Stay the Course!

A sermon gave by me on the 29th of July, 2017 at Springfield First Seventh-day Adventist Church:

“Stay the course!”

Preface and Disclaimer:  

I got in real trouble with the Mormons one day, as when asked to give a talk at their Elder’s Quorum, I went off-topic and gave a repentance call that said it was high time that we started getting the numbers of the church’s visitation program up more.  Because less than 25% participation was dismal!

Well, most thought it was a pretty good talk, and many were kind of excited about it, but the Elder’s Quorum President himself had visiting shut-in numbers so low it would not even register as a percent!  And while I had not meant him personally, he took it personally, and so he had me called in by the higher ups to face charges of apostasy for having criticized a leader.  

Which is an excommunicable offense there.

Sitting before the Presidency and the Bishopric, I pointed out the obvious - that I never said a word about any leader, just against those who failed in what the church directed us to do, and if he took that personally, that it more meant he needed to face the Presidency than I.  

They politely said it didn’t work that way.

Me, being a bit of smart alec sometimes, asked with a straight face if the Elder’s Quorum President was cheating on his wife.  The explosion in that room was spectacular.  When the President got order restored, he gravely asked me, “What makes you think he is an adulterer?”  And everyone was leaning forward expecting some juicy revelation.

I said, “I don’t have the slightest idea whether he’s an adulterer or not, but I’m giving another talk in three weeks, and I don’t want to tell people to be faithful to their wives if he’s just going to come running back here to complain that I’m ‘criticizing leadership’!”

So.  Never minding the outcome, which sadly was not as fun living it as hearing of it is, I always tell people, “Don’t hear of some general sermon on some particular sin and then go around acting like you’ve been insulted.  We should all stop a variety of sins, including and particularly me.  If I mention something you’ve done, then pray on it.  If it’s not something you’ve done, pray about it on behalf of those who might have.

That’s all.

I’ll be mentioning some sins today.  I literally do not know if any one in the church is sinning these sins.  Hopefully none are.  If this sermon helps in keeping any from sinning these sins, great!  If it causes someone who is sinning those sins to stop, great!  If no one is sinning such sins, nor ever was going to, then well, at least the AC is working and the chairs are comfortable!

Now then.  Staying the course is the topic.  Not that every church thinks that’s important.  Some are of the “one and done” variety!

Where once saved, forever saved, one and done!  You were “born again” and now can sin at will!  Or so those churches - and Satan - would have you believe!

They don’t want you to do what I’m going to tell you to do today - which is to Stay the Course!  

Stay the course!  It's amazing how many think that baptism is the end of the journey, when it's really the beginning!

When you are finally, after hearing the good word, learning the truth of Christ’s atonement, learning of the true and Sabbath keeping church, learning of the wisdom shared with us through Ellen White, and you then get baptized, that is not the end, but the beginning of your journey!

A journey that lasts a lifetime and leads to heaven!  A journey - a course - that is long and winding!  Matthew 7:13-14 tells us, “Enter ye at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in there at:  Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”

It is a narrow way.  And “strait” in the Bible means not only “narrow” but also “with given amount of trouble”.  We should expect it to be hard to stay on that path, due to the narrowness!  And we should expect a measure of trouble in doing so, that we must guard against!  But Satan will not want you to, and he has many ways to get you to fail to Stay that Course!

Let us consider Matthew 13:18-23

18 “Therefore listen to the parable of the sower. 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the one who received seed beside the path. 20 But he who received the seed on rocky ground is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy,21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, eventually he falls away. 22 He also who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, but THE CARES OF THIS WORLD and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. 23 But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit. Some produce a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown.”

From this we can see that not every seed planted grows, and not all seeds that start growing stay growing. Some grow only a while, and our choked off by thorns. Others grow awhile but then had no real roots. We do not want to be like those seeds. But Satan wants us to be that way. Choked off by thorns, or not putting down the right roots. And he'll do anything to make that so.

C.S. Lewis once said that Satan liked to delude men into thinking that he and devils do not exist.  In one of his fiction books, he portrayed a senior demon trying to instruct a junior demon by telling him that if the human he was trying to tempt ever started suspecting that Satan existed to put in his mind a picture of a large person in red tights with horns and cloven hooves with a pitchfork, so that the absurdity would make a man not believe in such things.

But we know from the gospel - as C.S. Lewis knew - that Satan and his fallen angels called devils do exist.  

Isaiah 14:12 "How art thou fallen from heaven, oh Lucifer son of the morning!"  In which we see that the chief angel rebelled in his pride and was cast out of heaven.  Pride the greatest of all sins, and the father of all sins, and the sin that caused Lucifer’s fall.

But that is Satan, what of these devils, these demons?  Do they exist?  Yes, they do, and we see this in Revelations.

Revelations 12:3-9 "And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems.  His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth..."

One third!  But one third of what?  Revelation 5:11 gives us a description of “thousands upon thousands” and “ten thousand times ten thousand”.  That would have the total number of angels being at least 100 million.  And if the numbers of angels is as the number of stars in the firmament, we would be looking at 100 billion angels potentially.

