Do Not Judge

Do Not Judge

Matthew 7:1-6

            There is an episode of The Simpsons where Maude Flanders, the now deceased wife of Ned Flanders, yells out of a bus window, “Hi, Marge! I’m going to church camp to learn how to be more judgmental.” What do you think about that? The entire Flanders family is a hyperbole of what the writers would consider to be an extreme Christian. The joke was designed to make fun of Christians, but it also pointed to a belief that Christians are judgmental. I don’t believe I’m judgmental. Do you believe that you are judgmental? This is a very hard trait to identify in yourself. It is like a sense of humor. Everyone believes they have a sense of humor—even people who clearly do not. Most people, even the most judgmental, don’t believe that they are.

            Christians are criticized for being judgmental because we have the audacity to tell other people that they are not good enough to go to heaven. That by its very nature is judging another person’s actions and thoughts. It also is an open door for the other person to look at you and say “Who do you think you are telling me I’m not good enough? I saw what you did the other night.” And then you better have a good response. Are you going to A) Try to live a perfect life and go crazy in the process; B) Pretend to live a perfect life when you are in public and be a hypocrite; or C) Admit that you aren’t perfect and that is precisely why you need Jesus?

            Think about it. Christianity is the only religion where its followers can’t go to heaven by their own efforts. In fact, their efforts get in the way because it clouds their view of the truth. Let’s create some examples: the captain of the cheerleading squad has been raised in the church her whole life, reads her Bible, sings in the choir, and volunteers at the Pregnancy Resource Center. She doesn’t have a personal relationship with God through His Son, Jesus Christ. Will she go to heaven when she dies? No. Is she a good person who does good things? Of course. Isaiah 64:5-7 says, “We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind.” Do you know what “filthy rags” means? It’s one of the most descriptive things in the entire Bible. It literally means used Tampons. Let’s look at another example: A man who has never darkened a church door, has been in and out of prison since he was a teenager, and knows he has made mistake after mistake in his life. He doesn’t own a Bible, volunteer anywhere, and is fact on his way back for another stint in prison, this time for a long time. Will he go to heaven when he dies? No. Is he a good person? Not really, but this person, if presented with the gospel, will have no trouble believing he can’t make it on his own merit.

            In both cases we could come off looking judgmental. Like we are fault finders and sin sniffers just looking for ways to show that we—looking good, smelling good, church going Christians—are better than them. But that’s not what we’re about. At least that’s not what we’re supposed to be about. Are there judgmental Christians? Sure, but there are also judgmental atheist, and Buddhists, and Muslims, and Seiks. In fact, if someone calls you judgmental, they have themselves made a judgment on you. Weird, huh? So what does the Bible say about judging others and how are we supposed to apply that in our lives?

            Our passage this week in our continuing series on the Sermon on the Mount comes from Matthew 7:1-6, “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. ² For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged. ³ And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? ⁴ How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? ⁵ Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye. ⁶ Don’t waste what is holy on people who are unholy. Don’t throw your pearls to pigs! They will trample the pearls, then turn and attack you.”

            The first four words in the NLT says, “Do not judge others.” When you see a sign that says, “Do Not Enter” what does it mean? How about, “No Eating and Drinking”? How about “No Smoking”? All of these are pretty clear, but in this passage it says “Do not judge others,” but it then goes on to give us two instances of how we should judge others (the recognition of a speck in our friend’s eye; and the difference between holy and unholy people). So was Jesus wrong? Did He misspeak? Or is there something else that we may have to learn?

            The deeper issue involved in judging others, except in the profession of being a judge, is pride. Where judging others becomes a sin it is because we look down on other people and their issues in an attempt to build ourselves up. “Look at that person smoking. They’re killing themselves. What an awful habit. I would never do that.” We also tend to judge others by their actions and then judge ourselves by our intentions. “Susie didn’t read her Bible today. I wonder if she is really saved. She should be reading her Bible everyday.” But when you don’t read your Bible, “You know I’ve had a really long day today and my eyes are kind of blurry. I’ll just read some in the morning.”

