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The '7' Deadly Sins HELP US LORD TO BE SO CONNECTED TO YOU THAT WE MIGHT BECOME THE SERVANTS OF OTHERS. WHEN I SAY THE NAME DON JUAN, WHAT COMES TO YOUR MIND? YOU MIGHT THINK OF ROMANTIC HERO, BUT NOT MANY PEOPLE KNOW THAT THE LIFE OF THIS FICTIONAL CHARACTER ENDS IN A NIGHTMARE. THE SIN OF HIS EYE DESTROYS HIM. AS THE STORY GOES, AND KILLS THE GIRLS FATHER. AS THE FICTIONAL STORY GOES, DON JUAN LATER COMES ACROSS A STATUE OF THE FATHER IN A CEMETARY, AND INVITES THAT STATUE TO DINE WITH HIM AT HOME…. THE TALKING STATUE ACCEPTS… THE GHOST OF THE FATHER ARRIVES, AND ASKS TO SHAKE DON JUAN’S HAND… AND WHEN DON JUAN EXTENDS HIS ARM, HE’S DRAGGED AWAY TO HELL… AND HERE WE HAVE OUR 4TH IN OUR 7 DEADLY SINS SERIES… THE SIN OF LUST, WHICH ACTUALLY BRINGS HOME OUR VERY TITLE OF THIS PREACHING SERIES… MINDING THE GAP… TAKEN FROM THE LONDON TUBE SYSTEM WHERE IF YOU ARE NOT MINDING THAT GAP BETWEEN THE TRAIN AND THE PLATFORM YOU RUN THE RISK OF REAL PAIN AND EVEN DEATH. MINDING THE GAP OF LUST.. INDEED, AND AS DON JUAN LEARNED, LUST IS THE DEADLIEST OF THE 7 DEADLY SINS.. LUST IS DEADLY BECAUSE IT DESTROYS MARRIAGES, RELATIONSHIPS, CHILDREN..AND OUR VERY PROFESSIONS.. IT STRIKES AT THE CORE OF OUR BEING, THAT WILD CENTER OF OURSELVES, OUR SEXUALITY. IT LED FREDERICK BUECHNER TO SAY THAT LUST IS: THE CRAVING FOR SALT OF A PERSON DYING OF THIRST. ANOTHER WAY OF DEFINING LUST IS SIMPLY… HAVING A STRONG OR EXCESSIVE CRAVING. LUST NORMALLY HAS 2 KEY WORDS ASSOCIATED WITH IT.. FOR OR AFTER.. I-E…LUSTING FOR HER… LUSTING AFTER HIM……. IT SPEAKS MORE OF PRE-OCCUPATION, OR OBSESSIVNESS… ONE CAN LUST AFTER ANYTHING! FOR ME, THE NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS, OR RIGHT NOW, YOUR BRACKETS IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT! ONE WOMAN LEFT THE EARLY SERVICE THIS MORNING AND SAID THANKS TO YOU I’M GOING TO HAVE TO CHANGE MY HOBBY! BUT MOST OFTEN, LUST HAS TO DO WITH SEXUAL TEMPTATION. AND ISN’T IT INTERESTING TO SEE HOW THIS CULTURE HAS CHANGED ON THAT FRONT! REMEMBER WHEN SITCOMS FEATURED HUSBAND AND WIFE IN SEPARATE BEDS? THE 1950’S WHERE WE MIGHT SAY SEX WAS REPRESSED…. TODAY WE’VE GONE FROM REPRESSED TO OBSESSED! CASE IN POINT, THERAPISTS HAVE SAID THAT MEN THINK ABOUT SEX EVERY 3 MINUTES… WOMEN THINK ABOUT IT EVERY 6 MINUTES! I THINK OF MOSES COMING DOWN FROM MT. SINAI EXPLAINING TO HIS PEOPLE… I’VE GOT GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS, THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT WE HAVE HELD GOD TO JUST 10 COMMANDMENTS… THE BAD NEWS IS