I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate I do.... So I find this law at work: when I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
- The Apostle Paul
In that clip from Liar Liar we just watched, Jim Carrey said, "I hold myself in contempt!" I have to be honest: I do that sometimes. Sometimes I look at something I've done and I can't believe it. "Why did I do that?" is a question I've asked myself on many occasions. My wife and I will sometimes commiserate at end of the day about something stupid we've done. It's nice to have company in that kind of misery. I'm pretty sure we have alot of company.
I suspect Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake had a few moments like those in the last couple weeks. I'm pretty sure there hasn't been a day that's gone by where Bill Clinton hasn't wondered why he did the things he did. Many people in the Liberal Government are in the same boat right now - wondering what they were thinking. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if each one of us here today hasn't wondered those thoughts in the last couple days.... "Why do I do the things I do?" Gossip. Slander. Lying. Character attacks. Dividing. Pride. Vanity. I could go on.
This problem is real even for the really good people. Morrie Schwartz (the Morrie from the true story - Tuesday's with Morrie), just before he died at an old age from ALS wondered the same thing to his friend Mitch. "Mitch", he said, after listing a couple of wrongs he'd done ... "Why do we do the things we do?"
Why do we do the things we do? Why do I hurt people? Even the people I love the most? Why do I take a left when I know I should take a right? Why do we do the things we do?
The evangelical Christian answer to this big question is SIN. I haven't always appreciated how evangelicals have taught about sin. There has been inappropriate finger pointing. There has been a devaluing of humanity and the world. There have been guilt trips gallore. So I want to find a different answer. Why do we do the things we do? But I can't find a different answer. Even though I don't like how the church has often preached about sin, I think the answer to the question is exactly that. So, if you can, detach some of the connotations you have regarding sin and what the church has taught about it. Detach those things and explore this thing with me afresh. Why do we do the things we do?
In 1960 Israeli undercover agents orchestrated the daring kidnapping of one of the worst offenders to the Jewish people during the holocaust in WWII. Adolf Eichmann was the notoriously evil man behind the unspeakable events of the concentration camps - the dehumanizing genocide carried out against the Jews. Once caught, he was put on trial for his war crimes. Of course, in a case like this, witnesses are needed to shore up the charge against the accused. So among others, the prosecutors brought in a small haggard man named Yeheil Dinur, who suffered in Aushwitz but amazingly escaped death. On his day to testify, Dinur entered the courtroom and stared at the man in the bulletproof glass booth - the man who had murdered Dinur's friends, who had personally executed a number of Jews, and presided over the slaughter of millions more. As the eyes of the two men met - victim and murderous tyrant - the courtroom fell silent with the tension of the confrontation. But no one was prepared for what happened next. Yehiel Dinur began to sob, collapsing to the floor. But he wasn't overcome by hatred or by the horrifying memories. Later, during an interview on 60 Minutes he explained that it was because Eichmann was not the personification of evil that he'd expected. Rather, he was an ordinary person just like anyone else. And in that one instant Dinur came to the stunning realization that sin and evil are the human condition. "I was afraid about myself", Dinur said, "I saw that I am capable to do this. exactly like he." Dinur's concluded by saying, "Eichmann is in all of us." He believed we all have what it takes to be like Eichmann. Be like Eich. I doubt that sogan will catch on. Why do we do the things we do?
During last year's state of the union address, President Bush said that states such as Iran, Irag and North Korea constitute an axis of evil. I think Yehiel Dinur would say that the axis of evil runs across Eichmann's heart... but I think he'd include his own heart in that indictment. And I would include myself: The axis of evil runs right across my heart.
Over a couple thousand years ago, a guy named Jeremiah said this of the heart: "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" I'm with Jeremiah.
USC Professor of Philosophy, Dallas Willard, said this about the perspective he believed Jesus had on the matter:
"He knows that people deeply hunger to be good but cannot find their way. No one wishes to do evil for it's own sake, we just find it unfortunately "necessary." We want to do good but are ready to do evil, and we come with lengthly justifications.
Dallas Willard Professor of philosophy, USC
So, what exactly are we talking about here? What is sin? What is this problem we have with our hearts? The best definition I could find on sin is this:
Definition: Sin is a condition (disease) or orientation (motive) of the heart. It's a power that results in dysfunction, alienation and guilt.
Just as lung cancer changes the condition of the lung... Just like depression is symptomatic of a chemical imbalance in one's body... Sin is a condition of the heart. And it results in corresponding wants. Just as a person with a fever wants the room cooler, sin has a similar power.
In regard to dysfunction, it causes us to miss-fire. We fail to operate optimally - confusion is a result. Sin even misguides in knowing how poorly we are operating. In regard to alienation, it causes us to be disconnected from ourselves, each other, the world and God.
