Spiritual People

The full text as prepared for the Sunday, November 11, 2012 message:

 Here’s a question I’d like you to ask you.  You can answer silently. “Who are you?”

Here’s another question which you can also answer silently, “What’s your profession?”

Whether you were stumped by these two questions or had a ready answer, I have answers for you.  “Who are you?” You are a spiritual person.  “What is your profession?”  Regardless of how you answered, may I be so bold as to give you the answer?  Your profession, regardless of what position or title you hold… your number one profession is… spiritual person.

So what is a spiritual person?  What does it mean?

There are three common characteristics of a spiritual person.  The first one is:  Every spiritual person is a risk taker.

Are you a risk taker?  Do you step out and follow God, even when it's not in the normal flow of the people around you?

Do you dare to dream your dreams, no matter what?  The truth is, there are no statues or monuments built to those people who said, "Oh well, this looks good enough."  The statues and monuments are built to those who dared to take the risk, who dared to step out and say, "This is a better way.  This is a higher vision.  This is the path I will follow."  In this life, stretch forth and dare to live your dreams.  Dust them off, for God has placed those dreams in your hearts for a reason.

The second quality of a spiritual people is they are visionaries.  They live for what is forthcoming.  They see the good, the perfect pattern of God, and they are willing to do whatever needs to be done now to let that pattern emerge.  It's almost as if they stepped back in time with the full knowledge of the future, and are willing to share that knowledge with us so that today can be a better, more joyous place.  Visionaries do not look at tradition or how it has been or how it's supposed to be.  Instead they look to the future and what is forthcoming, and pull us right along with them – like a magnet.

The third quality of a spiritual people is that they are outrageous.  Have you ever thought about that?  Spiritual people might not fit the norm.  Most of us here today are not normal.  We have found our spirituality because we were looking for something
that didn't fit the normal flow, something that we could use every day of our lives to live in an unusual, fulfilling, incredible space where we are aware of God's presence every moment in our lives. When we become willing to be outrageous enough to see God's
design for our lives, we become willing to do what it will take to fulfill that design.

Now, Jesus was like this.  I'll prove it to you.  He was a risk taker.  He dared to challenge the scribes and the Pharisees and say to them, "Woe unto you for teaching the letter of the law that killeth and not the spirit of the law that giveth life."  And He also sought to communicate with them by saying, "I did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill the law," to bring
in that higher law of love.

He was also a visionary.  He looked around at a time when people had very little, when they were struggling to find their daily bread, and said to them, "The kingdom of heaven is within you, and it is God's good pleasure to give you the fullness of that kingdom."

And truly, ask anyone around Him, He was outrageous.  He did healings on the Sabbath.  He ate with publicans and sinners.  He forgave an adulteress and, even worse, tax collectors.  He touched lepers and cleansed the temple of the money changers.
He had the audacity to stand before the tomb of his friend Lazarus and say, "Come forth," knowing absolutely that his friend would arise. He was crucified, dead, and buried, and He was outrageous to rise up.  Then He goes an outrageous step further and says to us, BTW "These things that I have done, ye can do also, and even greater things."  Definitely, He was not your average person.  This day, He stands before us, in our lives saying, "Take the risk.  Open yourself to the goodness of God.  Celebrate and radiate that power of God in and through you now."

What must it be like to be know the power of God radiating through you… and to live in the happiness of knowing it?  

Here's a story that might help make a point:

During Napoleon's invasion of Russia, his troops were battling in the middle of yet another small town in that endless wintry land, when he was accidentally separated from his men. A group of Russian Cossacks spotted him and began chasing him through the twisting streets. He ran for his life and ducked into a little furrier's shop on a side alley. As he entered the shop, gasping for breath, he saw the furrier and cried piteously, "Save me, save me!

Where can I hide?" The furrier said, "Quick, under this big pile of furs in the corner," and he covered Napoleon up with many furs. No sooner had he finished than the Russian Cossacks burst in the door, shouting "Where is he? We saw him come in." Despite the furrier's protests, they tore his shop apart trying to find him. They poked into the pile of furs with their swords but didn't find him. Soon, they gave up and left.

After some time, Napoleon crept out from under the furs, unharmed, just as the emperor's personal guards came in the door. The furrier turned to Napoleon and said timidly, "Excuse me for asking this question of such a great man, but what was it like to be under those furs, knowing that the next moment would surely be your last?"

Napoleon drew himself up to his full height and said to the furrier indignantly, "How could you ask such a question of me, the Emperor Napoleon! Guards, take this impudent man out, blindfold him and execute him. I, myself, will personally give the command to fire!"

The guards grabbed the poor furrier, dragged him outside, stood him up against a wall and blindfolded him.

The furrier could see nothing, but he could hear the movements of the guards as they slowly shuffled into a line and prepared their rifles, and he could hear the soft ruffling sound of his clothing in the cold wind. He could feel the wind tugging gently at his clothes and chilling his cheeks, and the uncontrollable trembling in his legs.

Then he heard Napoleon clear his throat and call out slowly, "Ready. . . aim. . ." In that moment, knowing that even these few sensations were about to be taken from him forever, a feeling that he couldn't describe welled up in him as tears poured down his cheeks.

After a long period of silence, the furrier heard footsteps approaching him and the blindfold were stripped from his eyes. Still partially blinded by the sudden sunlight, he saw his eyes looking deeply and intently into his own - eyes that seemed to see into every dusty corner of his being. Then he said softly, "Now you know.”

Knowing about principles isn’t enough; you have to live them to know them.

If you want to know what the power of God radiating through you is like, you have to “be outrageous” and express it, live it.

If you want to know the soothing peace and contentment of forgiveness, you have to “be outrageous” and express it, live it.

If you want to know the certain joy and relief of not having to decide for yourself by following the guidance of Spirit, you have to “be outrageous,” connect, listen, and express it.

Whatever you want in life, take the risk of the visionary and in outrageous contentment live the life you want to have.

God bless you.

 
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