{"id":2960,"date":"2019-07-22T08:49:23","date_gmt":"2019-07-21T22:49:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/?p=2960"},"modified":"2019-07-22T08:49:23","modified_gmt":"2019-07-21T22:49:23","slug":"which-spirit-leads-you-21-07-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/?p=2960","title":{"rendered":"Which ‘spirit’ leads you? 21-07-2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Which \u2018spirit\u2019 leads you?<\/i><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Amos 8:\u00a0 <\/span>1-12;\u00a0 <\/span>Luke 10: 38 \u2013 42; Galatians 4: 1 – 9<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Is\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I hadn\u2019t been at Tyndale House for more than three weeks when my brother came up from London to see me. It was my first time in the UK. I will not forget his initial remarks as he entered Tyndale House. He said, \u2018this place has a peaceful – a holy feel about it\u2019. He had recognised something about Tyndale House while standing in the entrance hall. The spirit of the place hit him. Tyndale House is a Biblical Research Centre in Cambridge UK and independent of the University. It is a place of studious quietness and where conversations were mostly about one\u2019s area of research. It did have atmosphere. The place had its own spirit.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Now I imagine you can identify with the notion that places have a spirit or atmosphere. Entering a place of worship will have a different \u2018feel\u2019 to a university campus, railway station, airport, or food hall. But having said that it is very difficult to articulate exactly what we mean when we say this place has a spirit. To speak of the spirit of something or someone is to speak of the prevailing tendency, animating principle, dominating characteristic, and soul of that place. So to speak of the spirit of Tyndale House in Cambridge one would be speaking about its animating principle as study; its dominating characteristic as the search for truth and understanding; and, its essence as quietness and respect. The combination of all those things amount to its spirit.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

We can legitimately talk about the spirit of other things.\u00a0 <\/span>The spirit of an international airport terminal is unique. It would be characterised by busyness, anxiety, boredom and relief, if you were at the end of the journey.\u00a0 <\/span>You couldn\u2019t describe the airport as a peaceful or inspiring place.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The other important thing to recognise is that the spirit of a place or the environment affects us for better or worse. Entering a place of worship as opposed to a busy transport terminal will have a different effect upon us. \u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I want us to reflect on these matters today as the Bible often speaks both indirectly and directly about the spirit of the people, culture and environment.\u00a0 <\/span>The warnings in the Bible about worshipping other gods and following the ways of other cultures are about the effect of the spirit of such places. We don\u2019t ponder this truth very much, but the Scriptures remind us of it.\u00a0 <\/span>Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, encourages the Galatian Christians not to turn back again to the weak and beggarly <\/i>elemental spirits<\/i> [Gal 4:9]. The elemental spirits<\/i> refer to two aspects of life.\u00a0 <\/span>At one level the \u2018elemental spirits\u2019 are the \u2018ABCs\u2019 of life: the basic conventions of society, of socialising and of cultural practices. They refer to the forces that shape our lives socially, psychologically and politically. At a deeper level they refer to the spiritual forces of cultures and religions. We might say that today in our Australian culture the elemental spirits<\/i> might refer to our culture\u2019s values and beliefs. Such values and beliefs help us up to a point, but they also confine and restrict us. We have social conventions about being nice to each other, which at best help us socialise and at worst prevent us from speaking or acting the truth about things.\u00a0 <\/span>The simple greeting, \u201cHow are you?\u201d followed by \u2018I\u2019m fine\u201d can be problematic. When I greet someone who is very sick I am careful how I greet them. You see \u201cHow are you?\u201d can be construed as a request for a health report. \u2018How are you?\u2019,\u00a0 <\/span>generally just means \u2018good to see you\u2019.\u00a0 <\/span>Our response, \u2018Good, thank you\u2019 is really saying \u2026 something like, \u2018Good to see you too!\u2019 Our little conventions are not without their difficulties.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

