Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / The Peril of Playing God │ Msg 1116 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

Transcript

The Peril of Playing God │ Msg 1116 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

0:01
Speaker 1: When I was growing up.
0:02
Speaker 2: We didn't have television until I was a teenager, so
0:06
Speaker 2: we played a lot of games as a family.
0:09
Speaker 1: The same is true for Cynthia's family.
0:11
Speaker 2: I remember walking down the game ailes of a favorite
0:13
Speaker 2: toy store and seeing the names Milton, Bradley, and Parker brothers,
0:19
Speaker 2: and envisioning many wonderful hours of playing games with family
0:23
Speaker 2: and friends way back then. Some games, however, are not
0:28
Speaker 2: mere child's play. For example, playing relationship games with people
0:34
Speaker 2: can be both destructive and hurtful, as we're going to
0:39
Speaker 2: see in today's message. In our series called Hands on Christianity,
0:44
Speaker 2: James especially opposed.
0:45
Speaker 1: The game of playing God.
0:49
Speaker 2: James pulled no punches and confronting the age old problem
0:52
Speaker 2: of people attempting to rule their own destiny by leaving
0:57
Speaker 2: God out of the equation. So as we began, let's
1:01
Speaker 2: open our Bibles together and turn to the fourth chapter
1:04
Speaker 2: of James and read about the dangerous game of playing God.
1:11
Speaker 2: That'll be in verses eleven through seventeen. And I'm reading
1:15
Speaker 2: again from the New American Standard version of the Bible.
1:19
Speaker 2: Verse eleven of chapter four begins, do not speak against
1:25
Speaker 2: one another, brethren, He who speaks against a brother or
1:28
Speaker 2: judges his brother speaks against the law and judges the law.
1:35
Speaker 2: But if you judge the law, you're not a doer
1:38
Speaker 2: of the law, but a judge of it. And there
1:41
Speaker 2: was only one lawgiver and judge, the one who was
1:44
Speaker 2: able to save and to destroy. But who are you
1:48
Speaker 2: who judge your neighbor? Come now, you who say today
1:53
Speaker 2: or tomorrow, we'll go to such and such a city
1:55
Speaker 2: and spend a year there and engage in business and
1:58
Speaker 2: make a profit. Yet you do not know what your
2:02
Speaker 2: life will be like tomorrow. You're just like a vapor.
2:07
Speaker 2: It appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead,
2:13
Speaker 2: you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will
2:17
Speaker 2: live and also do this or that. But as it is,
2:22
Speaker 2: you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Therefore,
2:29
Speaker 2: to one who knows the right thing to do and
2:32
Speaker 2: does not do it, to him it is sin.
2:37
Speaker 3: Years ago, the book was released that was destined for
2:40
Speaker 3: success in the United States because, as my friend put
2:44
Speaker 3: it on one occasion, the book scratches us where we itch.
2:47
Speaker 3: It's a book entitled Games People Play. It's a book
2:52
Speaker 3: by Eric Byrne, And if you have read it. You
2:54
Speaker 3: know how often it scratches you, and you know how
2:58
Speaker 3: it touches you in deep areas of your life that
3:01
Speaker 3: you try to mask, cover, over, overlook. It really has
3:07
Speaker 3: to do with all of the psychological gimmicks and manipulations
3:11
Speaker 3: we try to get people to do what we want
3:14
Speaker 3: them to do, hopefully without their knowing we're trying to
3:17
Speaker 3: do it. Three years after this was published and was
3:22
Speaker 3: on the bestseller list for many many months, a couple
3:26
Speaker 3: of Christian individuals published a companion volume called Games Christians Play,
3:34
Speaker 3: And the artistic work in the book was done by
3:37
Speaker 3: yet another person, and it also was designed to show
3:40
Speaker 3: the kind of things we do without wanting to unveil our.
3:46
Speaker 1: Real motive in doing it, and yet.
3:48
Speaker 3: It exposes it in all of its reality. Now, if
3:53
Speaker 3: you'll take a very Maverick sheet from your bulletin insert
3:58
Speaker 3: this morning and open it up to the scandalous side,
4:05
Speaker 3: you will have an example of some of the games
4:08
Speaker 3: Christians play. This is certainly going to shock a few,
4:13
Speaker 3: but the rest of us are.
4:15
Speaker 1: Going to enjoy it.
4:16
Speaker 3: Now, if we will go clockwise in the direction of
4:22
Speaker 3: the dial of a clock, we will begin at the
4:24
Speaker 3: top right, and I would like for you to study
4:26
Speaker 3: each picture carefully. These are not my drawings, Thank the Lord,
4:33
Speaker 3: I did not draw these. If I had, you would
4:35
Speaker 3: not know what in the world they were all about.
4:37
Speaker 3: These are the drawings taken from the book. Well, let
4:40
Speaker 3: me give you just a few. I've saved time and
4:43
Speaker 3: space by putting just the first letters. The first game
4:48
Speaker 3: up on the top right is I don't know why
4:51
Speaker 3: they don't do something about her? Now, this is usually
4:58
Speaker 3: played with people that are very gullible and spineless, and
5:03
Speaker 3: it is always filled with the ubiquitous they you know
5:06
Speaker 3: that they like, I don't know why they don't do
5:09
Speaker 3: something about the rowdies in the balcony. Or I don't
5:15
Speaker 3: know why they don't do something about that fellow that
5:18
Speaker 3: always puts his arm around his wife in church, who's they?
