INTRODUCTION
Have you ever felt as if you were in a rut? About two years ago, my brother,daughter and I went hiking on the Appalachian Trail on the North Carolina, Tennessee border. It is an area called the Bald Mountains because you actually walk over the tops of the mountains. It is grasslands and a few short trees, but you are able to see in all directions for miles and miles. My youngest brother had just gotten married. After the wedding, we set out for Boone, North Carolina, where we spent the night. The next morning, we set out bright and early for our destination.
The area where we accessed the trail was a very popular location for day hikers. Now, we had been on many sections of the Appalachian Trail, but we had never encountered what we saw here. Understand that over 2,000 people begin this trail each spring. When you add the number who day hike, you come to understand that there is an enormous amount of traffic on the trail, but there is more in some places than others depending on how majestic the sights are. The Bald Mountain area is very popular.
We began by ascending a long row of steps that were actually logs to help with the footing. When we got to the top, the views were breathtaking, but walking was very difficult in some places. Why you ask? There were ruts in the trail. In fact, the trail itself was one long rut. So many people had walked that trail that it had actually worn it down. In some places, the rut was as much as a foot deep. Since it was not very wide-about the size of a footpath, it was very difficult to walk in. Your feet tended to hit the sides of the rut. It was easy to stumble and fall if you were not careful.
What we chose to do in places was to avoid the rut. This we did-and it appeared many others had also, by stepping outside the rut. Those who maintain the trail discourage this because it widens the trail, but it was just so inconvenient to walk in the rut.
When we do the same thing the same way over and over again, we form ruts. It is akin to our daily routine. Most of us probably have ruts in our morning hours. We get up the same time, get the kids off to school the same time, go to work the same time, eat breakfast the same time, eat the same thing for breakfast, etc. It is interesting how we establish these routines in our life. Then when something happens to interrupt the routine or rut, we get stressed out. We might even react emotionally in some way.
I suppose routines or ruts have their merit, but sometimes it does us good to get out of the ruts. I want to think that this man named Saul and later Paul was in a religious rut. As our story picks up, he is on his way to Damascus to arrest Christians whom he saw as a threat to Judaism, the religion of the Jews and thus of the Old Testament.
Suddenly, a light from heaven beams downs on him and blinds him. God interrupts his rut. He asks Saul why he is persecuting him by persecuting Christians. Saul simply asks who was addressing him. Jesus said; “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”
Paul, as he would later be known, had his life changed and his rut interrupted. He would go on to write most of our New Testament. He made many missionary journeys and planted many churches. He carried the gospel to the known world of his day. God moved him out of his rut.
So we ask ourselves the question, “How can we get our of our self-imposed ruts?”
TRADE TRADITIONS FOR TIMESLESS TRUTHS
Now this is not to say that all traditions are bad. In and of themselves, they may have merit, but it is often what we do with our traditions that make them bad. Our traditions often come out of personal convictions we or our culture may have, but where we get into trouble is when we start judging others by our personal or cultural traditions and telling them they are wrong if they don’t obey our traditions.
We have done this with church life in America in many respects, but I’m glad to see we are getting out of it to some degree. We have told men they have to wear a suit and tie to church. For years, we told women they couldn’t wear pants. We told our children they should be seen and not heard. Then we mandated that Sunday school had to start at 10 and worship at 11. I told someone the other day that when I was in college it was almost taboo for a theology major-that is, a preacher, to have a beard, but it was okay for a music major. We tell people that if they don’t attend church three times a week they can’t teach or hold any position of importance in the church because they are not committed.
I had a discussion with an older man in the last church about this very matter. He was heading the nominating committee, and this was pretty much his philosophy. Well, you see, I knew some folks in that church who were very committed Christians but who maybe came to church only on Sunday mornings. I also knew some deacons who should not have been according to his philosophy. I tried to get him to understand that attendance does not necessarily equal commitment. Sometimes it does, but it is not a foregone conclusion.
This is the problem Jesus later had with the religious leaders. They were so caught up in their traditions, which ironically were religious traditions. Being a Pharisee, Paul was caught up in this also. Paul describes his situation in his letter to the church at Phillipi, “Yet I could have confidence in myself if anyone could…For I was circumcised when I was eight days old, having been born into a pure-blooded Jewish family that is a branch of the tribe of Benjamin. So I am a real Jew if there ever was one! What’s more, I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. And zealous? Yes, in fact, I harshly persecuted the church. And I obeyed the Jewish law so carefully that I was never accused of any fault. I once thought all these things were so very important, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done.”
Now these traditions had grown out of them trying diligently to obey God’s laws of the Old Testament. The only problem was is that they added to and reinterpreted and then began to judge others and their behavior by their interpretations and traditions. Jesus constantly confronted them with this error on their part, and because he did they hated him and tried to kill him. They finally succeeded. He took followers from them and embarrassed them in public.
Jesus’ intention, however, was honorable. He was trying to get them back to the timeless truths and away from the traditions that bound their lifestyles, that had them in a rut. He said on one occasion; “Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to fulfill them.” Then he said, “But I warn you-unless you obey God better than the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees do, you can’t enter the Kingdom of Heaven at all!”
