I'm from Sacramento, so I can say this with a measure of experience – California is truly the land of fruits and nuts. Several years ago, in Long Beach, California, a fellow went into a fried chicken restaurant and bought a couple of chicken dinners for himself and his date late one afternoon. The young woman at the counter was distracted and inadvertently gave him the proceeds from the day-a whole -bag of money (much of it cash) instead of fried chicken.

After driving to their picnic site, the two of them sat down tothe meal and enjoy some chicken together. They discovered a whole lot more than chicken--over $800! But this man was unusual.

He quickly put the money back in the bag. They got back into the car and drove all the way back to the restaurant. He got out of the car, and walked in. The manager and employees were frantic. The guy with the bag of money looked the manager in the eye and said, "I came to get a couple of chicken dinners and wound up with all this money. Here."

The manager was thrilled. He said, "Oh, great, let me call the newspaper. I want to take your picture to let everyone know that you're the most honest man I've heard of." The guy looked that manager and said, "Oh no, no, don't do that!" Then he leaned closer and whispered, "You see, the woman I'm with is not my wife...she's uh, somebody else's wife." Charles Swindoll, Growing Deep in the Christian Life, p. 159-60.

Transition: That guy had his life divided neatly into two parts: his married life and his life with his girlfriend. On the one hand he looked honest. But a closer look revealed he wasn't as honest as he appeared.

This morning I want to take the next few moments to consider our tendency to compartmentalize our lives. It's common for people to divide their lives into distinct cubicles.

For example, they may have a family life, a professional life, a religious life then a private life. Each one is partitioned off from the other. Their life is carved into compartments.

Some people have gone so far as to neatly divide their lives into the sacred and the secular. Going to Church, reading the Bible, and praying are sacred activities. But the other parts of their lives are considered "secular" activities. What they do on Sundays has little to do with how they live their lives Monday through Saturday.

Transition: The Church has been partly responsible for teaching people to divide their lives into the sacred and the secular. Eusebius, the 4^th century historian wrote the following. Full-time religious workers devoted "to the service of God alone, embody the perfect form of the Christian life, whereas the farmers and the traders may achieve only a kind of secondary grade of [spirituality] peity." Eusebius

Dorothy Sayers, a Roman Catholic author responded to this idea of dividing life into the sacred and the secular: "In nothing has the church so lost her hold on reality as in her failure to understand and respect the secular vocation. She has allowed work and religion to become separate departments. She has forgotten that the secular vocation is sacred."

What Dorothy Sayers is saying is that there is no distinction between the sacred and the secular. A perusal of the Bible tells us the same thing: life can't be divided into the holy and the unholy. In fact, the Scriptures teach us that all of life is holy.

That means every aspect of life is sacred. Everything we do no matter where we are or whom we're with is to be an outworking of our Christianity. Life at work, life at home, life in the bedroom, and life with our friends – every aspect of life is considered by God to be holy.

For the Christian, there is nothing secular anywhere. For the Christian all of life is sacred. That means there are no watertight compartments sealed off from God.

This morning God is inviting us to see our lives as a seamless garment. He wants us to view life as one integrated whole. Our faith is to saturate every corner of our lives. Why? Because all of life is hallowed by His presence. This is what it means to live an "integrated" life. There are no compartments where God is absent.

All of life is holy whether it's preaching or changing diapers. When you look at life in this manner, the seemingly insignificant task takes on new meaning.

Here I want to be emphatic. It's vital that we connect Sunday to Monday; our Christianity is to be applied to every area of our lives. Another way to say the same thing is – our lives are the outworking of our faith.

Mark what the Scriptures say about this matter.

Colossians 3:23-24 "And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, ²⁴knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ."

I Corinthians 10:31 "Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."

Note the comprehensive, all-inclusive nature of these verses. "Whatever you do." That means everything. That means from sun-up to sundown. That means from the time you get up until the time you lie down. That includes driving to the glory of God, interacting with your family to the glory of God, using your computer to the glory of God, working to the glory of God, and satisfying your passions to the glory of God.

"Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." Does that mean I'm to interpret the facts of history in such a way that they reflect God's glory?

Does that mean my thought life should be glorifying to God? Does this include the things I do in private? When I'm out of town? Does this include how I view food? My emotions?

All of life is holy. Every thing I do is to be done to God's glory.

Ah, but our culture tells us to compartmentalize our lives. "It's okay to be a Christian . . . on Sunday . . . from 9:00-12:00. Just don't go overboard. Leave it there. Don't try to apply your Christianity to your job or your family. And whatever you do don't put your faith into practice when you're alone."

Folks, that's nonsense. That makes as much sense as a wife telling her husband, "I'm faithful to you . . . 88% of the time."

In his book I Surrender, Patrick Morley writes that the church's integrity problem is in the misconception "that we can add Christ to our lives, but not subtract sin. It is a change in belief without a change in behavior." He goes on to say, "It is revival without reformation, without repentance."Quoted in John The Baptizer, Bible Study Guide by C. Swindoll, p. 16

That's what our culture tells us, but as Christians we resist that type of thinking. We understand that all of life is holy. We welcome Christ into every room of our lives. How? By taking what we learn on Sundays assimilating it into our lives Monday-Saturday. May God help us to do just that. Amen