14

Jump Start # 1976

Posted on November 14, 2017 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 1976

1 Corinthians 16:17-18 “I rejoice over the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have suppled what was lacking on your part. For they have refreshed my spirit and yours. Therefore acknowledge such men.”

This week we are on a journey. We are taking a stroll through our spiritual garden. We are counting the trees in our garden. Unlike Eve, who was focused upon the one tree God told her not to eat from, she failed to count all the other trees that God had provided. God is rich in blessings. We get listening to Satan’s sad song and feel that we have been left out, cheated and deserve more. What Satan points us to is what God forbids. Satan’s solutions are always wrong. He wants us to do what we shouldn’t. If we see how blessed we are, if we could only count the trees in our garden, then we would not listen to Satan as much. Count your many blessings, is a wonderful hymn and exercise.

Our verse today, reminds us of several mighty trees in our garden. Righteous friends, brethren, who know us, love us and have helped us through the years make up some of the amazing trees in our garden. It’s hard to know what one would do without great friends, especially when they are Christians. Years of worshipping together. Years of doing projects together. Years of sharing, learning, and growing together. In a forest, or woods, as we call them in Indiana, trees grow tall and close to one another. Under the soil, the roots don’t go straight down. They spread out under the soil. The roots of other trees weave and connect to the roots of other trees. Not only are they sharing the soil and nutrients but the roots all growing around each other help support each other. In the woods behind my house are some dead trees. They have been dead since I moved there. Why doesn’t the wind blow them over? They are being held and supported by the roots of the surrounding trees.

This is what brethren do. And as your faith grows and as you travel, you find this circle of godly companions ever increasing. Good people. God’s people. Those who love and stand for the truth. Those who want the kingdom to grow. These folks pray when there is a need. These people invite you into their homes. They want you to succeed spiritually. They want you to grow spiritually. Their roots are woven around your roots. Together you support each other. The Bible word for this is “fellowship.” It’s more than a name in a church directory, it’s a relationship. It’s trees in your garden. It’s roots woven together deep under the soil.

When this fellowship is right and strong, it’s powerful. It’s funeral homes packed with brethren. It’s a Saturday, and guys show up to help you load boxes and move. It’s hugs and tears when storms come, and it’s hugs and smiles when the sun comes out. It’s growing together. It’s a spiritual family. Just as in any family, there are bumps and hiccups once in a while. But we are family. We love each other. We are there for each other. We get through those tough times together. We are bound together through our faith in Jesus Christ. Grace, forgiveness, kindness and goodness causes us to watch our words and not be so opinionated. Love and care for one another causes us to get out of our lazy chairs and serve one another.

These are mighty trees in our garden. But Satan doesn’t want you talking about these. He wants you to look at forbidden fruit. He wants you to walk away from these trees. It is interesting in the Genesis account that there seemed to be just one tree that was forbidden. What a contrast. Satan would have you to think that God only allows you to eat from one tree and all the others are off limits. He would have you to think that you are missing out.

Now, there are two things that Satan does to try to get our eyes off our mighty trees of fellowship.

First, by making us feel alone. There are those like that. In a large church, they don’t know anyone. They have very few friends. They worship alone. Satan plays on that. You are not invited. You are not welcomed. You are not loved. You worship but you are not one of them. As long as Satan keeps singing this song, we will begin to find friendships elsewhere and among the choices that Satan offers.

Too often, we sit in our pew and we see conversations taking place. We see hugs, handshakes and slaps on the back. We hear laughter. We see all of this, but we are not included. We are on the outside, looking through the window and wishing we could be a part of that. That’s what Satan wants you to believe. It takes some doing on your part to make friends. This is especially true when a person has moved into a congregation. Friendships and relationships have already been formed for years. You are the new kid on the block. How do I get into that fellowship? How do I make friends?

