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Read ScripturePray

How are you? Tonight Im continuing a sermon series called, Doing Well. The aim of
this series is to equip all of us to do well. I would love it if at Chain of Lakes when we are
asked the question How are you? all of us can answer with authenticity, I am doing well.
The point, of course, is not to be trained in a rote way to one question. The point of this
series is for us to be coached and equipped so that we do well. We want to do well with our
whole personour mind, our soul, and our body.
At Chain of Lakes were calling this the summer of love. We dont mean the summer of
waiting and watching when the Timberwolves trade Kevin Love. No we dont mean the
promiscuous love characterized by the 1960s. Were talking about growing this summer in
agape love. We are going to end this series on Wednesday, August 20
th
with an outdoor service.
My hope is that we can say on August 20
th
that we have gone deeper in our mind, our soul, and
even our body in living and sharing agape love.
Where weve beenwhere we are going. Last week I talked about doing well with God.
God wants us to live out agape love. We pushed into what it means to live this out. At the end
of the sermon I shared two practical tips. The first was Reflect/Learn/Grow. When we mess up
we can use this three step-process to go deeper. The second tip was to vastly increase the
amount of times we say thank-you during the day. Can we multiply the amount of times we say
thanks during the day by a factor of ten.
Next Wednesday Kate O-Brien-Soltau is going to preach about doing well when we are
anxious.
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As part of this series were memorizing some verses from Ephesians. I want you to know
that our staff has committed ourselves to memorizing this Scripture from Ephesians. Weve
been working on it at every staff meeting.
3-2-1-1-2-3.
Memory is repetition
SLIDE
I pray that, according to the riches of Gods glory, God may grant that you may be strengthened
in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts
through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. Ephesians 3:16

The theme for tonight is Doing Well by living a balanced life. How many times during
the last week have we felt that our life is out of control? Once, five times, every dayfive times
a day. Technology was supposed to give our life more leisure. Despite all of its power and
wonder technology has caused us to be out of balance.
How many of us sleep within arms length of our phones?
How many of us when we wake up in the middle of the night will check our E-mail?
Do we Facebook or Twitter or Instagram or any other Social media site more than we
way thank you
How often do we walk and look at our phones?
How often do we look at our phones during a family meal?
How many family meals do we have during a week?

How often do we find ourselves in a crowd of people who are not talking to each other.
SLIDE Something like this

Im not against technology or I-Phones or any other type of phones. I use my phone quite
a lot and have to be very conscious of not getting caught up with all that I can do on my phone.
It can lead us to be out of balance.
I could spend at least six weeks in a series looking at balance. Im just touching the
surface tonight. We could look at balance in many different ways. One way would be the
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balance we try to find between family and work and leisure. Many of us find ourselves out of
balance because were working an insanee amount of hours.
Another way to look at balance is being aware of our own purpose in life. Many times
people talk about balance so that we dont burn out. My own personal perspective is when we
spend time doing what we really enjoy we wont burn out. For example weve started a ministry
with homeless teens. I could spend thirty hours a week just working on that. I dont because I
dont have the time. That causes me stress. Not spending time on what we want to spend time
on can cause us to be out of balance.
For some people balance is not even an issue. Finding balance is a middle or upper class
issue. People just trying to survive arent worried about finding balancethey just want to
survive. Think about the parents who sent their children from Latin America to the United
States. I know this is a controversial issue because it falls into the issue of Illegal Immigration.
Lets take off our political hats and put on our compassion. The parents or brothers and sisters
who sent those children to the United States arent thinking about balance. They are trying to
live and have taken a desperate measure. Whatever our political views we can be united in our
compassion for them.
When Im talking about balance tonight, Im talking about the relationship between our
inner life and our outer life. What we doour outer lifehas to be connected to what happens
inside of usour inner life.
Jesus made this point in the Scripture I read. The story that I read came in the context of
a disagreement he was having with the Pharisees. These religious leaders had criticized Jesus
followers for not washing their hands before they ate. This washing of hands was more than just
an act of cleanliness. People had to wash their hands as a way to follow the religious law.
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Washing their hands was an act of morality. If you want to go deeper, read Exodus 30:17-21
and/or Leviticus 15:11.
Jesus used the disagreement to teach his followers and ultimately teach us. He said that it
isnt what goes into the mouth that defiles a person or makes them morally unjust. Its what
comes out of their mouth. This makes sense. If someone swears or uses Gods name
inappropriately we understand this is wrong.
Jesus went deeper. A disciple said that the Pharisees took offense. Jesus went on to
share a parable. Peter didnt understand the parable so he said, explain this to us.
SLIDE do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach and goes
out into the sewer.

Its this next part that I want to focus.
But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles.
Jesus was saying that our outer actions are connected to our inner actions. Our language is
connected to our heart.
One of the criticisms of churches and you and I as religious people is we are not
authentic. What happens inside of a community is not consistent with what the community
shares with the wider. Or what happens within the heart of a disciple or follower of Jesus is not
consistent with the persons actions. Jesus was stridently critical of the Pharisees because even
though they were doing the right things their hearts were a long ways from God.
In our faith community we say we are called to be an authentic, Christian community.
This means we are transparent as a community. As individuals this means that our actions have
to be consistent with what happens inside of us. When our actions are not consistent with what
happens inside of us we are out of balance.
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When a person has a dramatic fallmost of the time this fall is consistent with an inner
life that is way out of balance. Let me give an example.
When I was in seminary I had a friend named Roger. Roger was married and was well
credentialed to be a pastor. One day we received the news that Roger had been caught soliciting
a prostitute. This was a shock. If I had put in line all of the people I knew at seminary he would
have been the last person I would have guessed would solicit a prostitute. He had a strong
marriage and had a bright future as a pastor. He was a very talented man.
I called Roger. We got together. He shared with me that his marriage had fallen apart.
Really he hadnt been close or intimate with his wife for years. He probably should have gotten
a divorce. I asked him if he had shared this with anyone. He hadnt. He was worried that his
reputation as a pastor would be destroyed if he shared this.
His outer life was not consistent with his inner life. He had a huge fall. One of the rules
of the suburbs is look good on the outside. But if our outside life is not consistent with what is
happening behind the scenes or if our outer personal lives are not consistent with what is
happening inside of us then we are set up for a fall. At a minimum we are not authentic.
Jesus finished the story by saying:
SLIDE
But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of
the heart comes evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These
are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile. Matthew 15:19-20