Pastor Ray Pritchard suggested that we often hypocritically rename our sins in order to build ourselves up. When you don’t tell the truth, you are a liar. When I don’t tell the truth, I’m just stretching the truth. When you break the rules you are a cheater. When I break the rules, I’m just bending them a little. Here are some others:

You lose your temper; I have righteous anger.
You're a jerk; I'm having a bad day.
You have a critical spirit; I bluntly tell the truth.
You gossip; I share prayer requests.
You curse and swear; I let off steam.
You're pushy; I'm intensely goal-oriented.
You're greedy; I'm simply taking care of business.
You're a hypochondriac; but I'm really sick.
You stink; I merely have an "earthy aroma"

        In this passage Jesus is not condemning all forms of judgment, only that which is done in a mean-spirited, overly critical, and prideful manner. In fact, Matthew 7:24 says, "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment." He wants us to judge because that is how we make righteous decisions. If I said, “Hey everybody, let’s load up in the church van and Hannah is going to drive us to Sonic for ice cream!” How many of you would get in the van? Probably not many of you and certainly all of you should not get in the van. Why? Because we have judged her not capable of getting us there safely. It is not because we don’t like her. It’s because she’s in the 6^th grade and her feet wouldn’t touch the pedals. And then you should judge me for my decision making ability in choosing her to drive.

This was not meant to be a complete study of judging in the Bible. We could talk for many weeks specifically on judging, or on how we are to deal with the plank in our own eye before dealing with the speck in our neighbor’s. Or even what exactly it means to cast your pearls before swine. But I do want to mention one more topic, and that is being a fruit inspector. Jesus said in Matthew 7:20, “Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.” We will dive deeper into this topic in a few weeks, but for now it will be enough to say that Jesus wants us to inspect the fruit of anyone who may be trying to teach or influence you. But Jesus also warned us that the manner in which we judge others that will be the manner that we will be judged.

            So how do we apply this? Look at Pastor Brian. Look at me. Look at your Sunday school teachers. Are there signs in their lives that they believe what they are teaching? Is there evidence that what they are teaching as truth is actually false? Do they teach one thing and do another? Pastor Brian believes it is important to witness to people on a regular basis? Has he done this? I believe it is important to read and study your Bibles? Has my Bible been read and are there notes and highlighted sections in it? Osama Bin Laden claimed to be leading a holy war on infidels, or those who were unfaithful to Allah. But when he was found he used one of his twenty some wives as a human shield. And do you know what they found in his compound? Loads of pornography. Not exactly what you would expect from such a holy man, leading a holy war. Where’s the fruit? If they are good trees they will produce good fruit. If they are bad trees they will be like the fig tree in Mark 11. It was not producing fruit so Jesus cursed it. The next day it was all shriveled up.

            Now conversely. Where’s your fruit? If you are going out to tell your friends about Jesus, you better believe they are checking you out for fruit and you better have some.

A review of "Life, In Spite of Me"

http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/bloggingforbooks/reviews/ranking/10006 
 "Life, In Spite of Me" is one of the rare books that made me really glad I had read the book. Authored by Kristen Jane Anderson with Tricia Goyer, the book was a page turner from the beginning to end. If I had found a large enough chunk of time, I could have read the book cover to cover easily.
   The book chronicles the true story of a three to four year period of Kristen's life where everything was falling apart. She had lost two friends from school to automobile accidents, one friend to suicide, a grandparent to illness, and was raped by someone she thought she could trust, all within a two year period. Battling undiagnosed depression, Kristen's school grades, and home life slid further and further downhill. It was at this time that she decided to commit suicide. Living through the ordeal, Kristen learned to trust the God she knew of but never knew personally, and began to accept His will for her life.
   The book comes complete with thoughts at the end of a few of the chapters that Kristen wished someone had told her when she was going through her struggles. There is also a resource section for those struggling with depression, as well as warning signs for a potential suicide. The book would be an easy read for upper middle school and high schoolers, but the best part of the book is that the Good News of Jesus Christ is very clearly portrayed throughout it.
I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