Sadly, in some places, it’s a closed circle and the people will let you know that you are not one of them. That’s wrong and that’s dancing to Satan’s tune. Instead of waiting for someone to invite you, you invite them. You be friendly. Don’t always talk about yourself or the last place you were at. Listen. Be yourself. Don’t push and don’t try to change everyone to fit you. Laugh at yourself. Be open. Be like Jesus.

Satan will try to introduce people of the world to take the place of those mighty trees in your garden. Neighbors, co-workers and even family members who may be nice, but do not have that spiritual foundation to walk with Christ. They’ll laugh at your silly jokes. They’ll invite you. They’ll include you into their circle of fellowship. You spend a lot of your weekends with these people. You begin to think that you like these people more than those people down at the church house. You find yourself going along and every once in a while, actually doing things that you would never do before. But you don’t want to be the odd person in this group. And before you even know it, Satan has gotten you to compromise, weaken your stance and to accept what you never would before. The pull from the world has had an impact upon you. You begin to miss some services. It’s not a big deal you say. You’re doing things with your friends. They don’t worship. A little here. A little there. Your faith has weakened and you never realized it.

Now, is it wrong to have friends who are not Christians? Certainly not. How else are we to be the light into the world? How else will we try to show Jesus? However, when we view our friends of the world as a greater and more important influence in our lives than fellow Christians, then Satan has us looking at the wrong tree.

Paul, from our verse today, had his spirit strengthened because of the good brothers that came to him. A refreshed spirit. A heart that remains focused. A priority that runs strong and deep. A hope that anchors us through storms. There are good things that we gain from our fellowship with other Christians that we never can receive from the world. Most of us would not be who we are today, without those godly friends throughout our lives who stuck with us, by us and for us.

What’s in your garden that God provides? An enormous forest of spiritual friends who are there for you. Don’t take that for granted. Invest in these people. Pour hours into being with them. Serve them. Help them. Open your heart to allow them to do the same to you.

We are blessed!

Roger

13

Jump Start # 1975

Posted on November 13, 2017 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 1975

Genesis 3:2 “The woman said to the serpent, ‘From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’”

I want to share and expand a point I made in a lesson last evening about thanksgiving. It is interesting in this conversation that the serpent has with Eve, that their discussion surrounds the one tree which was off limits. They talked about that one tree. Eve looked at that one tree. Everything was about that one tree.

One wonders how many other trees were in the garden of Eden. Obviously, there were other fruit trees. Eve quotes God saying that she could eat from all the trees but one. Instead of counting what she had, her attention was drawn to the one tree that she didn’t have. Ingratitude will do that. It will only see what one doesn’t have. Rather than counting the trees that one does have, it focuses upon what it doesn’t have. Just imagine how this Genesis story would have turned out, had Eve taken the serpent for a little stole through the garden. She could have pointed out all the vegetables, ripe and beautiful without a weed growing between them. She could have shown strawberry fields, with plump red strawberries. She could have shown the serpent orchards of apples, peaches and vineyards of ripe grapes. Ripe bananas, just waiting to be picked. Fruit that was bug free and better than any magazine picture. All around and everywhere she looked, there were an abundance of food. Now, I admit, I don’t know what kinds of food God provided. Bananas? Maybe. Strawberries? Why not? Eden was paradise. I don’t envision Adam and Eve barely having anything to eat. I don’t think things were so tough that they had to share an apple. God always supplies in abundance. God is generous. That’s His nature. It would be like walking through the produce section of a grocery store, except, they didn’t have to pay for it. Beautiful. Ripe. Perfect. So much to choose from. Unlike Israel getting manna every day, I expect the Garden provided a great variety.

Where I live there is a huge woods behind my house. Easily, there are more than fifty variety of trees in that woods. I know there are oaks, hickory, birch, maple, poplar, walnut trees. Those are just wild growing natural trees. Can you imagine what God made to sustain Adam and Eve?

