Twinkle Twinkle Little Man

¹ Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.  ² Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.  ³You turn us back to dust, and say, “Turn back, you mortals.”   ⁴ For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past, or like a watch in the night.  ⁵ You sweep them away; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning; ⁶ in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.

¹³ Turn, O LORD! How long? Have compassion on your servants!   ¹⁴ Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.   ¹⁵ Make us glad as many days as you have afflicted us, and as many years as we have seen evil.  ¹⁶ Let your work be manifest to your servants, and your glorious power to their children.  ¹⁷ Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and prosper for us the work of our hands— O prosper the work of our hands!

“Twinkle, twinkle little star; how I wonder what you are.”  Every person since Adam has looked into the starry sky and wondered about the enormity of the universe, and his or her own smallness.  We wonder about time and eternity.  John Wesley asked, “But what is time…in some sense, a fragment of eternity, broken off at both ends?”[1] 

Time is indeed measured against God’s eternity.  Our text this morning is a prayer of time and eternity and wisdom.  It is a prayer uttered as earnestly and hopefully as the innocent eyes lifting up that internal wonderment, little star….what are you, up there so high above the world?

The Psalm writer’s answer about the what of up there comes early in the prayer; verse two is filled with the pictures of our questions about time and God’s eternity.  He opens up for us his heart of faith towards God and, in praise declares God’s hand created it all.  He proclaims, Before YOU, JHWH, Jehovah God – before YOU formed the earth…^(90:2b)  The word[2] “formed” suggests Jeremiah’s potter-God twisting the clay on the wheel as it whirls under his hands. 

He finishes his statement with a phrase that empties our paltry little imaginations:  from everlasting to everlasting, YOU are God.  “Everlasting” is literally the concealed place…a vanishing point on the horizon.[3]  We know we can’t see ahead in time – we can only speculate where tomorrow will take us; but as we look backward our vision disappears at fossils and   scientific guesses on the earth and universe’s age. 

With Wesley we imagine this fragment of “everlasting” which we call time-past and time-future.  And here we are, locked in this time-present, in-between the eternities of past and future.

Frankly, it’s comparing our time with God’s eternity that creates in me awe (and sometimes scares the stuffing out of me).  Here we are in this moment of time; there God is, and was, and is to be.  In Revelation, the beloved apostle gave us a glimpse of the worship scene in Heaven, and about the ever-existential God:

Around the throne, and on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: ⁷the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with a face like a human face, and the fourth living creature like a flying eagle.  ⁸And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and inside. Day and night without ceasing they sing, “Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God the Almighty, who was and is and is to come.”                Revelation 4:6-8 (NRSV)

God is eternal, having existed in himself before anything.  In the Christian Scriptures, James, the brother of our Lord said that our life (by comparison) is like a vapor, a wisp of smoke.  By comparison with God we are here today and gone tomorrow like a dandelion in the puff of a morning’s breeze.  John Wesley compared our ephemeral brevity in this life to that of a fly[4].  Most ephemerons are born in the evening; six hours later, like Cinderella, they leave this ball and are gone. 

Threescore and ten may seem like a long time to live, but compared to the broken ends of eternity, it’s hardly a blip on the radar!  The Psalmist sums up the funeral eulogy in two verses:

·        Verse 5 – we “appear” like renewed grass, winter rye[5].

·        Verse 6 – we “flourish” as the Hebrew word suggests we “twinkle”[6] like the little star in the children’s song…a quick and bright sliding-by in this life.

·        Verse 6 – we “fade” off the scene, withered or “cut short”[7]

To carry this grass metaphor, we germinate, we gleam then we’re gone!  Two verses; end of story!  Pretty depressing, eh?

But, is that what God’s purpose is all about?                                                         Here today; gone tomorrow?  Not by a long shot!

The Purpose of Paradise Lost

If you remember Milton’s “paradise” scenario, he wrote of Eden, and how Adam and Eve fell to the snare of sin.  Eden was a paradise…full of good; full of God.  Then selfish ambition grew its own fruit and man was ejected from the garden; paradise lost! 

