I’d like you to turn in your Bibles this morning to Prov. 28:12. Last week we were in Deut. 28 and I brought you a message titled “The Benefits of Principled Living.” We saw that principles are divine in origin – principles don’t come into existence by a majority vote, and you can’t rescind them if you get enough signatures on a ballot. God created this universe with certain principle designed to govern it (economic, political, agricultural, spiritual, social, familial, civil, biological, physical), and to the extent we follow those principles, we will benefit from them. But the converse of that is true as well. To the extent we violate God’s principles, we will suffer.
I then gave you an extended illustration of how we see this being played out on a daily basis in our country in the abortion breast cancer connection. The reason there is a connection between abortion and breast cancer is because abortion violates one of the principles that God established to rule His universe, and that is human life is precious. How many of you knew that human life is so precious that even animals that kill a human are under the death penalty? Read Gen. 9:1-6 this afternoon and see if that isn’t what God is saying. The reason human life is precious is because humans are created in the image of God. That fetus bears the image of God, and to terminate the life of the fetus is tantamount to an attack on God Himself – and God doesn’t take that lightly. The message of Deut. 28 is that to the extent we violate God’s principles, we will suffer, and to the extent we honor God’s principles, we will be blessed.
Now before we leave this and get into today’s message, there are two very important clarifications I need to make. First of all, I don’t want anyone to make the logical mistake that every woman you know who has had breast cancer has also had an abortion. There is a connection, but there is not a one-to-one correlation. For instance, do we know that there is a connection between driving while intoxicated and wrecking your car? Yes. There is irrefutable evidence that if you drive while intoxicated there is a higher incidence of accidents. But do we immediately assume that everyone who has a car wreck was intoxicated? Not at all. There is an connection, but there is not a one-to-one correlation. That is the way I want you to view this abortion breast cancer link.
The second clarification is that as terrible and brutal as abortion is, God’s mercy is infinitely larger and more capable for forgiveness and restoration. This is the thrust of Paul’s teaching in Rom. 5:20 when he says, “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.” Do you see the proportionate nature of God’s grace? God’s grace is always more than enough to meet the need. What that means is that there is no sin beyond God’s capacity for forgiveness. The Bible teaches that “if we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” This verse teaches that God’s forgiveness is tied to two of his attributes, his faithfulness and justice. The faithfulness makes sense to us, but we don’t often think about forgiveness and justice in the same thought, do we? What do we usually equate justice with? Punishment, right. But this verse equates justice with forgiveness. In other words, if we were to confess a sin, and God refused to forgive us, He would be an unjust God. Well, abortion is one of the sins that this verse covers. So if abortion is a part of you past, there is a message of forgiveness and hope and healing in Christ.
So with that introduction to the concept and importance of God’s principles, I want us to turn our attention now to a series of principles that affect the Christian citizen. Remember, the theme of this series is the role of the follower of Christ in the political process. If you want to know what your role is, you have to know first of all what is important in the big scheme of things. In other words, you have to know what principles are at stake in the political process.
If you want to know how to safely navigate the political process, you have to know first of all what is really important in the big scheme of things.
If you want to have a positive impact on the political process, you have to know first of all what is really important in the big scheme of things.
If you want to know which candidate is going to serve your interests the best, you have to know what he believes about the issues that are really important.
So what I want to do this morning and next Sunday as well is share with you a series of principles that have tremendous bearing on our country. The first one is found in Prov. 28:12, and I’m calling it the principle of righteous leadership.
I. The Principle of Righteous Leadership – Prov. 28:12, 29:2
“When the righteous (צַדִּיק - not “born again,” but just, or ethical in conduct and character) triumph, there is great elation; but when the wicked rise to power, men go into hiding.”
“When the righteous increase, the people rejoice; but when a wicked man rules, people groan.”
This is a principle that obviously has tremendous ramifications for our political situation, and when it is violated, the consequences are devastating. How many of you are familiar with the term “brain drain?” Brain drain is the term given to large-scale immigration of individuals who are academically, artistically, and technologically skilled. Brain drain is almost invariably the outworking of Prov. 28:12 – “when the wicked rise to power, men go into hiding.” Out of hundreds of possible illustrations, think for a moment about Ethiopia and some of the other African countries. Conservatively speaking, brain drain has cost the African continent over $4 billion a year! This is due to the flight of over 150,000 professionals, and the revenue they generate, annually. Ethiopia lost 75 per cent of its skilled workforce between 1980 and 1991. Guess why? Because of the rise of Communism under Mengistu. Hundreds of thousands of people were murdered without trial in the red terror, and all who could fled the country. This is why there are more Ethiopian doctors in Chicago today than there are in Ethiopia. “When the wicked rise to power, men go into hiding.”
What does this principle (the principle of righteous leadership) mean for you and me as Christian citizens? It means we have a vested interest in the character of our elected officials. From our town officials, to our county officials, to our state officials, to our national officials, character counts! If there is a person running for office who is a local businessman, we need to investigate how he runs his business because how he runs his business is going to be how he runs his agency. We need to investigate his fidelity to his spouse because his fidelity or infidelity will be replicated in his political office. If he won’t honor commitments made to his spouse, do you think he will suddenly start honoring commitments made to his constituency? Character and ethical conduct are huge! You cannot separate political skill from personal character.
This principle is why it is right for people to be adamantly opposed to people like JFK, and Bill Clinton, and Eliot Spitzer serving as elected officials. And by the way, I think there is a difference between a man who succumbs to temptation and falls, but then confesses, repents, makes restitution and gets on with his life; and the man who is chronically unfaithful and lies and deceives and diminishes his guilt. But character is inextricably bound to political skill.
