Getting Past the Right Answers - Becoming Honest with Ourselves

People who have been churchgoers for a while know the right answers to say so that we can look like we are totally committed to Jesus, but when it comes to actually living out the right answers, we fail more often than not.

For instance, we say that we believe in the power of prayer, but when was the last time that we spent thirty minutes in prayer?

We say that we believe that the Scriptures are the inspired word of God, but when was the last time we seriously studied them?

We say that we believe that following Jesus is the best life that anyone could possibly live, but when was the last time that we shared the gospel with someone?

We say that we value living life together in Christian community, but when was the last time that we sacrificed, whether financially or with our time, for our community?

We say that we trust God, but when was the last time we despaired and doubted?

What we do shows what we really believe.  The right answers are easy.  Too easy.  But living out the radical call of the gospel in our lives is difficult.

Paul wrote in his letter to Colossae, "Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
Colossians 3:9-10 (ESV)

I heard Craig Groeschel give a sermon the other week where he said, "I'm guessing that some of you know someone who has told a lie so many times that they start to believe the lie is true."  Then he went on to ask, "How many of you would honestly say, that for you that battling with self-deception is a significant problem?  You're really, really deceived about a lot of things?"  Only a few people raised their hands.  Then he asked, "How many of you know someone else who is really self-deceived?"  The hands then raised from nearly everyone.  He told them to look around and ask, "Do we have a statistical problem?"  The problem is that we can notice the self-deception in other people while we consider the self-deception in ourselves justified.

Why is it so hard to be honest with ourselves?  Do we not like who really are?  Are we embarrassed about our failures?  Paul said to not lie to one another, but I think we really need to stop lying to ourselves.  We need to put on that new self, allow the knowledge that we become enlightened with to transform us, but we can never do that if we keep telling ourselves that the old, out-of-style clothes that we are still wearing are still in.

We have developed an immunity due to familiarity with the Gospel that should transform us.  As churchgoers, we have developed, what I consider, sermon immunity.  It means that we can listen to a sermon, think it is great or awful, and go home and not do a thing about.  We have learned how to listen to a message and remain immune to any change.

This has become easier because we have become more and more inundated with knowledge.  Wikileaks just leaked 251,287 State Department documents.  It was said back in 1989 that a weekday edition of The New York Times contains more information than the average person in 17th-century England was likely to come across in a lifetime (Information Anxiety).  Around 1,000 books are published internationally every day and the total of all printed knowledge doubles every 5 years.  More information is estimated to have been produced in the last 30 years than in the previous 5,000 (The Reuters Guide to Good Information).  Information is everywhere.  If we have any question about any historical event, we can just Google it and have the answer.  But allowing the right knowledge to transform us is more important than just knowing some information, being able to wow your friends with trivia, or passing a test.

What Paul wants us to do is really believe in the depths of our being.  To allow our beliefs to wash through our body and come out in the way we live.  For a belief that is kept in the head and not expressed in the hands and feet is not a true belief.  It's just us deceiving ourselves.  And if we won't be the hands and feet of Jesus' head, who will be? 

James wrote:

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.  James 1:22-27 (ESV).

Let's stop lying.  We have places to go and new clothes to put on to get us there.

The Bible on Alcohol and Drinking Wine

In America, we live in a church culture where the prohibition movements that began in the 1840s and culminated in the Prohibition in 1920 have played a huge role in shaping our nation and our church.  These movements, birthed out of good intentions, have warped an honest and historical interpretation of Scripture into one that declares that alcohol is forbidden.  Some churches that were firm on prohibition have made abstinence from alcohol a key issue to who they are.

Others in our society dislike drinking because of terrible family situations they have been in.  They have experience a father or mother drinking too much alcohol.  There hatred of alcohol from their experience is understandable, but the issue in these situations is not consuming alcohol in moderation; it is about people getting totally blitzed , becoming a slave to alcohol, and allowing that slavery to justify abandoning their responsibilities as a father or mother.  My sympathy goes out to people who are living in or have experienced situations like that. 

The larger issue disguised in the alcohol discussion isn't really about alcohol but the practice of making Scriptures forbid something that it does not forbid.  In the case of alcohol, they are actually forbidding something that Scripture encourages in places.  This is a dangerous step to take because it produces a Bible study method that can make the Bible say anything. 

