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 the game of playing God. James pulled
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  Speaker 1: no punches in confronting the age-old problem of people attempting
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  Speaker 1: to rule their own destiny by leaving God out of
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  Speaker 1: the equation. So as we begin, let's open our Bibles
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  Speaker 1: together and turn to the fourth chapter of James and
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  Speaker 1: read about the dangerous game of playing God. That'll be
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  Speaker 1: in verses 11 through 17. And I'm reading again from
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  Speaker 1: the New American Standard Version of the Bible. Verse 11
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  Speaker 1: of chapter 4 begins, Do.
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  Speaker 2: Not speak against one another, brethren.
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  Speaker 1: He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother
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  Speaker 1: speaks against the law and.
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  Speaker 2: 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 and spend a year there and engage in business
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  Speaker 1: and make a profit.
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  Speaker 2: Yet, you do not know what your life will be
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  Speaker 2: like tomorrow.
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  Speaker 1: You're just like a vapor that appears for a little
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  Speaker 1: while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say,
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  Speaker 1: if the Lord wills, we will live and also do
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  Speaker 1: this or that. But as it is, you boast in
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  Speaker 1: your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Therefore, to one
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  Speaker 1: who knows the right thing to do and does not
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  Speaker 1: 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 2: It's a book entitled Games People Play.
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  Speaker 3: It's a book by Eric Byrne, and if you have
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  Speaker 3: read it, you know how often it scratches you.
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  Speaker 2: And you know how it touches you in.
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  Speaker 3: Deep areas of your life that you try to mask,
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  Speaker 3: cover over, overlook. It really has to do with all
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  Speaker 3: of the psychological gimmicks and manipulations we try to get
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  Speaker 3: people to do what we want them to do, hopefully
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  Speaker 3: without their knowing we're trying to do it. Three years
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  Speaker 3: after this was published and was on the bestseller list
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  Speaker 3: for many, many months, a couple of Christian individuals published
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  Speaker 3: a companion volume called Games Christians Play. And the artistic
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  Speaker 3: work in the book was done by yet another person,
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  Speaker 3: and it also was designed to show the kind of
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  Speaker 3: things we do without wanting to unveil our real motive
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  Speaker 3: in doing it, and yet it exposes it in all
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  Speaker 3: of its reality. Now, if you'll take a very maverick
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  Speaker 3: sheet from your bulletin insert this morning and open it
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  Speaker 3: up to the scandalous side, you will have an example
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  Speaker 3: of some of the games Christians play. This is certainly
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  Speaker 3: going to shock a few, but the 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 thing. Like, I don't know why
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  Speaker 2: they don't do.
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  Speaker 3: Something about the rowdies in the balcony. Or I don't
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  Speaker 3: know why they don't do something about that fellow that
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  Speaker 3: always puts his arm around his.
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  Speaker 2: 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. You know,
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  Speaker 3: that's the that's what we.
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  Speaker 2: Call that game.
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  Speaker 3: I don't know why they don't do something about it.
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  Speaker 3: It's a it's a very popular game in churches today.
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  Speaker 3: I'm not saying here. I'm just saying in churches in general. Now,
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  Speaker 3: the bottom right is even a more popular game than
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  Speaker 3: that one.
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  Speaker 2: It is, in three words, the game.
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  Speaker 3: Opposing Newfangled Gimmicks. And I want you to study that
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  Speaker 3: fellow for a minute, would you? His name is probably Mr.
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  Speaker 2: Dry as Dust.
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  Speaker 3: He has taught junior boys for 38 years, mumbling the
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  Speaker 3: lesson manual, giving out pencils at Christmas, you know. The
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  Speaker 3: last creative thought he had was about 1946.
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  Speaker 2: And his common.
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  Speaker 3: Response when talked to by the superintendent regarding changing his
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  Speaker 3: approach is, well, I'm doing the best I can, or
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  Speaker 3: nobody is more 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. He says, I didn't know there was
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  Speaker 3: a book called Habakkuk. And the fellow who has been
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  Speaker 3: a Christian forever says, oh, well, when you come across
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  Speaker 3: the main theme, the Chaldean taunt in chapter two, you'll
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  Speaker 3: find the real truth. The guy says, it's Chaldean taunt.
