The Importance of Making the Right Choices

      It seems everywhere we turn, there is yet another choice to be made. Many are inconsequential, but others have far-reaching ramifications. We all can point to those who have made good choices, just as we can point to others who have made very bad choices. It is painful to watch family members, friends, and acquaintances who habitually make one bad decision after another. Some are held captive by substances and can never seem to untighten the noose around their neck. Some have drank or smoked or gambled away their lives and have nothing to show for it other than debt, disease, and broken relationships. How many times have people said they wish they could go back and do things differently.

         Country legend George Jones struggled most of his life with alcoholism, womanizing, and other bad habits. Only in the latter years of his life did he give things over to the Lord Jesus and ultimately overcome the struggles he had known. In multiple interviews he related his sorrow for the decades of foolish behavior and all the waste and unnecessary sacrifice. In a simple, heart-felt and reflective 1999 single called “Choices,” he seemed to hit the nail on the head. The repeated chorus says “I’ve had choices, since the day I was born; there were voices, that told me right from wrong. If I’d listened, no I wouldn’t be here today; living and dying with the choices I’ve made.” (Listen to the full song here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltHSay00gAc )

         Over time I have set across my desk from many broken people whose marriages were falling apart, whose lives had been given in pursuit of another drink or another high, who had aborted their baby, who had been involved in pornography, adultery, homosexuality, sex with minors, gambling, embezzlement, and habitual lying. No one forced them to do any of these things; in fact, many urged themnot to do these things, but they foolishly pursued their lusts. They made conscious decisions to not heed the many warnings.

         Paul, writing to the Church at Galatia, in Galatians 6:7, states the law of the harvest. “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.” Life is about preparing ground, sowing seeds, growing crops, and harvesting fruit. There will always be a direct correspondence between the seeds we sow and the harvest we glean. No matter how much we wish, at times, it could be different. The harsh reality for all is just as Jones sang, “Living and dying with the choices I made.”

         The answer for us is to make wise choices and sow the right kind of seed in our lives. The work of farming is not easy. Weeds will do their best to overtake our crops but we must tend our gardens prudently and faithfully. Droughts will come, laziness will harm us, complacency will always be a factor, but we need to actively press on and determine ourselves to make wise choices and be resolute to keep on making good choices even when tempted not to do so.

In Christ,

Dr. Allen Raynor, Pastor

Previous weblogs may be viewed at www.fbcrogers.com

Recent messages are also available for download at this site.

Gluttony; an Often Overlooked Sin

July 9, 2014

         Our land is the land of excess. I was recently in a grocery store and was amazed that there was almost an entire aisle of Pringles! Do you remember when Gatorade only came in lemon-lime and you had only about 3 or 4 basic brand choices when it came to coffee? Who would have ever thought coffee was operating so far below its market potential for centuries!

         The excesses of our land are not just about brand and item choices. An increasing number of people are overweight and obese. Unhealthy food is everywhere. Portions are increasing, buffets advertising “all you can eat” are sweet music to the ears of a “growing” number (no pun intended).

         It is certainly not just about food. That is only one area of “gluttonous” behavior. People are spending hours in front of the television watching an increasingly “dumbed down” selection of programming on cable or satellite feeds with dozens, if not hundreds, of stations whereas there were only 3 or 4 channels not so long ago.  

         Some are gluttons when it comes to sports; spending large segments of their time watching others fulfill their dreams and athletic potential. Others are gluttonous when it comes to leisure time activities. As the saying goes, “All work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy,” but Johnny does need to do some work!

         Recently the Nathan’s annual 4^thof July hot dog eating contest took place, where else but on Coney Island! The event is covered each year on ESPN because competitive eating is apparently viewed by many as something of a sport.

         Many are gluttonous when it comes to vices and habits, mainly for the release of endorphins that are brought about by, for instance, gambling. Or the physical buzz or drunkenness brought about by excessive consumption of alcohol or perhaps the high of a marijuana joint. Is a 3-pack a day smoker, not a glutton? How do you actually smoke 60 cigarettes in one, 24 hour period? I am highly curious as to how one can accomplish that feat! What about those who consume several cans of soda pop per day because they are addicted to caffeine? Perhaps a person is a gluttonous coffee drinker and their hand feels empty without holding a cup.

         God and His Scriptures allow most things in moderation, but mankind’s lust often does not allow him to stop with a little, he races ahead toward excess. We all have a great tendency to be gluttonous in any number of behaviors. The more blatant forms of gluttony are mentioned above, but often this sin is much more subtle. Mankind has carefully developed little ways to cover and/or justify his gluttony. In his classic fictional work The Screwtape Letters,C.S. Lewis writes,

     My Dear Wormwood, The contemptuous way in which you spoke of gluttony

     as a means of catching souls . . . One of the great achievements of the last

   hundred years has been to deaden the human conscience on that subject, so

   that by now you will hardly find a sermon preached or a conscience troubled

     about it . . . This has largely been affected by concentrating all our efforts

     on gluttony of Delicacy, not gluttony of Excess. Your patient’s mother,

   as I learn from the dossier . . . is a good example. She would be

   astonished – one day, I hope, will be – to learn that her whole life

     is enslaved to this kind of sensuality, which is quite concealed from

     her by the fact that the quantities involved are small. But what do

     quantities matter, provided we can use a human belly and palate to

     produce querulousness, impatience, uncharitableness, and

     self-concern . . . She is always turning from what has been offered

     her to say with a demure little sigh and a smile ‘Oh please, please . . .