God’s first family was full of excuses – Adam blamed Eve; Eve blamed the serpent; but God still said “what have YOU done?”  Paradise lost!

Now, it’s easy to get rather frustrated or fatalistic if this is where the story ends.  There have been many reactions through the millennia:

·        Anger – people turn their backs on God regularly in an effort to demonstrate just how unfair God is (if He really exists).  This is the moral equivalent of a two year old throwing a tantrum because the Burger King philosophy didn’t work for him…he couldn’t have it his way!

·        Avoidance – people refuse to think about eternity and God.  The subject is shrugged off –these are like the Epicureans – “let’s eat drink and be merry…tomorrow we die”.  The implication is that they have no choice, or they act as if there is no eternity.  (It IS an act, you know…deep down they know better).

·        Apoplexy – depression, despair, becoming demoralized.  “Oh, it’s all set in fate….I can’t do anything about the future, woe, despair and agony on me.”  There’s just no purpose at all to life.

Friends, this is exactly the effect which was set as the Adversary’s target – that we would despair or get angry at God and avoid worshiping Him in Spirit and truth.  Sigmund Freud, the father of modern psychiatry held this to be true – that we are alone in this universe, and there is no purpose to life.  He was an incredibly intelligent man, and the world is indebted for his contribution to scientific exploration of the mind – but he did not understand his own existence, or why he existed; for him any idea of paradise was lost.

Yet, to borrow from Freud’s thinking, it is the wise person who seeks to truly understand himself.  The thoughtful understand themselves, in that we should listen to that inner-understanding which tells us we’re all created in the image of Almighty God; eternal Almighty God. 

As another great mind, Paul Tillich said, The wise heart is the heart which does not try to hide this from itself, which does not try to escape into a false security or a false cynicism.[8]

The Purpose of Paradise Regained

The evidence of eternity-past forces us to consider eternity-forward.  This is the “what you are” of “twinkle, twinkle little star”.  And, in this case, the “what you are” is taken by faith. 

One preacher wrote about the middle verses of this psalm, about how God is the one who sweeps us away in death after our sixty or seventy years, “…the psalm arrives at the conclusion (judgment?) that all of human life passes under God’s judgment – ‘we are consumed by your anger…our years come to an end like a sigh.’”[9]

The Psalmist prays that God’s work would be manifest to him.  This is the point of understanding the “what you are” in “twinkle twinkle”.  The Psalmist really wants to know – to see God’s purpose in whatever God’s hand is doing on earth and in the universe.  He doesn’t want to be an ostrich, burying our head in the nearest sand hole.

Paradise regained means seeing the work of God.  Again, Paul Tillich said, “Christianity is based on this message: God [in Christ] subjecting Himself to transitoriness and wrath, in order to be with us.”[10]  Paradise was regained at the incarnation and on the cross – this was the work of God made manifest to us.  We accept this by faith, or we will never truly grasp any purpose in life. 

Thomas Aquinas said, To the one who has faith [in Christ] no explanation is necessary; to one without faith, no explanation is possible.  All of life is totally meaningless without God and Christ reconciling his creation to Himself.

So – Examination Time

Two questions for people of faith; are you a person of faith?  Take the quiz:

1.     With life so short, am I prepared for eternity?

The Psalmist prayed this prayer; he asked God to establish the work of his hands (see v.17).  The word “establish” means to stand erect[11].  He was praying, God, make sure what I do, and who I am stands the test of time.  A companion word in the Christian Scripture is resurrection, “to stand again”.  This is one of the pictures of new life, where those asleep are awakened.

In Acts 3 Peter preached the great Pentecost sermon, telling people to repent and avoid destruction.  He was preparing them for eternity.  

What is it like to repent?  It is a change of heart about sin; it is a change of heart that leads to a change of life towards Jesus.  It is more than being sorry.