Most people know Samuel Adams only as a beer label, but listen to this quote: “Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt [this is last week’s principle – “the way of the transgressor is hard”. If you have a nation full of corrupt people, their lives will be difficult no matter how many wise laws and constitutions are passed.] He therefore is the truest friend to the liberty of his country who tries most to promote its virtue, and who, so far as his power and influence extend, will not suffer a man to be chosen into any office of power and trust who is not a wise and virtuous man.” Let me repeat that so it sticks in our minds. “He therefore is the truest friend to the liberty of his country who tries most to promote its virtue, and who, so far as his power and influence extend, will not suffer a man to be chosen into any office of power and trust who is not a wise and virtuous man.”
This sentiment was tenaciously held to by our founding fathers. They understood the principle of righteous leadership. They knew, based on their understanding of European and world history, that “when the wicked rule, men groan and go into hiding.” This is why they were adamant that men of noble character served in public office. For instance, they deliberately kept the salary of elected official very low so that greedy men would not be attracted to office. Greed is a character issue and our founding fathers believed that character was important. This is why George Washington refused a salary when he was the president – even though his plantation had been basically destroyed in the war and had not been built back to full production. He also refused a salary while serving as Commander-In-Chief of the armed forces during the Revolutionary War. This was the attitude of our country’s early public servants which is why our nation thrived under their leadership. “When the righteous triumph, there is great rejoicing, but when the wicked come to power, men go into hiding.”
Before I give you a series of practical steps to take in relation to this principle, let’s look at one more passage in Proverbs. Turn back one chapter to chapter 28 and look with me at verses 15 and 16. “Like a roaring lion and a rushing bear is a wicked ruler over a poor people.[How many historical illustrations could we come up with that demonstrate this truth?] A leader who is a great oppressor lacks understanding [this is a message all elected officials need to hear], but he who hates unjust gain will prolong his days [cf. G. Washington not wanting to serve a second or third term].”
If you want to read a biblical example of how this works, read 2 Chron. 10:1-10 this afternoon. This is the account where King Rehoboam, upon ascending the throne of his father Solomon, rejected the advice of his elders and followed the advice of the young men he grew up with, and look at the consequences of his foolishness. He was a “great oppressor” [“my father disciplined you with whips, I will discipline you with scorpions”] which showed his “lack of understanding.” Rehoboam rejected sound principles because he was not a principled man, and he paid a high price for his foolishness.
What this means for you and me as citizens of the greatest nation this world has known, is that we have a huge privilege in being able to elect our leaders. We don’t live in a monarch like Israel did – we have a voice in who rules us. We don’t have a dictator who seized the Oval Office by armed revolution – we have a voice in who rules us. So let’s not forget this principle of righteous leadership.
Here are the three action steps we need to take if we are going to apply the principle we have studied this morning. Step #1 – get registered to vote if you aren’t already. How many of you heard the statistic Jason McGuire told us two weeks ago about church voting records? He said that in the last election, only 50% of the people in the church were registered to vote. That ain’t right! Or as my Southern friends say it, “dat’s just wroang.” Only half of all church members are registered to vote. It is a privilege to have a voice in the election of our officials, but if you aren’t registered, you have no say.
The second action step is to actually vote. Jason also told us that only half of the registered voters in the church actually voted! Again, that ain’t right! What that means is that out of all the possible voters in the church, only 25% of them actually made the effort to go out and vote in the last election. How can we have ethical, just rulers if only 25% of the church is voting? Again, it is a privilege to have a voice in the election of our officials, but if you aren’t actually going to the polls, you have no say.
The final step is to get to know the character of the candidates. Out of the three action steps, this one is the hardest. It isn’t hard work to get registered. It isn’t hard work to get out on election day, but it does take some effort to know the character of the candidates. The good news though is that there are lots of resources available that make the work easier. Voting records are online. You can just scan down the list of bills up for vote, see how they voted, and then draw conclusions about their character based on their voting record. There are organizations that are dedicated to voter education. And perhaps most importantly for us Christians, there are Christian Political Action Committees committed to educating Christian voters about where the various candidates stand. Next week I’ll try to have some links printed in the bulletin to show you where to go for information.
So, what is the role of the follower of Christ in the political process? His first role involves the principle of righteous leadership. “When the righteous triumph, there is great elation; but when the wicked rise to power, men go into hiding.” What are you doing as a follower of Christ to bring righteous leadership to our town, state, and country?
Sunday, August 29, 2010
The Benefits of Principled Living
This morning we are going to be in Deuteronomy 28 where we are going to consider the fundamental principle that will serve as the theme for our study of the role of the follower of Christ in the political process. I hope you were blessed last Sunday by the ministry of Jason McGuire. He is a follower of Christ who has a vision for being involved in the political process. You heard it directly from his mouth that he wants to influence legislators and legislation for the glory of God. That is a great motto and certainly worthy of our imitation. If there is anything a Christian should aspire to, it is being influential. Not in a proud way, but in the biblical way of exerting an influence on those around you.
The title I have given this message is, “The Benefit of Principled Living.” Living according to principles as opposed to feelings, or polls, or your peers opinions is a discipline that will serve you well all your life. For example, a good principle to live by is to never spit into the wind. You usually only have to do that once to learn that that is a bad idea. Another good principle to live by is to make sure when you are using a hand saw, your first stroke should always be a pull, never a push. Similar to this is the principle that you should always use tools according to their design. Screw drivers are not designed to have their handles hammered, so don’t use them as a chisel.
These are all small principles and as such they have small consequences when they are violated. Breaking the handle of your screwdriver because you are pounding on it with a hammer really isn’t that big of a deal. Cutting your finger because you are using your saw the wrong way doesn’t amount to much in the grand scheme of things. But, the larger the principle, the larger the consequences of violating it. For instance:
you can’t spend your way out of debt. That is a big principle of life! Another biggie is,
you can’t have a high standard of living and high employment rates at the same time.