Here are some clear verses on the issue. 

You cause the grass to grow for the livestock
and plants for man to cultivate,
that he may bring forth food from the earth
and wine to gladden the heart of man,
oil to make his face shine
and bread to strengthen man’s heart.
Psalms 104:14-15 (ESV)

No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments. 1 Tim 5:23 (ESV)

Give strong drink to the one who is perishing,
and wine to those in bitter distress;
let them drink and forget their poverty
and remember their misery no more.
Prov 31:6-7 (ESV)

The verses that are against drunkenness need to be read in the understanding that there are verses that encourage drinking like the ones listed above.

The following verses show that wine is bad in excess.  By only addressing the excess, the honest conclusion can be that drinking in moderation is okay.

Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain.  1 Tim 3:8 (ESV) 

You can be a deacon and a drinker, just not addicted to much wine.  Paul could have easily said, "No drinking wine."  But he said "not addicted to much wine."

Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine.
Titus 2:3 (ESV)

In Matthew, Jesus claims that he came “eating and drinking.” This is in contrast to John the Baptist who came “neither eating nor drinking.” Obviously, John drank liquids or he would have been dead. What Jesus is saying is that he came drinking, in the way that people claim to go down to the bar and have a drink (Matthew 11:19). Jesus was a drinker.

Jesus’ first miracle was at a wedding in Cana where they ran out of wine. If John, the writer, wanted to emphasize that it was non-alcoholic grape juice, there was a word that he could have used to describe it as such. Instead, he used a different word, the word to describe wine. So we see that Jesus had no problem going to a wedding where they were drinking. Nowadays, unless you can turn water into wine, you would have to run down to the store and buy more alcohol, but Jesus took the barrel of water and turned it into wine right on the spot so that the hosts would not be humiliated for running out of wine (John 2:1-11).

Paul wrote Timothy and told him to drink some wine for his stomach (1 Timothy 5:23). We see that Jesus drank alcohol, that he provided alcohol at a party, and that Paul followed that up by recommending alcohol for medicinal purposes. Wherever the prohibition attitude started, it was not through an honest reading of Scripture

Do not indulge in much wine or get drunk is sound doctrine. It is also sound doctrine that it is okay to drink. What is not sound doctrine is saying that drinking is forbidden; that teaching is a precept of man birthed out the early twentieth century and is not sound doctrine from Scripture. We often confuse sound tradition with sound doctrine.

Science also agrees that drinking in moderation is beneficial.

Alcohol in Moderation Is Good for Sick Hearts Too, Italian Study Suggests
Alcohol heart benefits show up even after bypass surgery
AJCN study shows moderate alcohol consumption related to stronger bones
Moderate alcohol consumption may help seniors keep disabilities at bay
STATE OF THE SCIENCE REPORT ON THE EFFECTS OF MODERATE DRINKING
Why Alcohol Is Good for You

In the end, what science says does not really matter because scientific conclusions change with the passing of time.  But in this case, they line up with Scripture and explain for those who are adamantly opposed to alcohol why it is actually good in moderation.  Despite these medical benefits of alcohol, I would argue that the best benefit of alcohol is, like David said,  that it gladdens the heart and opens us up a little bit to make better relationships.

Abstaining from alcohol is not a bad thing to do.  One would be completely justified in taking that approach.  The problem is when people make their abstention from alcohol a requirement despite the Scripture giving clear teaching that it is not something a follower of Jesus needs to abstain from.

We must remember that all good things in life have risks.  Alcohol can be very damaging to one's health, family, and job if consumed in excess.  But that does not mean that it is not beneficial in moderation.  Most things that are beneficial and enjoyable in moderation can be destructive in excess.  Finally, if someone can't participate in a beneficial pleasure in moderation, then they should abstain from it, whether that is alcohol, television, music, sex, sport, or any other pleasure that can take control of our lives, but that does not mean that we have the liberty to make a blanket statement prohibiting alcohol because Scripture does otherwise.

Legalism brings about Division, Love Knits Us Together in Unity

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.  For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory (Colossians 3:1-4 ESV).