In The Essential Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson, the cartoon character Calvin says to his [imaginary] tiger friend, Hobbes, "I feel bad that I called Susie names and hurt her feelings.  I'm sorry I did it."

   "Maybe you should apologize to her," Hobbes suggests.  Calvin ponders this for a moment and replies, "I keep hoping there's a less obvious solution."[12]

Repentance is always the obvious solution.  God never yet has forgiven an excuse, or an intention; God forgives confessed sin.  When it comes to the sin in our lives there are some things that matter, and some things that don’t:

·     It doesn’t matter if you know it all if you refuse to confess

·     It doesn’t matter if you’ve served him well, if you’re stubborn now

·     It doesn’t matter if you’re not as bad as some, if you’re not better than Jesus

·     It doesn’t matter if you’re a good person, if you’re not saved.

Again, John Wesley couldn’t state this more strongly:

What then is he -- how foolish, how mad, in how unutterable a degree of distraction -- who, seeming to have the understanding of a man, deliberately prefers temporal things to eternal? Who (allowing that absurd, impossible opposition, that wickedness is happiness, -- a supposition utterly contrary to all reason, as well as to matter fact) prefers the happiness of a year, say a thousand years, to the happiness of eternity, in comparison of which, a thousand ages are infinitely less than a year, a day, a moment? Especially when we take this into the consideration, (which, indeed should never be forgotten,) that the refusing a happy eternity, implies the choosing of a miserable eternity:  For there is not, cannot be, any medium between everlasting joy and everlasting pain. It is a vain thought which some have entertained, that death will put an end to neither the one nor the other; it will only alter the manner of their existence. But when the body "returns to the dust as it was, the spirit will return to God that gave it." Therefore, at the moment of death, it must be unspeakably happy, or unspeakably miserable: And that misery will never  end…. "Thou art on the brink of either a happy or miserable eternity; thy Creator bids thee now stretch out thy hand either to the one or the other;" -- and one would imagine no rational creature could think on anything else. One would suppose that this single point would engross his whole attention. Certainly it ought so to do: Certainly, if these things are so, there can be but one thing needful. O let you and I, at least, whatever others do, choose that better part which shall never be taken away from us![13]

The first question when you think about God and eternity is, am I prepared to meet Him?

The second question comes in the shadow of the first, but has to do with the time you have here before seeing God in eternity:

With life so short and eternity so long, am I using my time well?

Again, this is tied to the Psalmist’s prayer that God would …prosper the work of our hands ^90.17   In Hebrew thought the very word “hand” means that hollow space between fingers and wrist – it means an open hand.  This is a good picture for answering the question about how we’re using our allotted time on earth. 

There are many things you can do with an open hand.  What the Psalmist has in mind when he prays “let the favor [beauty] of the Lord our God be upon us…” is that we would be like God.  God has an open hand to give.  His hand is also open to receive our worship.  We are to be like that – opening our hands to receive, so we can pass on to others.

This is a picture of what is earlier^{(verse 14)} in the Psalmist’s prayer about showering Israel with God’s ‘steadfast love’.  Chesed (kheh'-sed[14]) is God’s lovingkindness.  It was part of His covenant with Israel.  The Psalmist prays, God, once you promised to love us with extreme mercy; please remember and do that again.  What’s implied is….we need it big-time!

God had also cautioned Israel that to receive that kind of mercy, you must be willing to extend that kind of mercy to others.  Receive and give; you can only do that with an open hand.

So…twinkle, twinkle, little star….now we know just what You are – full of an open hand of mercy and kindness, ready to receive the kind of worship only your people can give.

Our prayer today, then, should be, Lord, our hands are open and lifted up; fill them with your mercy and lovingkindness so we can go bless this neighborhood, and unto the uttermost ends of the earth.

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, let the church say, Amen!

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[1] John Wesley, On Eternity, Sermon #54, 1872 Edition, (Thomas Jackson, Ed.)

