exercises -- Each person must flex his or her spiritual muscles on a daily basis if he or she is to keep them fit and flexible. Do you make room in your morning or evening schedule for a time of prayer and devotions? Do you regularly sing out to the Lord -- even if it's in the shower or in the car? Our faith must find words, and the words of praise and adoration that come out in song and prayer should be a part of our daily spiritual regime. Prayer is especially crucial to spiritual health. It keeps us in close personal contact with the One whose love draws us together in the first place. Prayer is not just an excuse for giving God a long list of requests. ("I'm gonna say my prayers now," a six-year-old yelled from up in his bedroom. "Anyone want anything?") Prayer is the act of opening our spirit to a two-way street of communication. Like breathing, prayer involves both exhaling our needs, our love, our praise, and inhaling God's peace and power and presence. Think of prayer as a kind of spiritual aerobics, exercise that forces your spirit to breathe deeply and fully oxygenate the soul.

MDR#3. Mission -- A refreshed and strengthened spirit will naturally flow out and over others. No matter how "busy" our lives become, our spiritual energy and health will suffer if it is hoarded, not shared in service. Being ministers of the gospel to others is what it means to be a Christian. We become ministers through the acts of love, the works of faith, that we offer to the world.

MDR#4. Intermission -- Keeping spiritually fit doesn't mean having to run a decathlon of events every day until you drop. A wiped-out spirit leaves us feeling exhausted and wrung out. Taking "down-time" to rest and regroup is an important part of maintaining spiritual health. No one can give of themselves to others when their spiritual cupboard is bare. Take time to be silent -- to read, to meditate, to walk quietly in the world with open eyes and closed mouth. Only by taking this kind of "intermission" are we equipped for "mission."

MDR#5. The Word of God -- Thankfully our spiritual strength is not dependent on our own abilities, our own insights, our own wisdom. Christians have a record of God's continuing activity in the world, God's words of love and guidance and judgment to all creation. But do you actually immerse yourself in the Word everyday? All Christians need a dose of Bible as part of their minimum daily requirements for spiritual health. Strangely, what seems like such an obvious additive is the one we are most likely to slough off. Too often we think of "Bible study" as something required of kids, but optional for adults. Others of us have never read whole portions of the Bible, and have no idea what these texts can contribute to our growth and development. Scripture is the most vital part of spiritual health.

All spiritual body-building is designed to strengthen our praise of God, not to make us more "godlike." God and God alone is the focus of our praise because God is God and we are not. God is awesome, God is great, even "the mountain peaks belong to God."

Lately I have felt a real longing to be refreshed spiritually. Do you ever go through those dry spells? Those times when your prayers seem forced or lack enthusiasm, maybe you don’t even say them as often any more; those times when you long for the joy you experienced when a spiritual truth became real to you; those times when God feels a long, long way from where you are?

Exalting God is an act of entering God's transcendence. We do not need to exalt God, for God is always far beyond our paltry human imaginings. But we do need to exalt in God --celebrate and worship this God who is so far and yet deigns to come so near for our sake. Feeling God's exalted status opens our spirit in wonder to the power God represents. Just to see God in ancient Jewish thought was to die. Ecclesiastes cautions, "Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few" (Ecclesiastes 5:2 NIV).

God's "otherness" should inspire human awe. In Isaiah, God confronts the prophet and demands, "To whom then will you compare me, or who is my equal?" (Isaiah 40:25) and reminds his servant Isaiah that, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways" (Isaiah 55:8).

4. Adoration. This is the awe of God's otherness. God's transcendence leads us through praise to an intimate period of Adoration -- this is a seated, a kneeling and even a silent mode, encapsulated by Psalm 95:6,7 "Come let us ... bow down ... let us kneel ... We are the people of his pasture."

