SINFUL BLINDNESS
THEME: DEVELOPING THE ABILITY TO SEE THE RESULTS FROM YOUR SINFUL ACTIONS
TEXT: 2 SAMUEL 12:1-10
We are all shaped by others. As we come up against people in life we are shaped by their influence. This influence can be positive or negative. Maybe some of us have wondered what affect we have had on the people around us. We are never above the influence completely. Some of us have saved others because of our friendships and connections. Others of us have harmed others by our influence. We really do not know how the influence that we have changes people for the good of for the bad. Some of us have seriously hurt others. We have destroyed others by our sinful behaviors. The problem is that we never really admit the sins that we are committing that are hurting those we love around them.
This sermon is a wake up call for sinners. It is a call for us to truly see ourselves. Not as we like to see ourselves, but to see who we really are. A friend of mine loves to says, “Some people cannot see themselves even if they lived in a house full of mirrors. This is the problem with sin. It is the failure to take responsibility for your actions. You truly do not believe you have a problem. This lesson is for everyone. You need to hear this. It may save your life and those around you. Here is a story about seeing your truth self.
Brennan Manning tells this true story. It goes back to April 1975 when I was a patient at an alcoholic rehabilitation center in a small twon north of Minneapolis. The setting was a large, split level recreation room on the brow of a hill overlooking an artificial lake. Twenty-five chemically dependent men were assembled. Out lead was a trained counselor, skilled therapist, and senior member of the staff. His name was Sean Murphy-O’Connor, though he normally announced his arrival with the statement, “It’s himself. Let’s get to work. Sean direct a patient named Max to sit on “the hot seat” in the center of the U-shaped group. A small man, Max was a nominal Christian, married with five children, owner and president of his company, wealthy, affable, and gifted with remarkable poise. “How long have you been drinking like a pig, Max?” Sean had begun the interrogation. Max, winced. “That’s quite unfair.” “We shall see. I want to get into your drinking history. How much booze per day?” Max relit his corncob pipe. “I have two Marys with the men before lunch and twin Martinis after the office closes at five. Then…” “What are Marys and Martins?” Sean interrupts. “Bloody Marys—vodka, tomato juice, a dash of lemon, and a splash of Tabasco; and Martinis—Beefeater gin, extra dry, straight up, ice cold with an olive and lemon twist.” Than you, Mary Martin. Continue.” “The wife likes a drink before dinner. I got her hooked on Martins several years ago. We have two martinis before dinner and two more before going to bed.” “A total of eight drinks a day, Max?” Sean inquired. “Absolutely right. Not a drop more, not a drop less.” You’re a liar!” “Ever hide a bottle in your house? Asked Benjamin from New Mexico. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’ve got a bar in my living room as big as a horse. Nothing personal, Ben. Max felt he had regained control. He was smiling again. “Do you keep any booze in the garage, Max?” Naturally. I have to replenish the stock. A man in my profession does a lot of entertaining at home. The excutive swagger had returned. “How many bottles in the garage?” “I really do not know the actual count. Offhand, I would say two cases of Smirnoff vodka, a case of Beefeater gin, a few bottles of bourbon and scotch, and a bevy of liquors.” The interrogation continued for another twenty minutes. Max fudged and hedged, minimized, rationalized, and justified his drinking pattern. Finally, hemmed in by relentless cross examination, he admitted he kept a bottle of vodka in the nightstand, a bottle of gin in the suitcase for travel purpose, another in his bathroom cabinet for medicinal purposes, and three more at the office for entertaining clients. He squirmed occasionally but never lost his veneer of confidence. Max grinned. “Gentlemen, I guess we have all gilded the lily once or twice in our lives. Was the way he put it, implying that only men of large living can afford the luxury of self deprecating humor. You are a liar another voice boomed. No need to get vindictive, Charlie, Max shot back. Remember the image in John’s Gospel about the speck in your brother’s eye and the two by four in your own. And the other one in Matthew about the pot calling the kettle black. I felt that I needed to inform Max that the judging is in Matthew not John, and there is no verse about the kettle.
