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“911 or You!” Obadiah 1: 1-14 Key verse(s): 10-11: “Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame; you will be destroyed forever. On the day you stood aloof while strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates you were like one of them.”
We are a people who love to watch. We watch the time, the sky, the road. We spend an inordinate amount of time watching television shows, videos, DVD’s, video games and, each other. In many ways we are made for watching. Our eyes are in front not on the side. We don’t even have to turn our head to watch things, everything we need to see, for the most part, is right in front of us. Our eyes take it in, our brain processes the image and supplies us with the appropriate action to accommodate the situation. Unfortunately, unlike in animals, what we see is not always appropriately responded to in the most timely or even responsible fashion. When an animal sees food, if hungry, it will eat until satisfied. If we see food we will most likely eat until it is consumed. If an animal sees danger, it will either attack or flee. If we see danger we have those same options. But, there is one added into the mix. We can always do nothing.
God created each of us to be distinct from the other “living things” of His creation. On the Sixth Day he also created man, a creature distinct from all other living things in that man possessed the innate ability to freely choose. Man was not driven by instinct. Man was motivated by will. This, as God foreordained from before time, would be both a blessing and a curse. Free will grants the freedom to work with God and His purposes as well as against Him. Choosing is a wonderful thing and one of the greatest blessings God has bestowed upon us. Choosing gives us flexibility, tremendous freedom and versatility. Of all God’s creation, man alone has the ability to find happiness in the midst of sorrow and reflection in the shadow of joy. Unfortunately, the ability to choose can also cause us to make wrong choices. Standing idly by while others suffer is one of those unfortunate choices.
In his book Who Cares? Rediscovering Community, author David Schwartz writes: “When my friend Gerald looked out his office window, he saw the woman about to jump off the bridge. She stood on the edge, wavering. Below her the Susquehanna River flowed rapidly around the bridge footings, carrying flood logs and debris over the dam and to the Chesapeake Bay . . . Gerald stood for a minute, frozen. What should he do? He seemed to be the only person who had spotted the woman from his vantage point one story above the street. Shaking himself into movement, he grabbed the telephone and started to dial the emergency number 911. Could the police and the ambulance and the crisis intervention team possibly make it there in time? What would the woman do when she heard the police sirens speeding to her rescue? As his fingers punched the numbers, he saw a city bus rounding the turn onto the bridge. The bus drove slowly along the edge of the right lane. As it neared the woman, he saw the front accordion door open. Then suddenly--almost too fast to see if his eyes hadn’t been riveted on the scene--the driver, in one continuous motion, stopped, leaned out of the open door, grabbed the woman’s arm from behind, and pulled her backward into his bus. My friend sat down, shaking slightly, and replaced the telephone receiver in its cradle. He thought about what he’d seen. And because he was a reflective person, he thought about what he had done. As he explained to me later, he realized that his response to the life-or-death situation of this stranger, this woman, had been to mobilize the complex human services system set up and ready to deal with such situations. That is what anyone would do, would they not? But the bus driver had responded completely differently . . . He had seen the situation and had immediately done something himself.” (Who Cares? Rediscovering Community, David Schwartz, pages 1,2)
When you and I see things happening to others, whether that be imminent danger or simply the fact that they need a helping hand, we have choices. We can respond with help or deny that help. Pushing the responsibility on others, whether that be government or our neighbor, is really a poor substitute for reacting boldly out of Christian love for those in need. We live in a society that has conditioned us to react from a distance, to withhold personal contact and avoid personal responsibility. Perhaps that’s the way the Edomites felt when they saw their brothers, the sons of Jacob, being invaded and put to the sword. Even though they were not part of the cause, they could have been part of the cure. They did not lift a hand, however, to take up a sword for Jacob. Maybe they thought others would do it. Whatever the case, their choice resulted in God’s condemnation and wrath. It is not only a sin to commit harm, it is also a sin to ignore it. May our love for others always motivate action not idle good will. If not us, then who?
SET FREE
A man said to his pastor: “I am a miserable sinner and there is no help available for me. I have prayed to God, I have tried to be good and I have tried to do the right thing at the right time, but I always seem to fail.”
The pastor asked him: “Do you believe in the life, the death, and the resurrection of God’s Son Jesus Christ?
The man said, “Yes I do.
