We come to chapter 12 of the series of ‘The Life you’ve always wanted. This week it is entitled, ‘Life with a well-ordered heart.’ Subtitled, Developing your own rule of life.

When I read this chapter there were some good points that were made. John Ortberg concentrated on A quotation from Augustine . We should do the right thing, to the right degree, in the right way, with the right kind of love.

He then works through what this means in a Christian life. Creating a balance. His basic idea is that we should live our lives by thinking through 5 points.

  1. How and when will I pray?
  2. How will I handle money in a way that draws me closer to God?
  3. How can I approach work in a way that will help Christ to be formed in me?
  4. How am I involved in Christian community such as worship, fellowship and confession?
  5. How can I fill my daily tasks with a sense of the presence of God?

What John Ortberg is suggesting is that everything we do should be done with Jesus in mind. I suppose, if I am honest, I cannot really argue with that approach.

YET.

After reading this chapter I was left feeling quite at ease with all his ideas. When I read a book I like to be challenged. I wasn’t. It all sounded so sensible and comfortable. That made me uneasy. So I thought if I feel that way why shouldn’t you.

All those five points sound great.

I want you to use your imagination. I am going to assume it will be quite hard for you.

I want you to imagine that you have escaped persecution in your own country and have arrived in England. The people who helped you have put you to work in the sex trade to repay your debt. Now revisit those five points of John Ortberg in your new role.

1.  How and when will I pray?

  • How will I handle money in a way that draws me closer to God?
  • How can I approach work in a way that will help Christ to be formed in me?
  • How am I involved in Christian community such as worship, fellowship and confession?
  • How can I fill my daily tasks with a sense of the presence of God?

Good questions if you are a comfortable middle class Christian.

Some of you may have heard of Tony Campolo. He has been a speaker at Christian events for many years. He has been known, when speaking to Christian audiences, to begin by saying something like this:

I have three things I’d like to say today. First, while you were sleeping last night, 30,000 kids died of starvation or diseases related to malnutrition. Second, most of you don’t give a ****. What’s worse is that you’re more upset with the fact I just said “****” than you are that 30,000 kids died last night.

I suspect some of you cringed slightly when I used that example. Our focus is on the rather crude term and not on his greater point of children dying actually speaks volumes about us.

The legalistic, simplistic, and shallow world of our prejudices produces some rather odd triggers for what it is we are supposed to get upset about. Here are just a few:

If you become upset on hearing that gay marriage is legal but you are less upset regarding the hate, violence, and discrimination directed toward such people, often leading to suicide:. You are upset about the wrong things.

 If you become upset when people use the greeting “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas,” but you are less upset at the wasteful use of resources during this season and the rampant shallow consumerism while many live in poverty: You are upset about the wrong things.

If you become upset when you hear of people claiming benefits, but you are less upset with the structures that often create the very need for such help;  You are upset about the wrong things.

If you become upset when you feel the government is restricting your religious liberties, but you are less upset or even applaud the restriction of the religious liberties of others; You are upset about the wrong things.

If you become upset when someone commits adultery or at the sexual lapses of others, but you are less upset when people gather around to stone them, or shame them; You are upset about the wrong things.

If the response to the above is still, “Yes, BUT…” the point has been missed and made the point, all at the same time. Yes, you can be upset at those other aspects (rightly or wrongly). That’s not for me to say. The point, however, is that those aspects pale in insignificance when placed alongside the deeper and much more important lack of love being shown. It would be like someone telling Jesus, just before he overturned the money-changer’s tables and grabbed a whip, how upset they were at the price being charged for doves. It may well be right to be for or against the first point but that never justifies showing lack of love.

Perhaps these are extreme examples. Maybe. It is fairly easy do everything for Jesus’ in our everyday lives. Not so easy when we meet the difficulties of life head on. When we get upset over the wrong things, when we focus on the incidental and miss the deeper moral issue. Jesus didn’t. We shouldn’t.

A lady called Mandy Fernandez wrote this in response to John Ortberg’s book.

 God gave me a well ordered heart – to love

  • The right thing
  • To the right degree
  • In the right way
  • With the right kind of love.

Lord, let me love you supremely, above everything and everyone.
Let me love others with the love of Jesus.
Let me enjoy life and the things you give me. But more importantly, let me use the things you give me to love God and to love others.

I make no apology for repeating my standard sermon. However way you look at it. It is the right use of love that gives us a well ordered heart.  The love that comes from following Jesus.