Easter 28 They Hit the Wall

[HKHaugan]

People who run marathons talk about what happens when they reach the last few miles of their race. “They hit the wall.” This means their bodies run out of the necessary physical means to finish the race. What they do is to reach down deep and try to finish the best they can. Keep this in mind as we continue.

The quest for the meaning of life, why we are here and all those philosophical questions, is not found in pursuit of an answer that causes me to search within but in putting those questions in a different framework, searching without. The problem with the search within is its limitations. No matter how hard and extensively you think, feel and choose to act, the wall of limitations will always be there. And it's not just a wall, it's a dead end, a cul de sac, an impenetrable abyss.

Look at three brief groupings, philosophers, emotionalists and corporatists. As I was reading an article about David Hume the British philosopher (the title and writer skip my mind), it concluded that Hume was so mentally exhausted by not finding answers that he finally just gave up and spent the rest of his life fishing. Nietzsche, the erratic German delver into human emotionality, ended up insane. Recently I came across a list of famous past corporate executives all of whom committed suicide. They had worked themselves to death, literally.

Search the recorded remarks of artists, musicians, writers, educators, scientists, religionists, corporate executives (name a field or even a relationship) who have given themselves to projects that have consumed every waking moment. They gave their all to a talent, a skill or a desire. Then they ran out of steam. They hit the wall. Disillusioned by lack of success, frustration, unfulfillment, relational pain or just plain getting old, everything was thought, felt and done within. They hit the wall. Choices, decisions, planning and adjusting to life in the world were all based on one's own self-evaluation, personal likes and dislikes and a heavy dose of self-justification. They had all reached the wall of their limitations. The proof of human limitation is death. Death is the final wall, the abyss, this world's cul de sac.

No greater statement speaks to this cul de sac condition than the conclusion reached by Solomon when, after eleven and a half chapters describing man's lonely pursuit within, he returns to the word he began with, 'meaningless.'

“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Everything is meaningless!” Not only was the Teacher wise, but he also imparted knowledge to the people. He pondered and searched out and set in order many proverbs. The Teacher searched to find just the right words, and what he wrote was upright and true. The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails—given by one shepherd. Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them. Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body. Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil (Eccl.12:8-14).”

But we don't stop there as though dejectedly giving in is the final answer to human frustration. Oh no! There is so much more. Solomon was right insofar as he knew God's blessings. It was the prophets who took the next step. They prepared for the coming of an example, a model person, someone who would perfect human experience. The exciting part was still to come, an exciting part that never ends, a relational experience where each day is always a beginning, each minute a gift, every moment waiting for our willingness to take part in it. This is because there is personal spiritual access outside ourselves that not only gives us perspective but actually takes us into another dimension and is the only way we can gain our identity, our meaning and our purpose.

Consider this person's words, “He who seeks to save his life will lose it but he who loses his life for my sake will find it(Mt.16:25)...My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work(Jn.4:34)...I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by Himself, He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does(Jn.5:19)...For I have come down from Heaven not to do my will but the will of Him who sent me(Jn.6:38).” Yes, that's right, it's Jesus.

But hold on. We need to return to the wall, human limitations and their inevitable death. The mind has its limits, the heart and its emotions have their limits and our inner speculations and motivations have their limits. Then there are always the end zones of our bodily abilities. What makes Jesus any different? Wasn't He concerned with His identity, His purpose, His physical survival and His destiny like all the rest of us? Actually, no. This is what made Him so unique. It was His faith, His trust and His belief in His Father, His Father's will and His Father's Word.

Well, you might point to that absorbing kind of faith in a number of historical figures whose movements were started in passionate disregard for the thought systems of their time, the inner struggles they survived and the external persecutions they endured. They've gained followings, planted institutions, developed thought systems that have met the test of time. But there is one thing that sets Jesus apart from all the rest. Like all of them He died but unlike them He rose from the dead. He survived beyond the wall of human limitations.

