Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / The Peril of Playing God │ Msg 1116

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The Peril of Playing God │ Msg 1116 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: When I was growing up, we didn't have television until
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  Speaker 1: I was a teenager. So we played a lot of
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  Speaker 1: games as a family. The same was true for Cynthia's family.
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  Speaker 1: I remember walking down the game aisles of a favorite
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  Speaker 1: toy store and seeing the names Milton Bradley and Parker
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  Speaker 1: Brothers and envisioning many wonderful hours of playing games with
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  Speaker 1: family and friends way back then. Some games, however, are
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  Speaker 1: not mere child's play. For example, playing relationship games with
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  Speaker 1: people can be both destructive and hurtful. As we're going
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  Speaker 1: to see in today's message in our series called Hands-On Christianity,
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  Speaker 1: James especially opposed.
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  Speaker 2: The game of playing God.
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  Speaker 1: James pulled no punches in confronting the age-old problem of
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  Speaker 1: people attempting to rule their own destiny by leaving God
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  Speaker 1: out of the equation. So as we begin, let's open
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  Speaker 1: our Bibles together and turn to the fourth chapter of
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  Speaker 1: James and read about the dangerous game of playing God.
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  Speaker 1: That'll be in verses 11 through 17. And I'm reading
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  Speaker 1: again from the New American Standard Version of the Bible.
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  Speaker 1: Verse 11 of chapter 4 begins, Do not speak against
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  Speaker 1: one another, brethren. He who speaks against a brother or
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  Speaker 1: judges his brother speaks against the law and judges the law.
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  Speaker 1: But if you judge the law, you're not a doer
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  Speaker 1: of the law, but a judge of it. And there
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  Speaker 1: is only one lawgiver and judge, the one who is
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  Speaker 1: able to save and to destroy. But who are you
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  Speaker 1: who judge your neighbor? Come now, you who say, today
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  Speaker 1: or tomorrow we'll go to such and such a city.
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  Speaker 1: and spend a year there and engage in business and
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  Speaker 1: make a profit. Yet, you do not know what your
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  Speaker 1: life will be like tomorrow. You're just like a vapor
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  Speaker 1: that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead,
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  Speaker 1: you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will
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  Speaker 1: live and also do this or that. But as it is,
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  Speaker 1: you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Therefore,
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  Speaker 1: to one who knows the right thing to do and
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  Speaker 1: does not do it, to him it is sin.
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  Speaker 3: Years ago, a book was released that was destined for
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  Speaker 3: success in the United States because, as my friend put
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  Speaker 3: it on one occasion, the book scratches us where we itch.
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  Speaker 3: It's a book entitled Games People Play. It's a book
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  Speaker 3: by Eric Byrne, and if you have read it, you
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  Speaker 3: know how often it scratches you. And you know how
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  Speaker 3: it touches you in deep areas of your life that
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  Speaker 3: you try to mask, cover over, overlook. It really has
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  Speaker 3: to do with all of the psychological gimmicks and manipulations
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  Speaker 3: we try to get people to do what we want
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  Speaker 3: them to do, hopefully without their knowing we're trying to
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  Speaker 3: do it. Three years after this was published and was
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  Speaker 3: on the bestseller list for many, many months, a couple
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  Speaker 3: of Christian individuals published a companion volume called Games Christians Play.
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  Speaker 3: And the artistic work in the book was done by
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  Speaker 3: yet another person, and it also was designed to show
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  Speaker 3: the kind of things we do without wanting to unveil
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  Speaker 3: our real motive in doing it, and yet it exposes
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  Speaker 3: it in all of its reality. Now if you'll take
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  Speaker 3: a very maverick sheet from your bulletin insert this morning
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  Speaker 3: and open it up to the scandalous side, you will
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  Speaker 3: have an example of some of the games Christians play.
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  Speaker 3: This is certainly going to shock a few, but the
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  Speaker 3: rest of us are.
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  Speaker 2: Going to enjoy it.
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  Speaker 3: Now, if we will go clockwise in the direction of
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  Speaker 3: the dial of a clock, we will begin at the
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  Speaker 3: top right, and I would like for you to study
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  Speaker 3: each picture carefully. These are not my drawings. Thank the
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  Speaker 3: Lord I did not draw these. If I had, you
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  Speaker 3: would not know what in the world they were all about.
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  Speaker 3: These are the drawings taken from the book. Let me
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  Speaker 3: give you just a few. I've saved time and space
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  Speaker 3: by putting just the first letters. The first game up
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  Speaker 3: on the top right is, I don't know why they
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  Speaker 3: don't do something about her. Now this is usually played
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  Speaker 3: with people that are very gullible and spineless, and it
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  Speaker 3: is always filled with the ubiquitous they.
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  Speaker 2: You know the they?
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  Speaker 3: Like, I don't know why they don't do something about
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  Speaker 3: the rowdies in the balcony. Or I don't know why
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  Speaker 3: they don't do something about that fellow that always puts
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  Speaker 3: his arm around.
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  Speaker 2: His wife in church. Who's they?
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  Speaker 3: Or I don't know why they don't do something about
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  Speaker 3: all the college kids that grab up our seats on
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  Speaker 3: Sunday morning.
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  Speaker 2: Less laughs on that one. I don't know why.
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  Speaker 3: I don't know why they don't do something about those
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  Speaker 3: people that smoke on the steps of the church. That's
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  Speaker 3: what we call that game. I don't know why they
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  Speaker 3: don't do something about it. It's a very popular game
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  Speaker 3: in churches today. I'm not saying here. I'm just saying
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  Speaker 3: in churches in general. Now, the bottom right is even
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  Speaker 3: a more popular game than that one. It is, in
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  Speaker 3: three words, the game Opposing Newfangled Gimmicks. And I want
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  Speaker 3: you to study that fellow for a minute, would you?
