Resolved, That I Will….

Romans 7:21-25

Description – Communion Meditation for January 1, 2006

Well, it’s New Years Day 2006. Isn’t it hard to believe that six years have now passed since we welcomed the year 2000 and wondered if our computer systems were going to crash because of Y2K? But here we are, by God’s grace and love, entering another new year.

What kind of a year do you want 2006 to be for you? What kind of a year do you want 2006 to be for your family and friends? What kind of a year do you want it to be for your church?

A year ago, we began 2005 with a series on experiencing spiritual breakthroughs and I trust that you had some important spiritual breakthroughs in your life this past year. Not because I did a sermon series but because you sought God and can now look back and see progress and growth and change that has come from the Lord.

This year we begin our time together with a series that I pray will truly help each one of us grow in our faith and relationship with the Lord and in our relationships with others as well as with ourselves.

It is a Bible based (and I want to make that clear upfront) series using the 12 Steps, developed by Alcoholics Anonymous, as a set of guides for dealing with the ‘ruts’ in our lives. I am calling the series, ’12 Steps to a Better Life.’ Now (and I will remind us again next week) this is not a series about addiction to any one thing, but about how the pain, frustration, and powerlessness in those ‘ruts’ we all deal with from time to time can be dealt with through the power of God in our lives.

This morning, however, I want to prepare us for communion by reviewing our main text, which will also be a part of next week’s sermon. But first, some interesting items related to New Year’s resolutions.

Kimberly and Albrecht Powell recently listed the following top ten New Year’s resolutions on the website about.pittsburgh.com. (Overhead 1)

Spend More Time with Family & Friends

Fit in Fitness

Tame the Bulge

Quit Smoking

Enjoy Life More

Quit Drinking

Get Out of Debt

Learn Something New

Help Others

Get Organized

Then at the website, goalsguy.com (I’m serious! There is a website by that name!) there is this list of the following New Year’s Resolutions: (Overhead 2)

1. Lose weight

2. Stop smoking

3. Stick to a budget

4. Save or earn more money

5. Find a better job

6. Become more organized

7. Exercise more

8. Be more patient at work/with others

9. Eat better

10. Become a better person

Did you notice some similarities between the two lists?

Heath issues are present on both – weight loss, giving up smoking, etc.

Financial issues as well – debt reduction, budgeting one’s money

Personal enrichment also appears on both lists – become a better person, be more patient, help others, and learn something new.

These are great goals for 2006. In achieving them life can be better! Ah, the work of achievement – now there’s a challenge to our resolutions and the resolve to achieve our resolutions. I also found out some interesting things on the web about the resolve to achieve our New Year’s resolutions.

On the American Psychological Association website, an article by Sadie Dingfelder, in the January 2004 issue of the APA publication, Monitor, addresses the work of Dr. John Norcross from the University of Scranton, regarding the issue of what people do to successfully achieve New Year’s Resolutions and here are a few excerpts from the article of Norcross’ findings:

(I have to read the opening paragraph, first) ‘Lose weight, quit smoking and exercise regularly–these are America’s top three New Year’s resolutions, accounting for nearly three-fourths of the goals adults undertake Jan. 1, according to University of Scranton psychology professor John Norcross, PhD. “However, ‘Get along with my mother-in-law’ comes up more often than you would expect,” he muses.’

The study goes onto say, ‘While type of resolution, age and gender did not predict success, the successful resolution-makers employed strategies such as stimulus control–for example, avoiding a smoky bar after resolving to quit smoking–and reinforcement, or behaviorally contingent rewards. Unsuccessful participants tended to use what Norcross terms “consciousness-raising strategies.” Some, for example, might have taped pictures of tar-blackened lungs to their office walls in an effort to kick the smoking habit. Additionally, Norcross found that self-efficacy, or the belief that one can effect and maintain change, also predicted resolution success.

So what have you resolved to do differently this year? Is it an achievable goal? Does it deal with character issues? Does it deal with spiritual issues?

Our main text for this morning may seem at first glance a downer of a text for New Year’s Day, but the human condition is the same this year as it was at 11:59:59 last night.

We need to remember that Paul wrote a great deal of what we now call the New Testament. We also need to remember that his missionary work brought the good news of Jesus Christ to places that took it to other places, that took it other places, and on and on to us.

So, here is the leader of the Christian faith bearing his soul to the believers in Rome that he struggles with sin and the power of sin in his life. We should be encouraged and challenged, not discouraged, by his honesty because it is this kind of honesty that can, and has, produced tremendous change in our lives (and the lives of others) as we have allowed God’s power to work in us.

The sin that Paul speaks of is both a particular act as well as an attitude that we constantly do battle with. We may not call it ‘sin.’ We may call it a ‘problem,’ or ‘a personality quirk,’ or a ‘vice.’ But it whatever we call it, there are these ‘ruts’ we face in life that give us problems – in our work, in our relationships, and in ourselves.

Now Paul is not specific about his ‘ruts.’ But, in the context of this passage, we see that he is addressing the issue of the religious law that had been an important part of his life. This law included parts of what we now call the Old Testament that included the Ten Commandments. This law dealt with both your relationship with God and your relationship with people.

Let’s hear the Ten Commandments from Exodus 20: (Overhead 3)

Do not worship any other gods besides me.

Do not make idols of any kind, whether in the shape of birds or animals or fish.

Do not misuse the name of the Lord your God.

Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.

Honor your father and mother.

Do not murder.

Do not commit adultery.

Do not steal.

Do not testify falsely against your neighbor.

Do not covet your neighbor’s house. Do not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else your neighbor owns.

Talk about some New Year’s Resolutions! Here are some great (and yes, challenging ones) for us to resolve to do this year!

And talk about some of the ‘ruts’ we find ourselves in when these important commandments are not kept! Whoa!

Do your resolutions for 2006 include some important, and even eternal, ones that are about faith and God? Do they address the ‘ruts’ that you find yourself in? ‘Ruts’ that find you looking up for help and not just answers to?

That is why we are going to have this opening series for 2006 because I believe that God wants to help us get out of our ruts and live the life that He has created us to live. A life that is possible because of communion that celebrates and remembers in the great affirmation of faith and confidence in the Lord that Paul shares in our text for this morning:

Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.

As we begin 2006, we do not know what lies ahead. We take this year, as we did 2005, one day at a time. Let’s take it one day at a time with the Lord beside us and within us. I can think of no greater way to begin a new year than with a time of confession to, communion with, and resolution to the Lord. Bring your ‘ruts’ and bring yourself to the Lord this morning. He wants both and wants to change both. That’s His New Year’s Resolution. That’s His eternal resolution. Amen.

Sources:

http://pittsburgh.about.com/

http://www.apa.org/monitor/jan04/solutions.html

12 Steps to God’s Way of Living

2 Samuel 11:1

Description – Opening of a series on the 12 Steps as a Spiritual Discipline

25 years ago this past fall, I bought my first car. It was a 1976 Chevy Vega. I loved it.

Now my parents had found one of those AMC Pacers in Ohio (remember those, looked like an egg and had lots of glass) but I did not want one of them as unique as they were. So my parents came to Illinois to help me buy a car and I bought this Vega.

Well in early December, I was with a friend of mine driving out on the flat Illinois prairie when I encounter a large pothole out in the middle of nowhere. (The road I was driving on was pretty chewed up with them but this one was unavoidable.) With a loud bang as the front right tire hit it, my car came to an abrupt stop.

We got out and surveyed the damaged. The force of the hit caused one of the front wheel joints to break and the tire folded under the car. So we were forced to walk about 3, maybe 4, miles back to my friend’s house and call a tow truck that took it back to town.

Potholes can do great damage to front ends, can’t they? They are ruts that can cause plans to change quickly when they inflict damage.

Life has potholes, doesn’t it? It has moments when we hit a rut and everything goes out of whack and we are left shaken and hurt and wondering what to do next. Some of these ruts are the result of other’s actions and some of these ruts in life, these potholes, are the result of our own choices. Some of our life ruts are visible to others, fire, accident, layoff, etc., and some are invisible to others but very known to God and, as time goes by, known to us.

Last week I informed you that our initial 2006 series would be entitled, ’12 Steps to a Better Life.’ I have changed it to ’12 Steps to God’s Way of Living’ because I believe that these steps, the 12 steps of AA, are based on Biblical principles and can help us live life God’s way, as He has always wanted us to live.

As we begin this series I must give credit where credit is due. The outline in your bulletin comes from the work of my colleague in Oklahoma City, Marty Grubbs. (I am adapting it for this series so it is not word for word.)

Marty is pastor of a sister congregation in that city and offered his outlines to us during a gathering at Potowanomi Inn almost two years ago. I recall that the series was one that impacted his life as well.

Now as we begin this series, I want to make clear a couple of things to set all of us at ease: (Overhead 1)

First, in using the 12 Steps as part of this series I am using the important principles behind the 12 steps as suggestions to help us make important changes in our lives and to draw closer to the Lord.

Second, I am not implying that all of us are addicts. Addiction is a major problem in our society. And addiction is not just about substance abuse and alcoholism. It is also about things like power, need, and money. But, I bring this series in the hope that I have experienced as I have read and understood classic 12 Step materials and listened to friends who have worked through these 12 steps. There is a great deal of help in them.

Third, this sermon series is not therapy and we are not a therapy group. Each of us may encounter some personal issues as we go through this series that need to be addressed through an actual 12 Step group and/or through some counseling. But, this time is a time to learn, reflect, and pray about the importance and necessity of personal change in our lives that will help us live God’s way.

Now, having said all of this I call your attention to the listing of the 12-steps on the back your bulletin insert before we walk through our main text for this morning.

In his series, Marty began with the illustration of a rut.       Now what is a rut? (Overhead 2) A grave with both ends knocked out.

Many of us have experienced being stuck in a snowdrift or a rut filled with snow and or ice this time of year. What are our options when we have those experiences?

Well, for one we can rock the car back and forth back and forth to try to get out. I had to do that a few weeks ago with the church van prior to the teen Christmas party. We had it parked out back and I finally had to shovel some snow out of the way so that I could enough traction to get it out to the street after trying to rock it out. I thought that I would never get it out onto the street.

Another way is to ask for help and several people push and pull to get us out of our rut or snowdrift. 8 years ago, I remember a snowstorm that caught me (and a lot of other people) by surprise in Central Kentucky. I was at the seminary that I attended for a conference and enlisted the help of 6 seminary students to help push me out of a snow-covered parking lot. It took us nearly 30 minutes because the snow was so deep that it almost lifted my car off the ground as I plowed through it!

When you get in a rut of a different kind, when you struggle with attitudes, habits, and behaviors that keep you in a rut, what do you do? Rock harder hoping to get out of it by yourself? Or ask for help?

How do we deal with those things that Paul spoke of, as we heard last week, in Romans 7? Those ruts that tie us up in knots inside and create problems on the outside as well. Who among us this morning has not experienced the agony of Paul as he bears his soul, ‘for I really want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. I do the very thing I hate?’

As you begin 2006, I would like to suggest that we can get, with God’s help, out of our ruts. Now I am saying that it will be easy. The words used by Paul admit that this is an ongoing process and struggle. But, in verse 25 he acknowledges that through Christ, we can overcome the ruts brought about by sin and its power. This brings us to our first step in the process.

This first step is about the importance of admitting that you are in a rut. Step 1 in entering God’s way of life – is to admit we were powerless over our rut that our lives had become unmanageable. This is sometimes the last thing that we want to do. Our pride gets in the way and will challenge our honesty because pride is about image management or, more bluntly, denial. (Overhead 3)

An Old Testament story reminds us how we get in our ‘ruts’ that cause us such pain and turmoil and block God’s path into our lives. It is the story of David and Bathsheba.

David got into his rut because first of all:

He Replaced God.

In 2 Samuel 8:13 we read ‘So David became very famous.’ Fame is a very addictive thing. People will do anything to become famous. Somewhere along the line, this fame got to David and he began to let his guard down. He began to slide downhill away from the commitments and beliefs that he had built his life on; values and commitments that had God at the center of his life.

In his book, Half Time Bob Buford tells the story of meeting a renowned management consultant at a critical point in his life to determine what course the rest of his life would take. The man, named Mike, asked Buford one simple question, ‘What’s in the box?’

The point of this question was to have Buford decide what the most important thing in his life was to be and to place that choice ‘in the box.’ Now Buford was a successful Christian businessperson who found the lure of success (and we can say fame) waning in his life. He was discovering a stronger urge toward significance rather than success. That desire determined his answer to Mike’s question. It was Jesus Christ. As a result Buford started a ministry nearly a decade ago to help larger churches be more effective in their ministry. And Buford has found peace and satisfaction in his life. But David put himself in the box and he began to dig his rut.

As time moves on, David’s internal life switches gears to the point as we read in 2 Samuel 11:1 ‘The following spring, the time of year when kings go to war,’ David sent Joab and the army alone without his leadership and presence. He dug the rut deeper because he failed to do what he need to do – in this case, be a king and go out with the army. It would be a costly mistake.

Control becomes an issue here as David attempts to deal with the ‘rut’ he finds himself in:

We notice in the following verses:

We try to control ourselves.  After David notices Bathsheba in verse 2, a battle begins inside of him. He notices a beautiful woman bathing a few doors over and lust kicks in. He asks about her. He becomes obsessed with her. Finally, he cannot control himself any longer and, as we read in verse 4, “Then David sent for her.” The result is adultery and an illegitimate pregnancy. His rut becomes so deep that he cannot control himself anymore. It goes from bad to worse.

David then becomes aware that he is in a very difficult (and disobedient) situation. He then does something that all of us do when we find ourselves in such a situation: We try to control our circumstances. A better term is ‘massive cover-up.’ David decides to cover his tracks and take control the situation.

David calls Bathsheba’s husband home. His name is Uriah and he is a loyal subject and warrior. He does not stay with his wife or eat rich food because his fellow warriors are still on the battlefield. Uriah is a man of honor of integrity. I wonder what David felt at that point. Shame? Guilt? Anger? Fear? All of the above?

We go on to notice in verse 13 that ‘David invited him to dinner and got him drunk.” Here is a man who wrote what we now call the 23^rd Psalm getting a man drunk in the hopes that he will sleep with wife and then believe that he got his own wife pregnant.