An “awful lot” is the bottom line there!  And one third of all that, is an awful lot down here, all trying to get you to Stray from the Course instead of to Stay the Course!

Consider this well, then.  Satan was not some lone aberration who failed to Stay the Course himself.  He came up with a good sounding reason, and that good sounding reason was sufficient to persuade one out of every three of the angels to rebel against God!  He persuaded them to fail to stay the course!

What if we all here were the heavenly host?  That would mean that whatever Satan said, a third of us might be inclined to follow!  Or would each of us refuse?  Would we, no matter the good sounding reason, stay?  Do you think that Satan could persuade any to leave the church?  The way one third left God?  Well, if you don’t think any would fall for it, great, but more on that later!

Now how do we know it was a good sounding reason?  Well, obviously it could not have been a bad sounding reason, or who would have followed!?

And here we learn a key point when it comes to straying from the straight and narrow - it’s never a bad reason Satan and his devils give you, it’s always a good sounding reason!  Why wouldn’t it be?  He’s evil, not dumb!

A man is prompted by lust to covet a woman who is not his wife.  Does Satan tempt him by saying, “Betray your good and loyal wife by doing evil!”?  Of course not!  Who would ever cheat on their wife were it put like that?  But does he say instead, “Your wife isn’t really there for you, she doesn’t understand you, she doesn’t care for you like this one does.  You’re owed some happiness, and if she won’t do her duty, you have a right to find pleasure where you can!”?

Yes.  Yes he does say that.  Or other words, other excuses similar to that.  For that, and for every other sin.  For mark my words, all sin is the same to Satan, for any of those sins, unrepented of, is sufficient to keep you from your Creator.  Any of those sins is sufficient to keep your name from the Book of Life.  

For me, for instance, it is drink.  I am the drunkard that the Apostle Paul referred to in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God?  Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual acts, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.”

A long list.  And not even a complete list.  But regrettably, I am on it, and Satan loves to tempt me that drinking is not all that bad.  Look how he tempts all society with that one, so that not only drinking, but smoking cigarettes and vaping and now marijuana is all okay!  But never minding Satan’s tempting of society, he tempts me personally, trying any trick he can.  

And never does he tempt me with bad reasons!  He never comes to me and says, “Lose your wife, lose your home, lose your non-profit, all over one drink that will never truly satisfy!”  Were he to tempt me like that, I’d laugh, as who would not?

No, it is only good reasons he gives me.  “It’s been years, surely one drink could not hurt you now.  You’re stronger than that.  Better than that.  You’ve worked hard - you can afford to have a small reward.  A bit of relaxation at the end of the day.  Just to take the edge off.  Your wife?  If she loves you, she’ll understand!”

Yet I must stay the course myself.  Even if have a “good reason” to leave that course.  For if I fall off that narrow path, if I shun the given amount of troubles that following such a narrow course can bring, then I am truly lost, and besides wife and home and charity, I lose also my soul.  And my name in the Book of Life.  

But my sin is being a drunkard - what is yours?

Because you see, he tempts each of us according to our weaknesses.  So we must guard against all sins, because he only needs you to commit one that you do not then repent of.  And while few are up for the obvious sins listed in the 10 commandments, Satan can go with many other routes.  Can he tempt you to skip Sabbath services to watch a football game?  No?  But can he tempt you, when you get a flat tire on the way to church, to figure that after changing it that rest is better right now then the service that you’ve missed a bit of?  And you’re all dirty, so it would hardly be right to appear in church, huh?

And while you’re resting, you may as well watch the game, right?  Just this once?

Yet once tends to set a trend, doesn’t it?  At least it can for the unwary.  Satan is the master of incrementalism.  A missed Sabbath service for a flat tire one month can later, maybe a month later, be a missed Sabbath for a reason that if still “good” is a bit less good.  And maybe later, even less of a good reason.  Just not finding the right tie or having the mildest of faint headaches might do it eventually.  Even just an undefined “out of sorts” feeling, and without knowing it, one missed Sabbath service becomes several, becomes a habit, and then...well, you just drifted out of the habit.

After a while, it’s easier to listen to the now only vaguest of “good reasons” for missing.  Satan hardly even has to tempt you any more, you feel guilty anyway, and not wanting to feel guilty figure not thinking about it is pleasanter.  Now he’s won.  And if anyone tries to say otherwise, you’ll raise your defenses and argue against that person trying to aid you, just so you don’t have
to admit you erred!

Nobody likes admitting error!  Or having been tricked so easily!  Better to justify!  And Satan will be happy to help you justify!  Maybe you aren’t attending any more because there’s hypocrites here!  And that’s like fat people at a gym - intolerable, huh?  Or maybe it’s that the minister isn’t good enough!  Or maybe it’s that there is no minister at the moment - is that a good reason to leave the church?

Is it?  Satan wants you to think so.  

He wants you to come up with any justification that soothes you, so that in your pride you do not have to feel that you erred, rather you may feel that others did.

