"Consequences"

"God gives us the power to make choices but not to choose consequences"

Perhaps one might look at it this way.  Even though outcomes cannot be guaranteed, make choices with outcomes in mind.  As one prominent writer-speaker teaches, "Begin with the end in mind."

Another point to consider when making choices is this.  One cannot compound poor choices with poor choices and expect that good will come.  At some point the cycle of poor choices must be broken in order to disrupt the poor outcomes.

Poor outcomes that occasion further poor choices will only lead one in a downward spiral.  More than one pilot has made poor decisions to the point that he cannot recover his airplane and the outcome is an air incident.  Often with loss of life.  Almost all of those incidents would not have happened had correct choices been made early on in the progress of the incident.  So too with decisions, early correct choices avert dire outcomes!

So it is with life.  Poor choices beget poor choices and the outcome is dire.  It is therefore incumbent upon those who make choices (that would be all of us) to make wise choices.

Decision-making is not done in a vacuum but in one's community, that is those in one's small corner of the world.  That being so, one's decisions effect others either directly or tacitly.  Just in terms of the otherness of our lives we do well to exercise great caution in our decision-making for even our personal and private decisions often touch the lives of those around us.  Consider as well that those decisions are not without eternal consequences.

First and foremost it is wise to spend time in prayer and in doing so consult with the Heavenly Father.  More than once disaster has been averted when someone commits to praying his way through such decisions as are to be made and then in that same attitude of prayer, prays through possible outcomes.  

Still we might question, "How can we know that our choices are wise?"  There are a number of other ways that center around one.  The major task in any decision, great or small is for one to line up one's choices with the Bible.  Remember, God lives outside of time and space as we know it.  Thus He sees every moment of every person's life in the present.  That would include the present as Scripture was being written.

Therefore we can comfortably say, "God had every moment of your life in mind when He inspired the writing of His Word, the Bible." Thus we have the transcendent, unchanging, powerful Word of the Lord.

That Bible then is the center around which we find other ways to enhance our decision-making.  It is as we seek wise counsel of others, as we look carefully at situations and circumstances, as we look carefully at other authorities in our lives such as pastors, employers, etc., as we consider the words of faithful friends, that we find counsel that enhances our decision-making.

No one makes perfect decisions every time and so one must be willing to pull back from a decision, change course, and move forward.  That is exactly the way in which one breaks the poor decision cycle and moves in a right and correct decision.

It is, in most cases, not a major "earth shaking" decision but a small one that charts our course.  So it is that to change the course of one's life requires not some monumental decisions but a small quiet decision that leads to another small quiet decision and before long one will see change take place.

The Darkened Understanding

Remember the story of the frog in the kettle?  It all begins with a frog in cool water with the heat being gradually turned up until what do you have?  Cooked frog! It is so with so many things.

If 30 years ago someone would have proposed any of a number of things we find "normal" today they would have been named "extreme," laughed at, or called to repentance.  Yet today we are deeply immersed in a culture that while moral (from word mores--that which at least 50.01% label as normal) is far from ethical (normal based on transcendent, universal, objective, and immutable reality).

How did we get here?  It was not a radical change but a gradual change, imperceptive change, millimeter by millimeter change.  Those who earned the name "extreme" in the past are now viewed as "mainstream" while those once considered to be normal or "mainstream" are now named "extreme" or "radical!"

Why did we get here?  It may be summed up in one word, "depravity."  Man is depraved and that depravity knows no depth.  In other words, without there being an intervention in the heart of man, he will continue the slide deeper and deeper into depravity with the resulting darkened heart and of course sinful behavior.

The minutely gradual nature of this means that with little recognition, man's heart becomes deeply darkened.  The ultimate outcome is that one loses the capacity to comprehend the existence of and the standards of the Divine.

Even a slight recognition of God serves as a restraint.  Such is so even for those who have no faith experience.  Once gone there is nothing to check one's decent as without the buoyancy provided by faith they slip ever deeper into the depths of spiritual and ethical darkness.  Understanding without God's intervention becomes impossible.

Depravity is sinister in that its actions are gradual almost imperceptible until whether it be a culture, sub-culture, or an individual, there is no escape.  Like the frog in the now boiling kettle.