Rather than focusing upon what she had, Satan diverted Eve’s attention to what she didn’t have. They didn’t talk about all the wonderful fruit trees that she could eat from. The discussion surrounded the one tree that she couldn’t have. Eve could have easily said, “I don’t need that one tree. Look what I have.” But that didn’t happen. The one tree was all that she could think about. That one tree became her obsession. She forgot what she had and only thought about what she didn’t have.

King David did the same thing. Standing on his rooftop he sees the beautiful Bathsheba bathing. A forbidden tree. Rather than counting all the trees he already had, he focused upon what he didn’t have. David was married and had children. Rather than counting his blessings by having loving wives, he only thought about what he didn’t have. Had he counted the trees in his garden, he would have turned around and went back into the palace. Instead, he sent for Bathsheba. A sin was committed.

And here we are. We stand in the same shadows of Eve and King David. Satan wants us to think about and talk about what we don’t have. He wants us to see how we are missing out. Rather than counting the trees that are already in our garden, he wants us to think about that one tree that we can’t have. It fills our mind. We can’t sleep because we think about it. It is what we talk about. If that one tree is forbidden, we start thinking about ways to make it right. Rather than being thankful for the trees in our garden, we become obsessed about getting the one tree that we don’t have.

Ingratitude feeds a complaining spirit. We don’t like what’s in our garden. We deserve better. And life would be so much better, we believe, if we could only have that one tree that is off limits. Oh, we would be so happy if we could only have that one tree. That’s Satan talking. He’s talking and we are listening. Instead of taking a walk through our garden and seeing how blessed we are by God, we stand around that one tree and wonder how we could get it.

Complaining feeds greed and covetousness. We soon buy into the fact that we will never be happy until we have that one tree. Contentment is no where to be found, once Satan has gotten that one tree in our minds. We must have. Some, so desperate to have that tree, will even argue with plain Bible verses, denying what they say, just to find a way to get to that forbidden tree.

So, this week, with Thanksgiving in the air, I want to take us for a walk through the garden that God has provided for us. I want us to look upon the trees that God allows us to have. I want you to see how blessed and how richly God has treated us. From this two things ought to happen. First, we should get our eyes and our thoughts off of that one tree that is forbidden. Second, it ought to make us very thankful for all that God has done for us. He truly has treated us better than we deserve.

The next few days will take us on a walk through our own gardens. I hope you see what God has provided for you. And, I hope, that we will stop listening to Satan and stop the discussion about the one tree that he wants us to eat from, the forbidden fruit.

A walk through the garden…

Roger

10

Jump Start # 1974

Posted on November 10, 2017 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 1974

Ephesians 4:31-32 “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be king to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.”

One final thought about the Texas church shooting. The good that came from that tragedy, or any tragedy, is if we have learned some things and if it has drawn us closer to the Lord. Our final thought is about forgiveness. How do we forgive when we hurt so much? Can I forgive a person who is no longer even alive? This is more than just about a shooting on a Sunday morning in a small Texas church. Forgiveness is something that we all must face. Can a person forgive a parent that was neglectful or abusive? What if that parent is no longer alive? Can we forgive a person that hurt us and we have no idea who it was or where that person is? Can we forgive the person that destroyed our marriage?

 

One writer said, “Forgiveness is great until you have something to forgive.” Forgiveness is not a doctrinal principle to be believed, but a key to relationships that allows prodigals to come home and love to be shown. One of the controversial aspects of forgiveness is whether or not I have to forgive someone who never says that they are sorry. Our passage tells us to forgive just as God has forgiven you. If I refuse to repent and if I refuse to turn towards God, if I refuse to believe in Jesus, I will die in my sins. In that way, some say, unless a guy comes and says he is sorry for what he did, you don’t have to forgive him. Yet, I’ve noticed, the way some say that sounds as if they really hope the guy never says he sorry. There is an air about that statement that they are rejoicing that they don’t have to forgive. They can think mean of someone because he never said he was sorry. There are other issues here such as the golden rule, loving your enemy and praying for all people.

