On Saturday night, December 9th I sat in astonished silence in Diddle Arena where Western Kentucky University’s men’s basketball team was being dismantled not by the opposing team, but by the officials. They were from the Missouri Valley Conference where the opposing team, Southern Illinois, is from and though I would not want to condemn the conference or the team, I can not help but know that these officials were showing partiality and a lack of integrity. They were calling fouls on WKU and ignoring fouls committed by SIU. Two of WKU’s players fouled out, which rarely happens to a WKU player, especially at home.
These officials were inconsistent, incompetent, and inclined toward a specific team. The outcome of the game was decided not by the players on the court, but by the poor performance of the officiating crew.
That sounds like a strong accusation and it is and in all honesty I am in no position to criticize them. At times I have done as poor of a job officiating my own life as they did in officiating that game.
God has commanded His followers, like me, to officiate our lives. We are to blow the whistle on sin and remove from our game of life the things that keep us from winning the prize God has called us to heavenward in Christ Jesus.
When it comes to sin, we are to be consistent in calling it what it is and keep it from working in us. This requires competence that is gained through rightly understanding the rules, God’s Bible. Our bias is to be toward holiness and purity.
Unfortunately, there are times when we let our guard down and let things go. We forget how God has called us to live because we don’t spend time daily being reminded with what God has commanded us to do in His Word. Our bias becomes more toward what our bodies and sensual desires demand.
Romans 6:11-14 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. 14For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
5 comments:
Pastor Jason:
Your discernment of the horrible officiating at the Topper's game Saturday night was right on target and provides a visual example of what Christ expects from those of us who walk with Him. I am so thankful that God's words to us defines the difference between discerning and judging.
We are looking forward to "walking through (and in) the word" with you and our brothers and sisters in Christ. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and concerns with us.
Pastor Jason:
Since I am an avid basketball fan, I seen this game also. Words cannot express how biased the calls were against WKU. This is not meant to be criticism, but my opinion as I seen it. If we are honest, as we examine ourselves daily, we all fall short of officiating our lives in reference to sin and the word of God. This is why I believe that confession and repentance is necessary in a believer's life. We live in a fleshly body and the book of Galatians says that the spirit and flesh are at war against each other and when we are in the flesh, we cannot please God. We must walk in the spirit so that we don't fulfill the desires of the flesh. For me , this is a daily awareness that I must act upon. I am thankful for being a part of a church that stands strong in the Word of God. I look forward to our "walk through the Word" as a church and I am excited about what God can do through people who seek his face for his Glory to be revealed and lives changed in this city and beyond! Thanks for sharing!
I did not see the game, but I am very well acquainted with sin. Several readings have been a great encouragement for me lately. From Theologia Germanica I read, "For as far as word, work, and deportment are concerned, we always stand in a choice between, on the one hand, rule and righteousness, or, on the other hand, disorder. Now, orderliness and righteousness are better and nobler than the opposite." From My Utmost for His Highest, I read, "God's order is unchangeable; His permissive will is that with which we must wrestle before Him. It is our reaction to the permissive will of God that enables us to get at His order." From Gregory of Nyssa's The Life of Moses, I read, "It is therefore undoubtedly impossible to attain perfection, since, as I have said, perfection is not marked off by limits: The one limit of virtue is the absence of a limit. . . . We should show great diligence not to fall away from the perfection which is attainable but to acquire as much as possible: to that extent let us make progress within the realm of what we seek." Finally, from Galatians I read, "If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker. For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing." Thomas a Kempis says, "And yet, temptations can be useful to us even though they seem to cause us nothing but pain. They are useful because they can make us humble, they can cleanse us, and they can teach. All of the saints passed through times of temptation and tribulation, and they used them to make progress in the spiritual life. Those who did not deal with temptations successfully fell to the wayside." Paradoxically, I find sin to have a similar benefit, if I will humble myself and confess. My sin, if I will not harden my heart, leads always to Christ. Paul writes in Galatians, "Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law." He writes in Romans, "Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin." Joyfully, I read, "But sin is not taken into account when there is no law."
Estella, thank you for your thoughts and your consistent stand. By the way the email you sent me about prayer was amazing!
Gregory, that is some deep stuff. You've been studying and thinking on this for a while. Thanks for sharing. I'm going to need to read those quotes again. They are good. The law does reveal sin to us and if we are humbled and hold to our savior God uses that which the enemy intended for evil to bring us deeper under His gracious covering in Christ.
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