And that’s the pride that Satan always plays on, the vanity!  Sneak in that initial error with the best of reasons, and then use pride - vanity - to keep the person in that error!  It’s a one-two combo that rarely fails!  

Good reason for not staying the course!  BAM!!!

Pride in that after a while you do not care to admit error, so it must be the fault of others!  WHAM!!!

It’s hardly just for keeping a person from church.  It can be used for anything at all, whatever a man is most susceptible to.  God knows you must Stay the Course at all costs, so Satan will ceaselessly strive to find anything to get you step off of that straight and narrow path!

And the pride can be in anything, and it need not even be in bad things!  For remember, he does like giving good reasons!  

I saw a movie a long time ago, it was not only a horror movie but a horrific movie, very evil, and I won’t tell you the name of it so you’re in no danger of going to see it!  In it, a lawyer was tempted by Satan, and vanity was the method used.  

The young lawyer had never lost a case, but taking a quick break from the trial, knew he needed to lose this one, as he had just learned his client was guilty. But Satan, in the guise of a reporter, showed up just then to goad the young lawyer's vanity by saying, "Well, you can't win them all. You've had a great winning streak so far, 100%, but it was bound to come to an end." This hurt the vanity of the young lawyer, and he resolved then and there to win that important case, even knowing his client was guilty.

And this let the lawyer get promoted to a larger law firm in a big city and be on his way to all manner of wealth and prosperity and material advantage.  And Satan looked out at the audience and chuckled and said, "Vanity, my favorite sin!"

Fortunately, just in the nick of time, the young lawyer realized that the senior partner in the new law firm was Satan, and so renounced him.  And Satan’s plan, having failed, let the young lawyer re-appear back in time, at that one trial, where he was defending that first guilty man who if let off would go and hurt again.

But this time the young lawyer, having memory of what would happen, chose the right course and announced that he would not represent his client any more.  This tended to let everyone know that his client was really guilty, so he was going to be in trouble with the bar association, but it was the right thing to do, even if it would harm his career.

On the way out of court, that same reporter approached him, and wanted to do a big story about a lawyer with actual ethics, and the reporter thought there might be a book in this, too, and it might help get this lawyer noticed and give him a better career than ever…and while reluctant at first, the young lawyer agrees to do an interview...

Yeah, you see this coming.  The movie ended then, right after we see a glint in the reporter’s eyes that lets us know that the reporter is Satan, and then his face changes - just for the audience - into Satan’s, and he says to the audience, “Vanity, definitely my favorite sin.”

And what is vanity, if not pride in your position, your status, how others view you?  And placing that above all else, even Almighty God, as Satan himself did?  

Satan exists.  His devils exist.  His servants - his human servants on Earth - who he has tempted and led astray, exist.  And those servants will serve him, without even meaning to, and without even knowing they are.  Because their minds are clouded and deluded, and in their pride and vanity they know not what they are doing.

We should thus be on the watch for anything that could lead us astray.  We should be on the watch for anything - or anyone - who would lead us off the path.  Who would keep us from staying the course.  We should watch out for such, even if they have good reasons, for whether it is a temptation from Satan, or from his devils, or from those he has fooled, we will only ever hear good reasons for going astray!

Including the silliest of good reasons where it’s insisted that this is not really leading a person astray!

You know, where you know that the minister is not really right and does not really know what is best for the church - but you do!  Or that Ellen White missed the boat on many things - but you know what’s what!  Or that Christ himself had a lot of good stuff to say - but that was then, this is now, and in these modern times, maybe not all that he and his apostles related as sins are really sins, eh?  

We see that one a lot.  The LBGTQ lobby has done a remarkable job in leading church after entire church off of the straight and narrow path, and for the best of reasons including “tolerance” and “love” and “acceptance”. We are to accept and tolerate and even praise the bravery of all who stand and with great vanity say that they are Gay and Proud and not changing.  

It is each of them that could and should change - but in their own pride and vanity, having been deceived by the great deceiver they figure that the Church can change instead, that Ellen White can change instead, that Christ our Lord and Savior himself can change instead!

All for the best of reasons, of course!

And while the LBGTQ crowd loves to pretend we are intolerant, the truth is any of us would gladly accept any homosexual who wanted to stop sinning - I’ve seen you all here accept me, a drunkard who had to stop drinking, so I know your hearts are up for that!  But the homosexual - not all of them, but too many of them - are pride filled, and figure that “acceptance” as a sinner is not enough, they need to be accepted as they are, as ones who are not really sinning, and thus do not need to change! And that kind of "acceptance", where the homosexual need not change, need not repent, is as destructive as if I expected to be welcomed here as an active alcoholic, and "tolerated" and "accepted" even as I gave a sermon drunk!

But Satan has convinced them that unless we “accept” them in the sense of “validating” them and “approving” of them, then it’s not “real” acceptance!  And some finding that pleasing to hear, go along with that - and will in some cases leave churches that insist on asking that the homosexual repent!

Oh, but the homosexuals get mentioned a lot, what of the adulterers mentioned earlier?

Satan loves giving good reasons for that one. Especially he loves to play the trick where "it's not really adultery" till...till it's been adultery so long that it finally culminates in a physical union. For make no mistake, adultery does not begin in a hotel room - it ends there.