5:22
Speaker 3: Or I don't know why they don't do something about
5:25
Speaker 3: all the college kids that grab up our seats on
5:27
Speaker 3: Sunday morning. Less laughs on that one, I don't know why.
5:34
Speaker 3: I don't know why they don't do something about those
5:36
Speaker 3: people that smoke on the steps of the church, you know'.
5:41
Speaker 3: That's what we call that game. I don't know why
5:44
Speaker 3: they don't do something about it.
5:47
Speaker 1: It's a.
5:51
Speaker 3: It's a very popular game in churches today. I'm not
5:54
Speaker 3: saying here, I'm just saying in churches in general.
5:56
Speaker 1: Now. The bottom right is even a more pop game
6:00
Speaker 1: than that one.
6:02
Speaker 3: It is, in three words, the game opposing newfangled gimmicks.
6:07
Speaker 3: And I want you to study that fella for a minute,
6:10
Speaker 3: would you. His name is probably mister Dry's dust. He
6:15
Speaker 3: has taught junior boys for thirty eight years, mumbling the
6:19
Speaker 3: lesson manual, giving out pencils at Christmas. You know, the
6:23
Speaker 3: last creative thought he had was about nineteen forty six.
6:28
Speaker 3: And his common response when talked to by the superintendent
6:32
Speaker 3: regarding changing his approaches, well, I'm doing the best I can,
6:37
Speaker 3: or nobody is more faithful than I am.
6:41
Speaker 1: You want to say, unfortunately.
6:44
Speaker 3: And then he may come back with this is the
6:47
Speaker 3: way we've always done it. And so I've given him
6:51
Speaker 3: a little award on his shoulder. That was my only addition.
6:54
Speaker 3: I gave him a little banner, which you know, he's
6:57
Speaker 3: the guy that feels a discussion is the first move
7:00
Speaker 3: to sensitivity training.
7:02
Speaker 1: You know, he feels that any.
7:03
Speaker 3: Approach toward involving the class is the first step to liberalism.
7:09
Speaker 3: You really teach when you say, sit there and listen
7:11
Speaker 3: and don't respond.
7:14
Speaker 1: Just listen. Now.
7:16
Speaker 3: The third fellow on about seven o'clock here, game three.
7:23
Speaker 1: He's a neat looking guy.
7:24
Speaker 3: He's got a halo, and his game is when you
7:28
Speaker 3: have been a Christian as long as I have, I
7:33
Speaker 3: see you've encountered.
7:34
Speaker 1: A few of those fellas well.
7:36
Speaker 3: They are the people that are either born in a
7:38
Speaker 3: choir loft or they they made a decision for the
7:43
Speaker 3: Lord about age one and a half or two. You know,
7:46
Speaker 3: they've never known a time when they didn't know the Lord,
7:49
Speaker 3: and they're tired of it.
7:51
Speaker 1: You know, like when a new.
7:52
Speaker 3: Christian comes with his Bible and he's just found a
7:55
Speaker 3: book and he hasn't found a verse.
7:57
Speaker 1: He's found a book in his Bible.
7:58
Speaker 3: He says, I didn't know there was a book called Habocac.
8:03
Speaker 3: And the fellow who has been a Christian forever says, oh, well,
8:07
Speaker 3: when you come across the main theme, the Chaldean taunt
8:11
Speaker 3: in chapter two, you'll find the real truth. Guess it's
8:14
Speaker 3: Chaldean font thanks, it's a disease or something. He doesn't
8:19
Speaker 3: know what is home or the young Christian says, you know,
8:22
Speaker 3: I'm getting interested in South America. This particular guy with
8:26
Speaker 3: the halo says, yes, New Christians always go to extremes.
8:30
Speaker 3: I went through that when I was eleven, but now
8:32
Speaker 3: that I'm adult, I you know, we don't worry about those,
8:37
Speaker 3: just worried about ourselves. Look at eleven o'clock, Will you
8:42
Speaker 3: game four? This is Prima Donna. That's that game Prima Donna.
8:51
Speaker 3: Now it helps if you're going to play Prima Donna
8:53
Speaker 3: to have an Austrian accent. That helps, or who have
8:57
Speaker 3: been schooled in the Eastern schools. It also helps if
9:02
Speaker 3: you want to play Prima Donna that you have thirty
9:04
Speaker 3: thousand dollars for the new sanctuary, and you want to
9:07
Speaker 3: be sure everybody knows that's what you're giving, so you
9:09
Speaker 3: asked to have your name placed up there. You know,
9:12
Speaker 3: the Prima Donna is able to sing, oh promise me
9:15
Speaker 3: in Latin. You know that kind of individual, the classic
9:20
Speaker 3: name dropper. You know, when I was talking to Billy
9:24
Speaker 3: the other day, meeting doctor Billy Graham, or you know
9:29
Speaker 3: Will and I have been close friends, meeting doctor Wilbur Smith.
9:32
Speaker 3: That kind of person tends toward the Prima Donna. But
9:36
Speaker 3: the favorite one of all is the middle. Look closely
9:40
Speaker 3: study her face. This is called welcoming the new convert
9:49
Speaker 3: or the attack. She's sort of a cross between a
9:54
Speaker 3: mac truck and a woman marine, and she's grabbed this girl.
9:59
Speaker 1: She says a oh, honey, we're glad you're coming. Now.
10:01
Speaker 3: We've signed you up for the nursery for the next
10:03
Speaker 3: five months. You will serve, won't you. Or she begins
10:09
Speaker 3: to tell the girl how to dress, what to say.