I have yet to hear a plausible explanation for how we were born into this condition. It seems to be transmitted to us like a disease. There are questions galore that we could ask at this point - the how's and the why's of our seemingly involuntary condition. I'm afraid I don't have answers to those questions. And I'd be wary of anyone who says they do have answers to those questions. What we do know is that we have this problem - we've been told what it is and how to deal with it, but that's all.
Having somewhat of a handle on our problem, what keeps us from dealing with it head-on? If it's this big problem, why don't we just deal with it and be done with it? John Owen had a handle on sin like no one I've come across. He said something about the nature of sin's presence in our lives. He said...
"Sin is never less quiet, than when it seems to be most quiet, and it's waters are for the most part deep, when they are still."
- John Owen
In other words, if things look safe and feel safe, beware.
Listen to these words from a quartet song I came across:
"Sin will take you farther than you want to go,
Slowly but surely taking control.
Sin will keep you longer than you'll want to stay,
Sin will cost you far more than you'll want to pay."
Cheery song huh? I'm sure that one packs the dance floor. During the pre-super bowl gong show that was taking place before the 1999 Super bowl game between the Atlanta Falcons and the Denver Broncos, there was a focus on a couple of stars in the secondary for the Falcons. There was an up-and-comer named Ray Buchannan and an established pro-bowl safety named Eugene Robinson. Robinson was the career leader among active players with interceptions - 53 and had recently won two superbowls with Green Bay. He was elite in his position. He was also elite off the field. He was well known for his positive leadership to his teammates. Even more than that, he was known as a guy who poured himself into his community and charities everywhere. And on the day before the superbowl in 1999 he was honored by Athletes in Action - an evangelical organization who awards individuals with high moral character. Life was good for Robinson. He was in his prime, he was able to contribute to the world - he loved to serve God with what he did, he had a healthy family situation and was even able to receive his award for upstanding moral character with his wife and kids... things were good, really good.
After receiving his reward, Robinson spent the afternoon poolside with his wife and son. But later that evening he went for a drive... and on that drive he solicited a prostitute... a prostitute who happened to be an undercover police officer. From the start, everyone gave him the benefit of the doubt - few believed he actually did it. It was out of his character - and why would he do it at this time? When life was at it's best? It was hours away from the big game. Why ruin it all? Why did he do this thing he did?
As Owen said, "Sin is never less quiet than when it is most quiet, and it's waters are for the most part deep, when they are still." Just when Robinson thought it was safe...
Why do we do the things we do? Someone else asked that question of himself a couple thousand years ago. His name was Paul. He was an apostle, which means he encountered Jesus and was called by Jesus to tell others about him. You have to understand something about Paul. He was to the early church what Wayne Gretzky is to hockey. He led the way and set a high standard for the way we think and live in regard to faith. He was a leader among leaders. He was the face of Christianity in his day - everyone knew him. He'd planted churches all over the known world. If he were alive today, he'd pack out stadiums with people who'd love to hear him teach. He's responsible for writing more books in the Bible than any other writer. He was smart - highly educated and respected as a thinker. He inspired people. In his own words, he said, "Follow me, as I follow Christ." If people wondered what it meant to follow God, a simple answer could be given by pointing to Paul.
So, no question about it, when people wondered about and struggled with this sin problem of the heart, they looked to Paul for inspiration and hope.
In the book of Romans, Paul makes an assault on sin. He explains thoroughly that sin has been defeated through the cross and resurrection of Jesus. He announces freedom from sin because of what Jesus did. Good news to everyone concerned. Paul has once again shown the way. He was kicking sin in the head and once again, Paul was showing the way. But then he seems to run into a wall and it looks like sin has his number. This guy who's raised the bar so high and sounds unreal suddenly sounds pretty real and ordinary. Listen to what he says in Romans chapter 7:
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[1] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
(Romans 7: 15-24)
In music, there are two notes which, when put together, make the most powerful sound in the history of music. These two notes are E and F. When put together they have the ability to change expressions. They can make a grown man curl up like a baby. They can keep a person up at night. When people hear these two notes together, they all feel the same thing: unsafe. Listen to them together... (Jaws Theme)
John Williams put those together for the Jaws movies that came out over 20 years ago. They don't have too much of a grip on us in the prairies but if you're swimming in the ocean at night and you hear those notes, your mind goes to one thing. Powerful.
When Paul wrote those transparent words from Romans 7, they would have carried the same power and fear as those two musical notes. For all those people who had been struggling with this problem of the heart, hearing Paul say those words would have been discouraging. Just when they thought it was safe... He was the man - if anyone could rise above this problem it was him. As soon as he said those words, his audience would have sagged their shoulders and thrown up their hands. It was like seeing a fin slowly rise across the surface of the water. It's back.