 

It seems that our verses today shows the upside and downside of whether or not we forgive. The down side is the first part of this verse. If someone has hurt me, then I’m not thinking very kindly about him. Likely, most likely, almost definitely, I am not inviting him to my home. My relationship is strained at the best and at the worst it’s over. I feel bitter, angry and want to make him feel the pain that he has caused me. I feel compelled to warn and tell others about what has happened. This slides very easily into slander and clamor. My insides are in turmoil because of what has happened. It robs me of sleep and it destroys my appetite. I can’t move past this. I’ve met people who bring up painful things and the way they talk, you’d think it happened only last week. Yet you come to find out, what happened took place decades ago and they have never moved on. This tragedy and wrong stopped their life.

 

Here is an interesting thing about hurts. The person who caused the hurt has often moved on and thought nothing more about it. This is especially true if he has little conscience and little love in his heart. He’s whistling down the street as if nothing ever happened. The person who was injured, whether physically, emotionally, or spiritually, lies wounded and suffering. Their lives have stopped. They can’t move past the hurt. They think and talk about it all the time. They are consumed with it. Like a cancer, the hurt has taken over their life. It hurts the marriage. It hurts worship. It hurts how one feels about himself. And, the pain continues and continues.

 

If we say, the person has to receive an apology before he can forgive, then he is left in his pain for a long time. What if the person never says he is sorry? Are we to be consumed with this dark feelings forever? Must we wait on the person who caused the pain before we can begin to recover? Are we subject to him still? Does he hold the cards as to when and if we ever move past the tragedy? What if the person is dead? What if it was a parent who is no longer alive? What if it was someone like the shooter in Texas who took his life? Does that mean we never can have peace again? Does that mean that there will always remain an area of our hearts that are torn with anger and bitterness? What if a stranger hurt us? We don’t know who it is and he doesn’t know who we are? How can I recover if the person cannot or will not apologize?

 

The second part of our passage, the upside, tells us to be kind, tender-hearted and forgiving. That’s a choice. That choice is not made nor conditioned upon what the other person decides to do. I can be kind, even when someone else is not kind. I can be tender hearted when someone else is mean and thoughtless. I can forgive when someone isn’t sorry for what they have done. My forgiving does not mean that God has forgiven. That’s up to God and the person. But my forgiving means I release the pain and the connection to the wrong. I choose not to be bitter and angry any more. I will not be eaten up with hatred. I will not have every waking thought be controlled by the pain that has happened. I can let it go. I don’t have to wait for the person who hurt me to apologize. I don’t have to allow him to control the timetable. I can move on. I can release my feelings.

 

There is a wonderful story about Clara Barton, the woman who worked with nurses. She had been harshly criticized by an editor of a newspaper. At a banquet she was attending, a friend told her that the editor was going to be there. Barton said, I distinctly remember forgetting that. She remembered. She chose not to focus and dwell upon it. She moved on. We can do two things about the wrongs and hurts that have come our way through the years. We can bury them in nicely marked graves and return over and over to revisit and remind ourselves of those pains, or, we can put them in unmarked graves and never return to the site again.

 

We can forget a dozen compliments. But we never forget the one criticism. It can eat at us. Preachers need to learn to deal with this.

 

This tragedy in Texas reminds us, as in all tragedies, that some will move on, count their blessings and hold to precious memories and recover. Others, will be destroyed by this. Anger, bitterness and hatred will move in and they will never be the same again. Marriages can be strengthened or they can fall apart because of what a tragedy does to us. Our walk with the Lord can be brighter and stronger or it can stop all together because of what the tragedy does to us.

 

When I hear someone say, “I can never forgive for what has happened to me,” I begin to believe that they are right. They won’t. They may not want to. Jesus said in the model prayer, “If you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions” (Mt 6:15). Nothing is more Christ-like than forgiveness. Anyone can be benevolent. Anyone can be nice. But to forgive, when we have been wronged, takes love, grace and all that is Christ. Forgiveness often doesn’t make much sense. What makes sense is to pop a guy in his nose. Forgiveness is hard. It is the master who extended grace to his servant who owed ten thousand talents, in Jesus’ parable. It is the father who ran and embraced his wayward, prodigal son. It is what God has done for us.