10:12
Speaker 3: What's wrong with the youth of today? I can tell
10:17
Speaker 3: by your smile you have met a few of the
10:19
Speaker 3: wtnc game.
10:23
Speaker 1: Now.
10:23
Speaker 3: You may think that playing games in church is twentieth
10:27
Speaker 3: century stuff, but you know it isn't.
10:32
Speaker 1: It's as old as the New Testament.
10:35
Speaker 3: As a matter of fact, if I read my Bible right,
10:38
Speaker 3: I find that there were games being played in the
10:41
Speaker 3: days of the first book that was written in the
10:43
Speaker 3: New Testament, namely the Book of James. You know, it's
10:47
Speaker 3: the oldest of all the New Testament books. You go
10:51
Speaker 3: as far back as forty five AD, with all the
10:56
Speaker 3: dust on it, you will find the Book of James
10:58
Speaker 3: being written, and you will find games being played, and characteristically,
11:05
Speaker 3: you will find James pointing them out the game. Most
11:10
Speaker 3: common in the days of James was playing God. People
11:17
Speaker 3: did it often because they were the ones who had
11:21
Speaker 3: seen the Lord Jesus, but often just because of the
11:25
Speaker 3: old kernal nature playing God. Now, if you play God
11:31
Speaker 3: today as they did in those days, you can play
11:34
Speaker 3: God with other people or with yourself. And I want
11:40
Speaker 3: to show you, from the eleventh through the seventeenth verses
11:43
Speaker 3: how playing God really works.
11:47
Speaker 1: I want you to see in each case.
11:50
Speaker 3: Whether with others or with yourself, the objective of the game,
11:54
Speaker 3: the rules, and God's evaluation of each. So Verses eleven
12:02
Speaker 3: and twelve talk about playing God with others. Do not
12:10
Speaker 3: speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a
12:14
Speaker 3: brother or judges his brother, speaks against the law and
12:20
Speaker 3: judges the law. But if you judge the law, you're
12:24
Speaker 3: not a doer of the law, but a judge of it.
12:28
Speaker 3: There is only one judge, one lawgiver, the one who
12:34
Speaker 3: is able to save and to destroy.
12:37
Speaker 1: But who are you who judges your neighbor?
12:43
Speaker 3: Now, the objective of the game playing God with others
12:47
Speaker 3: is sort of fitted in between the lines. And let
12:50
Speaker 3: me give it to you, and then I'll show you
12:52
Speaker 3: the rules. First, this is the objective. Imagine yourself superior
12:59
Speaker 3: to other Christian and then put them down in various ways.
13:08
Speaker 3: That's the objective of the game. If you want to
13:11
Speaker 3: play God, you view yourself as qualified to be a
13:17
Speaker 3: critic and then put them down. Place yourself in a
13:23
Speaker 3: superior position.
13:26
Speaker 1: Then put them down, all right. The rules are in
13:29
Speaker 1: verse eleven.
13:31
Speaker 3: First, if you want to play God with others, you
13:34
Speaker 3: need to speak against your brother, and second you need
13:39
Speaker 3: to judge your brother. Both are here in the eleventh verse.
13:45
Speaker 3: The Greek word translated speak against comes from a combination
13:50
Speaker 3: of two words meaning to talk down. So if you
13:56
Speaker 3: want to develop the idea of playing God, or whether
14:02
Speaker 3: or not you want to, you do it. When you
14:04
Speaker 3: do this, then you begin to talk down other people.
14:09
Speaker 3: Let me tell you how it works. Your goal is
14:13
Speaker 3: to lower your listener's estimate of that other person, and
14:20
Speaker 3: so you talk down against the other person in the
14:25
Speaker 3: eyes of a hearer, hoping to lower the estimate. But
14:29
Speaker 3: of course you cover it up. We cover it up
14:32
Speaker 3: very creatively. We begin our statements with, now, stop me
14:37
Speaker 3: if I'm wrong, but or I don't mean to be critical,
14:43
Speaker 3: but or perhaps I shouldn't say this about him? Or her.
14:49
Speaker 3: But William Barkley gives us a classic remark concerning this.
15:00
Speaker 1: Quote.
15:00
Speaker 3: There are a few sins which the Bible so unsparingly
15:04
Speaker 3: condemns as the sin of irresponsible and malicious gossip. To
15:12
Speaker 3: tell and listen to a slanderous story, especially about a
15:17
Speaker 3: distinguished person, is for all people a fascinating activity.
15:25
Speaker 1: End of quote.
15:28
Speaker 3: If you have some juicy bit of something you wish
15:31
Speaker 3: to share, and you want to have people's attention, use
15:35
Speaker 3: it with a name that is distinguished and honored and respected,
15:39
Speaker 3: and you will have that fascinating attention for an extended
15:43
Speaker 3: period of time. Because you see, that's a power play
15:47
Speaker 3: that the tongue often uses. James says, stop doing it.
15:55
Speaker 3: It's written in such a way that it was then
15:58
Speaker 3: going on. But he doesn't only mention speaking against a brother.
16:03
Speaker 3: He mentions judging. You see the word judge in verse eleven,
16:09
Speaker 3: judges his brother. It means to pronounce condemnation upon someone.
16:17
Speaker 1: Now, let me be careful here.
16:19
Speaker 3: This does not mean that a person is to be
16:21
Speaker 3: non discerning and gullible, nor does it suggest that there
16:26
Speaker 3: is never a time in a Christian's life in which
16:28
Speaker 3: a brother who loves him very much has no right
16:31
Speaker 3: to share areas of need or concern about the other's life.