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  Speaker 3: His name is probably Mr. Dry as Dust. He has
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  Speaker 3: taught junior boys for 38 years, mumbling the lesson manual,
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  Speaker 3: giving out pencils at Christmas, you know. The last creative
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  Speaker 3: thought he had was about 1946. And his common response
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  Speaker 3: when talked to by the superintendent regarding changing his approach is, well,
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  Speaker 3: I'm doing the best I can, or nobody is more
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  Speaker 3: faithful than I am.
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  Speaker 2: You want to say, unfortunately.
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  Speaker 3: And then he may come back with, this is the
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  Speaker 3: way we've always done it. And so I've given him
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  Speaker 3: a little award on his shoulder. That was my only addition.
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  Speaker 3: I gave him a little banner saying, which, you know,
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  Speaker 3: he's the guy that feels that discussion is the first
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  Speaker 3: move to sensitivity training. You know, he feels that any
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  Speaker 3: approach toward involving the class is the first step to liberalism.
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  Speaker 3: You really teach when you say, sit there and listen
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  Speaker 3: and don't respond.
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  Speaker 2: Just listen.
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  Speaker 3: Now, the third fellow on your, about seven o'clock here,
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  Speaker 3: game three, he's.
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  Speaker 2: A neat looking guy. He's got a halo.
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  Speaker 3: And his game is when you have been a Christian
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  Speaker 3: as long as I have. I see you've encountered a
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  Speaker 3: few of those fellas. Well, they are the people that
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  Speaker 3: are either born in a choir loft or they, they
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  Speaker 3: made a decision for the Lord about age one and
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  Speaker 3: a half or two. You know, they've never known a
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  Speaker 3: time when they didn't know the Lord and they're tired
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  Speaker 3: of it.
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  Speaker 2: You know, like when a new.
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  Speaker 3: Christian comes with his Bible and he's just found a book,
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  Speaker 3: And he hasn't found a verse, he's found a book
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  Speaker 3: in his Bible.
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  Speaker 2: He says, I didn't know there was a book called Habakkuk.
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  Speaker 3: And the fellow who has been a Christian forever says, oh, well,
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  Speaker 3: when you come across the main theme, the Chaldean taunt
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  Speaker 3: in chapter two, you'll find the real truth. The guy says,
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  Speaker 3: it's Chaldean taunt. Thinks it's a disease or something. He
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  Speaker 3: doesn't know what it's called. Or the young Christian says,
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  Speaker 3: you know, I'm getting interested in South America. This particular
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  Speaker 3: guy with the halo says, yes, new Christians always go
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  Speaker 3: to extremes. I went through that when I was 11.
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  Speaker 3: But now that I'm adult, I, you know, we don't
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  Speaker 3: worry about those. Just worried about ourselves. Look at 11 o'clock,
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  Speaker 3: will you?
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  Speaker 2: Game four. This is prima donna. That's that game, prima donna.
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  Speaker 3: Now, it helps if you're going to play prima donna
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  Speaker 3: to have an Austrian accent. That helps. Or to have
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  Speaker 3: been schooled in the Eastern schools. It also helps if
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  Speaker 3: you want to play prima donna that you have $ 30, 000
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  Speaker 3: for the new sanctuary and you want to be sure
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  Speaker 3: everybody knows that's what you're giving, so you ask to
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  Speaker 3: have your name placed up there, you know. The prima
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  Speaker 3: donna is able to sing, oh, promise me in Latin,
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  Speaker 3: you know, that kind of individual. The classic name dropper,
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  Speaker 3: you know, when I was talking to Billy the other day,
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  Speaker 3: meaning Dr. Billy Graham, or, you know, Will and I
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  Speaker 3: have been close friends, meaning Dr. Wilbur Smith. That kind
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  Speaker 3: of person tends toward the prima donna. But the favorite
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  Speaker 3: one of all is the middle. Look closely. Study her face.
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  Speaker 3: This is called welcoming the new convert.
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  Speaker 2: Or the attack.
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  Speaker 3: She's sort of a cross between a Mack truck and
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  Speaker 3: a woman Marine, and she's.
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  Speaker 2: Grabbed this girl.
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  Speaker 3: She says, oh, honey, we're glad you're coming now. We've
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  Speaker 3: signed you up for the nursery for the next five months.
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  Speaker 3: You will serve, won't you? Or she begins to tell
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  Speaker 3: the girl how to dress, what to say, what's wrong
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  Speaker 3: with the youth of today. I can tell by your
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  Speaker 3: smile you have met a few of the WTNC game. Now,
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  Speaker 3: you may think that playing games in church is 20th
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  Speaker 3: century stuff.
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  Speaker 2: But you know, it isn't. It's as old as the
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  Speaker 2: New Testament.
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  Speaker 3: As a matter of fact, if I read my Bible right,
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  Speaker 3: I find that there were games being played in the
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  Speaker 3: days of the first book that was written in the
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  Speaker 3: New Testament, namely the book of James. You know, it's
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  Speaker 3: the oldest of all the New Testament books. You go
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  Speaker 3: as far back as 45 AD with all the dust
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  Speaker 3: on it. You will find the book of James being
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  Speaker 3: written and you will find games being played. And characteristically,
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  Speaker 3: you will find James pointing them out. The game most
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  Speaker 3: common in the days of James.
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  Speaker 2: Was playing God.
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  Speaker 3: People did it often because they were the ones who
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  Speaker 3: had seen the Lord Jesus, but often just because of
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  Speaker 3: the old carnal nature, playing God. Now, if you play
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  Speaker 3: God today as they did in those days, you can
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  Speaker 3: play God.
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  Speaker 2: With other people or with yourself.
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  Speaker 3: And I want to show you from the 11th through
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  Speaker 3: the 17th verses how playing God really works. I want
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  Speaker 3: you to see in each case, whether with others or
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  Speaker 3: with yourself, the objective of the game, the rules, and
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  Speaker 3: God's evaluation of each.
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  Speaker 2: So listen closely.