Can we imagine the desperation in David? Shame and guilt were working him over pretty good and still he was not accomplishing his task of burying them as well as covering his tracks. So he goes to the next step, one that we resort to when life does not go our way and we try to make sure that it does: We try to control others.

One of my favorite lines in the movie Gettysburg is ‘There is nothing so much like God as a general on a battlefield.’ And when we are hurting from the pain of our rut and our equilibrium is out of whack, we often resort to control of others to either cover our own pain and disappointment or pass it onto others and blame them for our situation. David plays general in this situation. He sends Uriah back to the war with an order, as we read in verse 15, ‘Station Uriah on the front lines where the battle is fiercest. Then pull back so that he will be killed.’

David has been called ‘A man after God’s own heart.’ We read in the Bible of his passionate pursuit of God and His ways. However, in this case, he is going further and further away from God because the rut that he has gotten himself in continues to become deeper and deeper.

Well, Uriah dies and David probably breathes a sigh of relief. But he is still in a rut. Some scholars suggest that the encounter between David and the prophet Nathan that we read of in the next chapter probably took place a year later because the baby had been born.

I wonder how often David looked over his shoulder and wondered who knew his secret? I wonder if he looked at Bathsheba through eyes of guilt and shame. I wonder how his prayer life was going and whether or not he felt God had suddenly gotten far away.

Nevertheless, God knew about the rut and he comes to confront David about his choices and knock down the wall of denial for the purpose of restoring David. You see David’s rut, David’s problem, David’s sin created Unbearable pain in his life and the lives of others.

Nathan forces David to admit the truth about what had happen. Ever had to admit the truth? Not easy sometimes is it?

David admits to the existence of the rut that he has dug for himself. But, as with many ruts that we dig for ourselves, there is a price to be paid.

As we read in 2 Samuel 12:15, the baby grows seriously ill and in verse 16 we read, ‘David begged God to spare the child. He went without food and lay all night on the bare floor.’

The child dies and David is grief stricken. The ruts that we dig sometimes causes us great pain and to get out of them requires us to face that pain that would have been much easier to face if we would have done so in the first place. Our ruts affect others and left unaddressed they create isolation from and anger with God and others. Ruts become a Temporary fix that hold pain at bay for a short time.

So, what do we do when we find ourselves, like David, in a rut and looking up? Two things: 1. Admit that you are in a rut. 2. Determine to get out of the rut.

We need to admit that we have a problem, that our lives are unmanageable, and that there is an area of life that we have no control over. ‘That’s hard, Jim!’ Yes it is! But, it is necessary if we are going to experience God’s way of life.

Then we have to determine that we are going make some changes. This is where the next steps come in. They provide us with a course of action that can help us make changes possible. (Overhead 4) Which brings us to Step 2: We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

What do you believe can help you out of your rut? There is only one true answer – God. The Christian faith is not about politics and cultural issues although there are political and cultural implications to our faith. The Christian faith is about change, in us through the power and forgiveness of God through Jesus Christ.

This second step is about believing that God can help us out of our ruts and into living the life that He created us to live in the first place.

God, and His power, is the only power that can bring lasting change to our lives. But we have to admit our need and believe that God can help us.

In conclusion, I share five things that Marty Grubbs reminds us that God wants us to know about Him: (Overhead 5)

First, you are not alone. As we read in I Chronicles 28:20, David said to his son Solomon, as he (Solomon) was assigned the task of building the Temple in Jerusalem, ‘Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Don’t be afraid or discouraged by the size of the task, for the Lord God, my God is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you.’ God is with us when we make the decision to get out of our ruts and move forward!

Second, He cares about you. We read in Psalm 103:13. ‘The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him.’ Now the words, ‘father,’ ‘tender,’ and ‘compassionate,’ all in the same sentence may seem to some of us this morning strange and implausible because of our life history. But, God is a perfect father who wants to be (and is) the perfect parent. He does care for you and he wants to help you!

Third, He knows all about your troubles. Psalm 56:8 is a very moving statement in support of this truth. ‘You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.’ In the midst of the night as we lay awake and in tears over our ruts and the pain and loneliness that we are experiencing; during the day as we struggle; God knows about them both. He knows the pain and heartache that we experience and He cares for us!       

Fourth, He has the power you need. In Luke 18, we read of Jesus’ encounter with the Rich Young Ruler (who had rut by the way, his wealth, which kept him from living the life that Jesus offered him). After the conversation He made a comment that it was easier for a camel to thread the eye of a needle that for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God. This comment prompted a question, ‘Then who in the world can be saved?’ To which Jesus replied, ‘What is impossible from a human perspective is possible with God.’ God’s power can make possible the ability to get out of the ruts in your life!

Fifth, not only is God’s power able to help you, He wants to give you his power! Paul says in Philippians 2:13, ‘For God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey him and the power to do what pleases him.’ That urge to get out of the rut? That’s God’s desire! That desire to want to change? That’s God’s desire! That hope that my life can change for the better? That’s God desire! He is at work, nudging you through His Holy Spirit, through others, and through circumstances to help you come to Him so that you might have His power to do what pleases Him and live the life that He has created you to live!

For a moment, I want each of us to imagine Sunday, January 7, 2007, (yes, 2007!) that is one year from now. Imagine that you have put these 12 steps into practice and that you have gotten out of a major rut in your life.

How would that feel? What would be different? What did you do to get there?

That could be a reality for you this time next year because it is God’s will for each of us to get out of our ruts, those habits, attitudes, and even situations that cause us to stumble and fall. Are you willing to do what is necessary to make it happen? It starts with two simple steps: 1. Admit that you have a problem. 2. Believe that God can help you overcome this problem and turn to Him for help. What a great way to start a new year! Are you ready to do it? The Lord stands ready and waiting to do so. Will you let Him in? I pray that each of us will do so, starting today. Amen.

12 Steps to God’s Way of Living – Part 2

Luke 15:11-32

Description – Part 2 of a 6 part series on the 12 Steps as a Spiritual Discipline

When I was a kid, and I do not remember how old I was but I was still in grade school, I ran away from home. I ‘ran away’ to a former neighbor’s home that had moved one street over from the street I lived on.

I remember hiding under the bed in one the children’s rooms and having the mom and the kids trying to get me out from underneath it. A phone call was made to my home and eventually I ended up back at home (and I cannot remember if I rode my bike home or my dad came to get me).

My parents, especially my dad, were extremely irate with me. And he let me know in no uncertain terms that the consequence of my actions was to be grounded to my short street of 7 houses for a week! I have no doubt that today such actions would probably trigger an ‘Amber Alert’ and generate a great deal of media coverage because of the tragic results when a young child or teen runs away or is abducted.

In our main text for this morning, we have a young man who intentionally and knowingly runs away. He runs away from his family, he runs away from his friends, he runs away from love, he runs away from responsibility, and he runs away from himself. (At least for a little while.) Ultimately, as the real meaning of the story unfolds, he runs away from the Father.

This is the second sermon in a 6 part series, ’12 Steps to God’s Way of Living.’ It began last week with a Biblical examination of two important first steps that we can take to live life God’s way. (Overhead 1)

Step 1 is the step of admission: We admitted we were powerless over our rut, that our lives had become unmanageable.

Step 2 is the step of belief: We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

We read in Hebrews 11:6 “Anyone who wants to come to Him must believe that there is a God and that He rewards those who sincerely seek Him.” This verse is an important verse to understand, remember, and believe because for us to get out of our ruts, we have to believe that God is and that He wants us to live victoriously in life.

This verse is also important for this morning as we learn the next two steps to God’s way of living. For if, we believe that God is; that He does exist; and that He cares about us and for us, then we can take them with a greater confidence and faith. (Overhead 2)

Step 3 is the step of surrender: We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the power of God, as we understood Him.

Step 4 is the step of taking stock: We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

A familiar Bible story illustrates how one person took these two steps and the results that happened as a result. It is the story of the lost or prodigal son.

Some of us this morning perhaps see ourselves in the father’s role. We have a child or a friend that has wandered far away from the faith and relationships of their childhood. We are anxious and we are concerned about their lives and their choices. Our hearts are heavy and understandably so.

Some of us here this morning do not see ourselves in the father’s role. We do not have a friend or family member ‘out there’ away from God and faith, stuck in a rut. We are aware that we are the lost son the prodigal son, we are far away from what is really right and true and real. Our rut has got us in a bind and we have awoke to the truth, like the son did, that it is better back at home with the Father. However, how do we get there from here?

Again, I give credit where credit is due for the outlines of this series. They are based on the work of Pastor Marty Grubbs from Oklahoma City who freely gave them to pastors after a conference here in Northeast Indiana two years ago.

One of my colleagues the other day said to me that this story, this parable, really illustrates all 12 Steps. I told him that at some point, this passage of scripture would be the main text and here it is!

Some time back I preached a sermon based on a question that came to my mind one day as I read this passage of scripture, ‘From what was the prodigal running?’ And it is a question that I think others have asked as well because this son seemed to have it all and did not need anything.

It would be interesting to have a panel discussion on this passage with a social worker, a psychologist, a teacher, and a minister. I could hear a case for the son leaving because the dad (and maybe the older brother) was cramping his lifestyle and he needed to get out on his own. On the other hand, a case could be made that there was severe conflict between the two sons and dad, or the two sons only, or between the older son and the father and that, the younger one decided that he had had enough and wanted out. And I could almost guarantee that one of our panel members would argue that he needed to leave because he needs to become his own person.

But, let’s consider the following factors as we go back through the text because Jesus is making a point about being ‘lost’ about being in a ‘rut’ and Jesus shows us what led to the son’s troubles:

(Overhead 3)

First, he was arrogant as we read in Luke 15:12 “Father, I want my share of your estate now…” Arrogance is an attitude that can create problems for us RIGHT NOW! And the son begins to dig his rut because arrogance sets him up with an ego that will blind him to things that leads him away from the father. (By the way, ego means Edging God Out.)

Just like David, as we learned last week, the son’s arrogance pushed aside all thoughts of others and left only his agenda at the center of his soul. To paraphrase Bob Buford, his own agenda was ‘in the box.’ Arrogance is one of a set of attitudes that will enable us to start digging a hole for our self that leads us to ruts.

A second factor was the issue of control. We read in verse 13 ‘A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and took a trip to a distant land…’

Now control is not a bad thing. One of the Fruits of the Spirit, (evidence of a God centered life) as we read in Galatians 5:22 is ‘self-control.’ However, control here has to do with assuming the role, as someone has said, ‘of being the manager of the universe.’ That’s God’s role, not ours.

And this younger son exercised this kind of control. And it was presumptuous on his part because the younger son, in that day and age, had little or no rights to property and wealth, at least while the father was still living! However, his attitude was, “I am going to live my life my way and do what I want and I am going to call the shots and if you don’t like it, fine!”

The next factor was the issue of bad decisions. We read further in verse 13 “…and there he wasted all his money on wild living.” How many of us here this morning have never made a bad decision? I made one about the Fiesta Bowl. I rooted against my native OSU Buckeyes and for Notre Dame! That was a bad decision!

Think about a bad decision that you recently made…. Have it in mind? Was it a decision that you rushed to make? Did you make it under emotional stress? Did you make it in anger, were you mad?

We have all made decisions that were bad ones, even when we had all the facts and made it with a clear head. But this son, was making bad decisions with a bad attitude and his rut was getting deeper and deeper faster and faster!

A fourth factor in the son’s situation was a bad economy. We read in verse 14 ‘About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve.’

Now, you might be thinking at this point, ‘Jim what in the world does a bad economy have to do with this young man’s problem?’ It is an environmental issue. Let me explain what I mean.

Have you ever entered a place that has made you uncomfortable? Then after leaving that place gone either home or somewhere else and felt comfortable?

Have you ever worked in an environment that really stood against what you believed? It was hard to be there, right?

Well, let’s look at this son’s environment for a moment. It was filled with partying, wild partying. Most likely, there was sexual situations and even some form of alcohol present. (Some of us here know about that kind of environment.)

It was not a good environment because his judgment, already clouded with resentment, ego, anger, entitlement, and a whole host of other things, created a situation that left him internally weakened. So, when the famine hit, it made his rut deeper and bigger because all of his choices to this point left him powerless.

And this powerlessness brings him to the point of humiliation.  We read in verse 16 “The boy became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him.’

Because of where we live, in a small town and surrounded by farmland, and the fact that some of us grew up on a farm, we know what it is like around the pig’s trough, don’t we? It is uuuuuuugly! The thought of eating those pods turns our stomach.

The boy had hit bottom. He had violated one of his faith’s most deeply held values of not associating with swine because they were unclean animals. Yet here he was, feeding the pigs and wishing how he could eat with them!

Our ruts, our unaddressed problems and issues, do that to us, don’t they? They put us in the mire and muck of life to the point we are wallowing in a mess.

It is now so bad for this young man, once rich and proud; he had a father, a family, warm clothes, and food on the table. He had a life. He now has nothing. Our ruts, our choices, our addictions do that to us. They leave us powerless and debilitated.

Now we can be in a rut and still live well. But the inside of us is miserable and dark. Emotionally we are where this young man ended up. And it is just as painful and serious as if we were physically in the barnyard.

Then we come to verse 17 and we read the first words of hope in this story. ‘When he finally came to his senses,’ He has hit bottom and in his bottom dwelling thinking he begins to think, ‘Maybe I can go back home and live like a servant, they have enough food to eat.’

But it is bad thinking, misguided thinking. It is denial. He has forgotten that he is still (although he does not feel like it) someone’s son. He thinks, as we read in verse 19, ‘I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired man.’

Therefore, he makes the decision to go home to his dad and in making that decision, he makes three key decisions:

1. He decided that enough is enough.
2. He decided to return to the father.
3. He decided to place his future in his father’s hands.

He has taken, if you will, this third step toward God’s way of living. He decided to place himself in the father’s hands. It is a risk because he has been gone for a while and he does not know if his father will take him back even as a hired hand.

Now I stopped between verses 19 and 20 and I thought about the journey home. What went on during his journey home? The text says he went to a distant land. We do not know how far ‘distant’ means. It could have been in the next country over or across the seas. We do not know how long it took him to come home. He had no money. He probably had to either work for enough to pay his way home or beg, borrow, or perhaps steal.