A Review of "Love at Last Sight: 30 Days to Grow and Deepen Your Closest Relationships"

http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/bloggingforbooks/reviews/ranking/9297 
 Love at Last Sight is co-written by Kerry and Chris Shook which is a second to their "One Month to Live" book. It is written as a 30 day devotional. The reader is to read a chapter a day and then complete the challenges laid out for them. The good news for the reader feeling pressured by having to read a chapter a day is that each chapter is only 5-7 pages long.
   The third page of the book lays out a bold claim, "But if you apply what you read over the next thirty days, your key relationships will grow and deepen." I found that statement to be not only bold, but arrogant. Are we to believe that they are holding the key to lasting relationships that have been elusive for 6,000 years? If only Cain and Abel would have read this book. Beyond that point, I have to say that I have enjoyed doing the thirty day journey into growing and deepening my closest relationships even though I found the book to be lacking in some areas. Here are those areas.
   I did read a chapter of the book everyday, which is a first for me to be that diligent, as well as journaled my thoughts. Unfortunately, by around day six, I had given up on "officially" trying the daily challenges. And by around day 15 I just skipped reading that part of the chapter. I found the challenges to be obscure, obtuse, overly simplified, or overly difficult. It ranged from being so simple I didn't even have to think about it or so difficult I knew I wouldn't even try it.
   Secondly, Day 17 was almost a chapter long summary of Chapman's The Five Love Languages yet he went uncited as a source. I was quite disturbed by that.
   Finally, I thought some of the anecdotes, jokes, and stories were tired, over played, and occassionaly out of place. I've occasionally listened to sermons and wondered what the point of the illustration was, but routinely, when I set out to journal about the day's chapter (immediately after reading it) I had to review the chapter to see what it was about. It's problematic when the illustrations are clouding your point and not supporting it.
   I don't want to overly negative. There were stories and points that really hit home and were definitely worth reading. I have read many relationship books in my life. This book ranks near the top, but there was not enough new material to consider it a great book. If you have not read any relationship book, or you are a novice I would recommend this book, but that is about it. 
I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review. 

The Two Masters Matt 6:24

The Two Masters

Possessions, Popularity, and Perceptions, Oh My!

            We are going to take another look at Jesus’ longest, and most influential sermon that He preached—The Sermon on the Mount. Specifically the passage we will be looking at today talks about money and possessions.

How many of you are familiar with a guy named David Platt? He is a pastor out of Birmingham who wrote a best selling book called Radical. In fact, one of our Sunday school classes is currently studying the book and watching a video series on it right now. So what is Platt’s “radical” idea? The subtitle of the book is “Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream.” That is a radical idea when we are constantly being bombarded by commercials and media telling us what stuff we need in order to be happy.

            What is the American Dream? There are countless varieties of the American Dream because each person can have their own, but the idea stems from the absolute fact that as Americans we can have and do what almost everyone else in the world could never dream about having or doing. In America a person of any race, gender, or financial background can grow up and be whatever they want from President of the United States, Astronaut, Fighter Pilot, or Mayor of Bagdad. It doesn’t matter. You also have the ability to go to school, get a good education, choose between running a business or working a job so you can have a car, house with a white picket fence, green grass, 2.5 kids, and a dog.

            We are so unbelievably blessed here in America that we have lost touch with the rest of the world. Every single person in this room is rich compared to the world’s standards. If your family has a car you are richer than like 92% of the world. If your family has two cars, you are in the top 1-2% richest people in the world. The amount of money it would take to feed and water all of the world’s starving and dehydrated population is less than what Americans spend on ice cream each year. We get upset about the things we “need” and don’t get like a new Xbox Kinnect, an Iphone, or whatever it is that we think we need that we forget about Neharika who lives in a mud hut and how she thankfully received dinner plates for Christmas. How many of you received dinner plates as your main Christmas present this year?

            How did we get here? How did we get so spoiled? Abraham Lincoln said, “Religion gave birth to prosperity, now the daughter has eaten the mother.” In other words, we had a great devotion to God so He blessed us. When He blessed us, we became enamored in how much stuff we had that we forgot about Him. We sang “How Great I Art” instead of “How Great Though Art.” And because of that we began to lose God’s favor.     

            Let’s look at our passage, Matthew 6:24 NLT “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” Some of your Bibles may contain the word “mammon” which is just a funny sounding word that means money, wealth, or possessions.”

            In the game Tug of War, you have two teams on each end of the rope with usually a flag in the middle. When one team successfully pulls that flag across their goal line they win. Other, more fun ways to play, include a muddy pit in the middle and the game ending when one team successfully pulls the other team through the mud. Either way, you probably have all played it or seen it played before and realize the concept—two opposing forces tugging with all their might to inflict their will on others.

            That is the situation Jesus is warning against in Matthew 6:24. Think about trying to be on both teams of a Tug of War match. It’s ridiculous right? Almost as ridiculous as trying to serve two masters, especially when one of them is God, because eventually your two masters will make opposing demands. One will say give all your possessions to the poor and the other will say make all you can and can all you make. Don’t get confused, I have two jobs with two different bosses requiring vastly different things, but I have only one master and it is not Pastor Brian or my dad.