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  Speaker 3: Thinks it's a disease or something. He doesn't know what
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  Speaker 3: it's called. Or the young Christian says, you know, I'm
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  Speaker 3: getting interested in South America. This particular guy with the
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  Speaker 3: halo says, yes, new Christians always go to extremes. I
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  Speaker 3: went through that when I was 11, but now that
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  Speaker 3: I'm adult, I, you know, we don't worry about those.
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  Speaker 3: Just worried about ourselves. Look at 11 o'clock, will you?
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  Speaker 2: Game four.
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  Speaker 3: This is prima Donna. That's that game prima Donna. Now
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  Speaker 3: it helps if you're going to play prima Donna to
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  Speaker 3: have an Austrian accent.
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  Speaker 2: That helps.
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  Speaker 3: Or to have been schooled in the Eastern schools. It
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  Speaker 3: also helps if you want to play prima donna that
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  Speaker 3: you have $ 30, 000 for the new sanctuary and you want
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  Speaker 3: to be sure everybody knows that's what you're giving. So
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  Speaker 3: you ask to have your name placed up there, you know.
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  Speaker 3: The prima donna is able to sing O Promise.
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  Speaker 2: Me in Latin. You know, that kind of individual.
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  Speaker 3: The classic name dropper, you know, when I was talking
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  Speaker 3: to Billy the other day, meaning Dr. Billy Graham or,
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  Speaker 3: you know, Will and I have been close friends, meaning Dr.
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  Speaker 2: Wilbur Smith.
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  Speaker 3: That kind of person tends toward the prima donna. But
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  Speaker 3: the favorite one of all is the middle.
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  Speaker 2: Look closely.
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  Speaker 3: Study her face. This is called welcoming the new convert
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  Speaker 3: or the attack. She's sort of a cross between a
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  Speaker 3: Mack truck and 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 with other people.
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  Speaker 2: 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.
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  Speaker 2: With others.
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  Speaker 3: Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks
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  Speaker 3: against a brother or judges his brother... speaks against the
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  Speaker 3: law and judges the law. But if you judge the law,
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  Speaker 3: you're not a doer of the law, but a judge
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  Speaker 3: of it. There is only one judge, one lawgiver, the
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  Speaker 3: one who is able to save and 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. If you want to
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  Speaker 3: play God, you view yourself as qualified to be a
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  Speaker 3: critic and then put them down. Place yourself in a
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  Speaker 3: 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.
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  Speaker 2: And second, you need to judge others. Your brother. Both
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  Speaker 2: are here in the 11th verse.
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  Speaker 3: The Greek word translated speak against comes from a combination
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  Speaker 3: of two words, meaning to talk down. So if you
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  Speaker 3: want to develop the idea of playing God, or whether
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  Speaker 3: or not you want to, you do it when you
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  Speaker 3: do this. Then you begin to talk down other people.
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  Speaker 3: Let me tell you how it works. Your goal is
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  Speaker 3: to lower your listeners estimate of that other person. And
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  Speaker 3: so you talk down against the other person in the
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  Speaker 3: eyes of a hearer hoping to lower the estimate.
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  Speaker 2: But of course you cover it up.
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  Speaker 3: We cover it up very creatively. We begin our statements with,
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  Speaker 3: now stop me if I'm wrong, but, or, now I
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  Speaker 3: don't mean to be critical, but, or perhaps I shouldn't
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  Speaker 3: say this about him or her, but William Barclay gives
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  Speaker 3: us a classic remark concerning this. I quote, there are
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  Speaker 3: few sins which the Bible so unsparingly condemns as the
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  Speaker 3: sin of irresponsible and malicious gossip. To tell and listen
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  Speaker 3: to a slanderous story, especially about a distinguished person, is
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  Speaker 3: for all people a fascinating activity. End of quote. If
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  Speaker 3: you have some juicy bit of something you wish to
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  Speaker 3: share and you want to have people's attention, Use it
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  Speaker 3: with a name that is distinguished and honored and respected
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  Speaker 3: and you will have that fascinating attention for an extended
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  Speaker 3: period of time. Because you see, that's a power play
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  Speaker 3: that the tongue often uses. James says, stop doing it.
