01/13/2025
Public and Private Sin
All Was Fair Game for John the Baptist and for Christians Today
Sunday, we looked at the way John the Baptist was uncompromising about sin wherever he saw it at work. We in the church have tended to focus mostly on private or personal holiness and have ignored prophetic judgment against public behaviors. John was critical of King Herod; he had little patience for the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, and demanded that everyday women and men of faith, take God more seriously in how they lived their lives.
We didn’t have time Sunday, but I’d originally included examples of what would have been public sins back in the time of John and Jesus. It is not surprising that they are sins we still see in our public figures inside the church as well as in the government and courts today.
This is what got cut out:
“Taking more than you have a right to, bearing false witness, perjury, and fraud are on the list [of deadly sins]. Physical or sexual coercion are on there. The prophets John was following couldn’t be clearer: not paying the workman a fair wage for fair work, allowing the rich and powerful to manipulate justice at the city gates, not making room for the sojourner in our midst, withholding from God the first and best of your flock, fields, and heart—and so on and so on. If we were really serious about fire and brimstone then we’d would tally these up just as often. They are--as simply as it gets--sin, sin, and sin.”
I heard a comment made at the funeral for former President Jimmy Carter in which someone close to him said that the person you saw behind the presidential podium, or in the Whitehouse, or in some official capacity was exactly the same person you interacted with around the family table, or at a party, or at church. He was the same person with the same behaviors and beliefs wherever he was. This person went on to say that President Carter epitomized what it means to be a person of integrity. A comment like that would make the heart of John the Baptist delighted. (I think Jesus would be rather pleased as well.) May it be said in equal measure about all of us—we are who we are no matter where we are, no matter who we are among. May we all be eulogized one day as women and men of integrity.
Archived Posts
You Might Be Thinking It’s All About You If…
In working on Sunday’s sermon I asked my computer’s AI if she/he could come up with a few suggestions in answer to the above: "You Might be thinking it’s all about you, if…."
Prayer Changes Things
Here is a transcript of the prayer I prayed at the end of yesterday’s sermon.
Optimism, Faith, and Hope:
Practical Steps For Increasing All Three
Here are some practical, spiritual, and relational ways to grow faith, hope and optimism:
Listening Heart
It’s kind of crazy when you think about it. Wisdom in the Bible is all about listening. Of course it makes sense that wisdom would start with listening to God, to God’s law and commandments, as well as the promptings and leadings of the Holy Spirit.
Here are some quotes that
didn’t make it into Sunday’s sermon.
(But it doesn’t mean that they don’t offer real insight into the power of risk over the fear of failure...)
Such A Rich Passage (Luke 19:1-10)
I reflected a lot on the passage about Zacchaeus because it has been written off as “been there, read that, little guy in a tree.” But it is so rich in getting to the heart of what it means to be saved by grace through faith—to live our lives out of gratitude rather than obligation.
The Power of Presence
This last Sunday I had so much more to share than time to share it. The last Emotional Management Technique was to stay present in the process. Just as Jesus stayed with the woman who was judged and found guilty by the angry crowd, we stay by our children and our friends, especially when they need us the most. Here a couple of examples...