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  Speaker 3: Verses 11 and 12 talk about playing God with others.
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  Speaker 2: Do not speak against one another, brethren.
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  Speaker 3: He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother
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  Speaker 3: speaks against the law and judges the law. But if
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  Speaker 3: you judge the law, you're not a doer of the law,
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  Speaker 3: but a judge of it. There is only one judge,
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  Speaker 3: one lawgiver, the one who is able to save and
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  Speaker 3: to destroy.
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  Speaker 2: But who are you who judges your neighbors?
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  Speaker 3: Now the objective of the game, playing God with others,
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  Speaker 3: is sort of fitted in between the lines. And let
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  Speaker 3: me give it to you and then I'll show you
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  Speaker 3: the rules. First, this is the objective. Imagine yourself superior
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  Speaker 3: to other Christians. And then put them down in various ways.
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  Speaker 3: That's the objective of the game.
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  Speaker 2: If you want to play God.
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  Speaker 3: You view yourself as qualified to be a critic and
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  Speaker 3: then put them down. Place yourself in a superior position.
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  Speaker 2: Then put them down.
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  Speaker 3: All right. The rules are in verse 11. First, if
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  Speaker 3: you want to play God with others, you need to
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  Speaker 3: speak against your brother. And second, you need to judge.
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  Speaker 2: Your brother.
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  Speaker 3: Both are here in the 11th verse. The Greek word
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  Speaker 3: translated speak against comes from a combination of two words,
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  Speaker 3: meaning to talk down. So if you want to develop
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  Speaker 3: the idea of playing God, or whether or not you
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  Speaker 3: want to, you do it when you do this. Then
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  Speaker 3: you begin to talk down other people. Let me tell
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  Speaker 3: you how it works. Your goal is to lower your
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  Speaker 3: listeners estimate of that other person. And so you talk
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  Speaker 3: down against the other person in the eyes of a
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  Speaker 3: hearer hoping to lower the estimate. But of course you
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  Speaker 3: cover it up. We cover it up very creatively. We
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  Speaker 3: begin our statements with, now stop me if I'm wrong, but, or,
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  Speaker 3: now I don't mean to be critical, but, or perhaps
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  Speaker 3: I shouldn't say this about him or her, but William
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  Speaker 3: Barclay gives us a classic remark concerning this. I quote,
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  Speaker 3: there are few sins which the Bible so unsparingly condemns
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  Speaker 3: as the sin of irresponsible and malicious gossip.
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  Speaker 2: To tell and.
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  Speaker 3: Listen to a slanderous story, especially about a distinguished person,
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  Speaker 3: is for all people a fascinating activity. If you have
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  Speaker 3: some juicy bit of something you wish to share and
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  Speaker 3: you want to have people's attention, Use it with a
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  Speaker 3: name that is distinguished and honored and respected and you
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  Speaker 3: will have that fascinating attention for an extended period of time.
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  Speaker 3: Because you see, that's a power play that the tongue
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  Speaker 3: often uses. James says, stop doing it. It's written in
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  Speaker 3: such a way that it was then going on. But
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  Speaker 3: he doesn't only mention speaking against a brother, he mentions judging.
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  Speaker 2: You see the.
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  Speaker 3: Word judge in verse 11? Judges his brother. It means
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  Speaker 3: to pronounce condemnation upon someone.
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  Speaker 2: Now let me be careful here.
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  Speaker 3: This does not mean that a person is to be
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  Speaker 3: non-discerning and gullible. Nor does it suggest that there is
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  Speaker 3: never a time in a Christian's life in which a
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  Speaker 3: brother who loves him very much has no right to
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  Speaker 3: share areas of need or concern about the other's life.
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  Speaker 3: I am not condoning that. I'm not even saying that
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  Speaker 3: that is anywhere near what I'm suggesting. I am only
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  Speaker 3: saying this critical attitude suggested in verse 11 is what
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  Speaker 3: James is condemning. Now what's the problem with judging someone else?
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  Speaker 2: It is this.
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  Speaker 3: In order to judge someone rightly, we must know all
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  Speaker 3: there is to know about that person. If we are
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  Speaker 3: going to condemn, in the words of this particular verse,
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  Speaker 3: another individual, we need to be God.
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  Speaker 2: That's the problem. And we're not God.
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  Speaker 3: We're not even qualified to judge anything except that which
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  Speaker 3: we see. No man knows what's under the surface. of
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  Speaker 3: another individual's heart and life. Go back to Matthew chapter
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  Speaker 3: seven for just a brief reprieve, will you? Matthew chapter seven,
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  Speaker 3: that's what I call the sermon on the splinter and
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  Speaker 3: the plank. You will see why when you notice the
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  Speaker 3: first five verses. Matthew seven begins, do not judge lest
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  Speaker 3: you be judged. For in the way you judge, you
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  Speaker 3: will be judged. Verse 3. Why do you look at
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  Speaker 3: the speck or splinter in your brother's eye and do
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  Speaker 3: not notice the log that is in your own eye?
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  Speaker 2: That's the plank. You that are all involved in looking
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  Speaker 2: for splinters.
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  Speaker 3: And picking them out and then attacking have missed the
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  Speaker 3: fact that you've got a plank in your own eye.
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  Speaker 3: It's with a good deal of smarting humor that the
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  Speaker 3: Lord Jesus levels his audience with these words. You hypocrite,
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  Speaker 3: verse 5 begins, first take the log out of your
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  Speaker 3: own eye. Then you will see clearly enough to take
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  Speaker 3: the speck out of your brother's eye. That's what Jesus
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  Speaker 3: is teaching and that's what James is saying in chapter 4,
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  Speaker 3: verse 11. Go back now to chapter 4 and look carefully.