16:35
Speaker 3: I am not condoning that. I'm not even saying that
16:37
Speaker 3: that is anywhere near what I'm suggesting.
16:41
Speaker 1: I am only saying.
16:43
Speaker 3: This critical attitude suggested in verse eleven is what James
16:47
Speaker 3: is condemning. Now, what's the problem with judging someone else?
16:52
Speaker 1: It is this.
16:53
Speaker 3: In order to judge someone rightly, we must know all
16:58
Speaker 3: there is to know about that person. If we are
17:04
Speaker 3: going to condemn, in the words of this particular verse,
17:07
Speaker 3: another individual, we need to be God.
17:10
Speaker 1: That's the problem. And we're not God.
17:14
Speaker 3: We're not even qualified to judge anything except that which
17:19
Speaker 3: we see. No man knows what's under the surface of
17:23
Speaker 3: another individual's heart and life. Go back to Matthew chapter
17:29
Speaker 3: seven for just a brief reprieve, will you Matthew chapter seven.
17:37
Speaker 3: That's what I call the Sermon on the splinter and
17:40
Speaker 3: the plank. You will see why when you notice the
17:44
Speaker 3: first five verses. Matthew seven begins, do not judge lest
17:52
Speaker 3: you be judged, for in the way you judge, you
17:57
Speaker 3: will be judged. Verse three, Why do you look at
18:00
Speaker 3: the spec or splinter in your brother's eye, and do
18:04
Speaker 3: not notice the law that is in your own eye.
18:07
Speaker 1: That's the plank.
18:10
Speaker 3: You that are all involved in looking for splinters and
18:13
Speaker 3: picking them out and then attacking, have missed the fact
18:17
Speaker 3: that you've got a plank in your own eye. It's
18:20
Speaker 3: with a good deal of smarting humor that the Lord
18:23
Speaker 3: Jesus levels his audience with these words, you hypocrite. Verse
18:29
Speaker 3: five begins, First take the law out of your own eye.
18:35
Speaker 3: Then you will see clearly enough to take the spec
18:38
Speaker 3: out of your brother's eye. That's what Jesus is teaching,
18:43
Speaker 3: and that's what James is saying in chapter four, verse eleven.
18:47
Speaker 3: Go back now to chapter four and look carefully. If
18:51
Speaker 3: you judge your brother and speak against him, you are
18:56
Speaker 3: doing that with the law.
18:58
Speaker 1: The law means the law love mentioned in chapter two.
19:02
Speaker 3: There's a previous reference to the law in the Book
19:05
Speaker 3: of James, and it's the law of love, the law
19:08
Speaker 3: of acceptance, the law of gracious grace, Christian kindness. I'll
19:18
Speaker 3: tell you our major goal as a group of believers
19:21
Speaker 3: ought to be the building up of one another in love,
19:26
Speaker 3: not the tearing down of one another in criticism. I
19:32
Speaker 3: was interested in reading of a man named Sid Gilman.
19:35
Speaker 3: If you're a sports fan, you know years ago he
19:38
Speaker 3: served as the head coach and general manager of the
19:40
Speaker 3: National Football League team, the Houston Oilers. Gilman took the
19:45
Speaker 3: team in the middle or early part of the season,
19:49
Speaker 3: and it was a losing situation. They had a one
19:53
Speaker 3: one game and lost five game record one five. As
19:58
Speaker 3: of the interview, the record was six. They wanted to
20:02
Speaker 3: know how in the last six games he was able
20:04
Speaker 3: to win five of them. How could he turn the
20:08
Speaker 3: team around from a loser to a winner and be
20:11
Speaker 3: up for a National Football League.
20:13
Speaker 1: Coach of the Year of all things. His answer was classic.
20:19
Speaker 3: Listen, we do not allow any negative our petty spirit
20:24
Speaker 3: on our team, none whatsoever.
20:28
Speaker 1: We build each other up.
20:30
Speaker 3: We love each other, We praise one another's ability, We
20:36
Speaker 3: encourage one another in the game of football.
20:38
Speaker 1: End of quote.
20:40
Speaker 3: He went on to say that he spent his time
20:42
Speaker 3: with his men, not pointing out all of their flaws,
20:46
Speaker 3: but he spent most of his day building into the
20:49
Speaker 3: mind of his men.
20:50
Speaker 1: You can play the game, you can win this game.
20:54
Speaker 3: And you know what happened. They started winning. If you
20:59
Speaker 3: follow the sport, know that they had on their team
21:01
Speaker 3: a man with the name of Matusak, who was a
21:03
Speaker 3: Giant number one draft choice in the entire NFL, and
21:07
Speaker 3: because Houston was at the bottom, they drafted him. Gilman
21:11
Speaker 3: came and there was immediate conflict. Why because Metusick was negative.
21:16
Speaker 3: He was wearing red sweatpants and practicing, and everybody else
21:20
Speaker 3: wore gray, and so coach Gilman said to him, John,
21:24
Speaker 3: around here we wear gray. But Coach, these are double net.
21:30
Speaker 3: Gilman said, I don't care if they triple net.
21:32
Speaker 1: We wear gray.
21:34
Speaker 3: And then a little later on, they were the house
21:36
Speaker 3: together in the training camp and Matusick wanted to be
21:38
Speaker 3: alone in his own apartment, said he rested better. Gilman said,
21:43
Speaker 3: learn to rest with the team because we're going to
21:46
Speaker 3: be together at this camp. And after another run in,
21:50
Speaker 3: he finally said, you know, there's nothing left to do,
21:52
Speaker 3: but just let him go, and they started winning. Interesting,
21:57
Speaker 3: isn't it how a petty and critical spirit will corrupt
22:04
Speaker 3: and ruin a scene.