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  Speaker 3: It's written in such a way that it was then
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  Speaker 3: going on. But he doesn't only mention speaking against a brother,
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  Speaker 3: he mentions judging.
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  Speaker 2: You see the word judge in verse 11? Judges his brother.
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  Speaker 3: It means 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 7.
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  Speaker 3: For just a brief reprieve.
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  Speaker 2: Will you?
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  Speaker 3: Matthew chapter 7. That's what I call the sermon on
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  Speaker 3: the splinter and the plank. You will see why when
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  Speaker 3: you notice the first five verses. Matthew 7 begins. Do
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  Speaker 3: not judge. lest you be judged. For in the way
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  Speaker 3: you judge, you will be judged. Verse 3. Why do
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  Speaker 3: you look at the speck or splinter in your brother's
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  Speaker 3: eye and do not notice the log that is in
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  Speaker 3: your own eye?
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  Speaker 2: That's the plank.
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  Speaker 3: You that are all involved in looking for splinters and
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  Speaker 3: picking them out and then attacking have missed the fact
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  Speaker 3: that you've got a plank in.
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  Speaker 1: 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.
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  Speaker 2: They had a.
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  Speaker 3: 1-1 game and lost 5-game record.
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  Speaker 2: 1-5.
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  Speaker 3: As of the interview, the record was 6-6. They wanted
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  Speaker 3: to know how in the last 6 games he was
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  Speaker 3: able to win 5 of them. How could he turn
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  Speaker 3: the team around from a loser to a winner and
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  Speaker 3: be up for National Football League.
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  Speaker 2: Coach of the Year, of all things? His answer was classic.
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  Speaker 3: Listen, we do not allow any negative or petty spirit
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  Speaker 3: on our team.
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  Speaker 2: None whatsoever. We build each other up. We love each other.
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  Speaker 3: We praise one another's abilities. We encourage one another in
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  Speaker 3: the game of football.
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  Speaker 2: End of quote.
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  Speaker 3: He went on to say that he spent his time
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  Speaker 3: with his men, not pointing out all of their flaws,
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  Speaker 3: but he spent most of his day building into the
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  Speaker 3: mind of his men.
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  Speaker 2: You can play 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.
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  Speaker 2: And because Houston was at the bottom, they drafted him.
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  Speaker 3: 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,
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  Speaker 3: around here we wear gray. But coach, these are double knit.
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: Gilman said, I don't care if they're triple knit, we
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: wear gray. And then a little later on, they were
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: at a house together in the training camp, and Matusik
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: wanted to be alone in his own apartment, said he
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: rested better. Gilman said, learn to rest with the team
• 21:45
  Speaker 3: because we're going to be together at this camp. And
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: after another run in, he finally said, you know, there's
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: nothing left to do but just let him go. And
• 21:54
  Speaker 3: they started winning. Interesting, isn't it? How a petty and
• 22:00
  Speaker 3: critical spirit will corrupt... and ruin a scene. That's what
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: James is saying. Now if you play God with other people,
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: you must be careful to ignore the great points and
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: mentioning them and deal with those few areas that you
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: are inevitably able to find because we are all human.
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: But of course you must overlook your own planks in
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: your eye. Look at God's evaluation of the game. Verse 12.
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: There 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 organization, in
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: a home 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.
• 23:46
  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. That God in his grace
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: would let me into his marvelous heavenly home. With all
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: of the stuff in my life that's not yet corrected.
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: 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.
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: That think 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
• 25:59
  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.
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: All the games.
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: Let me give you the objective and then we'll work
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: through the rules.
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: Here's the objective.
• 27:55
  Speaker 3: Imagine yourself as final authority.
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: Over your life. Then live like it.
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: That's the objective. Imagine yourself as the final voice, the
• 28:09
  Speaker 3: authority of your life. Then live like it. Take God
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: and put him in his own cabin and lock the
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: door and call on him when you need him, and
• 28:20
  Speaker 3: that will not be very often. Put very well for
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: us by the words of William Henley, who along with
• 28:28
  Speaker 3: Nietzsche and Bertrand Russell and all of those humanists wrote,
• 28:33
  Speaker 3: It matters not how straight the gate, how charged with
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: 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.