 

The call to forgive is the one true mark of Christianity. It is one thing that the world cannot do. It is the one thing that we must do. Easy? Never. Understandable? No. But in many ways, it helps us more than it helps the one who hurt us. James tells us that judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy (Jas 2:13). One of the most difficult things we must do as Christians is to forgive. Until we do, we are forever chained to the tragedy and are unable to heal and move on.

 

Borrowing from the hit song from Disney’s Frozen, we must LET IT GO. Let it go from our lips. Quit talking about it. Let it go from our minds. Quit thinking about it. Let it go from our hearts. Stop being the victim. Stop rehearsing what was done. LET IT GO. Focus on the goodness of God. Move on to greener pastures. Leave room for the vengeance of God. Let the Lord take care of it. You take care of yourself. Heal. Restore. Repent of wrong thinking. Walk in the sunshine of God’s grace. Surround yourself with God’s people and fill your heart with the praise of the Lord.

 

Someday we are out of here and all these problems will remain behind.

 

LET IT GO! Will you? Can you?

 

Roger

 

09

Jump Start # 1973

Posted on November 9, 2017 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 1973

Habakkuk 1:2 “How long, O Lord, will I call for help, and You will not hear? I cry out to You, ‘Violence!’ Yet You do not save.”

In all the aftermath of the Texas church shooting, I have been wondering how does a person pick up and move on after a tragedy. How will the folks in that little church even be able to walk back through the doors again? Or, will they? How do students return to a school, after there has been a shooting? And, it doesn’t have to be a mass shooting that makes the national news, how does anyone survive and move on after a tragedy? How does a family deal with a suicide? How does a young mother move on after the death of her husband? How does a person survive a divorce? How does a person pick up after being foreclosed on?

When we are young, we envision life being sunny days and smooth seas. It doesn’t take long to find out that there are many stormy nights. The seas can be very choppy and scary. Dreams become nightmares. Promises are broken. People let you down. Death takes people away from you before you are ready. How does a person go on? I think about that small band of disciples gathered in Jerusalem after the death of Jesus and before His resurrection. Their heads must have been swirling. Was it all over now? What do we do? Without Jesus, how do we know what to do?

I am not a psychologist, just a preacher. Here are a few things I think are helpful.

First, take some time. Don’t rush. Your life has changed. Things are different. Don’t make any quick decisions. You will be overloaded with advice. It comes from family, friends, church members, neighbors and people you barely know. Everyone knows what you ought to do next, but you. That’s ok. Take some time to breathe. Don’t make quick decisions, such as moving, getting rid of stuff. Let things settle down for a moment.

Second, don’t think that God has left you. He hasn’t. In our passage today, Habakkuk claimed that God wasn’t doing anything. There was violence in the land and God remained silent and still. He felt that God wasn’t listening. A few verses later, God responds. He tells the prophet that he wouldn’t believe all the things God is doing. Just because we can’t see things with our own eyes does not mean that God is not moving, working and doing things for you. Don’t give up on God.

Third, some tragic events are the fault of someone else. They were responsible. A drunk hits a car and someone is killed. The drunk is to blame. The Texas shooting was caused by a sick, twisted and evil person. Those people would not have died that day had that shooter not done what he did. Blame just takes a quick moment and then it turns into a raging anger. Hatred follows. Bitterness comes next. In some cases, wrath, trying to even the score, follows. All of these emotions, feelings and attitudes will take us away from God. Many of these are classified as works of the flesh. They are not profitable. The hurt continues because our spirit won’t allow the wound to heal. We continue to build upon that anger. Before long, it changes us. Kindness. Nice. Friendliness. Positive. Upbeat. Hopeful. These are replaced with a dark and gloom and doom spirit. When this happens, the tragedy continues on. It’s not over. It continues to strike upon our heart.

