Soul-Structuring Arts
Enoch’s Faith; Or, How to Mezuzah Your Life Dr. Roger Barrier
Hebrews 11:5
God never intended for the sacred to separated from the secular. For two centuries we lived in a society that made sense. The secular and the sacred intertwined. It was like we had a sacred canopy over our country—like most other societies throughout history have had.
We now live in a “twisted” society that seems Hell-bent on eradicating the sacred from our every day lives. This is a most unnatural thing.
The secularization of our society is being done under the auspices of the “Doctrine of the Separation of Church and State.” This concept is foreign to the U.S. Constitution; as far as the Constitution is concerned, this idea was created by the U.S. Supreme Court out of nothing.
Note carefully the wording to the 1st amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting and establishing religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right to the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” This has to do with forbidding the establishment of a state religion (like existed in England from whence the colonists had just come) and forbids the establishment of laws which would hinder the free expression of anyone’s religion (which the U.S. Supreme Court has been violating since the early 1960s). Many surveys reveal that the average American believes that we have less religious freedom in America than ten, twenty, or forty years ago.
Coming out of WWII America lost its sacred canopy. Many people are now putting up their own “sacred umbrellas”. There is nothing unusual about this. The second-century church leader, Tertullian had this to say about the practice: “In all our travels and movements, in all our coming in and going out, in putting off our shoes, at the bath, at the table, in lighting our candles, in lying down, in sitting down, whatever activity occupies us, we mark our foreheads with the sign of the cross.” What spiritual advantage might Christians have who returned to this practice?
Let’s take a moment and review the Soul Structuring Lifestyle Arts we have previously examined in Hebrews 11:1-4:
•Lifestyle Art: My faith means I listen to what God says and live accordingly.
•Lifestyle Art: My faith means I live and act on the basis of the supernatural, invisible world.
•Lifestyle Art: My faith believes that in a universe as large as ours, my God is really big.
•Lifestyle Art: My faith in the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus Christ for my sin restores my broken relationship with God.
Now we come to the Lifestyle Art from the life of Enoch in Hebrews 11:5: My faith means I creatively integrate the sacred into my everyday life.
In Hebrews 11:5 we have the sacred testimony that this man, Enoch, pleased God. We would do well to discover why and do likewise.
Enoch’s story is found in Genesis 5:18-24. (Please feel free to get the supplemental sermon #S-213 for a further study on Enoch’s life and times. Enoch’s translation is a picture of the Rapture of Christians. The age in which he lived paralleled the age which will exist just before the 2nd coming of Christ.)
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Enoch’s walking with God was very attractive to the Almighty.This morning I want to describe what that might look like in our generation.
Mezuzah (or Sacredize or sacramentalize) Your Life
Deuteronomy 6:4-9: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”
1 Corinthians 10:31: “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
Colossians 3:15-17: “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
A contemporary mezuzah is a ritual that helps us grow our own souls by modulating the mundane into the eternal. As we go through life we set up “sacred canopies” in all sorts of spaces to make life make sense.
Mezuzah your home Mezuzah your artifacts Mezuzah your relationships Mezuzah life’s transitions Mezuzah your moments
These lifestyle arts are critical in a society where the sacred canopy has been removed.
Enoch learned to have heaven on Earth, so it was an easy transition when God decided to take him right up to heaven. Transitioning to the eternal in death is easy when we’ve already “mezuzahed” meaning into our lives. Who do you know who died well? Ponder why.