The God above and beyond the mountains nevertheless makes us "the people of His pasture, the flock under His care." How could a God so transcendent yet be a God so immanent? It is when we bow down in wonder at the greatness of God that the transcendent Lord moves towards us and is felt as an immanent God. God, the omniscient and omnipotent, is also closer to us than a brother, nearer to our hearts than a sister. God has established a relationship of divine intimacy with us in the person of Jesus, who brought divinity near. Indeed, scholars contend that what was distinctive about Jesus' experience of God was "its intimacy and immediacy," and Jesus' "intimate awareness of God as his Abba" (see Bernard J. Cooke, God's Beloved: Jesus' Experience of the Transcendent [Philadelphia: Trinity Press International, 1992], 23).

5. Empowerment. This is the fifth stage in our worship workout, a mobile mode that gets us up out of our seats and on our feet in service to the world. The Empowerment phase implores with Psalm 95:7, "Oh, that today you would listen to his voice!" Praising God in worship -- vigorously inviting, engaging, exalting and adoring the divine is not an exercise in selfishness. It is a period of spiritual conditioning that prepares us to go back out into the world, empowered to be ministers and missionaries for the gospel of Jesus Christ. We should leave worship even as fitness instructors claim we should leave the gym after a good work-out -- refreshed, invigorated and ready to go.

The problem with too many churches is that they are still focused on trying to attract people into their sanctuaries. What praise/worship should do is start enabling and equipping members to go out into the world. Churches do not attract people; Christ does -- and Christ is only known through the witness of his disciples.

We already have the best equipment in the psalms and hymns, new and old, that the saints have composed. We already have the greatest instructor of the ages, in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So what's keeping us benched on the sidelines?

Let's give our spirits a work-out for God.

Engagement Mode:

O sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord, all the earth! Sing to the Lord, bless God's name; proclaim God's salvation from day to day.

Declare the Lord's glory among the nations, the Lord's marvelous works among all the peoples!

For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised, to be feared above all gods. (Psalm 96)

Children's Sermon
This would be a great time to introduce James Ritchie's method for singing a psalm. Use Psalm 100. Give each child a noise to make. And have a responsive cheer, rather than a responsive reading. For example, say Make and have the children repeat it. Then say Make a joyful and have the children repeat that phrase. Next say Make a joyful noise and point to each child and let them make his or her joyful noise. Continue through the Psalm with motions to the end.
--Philip Schroeder

Prayer

I poured out praise to the Lord, Because I am his own.
And I will recite his holy ode, Because my heart is with him.
For his harp is in my hand, And the odes of his rest shall not be silent.
I will call unto him with all my heart; I will praise and exalt him with all my members.
For from the east and unto the west Is his praise;
Also from the south and unto the north Is his thanksgiving.
Even from the crest of the summits and unto their extremity Is his perfection.
-The Odes of Solomon, Ode 26.

Benediction

Loving God, together now We praise your wonderful love, Until we leave the human world for heaven above We will always praise you. Glorify you, glorify you! Eternally return to God and the Lamb. Glorify you, glorify you, Eternally return to God and the Lamb. -Adapted from Kim-Kwong Chan and Alan Hunter, eds., Prayer and Thoughts of Chinese Christians (Boston, Mass.: Cowley Publication, 1991), 50.

A sponge.

When we step out into the world, the sponge is full and we begin to squeeze it. It's our turn now to impart information and wisdom to others, and we squeeze it and squeeze it to relieve that sponge, and one day there's nothing left. It's all dry and hard.

But there's another alternative. Replenish that sponge. Throughout your life, keep doing what you've been doing here. Keep signing up for new courses. I don't mean that you should literally take courses necessarily, but approach the world as if it were a wonderful, limitless curriculum from which you can continue to soak up the new and enriching juices of life.