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  Speaker 3: If you judge your brother and speak against him, you
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  Speaker 3: are doing that with the law. The law means the
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  Speaker 3: law of love mentioned in chapter 2. There's a previous
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  Speaker 3: reference to the law in the book of James and
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  Speaker 3: it's the law of love. The law of acceptance. The
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  Speaker 3: law of gracious grace. Christian kindness. I'll tell you our
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  Speaker 3: major goal as a group of believers ought to be
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  Speaker 3: the building up of one another in love, not the
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  Speaker 3: tearing down of one another in criticism. I was interested
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  Speaker 3: in reading of a man named Sid Gilman. If you're
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  Speaker 3: a sports fan, you know years ago he served as
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  Speaker 3: the head coach and general manager of the National Football
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  Speaker 3: League team, the Houston Oilers. Gilman took the team in
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  Speaker 3: the middle or early part of the season and it
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  Speaker 3: was a losing situation. They had a 1-1 game and
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  Speaker 3: lost 5 game record. 1-5. As of the interview, the
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  Speaker 3: record was 6-6. They wanted to know how in the
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  Speaker 3: last 6 games.
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  Speaker 2: He was able to win 5 of them.
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  Speaker 3: How could he turn the team around from a loser
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  Speaker 3: to a winner and be up for National Football League
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  Speaker 3: Coach of the Year of all things? His answer was classic. Listen,
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  Speaker 3: we do not allow any negative or petty spirit on
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  Speaker 3: our team.
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  Speaker 2: None whatsoever.
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  Speaker 3: We build each other up. We love each other. We
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  Speaker 3: praise one another's abilities. We encourage one another in the
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  Speaker 3: game of football. He went on to say that he
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  Speaker 3: spent his time with his men not pointing out all
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  Speaker 3: of their flaws, but he spent most of his day
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  Speaker 3: building into the mind of his men, you can play
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  Speaker 3: the game, you can win this game.
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  Speaker 2: And you know what happened? They started winning.
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  Speaker 3: If you follow the sport, you know that they had
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  Speaker 3: on their team a man by the name of Matuszak,
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  Speaker 3: who was a giant, number one draft choice in the
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  Speaker 3: entire NFL. And because Houston was at the bottom, they
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  Speaker 3: drafted him. Gilman came and there was immediate conflict.
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  Speaker 2: Why? Because Matuszak was negative.
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  Speaker 3: He was wearing red sweatpants and practicing and everybody else
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  Speaker 3: wore gray. And so Coach Gilman said to him, John, around.
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  Speaker 2: Here we wear gray.
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  Speaker 3: But coach, these are double knit. Gilman said, I don't
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  Speaker 3: care if they're triple knit, we wear gray. And then
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  Speaker 3: a little later on, they were at a house together
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  Speaker 3: in the training camp and Matusik wanted to be alone
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  Speaker 3: in his own apartment, said.
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  Speaker 2: He rested better.
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  Speaker 3: Gilman said, learn to rest with the team because we're
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  Speaker 3: going to be together at this camp. And after another
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  Speaker 3: run in, he finally said, you know, there's nothing left
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  Speaker 3: to do but just let him go.
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: And they started winning. Interesting, isn't it?
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: How a petty and critical spirit will corrupt and ruin
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: a scene.
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: That's what James is saying.
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: Now if you play God with other people, you must
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: be careful to ignore the great points and mentioning them
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: and deal with those few areas that you are inevitably
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: able to find because we are all human. But of
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: course you must overlook your own planks in your eye.
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: Look at God's evaluation of the game. Verse 12. There
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: is only one lawgiver, meaning only one qualified to judge.
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: The one who is able to save and destroy. Is
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: there any human being here today that can say, I'm
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: able to save and destroy? There's not a one. No
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: human being ever lived that could say that beside the
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: blessed Son of God. Then he says, you, who are
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: you to judge your neighbor? The way it appears in
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: the Greek, that little pronoun appears first in the sentence.
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: You there, as if to say the one least qualified,
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: what are you doing about correcting this whole philosophy? I
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: want to say to you there is nothing more contagious
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: and ruining in a local assembly, in a student body,
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: in a business, in a staff, in an.
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: Organization, in a home.
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: Nothing more contagious than a negative, petty spirit.
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: Barclay is right.
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: God pulls no punches when he evaluates that particular spirit.
• 23:47
  Speaker 3: I have come to a conclusion that there are three
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: things I'm going to be amazed at when I get
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: to heaven. There are probably going to be three billion,
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: but if I could boil it down to three, these
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: are the three that will amaze me the most. Number one,
• 24:03
  Speaker 3: those that I won't find there who I thought for
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: certain would have been there. That's first amazement. Second, those
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: that I was sure wouldn't be there that are there.
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: And I'll live with them throughout eternity. That's the second.
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: The third, that I'm there.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: That God in His grace would let me.
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: Into His marvelous heavenly home with all of the stuff
• 24:33
  Speaker 3: in my life that's not yet corrected.
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: So I'm determined. I want to live like that on earth.
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: Well, what do I do, a person says, having played
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: the game all my life? When it breaks out, either
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: get up and leave the group or in front of
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: the group, Denounce it boldly as gossip. When in your
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: home and you detect an attitude that is negative, call
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: it a negative attitude and deal with it.
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: And deal with it severely.
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: In our home, attitudes are dealt with at times even
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: more severely than actions. Because we are determined by the
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: grace of God to produce in society four children that think.
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: God's way.
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: Now when time passes and they have been produced into society,
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: only God knows, but that's one of our main goals.
• 25:34
  Speaker 3: That they will be positive builders, loving, open, teachable human
• 25:42
  Speaker 3: beings that look for the good without realizing and living
• 25:49
  Speaker 3: with the bad. Would you commit yourself to that this morning?
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: Wouldn't that be a marvelous goal for you as an
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: adult or one on the way to being an adult?
• 26:03
  Speaker 3: I remember being terribly critical when I was in seminary
• 26:06
  Speaker 3: of a missionary speaker. And I remember I was a
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: student body, one of the officers in the student body,
• 26:13
  Speaker 3: and I remember standing at the back with my group,
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: bad-mouthing the fellow that had done an admittedly poor job.
