Scrap The Script
" Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say.[KI1] You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.” The Jews answered him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?” “I am not possessed by a demon,” said Jesus, “but I honor my Father and you dishonor me. I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” At this the Jews exclaimed, “Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that if anyone keeps your word, he will never taste death. Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?” Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.” “You are not yet fifty years old,” the Jews said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!” “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds." (John 8:42-59, NIV) [1]
Whenever I think about professional wrestling I think of Pastor Troy, our former youth pastor. He was a devoted fan from his teenage years. I never embraced it myself. I don’t want to offend anyone by this comment but I have suspected for years that it could be fake. Not sure but I wonder at times. The same way that I wonder about politicians, faith healers, violence in hockey, UFO’s and a host of other unlikely possibilities. You see, it’s not that I think that professional wrestlers don’t have athletic ability and talent. I do. I wouldn’t want to be chased too far by any one of them especially if there was a camera anywhere close.
My problem with the whole idea is the script. It seems to me that persona is as much or more important than any of these other things and the outcome of any given match is decided by the script before the event ever takes place.
And you know, a bad script diminishes the talent of a good actor and seals the fate of a poor one. You can’t make a good movie from a poor script no matter how hard you try.
Many of us are like that – we are trying to make a good life from a bad script and it’s a battle all the way. Even when our lines are delivered properly, the make-up is applied to perfection and the lights are in our favor, we discover that it’s just not all that it is made out to be. The world is full of people and perhaps some are here today who have discovered that there must be a better option to life than what they currently know.
We build our lives out of the script that we have been given, or we rewrite somewhere along the line because none of us have to accept life ill defined or false hope that somehow all will be well when we stand one day before God.
1. We all have a script and we live out of it.
A scorpion, being a very poor swimmer, asked a turtle to carry him on its back across the river. "Are you mad?" exclaimed the turtle. "You'll sting me while I'm swimming and I'll drown." "My dear turtle," laughed the scorpion, "If I were to sting you, you would drown and I'd go down with you. Now where is the logic in that?" "You're right," cried the turtle. "Hop on." The scorpion climbed aboard and halfway across the river gave the turtle a mighty sting. As they both sank to the bottom, the turtle, resigned, said, "Do you mind if I ask you something? You said there is no logic in your stinging me. Why did you do it?" "It has nothing to do with logic," the drowning scorpion replied. "It's just my nature."
þ The scripting is woven into our nature. None of us escape it. It is a consequence of disobedience. The first couple chose disobedience over intimate fellowship with God and their was a spiritual consequence from the decision that we all reap to this day. We are not born redeemed but lost. We have human tendencies that cause us to go our own way even as Adam and Eve did.
" So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit." (Galatians 5:16-25, NIV) [2]
þ It can be both sinful and tragic. Sinful because it separates us from God and tragic as far as this life is concerned because it keeps us from experiencing life by God’s design.
þ It comes to us from our earthly parents. It can be limiting or limitless. It can create in us an unspoken acceptance that there are certain things in life which are beyond us. It can tell us that our parents love us more when we perform well and less when we fail. It can also tell us that no matter how well we do, it is never enough. It can drive us through life to prove our worth. It can tell us that things which may or may not be ultimately important are vital and essential. It can coerce us to pick up where they left off as though our job is to finish what someone else started. It can tell us that money or fame or education or talent or power is all important and worth whatever sacrifice that is called for. It’s a terrible way to start life because it paints a picture that life wears away. And by the time we can see the real picture that is there underneath and realize what is really important it is too late. We’ve traded away our lives and we can never go back.
þ We have a script that comes to us as well from an estranged relationship with the one who designed us. We are no mistake. Every single aspect of our being is a part of a great plan.
"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." (Psalm 139:13-16, NIV) [3]
But there’s something in each of us that tells us that He is going to take something good away from us if we come to Him. We’ve gotten bad information from the one who has an inside track. We are born into this world with a predisposition to hear him and to see as he sees. We really don’t think much about him. He provides a perspective to us that we interpret as being “normal” and original with us. He is the enemy of your soul. As long as he can remain in the shadows and keep your soul in the dark then he is content. He doesn’t care if we ever speak his name or acknowledge his existence because he knows that all deceived people ultimately are his. It doesn’t matter how or why they are deceived. It just needs to stay dark or dim or shadowed.
Jesus found himself toe to toe with people who called themselves children of Abraham because genealogically speaking they could connect. But they weren’t really children of Abraham. To be a child of Abraham most properly means to be a child of faith. Abraham was “friend of God”. None of us are born into this world as friends of God.
"Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God." (Romans 8:5-8, NIV) [4]
They were his “descendants” rightfully enough but they knew nothing of his redeemed nature.
"What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”" (Romans 4:3, NIV) [5]
"It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression. Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were. Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification." (Romans 4:13-25, NIV) [6]
And somewhere along the line we accept the script and our role and we live out of it. We see things accordingly, value things accordingly, behave accordingly. Today you are living the faith script – that’s God’s gift to allow you to see life as He has designed or you’re still living out of the normal natural, human script that comes with the sinful separated nature that each one of us are born into. Unfortunately I picked up a story this week of a young child who took a message home to a dad who doesn’t attend a church. She told him that people who don’t know Christ in a personal way are going to hell. He objected and it would see that he has forbidden his wife and two daughters to come to church.
It sounds so harsh doesn’t it. But it’s true. It’s so true that God offered His only Son that:
“whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
You see it is never God’s will that people go to hell. If it was then Jesus would never have offered himself.
"The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9, NIV) [7]
It is never God’s will that a person should go to hell. It is that person’s own will that takes them to hell. If you miss heaven one day friend it will be because this is what you have chosen.
2. What is our natural scripting?
þ We are unable to hear God.
Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say.
When we don’t understand we have this tendency to try to discredit the truth rather than to look within.
"but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment: “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ." (1 Corinthians 2:10-16, NIV) [8]
þ We are geared to see and adopt a sinful self-centered agenda.
"The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake." (2 Corinthians 4:4-5, NIV) [9]
Blessed are they who are too tired and too busy to go to church on Sunday, for they are my best workers.
Blessed are they who are bored with the minister's mannerisms and mistakes, for they get nothing out of the sermon.
Blessed is the church member who expects to be invited to his own church for he is part of the problem instead of the solution.
Blessed are they who gossip, for they cause strife and divisions that please me.
Blessed are they who are easily offended, for they soon get angry and quit.
Blessed are they who do not give their offerings to carry on God's work for they are my best helpers.
Blessed is he who professes to love God but hates his brother and sister, for he shall be with me forever.
Blessed are the trouble makers, for they shall be called children of the devil.
Blessed is he who has no time to pray, for he will be easy prey.
Blessed are you when you read this and think it is about other people and not about yourself. I've got you.
n Douglas Parsons, Pulpit Helps
þ We do not naturally search for truth – we run from it many times.
"For you are the children of your father the Devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning and has always hated the truth. There is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies." (John 8:44, NLT) [10]
"The Anarchist’s coming is all Satan’s work. All his power and signs and miracles are fake, evil sleight of hand that plays to the gallery of those who hate the truth that could save them. And since they’re so obsessed with evil, God rubs their noses in it—gives them what they want. Since they refuse to trust truth, they’re banished to their chosen world of lies and illusions." (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12, The Message) [11]
þ We are naturally resistant to God and compliant to the devil.
"Didn’t I make everything in heaven and earth?’ “You stubborn people! You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? But your ancestors did, and so do you!" (Acts 7:50-51, NLT) [12]
" But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was." (2 Timothy 3:1-9, NKJV) [13]
3. How do we rewrite?
He messes with our feelings or emotions, our fears, failures, falsehood
þ Truth – the remedy for falsehood.
The devil has three children: pride, falsehood, and envy. Welsh Proverb
He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
How in the world can a person make good decisions with bad information or misinformation?
“ I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”
God communicates himself in truth. He is a truth-broker. He therefore needs to place something in our hands that supercedes feeling. Truth must always supersede feeling in the life of the Christian. He calls us to be people of faith who walk by faith not sight or anything else that Satan can corrupt. Faith is a willingness to stay on course regardless of whether or not it feels right.
Falsehood thrives in the shadows of innuendo and ambiguity. It loves be suggestive and incomplete in it’s form and allows the partial knowledge of another person to fill in the blanks with some terrible possibility that we artificially inseminate in their minds. This allows the evil intentions of the emotional rapist to violate the victim and shift the responsibility to the other.
Ill. You’ll never guess where I saw Peter the other day.
Someone said to me the other day, “That Peter Beckwith doesn’t have the brains God gave a goose!” And I said, “Oh yes he does!”
“”Captain sober today!” Into the log book it is written an into the log book it shall stay.”