Maybe it took him a month, a year, or a decade. We don’t know but I think that we can say given the mode and speed of travel in those days, it took him awhile.

This makes me wonder if he didn’t do the equivalent of a Step 4 on his way home. (Overhead 4)

I wonder if he did not take stock of his life as he journeyed back home. This important step requires three things: courage, honesty, and trust.

The son would have to have the courage to face the truth about his actions and decisions. He had started to do that and I believe that in the journey back home that courage was strengthened to the point that he could face his father humbly instead of how he left him.

Then he needed to be honest about what he had done in a couple of ways: First, emotionally. He needed to own and admit to his own emotions, whatever they were. Easier, I believe for women than for men.

Second, behaviorally. He needed not to let denial keep him from being honest about what he had done. You call a spade a spade and tell it like it is.

Third, relationally. He needed to be honest about what his decisions and actions had done to his relationships, especially his primary ones. He could not deny that he had fractured them.

Then this young man needed to re-build trust in himself and allow trust in him to be re-built as well. He needed to become a trustworthy person again.

How does that happen? Three important things take place:

Number one is: Clean out the closet – take a personal moral inventory. In Lamentations, 3:40 we read ‘Let us test and examine our ways.’ That takes courage, honesty, and trust because who among us, likes to look at our dirty laundry? We would rather look at somebody else’s dirty laundry wouldn’t we?

We clean out our closets, we clean out our attics, we clean out our garages, we clean out our gutter, and we clean out our cars. We need to learn the valuable step in cleaning out our lives. We need this step to live life God’s way.

We read in Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you…’

That’s a hard thing to do, right? But when you are looking at the back side of the pigs in your life and then begin to wonder, ‘What did I do to get here and how can I get out,’ this kind of soul searching honesty and reflection help us begin to clean out the closet of our soul and get honest with God.

Number two is: Stop the Blame, Deny and Avoid Game! We read in Proverbs 20:27, “The Lord gave us a mind and a conscience. We cannot hide from ourselves.”

What is the greatest pastime for most people? Blaming and judging. They are both the same in some ways, but they are two things that we love to do.

We love to judge others so we can feel better about ourselves and we love to blame others so we can justify our actions.

I have done a fourth step inventory. In fact, I have done two fourth step inventories. One was to a friend of many years ago, who told me about his addictions and problems and who introduced me to a great book on the 12 Steps and how they can help us grow in our faith. (It is called A Hunger for Healing and is written by Keith Miller.)

As I read Miller’s book and started to do the exercises, I realized, and painfully so, that I had some moral housecleaning to do. Whew! Hard to do.

And the main reason that it was hard was because I had to stop blaming others for my unhappiness and problems. I had to take responsibility for my actions and my thoughts and my feelings and I had to admit they were mine.

But you know what happened? The bottom did not drop out. I was still standing on solid earth. I did not change into a pumpkin or some weird creature. (I was still the same crazy guy that I am today!)  But, there was a peace that I had not felt in a long, long time. I felt like I had rejoined the human race and really had people who cared about me and that I really cared about! I also felt reconnected to the Lord for the first time in a long time.

One of my favorite lines in the 12 Steps and 12 Traditions of AA is this one, ‘When we are honest with another person, it confirms that we have been honest with ourselves and with God.’

We have to stop playing the ‘blame, deny, and avoid game.’

Finally, you have to let God do the deep cleaning. Again, Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you…’

This step is about confession and repentance. It is about admitting the truth about ourselves. (The good and the bad.) It is about being truly sorry for what we have done wrong and really, really wanting to change. It is about really accepting the forgiveness of God for our sins and truly letting the Holy Spirit do this deeper work of changing us.

But, to do so, requires us to really let the Holy Spirit talk to us (and for us to listen to Him) and take our time in admitting the truth about ourselves. (Overhead 5)

I learned two questions as I took this step that I still ask myself when I notice that I am starting to be impatient, lack faith, or experience anxiety:

1. What or who do you resent? We need to bring our resentments out into the open and deal with them. By facing my resentments, admitting to their existence, and choosing to let them go, a lake of poison drained out of my heart.
2. What or who do you fear? Our fears drive us to do things that we would otherwise not do. They need to be addressed and acknowledged because they are used against us by Satan to keep us in bondage.

We read in 2 Timothy 1:7, ‘For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity but of power, love, and self-discipline.’ Taking these steps will allow this spirit of ‘power, love, and self-discipline’ to begin to develop.

At the beginning of our time together this morning I quoted Hebrews 11:6, “Anyone who wants to come to Him must believe that there is a God and that He rewards those who sincerely seek Him.” This is critical if we truly want to live the life that God created us to live. It is especially critical when we choose to take the third and fourth steps because our concept of God determines our course of action. Why is that Jim? Because if we have trouble believing in God, how can we believe He can help us get out of the ruts that we have dug in our lives?

In his book, A Hunger For Healing, Keith Miller shares a situation that illustrates the challenge for those who want to get out of their life’s ruts. It was an observation of a conversation between a newcomer to a 12 Step group that Miller was in and a long-time member of the group.

The new member said, ‘No way I’m going to turn my life over to God! He’d ruin me- and I’d deserve it!’ Miller went onto say that this man viewed God as a ‘giant policeman’ and that he had not had good relations with the police. The old timer, after listening to him, fired back, ‘You ought to fire that God; you ought to fire him! You’ve got the wrong God for this program, friend’ and went on to describe the God who cares and wants to help and that he had to fire such a God that had been described.

This brings me back to the risk that the son had to take in going home. He had to trust that his father would take him back even as a hired hand. He did not believe that he could return as his son.

But the father, as we movingly read, took him back in a moment after the son honestly confessed! Luke 15:21 through 24 reads, ‘His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’ “But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger, and sandals for his feet. And kill the calf we have been fattening in the pen. We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.

This God is the father in this story. We are the lost son and the father is looking down the road for us to come home!

I believe that the God of the Bible is a God who is the right God for each of us. I believe that Jesus Christ is there for each of us to help us turn around and go the right direction in life. I believe that with all my heart and my life this morning!

Where do you place yourself in this story? Are you on the run? It’s not too late to turn around. Take the steps of admission, belief, surrender, and taking stock. Come home before it gets worse. The father wants you home!

Are you out there, in the muck and mire and wondering how do I get out of this mess? Take the steps of admission, belief, surrender, and taking stock. Get out of denial! The father wants you home!

Are you on your way home and wondering what you are going to say to those that you have betrayed? Keep coming home and do the closet cleaning that you need to do and be ready to be rigorously honest with God, yourself, and one other human being. The father wants you home. Amen

Sources:

The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of AA, © 1953  by AA.

A Hunger for Healing. © 1991 Keith Miller p. 50

12 Steps to God’s Way of Living – Part 3

Psalm 32:1-5

Description – Part 3 of a 6 part series on the 12 Steps as a Spiritual Discipline

(Slide 1)30 years ago this month, I had my first car wreck. With my mom’s car. It was the first Friday of January 1976 after Christmas vacation and I was coming home from basketball practice (I was manager of the team) even through school was cancelled because of the weather.

I was not going too fast (honest) on the state highway in front of the housing plat that I lived in when I hit my brakes to slow down to make a turn and ended up panicking because I locked my wheels up on a downhill slope in the road. Fortunately, I had the presence of mind and the presence of God to avoid hitting the car in front me, which happened to be my neighbor in his beautiful jacked-up 1967 Chevelle.

I ended up in the ditch and took out a speed limit sign with my mom’s car and stopped in a huge snowdrift in front of the Ford dealer. Well, I called for a sheriff or OHP and soon was sitting in the passenger seat of the sheriff’s car while he filled out his report.

While sitting there (and he had tried to console me by telling me that I was only one of 12 accidents that day) I somewhere in my thinking knew that I would have to get home. How was that going to happen? Who would I call? What would I say to my parents about what I had done? How would I say it? What kind of a spin would I put on it? But, my dad would take care of that issue for me by showing up at the scene.

I was sitting in the sheriff’s cruiser when I looked out my window and saw my dad standing there. He and mom had been at the grocery store next to the car dealer where I had ended up. And as they left the parking lot, mom spotted the car in the ditch and then me in the cruiser.

It was a long ride home. Probably it was all of 5 to 7 minutes and a mile and a half in distance. But it was a long ride home. The only thing that dad said to me was ‘You were probably going faster that what you said you were.’

There was no way that I could hide what I had done. My parents would have found out sooner or later. Telling the truth was the right thing to do as hard as it was.

As I wrote this part of the sermon, I thought to myself, ‘Did I ever apologize to mom and dad, but especially mom for totaling her car?’ So I called her to ask her.

She said, ‘I don’t remember if you did or not, I think that you did, and we knew that you were sorry for what had happened.’ But, I went ahead and apologized for the accident anyway.

One of the most difficult things to do in life is to apologize for something that you said or did that was wrong. One of the big reasons for doing so is fear. There is a fear of retribution. There is a fear of rejection. There is a fear of legal consequences in some situations. There is a fear of embarrassment. (Slide 2)

But confession is a vital step toward God’s way of living as Step 5 points out: We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

Why is confession important? Why is it necessary? Why should I tell another person about my failures and defects?

Here are three very good reasons (Slide 3): First and most important, the Bible says to do this. We read in Ephesians 5:21, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ,” in Galatians 6:2 we are challenged to, “Carry each other’s burdens…” and in James 5:16 we read, “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other…”

The New Testament has a great deal to say to us about the importance of supporting one another and helping one another to become and stay spiritually honest and open with the Lord, one another, and ourselves. And, while each of us has to make the personal choice to accept Christ and live that commitment out to the best of our ability with the Holy Spirit’s help or not, I cannot recall any place in the Bible where we are left alone to live out our faith. Much of Paul’s writing in the middle of the New Testament includes advice and direction on living in the community of faith.

Confession, appropriate confession, is a key ingredient in the growth of not just our own personal faith, but that of our corporate faith as well. I remember watching a TV show on the Navy’s Blue Angels a few years ago. (Slide 4) The cameras followed them to the debriefing room as they talked about their recent performance. Almost to a man, they began their assessment, ‘I am happy to be here today’ and something about the privilege of flying for the group.

It struck me as a form of confession. Confession has its benefits, (Slide 5) especially when you fly at 350 or so miles an hour and are close to one another. Here were these talented pilots, who pushed their aircraft (and themselves) to perform these great maneuvers, low to the ground, (Slide 6) expressing humility at being able to fly. Then they went on to talk about what they did wrong in their performance.

Second (Slide 7) is the wise truth of the longer you hide, the sicker you become. In Proverbs 28:13 we read, “He who conceals his sin does not prosper…” And in verses 3 and 4 of our main text for today we read of the Psalmist’s own pain in not confessing:  When I refused to confess my sin, I was weak and miserable, and I groaned all day long. Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat.’

Confession is not only good for the soul but it is also good for the emotions, the body, and relationships! We have to be like Dennis the Menace who is depicted in one of his famous bedtime scenes. He is kneeling beside his bed and is heard to utter, ‘I’m here to turn myself in!’

In the InterVarsity Press publication,  “Lifeline,” the benefits of forgiving were highlighted as follows, ‘According to the latest medical and psychological research, forgiving is good for our souls-and our bodies. People who forgive: benefit from better immune functioning and lower blood pressure; have better mental health than people who do not forgive; feel better physically; have lower amounts of anger and fewer symptoms of anxiety and depression; maintain more satisfying and long-lasting relationships.’ If forgiveness is such a healthy thing, could not confession be a healthy thing as well?

The third reason (Slide 8) that we need to confess to a trusted other is that we all need wise counsel. In Proverbs 19:20 we read, “Get all the advice and instruction you can, and be wise…” I have blind spots in my way of thinking that need the aid of others to show me where I need to take a second look. Outside of the Lord, Susan is my main advisor, and there are several other adults, lay and clergy, whose counsel I need to hear and process.

Last week I shared with you my personal experiences of doing two fourth step inventories and then sharing them with trusted others. One of the side benefits of doing that housecleaning is that I realized that I needed to have a group of others that I could talk with to and process various issues and situations. I found a group of clergy that I met with regularly and it was really helpful for mel. But it was hard for me, because I have always been somewhat of a loner and being honest with myself, about myself, has not come easily to me. But, the benefits outweigh the risks.

A fourth reason for confession (Slide 9) is for the purpose of healing. If we are not honest with our doctor when we are sick, how can he or she help us get better physically? If we are not honest with God and a trusted confessor about our soul sickness, how can we get better spiritually? The first half of James 5:16 says, “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other…” The second half of James 5:16 indicates the benefit of such confession,”that you may be healed.” For just as seeing a doctor can help us to get better physically, doing appropriate confession can help us to get better spiritually.

Taking this step can help us end the isolation that guilt and shame creates. It also allows us to become more open and honest with God, ourselves, and one other human being about us. I learned that when I did my inventory and shared it with two men that I trusted.

Another benefit (and it is a benefit although at first it does not seem like it is) is that we have a greater awareness of specific faults, or ‘shortcomings,’ (some call them defects of character) that we now can address more clearly and directly. This is the focus of the sixth step: (Slide 10) We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

We need to pay attention to the wording of this step because it is important to understand this step and the implications of this step. It is a decision point step. All of them really are, but at this point, you have to answer a key question, ‘Are you really ready to change? You have to decide if you are ready and willing (a key word) to change.

Another way of looking at this step is thinking about ‘counting the cost of change.’ In Luke 14 Jesus brings up this issue of counting the cost in verses 28-32: “…who would begin construction of a building without first getting estimates and then checking to see if there is enough money to pay the bills? Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of funds. And then how everyone would laugh at you! They would say, ‘there’s the person who started that building and ran out of money before it was finished!’ “Or what king would ever dream of going to war without first sitting down with his counselors and discussing whether his army of ten thousand is strong enough to defeat the twenty thousand soldiers who are marching against him? If he is not able, then while the enemy is still far away, he will send a delegation to discuss terms of peace.’

Now, what would cause the man to go ahead and build and the king to go to war…without counting the cost? A major reason is pride or, what some call, ‘arrogance,’ and ‘conceit.’