You can’t hoard resources and generate wealth at the same time.
The moral character of a leader affects his decision making ability – and consequently the quality of life of the follower.
These are huge principles and if you violate them, the consequences are staggering. This is why it makes sense to live according to principles. When we live principled lives, we trade short term pain for long term gain, which is why most people don’t live according to principles. The principled choice is almost always the more difficult of the two choices, but I assure you that principled living has great benefits.
Now, before we get into the passage I want us to look at, let me give you three important truths about principles. 1) Principles are divine in origin. God created this universe to operate by principles. I want to make sure everybody understands that this universe, and the inhabitants of this planet (both human and animal – cf. Gen. 9:5), are subject to the principles and laws God established at creation. 2) A principle does not become a principle because it won a majority vote. That is not how principles come into being. A principle does not cease being a principle if you get enough signatures on a petition to rescind it. Principles emanate from God and are reflections of His character. And 3), your relationship to God or lack of relationship to God does not determine whether or not these principles are binding on you or not. Every person on this planet is subject to God’s laws, regardless of his relationship to God.
So with this introduction to principles, let’s look at this passage in Deuteronomy and see the benefit of principled living. The passage we are going to be considering today is found in Deut. 28. We will be reading verses 1 – 20.
"And if you faithfully obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.
2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the LORD your God.
3 Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field.
4 Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock.
5 Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
6 Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
7 "The LORD will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.
8 The LORD will command the blessing on you in your barns and in all that you undertake. And he will bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
9 The LORD will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in his ways.
10 And all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they shall be afraid of you.
11 And the LORD will make you abound in prosperity, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your livestock and in the fruit of your ground, within the land that the LORD swore to your fathers to give you.
12 The LORD will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands. And you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.
13 And the LORD will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them,
14 and if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
15 "But if you will not obey the voice of the LORD your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.
16 Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field.
17 Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
18 Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock.
19 Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.
20 "The LORD will send on you curses, confusion, and frustration in all that you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly on account of the evil of your deeds.
If I were to sum up these 20 verses, here is what God is saying. “If you will live according to the principles I have established to rule my universe, you will reap positive consequences. But if you defy my principles, you will pay a very heavy price for your foolishness.” Now I know that the immediate context of this passage is the nation of Israel and their obedience to the laws God gave to Moses. But when you think about it, the reason God’s moral law was binding on Israel is the same as the reason God’s universal laws are binding on all of creation. As the creator (and it doesn’t matter whether we are talking about the creation of Israel or the universe), it is His right to regulate His creation as He pleases. So make sure you remember the teaching of Deut. 28: “If you will live according to the principles I have established to rule my universe, you will reap positive consequences. But if you defy my principles, you will pay a very heavy price for your foolishness.”
Let me give you in the rest of our time this morning an illustration of this truth that God blesses obedience and punishes disobedience. Turn with me to Prov. 13:15 where we see a very general principle. Here we read that “Good understanding gives favor: but the way of transgressors is hard.” How many of you have learned that “the way of the transgressor is hard?” We usually discover this principle early on in life, don’t we? This same principle is expressed using different terms down in verse 21. “Adversity pursues sinners, but the righteous will be rewarded with prosperity.” Look next with me at the book of Job. I want us to go to chapter 4:8-9 and see Job’s friend’s testimony. “As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same. 9 By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of his anger they are consumed.” This matter of suffering some kind of adversity for violating an established guideline is a universal principle established by God. It did not become a principle by popular vote, and just because you don’t agree with it or believe it is binding on you doesn’t matter – the way of the transgressor is hard.
How many of you were aware that there has never been a civilization that has not been regulated by some code of justice. You can go to the most barbaric, uncivilized tribe in the world and find that they had a recognized set of guidelines (minimal as they may have been) that established boundaries for the tribe, or group, or nation. If you lived within those boundaries, it would go well with you. But if you go outside those boundaries, adversity will pursue you! Your way will be hard. And the reason we can find this phenomenon throughout human history is because the reward of good and the punishment of evil is one of God’s principles.
The Apostle Paul elaborates on this principle in Gal. 6:7-8. While you are turning there, I will tell you that the popular way of expressing this principle is to say, “What goes around comes around.” How many of you have ever heard that saying? Is it true? You better believe it is! Another popular way of expressing this principle is to say, “He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword.” Paul’s way of expressing it is found here in Galatians 6 when he says in verse 7, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap eternal life.”
I like the way Paul states this because he starts with a warning about dismissing the truth of what he is about to say. If you think you can sow something and then get away with not reaping the consequences, you are delusional. If you think that “what goes around comes around” applies to everyone else except you, you are “deceived.” Why? Because God’s nature as a just God is on the line here, and He will not be mocked. So Paul starts with a word of caution about trying to dismiss this principle. He then goes on to narrow this principle down and tells us that there is a specific connection between the sowing and reaping. Let me develop this for just a minute.
How many of you are aware of the connection between abortion and breast cancer? The first time I heard about this was at a seminar about 10 years ago when a doctor who did extensive research into it gave a lecture explaining how it worked. He said that the single best thing a woman could do to protect herself against breast cancer was to have a full term pregnancy. This was discovered back in the 17th century when doctors started taking note of the high rate of breast cancer among nuns. So the medical community has known for a long time that there is a connection between childbearing (or the lack of childbearing) and breast cancer.1 But it is especially harmful to a woman’s body if she terminates her pregnancy. Here’s why.