Is Your Personality Bad for Your Heart? The physician who first identified the "Type-A Personality" with high-risk physical and behavioral characteristics has recently updated the list in the American Heart Journal. Here are some traits that indicate increased risk of heart disease:

Time Urgency

- Being warned by others to slow down
- Haste in walking, eating or leaving the table after a meal
- Obsessive punctuality
- Frequently doing several things at once -- watching TV, eating and reading
- Intense dislike of waiting in lines
- Rapid speech -- speaking at 140 or more words a minute
- Hastening the speech of others, interrupting or answering questions before they have been completely presented

Hostility

- Frequent loss of temper while driving
- Disbelief in altruism
- Chronic difficulty in relationships
- Teeth grinding
- Excessive irritation at the trivial mistakes of others
- Harsh, irritating or loud voice
- Hostile laugh -- very loud, explosive, jarring outburst of sound
--UT Lifetime Health Letter, 5 (December 1993), 2.

Men who kiss their wives daily live an average of 5 years longer than married men who do not regularly kiss their wives.

--From The Wisdom of Amish Folk Medicine, ed. Patrick Quillin (North Canton, Ohio: The Leader Company, 1993), 94.

Prayer

Almighty God, Redeemer:
Even as with our bodies, so also with our souls, Redeemer, Christ: Sunshine and storm, mist and greyness eddy round our inner lives. But as we trace the pattern, looking back, we know that both darkness and light have been of Thine ordaining for our own soul's health. Thy constant care in all, and everywhere, is manifest. Amen.

-excerpt from George F. MacLeod, The Whole Earth Shall Cry Glory (Isle of Iona: Wild Goose Publications, 1985),13.

Indications you may have soul disease:

§ Attend church less than twice a month regularly
§ Pray less than twice a week
§ Your life has more acts of “doing” than “being”
§ When you “count the cost,” it has to do with money, not following Jesus
§ Your speech is motivated by jealousy or selfishness
§ You have been heard to say, “My life is in utter chaos!”
§ You have convinced yourself that doing wrong is sin instead of remembering that not doing right is also sin.
§ You come to church more out of habit than for wanting to be spiritually challenged
§ You find that the week goes by so quickly from Sunday to Sunday and realize you never read one passage in the Bible all week long
§ You have been criticizing, complaining, and/or worrying more lately
§ When someone accuses you of wrongdoing, you flare up in anger, argument or defensiveness
§ You think or say out loud, “I am stressed out!” more than once a week
§ Sometimes you feel as though the weight on your shoulders is heavier than you can carry

A generous person will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.” (Prov 11:25 NIV) “A generous person will be enriched; and one who gives water will get water.” (NRSV)

“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest…I am gentle and humble in heart…learn from me…and you will find (refreshment) for your souls.” (My own paraphrase of Matthew 28:28-29)

What makes us weary and dry in spirit? One thing would be heavy burdens—poor health or being the caretaker of someone in poor health, excessive responsibilities or demands; persecution; weariness in the search for God; sin.

Let’s talk a little bit about those things that suck the joy from us. Sin. You know, that’s probably the biggest thing that stands between God and us and the one thing we’re the least able or ready to even consider for why God feels so far away. No matter what the sin, I can assure you that it creates a big rift in our relationship with the Lord. And I’d be willing to bet that if you think hard enough about those dry spells, you will find a sin or two buried there in the sandy desert. Sometimes we bury our sins so deep within us, they become second nature and we even convince ourselves, “Well, so-and-so does it, why can’t I?”

When we go our own way, we cannot blame God for the environment we create for ourselves, we cannot blame Him for the mess we’ve gotten into. Sometimes we stray so far away from Jesus, or we don’t know Him well enough to trust Him to do what the pastor or the Bible says He can do. Whatever it is that puts that distance between us and our Lord, Jesus can free us from every single burden! The refreshment Jesus promises is love, healing, and a sense of peace about God.

Our Shepherd knows the “green pastures” and the “still waters” that will refresh and restore us. And when we allow Him to guide us, only then will we have contentment and an inner calmness, an inner peace. Once we learn to follow, He leads us beside still waters, he leads us down the right paths, he’s there in the darkest valley filled with evil, he restores our souls. (SOFTLY) He leads me beside the still waters, he restores my soul…(PAUSE) (from Psalm 23:2-4)

The next time you are tempted to go your own way rather than the Shepherd’s way, remember that rebelling against God’s leading is actually rebelling against our own best interests.

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