Another reason could be anger. It could be that this man is angry that his competitor had built a better facility and drawn more business and that angers him. It could be that the rival king was once an ally who has grown stronger and has taken some desirable territory that this king thought was his.

Pride and anger are defects of character. They are the results of the sin in our world and in our humanity. How do these defects of character come about? (Slide 11) There are three sources: First is the gene pool.

Now I have yet to draw a full conclusion about the whole issue of genetics, habits, and behaviors but we all have genes that predispose us to something. And we do not fully understand the full extent of the moral fall of the human race and its impact on our genetic structure.

Yet in the Old Testament is an oft-quoted passage about the impact of people’s choices on future generations.  It is Exodus 34:7 ‘I show this unfailing love to many thousands by forgiving every kind of sin and rebellion. Even so I do not leave sin unpunished, but I punish the children for the sins of their parents to the third and fourth generations.”

I have pretty much interpreted this passage that our behavior affects our future generations just as the behavior of those before us has affected us in a cause and effect way. But, I think that it is possible (possible) that there could be some genetic issues as well. One painful illustration of this influence is fetal alcohol syndrome. Quoting from the Center for Disease Control website, ‘Children with FAS may have physical disabilities and problems with learning, memory, attention, problem solving, and social/behavioral problems.’ In other words, alcohol consumption creates health risks for unborn children.

A second source of character defects are circumstances. Last week I spoke about the environmental issues that create ‘ruts’ in our lives. When I was in seminary I had to interview three people as a course assignment that dealt with how people make moral decisions.

The story was a story about a parent who steals some drugs because they have a gravely ill child that needs the drug to get better but they cannot afford it. I cannot remember all of the responses but I do remember that the morality of stealing (or not stealing) came into play. Circumstances affect our character and we sometimes we are negatively influenced by circumstances that create a capacity for anger or lust or sadness that make them a defect of character.

The third source is choices. We never loose our ability to choose unless death or a severe disability takes that ability away from us. And in that ability to choose comes the liability with our choices. Character defects become active here.

(Slide 12) As we make the step of taking stock and the step of confession, taking this step of willingness to change requires two very important attitudes.

First we must say to ourselves and to another trusted person, ‘I must be completely honest.’ Second we must say, ‘I must be willing to change.’

I bring us back to the ‘Rich Young Ruler’ in Luke 18. He had done just enough to ‘be good.’ “Good teacher, what should I do to get eternal life?” “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked him. “Only God is truly good. But as for your question, you know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery. Do not murder. Do not steal. Do not testify falsely. Honor your father and mother.’” The man replied, “I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was a child.”

The man was honest to a point about his life. But, he need to make further changes if he wanted to possess the ‘eternal life’ that he inquired about and ‘being good’ was not enough. Deeper changes had to take place from within.

For the man, a change of identity and of letting go had to come about. “There is still one thing you lack,” Jesus said. “Sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” But when the man heard this, he became sad because he was very rich.’

For this man (and I want to make that clear) this man, his wealth exposed a defect of character. Most of us would probably call it greed. It held him back from experiencing the eternal life that Jesus said was his if he would sell all that he had.

What if the man had decided to let go and sell all of his possessions and follow Jesus? It would have been hard and painful. It would had been difficult facing family and friends who think that you are crazy and have gone mad! It would have been a challenge because a whole way of life would need to be discarded and a new way of life embraced.

But think about Peter for a moment and the changes that he made during the three years that he was with Jesus. He had his struggles and moments. He had his defects of character and they came out as he watched Jesus being arrested and tried.

But Jesus loved Peter (just as He loves us!) And He gave Peter another chance to ‘be coming willing’ to give up his defects of character, those chokepoints, those habits that put him in his ruts, and truly let go and let God be first in his life and make the changes that need to be made. And look at the difference, especially later in his life when he would write in 2 Peter 1:5-8:

‘As we know Jesus better, his divine power gives us everything we need for living a godly life. He has called us to receive his own glory and goodness! And by that same mighty power, he has given us all of his rich and wonderful promises. He has promised that you will escape the decadence all around you caused by evil desires and that you will share in his divine nature.

(Slide 13) So make every effort to apply the benefits of these promises to your life. Then your faith will produce a life of moral excellence. A life of moral excellence leads to knowing God better. Knowing God leads to self-control. Self-control leads to patient endurance, and patient endurance leads to godliness. Godliness leads to love for other Christians, and finally you will grow to have genuine love for everyone. The more you grow like this, the more you will become productive and useful in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Peter would have not been able to write these things if he would have given up and said, ‘This is too hard. I can’t go through with it.’ (Can’t Peter or won’t?)

Following God is hard at times. Letting Him change us is difficult and demanding. But maybe this statement from Rick Warren (Slide 14) will give us some helpful perspective. ‘God gave you a new life and a new nature when you accepted Christ. Now, for the rest of your life on earth, God wants to continue the process of changing your character.’

Now this may not give us comfort. It does me because it helps to realize that my relationship with the Lord is a lifetime process and not a 100-meter dash. So, my expectations are now based on the belief that I will always be changing as God works with me until the day I die or He returns.

It used to depress me just admitting to my defects and at first glance the future looked bleak. But that was then, this is now!

The focus in these steps to God’s way of living is now beginning to shift from the past, to the present, and with the last three steps, to the future.

The first two deal with our present state. But, they are rooted in the past because our present state is based on our past. The ruts we find ourselves in did not appear over night. They are the result of circumstances, factors, and choices that have taken place over a period of time. The next two steps help us to reflect on our past and deal with those issues that have created our ruts. These two steps help us to bring our past into the light of God’s grace and power and to clearly see what trips us up and hinders us from experiencing the life that God has for us.

We are halfway through our series and through the steps. Maybe you have made the decision to take these steps as you have heard about them and begin to do the hard, yet important and rewarding work, of cleaning house and truly getting right with God and with others.

Maybe you have decided that you want this year, still in its first month of existence, to take these steps and really begin to live God’s way. I believe that God wants to help you take the next six steps into a life of greater peace and purpose.

But, it requires a surrender, a letting go, and a willingness to let God begin to truly change us. Are you willing? Are you ready to change?

At a time (Slide 15) like this I am reminded of Romans 8:28, ‘And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.’ It is a reminder that when I am willing to change as God wants me to change and in the ways that God wants me to change, God will make it so even though it may take awhile for some change to occur. God is able to take the good, the bad, and the ugly in our lives and bring us to a greater life in Him.

In the ‘Big Book of AA’ are these words that some of my 12 Step friends have told me gave them hope and help when they had to face a new obstacle and there was no shortcut around it. I think that we can understand it as a paraphrase of Romans 8:28:

‘If we are painstaking about this phase of development we will be amazed before we are half way through. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness… We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others. That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear… Self-seeking will slip away. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change. Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us… We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.’

Jesus did come to give ‘us life more abundant.’ The question we need to ask ourselves is, ‘Do I want it? And am I willing to let God change me to possess it?’ Amen.

Sources:

InterVarsity Press, quoted in Lifeline, Summer, 1997 and from Sermon Central.com weekly newsletter, January 16, 2006.

Warren quote is from The Purpose Driven Life.

Big Book quote is taken from the on-line version of the Big Book at www.aa.org. Chapter 6 pages 83 and 84.

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome quote is taken from www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/fas/

12 Steps to God’s Way of Living – Part 4

Luke 18:9-13

Description – Part 4 of a 6 part series on the 12 Steps as a Spiritual Discipline

It was either the spring of 1968 or 1969 because at the time my mom was teaching kindergarten at a church about a half-mile from our home for two years before it went into our public school system in 1970. But it was spring because it was also baseball season.

Now normally we would play either in my backyard or in the field behind a neighbor’s house (which was fenced off a few years ago by order of the EPA because it was the well field where the water pump stations were located for our section of the housing plat we lived in.) Rarely did we play baseball in the front yard because of the large picture window in the living room.

But that would change on this May afternoon. There were only two of us, my neighbor Frank and me, playing that afternoon. Frank was pitching and I was hitting.

A foul ball hit down the third base line went into the street. A hit directly over Frank’s head would go into my neighbor’s unfenced side yard. A fowl ball down the first base line went, well, toward the house… and the picture window.

I foul tipped one down the first base line and through the picture window that my mom was sitting in front of dressed up, reading the evening paper and getting ready for the kindergarten graduation ceremony that evening! She got a glass cut on her leg and I think the baseball hit the paper she was holding and landed on the floor in front of her.

You’re out! Ball game over! In the house I went. Waiting for my father to come home. I think that was the only time I remember her saying, ‘Wait till your father gets home!’ So I waited… under my bed… in fear and trembling.

I apologized for my actions and I was very humble when I did so because I knew that punishment and discipline would come quickly. I do not remember what the punishment and discipline was, but I am sure that it involved no more baseball in the front yard.

(Now I also broke a neighbor’s collarbone in what would be our last game of tackle football … but that is another story!)

(Slide 1) This morning we continue our study of 12 steps to God’s way of living with an examination of Step 7 – We humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings. The key word for this step is humility. And our main text for this morning reveals the impact humility has on our relationship with the Lord.

Let’s take some time to compare the attitudes of these two men and the difference it made to Jesus. (Slide 2) First, is the Pharisee who said:

I am not a sinner like everyone else

I never cheat,

I don’t sin, I don’t commit adultery

I fast twice a week

I give you a tenth of my income

Pretty confident this guy is. He had done quite a bit of good over the years. Probably highly thought of in his local synagogue. A leader perhaps.

(Slide 3) Then, there is the ‘Dishonest’ Tax Collector who said:

… •  I am a sinner

Be merciful

Is there any hope for this guy? He seems pretty ‘far away’ from the standards of the Pharisee. He has nothing good to brag about! He has not done a good job of getting things right. How can God help him?

What a contrast between the two! One felt sure of his spiritual condition because he had done the necessary things to be ‘spiritual.’ The other one was just the opposite. He felt so sorry for his sins, his defects of character that he simply begged for forgiveness and threw himself on the mercy of God.

What was the difference between the two? The attitude of humility is the difference. To be humble is not to be a groveling fool with no dignity. I like what has been written about the core principle of humility in some of AA’s material. It is ‘a desire to seek and do God’s will.’

The tax collector wanted to seek and do God’s will which involves being truly repentant of one’s shortcomings. The Pharisee thought that he was okay because his behavior was right but his attitude was warped because, as anyone who has overcome an addiction can tell you, an attitude of self-sufficiency or self-righteousness will quickly get you in trouble. (Slide 4) Jesus makes that clear in his concluding statement, “

For the proud will be humbled, but the humble will be honored.”

(Slide 5) One of my favorite verses is I John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

How then do we experience the freedom that comes from letting go of our defects and allow the Lord to remove them? How do we become pure on the inside.

Marty Grubbs offers us three important actions: The first is one that has already been mentioned: We must be humble.

(Slide 6) A moment ago, I put up this slide. It is a picture of Jesus caring for some children. In Mark 10:15 Jesus is quoted as saying: (EXTRA CLICK) “I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

Humility characterizes children. It creates openness to new things and new experiences including faith and the possibility of changes. Doubt and cynicism come with growing up and we sometimes look at children and wish that we could be that humble and hopeful. They see the glass as half-full instead of half-empty.

A danger in this step is that we will succumb to self-pity and give up the quest for a deep and meaningful change. Humility is not about beating ourselves up. It is about coming to the Lord, as we are, with an openness to change and a sincere honesty for change.

(Slide 7) A second thing that we must do is be specific. In Philippians 4:6 we read “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

The more specific we are in our prayers about our defects and sins the more clarity there is in life. A general ‘I’m sorry’ is sometimes not enough to truly experience a greater peace. We need to take the listing of defects we made in Step 6 – those attitudes, habits, and emotions that plug us up; keep us from experiencing the life that God has for us – and begin to name them out loud to the Lord in prayer.

Listen to two prayers and see if you can ‘feel’ the difference. ‘Father, forgive me for my sins. I confess that I lied today and I need to make it right. But it’s hard. Amen.’

‘Father, forgive me for lying to Mike today. I told him that we would meet for coffee to go over the new plan and then made up the story about a phone call I needed to make. I am tired with all of his problems that he shares every time we meet. I need to make it right tomorrow. Please help me to. Amen.’

Can you feel the difference between the two prayers? God, I believe, hears both prayers and truly knows our hearts. However, the specific ness of the second prayer allows us to have more openness and honesty about our situation that is critical for us to admit to and thus make changes that we need to make.

(Slide 8) The third thing is that we must have faith. In Matthew 17:20 we read “Jesus replied … ‘I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, “Move from here to there” and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.’”

This is a great verse to remember when it comes to our ruts that makes life very difficult for us… and others. But who or what do you and I have faith in? Our first answer usually is who? Slide 9 (Be honest here.) In ourselves. Luck. Fate. Circumstances.

What about in God and His ability and plan to rid us of our defects? What does Step 7 say? We humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings. We must have confidence in ourselves, we must be aware of our circumstances, we must accept that the consequences of our actions are out of our control, but we can only ask God, humbly and honestly ask, to remove our shortcomings. He has the power to do it! We have role (a vital role) to play in this step of asking God for help and letting go of our shortcomings. But in our own strength we cannot make these changes only the Lord can.

And it may take a while. But, Keith Miller gives us a very vivid reminder of how we can keep asking God to remove these defects. He quotes the Step 7 prayer from AA’s ‘Big Book’ which is, “My creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good and bad. I pray that you now remove from me every single defect of character that stands in the way of my usefulness to you and my fellows. Grant me strength, as I go out from here, to do your bidding. Amen.”

Then he goes on to say, ‘whenever I notice a compulsion or character defect operating in my life (be it the desire to overeat, drink, resent, work compulsively, or control people) I say the words, “I am entirely ready to have you remove these defects of character.” I imagine picking up the character defect as a poisonous snake, putting it in a sack, and setting the sack on a conveyor belt going up to God.’

Miller goes on doing this over and over as necessary because he knows that ‘if you take the defect out of the sack and start tying to deal with it in your mind, it will win almost every time.’ He concludes by saying that over a period time ‘I’ve noticed that some of them are gone and others hardly ever show up.’