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: Pray very little.
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: Call your own shots. And you'll be a perfect game
• 28:55
  Speaker 3: player in the matter of playing God. You want to
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: see the rules? They're all in verse 13. They seem
• 29:02
  Speaker 3: to be especially designed for the businessman. So men, let
• 29:06
  Speaker 3: me apply them to you, if I may, for a moment. First,
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: rule number one. Choose your own time and schedule. Come now,
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: you who say, today or tomorrow, he's choosing his own
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: time and schedule. And do it selfishly, by the way.
• 29:25
  Speaker 3: Rule number two, select your own location that pleases you.
• 29:32
  Speaker 3: Today or tomorrow, we shall go to such and such
• 29:35
  Speaker 3: a city. Got it? Selfishly plan your lives that you
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: will have your own schedule and you will have your
• 29:43
  Speaker 3: own location that you want. Third, limit your stay so
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: that it pleases you. We will spend a year there.
• 29:53
  Speaker 3: Verse 13 continues. Limit your stay so that you're pleased.
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: Isn't it interesting?
• 30:01
  Speaker 3: He's not planning a day in advance. He's planning a
• 30:04
  Speaker 3: year in advance. What's he saying to God?
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: Don't call me. I'll call you. I've got my year
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: laid out.
• 30:13
  Speaker 3: And so he does. Fourth rule, arrange your activities so
• 30:19
  Speaker 3: that they work out to your benefit and pleasure. We
• 30:23
  Speaker 3: will spend a year there and engage in business as
• 30:27
  Speaker 3: if to say the kind of business I want. Rule
• 30:32
  Speaker 3: number five, predict your profit and boast in it. We
• 30:38
  Speaker 3: will engage in business and make a profit. Verse 16
• 30:43
  Speaker 3: says the boasting is arrogant. I want to hasten to add,
• 30:48
  Speaker 3: because sure enough, the negative thinkers that are here today
• 30:50
  Speaker 3: are saying, well, aren't we supposed to plan ahead? Obviously
• 30:54
  Speaker 3: we are. The Bible is filled, replete with the proverb,
• 30:58
  Speaker 3: don't be slothful in business. A student that never thinks
• 31:02
  Speaker 3: about tomorrow or plans for a test in advance is
• 31:04
  Speaker 3: a foolish student. A father that never thinks about the
• 31:08
  Speaker 3: financial outlay of his home is a foolish father. A
• 31:12
  Speaker 3: mother that doesn't look over the affairs with some insight
• 31:15
  Speaker 3: 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.
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: You may interrupt. You may step in. I welcome you
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: to come. I offer you the opportunity, Lord.
• 31:43
  Speaker 3: To change the whole scene, and I'll accept it from
• 31:46
  Speaker 3: your hand. Okay? How does God evaluate playing games with ourselves?
• 31:53
  Speaker 3: That is, playing God. Verse 14, along with verse 15,
• 31:57
  Speaker 3: provides an answer. And there are three things... God says
• 32:01
  Speaker 3: to us in these two verses. These three tell you
• 32:04
  Speaker 3: why it is a bad game to play.
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: Number one.
• 32:10
  Speaker 3: You have no knowledge of tomorrow. That's verse 14. You
• 32:15
  Speaker 3: do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.
• 32:23
  Speaker 3: This church is scattered with individuals. who have experienced the
• 32:27
  Speaker 3: most incredible events that a year ago they would have
• 32:30
  Speaker 3: never dreamed would have happened. In this particular assembly, there
• 32:37
  Speaker 3: are absent from us individuals who a year ago were
• 32:40
  Speaker 3: the staunch specimens of health. But disease has come. Lives
• 32:47
  Speaker 3: have been altered. There are children that were once in
• 32:51
  Speaker 3: the arms of parents that.
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: Are no longer there.
