Living on the Third Level: Part Two

Colossians 3:17

Considering the three levels of Dr. Lawrence Kohlberg of Harvard let’s look at life on level three where one’s life-style is based on what matters is what is right. 

I. OUR ACTS ARE BASED ON “WHATEVER”  UNIVERSAL OBEDIENCE
If you live on level three you will do whatever you do based on principle.  You won’t change your mind simply because something makes you feel better or others approve.

One of the nation’s most successful football coaches told me the following. He had just won consecutive national Championships and had his most successful recruiting years ever, but he retired prematurely. The reason being he had given an assistant an earlier promise that if he would stay with him five more years he would retire, and make efforts to help the assistant become head coach. Even in light of his success he retired. He quoted Psalm 15: 4 as the reason, “He who swears to his own hurt and does not change.” He gave his word and kept it even in  light of his current success.  If you make a promise – keep it – even if it takes great effort or it hurts you. God places a very high priority on being people of our word.

II.      OUR ATTITUDES SHOULD BE “IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS.”
This reveals our realized oneness.  A team that wears a school’s uniform represents all for which the school stands.  As a Christian you represent all for which Christ stands.  His “name” stands for His character and being.

“In the name” means “in vital relationship with him,” that is:
a. In harmony with His revealed will. 

b. In subjection to His authority.

c. In dependence on His power.

III. OUR ACCLAIM SHOULD BE  “GIVING THANKS TO GOD.”
Are you able to give God thanks for being able to say or do what is contemplated?

Do you live up to the principles you profess?  When you became aware of your need for salvation and you received Christ as Savior, a principle was established.  You invited Christ into your life.

Let’s parallel this with an imaginary situation in which you invite a special guest into your home.  Upon his arrival you say, “I want you to make yourself at home.  My house is your house.  Make yourself comfortable.”

The next day you come home and your guest has out all of your financial records and is going through them. You are outraged, “What are you doing?”, you ask.  “I am looking over your financial records,” is the reply. Incensed you say, “Those are my private records. You shouldn’t be looking at them.”  Then your guest reminds you of your statement, “Make yourself at home. My house is your house…”

Did you really mean it?  Did you really mean it when you said to Jesus that you wanted your life to be His?  Are there areas of your life not being lived according to His principles?

Living on the Third Level : Part One

Colossians 3:17

Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.”

Thus, he was telling us there are certain principles by which we should live.

Dr. Lawrence Kohlberg of Harvard has led the way in research in moral education and development.  He found that a healthy mature person develops through three levels of moral thinking.

LEVEL ONE extends from birth to about age ten.  This is the totally self-centered stage.  All issues and choices are viewed in terms of personal physical or pleasurable results.  The rules of the game are:  If I am rewarded as I desire my conduct is good.  If I don’t get what I want then my actions are bad.

There are people who have not grown out of this stage.  Their motto is: “Do your own thing.”  They are totally self-centered egotists.  Interestingly psychologists have concluded there are three motivational factors in life. Which of these is yours?

Self-preservation. Self-gratification. Self-glorification.

Note, in each instance the use of the word “self.” What is in it for me?

LEVEL TWO, Dr. Kohlberg says, begins sometimes between age ten and fourteen.  At this stage persons consider others as well as self.  Choices are based on whether they please others or are they approved by others.  Peer pressure and idols exert an enormous influence.  The status quo becomes important.

There are people of all ages still hung up at this level.  “Everybody is doing it,” becomes the mandate for mediocrity.  “Chicken” is a game such a person can dare to lose even if they lose their life trying to win.

LEVEL THREE begins anytime after the late teens.  At this level one isn’t trying just to please self or others, but what matters is what is right.  Internal convictions become important.  Morality is based on principle not force as in level one or acceptance as in level two. Honesty is now based on values. 

Dr. Kohlberg estimates that only about 20% of adult Americans reach level three when a person chooses to do something because it is right in and of itself.

Living on level three is life’s most satisfying peek.

Job evidenced he lived there when in his hour of extreme pain he revealed he lived by principles when he said, “Yeah, though He slay me yet I will trust Him.”

David revealed he had moved to the third level by saying, “When I am afraid I will trust in Him.”

Joshua gave away his level of living by saying, “As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.”

Martin Luther on trail for his life declared: “Here I stand, I can do nought else.”

William Penn spoke of level three when he said, “Right is right though all men be against it, and wrong it wrong though all men be for it.”

Candidly, on what level are you living consistently? Are there times you relapse into levels one or two? Our text defines level three living. “…whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus….”

