Seagulls and Worms -- Guilt #2 

O-34

RR-704

C-468

  

	Last week we discussed the problems present with psychological
guilt.  As you remember we only looked at part of the topic.

	Before I begin, will you let me give you a quiz?  

	First. Are you more like a seagull or a worm. 

	Second.  Does the Bible teach us to be seagulls or worms.

	Third. How do you respond when someone compliments you on a job
well done, one that you know that you did well?

	Fourth.  What are the limits of accomplishment of the Christian.
 For you as a Christian?

	Fifth.  Can you get on your knees and pray after doing
something that you know was wrong?

	Now you may be wondering what these questions have to do with
each other. Then again you may not. And its possible that you
are already asleep, I hope not. If you are still with me, I
believe that you will find that these questions have to do with 
how we see ourselves. Some people  might refer to self-image

	All of us have come kind of  picture of ourselves, and we tend
to make it while reacting to the influence of other's reactions
to us. 

	One  Old Testament character is very notable for his self image,
and for the way that it changed over a period of years. He began
his life as a boatman, rose to the courts of the rulers of the
world, became an outcast, then a shepherd, and again regained
his stature and backed down the rulers that he had been raised
with, this time to become the leader of another nation. 

	As you may have guessed, I am referring to that organizer,
teacher, father, prophet, and friend of God, Moses. A man who
was a seagull, became a worm, and then found his true identity,
he followed his God.

	His seagull experience came after he had been in the courts of
pharaoh for 28 years. Somehow he knew that he had a calling from
the Lord to deliver the Israelites from bondage. No doubt after
victories as leader of pharaoh's army, after studying with the
scholars of his time, after being hailed as the possible
successor to the throne, he felt quite capable of delivering the
Israelites from bondage. However, he quickly learned
differently. For at the time that he though he had begun to
fight, he found himself running for fear of death.

	As you will recall he ran until he found a shepherd family that
took him in, and he began a new career as a shepherd. After 40
years He was approached by God, calling him to the task that he
had been appointed. All of a sudden, the prince who had studied
with scholars, couldn't speak to them. The leader who had killed
for his people, felt afraid that they would reject him.

	You know the rest of the story. He finally followed God. and
when he did, his self image problems disappeared, and God was
able to use him in a great way.

	You may still be wondering about seagulls and worms. Let me
explain. In 1971 a book hit the market and made a big splash.
The title was Jonathan Livingston Seagull. The book taught many
things that were not true to biblical thinking. It taught that
there is no personal God, that we are all sons of God, (in a way
that's true), that there are many enlightened spiritual
teachers, and all  limitations of human nature are illusions.
The book teaches that we can move higher and higher by our own
concentrated efforts to accomplish anything that we want.

	There's just one problem with this outlook. If mankind has been
this way all along, and all they have to do is realize their
potential, then what of the situation that we see. around us?
Another problem is that most who hold to this viewpoint, believe
that mankind is merely the latest link in the evolutionary cycle
... we have no soul or spirit or image of God. If man has no
purpose, no design in his creation, then there is no right, no
wrong, and the evil deed is no better or worse than the good
deed. This leaves the humanist with out any thing to grasp, and
the soaring seagull might as well be a pesky mosquito.

	About the worms. You will find that these do not exist in
reality as much as in noise. I would like to refer you to two
songs that emphasize this viewpoint. The first is that beloved
hymn, .Amazing Grace. We have all sung it and appreciate it But 
there is one phrase, which if concentrated on, will warp our
perspective on Christianity. 

	Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,
	That saved a wretch like me.  

	Another that we sing is "At the Cross."

	Alas and did my savior bleed, and did my sovereign die
	Would he devote that sacred hear, for such a worm as I.
	( Notice that our church hymnal has changed those words)

	Add these words to a sermon that is designed to produce
psychological guilt, and what do you have?  Now, I'm not
knocking these songs, for they are beautiful when taken as a
whole. But when any one happens to focus on this one part of the
Biblical truth that we are not whole beings, and runs it into
the ground, they get a very distorted view of human nature.

	May I suggest that neither the seagull or the worm is the true
image of the follower of Christ. But if we do away with the two,
where do we stand?