22:08
Speaker 1: 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 twelve. There
22:33
Speaker 3: is only one lawgiver, meaning only one qualified to judge,
22:39
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 pro appears first.
23:01
Speaker 1: In the sentence you there.
23:03
Speaker 3: As if to say, the one least qualified? What are
23:07
Speaker 3: you doing about correcting this whole philosophy? I want to
23:14
Speaker 3: say to you, there is nothing more contagious and ruining
23:18
Speaker 3: in a local assembly, in a student body, in a business,
23:23
Speaker 3: in a staff, in an organization, in a home, nothing
23:30
Speaker 3: more contagious than a negative, petty spirit. Barkley is right.
23:39
Speaker 3: God pulls no punches when he evaluates that particular spirit.
23:45
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. They're probably going to be three billion. But
23:55
Speaker 3: if I could boil it down to three. These are
23:58
Speaker 3: 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.
24:08
Speaker 1: That's first amazement.
24:09
Speaker 3: Second, those that I was sure wouldn't be there that
24:14
Speaker 3: are there and I live with them throughout eternity.
24:18
Speaker 1: That's the second. The third that I'm there that God
24:26
Speaker 1: and his grace would let.
24:28
Speaker 3: Me into his marvelous, heavenly home with all of the
24:32
Speaker 3: stuff in my life that's not yet corrected. So I'm
24:38
Speaker 3: determined I want to live like that on earth. Well,
24:44
Speaker 3: what do I do, A person says, having played the
24:46
Speaker 3: game all my life, when it breaks out, either get
24:52
Speaker 3: up and leave the group, or in front of the group,
24:57
Speaker 3: denounce it boldly as gossip. When in your home and
25:02
Speaker 3: you detect an attitude that is negative, call it a
25:05
Speaker 3: negative attitude and deal with it, 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 for children that think.
25:24
Speaker 1: 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.
25:32
Speaker 1: 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.
25:43
Speaker 1: Look for the good.
25:47
Speaker 3: Without realizing and living with the bad. Would you commit
25:53
Speaker 3: yourself to that this morning? Wouldn't that be a marvelous
25:57
Speaker 3: goal for you as an adult or one on the
26:01
Speaker 3: way to being an adult. I remember being terribly critical
26:05
Speaker 3: when I was in seminary of a missionary speaker. And
26:09
Speaker 3: I remember I was a student body, one of the
26:11
Speaker 3: officers in the student body, and I remember standing at
26:14
Speaker 3: the back with my group bad mouthing the fella that
26:18
Speaker 3: had done a admittedly poor job, and an underclassman came by,
26:23
Speaker 3: whose walk with God I deeply respected. He took me
26:27
Speaker 3: by the arm and he said, Chuck, you know you
26:29
Speaker 3: don't know the facts. He said, what do you mean
26:32
Speaker 3: that was a rotten message? He said, did you know that?
26:38
Speaker 3: Two hours before? I know because he roomed near me
26:42
Speaker 3: in the darm. This fellow said his wife called.
26:46
Speaker 1: And his youngest son had been killed.
26:54
Speaker 3: Three months before, his wife had been declared as having
26:58
Speaker 3: terminal cancer. And in spite of the call, and in
27:02
Speaker 3: spite of this illness, he has come to be one
27:05
Speaker 3: of our missionary speakers.
27:08
Speaker 1: You just don't know the facts.
27:12
Speaker 3: You see, my friends, that is the awful truth about slander.
27:22
Speaker 3: Unless you know all the facts. Be quiet, how I
27:29
Speaker 3: am learning the importance of that. In my ministry, in
27:36
Speaker 3: verses thirteen through seventeen, we talk about playing God with ourselves,
27:44
Speaker 3: perhaps the most self delusioning of all the games. Let
27:48
Speaker 3: me give you the objective, and then we'll work through
27:50
Speaker 3: the rules. Here's the objective. Imagine yourself as final authority
27:59
Speaker 3: over your life.
28:01
Speaker 1: Then live like it. That's the objective.
28:06
Speaker 3: Imagine yourself as the final voice.
28:09
Speaker 1: The authority of your life. Then live like it.
28:15
Speaker 3: Take God and put him in his own cabin, and
28:18
Speaker 3: lock the door, and call on him when you need him.
28:20
Speaker 3: And that will not be very often. Put very well
28:25
Speaker 3: for us by the words of William Hendley, who, along
28:28
Speaker 3: with Nietzschee 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 1: I am the master of my fate, I am the
28:40
Speaker 1: captain of my soul. Live like that by your own bootstraps.
28:46
Speaker 1: Pull yourself up, face life.
28:48
Speaker 3: On your own, pray very little, call your own shots,
28:54
Speaker 3: and you'll be a perfect game player. In the matter
28:58
Speaker 3: of playing God. You want to see the rules. They're
29:00
Speaker 3: all in verse thirteen. They seem to be especially designed
29:04
Speaker 3: for the business man. So men, let me apply them
29:07
Speaker 3: to you, if I may for a moment. First rule
29:10
Speaker 3: 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.
29:36
Speaker 1: Got it.
29:38
Speaker 3: Selfishly plan your life so that you will have your
29:41
Speaker 3: own schedule, and you will have your own location that
29:45
Speaker 3: you want. Third, limit your stay so that it pleases you.
