Three Biggest Blunders in the Bible
“Each time he said, "My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness." So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.” 2 Corinthians 12:9
Intro: In the 2011 Republican Presidential debate, Rick Perry had a momentary lapse in memory. He said when elected President he would work to cut federal spending by doing away with three government agencies. The Departments of Education, the Department of Commerce, and then in a misstep he was unable to remember or name the third agency, the Department of Energy. After stumbling over his words he eventually said, "I can’t. The third one, I can’t. Sorry. Oops." That gaffe was thought to have likely ended his campaign. Perry tried to laugh it off and accept it with humility. But the world can sometimes be very unforgiving. We have all made mistakes, faux pas, slip-ups, blunders. Today we are going to talk about “Three of the Biggest Blunders in the Bible.”
I. Having Everything and Having Nothing
“the rich man also died, and was buried; 23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments” Luke 16:23
The bible tells us of numerous encounters Jesus had with people with lots of money and riches. There is nothing against prosperity or having great wealth. It is not how much you have but what you do with what you have that really matters. There are many examples of Godly people, Kings, and rulers, rich Pharisees and both wealthy men and women. How “wealth” is defined is relative to where you are and how people think.
A recent article in Time magazine talked about how the rich don’t think they are rich. For example a person with a million dollars in investable assets looking to start a new business or take over an existing business might not think they are wealthy. Of people surveyed who had between one and five million dollars to invest only twenty-eight percent considered themselves wealthy. Of people surveyed who had more than five million dollars to invest only forty percent consider themselves truly wealthy. Another revealing survey showed that people who earn one hundred thousand dollars a year think that people who earn over two hundred thousand dollars a year are rich. While people who are at or below the poverty level think people who earn around fifty-two thousand a year are rich.
The Wall Street journal put things in a global perspective and said anyone who makes over fifty-two thousand a year is a in the top one percent of earners worldwide. A pauper in one place. A prince in another part of the world.
How do you define riches if you do away with the measure of money? Are you rich because you have good health? Are you prosperous because you have friends? Are you wealthy because you have a good name and are well thought of? Are you blessed because people treat you with dignity and respect?
In the book “When Helping Hurts: Alleviating Poverty Without Hurting the Poor” author Steven Corbett
Challenges the reader to rethink the definition of what is poverty. Not in terms of material possession but more in terms of issues of justice. “Poor people typically talk in terms of shame, inferiority, powerlessness, humiliation, fear, hopelessness, depression, social isolation, voicelessness.
I was in a leadership meeting this week. The discussion was about the dangers of enabling people in their habits. Churches want to be involve in poverty reduction. But how do we deal with generational poverty? Does just handing out hurt more than it helps? Do our programs achieve their goals?
I recently talked to a person involved in a Celebrate Recovery Ministry. People have hurts, hang ups, habits. There is only one way to really rise above them. That is to deepen your relationship with Christ. He said there were three questions that he often asked. “What did you do with that last assistance check? When was the last time you were high? Are you using now?”
You have to dig out the infection before you can truly heal. What is your hurt story? What behavior keeps you from where you need to be? What brokenness prevents you from celebrating the day?
Sometimes people with the most and the biggest toys turn out to be the least satisfied and the most unhappy.
The recent suicide of actor Robin Williams has caused us all to stop and realize that people with celebrity status and those living in mansions often battle addictions, depression, illness and fear of losing what they have.
Hebrews 13:5 ESV says, “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Things like hospitality to strangers, helping someone in need, honesty and commitment in a relationship, produces real and tangible lasting happiness and joy.
When we go around comparing ourselves to others we will always find someone else who has more, looks better, is luckier, more prosperous, richer, has a bigger house, drives a nicer car, is more sexy, and if we are not careful we will turn green with envy or jealousy or even covet.
The point is no matter whether it is the rich man who was indifferent to Lazarus and ignored feeding the hungry. Or the rich young ruler who did not follow Jesus because his wealth was great. Or Jesus teaching that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God." There are people who by most standards have everything compared to others. But end up when it comes to happiness, contentment, and salvation they end up having nothing. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones so that I can store my surplus. Store it for what? You can’t take it with you.