Let’s look at Mark 10:17-22. As Jesus was starting out on his way to Jerusalem, a man came running up to him, knelt down, and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

 ¹⁸ “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked. “Only God is truly good. ¹⁹ But to answer your question, you know the commandments: ‘You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. You must not cheat anyone. Honor your father and mother.’^[a]”

 ²⁰ “Teacher,” the man replied, “I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young.”

 ²¹ Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him. “There is still one thing you haven’t done,” he told him. “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

 ²² At this the man’s face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

 

            This man holds the distinct honor of being the only person in scripture who Jesus said “Follow me” to and did not follow. Why? He sought Jesus out as the answer to his problems and yet did not follow Him because he was trying to serve both Jesus and the god of possessions and wealth.

            Can you be rich and still serve God? Absolutely. I can name you several millionaires that serve God in ways we’ll never know about because they want to keep it a secret in obedience to Christ. The key is that they don’t serve money, wealth, or possessions. They view it as a tool to do the work of Christ.

            Maybe money, wealth, and possessions aren’t hot button issues for you, but I guarantee that there is something that will trip you up. Maybe it’s not money but popularity. If being popular is a master to you, you will eventually have to decide which master to follow when the two make opposing demands. I’m willing to make a wager that there is a smelly kid at your school, or somewhere in your life that needs to know about Jesus. If you are more concerned about what your friends would say if you sat next to him or her at lunch than what God would say, then you are trying to serve two masters.  I will never forget when I was substituting as a P.E. teacher at Brush High School near Cleveland, two kids came up to me eagerly asking me to let them be the captains of the kickball team. I didn’t know why, or even care to know why so I let them. I assigned the first pick to one of the two and watched in amazement as he picked the kid with a learning and physical disability as his first pick. How amazing was that to witness? How often does that happen in a public high school? Almost never I bet.

            Can you be popular and still serve God? Absolutely. Tim Tebow is a perfect example. Is he popular? Yes. Does he serve God? Yes. The key is that he doesn’t serve popularity, but views his popularity as a tool to serve God. What if he served popularity as if it were a god? Perhaps his agent said in order for him to get more endorsement deals, he needed to date a high profile celebrity with low morals. If he would bow to the god of popularity, his work for Christ would be tarnished. I remember when he was a junior people asked if he was leaving school early to go to the NFL. He replied that he wasn’t even sure he wanted to go to the NFL but might go directly into the mission field instead. He later decided that going into the NFL would give him more of a platform to evangelize.

            Maybe possessions and popularity aren’t that big of a deal for you. Perhaps how you are perceived is though. No one wants to look like a disheveled homeless person, but are you spending a disproportionate amount of time getting ready in the morning than you do anything else? If you timed yourself getting ready for school in a week versus reading your Bible or praying would it even be a contest? This is another area where you have to be honest with yourself. I know for a fact women go into a bathroom and time is measured by calendars instead of a stop watch.

            Or what about raising your hand in class when you don’t understand something? “But then people will think I’m stupid.” Yeah that’s a good point, it’s better to wait until you get your test back and everyone will know for sure.

            Can you be pretty and perceived well and still serve God? Absolutely. Look at me. I’m obviously extremely handsome. The key is that I don’t serve the god of good looks. But seriously, God is far more concerned about what’s on the inside than He is on the outside. He is also concerned about why we’re doing something as compared to how people perceive why we’re doing something. For example: You see a politician working a soup kitchen—what’s your first impression? Just trying get votes, right? He’s putting off a perception that he cares about the plight of the less fortunate.

            So how can we make sure we’re not serving two masters? First and foremost you need to become a follower of Christ. Life is pointless without Him, and all of our efforts to do anything are useless. Secondly, you need to identify areas that you are weak in because that is where you are susceptible into being lured into serving another master. I, personally, don’t have a problem with being tempted to spend hours getting ready in the morning. I do have a problem with wondering how people might perceive me if I try to share the gospel with them. Thirdly, you need to acknowledge your dependence on Him and ask Him to assist you. This could be a daily prayer for you. And lastly, test yourself. Do something this week that stretches you. Go talk to someone. Strike up a conversation. Eat lunch with the smelly kid. Go a day without your usual preparation and see if anyone cares or notices. If they ridicule you, you at least will know where you stand in that relationship. Being a servant of God is not easy, but it is worth it.      