You see, we are not to "covet" or "lust in our hearts". Which does not, in case you're worried, mean that we can't notice a pretty woman.

No, the noticing is okay, so far as that goes, though it should be brief and unobvious. The problem is in dwelling on her. Thinking about her. Speculating about what circumstances might lead to some kind of meeting.

From there - which Satan will assure you is just idle and harmless fantasy - it can go to making sure you're where she'll be, and eventually figuring out a way to meet and get introduced. Harmless, eh? Not like you're doing anything, it was just meeting someone, no biggie! Or so Satan will say.

And then what's a coffee? Not like it's a dinner! Just getting to know a friend! And later, another meet, maybe another coffee, maybe a this or that, maybe a lunch. But hey, you're friends, and besides, she understands you more than your mean ol' wife and actually cares to listen to you!

Satan will help cloud your mind at this point, so you do not realize the obvious - that your wife full well understands you, and is there for you, but you have withdrawn from her. And to any extent that she has dropped the ball, it not only does not excuse what you're doing, but quite the opposite, means that you should be spending more time with her in resolving things so that you may
both grow and move forward as a couple!

It also neglects another obvious fact - of course the new girl is fascinated with you, she is only seeing you with your game face on, you at your best, a best you no longer bother to show to your wife. No, your wife is there for dinner making and underwear washing and putting up with your grumpy and petulant moods. Were she to see the charming fellow you are with the other, she might be a great deal more interested in what you have to say.

Finally, after all the flirtations and the pair bondings and the growing of the feelings that you and the other have specifically sought out, the feelings that you and her have worked at and and the feelings that you and her have fully developed, you will now find that you have strong feelings for her - that, you'll tell yourself "just happened", as if you were walking down the street innocently and BAM "how'd I fall in lust"? Er, love. For some won't go for adultery unless they - with Satan's aid - can convince themselves that lust is really love. It's some how less "sinny" if you can pretend it's love, right?

Or so Satan will tell you. Good reasons - every time. She's really your true soulmate. Just ask Satan.

Then, the hotel room. Which is what I meant when I said that adultery does not begin in a hotel room, but ends there. For the adultery has been going on for at least two weeks and perhaps even for months. Especially if it got it's start online instead of offline, in which case you had the whole stage of messaging and email flirtations going on first, while you kidded yourself that you were "just" talking with some online friend, it hardly counts if you've not even met, eh?

Yeah, Satan loves incrementalism. Thus not controlling your feelings and lusts and animal desires from the start leads from noticing a pretty lady, to dwelling on her, to coveting her - which is itself a sin - and then on through all I described until the adultery is consummated and you're telling a broken hearted wife, "I couldn't help it, love just happens, there's no control over such
things!"

Oh, yes, there was control. Had you stayed the course. But straying from the course leads - one gentle little step at a time - to the downward path of sin and despair and destruction.

Now what about "good reasons" for going of course? How can we know when good reasons are tempting us to go astray - especially when the temptation does not involve overt sin like against the commandments, but Satan tempting us with theoretically good things like “tolerance”?

Or tempts us in other vain ways, more mundane, more normal, more likely to be seen in the day to day?

The easiest test is this - is it taking you off the path?  Is it leading you to not stay the course?  Because if it is, it is false.

But if it’s the subtler temptation in which you are being tempted that your course is the true course, and your path that you find pleasing is the path, then how do you tell that?

Ask what the path is taking you to - or away from.  Is this path leading away from what we have always known the Bible to say?  Then maybe the path of tolerance is not so good after all.  Is the path leading to you to where you think you know more than the leadership of Christ’s church, or locally, better than the very will of the congregation you are a part of?

Because good things can lead us astray.  And Satan loves to tempt us with them.  C.S. Lewis once said, “The most dangerous thing you can do is to take any one impulse of your own nature and set it up as the thing you ought to follow at all costs. There is not one of them which will not make us into devils if we set it up as an absolute guide.”

Even good things.  Even things like charitable programs.  I run a non-profit sober living home.  Two of them.  We see a 20% success rate, which is not bad in that field.  It just means that of those we seek to aid, about 20% will move on to the job and apartment and a sober life that we hope for all of them.  And 80% will not, and have to be asked to leave.

It’s tempting to say, “Because of me, this man is now clean and sober!”  Tempting - but false.  No man is clean and sober but that he himself decides to be.  We provide a safe place for him to decide that.  That is all my wife and I can do.  We do not get him sober.  We do not get him clean.  And it would be vanity and pride to claim it.  

And it would be a snare of Satan himself.  A snare that Satan used even on Moses, tempting Moses to say that “I lead my people out of Egypt” or “I parted the sea” instead of giving credit to the author of all good things, the Lord Almighty himself!

Because we must always remember, we are not the potter, the best we can hope for is to be the clay!

Another way Satan tempts us subtly is by getting us to lose sight of the goal.  What’s the old saying, “When you’re knee deep in alligators it’s hard to remember that your job was to drain the swamp!”

