Measuring the Spiritual Life

June 21, 1959
Akron

Measuring the Spiritual Life

Individuals will be redeemed and nations will be saved from disaster when spiritual values rule the world! We hear this exhortation rather persistently from leaders of church and state. Materialism is politely cussed out, usually by persons who seem to possess an abundance of material goods. Too many times, however, the “spiritual values” we are urged to adopt seem to be vague generalizations. It is not always made clear to us whether we should pray more or pay more in order to acquire spirituality. Does being “spiritual” mean going to church Sunday only, or do we have to give up Wednesday night bowling also?

Today’s sermon is an attempt to clarify this matter of “spiritual” values and to see if there are rules by which we can measure ourselves from time to time. Last September in our church Kindergarten I class, the teacher measured the children by standing them against a wall and attaching a label. In May, the children again stood up against the wall. One boy (Stanley) was 41½” in September and 43-3/4” in May. Another (Bill) was 41-3/4” in Fall and 44½” in Spring. Marks on the wall indicate how a child is growing in stature. But the dimension of spiritual and moral wisdom is not so easily recorded.

First of all there is no real distinction that I can discover between spiritual and moral. Some persons believe that a pious attitude and atmosphere is the mark of spirituality. Piety without morality (or ethics), however, is one of the sure signs of hypocrisy.

A spiritual, or moral, value is a standard of conduct, an inner attitude which finds expression in your behavior. If you prize a standard which insists that all men are brothers, then that is a spiritual value. Without doubt it is a moral value in that it exerts a moral imperative – otherwise it cannot be spiritual. If you believe that “God is eternal and all-conquering love,” then that too is a moral value – if you act as if you really believed it.

The measure of the moral or spiritual values is the extent to which you prize them. If one of your values is the brotherhood of man and another value is white racist supremacy, the more precious value is the one you will see triumph when a Negro, Asian or Indian wants to buy property on your street. When one measures his morality, he is measuring his spirituality.

Furthermore, there is no other way to measure your spirituality than by your morality. Your morality is represented by your behavior and expressed attitudes. There is no spiritual life; there are no religious values that are not something else also. Every spiritual value is intimately related with family life, occupation, education, politics, recreation and organized religion. Because we are busy in various ways at different times – work in the day, family in the evening, church on Sunday, politics in November – it is not difficult to lapse into thinking that these areas of living function quite apart from “spirituality.”

Yet the way we conduct ourselves with our fellow-workers is a measure of religious value, too. A man’s religion is a sorry affair if the moral code of right relations he affirms on Sunday morning does not make him a better man at home. Moral values do not grow apart from the world of people in which we inevitably find ourselves.

Amos, the earliest, authentic prophet of Universalism had the ethically vivid imagination to see, “The Lord with a plumb line in his hand. And the Lord said to Amos, ‘Amos, what seest thou?’ And Amos said, ‘A plumb line.’ Then the Lord said, ‘Behold I will set a plumb-line in the midst of my people in Israel.’” Or, as Moffatt translates these lines, “With a plumb-line I test my people.”

Amos is a most discerning prophet when he measures moral values. When his imagination pictured God measuring the people of Israel with the plumb-line, Amos didn’t hash over the sins of Adam or Cain, but sternly reminded the people around him that Yahveh’s plumb-line was measuring their spiritual lives.

First, he referred to enemy countries. Because these nations had been wantonly destructive and had enslaved people, God’s judgment was upon them. These nations would be judged by their conduct, inevitably. Probably these remarks were pleasing to his audience – most everyone derives at least some enjoyment from the prospect of ill-fortune for an opponent.

Then, turning to his fellow Israelites, he indicted them. “You, too, will be judged. You have sinned and cannot escape the consequences.”

Amos was specific. He denounced the dishonest merchants who defrauded the people and exploited prostitutes with ill-gotten profits. He scolded those who prevented others from speaking freely. His language became vitriolic when he castigated women who cheat and spend their time in fruitless indolence. Amos sailed into the politicians, too, who “make justice a bitter thing” and who extort bribes. Amos had prophetic inward urgency and his tongue was like a flame.

After indicting them Amos pleaded with them to measure up spiritually, “let justice roll down as water, and righteousness as a mighty stream.”

Another ancient voice of Universalism, Isaiah, (28 – 17) gave his rule for measuring the spiritual life, “And I will make justice the line and righteousness the plummet.”

The 39th Psalm was composed centuries after the times of Amos and Isaiah by an unknown poet who had another measure for spiritual value. We may surmise that the author was ill (vs. 9 and 10) and that he spent much time in solitary meditation. In his philosophy of living he seemed to give moral priority to an attitude of melancholy recognition to sorry and suffering. The concluding lines of the psalm find him praying for just a little brightness, for a brief recovery of strength, “Oh spare me, that I may recover strength.”

