Stewardship

Halloween and Hypocrisy

Sharon and I were sitting in the living room a few nights back when the dogs started barking incessantly. It was the tell tale bark that someone was actually coming to the house, not to be confused with the similar bark they utilize when a leaf blows across the front yard. Within a matter of seconds, the front door burst open and I could tell someone was in the house.

It is not unusual for a number of people to enter our house, without knocking or unannounced. However, this time as I looked up, I saw a large man wearing a dark pinstripe suit. He had broad shoulders, the size you might see on a football field on Sunday afternoon. His face was huge, similar to Sal Bonpensiero from the Sopranos. The intruder was rough looking, like the kind of guy you would expect to meet if you are unable to pay off your gambling debts. Everything about his appearance shouted stay out of his way.

However, my concern about the possible home invader lasted only a second as I quickly realized it was my son Matthew, obviously on his way to a Halloween party of some kind. It was a great costume! I don’t know, but I would not be surprised if he won a prize of some kind. When he left the house to go to the party, he was carrying a baseball bat to lend a little more authenticity to the mobster facade.

Halloween has become a really big deal for many people. Stores display supplies several weeks ahead of time, more and more people are decorating their yards each year, and costumes have become much more elaborate than the simple throwaway plastic mask and paper thin clothing we wore as children. Exotic haunted houses and jubilant parties fill the late evening for many after the kids have completed the trick or treat rounds.

Halloween was always my least favorite holiday. Although I like to eat a small amount, I have never been a true candy connoisseur. It never took very long for me to pick out the candy pieces I would eat when we spread the contents from the sack on the dining table. When I was young, it was a much more innocent time so it was quite common to receive fresh fruit or homemade goodies. Now, if you even think about distributing something that is not professionally sealed at a candy factor, they will haul you downtown for questioning and your name will start appearing on child molester lists.

Killing for Jesus

The Civil War provides a fascinating study for military historians. The Union forces of the North were much larger than the Confederate Army. In fact, there were more than one million Union soldiers compared to approximately 200,000 Confederate troops. However, one of the most serious weaknesses of the Union forces was a succession of Generals who were not aggressive enough to attack. They always waited for the enemy to begin the battles.

One of these early Generals was George B. McClellan. President Abraham Lincoln described McClellan as "a superb organizer. He has good points, but he won’t fight." Later, he referred to his army as "the personal bodyguard of General McClellan."

Finally, in disgust, Lincoln wrote to General McClellan and said, "Would you please loan me this army if you don’t intend to use it?"

This picture of the Union army reminds me of the church. The church has a massive army of powerful combatants but is losing ground to the enemy every day. In the past forty years, since Richard Nixon used the phrase, we have turned the "Silent Majority" into a strident minority. In many arenas, the church is considered an irrelevant relic in spite of the fact that many Christians are becoming louder and louder.

I believe the church has a large enough army to share the Gospel to all nations, feed the hungry, protect the unborn, and fulfill all the other tasks God has called us to do. But, there is a problem that is keeping all of these good things from happening.

If you will allow me to continue with the military theme, the problem begins with the fact that we are attempting to fight the wrong battle. It seems that many Christians are engaged in a conflict to protect a culture that no longer exists. Some are of the opinion that it was the culture of our nation’s founding fathers that we must protect. Others, not wanting to return to the 18th century, are fighting for a culture from the middle of the 20th century,the "Father Knows Best" era.  

Hating the Sin Because We Love the Sinner

Years ago, a young woman who was a member of our church and her boyfriend asked if I would perform their wedding ceremony. I expressed my willingness but advised them that they would first need to meet with me for several counseling sessions. I did not know the young man and the girl attended church very rarely.

They came for counseling and after a couple of sessions, it was apparent that they were not ready for marriage. I have always felt the church was too lax by just performing a wedding ceremony for anyone that comes along, so I decided to take a stand. I advised the couple that I would not perform the ceremony because I was confident the marriage would not last six months. Tact has never been one of my strengths.

They found another preacher and got married anyway. I was wrong! The marriage lasted seven months.

I have always taken marriage very seriously and considered divorce a total failure that should be utilized only in extreme circumstances.

At about the same time, I noticed the adult Sunday School classes had a Bible study lesson on divorce. We were a small church with two adult classes, one for older and one for younger adults. After the lesson, I asked several from each class about the study. To my surprise, the older adults were much more forgiving and accepting of divorce than the younger ones. I quickly surmised that the older adults were more experienced with life, and they had more first-hand encounters with the reality of divorce. It was not so easy for them to be dogmatic.

My lesson continued when a family member went through a painful divorce. It was a difficult time for the whole family. He worked hard to make the marriage work. I remember one evening sitting next to him at a restaurant and telling him it was time to give up, it was not going to work. He replied that he could not give up, and he did not for many more months.

As our family walked through this experience, we learned a great deal. Malachi 2:16 says, "God hates divorce…" In my younger days, I probably had the tendency to claim this meant that God hates divorced people. However, as I matured, I realized God does not hate people; He hates the sin of divorce. Now, after even more years of experience, I realize the reason for God’s hatred of divorce. He hates it because of what it does to the people He loves. Divorce is very painful for everyone involved. Like God, I hate divorce because of the pain it caused my loved ones.

I Am My Brother's Keeper

Genesis 4:1-9

Cain and Abel were the first sons and first siblings. They grew up together, depending upon one another because there were not a lot of other kids in the neighborhood. We are not told if their relationship was close, or if it was marred with sibling rivalry. Because of what happened, it seems that there might have been a great deal of tension between them.

We don’t know how much information they possessed about God. We do know that God was accustomed to spending time with their parents in the Garden, before the great fiasco called sin. It seems likely that they would have passed on this knowledge of God to their two sons. We do know that Cain and Abel possessed a desire to offer sacrifices to God. That is where the problem started.

Able was a shepherd and Cain was a farmer. Both were noble professions. It seems natural and right that a shepherd would offer a lamb, and a farmer would offer grain, as their sacrifices. Although Cain and Abel did not have the advantage of reading the book of Leviticus, both lambs and grain were acceptable offerings to God. There does not seem to be anything about the offering itself that caused a problem.

Therefore, if the gift was acceptable, the problem must have been with the giver. This is one of those places where we wish the Bible provided a little more information. I would like to know why the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard.

The Bible is very clear that God often has respect for specific individuals and we are not always told the reason. When God despaired that He had ever created humans, we are told that Noah found favor with God, but we don’t know anything about him. God frequently demonstrated favor to Joseph, but from what we are told about his childhood, most of us would call him a spoiled brat. Samson was greatly blessed by God, which seems totally inappropriate considering his lifestyle.

The only consolation is to realize that God knows much more than we know about one another. God sees the inner being; He knows the heart. Noah, Joseph, Samson, and all the others proved to be useful to God. In the same way, Abel had been singled out by God.

Cain did not like being second fiddle, since he was the first-born. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell . The "countenance" refers to a person’s face. To say that a person’s countenance fell is a graphic description of what is seen in their face, their expression. Cain was angry and it showed on his face.

He was angry enough that even if God did not know Cain’s heart, He could tell that his countenance had fallen. God offered him the opportunity to explain his anger. Perhaps this is the first example of therapy. Picture Cain, lying on God’s couch, and God says, "Tell me about your anger, why are you so mad?"