SPECIAL DAYS: Father's Day

June 16, 2002 - Lesson: Galatians 6.6-10

Sermon Title: Interior Decorating

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INTRODUCTION:

Helga and I going out. I do not remember the exact occasion. What I do remember is that she looked at me and kindly said, "Are you really going out dressed like that?" I may have used this before, but it reveals what it is like to be married to an interior decorator.

MAIN BODY:

  1. "Are you going out looking like that?"
    1. This is a great question for each of us to consider.
      1. When you go out, how are you dressed?
      2. Are you color coordinated?
      3. Are you dressed for the occasion.
      4. Its sad how people dress today for important occasions.
      5. There is dress that is appropriate for weddings or for funerals or for the theater, or for the beach.
      6. I am sometimes appalled at the way people come dressed for a formal occasion.
    2. "Are you going out looking like that?"
      1. It is not clothes that we are talking about.
      2. We are not talking about color coordination.
      3. We are talking about the interiorly decorated state of an individual.
    3. An interior decorator is able to analyze and suggest ways in which your room or home may realize its full potential to provide beauty and comfort.
    4. We can think of process of interior decoration in terms of color, texture, and shapes.
    5. These all have direct application to our personal interior lives.

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  1. Color my world with imagination and enthusiasm.
    1. Imagination is very important to our understanding of God and what it is that God is seeking to provide us.
      1. We have no pictures of God.
      2. What we have are word pictures.
      3. Word pictures require imagination.
      4. You will not develop imagination from Television.
      5. Growing up, my generation had radio.
      6. Radio required an imagination to see and experience the scene that were being offered.
      7. Reading helps to develop imagination.
      8. Reading widely, but especially the right stuff.
      9. What is needed is a sacred imagination.

ILL Try drawing a picture of God.

I asked this of Confirmation Classes.

The youth attempted to draw a picture of God based on what they had been told of the major attributes of God.

What they came up with was a giant ameba like structure that had the capacity to be every where and to listen to every one at the same time.

    1. Enthusiasm: Without enthusiasm, one cannot maintain a growing relationship with God

Jonathan Kramer and Diane Dunaway Kramer, in Losing the Weight of the World, (1) tell the story of an experience of their son Nick.

Nick, our oldest child, was always a happy, energetic kid who'd usually come running or skipping out of school. But one fall day, when Nick was 6 years old, Jonathan Kramer was parked at the curb when he saw Nick walking slowly toward him, his curly head hung low, his mouth turn-ed down, a bunch of papers in his hand.

Nick seemed to drag himself along the sidewalk. He slowly pulled open the car door and slumped into the seat. "Hi, Nick. How are you doing?" he asked. No response. "What's goin' on? Did something bad happen today?"

Nick slowly nodded yes before turning his face away. "Oh come on, Nick. Tell your old dad what's wrong," he prodded. "I'm bad," Nick said at last. "Bad? Why do you say that?" Nick handed over a crumpled paper. Smoothing it out revealed rows of math problems. A big, red "-3" dominated the top.

"Look," Nick said, tears running down his cheeks, his lips quivering in an attempt at self-control. He pointed at the glaring red mark. "Look, Dad, I got a bad grade." After considering for a long moment, I said, "That minus three doesn't mean you're bad or that you got a bad grade, Nick. It means you missed just three problems on this whole paper. Your teacher wants you to learn from your mistakes. But that's not all that counts.

"How many did you get right?" Nick had no idea. So I started counting up the correct ones that weren't marked, pointing at each one as I went. By the 10th correct one, Nick had joined in the counting, and by the time we'd gotten to 27, Nick's tear-stained cheeks were showing signs of happiness. I had him write a big, black "+27" next to the red "-3."

"There. Twenty-seven right." Nick absorbed the truth for a moment before his usual bright smile reinstated itself on his little-boy face. The subject was changed and the day went on. Nick was able to find a good lesson in the red "-3."

      1. He had his enthusiasm restored.

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  1. Shape my world with talents and abilities.
    1. Interior decoration requires talent.
    2. We all have more talents that we immediately recognize.
      1. They are usually undeveloped.
      2. They may be developed to some degree.