However there are bigger issues.\u00a0 <\/span>We find streams of cynicism in our culture preventimg us from seeing the positiveness of life or the good in certain people. The force of these things is such that we get caught up in the cynical conversations and hide behind the polite conventions of our society. The material idolatry drives us to making money even at the expense of others\u2019 well-being.\u00a0 <\/span>In recent times we have seen examples of this in our financial institutions. Cynicism spawns doubt and distrust.\u00a0 <\/span>For all the good things about our country \u2013 and there are many \u2013 we struggle to achieve ethical financial behaviour and our personal well-being is undermined by a strong negativity which spawns depression. This spirit of our culture is not Christian, yet we can be enmeshed in it. The point I want to make is that our culture is not Christian \u2013 it may be influenced by Christianity or a religion, but that is not the whole box and dice.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Paul responds to the clash between the elemental spirits <\/i>of the Greco-Roman culture and the Spirit of God in Galatians. Paul presents his readers with a choice: the choice of following the ways of the world or the ways of God. That choice is just as relevant today as it was 2000 years ago. We Christians confuse many of our culture\u2019s conventions as Christian. For example, God calls us to responsible selfless love for others, whereas our culture calls us to insist on our rights. Christians are called to love and our culture calls us to be tolerant. Tolerance is a good thing but love for our neighbour is a far finer thing. Our conventions of social niceties can prevent us from speaking the truth about our faith and belief in God. Think of how many times you have avoided talking about your faith because of the social expectation of friends.\u00a0 <\/span>Maybe we follow the spirit of our culture so closely that we don\u2019t even realise that we are doing it!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Paul encourages the Galatian Christians to be led by the Spirit and not to be self-indulgent. Christians are to live by the Spirit and produce the fruit of gentleness, kindness, joy, peace, patience and self-control [Gal 5: 16, 18, 22].\u00a0 <\/span>The prophet Amos warns the people that selfish behaviour and exploitation of the weak will lead to their destruction. Amos warns against following the spirit of materialism in his society. Materialism and the love of wealth always clash with the Spirit of God. [Amos 8:1-2].<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The story of The Two Brothers<\/i> provides a simple account of what life might look like if we are led by and live by the Holy Spirit.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTwo brothers worked together on a family farm. One was unmarried and the other married with children. They shared what they grew equally as they always did \u2013 produce and profit. But one day the single brother said to himself, You know, it\u2019s not right that we should share the produce equally, and the profit too.\u00a0 <\/span>After all, I\u2019m all alone, just by myself and my needs are simple. But there is my brother with a wife and children. He has much more responsibility than I do.<\/i><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

So in the middle of the night he took a sack of grain from his bin, crept over the field between their houses and dumped it into his brother\u2019s bin.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, unknown to him, his brother had the same thought. He said to himself, It is not right that we should share produce and profit equally.\u00a0 <\/span>After all, I am married and I have my wife to look after me and my children for years to come. But my brother has no one, and no one to take care of his future.<\/i><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

So he too, in the middle of the night, began taking a sack of grain from his bin and sneaking across the field to deposit it in his brother\u2019s bin.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

And both were puzzled for years as to why their supply did not dwindle. Well, one night it just so happened that they both set out for each other\u2019s barn at the same time. In the dark they bumped into each other carrying their sacks. Each was startled, but then it slowly dawned on them what was happening. They dropped their sacks and embraced one another.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Suddenly the dark sky lit up and a voice from heaven spoke, \u201cHere at last is the place where I will build my Temple. For where people meet in love, there my Presence shall dwell.\u201d<\/i><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Think of that \u2013 every time you selflessly love another, God is present building the Temple of God.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Living by the Spirit ultimately means that we will put aside pretences, set aside appearances and hear the silent cry for help. Being led by the Spirit means that we will go where we are needed and care about the truth.\u00a0 <\/span>Living by the truth we will see the new possibility, embrace God\u2019s promise and listen with a gracious ear to all that is about us.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Sadly the tale about Martha and Mary provides us with a picture of the difference between being led by the Spirit of God as opposed to the spirit of convention. Martha set about caring for Jesus\u2019 needs.\u00a0 <\/span>Mary set about listening to Jesus. We are not sure what Jesus needed most \u2013 a cup of tea or a listening ear? Both were attending to Jesus. Martha spoilt it by complaining. In her complaint she showed her dependence upon conventions and some jealousy of Mary. Jesus\u2019 response suggests he found more strength in being listened to. Maybe Jesus needed to be listened to more than Mary needed to hear Jesus? We will never know completely, but the tale does remind us that there are two ways: the way of the world and the way of God. \u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

What \u2018spirit\u2019 is leading you? By what \u2018spirit\u2019 do you mostly live?\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

*******<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Peter C Whitaker, Leighmoor UC:\u00a0 <\/span>21\/07\/2019<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