	The Bible tells that there is some truth in each of the views,
but neither contains the whole truth, for it tells us that we
are very special, that we are deeply fallen, and that we are
greatly loved.

	Genesis two tells us that God made man in his image. This
indicates that as originally planned that we have a purpose, we
are significant, and eternally valuable.

	You may ask, "Didn't sin change all that?"

	Never. Adam did bring sin to the human race, and our own
rebellion has severely distorted the beauty of God's image in
us. But that does not mean that suddenly that humanity has
become non human. That gap between man and animals remains. We
still bear the image of God. and our dignity and personal worth
remains.

	The fact is that Jesus put great worth upon us. In Mark 8:36 he
said "What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose
his own soul?"

	Here he places humanity as much more valuable than all earthly
riches. Then in Matthew 6:30 he said that if God clothes the
wildflowers of the hillsides so beautifully, will he not much
more do for you? 

	To the Christians at Corinth, Paul wrote to them, in spite of
their corrupt background that they still bore the stamp of the
image and glory of God, and James warns us not to curse other
men since they reflect the likeness of God. 

	This truth becomes more and more obvious as we study the great
plan of salvation Christ didn't die for animals, or plants or
wealth. He did not come to die be cause he had to. He came do
die for us because we were and are so valuable to Him.

	But in spite of all these assurances, there is another  fact
that the Bible makes very clear. The same book of the Bible the,
records our importance, tells us that somewhere along the line
that mankind rebelled against has creator, and that rebellion
resulted in an alienation of mankind against God. We don't have
to look far to see the results of this in our world today.
Genesis isn't the only book that verifies this condition. David
wrote in the 53rd Psalm, Vs 2,3 "God has looked down from heaven
upon the sons of men to see if there is anyone who understands,
who seeks after God. Everyone of them has turned aside; together
they have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not
even one."

	Jeremiah wrote, "the heart is more deceitful than all else and
is desperately sick, who can understand it?.

	Paul reminds us that we all have sinned and fall short of the
glory of God.

	So on it goes. Some theologians in the past have used the
expression depravity to describe the condition of mankind. When
we think of that word we often see a skid row bum, a drunk, a
murderer, or some other dreadful person. We fail to recognize
that this is indeed the description of every human being when
held up to the  standard, the original plan, that God holds out
for mankind.  No matter how holy we may act, no matter how
upstanding a citizen we may appear to be, our motives and
actions are still tainted by selfishness, or wrong motivation.

	But the key to understanding here is that there is a difference
between value, or worth, and righteousness, or holiness. Those
of us that are parents might be able to understand that concept,
for I suppose that not one of us has raised a perfectly
righteous child. But even when that child is disobeying and
unpleasant we do not cease feeling the worth or value of that
child as part of us and part the family. So it is with God. He
paid an incalculable price for us, and although we are
unrighteous, we are immensely valuable to him. Though we are
depraved, we have great worth. 

	But the story doesn't end there. Not only are we valued by God,
but we are valued just as he values his own son. He loves us
with the same love that he loves his Son. This alone should
cancel out self-hatred. If God, our creator and the highest
moral authority in existence, loves us, we shouldn't contradict
him and tell him he's making a grave mistake.

	But we have trouble with this because so much of our love is
conditional. Don't we choose the ones we love by what they can
do for us If some one looks good, or is smart, or makes us feel
secure, or needed, or loved, we love them. If, however, they
threaten us with crooked teeth, bent limbs, loud talk,
aggressive behavior, or insecurity, then we withhold our love
from them. and the same for us. We learn that certain behaviors
bring certain rewards and approval and love.. 

	Again look  at the children. When you stay up all night nursing
a sick child,  you do not do that because they are earning your
love. And when the older kids wake up at 6:15 on Sunday morning,
your only day to sleep in, they are not doing something that
earns your love.   As a matter of fact, sometimes you will feel
that they are making unreasonable demands on your life. You may
even punish them for some things that they do. But you still
love them, and you would do just about anything for their
welfare, because they are your children, and that is reason
enough to love them.

	Well God looks at us a little like that. Just because we are his
children, he is devoted to our welfare. And when we begin to
realize our unconditional value to him, we should begin to
develop a Godlike respect for ourselves. We should begin to see
ourselves as important children of God, valuable because of who
we are.