The Faith Factor: Part Two

Hebrews 11: 1- 3

In the fall of 1940 during World War II, the German Air Force, with an average of 200 planes per raid, bombed London for 57 consecutive nights. Many nights after the raids Prime Minister Winston Churchill could be seen in his suit and derby picking his way through the crowds, encouraging his countrymen.

Following VE Day in 1945, Sir Winston was asked what he had done during those interminable nights of the bombing. He responded that he had retired to his bomb shelter below Piccadilly Square and there before a map of Europe planned the invasion of Germany.

That is faith. He was making plans for victory while the enemy was at once building weapons for a siege by land and reigning terror from the sky. Maybe that is where you are now! You may have been driven into your own bomb shelter by fearful circumstances and doubt, a wonderful time to plan your spiritual victory.

Adversities besieged the Psalmist when he wrote: 

“It is good for me that I have been afflicted, That I may learn Your statutes.”  (Psalm 119:71)  Wooo! He continued: “I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are right, And that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.”  (Psalm 119:75)

That is faith applied where it hurts — when it helps.

Our word substance comes from the Greek “hypostasis.” A scientific term opposite of theory or hypothesis.  It is used to describe a chemical which settles to the bottom in a test tube. It is the primary element in a formula. Thus, faith is seen as primary to all of life. Substance also means “the title deed.”

Faith is the evidence of things to come. Evidence means proof.  Our faith is in the unseen, but not the unknown.  A photon illustrates this. Scientists believe in photons. Yet, they have never seen one. They only exist when traveling at the speed of light, 185,000 miles per second. At that speed they have never been photographed. Though unseen, scientists still believe in photons.

Also, we see the world, but not that of which it is made — atoms.

Evidence translated “elegchos,” a legal term for that which is necessary for conviction. Faith convicts us that God will keep His Word.

This expression carries the first one further.  It is the outward evidence of the inward assurance.  Our life is committed to what the mind believes.

Unbelievers are like a blind man who refuses to believe there is such a thing as a light because he has never seen one.

We live by faith.  We drink water from a faucet, eat in a cafe, place our pay in a bank, fly in a plane, undergo surgery and take medicine by faith.

Man has become the measure of all things. Everything outside man’s experience or understanding is denied. Do you understand how a sheep, cow, pig, and goose can eat grass in the same field and one grows wool, another hair, another bristles, and the other feathers? Do you understand how a brown cow can eat green grass growing out of black soil and give white milk? No! Yet, we believe it.

God’s word is far more assuring and deserving of our faith.

Bring Back the Lifeboats 8/15/99

Luke 10:1, 2

Jesus Christ said, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (Luke 10:2).

He later said, “Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!” (John 4:35).

Jesus Christ spoke of souls as being like a crop ready to be harvested. When a crop is ready to harvest it has to be harvested then or it is lost. The window of opportunity is well defined. There is a limited time in which to act.

Christ’s appeal is to avoid letting opportunity pass you by.

Have you ever heard of the novel “Futility,” by Morgan Robertson? It is the story of the sinking of the ocean liner the Titan that sinks because of hitting an iceberg on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York.

Perhaps you are thinking I miss spoke when I said the Titan and meant to say the Titanic. I didn’t!

The Titan was 1,800 feet long, the Titanic, 1882 feet.

The Titan displaced 66,000 tons of water, the Titanic 70,000. Amazingly similar.

Both ships were triple-screw ocean liners that could travel up to 25 knots per hour and transport 3,000 passengers.

Perhaps you are wondering why Robertson wrote a novel so nearly like the real life event. The thing that makes this story so intriguing is that the Titanic sank on April 14, 1912. The story of the Titan was published in 1898, fourteen years before the Titanic sank.

It is amazing to think that a story written a decade in advance could so nearly forecast the real event. What is even more engaging is the idea that Bible prophecy written so long in advance can be so exact. When the Bible speaks it speaks truth. When Jesus spoke of there needing to be laborers sent into the harvest He knew the need and asserted our responsibility.

America is rapidly becoming a pagan nation. Before being offended look up the definition of “pagan” and then look around at our society. “The American College Dictionary” defines pagan in the following ways: “a people or community professing some other than the Christian religion.”

Even if you drop down to the second definition pagan still fits America. The second definition is: “one who is not a Christian, Jew, or Mohammedan.”

Drive through our own lovely community on a Sunday morning between 11:00 AM and noon and note the numbers of person not participating in religious worship.

In our wonderful community 67% of the people are unchurched. That is, they do not have a local church where they are a member.

When Christ said the field is white unto harvest he meant the crop is ripe and if not harvested it will spoil.

