Expecting Failure - Why We Cannot Trust Each Other

As I look back on 2015 I think one of the saddest memories I have will be of the video of Bill Cosby coming out of court after having been arraigned on charges of sexual assault. For some time now the accusations have been pouring out of many women who claimed Cosby had drugged them and then sexually abused them. I am not naïve enough to have thought these allegations have no truth, there are just too many of them, but the pictures of this old man who was once considered a pillar of our society looking so old and broken down kind of hurt.

I think you had to be around in the 60’s and 70’s to understand why this one is such a let down. As a white boy who grew up in the 60’s in white suburbia I knew very little about black people. The “N” word was common use in my household; no actually everywhere I went white people usually referred to blacks by that name. I heard very little good said about blacks. All the stereotypes were thrown out. I won’t go into them here, but I can tell you black people were not given much respect here in the St. Louis area. Later on when I went to work at the phone company I was amazed at the hatred most of my co-workers had for blacks. Many of these men were older than me and held great contempt for the civil rights movement. Having worked in the worst ghettos of St. Louis some of the things I saw could have added fuel to the fire of racism I had been fed my whole life, but for me it had the opposite effect; I came to see that blacks are just people like me and you. Getting to work in their homes was an opportunity that God used to teach me that all people are just that; people. They are not all that different than you and me.

But white America didn’t see it that way. They viewed blacks in the stereotypical way. Bill Cosby was a huge part of the change of racial perception that the civil rights movement began. In 1968 there was a TV show called Julia in which Diahann Carol played a young black nurse. Other shows would come along that gave blacks a more prominent role on television but it was the Cosby Show that I believe really had an impact on the perception of the black family.

As Bill Cosby became well known he often spoke out against other black comedians who, like a lot of comedians white and black, used material that was more on the raunchy side. His show presented the family as important and in a culture that had come out of the sexual revolution of the 70’s worse for wear in terms of purity and morals, he was well respected. In the twisted and perverted world of Hollywood, Bill Cosby was a light in the darkness. So now to find out that Cosby was probably just one more pervert, well, it just kind of breaks one’s heart. Bill Cosby is a fake. He is a liar, an adulterer, and a phony.

But there is a great truth to be learned in this. You see the Bible predicted the fall of Bill Cosby. Oh, not specifically by name. There is no book of prophecy that predicted Bill Cosby would come along and let us all down. But the truth is there for all of us to see. Are you ready?

You cannot put your faith in men. You cannot hold them up as heroes or as great moral beings. Let’s start here.

Romans 3:23
 “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…”

Men are liars. It is in our nature; our fallen nature. The psalmist said it in Psalm 116:11, “And in my dismay I said, "All men are liars." And Paul confirmed it in Romans 3:4 saying, “Let God be true, and every man a liar.”

The truth is that since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden man cannot be trusted.

Many years ago when I first received Christ into my life I was delivered from a couple of sins. The first many don’t consider all that important. I was delivered from cursing. Where I worked curse words were common and expected. Immediately I stopped. I was also delivered from lust. Totally. I could have visited a nudist colony and not had one thought of lust. Because of the environment I worked in, outside in the world of telephone repair, I suddenly stood out. I was different. I was light in the dark and perverted world of Southwestern Bell Telephone.

Sparing the details I had a horrible fall from my faith and got involved in an affair. I could see it coming and even prayed that God would remove the temptation. He did not. I failed God, my wife, and my family. During that time I knew I was failing them. What I didn’t realize was that I was also failing the lost people around me.

I learned later on that people I hadn’t expect to, had actually looked up to me when I was living the life of a Christian who had refused to follow along with the crowd. These hard-nosed cursing perverts actually respected the idea that a man could live a pure life. Then I fell.

There was a long time in my life when I wondered why God didn’t stop me from falling. It would be easy to ask the same question about Bill Cosby. Why would God use him to bring morality and goodness to our television sets only to later show us that this man we thought represented wholesomeness and purity was himself about as messed up as one can be?