ILL: A young man was seeking a position with a corporation.

He was turned down because he had no experience for the position.

How do you gain experience?

He was told, "By making mistakes."

In other words you have try to do the necessary work with limited experience, but as you grow into the position you learn not only what not to do, but also what to do.

    1. This is skill development.
  1. Texture my world with values which create hope, joy and love.
    1. The values market is like a huge supermarket.
      1. You have so much from which to choose.
      2. We are cajoled and enticed to select that which is not beneficial.
    2. Our values ought to become the basis of the basics of Christianity.
      1. Hope
      2. Faith
      3. Joy
      4. Love
    3. Values and abilities create the confident skills that are needed to meet the situations and the circumstances of life.
  2. We are all interior decorators.
    1. We are not decorating living spaces, but ourselves and our children.
    2. We are not dealing with externals, but internals.
    3. The decoration is of the mind, the spirit, the heart.
    4. The results are to be seen in the totality of the life of the child.
      1. In one's attitudes
      2. In one's speech
      3. In one's manners
      4. In one's activities

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  1. There is the way of LOVE!
    1. We approach it with the thought of the Apostle Paul.
      1. Galatians 6:6:6 Those who are taught the word must share in all good things with their teacher.
      2. Galatians 6:6:7 Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow.
      3. Galatians 6:6:8 If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit.
      4. Galatians 6:6:9 So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up.
      5. Galatians 6:6:10 So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith.
    2. Let us work for the good all, especially for those of the family of faith.
      1. That includes all of us.
      2. We are of the family of faith.
    3. We are to teach and share in what is taught.
    4. What is it that we are to teach and share?
      1. Teach patience
      2. Teach kindness
      3. Teach respect and humility
      4. Teach contentment and acceptance
      5. Teach sorrow for wrongdoing
      6. Teach rejoicing for truth
      7. Teach endurance regardless.
      8. Teach activeness.
      9. Teach the necessity of recognizing that all this is from God.
      10. Without God there are no morals.
      11. Without God there are no ethics.
      12. Without God there is only darkness and destruction.
    5. If we truly learn to love then we will learn how to become an individual who is maturing in life.
    6. Mature people have the ability to live morally, ethically, lovingly and enthusiastically.

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CONCLUSION:

Near the city of Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil, is a remarkable facility. With the exception of two full-time staff, all the work is done by inmates. Families outside the prison adopt an inmate to work with during and after his term. Chuck Colson visited the prison and made this report: (2)

When I visited Humaita I found the inmates smiling - particularly the murderer who held the keys, opened the gates and let me in. Wherever I walked I saw men at peace. I saw clean living areas, people working industriously.

My guide escorted me to the notorious prison cell once used for torture. Today, he told me, that block houses only a single inmate. As we reached the end of a long concrete corridor and he put the key in the lock, he paused and asked, 'Are you sure you want to go in?'

'Of course,' I replied impatiently, 'I've been in isolation cells all over the world.' Slowly he swung open the massive door, and I saw the prisoner in that punishment cell: a crucifix, beautifully carved by the Humaita inmates - the prisoner Jesus, hanging on a cross.

'He's doing time for the rest of us,' my guide said softly.

Twenty years ago the Brazilian government turned a prison over to two Christians. The walls were decorated with biblical sayings from Psalms and Proverbs .... The institution was renamed Humaita, and the plan was to run it on Christian principles.

  1. And that has made all the difference.
    1. Remember we are all interior decorators.
    2. We are not working with paint or wall paper, draperies or carpeting, furniture or cabinetry.
    3. We are working on the minds and lives of the young and old.
    4. Let us be excellent Interior Decorators.

1. Jonathan Kramer and Diane Dunaway Kramer, Losing the Weight of the World. (New York: Doubleday, 1986), 86-87. (Jonathan Kramer is a clinical psychologist practicing in La Jolla, California. Diane Dunaway Kramer is a best-selling author who has a degree in sociology and psychology. Both teach at San Diego State University.)

2. Max Lucado, In the Grip of Grace (Dallas: Word Publishing, 1996), 113.

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