29:51
Speaker 3: We will spend a year there. Verse thirteen continues limit
29:56
Speaker 3: your stay so that you're pleased. Isn't it interesting? He's
30:01
Speaker 3: not planning a day in advance, He's planning a year
30:04
Speaker 3: in advance.
30:05
Speaker 1: What's he saying to God? Don't call me, I'll call you.
30:10
Speaker 3: I've gotten my year laid out, and so he does.
30:14
Speaker 3: Fourth rule, arrange your activities so that they work out
30:20
Speaker 3: to your benefit and pleasure. We will spend a year
30:24
Speaker 3: there and engage in business, as if to say, the
30:28
Speaker 3: kind of business I want? Rule number five, predict your
30:34
Speaker 3: profit and boast in it. We will engage in business
30:40
Speaker 3: and make a profit. Verse sixteen says the boasting is arrogant.
30:46
Speaker 3: I want to hasten to add because sure enough the
30:49
Speaker 3: negative thinkers that are here today are saying, well, aren't
30:51
Speaker 3: we supposed to plan ahead? Obviously we are. The Bible
30:55
Speaker 3: is filled replete with the proverb don't be slothful in business.
31:01
Speaker 3: A student that never thinks about tomorrow or plans for
31:03
Speaker 3: a test and advance as a foolish student.
31:06
Speaker 1: A father that never.
31:07
Speaker 3: Thinks about the financial outlay of his home is a
31:10
Speaker 3: foolish father. A mother that doesn't look over the affairs
31:14
Speaker 3: with some insight and foresight is a foolish mother. God
31:19
Speaker 3: condones wise planning, but in God's planning, he always.
31:25
Speaker 1: Wants it to be with his will in mind.
31:31
Speaker 3: In other words, there are to be small parentheses written
31:34
Speaker 3: in 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. Okay, how does
31:50
Speaker 3: God evaluate playing games with ourselves? That is playing God?
31:54
Speaker 3: Verse fourteen, along with verse fifteen 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. Number one, you have no knowledge
32:11
Speaker 3: of tomorrow. That's verse fourteen. You do not know what
32:17
Speaker 3: your life will be like tomorrow. This church is scattered
32:25
Speaker 3: with individuals who have experienced the most incredible events that
32:29
Speaker 3: a year ago they would have never dreamed would have happened.
32:35
Speaker 3: In this particular assembly. There are absent from us, individuals
32:39
Speaker 3: who a year ago were the staunch specimens of health,
32:44
Speaker 3: but disease has come, lives have been altered. There are
32:50
Speaker 3: children that were once in the arms of parents that
32:52
Speaker 3: are no longer there. I was driving in northern California
32:58
Speaker 3: in that trip with the biolaaculty some time ago, and
33:01
Speaker 3: I remember going into a lowland area on my way
33:03
Speaker 3: over to a small city known as Lodie, not far
33:06
Speaker 3: from Stockton, and it was a dense fog. I was
33:10
Speaker 3: tuling along about twenty five 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 the split second of time,
33:21
Speaker 3: a double trailer truck that had turned over apparently more
33:24
Speaker 3: than once there had been a curve in the road
33:27
Speaker 3: and he hadn't seen it, and he turned and he
33:29
Speaker 3: was still hanging in the truck, and they were working
33:32
Speaker 3: to get him out, hoping that there wouldn't be apparently
33:35
Speaker 3: an explosion. Flares were up but couldn't be seen. My
33:39
Speaker 3: car by the time it screeched to a stop had
33:41
Speaker 3: slipped almost sideways, and I missed it maybe five feet.
33:46
Speaker 3: And inside my breast that pounded a heart that said
33:49
Speaker 3: to me, you know, if you.
33:50
Speaker 1: Had hit that car, that truck, think of the results.
33:56
Speaker 3: The lovely woman that married me would have a whole
33:59
Speaker 3: different life if I remained her life. It would affect
34:03
Speaker 3: the ministry of Fullerton Evangelical Free Church. My four children
34:08
Speaker 3: would have a different life than they presently had. If
34:13
Speaker 3: God were to take me home as a result of
34:15
Speaker 3: that accident, all sorts of tentacles reaching out would have
34:18
Speaker 3: touched lives and individuals that would have changed all together
34:22
Speaker 3: what was now presently true.
34:25
Speaker 1: 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 1: If I need you, God, a call.
34:36
Speaker 3: On you, friend, you'll need him faster than you ever
34:39
Speaker 3: believe with an attitude like that. There's a second reason
34:45
Speaker 3: you have no assurance of a long life. You see
34:48
Speaker 3: that fourteenth verse. You're just a vapor. You have no
34:53
Speaker 3: assurance of a long life. When you play God with yourself,
34:57
Speaker 3: you're saying, my life will continue.
35:00
Speaker 1: God says, how foolish.
35:02
Speaker 3: Your life is a vapor that appears for a little
35:05
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. Okay, let's say
35:21
Speaker 3: it's thirty below zero in this deep freeze. We've all
35:25
Speaker 3: got our parkas, and we've all wrapped up with heavy
35:27
Speaker 3: caps on, and all of a sudden, up front, I
35:29
Speaker 3: just went there, would leave my mouth, a small vapor
35:35
Speaker 3: that would hang in that heavy, thick, cold air.
35:40
Speaker 1: Vanish. That's life, an at miss, a.
35:48
Speaker 3: Little vapor that just presently appears and it's gone. James says,
35:56
Speaker 3: because you don't know what tomorrow will bring, you ought
35:59
Speaker 3: to remember the words of the Psalmist.
