It's been a week I'd rather forget.  After 36 hours in the car, the week that was to begin with an all-too-brief vacation ended with marathon driving and the all-too-familiar family reunion over a casket.  Bill was in fact a brother-in-law, but he was like a brother to us.  I wonder how many times I hugged this or that relative, each time one of us saying, "We have to stop meeting like this."  Two funerals of loved ones this close together is tough on the spirit.

          It's also tough for those few of us who live far away and have to make "the drive."  This time it was 1,000 miles each way, and if you think we three should have flown, try pricing last minute tickets for three adults to anywhere!  There are no more bereavement prices, just a whole lot of miles between here and Minnesota humidity.  The funeral was in a very small midwestern town, one of those so small that if you go for a walk or run, someone will stop and ask if you need a ride.  And except for a bad tank of Nebraska gasoline and a malfunctioning air conditioner, the trip went fairly well.  Carol's visiting her Mom back in Cedar Rapids for a few days.

          The human body is amazing at how much punishment it can take.  All the time we were driving my back was aching in the carseat, and yet I kept thinking how fortunate we were to be driving 75-80 miles an hour when the pioneers 150 years ago counted it a wonder if they made just 25 miles all day.  As we pulled into one Rest Area after another, we joined that transient army of weary travellers, barely able to stand as we got out of our soft car seats and move to the facilities.  We'd all been sitting too long and standing up was a chore!  I used to be able to sit longer without stiffening up, but not any more.  After sitting several hours, a person needs to stand up just to get the kinks out.  And walking around helps too.  Sit, stand and walk, sit, stand and walk - that was the routine four days in a row as we navigated the Eisenhower Interstate Highway System in its current state of road repair.

          Sit, stand and walk - that's how it is in human life.  As a tiny baby we start to sit up as soon as we're strong enough, and then we stand.  At the funeral there were the latest babies and how they love to try to stand up!  Then as soon as they can they want to walk, and as fast as possible.  And as soon as possible they begin to run.  We can't walk yet, but we're ready to run!  Sit - stand - walk - run - that's the normal progression of our human journey through life.

          But in our Christian life God shows us a new way;  He wants us to sit, walk, and then stand.  I have a small book in my personal library by Watchman Nee, a Chinese Christian who wrote a great little book by that very name, Sit, Walk and Stand.  It's not a new system of child-raising, but a new concept of Christian-raising.  He writes this booklet to new Believers telling them that in our Christian life we must first learn to SIT - sit at the feet of the Lord so we can hear Him and learn of Him.  If we don't start by sitting, we won't know what to do when we take our first steps.

          When we've been grounded in the fundamentals of our faith, then we can get up and WALK in the ways of the Lord, our Christian "walk" as we've come to call it.  Having first sat at the feet of Jesus, now we have the strength and courage to walk in His ways, which more often than not is walking against the tide of the world.  The world tugs at us to go another way.  Or maybe we've been going the world's way and the Christian way just doesn't seem as interesting or exciting.  Or maybe we know the right way, but are fascinated with the world's way.  Whatever the case, we first must sit before we can walk.

          But when we're ready for the "WALK," we need to be sure we're going in the right direction, following the Lord, not whatever human whim or trend is popular.  Human trends come and go like the wind.  But when we're grounded in God's Word, and are walking in His ways, then we will be able STAND when trouble comes, to stand firm when the winds of doubt blow us around, to stand fast when the waves of temptation threaten to wash us out to sea.  When we've sat and walked, then we can stand strong in the faith in our Lord Jesus.  But if we don't first SIT and WALK, we'll never know how to STAND, and the slightest trouble that comes along will knock us over.

          I have a question each of us needs to answer for ourselves:  How in the world can we know how to walk, if we don't first sit at His feet?  How can we know the road if we don't study the map?  Since this church started, I'd always hoped to get most of our adult members to study the Bible regularly.  I naively thought holding good Bible studies would bring them in.  "If you hold classes, they will come," I thought.  But lately it's apparent that no matter how good the course, no matter how much encouragement, no matter what the content, group Bible studies get pushed out of the way by any and every "reason" imaginable.