[2] Strong’s Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries, © 2003חִיל חוּל chûl chı̂yl khool, kheel A primitive root; properly to twist or whirl (in a circular or spiral manner)

[3] Ibid., עֹלָם עוֹלָם ‛ôlâm ‛ôlâm o-lawm', o-lawm' From H5956; properly concealed, that is, the vanishing point

[4] John Wesley, On Eternity, Sermon #54, 1872 Edition, (Thomas Jackson, Ed.)

[5] Strong’s Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries, ©2003   חָלַף  châlaph khaw-laf' primitive root; properly to             slide by…(by implication) to hasten away, pass on, spring up

[6]Ibid., ©2003 צוּץ tsûts tsoots A primitive root; to twinkle

[7] Ibid., ©2003 מוּל mûl mool A primitive root; to cut short, that is, curtail

[8] The Shaking of the Foundations by Paul Tillich, Chapter 8: On the Transitoriness of Life This material was prepared for Religion Online by John Bushell

[9] Rolf Jacobson, Luther Seminary, Commentary on Psalm, 10/11/09, on The Working Preacher.org

[10] The Shaking of the Foundations by Paul Tillich, Chapter 8: On the Transitoriness of Life This material was prepared for Religion Online by John Bushell

[11]Strong’s Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries, ©2003   כּוּן kûn koon  A primitive root; properly to be erect (that is, stand perpendicular);.

[12] Norm Langston, Fresh Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching (Baker), from the editors of Leadership.

[13] John Wesley, John Wesley, On Eternity, Sermon #54, 1872 Edition, (Thomas Jackson, Ed.)

[14] Strong’s Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries, ©2003   חֵסֵד chêsêd kheh'-sed steadfast love or lovingkindness

Rolling Justice; Flowing Righteousness

The current environment in which American families raise their children causes me to tremble.  Instead of justice rolling down like the waters of an ever-flowing stream, it is more like a stagnant little mud-puddle.

And we’re not the first culture with that problem.  Amos was a simple shepherd.  God called him out of Tekoa, a little village in the mountains of southern Judea, to go up and preach to the northern cities of Israel.  (Amos was a good ol’ boy sent up north to preach to the Yankees!)

News traveled slowly back then.  Who knows how much Amos knew of Samaria, Jerusalem and Damascus?  It didn’t take him long to find out, however.  Amos was a simple man; Amos had spent his life in the hills, raising sheep.  His days were all about protecting sheep from wolves and other predators.  He could recognize danger.  A simple man can see injustice – and Amos saw clearly; Amos saw the human predators:

·           At Damascus Amos saw God’s own people buying and selling each other at slavery auctions.

·  At Edom He saw brothers killing each other.

·           At Ammon He saw children ripped from mother’s wombs.

·           At Judah Amos saw pagan worship rituals among people who were supposed to be God’s own.

·           And in Israel he saw oppression of the poor and sexual perversion.[1]

Amos couldn’t believe his eyes; in the midst of all the flagrant sinning, the total disregarding of God’s commands, the people of Israel were still holding their worship services and rituals.  It is amazing how the people were going to worship, praying, and counting on God to answer and provide for them, all the while not giving the slightest attention to doing right, or being obedient…and God said through the prophet, I cannot stand what I see…it doesn’t matter how many prayers you send up here…I’m not having any of it…you get your lives straightened out, and you do it now![2] 

Things have not changed! 

Amos saw then and there, what we see here and now in America!  It is hard to deny that we live in a land where the tide has turned from a safe-haven for Godliness and moral living to seeing the worst humanity has to offer.  Six years ago in the city of New Orleans following the flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina, we saw and heard the reports of heroism, people stepping-up to help out their neighbors.  But we saw far more of the other reports – looting, crimes against women and children.  We have seen the depravity of humankind on display in full color, live on CNN.

God was not amused in Amos’ day, and He still isn’t; if ever a house-cleaning was needed!  It is no wonder God wanted justice to roll-down like a Tsunami over that bunch…and maybe over America as well.

Are We Better Than That?