• 32:56
  Speaker 3: I was driving in Northern California in that trip with
• 32:58
  Speaker 3: the Biola faculty some time ago and I remember going
• 33:01
  Speaker 3: into a lowland area on my way over to a
• 33:04
  Speaker 3: small city known as Lodi, 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. You
• 34:25
  Speaker 3: don't know what's going to take place tomorrow. How foolish
• 34:29
  Speaker 3: to drive through the fog of life and say, I'll
• 34:31
  Speaker 3: 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. Vanish. That's life.
• 35:45
  Speaker 3: And at miss. A little vapor that just presently appears
• 35:50
  Speaker 3: and it's gone. Gone. James says, because you don't know
• 35:56
  Speaker 3: what tomorrow will bring, you ought to remember the words
• 36:00
  Speaker 3: of the psalmist. Listen to the living Bible. You speak, Lord,
• 36:06
  Speaker 3: and man is turned back to dust. A thousand years
• 36:10
  Speaker 3: are as yesterday 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 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.
• 36:49
  Speaker 2: But it is entered into the record.
• 36:52
  Speaker 3: Deceased. And a date is placed by that name. At
• 36:57
  Speaker 3: the beginning of the year, I take a long look
• 36:59
  Speaker 3: at our membership. And I ask before God. Oh, Lord.
• 37:09
  Speaker 3: Is each one ready? Are you ready? I am amazed
• 37:16
  Speaker 3: in the last dozen or so funerals, how many have
• 37:19
  Speaker 3: been 40 and under. I'm amazed. Your life is brief.
• 37:28
  Speaker 3: You don't know what tomorrow will bring. And verse 15
• 37:32
  Speaker 3: gives you the third reason. You have no right to
• 37:34
  Speaker 3: ignore God's will. Deo Volente, DV. God willing, I'll do
• 37:43
  Speaker 3: this and that. It's almost become a passive cliche.
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: God willing.
• 37:50
  Speaker 3: Oh, James doesn't play that game. James says, instead, you
• 37:55
  Speaker 3: ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will do this,
• 37:58
  Speaker 3: we will do that. If the Lord wills, we will expand.
• 38:03
  Speaker 3: If the Lord wills, we will have that amount of
• 38:06
  Speaker 3: money we need in the end of this year or sometime.
• 38:09
  Speaker 3: If the Lord wills, I am as resting and as
• 38:13
  Speaker 3: easy as I can possibly be because it's in God's hands.
• 38:18
  Speaker 3: If the Lord wills, you will have your job next year.
• 38:21
  Speaker 3: Have you changed jobs in the last year? Wouldn't that
• 38:25
  Speaker 3: be a remarkable story if people could stand at their
• 38:28
  Speaker 3: feet right now telling us they have changed jobs in
• 38:30
  Speaker 3: the last year? You'd see executives on their feet, but
• 38:33
  Speaker 3: the dozens. Maybe you don't even have a job. God
• 38:37
  Speaker 3: bless you. All of a sudden, it's gone. If the
• 38:44
  Speaker 3: Lord wills, I'll keep this job. Let me say to
• 38:53
  Speaker 3: you that if you have made arrangements for your life
• 38:55
  Speaker 3: and you have left God out, you are a classic fool.
• 39:02
  Speaker 3: The fool says in his heart, there is no God.
• 39:08
  Speaker 3: That's what the Lord tells us as he evaluates the
• 39:10
  Speaker 3: entire process in verse 17. Therefore, look at it now.
• 39:17
  Speaker 3: If you want to stop playing God, here's what you do.
• 39:21
  Speaker 3: Two things, two simple rules. Therefore, to him who knows
• 39:26
  Speaker 3: the right thing to do and does not do it,
• 39:28
  Speaker 3: to him it is sin. first you must know the
• 39:32
  Speaker 3: right thing to do when you play God you're doing
• 39:36
  Speaker 3: the wrong thing and you need to know the right
• 39:38
  Speaker 3: thing that means whatever the cost evaluate your life and
• 39:43
  Speaker 3: pattern it according to God's word not according to your
• 39:48
  Speaker 3: habits or traditions Stop telling yourself you can't change. Remind
• 39:58
  Speaker 3: yourself of the Houston Oilers, would you? There is a
• 40:02
  Speaker 3: second response. You must start doing the right thing. You
• 40:12
  Speaker 3: can't do it without knowing it. And instead of the
• 40:15
  Speaker 3: wrong thing, replace it with the right thing. Well, what
• 40:18
  Speaker 3: if I don't want to? Verse 17 concludes with the word,
• 40:21
  Speaker 3: it is sin. May I lay it on the line?