THAT ADULTERY IS STILL IN THERE! AND INDEED, FROM MT. SINAI TO JERUSALEM, THE BIBLE IS FULL OF STORIES ABOUT LUST, BUT THE MOST FAMOUS, THE MOST VIVID TANGIBLE STORY OF LUST COMES IN 2ND SAMUEL, A POWERFUL STORY INVOLVING THAT HERO OF THE OLD TESTAMENT, KING DAVID. THIS STORY IS POWERFUL BECAUSE WE CAN ABSOLUTELY IMAGINE IT CAN’T WE? THERE HE IS, KING DAVID ON A BEAUTIFUL SPRING EVENING, HE HAD JUST GAINED ANOTHER VICTORY OVER THE SYRIANS… HAS TOO MUCH TO EAT FOR LUNCH, GOES UPSTAIRS FOR A NAP… AWAKENS TO SEE THE SUN BEGINNING TO SET… HE BATHES, POURS HIMSELF A DRINK, AND WITH JUST A TOWEL WRAPPED AROUND HIS WAIST, DAVID WALKS ONTO THE TERRACE… WHEN THERE SHE IS… OUT OF THE CORNER OF HIS EYE… DAVID SEES BATHSHEBA BATHING… AND THE REST WOULD BE HISTORY FOR DAVID. HE SENDS A MESSENGER TO BRING HER OVER TO HIS PLACE, AND THE REST AS THEY SAY, IS HISTORY… BATHSHEBA, WHO WAS ALREADY MARRIED TO ANOTHER AT THE TIME… WOULD BECOME PREGANANT, SOLOMON WOULD BE BIRTHED… BUT TO COVER UP THE UNPLANNED PREGNANCY, DAVID ORDERS THE MURDER OF BATHSEBA’S HUSBAND URIAH. DO YOU SEE HOW DEADLY THE SIN OF LUST IS? NOT JUST IN THIS SITUATION THAT BROUGHT ON MURDER, NO, THE REAL DEADLY ASPECT OF LUST IS HOW INNOCENTLY IT ALWAYS BEGINS… LUST BEGINS WITH A LOOK…. DAVID
LUST IS DEADLY BECAUSE IT ALWAYS BEGINS WITH THE EYE… I’M JUST LOOKING AFTER ALL, WHAT’S WRONG WITH THAT? THAT LOOKING LENDS ITSELF TO, WHO IS THIS PERSON? TO, I MUST KNOW YOU… AND IN THAT PROCESS, YOU HAVE THE EVIL ONE IN YOUR EAR SAYING… NO ONE HAS TO KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THIS… THIS IS JUST BETWEEN YOU AND THIS OTHER PERSON, YOUR SPOUSE WILL NEVER KNOW! IT’S THE BIGGEST LIE GOING MY FRIENDS…IT’S THE BIGGEST LIE OUT THERE. AND IT ENDS UP THAT DAVID, KING DAVID,
IS REDUCED HERE TO THE STATUS OF A THUG, A LYING MURDEROUS REPULSIVE MONSTER! IN THE SWEEP OF AN AFTERNOON, HE BREAKS 5 OF THE 10 COMMANDMENTS…
WOW! I THINK OF THAT OLD POEM… EYES THAT SEE, EYES ARE THEY TEMPTATIONS TAUNT… JOB VOWED HE WOULD NOT LOOK BUT DAVID SAW AND THEN HE TOOK… DO YOU SEE HERE THE CLASSIC PROGRESSION OF LUST? SEEING, FROM REPRESSION TO OBSESSION, LET’S TURN TO THE SITUATION IN ROME THROUGH THE EYES OF PAUL… THAT RATHER SHOCKING FIRST CHAPTER OF ROMANS… IT’S IMPORTANT TO REALIZE THAT ROME AT THIS POINT, IS IN A STATE OF COMPLETE AND UNPARRALLELED IMMORALITY. VIOLENCE RUNNING AMUCK, ONE HISTORIAN WROTE “THERE WASN’T A DAY WHERE THERE WASN’T AN EXECUTION…IT WAS AN AGE OF SHEER, UTTER TERROR… PROPERTIUS, THE POET WROTE: I SEE ROME, PROUD ROME, PERISHING, THE VICTIM OF HER OWN PROSPERITY… IN AN AGE OF MORAL