The happiest people that I know personally are the most generous people you will ever meet. It is a great compliment when someone says, “He would give you the shirt off his back.”
The biggest blunder you may ever make is to “Have everything but end up having nothing.” “the rich man also died, and was buried; 23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments” Luke 16:23 That would be the biggest blunder, an eternal mistake, an everlasting error that will cost you happiness here and now and your soul in the ever after.
II. The Loss of Innocence
This is what the LORD says: "A cry is heard in Ramah--deep anguish and bitter weeping. Rachel weeps for her children, refusing to be comforted--for her children are gone." Jeremiah 31;15
This passage is often called the "Slaughter of the innocents." It is the old testament picture of Rachel, Jacob’s wife who was a symbolic mother of the northern tribes of Israel. When the nation was taken into captivity by the Assyrians. Rachel is pictured crying for the exiles at a place called Ramah which was kind of a staging point for deportation into exile. Rachel is crying for the defeated people who are being taken from their homeland and forced into slavery. The tragedies of war are often the innocent women and children who are killed or abused or mistreated by their captures.
The past couple of weeks the world has been shocked by the gross and inhuman treatment of the Yezidi’s and Kurdish Christians in Iraq. Forty thousand refugees fled their homes and were stranded on a mountain with no food or water. Hundreds of people including women and children were said to have died of thirst and dehydration. Even when this humanitarian tragedy was relieved it as reported that ISIS militants executed Kurdish men and captured the women and young girls. Killing women over thirty-five years of age and raping women and children.
The world was further shocked by the YouTube video of the decapitation of new reporter James Foley and the threat to President Obama that unless airstrikes ended another reporter will be executed.
I include all of these things because history proves out that the slaughter of innocent women and children has never resulted in victory. It has only served as a rally call to justice the good people of integrity and reason. While it might strike fear in the heart of people it more often results in a great resolve to see that justice prevails.
That being said, one of the biggest blunders ever recorded in the bible was committed by none other than King Herod. Herod the Great was a Roman-appointed King of the Jews. Herod wanted to be god. He wanted to rule forever. According to the Gospel of Matthew, Herod ordered the execution of all young male children in the vicinity of Bethlehem. He feared the loss of his throne to a newborn King of the Jews whose birth had been announced to him by the wise men who came in search of the Messiah Jesus. This fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah 'A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are no more.'"
It was a blunder not only for the unconscionable and immoral slaughter of children, but more so because Herod had the most valuable and greatest wealth ever offered unto human kind. Jesus, the means of grace and the gift of salvation was born within his reach.
The one and only way to heaven is by Jesus. Jesus is, "the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to God except through Christ.” John 14:6 Herod had the means of immortality, the gift of eternal life. The opportunity to reach heaven thru Jesus. But instead of receiving the free gift of salvation and eternal life. He traded innocence for a hopeless grasp at possessions and power.
There are a lot people today who do the same thing. Like Herod they trade simplicity for larger houses, bigger incomes, more material things. They trade purity for popularity, fame, which never lasts but for a moment. They trade their virginity for a moment of pleasure and their innocence for a few minutes of a high or a flash of bliss. Gratification is the way of the world. Everyone is doing it. You have to have it. You want satisfaction. When someone or something stands in their way they will do whatever it takes to get to that next rung on the latter.
Do know that the average drug habit can cost hundreds of dollars per day. There are people who live within a short distance of this church that pay their entire paychecks thousands of dollars per month for “meth, cocaine, alcohol, prescription pills.”
There was a recent drug bust of a person with a bag of 400 pills in a store parking lot. The street value of Oxycontin was between fifteen and twenty thousand dollars.
What does that loss of innocence cost? A drunk driver kills a family in a head on collision. A teenage son dies of an overdose. A daughter gets pregnant and has to drop out of school. A husband and wife get a divorce. A person is fired and loses their job, can’t make the car payment or the house mortgage. A hungry person dies of starvation. A homeless person wonders helplessly. A sick person dies of a curable disease. A church builds a bigger building while a person who lives down the street sits alone in a room staring at a wall.