Maybe you don’t want to handle a snake. Call it ‘baggage.’ Visualize the bag with the name of whatever shortcoming you are aware of (envy, jealousy, lust, impatience) in big letters on the side of the bag. Visualize yourself placing the bag on the conveyor belt, letting go of it, and watching it ascend heavenward to God who will deal with it.

Scary? Hard to do? Yes it is! But, how much baggage do we carry around from our pasts that we need (and want) to let go of?

(Slide 10) Now we come to a step in which the ‘rubber begins to meet the road’ Step 8. We made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all. The key word for this step is forgiveness.

Last week I spoke briefly of the importance and healthiness of forgiveness as we dealt with confessing our shortcomings and sins. But why is this step so important? This step is about our relationships that have been wounded by us.

Here are four important reasons (Slide 11) from Marty Grubbs that he calls ‘the benefits of relational repair’ this step helps us achieve. (They sound familiar.)

The first benefit is Physical health. Last week I shared Psalm 32:3 ‘When I refused to confess my sin, I was weak and miserable, and I groaned all day long.’

Our bodies are affected not just by the foods that we eat but also by the relational choices that we make as well. Some people know how to ‘pull our chain’ and if we were to have our pulse and blood pressure taken when they did so, we probably would have proof of the physical effects of conflict.

The second benefit is Emotional health. (Slide 12) In Job 5:2 we read, “Resentment kills a fool and envy slays the simple.”

Study and after study and survey after survey of the workplace proves this benefit, generally from the negative side. Working with people is stressful and difficult at times. Family life can be fractured and even broken when confession and forgiveness are not practiced. Circumstances can create havoc. On Thursday night I heard from a former parishioner who said that her husband had just gotten home from work – unemployed. It was, according to her, either be fired or resign! Her words on the computer screen were words of concern and stress.

This verse of scripture says it plainly and simply. Resentment and envy eat away at our relationships, our souls, and our bodies! They are acids.

The third benefit of this step is Spiritual health. (Slide 13) In Matthew 6:14-15 we read, “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

Does this verse say that God can’t forgive our sins? NO! It says that if we will not forgive, God will not. Why is this? One commentary on this verse said this: ‘When we don’t forgive others, we are denying our common ground as sinners in need of God’s forgiveness. God’s forgiveness of sin is not the direct result of our forgiving others, but it is based on our realizing what forgiveness means. It is easy to ask God for forgiveness but difficult to grant it to others. Whenever we ask God to forgive us for sin, we should ask, ‘Have I forgiven the people who have wronged me?’ The need to forgive frees us from the anger and resentment that blocks God’s love and care from changing our defects and hearts.

The fourth benefit is Relational health. (Slide 14) In Luke 6:31 we read ‘Do for others as you would like them to do for you.’ And in Ephesians 5:21 we read, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”

I do not know of anyone who does not want to have good relationships with other people. Some of us are not ‘people persons’ but this does not mean we do not have people we care about.

A willingness to repair damaged relationships is an important sign that we are willing to take this step to God’s way of living and there is one word to describe why this is important and necessary – grandiosity. (Slide 15)

In his book, Blue Like Jazz, Donald Miller says some very pointed things about a rut that all of us can get ourselves into. He says, ‘The most difficult lie I have ever contended with is this: Life is about me…. I hear addicts talk about the shakes and panic attacks and the highs and lows of resisting their habit, and to some degree I understand them because I have habits of my own, but no drug is so powerful as the drug of self. No rut in the mind is so deep as the one that says I am the world, the world belongs to me, all people are characters in my play. There is no addiction so powerful as self-addiction.’ When I first read those words I was stunned. And I was stunned because I knew that it was true of me as well. Too often I am preoccupied with myself and my agenda.

(Slide 16) There are four hindrances to relational repair that all begin with the same word: Self-deception, Self-image, Self-defense, and Self-protection. They really need no explanation because we are all familiar with them.

Donald Miller speaks of grandiosity in his statement about ‘self-addiction.’ Keith Miller calls grandiosity ‘pretending to be more than we are.’ All of us deal with this character defect. And it needs to be given to God and let go of.

(Slide 17) In Luke 9:23 and 24, Jesus said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find true life.”

(Slide 18) Which bring us back to our main text. Luke indicates that Jesus told this story for two reasons that describe two important barriers to taking these steps. ‘Jesus told this story to some who had great self-confidence and scorned everyone else.’ In giving up ourselves and following Him, God does not expect us to become robots or groupies.

He expects us to become the ‘us’ that He always wanted us to be, the ‘us’ that He created us to be. But our grandiosity has kept us from that and it has created some relational problems that need to be addressed and dealt with. It is what kept the one in the dark and away from God. It creates our ruts.

We cannot get around this eighth step (and the ninth one as well). It may take us a while to sort through who we really need to make amends to and who we don’t. But the willingness to let go and make amends is something that has to take place in our hearts and wills.

It took courage for the collector to be honest about his life. But God honored that honesty. He wants to do the same for us.

So, how do you take this step? (Slide 19) Two things: 1. Make a list. 2. Pray for courage. (To be thorough. To be willing.)

If you have worked the first seven, you will probably have a good idea on who you need to consider making amends to. Start writing names. (In two weeks, we will look at the ninth step and the importance of making amends at the right time and in the right way.)

Pray for courage because one needs it to start this process. That is why the word ‘willingness’ appears in this step. Pray for willingness to start the process and ask God for help. He will give it to you. Amen.

Sources;

Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions by AA 1953. Page 72

Keith Miller, ‘A Hunger for Healing,’ 1991, pages 123, 124, and 119

Comment on Matthew 6:14 is from Quick Verse Application Bible Software

Donald Miller, ‘Blue Like Jazz,’ 2003, page 182

Jesus’ Steps

Luke 22:13-20

Description – Communion Meditation for February 5, 2006

(Slide 1) In Luke 22:13-20 we read the following account of the Last Supper that parallels our main text for this morning:

They went off to the city and found everything just as Jesus had said, and they prepared the Passover supper there.

Then at the proper time Jesus and the twelve apostles sat down together at the table. Jesus said, “I have looked forward to this hour with deep longing, anxious to eat this Passover meal with you before my suffering begins. For I tell you now that I won’t eat it again until it comes to fulfillment in the Kingdom of God.”

Then he took a cup of wine, and when he had given thanks for it, he said, “Take this and share it among yourselves. For I will not drink wine again until the Kingdom of God has come.”

Then he took a loaf of bread; and when he had thanked God for it, he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “This is my body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” After supper he took another cup of wine and said, “This wine is the token of God’s new covenant to save you—an agreement sealed with the blood I will pour out for you.”

With Luke’s account in our minds I want us to think for a moment about the steps that Jesus took in the days and hours leading up to His death and Resurrection.

(Slide 2) Now there are the physical steps He took as He was led and dragged to Golgotha. In Luke 22:39 we read, ‘Then, accompanied by the disciples, Jesus left the upstairs room and went as usual to the Mount of Olives.’

Then we read further in verse 54, ‘So they arrested him and led him to the high priest’s residence, and Peter was following far behind.’

Then in 23:1 we read ‘Then the entire council took Jesus over to Pilate, the Roman governor.’

At verses 6 and 7 we read, ‘Oh, is he a Galilean?” Pilate asked. When they answered that he was, Pilate sent him to Herod Antipas, because Galilee was under Herod’s jurisdiction, and Herod happened to be in Jerusalem at the time.’ Then at verse 11 we read, Now Herod and his soldiers began mocking and ridiculing Jesus. Then they put a royal robe on him and sent him back to Pilate.’

Then in verse 24, after Pilate gave in to the demands to crucify Jesus we read, As they led Jesus away, ‘Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country just then, was forced to follow Jesus and carry his cross.’

(Slide 3) But in the steps that He took, Jesus also took the following steps:

Click A step of Obedience as He wrestles with the Father’s will in the garden as we read in Matthew 26:39 ‘He went on a little farther and fell face down on the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will, not mine.’

Click A step of Surrender as He surrenders Himself to the Father’s will and to the mob who arrested Him as we read in Matthew 26:45, “Look, the time has come. I, the Son of Man, am betrayed into the hands of sinners. Up, let’s be going. See, my betrayer is here!”

Click A step of Forgiveness as He uttered on the cross, “Father, forgive these people, because they don’t know what they are doing.”

Click A step of Completion as we hear Him say, “Father, I entrust my spirit into your hands!”

(Click) Finally there is A step of Resurrection as we read of the Lord’s appearance to the stunned disciples in John 20:19, ‘That evening, on the first day of the week, the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said. As he spoke, he held out his hands for them to see, and he showed them his side. They were filled with joy when they saw their Lord!’

Every so often we think that we hear footsteps and turn to look to see who is there. In Luke 22 we see Jesus turn to see who is there and He sees Peter as Peter denies personally knowing Jesus. Peter is devastated by the look because it reminds him of what Jesus would happen to him.

But Jesus does not leave Peter alone. In John 21 Peter hears the footsteps of Jesus along the shoreline. Listen to John’s account beginning with verse 3, Simon Peter said, “I’m going fishing.” “We’ll come, too,” they all said. So they went out in the boat, but they caught nothing all night. At dawn the disciples saw Jesus standing on the beach, but they couldn’t see who he was. He called out, “Friends, have you caught any fish?” “No,” they replied.

Then he said, “Throw out your net on the right-hand side of the boat, and you’ll get plenty of fish!” So they did, and they couldn’t draw in the net because there were so many fish in it. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” What follows is a dialogue in which Jesus ‘walks’ to Peter and brings Him back home to His kingdom. It is a dialogue and a walk made possible by all these steps that Jesus has taken in the previous days and weeks.

(Slide 4) How is your walk with the Lord this day? Perhaps you have never walked with God, perhaps you have yet to experience the forgiveness that comes from the saving grace of Jesus Christ. But it can be yours today, right now. As Jesus walks toward you, click walk to Jesus.

Maybe your faith has weakened like Peter’s did and you find the Holy Spirit speaking to you this morning. Jesus is coming toward you, like He did on the shore with Peter, click walk back to Jesus this morning.

I think that it is very safe to say that Jesus never abandoned Peter after his betrayal. I think that it is safe to say that Jesus started planning his re-embracing of Peter. Jesus’ actions toward Peter have set an example for us to follow. Let us click walk like Jesus.

12 Steps to God’s Way of Living – Part 5

(Slide 1) Last week was the Super Bowl and those who love the color of black and gold are rejoicing because their beloved Steelers are the champions!

The half-time show was tame, (at least by Rolling Stones standards,) and I never thought I would see 60-year-old men rumble up and down a stage as they did. I glanced at a headline on yahoo.com after their performance and it implied that they were not happy with the ‘censorship’ that had been applied to perhaps their performance as well as the entire situation. Some of us were more interested in the commercials than the game and those companies who advertised this year had to pay a record 2.5 million dollars for a 1 minute commercial!

Speaking of commercials, I would love the NFL to team up with Staples and their easy button (Show button) for a commercial. Now, your favorite team would be able to get out of a tough spot.

(Slide 2) The Colts would be able to take the next step toward the Super Bowl and simply hit their ‘easy button’ (press my ‘easy button’) and errant field goals would suddenly right themselves.

My beloved Bengals would be able to finally return to the Super Bowl because when there is a key play during the playoffs, all they would have to do is hit their ‘easy button’ (press button again) and there would be an automatic first down or touch down which ever they needed to stay in the game. Even the lowly Houston Texans (Slide 3) would be able to get ahead by pressing their ‘easy button’ (press button again) and get the number one NFL draft choice they want without a problem.

(Hum… NASCAR season is here… ooh, the possibilities.)

Wouldn’t it be nice if life had an ‘easy button?’ (Show button again) When it was time to go to the dentist (Slide 4) just push your easy button and ‘voila’ instant filling or crown.

How about having one for those very important appointments such as a job interview? (Slide 5) Just press the button and ‘boom’ all nervousness and anxiety would disappear!

But life does not come with an easy button, does it? (Slide 6) Especially as we come to the ninth of twelve steps to God’s way of living the step of reconciliation. (Slide 7)

We made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

How do we take this step?

First, we need to look at Step 8 again. (Slide 8)We made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all. The key word for this step is forgiveness.

Our main text for this morning links forgiveness and reconciliation, two very important themes in the Bible and especially in the New Testament, together. Here is how it reads in the New Living Translation:

(Slide 9) All this newness of life is from God, who brought us back to himself through what Christ did. And God has given us the task of reconciling people to him.

(Slide 10) What does it mean to reconcile? It means to resolve, patch up, or settle differences between others.

In our text, we read that the central mission as followers of Christ is to help others to resolve, patch up, or settle their differences with God through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. However, as we have been reflecting on our journey so far and coming face to face with those ruts in our life that trip us up, we are very much aware that we also need to be reconciled with others and others with us. We are painfully aware of the fact that part of reason that we get in ruts and that we need a personal relationship with Christ is due to conflict and alienation with other people and the Bible clearly acknowledges this issue. (Slide 11) In Colossians 3:13 we read ‘You must make allowance for each other’s faults and forgive the person who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.’ All of us have our quirks and issues that irritate others but Paul goes on to say that we must move beyond making allowances for those quirks and truly forgive someone who offends you because forgiveness is at the heart of Christ’s actions on our behalf.

And, as we have heard before (Slide 12), resentment has no place in our hearts and lives as well as we read in Job 5:2 ‘Surely resentment destroys the fool, and jealousy kills the simple.’ The offenses that have hurt us, hurt. Of that, there can be no doubt. But, are we going to let them destroy us?

Resentment and jealousy are like acids that eat us up. We cannot afford to let them do that to us. It robs us of the joy of living and it makes life miserable.

Now, I have no doubt that some of us here have endured some very painful wounds at the hands of others. And that these wounds are serious and deep. They are hideous wounds; wounds that no human being should ever have to endure. I realize that.

But, a willingness to forgive is one of the ways to allow God to help heal those wounds, even if you never hear the words, ‘I’m sorry, I was wrong,’ or you see the person that wounded you, held responsible for their actions. Remember this, all of us will face the Lord one day and we will be judged without excuse.