     all I want is a cup of tea, weak but not too weak, and the teeniest

     weeniest bit of really crisp toast.’ You see? Because what she

     wants is smaller and less costly than what has been set before her, she never

     recognizes as gluttony her determination to get what she wants, however

     troublesome it may be to others. At the very moment of indulging her

     appetite she believes that she is practicing temperance. In a crowded

     restaurant she gives a little scream at the plate which some overworked

     waitress has set before her and says, ‘Oh, that’s far, far too much! Take

     it away and bring me about a quarter of it.’ If challenged, she would say

     she was doing this to avoid waste; in reality she does it because the particular

     shade of delicacy to which we have enslaved her is offended by the sight of

     more food than she happens to want . . . The woman is in what may be

     called the ‘All-I-want’ state of mind. All she wants is a cup of tea

     properly made, or an egg properly boiled, or a slice of bread properly toasted.

     But she never finds any servant or any friend who can do these simple things

     ‘properly’ – because her ‘properly’ conceals an insatiable demand for the exact,

     and almost impossible, palatal pleasures which she imagines she remembers from

     the past; a past described by her as ‘the days when you could get good servants’

     but known to us as the days when her senses were more easily pleased and she

     had pleasures of other kinds which made her less dependent on those of the table.

     Meanwhile, the daily disappointment produces daily ill temper: cooks give notice

     and friendships are cooled.

This is quite humorous but also highly insightful as it highlights something very telling about human nature – that it is innately selfishness but also desperately tries to conceal that selfishness! Pampering the flesh, and trying to legitimize doing so, has replaced baseball as America’s new pastime!

         Gluttony is a strong and compelling desire to put the wants and longings of the flesh above all else, including moderation, a servant’s heart, looking out for others, and any other Christian virtue. Recognizing the problem is the beginning. Working on the problem is the next step. All of us need to recognize that “enough” needs to trump “more” in our lives. When we can honestly say things like, “This is not about me,” “I’ve had enough,” and ask others in all sincerity, “What can I do for you today?” etc. then we are getting on the right track and gluttony is a sin that is being overcome in our lives.

In Christ,

Dr. Allen Raynor, Pastor

Previous weblogs may be viewed atwww.fbcrogers.com

Hobby Lobby and Religious Liberty

July 3, 2014

          This past Monday, The United States Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, handed down a ruling which said corporations are not required to violate their religious beliefs by being forced to purchase abortion causing drugs for their employees.  This may seem, at first, to only be of concern to those either on the potential giving or receiving end of such insurance coverage, but it has much greater and wider implications which are relevant to the whole notion of religious liberty.

          If government can overrule the conscious of individuals and force them to do things (i.e. purchase something) that violates their individual conscience on religious grounds then there is nothing to stop them from doing it on a regular basis.  Religious liberty has been a hallmark of this nation from its earliest days and figured heavily into the framing of the founding documents of the nation.  Even further back than that, the English Pilgrims who came to the new world came seeking, primarily religious liberty.

          Christians certainly are expected to obey the rules and laws we live under without trying to wiggle our way out of our primary duties as citizens.  However, there do come points where the overreach of the government presents a crisis in the conscience of the individual.  The Hobby Lobby case is one such instance.  The new requirements under the Obamacare health law mandated cooperations provide birth control, including abortion inducing drugs to their employees.  The Green family who are operators of the craft store chain based in Oklahoma City are Southern Baptists with deeply held convictions about the sanctity of human life and were unwilling to comply by paying for drugs that would terminate pregnancy.  The money involved was insignificant, but solely at issue was the idea of their being forced to become complicit in the practice of what they viewed as grievously sinful.

          Now that the high court has ruled in favor of Hobby Lobby, many feel it is now time to rest, but Dr. Russell Moore, President of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention writes “I pray for churches that can raise up a new generation to prize freedom of conscience and religious liberty for all . . . Who could have imagined just a few years ago that we would even have to take such a thing to the United States Supreme Court?  We must teach our children what it means to be free people, and what it means to follow Christ whatever the cost.” (“Why Hobby Lobby Matters” available at www.russellmoore.com) 

          As we look toward the future, it is easy to predict that following Christ will become more and more difficult and potentially cost much, much more than it ever has in America.  Christ and Christians will be viewed increasingly as strange and sorely out of touch with the real world.  The highest god sinful mankind knows is himself and anything which threatens that god will be shouted down and even punished when possible.

          The half-hearted efforts of many who call themselves Christians will not suffice as the wave of secularization continues destroying, or attempting to destroy, everything in its path.  If churches, and individual believers are going to be strong through the onslaught of increasingly greater persecution then they must be prepared.  We are in uncharted waters in America, and it will almost certainly grow worse.

          How then shall we live?  Peter wrote in his first letter “Live as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God.” (1 Pet. 2:16)  Further, we need to proclaim the Gospel with boldness and a sense of urgency in these difficult days.

In Christ,

Dr. Allen Raynor, Pastor

Previous weblogs may be viewed at www.fbcrogers.com