When a pagan nation turns its back on God it turns back to the gods of decadence. Some of these gods are humanism, secularism, and materialism. These three are flourishing.

All the time churches have the potential of reaching the lost for Christ. The salt is too often kept in the shaker and the light on an immovable lamp stand. My prayer is:
Set us afire Lord I pray,
While the world perishes,
We go our way purposely, passionless, day by day.
Set us afire Lord, stir us I pray.

In an interview this week with a reporter from “The Wall Street Journal” we discussed the many undertakings of modern churches. In conclusion I commented the primary role of the church is to propagate spiritual truths. The church is the only organization founded by Christ who commissioned it to “Go … tell.” Because of a failure to fulfill this role by members of many churches our society is sick and souls lost.

“For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). That was His mission, that is our assignment.

The Biblical record of those He saved is a grouping of the most unlikely prospects. Abraham a liar. Jacob a cheat. David an adulterer. Rahab a harlot. Peter a coward. Joseph of Aramethea a religious bigot. All, like each of us, unlikely converts.

The time for response is now. A man retired after 40 years on a job that required him to catch a bus at 7:30 AM. The first morning after retirement his wife served him eggs as usual. He said, “Honey, I don’t like eggs this way!’ “But,” she said, “I have served you eggs this way for 40 years. Why didn’t you tell me?” His reply, “I never had time.” Take time and make your commitment. Accept His offer of a spiritual rescue.

Jesus said, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

That is a mandate He placed upon the church. We are in the spiritual rescue business.

Millions have been captivated by the story of paternal neglect and an adulterous affair called Titanic. The movie captured the imagination and revived interest in this needless tragedy. The real life saga was even more intriguing than the story imagined in the film.

A trade magazine of the time, “The Shipbuilder,” labeled the Titanic “practically unsinkable.” On May 31, 1911, and employee of the White Star Shipbuilding Company said, “Not even God Himself could sink this ship.”

At the time of her launch the Titanic was the world’s largest movable man-made object.

The story of the sinking of the Titanic has striking parallel to the spiritual condition and pending circumstances of many people.

John Phillips was the radio operator on duty that April night. A nearby ship the Californian sent six radio messages to the Titanic warning of icebergs in her path. After the sixth warning he told the messenger from the Californian to “shut up.” Though warned the crew of the Titanic refused to change their course. Survivors say as Phillips faced death his arrogance disappeared and he was heard screaming,

“God forgive me … God forgive me!”

We Christians have heard the Bible lovingly warn of pending spiritual doom awaiting those not heeding its warning. Dare we neglect the loving warning to repent. Dare we refuse to change course spiritually.

Emotionally enter into that event with me. At 11:40 PM, April 14, 1912, a giant iceberg scraped the starboard side of the ship, showered ice on the deck, and ripped open six water-tight compartments. Even then most passengers remained unconvinced the ship was about to sink.

Suddenly resentment over an inconvenience turned to disaster. Passengers realized their peril when rescue flairs were fired in the night air.

Charles Pellegrino, a survivor, said, “The water sparkled for miles around. Lifeboats could be seen on it… In that cave of man-made light, minds, too, were illuminated. Everyone understood the message of the rockets without being told.”

860 members of the crew and approximately 3,500 passengers soon knew they faced potential death.

The wealthiest man in the world, John Astor, tried unsuccessfully to force his way into a lifeboat. His wealth could not save him.

Daniel Buckley tried to disguise himself as a woman in order to get into a lifeboat. His costume failed him and he perished.

Mrs. Isador Straus, whose husband owned Macy’s Department Store refused to leave her husband and refused to get in a lifeboat.

Bruce Ismay, part owner of the Titanic and the man responsible for putting lifeboats on the ship crawled into a lifeboat leaving women and children to drown.

Above the scrams and shouts of the panicky crowd could be heard the voice of John Harper shouting, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Many of the 1,522 men, women, and children left on board screamed their way toward awesome silence.

Amid the confusion most lifeboats pulled away from the sinking ship only partially filled as others struggled to survive. Over the speaker system could be heard the voice of the captain pleading, “Bring back the lifeboats!” They didn’t.

Today many are in no less peril spiritually than those passengers were physically. The job of the church is that of the lifeboats. Those in the lifeboat, the true church of Christ, are safe. Friends without Christ are spiritually perishing.

Circumstances give the impression those safe in the lifeboat appear satisfied and reluctant to rescue others.

Today the message to the church on behalf of the lost in society is, “Bring back the lifeboats.” It is an appeal to get involved in saving souls. The rescue mission of the church is to engage in soul winning.

The story of Christ’s saving grace is simple and illustrated many ways.