	Our real problem is that we haven't begin to realize who we are.
We think that we are all bad and must change to all good before
we are accepted.

	Let's look at four words in the Bible that describe various
portions of our personalities. First if the word ego or "I". 
When this word is used in the Greek, it means the total person
or the self. The Bible does use other words to describe portions
of our being, spirit, soul heart, etc., it uses "Ego"" to
describe the totality of our being.

	Another word used to describe us is Sarx, or flesh. That even
sounds	bad doesn't?	This refers to our fallenness, our tendency
to do those things which work against a commitment to God. 

	Like the ink that mingles with a glass of water until all of it
has changed color, sin has permeated the very fiber of our
beings. It has discolored our ego if you will, Sometimes the
word sin is used the same as flesh. I John 1:9 says, "If we say
that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth
is not in us."

	It is important that here sin isn't an act of wrong doing. It
refers to the rebellion that in influences our whole lives.
Since the Bible uses flesh as our tendency towards sin and away
from God, we  are warned not to respond to the desires of the
flesh, or the tendency towards rebellion. And if you study
carefully, I believe that you will find that the totally of you,
the ego, is not bad. What is bad is the sarx, the flesh that has
discolored it and works to erase the image of God in you.

	There are two more terms that we see, particularly in the
writings of Paul. the first of these is Old Man. Now that
doesn't refer to your father, or your husband. Paul uses the
term in Romans 6:6. You may want to read that with me.  "knowing
this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of
sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves
of sin."

	Several times Paul describes the Christian as the one who puts
off the old man. Now you may want to put the "Old Man" in the
same category as the flesh. But I think perhaps there is a
difference between the two as used in the Bible. The flesh is a
force within us that moves us to actions that we as followers of
Christ wish we wouldn't do. The "Old Man" is a person, a whole
being. It is us when we were not believers, B.C. or before we
met Christ. It indicates a person apart from Christ, unforgiven,
alienated, and totally subjected to our own fallenness. Contrast
this with the person who has come to know Christ. True we are
not suddenly through with our problems, but the change is so
drastic that it has come to be called being born again. Words
that Christ himself used. Paul says we become new people. We are
suddenly alive and responsive to God, and receive the potential
for overcoming our rebellion though Christ.

	Someone has compared  the Old Man / New Man thing with a person
who changes citizenship. They come to the new country with a
relationship with another country. They owed loyalty to the old
country. They were expected to honor its flag. They were
expected to fight in it's wars. And they were expected to pay
its taxes. But they go through a ceremony. They are questioned
about their intent to be a citizen of the new country. They then
break their relationship with the other country, and accept a
new relationship with a new country.  

	Now they owe alliance to the  flag of their new country. Now
they are expected to fight in the wars on the side of the their
new homeland. They are expected to pay taxes to the  government.
They are expected to be loyal to the new country, in return for
the privileges and protections that they are enjoying under that
same government They are in a way a new person.

	But this can bring about a personal civil war. You find yourself
homesick for the old country, even though it may have had its
problems. You seek out those who can speak the language you were
used to. You still may want to react to the old flag when you
see it flying somewhere. But you know that you have chosen a
better way, and you work hard at becoming a citizen of the new
country. You do all the right things, and work to fit into the
culture of the new country.

	Which brings us to another point. God has nothing against your
self. your ego. But he does have a problem with your flesh. He
wants to rid us of that ink that stains our whole being. He
wants to rid us of our sinfulness and our fallenness, because he
knows the hurt it causes us. Self denial as an end is totally
useless in the Christian life. There is no salvation by self
denial, and God never intended that the Christian should live a
life that is essentially a suicide of the self. However, There
is a call for the extermination of our flesh. And there is
certain self denial that is called for, as Christ himself said
in Matthew 16:24 "If any one wants to follow me, let him take up
his cross and follow me."

	The self denial that Christ is calling for is a self denial that
is done for the purpose of reaching a higher and more worthy
goal. There used to be many professed followers of Christ that
did much self denying. There were even those who would sit on a
flag pole for days and years denying themselves all but the
barest necessities. But this kind of self denial is useless. 

