In Italy, in the mid‐1990s, judges fined a 50‐year‐old Italian driver for dangerous driving after he handed the controls of his car over to God. A judge heard how the man let go of his steering wheel and cried, “God, I’m going to let you drive!” The man’s car ended up in the ditch. The story goes on to tell how the motorist’s lawyer mounted a rather ingenious defense. He maintained that the court had no jurisdiction, because this case constituted a “religious dilemma.” The prosecuting attorney, however, reminded the judge that ‘God is not a legally licensed and insured driver’ and has never passed an official driver’s test, so it was illegal for the man to turn over the steering wheel to the Almighty.’ The judge agreed and found the man guilty.
Let’s be honest. Unlike this guy, very few of us are actually interested in turning our lives completely over to God. To have God as our co-pilot is one thing, but letting God be “in the driver’s seat” is an entirely different matter. Unless, that is, of course, we have no other option. When the woman in the song says, “Jesus, Take the Wheel,” she’s desperate. She’s already lost control of her car and her life. She needs one more chance only because she doesn’t have a prayer.
When we realize we are in a storm of life, when we have destructive habit or addiction we can’t handle, or we think we’re dying, then we might consider putting ourselves in God’s hands. In 60’s Minutes recent Interview (Sunday August 16th, 2009) with the newly restored NFL Quarterback, MICHAEL VICK, the reporter asked him, when did you realize that you that what you were doing was wrong? His answer: “WHEN THEY CLOSED THE CELL DOOR in front of me!”
But isn’t there a better way? Could we find healing in turning over the control of our lives to God BEFORE WE’RE ABOUT TO HAVE A HEAD ON collision with reality? If we had a set of values, habits, or VIRTUES AVAILABLE WITHIN OUR HEARTS WHICH COULD SEND OUT LITTLE WARNING signals or REMINDERS OF CONSCIOUS we go off track? Some of us have had such DISPOSITIONS BUILT INTO OUR SOULS FROM CHILDHOOD which work much in the same way my word processing program has a BUILT-IN SPELL AND GRAMMAR CHECKER. The spell-check still needs my own input and doesn’t replace my need to stay alert, but it does work with me as A CONSTANT WATCHMAN for my spelling flaws. Don’t we all need such a watchman FOR OUR SOULS?
Most of us watched the news reports last week concerning the trial of Mocksville DENTIST, DR. KIRK TURNER. The court FOUND HIM NOT-GUILTY and we all may have some opinion about the verdict. What interests me is not simply what happened in the heat of anger, passion and rage, but what KIND OF THINGS DIDN’T HAPPEN LONG BEFORE that fateful argument and struggle that ended in tragedy and death. Especially when I observed Dr. Turner READING HIS BIBLE during the trial, I hurt for him, because he and his wife didn't have enough of its virtues in their hearts beforehand to steered them clear of that tragedy.
Most of us carry the VOICES OF OUR PARENTS, our elders, our friends and family in our heart who CONTINUE TO SPEAK to us and keep us upright. If we are faithful in our daily conversations with God, we stay ALERT TO GOD’S VOICE within through Scripture and Christian practice. Others of us depend on SOCIAL CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS, rules and even human or divine laws to guide and direct us. I want to also introduce to you virtues we can CULTIVATE IN OUR PERSONAL DISPOSITION and behavior. Making these virtues CONSTANT COMPANIONS can bring healing, GIVE SHAPE TO STRONG SOULS and keep us out of “heap of trouble.”
But first, I want to GIVE ONE BRIEF CLARIFICATION ABOUT HOW HEALING VIRTUES work within us. One thing Jesus had to constantly hammer into the minds of his disciples is that is it not what goes into a person stomach and into the sewer that corrupt, but WHAT COMES OUT OF A PERSON’S HEART. Mark 7: 20-23 gives these powerful words of warning: And he said, "It is what comes out of a person that defiles. 21 For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person." It seems a bit comical today to dare SUGGEST THAT EATING CERTAIN FOODS would make us good or bad. Yet, HOW MUCH BETTER ARE WE AT UNDERSTANDING that what we CONSTANTLY PUT INTO OUR HEARTS AND MINDS is WHAT WE EVENTUALLY GET OUT OF THEM? How much better are we at realizing that you DON’T ONE DAY SUDDENLY CHANGE your life with some MAGICAL PILLS or even some RELIGIOUS PATTERN or formula? Inner transformation to become a healthier, stronger person is something that REQUIRES MAJOR LIFESTYLE changes and developing CHARACTER, not just minor adjustments.