The question in American culture…in Randolph County…in Bethany United Methodist Church is:  Are we better than that?  Where are we today in terms of the way we treat the weakest and least protected of our society? 

Amos’ whole ministry was consumed with passion for the underdog, those who had little power.  In our day it is the little ones, children.  How are we doing with caring for the children?

If we took the time to hear all the statistics published by the Children’s Defense Fund[3] these past 20 years of sponsoring Children’s Sabbath days it would fill many hours, sad hours.  Some of the most staggering numbers concern America, one of the most advanced health-care and economically-sound cultures in the history of humankind:

·                    4 children are killed by neglect or abuse every day.

·                    5 children or teens commit suicide every day.

·                    548 children arrested for violent crimes or drug abuse every day.

·                    2,539 high school students drop out daily (one every 10 seconds).

·  17,072 public school students are suspended every day.

How Did We Get Here?

Listen to what I believe are several patterns that are illustrative of moving away from justice…something God’s people cannot ignore.  These three patterns have poverty at the core:

Pattern #1.  Healthcare Dilemma

The spiral against the poor in healthcare can’t be over-exaggerated.  So many people are without access to quality healthcare due to unmanageable costs.  And this problem is not confined to the poorest; in today’s culture nearly one-third are uninsured or under-insured.

The spiral begins with technology advances.  As new and better treatments are developed for disease and fighting the effects of advancing age, the healthcare industry produces more technology and pharmacological approaches to treatment, cure and prevention.  And it isn’t cheap stuff!

New technology always presupposes research costs which result in patents and marketing!  The poor (by definition) cannot participate, except to be guinea pigs in study groups.                                                                                 

Result:  when our healthcare system fails –children suffer.

Pattern #2.  Judicial System Dilemma

It has long been axiomatic that the judicial system in America is slanted against minorities, especially the poor.  Now, poverty itself isn’t sinful.  Jesus said so! 

Prosperity preachers these days tell you you’re a pretty poor excuse for a Christian if you’re not prospering (getting rich like them)!  In Jerusalem’s temple one day, Jesus pointed to a poor widow woman who gave all she had as an offering to God; Jesus called her a spiritual giant.  Poor isn’t sinful!

But while poverty itself isn’t sinful, its effect can leave a person without dignity.  Often people turn to crime because our system of caring for the poor dehumanizes people and robs them of making a worthwhile contribution to society.  I know you do not have to turn to crime, but so often the temptation is great, and many fall victim to the lure of getting out of the hole.  When the hole you’re in robs you of purpose, getting out of the hole becomes your purpose…any way you can!

Adults who turn to crime make that choice of their God-given free will, and they’re also accountable to God and society for their actions.  They also choose to harm their children when that choice means they go to jail. 

Result:  when our legal system fails – the children suffer.

Pattern #3.  Legislative Dilemma

Our legislative bodies pass laws and enact programs that are intended to cure our society’s problems.  Often it turns out to be a band aide on a cancerous tumor; it may look good, but there is no real help. 

A half-dozen years ago our legislators put a band aide on the cancer eating away at the quality of education in North Carolina.  They paved the way for North Carolina’s first public lottery.  The “selling-point” was that the money a lottery will bring in is needed for education. 

Six years ago, before the lottery was a reality I preached this passage and predicted that it “remains to be seen if they will actually spend the money on education, and still continue to fund education with tax money as well – so that education is actually enhanced. 

But – if they do what they did in Florida – funnel in the lotto receipts, but de-fund the education budget from the tax side – you will not have education enhancement…just a regressive lottery tax.  What we will get, regardless of how they handle the tax situation, is more crime (which always accompanies gambling), more taxes to pay for more law enforcement, and a higher incidence of gambling addictions, and the resultant poverty from losses and family breakups.” 

I made those predictions in 2005; today those predictions are being reported as fact.  The News & Record had this to say just last month:

the lottery isn't keeping the promises its supporters made that it would improve public education. Instead, it's become a game of give and take.