36:02
Speaker 1: Listen to the living Bible.
36:05
Speaker 3: You speak Lord, and man is turned back to dust
36:09
Speaker 3: a thousand years or is yesterday to you?
36:12
Speaker 1: 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, roll names are deleted because
36:43
Speaker 3: of death. Not one was really expected that particular day,
36:49
Speaker 3: but it has entered into the record deceased, and a
36:54
Speaker 3: date is placed by that name.
36:57
Speaker 1: At the beginning of the year.
36:58
Speaker 3: I take a long look at our membership, and I
37:03
Speaker 3: asked before God, Oh Lord, is each one ready?
37:12
Speaker 1: 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 forty and under. I am amazed. Your life is breathe.
37:28
Speaker 3: You don't know what tomorrow will bring. And verse fifteen
37:32
Speaker 3: gives you the third reason you have no right to
37:34
Speaker 3: ignore God's will. Dale Valente dv God willing, I'll do this,
37:44
Speaker 3: and that it's almost become a passive cliche God willing.
37:50
Speaker 1: James doesn't play that game.
37:54
Speaker 3: James says, instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills,
37:57
Speaker 3: we will do this, We will do that.
38:00
Speaker 1: If the Lord wills, we will expand. If the Lord wills,
38:04
Speaker 1: we will have.
38:05
Speaker 3: That amount of money we need in the end of
38:07
Speaker 3: this year or sometime.
38:09
Speaker 1: If the Lord wills.
38:11
Speaker 3: I am as resting and as easy as I can
38:14
Speaker 3: possibly be, because it's in God's hands. If the Lord wills,
38:19
Speaker 3: you will have your job next year. If you change
38:22
Speaker 3: jobs in the last year, wouldn't that be a remarkable story.
38:27
Speaker 3: If people could stand to their feet right now telling
38:29
Speaker 3: us they have changed jobs in the last year, you'd
38:31
Speaker 3: see executives on their feet. But the dozens, maybe you
38:35
Speaker 3: don't even have a job. God bless you. All of
38:40
Speaker 3: a sudden, it's gone. If the Lord wills, I'll.
38:46
Speaker 1: 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 seventeen. 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 1: 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 are tradition. Stop
39:51
Speaker 3: telling yourself you can't change. Remind yourself of the Houston
39:59
Speaker 3: oilers Lida. There is a second response. You must start doing.
40:09
Speaker 1: The right thing. You can't do it without.
40:13
Speaker 3: Knowing it, and instead of the wrong thing, replace it
40:17
Speaker 3: with the right thing.
40:18
Speaker 1: Well, what if I don't want to?
40:19
Speaker 3: Verse seventeen concludes with the word it is sin. I
40:25
Speaker 3: may I lay it on the line, and I mean
40:27
Speaker 3: on the line. If you are a negative, petty, gossipy
40:34
Speaker 3: person and you hear the message from God's word that
40:37
Speaker 3: it is playing God, and you continue to be that way,
40:43
Speaker 3: you are in sin as deeply as if you had
40:48
Speaker 3: robbed a bank or committed adultery.
40:53
Speaker 1: Let me make that very clear.
40:56
Speaker 3: It is the tongue of the Christian that destroys the fellowship.
41:03
Speaker 1: 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.
41:24
Speaker 1: It, you're in sin.
41:27
Speaker 3: And as a minister of the Gospel, it is my
41:29
Speaker 3: calling to declare that with all the concern.
41:32
Speaker 1: Of my heart.
41:35
Speaker 3: A French painter by the name of Borneau looked over
41:38
Speaker 3: a parable in Luke chapter twelve. 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. He had barns that were filled with all
41:47
Speaker 3: of his product. He had crops that were filled, bumper
41:51
Speaker 3: crops loaded with the fruit. And he studied that particular
41:56
Speaker 3: passage and he began to paint the most unusual painting
42:00
Speaker 3: you can imagine. He painted a man at his desk,
42:03
Speaker 3: got his hands folded and his brow was furred, and
42:06
Speaker 3: he had little bags of money on a shelf behind him,
42:10
Speaker 3: and a small little bag on the end with a
42:12
Speaker 3: little thread tied around it, almost as though you could
42:14
Speaker 3: read his mind and say, he's saving that for something.
42:18
Speaker 3: He's looking out the window and there's a bumper crop.
42:22
Speaker 3: Through those window panes. You can see the plants have
42:24
Speaker 3: grown and they are full and running over and written
42:27
Speaker 3: across his face is what shall I do?
42:29
Speaker 1: Now? If you know the story, you know his plan.
42:32
Speaker 1: He planned on.
42:33
Speaker 3: Everything but death. He included everything but God. And so
42:38
Speaker 3: he went to work. He says, I'll build greater barns,
42:41
Speaker 3: and he began to put them together, and his mind
42:43
Speaker 3: was working his slide. Rule went put it all together,
42:46
Speaker 3: and he laid out his barns, and he planned and
42:48
Speaker 3: built them, except he forgot the possibility of death. And
42:56
Speaker 3: God did come and say to him, you fool, this
42:59
Speaker 3: night your soul will be required of you. Bernaud read
43:04
Speaker 3: the last part of that passage, and he flipped the
43:06
Speaker 3: canvas over 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.
43:17
Speaker 1: 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 shoulders,
43:30
Speaker 3: looking at the man, with his lips pursed, as if
43:32
Speaker 3: to be saying, you fool, let's bow our heads this morning, please.