When one uses the moral messages provided by the media and in much of academia to measure what is correct and normal, then one uses a set of depraved principles to measure the behavior of another.  In other words it is like the village watchmaker who sets his clocks by the factory lunch whistle only to find out that the factory time keeper set his watch by the clock in the watchmaker's window.

To know whether one's standards are right or wrong, one needs an external source or standard.  Such is provided by religion in general and by Judeo-Christian faith in particular.

What is one to do?  In past days there were national and international spiritual movements.  Two were called, "Great Awakenings."  It was then that even whole societies awakened to their plight and to their need for change.  Of course the only lasting change is found in the salvation provided by Christ on the Cross.

It is as one becomes a follower of the Lord, Jesus Christ that he can change not just direction in his life but also his family, and his group to include his society.  It is as that change took place that the effects of depravity were held in abeyance for a time.  May it be so again!

 

Communion, A Time to Remember

Adapted from Sermon "The Reminder of Communion" shared on 01 July 2012, just before the Celebration of the Lord's Supper.

The word, COMMUNION in its earliest form it came from the Latin for common.  It was used by Saint Augustine and it is believed that the word derived from com- "with or together" + unus "oneness or union.”

If we take this idea seriously we arrive at the purpose of our time together, that is with or together with many. In particular we look at Communion as being with Christians from all places throughout all the ages of church history. We look than at Communion in the sense of Communing or we might say fellowship.  

Look then at Paul's instructions about this spiritual meal that we share.  When we do we see the example, the examination, and the expectation of the Lord's Supper.  Remember now that though we speak in terms of the physical experience of communion, this is indeed a spiritual matter and must not be taken lightly!

I.     THE EXAMPLE OF THE COMMUNION - 1 Corinthians 11:23-26  

A.     There is the AUTHORITY FOR COMMUNION—the writer received these instructions from the Lord and delivered them to the congregation in the City of Corinth

B.    There is the call to REMEMBER— Remember the bread or body of Christ and that for which it stands. Remember the wine or blood of Christ and that for which it stands.

C.    There is the PROCLAMATION Just by sharing together in Communion you are testifying that you believe that indeed Jesus lived and that He died--that indeed Jesus death was with purpose—it accomplished some things. The word for Proclaim comes from the word for messenger and also keeps company with such words as declare, preach, show, speak of, teach.   The Lords Supper was a visible sermon that proclaimed ‘the spiritual message of the Cross

D.    There is the HOPE   Just by sharing together in Communion you are saying that I believe that Jesus is coming again—to me it is a certainty!

II.      THE EXAMINATION OF THE COMMUNION - 1 Corinthians 11:27-32  The question becomes what is unworthy manner?

A.    This is A CALL TO CHRISTIANS, those who are followers of Jesus Christ.

B.    This is the CALL TO REMEMBER what has been said previously. What is the “therefore” there for?

C.    This is the CALL TO SELF EXAMINATION - The call to self examination is the call to self test. 
Have an honest look at yourself. Are you different than you were before you became a Christian?
Are you different than you were yesterday, last week, last year? In other words are you a growing Christian?

D.    This is the CALL TO BEING WORTHY. The word for “unworthy” is the word, “unfit.”
E.    This is the CALL TO JUDGMENT To not take this seriously is to tempt judgment.  If we fail to judge or we might say grade ourselves the text is saying that we then tempt the possibility of becoming guilty of the death of Jesus Christ.

III.      THE EXPECTATION OF THE COMMUNION 1 Corinthians 11:33-34

A.    There is the EXPECTATION OF OTHERNESS The problem was that the Corinthian Christian were coming to Communion for selfish reasons.
B.    There is the EXPECTATION OF UNIQUENESS This was not just another meal, place to satisfy physical hunger.  Make Communion something special—don’t make it a common but a spiritual experience
C.    There is the EXPECTATION OF MORE Apparently there was more to say but Paul held back until he could come and personally share the concerns with his brothers and sisters in Christ.