Get me a phone, said Sean. A telephone was wheeled into the room. Sean consulted a memo pad and dialed a number in a distant city. It was Max’ hometown. Our receiver was rigged electronically so that the party dialed could be heard loud and clear throughout the living room on the lake. Hank Shea. Yeah, who is this. My name is Sean, and I am a counselor at an alcohol and drug rehabilitation center in the Midwest. Do you remember a customer named Max. Good. With his family’s permission I am researching his drinking history. You tend bar in that tavern every afternoon. So I am wondering if you could tell me approximately how much Max drinks each day?” I know Max well, But are you sure you have his permission to question me? Yes, He is a great guy. I really like him. He drops thirty bucks in her every afternoon. He drinks about 8 drinks every afternoon. Max jumped to his feet. He started to call the man a liar, he insulted the bartender in every way possible. After a while, Max regained his composure. He reseated himself and remarked that every Jesus lost his temper before.
Have you ever been unkind to one of your kids? Fred asked. Glad you brought that up, Fred. I have a fantastic rapport with my four boys. Last Thanksgiving I took them on a fishing trip to the Rockies. Four days of roughing it in the wilderness. A great time. Two of my sons graduated from Harvard, and Mas Jr. is in his third year. I did not ask that. At least once in life, every father has been unkind to one of his kids. I am sixty two years old and I can vouch for it. Now give us one example. A long pause ensued. Well, I was a little thoughtless with my nine year old daughter last Christmas Eve. What happened” I do not remember. I just get this heavy feeling whenever I think about it. Where did it happen, what were the circumstances? Sean started to dial Max’s house. Hello, miss, we are in the middle of a group therapy session, and your husband just told us that he was unkind to your daughter last Christmas Eve. Can you give us the details, he says he forgot.
Yes, I can tell you the whole thing. It seems like it just happened yesterday. Our daughter Debbie wanted a pair of earth shoes for her Christmas present. On the afternoon of December 24, my husband drove her downtown, gave her sixty dollars, and told her to buy the best pari of shoes in the store. That is exactly what she did. When she climbed back into the pickup truck her father was driving, she kissed him on the cheek and told him he was the best daddy in the whole world. Max was preening himself like a peacock and decided to celebrate on the way home. He stopped at the Cork and Bottle, that’s a tavern a few miles from our house and told Debbie he would be right out. It was a clear and extremely cold day, about twelve degrees above zero, so Max left the motor running and locked both doors from the outside so no one could get in. It was a little after three in the afternoon, and silence. Yes, the sound of heavy breathing crossed the recreation room. Her voice grew faint, She was crying. My husband met some old Army buddies in the tavern. Swept up in the moment over the reunion, he lost track of time, purpose and everything else. He came out of the tavern at midnight. He was drunk. The motor stopped running and the car windows were frozen shut. Debbie was badly frostbitten on both ears and on her fingers. When we got her to the hospital, the doctors had to operate. They amputated the thumb and forefinger on her right hand. She will be deaf for the rest of her life.
Max appeared to be having a heart attack. He struggled to his feet making jerky movements. He collapsed on all fours and sobbed hysterically. No one could believe what they were seeing at that moment. Max was still on all fours. His sobs had soared to shrieks. Sean approached him, pressed his foot against Max’s rib cage and pushed. Max rolled over on his back. “You unspeakable slime.” Sean roared. There is a door on your right and the window on your left. Take whichever is fastest. Get out of here before I throw up. I am not running a rehab for liars. Later that day, Max pleaded for and obtained permission to continue the treatment.
There is another story about a man not sinning the destruction caused by his sin. This story is from a man that was holier than Max, but was just as blind. It reads in 2 Samuel 12:1-10 “Then the LORD sent Nathan to David. And he came to him, and said, "There were two men in one city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a great many flocks and herds. But the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb Which he bought and nourished; And it grew up together with him and his children. It would eat of his bread and drink of his cup and lie in his bosom, And was like a daughter to him. Now a traveler came to the rich man, And he was unwilling to take from his own flock or his own herd, To prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him; Rather he took the poor man’s ewe lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him." Then David’s anger burned greatly against the man, and he said to Nathan, "As the LORD lives, surely the man who has done this deserves to die. And he must make restitution for the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing and had no compassion." Nathan then said to David, "You are the man! Thus says the LORD God of Israel, ’It is I who anointed you king over Israel and it is I who delivered you from the hand of Saul. ’I also gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your care, and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added to you many more things like these! ’Why have you despised the word of the LORD by doing evil in His sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon. ’Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’
The Bible says “in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor. 4:4). You better sin the sin in your life before the sin destroys your life.