So how do you make amends? Here are some very important suggestions from Marty Grubbs:

(Slide 13) First, one makes amends prayerfully. We read in James 1:5 “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God.” There is good reason for this prayerful approach. Think Jacob. (Slide 14)

Jacob dug some big ruts in his life and the result of that rut digging left a big gap between he and his brother, Esau. We first met Jacob and his family in Genesis 25. It is not too far into the story that we see Jacob starting to dig the rut that would get deeper and deeper. With the aid and resolve of his mother, he carries out a plan to deceive his father and brother in order to gain the birthright that gave the family inheritance to the first-born son. Life goes down hill from there.

Deception is the main tool in Jacob’s rut digging toolbox and it is used on him as well as by him. Finally, after many years of alienation from his brother, he has to wrestle with his conscience and with the Lord, as we read in Genesis 32 beginning with verse 24, ‘But during the night Jacob got up and sent his two wives, two concubines, and eleven sons across the Jabbok River. After they were on the other side, he sent over all his possessions.

This left Jacob all alone in the camp, and a man came and wrestled with him until dawn. When the man saw that he couldn’t win the match, he struck Jacob’s hip and knocked it out of joint at the socket. Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is dawn.”

But Jacob panted, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” “What is your name?” the man asked. He replied, “Jacob.” “Your name will no longer be Jacob,” the man told him. “It is now Israel, because you have struggled with both God and men and have won.”

“What is your name?” Jacob asked him. “Why do you ask?” the man replied. Then he blessed Jacob there. Jacob named the place Peniel—“face of God”—for he said, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been spared.”

All those years of deception had left Jacob internally isolated. Now that isolation turned physical. He had come to the end of the line, he would meet his brother whom he had so deeply deceived and did not know what would happen to him.

Earlier in the chapter, around verse 9, Jacob prays to the Lord and reminds Him of the promises that God made to him and his family. That prayer and the experience we have just again heard, is an illustration of this first way of making amends. He sought the help of God. We need to be aware that when we make amends, we are going to be dealing with old wounds that perhaps have scarred over or are still fresh. We proceed cautiously and with the help of God.

(Slide 15) A second way to make amends is personally. In Matthew 5:24 Jesus says, “…go and apologize and be reconciled…” This is a passage of scripture in which face-to-face reconciliation is expected, not optional. We hear it in the text. “So if you are standing before the altar in the Temple, offering a sacrifice to God, and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there beside the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.”

This is a most challenging and difficult passage of scripture because it leaves no room for exceptions. It follows a segment in Matthew 5:21 and 22 in which Jesus declares that anger is an unacceptable attitude to have because it is just like murdering another person. The alternative that Jesus suggests is one in which, when we know that someone is angry with us, we go to that person and be reconciled face-to-face.

A third way to make amends is peacefully. (Slide 16) We read in James 3:17, “The wisdom that comes from heaven is…peace loving…” In Proverbs 15:1 we read, A gentle answer turns away wrath, but harsh words stir up anger. An important attitude in making amends is to do so as peacefully as possible. There will be enough tension when you go to make amends, so you need to so with a gentle softness that can diffuse the situation in the right way. The Holy Spirit is there to help us in this way. Keith Miller has written that in making amends ‘the reaction of the other person does not control your recovery.’ Making amends is about taking care of what you need to take care of.

(Slide 17) A fourth way to make amends is proper timing. Sometimes our anxiety to make things right can cause us to push amends making too soon. Again we hear Jesus saying in Matthew 5, “Leave immediately, go to this friend and make things right,” and we realize the truth of what He is saying. We need to go the minute you remember it and make things right. But we also need to remember to make amends when God gives you the opportunity to make it right.

Keith Miller speaks of four groups who need amends: (Slide 18) People you go to at once; Miller notes that this is a select group of people to whom you tell of your intention to change your ways and make amends and, quoting Miller, ‘it’s best to start slowly.’

This does not negate what Jesus is saying. I would suggest that the original language implies that the person who is angry with you is very close to you and that there is a ‘shorter distance’ to an apology. Here Miller speaks of people who already know that you have dug a rut for yourself and question if your intention and amends will bear fruit or not.

(Slide 19) The second group is people you make only partial disclosure to. Miller indicates that these maybe people to whom a ‘complete disclosure might do more harm than good,’ and gives an example of making amends to someone that you had an affair with by going to their spouse. Probably not a wise thing to do. (Telling your spouse is another story however. It needs to be done at some point.) The point of making amends is not to ‘dump’ your guilt and shame on someone else but to change your ways and admit responsibility for your actions.

(Slide 20) A third group are specific family members, friends, business associates, and other individuals in your past. Miller goes on to state that again, moving slowly is best because if there has been a history of saying, ‘This time, I promise, I am going to change,’ and nothing happens, another layer of skepticism is laid.

Again, making amends is more than saying, “I am sorry.” It is making a commitment to a course of action in which change becomes a noticeable thing before the words start coming out of one’s mouth.

(Slide 21) The fourth group is people with whom you can’t make personal contact. Maybe they have died, maybe they have moved. So what do you do? A common suggestion is to write a letter out and then read it to someone that can help you process what you have written.

(Slide 22) A fifth and final way to make amends is to do so positively. In Romans 12:18 we read, “…As far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” We need to work at getting along with everyone as much as possible. But our experience and wisdom tells us that not everyone will get along with us as much as we work at it.

Amends is about taking care of our lives and responsibility for our actions without continuing to make others feel that they are responsible for our actions. The Bible makes it clear in several different passages that we are responsible for our own lives. By doing so, we then begin to climb out of our rut and live again.

I would suggest this morning that Jacob did a lot of ’12 Step’ work in the days prior to his reunion with Esau. I think Jacob was truly scared as he approached Esau and that part of his motivation for sending so many gifts ahead of him was to appease Esau.

But, I also see it as a way to make amends. Notice what Jacob tells his herdsman and servants to say to Esau and his men when the encounter the herds and flocks, ‘these belong to your servant Jacob. They are a present for his master Esau.’ It is the language of a humbled man, not a proud man. He is making amends.

The story ends well for Jacob and Esau because as we read in Genesis 33, Esau takes in all that he sees before him and he refuses to accept the gifts that had been sent to him. Yet Jacob insists and in Genesis 33:10 says this, “No, please accept them,” Jacob said, “for what a relief it is to see your friendly smile. It is like seeing the smile of God!”

I have heard those who have walked these nine steps say that when they made the best amends they could make, there was a freedom and a happiness they thought they would never experience. They felt, if you will, the smile of God. This leads us to Step 10 and toward our conclusion. (Slide 23)

We continued to take personal inventory and, when we were wrong, promptly admitted it. The key word in this step is perseverance.

The focus now moves from the past to the present and the future. A completely new way of life stands before us at this point. Again, I think that Jacob’s life illustrates this step. He has cleaned house, especially with Esau, and in his wrestling with the angel, he is given a new name and a new start.

Step 10 is a step that makes it possible to live life with greater clarity and honesty. It builds on the reflection and action of the previous nine steps and incorporates them into our way of life.

However, two words of caution from Marty Grubbs are important in making this step. (Slide 24) The first word is be careful. We read in I Corinthians 10:12, “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!”

An attitude of gratitude is a by-product of taking these steps but we have to be careful that we do not become overly self-confident. Pride of accomplishment can lead us to think that we are ‘cured’ or no longer need to stay honest. That is a dangerous thing.

However, the reverse is also true. Fear can bring us down as well. We can become so afraid of failure that we lose all self-confidence. So we need to learn to be confident in the Lord. In the next verse after verse 12 we read some very important words, “…but God is faithful…” Here is a great verse of scripture to memorize and trust: (Slide 25)

But remember that the temptations that come into your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can’t stand up against it. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you will not give in to it.’

(Slide 26) Here are three key steps in putting this verse into practice and making it possible for God’s power to enable us to say no and not start digging our ruts again.

First, we need to take an inventory of where you’ve been, where you are, and where you are going. We read in Lamentations 3:40 “Let us examine our ways and test them…”

I suggest that when your head hits the pillow at bedtime that you take some to review the day and ask the Lord to show you if you need to make amends. Then be willing to make amends and (this is number two) (Slide 27) deal with it promptly as we are again reminded by Matthew 5:24 “…go at once and be reconciled…”

(Slide 28) Third, keep going as we read in Philippians 1:6 “He who began a good work in you will complete it…” Personal change is hard, especially when it comes to those ‘ruts’ that have deeply affected our lives, influenced our choices, and impacted our relationships.

But we are talking about progress not perfection at this point. None of us are perfect but scripture does point us in the direction of maturity. This step is a way of making progress in our attitudes and actions.

I close on a personal note. As I prepared this sermon, I realized that I needed to make amends to a former employer for something that took place 14 years ago this spring. Now, I did not cheat or steal. But, I did do something that I need to apologize for doing.

I remember trying to contact him several years ago and I was unsuccessful in doing so. I believe that I still have the right address and phone number for him and I tried three times yesterday to contact him. I will try a couple of times today.

Some may say, “Jim that’s in the past and if you have asked God to forgive you that’s fine.” Well, I believe that God has forgiven me, but I need to ask forgiveness of him because I feel that is what I am being led to do until either I am able to do so, or I believe that I am released from having to do so.

What about you? Are there some amends and or apologies that you need to make? Do you need to make something right from years ago? Do you need to admit the truth about something that you did or that you have a problem that you need God’s help with?

Has the joy gone out of your life? Has your faith grown cold? Do you need to make some amends?

The altar is open for you this morning. Do not resist the movement of the Holy Spirit today. Be obedient and do God’s will in this area of your life. Amen.

Sources: Keith Miller, A Hunger For Healing, pages 148-149, 156.

12 Steps to God’s Way of Living – Part 6

Scripture Passage – Luke 8:26-39

Description – Part 6 of a 6 part series on the 12 Steps as a Spiritual Discipline

(1)In the book, Living Your Strengths, we read, ‘One of the most common mistakes people make in their spiritual lives is to focus on the steps to spiritual growth rather than on the outcomes of spiritual growth.’ (2)Then in his book Ancient-Future Time, Robert Webber wrote, ‘As far back as I can remember I was told that Christ should be at the center of my life.’ He goes on to share how that was reinforced through various Sunday School lessons, hymns, and admonitions such as ‘Don’t do anything that you would be ashamed of in front of Jesus.’ He goes onto say that while these are fine admonitions, he asks, ‘How do you work them out in your life? How can you ‘be like Jesus?’ How is your life a life with Christ?’

We have been focusing during the first two months of this year on steps to spiritual growth. Steps that I believe are important ones with the goal of two important outcomes that are implied in the final two steps that we view this morning. Let’s briefly review the steps that we have studied so far in this series: (3)

We first examined steps 1 and 2:

Step 1 says, ‘We admitted we were powerless over our rut that our lives had become unmanageable.’

This is a step about the admission of powerlessness in our lives because of the ‘ruts’ that we have dug for ourselves. It is a step we take when there is a crack in our denial as well as when we are working to break the power of our denial.

Step 2 says, ‘We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.’ This is a step about the importance of belief in our lives and specifically belief in God, the God of the Bible, who, through Jesus Christ makes possible freedom from the ruts that we create.

Then we examined steps 3 and 4: (4)

Step 3 says, ‘We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the power of God, as we understood Him.’ This is about the necessity of surrendering to God our will and our life in order for His power to begin to change us and free us from the ruts we are in.

Step 4 says ‘We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.’ This step is about the difficult, but essential task of taking stock of our lives. We need to step back and take a look at our lives with the Lord and the Holy Spirit at our side and acknowledge the good, the bad, and the uuugly of our lives.

(5) In Step 5, (We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs), we came to understand the necessity of confession to God and at least one other human being because by ‘sharing our story’ with a trust worthy person, we are able to let go of our pasts and place them in God’s hands.

In Step 6 we came to another critical decision point, a point of being willing to change by being ‘entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.’ Change must take place in our lives if we are going to get out of the ruts that we have dug for ourselves. This change involves a decision to change as well as a willingness to give God the habits, choices, and attitudes that have caused us problems.

As a result of taking these steps, we now begin to realize that there are shortcomings or defects of character or attitudes and habits that have caused us, and others, some problems and created many ruts in our lives. So now, we have to become intentional about allowing the Lord to make changes in us.

(6) The first step in that intentional practice is Step 7 which says, ‘We humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings.’ This is a step in which humility becomes a key ally in our quest to get out of our ruts and clean house with God, others, as well as ourselves. And I would remind us that humility is not beating ourselves up but having the desire to get out of the way and let God do His good thing in us.

A key aspect then of Step 7 flows into Step 8 which says, ‘We made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.’ This is a step about forgiveness. Forgiveness is vital and critical for us if we truly want to get out of ruts and reconnect with both God and others that we have wounded. It is a ‘where the rubber meets the road’ step that requires the humility and honesty that comes as we take the first seven steps.

(7) This brings us to Steps 9 and 10, two steps that serve as the end of one phase of our journey and the beginning of a new phase of life with God and others. Step 9 is a step about reconciliation, a key action in God’s way of living. ‘We made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.’ Most, if not many of our ruts involve our relationships with others because living with people is at times a difficult business. Just read the Bible all the way through as a reminder of that difficulty.

When Jesus was asked to summarize the Law that had governed the Jewish faith from the time of Moses to the time of His life, death, and resurrection here on earth, He spoke of loving God as well as loving your neighbor as yourself. Relationships are key to life and faith. Rick Warren reminds us ‘four of the Ten Commandments deal with our relationship with God while the other six deal with our relationships with people. But all ten are about relationships!’

Step 10 ‘We continued to take personal inventory and, when we were wrong, promptly admitted it,’ is a step in which our vision turns from the past to the present and the future. It is a step about continuing to have a very important honesty (rigorous honesty my 12 Step friends call it) with ourselves that enables us to live in the present and in the power of God. It is a step of perseverance, a key quality that we are to develop if we are going to walk with the Lord, by His power and in His plan. (8)In Hebrews 12:1 we read, ‘Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us.’

We now come to the final two steps, 11 and 12.

(9) Step 11 says, ‘We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.’

This step is about developing and maintaining our relationship with the Lord through prayer and meditation. Someone has said that prayer is our talking to God and meditation is God talking to us. (10)In Colossians 3:16 we read, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” How does that take place? Through prayer and meditation on God’s word because in the Bible, the Lord has given us clear instruction as to what His will is for us and through the Holy Spirit we have the power to carry out His will for us.