As we come to share the Communion let us remember that
There is the EXAMPLE OF COMMUNION—The Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul in correcting the Christians at Corinth give to us how we are to share Communion
There is the EXAMINATION OF COMMUNION—we are to have a look at our own hearts and lives and how we measure up.
There is the EXPECTATION OF COMMUNION—there is the expectation of His coming but there are other expectations such as setting aside the self, focusing upon others, and not taking for granted the Communion.

Father's Day Tribute...

Born in Alabama near Robbins Crossings (now Partridge Crossing), lived in Arizona and California, drove truck, was a mule skinner in the US Army during WWII.  Fought in South Pacific, when mules were no longer used, became a Ranger--6th Ranger Battalion, was a Ranger in the Great Rescue.  Settled in Washington State, went to business school, worked for Federal Government, retired.  He was a bi-vocational pastor, serving a small congregation for most of his working life.

However, there was another side.  He was raised without the influence and nurture of a mother as his mother and sister died when he was young, His dad an Alabama coal miner and carpenter, was an workaholic and alcoholic in that order.  Dad was an Adult Child of An Alcoholic and yet he could not admit to the same for it would defame the father he sought to please and if he could not please him in life then he at least could hold him up as something of a hero in death.  Then to compound the challenge, Dad suffered the trauma of war and the taking of the life of another.  Were I to characterize him, I would say that he had a sensitive heart which had been deeply damaged.  

From the outside we presented as the typical family of the 1950s.  Were you to live in our home you would know that not to be so.  You would have seen him as having a volatile anger that could explode without warning.  He was a man I feared for to displease him would be to "enjoy" the sanction of silence and distance.  My mother, sister, and I knew to displease was to tempt the possibility of emotional response. 

He too, like his dad, was a workaholic and at times sacrificed relationship for the task at hand.  He was a man who could not acknowledge feelings--his or those of another. He would say often that he loved or was proud of me or my sister. Yet the off handed affirmations which validated such love were not there.

Young and inexperience, I thought we were normal but we were not.  He was a man given to behaviors that did not exist in other homes and among my friend's parents.  In simple terms we often cannot give what we have not received, and the blessings of a father's affirmation were absent in his life and in ours.

Then it happened, I bought and read a book, Gated Grief by Leila Levinson.  As I read I thought that she must have lived in our home, she understood the appearance, the emotional upheaval, the confusion, and much more of what I did not.  She opened my eyes.  She gave me understanding and most of all she gave to me an understanding that although he had achieved success in his world, there was much more that could have been if the difficulties of his life had been dealt with. 

Beneath all of the emotional turmoil, the good that he did, the various inconsistencies born of the struggles of life, many of which I suffer with to this day, beneath all of that he; was an Adult Child of an Alcoholic and suffered with the struggles to which he refused to admit.  More importantly he was a broken soldier.  I wondered how many would do as well with the struggles with which he struggled?  I often wonder how well have I done with many of those same struggles that were passed down to me?

Do I wish that he had been posessed of the strength of character to deal with such difficulties as he carried?  Yes of course I do but it was not within him for such would have required a trust that he did not possess.

Now for the gracious truth of the whole matter.  There was another Father present and that Father was the Heavenly Father.  While it may seem prudent to catalog the challenges and hurts of a past such as I have described and seek some licence for this behavior or that, there is another truth to be considered.  The ultimate effect in our family was negligible compared to what it might have been for there was always present in our home God, the Holy Spirit.  There was the stability of solid faith and its expression in service to others.

So it is for Father's Day 2012, I pay tribute to the man who gave life to me and who provided many examples of how life is to be lived.  I pay tribute to the Heavenly Father who brought Leila Levinson's book across my path to help me look past the difficulties of our home, understand why I was the way I was, and most of all accept my earthly father.  I look forward to the day when our relationship will be perfect for none of these earthly struggles will be there in the place were there is no night.

Giving Away One's Word!

What does the giving of one’s word mean?

Without integrity of word and behavior it is impossible to check man’s descent into chaos.  This would be true of the individual as well as the culture!

At one time one’s word once given and due to a man’s character was as real as truth.  It was in that time that a man did not need to execute a contract because a man’s word meant something.  It was his sacred duty to keep his word and so “A man’s word was his bond.”  Said another way he held himself in the bonds of his word.  Such was so unless released by the other party.  It was an issue or personal ethics.