When a woman conceives, her body immediately starts flooding her breasts with the hormone estradiol to get them ready for lactation. At 8 weeks, the level of estradiol is 500 times the level it was at conception. This hormone, which is a form of estrogen, causes the proliferation of both normal and precancerous cells, which is why her breasts start to swell. Now, at 8 months, a second process takes place called “differentiation.” Differentiation is the process of shaping these cells into milk producing tissue and it shuts off the cell multiplication process. If the fetus is aborted before differentiation, the woman is left with all these pre-cancerous cells – more than she had before she got pregnant. This is why there is such a high incidence of breast cancer in women who have had abortions. And interestingly enough, research has shown that most miscarriages do not raise the breast cancer risk. This is because the woman’s body knows there is a problem with the fetus so her body stops the production of the progesterone which is needed to maintain the pregnancy, as well as the estradiol, which prepares her for lactation.
The reason I’m giving you this illustration is because it shows two things. First of all, it shows in a general way that if you violate God’s laws, there are consequences. You cannot snuff out a human life and expect to merrily make your way down life’s path without any consequences. What goes around, comes around. You live by the sword, and you will die by the sword. But more precisely than this general application is the truth of what Paul says in Gal. 6. Is it a stretch to say that if a woman chooses to take the life of her child, that God will take away the very organ that was going to be used to sustain that child’s life?
Is it a stretch to say that because of the egregious nature of a woman terminating the life in her womb (the womb should be the safest place in the universe, and the mother should be the most ferocious protector of that life) that in God’s justice the most visible manifestation of her femininity will be affected?
The bottom line here is that one of the principles that God has established to rule His universe is that our actions carry very specific consequences. God blesses obedience and God disciplines disobedience. This is why it makes a lot of sense to live within the confines that God has established. There are benefits to principled living. God said it explicitly in Deut. 28, and we see it illustrated bountifully in life.
By way of conclusion, you are probably asking yourself what in the world this has to do with the role of the follower of Christ in the political process, and I have to ask you to be patient and let me build my foundation. I assure you that what we talked about this morning is relevant to our topic, but I have to lay out several planks to build on before we get into the specifics. So starting next Sunday I am going to give you a quick overview of some of the biblical principles our nation was built on.
The title I have given this message is, “The Benefit of Principled Living.” Living according to principles as opposed to feelings, or polls, or your peers opinions is a discipline that will serve you well all your life. For example, a good principle to live by is to never spit into the wind. You usually only have to do that once to learn that that is a bad idea. Another good principle to live by is to make sure when you are using a hand saw, your first stroke should always be a pull, never a push. Similar to this is the principle that you should always use tools according to their design. Screw drivers are not designed to have their handles hammered, so don’t use them as a chisel.
These are all small principles and as such they have small consequences when they are violated. Breaking the handle of your screwdriver because you are pounding on it with a hammer really isn’t that big of a deal. Cutting your finger because you are using your saw the wrong way doesn’t amount to much in the grand scheme of things. But, the larger the principle, the larger the consequences of violating it. For instance:
you can’t spend your way out of debt. That is a big principle of life! Another biggie is,
you can’t have a high standard of living and high employment rates at the same time.
You can’t hoard resources and generate wealth at the same time.
The moral character of a leader affects his decision making ability – and consequently the quality of life of the follower.
These are huge principles and if you violate them, the consequences are staggering. This is why it makes sense to live according to principles. When we live principled lives, we trade short term pain for long term gain, which is why most people don’t live according to principles. The principled choice is almost always the more difficult of the two choices, but I assure you that principled living has great benefits.
Now, before we get into the passage I want us to look at, let me give you three important truths about principles. 1) Principles are divine in origin. God created this universe to operate by principles. I want to make sure everybody understands that this universe, and the inhabitants of this planet (both human and animal – cf. Gen. 9:5), are subject to the principles and laws God established at creation. 2) A principle does not become a principle because it won a majority vote. That is not how principles come into being. A principle does not cease being a principle if you get enough signatures on a petition to rescind it. Principles emanate from God and are reflections of His character. And 3), your relationship to God or lack of relationship to God does not determine whether or not these principles are binding on you or not. Every person on this planet is subject to God’s laws, regardless of his relationship to God.
So with this introduction to principles, let’s look at this passage in Deuteronomy and see the benefit of principled living. The passage we are going to be considering today is found in Deut. 28. We will be reading verses 1 – 20.
"And if you faithfully obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.
2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the LORD your God.
3 Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field.
4 Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock.
5 Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
6 Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
7 "The LORD will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.
8 The LORD will command the blessing on you in your barns and in all that you undertake. And he will bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
9 The LORD will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in his ways.
10 And all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they shall be afraid of you.
11 And the LORD will make you abound in prosperity, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your livestock and in the fruit of your ground, within the land that the LORD swore to your fathers to give you.
12 The LORD will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands. And you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.
13 And the LORD will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them,
14 and if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
15 "But if you will not obey the voice of the LORD your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.
16 Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field.
17 Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
18 Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock.
19 Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.
20 "The LORD will send on you curses, confusion, and frustration in all that you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly on account of the evil of your deeds.
If I were to sum up these 20 verses, here is what God is saying. “If you will live according to the principles I have established to rule my universe, you will reap positive consequences. But if you defy my principles, you will pay a very heavy price for your foolishness.” Now I know that the immediate context of this passage is the nation of Israel and their obedience to the laws God gave to Moses. But when you think about it, the reason God’s moral law was binding on Israel is the same as the reason God’s universal laws are binding on all of creation. As the creator (and it doesn’t matter whether we are talking about the creation of Israel or the universe), it is His right to regulate His creation as He pleases. So make sure you remember the teaching of Deut. 28: “If you will live according to the principles I have established to rule my universe, you will reap positive consequences. But if you defy my principles, you will pay a very heavy price for your foolishness.”