THE ILLUSION OF CONTROL AND POWER
Where we see Paul going in this passage from Romans 7, HAS A LOT TO SAY ABOUT WHERE HE HAS BEEN. We first encounter Paul as Saul in Acts 7, as one of the powerful Pharisees of Israel, overseeing the stoning of Stephen. Saul was one a very brilliant person, who had been GIVEN THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR SEEING THAT THE LAWS OF GOD WERE CARRIED OUT by his people, even to the very letter. There had to be a LOT OF IGNORANCE around, for a person to think they could be so SMART TO ENFORCE LAWS OF GOD. Don’t you think?
PAUL THOUGHT HE WAS THAT SMART. If you read about his pedigree before his conversion to Christianity, HIS LIST OF CREDENTIALS ARE QUITE IMPRESSIVE. He had all the degrees and accolades. He felt himself better than most. He was filled with ALL KINDS OF SELF-CONFIDENCE, saying, “If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. (Philippians 3:4ff.)
In his own minds eye, PAUL HAD HIS ACT TOGETHER. But right here is where the ILLUSION OF POWER RAISES ITS UGLY HEAD. It is those of us who have the resources, BEEN BLESSED BEYOND MEASURE, carry forth the traditions to the next generation, and who THINK WE HAVE STRENGTH AND POWER in life, who are AT THE GREATEST RISK for the grand illusion of power. Paul even alludes to this when he says in verse 13, “Did WHAT IS GOOD, THEN, BRING DEATH to me?” He answers quickly, “By no means! It was sin, working death in me…” But how SIN WORKED THROUGH THE VERY ILLUSION INSPIRED BY ALL THE GOOD and right things is a perfect example of the MOST DESTRUCTIVE ILLUSION in human nature.
We see the working of the “power” illusion all the WAY BACK TO THE GARDEN OF EDEN, when God gave Adam and Eve the very powerful choices of life or death, which were so twisted up in them they arrived at the very arrogant idea they could take their WORLD WITH NO RESTRICTIONS or boundaries at all, acting as if they were God. CAIN TOO, QUICKLY SEIZED HIS OWN MYTHICAL “RIGHT TO POWER” when he took the life of his brother, Abel, thinking he could make things right by his own hand. MOSES WAS OVERCOME with it too, when he took matters of justice into his own hands and murdered an abusive Egyptian. JACOB THOUGHT BY TAKING THE BLESSING and controlling his fate, he could DECEIVE HIS WAY THROUGH LIFE---until the joke was on him, when he woke up with Leah, but not Rachel. SAMSON IS THE POSTER BOY of all who think they have power. HE THOUGHT HIMSELF INVINCIBLE until he met a woman who showed him he wasn’t (If we’re married we’ve all met her). We all know too well from the politics of Old Testament what power did to most of the Kings of Israel, even invaded the cherished seat of King DAVID, WHO WAS SAID TO BE CLOSEST TO GOD’S HEART. But even at that place of most likely blessing we can recall that God never really wanted Israel to have a King in the first place exactly for this very reason---the illusion that power and control brings to the human heart.
One of the most recent news items not far away is the headlines concerning the Governor of South Carolina, Mark Sanford, who left his wife and went off to South America, without giving notice to his office, so he could have an affair with his Argentine mistress. The governor’s wife, after the revelation, alluded to the grand illusion of power when she said in Vogue magazine: “Politicians (people in power) become disconnected from the way everyone else lives in the world (reality). I saw that from the very beginning. They’ll say they need something, and ten people want to give it to them. It’s an ego boost, and it’s easy to drink your own Kool-Aid (illusion). As a wife, you do your best to keep them grounded, but it’s a real challenge.” (From the Interview and article by Jonathan Becker, entitled, “Notes on a Scandal” found at http://www.style.com/vogue/feature/2009/08/jenny-sanford .)
Let me challenge you personally, even now, as we begin this series on the virtues of healing and health---to honestly and squarely face you own illusions of power and control over your own life head on. You aren’t a Bible character nor a Politian, but all of us struggle to realize our human boundaries and limits as a person, as a spouse, as a parent, as a Christian or as a leader, or simply as a someone with wealth or privilege?