• 40:26
  Speaker 3: And I mean on the line. If you are a negative, petty,
• 40:33
  Speaker 3: gossipy person, and you hear the message from God's word
• 40:37
  Speaker 3: that it is playing God, and you continue to be
• 40:42
  Speaker 3: that way, you are in sin. as deeply as if
• 40:47
  Speaker 3: you had robbed a bank or 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 2: Now there is another answer I would say.
• 41:07
  Speaker 3: If you continue to live as though there is no God,
• 41:12
  Speaker 3: calling your own shots, being your own umpire, you are
• 41:15
  Speaker 3: living in sin. I can't put it any clearer. That's
• 41:19
  Speaker 3: exactly what James is saying. If you know the right
• 41:22
  Speaker 3: thing to do and you refuse to do it, you're
• 41:24
  Speaker 3: in sin. And as a minister of the gospel, it
• 41:28
  Speaker 3: is my calling to declare that with all the concern
• 41:32
  Speaker 3: of my heart. A French painter by the name of
• 41:36
  Speaker 3: Bourneau looked over a parable in Luke chapter 12. We
• 41:40
  Speaker 3: won't turn to it, but it's the familiar parable of
• 41:43
  Speaker 3: the rich man who had plenty. He had barns that
• 41:46
  Speaker 3: were filled with all of his product. He had crops
• 41:49
  Speaker 3: that were filled, bumper crops loaded with the fruit. And
• 41:55
  Speaker 3: he studied that particular passage and he began to paint
• 41:58
  Speaker 3: the most unusual painting you can imagine. He painted a
• 42:02
  Speaker 3: man at his desk and his hands folded and his
• 42:05
  Speaker 3: brow was furrowed and he had little bags of money
• 42:08
  Speaker 3: on a shelf behind him. And a small little bag
• 42:11
  Speaker 3: on the end with a little thread tied around it.
• 42:13
  Speaker 3: Almost as though you could read his mind and say,
• 42:15
  Speaker 3: he's saving that for something. He's looking out the window
• 42:19
  Speaker 3: and there's a bumper crop. Through those window panes you
• 42:23
  Speaker 3: can see the plants have grown and they are full
• 42:26
  Speaker 3: and running over. And written across his face is, what
• 42:28
  Speaker 3: shall I do? Now if you know the story, you
• 42:30
  Speaker 3: know his plan. He planned on everything but death. He
• 42:35
  Speaker 3: included everything but God. And so he went to work.
• 42:39
  Speaker 3: He says, I'll build greater barns. And he began to
• 42:41
  Speaker 3: put them together and his mind was working. His slide
• 42:44
  Speaker 3: rule wouldn't put it all together and he laid out
• 42:46
  Speaker 3: his barns and he planned and built them. Except he
• 42:50
  Speaker 3: forgot the possibility of death. And God did come and
• 42:57
  Speaker 3: say to him, you fool, this night your soul will
• 43:00
  Speaker 3: be required of you. Bernal read the last part of
• 43:05
  Speaker 3: that passage and he flipped the canvas over. And he
• 43:08
  Speaker 3: painted the other side of it. He began to paint
• 43:11
  Speaker 3: the picture of a man at the desk. Same man,
• 43:13
  Speaker 3: same desk, same bags of money, same window, same crops.
• 43:17
  Speaker 3: But this time he added something that was not there before.
• 43:21
  Speaker 3: There's a small thin layer of dust resting on the desk.