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: And an underclassman came by whose walk with God I
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: deeply respected. He took me by the arm and he said, Chuck,
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: you know, you don't know the facts.
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: I said, what do you mean?
• 26:32
  Speaker 3: That was a rotten message. He said, did you know
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: that two hours before, I know because he roomed near
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: me in the dorm, this fellow said, his wife called
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: and his youngest son had been killed. three months before
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: his wife had been declared as having terminal cancer. And
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: in spite of the call and in spite of this illness,
• 27:04
  Speaker 3: he has come to be one of our missionary speakers.
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: You just don't know the facts. You see, my friends,
• 27:14
  Speaker 3: that is the awful truth about slander. Unless you know
• 27:23
  Speaker 3: all the facts, be quiet. How I am learning the
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: importance of that in my ministry. In verses 13 through 17,
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: we talk about playing God with.
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: Ourselves.
• 27:44
  Speaker 3: Perhaps the most self-delusioning of all the games. Let me
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: give you the objective and then we'll work through the rules.
• 27:51
  Speaker 3: Here's the objective. Imagine yourself as final authority over your life.
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: Then live like it. That's the objective. Imagine yourself as
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: the final voice, the authority of your life. Then live
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: like it.
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: Take God and put him in his own cabin and
• 28:17
  Speaker 3: lock the door and call on him when you need him,
• 28:20
  Speaker 3: and that will not.
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: Be very often.
• 28:24
  Speaker 3: Put very well for us by the words of William Henley,
• 28:28
  Speaker 3: who along with Nietzsche and Bertrand Russell and all of
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: those humanists wrote, It matters not how straight the gate,
• 28:35
  Speaker 3: how charged with punishments the scroll.
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: I am the master of my fate. I am the
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: captain of my soul. Live like that.
• 28:45
  Speaker 3: Buy your own bootstraps. Pull yourself up. Face life on
• 28:48
  Speaker 3: your own. Pray very little. Call your own shots and
• 28:54
  Speaker 3: you'll be a perfect game player in the matter of
• 28:58
  Speaker 3: playing God. You want to see the rules? They're all
• 29:00
  Speaker 3: in verse 13. They seem to be especially designed for
• 29:04
  Speaker 3: the businessman. So men, let me apply them to you,
• 29:07
  Speaker 3: if I may, for a moment. First, rule number one.
• 29:11
  Speaker 3: Choose your own time and schedule. Come now, you who say,
• 29:18
  Speaker 3: today or tomorrow, he's choosing his own time and schedule.
• 29:23
  Speaker 3: And do it selfishly, by the way. Rule number two,
• 29:27
  Speaker 3: select your own location that pleases you. Today or tomorrow,
• 29:33
  Speaker 3: we shall go to such and such a city.
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: Got it? Selfishly plan your lives.
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: That you will have your own schedule and you will
• 29:42
  Speaker 3: have your own location that you want. Third, limit your
• 29:48
  Speaker 3: stay so that it pleases you. We will spend a
• 29:52
  Speaker 3: year there. Verse 13 continues. Limit your stay so that
• 29:57
  Speaker 3: you're pleased. Isn't it interesting? He's not planning a day
• 30:02
  Speaker 3: in advance. He's planning a year in advance. What's he
• 30:05
  Speaker 3: saying to God? Don't call me. I'll call you. I've
• 30:10
  Speaker 3: got my year laid out. And so he does. Fourth rule,
• 30:15
  Speaker 3: arrange your activities so that they work out to your
• 30:21
  Speaker 3: benefit and pleasure. We will spend a year there and
• 30:25
  Speaker 3: engage in business as if to say the kind of
• 30:28
  Speaker 3: business I want. Rule number five, predict your profit and
• 30:36
  Speaker 3: boast in it. We will engage in business and make
• 30:41
  Speaker 3: a profit. Verse 16 says, the boasting is arrogant. I
• 30:46
  Speaker 3: want to hasten to add, because sure enough, the negative
• 30:49
  Speaker 3: thinkers that are here today are saying, well, aren't we
• 30:51
  Speaker 3: supposed to plan ahead? Obviously we are. The Bible is filled,
• 30:56
  Speaker 3: replete with the proverb, don't be slothful in business. A
• 31:01
  Speaker 3: student that never thinks about tomorrow or plans for a
• 31:03
  Speaker 3: test in advance is a foolish student. A father that
• 31:07
  Speaker 3: never thinks about the financial outlay of.
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: His home is a foolish father.
• 31:12
  Speaker 3: A mother that doesn't look over the affairs with some
• 31:14
  Speaker 3: insight and foresight is.
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: A foolish mother.
• 31:18
  Speaker 3: God condones wise planning, but in God's planning He always
• 31:25
  Speaker 3: wants it to be with His will in mind. In
• 31:31
  Speaker 3: other words, there are to be small parentheses written in
• 31:34
  Speaker 3: all of the sentences of our planning. You may interrupt.
• 31:38
  Speaker 3: You may step in. I welcome you to come. I
• 31:42
  Speaker 3: offer you the opportunity, Lord, to change the whole scene,
• 31:45
  Speaker 3: and I'll accept it from your hand.
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: Okay?
• 31:50
  Speaker 3: How does God evaluate playing games with ourselves?
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: That is, playing God.
• 31:54
  Speaker 3: Verse 14, along with verse 15, provides an answer. And
• 31:58
  Speaker 3: there are three things... God says to us in these
• 32:02
  Speaker 3: two verses, these three tell you why it is a
• 32:05
  Speaker 3: bad game to play.
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: Number one, you have no knowledge of tomorrow.
• 32:13
  Speaker 3: That's verse 14. You do not know what your life
• 32:17
  Speaker 3: will be like tomorrow. This church is scattered with individuals
• 32:26
  Speaker 3: who have experienced the most incredible events that a year
• 32:30
  Speaker 3: ago they would have never dreamed would have happened. In
• 32:35
  Speaker 3: this particular assembly there are absent from us individuals who
• 32:39
  Speaker 3: a year ago were the staunch specimens of health.
