" So What Is The Soul?"

Do you know someone who has an answer for everything? How does that make you feel?   So then what about a good honest question to which you do not know the answer.  Where do you think that will lead you?

Oct 29, 2017: Readings: 1 Thessalonians 2: 1-8 Psalm 90, Matt 22: 34-46

“In school, you were rewarded for having the right answer to questions, but were you ever rewarded for asking a good question?” 

 In Warren Bergers book “A Beautiful Question” he explains that a good question sparks breakthrough ideas because it sends us on a treasure hunt for truth and discoveries.     One of the great Theological minds of our time was once asked, “what was it that brought you to be a notable biblical scholar.”   The man replied that every day after school his mother would talk to him about his day. She always inquired, "Did you ask a good question today?"  "Asking good God questions," replied the man, " was the door that  allowed me to go on a treasure hunt for the truth and that journey lead me to a study of biblical history, it religions, it origins, and it cultures."  He went on to say: “In order to ask a good question your motive must be free of ego.  It is the humble "soul" that learns. 

If you ask a question to which you already know or think you know the answer, you will learn nothing and your question will not lead you to new discoveries.   
I remember my first good faith question to my minister as a child,  "If God made everything, Who made God?"  Can you believe, that question started me on a spiritual treasure hunt that eventually lead  here to be your minister here Bermuda in July of this year, now isn't that incredible.  I just didn’t realize it back then.  Now may I suggest that if you ask a question to which you already know the answer or think you do, no journey no treasure hunt begins there?  
And so a good question concerning the reading from Matthew today might be this:   How do I love God? 

In the Gospel reading this morning the Pharisee ask a good question but his motive was wrong.  He was not asking in order to discover or learn something new.  He was trying to trap Jesus, to discredit his reputation and cause his followers to doubt his authority and his teachings.   Jesus understood his alternative motive and answers him with a blast from the past.  He said: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength, this is the greatest commandment" Deuteronomy 6:5.  Jesus also knew that LOVE didn’t stop there either so he added a quote made by Moses found in Leviticus 19:18  and “you shall love your neighbor as yourself."  Jesus also knew that if we could keep these two commandments, then all 10 which were given to Moses on tablets would be fulfilled.  So then the good question!!  “How do I Love GOD”?

Is there any material thing I could buy or give to God, to illustrate how deep my love is?    How many good deeds do you think I would need to do, in order to prove my unfailing love?  
Let us turn to the prophets and hear what they have to say:  The Prophet Micah answered this with these words:   "Do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8)  The Prophet Isaiah   expresses loving God in these words “Maintain justice and always do what is right and good. {Isaiah 56:1}  The Apostle Paul in Romans 12 tells us to offer ourselves as living sacrifices to God in service to one another.   And of course we hear Moses In Leviticus 19:18  one of the greatest principle of the Torah, expressed by Moses,  "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."    How many of us thought these words came originally from Jesus?   More astonishing is the fact that all the principals for Jesus’ teaching find their foundation within the Torah which was written in Hebrew and make up the first 5 books of the Bible.   

Jesus often pointed out in His teaching that all had been said or done before He came into the picture.  This is why Jesus makes the claim that he did not come to change the Laws of Moses but to fulfill prophesy that is found within them.   So then, “how do I love God?  May I suggest to you that you just cannot say the words, “I love you”, you must put the love words into love actions, just as the Prophets suggested.  In order to do that you must learn to love and care for yourself first, so you can then do the same to God and then to your neighbor.   Here are three points for you to take home and think about this week. 

Point # 1: To Love God with all your heart means: take care of your body, your health.   1 Corinthians 6: 19 tells us  “ that our body is the temple where the Holy Spirit makes its home.   So then, we must respect and  take good care of God’s temple.   Now I don’t know about you but I was, for a long time, under the impression that the church building was where the Holy resided.  I was wrong!!! It’s just a building folks.    

Point # 2: To Love God with all your soul, is to understand what the word soul really means.  Here we need to look at the original Hebrew word, “nephesh”.  Translated into English was written as soul.  Nephesh  was the word used to describe the animated living being God created from the dust of the earth. Genesis 2: 7   “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”  Please note here that it does not say that God put a soul into the man.  Many make the mistake of claiming the soul to be eternal, not so according to this scripture.  It says after God put breath into the man, he became a living being, a soul.  We often confirm that when we say he or she is a good old soul, meaning he or she is soul as the Hebrew states.  Let us not confuse soul with Spirit.  Although they co-exist together, your living presence or soul is mortal and your Spirit or the breath that gave life to the soul is immortal, therefor they are not the same.  At Death the good old soul {you, the dust of the ground} returns to the earth from whence it came and the Spirit returns from whence it came.  Read it for yourself in Ecclesiastes 12: 7  King James V:  "Then shall the dust {the living soul} return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it."
 May I suggest that Jesus knew the answer to my question:  "OBEDIENCE" to His Fathers will, even unto to death upon a cross. 
Therefore, to Love God with all my soul means to show continuous OBEDIENCE with gratitude for life and breath for as long as it lasts.   This is no easy task folks, our soul is rooted in God but the soul is also motivated by sight, hearing, speech, intelligence, emotions, will and desire.  It exists with the breath of life, {the Spirit} but its desires often clash with the Spirit when it come to choices.  The soul is subject to both physical and spiritual death while you are alive!! see Matthew 10: 28.  The Spirit on the other hand is eternal, many often feel like their Spirit is being held hostage in a physical body that became a living soul.  Only your Spirit knows where it's true home is and to whom you really belong.   

Point # 3:  Love God with all your strength meaning, be mindful of what you allow your soul and mind to feed on Folks.   You must be mindful of your words and actions that feed the minds of others.  
The mind has a great influence on our behavior and the deeds we perform.  The events of this last year which have taken place in Britain, US, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, North Korea and China are great examples of how our souls {our lives} can be controlled and manipulated by others.  

To LOVE GOD with all your heart, soul and strength is to be obedient to God’s word, to pray for and forgive our enemies; take care of the poor, the hungry, cloth the naked, administer to the sick, and be a friend to the outcast.    
                                              "You need a Friend"