Often one carried out his word; it was viewed as his sacred duty because it spoke to his personal reputation and his honor.  Thus a man even at great personal cost, loss of material wealth, or even loss of his own life, could be counted upon to do what he said he would do and behave as he said he would behave. 

Sadly in today’s culture one is beyond naïve if he does business on a handshake.  Recently I was in a meeting in which it was decided that the group would purchase a series of products at an agreed upon price.  It was moved, seconded, and passed.  There was no contract only a verbal agreement that the product would be produced at a certain price point. 

The product arrived and then it was revealed to the group that there were additional “set up” charges.  It was moved, seconded, and passed that we pay the additional charges.  There were two dissenting “no” votes.  The reason I so voted was based solely on the fact that there had been an agreement and that the other party had made an agreement and then did not perform according to the agreement.

How one keeping his or her word has changed.  Today if one feels that he inconvenienced or feels that the costs involved are too unfair, such a person seeks to be divested of any responsibility to carry though with his commitments.  He may blame circumstances and comfortably believe he is absolved of such responsibility as his word has established however in making the decision and in giving himself such permission, he does incur another consequence that may ultimately be more costly and inconvenient.  Indeed it is a character issue!

The simple truth is that for one to act outside of his word gives practical expression to the moral fiber of his heart.  It very clearly suggests a life and belief system which is void of such things as trust, honor, honesty, respect for others, and personal integrity.  To gain such a reputation is a consequence and a cost much higher than any inconvenience or material loss that may accrue.

The business community is littered with failures neither because of quality nor craftsmanship but because a man would excuse himself from keeping his word.  Such a decision is not without consequence in one’s own life and in the lives of those he contacts.  We found such to be so in a home project—a kitchen remodel in which the cabinet installer just could not seem to keep his word.

Is it any wonder that we live in a culture that is unraveling?  Some years ago I formed a “handshake” agreement with a service manager to have certain work done on my car at a certain price.  All was well and good until I got the bill.  Later I found out that he did the same thing with others and that he was dismissed from the position by the owner.  The sad part is that someone else hired him in the same position and so he went on deceiving other unsuspecting customers. 

The question we all need to consider is this.  What does it mean when we give our word to another?  Is it a gift that can be counted upon or is it a gift that will be taken back?  Your trustworthiness is based or we might say finds its foundation in your answer!

THE DARKNESS OF BROKEN PLACES

This week I heard someone speak of a deep disappointment, a hurt, a broken place in his heart and how very deep that place had become.  You see deep places can come in an instant but they also can come as we free-fall plunge ever deeper into the darkness—The Dark Night of the Soul.  It is as St John of the Cross (1542-1591) observed, it is the soul journeys deeper into the excruciating dark night that there can be hope—a hope for escape.  Such escape is in the divine union with the love of God. 

It was in that broken place that something wonderful happened.  It was there that God met him—not in some emotionally charged event, but quietly and deeply—in the deep places of his heart, God was there but then God was there before he arrived in his darkness and was there long after he left and before the next soul would descend into that depth of that darkness.

If you think about it, in each of our lives there are deep emotional hurts, places that are not just bruises, scrapes, or cuts but deep hurts that plunge into the very deepest places of our hearts and lives.  They plunge as a knife into the very center, the secret interior places of our lives, carving its way through our beliefs, suppositions, and confidences.  

It is not that such a knife cuts deeply and alone but with it comes ever more darkness into the mounting darkness.  It creates a hurt beyond words to describe or feeling to cry.  

Left unacknowledged and unchallenged these darkened hurts grow ever deeper.  Soon they are so deep into our hearts and lives that it is impossible for us to make our way out.  It is as though we are in the darkness of midnight seeking our way out of a maze of feelings and confusion.

To compound our hurt, for whatever reason they can go unacknowledged and thus avoided by ourselves and unrecognized by those closest to us.  They grow ever deeper—our hearts grow ever darker.  

Perhaps you can understand not from some distant place but from the journey within your own heart and life.  Perhaps you can understand that in the darkest of emotional nights, it is hard to believe that there can be light, much less that you will ever see the light.  Perhaps you can understand that it is in the dark night of the soul that lonesomeness and loneliness permeate and saturates and that with a snarling vengeance—the vengeance of a predictor upon a wounded sufferer.