This part of the letter from Paul to the church at Colossae came immediately after Paul dealt with two attacks on the church there.  The first attack was one on the nature of who Jesus was.  The second attack was legalism in the form of philosophies, Judaism, angel worship, and asceticism.  Paul's remedy to legalism and losing focusing on Jesus was to seek Christ in the things that are above rather than the things of this world.  This echoes Jesus' teaching during the Sermon on the Mount: 

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you (Matt 6:33 ESV).

When I was a kid and would play hide and go seek, I always liked to hide with someone.  Although less effective, it made the game all that much more enjoyable.  Earlier (in Colossians 2:3), Paul wrote that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Jesus.  Paul (in Colossians 3:3) is saying that we are hidden with Christ in God.  Unlike when I played hide and seek, hiding with Jesus is still enjoyable yet more effective for our life.  For us who are in Christ, the secrets that are hidden and do not make sense to the world are revealed.  If we live in that same mystery, our lives shouldn't make sense to the world around us.

We're supposed to set our mind on the things that are above, we're supposed to seek His kingdom and His righteousness, and we're assured by Jesus that if we seek we will find (Luke 11:9-10).  What if what is above is actually all around us?  What if His kingdom is here in our midst, yet we fail to see it?  What if finding Him is much easier than we thought?

**

Dr. Karl Menninger was a psychiatrist who was revolutionary for his time and his thoughts are still challenging to the psychiatric field today.  Before World War II, when mental asylums were overcrowded, conditions were terrible, and the mentally ill had a stigma with society, Menninger opened up a clinic that actually loved patients and cured them of their problems rather than just isolating them from society or medicating them like they do now.  

"Love cures people-both the ones who give it and the ones who receive it."

"Love is a medicine for the sickness of the world; a prescription often given, too rarely taken."

"Love is the touchstone of psychiatric treatment ... to our patient who cannot love, we must say by our actions that we do love him" (1).

When Menninger was asked, "If you knew for a certainty that you were going to have a nervous breakdown, what would you do?"

He replied, "I would close my house; I would move over onto the other side of the tracks; I would knock on doors until I had an opportunity to meet somebody who had more problems than I did; and then I'd spend my time helping them solve those problems" (2).

Meninger knew that loving others is the best cure for the problems we face.

**

Jesus taught:

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,   I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’  Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?  And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?  And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’  And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers,  you did it to me' (Matt 25:34-40 ESV).

It seems that I have taken a tangent from the idea that legalism brings division while love knits us together in unity, but Jesus' teaching that we love Him by loving the less fortunate isn't a tangent.  It's the cure to legalism.  Loving others, especially those who society deems unlovable, is exactly how we "seek the things that are above."  We can get hung up all sorts of crap when we are the church together.  We can get hung up on what music style we us, what songs we sing, whether we sit on pews or pew chairs, whether we have the lights dim or brighter, what programs we should or should not do, or one of the hundreds of other inane subjects.  But the real heart of our life together is love.  Love for one another and love for those around us.  When we let the other issues get in the way of us loving each other and loving those around us, we have become legalists.

A healthy family is not a family who always agree with one another.  A healthy family is one who works through their problems and disagreements because they love one another.  They don't give up on one another when times get tough or family decisions do not go their way.  "Hatred stirs up strife,  but love covers all offenses" (Prov 10:12 (ESV).  Hatred toward one another causes a family to disintegrate while love frees them to disagree.  The same is true of a healthy church.  We need to love one another through thick and thin because we have been knitted together in Christ.

"Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving" (Col 2:6-7 ESV).  This walk in him does not come through self-centeredness that manifests itself in us warping Jesus into who we want Him to be or morphing our walk into a series of legalistic obstacles that we expect others to traverse.  This comes from living a transformed life, a life that is focused on loving others no matter what others might think of us.  For we have been "knit together in love" and hold "fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God" (Col 2:2, 2:19 ESV).  

Legalism brings about division, but love knits us together in unity.


**

1. Quoted in "Menninger's long history began with a small idea."  Menininger Institute. Web. 27 Nov. 2010.

2. Quoted from Clarke's personal file in Clarke, J. Richard. "The Royal Road to Happiness."  Brigham Young University. 30 October 1979. Web. 27 Nov. 2010.