the basic message #E219
12/5/03
I like to listen to Christian radio programs, and I generally listen to Joe Stowell on the way to work every morning. For those of you who don't know the name, Stowell is the president of the Moody Bible College. After listening to Joe for 5 years or so, I've heard him admit to some of his personal failings many times. One particular story comes to mind, since I've been guilty of the same thing- uncourteous driving. Stowell relates an incident in which he and his wife are motoring down a jam-packed highway, having been bumper-to-bumper for miles. He explained there was a guy trying to cut ahead of him, and Stowell decided that he wouldn't give the guy any opportunity to cut in (sound familiar?). The plan was working fine until Stowell's attention was diverted for just a second, and in that second the guy zoomed back in front of Stowell. That could have been the end of the story, but old Joe would have none of that- he changed lanes and kept inching up until, you guessed it, he zoomed right back in front of the other guy.
So what does any of this have to do with our Christian walk? I think Joe Stowell, along with hundreds of other pastors, would like us to understand that it isn't just the congregation that deals with personal sin- even they (the pastors) have the same problem. For many years I appreciated candid stories like the one above, but now I'm beginning to wonder if they help or hurt the rest of us. How so? I think it could very well be that when the congregation hears the pastor telling off on himself we might walk away feeling better about our personal sin and failings since "the pastor does it". Perhaps we then think it's okay that we commit certain sins since even a preacher does the same thing.
A few years ago I had a pastor admit during a sermon that he goes to high school football games and often gets emotional when certain calls are made that he disagrees with. Someone from church had been sitting near him and heard him get abusive towards a game official, and he sheepishly admitted that yes, he did tend to get carried away during games. After his sermon, I was talking to him about his "problem" at the games, and he basically said that he just couldn't control himself. I suggested that if that was the case, then he should stop going to games until he could control himself. After all, he not only represented himself, he represented our church as well. He had a stunned look on his face, and grudging agreed that my solution was sound. Did he quit going to the games? I doubt it. Did he quit yelling at officials? Again, I doubt it. The message he sent to me was simple: He voluntarily sinned and had no real desire to stop. What an example. Those of us over 45 years-old might remember the old Flip Wilson TV show. Flip would dress up like a woman named Josephine and whenever she did something bad, she would always say, "The devil made me do it." Perhaps the modern Christian church has reduced our responsibility for our sins to simply saying, "The devil made me do it." Make no mistake, friend, the devil can't make you or I do anything. He can certainly entice us into sinful behavior, but the choice is always ours. You don't agree? Let's try something as an example: Remember Pastor Joe Stowell's traffic problem in the beginning of this message? Let's say that the same incident happened, but this time let's change the story up slightly. Same road, same Joe, same driver swerving in front of him. Joe is still mad, still out to get his turf back, okay? Now, when Joe goes to get back in front of the guy, he gets a good look at the driver, and guess what? The guy goes to Joe's church and is a major financial contributor. Now that Joe knows who the guy is, does he still jump back in front of him? Of course not. So what's the difference in the two versions of the story? Joe simply had discipline in the second version that was lacking in the first. So what does that tell you about Joe? It tells me that if he can overlook the sins of someone he knows, he could also overlook the sins of someone he doesn't know.
This really sums up the bulk of the problem with modern Christians- they maintain they can't help themselves, when in reality they frequently overcome bad situations when they have no good choices available. So I ask you, should a Christian expect forgiveness for sins that they can keep from committing? It seems to me that every time we refuse to harness our sin, we shouldn't ask Jesus to die for that sin. It's a travesty that Jesus Christ was willing to die for us, yet we're not willing to do our best to conduct our lives in imitation of him. You can slice it and dice it all you want, but I can't find anything in the Bible that tells me Grace covers blatant disregard of God's plan for each of us. As always, if you can provide those scriptural references, email them to me and I'll post them on the website. basicchristian@aol.com