Our prosperous economy and highly entertaining society seems to provide security affording as much comfort as that professed by the makers of the Titanic. Never has the message of salvation been more available and ignored. The response is often the same as that of the radio operator on the Titanic, “Shut up!”

There is a double grief illustrated by the Titanic.

One, there were those on board who thought the ship to be unsinkable and therefore ignored the alarm warnings. They had a false trust. Some today think things will always be as good as they are now. A false sense of security exists in our society as many trust in materialism and secularism for security.

On the Titanic that night seven bells marked the hour of 11:30 P.M. as the newest, largest, and most luxurious ocean liner of all times plowed its way from Southampton to New York. Earlier in the evening a communication had come into the Marconi shack from the S.S. Mesaba up ahead: “Saw heavy pack ice and a great number of large icebergs. Also field ice.” The wireless operator on the Titanic was so busy that he shoved the message under a paperweight and their it remained unheeded.

The false sense of security of those on board, typical of those today who trust in material goods, is mirrored by the conduct of Charlotte Cardeza, Philadelphia banking millionairess. She and her maid, valet, 14 trunks, 4 suitcases, and three crates of minor luggage were comfortable in their $25,600 three-room suite when they felt the impact. They ignored the danger in light of their opulent quarters and perished. They failed to heed the warnings. Theirs was a false sense of security.

Days after the disaster the body of John Astor was recovered. In the pocket of the wealthiest man in the world was $4,250 cash. Trust in riches did not save him physically, nor will it save us spiritually.

Second, is the heartbreak found in the indifference of many in the lifeboats who are reluctant to attempt to rescue others. I want to appeal to this church, “Bring back the lifeboats.”

Archibald Gracie remembers the night this way: “The wails and groans of the suffering, the shrieks of the terror-stricken, the awful gasping for breath of those in the throes of drowning —– none of us will forget to our dying day.” Dare we ignore the signs of those spiritually perishing and not bring back the lifeboats. Collectively, let’s dedicate ourselves to the rescue mission at hand.

At 2:20 A.M. the Titanic began her slow descent to the ocean floor. The icy waters of the North Atlantic, in the dark of night, swallowed the ship as souls perished while those who could have saved many relished their own safety refusing to bring back the lifeboats. May it not be true of us.

Back in Southampton, England friends and family members awaited news from the reported sinking. Outside the offices of the White Star Steamship Company was posted a sign reporting on passengers. There were two columns headed: “Saved” and “Lost.” Every person’s name appeared under one or the other. In heaven there will be only two lists, no optional ones, only two: SAVED and LOST. Under which heading is yours presently?

Living in an agricultural society Jesus used familiar terms to describe the two groups: “And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25: 33, 34).

He continued, “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:” (Matthew 25:41).

In which group are you?

The Faith Factor: Part One

Hebrews 11: 1- 3

Jesus is presented as: a superior person. (Vss. 1 – 6)

He offers a superior priesthood. (Vss. 2 – 10)  

Now faith is shown to be a superior lifestyle. (Vs. 11)

In Hebrews 10:38 an exhortation is given: “The just shall live by faith.”

In Hebrews 12:1, 2 a challenge is given:
“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”  (Hebrews 12:1, 2).

Our faith is based on the loving life and sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. Confidence in Christ’s character is the only eternal basis of ALL faith.

“Belief” and “trust” are two words used frequently in Scripture to identify how we should respond to the Lord.

One Hebrew word for believe is amen. It literally means “to use God as a foundation; to lean on Him.”

Another word translated trust is “batak.” It was originally a wrestling term meaning a “body-slam” or in modern parlance “suplex.” Applied to our faith-life, it means to pick up your problems and body-slam them before the Lord.

At the time of this writing Judaism had deteriorated into a system of works: self-effort, self-salvation, and self-glorification.

It was no longer the faith system God intended.  It was a corruption of what God had designed.  He had no pleasure in it. A new covenant based on faith was instituted.

Faith is spoken of as “the substance of things hoped for.” Our word substance is made up of two words meaning: “to stand” and “under.”  Substance is that which stands under.  It is the superstructure of life.

The faith in God of those spoken of in Hebrews 11 was so strong that they had such “assurance” that they responded as though the things promised were already a reality.

Moses had such faith in Messianic prophecies that he forsook all material things of Egypt which he could see for the Messiah who wasn’t to come for 1400 years (11:26).

Old Testament believers are described in 11:13. “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.”  (Hebrews 11:13)

Now, reflect on these principles and evaluate your faith. Can it be described as giving you assurance to live by?

“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the assurance of things to come.”