The Secret of Spacious Living

Dr. David D. Young
January 20, 2008
Isaiah 12: 1-6
Ephesians 1: 1-14
"The Secret of Spacious Living"
(Salvation)

T.S. Eliot, the quintessential poet and playwright, in The Cocktail Party, writes of Celia having her first encounter in therapy with Reilly, the psychiatrist – and the conversation begins this way,
"Reilly: Try first to describe your present state of mind. Celia: Well, there are two things I can’t understand, which you might consider symptoms. But first I must tell you that I should really like to think there’s something wrong with me.

Because, if there isn’t, then there’s something wrong or at least very different from what it seemed to be with the world itself – and that’s much more frightening! That would be terrible. So I’d rather believe there is something wrong with me, that could be put right. I’d do anything you told me, to get back to normality." – she goes on to describe her aloneness…
There’s something wrong with the world, but I’d rather believe there’s something wrong with me. I can handle that. What Celia is experiencing is a world of existential constriction tightening in around her. It’s not an unfamiliar feeling for you and me this morning – as our purpose in life seems tenuous and relationships slip and slide.

In his novel, The Fall, Nobel laureate, Albert Camus, has Jean Baptiste Clemence share the following with an anonymous listener in a bar in Amsterdam,
"I had to submit and admit my guilt. I had to live in the little-ease. To be sure, you are not familiar with that dungeon cell that was called the little-ease in the Middle Ages. In general, one was forgotten there for life. That cell was distinguished from others by ingenious dimensions. It was not high enough to stand up in nor yet wide enough to lie down. One had to take on an awkward manner and live on the diagonal; sleep was a collapse, and waking a squatting. Mon cher, there was genius – and I am weighing my words – in that so simple invention. Every day through the unchanging restriction that stiffened his body, the condemned man learned that he was guilty and that innocence consists in stretching joyously."
How is it possible in a world of constriction to ever, ever stretch joyously? I wonder in our time if religion hasn’t at least seemingly let a lot of people down? And as many people flounder without much faith – it is easy to turn to technology almost as a God.

"There’s something wrong with the world itself," cries Celia. "We live in little-ease with only a faint nostalgia of having ever stretched joyously," mourns Clemence. And ultimately we know technology can’t solve our real problems.

It’s little wonder that even the Peanuts gang struggles with the tensions of tightness and feeling closed in.
They’re at their philosophic wall and Linus says: "I rode in an elevator yesterday." Sally responds, "I get claustrophobia in elevators." "Well," says Linus, "I even get claustrophobia in small rooms." "Well," says Sally, "I get claustrophobia in stores if there are a lot of people around." "Well," says Linus, "I get claustrophobia just being in certain cities." And Charlie Brown has his chin in the palm of his hands and he says, "I get claustrophobia being in the world."
And don’t we all sometimes.

It is not unusual for people to feel like their world is caving in upon them. I can’t really imagine the constriction and tightness of space that those innocent men, women, and children must be feeling in Iraq, Israel, Afghanistan and some of the other places. What I can tell you is that the more constricted one feels – the more cut off from life that person feels. And although the war has been capturing our attention for over four and a half years – it need not be external constrictions which cut us off from life.

Loneliness, despair, guilt, selfishness, and fear can choke us from within. And so, even in our normal routines we might feel like Charlie Brown and company – claustrophobic.

Well, we’ve been journeying on these chilly winter Sundays in the landscape of Christian foundations and affirmations which are at the core of the Christian proclamation. We have moved from Fall to Incarnation and now today to Salvation.

Salvation has been an often abused term in our time.
"Are you saved?"
"Are you saved this morning?"
I was thinking with great success of Dan’s Bible Study these past couple of weeks of the wonderful story of the young man who came into the Bible study and there was only one chair left in the back of the room. He snuck in and quietly asked the woman seated next to the empty chair, "Is that chair saved?" And she said, "No, but I’m praying for it."

We probably need to unpack some of our baggage regarding the one-sided use of that word. When people press you with that question – there is an underlying assumption that they’ve got it – and you need it. But we know deep within us that the answer to the constrictions of life is not a corresponding spiritual or religious constriction.

When I’ve been pushed by that question, "Are you saved?" I feel like I’m being expected to fit into someone else’s limited categories of awareness – almost as though I’m supposed to put my mind aside and know that this is exactly what God is expecting of me.

There is a telling story of a young woman who was saved and joined the Salvation Army Band and her job was to play the drum. She was there at the street corner meetings and as inevitably would happen, she had to come to that time when she would give a testimony as part of that meeting. She was called upon to do so and if you know the form of testimony, she told about her life. She said, "I was living in sin…I was living apart from God…I was estranged and lonely and miserable and then I was saved. And since I’ve been saved…since I’ve been saved…since I’ve been saved, all I do is beat this damned drum."

In a strange way, salvation seems for some to be an arrival at a comfortable place of constriction or restriction. That’s why the prophet Isaiah is so helpful in lifting up salvation to us.

Hear verse 3 of the passage Betsy Kreuter read for us,
"With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in that day: ‘Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name; make known his deeds among the nations, proclaim that his name is exalted.'"
Could it be that this joyful note of anticipation is drawing us to the depths of God and the secret of spacious living? For the Hebrew word for salvation is "Yeshua," which literally means to be brought to a wide space. That’s what salvation means to be brought to a wide, expansive space.