Amos and the unknown Psalmist represent two of many contrasting ways in which spirituality is measured in the Old Testament.

How shall we measure ourselves? Shall it be with the strong, aggressive social gospel reflected by Amos? Or shall it be the fading hope of the Psalmist who asks only for a brief measure of consolation amid the enfolding misery of existence.

The famous nineteenth century physician, teacher and humanitarian said in his last public address,

[blank paragraph]

Dr. Osler suggested three standards to measure accurately the spiritual life. Let’s think of them as measuring instruments: the level, the rule, the plumb-line.

The first standard is to do one’s best, be satisfied to permit tomorrow’s worries to be a concern for the future, do your work well and don’t worry. That’s living on the level.

Did you see the cartoon which sketched the entrance to a psychiatrist’s office, “7 couches, no waiting.”

Ulcers are common and psychiatrists are busy because we do worry about tomorrow. The young executives carry home their attache cases, perpetual symbols that they never do leave tomorrow’s worries at the office.

A few years ago Budd Schulberg wrote one of the most poignant novels in years, “What Makes Sammy Run.” Sammy had fierce ambitions that drove him to crush or cheat anyone in his way as he jostled his way to “success.”

The savory taste of a world of plenty and luxury can turn to tasteless ashes when worry robs work of its necessary gratifications.

Are you living on the level with yourself in your work? Are you creative or merely acquisitive of power or money? Are you like the dwarfs in the Norse fable who were considered queer specimens because they were busy perpetually with their work, but had no other pride or joy except for the mischief they could perform? “The morrow will be anxious for itself.” When we level with ourselves we will know this is an important measure of spirituality.

The second measure of the spiritual life is the degree you use the Golden Rule. This is not merely a motto, it is a measure of the spiritual life.

“Do unto others as ye would they do unto you.” As Rabbi Hillel remarked nineteen hundred years ago, “this is the whole law, the rest is but commentary.”

A young American, George Shepherd, wrote a book about his experience of working two years with a farmers’ cooperative in Central Africa. THEY WAIT IN DARKNESS is the story of his efforts to help with agricultural methods and technique which would help raise living standards.

In Uganda the Africans own and till the land because the European colonists are not dominant. In neighboring Kenya, where the terrible Mau-Mau occurred, a handful of whites own the great tracts of land and the Africans are herded into pitifully small sections. Mr. Shepherd commented, “Never had I seen such crowding of land before, even in China. I have heard the better comment Africans make, ‘When the white man came, we had the land and he the Bible; now he has the land and we the Bible.’”

The Golden Rule was not a measure used by the exploiters. The consequence was the bloody Mau-Maul rebellions.

We can over look this golden rule of living, but we are measured spiritually nevertheless. Every person who sets out to profit by another’s suffering, to become rich by making another poor, to acquire luxury through another’s hardship might well postpone his plotting until he understands the measure of life in Jesus’ words, “With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured unto you.”

The Golden Rule measures us always no matter with what agility we tried to avoid conscience.

Dr. Osler’s third principle was to cultivate such measure of equanimity as would enable one “to bear success with humility, the affection of friends without pride and to be ready when the day of sorrow and grief came, to meet it with courage befitting man.”

This is the plumb-line for ti measures us at depth – the measurement of self. When the complacency of self-righteousness is larded over with the grease of false flattery, then indeed, the plumb-line is needed. To win gracefully is no less difficult than to lose with dignity. Mighty old Nebuchadnezzar went mad because of his self-satisfaction. The plumb-line found him off-center.

The plumb-line measures our morality at depth, too, when sorrow and the shock of grief strike – these blows come to us all. It is easy to forgive those who come apart at the seams emotionally on the occasion of tragic lap. Nevertheless we are in lien with the plumb line when we accept grief as persons with inner resources. Even when everything goes awry, understanding, sympathy and integrity may still be ours.

King David was a mighty man whose moral standards could have been considerably better. Yet he measured true to the plumb-line on an occasion of great sorrow. The first child of David and Bathsheba was sick unto death. David prayed, fasted and watched day and night.

The child died. They were afraid to break the news. David noticed their whisperings. “Is the child dead?” he asked. “He is dead,” the servants answered fearfully. David composed himself, changed his clothing, worshiped and ate a meal. The curiosity of the servants was greater than their fear. They asked the King, “What is the meaning of this thing that you have done? You have fasted and wept for the child, while it was alive, but when the child died you have arisen and eaten food.”

David answered, “Can I bring him back? I expect to go to him, but he will not return to me.”

In this life we do “see through a glass darkly,” but to measure up morally, we need to break the fast of tragedy and participate in the living present.

Living on the level, using the measurement of the Golden Rule, plumbing even the depths of tragedy with reviving assurance of living values – there may be other measures of spirituality or morality, but these will suffice.