Here is why. Because our faith is never to be in man, but must only find its direction to be in Christ. Jesus led a perfect sinless life and because of that He could go to the cross and be our propitiation for sin. The entire Gospel hangs on the sinless perfection of Christ.

The second reason why both Cosby and I were allowed to be used by God only to fall is to demonstrate His great mercy and grace. I don’t know what will happen to Bill Cosby. I have no idea what is in his heart. But I know that God restored me. I know that God forgave me. I know that I still fail Him daily yet His Word says that His mercies are new every day. That comes from Lamentations 3. Take a little time now and read that over. Meditate on it and make it real in your life. Read the entire chapter 3. I’ve been there. Have you? Has your own sin broken your heart? Have you ever looked back and realized that maybe you’ve let people down? You’ve let God down? Maybe you need to look at yourself.

The bottom line is this; people will fail you. You should expect they will but don’t let that sour you on them. Just stop making them your heroes. Your husbands and your wives are not perfect. So just love them as Jesus does. Help them get up when they fall. All of us fall short. All of us. Lamentations 3:22-23 says, “Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning.”

Let us love each other that way. No we cannot excuse sin nor do we gloss it over. But what we can do is be builders instead of trash men who just haul the debris to a dump. When those around us fall let us help them put it back together. None of us are perfect, actually far from it; so let’s stop making ourselves out as heroes and stars of the faith. Only one man walked this earth in perfection. Make Him your hero.

Are You Blind to Your Own Blindness?

How is your eyesight? No I am not asking if you have 20-20 vision or if you can read the fine print on a contract. The real question we must ask ourselves is how is our spiritual eyesight? Do we see things as Jesus would want us to or are we viewing the world as our own fleshly desires would have us?

In Matthew chapter 18 we find the disciples, men who had actually walked with Jesus and witnessed miracles, healings, and the unselfishness of the Messiah Himself yet still having the audacity to ask the question, who amongst us is the greatest? Somehow after spending all this time with the most humble man ever they still wanted to know which one of them was going to be top dog.

Before we criticize the though maybe we should look inward at our own hearts. Maybe we should review the prayers we lift up and the things we ask God for. Personally I have been a Christian for a long time. I actually prefer the term disciple of Christ over Christian because the term Christian means “little Christ” and I am far from that. But to be a disciple is to be a student and that is more what I am. Jesus is the master; the supreme example of what we should be like as we traverse this life.

Though we aren’t literally blind it is possible to blind yourself. It is possible to see what you want to see rather than what really is. That is exactly what religion is. Religion is man’s way. Jesus did not come to set up a religion; He came to restore a relationship. In the Garden of Eden Man walked with God. Then sin came into the world when Adam and Eve chose to disobey God and ever since man lives in rebellion to God. Man is blind to the truth.

In Matthew chapter 19 starting at verse 16 Jesus uses a parable to teach us the truth of what He desires from those who want to be His. The rich young man asks, Matthew 19:16,“Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”

Rather than answer the question Jesus first asks him a question.

Matthew 19:17
“And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.”

Notice that Jesus doesn’t’ give this man the Gospel. Instead Jesus gives Him the law. This goes against much of what the modern church will teach you about witnessing. You see the problem with so many of us is that we do not really think we are that bad. We compare ourselves to others and say, “Oh I’m ok. Look at him. He’s a thief or a homosexual and I’m a pretty good guy. I follow the Ten Commandments. I have bad news for you if you think that way. You are blind.

The reason Jesus took the rich young man down the path of the law was to teach him (and us) that there is only one standard for entry into His Kingdom and that is perfection. If you do not understand the absolute holiness of God then you cannot understand the extreme value of what Christ did for you on the cross. This young man actually thought he kept every part of the law. Jesus probably snickered when the guy said, “All these I have kept” in verse 20 and could have challenged that claim easily but instead hit him with something else; his own obsession with possessions. This man who claimed to live a perfect life was unwilling to let go of his possessions to follow Jesus and chose them over heaven. This man was blind to his own greed and materialism.

Check out what happened next.

Matthew 19:21-25
Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”  When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.  And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven.  Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”  When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?”

The disciples, dumb as they sometimes can be, ask the right question, “Who CAN be saved” if perfection is the standard?