Sadly, it continues to take from people who can least afford to give. If the lottery were a tax, it would be the most regressive kind because the poor pay more.

This is confirmed in study after study. Looking at 2009 data, the John Locke Foundation in Raleigh found that the state's top 10 counties for lottery sales had an average poverty rate of 22.8 percent -- much higher than the state average. Looking at similar numbers, Will Wilson, a Duke University professor who studies urban environments, calculated that lottery sales increase by $11 per capita for every percentage point the poverty rate rises.

No wonder the lottery had its best year in 2010. And this year promises to be successful, too, with more North Carolinians falling into poverty. Many see a potential lottery payoff as their best chance to get ahead. Of course, the odds are against them.

The numbers are getting worse for education, too, as the North Carolina Poverty Center report points out. Originally, 37 percent of lottery revenues went to education. That portion fell to 29 percent in 2009-10, with a greater share allotted to prizes in an effort to entice more people to play.

Despite the $2 billion raised for education, the state would be better off without the lottery. The money comes from the pockets of people who could put it to much better use than buying lottery tickets. They could spend it on groceries for their families, for rent, clothing or utilities. And the legislature could return to funding education the way it did before the lottery -- through a progressive tax system that requires people with more money to pay a greater share. That was not only more fair; it also produced more money for schools.[4]

Experience in several states has shown that lottery gambling is always heaviest in segments of society which can least afford it.  Anything that promises great wealth as if it is actually a possibility for most people, yet has odds of 10 or 20 million to one, is dealing in false hope. 

In California a grocery chain carefully surveyed its receipts after installing lottery sales.  Their lottery take was over one million dollars.  But their food sales went down by exactly the same amount.  The game literally takes the food out of poor mouths.  Proverbs 22:16 tells us that a person that gets ahead by oppressing the poor is doing wrong….and will pay the consequences.

Result when adults gamble:  children suffer.

And So What Should We Do?

There is only one Godly response to that question – a commitment, or renewal of a previous commitment to live a lifestyle of seeking justice for children. 

Among Africa’s tribal peoples one culture stands strong and proud – the Masai.  Masai know that the basis for their culture’s future is bound up in their children.  A typical greeting among Masai people is “kasserian ingera”….how are the children[5]  Even Masai warriors, some of the fiercest soldiers on earth, greet each other with kasserian ingera…how are the children?  That’s a good place for us to begin…ask yourself, kasserian ingera…what is the state of the children?

There are some concrete ways you can begin to participate in changing the answer to the question in our country, How are the children?

·  Make Safety a Priority    Our church is committed to the Safe Sanctuary approach.  Everyone who works with children submits to a background criminal check.  Children are suffering; children must be protected.

·  Get Involved   Children’s ministries in this church and our community need help all the time.  I would love to see us start an after-school tutoring program.  If you can read, you can help!  You may not be able to give a lot of time, but together we can make a difference in the lives of children in our part of the world.  Children are suffering.  We can get involved.

·  Support Those Making a Difference   Lynn Groce was a missionary to Ethiopia.  When his child became too ill for them to stay on the mission field, they moved to Gainesville, Florida.  Lynn told me that if he couldn’t stay in Ethiopia then in God’s name he wanted to make a difference wherever God took him.  He developed a ministry bringing churches together with people who needed a helping hand out of poverty.  He partnered successful plumbers, electricians and many others, with those who had no employable skills, but wanted to work.  The program saw many fathers get off the Welfare rolls and keep their families together.  Children stop suffering when families are helped.

So, my friend, ask yourself…In my community, how are the children?

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen!

