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Let us
pray: Take my lips and speak through them. Take our thoughts
and think through them. Take our hearts and set them on fire
for you. Unless you speak, nothing of significance will be
spoken. Bring us your word, Lord Jesus. Amen.
Several
years ago, newspapers carried a story about an elderly lady
who lived in the Big Cypress Swamp in south Florida. Her home
was an old shack located by a small pond. Every day the lady
went out to the pond to draw water.
In the
pond lived an alligator. Despite the danger, the lady allowed
the alligator to live in the pond for years. It seemed tame.
She didn't bother the gator and the gator didn't bother her.
However,
one day while she was drawing water from the pond, the gator
swam under the water and then plunged up, grabbing the old
woman's hand with his mighty jaws. She tried pulling her hand
out of his mouth, but the gator ripped it off. Bleeding profusely,
the terrified and stunned old woman crawled back to her shack
and called for help. Paramedics finally arrived and she received
medical attention.
The next
day, the park ranger found the alligator in the pond and killed
it. When they cut the alligator open, they found the old woman's
hand. The park ranger told reporters, "Alligators are
most dangerous when they lose their fear of humans. By allowing
an alligator to remain in your pond, you unknowingly give
it the courage to attack.."
The lady
still lives in the swamp. But there are no longer any alligators
in her pond.
Paul,
in his letter to the Romans 6:23, reminds us that the wages
of sin is death. What we earn is death. Yet too many times
we think we can keep sin in our lives and not suffer the consequences.
Eventually it will take a bite out of us.
We live
in a world wracked with sin. During confirmation this year,
sixth graders and their parents were invited to write down
anonymous questions for us to look at. Eight out of ten questions
had to do with the problems of suffering and pain and starvation.
The answer to all of these "why" questions is "The
reality of sin." God never intended the world to be like
it is. God designed the universe without sin: perfect and
complete, without suffering, without death, without pain.
But he created humanity with the ability to choose to be in
relationship with him. Adam and Eve broke the covenant, and
that is when sin entered the world.
I also
believe sin has a cumulative effect. We today are reaping
the effect of living in a fallen world. Trouble people may
be having may not be from any specific sin they committed,
but from this cumulative effect of sin and separation from
God.
Fredrick
Buechner has a wonderful illustration of sin. He describes
sin as centrifugal force. As if we were swinging that bucket
of water upside down; the water, even when upside down over
our head stays away from us because of this force. Sin pulls
things away from us. It pulls God away from us. It pulls people
away from us. It pulls us away from ourselves.
The problem
is, we've grown comfortable with the sin in our lives. We
allow it to make its home in our lives. Not only are we in
danger of losing a hand, we are in danger of losing everything
because of sin's centrifugal force, isolating us and tearing
us apart. Sin also tears our country apart.
We may
be more or less comfortable in our lives, but please don't
ask us to change! The sad thing is that unless we are willing
to change our hearts, God will not work through us.
Our scripture
comes from the book of II Chronicles. I and II Chronicles
were originally one scroll, but were divided because it was
too big. The title Chronicles means "the words or affairs
of the days." It was the history of Israel from Adam
to the Babylonian captivity and Cyrus' decree to allow the
exiled Jews to return. It was probably compiled and written
by Ezra, who led a group of those exiled Jews back to Palestine.
He was concerned about building a spiritual foundation for
the people.
In our
verse, the best-known of all the Chronicles, Solomon has seen
to the building of God's temple, and here in our verse God
is sharing with Solomon the stipulations that God lays down
for a nation to experience his blessing. Those who have been
chosen to be God's people must cease from their sins, turn
from living lives of proud self-centeredness, pray to the
Lord, and yield their desires to his Word and his will. Then,
and only then, will he grant heaven-sent healing for their
land.
I want
to look tonight at the first admonition of God in this passage:
Humble yourselves. Nothing will happen to the alligators in
our pond until you and I humble ourselves. Humility. Humility
comes from recognizing that all we have and are comes from
God. The Greek philosophers despised humility because it implied
inadequacy, lack of dignity, and worthlessness to them. Our
proud selves sometimes slip into this view.
The Biblical
meaning of humility is personified in Jesus Christ. He is
completely adequate and of infinite dignity and worth; yet
he gave himself for others and exalted only God. As Christians,
we must resist the temptation of thinking the number of committees
we have led, or the number of years we have sung in church,
or the number of sermons we have preached have earned us anything
other than the opportunity to exalt others, especially God
and Christ. Spiritual humility comes from realizing that "There
is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who seeks
God." (Romans 3:10-11) "Even our righteous acts
are like filthy rags" in God's sight. (Isaiah 64:6) Humility
is not belittling yourself, but exalting or praising others,
especially God and Christ. Humble people focus more on God
and others than on self. "Whoever wants to become great
among you must be your servant," said Christ, adding
that he himself vacated heaven not to be a ruler of the masses,
but to be a servant of many. He daily demonstrated this when
he befriended the sick, the poor, the homeless. He washed
a lot of feet. He demonstrated his lordship by not lording
over others.
"In
humility consider others better than yourselves," Paul
writes to the Philippians, adding "Your attitude should
be the same as that of Christ Jesus." The tough part
is that we are followers of a man whose attitude didn't get
him crowned. It got him killed. Besides the spiritual arrogance
that plagues us, we need to watch for the flip side of the
coin: false humility.
In your
life there are some things that are about to happen in the
lives of others. God wants to intercept those lives. Suppose
God wants to do it through you. God comes to us and talks
to us through the Bible, prayer, our experience, and worship.
But if you are not humble, you might respond, "I don't
think I am trained. I don't think I'm able to do it; focusing
more on yourself than on God's call. Or sometimes the alligators
in our ponds interfere with our being able to go where God
wants to send us.
Jesus'
first "beatitude" was "blessed are the poor
in spirit." Those who know they are spiritually needy
are blessed. Have you claimed your neediness? Have you sought
God's help to clean out your pond? What is it that is separating
you from all else?
The writer
of Hebrews warned that we must get rid of everything that
slows us down, especially sin that distracts us. If we don't,
it will handicap us and do damage to the cause of Christ.
Humble yourself before God. He gave you life. He gave you
new life. He created you and redeemed you. He owns you. Never
be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God. Humble
yourself.
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