A review of Hope Rising

http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/bloggingforbooks/reviews/ranking/8332

My wife received Hope Rising as a birthday present a few years back. I suggested it to my daughter as a good present to give after her mother and I both listened to the author speak about the book on Focus on the Family. When my wife gets into a book she will read it from cover to cover without putting it down. That’s exactly what she did with Hope Rising. I knew I would eventually read it. It took a while for me to get to it, but I eventually did.
 The author, Kim Meeder, and her husband Troy started a non-profit horse ranch designed to take in abused and neglected horses while ministering to children and families dealing with difficult situations. I’m sure the Meeders would agree that the horses do most of the ministering. The book is written as a series of devotional like short stories or memoirs from their ranch. Most of the stories are three to four pages long with the longest being around twelve pages. I found myself tearing up from the first page as she described how a horse brought out a toothless smile from a little boy. The boy, around 5-6, had his teeth knocked out by an abusive father who on occasion would shoot his gun at him.
 As a father and animal lover who believes that God speaks to us through His creation, I found the stories fascinating and heart-warming. When I was finished with the book my wife said, “That book made me very sad and want to start a horse ranch.” I had to agree.
 Meeder, deservedly so, has won awards for her service to her community and for her book, but for me I got a little hung up on the literary style. Every paragraph came equipped with a simile, a metaphor, or both. It was a little much. My other complaint probably stems from the fact that I am a guy, but many of her stories included her personal insight to not only what other people were thinking but what horses and animals were thinking. Much of her insight was probably on target but I found myself questioning, “How does she know what that guy was thinking?” I believe many of the problems men and women have in communicating is that we assume we know what the other person is thinking. This is a hot button issue for me. So when she continued to use that insight as a literary style it became a distraction to me.
 Overall, it was a very good book. I wouldn’t tell anyone not to read it, but it would be best in the hands of animal lovers, and people who rank high on the empathy section of personality tests.

The Lamp of the Body

The Lamp of the Body

Matt 6:22-23

            I was watching PBS the other night and caught a little bit of a program about Cassius Clay, more commonly known as Muhammad Ali. They were showing his 1964 fight against the heavyweight champion of the world, Sonny Liston. At that time Clay had won a gold medal in the Olympics but wasn’t expected to stand a chance against the hard punching Liston. None of the sportswriters covering boxing gave Clay any chance at all at beating Liston and assumed the fight would be over very quickly. Liston himself trained for a short fight.

            When the fight began, Clay with his signature “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee” dancing was able to dodge and dance out of the way of Liston’s punches. Years later the writers covering the fight admitted that their opinions of Clay changed, that he wasn’t terrible, but all Liston had to do was hit him one time and the fight would be over. As the fight wore on, all of Liston’s empty punches, along with his lack of endurance training wore him down.

Then something happened that changed the course of the fight. A few seconds after the beginning of Round 5 Clay began to rub his eyes as tears streamed down his face. Clay was blinded while Liston, as if on cue began hitting him with a flurry of punches. Clay miraculously survived the round, wandered to his corner, and told his trainer to cut the gloves off and get him out of there. The trainer suspecting something was up, rubbed Clay’s eye and then rubbed his own which immediately began to burn. Years later someone in Liston’s corner admitted that they had juiced Liston’s glove with a caustic fluid designed to come off his glove and burn Clay’s eyes long enough for Liston to knock him out. Liston had resorted to this tactic in two previous fights aswell. Clay’s trainer washed his eyes out the best he could between rounds and forced him back out with one simple command—“Run!”

Run Clay did. Sending him out blind to dodge the heavy hitting Liston would have been suicide for anyone other than Clay. Liston, however, was unable to connect against Clay and as the round wore on, Clay was slowly able to regain his sight and hit the tired Liston at will. After the sixth round was over Clay answered the bell, but Liston did not.

We are continuing our journey through the Sermon on the Mount tonight by looking at Matt 6:22-23 “Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. ²³ But when your eye is bad, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!”