Now there is a phrase in this step that gives some pause for concern, ‘as we understood Him.’ One of the charges leveled at the 12 Step community over the years is that this phrase allows for a fuzzy view of God that is not Biblical. Granted not everyone who enters a 12 Step group or practices the 12 Steps believes that Christianity is right.

Let me make clear at this point that I believe that the God spoken of in this phrase is the God of the Bible. It is Jesus Christ who died on the cross for our sins and who rose again from the grave to offer us eternal life and who will come again one day and judge all of humanity for what they have done on this earth. It is the spiritual power that has been released by Christ’s work that is the spiritual power behind these 12 Steps.

But the important focus of this step comes after this controversial phrase – ‘praying only for knowledge of God’s will for us and the power to carry that out.’ This step draws what I call a sharply smaller circle as to God’s will for each of us because a major step in getting out of our ruts is to let go of what we believe is our responsibility for God’s will as illustrated here. (11)

(Click)This first circle illustrates what many believe is their responsibility for God’s will. But in this step, which is a step about spiritual health, it requires a redrawing of our boundaries to only what God’s will is for us as follows. (Click)

For some of us this is very discomforting because we want to make a difference or quite simply, we want to be in charge. But, for us to grow spiritually we have to let go of some things (attitudes, relationships, priorities, habits) and stop over functioning. (Click)For many of us, our rut digging tool is over functioning.

Over functioning happens for many reasons. For some, it is because they are high achievers and they want to make a difference. For others, they over function because they are afraid if something important to them does not happen, it will be a disaster.

Guilt is a big reason for over functioning. There are times when I feel guilty because I am not trying out the newest ministry fad or going to the newest and hottest ministry conference or I am not on the front lines of some great cause because some well-known Christian personality says I should be. If we want to get out of our ruts we have to draw some new boundaries, new limits, and let go of some things that God does not want us to be concerned with.

This brings us to our main text for this morning. (Finally!)

The man in our story this morning is in serious condition. He is in a big rut that threatens his very life. He is in bondage. Bondage to something or someone is the biggest rut there is: bondage to money, lust, power, anger, violence, alcohol, and a host of other things. In verse 27 we read, ‘homeless and naked, he had lived in a cemetery for a long time.’ This is not the way that God wanted this man to live.

We have become very aware of the seriousness of meth addiction. It is a problem here in Noble County. It is a problem here in Kendallville. (It became a problem on my street last month.)

I asked for a couple of pictures from Drug Free Noble County to illustrate what bondage to drugs does to you. Here are some before and after pictures of meth users via the ‘Faces of Meth’ program in Oregon. They are not pretty.

(12)Here is a woman who shows the effects of meth after 18 months. (13) Here is a man after 3 months. (14) Here is a young woman after 8 months.

These individuals, and many others like them, are in a deep, deep life threatening rut. But, for others, the scars and sores from their bondage, their ruts, never show themselves externally. They are internal scars. They are internal wounds that no one sees or knows about.

And the ruts those individuals find themselves in are just as devastating and life threatening as meth. There is: (15)

• (Click) Anger that comes from feeling powerless over the choices of others to go a different direction or anger with God over an unresolved disappointment that makes faith difficult.
• (Click) Fear that comes from a deepening anxiety that life is out of control and I cannot stop terrible things from happening to others or that the walls of life will cave in on me financially or occupationally.
• (Click) Resentment that comes from unmet expectations or through losing out to someone else a new job or opportunity that you had hoped would come your way.
• (Click) Jealousy that comes from feeling like you are on the outside looking in and you just don’t fit in or through the good fortune that seems to come to others and not to you.
• (Click) Envy that comes out of no-where when someone else is rewarded for something that you, or some one else you know, did without fan fare.
• (Click) Hopelessness that comes when all of your hopes and dreams for you, family, friends, even the church, seem to come crashing down in a moment and there is nothing left.

This is why we need to improve our conscious contact with God and seek out His will and power for us. Without his power and will in our lives, we have no hope of ever getting out of our ruts because we need His help and power in doing so.

This possessed and in bondage man, needed the power of God to get out of his situation because it was only the power of God that could deliver him. But, when we face the truth about our ruts, our bondage, our addictions, we will likewise encounter the demonic as well.

We will feel the battle within us between right and wrong, good and evil. Notice what takes place between Jesus and the man starting with verse 28: (16)

‘As soon as he saw Jesus, he shrieked and fell to the ground before him, screaming, “Why are you bothering me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Please, I beg you, don’t torture me!” (17) For Jesus had already commanded the evil spirit to come out of him. This spirit had often taken control of the man. Even when he was shackled with chains, he simply broke them and rushed out into the wilderness, completely under the demon’s power.

A terrible and terrific battle ensues within this man and between Jesus and the forces of darkness. I wonder what the man looked like. Did he have moments of quiet when he would sob and cry because of the powerlessness in his life and the sense of hopelessness he felt?

No family around to help or comfort him. No friends to confide in and lean on for help and comfort. He was viewed as a madman who could not be trusted. But, as we continue to read, Jesus delivers this man and he is set free!

But something interesting happens and it is something we must take note of because it can happen to us. In verse 35 and following we read, ‘A crowd soon gathered around Jesus, for they wanted to see for themselves what had happened. And (18) they saw the man who had been possessed by demons sitting quietly at Jesus’ feet, clothed and sane. And the whole crowd was afraid. Then those who had seen what happened told the others how the demon-possessed man had been healed. And all the people in that region begged Jesus to go away and leave them alone, for a great wave of fear swept over them.

Why? Why were they afraid? Why weren’t they glad that this man was healed? Don’t you think that they would have been happy and rejoicing at this change?

Fear is one reason for their reaction. Perhaps they feared the return of the demons. Jesus notes this possibility in Luke 11:25 and following: When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, searching for rest. But when it finds none, it says, ‘I will return to the person I came from.’ So it returns and finds that its former home is all swept and clean. Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before.”

Maybe they could not handle the change in this man. It has been reported that families in which an alcoholic has changed sometimes cannot handle the changes that have taken place and the family falls apart.

Sometimes the changes that we will make in our lives as we make the decision to ask God to help us get out of our rut will impact others in ways that we do not imagine. But, we cannot let their response keep us from living the life that God wants to give us.

Well Jesus leaves at their request and as he gets back in the boat to return to the other side of the lake, the man begs to return with Jesus, but Jesus tells him in verse 39, “No, go back to your family and tell them all the wonderful things God has done for you.” So he went all through the city telling about the great thing Jesus had done for him.’

(19) Which brings us to Step 12 ‘Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.’

This now sane man did exactly that. He went and told his family (the best place to begin by the way though at times the hardest place as well) and then others what God had done for him. He ‘carried the message.’ But, he also had to learn to practice these principles in all areas of his life.

This is what Jesus was hinting at in the Luke 11 passage that I read a few moments ago. The reason for the re-occupation is that good and healthy change requires constant attention. Letting one’s guard down opens one up for greater problems because evil will do what it can to negate the commitment to God and His way of life.

This step is a step about staying the course. How does that happen? Two important practices. (20)

Practice number one is ‘An increasing knowledge and application of God’s word.’ We read in Hebrews 4:12 about the power of the Bible and what it does to us as well as for us. “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

To practice these principles and to become more spiritually healthy and mature, regular study and application of the Bible is required. A bible study group or Sunday School class are important here. Create time in your schedule for reading the Bible and ask God to help you understand it. (Let me suggest reading one Psalm per day as a starting point. There are 150 of them and you may want to take two or three days to read through Psalm 119. That would give you nearly 6 months of reading.)

(21) Practice number two is ‘Staying connected with other believers.’ We read in Acts 2:46, “They broke bread in their homes and ate together…” Getting together for a meal or fellowship is vital to keep us healthy and growing in our life and faith.

Isolationism is not an option if we want to get out of, and stay out of, our ruts. We need to be connected to 3 or 4 other believers as a way of helping each other keep moving forward.

What this Step is describing is a whole new way of life – as illustrated in our text for this morning. He had been in bondage and now he was free! The Lord wants to do the same for each of one of us.

Last Sunday, the student speaker from Anderson University shared a couple of songs that really caught my attention.  One was called ‘Time.’ (22)

Watching the clock tick tock away

Every second sounds a new day

Always on the rush,

Quick, get away

Sound the alarm for judgment day

Gotta hurry up, or be late

Gotta find the time to make it straight

(23)

Do you have the time to make it

Do you have the time to fake it

Do you have the time to take

Do you have the time to waste away the day?

(24)

Counting the line, can’t stand the wait

Every minute to hour, delay

Til’ tomorrow becomes yesterday

Now is the time, don’t hesitate

Every minute of mine will be made

Hit the clock it’s time to stop the race

(25)

Don’t you feel like there’s something that’s missing

Don’t you feel like there’s something that’s missing

As time keeps slipping

Don’t you feel like there’s something, that’s missing?

The questions asked by the song writer are pointed and reflective and they force us to stop and consider our use of time. ‘Do you have the time to fake it?’ ‘Do you have the time to make it?’ ‘Don’t you feel like there’s something that’s missing?’ Important questions to ask as we think about the ruts in our lives.

The second song was called ‘More Than Fine.’ It is a song that challenges us to experience more than just the day to day. It is a song in which the song writer expresses a hope that life is going to be more than ‘just ok.’

(26)

When I’m up with the sunrise
I want more than just blue skies.
I want more than just ok, more than just ok.

When I’m wet with the sunshine.
I want more than just a good time.
I want more than just ok, more than just ok.

I’m not giving up, giving up, not giving up now.
I’m not giving up, giving up, not selling out.

More than fine, more than just ok.
More than fine, more than bent on getting by.
More than fine, more than just ok.

Which song do you resonate with? Which song is the song of one who has counted the cost and is willing, ready, and able (through the power and strength of the Holy Spirit) to take these twelve steps and walk with God throughout life?

The season of Lent begins this Wednesday. Some of us have celebrated Lent for years. Others of us have not. Lent is a time of serious reflection and remembrance of Jesus’ death.

It is a time in which we consider the depth of God’s love for us through Christ. It is a time to take stock and evaluate our lives.

God did not create us to merely just ‘get by.’ He created us to live and live with a joy, a love, a passion, and a purpose that goes beyond us to Him. He died so that might live.

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you this morning? Is he saying, ‘come home, come home!’ Is he saying, ‘come back, come back?’ Is he saying, ‘don’t give up, don’t give up?’

What ever He is saying, obey His voice today. Reach up and out of the rut you find yourself in with both hands and allow the Lord to pick you and help you start walking and living with Him! Amen.

Sources:

Living Your Strengths by Winseman, Clifton, and Liesveld. Page 100.

Ancient Future Time by Robert Webber. Page 22.

Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. Page 125

The Road to Damascus

Scripture Passage –Acts 9:1-20

Description – March 5, 2006 Communion Meditation and the first sermon of the 2006 Lenten Series

(Introduction to meditation was from Creative Communications for the Parish’s dramatic introduction, ‘This Lenten Road: The Road to Damascus’ © 2004 by Creative Communications for the Parish.)

(1) Many years ago along one of our coasts a Navy Captain looked into the dark night and saw faint lights in the distance. Immediately he told his signalman to send this message “Alter your course 10 degrees south.”

Promptly a return message was received: “Alter your course 10 degrees north.” This made the captain very angry because his ship was the flagship of the task force and the admiral, his commanding officer had just come to the bridge.

So he sent a second message: “Alter your course 10 degrees south—this is Captain ‘So and So’ of the USS ‘So and So’! The Admiral noticed the Captain’s demeanor had become agitated and began to pay attention to the unfolding events and communication.

A quick response from the other vessel was received. “Alter your course 10 degrees north–I am seaman third class Jones.”  This enraged the Captain even more and made him more aware of his CO’s increasing interest in what was taking place.

Immediately the Captain sent a third message, knowing the fear it would evoke: “Alter your course 10 degrees south—this is the USS ‘So and So’ a battleship.”

There was a noticeable delay in response. Finally after a nearly 60 second pause this reply came. “Alter your course 10 degrees north–I am a lighthouse.” The battleship changed course.

(2) Light has many uses and is a powerful tool for a wide variety of tasks. They are (click) used for public safety and search and rescue on helicopters and rescue vehicles designed to find those lost at sea or track criminals fleeing from law enforcement. Light (click) makes working and worshipping easier although there is something about candle light at Christmas time that makes electric lights appear out of place.

(click) Light is also making possible advances in dental care. An article at engadget.com indicates that dental researchers have discovered ‘that blue light coming off a halogen lamp is highly effective at killing’ the bacteria that cause tooth and gum decay without killing the good bacteria that helps digestion of food.

The article goes on to speculate that ‘it will be particularly beneficial to those who don’t like using a toothbrush.’ Those responding to the article made the following comments, ‘Laugh all you want, but as someone with constant gingivitis despite brushing, flossing, and 4 trips to the dentist a year for cleanings, I would welcome anything that helps.’

‘I think the logical extension of this is a toothbrush with the blue light built in. After all, there are already disposable electric toothbrushes.’  So, if this development proves true, then… (3) Every time we go here (click), we can learn to use something like this… (Click), and maybe less of this… (Click).

Even the fiber optic strands we see in this slide are another example of how light is useful to us. Who would have imagined how a thin strand of light would transmit voice and other data at a great speed?

(4) In the Bible light represents the presence of God in the midst of darkness.

For example, in the third verse of the entire Bible, Genesis 1:3 we read (click), ‘Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.’ God creates light and from there begins to organize our world and universe because until He says, “Let there be light,” the earth was, as we read in verse 2, ‘a formless mass cloaked in darkness.’

(5) In the Sermon on the Mount recorded in Matthew 5, Jesus again uses light as a metaphor for the presence of God in the midst of darkness. Except this time, He personalizes to His disciples by making it clear that (click) “You are the light of the world—like a city on a mountain, glowing in the night for all to see. (click) Don’t hide your light under a basket! Instead, put it on a stand and let it shine for all. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.’ We become, as followers of Jesus Christ, the light to others. We embody the Christian faith and message to others by the way we act, talk, and live. However, being that light, as we go on to read, exposes us to ridicule and persecution because light attacks the darkness and shows what the darkness of human existence is made of. Paul is a case in point. At the beginning of our main text, we see Paul reacting to the light of Christ in the lives of those that he had arrested, beaten, and imprisoned. Yet that light would finally stand across his path and knock him down.