Let me give you in the rest of our time this morning an illustration of this truth that God blesses obedience and punishes disobedience. Turn with me to Prov. 13:15 where we see a very general principle. Here we read that “Good understanding gives favor: but the way of transgressors is hard.” How many of you have learned that “the way of the transgressor is hard?” We usually discover this principle early on in life, don’t we? This same principle is expressed using different terms down in verse 21. “Adversity pursues sinners, but the righteous will be rewarded with prosperity.” Look next with me at the book of Job. I want us to go to chapter 4:8-9 and see Job’s friend’s testimony. “As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same. 9 By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of his anger they are consumed.” This matter of suffering some kind of adversity for violating an established guideline is a universal principle established by God. It did not become a principle by popular vote, and just because you don’t agree with it or believe it is binding on you doesn’t matter – the way of the transgressor is hard.
How many of you were aware that there has never been a civilization that has not been regulated by some code of justice. You can go to the most barbaric, uncivilized tribe in the world and find that they had a recognized set of guidelines (minimal as they may have been) that established boundaries for the tribe, or group, or nation. If you lived within those boundaries, it would go well with you. But if you go outside those boundaries, adversity will pursue you! Your way will be hard. And the reason we can find this phenomenon throughout human history is because the reward of good and the punishment of evil is one of God’s principles.
The Apostle Paul elaborates on this principle in Gal. 6:7-8. While you are turning there, I will tell you that the popular way of expressing this principle is to say, “What goes around comes around.” How many of you have ever heard that saying? Is it true? You better believe it is! Another popular way of expressing this principle is to say, “He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword.” Paul’s way of expressing it is found here in Galatians 6 when he says in verse 7, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap eternal life.”
I like the way Paul states this because he starts with a warning about dismissing the truth of what he is about to say. If you think you can sow something and then get away with not reaping the consequences, you are delusional. If you think that “what goes around comes around” applies to everyone else except you, you are “deceived.” Why? Because God’s nature as a just God is on the line here, and He will not be mocked. So Paul starts with a word of caution about trying to dismiss this principle. He then goes on to narrow this principle down and tells us that there is a specific connection between the sowing and reaping. Let me develop this for just a minute.
How many of you are aware of the connection between abortion and breast cancer? The first time I heard about this was at a seminar about 10 years ago when a doctor who did extensive research into it gave a lecture explaining how it worked. He said that the single best thing a woman could do to protect herself against breast cancer was to have a full term pregnancy. This was discovered back in the 17th century when doctors started taking note of the high rate of breast cancer among nuns. So the medical community has known for a long time that there is a connection between childbearing (or the lack of childbearing) and breast cancer.1 But it is especially harmful to a woman’s body if she terminates her pregnancy. Here’s why.
When a woman conceives, her body immediately starts flooding her breasts with the hormone estradiol to get them ready for lactation. At 8 weeks, the level of estradiol is 500 times the level it was at conception. This hormone, which is a form of estrogen, causes the proliferation of both normal and precancerous cells, which is why her breasts start to swell. Now, at 8 months, a second process takes place called “differentiation.” Differentiation is the process of shaping these cells into milk producing tissue and it shuts off the cell multiplication process. If the fetus is aborted before differentiation, the woman is left with all these pre-cancerous cells – more than she had before she got pregnant. This is why there is such a high incidence of breast cancer in women who have had abortions. And interestingly enough, research has shown that most miscarriages do not raise the breast cancer risk. This is because the woman’s body knows there is a problem with the fetus so her body stops the production of the progesterone which is needed to maintain the pregnancy, as well as the estradiol, which prepares her for lactation.
The reason I’m giving you this illustration is because it shows two things. First of all, it shows in a general way that if you violate God’s laws, there are consequences. You cannot snuff out a human life and expect to merrily make your way down life’s path without any consequences. What goes around, comes around. You live by the sword, and you will die by the sword. But more precisely than this general application is the truth of what Paul says in Gal. 6. Is it a stretch to say that if a woman chooses to take the life of her child, that God will take away the very organ that was going to be used to sustain that child’s life?
Is it a stretch to say that because of the egregious nature of a woman terminating the life in her womb (the womb should be the safest place in the universe, and the mother should be the most ferocious protector of that life) that in God’s justice the most visible manifestation of her femininity will be affected?
The bottom line here is that one of the principles that God has established to rule His universe is that our actions carry very specific consequences. God blesses obedience and God disciplines disobedience. This is why it makes a lot of sense to live within the confines that God has established. There are benefits to principled living. God said it explicitly in Deut. 28, and we see it illustrated bountifully in life.
By way of conclusion, you are probably asking yourself what in the world this has to do with the role of the follower of Christ in the political process, and I have to ask you to be patient and let me build my foundation. I assure you that what we talked about this morning is relevant to our topic, but I have to lay out several planks to build on before we get into the specifics. So starting next Sunday I am going to give you a quick overview of some of the biblical principles our nation was built on.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
How Do I Deal With Idols of the Heart - Part Three
Let’s turn in our Bibles this morning to 1 Tim. 2. This morning we are going to finish up our study of the idols of the heart. Idolatry is something that God takes very seriously, and just because we don’t burn incense to little gold and silver statues in our homes doesn’t mean we don’t struggle when it comes to idols. Here in the Western world, and in particular, in Western Evangelicalism, we have a tendency to worship concepts, not objects. Concepts like control, respect, appreciation, comfort, and success.
One thing I think we have learned in this study is that our God is a jealous God and will not tolerate any competition. Because of His exclusivity He deals strongly with competitors. Two weeks ago we looked again at Ez. 14 and saw that God has a single objective on His mind when His children have divided loyalties – and that is the destruction of the idol, the destruction of His competition.