Matthew 19:26
But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

In one word Jesus has essential given the Gospel. Only by the great gift of grace and mercy can man be saved. He has no hope in self.

Jesus was not condemning all rich people here nor was He declaring riches as evil in themselves. He was teaching us that our hearts are the problem and that our own blindness to our personal depravity will keep us out of heaven. The rich young ruler never heard the Gospel, Jesus didn’t give it to him. Why not? Because he was blind to the fact that he needed to be saved from his sins. The Gospel will not have a saving effect on those who do not know they need to be saved.

So as we come now to a new year I suggest each and every one of take a good hard look at ourselves. Do we recognize our own sinfulness or are we too busy seeing the sin in others? Jesus never abolished the law. Oh He did away with the rules on foods and stuff like that but the gist of the law, the Ten Commandments, are moral laws that will never pass away. In truth Jesus made the challenges of the law even more stringent because He changed them from physical rules into rules that reach into our hearts. Even thinking about another woman lustfully is adultery is the New Covenant. It’s about the heart and we all fail miserably.

But the good news is that we are not without hope. “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Through complete surrender to Christ we can be saved and He sent His Holy Spirit to live in those who seek Him with all their heart. The Holy Spirit empowers us to change and to become more like Christ every day.

I want to share three things we should commit to in the New Year. Put these three things above all your other resolutions.

     

1.    Love Christ Supremely

2.    Obey Him at all Cost

1       3.   Glorify Him Completely

Friends are you spiritually blind? I leave you this morning with one last scripture reading. In it is the prayer we must pray.

Matthew 20:29-33
And as they went out of Jericho, a great crowd followed him.  And behold, there were two blind men sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!”  The crowd rebuked them, telling them to be silent, but they cried out all the more, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!”  And stopping, Jesus called them and said, “What do you want me to do for you?”  They said to him, “Lord, let our eyes be opened.”

Watch what Jesus did in response to their cry.

Matthew 20:34
And Jesus in pity touched their eyes, and immediately they recovered their sight and followed him.

Lord, let our eyes be opened.

How To Have Unity in the Church as Taught by Jesus

Have you ever pondered the idea of what heaven will be like? The picture we see so often on TV is one of clouds and people floating around with halos on their heads. I don’t know about the clouds but I do know that people don’t turn into angels when they die in spite of all those Facebook posts that suggest it. In Matthew chapter 18 we get a glimpse of the Kingdom of Heaven right from the mouth of Jesus.

Matthew 18:1-3
“At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”  And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Heaven will be filled with those who have become like children because unless we become like that Jesus says we will not be there.

Before we go on I must give the caveat so many need to hear. Jesus is in no way teaching that salvation is earned by our behavior. What Jesus is teaching is that those who have been given the free gift of salvation will be changed. An accurate understanding of our new birth in Christ includes the fact that we are being changed. There is a work going on in us that will one day culminate in us being like Christ. But it is like the old saying about “putting the cart before the horse”. We cannot change ourselves. But when we become saved God makes His abode with us through the Holy Spirit who takes up residence in our hearts. Thus we have the power to fight the new battle of the flesh against the spirit. Jesus is teaching us what that will look like in those who are truly His.

So what is going on in the beginning of Matthew 18 is that Jesus is rebuking the disciples for their attitudes of arrogance in which we see in scripture several times. The disciples are arguing over which one of them will be the greatest in heaven.

“What in the world is wrong with these guys” is the typical Christian reaction to this passage. How can they walk with Jesus and not see the folly in their own behavior? But in truth the church is no different. Jesus was not only trying to teach the disciples a lesson, He was teaching us one as well.

Sadly the church is no different. Oh we don’t usually verbalize the idea that we think we are worthy of the title of the greatest. No, we are much too humble for that. Right? Right. If that is true why is there so much dissension and bickering in the church?

The Bible is written for our instruction. 1 Corinthians 10:11 reminds us that “…these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.” I love the warning that comes right after that verse. 1 Corinthians 10:12, “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.”

