Choices Have Consequences

Step 3 in “Simple Faith”

February 8, 2009

Pastor Tom Shedd

 

Michael Phelps - Olympic champion - 8 gold medals at last summers Olympics in Beijing - interviewed by everyone on the planet - we got to know his mother on a first name basis -

 

This week - a picture surfaced of him smoking marijuana from a bong.

 

Consequences - he might lose millions of dollars in sponsorship

 

If you had asked him that night, “Michael - by smoking this in the next minute you will lose millions of dollars” do you think he would have done it? No, I doubt he would. But that is the consequence of his decision.

 

Similarly, we learned yesterday that A Rod - Alex Rodriquez of the New York Yankees, tested positive for steroid use in 2003. It is yet to be determined how that will impact the records he sets, just as is happening with Barry Bonds.

 

The choices we make in life have consequences. Today we’ll try to answer some questions in regard to the consequences of choice.

 

Review the 5 steps to Simple Faith

1       The Kingdom of God is huge.

2       God chose choice

3       Choice has consequences

4       God chose to pay

5       You can choose God.

 

Last week - God chose choice

We celebrated how God had created the universe. We recognized that choice is a fundamental principal in His Kingdom. He is not surprised that we make choices -- in fact, He wants us to make choices.

 

In giving us choice He anticipated that we would not always make wise choices. There would be times when we would even choose to make bad choices. The teenager who is angry with his father decides to drive the family car faster than he should and gets in an accident. Both the teenager and the parents must pay the court determines.

 

The spouse who is hurt by the other’s insensitivity decides to go on a shopping spree that the family can’t afford. The family must find a way to pay the bills or face foreclosure.

 

We are tempted to do things that we know are wrong and when we do them we hurt those around us.

 

We celebrate that God has given us choice, but we recognize that with choice comes responsibility.

 

1)      What is necessary to protect you from the bad choices of others?

Law.

 

All societies have some sort of rules governing behavior. In tribal societies those rules might not even be written down -- they are verbally communicated from generation to generation.

 

But in any large society laws are written down so that everyone will know exactly what is acceptable in that society and what is not.

 

In the US the Law is divided into sections and the total volume of books detailing the Law would fill a small library.

 

2)      What is Law?

In a democracy, law is the commonly agreed upon set of standards for acceptable and unacceptable behaviors.

 

Laws are written by elected representatives of the people.

 

In the US, Law was inherited from the British and then through the Constitution and Bill of Rights codified into American Law.

 

Laws are the establishment of both the standards of acceptable behavior and the penalties that the society will inflict upon those who choose not to abide by those standards.

 

3)      Is Law necessary?

Yes, law is necessary to protect people from the bad choices of other people.

 

Without law a society would have to depend upon its belief that all residing in its jurisdiction would only make good decisions.

 

Since God has given the creation choice, there is little likelihood that all decisions will be good.

 

Therefore law is necessary.

 

4)      What is God’s Law?

From the beginning there was an understanding of law. God confronted Cain over his murder of Abel and judged him for his bad choice.

 

In the societies in which the patriarchs lived there were laws governing behavior as we saw in our yearlong study of Genesis.

 

In moving into Exodus we see a large group of people, numbering in the millions, leave Egypt and form their own society in the desert.

 

It was necessary to codify the law that would govern them unless they were going to take Egyptian law with them or else adopt Canaanite law as their own.

 

In this case God intervened with Moses and directed Moses to write God’s law. The books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy detail that Law of God for the Israelites.

 

5)      Is God’s Law necessary?

Understanding the timeframe of Mosaic Law is essential to understanding the Law of God. The Israelites were a migratory people, refugees from a repressive regime that had forced them into slavery. In the desert they did not have many of the same structures in place that Egyptian society had. They had to start from scratch.

 

The Law of God through Moses had to deal with a lack of refrigeration, lack of medicine, lack of understanding as to the nature of disease and its control and prevention. Thus some of the law seems strange to us. The dietary laws in particular seem strange because they forbid the people from eating certain things that to us today don’t seem to be a big deal, such as eating pork. But without proper sanitation, and without modern medicines, there were severe health risks if the food was not properly prepared.

 

Similarly, some of the punishments seem extreme to us today. But what were the alternatives? If the people are wandering through the desert and about to enter into a new land, they are not going to build prisons in the sand. There was no way to confine people over long periods of time. Thus, the penalties had to reflect the circumstances of the people.