“If Jesus came and stood right here beside you at this very moment, what would be your words to Him?” asked the pastor.
The man said, “I would look up into His face and confess my sins to Him and then I would tell Him that I feel like a lost sinner and that there is no hope for me.”
“What do you think Jesus would say to you?” ask the pastor.
The man thought for a few moments and them a change came upon his face. The change went from a look of worry to a look of peace and tranquility.
And then the man replied: Jesus would say, “I have forgiven you of all your sins, you are under no condemnation, you are ‘set free”.
(SOURCE: from a sermon by Bill Butsko, "Set Free" 7/27/08, http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon.asp?SermonID=124974)
Michael Yaconelli’s, "Messy Spirituality"
Vincent’s story about grace graciously given in the messiest of circumstances from Michael Yaconelli’s book Messy Spirituality.
In a book aby New Zealand author Mike Riddell, Vincent has met and fallen in love with a young girl named Marilyn. Neither one of them is seeking a relationship, but a relationship is seeking them. Swept up by their emotions, the two become deeply involved. Marilyn a prostitute, is not prepared to fall in love and is certainly not prepared for the honesty love requires. She must tell Vincent who she it, knowing full well that here painful disclosure will probably mean the end of their relationship.
“Vincent?”
“Mmmmm.”
“There’s ah .....There’s something we need to talk about.”
“Only if you want to. I’m happy just to sit here and look at you. Sorry, this looks like something serious.” Looks a lot like the intro to the Dear John speech, truth be told.”
“Its about me and what I do.”
“Yeah, wondered when you were going to pluck up the courage to talk about it. Don’t tell me, you work for the CIA, right?” Sorry. sorry, I’ll shut up.”
She is totally absorbed in the remains of her salad, scrutinizing it for something. Anything to avoid his eyes.
“There’s no easy way of saying this. I’m a prostitute. I sleep with men for my living. It’s a business. I’m very professional.
Time and silence have this thing they do together. The make a chasm that has no bottom to it. And there you are, standing right on the edge of it. Aware that at any moment you may be falling and falling , with no hope of recovery. At the moment they are at either side of it, each consumed by their private terror. She looks up at last from here salad. Vincent is crying. The tears are streaming down his cheeks, and he is biting his lip to stop himself sobbing. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to deceive you. I’m sorry, Vincent. I’m sorry.”
He can’t speak. He wants to, but nothing is working. He is looking at her, at her beautiful face, at her eyes, at the slight hardness around her mouth. And weeping and weeping. She reaches a hand across to hold his. She is beyond tears, empty and bleak and barren. Vincent is mumbling something but is incoherent through the pain. And then he begins to repeat it again and again.
“I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you.....”
This is the worst thing she has ever heard in her life. She wants to scream, to break something, to tip over the table in rage. Instead some continental shelf rips loose within her. She begins gulping and moaning, a terrible agonizing cry from another place. And the tears are flowing. They grip each other’s hands, and lean their foreheads together. The tears are flowing into the abyss, and there is no end to them.
Marilyn expected Vincent to reject her, to pull away from her, to have nothing to do with her. In a strange and touching way Vincent did what Jesus would do; he looked beneath the expected criticism; what she received was understanding. Instead of hearing words of condemnation Marilyn heard over and over again , “I love you”.
AND – do you know what is really sad – this lack of prayer in the church that we see today – this putting not just on the back burner, BUT in the garage the POWERFUL weapon of prayer – has been a problem in the church for a very long time…hundreds of years…
Fenelon a French writer of the late 1600’s writes;
“Of all the duties enjoined by Christianity, none is more essential and yet more neglected than prayer. Most people consider the exercise a fatiguing ceremony, which they are justified in abridging as much as possible. Even those whose profession or fears lead them to pray, pray with such languor (lethargy, sluggishness) that their prayers far from drawing down blessings, only increase their condemnation.”
E.M. Bounds writes in his book, “Purpose in Prayer”
“When we calmly reflect upon the fact that the progress of our Lord’s kingdom is dependent upon prayer, it is sad to think that we give so little time to the holy exercise. Everything depends on prayer, and yet we neglect it – not only to our own spiritual hurt, but also to the delay and injury of our Lord’...
THE GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS OF PALM SUNDAY
John and his friend George went golfing together one Saturday morning as they had for 24 years. They were fanatics about their golf game. Later that day, John returned home completely exhausted and plopped down in his easy chair. His wife was quite concerned since he was more exhausted than usual after his Saturday golf game.