• 43:27
  Speaker 3: And a death angel standing with his hands on his
• 43:29
  Speaker 3: shoulders looking at the man with his lips pursed as
• 43:32
  Speaker 3: if to be saying, You fool. Let's bow our heads
• 43:41
  Speaker 3: this morning, please. Most important time of this service is
• 43:51
  Speaker 3: right now. God has ministered his word to your heart,
• 43:56
  Speaker 3: and I do not know how it has landed. I
• 44:00
  Speaker 3: have no individual in mind at this time. 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
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  Speaker 3: some workman or some homemaker. It may have touched a
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  Speaker 3: teenager that's here and has been causing a hell on
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  Speaker 3: earth in your home because of a petty spirit. God,
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  Speaker 3: it may have addressed it to someone who will be
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  Speaker 3: here only today and then gone many, many, many miles
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  Speaker 3: this afternoon. But whoever touched, I want to remind you
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  Speaker 3: of the two areas where we play God. We play
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  Speaker 3: God with others when we speak down and judge. And
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  Speaker 3: we play God with ourselves when we leave him out
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  Speaker 3: and leave no room for him. To interrupt or to direct. Oh,
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  Speaker 3: dear friend, if you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ,
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  Speaker 3: let me say while we're all quietly sitting before him today,
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  Speaker 3: the Lord Jesus knows that your heart cannot change. And
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  Speaker 3: God sent his son even knowing that your sinful heart
• 45:29
  Speaker 3: would continue to sin after his son came and that
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  Speaker 3: it would continue to produce ugly words. ugly thoughts, ugly acts.
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  Speaker 3: And Jesus said, I love you. There's so much more
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  Speaker 3: down inside of you I'd like to bring out. But
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  Speaker 3: unless you let me come into your life, I cannot
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  Speaker 3: bring any change. So right where you're sitting this morning,
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  Speaker 3: believe what the choir sang a moment ago. God so
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  Speaker 3: loved you That he gave his only begotten son. That
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  Speaker 3: if you would believe in him, you would never perish.
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  Speaker 3: You would have everlasting life. In the depths of your
• 46:23
  Speaker 3: heart today. Do you have everlasting life? Why not stop
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  Speaker 3: right now? And just ask Jesus Christ to become your savior.
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  Speaker 3: If it helped you to lift your hand and say,
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  Speaker 3: Pastor Swindoll, this morning I've made that decision and just
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  Speaker 3: put it back down again, I won't embarrass you. I've
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  Speaker 3: decided that I'll give my heart to Jesus Christ today. Yes.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you. You've committed your heart to Jesus Christ. Lift
• 47:05
  Speaker 3: your hand. I've given myself to Jesus today. I acknowledge
• 47:11
  Speaker 3: him as my savior. But Christians that are here today.
• 47:21
  Speaker 3: Isn't about time that. You do something. About these two
• 47:27
  Speaker 3: areas we've talked about today. And I mean now.
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  Speaker 1: Lord, thank you for speaking to us today. Thank you
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  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
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  Speaker 1: strong reminder that you are God and I am not.
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  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,
• 48:04
  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,
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  Speaker 1: recklessly leaving.
• 48:20
  Speaker 2: You out of all the considerations. Our lives, as you
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  Speaker 2: have taught us, are but a.
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: Vapor, here today and gone in a moment. So deliver
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  Speaker 1: us from that silly, childish tendency to to play games
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: with our future, with those around us, and especially with
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: our eternal destiny. I pray these truths we have learned
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  Speaker 1: today will linger long in our minds. May they grow
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  Speaker 1: into deeper thoughts and begin to thrive there, making us
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  Speaker 1: more and more into the image of your Son, Jesus Christ.
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: And Lord, help us never to take ourselves too seriously,
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  Speaker 1: but always to take your word and your claim on
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  Speaker 1: our lives very seriously. Grant that each one who has
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  Speaker 1: heard what we have thought about today would reflect honestly
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  Speaker 1: and personally on these truths. Be gracious, gently moving them
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  Speaker 1: toward a point of decision by faith, especially those who
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: have never trusted in your Son. May they realize what
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  Speaker 1: is missing as they operate in that vacuous emptiness without God.
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  Speaker 1: Lead them in their faith to Christ and to Christ alone.
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  Speaker 1: These things I pray in the name of Jesus our Lord.
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  Speaker 2: Amen.
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  Speaker 4: And 2016, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2016
• 50:14
  Speaker 4: by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide.
• 50:19
  Speaker 4: Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.