I heard a story once, read it actually, in a book by P.J. O’Rourke that the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers used to drain swamps, to stop the spread of malaria and let there be more lands for people to develop for farms or homes.  In 200 years of trying, they managed to drain 25% of the swamps in America.  Given that such was not really a great success, some clever folks in Congress decided to help them out by re-naming “swamps” as “wetlands”.

The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers is now in charge of protecting wetlands from development and they’ve been massively successful at that!

But what prompted that phrase about alligators?  Well, those swamps would have plenty of alligators, and it’s hard to drain a swamp while being ate by an alligator, so they’d have to kill those alligators.  And that could be such an enormous task that in some cases all the time, manpower, money and resources were being spent on fighting the endless waves of alligators, and after six months, it would be noticed that really nothing had been done about the main goal.

Draining the swamp.  They’d be great at ever more elaborate alligator traps, but worthless at having drained the swamp.

Sometimes the engineers had to be reminded, “You don’t have to kill every alligator in existence.  Do the minimum to be safe, and focus back on the main goal - swamp draining.”

You’d be surprised how often a goal can be forgot because people get distracted with side issues that while they might seem all consuming, really have little or no relevance to the main goal.

And Satan loves this.  He loves distracting you with vices for good reasons, for distracting you with vanity for good reasons, distracting you with all types of pride for good reasons.

And he’ll distract you with goal changes, too - if you let him.  You’ll think you’re all about swamp draining, but no one else will know it in the number of alligators they watch you wrestle with!  And not just wrestle with, but literally place as a higher and nobler goal than that which you were charged with doing!  Like if we could picture some guy who got so off track that he argued about how “No, I don’t need to get back to swamp draining, killing these gators is more important!”

Is that silly?  Think that couldn’t happen?

Well, let me tell you a story about the day after 9/11, when all flights all across the nation were grounded.  There were no planes in the sky at all.  Yet in spite of that unique situation, the business of the United States did not stop.  In a nation of 325 million people, there is an awful lot of business, and while some could afford to have their business delayed, the business of some was more important than the business of others.  They could not afford a delay.  For any reason, even terror!

For instance, a 12 year old girl on the donor list for a heart still needed one.  She was a "mathlete" and great things had been expected of her, but an auto accident had took place and it was only due to heroic efforts that she was even still alive.  She was in Los Angeles, and the heart became available in New York City, on the evening of the 11th of September.  In ordinary circumstances, it could have been flown out and arrive in plenty of time for the operation.

But in this case, it would take two non-stop days of driving.  By the protocols, it would have to be drove by certified transport officers, and it would get there...well, it might get there in time.  Probably would.  Time would be of the essence.

And another hitch came up.  The hospitals had an account and an agreement with the airlines, and were billed per flight at the end of each month.  In this case, there was no specific budget for this, not for van delivery, out of county.  There was an account for in-county van delivery.  And cross country plane delivery.  But not cross country van delivery!

It took another forty five minutes of yelling and debating till the NYC hospital Chief Financial Officer kicked in 45% of the projected gas costs out of petty cash, the Los Angeles heart surgeon kicked in 25% that he could personally wire ahead to where the drivers would be.  A variety of family and friends grabbed the loose cash they had and - several hurried ATM withdrawals later - those 14 came up with the remaining 30%!

Two transport officers, now with the funds pledged, started down towards the underground garage, where the van and the heart would be waiting, the heart in a special cooler.

On the way there, the one said, "Well, on the upside we'll get to drive through Utah.  I've always wanted to see that state!"  The other one looked at him briefly and without missing a stride said, "Sorry, but we'll be going the route that takes us through Oklahoma, we'll not see Utah on this trip."

Well, I could go now into what the first guy then said, and how the second guy responded to that, and the attempts at "reasoning" by each, and I could even give an opinion on which was acting in the best interest of the child, and which may have just wanted to grab some sight seeing on the way.  Turns out the second guy had grown up in Oklahoma and hadn't seen it for 20 years, so as to which may have had that ulterior motive - or both or neither, I'd not really be the one to say.

And who but God can truly see into a man’s heart?  

Regardless, the two of them literally had to go back upstairs over this.  They were promptly hustled into the conference room by the hospital administrator, who was glaring mightily at what he perceived to be their idiocy.  His own solution was pragmatic enough, just take the quickest and shortest route and be done with it.

But then, to be fair, though he hated having to admit this was a problem, he did bring all the players involved into this, including the LA surgeon by video conferencing - I guess what's the point of having such a video conferencing system if you never use it?  So he had the Los Angeles heart surgeon, the two transport officers, the transplant team, the Chief Financial Officer and the family, too.  All the 14 family and friends.

So some had pledged a lot of cash to this, others a bit less, the family and friends really only a pittance each, not that it didn't add up, and then a few who hadn't contributed, but were involved in the whole procedure any way.  But while not all had contributed cash, all did have an opinion on the best way to LA.

It turned out that not only was it hard to find the "shortest and quickest" route to LA, it might even be that "shortest" and "quickest" were not even the same thing.  Google said that via Interstate 80 - the Utah faction’s choice - the 2,792 mile trip would take 41 hours.