 

The priesthood was given the responsibilities of overseeing the Law of the people because it was felt that they could be the most trusted to arbitrate and enforce fairly under the direct influence of God who was present among them and made his presence known in the Holy of Holies upon the Ark of the Covenant.

 

Once the people were established in the land, law became the responsibility of Judges, Prophets, Priests, and Kings.

 

6)      What are the benefits of obeying and following God’s Law?

 

When the people entered the land, God directed Joshua to take the people to the two hills, Mount Ebal and Mount Gerazim. There half of the people where directed to go to the hillside of one of the mounts and the other were directed to go to the other.

 

From there, half of the people would read the blessings of the law and the other half read the curses.

 

The people therefore understood what the benefits would be of following the Law of God and what would be the curses of not following the Law of God.

 

The benefits of following God’s law are peace, success, honesty, righteousness -- these are blessings.

 

7)      What are the negative consequences of breaking God’s Law?

The cursings were the penalties that would be incurred for breaking the Law.

 

Today we have a penal code. The penal code details the penalties for breaking law. We have a court system to handle disputes about law and once decisions are made, then sentences can be given according to the penal code.

 

In the Bible, acts of disobedience whereby the Law of God is broken are called “sin”.

 

8)      Is it possible to keep God’s Law perfectly?

James  - break one point of law = breaking all

 

 James 2:

10 And the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as the person who has broken all of God’s laws.

 11 For the same God who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” So if you murder someone, you have broken the entire law, even if you do not commit adultery.

 

9)      What is the penalty of not being able to keep God’s Law?

Rom 3:23

 23 For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard

 

Rom. 6:23

 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

10)    Why is it so difficult to keep God’s Law?

The sin nature. Romans 7 and 8 describe the difficulty we face in making good choices.

 

In contemporary terms - a desire for self-fulfillment; self-actualization

 

The thrill of risk - why people ride roller coasters; why people seek out relationships; why people gamble; why people jump out of airplanes. There is a pleasure that comes from risk.

 

 

11)    Is there any way to satisfy the justice of God?

 

The Law stipulated that by offering sacrifices one could cover sin and thus satisfy the justice of God. The penalties of breaking the law of God could be met through the sacrificial system.

 

It is important to note that this system gave significance to an act that the people had to do anyway - sacrificing animals. Before you look down your noses at the concept of animal sacrifice, remember what you ate for dinner last night. What animal was sacrificed for your dinner? In our times, that operation does not have ceremonial significance. We don’t even think about it, in fact, we choose not to think about it. But the Israelites in the desert also needed to eat, and the sacrifice of animals was given significance through the sacrificial system. It caused the people to remember God and to remember His law.

 

But the Law was never God’s ultimate solution. Before time God had already determined what sacrifice would ultimately cover all sin.

 

He became a person like us through Mary, and lived like us until God caused him to become the ultimate sacrifice for sin. We can choose to recognize this sacrifice for ourselves by faith.

 

Keeping the Law is not the best option because no one can perfectly keep the Law.

Ro 10:3 For they don’t understand God’s way of making people right with himself. Instead, they are clinging to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law. They won’t go along with God’s way.

 

Ga 2:19 For when I tried to keep the law, I realized I could never earn God’s approval. So I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ.

Ga 3:11 Consequently, it is clear that no one can ever be right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”

Ga 4:29 And we who are born of the Holy Spirit are persecuted by those who want us to keep the law, just as Isaac, the child of promise, was persecuted by Ishmael, the son of the slave-wife.

Ga 5:3 I’ll say it again. If you are trying to find favor with God by being circumcised, you must obey all of the regulations in the whole law of Moses.

 

Yes - God will pay it Himself -- which is Step 4, next week.

 

So “Choices Have Consequences”.

 

In societies ruled by a King, the King is the ultimate judge and determines justice in His Kingdom.

 

When we say that God is just, we mean that as King of the Kingdom of God, He has ultimate determination of justice in the Kingdom. It is His responsibility to determine what behavior is rewarded and what behavior is penalized. It is also his responsibility to not allow injustice in His Kingdom. Thus we say that God is without sin and does not allow sin in His presence. Since He knows everything, there is no injustice of which He is not aware. Thus if He knows of injustice and does not bring justice to bear, He will Himself be unjust. Therefore every injustice must be dealt with in order for the Just King to maintain justice in His Kingdom.

 

So how will God deal with injustice in His Kingdom? By providing a once for all solution.

 

Illustrations