For those of you who have been to Israel you know that the topography of that small country is so important. With its hills and valleys and its mountains and ravines - because in a time of war and conflict and controlling the land – to have the high open spaces was a real advantage. To be stuck down in the valleys was a very vulnerable place to be, indeed.

When the children of Israel first entered the Promised Land – the valleys were all they could conquer. And the bottom line was a feeling of constriction – especially when we visualize the enemy being able to attack from the high ground. But when they finally made it to the higher ground – the feeling was one of spaciousness.

God had brought them to a wide space. "Yeshua," they cried, "we are saved." "On that day," says Isaiah, "You will give thanks."

On what day will we know this freedom from constriction? For the early children of Israel – it was when they fully entered the Promised Land that God was leading them into. For us, these hundreds and thousands of years later, it is when God sends the promised person so that our interior places can become spacious along with the communal experiences.

So, when is the day of Jesus Christ? It is that day he comes into our world. And keep in mind, we are always living in two worlds – the seen world around us and the unseen world within. We all have our inner world and framework – from which we perceive the wide-world without.

The key to opening the door to spacious living is found in this insight of the physician, Paul Tournier, in his book, The Seasons of Life,
"The meaning then of the revolution in our life that comes through surrender to Christ is not at all that of limitation set upon us. It is, on the contrary, the enlarging of our life."
Just as the children of Israel set foot onto higher ground and exclaim "Yeshua." So too is our higher ground for spacious living set upon the foundation of Jesus Christ. To know Christ and discover the secret of spacious living is first to know a blessing beyond our control.

Hear Paul in verses 3 and 4 of our Ephesians text,
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world."
In life we are given free choice and we literally make millions of choices over the course of our life time. And yet, when I look back and perhaps for you too, there has been more to my life’s direction than my choices – I can see how God has been a part of those choices and has guided me at critical points along the way. I usually see it, not in looking ahead – but in retrospect.

And so, when Paul tells us, "he chose you in him before the foundation of the earth" – he is saying, you are more than the sum of your choices. I suspect that most of us today would acknowledge that we are more than the sum of our choices. And that when we look back at the important moments of our life – that God was present to us – even if only in very obscure ways.

To discover the secret of spacious living in Jesus Christ is first to sense a blessing beyond our control. And secondly, it is to find freedom and fullness through forgiveness. Hear it now as it expands around us and within us in verse 7 and following,
"In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace which he lavished upon us. For he has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth."
Whenever you’ve known a truly forgiven relationship in your own interpersonal relationship with another person – whether you were the forgiven or the forgiver – you have known a truly redeemed relationship. To be redeemed, to be forgiven is to be free from all that was holding you down.

The Hebrews left the bondage of Egypt and found freedom through faith in God in the Promised Land. Our landscape for freedom is a bit different. In Christ we need no longer be bound by self – and all those things we allow to constrict us within.

For when we know we are forgiven, accepted, and loved – no matter what – we can be really free to be the most of who we were created to be.

Wolfhart Pannenberg expresses it this way,
"The forgiveness of sins confers freedom for a complete affirmation of the present moment, of which only the one who can be certain of a fulfilled future is capable.”
Unconditional forgiveness and love is one of the most powerful forces in all the world. I would go so far as to say that it is the most powerful force when it comes to the human heart and spirit.

Bombs of all shapes and sizes can move buildings and kill people – but I’m here today because I follow one who offers life. And bombs don’t move hearts to larger living – love does – the unconditional love of God.

Now, I recognize the reality of the war we are involved in. But it need not make us feel more pessimistic and constricted than we already are. On the contrary, we face our futures in the freedom Christ gives to make the most of what we have to offer. In Jesus Christ – God is telling us that no matter what happens – none of us will ever be let go. Ultimately, that assurance comes from above us.

One of the characters, Jerry Conant, in John Updike’s novel, Couples, says to his lover,
"We can’t give each other the blessing it must come from above."
To discover the secret of spacious living – the secret of salvation is:
to sense a blessing beyond our control,
to find freedom and fullness through forgiveness,
and finally to possess praise.
This does not mean as pride does – that we receive praise – rather that we possess the spirit to give praise.

Hear it now from the concluding two verses of our passage,
"In him that is, Christ, you also, who have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and have believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, which is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory."
The praise is that we will possess it and what we possess is not something we hold – but something we share, namely, praise!
"We acquire possession of it," writes Paul, "to the praise of his glory."
If to live with God in any life hereafter, is to know true salvation and therefore God’s spacious living. Then these words of Arthur Gossip make the connection to such living here and now,
"Praise is the language of heaven, and we had better start to learn it here."
Praise brings us back to the beginning of the secret of spacious living – and that is sensing a blessing beyond our control. The spheres of spacious living - salvation is not complete without praise. And once sensing a blessing beyond our control – we are able to trust that we will find freedom to fullness through forgiveness.

Which finally enables us to possess praise. A praise possessed not for our own glory – but a praise professed to the glory of Jesus Christ our Lord. Friends, if your life has been constricted until now – it can be enlarged.

Whether we are constricted by external circumstances and difficulties or by problems and fears in our internal chamber – we can discover the secret of spacious living of salvation – through Jesus Christ our Lord.

In closing, an anonymous poem,
Long my imprisoned spirit lay
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray,
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed thee..
Praise be to God, who in Jesus Christ shares the secret of spacious living!

Amen!