Mapquest on the other hand said that such a route would be 2 miles longer - 2,794 miles, but oddly, 39 minutes shorter.  Meanwhile, Mapquest also suggested as a "Route 2" the I40 option favored by the Oklahoma faction, but showed it to be 42 hours and 18 minutes, and also 2,889 miles, 97 miles longer.

This all had the Utah faction pretty happy, I mean, shorter distance, less time, kind of a done deal, you know?  I mean, given that one route was quicker and shorter, what more was there to be said?  Well, never underestimate the drawing power of the Sooner State - as Oklahoma is known - because those who favored that route were not swayed.

The conditions on their chosen route were better, they said, and that would save time.  Less law enforcement meant more speeding, they said, and so that would save time.  One lady suggested - bizarrely enough - that the downward route meant that there might be a gravity assist!  Still, such disagreements need never be a big deal, and really, it was only a couple of hours difference either way, but still hours did count...it was with clenched teeth that the hospital administrator said it would go to a vote.

And really, for most participating in that little drama, that was fine.  They welcomed hearing that.  Vote and then whether it was one way or the other way, at least it would have the heart then racing towards the little girl who so desperately needed it.

But then the NYC hospital's Chief Financial Officer spoke up and said that they'd not be paying the forty five percent they had pledged unless the I40 Oklahoma route was chosen! The stunned silence was only then broke by the LA surgeon piping up over the video conference link that he'd jolly well not put up the 25% unless it went the I80 route through Utah!  While one might expect the 14 family and friends who had the most concern for the little girl to speak up now with similar threats, they did not.

Perhaps it was because they, unlike the two other parties, weren't thinking about who wanted to see which state, or perhaps they were thinking that their contributions were too small to sway things.  It might have been hard to say whether their motives in not threatening were moral or practical, but then the mom through her tears spoke up to settle what her motivation was once and for all.

"You can't pledge to aid a good cause, and then threaten to break your word if you don't get your way on something!  When you pledged, it was like you were saying that you cared for my daughter, cared whether she lived or died, cared whether she got this life saving heart!  And if you really did care, in any way at all, you'd keep your pledge to aid my little girl no matter which route was decided on! Because 40 hours or 41 or 42, any route is better than my daughter dying!"

Then each had to look into their own heart to see what their own motivation had been, and if it was for the girl getting the heart she needed, they'd say that their pledge stood no matter what.  And of course, all of them then said just that, because who would want to look so tawdry as to threaten to withhold a life saving pledge over something like which route?

Who would want to look so vain?  So pride-filled?

The vote was about to be took, but the father then spoke up.  "Wait.  I want it plainly known, given the anger I've seen over this, that if after the vote, in which you all say you'll aid no matter what, that if you don't then aid, I'll know you for a liar.  No good reason you come up with for not giving will be accepted.  Vote as you please, but know that.  Know that after the vote we all unite behind that vote and move forward, unified, the same pledges, the same support.  No matter what."

Everyone agreed, though some looked uncomfortable.  They voted.  A route was chosen.  As it happened, the majority went with the quickest and shortest route, as it was the only sure fire criterion that made any real difference in the end.  Predictably, given the weakness of human nature, a large pledger backed out.

There was anger - but more heartache.  The others were delayed, but their love of the little girl over-riding any other concern, they simply worked the harder, dug the deeper, and managed to come up with the funds anyway.  The pledge breaker had managed to delay them.  But only for awhile.

Fortunately, the little girl, after all that, did get the heart in time.  It actually took 47 hours to get there, given the delay created by the donor who withdrew, and the family and friends and others had some pretty dark thoughts for that one.  One that would play such petty games when the stakes were so large, clearly showing that the goal had never been important, only that one being seen as right had been important.

Only that one’s pride, one’s vanity had been important!  That “my way” trumped “her life”.

But, heeding the words of Christ, they put that anger behind them, and didn't let it affect or poison the joy in the recovery of the little girl, who had her heart in spite of the Satan inspired pride of some.  They celebrated that happiness, and forgot pretty quickly the guy who had reneged.  In fact, by the time the girl was home, safe and sound, no one could have even told you the name of the person who had welshed on the gas money.

Now.

Maybe that story literally happened - it is a big country, it could have.  Or maybe I made it up to prove a point.  But whether real or allegorical, it makes a point all the same, and a really important point.

If you are in a church facing some silly dispute over whether to spend money on a steeple or a gymnasium - and I've heard that one before, or whether to spend money on a Youth Choir Trip or a Married Couples Retreat - and I've also heard that one before, or whether to fix up the old church building or do up a new one - guess whether I've heard that one? Or if you've heard anything else involving two or more choices, neither essential to Christ's mission, you must remember this story.

Discuss whatever issue it is.  Debate it.  Vote on it.

But NEVER give in to the temptation to threaten to withdraw your financial support of the church.  And when the vote is done, NEVER actually then withdraw that support.  Even if you think you can come up a "good" sounding reason.  There is no good reason.  Don't ever kid yourself that you'll have anyone think so.