How can a person not be angry? How can a person not want to punch the lights out of someone who caused this? That’s the natural feelings. But we are not running on natural feelings. Christ lives in us. We must control and even conquer those dark thoughts that can destroy us.

In this, first pray to God. Pray for God’s help in overcoming your anger. You may have a right to be angry, but this anger is like a mean dog chained to a tree. If you get too close it will get you. If you are not careful it will get away and then that anger will cause all kinds of problems. Pray. Pray. Pray.

There is no shame in getting professional help. Be careful who you talk to. Some give away pills like M & M’s. The pills may let you sleep. They may dull your sharp edges, but the pills do not take away the facts that have happened. Find someone who is a believer in the Bible. Some support groups may be helpful. But again, you have to be very careful. These can be nothing more than picking scabs on wounds and not allowing natural healing.

Continue to worship. There are days you won’t feel like it. There are days that you are tired of people looking at you. There are days that you don’t want to answer those curious questions again. But see past all of that. Look to the God who you love. Sink deeply into the hymns that are sung. Really pray. Open the word and look carefully at what God says. Worship reminds us of the goodness of God. Worship reminds us that you are not the only one who has experienced a senseless tragedy. You are not the only one who has felt helpless and at times even hopeless. Worship can lift your spirits and help you.

Find something good to do. This is hard, very hard at first. There are days when you just want to stay in bed. There are days that seem to last as long as years. You can help yourself or make things worse. Listening to sad songs will make you sad. Elijah was hiding in a cave, afraid of Jezebel. God told him to get out of the cave, go appoint someone as king. That very act got Elijah out of the darkness of the cave, it put him around others and it gave him something to do. Doing things, helps get our minds off of the tragedy. Doing things makes us think of others. Doing things helps us to reconnect with life.

Finally, realize that there is an end to the long valley of the shadow of death. The shepherd took the sheep through those valleys. He didn’t send them, but he led them. He was with them. Often, after the spring fields were eaten, the sheep would be moved to other pastures, many times in higher grounds. To get there, they would have to journey through those dark canyons. Many bad things could happen in those canyons, including flash floods, attacks, and rock slides. The sheep didn’t dwell in those canyons. They passed through to get to the other side. Once on the other side, things were good. You are going through some canyons in your life. You are not alone. The Lord is with you. In this journey, there are lessons you will learn. You will be able to help others someday. You will gain perspective, insights and strength you never knew you had. Once you are on the other side, things will be better. You will smile again. You will laugh again. You will move on. Some things will never be the same, but you do not have to be destroyed by a tragedy.

These events can strengthen or destroy your marriage. They can make you stronger or they can crush you. You can be drawn closer to God or you can use these events to walk away from God. Those choices, are up to us. It’s what we do with them.

We must remember, “Greater is He who is in you, than he who is in the world” (1 Jn 4:4).

Roger

08

Jump Start # 1972

Posted on November 8, 2017 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 1972

Matthew 7:23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’”

 

More thoughts on the Texas church shooting. If one stands in the shoes of an atheist, what makes the mass murder in the Texas church house wrong? This opens a much deeper thought for us and it helps us to understand why people think the way they do.

 

The first answer as to why shooting other people is wrong, is because it’s against the law. It’s against the law to kill people. So, in the eyes of the atheist, wrong is determined by society or a government. Because our laws prohibit killing others, then it is wrong. Be careful with that statement. It must be qualified. Our laws allow the killing of the unborn, called an abortion. Now, don’t go dumb and say, the unborn is a part of the mother’s body, like her gallbladder. The unborn can be a different sex, different blood type, different eye color and different hair color and you’d still say, it’s just like a gallbladder? I had my gallbladder taken out. I didn’t bring it home. No one threw me a gallbladder shower like they do a “baby” shower. Truth is, folks do not think abortion is wrong, because society and our laws allow it.