pcwhitaker@icloud.com<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\/ www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Which \u2018spirit\u2019 leads you? Amos 8:\u00a0 1-12;\u00a0 Luke 10: 38 \u2013 42; Galatians 4: 1 – 9 Is\u00a0 I hadn\u2019t been at Tyndale House for more than three weeks when my brother came up from London to see me. It was my first time in the UK. I will not forget his initial remarks as he entered Tyndale House. He said, \u2018this place has a peaceful – a holy feel about it\u2019. He had recognised something about Tyndale House while standing in the entrance hall. The spirit of the place hit him. Tyndale House is a Biblical Research Centre in Cambridge UK and independent of the University. It is a place of studious quietness and where conversations were mostly about one\u2019s area of research. It did have atmosphere. The place had its own spirit. Now I imagine you can identify with the notion that places have a spirit or atmosphere. Entering a place of worship will have a different \u2018feel\u2019 to a university campus, railway station, airport, or food hall. But having said that it is very difficult to articulate exactly what we mean when we say this place has a spirit. To speak of the spirit of something or someone is to speak of the prevailing tendency, animating principle, dominating characteristic, and soul of that place. So to speak of the spirit of Tyndale House in Cambridge one would be speaking about its animating principle as study; its dominating characteristic as the search for truth and understanding; and, its essence as quietness and respect. The combination of all those things amount to its spirit. We can legitimately talk about the spirit of other things.\u00a0 The spirit of an international airport terminal is unique. It would be characterised by busyness, anxiety, boredom and relief, if you were at the end of the journey.\u00a0 You couldn\u2019t describe the airport as a peaceful or inspiring place.\u00a0 The other important thing to recognise is that the spirit of a place or the environment affects us for better or worse. Entering a place of worship as opposed to a busy transport terminal will have a different effect upon us. \u00a0 I want us to reflect on these matters today as the Bible often speaks both indirectly and directly about the spirit of the people, culture and environment.\u00a0 The warnings in the Bible about worshipping other gods and following the ways of other cultures are about the effect of the spirit of such places. We don\u2019t ponder this truth very much, but the Scriptures remind us of it.\u00a0 Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, encourages the Galatian Christians not to turn back again to the weak and beggarly elemental spirits [Gal 4:9]. The elemental spirits refer to two aspects of life.\u00a0 At one level the \u2018elemental spirits\u2019 are the \u2018ABCs\u2019 of life: the basic conventions of society, of socialising and of cultural practices. They refer to the forces that shape our lives socially, psychologically and politically. At a deeper level they refer to the spiritual forces of cultures and religions. We might say that today in our Australian culture the elemental spirits might refer to our culture\u2019s values and beliefs. Such values and beliefs help us up to a point, but they also confine and restrict us. We have social conventions about being nice to each other, which at best help us socialise and at worst prevent us from speaking or acting the truth about things.\u00a0 The simple greeting, \u201cHow are you?\u201d followed by \u2018I\u2019m fine\u201d can be problematic. When I greet someone who is very sick I am careful how I greet them. You see \u201cHow are you?\u201d can be construed as a request for a health report. \u2018How are you?\u2019,\u00a0 generally just means \u2018good to see you\u2019.\u00a0 Our response, \u2018Good, thank you\u2019 is really saying \u2026 something like, \u2018Good to see you too!\u2019 Our little conventions are not without their difficulties. However there are bigger issues.\u00a0 We find streams of cynicism in our culture preventimg us from seeing the positiveness of life or the good in certain people. The force of these things is such that we get caught up in the cynical conversations and hide behind the polite conventions of our society. The material idolatry drives us to making money even at the expense of others\u2019 well-being.\u00a0 In recent times we have seen examples of this in our financial institutions. Cynicism spawns doubt and distrust.\u00a0 For all the good things about our country \u2013 and there are many \u2013 we struggle to achieve ethical financial behaviour and our personal well-being is undermined by a strong negativity which spawns depression. This spirit of our culture is not Christian, yet we can be enmeshed in it. The point I want to make is that our culture is not Christian \u2013 it may be influenced by Christianity or a religion, but that is not the whole box and dice. Paul responds to the clash between the elemental spirits of the Greco-Roman culture and the Spirit of God in Galatians. Paul presents his readers with a choice: the choice of following the ways of the world or the ways of God. That choice is just as relevant today as it was 2000 years ago. We Christians confuse many of our culture\u2019s conventions as Christian. For example, God calls us to responsible selfless love for others, whereas our culture calls us to insist on our rights. Christians are called to love and our culture calls us to be tolerant. Tolerance is a good thing but love for our neighbour is a far finer thing. Our conventions of social niceties can prevent us from speaking the truth about our faith and belief in God. Think of how many times you have avoided talking about your faith because of the social expectation of friends.\u00a0 Maybe we follow the spirit of our culture so closely that we don\u2019t even realise that we are doing it! Paul encourages the Galatian Christians to be led by the Spirit and not<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Leighmoor.Master","author_link":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/author\/leighmoor-master"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"Sermons<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Which \u2018spirit\u2019 leads you? Amos 8:\u00a0 1-12;\u00a0 Luke 10: 38 \u2013 42; Galatians 4: 1 – 9 Is\u00a0 I hadn\u2019t been at Tyndale House for more than three weeks when my brother came up from London to see me. It was my first time in the UK. I will not forget his initial remarks as…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2960"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2960\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2961,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2960\/revisions\/2961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}