SUICIDE… ACCORDING TO HISTORY, THERE HAD NOT BEEN ONE CASE OF DIVORCE IN ALL OF ROME IN HER FIRST 520 YEARS AS A REPUBLIC. BUT NOW, DIVORCE WAS RAMPANT ... PEOPLE GETTING MARRIED TO GET DIVORCED, AND DIVORCED TO BE MARRIED AGAIN! OUT OF THIS CHAOS, MORE AND MORE PEOPLE REJECT GOD… BECAUSE IN THEIR LUXURIOUS DAY, THEY DIDN’T HAVE A REAL NEED FOR HIM! THEN THEY BEGAN TO INVENT GODS, EVEN THINKING THEY WERE GODS AS PAUL SAYS, THEY BEGIN WORSHIPING THE CREATURE, VERSES THE CREATOR! THE CREATURE OF MONEY, THEMSELVES, EVEN SEX! LUST IN ROME AT THIS TIME MEANT REACHING AFTER PLEASURE THAT DEFIED ANY REASON! AND IT WASN’T JUST LUST TOWARD MALE – FEMALE, BUT LUST SHOWN TOWARD MALE-MALE, FEMALE-FEMALE. THIS WAS FREE WILL RUN AMUCK! AND TO PROTECT THAT LIFESTYLE, THEY HAVE TO KEEP GOD AT ARMS LENGTH, SO THEY DON’T FEEL JUDGED…. THEY HAVE TO KEEP GOD AT ARMS LENGTH, SO THEY DON’T FEEL JUDGED…. ROMANS IS TOUGH STUFF. KEEPING DAVID AND ROMANS IN MIND… LET ME ADD ANOTHER DIMENSION TO THE WORD LUST. LUST DOESN’T ALWAYS INVOLVE SEXUAL FEELINGS. AS WE SAID EARLIER, WE CAN JUST AS EASILY BE LUSTING AFTER VARIOUS TOYS OF LIFE! LUSTING AFTER OBJECTS, THINGS, STUFF! LUSTING AFTER NEW EXPERIENCES! IF WE LIMIT LUST ONLY TO THE SEXUAL DIMENSION, WE LEAVE OURSELVES VULNERABLE TO ITS POWER TO WORK DESTRUCTIVELY IN OTHER AREAS OF OUR LIVES AS WELL. THIS IS WHERE THE STORY OF THE PRODIGAL SON COMES IN! UNDER JEWISH LAW, A FATHER WASN’T FREE TO LEAVE HIS PROPERTY AS HE LIKED… THE ELDER SON MUST GET 2/3 AND THE YOUNGER 1/3. THE YOUNGER SON KNEW THIS AND HEARTLESSLY SAYS I WANT MY INHERITANCE NOW… AND HE RUNS THROUGH THE MONEY…. HIS LUST FOR STUFF, HIS LUST FOR A LIFESTYLE HE THROUGHT WAS TRUE FREEDOM FUELS HIM TO THE POINT THAT ONE DAY HE WAKES UP AND REALIZES IT’S ALL A SHAM. SYMBOLICALLY, HE HAPPENS TO BE FEEDING PIGS… WHICH IS AMAZING SINCE JEWS WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO FEED PIGS BECAUSE OF THE LAW THAT SAID CURSED IS HE WHO FEEDS PIGS! THAT’S WHERE LUST OF ALL KINDS LANDS US…IN THE MUD WITH THE PIGS. MY FRIENDS, AS YOU THINK ABOUT LUST, AS YOU THINK ABOUT IT HONESTLY, LUSTING AFTER ANOTHER PERSON.. LUSTING AFTER STUFF.. LUSTING VICTORIES FOR YOUR FAVORITE NCAA BASKETBALL TEAM! SERIOUSLY, WHERE DOES THIS LUST GET YOU INTO TROUBLE? THIS OBSESSION WITH SOMETHING THAT BEGINS YOU’RE YOUR EYE… WHERE ARE YOU BEING CHALLENGED RIGHT NOW? THINK ABOUT DAVID IN SAMUEL… PAUL’S ANALYSIS OF ROME…. THE BOY IN THE STORY OF THE PRODIGAL SON… IN WHICH STORY DO YOU FIND YOURSELF? MY FRIENDS, THE GOAL OF THIS PREACHING SERIES IS NOT TO HAVE YOU LEAVE HERE ON YOUR KNEES