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: But disease has come. Lives have been altered.
• 32:50
  Speaker 3: There are children that were once in the arms of
• 32:52
  Speaker 3: parents that are no longer there. I was driving in
• 32:57
  Speaker 3: Northern California on that trip with the Biola faculty some
• 33:00
  Speaker 3: time ago and I remember going into a lowland area
• 33:03
  Speaker 3: on my way over to a small city known as Lodi,
• 33:06
  Speaker 3: not far from Stockton.
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: And it was a dense fog.
• 33:10
  Speaker 3: I was tooling along about 25 miles an hour, too fast.
• 33:15
  Speaker 3: I could see just a little beyond the hood of
• 33:17
  Speaker 3: my car and I saw in a split second of
• 33:20
  Speaker 3: time a double trailer truck that had turned over apparently
• 33:24
  Speaker 3: more than once. There had been a curve in the
• 33:27
  Speaker 3: road and he hadn't seen it and he turned and
• 33:29
  Speaker 3: he was still hanging in the truck and they were
• 33:31
  Speaker 3: working to get him out, hoping that there wouldn't be
• 33:34
  Speaker 3: apparently an explosion. Flares were up but couldn't be seen.
• 33:38
  Speaker 3: My car, by the time it screeched to a stop,
• 33:41
  Speaker 3: had slid almost sideways and I missed it maybe five feet.
• 33:46
  Speaker 3: And inside my breast, I pounded a heart that said
• 33:49
  Speaker 3: to me, you know, if you had hit that car,
• 33:51
  Speaker 3: that truck, think of the results. The lovely woman that
• 33:57
  Speaker 3: married me would have a whole different life if I
• 34:00
  Speaker 3: remained her life. It would affect the ministry of Fullerton
• 34:05
  Speaker 3: Evangelical Free Church. My four children would have a different
• 34:09
  Speaker 3: life than they presently have.
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: If God were to take me.
• 34:14
  Speaker 3: Home as a result of that accident, all sorts of
• 34:16
  Speaker 3: tentacles reaching out would have touched lives and individuals that
• 34:20
  Speaker 3: would have changed altogether what was now presently true.
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: You don't know what's going to take place tomorrow.
• 34:29
  Speaker 3: How foolish to drive through the fog of life and say,
• 34:31
  Speaker 3: I'll call my own shots.
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: If I need you, God, I'll call on you.
• 34:37
  Speaker 3: Friend, you'll need him faster than you ever believe with
• 34:41
  Speaker 3: an attitude like that. There's a second reason. You have
• 34:45
  Speaker 3: no assurance of a long life. You see that 14th verse?
• 34:49
  Speaker 3: You're just a vapor. You have no assurance of a
• 34:54
  Speaker 3: long life. When you play God with yourself, you're saying,
• 34:58
  Speaker 3: my life will continue.
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: God says, how foolish.
• 35:02
  Speaker 3: Your life is a vapor that appears for a little
• 35:04
  Speaker 3: while and then vanishes away. I love the way that
• 35:07
  Speaker 3: Phillips renders this. Just a puff of smoke visible for
• 35:12
  Speaker 3: a little while, then vanishing into thin air. Picture us
• 35:17
  Speaker 3: in a deep freeze right now altogether. Let's say it's
• 35:21
  Speaker 3: 30 below zero in this deep freeze. We've all got
• 35:25
  Speaker 3: our parkas and we've all wrapped up with heavy caps on.
• 35:28
  Speaker 3: And all of a sudden up front, I just went.
• 35:33
  Speaker 3: There would leave my mouth a small vapor that would
• 35:36
  Speaker 3: hang in that heavy, thick, cold air.
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: Vanish. That's life. An atmos.
• 35:48
  Speaker 3: A little vapor that just presently appears and it's gone. Gone.
• 35:55
  Speaker 3: James says, because you don't know what tomorrow will bring,
• 35:59
  Speaker 3: you ought to remember the words of the psalmist. Listen
• 36:02
  Speaker 3: to the living Bible. You speak, Lord, and man is
• 36:06
  Speaker 3: turned back to dust. A thousand years are as yesterday
• 36:10
  Speaker 3: to you.
• 36:12
  Speaker 2: They are like a single hour.
• 36:14
  Speaker 3: We glide along the tides of time as swiftly as
• 36:17
  Speaker 3: a racing river, and we vanish.
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: As quickly as a dream.
• 36:23
  Speaker 3: We are like grass... that is green in the morning,
• 36:28
  Speaker 3: but mowed down and withered before the evening shadows fall.
• 36:39
  Speaker 3: Every year in this church role, names are deleted because
• 36:43
  Speaker 3: of death.
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: Not one was.
• 36:46
  Speaker 3: Really expected that particular day, but it is entered into
• 36:50
  Speaker 3: the record, deceased, and a date is placed by that name.
• 36:57
  Speaker 3: At the beginning of the year, I take a long
• 36:59
  Speaker 3: look at our membership. And I ask before God, Oh Lord,
• 37:09
  Speaker 3: is each one ready?
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: Are you ready?
• 37:16
  Speaker 3: I am amazed in the last dozen or so funerals
• 37:18
  Speaker 3: how many have been 40 and under.
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: I am amazed.
• 37:24
  Speaker 3: Your life is brief. You don't know what tomorrow will bring.
• 37:31
  Speaker 3: And verse 15 gives you the third reason. You have
• 37:34
  Speaker 3: no right to ignore God's will. Deo Volente, DV. God willing,
• 37:42
  Speaker 3: I'll do this and that. It's almost become a passive cliche.
• 37:48
  Speaker 3: God willing, James doesn't play that game. James says, instead,
• 37:54
  Speaker 3: you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will
• 37:57
  Speaker 3: do this, we will do that.