You see, our church has a mission.  And that mission is LITERALLY to aid in saving the heart of a little girl. And not just one little girl, but all the girls out there, and all the boys out there, and all the men and women out there!  For you see, all of them have hearts that are not yet Christ's, and if you'll remember, it was - and is - the mission of the church to see to it that their hearts do find Christ, and that they then each give their hearts to Christ!

Did you think you were donating to the church for any other reason than that?  Did you think your donations were for a steeple?  Or a new building?  Or a Youth Choir Trip?  Or a roof?  Or a gymnasium?  Oh, such can be fun, such can be cool, but what you were really donating for all along was to save the heart of the little girl, and all her brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles and cousins!

You were donating to bring people to Christ, so that their hearts could be saved!  You were donating to Feed His Sheep!  If you were then to hear someone threatening to withdraw their donations, and encouraging you to do the same, they are not threatening a steeple, they are threatening that little girl!  When they actually withdraw their funds, they are not stopping the ministry of His only begotten Son Jesus Christ - but only because God will not let them succeed in such a horrible goal! But they are trying to stop Christ's ministry - because make no mistake, when they withdraw their support over such issues, that really is what they are trying to do, no matter how it's spun.

But no, they won't end the ministry.

They'll be delaying it, but not ending it, because God's Good and Faithful Servants will yet carry on with that mission, with or without them, no matter the outcome of a vote on such vanities.  The others may indeed delay it, but the mission to save souls will continue, and soon enough, the happiness of that will drown out any anger or grief the Satan tempted one might cause, till not even their name is remembered.

The church is the Bride of Christ, and she is to be stood by.  Disagree with others, persuade others, even rail against this or that.

But when a vote is had, let it be had without anyone fearing that someone will try to destroy the Mission of Jesus Christ Himself.  And when the vote is had, close ranks and move on, with your pocketbook still as open as your heart is to be, and go forward as happy that your brethren are at least happy, as you'd have wanted them to be happy for your sake had it gone your way!

The end goal is to save souls!

For Christ’s church is not a bride to be bullied and blackmailed into bending to your will, but to be cherished and supported no matter what, come what may, even if the color of the paint voted on is not pleasing to you, or you think it would be better to build a school than a hospital or a hospital rather than a school!

How do you know when the person speaking is trying to get you off the path?  When it has the effect of doing harm to the church of our Savior, the church that keeps the Sabbath.  Argue for one way or another, debate it, discuss it, reason with your fellow congregants.

But never threaten.  Never bully.  Never blackmail with your Gifts of Love.  They are hardly gifts of love if they may be withheld so easily for vanity or pride, however described, however labeled!

How can you tell if something is of Satan inspired pride?  Satan inspired vanity?  How do we who can not see into the hearts of men tell? Who are we, after all, to judge?

I saw another movie once, a nicer one than the last movie I mentioned, called “Witness”.  A little Amish boy in the movie had found a gun, and his grandfather was trying to tell him that all guns were always bad, for the Amish are pacifists even if personally attacked.

The grandfather asked the boy if he would ever use a gun.  The boy said, “I would only use it against bad people.”

This was not exactly the answer the grandfather was looking for, so he asked, “And these bad people, how do you tell them?  Are you like God, that you can see into their heart?”

And the boy, delivering the greatest rebuttal ever said, “No.  I can't see into their heart. But I can see what they do.”

Yes.  Yes, that boy was correct.  He can see what they do.

And so can we.  We cannot see into a man’s heart, but we can see what he does.

No one knows my heart - but you can see if I drink.  And if I drink, that says something, doesn’t it?  And “I’m following Christ with all my heart” would not be one of the things that me drinking would say, would it?

No one knows the adulterer’s heart.  But we can see the sobbing the wife, the fatherless children, the broken family, can’t we?  

No one knows the murderer’s heart.  But we see the prematurely cut short lives, don’t we?

No one knows the heart of any on either side of a church vote.  But we can see who says, “no matter how it turns out, close ranks and move forward in the name of Christ afterwards”...

...versus the sinful murmurer who says, “Withdraw your support and make the church bend to your will, and if they still will not, do not support it!"

Yes, that’s some pretty clear words and actions.  Words and actions that mandate the type of judgment we're allowed to make.

These are the end times, and the return of Christ is soon at hand!

And how will he see you, you and your words and your actions and yes, your heart!?  Will he see you striving to win souls?  Or to win the next board battle?  Striving to feed his sheep?  Or to feed your vanity?  

And yes, anything to do with a structure - whether Team New Structure or Team Old Structure - can only be vanity.  Having a preference is fine, well and good.  Having it cause any on any side to threaten to thwart Christ’s ministry?

Can only be vanity.  Sinful pride.  Satan inspired.

And it is definitely off the path.  It is a straying from the course, not a staying on the course.

Christ’s church has gave her people a great responsibility.  A great privilege, a great right, much overlooked.

To vote on such matters.  And it is good that it does so, for many a false church does not let their members have such a right.  In many such Sunday worshipping false churches the leaders decide and the followers obey.

