Randy's Ruminations

An article and a chapter title in a book converged in my mind this week. The chapter was titled God's Rules on Sex Can Liberate Us. (The title stuck in my mind even though I don't have the book and didn't read the chapter.)

The article I read was the tragic story of woman who was pregnant, took an HIV test, and got a positive result indicating she was infected with HIV. Being too poor for good medical treatment, she entered a clinical trial. It killed her. The writer's theme was the abuse of the poor by such clinical trials. The tragedy was compounded by the question as to whether or not the woman was even HIV positive. (She only took one test and false positives are not that uncommon.)

In this story and similar ones about HIV and other STD’s, one thing never gets mentioned. This tragedy would not have happened if she had followed God’s principles for sex. The tragedy is not just what happened to her at the hands of the medical establishment, but that none of this needed to happen at all.

It is possible to live without giving HIV or any STD a second thought simply by living God’s way: reserve sexual relations for monogamous marriage. The great thing about this plan is that anyone can do it; being rich or poor doesn’t matter.

There is nothing more freeing in life than to live by the rules. I don’t worry about going to prison. I don’t sweat a possible IRS audit. And I never even think about the possibility of an STD.

There is absolutely nothing more freeing sexually than to live by God’s plan and to be unburdened by all of the world’s sexual baggage. Here is a clear case where the pagans are enslaved and the righteous are free. But such freedom is anathema to the pagans who are blinded by their autonomy and make freedom from God and any rules their highest value. What they don’t admit is that life lays upon them rules that are tougher than any God enacts, for God’s rules are freeing.

There is no greater freedom than freedom from sin and its consequences. (By the way, that is true in all areas – not just sex.)

We experience love in this world that is less than complete and whole - that is less than love from the heart, soul, mind, and strength of another person. Some have known this incomplete love in a parent or a spouse. I don’t have to tell you how it is not only incomplete, but that it actually hurts.

What does incomplete love look like?

Perhaps the person would say with tears "I’m sorry" and "I love you," but would fail in action: either hurting you by what they did or in the ways they failed to support you. This is a failure of “strength” love.

Or they might clothe, house, feed, and educate you but never said, “I love you," never held and caressed you. You never sensed they really felt love for you. This is a failure of “soul” love.

Or they said the right words, and even were physically demonstrative, yet you never knew for sure if they would still be there next year. Had they really decided this was a relationship for life? This is a failure of “heart” love.

Or they did the things they should do, and, as a heart decision, determined that they would be there for life, but they didn’t do the work and take the time to really know you, to learn who you are – your likes and needs. This is a failure of “mind” love.

If you have experienced incomplete love in an important relationship and can peel back the defense mechanisms that may be in place to deaden the hurt, you know what a hole it leaves to have love fail in even one of these areas.

On the other hand, when you have known complete, 4-channel love in a parent, spouse or friend, stop for minute to be grateful and do not take that for granted. Realize the gift you have been given.

The greatest commandment in the Bible – the most important thing about being, your life, your existence, is to love God with all your heart and all your soul, and all your mind and all your strength. Anything less hurts both God and you.

The following communion meditation/confession was shared by Tom at the Campbell Church of Christ.

This Communion Message will be different.

But it won't be dull. It has all the elements of a great plot: A Shocking Confession. A Dangerous Hazard. And a Hidden Treasure

A Shocking Confession

I've been avoiding this platform. For over 10 years I've been a member of this Church. Over 500 times I've shared the Lord's Supper with you all. Yet you have never heard me say a word from this platform. Not a prayer, not a scripture, not a testimony or even an announcement.

Why is that shocking? For thirty five years I've been a Christian, trained by other Christians for God's service. God called me and trained me to serve his body, but I haven't been serving as I should. I've been driving a bread truck, full of fresh bread past starving people, not stopping because I was afraid to get involved. I don't know how God might have used me all these years. But I should have been available. That is my confession to this Body. Please forgive me.

How did this happen? How could God's servant be absent from duty? I ran way, like Jonah. Instead of running I hid in plain sight and kept my mouth shut. I talked about some things, but for the most part I kept quiet about God's message. I was in a trap of my own making. I ignored God's warning signs.

A Dangerous Hazard

This time of communion is, among other things, a Warning Sign. Jesus put it up like flashing lights at the edge of a cliff. Danger! Watch out! Don't harbor sin in your heart.

So many times, I prayed over communion, asking for forgiveness, but not truly dealing with the commitment to sin in my heart, not really yielding in true obedience. I knew that before I took communion I should confess to a human person and not just God. But lied to myself until I often believed the lie.

Eventually, however, God answered my prayer--and I am
working on true repentance.

Communion is a warning signal. Don't ignore it as I did for so long. This warning is clearly stated in First Corinthians 11:28. I'll read it in the King James for full effect. Listen closely for the word you never taught your children to spell. The Bible says, "But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup." Verse 29 spells out the danger, "for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep."

That was me--among you, but weak and sickly. Brothers and Sisters, examine yourself with the help of the Holy Spirit and don't harbor sin in you heart. That old fashion D word should grab your attention. If you can think of any reason you might need help, get help from an elder. The elders can help you with the steps of repentance. Repentance isn't complicated, but it’s more than confession and a desire to change. It is true change in the heart. It isn't easy, but repentance works and leads to real change. Don't ignore the warning signs; seek real change. Real change is the hidden treasure in Communion.

The Hidden Treasure

What is this hidden treasure? Why can't we see it? For years it’s been right in front of my eyes. I said the words. I longed for it. But my heart didn't recognize it. We know that the bread represents the body of Christ, and that in Communion we remember his sacrifice. In the bread we remember that his sacrifice pays for our sins. But Jesus gave us the cup to remember not so much the forgiveness of sins, but what it leads to.

Jesus said, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood". The new covenant is so much more than forgiveness from sins. The new covenant is new life. The new covenant is power to overcome sin in our life. The new covenant is freedom. The new covenant is freedom to do right. Paul explains in Romans that "We have been set free from sin" and "Even so, we also should walk in newness of life."

Why is this treasure hidden? It’s right here in the Bible. We hear the words every week. But for some of us, it is hidden because we hold on to our sin instead. Dear Family, check your life for the warning signs of inner sin. Turn away from sin, and toward the new life, the new covenant, the tremendous freedom, and the enormous joy that are represented by the cup Jesus gave us--the new covenant in his blood.

The members of a church, when strangers are present, should always, if possible, sit together during their meetings for worship. It is impossible to preserve good order through the day if they are dispersed among strangers or occasional visitors.

Kneeling in prayer is always to be preferred, if it can be made convenient. Standing up in the celebration of praise is more rational and Scriptural than sitting...

To be habitually late in attending the appointments of the brethren, is most indecorous; and, except in cases of sickness, to withdraw from any meeting before the final amen, is a violation of the most obvious rules of good order. Next to those who permit barking and fighting dogs and screaming children to torment the audience, I know of none more obnoxious to censure than those disturbers of the peace, who are ever and anon on foot, going out and coming in, as if to arrest attention, or disturb the speaker and the audience. These, and they who whisper and mutter to their companions while one is addressing the audience, except on some paramount occasion, belong to the first class of transgressors of the plainest principles of good education and good order.

At the close of all social prayers the whole congregation that unites in the petitions, should, like the primitive Christians say, with an audible and clear voice, Amen.

The radical error...is a want of a deep and solemn conviction that the church is the house of God—the temple of the Holy Spirit—and that we are, especially and emphatically, in the presence of the Lord while we are engaged in his worship.

He has redeemed our spirits from sin and our bodies from the grave, and both should be dedicated to him.