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: If the Lord wills, we will expand. If the Lord wills,
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: we will have that amount of money we need in
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: the end of this year.
• 38:08
  Speaker 3: Or sometime, if the Lord wills, I am as resting
• 38:12
  Speaker 3: and as easy as I can possibly be because it's
• 38:15
  Speaker 3: in God's hands. If the Lord wills, you will have
• 38:20
  Speaker 3: your job next year. Have you changed jobs in the
• 38:23
  Speaker 3: last year? Wouldn't that be a remarkable story if people
• 38:27
  Speaker 3: could stand to their feet right now telling us they
• 38:29
  Speaker 3: have changed jobs in the last year? You'd see executives
• 38:32
  Speaker 3: on their feet, but the dozens. Maybe you don't even
• 38:36
  Speaker 3: have a job. God bless you. All of a sudden,
• 38:40
  Speaker 3: it's gone. If the Lord wills, I'll keep this job.
• 38:52
  Speaker 3: Let me say to you that if you have made
• 38:54
  Speaker 3: arrangements for your life and you have left God out,
• 38:58
  Speaker 3: you are a classic fool. The fool says in his heart,
• 39:04
  Speaker 3: there is no God. That's what the Lord tells us
• 39:09
  Speaker 3: as he evaluates the entire process in verse 17. Therefore,
• 39:14
  Speaker 3: look at it now. If you want to stop playing God,
• 39:19
  Speaker 3: here's what you do. Two things, two simple rules. Therefore
• 39:25
  Speaker 3: to him who knows the right thing to do and
• 39:27
  Speaker 3: does not do it, to him it is sin.
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: First, you must know the right thing to do.
• 39:35
  Speaker 3: When you play God, you're doing the wrong thing and
• 39:37
  Speaker 3: you need to know the right thing. That means whatever
• 39:41
  Speaker 3: the cost, evaluate your life and pattern it according to
• 39:45
  Speaker 3: God's word, not according to your habits or traditions. Stop
• 39:51
  Speaker 3: telling yourself you can't change. Remind yourself of the Houston Oilers,
• 40:00
  Speaker 3: would you? There is a second response. You must start
• 40:07
  Speaker 3: doing the right thing. You can't do it without knowing it.
• 40:14
  Speaker 3: And instead of the wrong thing, replace it with the
• 40:17
  Speaker 3: right thing.
• 40:17
  Speaker 2: Well, what if I don't want to?
• 40:19
  Speaker 3: Verse 17 concludes with the word, it is sin.
• 40:23
  Speaker 2: May I lay it on the line? And I mean
• 40:27
  Speaker 2: on the line.
• 40:30
  Speaker 3: If you are a negative, petty, gossipy person, and you
• 40:35
  Speaker 3: hear the message from God's word that it is playing God,
• 40:39
  Speaker 3: and you continue to be that way, you are in sin.
• 40:46
  Speaker 3: as deeply as if you had robbed a bank or
• 40:49
  Speaker 3: committed adultery.
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: Let me make that very clear.
• 40:54
  Speaker 3: It is the tongue of the Christian that destroys the fellowship.
• 41:03
  Speaker 3: Now there is another answer I would say. If you
• 41:07
  Speaker 3: continue to live as though there is no God, calling
• 41:12
  Speaker 3: your own shots, being your own umpire, you are living
• 41:15
  Speaker 3: in sin. I can't put it any clearer. That's exactly
• 41:20
  Speaker 3: what James is saying. If you know the right thing
• 41:22
  Speaker 3: to do and you refuse to do it.
• 41:24
  Speaker 2: You're in sin.
• 41:26
  Speaker 3: And as a minister of the gospel, it is my
• 41:28
  Speaker 3: calling to declare that with all the concern of my heart.
• 41:35
  Speaker 3: A French painter by the name of Bourneau looked over
• 41:37
  Speaker 3: a parable in Luke chapter 12. We won't turn to it,
• 41:41
  Speaker 3: but it's the familiar parable of the rich man who
• 41:44
  Speaker 3: had plenty.
• 41:45
  Speaker 2: He had barns that were filled with all of his product.
• 41:49
  Speaker 3: He had crops that were filled, bumper crops loaded with
• 41:52
  Speaker 3: the fruit. And he studied that particular passage and he
• 41:57
  Speaker 3: began to paint the most unusual painting you can imagine.
• 42:01
  Speaker 3: He painted a man at his desk and his hands
• 42:04
  Speaker 3: folded and his brow was furrowed and he had little
• 42:07
  Speaker 3: bags of money on a shelf behind him. And a
• 42:10
  Speaker 3: small little bag on the end with a little thread
• 42:12
  Speaker 3: tied around it. Almost as though you could read his
• 42:14
  Speaker 3: mind and say, he's saving that for something. He's looking
• 42:19
  Speaker 3: out the window and there's a bumper crop. Through those
• 42:22
  Speaker 3: window panes you can see the plants have grown and
• 42:25
  Speaker 3: they are full and running over. And written across his
• 42:28
  Speaker 3: face is, what shall I do? Now if you know
• 42:29
  Speaker 3: the story, you know his plan. He planned on everything
• 42:33
  Speaker 3: but death. He included everything but God. And so he
• 42:38
  Speaker 3: went to work. He says, I'll build greater barns. And
• 42:41
  Speaker 3: he began to put them together and his mind was working.
• 42:44
  Speaker 3: His slide rule when he put it all together and
• 42:46
  Speaker 3: he laid out his barns and he planned and built them.
• 42:50
  Speaker 3: Except he forgot the possibility of death. And God did
• 42:57
  Speaker 3: come and say to him, you fool, this night your
• 43:00
  Speaker 3: soul will be required of you. Bernal read the last
• 43:04
  Speaker 3: part of that passage and he flipped the canvas over.
• 43:07
  Speaker 2: And he painted the other side of it.
