It's the Law
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It’s the Law
It’s the Law
Intro
[Thanks to the girls and the leaders] [make them stand again]
pic of girlscoutlaw
Today we are going to honor those young ladies and their leaders by looking over the Girl Scout Law. Just as it is with any other aspect of life, there is much truth gleaned from everything we do that can find its root in scripture. And today is no different. So I want to take this law, and walk through it quickly and talk about all the ways in which the Bible speaks of these same points.
Now girls, I need you to help me do it, ok? I only know the Boy Scout law, and this is a little different. So I will read it, and you say it with me.
I will do my best to be honest and fair, friendly and helpful, considerate and caring, corageous and strong, and responsible for what I say and do, and to respect myself and others, respect authority, use resources wisely, make the world a better place, and be a sister to every girl scout.
pray
picoftonyhorton
One of my favorite mantra’s in life comes from Tony Horton… “Do your best, and forget the rest.”
[talk about doing your best]
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,
Do your best. No matter what you face or how good you think you are. Go all in. Do your best.
And that is the start of our Girl Scout law right girls? It is also the start of a good life in Christ. No matter you might be doing now in faith, if it isn’t your best, you need to start again! You need to get it right right now! Everything we do has to be our best effort. Even if we fail, let’s fail spectacularly ok? So start everything with the understanding that you will do the best you can, no matter what happens.
But there is more to scouts, and to life, than just trying hard, right? Honestly, trying hard is a huge percentage of life, but at the same time, if you are trying hard to do the wrong thing, you will find yourself on the wrong path. So we have to do certain things - there are certain parts of our lives that we have to be sure to live out if we want to obey the law for scouts.
And for Christians, there is a life we are called to as well, and the same things these scouts promise to do every week can and should be found in every follower of Christ!
I want to talk a walk now through this law, and show you what the Bible thinks of these superlatives.
Honest and Fair
Now I need not tell you all this, but the Bible talks about honesty and fairness alot. It turns out, as far as Jesus is concerned, these two traits are at the top of the list of things we need to do to be like Him! And I am grateful that our Girl Scouts remind us of that today.
Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord,
but those who act faithfully are his delight.
They remind us this because we need to be reminded. Sometimes, life leads us to think that lying is the only way to get to where we want to be. You don’t have to look hard in our present day life to see example after example of people who consistently peddle in partial truths or outright lies who have made it to the top. These are the people we hold to our children as examples. These are who we tell them to emulate.
But lying lips are an abomination. Of all the things that we think are an abomination, we seldom mention this one! Probably because we find ourselves often falling short here. But we have to remember to be honest; we have to try!
Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.
We have to try because we are all in this together. And if we can’t trust one another we are doomed. And that trust has to begin in us. With our own honesty, not with insisting others be honest first.
words
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.
So don’t lie to each other - just be honest. That is the new you once you begin to follow Christ. But don't think I am just talking about lying to your friends or family about who you were with, or to your teacher about your homework, or your boss about why you need tomorrow off, no you can lie about a lot of things, big or small, you can even lie to yourself. You can even, by lying, convince yourself that the way you treat people is right, even when it isn’t. So being honest is a great start. But you have to also be fair.
picaboutkidstakingfromeachother
[talk about fairness Olivia and Daisy]…Now Biblical fairness, the life we are called to, it looks a bit different from worldly fairness doesn’t it? Jesus tells us in a parable that the workers who came at sunup were paid the same as those who came an hour before the end of the day. That seems completely unfair to us, from our point of view, but to Jesus, to the Christian, that is just how we are supposed to think.
We can’t get hung up on our own crazy idea of fairness! We can’t do it, because God calls us to emulate Christ and to do what He says! So we must view fairness through His own words.
And if you are going to be fair, the very best way I could ever tell you to do it comes from Jesus’ mouth.
And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you.
Mark 4:
That is fairness. Whatever you give, or do, or think, about yourself, do that for others. Whatever you would do, think, give for others, give, do or think about yourself.
Essentially, fairness is remembering that whatever standard you hold yourself to is what you can hold other’s too. Whatever you would get, they get too. And even more important - whatever way you would WANT to be treated, treat people that way.
The old golden rule right?
Friendly and Helpful
Now a scout, and Christian is honest and fair. The next line reminds us to be[ask girls to yell it]
Listen church, of all the things we can be, free of charge with little effort, friendly should be it! It’s so easy to do! And more importantly, when you do it, your own day gets better! It is one of the few things we can do for others that will surely make us feel better than it will them.
Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
One of the best ways to be friendly is to listen to Paul here. Rejoice when you see people rejoicing! Weep when you see people weeping. Have overwhelming empathy! Understand that even if that person hates you, you hating them back can never do enough damage to them to undo the damage you do to yourself! But! The joy and kindness you offer others, especially those who don’t like you, it can undo even the greatest damage this world offers! When you love and act like that, you latch on to the Holy Spirit, and you become a force for God’s change in this world. You heal yourself, and all of creation.
Just be friendly.
And as your are being friendly, you will find that you can’t stop being helpful! In fact, being friendly is being helpful! And when you do it, when you are friendly, you will find that you want to help all the time!
[good Samaritan very brief]
Christians and Scouts are Honest and fair, friendly and helpful.
Courageous and Strong
We are also [girls] courageous and strong.
It doesn’t always feel like it, does it? Sometimes, as I am trying to be honest and friendly, I feel like I am being fearful and weak. But those are the times when I don’t see clearly. You see, it takes far more courage to be kind in an unkind world than it takes to be just like everyone else.
words
This world has far too many unkind souls in it. People who chase after personal gain and ambition. They don’t care who they run over in the process.
But that’s not us. That isn’t what we are called to. We have to be courageous and strong. Sometimes that might mean that we not go home when we are afraid of camping out, or we learn a new task that is useful for our gold award project. Maybe that means that in the face of bullying we stand up for others and take the blows for them. Maybe it means that we deny ourselves those things that pull us away from Christ and from helping others.
Whatever it might mean to you, it is clear what it means from scripture.
For Christians, being courageous and strong means taking those lashes like Christ, bearing the worst this world can offer us. It is turning the other cheek. It is loving our enemies. It is feeding the hungry and clothing the poor. Loving the least of these.
It is remembering the verse that I have to tell myself every single time life hits me square in the gut, and I wonder how to keep going.
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
Be strong. God is with you. It might feel like you can’t do it, or won’t make it, but with God on your side, whatever needs to be done will be done! Just keep pushing. Keep walking. Keep moving.
Proverbs “she is”
Strength and dignity are her clothing,
and she laughs at the time to come.
Ladies, when you live for Christ; when you go all in to follow this girl scout law in every aspect of your life, Strength will come naturally.
The author of Proverbs laments that a noble or a good woman is hard to find, “she is worth more than jewels,” he says. And how right he is. You see, when you live the way Christ wants you to live, you are then bathed in righteousness! Strength and dignity are your clothing! You don’t worry about what might happen off in the distance, but you are joyful and you can laugh! You can laugh because you know what good things God has for you, in this life, and the next.
Because of that, you can always be strong and courageous.
Responsible for what I say and do
We also have to be responsible for what we say and do.
Now you young ladies are coming up into a world that loves to be passive aggressive. It loves to claim free speech behind the veil of hatred or derision that is obvious to everyone. The words they say hit their targets and then they run for the cover claiming they were joking, or just offering “alternative facts” or other word games.
But that isn’t us. We are responsible for not only our words, but our actions - which are, at the end of the day, an outpouring of our thoughts! And not just those actions of doing, by the way, but what we leave undone too!
That story, the story of the good Samaritan, do we judge those who passed by the injured man by their words alone? No! Some had a seemingly valid excuse! No, it was the action of inaction that we judge them by. They are found guilty by being unwilling to be helpful and fair, kind and courageous.
Likewise, we are responsible for everything we say and do. Church, words matter. And not just words, our innermost thoughts matter. We are all responsible for those things. And we need to own up to that responsibility if we claim to take Christ seriously!
Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written,
“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall confess to God.”
So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.
Romans 14
If you want to be responsible for what you say and do, start right here. Start by remembering that one day, all that we say and do will be brought to light. Every knee will bow and every tongue confess to God! And we will each give and account, or answer, for everything we think said or did. We are responsible for those things. There is no room for word games and talking points in the life of a Christian.
Respect myself and others, Respect authority
How do you respect yourself? That is such a weird idea to me sometimes. I don’t know why. But I think, we respect ourselves when we are honest with ourselves.
You know I talk a lot about milkshakes and pizza. I love them. But I also respect myself enough to know that I don’t need them everyday…even though I want them every day. I would almost go so far as to sing “I need thee every hour” but about milkshakes.