 

Go even further with this. If someone breaks into my home, the laws allow me to defend myself, including even shooting the person who broke in. If that person dies, I have not broken any laws. The government allows me to kill in that sense. Even in the Texas shooting, a neighbor shot the shooter as he was leaving the church house. The neighbor who shot him is being called a hero. The military and the police are allowed to shoot and even kill under certain guidelines. So, if killing another is wrong because society or the government says so, what happens if a society or government passes laws to put to death those in nursing homes? They are old. They are no longer productive. They costs a lot of money. If the laws changed, I guess we would have to say it’s ok, when standing in the shoes of an atheist.

 

This is why same-sex marriage has become acceptable. Laws changed and the government determines right and wrong. Decades ago, saying the “D” word was censored out of movies. Gone with the Wind, was the first to push that envelop. Now, there are commercials that use that word and it’s part of mainstream language. Why is it no longer wrong? Society, laws, government changes.

 

Here’s the point: without God as an anchor in our life, right and wrong always changes. There is never a time to say that a certain behavior is absolutely wrong. As society becomes comfortable with wrong and accepts wrong, wrong eventually becomes right.

 

This brings us to the important question, who determines what is right or wrong? Religiously, we could ask, ‘who determines what is sin?’ Because I call something ‘sin,’ does that mean it is? We’ve lived with little sins and big sins. We hear of white lies and black lies. Some classify sins as mortal and venial. Who determines what is right or wrong? The government? Society? The church? You? Me? Why is shooting people in a church building wrong? Because I think so? Because you think so? Because there are laws? If the laws changed, then would it be right?

 

Right and wrong is determined by God. This is why when God is removed from our hearts and from society, then man determines what is right and wrong. Corrupt and wicked men in power can pass laws that make wrong right. Sin is not determined by the church. It is not determined by man. Sin is a violation of God’s law. Our passage today illustrates this. Rather than doing the will of God, these people were doing what they wanted to do. Jesus said that their actions were “lawlessness.” That means, without law. They were acting as if they could do as they pleased. What they did seems not only innocent, but good and even something that we’d think God would like. They were prophesying in Jesus’ name. That sounds good. They were casting out demons. Jesus did that. They were performing miracles in the name of Jesus. How could any of that be wrong? It wasn’t the will of God. It was lawlessness. God hasn’t opened the door to allow us to do whatever we want. Worship is never “surprise Me” hour. God authorizes and we follow. We are to be obedient to God.

 

What makes the shooting in Texas wrong? It’s a violation of God’s law. What makes abortion wrong? It’s a violation of God’s law. What makes same-sex marriage wrong? It’s a violation of God’s law. Some of these things may be approved by the government. That doesn’t mean that God approves of it.

 

In Acts 5, when Peter was brought before the city officials for violating their law about preaching Jesus, Peter replied, “We must obey God rather than man.” When God’s law and man’s law move in different directions, we must follow God. When man’s law says certain wrong things are now right, we must follow God.

 

With the removal of God from society, we follow the whims of laws that are constantly changing. Our world is violent, mean and selfish. This isn’t the result of following God. This is the fruit of man trying to make the rules. It’s the blind leading the blind. A Hitler, with the backing of his government, could determine that certain people should not exist any longer. The Hitler story is not too much different from the story of Esther in which a government was going to eliminate the Jews. This story is not much different than a Pharaoh who decided that Hebrew baby boys should not live. This is not much different from a Herod who decided that boys around two years old ought to be put to death. This is the fruit of a government, the laws, determining right and wrong.

 

It is God who determines what is right and what is wrong. It is God, who through His grace, can call us righteous, which means being right. God can justify us, which means not guilty. God can cleanse us.

 

Sad and tragic events, such as this shooting in Texas, can make us look deep within and help us to see lessons that can change our lives. We all need to be walking with God. We need to follow God. Right and wrong is set by God. Life is precious. It is just a vapor as James tells us. Each day is a gift. We need to use it rightly. We need to glorify God with it. We need to be His instruments to help others.

 

Roger