The final dimension of our study of idols is “How to deal with idols of the heart.” We know what they look like, we know how detrimental they are, we know how to identify them in our lives, so it behooves us to get rid of them. And so far we have looked at three principles for dealing with idols. First of all, we have to choose whom we will serve – we can’t serve two masters. Secondly, we have to resolve to love God with all our hearts – we can’t give Him most of our affection, He wants it all. Third, we have to appropriate the power of the Holy Spirit – He was sent to be our Helper because God knows idolatry is a powerful attraction and we can’t defeat it on our own power.
This brings us up to where we are today, so let’s look at the final two principles we need to practice if we want to conclusively destroy the idols we have erected in our lives. I want us to start by looking at this passage in 1 Timothy 2:3-4. I’m calling this principle, “Carry a warrior mentality.”
4. Carry A Warrior Mentality – 1 Tim. 2:3-4
Several years ago Steve Farrar wrote a very good book for men and fathers called “Point Man.” In it he compared the job of a father to the job of the point man on a military patrol. He explained how in the Vietnam war when small groups of soldiers would be in enemy territory, there was this point man would walk some distance ahead of the rest of the patrol and serve as the lookout. It was a critically important position since the point man was responsible for the safety of the entire group, and it was a very dangerous position because he was exposed as well as isolated from the safety of the group. When you are the point man for the day, every nerve in your body is on high alert. You know that any stick on the path could be the trigger for a booby trap. Any indention on the side of the trail could be concealing a land mine. Any movement in the bushes could be an enemy soldier ready to take your life. And because of the unrelenting tension and danger, you didn’t dare mosey your way down the path and through the jungle.
That is the imagery I am appealing to when I say that one of the principles for tearing down idols is to carry a warrior mentality. The apostle Paul thought along the same lines, according to 2 Tim. 2:3-4. Here he says, “Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.” In his letters to Philemon and the church in Philippi, he refers to two of his co-workers as “fellow soldiers.” Why all this military terminology? Because Paul appreciated the danger associated with being in enemy territory. When you are the point man, you are not wondering if the Yankees are winning or not. You aren’t planning what you are going to have for dinner that night. You aren’t worrying about the lack of rain and how low the water table is. You’re not thinking about how the dollar is doing against the yen, in other words, you “aren’t entangled with the affairs of everyday life.” You have a single focus, and that is the danger of your situation and the survival of yourself and your men.
Something to remember about dealing with idols is that you can never let your guard down. Every morning when we wake up, our feet need to hit the floor with the realization that we are at war with an enemy who is committed to our destruction. And to feed into our imagery of idolatry, there really is an idol behind every bush. In addition to that, just because you had victory yesterday doesn’t mean you will have victory today. Just because we had victory every day last week doesn’t mean we will have victory today.
I was talking with a man one time, and in the course of the conversation he told me he was an alcoholic. I didn’t think much of it until he told me later in the conversation that he hadn’t had a drink of alcohol in ten years! How does that work? I’ve had former addicts tell me the same thing – “I’m an addict, but I haven’t used in years.” What’s going on? These people understand the nature of an idol. They know they can never let their guard down. They know they can relapse in an instant, so they carry a warrior mentality.
We have to live this way as well. Several months ago I shared with you the basic principle that idols are insidious. They disguise themselves as legitimate desires, and if we don’t view life from the perspective of a warrior mentality, we will fall.
Transition: The final principle I’d like to share with you about dealing with idols is found in 2 Pt. 1:4 – 10, and that is to strengthen critical spiritual disciplines.
5. Strengthen Critical Spiritual Disciplines – 2 Pt. 1:4-10
[For by these] he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.
Let’s talk for a moment about strengthening critical spiritual disciplines. Last week as we were talking about appropriating the power of the Holy Spirit, I emphasized the fact that we are incapable of dealing conclusively with idols all by ourselves. We need supernatural help. A misapplication of that truth would be the idea that we carry no responsibility in this matter and that we can simply sit back and let the Holy Spirit do all the work. That is an imbalanced view. The principle that balances appropriating the Holy Spirit is this one found in 2 Peter 1:2-4 that tells us we have a role in the matter as well.
What we all have in common is our faith, but then we have to “apply all diligence” (v.5) to add various disciplines to our faith: virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, etc. These disciplines need to be “increasing,” according to verse 8. “Increasing” is the opposite of “stagnating.” In other words, they need to be getting larger. And in verse 10 we see that we have to “practice” these disciplines.
Do world class athletes and musicians practice every day, or do they have their skills perfected and no longer need to practice? Obviously, even the most skilled athletes and musicians practice every day. Yehudi Menuhin is considered by many to be the greatest violinist of the 20th century, and he regularly practiced 8 hours a day. Why? Because he understood the principle that practice is important. World class musicians know that while they may have intrinsic abilities that separate them from the rest of the masses, it would be presumptuous to assume they could sit back and coast for the rest of their lives.
My point is that even though we have the Holy Spirit residing in us as our Helper, it is presumptuous for us to assume we can sit back and let Him do all the work in destroying the idols in our life. In fact, there are three disciplines that figure prominently in idol destruction. Let me give them to you quickly. The first is found in Mt. 17.
A. Prayer and Fasting – Mt. 17:21
14 And when they came to the multitude, a man came up to Him, falling on his knees before Him, and saying, 15 "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic, and is very ill; for he often falls into the fire, and often into the water. 16 "And I brought him to Your disciples, and they could not cure him." 17 And Jesus answered and said, "O unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to Me." 18 And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured at once. 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast it out?" 20 And He said to them, "Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it shall move; and nothing shall be impossible to you. 21 "But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting."