"The heart is deceitful and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" Just when I think my heart is good and right there are moments that follow when I do the things I don't want to do. The heart is deep and dark and un-search-able.
Romans 7 is one of the most discouraging chapters in the New Testament - discouraging but real. People hunger for authenticity these days. well that's what you get in Rom.7. The thing is that Romans 7 isn't meant to be read alone. If Romans 7 is the dead of night, then chapter 8 is as bright as the noon - day sun.
I'm a rookie when it comes to Greek Mythology but there's a story that has grabbed my attention since I was a kid. It happens at the end of the war between the Trojans and the Greeks. The war lasted 10 years. The Greeks had sailed to Troy and beseiged the city for those 10 years. The Trojan city proved impenetrable and the Greeks were ready to give up. Then the greeks had an idea that has become famous. They built a giant wooden horse for the Trojans and said was an offering to the gods - this kind of offering wasn't uncommon. They left it outside the gates of the city and sailed away, looking defeated. To ensure it was brought into the city, they suggested that it might be too big for the Trojans to be able to bring it in. Pridefully, the Trojans did everything they could to bring this offering inside their walls. What they didn't know was that the horse was hollow, and inside it were several of the Greeks' best warriors. Once the horse was brought in, the ships that had sailed away were signaled to come back while the Trojans slept. During the night, the soldiers inside the horse slipped out the trap door and took the city from the inside out and opened the gates to rest of the army. The Greeks won the war.
I don't know if you caught the interview this week that Diane Sawyer did with Mel Gibson - it was a great interview. During the interview Mel pronounced his faith in God, and this prompted Diane to drill him with a bunch of questions on that. Mel shared much of his story with her. He went back to his prime. He was getting all the great roles in Hollywood. People magazine had given him the title of sexiest man alive. He was wealthy, popular, doing the thing he loved, married with kids... He had all these things but he also described himself as hopeless. He was without hope because he had seen how far he could get on his own. He said he came to the point where the only thing he could do was call out to God for help.
In Romans 7, Paul describes himself as in a dark place. Why do I do the things I do? It brings him to say the words in the last verse in chapter 7: "Who will rescue me?" Paul cries out for help. If E and F combined are the two most powerful notes in music. H-E-L-P are the most powerful letters of the english language.
Paul's problem is also his solution. After complaining about this problem, he asks, "who will rescue me from this body of death?" Who can help me out of this problem?
Romans 7 and 8 are like night and day, darkness and light because they are literally two different places. Listen to these words from chapter 8...
"With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ's being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death." Romans 8:1-2 (The Message)
The language changes like night and day from chapter 7 to 8: slavery.. to freedom. The law of sin... to the law of the Spirit. Death... to life.
With the cry for help at the end of chapter 7, Paul is literally transferred from one realm to another. From the kingdom of sin and death to the kingdom of God. God was invading Paul's heart. When Paul cried for help, God opened the trap door like the Greeks and claimed that dark unsearchable place and turned on the light - God rescued Paul from the inside-out. Even while Paul's heart was deep and dark - especially when it was a deep dark place, God set up shop in his heart and began a work toward completion. The darkness wasn't displaced all at once. But the light began to grow - and it doesn't stop until all the darkness is gone. Jeremiah said the heart is deceitful and beyond cure but after he said that he laid out God's plan: In Jer. 31:33 he said God will write his law of life on our hearts. Being rescued is a matter of trust.
Another issue I have with the evangelical tradition is how it has sometimes made this act of saving - this encounter with God into an obstacle course. Too often, we've made God out to be inaccessible unless we do these four things and have our ducks in a row. What it really comes down to is what it came down to for Paul and Mel Gibson - it wasn't his education or his abilities or his great reputation or a 4-step approach that made him tight with God... it was his cry for help. Within that cry he exchanged trust in himself for trust in God. He didn't have an answer within himself for why he did the things he did. So he called out to God for help and God came in and set up shop in his heart - turning darkness to light.
Conclusion:
Sin - it runs through our hearts. It's what makes us misfire and alienates us. That's where we stay when we look to ourselves instead of using those four powerful letters. Help is not an easy thing to say because it implies trust in someone else. As God said to Cain, Sin is crouching at our door; it desires to have us. But so does God. And he's done all that needs to be done to disarm sin and death.
So the next time we hold ourselves in contempt, we can echo the words of Paul because he was there too:
"What a wretched person I am! (he said) Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ! - A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death." Thanks be to God.
Benediction:
Beware folks. Just when you think it's safe... sin is most influential when it seems least significant. But take heart, God has slipped into your life and at your cry for help the God of light will set a light within you that will only grow until there is no darkness. It's for freedom that he has set us free.
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