          I'm really appalled at how small an importance we attach to Bible study.  Sometimes I think we come to a Bible class if there's nothing else going on, or only if we have to bring the kids to Sunday School.  We start a course and then find all kinds of reasons to skip.  People say,"I sure wish we had a course in this or that subject," and then when it's offered, "Sorry - can't make it tonight!"  I've given thought to offering money or door prizes to get people to Bible class, but don't think I could raise enough.  And If you're among that small minority who is finding a way to study the Word elsewhere than at church, great!  But how many is that happening for?  We who always find time to read the paper or do the daily crossword puzzle or watch the news or read books - can't we also find even a few moments to read the Good Book, to hear the Good News, or read a book with answers to life's puzzles?  For some reason we'd rather just fork down another mouthful of tasteless human commentary than feast on the wondrous Bread of Life.

          We know this story of Mary and Martha almost too well.  Jesus was visiting His friends and Martha got snippy with Mary because she wasn't setting the table.  But Mary understood her real need, so she sat at the feet of Jesus.  The practical Marthas of the world, and God bless them all because we need them, think sitting should be done later on, after all the standing and serving and making money is done (and they're teaching their kids to do the same).  But when Mary sat at the feet of Jesus, she was where she should have been -- and where each of us ought to be!  Friends, if you're not sitting at the feet of Jesus in a Bible study, you'll never learn to walk or stand.  If you're struggling with faith and wondering about problems of life and don't know where you stand, you can't blame your church.  I can lead you to the Word, but I can't make you learn it.  I can show you a path, but I can't walk it for you.

          An older teenager once approached his mother with the request that all parents dread, that terrible question about buying that first car.  Now he wasn't a bad boy, just a bit listless and sloppy, and he had a bit of a rebellious streak starting up, as evidenced by his haircut - or lack of it, I should say.  His long wavy locks had been a topic of conversations with both his Mom and Dad before.  "Where are you going to get the money?" his mother asked.  "Well I was thinking maybe you and Dad could loan me the money and I'd pay you back," he said as convincingly as he could muster.  "Well," she said pensively, "if you'd get that mop of long hair cut off, maybe we'd consider it."  "But Mom," he said, "Jesus and His disciples had long hair in the Bible."  "That's right," she said over her shoulder, "but then everywhere they went, they walked!"  The Mom was right;  everywhere the disciples went, they walked, but only because first they'd first sat at His feet!

          Jesus is the Light of the World.  He once said, "Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." (John 8:12)   John the apostle later said, "If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin." (1 John 1:7)   Even the Apostle Paul said, "I urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received." (Ephesians 4:1)   Only after we've sat at the feet of Jesus can we walk in the light of the Lord.

          Christian life of sitting and walking goes on to standing.  The stand is against the wickedness of this life.  We must stand firm so evil won't knock us over.  One of the framers building our new church building was "walking the trusses" as they were going up and I heard another guy tell him, "Just don't lean against the wind."  If you lean against the wind when you're up high and the wind stops, you have problems!

          Some of us get blown over with a feather because we're leaning against the wind, leaning on something we think will hold us up.  In Ephesians 6:13 St. Paul said, "Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand."

          Jesus loves you enough to pick you up when you fall, to heal you when you get hurt, and to sit you down so you can hear Him speak.  And when Jesus talks to you, it's not just news, but Good News, and not just to everyone, but to you.  My friends, God loves you so much that if you were the only sinner in the whole wide world, He'd still have sent Jesus to be your Savior.  So sit at His feet - often and regularly, at church and at home and wherever.  Then with that "one thing needful" tucked under your belt, you're ready to walk, and always to stand.  God grant this for Jesus' sake, amen.

Copyright © 2001 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.