Whats interesting is that these acts are consistent with the last part of the 10
Commandments
Do not murder6th
Do not commit adultery7th
Do not steal8th
Do not bear false witness9
th

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Jesus was saying that to follow the 10 commandments is more than an act. These acts of
following originate in our heart. Balance is the consistency of our inner world and our outer
world.
Lets push this idea of our inner world. The next part of this sermon comes from a book
called, Soul Keeping by John Ortberg. He is pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church. But
Im very, very disappointed that John Ortberg led his church out of the PC(USA). If you want to
go deeper I would encourage you to read this book. The book that our Savor 201 group by
Parker Palmer is also helpful.
In this book John Ortberg shared a conversation he had with a man by the name of Dallas
Willard. Dallas Willard said there are four parts of the inner life.
Slide First there is the will. The will is our capacity to make choices. The will allows
us to say yes or no to decisions. asure the will.
Who here has been on a diet? We talk about will power. Last night I was at Running
Aces and I had some great Doritos and cheese sauce. Before I ordered that I knew that it
wouldnt be great for me to eat those Doritos. I didnt have the will power to say, no.
We dont exist on just will power. Sometimes we make the mistake of saying the inner
life is willpower. Its not. When an alcoholic takes a drink we might think that he or she doesnt
have the willpower to say no. That drink comes from an addiction. Addictions are more
powerful than willpower. Willpower cant overcome the habits, patterns, or attitudes that are
deeply rooted in us.
The second circle is the mind. In this context the mind refers to our thoughts and
feelings. We could describe our mind in this definition as our consciousness. Some of us might
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quibble as we can separate our mind with our feelings. I get that. I dont want to get quibble
over the treeslets keep the broad picture in mind of the internal life.
In this example the mind refers to the habits and patterns and attitudes that are deeply
rooted in us.
Our thoughts and feelings can override our willpower. On a small example I knew the
dorritos wouldnt be good for me, but my mind overrode my willpower.
The third circle is our bodies. Our bodies are more than our willpower and our mind. Our
bodiy is this construction in which we walk around. We take care of our bodies. We exercise
our bodies. We eat dorritos to put fuel into our bodies
The fourth circle is the most important. That is our soul. The soul is like our operating
system. It integrates our mind, our body and our will. To use a metaphor the soul is like the
operating system on a computer. It integrates everything together. We cant operate without our
soul.
In his book John Ortberg quoted Dallas Willard and said
SLIDE
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 center of human beings.

Jesus talked often about the soul. He said we are to love with all of our heart, our mind
and our soul.
In Mark 8:36 he said what does it profit a person to gain the whole word and forfeit their
soul. Other translations use the word life.
Tonight Hannah read a beautiful passage from Psalm 103.
Bless the Lord o my soul and all that is within me.
All that is within methat is my soul.
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The important pointand if you havent been following along until now, now you can
come back into this sermon. The important point is this:
We find balance when our outer actions are consistent with our will, our mind, our body and our
soul. That is integration. That is very important.
We can have integration, but still not love. The next level is love.
Remember the point of this sermon series is to do well.
We will do well when we our inner life and our outer actions are consistent with agape love.
What is most important
We love God with all of our heart, all of our soul, and our mind, and we love our neighbor as we
love ourselves.
We do well when we are integrated by agape love.
That is when we have balance. That is when we do well.
Let me close by sharing two tips for nurturing our souls. Let me share two practical ways
we can nurture this operating system inside of us.
First spend time consciously connecting to God. Our souls were made by God to be
connected to God. When we become aware of God our souls connect. I encourage all of us to
pray at least 15 minutes a day. Maybe that is too much. What would happen if we took time
twice a day to say a prayermay my soul connect to you.
Let me give a two week challenge. Who here has a timer on their phone. This where
technology can be help us. Put a timer on your phone for noon and six p.m. This will be like the
town whistle in small towns. When the timer goes off say, May my soul connect to you. Very
simplevery profound. Can you try that for two weeks.
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The second tip is also important. Train yourself to share your soul with another person.
This is where our small groups are so important. We need to have environments where we can
share our internal life with another person. We can only do that with people with whom we trust.
Trust has to be earned. But when we meet with a small group of people for an extended period
of time we learn to trust them. We take the risk of sharing our soulswhat is going on inside of
us.
The danger of not sharing our souls is we can find ourselves in a very unhealthy place.
Were set up for a fall. My friend, () Roger wasnt in a small group. I believe that if he had a
group with whom he shared his soul he wouldnt have solicited a prostitute. His marriage might
have even been saved.
A final story. Horatio Spafford lived in the 19
th
century. He made a lot of money. He
lived in Chicago and lost everything in the Great Chicago fire of 1871. He had no insurance. In
1873 he put his wife and four daughters on a ship to England. He stayed behind. A few days
later he learned that his four daughters died on a shipwreck. When this happened he boarded a
ship to England. When it passed the place where his daughters died he wrote a words that
became a song. You might know it.
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.

We can do well when we integrate our inner life and our outer life
We can do well when our inner life and our outer life are characterized by agape life.
Thats the balance we seek.