Having such a destructive illusion of power is exactly what happened to a woman named “Claire” in David Semand’s book, Healing Grace. She wasn’t any kind of unique person, but like most of us, she believed she had the power to make everything turn out right in her life. She constantly worked at being better and doing more to control the outcome of things, even thinking she had to earn God’s love. But instead of getting better and better she became more and more frustrated and, eventually became so depressed, she tried to take her life. Listen to HOW CLAIRE DESCRIBED HER SITUATION to be like Samson in the Bible. “Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes, and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding in the prison.” (Judges 16:12). Claire said she felt just like that---as if she were in prison, strapped to a great grindstone, turning around and around, almost like a chained animal. She wrote: “I FELT AS IF I WAS CONSIGNED TO A TREADMILL. Whatever I tried took me in a vicious circle. Sometimes I could keep it under control, and run slowly. But usually I’d get going faster and faster, because I felt driven to keep up. That is, to feel I wasn’t doing enough. But I never was, and so never felt accepted or acceptable. I WAS TRAPPED AND COULDN’T FIND A WAY TO GET OFF. I got more and more worn out. I can understand why Samson ended up pulling the whole thing down. There didn’t seem to be a way out…..” (Healing Grace, by David Semands, p. 68, Victor Books, 1988.).
PAUL MUST HAVE ALSO FELT LIKE THIS in his attempts to perfectly follow and implement God’s laws? No wonder he finally cries out in our text: “O wretched man that I am---who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Rom. 7:24). This is utter honesty. PAUL HAS COME CLEAN AND ADMITTED his own self-destructive illusion of control and power. We are FORTUNATE TO HAVE SUCH A HONEST, TELL-ALL PASSAGE in our Bible. Opening up and making yourself transparent and most of all BEING HONEST with yourself and to God is the first and perhaps the greatest virtue of the human soul and the Christian life.
But HOW DOES THIS KIND OF HONESTY bring healing? Our mother’s taught us that “honesty is the best policy”, but AS ADULTS WE ALSO LEARN IT UNWISE to let others know your flaws or see you sweat. HOW DOES HONESTY WORK IN THE REAL WORLD? Well, hold on tight---how Paul breaks free from his own illusion of power and control might surprise you. Paul no longer wants to be known as a “Pharisee of the Pharisees,” but as the “chief of sinners.” How can that work?
TO BE STRONG YOU MUST FIRST BE WEAK
Since I’ve been talking about the bad news, let me tell you some good news beginning with this little farmer story.
A farmer who had experienced several bad years went to see the manager of his bank. “I’ve got some good news and bad news to tell you. Which do you want to hear first?” he asked.
“Why don’t you give me the bad news first and get it over with?” the banker replied.
“Okay. With the bad drought and inflation and all, I won’t be able to pay anything on my mortgage this year; either on principle or the interest.”
“Well, that’s pretty bad.”
“It get’s worse. I also won’t be able to pay anything on the loan for all that machinery I bought, nor on the principle or interest. “Wow, that is bad.”
“It’s worse than that. You remember I also borrowed to buy seeds and fertilizer and other supplies. Well, I can’t pay anything on that either---principle or interest.”
“That’s awlful---and that’s enough. Tell me what the good news is.”
“The good news,” replied the farmer with a smile, “is that I intend to keep on doing business with you.” (From Semands, Healing Grace, p. 108).
This is the good news of the gospel, which is WHY WE CAN BE HONEST AND OPEN WITH GOD, is that IN SPITE OF OUR MORAL BANKRUPTCY: God keeps wanting to do business with us. This is precisely WHAT PAUL has come to understand. Paul is READY TO GIVE UP ALL ILLUSIONS that he ever had in the ability to perfectly follow or implement God's laws. IS THIS SUCH A STRANGE DISCOVERY? By realizing we are not in complete control over our lives, that sin is at work even in our very best, and that we can't perfectly keep the law, but stand constantly in need of God’s grace---only in FACING and FACTORING OUR HUMAN WEAKNESS into the sum of our lives, are we too able to GAIN SPIRITUAL STRENGTH.
PAUL IS ON TO SOMETHING BIG, almost too big. He is on to something the world still has TROUBLE GRASPING and we still have trouble applying to our lives. I recall years ago, when the convention conflict took hold, the most disturbing factor was not the struggle over doctrine or the Bible, but the struggle for power. Some people really believed then, and still believe now, that they can take control of things (in religion or in our nation) and if we are biblical enough, if we are good enough, if we pray enough and if we do all the right things, then we can finally have enough power and control to determine a positive outcome. But I recall how someone has rightly said that the greatest joke we can ever tell God is our plans---whether they are good or bad. The illusion to power and control over life is right there in front of us all the time. It is visable and as plain as it can be, in how we practice religion, in our politic, just as it is in our own private lives when we try so hard to make everything turn out as we think it ought. We can gain certain kinds of power, we can reach for control, but it isn’t long until things are just as unmanageable or even more unmanageable than ever. As I heard preaching guru Kenneth Riddings once say when he was a young preacher he thought he could save the world, but he has noted that the now the world is just as lost or even more so, after all these years of trying to save it." This was his way of warning the young preachers he was teaching to beware of what illusions of power can do to their own souls.