In Matthew 18 Jesus gives us three essentials that the church (by the way we are the church you and me) needs to follow so that unity and harmony can exist amongst us. Humility, honesty, and forgiveness are three attributes each and every one of us should seek to instill into our own lives.

When Jesus stated that in order to be like children to enter the Kingdom of Heaven He was speaking of a humility that is like a young child who is completely dependent on someone else for its very survival. We must be like that towards God and if we are then we will take no pride in self. This type of humility transcends self. It puts Jesus first, then others, which leaves only last as the position for self.

Jesus goes on in Matthew 18:15-20 to teach us about how to deal with those who sin against us in the church. Never should we teach this practice of dealing with others unless we have first taught the lesson of humility Christ spoke of here. If you cannot humble yourself before taking the steps set forth in this section then you will not handle things Biblically.

There are four steps Jesus gives to take when we are offended against by a brother or sister in Christ. First is to go privately to them. Do this in humility with truth in love and most times you can resolve the issue.

If not take a brother or two with you to try again. Don’t just take your best friend who might ignore the truth in his loyalty to you. Maybe you are the real problem and the second opinion might reveal how it wasn’t them who needed correction. If they agree that the other person was wrong then with prayer and love the issue might get resolved. But if not there will be another witness to the situation as you take the next step.

If the first two steps don’t accomplish the mission of reconciliation then you should go to the church for help. You see the goal isn’t for you to win the case but it is that you will win back your brother. The disciplinary procedure Jesus set forth here is most often misunderstood. The third step means that the entire church is unified in both the accuracy of determining the offense and in seeing that unity is maintained throughout the church. This doesn’t really speak about the pastor or the elders taking someone into their office and rebuking them, it means the whole church is appraised of the situation. Sadly few churches follow this procedure and even sadder most are not spiritually mature enough to do so. This isn’t about gossip and punishment; it’s about truth being spoken in love through humility, which will help bring restoration.

At the end of all this if the person refuses to hear the truth then the instruction is to remove the person from your own fellowship. But this isn’t about giving up on them. Pray for them daily. Love them even in this process. Through love things change. Proverbs 10:12 says, “Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.” 1 Peter 4:8 tells us “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.”

Jesus finished up with His lesson on how to restore a brother by reminding us about the power of prayer. Matthew 18:19-20, “Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.  For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” Prayer is the key to the Christian life. Restoration is always possible. Pray for it.

Jesus finishes up this lesson with the most important of the three attributes He is teaching us about; forgiveness. It is no coincidence that it follows the other two. He shares a parable in Matthew 18:21-34. I won’t share it here but I suggest we all look at it carefully for the last thing Jesus says in this section is a stern warning.

The parable is the story of a man whose debt, a debt that could never be repaid, as it was too much, was completely forgiven by the king. But then the forgiven man refused to forgive a much smaller debt to another man just like him. When the king heard the man refused to forgive as he had been forgiven the king cast the man into prison with the stipulation that he must only get out when he paid his debt. In other words never as his debt was impossible to repay. Listen to the words of Jesus as He gives the warning.

Matthew 18:34-35
“And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt.  So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

People Jesus is serious about forgiveness. So serious that here we find Him actually suggesting that our refusal to forgive will keep us from eternal life with Him. Again let me remind you, Jesus is not preaching salvation by works. The full counsel of scripture is clear that we are saved by grace alone. But what is a fact of the Gospel is that there is a way to test it. Not to be the pessimist here but the truth is some of us think we are saved when we are not. Again listen to Jesus as He states this.

Matthew 7:17-20
“So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.  A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.  Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.”

Jesus follows this up with a very sobering statement.

Matthew 7:21

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. “

The Church is the Bride of Christ and He loves it very much. We are the Church. We need to find harmony and peace with our brothers and sisters. Matthew 18 is about just that. How we can accomplish this is by doing the things He put forth in this chapter and the only way to do that is by walking in the Spirit.

So read Matthew Chapter 18 again. Pray for the Holy Spirit to be your teacher and for the power in your life to do what Jesus says. Then we can stay on the mission of the church instead of wasting our time with disputes and arguments.