Prayer and fasting is a discipline we don’t talk a lot about, which is unfortunate in light of it’s power. The point Jesus was making to His disciples is that there are some things in life that are so overwhelming that there is only one solution, and that is to pray and fast about the issue. If you are struggling with an idol that you just can’t seem to tear down, I strongly suggest you start here. Set aside a day to fast and pray for victory.
The second critical spiritual disciple I want to share with you is found in
Matt. 18:7-9, and I’m calling it radical amputation.
B. Radical Amputation – Mt. 18:8-9
8 "And if your hand or your foot causes you to stumble [sin], cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into the eternal fire. 9 "And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out, and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than having two eyes, to be cast into the fiery hell.
Radical amputation is the idea that we need to be willing to take radical steps to get rid of the idols in our lives. An outstanding example of what this looks like is in the movie Fireproof. Do you remember the struggle the fire chief was having with his computer? How did he deal with it? He didn’t purchase filtering software. He didn’t set up an accountability partner. He took it outside and smashed it with a baseball bat. That is radical amputation! I have a pastor friend in Albany who has men struggling this way bring him their computer. They have to turn it in to him for two months. Some of the guys balk and insist they can’t live without it, and he simply says, “How serious are you about dealing with the problem? If you are ready to do business and break the hold this has on you, you’ll bring me the computer. Otherwise, you’re just playing around.” That is radical amputation, and sometimes that is the missing element in dealing with our idols.
The final critical spiritual discipline I want to share with you comes from James 5:16. I’m calling it confession and accountability.
C. Confession and Accountability – James 5:16
16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.
Confession and accountability is another one of those disciplines that isn’t practiced too often. The dynamic involved in this discipline is similar to the dynamic involved in appropriating the power of the HS. Do you remember when I showed you how the presence of another person had a powerful effect on our behavior? It is easy to be “good” when we are around other people, but when we are alone, it’s a battle to be “good,” isn’t it? This is the same concept behind confession and accountability.
It isn’t hard for me to confess a sin to God. Why? Because it is something I do in private, and I can’t see Him. It is a whole different dynamic if I have to confess my sin to another human. Earlier this year we tried to get a men’s accountability program going here at church, and the idea was that we would meet on a monthly basis, share our struggles with each other, hold each other accountable, and pray for one another. Guess how well that idea went over? It was a flop! Guess why? Because it is easy to confess sins to God. We can do that in private. It’s a whole different story though to confess sins to another person.
But what does James say? He says, “confess your sins to one another [not for forgiveness, only “God can forgive sins”], and pray for one another, that you may be healed.”
So there you have the five principles for dealing with idols of the heart. Can you remember them all? Here’s another acronym to help you: C-R-A-C-S. Choose Whom you will serve. Resolve to love God with all your heart. Appropriate the power of the HS. Carry a warrior mentality, and Strengthen critical spiritual disciplines.
One thing I think we have learned in this study is that our God is a jealous God and will not tolerate any competition. Because of His exclusivity He deals strongly with competitors. Two weeks ago we looked again at Ez. 14 and saw that God has a single objective on His mind when His children have divided loyalties – and that is the destruction of the idol, the destruction of His competition.
The final dimension of our study of idols is “How to deal with idols of the heart.” We know what they look like, we know how detrimental they are, we know how to identify them in our lives, so it behooves us to get rid of them. And so far we have looked at three principles for dealing with idols. First of all, we have to choose whom we will serve – we can’t serve two masters. Secondly, we have to resolve to love God with all our hearts – we can’t give Him most of our affection, He wants it all. Third, we have to appropriate the power of the Holy Spirit – He was sent to be our Helper because God knows idolatry is a powerful attraction and we can’t defeat it on our own power.
This brings us up to where we are today, so let’s look at the final two principles we need to practice if we want to conclusively destroy the idols we have erected in our lives. I want us to start by looking at this passage in 1 Timothy 2:3-4. I’m calling this principle, “Carry a warrior mentality.”
4. Carry A Warrior Mentality – 1 Tim. 2:3-4
Several years ago Steve Farrar wrote a very good book for men and fathers called “Point Man.” In it he compared the job of a father to the job of the point man on a military patrol. He explained how in the Vietnam war when small groups of soldiers would be in enemy territory, there was this point man would walk some distance ahead of the rest of the patrol and serve as the lookout. It was a critically important position since the point man was responsible for the safety of the entire group, and it was a very dangerous position because he was exposed as well as isolated from the safety of the group. When you are the point man for the day, every nerve in your body is on high alert. You know that any stick on the path could be the trigger for a booby trap. Any indention on the side of the trail could be concealing a land mine. Any movement in the bushes could be an enemy soldier ready to take your life. And because of the unrelenting tension and danger, you didn’t dare mosey your way down the path and through the jungle.
That is the imagery I am appealing to when I say that one of the principles for tearing down idols is to carry a warrior mentality. The apostle Paul thought along the same lines, according to 2 Tim. 2:3-4. Here he says, “Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.” In his letters to Philemon and the church in Philippi, he refers to two of his co-workers as “fellow soldiers.” Why all this military terminology? Because Paul appreciated the danger associated with being in enemy territory. When you are the point man, you are not wondering if the Yankees are winning or not. You aren’t planning what you are going to have for dinner that night. You aren’t worrying about the lack of rain and how low the water table is. You’re not thinking about how the dollar is doing against the yen, in other words, you “aren’t entangled with the affairs of everyday life.” You have a single focus, and that is the danger of your situation and the survival of yourself and your men.
Something to remember about dealing with idols is that you can never let your guard down. Every morning when we wake up, our feet need to hit the floor with the realization that we are at war with an enemy who is committed to our destruction. And to feed into our imagery of idolatry, there really is an idol behind every bush. In addition to that, just because you had victory yesterday doesn’t mean you will have victory today. Just because we had victory every day last week doesn’t mean we will have victory today.