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[1] Amos 1:3 – 2:7

[2] Amos 5:21-23 my paraphrase

[3] Contact at www.childrensdefense.org

[4] http://www.news-record.com/content/2011/09/27/article/editorial_lottery_is_a_loser_for_state_players

Editorial: Lottery is a loser for state, players, SEPTEMBER 28, 2011 

[5] Look To the Children, a sermon by Rev. Pat Hoertdoerfer

The Commandments; TWO are MORE than TEN

...and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him.  “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”  He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment.  And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”  Matthew 22:35-40  (NRSV)

     When you study the Ten Commandments it’s easy to look at them from the negative side.  At camp, a counselor was leading a discussion on the purpose God had for everything –clouds, trees, rocks, etc.  One of the children challenged, "If God had a good purpose for everything, then why did He make poison ivy?"  The counselor was at a loss for words until one of the other children offered, "The reason God made poison ivy is because He wanted us to know there are some things we should keep our cotton-pickin' hands off!"

    The Pharisees of Jesus' day knew all too well that there were many things God had ruled "off-limits".  In fact, the Pharisees and Scribes had taken the original Ten Commandments and run the total up in the hundreds.  There were over 600 negative commandments that a good Jewish boy had to learn. 

    The problem with this approach is that you can spend your whole life carefully avoiding crossing the line here and there; don’t do this, don’t do that.  You end up never having DONE anything!  What you get is existence as a substitute for real, abundant living.  You know what a substitute is...a "fair imitation of the real thing."  Well, I don't want a substitute, an imitation of the abundant life Jesus promised; I want the real thing!

    So, what's the alternative to taking those Ten Commandments, and just trying to stay within the lines?  The alternative is found in our text, in which Jesus gives the positive "thou-shalts".  In these you can see the heart of all of God's law, and His purpose for our lives. 

    There are three PRINCIPLES contained in understanding the Ten Commandments.  First is:

1. The Negative always Includes the Positive

    The principle of seeing the positive aspects in negatively-stated commandments demands that we work hard at seeing the nature of God (which is entirely positive).  God says, for instance, "You must not commit murder."  I say, "OK, I will simply beat the tar out of you, but stop short of killing you."  I have lived within the rule, but I violate the spirit of what was intended.  What did God intend when He said, "Thou shalt not kill"?  He meant for us to actively seek the preservation of life. 

     In the parable of the Good Samaritan you have a Jew going up to Jerusalem to worship.  He gets mugged, beaten, stripped and thrown in the ditch by the side of the road.  The story has two other fellow Jews – very religious people – who pass by the scene, but opt to not get involved. 

    The third person in Jesus’ story could have passed-by on the other side of the road when he saw the mugging victim lying in the ditch; after all, the religious folks did!  Instead, the man gets in the ditch, dresses the wounds and assumes responsibility to see that he gets better. 

    Jesus’ punch-line to the story is that this third man is a Samaritan.  The Samaritans were natural enemies of the Jews; in the now famous words of Monday Night Football’s Hank Williams, Jr., it would have been like Hitler stopping to help out Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu! 

    And Jesus calls him the Good Samaritan…the hero of the story.  To make the point, Jesus asks a question of the religious leaders who were listening to his story – which of the three was a genuine neighbor to the mugging victim?  The religious leaders hadn't beaten the man; they never laid a hand on him.  But they acted as if his life wasn’t as important as their comfort.  They kept the negative rule of the commandment, but they ignored the positive view that they needed to seek his good.

    Jesus telescopes Ten Commands down two positive statements; Love God, Love your neighbor.  This roughly parallels the arrangement of the commandments; the first group speaks of our relationship with God, and the last bunch that teaches us how to love each other. 

How does the negative include the positive?

    Consider the first commandment – it’s negatively stated (thou shalt have no other gods – that’s idolatry).  Our principle "the negative includes the positive" means that it is not simply avoiding other gods that makes us obedient.  Rather our job is to elevate Christ as OUR ONE AND ONLY GOD.   It means actively loving God, not just avoiding bad stuff.

    An example of God’s heart in this might be:  Imagine you are my father and I’m 9 years old.  You leave me with my 6 year-old brother and tell me to not aggravate him.  Your fondest hope is that I'll be kind and gentle, and in so doing there will be a wonderful memory for the both of us.  But, at the very least, you’re hoping I won't squash him like a bug! 

    And so the principle of the positive included within the negative means we are to "go beyond" duty, all the way to love.  Isn't that what Jesus did at the cross?