The Resurrection proved His mind was neither flawed nor speculative. His thoughts were alive because they brought a different kind of life into the world, spiritual life. His emotions were alive because they were guided spiritually, relationally and personally. His body rose because it was a perfected body through His Spirit. His Spirit was God's Spirit thus His mind, heart, body and Spirit were in balance with one another. His humanity was perfect because it was God's humanity as He intended it to be, believing, trusting and faithful.
The risen Jesus has removed the need for inner speculation, philosophizing, leaping into the void of guesswork and ending in the cul de sac of aloneness where, like dogs, we end up chasing our historical tails.

Just what is this new life He brings to us through faith? It is His life, God's eternal life, spiritual life (Jn.14:6). His life doesn't die. It has neither beginning nor end. It was there before biological life and it will be there after everything fades. That is what His Resurrection showed. It is a life that moves our mind, heart and spirit not only in this world but beyond the wall of our limitations into timeless eternity. It does it in three ways.

First, through belief God's life generates a living thought system that brings us a mind that thinks spiritually in every next moment. That's the purpose of the Bible. Yes, it is printed and human beings wrote it but they were faithful and their faith was the basis through which God inspired its writing. Faith is what allows the Spirit of Jesus to work out what it says about attitude and action in every generation. It is His never changing Word. That's why Jesus calls it the truth (Jn.17:17). The Bible records the way Jesus thought, taught, prayed and acted. That's why He modeled obedience to it so we would do the same. Has our mind hit the wall?

Second, attitude is heart thing. God's life brings His attitude. It was what Jesus had and perfected through trusting His Father's will in His heart. Attitude is what reflects where we are in our heart. The heart goes one more step than the mind. It's where we process what our mind believes. It's our Word processor. The heart is where we choose to be obedient and trust. As the heart goes so goes our life. A trust oriented heart will deliver a spiritually oriented attitude. Has our heart hit the wall?

Third, God's life is His Spirit reshaping our spirit to be faithful, full of faith, to bring His attitude into action. So centering our thought and attitude in Jesus it is His Spirit that motivates our spirit to action. This is why the Lord sent His Holy Spirit to be in us. He brings His life to recover our mind, heart and spirit through faith. His willingness to live in our hearts makes His faith present in us. His faith gives our faith its resurrection to motivate our every next moment. Has our spirit hit the wall?

Now there is a final realization that makes the wall more than human limitation and death. It's the cause of limitation and death. It's the spiritual disease called sin. Sin fights to keep us inside by believing in ourselves alone, trusting no one outside of ourselves in order to protect our heart and only doing what is necessary to fulfill personal desires. Sin is the anti-Christ spirit assuming control of our mind, heart and spirit. It's the self-indulgent 'me first' attitude. Doubt, anxiety, arrogance and immorality are the notes in the anthems of the cynic and the skeptic. It screams in the spirit of pride and hides in the spirit of fear. Sin breeds in the caverns of lust for the world's promises of wealth, power, pleasure and greed.

Sin traps us in this world's frustrating cul de sac chasing the same endless questions and the same endless behavior leading to a lonely death. Sin's only cure is the daring leap outside of self into the spiritual atmosphere surrounding us asking Jesus to be our guide, the master of our will, our shepherd, 'the light for our path and the lamp for our feet.' Faith in Jesus is the aerialist's leap into spiritual space where Jesus has His personal safety net extended to catch us and fill us with His life.

There are many people we know in our personal world who are in the process of hitting the wall. If we can let the Holy Spirit be our ears, our eyes, our emotions and our spirit, we will have the ability to help them take down their walls. In the final analysis it's all about helping people step out of themselves by sharing Jesus. Think of the faith it takes to be the trapeze flyer or the high wire walker. It takes more faith to be a believer in Jesus. But when it happens the eternal promise is a reality. Being born again spiritually is not just a change of heart, it is new life in the forever now.
As Jesus' disciples have we hit the wall when being confronted with the possibility of sharing Him?