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The late Rev. Dr. John Rowan Claypool IV served as a pastor for 47 years, first in Southern Baptist Congregations in the South and then from 1986 to 2000 as the Rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Birmingham, Alabama. In his sermon entitled “The Future and Forgetting,” he shares this story:
“Two Buddhist monks were walking in a drenching thunderstorm. They came to a stream, and it was swollen out of its banks. A beautiful young Japanese woman in a kimono stood there wanting to get to the other side but was afraid of the currents. In characteristic Buddhist compassion, one of the monks said, ‘Can I help you?’
“The woman said, ‘I need to cross this stream.’”
“The monk picked her up, put her on his shoulder, carried her through the water, and put her down on the other side. He and his companion went on to the monastery.
“That night his companion said to him, ‘I have a bone to pick with you. As Buddhist monks, we have taken vows not to look on a woman, much less touch her body. Back there by the river you did both.’
“The first monk said, ‘My brother, I put that woman down on the other side of the river. You’re still carrying her in your mind.’” [SOURCE: --John Rowan Claypool, “The Future and Forgetting,” Preaching Today, Tape No. 109.]
Dr. Claypool’s story is an appropriate analogy of the sin our Judeo-Christian faith acknowledges as lust. Jewish rabbis through the centuries have condemned all sin not only as evil actions but also as evil desires that begin as a bad attitude in the heart. Jesus distinctly teaches in His Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:27-28, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Lust is an inner attitude or desire in one’s heart.
Craig Brian Larson, a Chicago pastor, wears many hats including serving as editor of the pastors’ resource “Preachingtoday.com.” He is especially talented in providing pastors with great anthologies from the movies that are excellent illustrations for sermons.
He shares this story. “As a kid, I saw a movie in which some shipwrecked men are left drifting aimlessly on the ocean in a lifeboat. As the days pass under the scorching sun, their rations of food and fresh water give out. The men grow deliriously thirsty. One night, while the others are asleep, one man ignores all previous warnings and gulps down some salt water. He quickly dies.
“Ocean water contains seven times more salt than the human body can safely ingest. Drinking it, a person dehydrates because the kidneys demand extra water to flush the overload of salt. The more salt water someone drinks, the thirstier he gets. He actually dies of thirst.
Lusting makes us like this man. “We thirst desperately for something that looks like what we want. We don’t realize, however, that it is precisely the opposite of what we really need. In fact it can kill us.” [SOURCE: Craig Brian Larson].
In a popular "Saturday Night Live" comedy skit, one of the characters, Stuart Smalley, attempted to console people as they struggled with their issues and dilemmas. In one of the more popular skits, he attempted to counsel Michael Jordan, the famous basketball player, with a non-existent struggle with his athletic ability. In each of the skits, a celebrity guest was "assisted" with advice on how to conduct a self-help program and get back on track. However, by the end of the skit, it was Stuart who was being consoled for his own struggles with inadequacy. He never seemed to feel qualified for the situation at hand. But, even with his own struggles, he always closed this skit with an interesting phrase, "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and, dog-gone it, people like me."
As Stuart Smalley could have said, "Remember, you're clean enough, you're forgiven enough, and dog-gone it, Jesus loves you!"
SECURITY
When something historic occurs, we remember it the rest of our lives. Where were you on September 11, 2001? I was listening to the radio after taking my wife to work. Suddenly, an announcer interrupted and said there was "an incident" in New York. The reports worsened during that eight-mile drive home. I found myself glued to the television for the next nine hours. Sensing the need to be with family, our daughter Amanda drove over and spent the rest of the day with us.
We remember where we were when first hearing of disaster or tragedy. The security industry has become big business. Otherwise there would be no market for burglar alarms, smoke detectors, security systems, guard dogs, and weapons designed to defend our home and family. Out of fear, we purchase these products in an attempt to somehow prevent our most valued possessions from being snatched out of our hands.
"Our" possessions? No! They are God’s, but he entrusts them to us as caretakers. The most valuable, yet least considered God-given treasure is our souls. We know we must protect our families and homes, but it is of utmost urgency that we secure our souls as well. David understood this when he wrote, "Keep me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge…apart from you I have no good thing" (Psalm 16:1-2).
A refuge is more than a shelter; it is a place of safety and protection. When I was a kid, where do you suppose I felt the most secure when a terrible storm rattled the windows of our house? With my Mom & Dad. When life’s storms rattle the windows of our souls, we need to do exactly the same thing: Run to the Father! David did. "I have set the Lord always before me. Because He is my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad ...
THE STORY OF FRIDA
Frida Gashumba tells something of her story in her book Frida: Chosen to Die, Destined to Live, a miraculous escape from the Rwandan genocide. Frida was born in 1980. She was a Tutsi, one of the tribes 'created' during colonial rule based primarily upon height, head size, shape of nose and educational aptitude. The other tribe created was the Hutu tribe. The tribes intermarried, but by the early 1990’s many Hutus in particular felt hatred towards Tutsis. In 1994, 800,000 Rwandans were murdered in three months.