    So, the negative includes the positive, and then…

2. The Specific Command Includes That Which Is Like It

     A principle is always more general than a rule; it always extends to a wider application.  For instance, commandment #5 is to "honor father and mother".  Scripture also indicates honoring your parents extends beyond father and mother to include "elders".  This can be political leaders, church leaders, business and family members.  What would life be like without this principle? 

    Applying this principle, we could also use commandment #1 where the Bible specifically prohibits the making of "graven" or carved images as objects of worship.  If we stick just to the specifics, then it would be fine to make cast, forged, or computerized images.  Let's face it, if you want to find a loophole you can rationalize some way to do whatever you want to do. 

     In the wonderful comic strip Frank and Ernest, the two are standing at Hell's entrance.  Frank is reading the Bible, and Ernest questions him, "What are you doing?"  Frank says, "I’m looking for loopholes".

    When Jesus stated the first of the great commandments he said we were to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, mind and soul.  In short, I believe that means that we are not to "nitpick" over the larger picture when it comes to obeying the Spirit of God.  This is just exactly what Jesus would tell the Pharisees later, "You strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel."  You go to great lengths to give the appearance of religious lifestyle, and haven't got the sense of a child to see your own need. 

     The negative includes the positive; the specific includes those like it, and…

3. What is forbidden in deed is also forbidden for the heart

    Principles are great; usually you can plug them into some situation, and come up with an action, or a course to take.  But when it comes to matters of the heart, or attitude, suddenly we are confronted with our own sin.  Genesis 8 tells us that when God looked down at His creation, He saw that mankind had indeed "come a long way, baby". 

    The hearts, the intentions of every man was continually wicked.  God is in the business of searching our hearts.  God is able to see what we allow no-one else on the face of the earth to see; the fact that each of us has a darkness deep within.  It is that sense of knowing ourselves, and the things we do…or would do if we knew we could get away with it. 

    Friends, let us talk honestly here.  Probably most of us have never murdered; we haven’t done the deed.  But how many of us can honestly say we've never entertained the motion in our hearts?  The Bible principle says that we must not do the deed with our hands, or with our minds.  And immediately you say, "Well I can't control what enters my mind."  And immediately God's Word says back to us, "Correct!"  The fact is we are powerless, apart from the power of Christ.  All that we are shows us we cannot obey God's law perfectly. 

    If that were possible Jesus wouldn't have had to die on the cross.  We have all sinned, and will all sin. So what now?  Even though I understand the principles of God's Commandments, I can't live that perfectly. 

    What do I DO to inherit eternal life?  How can I be good enough for God?  Answer:  You’re right – you can’t live that perfectly…and you’re not supposed to DO anything.  God is simply waiting for you to acknowledge that reality, to give up being your own savior.  Instead of trying to BE so good that God will accept you, He just wants you to love Him and be willing to love others like He already loves you.  The problem most people have when it comes to getting it right with God is that they think they can do it all on their own; they’re not willing to admit that God has already done it all.  That’s what Calvary was about.  Your job is to acknowledge it!

    It’s hard to do that in our culture – we feel we can do anything.  We’re even told that from the time we are toddlers – you can do anything you set your mind to do.  But God knows that isn’t true, and He is just waiting for us to get over ourselves and surrender!

      Jim Henry, who was the pastor of Orlando's First Baptist church, tells of a man who fell into the water.  As the man thrashed around, it was very obvious that he couldn’t swim and was going to drown.  A strong swimmer stood by watching him go down several times.  A man standing nearby shouted, "Why don't you leap in and save him?"  But the man just stood there.  After watching a moment more, the strong swimmer finally jumped into the water and rescued the man.  The bystander asked, "Why did you wait so long?"  The rescuer said, "He was too strong before.  I had to wait until his strength was gone." 

    God never saves a person, or delivers him against his own will.  It is the person that gives up on his own strength whom Jesus can rescue. 

    In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen!