“Making the right choices”
1.
This morning I have with me a booklet entitled, “Indiana
Driver’s Manual.”
2. I picked this information
from the local BMV last week and met an interesting driver on this same day.
3.
A driver was in the lane next to me and we were both
approaching a red light.
4.
As we got closer and closer to the light, the other
driver started to drive faster and faster.
5. There was no way to see if
the light was about to turn; from all appearances the light was going to stay
red.
6.
When the other man got to the light, it was still red
and he ran it.
7.
If there had been cross traffic, it is hard to believe
that there would not have been an accident.
8.
Unless this fellow was not paying attention, he did not
think he had to stop at this red light.
9.
People do a similar thing with stop signs.
10.
One man might come up to a stop sign and do a “slow and
go” – he does not actually stop.
11.
Someone else may see a stop sign, but barely slow down
if he does not see any traffic.
12.
Another may come to a stop sign and not just stop, he
sits there for a little while.
13.
According to the manual I picked up, a stop sign means
something.
14.
The rules of the road say a stop sign “indicates the
requirement to stop.”
15.
This is also true for red lights.
16.
Traffic laws exist and they are not laws that we can re
define as we see fit.
17.
We may believe a stop sign means “slow and go,” but
this belief does not alter the law.
18.
We may think a red light means “run it if we are in a hurry,” but
personal belief does not change the law.
THERE
IS OFTEN A VERY SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WHAT A LAW SAYS OR REQUIRES AND
WHAT PEOPLE BELIEVE OR HOW THEY ACT.
a)
For a while on Sunday mornings we want to explore and
apply this fact.
b)
The Bible will be our “law” and we will contrast the
scriptures with many popular beliefs.
c)
Today’s information is designed to introduce this
topic.
2)
We want to establish that people often want to be a
“law unto themselves.”
3) Just as some do not want to
obey a stop sign, there are those who do feel they do not need to follow the
scriptures.
a)
Not only do some resist the laws of God and men, they
seek to excuse their disobedience.
b)
Suppose a driver does a “slow and go” and a stop sign
and was seen by a police offer.
c)
The officer pulls over the driver and the policeman
immediately hears some excuses.
4) The policeman might be told,
“I looked and did not see anyone else at the intersection so I did not stop.”
5)
Or, the driver might say, “I was late for an
appointment and I didn’t have time to stop.”
6)
Some might even say, “This is just the way I always
drive and my way has been working out fine.”
a)
We cannot say for sure what an officer will do to the
person who fails to properly stop.
b)
He is able to ticket the person for failing to follow a
traffic law or perhaps give a warning.
c)
People do violate the laws and if seen by authorities,
they are usually stopped.
7)
Let’s take this principal and apply it to the spiritual
realm.
a)
When it comes to religion there are those who treat
God’s law like a stop sign.
b)
Some will obey God’s word and this is the right choice.
c)
Others will violate God’s law because they prefer to do
things their way.
d) Some not only prefer to
alter God’s law, they justify their choice just like some justify not stopping.
8)
Someone might justify their refusal to abide by the
scriptures by appealing to tradition.
a)
A person might say, “I have/my family has always
worshipped in this way.”
a)
People often base their religious convictions on habit.
b) If they and their friends
and relatives have done something for a long time, that is the proper way to do
things.
c)
For many, custom
is the deciding factor in religious matters.
9)
The Bible has some things to say about “custom” and
“traditions.”
a)
In 1 Cor. 11:2 Paul said he had delivered some
“traditions” to the Corinthians.
b)
These “traditions” were a specific way of doing things.
c) In this verse “traditions”
describe the revealed word of God—what we now call the New Testament.
d)
Paul told the Corinthians to “hold fast” to these
traditions.
e)
In another letter (2 Thess. 2:15) we find him making
this same point.
10) Paul
said the Thessalonians had received “traditions” from inspired sources.
11) Some
of what they received had come through “letters” from people like the apostles.
12) Other
“traditions” had come through personal teaching.
13) Paul
said it was not only right to know what these practices were, they were to be
“held fast.”
14) The
word “traditions” is certainly used in the Bible and this word is used in a
very positive way.
15) We
also find the word “tradition” being used in a negative way.
16) The word translated
“tradition” in 1 Cor. 11:2 ad 2 Thess. 2:15 is used elsewhere in the New
Testament.
17) This
might not always be clear in some English translations, but this term is found
in other verses.
a)
One of the other places where this term is found is Col.
2:8.
b)
In this third passage Paul spoke about the “traditions
of men.”
c)
This type of tradition
is not a holiday like Memorial Day or Thanksgiving.
d)
Paul was describing “religious traditions.”
e) Just as a person might have some
personal beliefs about stop signs, some have personal beliefs about religion.
f)
In many cases what people believe about religious
matters is incorrect.
g)
People are certainly entitled to their belief, just as
they may believe they can run a red light.
h)
We can believe that a stop sign does not require us to
stop.
i)
If we persist in these beliefs, we will one day pay a
consequence because we believe a lie.
j)
Just as we can believe a lie when it comes it traffic laws, we can
believe a lie in the area of religion.
k)
The “traditions of men” are a way of describing
religious lies.
l)
Jesus once dealt with this subject at length in Mt. 15.
m)
In Mt. 15:3 Jesus used the word translated “tradition”
in 1 Cor. 11:2 and 2 Thess. 2:15.
n)
He said manmade religious traditions (beliefs) cause
people to “break God’s laws.”
o) If we choose to believe
false religious information (human religious traditions), God is not pleased.
p)
God has given the truth to man because the truth is
important and God wants us to know it.
q)
When we know that truth, we need to practice and
practice it 100%.
r)
This process begins by knowing what is right.
18) Imagine
a country that creates driving laws but never tells its citizens what those
laws are.
19) Citizens
begin to drive and they immediately receive several tickets for various
infractions.
20) We
would say that such a government is unfair.
21) If
there are rules, it is important for us know what the rules are.
22) If we know what the rules
are and we refuse to abide by them, then shame on us for we have been told.
a)
The Bible is a bit like a driver’s license manual.
b)
God has given us the rules and God has said we cannot
try to re-write His instruction book.
c)
If we want to have eternal life, we need to follow the
“spiritual rules of the road.”
23) Human
religious traditions will hurt and destroy people.
24) A
second justification for not following a law might be this:
25) “I
don’t see anything wrong with the way I am doing things.”
a) My family used to live in a
sub division where a young man usually ran the neighborhood stop sign.
b)
This young fellow apparently did not see anything wrong
with this activity.
c)
People act in this same manner when it comes to
religion.
d)
They “do what they want in religion” because they “do
not see anything wrong with their choice.”
26) The reason people do not see
any problem with their choice is because God’s driver’s manual is not read.
27) In
many cases people are comfortable being ignorant of what the Bible says about
Christianity.
28) On
your study sheet you have Acts 17:30 for a reference.
29) Let’s
look at that passage together – READ.
30) There
was a time in the past when God permitted ignorance.
31) If
people did not see anything wrong with what they were doing, God “overlooked
that.”
a)
Now God says we live in a different period of time.
b)
Now, ignorance is no longer an excuse.
c)
A person may truly not see anything wrong with their
religious choices.
d)
They may, in their heart, feel very good about what
they are doing.
e)
God says that is not enough. We have received a divinely inspired book on
how to live.
f)
If we are ignorant about what that this book teaches,
that lack of knowledge will not be an excuse.
g)
Ignorance may allow us to talk our way out of a
speeding ticket, a missed stop sign, etc.
h)
Ignorance will not be an excuse when we stand before
God.
32) If
tradition and ignorance are not used to set aside God’s will, there is the “I like it” argument.
a)
Some of us have heard people say they worship in a
certain way because that is their preference.
b)
Our religious preference may be contrary to what is
lawful (i.e. what is found in the Bible).
c)
We may drive through an area where the speed limit is
40 miles per hour.
d)
Our preference might be for that area to be 55 – we
want to go faster.
e)
If an interstate highway speed is 55, we might wish it
was 75 to shorten the distance of the trip.
f)
What we would like or want is not the criteria for
right and wrong.
g)
Yet, this is the very way that people often approach
the God of heaven.
33) Imagine
a person who is pulled over for speeding.
34) The
person is 30 miles over the limit and the officer asks about the excessive
speed.
35) The
driver says, “Officer, I was speeding, but I
like driving that fast.”
36) Most
have enough sense to not say this type of thing – they know better.
37) If
we would not make this type of statement to a police officer, will we make it
to the God of heaven?
38) Col.
2:23 refers to “will-worship.” This is
the type of worship that is based on what people want.
a)
God knows all about will-worship. He is familiar with the “I like this type of
worship” argument.
b)
God has warned us that this argument carries no weight
with Him.
c)
We may like something, but if God does not like it, the
worship is vain.
d)
Worship is about God, not us, and this means we find
out what God requires and then do that.
39) A
final argument is, “What I like is found in the Old Testament it must be okay.”
40) This
argument is commonly used with instrumental music in worship.
a)
This idea can also be illustrated with traffic laws.
b)
There was a time when the state of Montana had an
interesting law on speed limits.
c)
During daylight hours you could drive at a “reasonable
and prudent speed.”
d)
In a wide open area with good visibility, someone might
consider 90 reasonable and prudent.
e)
Suppose that we went to this state today and we drove
90 mph on an open stretch of road.
41) If
our speed were being tracked, we would be stopped and probably ticked for
breaking the law.
42) Suppose
that we objected to a ticket saying, “The law used to say reasonable and
prudent.”
43) The
officer would say that “used to be
law. Now there is a set speed; the law
has been changed.”
44) We
understand how some laws used to be in effect but they have been changed.
45) We
must live under the current laws, not the past.
a)
This is also true in the area of religion – we are
literally under a “new law.”
b)
This law is the New Testament.
c)
Maybe we like some things that were part of the Old
Testament system.
d)
God says that law, just like
46) If
we can understand basic traffic laws and get a driver’s license; we can
understand the Bible.
47) The
problem is not knowing what the Bible says; it is being willing to listen to
and obey God’s word.
48) How
sad it is that some will obey the laws of the land and not obey the laws of
God.
49) Today,
are we someone who obeys human earthly powers but not the God of heaven?
50) Have we done what is
necessary to get a driver’s license, but not done what is necessary to go to
heaven?
51) Becoming a Christian is
easier than getting a driver’s license.