That’s how pride filled men of vanity like it.  Here, it is about a vote.  A bishop will not decide, like if this were a Mormon church.
A priest will not decide, like if this were a Catholic church.  A frothing at the mouth charismatic minister will not decide, like if this were some televangelist ministry and the demagogue needed a new private plane!

No, this is Christ’s church, the Seventh-day Adventist church, and on matters such as an old or new building, the congregation will decide.  And when it is decided, then each will have to decide - will they after that future vote stay the course?

Or leave the path?

What do our own church leaders say on this?  Well, Mark Finley, assistant to the General Conference President said back in 2014 that there was a five step plan to promote unity on any hot topic or contentious issue.  

1 Pray about it.

And not just to hear that you're right! For guidance in general, for insight to if you are perhaps wrong, to how the other side is feeling and what you could do to make peace with them.

2 Study Scripture.

There have been contentious times in Christ's church, the book of Acts describes some, what does that book say, how did they resolve things?

3 Evaluate everything based on mission - what was best for the mission of the church.

Is one or the other course going to cause needless delay or extra expense? Is one course more of a sure thing than another course? One course cheaper? One course better? Are any of those things the same, or must each aspect be carefully and prayerfully weighed?

4 Openly discuss the issue and freely debate it, even if it gets heated.  Acts 15:12 says, “Paul and Barnabas had no 'small' dissension  and dispute with them”  That was the Bible’s understated way of saying they had a LOT of dissension!

Know that it's okay for it to get a bit heated - if in the end all come together as one, brothers and sisters in Christ. 1 John 1:7 "For if we walk in the light as he is in the light than we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of the lamb cleanseth us of all sins."

5 Trust one another enough to make a decision then move on with mission

Of course we should trust one another. And why not? Neither of the choices offered is blasphemous, neither is of Satan. Trust that everyone is striving to do what is right to the best of their ability and stand behind the vote either way!

For what did Mark Finley then conclude? He said, “But when you have done all that, don’t push your own opinion and divide the church.  Once we’ve gone through the process, move on with the mission.”

That seems pretty clear, doesn’t it?

And he was speaking, by the way, on the issue of ordaining women. And if that's not worth splitting the church over, or withdrawing your financial support over, then how could a building be?

Where do I stand on this, the matter that I make out to be so small?  If you have listened to my words, you will know that it is irrelevant where I stand.  I was baptized in the old building, same as many who will want you to worship there.  I was ordained and am preaching in the new, where as many may wish you worship here!  What does that mean?

I don’t know!  What?!

For my own preference, I could as happily worship in a rented mall space, or a renovated abandoned building or that empty field a quarter of a mile thataway with a new 40 foot by 20 foot tent!  I’m about worshiping God and communing with my brothers and sisters in Christ and helping with a Food Program.  And whether it’s Building A, Building B or Building anywhere, you WILL see me about that, so long as it is in the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Goodness, have we all forgot the old song? The church is not a building, the church is not a steeple, the church is not a resting place the church is the people! I am the church! You are the church! We are the church together! All across this nation, all around the world, YES, we're the church together!

I will support this church - Christ’s church, the Seventh-day Adventist church - with my tithes, with my offerings, with my entirety of being, because only in being in service to Christ and his church am I doing what needs to be done.

Staying the Course!

I quote Ellen White, who in her entire life never counseled that a person leave the church over whether the building was old or new!  

“Had Lucifer really desired to be like the Most High, he would never have deserted his appointed place in heaven, for the spirit of the Most High is manifested in unselfish ministry.  Lucifer desired God’s power, but not his character.  He sought for himself the highest place, and every being who is actuated by his spirit will do the same.

Whenever pride and ambition are indulged, the life is marred, for pride, feeling no need, closes the heart against the infinite blessings of heaven.  

Pride of heart is a fearful trait of character.  “Pride goeth before destruction.”  This is true in the family, the church, and the nation.  

God’s people should be subject one to another.  They should counsel with each other, that the lack of one be supplied by the sufficiency of the other.

God hates pride, and...all the proud and all that do wickedly shall be stubble, and the day that cometh shall burn them up.  

‘Learn of me,’ said Christ, ‘for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls.’” (Matthew 11:29)”

Wise words.  So I say, it is pride that would prompt a man to counsel that you withhold your offerings or leave the church.  Such would claim any number of good reasons, but when the effect - not the intention, but the effect - is a harming of the church and a lessening of its effectiveness, then it’s pride, sinful pride, and plain old vanity.

Satan’s favorite sin!

I’ll close with another reminder of my disclaimer.  If I preach against practicing homosexuality or adultery, do not then cry out to me or others that I was picking on you.  And if I preach against any that would split our church or see it made bankrupt, also do not say that I am speaking of you, lest you confess more than you know.

I know of no one who is homosexual here.  I know of no one who is an adulterer.  I know of no one who would sacrifice the church upon the altar of their pride.  But if such are here - Repent!  And if you know of such - don't listen to them!

And always?

Stay the course!

I say all this in the name of Jesus, Amen.