43:49
Speaker 3: Most important time of this service is right now. God
43:54
Speaker 3: has ministered his word to your heart, and I do
43:57
Speaker 3: not know how it is landed. I have no individual
44:01
Speaker 3: in mind at this time, Thank God. I'm committed to
44:05
Speaker 3: the exposition of the scriptures so that nobody misunderstands the truth.
44:11
Speaker 3: It may have just ripped apart the heart of some
44:14
Speaker 3: student here today, are some workmen or some homemaker. It
44:22
Speaker 3: may have touched a teenager that's here and has been
44:24
Speaker 3: causing a hell on earth in your home because of
44:28
Speaker 3: a petty spirit.
44:31
Speaker 1: God.
44:32
Speaker 3: It may have addressed it to someone who will be
44:34
Speaker 3: here only today and then gone many, many, many miles
44:37
Speaker 3: this afternoon. But whoever touched, I want to remind you
44:42
Speaker 3: of the two areas where we play God.
44:46
Speaker 1: We play God with others.
44:50
Speaker 3: When we speak down and judge, and we play God
44:55
Speaker 3: with ourselves when we leave Him out and leave no
44:59
Speaker 3: room for Him.
45:04
Speaker 1: To interrupt or to direct.
45:10
Speaker 3: Oh, dear friend, if you do not know the Lord
45:12
Speaker 3: Jesus Christ, let me say while we're all quietly sitting
45:16
Speaker 3: before him today, the Lord Jesus knows that your heart
45:21
Speaker 3: cannot change. And God said his son, even knowing that
45:28
Speaker 3: your sinful heart would continue to sin after his son came,
45:35
Speaker 3: and that it would continue to produce ugly words, ugly thoughts,
45:42
Speaker 3: ugly acts, and Jesus said, I love you.
45:47
Speaker 1: There's so much more down inside of you.
45:49
Speaker 3: I'd like to bring out, but unless you let me
45:53
Speaker 3: come into your life, I cannot bring any change. So
46:00
Speaker 3: all right, where you're sitting this morning, believe what the
46:02
Speaker 3: choir sang a moment ago.
46:05
Speaker 1: God so loved you.
46:07
Speaker 3: That he gave his only begotten son that if you
46:11
Speaker 3: would believe in him, you would never perish.
46:16
Speaker 1: You would have everlasting.
46:18
Speaker 3: Life in the depths of your heart. Today, do you
46:25
Speaker 3: have everlasting life? Why not stop right now and just
46:33
Speaker 3: ask Jesus Christ to become your savior. If it help
46:41
Speaker 3: you to lift your hand and say, pastor swindle this morning,
46:45
Speaker 3: I've made that decision and just put it back down again.
46:48
Speaker 1: I won't embarrass you.
46:52
Speaker 3: I've decided that I'll give my heart to Jesus Christ today. Yes,
46:56
Speaker 3: thank you, You've committed your heart to Jesus Christ.
47:05
Speaker 1: Lift your hand.
47:08
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.
47:23
Speaker 1: You do something.
47:26
Speaker 3: About these two areas we've talked about today? And I
47:30
Speaker 3: mean now, Lord.
47:34
Speaker 2: Thank you for speaking to us today. Thank you for
47:37
Speaker 2: speaking to me in particular. I really needed this message
47:42
Speaker 2: in my own life. I'm so grateful for the strong
47:46
Speaker 2: reminder that you are God and I am not. You
47:52
Speaker 2: alone control life's circumstances, even the passages of our lives
47:57
Speaker 2: from one day to the next, because you are all powerful,
48:01
Speaker 2: all knowing, all seeing, and all wise. Please forgive us, Father,
48:09
Speaker 2: for presuming upon you and upon the future, for making
48:14
Speaker 2: careless plans and slipshod decisions, recklessly leaving you out of
48:21
Speaker 2: all the considerations. Our lives, as you have taught us,
48:26
Speaker 2: are but a vapor, here today and gone in a moment.
48:34
Speaker 2: So deliver us from that silly, childish tendency to play
48:39
Speaker 2: games with our future, with those around us, and especially
48:45
Speaker 2: with our eternal destiny. I pray these truths we have
48:50
Speaker 2: learned today will linger long in our minds. May they
48:56
Speaker 2: grow into deeper thoughts and begin to thrive there, making
49:02
Speaker 2: us more and more into the image of your son,
49:05
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ. And Lord, help us never to take ourselves
49:09
Speaker 2: too seriously, but always to take your word and your
49:13
Speaker 2: claim on our lives very seriously. Grant that each one
49:19
Speaker 2: who has heard what we have thought about today, would
49:22
Speaker 2: reflect honestly and personally on these truths. Be gracious, gently
49:29
Speaker 2: moving them toward a point of decision by faith, especially
49:34
Speaker 2: those who have never trusted in Your Son. May they
49:39
Speaker 2: realize what is missing as they operate in that vacuous
49:44
Speaker 2: emptiness without God. Lead them in their faith to Christ
49:51
Speaker 2: and to Christ alone. These things I pray in the
49:54
Speaker 2: name of Jesus Our Lord.
49:57
Speaker 1: Amen.
50:00
Speaker 4: The preceding message, The Peril of Playing God, was copyrighted
50:05
Speaker 4: in nineteen seventy four, two thousand three, and twenty sixteen,
50:10
Speaker 4: and the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty sixteen by
50:14
Speaker 4: Charles R. Swindall, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication
50:20
Speaker 4: of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.