Frida was buried alive with her murdered family. The killers thought she was dead. The next day, she was dragged out of a makeshift grave. Her house was destroyed - its contents divided between local Hutus - former friends and neighbours! Amazingly, despite subsequent death threats, one or two local Hutus hid and protected Frida until she escaped to safety. Emotionally scarred and traumatized, over a period of time Frida experienced the healing of Jesus Christ in her life, and she became a committed Christian.
Forgiving the killers of her family was clearly going to be incredibly difficult, but a few years ago she was able to face the man who did it, and to visit her former neighbours and to pray for peace to be upon their homes and families. But perhaps the most wonderful thing about Frida is the way she now comforts those who are still severely affected even 15 years later, passing on the comfort she herself experienced. Her Rwandan birth name is "Umuhoza." It means "One who brings healing to the broken-hearted."
God does not comfort us [just] to make us comfortable, but to make us comforters. God wants us to experience his comfort and his perfect peace through each other, and to pass it on.
As for Frida, she is now married to Steven – a Rwandan Church leader; Frida is the mother of two children (Maxwell and Natasha) and she is devoted to passing on God’s comfort to those in need.
John Henry Jowett (1841-1923): "God does not comfort us to make us comfortable, but to make us comforters."
REAL COMFORT
Queen Victoria heard that the wife of a labourer had lost her baby. Having suffered deep sorrow herself, she wanted to express her sympathy. She called on the bereaved mother and spent time with her. Later neighbours asked what the queen said. "Nothing," replied the grieving mother. "She simply put her hands on mine, and we silently wept together."
THE UNPUBLISHED HYMN
The hymn writer Fanny Crosby gave us more than 6,000 gospel songs. Although blinded by an illness at the age of six weeks, she never became bitter. One time a preacher sympathetically remarked, "I think it is great pity that the Master did not give you sight when He showered so many other gifts upon you." She replied quickly, "Do you know that if at birth I had been able to make one petition, it would have been that I should be born blind?" "Why?" asked the surprised clergyman. "Because when I get to heaven, the first face that shall ever gladden my sight will be that of my Savior!"
One of Miss Crosby's hymns was so personal that for years she kept it to herself. Kenneth Osbeck, author of several books on hymnology, says its revelation to the public came about this way: "One day at a Bible conference in Northfield, Massachusetts, Miss Crosby was asked by D. L. Moody to give a personal testimony. At first she hesitated, then quietly rose and said, 'There is one hymn I have written which has never been published. I call it my soul's poem. Sometimes when I am troubled, I repeat it to myself, for it brings comfort to my heart.' She then recited while many ...
NINETY-NINE BALLOONS
Eliot was born with an undeveloped lung, a heart with a hole in it and DNA that placed faulty information into each and every cell of his body. However, that could not stop the living God from proclaiming Himself through this boy who never uttered a word.
Even though doctors didn’t expect Eliot to make it to birth, he did, and his parents had the presence of mind and courage of heart to make a video diary of his life. Every single day at 4:59, the time that Eliot was born into this world, his mother and father celebrated his birthday. On his one month birthday, twenty close friends showed up, sang, brought balloons and birthday cake. Despite the oxygen tubes, the midnight feedings that took more than an hour and a half, and the constant worry and concern, Eliot continued to find new ways to warm his mother’s heart.
After ninety-nine wonderful days, Eliot went to be with Jesus. At his funeral, his mom and dad released ninety-nine balloons—-one for each day that he was them. His father said, "How beautiful they were to watch, how quickly they were gone." In the midst of heartbreaking tragedy, the Mooney family found the presence of God strengthening, comforting, and guiding them.
The video diary that his parents made was later posted to on the Internet. As of this week, it's been viewed no less than 3,290,232 times.
GOD OF ALL COMFORT
I remember one time, when I was around 10 years old, I went to summer camp with my church for the first time. This was the longest I had been away from home. I remember the first few nights being so homesick. I cried for my mom and dad. I missed them so much and all I wanted to do was see them and have them come and get me.
I’ll never forget the camp counselor who literally poured courage into my little heart. He said, "Hey, why don’t we go sit outside and talk about it." I sat down with him and he listened as I shared how homesick I was. Then he shared love and compassion with me. He told me I could make it. He told me I could do it. And his presence brought courage back into me. At the very least, it helped me get through the nights there.
That’s usually when I became homesick. During the day, when I was busy with activities I wasn’t thinking about home and wasn’t bothered with homesickness. But when it came time to sleep in the bunks, at night, I lay there in my sleeping bag and became aware of my loneliness.
This is what Christ’s presence does for us. He comes to us, puts His arm around us and says, "Let’s sit and talk awhile." He encourages us to keep going, to be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord and not to grow weary in well doing.
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