• 43:10
  Speaker 3: He began to paint the picture of a man at
• 43:12
  Speaker 3: the desk. Same man, same desk, same bags of money,
• 43:15
  Speaker 3: same window, same crops. But this time he added something
• 43:19
  Speaker 3: that was not there before. There's a small thin layer
• 43:23
  Speaker 3: of dust resting on the desk. And a death angel
• 43:28
  Speaker 3: standing with his hands on his shoulders looking at the
• 43:30
  Speaker 3: man with his lips pursed as if to be saying,
• 43:33
  Speaker 3: you fool. Let's bow our heads this morning, please. Most
• 43:49
  Speaker 3: important time of this service is right now. God has
• 43:54
  Speaker 3: ministered his word to your heart, and I do not
• 43:57
  Speaker 3: know how it has landed. I have no individual in
• 44:01
  Speaker 3: mind at this time.
• 44:02
  Speaker 2: Thank God.
• 44:04
  Speaker 3: I'm committed to the exposition of the scriptures so that
• 44:07
  Speaker 3: nobody misunderstands the truth.
• 44:11
  Speaker 2: It may have just.
• 44:12
  Speaker 3: Ripped apart the heart of some student here today or
• 44:16
  Speaker 3: some workman.
• 44:19
  Speaker 2: Or some homemaker.
• 44:22
  Speaker 3: It may have touched a teenager that's here and has
• 44:24
  Speaker 3: been causing a hell on earth in your home because
• 44:28
  Speaker 3: of a petty spirit. God, it may have addressed it
• 44:33
  Speaker 3: to someone who will be here only today and then
• 44:35
  Speaker 3: gone many, many, many miles this afternoon. But whoever it touched,
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  Speaker 3: I want to remind you of the two areas where
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  Speaker 3: we play God.
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  Speaker 2: We play God with others when we speak down and judge.
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  Speaker 3: And we play God with ourselves when we leave Him
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  Speaker 3: out and leave no room for Him.
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  Speaker 2: To interrupt or to direct.
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  Speaker 3: Oh, dear friend, if you do not know the Lord
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  Speaker 3: Jesus Christ, let me say while we're all quietly sitting
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  Speaker 3: before Him today, the Lord Jesus knows that your heart
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  Speaker 3: cannot change. And God sent His Son even knowing that
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  Speaker 3: your sinful heart would continue to sin after His Son
• 45:32
  Speaker 3: came and that it would continue to produce ugly words
• 45:40
  Speaker 3: Ugly thoughts, ugly acts. And Jesus said, I love you.
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  Speaker 3: There's so much more down inside of you I'd like
• 45:49
  Speaker 3: to bring out. But unless you let me come into
• 45:53
  Speaker 3: your life, I cannot bring any change. So right where
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  Speaker 3: you're sitting this morning, believe what the choir sang a
• 46:03
  Speaker 3: moment ago. God so loved you, that He gave His
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  Speaker 3: only begotten Son, that if you would believe in Him,
• 46:13
  Speaker 3: you would never perish. You would have everlasting life. In
• 46:22
  Speaker 3: the depths of your heart today, do you have everlasting life?
• 46:29
  Speaker 3: Why not stop right now and just ask Jesus Christ
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  Speaker 3: to become your Savior? If it helped you to lift
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  Speaker 3: your hand and say, Pastor Swindoll, this morning I've made
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  Speaker 3: that decision. And just put it back down again. I
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  Speaker 3: won't embarrass you. I've decided that I'll give my heart
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  Speaker 3: to Jesus Christ today.
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  Speaker 2: Yes. Thank you. You've committed your heart to Jesus Christ.
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  Speaker 2: Lift your hand.
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  Speaker 3: I've given myself to Jesus today. I acknowledge Him as
• 47:12
  Speaker 3: my Savior. But Christians that are here today, isn't it
• 47:21
  Speaker 3: about time that you do something about these two areas
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  Speaker 3: we've talked about today?
• 47:30
  Speaker 2: And I mean now.
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  Speaker 1: Lord, thank you for speaking to us today. Thank you
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: for speaking to me in particular. I really needed this
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  Speaker 1: message in my own life. I'm so grateful for the
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: strong reminder that you are God and I am not.
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: You alone control life's circumstances, even the passages of our
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: lives from one day to the next, because you are all-powerful, all-knowing, all-seeing,
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  Speaker 1: and all-wise. Please forgive us, Father. for presuming upon you
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  Speaker 1: and upon the future, for making careless plans and slipshod decisions,
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: recklessly leaving you out of all the considerations. Our lives,
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: as you have taught us, are but a vapor, here
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: today and gone in a moment. So deliver us from
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: that silly, childish tendency to play games with our future,
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: with those around us, and especially with our eternal destiny.
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  Speaker 2: I pray these truths we have.
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  Speaker 1: Learned today will linger long in our minds. May they
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: grow into deeper thoughts and begin to thrive there, making
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  Speaker 1: us more and more into the image of your Son,
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. And Lord, help us never to take ourselves
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  Speaker 1: too seriously, but always to take your word and your
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: claim on our lives very seriously. Grant that each one
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  Speaker 1: who has heard what we have thought about today would
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  Speaker 1: reflect honestly and personally on these truths. Be gracious, gently
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: moving them toward a point of decision by faith, especially
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: those who have never trusted in your Son. May they
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: realize what is missing as they operate in that vacuous
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: emptiness without God. Lead them in their faith to Christ
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: and to Christ alone. These things I pray in the
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: name of Jesus our Lord.
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  Speaker 2: Amen.
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  Speaker 4: The preceding message, The Peril of Playing God, was copyrighted
• 50:05
  Speaker 4: in 1974, 2003, and 2016, and the sound recording was
• 50:11
  Speaker 4: copyrighted in 2016 by Charles R.
• 50:15
  Speaker 3: Swindoll, Inc.
• 50:16
  Speaker 4: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
• 50:22
  Speaker 4: commercial use is strictly prohibited.