This leads us to a third passage in which the word ‘light’ illustrates this principle. (6 and click) In John 1:1 and following we read, ‘In the beginning the Word already existed. He was with God, and he was God. He was in the beginning with God. He created everything there is. Nothing exists that he didn’t make. Life itself was in him, and this life gives light to everyone. The light shines through the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.

God sent John the Baptist to tell everyone about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony.’ John himself was not the light; he was only a witness to the light. The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was going to come into the world.’

Jesus Christ is the light of the world. His life, His godliness, His ministry, His death and resurrection, everything about Him says light. Moreover, it is light which gives life to every human being that accepts the forgiveness of sin and salvation made possible by what we remember today.

In all of these verses, God is bringing order to His creation and to the souls of humankind because His light is an indication of His presence in this world. This brings us to our main text for this morning.

(7) In our main text, light represents the power and will of God who uses us in spite of us.

In our text for this morning, light becomes a tool in God’s hands to alter the direction of a person’s life. In this case, Saul, who would be come known as Paul is ‘thrown off his ‘high horse.’

Notice what our text says about Paul and his state of mind in Acts 9 verses 1 and 2: ‘Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath. He was eager to destroy the Lord’s followers, so he went to the high priest. He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them—both men and women—back to Jerusalem in chains.’

Paul is a danger to the church and the believers. He wants to wipe out the Christian faith and the Church. He believes that Christians are warped and misguided and need to be put in their place. Years later he admits to this in Acts 22:4, ‘And I persecuted the followers of the Way, hounding some to death, binding and delivering both men and women to prison.’

But, God, through an act of light, brings Saul down to earth and to Him. It is a dramatic act, a dramatic conversion. Yet, God would not allow Saul to continue with his plans and He put a stop to it.

Have you ever heard someone say, ‘I saw the light?’ It is used as a statement about coming to reality. Paul certainly saw it. He experienced the power of God in a flow of bright light. His blindness left him powerless and requiring the support of others to help him.

This leads me to my concluding thought for this morning. (8) Either the light of God will lead us or it will blind us. It will knock us off our high horse. It will humble us.

It depends on what our condition and attitude is toward God and toward spiritual matters.

God’s power and purpose will either be fulfilled in us or frustrated in us. It is our choice based upon obedience and surrender or disobedience and self-centeredness.

Do you find yourself on the Road to Damascus? Is your pride, your selfishness, or your willfulness keeping you from experiencing God’s great purpose and power in your life? Get off your high horse before God knocks you off.

I think of Peter this morning whose brashness of staying the course with Jesus got him a sharp rebuke from Jesus Himself. Peter, in a moment of fear and weakness, was knocked off his high horse as Jesus told Him that he would be. However, as with Paul, Jesus would go to get Peter and bring him back to Him as well.

This morning, as we prepare for communion, I invite you to let Jesus come, get you, and bring you home. Don’t resist Him in this matter, let Him bring you home.

Amen.

The Road to the Wilderness

Matthew 3:13-4:11

Description – Second sermons for Lent 2006

(The introduction to this sermon was dramatic reading from the Lenten Series, ‘The Lenten Road,’ published by The Center for Creative Communication for the Parish. © 2004)

(1) Look at this photo for a moment. It’s magnificent! It’s majestic! It’s appealing! It’s warm! It’s sunny! What a beautiful place to go hiking and camping! Why would anyone want to complain about being in such a place? Well, they have and they do!

Mike Neifert, in the February 1997 issue of Light and Life magazine, shares the following responses, actual responses, from comment cards given to the staff members at Bridger Wilderness Area in 1996. (Click for bold items.)

Trails need to be wider so people can walk while holding hands.

Trails need to be reconstructed. Please avoid building trails that go uphill.

Too many bugs and leeches and spiders and spider webs.

Please spray the wilderness to rid the areas of these pests.

Please pave the trails so they can be snow-plowed during the winter.

Chair lifts need to be in some places so that we can get to wonderful views without having to hike to them.

The coyotes made too much noise last night and kept me awake. Please eradicate these annoying animals.

A small deer came into my camp and stole my jar of pickles. Is there a way I can get reimbursed? Please call

Reflectors need to be placed on trees every 50 feet so people can hike at night with flashlights.

Escalators would help on steep uphill sections.

A MacDonald’s would be nice at the trailhead.

The places where trails do not exist are not well marked.

Too many rocks in the mountains.

Where’s the majesty? Where’s the beauty?

(2)This is the second of our Lenten series, ‘The Lenten Road,’ entitled ‘The Road to the Wilderness.’

(3) Last week we began our journey with ‘The Road to Damascus’ with a look at the light of God and what that light meant for Paul and still means for us.

The Road to Damascus (click) was a road of confrontation about being ‘knocked off our high horse’ like Paul was on the way to Damascus. He was confronted by the Lord as to his efforts to stop the faith, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?” and then to be redirected in a new way, ‘Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you are to do.’

The Road to Damascus (click) was also a road of transformation. Last week we only heard read a part of the entire story.

After the dramatic experience we looked at, Paul went onto Damascus where he began preaching that Christ was the Messiah. It was a message that was 180 degrees from what he had been preaching.

It confused both the believers and those with whom Paul had aligned. And it would almost cost Paul is life because those with whom he had once agreed became his sworn enemies.

But the transformation was unmistakable because it was a transformation that was made by the power of God. This is what we read in Acts 9:21 and 22, ‘All who heard him were amazed. “Isn’t this the same man who persecuted Jesus’ followers with such devastation in Jerusalem?” they asked. “And we understand that he came here to arrest them and take them in chains to the leading priests.” Saul’s preaching became more and more powerful, and the Jews in Damascus couldn’t refute his proofs that Jesus was indeed the Messiah.’

(4) What kind of a road then is ‘The Road to the Wilderness?’

I remember going to Phoenix 10 years ago this summer for our International Youth Convention and hearing about this wonderful park that we could go to and hang out prior to the convention. And my picture of this park was that of green grass and large shade trees just like we have back here in the Midwest.

Was I surprised! There was hardly any grass at all just desert, cactus, and lots of sagebrush. Sort of like this picture. (5)

But, what kind of a road is the Road to the Wilderness?

It is a road of temptation. (click) We read in verse 1 of Matthew, ‘Then Jesus was led out into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tempted there by the Devil.’

On this road Jesus’ own faith and relationship with the Father would be severely tempted because He will be tempted to use His tremendous power to fulfill three very human needs and desires.

(6) To meet legitimate needs (in this case hunger) in an illegitimate way. In Matthew 4:2 we read, ‘For forty days and forty nights he ate nothing and became very hungry.’ Now, hunger is a legitimate need but Satan appeals to Jesus’ power and ability to break the self-imposed discipline of the fast by immediately turning stones to bread so that He could satisfy His hunger.

All of us need to eat because we were created that way. 40 days is a long time to go without food! Most of us, I think, have trouble going 12 hours without food before blood work or surgery!

However, the issue here is not the legitimacy of eating but whether or not He is going to give in to the temptation that is before Him to change the stones to bread or not. He can wait (hard to do after 40 days) or He could heed Satan’s advice and change those stones right now. He resisted and did not give into the temptation.

There is also another important point that Jesus makes in His response to Satan as we read in verse 4, ‘People need more than bread for their life; they must feed on every word of God.’ There is more to life than food. There is the spiritual dimension that with deals with our values, priorities, and beliefs. It also addresses our relationship with God; a primary issue which Jesus addresses in this situation. But, Jesus resists the temptation to ‘make bread’ because He knows that there is more to life than food and the discipline to wait is essential if He is to be and stay obedient to the Father.

The second temptation is related to the all three but is highlighted in this one. (7) It is the temptation to test important boundaries.

As with the first temptation there is an appeal, much more blatant this time, to Jesus’ power. If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say, ‘He orders his angels to protect you. And they will hold you with their hands to keep you from striking your foot on a stone.’

(Isn’t interesting that the Devil knows scripture and can quote it?)

More than once before His death and Resurrection Jesus will have the opportunity to step over a boundary and exert His power and control. And this is no truer than during those moments when the time of His arrest and His death grows near.

We read in Matthew 26:39 the start of a tremendous struggle within our Lord as the completion of His earthly ministry draws near. ‘He went on a little farther and fell face down on the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will, not mine.”’

Then while hanging on the cross we read from Matthew 27:42 through 44, “He saved others,” they scoffed, “but he can’t save himself! So he is the king of Israel, is he? Let him come down from the cross, and we will believe in him! He trusted God—let God show his approval by delivering him! For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” And the criminals who were crucified with him also shouted the same insults at him.’

How tempting would it be for you and I to say, ‘I’ll show them! They cannot talk to me that way!’

The boundaries of scripture, well stated in passages as the Ten Commandments, are there for our good. God gave them to the Israelites and to us to stay out of trouble. But, our impatience, our need for acceptance, and our desires to have something now create the temptation to break those boundaries.

The final temptation (8) is the temptation to place ultimate loyalty (worship) in someone else.

In verses 8 through 10 we read, ‘Next the Devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him the nations of the world and all their glory. “I will give it all to you,” he said, “if you will only kneel down and worship me.” “Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God; serve only him.’

Now the temptations to meet a legitimate need (physical, emotional, financial, as well as relational) in an illegitimate way are common to us. We face them everyday of our lives. Giving into them causes problems for us and gives sin a place in our lives that blocks our relationship with the Lord.

Furthermore, the temptation to test important boundaries that God has placed in our lives and world for our good, are common to us as well. The heartache of divorce, the devastation of drug addiction, and the pain of domestic violence are evidence that we have violated some important boundaries that God has put in place for our good and benefit.

But this third temptation is to me the most serious temptation because it deals with what the Bible illustrates in numerous ways: the temptation to worship (or give our loyalty to) someone other than God. The Devil has tempted Jesus regarding physical needs and boundaries and now he comes at Jesus with a temptation to worship him by bowing down and declaring loyalty to him.

There are debates about the use of video clips in worship but there are times when an appropriate movie clip is better than a thousand words and when I read this segment what comes to my mind is a scene from the last ‘Star Wars’ movie that came out last spring. In it we see an emotionally weakened and, I think, morally compromised Anakin Skywalker physically kneeling and giving his loyalty to the evil Senator Palpatine who becomes the powerful Emperor that seeks to take control of the entire universe.

And we see the physical result of what happens when we take the ‘shortcuts of temptation’ as Anakin renounces the way of the Jedi and turns his back on his wife and his mentor and ends up becoming a horribly disfigured machine called Darth Vader.

This temptation is at the heart of the conflict that runs through the Bible starting with the Garden of Eden and ending in the great triumph of the redeemed people of God, the Church, in Revelation. It is running through human history between good and evil and it runs through our hearts and souls.

At its heart, it is about our loyalty at the most deepest level – the spiritual level. It is about who and/or what we are going to worship at the center of our being: God or our own desires that are corrupted when we give into temptation.

There is another reason for this desert experience as well. We get a glimpse of it in verse 1 when we read Jesus was led out into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit. It was not only a road of temptation it was also (9) a road of preparation for two reasons. First we read in Luke’s account of Jesus’ wilderness experience in Luke 4:14, ‘Then Jesus returned to Galilee, filled with the Holy Spirit’s power. Soon he became well known throughout the surrounding country.’

After this hard and tempting 40 days, Jesus begins (click) His public ministry, as Luke says, ‘filled with the Holy Spirit’s power.’ Why? Because after the 40 days, Jesus begins His public ministry, a ministry that would require Him to be obedient to His Father’s purposes which was strengthened by the time in the wilderness.

It would be a demanding ministry. He would have his critics calling into question His motives and His actions. He would be called ‘demon possessed.’ He would seek to develop what is now called a ministry team that would leave Him at a critical moment and include a betrayer. There would be those who needed healing from serious physical pain and suffering as well as those who needed deliverance from spiritual affliction and oppression. Being able to resist temptation at this critical period would strengthen His will and ability to resist temptation later in His life and ministry.

It was also (click) a road of preparation for the mission that the Father had for Him. He acknowledges that mission in John 12:31 and 32 when he says, “The time of judgment for the world has come, when the prince of this world will be cast out. And when I am lifted up on the cross, I will draw everyone to myself.”

Jesus makes this statement at a key moment in His ministry when news of His work begins to reach out beyond Israel and a group of Greeks ask to see Jesus. Now Jesus knows the time for God’s plan of salvation is close to being completed because it would be for the entire world that Jesus would die for on the cross. This mission would be accomplished because Jesus would resist the temptations in the wilderness as well as the temptation in the garden to say no to the Father’s will and on the cross to prove His power to get off of it.

Obedience pays dividends. Obedience makes possible a life free from guilt and shame. Obedience helps a person to avoid the heartbreaking consequences of disobedience.

Jesus’ resolve to love and obey the Father was strengthened during these moments when He said, ‘NO!’ The same holds true for us when we say ‘No’ to the various temptations that we face everyday. Jesus’ example sets the way for us as we are reminded Hebrews 4:15 and 16, ‘This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same temptations we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it.’

Last week we learned that ‘light’ represents the power, presence, and will of God in this world. What do the stones mean? (10)

Well, in addition to representing temptation, in Matthew 7:9 (click) they represent the issue of how to and not to give good gifts to children. You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! If you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.’

In John 10:31 (click) they represent a weapon to be used to kill Jesus. ‘Once again the Jewish leaders picked up stones to kill him.’ (Referring to Jesus)

In Mark 12:10 (click) Jesus calls Himself ‘the cornerstone’ that is used to insure that the foundation of a building is set straight.

And finally in Mark 16:4 (click) it is the stone that is rolled away from the tomb that sits empty when followers and some of the disciples come to visit their crucified Lord. ‘But when they arrived, they looked up and saw that the stone—a very large one—had already been rolled aside.’ It is the final barrier to eternal life.

And that is what we look forward to celebrating in another month – the resurrected Christ! A stone would not stop Him from obeying the Father in a time of severe temptation and it would not hold Him back from overcoming death and the Devil and therefore fulfill His father’s mission.

Let us give thanks and praise to God for the fact Jesus overcame and so can we! Amen!