	Sometimes we are called on to deny ourselves for the sakes of
others. Luke 3:11  "He answered and said to them, "He who has
two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has
food, let him do likewise.""

	Sometimes we are called upon to deny ourselves in order not to
offend other. Rom 14:13  "Therefore let us not judge one another
anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block
or a cause to fall in our brother's way."

	We also told to deny ourselves our fallenness  Rom 6:13  "And do
not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to
sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead,
and your members as instruments of righteousness to God."

	Rom 6:14  "For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are
not under law but under grace."
	Rom 6:15  "What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law
but under grace? Certainly not!"

	Peter wrote some timely words on the subject in I Peter 2:ll  
 "Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from
fleshly lusts which war against the soul,"

	These expression: do not tell us to deny our true self, but 
instead to deny the expression our fallenness because it works
against our personal growth and happiness. And one last reason
for self denial is to help spread the good news of Christianity.
Paul gave his whole life to this goal. So did the other
disciples. Everything cannot be pleasureful if we are to
accomplish anything significant. Every good thing accomplished
has called for self denial. But this self denial is not self
hatred or debasement. It says that our self is worthy of being
motivated by a noble purpose, and this may require us to miss
some otherwise acceptable activities.

	Along the same line we have true and a false humility. Much
humility is nothing but a cover-up of our feelings of
worthlessness. True humility is very different; from this, for
it again recognizes our worth and value it honestly acknowledges
our abilities without our or under-estimating them. It recognize
that God is the giver of these gifts and they are ours to care
for them and use them.

	There are two things that I would like for you to recognize
today. First is that you are a unique being very much cared for
by God.. 

	Turn with me to Psa 139:13  "For You formed my inward parts; You
covered me in my mother's womb."
	Psa 139:14  "I will praise You, for I am fearfully and
wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul
knows very well."
	Psa 139:15  "My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made
in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the
earth."
	Psa 139:16  "Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And
in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them."

	If this doesn't tell you that you are unique and important to
God I don't know what can.

	The other thing is that you are gifted. And those gifts are not
limited to playing the piano, singing, drawing, painting, or
even turning in large offerings 

	Rom 12:4  "For as we have many members in one body, but all the
members do not have the same function,"
	Rom 12:5  "so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and
individually members of one another."
	Rom 12:6  "Having then gifts differing according to the grace
that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us
prophesy in proportion to our faith;"
	Rom 12:7  "or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who
teaches, in teaching;"
	Rom 12:8  "he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with
liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy,
with cheerfulness."

	So what does all this have to do with psychological guilt? This
may all sound good, but where do I go from here. First, we must
develop a proper attitude of self love, not self hatred. This is
not just a sales pitch we give ourselves after reading a book on
pop psychology. It is based on the truths that we are the
creatures of God's hands, and as such are worthy. We can love
ourselves because God loves us, and because he tells us to love
ourselves. And if God loves us and we run ourselves down, we
contradict God's evaluation. We must love ourselves objectively,
as we do our best friend, our children, or our mates. Yes, I've
got this problem, but I have this strong point. Lord help me use
it for you. 

	Then, we must expect something of ourselves. Though we will fail
in the Christian life from time to time, we should recognize
that as the Holy Spirit leads us we will have changes in our
lives to bring us closer to Christ.

	Finally, we must deny our fallenness without denying our selves.
We have asked for God to make us new, and we shouldn't try to
hide the new that God is making in us. We should live confident
humble lives, boldly, so that the world can see that the Spirit
can change men and women into better people.

	Yes, you are worth a lot. But psychological guilt denies your
worthiness to God and your importance to each other. That is why
our enemy would keep to keep us wrapped up in guilt all the
time. Yes, you are guilty theologically and morally, but that
has been pardoned by our Savior if we have confessed it. So we
can stand before the world, knowing our true worth to our Lord
and to others. This is the Christian who will joyfully be
bringing others to a knowledge of his Savior, because of the
freedom he has found.

	Response Questions:

	1.  I realize that there is no condemnation in Jesus Christ.

	2.  Today I want to accept the forgiveness that Jesus has
	offered me.

	3.  I want Jesus to live out his life in me, to be all that I
	can be.