What’s it like to be blind? Everything is dark. Here Jesus is comparing the eye to a lamp. Imagine you are in a barn in the middle of a moonless pitch black night. You have a lamp, but it is not very good and it goes out—everything is dark. Perhaps you didn’t take good care of your wick, or used cheap watered down oil instead of what was recommended. Everything is dark and you have no hope of getting it lit again. If you properly maintained your lamp it would be putting out the much needed light but you didn’t.

The eye is compared to a lamp for the body. It provides light. It allows you to do so many things so much easier. If you disagree, put on a blindfold. First notice how dark it is, and then try to do your normal activities—like drive a car, pour boiling water in a tea cup, pee into a urinal. If you properly maintain your eyes—wear sunglasses in bright lights, keep them free of caustic materials that will burn them—you can reasonably expect them to continue to give you light for a very long time.

It doesn’t take a biblical scholar to figure out the difference between light and darkness in this passage. Light symbolizes good spiritual things. Darkness symbolizes evil spiritual things. Jesus said “If your eye is good, your body will be full of light. If you eye is bad your body will be full of darkness.” There is a computer programming terminology that says “Garbage In- Garbage Out.” Or GIGO. In other words if your programming is junk, you can reasonably expect that the program will not do what it is programmed to do. If you only allow good spiritual things to enter your eyes your body will be full of good light. But if you allow evil things to go into your eyes your body will be full of darkness.

What kind of evil things are we talking about? Pornography, violent movies or games, or violence in general. When I was thinking about this passage, the old proverb “the eyes are the window of the soul” kept coming to my mind. What are windows? They are barriers that separate the inside from the out, but are transparent to allow a person to look out, while another can look in. Have you ever seen someone, or even a picture of someone, and could just tell their hearts were full of darkness? That is the view of someone on the outside looking in. Lets talk about the inside looking out. Imagine you live in a house that has two windows: one window looks out to a beautiful lush valley before a snow capped mountain; the other window has a view of your neighbor’s window. Your neighbor is a mean ugly old man who has nothing better to do but to watch for you, flip you off, and moon you when you glance out. Which window would you peer out of, and which one would you put extremely thick curtains over?

Jesus said in a later teaching (Matt 18:9), “if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out because it would be better to go to heaven with one eye than go to hell with two eyes.” Apparently, Jesus thought it was important to guard what goes into your body. If you don’t guard what goes in, so much garbage will go in that you won’t even be able to tell the difference between light and darkness.

How can we practically guard what we see, besides plucking out our eyes? Internet blocker, bounce your eyes (Every Man’s Battle)—whether you see something tempting or violent, don’t watch violent movies, or play violent games. You can say that violent games don’t affect you but you don’t have science or empirical data on your side. I remember playing a game one time called “Carmageddon.” You literally drove a car around and tried to hit as many people as possible. It was awesome—or terrible, depending on your perspective. It wasn’t until the next day when I was driving past a playground full of kids and had a flashback from the game that I realized how much we are affected by the video games we play. The movies and television programs we watch, the games we play, the books and magazines we read, the music we listen to, all affects us. I’m not here to make anybody do anything. If you aren’t ready to put negative things away and grow spiritually then don’t. It’s cool. I won’t lose any sleep over it. I am here to tell you what the Bible says about the subject, and to tell you about my personal experiences with it. I’m just a beggar telling other beggars where I found food. Maybe you won’t have to look as long as I did before I finally found it.    

Treasures in Heaven

Treasures in Heaven

           

            Initially, before coach Jim Tressel was outed for essentially lying to his bosses and the NCAA, it looked like Ohio State was getting off kind of easy. In exchange for OSU's cooperation, the NCAA was willing to play good cop. It could have suspended five ineligible players who allegedly sold and/or bartered memorabilia to a local tattoo shop for the Sugar Bowl, but it didn't. It could have declared all five players retroactively ineligible and stricken all eleven Buckeye wins in 2010 from the books, along with their share of the Big Ten title, but it didn't. It could have gone after Ohio State the way it went after USC, in search of bowl bans and significant scholarship losses, but it didn't. In the wake of the sledgehammer that fell on the Trojans last summer, the punishment for Ohio State — a straightforward five-game suspension for four of the offending players to start the 2011 season, games the Buckeyes are likely to win, anyway — seemed minimal, perfunctory. Which is one of the reasons it made so many people so angry, or confused, or both.