I was talking with a man one time, and in the course of the conversation he told me he was an alcoholic. I didn’t think much of it until he told me later in the conversation that he hadn’t had a drink of alcohol in ten years! How does that work? I’ve had former addicts tell me the same thing – “I’m an addict, but I haven’t used in years.” What’s going on? These people understand the nature of an idol. They know they can never let their guard down. They know they can relapse in an instant, so they carry a warrior mentality.
We have to live this way as well. Several months ago I shared with you the basic principle that idols are insidious. They disguise themselves as legitimate desires, and if we don’t view life from the perspective of a warrior mentality, we will fall.
Transition: The final principle I’d like to share with you about dealing with idols is found in 2 Pt. 1:4 – 10, and that is to strengthen critical spiritual disciplines.
5. Strengthen Critical Spiritual Disciplines – 2 Pt. 1:4-10
[For by these] he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.
Let’s talk for a moment about strengthening critical spiritual disciplines. Last week as we were talking about appropriating the power of the Holy Spirit, I emphasized the fact that we are incapable of dealing conclusively with idols all by ourselves. We need supernatural help. A misapplication of that truth would be the idea that we carry no responsibility in this matter and that we can simply sit back and let the Holy Spirit do all the work. That is an imbalanced view. The principle that balances appropriating the Holy Spirit is this one found in 2 Peter 1:2-4 that tells us we have a role in the matter as well.
What we all have in common is our faith, but then we have to “apply all diligence” (v.5) to add various disciplines to our faith: virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, etc. These disciplines need to be “increasing,” according to verse 8. “Increasing” is the opposite of “stagnating.” In other words, they need to be getting larger. And in verse 10 we see that we have to “practice” these disciplines.
Do world class athletes and musicians practice every day, or do they have their skills perfected and no longer need to practice? Obviously, even the most skilled athletes and musicians practice every day. Yehudi Menuhin is considered by many to be the greatest violinist of the 20th century, and he regularly practiced 8 hours a day. Why? Because he understood the principle that practice is important. World class musicians know that while they may have intrinsic abilities that separate them from the rest of the masses, it would be presumptuous to assume they could sit back and coast for the rest of their lives.
My point is that even though we have the Holy Spirit residing in us as our Helper, it is presumptuous for us to assume we can sit back and let Him do all the work in destroying the idols in our life. In fact, there are three disciplines that figure prominently in idol destruction. Let me give them to you quickly. The first is found in Mt. 17.
A. Prayer and Fasting – Mt. 17:21
14 And when they came to the multitude, a man came up to Him, falling on his knees before Him, and saying, 15 "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic, and is very ill; for he often falls into the fire, and often into the water. 16 "And I brought him to Your disciples, and they could not cure him." 17 And Jesus answered and said, "O unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to Me." 18 And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured at once. 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast it out?" 20 And He said to them, "Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it shall move; and nothing shall be impossible to you. 21 "But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting."
Prayer and fasting is a discipline we don’t talk a lot about, which is unfortunate in light of it’s power. The point Jesus was making to His disciples is that there are some things in life that are so overwhelming that there is only one solution, and that is to pray and fast about the issue. If you are struggling with an idol that you just can’t seem to tear down, I strongly suggest you start here. Set aside a day to fast and pray for victory.
The second critical spiritual disciple I want to share with you is found in
Matt. 18:7-9, and I’m calling it radical amputation.
B. Radical Amputation – Mt. 18:8-9
8 "And if your hand or your foot causes you to stumble [sin], cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into the eternal fire. 9 "And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out, and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than having two eyes, to be cast into the fiery hell.
Radical amputation is the idea that we need to be willing to take radical steps to get rid of the idols in our lives. An outstanding example of what this looks like is in the movie Fireproof. Do you remember the struggle the fire chief was having with his computer? How did he deal with it? He didn’t purchase filtering software. He didn’t set up an accountability partner. He took it outside and smashed it with a baseball bat. That is radical amputation! I have a pastor friend in Albany who has men struggling this way bring him their computer. They have to turn it in to him for two months. Some of the guys balk and insist they can’t live without it, and he simply says, “How serious are you about dealing with the problem? If you are ready to do business and break the hold this has on you, you’ll bring me the computer. Otherwise, you’re just playing around.” That is radical amputation, and sometimes that is the missing element in dealing with our idols.
The final critical spiritual discipline I want to share with you comes from James 5:16. I’m calling it confession and accountability.
C. Confession and Accountability – James 5:16
16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.
Confession and accountability is another one of those disciplines that isn’t practiced too often. The dynamic involved in this discipline is similar to the dynamic involved in appropriating the power of the HS. Do you remember when I showed you how the presence of another person had a powerful effect on our behavior? It is easy to be “good” when we are around other people, but when we are alone, it’s a battle to be “good,” isn’t it? This is the same concept behind confession and accountability.
It isn’t hard for me to confess a sin to God. Why? Because it is something I do in private, and I can’t see Him. It is a whole different dynamic if I have to confess my sin to another human. Earlier this year we tried to get a men’s accountability program going here at church, and the idea was that we would meet on a monthly basis, share our struggles with each other, hold each other accountable, and pray for one another. Guess how well that idea went over? It was a flop! Guess why? Because it is easy to confess sins to God. We can do that in private. It’s a whole different story though to confess sins to another person.
But what does James say? He says, “confess your sins to one another [not for forgiveness, only “God can forgive sins”], and pray for one another, that you may be healed.”
So there you have the five principles for dealing with idols of the heart. Can you remember them all? Here’s another acronym to help you: C-R-A-C-S. Choose Whom you will serve. Resolve to love God with all your heart. Appropriate the power of the HS. Carry a warrior mentality, and Strengthen critical spiritual disciplines.
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