Also know that the emotional crevices of our lives no matter how deep and how dark are, as noted, actually places where the Lord is seeking to be there.  No matter how deep the hurt, God’s love is ever deeper.    

Why is that love in the dark places?  It is and was there all along.  It is like an unseen friend, nearby but unseen.  It is now seen because it is in those places life as we know it is stripped away.  We then can face the harsh reality of our situation(s) and face the questions of “Without all the trappings, who am I?” and “What am I?”  

However, if we will stop for a moment and in that moment savor the taste of being stripped of ourselves there is something else we can find.  That something else is a sweet new reality—the sense of the reality of otherness.  It is in that otherness that we sense the presence of God.  It is then that there is a new opportunity for life, maybe not as it was before but life.  From the darkness of what was alive now comes new life—life in Christ.

Putting Psychological Bandages on Spiritual Hurts

Some will see the following as condemning, however it should be taken more in the spirit of a warning.

 

The services of Balaam were engaged to curse Israel as they are in the process of claiming the Land of Promise.  There is a fair amount of give and take and then we find Balaam’s word, actually a question, “Must I not be careful to speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?”  Note two things.  Balaam uses the relational, covenant name for God.  Thus but implication, He is not a distant, uncaring, and uninvolved God.  Then also and of course his message to include this question was found objectionable by those to whom he was speaking.  There was of course further discourse which we will consider in just a moment.

Then we travel the years of time and pages of the Scriptures into the life of the Apostle Paul and his letter to the Pastor Timothy.  He writes, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”

We live in such a time and in this time there is extreme and eternal danger that is unseen by most.  It is the danger of living in a day when the world and its ways have impregnated what we call the “church.”   It is not just one congregation here or there but it is to be found in the many, many options out there which call to those who care to listen.  The call is not to salvation and godly living but to come and be completed, be fulfilled, be emotionally warmed, and so much more that can only be classed as therapeutic in tone and temporal in nature. 

What of the Scriptures?  The Scriptures that have for 6,000 years convicted men of sin and selfishness and pointed all who listen to their truths the way to relationship with God.  What of those Scriptures?  They are now employed in a pleasing, affirming, and devotional manner with the result that little changes.  The darkened heart, bruised by sin and selfishness, hears a message that puts emotional bandages on deeply spiritual hurts.

Of course predominately, the founding and developing of mental health is without a spiritual/religious component by those who opposed faith.  Thus though helpful on a mental-emotional level they often do not penetrate the darkened soul.  It only stands to reason then that such “ministry” as is being described has little lasting effect and in fact is not unlike what one might find in the psychology and therapy rich culture of our time. 

Certainly such “church” is comfortable and even comforting.  However such comfort simply means that the “truth” presented does not stress the attendee at his need points, those points of imperfection.  Thus spiritual needs go unidentified, unchallenged, and therefore there is no change—repentance is no longer stressed, holiness is relegated to the dustbin of the irrelevant doctrine, righteousness is now living in harmony with myself, and the list of difficulties these attitudes bring goes on and on—compounding one another!

Thus the “church” has lost its impact not just on those who attend but also upon the community in which it is situated. Note too this thought.  As what it means to be a part of “church” has changed, the name “Christian” has changed.  Even so hear the words of Balaam.  “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it:  Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” 

In these words that reflect the character and nature of God we find a certain consistency and changelessness.  Note too that the word has changed from Lord to God—the all powerful majestic name.  When we maintain that thought and reengage with the matter of the “church” we find a disturbing concern.  It the “church” has changed and God has not, so what is to become of the “church?” 

Time is the great test and if you will care to notice more than one “humanistic” centered congregation has gone out of business.  However, there are those who have not given in, those who are still the Church, those who still proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and who uphold the Lord’s standard.  Though not perfect, they continue to believe, teach, and minister to the deeper needs of man and do so in the truth.  They would tell you as I do in this writing that to suppose a different Gospel is to tempt the possibility of an eternity in outer darkness with all who have not come to a saving faith found only in Jesus Christ!