I can only do that when I look in the mirror and tell myself honestly what I think. Do I look and feel healthy? …not so much...Probably don’t need a milkshake today then.
So respecting yourself starts with being honest with yourself, not in an unkind way, just gently honest with yourself.
The same can be said for others too! Maybe the best way to respect someone is to be lovingly honest with them; as if they were your child.
The golden rule comes to mind again, right? Do unto others… comes back to my head, too, “be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourself.”
And those are all great. But for our scouts, and all of us, I want to use this one.
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
You see respecting others is the culmination of being honest and fair, friendly and helpful, considerate and caring! Don’t do anything for person gain! Don’t do things to make yourself feel better, or to make yourself look better. Be humble, and view everyone else as more significant than you.
View them that way. Don’t get me wrong, you are all wonderful, and loved by God beyond measure. But you have to be willing to make everyone else know that too! If you know you are loved, help others to know it! Value them more than self. That is what respecting others is all about.
We also must respect authority. That starts in your relationships at home and continues out into the world! We respect them, because God gave them to us for a reason. Sometimes that reason is for what we deem is successful purposes, other times, not so much. But whatever the reason, as Christians we respect that God has them there for a purpose and we need to show them, if nothing else, that we honor God’s plan.
Use resources wisely
Now I could get stuck on any one of these all day, but this one, at least right now, really does it for me. Listen, God gives us all of creation to care for, and if you don’t believe that, I encourage you to read Genesis at some point. He calls us in scripture to care for it. Even toward the end of scripture, in Revelation, He reminds us that those who don’t care for it will have a price to pay!
The nations were angry, and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your people who revere your name, both great and small— and for destroying those who destroy the earth.”
Rev 11
So if you want a reason to use resources wisely there it is!
Church everything we have on this planet is finite. Money, clean air, water, trees, bees, time - it is all limited. So when these young ladies, and all us Christians, say that we need to use resources wisely, what we are really saying is that we understand that every good and perfect gift comes from God above. And what we do with those gifts matters! Don’t waste the!. Don’t act like they don’t matter or will always be here! They matter because God matters!
Perhaps one of the most selfish things we could ever do as people, is to use everything we see around us for our own personal gain and leave nothing for those who come behind us. And not only selfish, it is actual unbiblical thinking considering God Himself told the Jewish people that they should leave the edges of the fields for the poor, and that every 7 years we should let the earth rest.
Listen, God wants the earth to rest from growing wheat! Just imagine what He would want us to do about air and water pollution.
We have an obligation to use every resource we have wisely, for God’s purposes and not our own.
So we all need to use every resource we have wisely, for God’s purposes.
Make the world a better place
And that leads us the the final point. [girls] Make the world a better place.
I mean, church, if we do all of that other stuff, there is no doubt this world will be a better place! And that is really the point of our existence! We have been given this life, not to live it for us, but for God and for others! Why else would He put us here? For some cosmic test? No, we have been given life, in order to bring life and light to others through our lives lived for Christ!
Well what does that mean? Well I think it means don’t just take and take from your friends, or neighbors, or the world in general. Give back! Donate some time and effort to the cause of Christ! Listen, Jesus could have taken but He didn’t! He gave endlessly. God could have taken all of us up to heaven and not left us on earth, but there was a job to do here! There are people to love, to feed, to clothe, to give homes to. There are sick to mend, and lives to save! There are souls to be reached and relationships to be made whole! There is a creation to care for and a world to nurture as we do our absolute best to make it the place God wants it to be!
[closing should be about that…make it a better place. ]
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Don’t take and take, but give back. Jesus could have taken but He didn’t. He gave endlessly. He could have taken all of us up to heaven and not left us on earth, but there was a job to do here! There are people to love, to feed, to clothe, to give homes to. There are sick to mend, and lives to save! There are souls to be reached and relationships to be made whole! There is a creation to care for and a world to nurture as we do our absolute best to make it the place God wants it to be!
You young ladies, you are the light of the world, for the future of the world. Church, we are the light of the world, for them and for those who follow them. Don’t put out that light by not following this simple law. Let your light shine! Let it shine wherever you are and whatever you are doing! Live out these simple words and you will shine for God brighter than you could ever imagine! And you will guide the world to know Him.
And listen, if you want to be a brother, or a sister to this world? Do those things. Show them the way. Let your light shine into their lives. Care for this world as if they were all your brothers and sisters. That is change. That is love. That is the life we need to live. That is the law, and the way of Christ.
Invitation