That, of course, was before Tressel's long-running, deliberate cover-up of the violations saw the light of day, and before it became clear that the NCAA — and possibly the higher-ups at Ohio State themselves — had been misled by one of the most respected men in the profession. What cooperation will buy you in leniency, deception will buy in retribution, and the NCAA began to extract its pound of flesh Friday with an official notice of allegations to the university.

It makes three allegations of "potential major violations," specifically:

• That, between November 2008 and May 2010, multiple student-athletes received preferential treatment and "sold institutionally issued athletics awards, apparel and equipment to Edward Rife, owner of a local tattoo parlor," adding up to more than $13,000 in cash, free tattoos, a loan and a discount on a used car one of the players bought from Rife.

• Under the same heading, that Tressel "knew or should have known" that at least two players had made inappropriate transactions with Rife, per a credible email tipster, but "he failed to report information to athletics administration and, as a result, permitted football student-athletes to participate in intercollegiate athletics competition while ineligible."

• That, as reported by the university, Tressel "failed to deport himself in accordance with the honest and integrity normally associated with the conduct and administration of intercollegiate athletics as required by NCAA legislation and violated ethical-conduct legislation" by failing to report emails alerting him to violations, withholding the information for months, allowing possibly ineligible players to play for the entire season and "falsely attest[ing] that he reported to the institution any knowledge of NCAA violations" when he signed a compliance form last September.

So the other shoe falls, and the shoe is a bomb. Collateral damage TBA. (Quoted directly from “NCAA Formally Charges Jim Tressel With Lies, Coverup of OSU Viloations” By Matt Hinton  April 25, 2011)

Right now, the victims of Madoff's alleged crime are in a very strange place. They still have their big homes. At least for now, the furniture is still polished, the Lexuses are quietly garaged, and the people still stand — except for poor M. Villehuchet, who last week in New York slit his wrists. But underneath these material reminders of a former life there is nothing — or very little.

The financial piers supporting lifetimes of accumulated wealth have simply vanished. This week, people everywhere are preparing to celebrate the New Year, while Madoff's victims are looking over their bank statements and credit card bills, asking themselves one question: How long can we hang on?

As one of the taken, I get calls daily from those who have lost their financial lifeline due to this mess. This wasn't a slow-fade-to-ruin crime, but a flip-the-switch-to-poverty crime, and many are now in an adrenal-driven shock stage of having no money — at all — in the bank. The ruin is especially tragic among retirees hit by this pre-holiday bomb. (Quoted directly from “Madoff’s Victims: Finding Meaning in the Devastation” by Robert Chew December 30, 2008)

FOLEY, Ala. — Allen Kruse tenderly kissed his wife goodbye just after sunrise Wednesday and headed to the docks in Gulf Shores, Ala., where his boat, The Rookie, was moored.

A charter boat captain for 25 years, Kruse had signed on as a BP contractor to spot oil, deploy boom and eventually learn how to skim oil. His business had come to a screeching halt after the April 20 oil spill.

About an hour later, Kruse was dead. He was 55, the father of 11- and 12-year-old boys, Cory and Ryan, and daughter Kelli, 26.

About 7 a.m., after a BP training meeting, he climbed into the wheelhouse of his 46-foot charter boat and ended his worry, his frustration and his anger with a single bullet to the head.

"Nothing was easy working with BP. Everything was hard, and it consumed him. He wasn't crazy," said his wife, Tracy, 41, sitting outside the couple's home in Foley on Thursday.

"He'd been a charter boat captain for 25 years, and all of the sudden he had people barking orders at him who didn't know how to tie up a boat to a pier. I think he thought, 'I've got to get out of this. I can't take it.' "

The spill also left Kruse emotionally devastated. It robbed him of his passion for taking customers out to the Gulf to fish for red snapper and grouper, his wife said.

"Our whole lives surround this, this oil, everything is oil," he told her a few days ago.

(Quoted directly from “Boat Captain Commits Suicide After BP Training Meeting” by Brian Kelly June 26, 2010)

            What do these three stories have in common? Each one of these three stories has an opportunity for someone to put their trust, hope, and future into something short-term and earthly—sports, finances, and work.

            My impressionable childhood occurred during the early to mid 1980’s. I grew up in Ohio watching and listening to all things Ohio State, Cleveland Browns, and Cincinnati Reds. I loved baseball. I remember going to the games and getting their early enough to watch batting practice and trying to get autographs and foul balls. One time it was free poster day for the first so many thousand people. Of course we got there early enough to get one. There was a 6x12” metal sign above the dugout that said “No autographs during the game.” I pushed my poster out at anyone who walked close enough for me to beg an autograph from. Unfortunately, I accidentally hit the sign with my poster and knocked the sign off and cut should-be Hall of Famer Davey Concepcion’s face, to which he said, “Watch it, kid.” I did get an autograph, but it was Ted Powers and then owner Marge Schott.

            But the poster was a poster commemorating one of my heroes breaking the all-time hit record. Pete Rose was one of the greatest baseball players who ever played the game. When I was a kid he was the last player/manager, which meant he took on all of the responsibilities of a manager but could still put himself in the game whenever he felt like it. He ended his career with 4,256 hits. I remember walking to the playground with my dad one time. I don’t remember the topic but the lesson was nobody is perfect. That perplexed me, and I looked up to him all confused and asked, “Even Pete Rose?”  Dad chuckled and said, “Even Pete Rose.” I also remember asking dad if he would sign Pete Rose’s name on my softball. He said “No.”

            Many of you already know what happened in Pete Rose’s life, but for those of you who don’t, he is one of the few players who have been banned for life from the game of baseball. The news that Pete Rose bet on baseball confused me as a little kid. All I knew was that my childhood hero was now being disgraced in every newspaper, and radio and television sports program. Over the years, in an effort to get admitted into the Hall of Fame, Rose admitted to more and more, revealing the depth of his gambling depravity. To me an icon was fallen and my childhood innocence was lost forever.

            It doesn’t matter who you are looking up to, or who or what you are putting your trust in. If that trust or admiration is not on God, you will eventually be disappointed. Republican or Democrat, rich or poor, white or black, your mom, your dad, your brother and sister, they all, whether they intend to or not will disappoint you. I can tell you story after story of missionaries and pastors having moral failures. It is frustrating, disheartening, and sickening, but there is one man who has never let me down.       

            Tonight, we’re going to continue our journey into the Sermon on the Mount, and dare to ask ourselves the question, “Can anyone live out the Sermon on the Mount in today’s world?”  Open up your Bibles to Matthew 6:19. “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.”

            Of course this passage speaks of material possessions. If you own stock in Ford, you drive Fords. You study their quarterly reports. You hope their stock prices go up, and are upset when their prices go down. The more money you have invested in Ford, the more your life revolves around that company. What if a person invested that same money into a mission organization that brought the gospel to people? Wouldn’t that person be interested in how the missionaries were doing, what they were doing with their gifts, and how successful they were at winning people to Christ? Wouldn’t that person be even more excited knowing that God would never let them down or disappoint them? 

            But the passage deals with more than just finances, it also deals with our emotional treasures. We have absolutely no control over what another human being does, no matter how much we love them, admire them, or how committed we are to them. A child has no control over whether or not his father walks out on them. A husband cannot stop a wife who is determined to leave. A little boy cannot keep his favorite athlete from doing drugs. People will disappoint you. Businesses will act immorally and cause you financial loss.

            So what is the solution? Never trust anyone or anything again? No, I’d rather be dead than to live like that. The only thing that will never disappoint you is God. So when we put someone or some company in a position where we will be overcome with grief when they disappoint us, we have intentionally or unintentionally put them in a position of a god—someplace I’m sure they would not have chosen for themselves. It’s ok to look up to people. It is not ok to idolize them. If Rebekah left me would I be crushed? Absolutely. The other day we were at the mall and she took Caleb to the bathroom while I bought lunch and secured a table for us. A long time later, Rebekah came out, grabbed her purse and said she had to buy Caleb new shorts because he had an accident. So I sat there for an even longer time. My mind began to wander and I thought, “What if she left me and this is how she planned her escape? How long do I wait before I go and look for her?” I would be crushed if she left, but I do not worship her, and she doesn’t worship me.

            My encouragement for you is to put people in their proper place. Love them, and look up to them, but don’t worship them. Keep your treasures in heaven—both emotional and financial. Disappointments will happen but you will be able to overcome them.

            The first step to keeping your treasure in heaven is accepting Christ. What most people search for in this world is security. This is the main reason people save and invest their money—so they can be secure if something bad happens. Christ is the ultimate insurance plan. Come what may on earth, He has you secure in heaven. As a believer in Christ, the absolute worst thing that could happen to me is that I die, and spend eternity in heaven with my savior. What about you? Do you have that assurance?