One of the biggest blunders that can ever be made is the sacrifice of innocence. Do not make this mistake. Don’t do something you will regret for the rest of your life. We must not neglect social justice, discipleship, missions, and servant hood. Or ministry to people who are around us. We must seriously answer the questions is what we are doing working? If it is not, how are we going to fix it? Are we winning people to Christ or do we need to consider a different approach? Or we might be making a blunder that will have eternal consequences. Unless people repent and turn to Jesus.
III. Killing the Only One Who Can Save
“There they crucified him, and with him two others--one on each side and Jesus in the middle.” John 19:18
On September 17th 1788 the army of Austria, approximately 100,000 strong, was setting up camp around the town of modern day Romania. The army had sent out scouts across the river but saw no sign of the Ottoman Turks. But they did meet a group from Romani, who offered to sell the war-weary soldiers hard apple liquor. Soon the scouts were joined by some cavalrymen who heard the noisy revelry from across the river. When they saw the party going on, they demanded alcohol for themselves. But the Romani’s didn’t think there was enough to go around and set up a makeshift fortification around the barrels brew. This could only end in disaster. After a heated argument broke out one soldier fired a shot. Immediately, the Romani’s were engaged in combat with the scouts, the cavalry and infantry. The situation was made worse when Austrian officers attempted to restore order, shouted “Halt! Halt!” Which was misheard by the Romania soldiers who had no knowledge of German as “Allah! Allah!.” Soon a a full charge was ordered by the entire Austria camp from across the river. The troops fired at every shadow, thinking the Ottomans were everywhere; in reality they were shooting their own fellow Austrian soldiers. Two days later they discovered 10,000 of their own men dead or wounded. At that time it was the greatest military blunder in history.
Another of the biggest blunders in the bible involves the Devil and the killing of Jesus. It was a blunder because the hypocrites and haters of Jesus thought they would silence this teacher. It was a blunder even by the Devil himself. Satan thought he could tempt Jesus but he failed to tempt him. They thought they could kill Jesus but death could not hurt him. Satan thought they could bury Jesus but the grave could not hold him.
You have heard it said the harder you try to serve God the more the Devil will try to stop you. Let me tell you some Good News. The more the Devil tried to stop Jesus the more powerful Jesus became. The more the Gospel spread. The more the Devil tried to silence the disciples the louder they got. The more the Devil tried to scare and terrorize believers the bolder became. Satan thought he could defeat Jesus by nailing him to a cross. But just when the party had gotten started Jesus showed up. He rose up.
The Devil’s biggest blunder was thinking that crucifying Jesus would be the end. Instead it is just the beginning of “Grace.”
Closing: God does not keep us from or remove every struggle or difficulty we come to in life. But His greatness and power can be seen in our weakness. And that should give you courage and hope. Friends you have a choice today. The decision is yours. What will you do with Jesus? What will you do about the future of your soul? My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever. Psalm 73:26 We age, we grow weak and weary. But from birth to death God is always present forever. Don’t be guilty of making the biggest blunder of your life time. Learn to appreciate what you have. Don’t always be wanting more. Or something else. You might be so focused on what you don’t have that you don’t see what God has blessed you with. You might have everything but think you have nothing. What a blunder.
Don’t compromise your morals. Don’t lose your innocence. Make sure you don’t lose your joy. Christians every worship service is a celebration of what God has given you. Be “soul satisfied.” And you will never hunger or thirst or be bitter or need some artificial drug to make you happy. Be high on Jesus.
Finally don’t kill Jesus the one who saves. Let Jesus come into your heart and give you forgiveness, peace, love and blessed assurance. Don’t make the biggest mistake of your life. Not making an altar in your life, not finding revival, renewal, delight for the soul, not coming to Jesus and making him your Lord and savior will be the biggest blunder you will ever make.