JESUS HIMSELF, in whom the Scripture says ALL AUTHORITY OR POWER WAS GIVEN by the Father, also struggled against the illusion power gives. Right from the outset of his ministry, in the wilderness with the devil up until the Garden of Gethsemane, the DEVIL PRESSED THE ILLUSIONS OF POWER RIGHT UP TO HIS FACE. “If you are the son of God,” then do this, gain this and gain that, and then things will turn out right and you will be all you can be. When I rephrase the temptations of power like the common television commercials, paraded before our eyes every day, it sounds awfully familiar, doesn’t it?
But it is HERE IN THE OTHER GARDEN, THAT JESUS CORRECTS ADAM’S GREAT FAILURE. He falls down and ADMITS HIS OWN HONEST FEELINGS by saying “If it be possible, let this cup pass.” WHILE FACING HIS OWN HUMAN WEAKNESS, JESUS ALSO SHOWS US HIS OWN TRUE SPIRITUAL STRENGTH when he declared honestly and openly, before the whole world and before God, and even with the devil watching, that “his spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” This admission of weakness sounds very close to Paul, when he said, “I can will what is right (spirit), but I can’t do it (flesh)!” (Romans 7:18). However, right here in his own human weakness, but with all spiritual strength in his soul, JESUS SPEAKS WHAT STILL MAKES THE DEMONS still tremble. JESUS SURRENDERS any and all illusions of human power and control of his own life INTO THE HANDS OF THE FATHER by saying, “Not my will, but thine be done.”
Aren’t these words symbolic of the GREATEST STRUGGLE AND NEED WITHIN ALL of us? Think of that FAMILY MOMENT WHEN THE FATHER HANDS OVER THE KEYS of his car to the son or daughter for the first time? What a loss of control and a shift of power. That is a rite of passage in most of our lives, but here AT THE CROSS WE FIND THE GREATEST RITE OF SPIRITUAL PASSAGE, when the healthiest human who ever lived GIVES THE KEYS OF HIS OWN HUMAN HEART BACK TO THE FATHER, by saying “Daddy, I’m giving the keys back, and I’m all yours”. This is what MUST FINALLY BE DONE FOR REDEMPTION TO HAPPEN, laying everything, all power and all control back into the hands of the Father. This is not weakness, this is strength. DO YOU HAVE THE REAL POWER TO LET GO OF THE ILLUSIONS YOU ARE LIVING and be that strong before God? Can you do that?
The truth is you will do that. SOMEDAY WE ALL MUST HAND THE KEYS OF OUR LIVES BACK to God the Father, and someday we will all admit WE ARE ULTIMATELY POWERLESS OVER OUR OWN DESTINY and future. Unfortunately, we DELAY OR DENY ADMITTING OUR OWN WEAKNESSES until we actually BECOME PHYSICALLY FEEBLE, weak and frail and have no other choice. INSTEAD OF SURRENDERING, even in that moment, we are like the girl in “Jesus Take the Wheel”, WE’RE JUST FALLING DOWN TO BEG FOR ONE MORE CHANCE, not really to surrender our heart and lives to God.
But, here’s my question for us today, repeated one more time, as we’ve come to face it in this text. IS THERE ANY VALUE IN THE VIRTUE---in SURRENDERING OURSELVES TO GOD NOW---in admitting our weaknesses now, and giving up our own illusions of power now---and in giving up our false sense of control now--- to the one truly has control? WHAT WE DO WITH OUR WEAKNESSES? We are trained by our culture to hide or deny our weaknesses, but IS THERE ANYTHING POSITIVE TO BE GAINED when we GO AGAINST THE MANTA of this world that says, “We are the master’s of our fate and the captains of our souls”. What happens when we need a master to master us? WE ALL HAVE FACED THE LOSS OF FINANCIAL control on this wild economic roller coaster ride lately, and we know how that felt and still feels? IT DOESN’T FEEL GOOD TO LOSE CONTROL. What kind of health, what new strength or healing results when grasp how vulnerable all can be?
