Takoma Park Baptist Church, Washington, DC January 26, 1986
The classroom teacher talks herself blue in the face, teaching the mysteries of algebra to reluctant junior highs, who are silently saying to themselves, "Why do I need to know this stuff? I never met an algebra and I hope I never do." She thinks she has taught the material, but then the California tests scores come out and she discovers that just talking it didn't accomplish it.
The parent finds his son in some sort of inappropriate behavior and wags his finger and sternly warns, "Don't you ever let me catch you doing that again." Don't you ever let me catch you doing that again … and the key word is catch. Right, he may not catch his son in that behavior again. But does that mean that the behavior has changed? Not likely; only that next time junior will be a little more careful and will look over his shoulder first. Just telling somebody what they ought to do does not necessarily get it done. Just talking it does not do it.
And so it goes. The preacher lives all through Sunday with the· illusion that he has solved the world's problems and cured his people's ills with his masterful Sunday sermon, only to find out on Monday morning that he has not been heard at all. The president of the United States goes on television to jawbone the country into seeing things his way, only to find out that at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue nothing happens. And on Thursday night at eight, Claire says to Cliff, “You think that just because you say it loud it's true.” But no, no, saying it is not necessarily getting it done. Pronouncing the answer does not necessarily accomplish the solution. We found out here that just ordering thermostat settings does not produce heat!
Ten or twelve years ago, when the me decade of the 70's was at its height, and it seemed every body was into self-help movements or into touchy-feely groups or into this or into that … back in those days and, I believe, continuing with us, there was the assumption that most of us lived at a feeling level, and they way you fixed us was to say encouraging things. We went to small groups sessions, we joined encounter groups and built support groups, we went in for analysis; and, mind you, all of this is of value. I'll say more about that value in a moment; but it seemed we were falling completely for the assumption that to say it is to fix it, to pronounce it is to heal it.
And during that time someone came up with a set of children's stories that revolved around the notion of "warm fuzzies." "Warm fuzzies." In this children's story, populated, as I recall it, by one Barrington Bunny and his companions, the caregiver types had a supply of little puff ball things they called "warm fuzzies." And they meandered around their little world dispensing "warm fuzzies." Somebody has a scratched knee? Dispense a warm fuzzy – which you soon begin to see is not so much a puff ball as it is just puff: sympathy, encouragement, let me kiss it and make it better. Warm fuzzies; wherever Barrington and his buddies went, there they dispensed warm fuzzies, curing it all and making everybody at least feel better: feel loved, feel accepted, feel understood.
They had declared, you see, that when you get a warm fuzzy it'll be all better. When you get a warm fuzzy your problems will be warmed out of existence or at the very least you will be able to accept what is happening to you. What you need, according to this guru of the 70's, is a warm fuzzy.
Now you and I need to be aware that sometimes, often, in fact, personal encouragement is what people need. Just a hearing, just a kind word, just a word of support, a warm fuzzy of that sort is needed often. And to omit it is a mistake. The poet tells us that the gift without the giver is bare; and so and I can sometimes approach other people in need in such an impersonal uncaring way that their problem is only worsened. Yes, we do need warm fuzzies. Yes, we do need words of encouragement. And yes, sometimes when you cannot think of anything else to do for people in need, the warm fuzzy of a word fitly spoken is the best you can give.
By the way, prayer fits in this category, doesn’t it? So often we feel helpless when we find out about someone's plight. We hear of a death, and we are immobilized. We know of someone' s urgent illness, and we have no medical skill. And so we say with a sigh of resignation, well, all I can do is to pray for you. And I would say, well, that's good. That's important. That's not a nothing, that's a something. That is a warm fuzzy, and that's all right.
But … but …again, it's tempting to assume that once we have pronounced the answer we have created the solution. It's tempting to believe that once we have told somebody something we have solved their problem. It's awfully seductive to suppose that just because I have passed out a warm fuzzy I have given you all that you need.
The apostle James punctures this assumption when he says to us, “If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, be warmed and filled,' without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit?" James is in fact showing us just how ridiculous it can be to pass out only warm fuzzies of the verbal kind. Suppose you see someone who is cold, someone sleeping in a doorway off a Washington street, and you walk up and say, "Harrumph, my good man, I hope you can get warm over there in that corner. I trust you have enough to eat. Be warmed and fed." Isn’t that ridiculous? Of course it is; but James would have us see that much of the time we approach the human dilemma with nothing more profound, nothing more concrete than that. Pious platitudes: be warmed and fed.
There, that fixed it. Have a warm fuzzy; there's plenty more where that came from. And James says it won't do. What does it profit? Yes, men and women need encouragement, they need warm fuzzies, they need to feel human and accepted. But there are so many times when they literally do need a warm fuzzy something to wear, they do need something to eat, they do need concrete ministry; and some of us try to get off cheap and pass out warm fuzzies that cost us nothing and are therefore worth exactly that …nothing.
But it won't do. It is not enough. Hear James again: "If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go …” I suspect that is a key word. We'd like the poor and the desperate to go, to get out of my face and to leave me alone. “Go in peace, be warmed and filled, what does it profit?" Will we give only a warm fuzzy, fluffy cheerful talk, or will we give a warm, woven, warp and woof fuzzy, something that will make a difference and will cost us something?
You see, when you really explore this issue throughout the Scriptures, you find that it has a dark side to it. You discover that there are some things we really are going to have to take off and put away if we are going to give the right kind of warm fuzzies. The apostle Paul in several places, but most powerfully in the Roman letter, speaks of taking off more than just warm fuzzies. Listen: “Let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light …let us make no provision for the flesh … our own flesh …to gratify its desires.” Did you hear that? When we prepare to give or think about giving somebody a warm fuzzy, one of the issues is that we are wearing the works of darkness and we are still thinking about making provision for our own flesh.
So, I won’t give unless it’s tax deductible: works of darkness, providing for my own flesh.
So, I won't give unless somebody knows about it and gives me credit. A preacher I heard at Ridgecrest this summer said, “I just hate to do something spiritual when nobody knows about it.” Work of darkness, making provision for our own flesh, wanting credit and wanting a warm fuzzy for ourselves.
So, I won't give to God's work unless I am told by a TV preacher that I am going to get more than I give. One of these televangelist types told his audience recently, “It's just not right that all the pimps and the prostitutes are out there in those fancy cars. It's just not right that all the drug pushers have fat wads of bills in their pockets.” Said he, “The Christians ought to have all these goodies, so give and it will be given you.” And I have to say, works of darkness, making provision for my flesh, wanting a warm fuzzy for me. And it will not do; it will not work. So first this morning, hear the Apostle Paul and let's put off the works of darkness and selfishness and wanting for us, for us,
TAKE OFF DARK SWEATER
And let's learn that simply pronouncing answers to the world's problems will not solve them, that merely wishing someone well, even praying without the intention of being a part of the a answer to that prayer … that's just passing out warm fuzzies that will easily unravel. You and I live in a world in which the warm fuzzies need to be specific, definite, concrete.
TAKE OFF VEST SWEATER
Oh, and by the way, did you hear the rest of Paul's counsel? Not only do we put off the works of darkness, but as we give the right kind of warm fuzzies, we also put on the armor of light, we put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and we live His Gospel. His, who, as the Gospel tells us, laid aside His garments, girded Himself with a towel, and served those whom He loved.
PUT ON STOLE