IN GUILT, OR FEELING BEATEN DOWN… NO, THESE 7 DEADLY SINS ARE THERE FOR ONE REASON ONLY… TO BRING US BACK TO REALIZING OUR NEED FOR JESUS CHRIST. IT IS ONLY JESUS THAT CAN SAVE US FROM THE LUSTING SIN OF THE EVIL EYE. IN FACT, WE MIGHT EVEN SAY THAT THIS SIN OF LUST IS GOOD NEWS.. BY PUTTING A MIRROR UP TO OUR LIVES, IT HELPS PROTECT THE INSTITUTION OF MARRIAGE. BY NAMING IT, AND THROUGH THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, WE CAN DEFEAT IT, THEREBY KEEPING OUR MARRIAGES AND RELATIONSHIPS STRONG! DO YOU SEE! AS CHRISTIANS WE OFTEN HAVE TO LOOK THE BAD NEWS SQUARE IN THE EYE TO GET TO THE GOOD NEWS! THIS IS REALLY GOOD NEWS.. IN FACT, LET ME TAKE THAT GOOD NEWS ONE STEP FURTHER AND SAY THAT THE NATURAL SURGE OF SEXUAL EXCITEMENT IS A GOOD AND CRITICAL PART OF THE MARITAL RELATIONSHIP! BUT YOU MIGHT BE SAYING, HOW CAN I DEAL WITH THAT SIN OF LUST THAT OVERTAKES ME EVERYTIME? WHAT CAN I DO TO DEFEAT IT WHEN IT HITS? OUR LORD LOVES US SO MUCH, HE GIVES US A WAY FORWARD. THE THING THAT WILL PREVENT THE 3 STEP PROCESS OF IS FIRST, TO SIMPLY UTTER THE NAME JESUS WHENEVER YOUR EYE WANDERS, WHENEVER YOU ARE LUSTING ABOUT ANYTHING, DO THIS… AT THAT VERY MOMENT, UTTER THE NAME JESUS… JUST SAY…JESUS… REALIZING AGAIN THAT JESUS IS IN THE VERY CENTER OF THAT SITUATION NO MATTER HOW SHORT OR HOW EXTENSIVE IT IS! NAMING JESUS HELPS US REALIZE WE ARE ACCOUNTABLE FOR ALL WE DO, AND IT PUTS HIM IN THE VERY CENTER OF ALL YOU DO… THAT’S GRACE… YOU SEE, THE GRACE OF CHRIST ACCEPTS US WHERE WE ARE, BUT NEVER LEAVES US AS WE ARE. JESUS LOVES US SO MUCH THAT HE WANTS TO FREE US FROM THAT PRISON OF LUST! WHICH MEANS EACH OF US SEEKING HIS LOVE AND WHOLENESS RATHER THAN SURRENDERING TO THE PASSION OF LUST. WE MUST REALIZE EVERYTIME WE SURRENDER TO THIS DEADLY SIN, IT WILL BECOME EASIER AND EASIER TO REPEAT IT. EVERYTIME WE WELCOME CHRIST IN, AND ALLOW HIM TO TRANSFORM US, WE BECOME INCH BY INCH, MORE ABLE TO LOOK THE OTHER WAY! SECONDLY, REALZING THAT MARRIAGE MUST RETAIN THE PRIME PLACE IN OUR LIVES… SOME HAVE SAID THAT LOVE IS THE NECESSARY INGREDIENT FOR LASTING MARRIAGE… BUT IT IS REALLY THE OTHER WAY AROUND… MARRIAGE IS A NECESSARY INGREDIENT FOR LASTING LOVE… FOR LOVE, REAL LOVE TO DEVELOP AND LAST, IT NEEDS AND REQUIRES THE COMMITMENT OF MARRIAGE! THIS IS ONE OF THE REASONS THAT LIVING TOGETHER CAN ACTUALLY DO MORE HARM THAN GOOD FOR PEOPLE ABOUT TO BE MARRIED. IT IS LIVING A LIFESTYLE PRETENDING TO BE MARRIED BUT WITHOUT THE REAL COMITMENT! FINALLY, I MENTIONED THE STORY OF THE PRODIGAL SON EARLIER, BUT SHOULDN’T IT BE RENAMED …THE STORY OF THE