VICTORY IN JESUS: NO CONDMENATION
Paul says, WHAT COMES TO US, when we surrender, when we admit our weakness, and when we face our inability to control our fate, IS VICTORY---victory in Christ Jesus. We know that song “Victory in Jesus,” but do we know the meaning behind it? Victory means that we must do what Paul did: WE must, as honestly confess to God our weaknesses and admit our powerlessness to save ourselves. Then we must hear these wonderful healing words from God: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ has set you free.” (Romans 8:1).
Do we see know HOW JESUS RESCUES US, freeing us from our own worst enemy---ourselves? In depth psychology, it is sometimes unwise to try to RESCUE a person dealing with problems because they are not willing to take responsibility for themselves. All the time I hear people say, that counselor didn’t help me, he or SHE DIDN’T GIVE ME THE ADVICE I PAID FOR, but they just let me talk and come up with my own answers. But if the counselor gives us answers, instead of letting us discover them, we are weakened rather than strengthened.
So, rescuing people is avoided in most counseling situations. But WHAT PAUL IS UP AGAINST IS A CRISIS, NOT A COUNSELING SITUATION. He’s at the end of his rope. He’s LIKE THOSE PEOPLE WHO WERE WASHED OUT TO SEA while watching the waves of Hurricane Bill on the ragged rocks at Bar Harbor, Maine. Paul has been thrown out into the treacherous waves of life and NEEDS A POWER HE CAN’T FIND WITHIN HIMSELF.
How we are rescued through Christ, STILL MEANS WE BEAR SOME RESPONSIBILITY in the rescue. For me this ONE PHRASE UNLOCKS THE REAL POWER we gain through God’s grace and forgiveness: Paul says, “the law of the Spirit of life “in Christ” Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.”
“In Christ” is one of Paul’s most important phrases. IT REFLECTED HIS OWN PERSONAL DISCOVERY OF HOW GOD WORKS HIS SALVATION and his strength into our lives. Learning to live “in Christ” is not receiving salvation in some magical, instantaneous moment, but it comes in learning to live under with a new master and in a new way—a “life in Christ.” If you’re struggling, at your wits end and desperate for change, let me ask you, ARE YOU REALLY WILLING TO LEARN AND LIVE A NEW KIND OF ‘LIFE--- in Jesus?’
Finally, we learn to live “life in Christ Jesus, as we NO LONGER TRUST IS WHAT WE CAN DO or can’t do, have or haven’t done, but we FULLY TRUST IN WHAT GOD HAS DONE IN CHRIST. Paul’s words of spiritual power come to the forefront when he comes to this wonderful discovery of living a new life in God's grace:“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
“And peace….” Look at this last word, it speaks volumes. This is a long way from the tension and struggle Paul expressed in chapter 7, when he was worried about how he was going to hold everything together himself---and by doing this, only making matters worse. NOW, PAUL HAS “LIFE AND PEACE”, because HIS FOCUS HAS RADICALLY CHANGED. His VICTORY WILL NEVER COME THROUGH THE FLESH, but through the Spirit.
Do you remember the name of James Robison? He was a popular revival preacher during the 70’s who preached in Statesville and all over the nation and was a favorite among Baptists, especially those Baptist who wanted to take control of everything so they could in their own way, ‘win the world for Christ.’ (Did Jesus say win the world, or did he say be a faithful witness to the world? I do think only God can change the world). Anyway, one day, James Robison suddenly quit his revival circuit preaching. He didn’t quite his ministry, but he left the wars for control in Baptist life and he reshaped his ministry and now has his own positive, uplifting, encouraging, Christian TV show about missions, ministry and letting the spirit control ones life. James had enough of the fight to control and winning the battle for the Bible, the battle for the nation, and the battle for control, and he decided to move into the “law of the Spirit of life in Jesus Christ that set (him) free from the life of sin and death”. He didn’t just surrender, but he surrendered to a new way to live and to set his mind and heart on the true things of the Spirit, not the things of the flesh. When he did this, I heard Robison once say, he saved his life. It was when he admitted to God and to all of us what he couldn’t do, that he found what he could do, and he also found the greatest spiritual peace and the release of God’s power in his life.
You don’t have to be preacher or become pentecostal. You can have peace and strength by surrendering to the "Spirit of life in Jesus." But before you can, the first healing virtue you must express is honesty. You must be honest to God about your struggle, about your weaknesses, about your own illusions of control and power. It is out of this honest admission, that healing begins. Will you be honest?
© 2009 All rights reserved Charles J. Tomlin, B.A., M.Div. D.Min.
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