She asked him if something went wrong with the game. He replied, "No, hon, I had the best game in years!
As a matter of fact, I started out the first three holes at 4 under par, including a hole-in-two on the 3rd." "So why are you so worn out?" she asked. "Well, George had a heart attack and died on the 4th hole."
"What!? Are you so exhausted from trying to save him?" He said, "No, honey, it was quick and there was nothing anyone could’ve done. BUT AFTER THAT, IT WAS JUST HIT THE BALL, DRAG GEORGE, HIT THE BALL, DRAG GEORGE..."
The good news is: John had a great game of golf! The bad news was George-- Dead and dragged all over the golf course!
The good news was Palm Sunday and the big celebration! The bad news was Monday and what was going to happen to the next week. In a sense, the scene was about to shift from celebration to condemnation.
SOURCE: Steve Shepherd in "Only One More Week:" Matthew 21:1-11. http://www.sermoncentral.com/
sermon.asp?SermonID=30201
“It is precarious to call any one chapter of the Bible ‘the greatest chapter’ because the entire Bible is great. It is God’s Word. Nevertheless, there is a sense in which the eighth chapter of Romans is even superlatively great. These thirty-nine verses begin with ‘no condemnation’ and end with ‘no separation,’ while in between there is ‘no defeat.” One must imagine that the Bible is a ring and the book of Romans its precious stone. Chapter 8 would be the sparkling point of the jewel.”
Author Unknown. “Part Three: The Triumph of God’s Grace.” Life in the Spirit- Romans 8:1-17. BSF International. 1998.
I remember an old “Dragnet” television episode back in the mid ‘60s, when the arguments about the dangers or relative safeties of marijuana use were in full bloom. The main character, Sgt Joe Friday, was expounding to a young suspect the harmful effects and results of heroine sale and use, and how in his business he witnessed many times, that so-called innocent marijuana users often graduated to worse things. He ended his tirade by saying, “You want to know what I think of marijuana? I judge it by the company it keeps”.
Christians, people outside of the church do not understand the church. They do not know Jesus; they have absolutely no knowledge of the Holy Spirit; they do not care one iota for the will of the Father; but as they look on, and hear that we call ourselves ‘Christians’, and watch our lives, they will judge us by the company we keep.
And when they look at a church body and witness gossip and judgmental-ism and condemnation, and formalism and ritual, but no love and no peace, they will see no need whatsoever, to separate themselves from the life they have in order to join what is there. They will go away with a shrug, saying, “They are no different, so why waste my time?”
Many years ago in St. Louis, a lawyer visited a Christian to transact some business. Before the two parted, his client said to him, “I’ve often wanted to ask you a question, but I’ve been afraid to do so.”
“What do you want to know?” asked the lawyer.
The man replied, “I’ve wondered why you’re not a Christian.”
The man hung his head, “I know enough about the Bible to realize that it says no drunkard can enter the kingdom of God; and you know my weakness!”
“You’re avoiding my questions,” continued the believer.
“Well, truthfully, I can’t recall anyone ever explaining how to become a Christian.”
Picking up a Bible, the client read some passages showing that all are under condemnation, but that Christ came to save the lost by dying on the cross for their sins. “By receiving Him as your Substitute and Redeemer,” he said, “you can be forgiven. If you’re willing to receive Jesus, let’s pray together.”
The lawyer agreed, and when it was his turn he exclaimed, “O Jesus, I a...
"There is a great difference between realizing, On that Cross He was crucified for me, and On that Cross I am crucified with Him. The one aspect brings us deliverance from sins condemnation, the other from sins power."
Christ meets you outside the throne room, takes you by the hand, and walks you into the presence of God. Upon entrance we find grace, not condemnation; mercy, not punishment. Where we would never be granted an audience with the king, w are now welcomed into his presence.
If you are a parent you understand this. If a child you don’t know appears on your doorstep and asks to spend the night, what would you do? Likely you would ask him his name, where he lives, find out why he is roaming the streets, and contact his parents. On the other hand, if a youngster enters your house escorted by your child, that child is welcome. The same is true with God. By becoming friends with the Son we gain access to the Father.
Max Lucado, In the Grip of Grace (Dallas: Word Pub., 1996), 93.
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