FORGIVING FATHER? DO YOU REMEMBER THAT LAST SCENE IN THE STORY… THE SON ONCE OVERCOME BY LUST IS ON HIS WAY HOME.. NOW NORMALLY A FATHER WOULD WAIT TO BE ADDRESSED BY THE SON AND WOULD RECEIVE RESPECT BEFORE RESPONDING. BUT GOD’S COMPASSION IS EXCEPTIONAL! THE FATHER SO WANTS TO FORGIVE… OUT OF LOVE THE FATHER SO WANTS HIS SON TO LIVE IN A NEW FREEDOM THAT HE RUNS TO THE SON! THIS NEVER HAPPENED IN THE ANCIENT DAY! YET THE FATHER IS SO FULL OF JOY THAT HE DRAPES HIMSELF AROUND HIS LOST SON’S NECK, AND WELCOMES HIM BACK WITH HUGS AND KISSES OF AFFECTION! DO YOU SEE HOW AMAZING GRACE IS? THAT ONE WAY LOVE THAT JESUS HAS FOR EACH OF YOU? THE FATHER IN THE PARABLE MODELS THAT BY GIVING THE SON THE BEST ROBE, THE FAMILY RING, SANDALS AND AN AMAZING PARTY! MY FRIENDS, IF YOU HAVE BEEN TURNED UPSIDE DOWN BY LUST… A LUST THAT LED TO DEADLY AND DAMAGING THINGS IN YOUR LIFE… OR IF YOU HAVE BEEN THE VICTIM OF LUST… KNOW THAT JESUS LONGS TO SET THE COURSE OF YOUR LIFE BACK ON TRACK… NO MATTER HOW MANY YEARS AGO IT WAS… HE WANTS TO FORGIVE, HE WANTS TO HEAL, HE WANTS YOU TO TURN IT OVER TO HIM… HE WANTS TO GIVE YOU A NEW START. A NEW LIFE, SO THAT YOUR EYES, FAR FROM SETTLING ACROSS… ARE ALWAYS FOCUSED ON THE VERTICAL! LOOKING UP AND NOT ACROSS… IF YOU HAVE BEEN IN THIS WILDERNESS, JESUS IS SAYING… IT’S TIME TO COME HOME.. AS WE EXAMINE OUR LIVES IN LENT… COME, AND RECEIVE A BRAND NEW START. IT REMINDS ME OF A MODERN DAY STORY OF A PRODIGAL SON. THIS BOY LEFT HOME AT THE AGE OF 19…LUSTING AFTER A GIRL, EVEN AFTER ALCOHOL… BECAME A RAGING ALCOHOLIC, AND THE LIFE HE KNEW. HE THEN CALLED HOME, AND BECAUSE THE BACK YARD OF HIS PARENTS BACKED UP TO THE TRAIN TRACKS, HE KNEW HE COULD ASK HIS PARENTS FOR A SIGN. SO, IN AN EMAIL SAYS… I’LL BE ON THE 4:15 TRAIN HOME, IF YOU CAN FORGIVE ME, PUT OUT A WHITE TOWEL ON THE CLOTHES LINE…. THEN I KNOW I CAN COME HOME. IF NOT, LEAVE IT BARE AND I WILL JUST STAY ON THE TRAIN. THE DAY COMES, THE BOY GETS ON THE TRAIN, NEARS HIS STOP, LOOKS OUT THE WINDOW AND THERE, IN HIS BACKYARD… IN THE BACKYARD OF HIS NEIGHBORS…. ON THE STREET CORNER… EVERYWHERE HE LOOKED, NOT ONE WHITE TOWEL, BUT DOZENS AND DOZENS OF SHEETS! WERE HUGE WHITE SHEETS, SHEET AFTER SHEET TO THE POINT HE CAN’T EVEN SEE THE GRASS! HE BEGAN TO WEEP KNOWING HIS LIFE COULD BEGIN AGAIN. NO MATTER THE MISTAKES OF OUR LIVES… MISTAKES THAT BEGIN WITH ONE EYE FULL OF ANOTHER PERSON.. JESUS IS SAYING LET ME GIVE YOU MY EYESIGHT… SO THAT AS YOU LOOK AT OTHERS, WHAT YOU SEE IS THEIR HEART… WHAT YOU SEE IS MY VERY IMAGE. AMEN. |
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