There are “sympathy gatherers who love to suggest by their demeanor that they have been somehow wronged by someone else so they hang their head and cause people to see them as a victim when they know that in so doing they are misrepresenting the intentions or the comments of another person and they are deliberately slandering someone else as much as if they were spreading and repeating clearly articulated lies. These are not the actions of a faith child of Abraham but the actions of a child of hell.
þ Tenacity – the lens of clarity. It brings truth into sharp focus in our lives. The more we practice the truth the more evident it becomes.
"“But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”" (John 3:21, NASB95) [14]
We can stay off rabbit trails. It allows us to avoid clever little word traps that often disengage the Christian from the main event.
i.e. - The church shouldn’t shoot it’s wounded. True but they also shouldn’t bandage mortal wounds and put them back on the front lines. There is a time of inactivity and recuperation that is normal and natural and to be expected and there is a time when a person needs to take in rather than give out and it is not cruel for a church to suggest that a person needs time out of ministry when they face a crisis so that they can come apart and experience God’s healing touch.
þ Trust – the compass of peace. In the swirling seas of emotion it is absolutely necessary. I have a step father who is a lobster fisherman. He did it the old way. I have seen him leave port in his old ill-equipped boat when he disappeared from sight before he cleared the end of the wharf. He had no electronics other than a compass to rely on. White Head is a tiny island easy to miss on a clear day let alone a foggy one. Still for years he was able to return to the island without fail. I asked him one day how he knew when he was home. He said that he could tell by the color of the water.
You have to learn to trust a compass. And you have to learn as well to not allow your natural instincts to overrule. That’s a tough thing to do by times. I have been “terrible confused” in the woods and every part of me has wanted to doubt the reliability of my compass and follow my instincts. The compass will give you reliable direction.
I knows days of discouragement as a minister. I know of times when I would like to do most anything else. There are days when fear grips my soul. I get close enough to the reefs to hear the crashing seas and I know that others more skilled than I have lost their lives on those reefs.
But I have this compass.
THE HUG
It was one of those mornings.
You know the type.
Things are tense.
Our infant son had been up all night.
My wife's eyes (along with the rest of her) were weary.
My oldest son, the five-year-old, wasn't feeling his best either.
He was slow getting ready for school.
He understandably didn't feel like going.
It was just one of those mornings.
You know the type.
As I drove him to school, he was quiet.
When parents are tense and tired, the children feel it.
They know by word and gesture when their acts and attitudes are less tolerated.
After being fussed at, he was sullen.
It was one of those mornings.
You know the type.
I walked him to his classroom as usual.
He walked in, removed his coat and hung it up.
I usually give my son a hug before I leave him in class.
I knew today he really needed a big hug, and maybe so did I.
He came forward with his arms outstretched. I bowed down,
clasped my arms around him, closed my eyes and hugged him tight.
Normally, I would only hug him for two or three seconds but on this morning, I held him tight as the seconds ticked by like dashed lines on the highway.
All of a sudden, I felt him get heavier.
Still clinging to my son, I opened my eyes. I understood why he had gotten heavier. His feet were off the ground. He had curled his legs up and his heels were only inches away from his backside.
He clung.
I clung.
Sometimes in life no words are needed. As he folded his legs up and trusted his father to carry all of his weight, he didn't get heavier to my spirit.
I actually felt lighter.
It was a ritual repeated countless times through countless years from countless parents to countless children.
The touch and embrace between a parent and a child, make them both feel more secure.
It was one of those mornings.
You know the type.
Stuff that I didn’t have the heart to delete:
If you don't believe in the devil's existence, try working for God for a while.
Karen Mains, using beautiful language of her own choosing, is talking about the effects of restorative grace when she writes:
Nature shouts of this beginning-again-God, this God who can make all our failures regenerative, the One who is God of risings again, who never tires of fresh starts, nativities, renaissances in persons or in culture. God is a God of starting over, of genesis and re- genesis. He composts life's sour fruits, moldering rank and decomposing; He applies the organic matter to our new day chances; He freshens the world with dew; He hydrates withered human hearts with his downpouring spirit.
-- With My Whole Heart
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[1] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[2] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[3] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[4] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[5] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[6] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[7] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[8] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[9] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[10] Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 1997. Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House.
[11] Peterson, E. H. (2003). The Message : The Bible in contemporary language. Colorado Springs, Colo.: NavPress.
[12] Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 1997. Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House.
[13] The New King James Version. 1996, c1982. Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
[14] New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995. LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[KI1]