The reason Jesus’ statement is so interesting is because the religious leaders and Pharisees did such a good job of obeying the letter of the law of God. It was their traditions and hypocrisy that interfered with them understanding the timeless truths that Jesus taught. We cannot make the same mistake. We can’t walk in that rut. The timeless truths of God’s Word are important, but when traditions lead us into ruts that hinder our growth or make us unappealing to others, then we must reconsider them.
I read a book some time ago entitled Wisdom Hunter. Randal Arthur, a missionary, wrote it. It told of a pastor who was involved in a denomination that controlled its people with traditions and their interpretations of God’s Word. He became disgusted with that and even turned away from God. Finally, he met an older teacher who would cause him to reconsider his faith. On once occasion the once-pastor was in a meeting. A Frenchman stood up and told of how he had become a Christian five months earlier. His greatest desire was to please God. Several of those present who were Americans had told him that an ideal Christian should be clean and well-groomed on the outside. He also told them that this concept of the Christian testimony was foreign to him, but if this was what God expected he would be willing to make the changes. He just wanted to know where the Scripture was that taught that. The wise pastor sat in silence. A woman with a Southern accent said; “Well, I can’t pinpoint the exact Scripture for you, but it must be there. Every church in America teaches it.” The discussion of this matter continued. Soon the old pastor spoke again. It was his first words since the discussion had started: “I want all of us to ask ourselves a question: If Christianity is present in a country for a long time, and becomes tightly intertwined with the culture, is it possible that Christianity in that country could become more defined by the culture’s qualities than by the actual teachings of the Bible?” The answer: yes.
TURN YOUR EYES FROM SELF TO OTHERS
This was a problem the Pharisees and religious leaders of Jesus’ day had. Paul was caught up in this culture, so he had the same problem. They were just caught up in themselves. Now they had some concern for others, but it was not redemptive. They had a habit of turning their eyes to others in judgment. They enjoyed catching others in sins and then humiliating them.
A perfect example of this is the woman caught in adultery that they brought to Jesus. Their hypocrisy is shown in that according to Old Testament Law-what they prided themselves in obeying, the man was to be brought also. Now if you catch a woman in adultery, it just stands to reason that the man is going to be there too. But they didn’t bring him to Jesus, just the woman.
Sometimes we get so caught up in what’s happening in our lives that we forget about others. We may be going through such trying times that we think no one can even begin to identify with us. But we don’t have to look far before we will find someone who is enduring more than we are. Putting our eyes and attention on others will help to alleviate our preoccupation with our own problems. It will usually lead to better health also, even if it is just better mental health.
Something that comes to mind as I make this point is a statement I heard mentioned at a deacon/pastor training conference that a few of us attended in Spartanburg recently. The statement was, “Every member a minister.” It came from a church bulletin in the place where the staff is usually listed. By the word minister, were the words every member.
The only difference in the professional clergy and those referred to as laity or a volunteer is function. I am no better or more important to God than any of you because he has called me into professional ministry. We are all ministers. This gives us reason and authority to meet the needs of others. We have no justification for saying or believing that just because I am not in professional ministry I can’t minister for God. God gifts all his children, and there are more than enough needs to go around to occupy our time. Putting our eyes on others will get us out of our ruts.
TRADE COMPLACENCY FOR VISION
The Bible reminds us that where there is no vision the people will perish. It is akin to living without any hope. That is a devastating existence. When we have nothing to look forward to, or when we think things will never get any better, we can get depressed. We need vision in our individual lives and in our church. It is necessary for good mental, emotional, physical and spiritual health.
We need to have vision. Sometimes we get complacent in our secular and spiritual lives. When that happens, we need to make a trade. Complacency comes from living in ruts. Vision happens when we get out of them.
TRADE MINDSETS
The mindset we need to trade is from that of sinners to saints. Certainly the Bible teaches that we are all sinners. But it also teaches that when we trust Jesus as our Savior and ask him to forgive us of our sins that we then become saints. Saint is a perfectly biblical word that we don’t need to be afraid of. It refers to our position. Whereas we were once enslaved to our sinful nature, now we are forgiven and set apart for God’s work. When that wonderful truth finally sinks in, it will lift us out of the ruts we can get in that play with our mind and affect our behavior. What it means is this: no matter what is happening in your life, no matter how bad or good things are, nothing will ever change who you are in Christ Jesus. You are a saint. That is your position.
There is a legend of a priest in a small midwestern parish who as a young man had committed what he felt was a terrible sin. Although he had asked God’s forgiveness, all his life he carried around this burden of sin. He just could not be sure of God’s forgiveness. One day he was told of an elderly lady in his congregation who sometimes had visions. During these visions, she would often have conversations with God. After a while, the priest finally got up enough courage to visit this woman. She invited him in and offered him some tea. Toward the end of his visit, he asked the woman about these visions. Yes, she had them, and yes, she spoke with the Lord during them. The priest asked her to ask God something for him the next time she had a vision. The priest began, “Well, would you ask him what sin it was that your priest committed as a young man?” The woman agreed. A few weeks passed, and the priest went to visit the woman again. She had had a vision and had asked the priest’s question of God. The priest anxiously wanted to know what God had said. The woman looked into the face of her priest and gently said, “The Lord told me he could not remember.”
What a wonderful God who will willingly self-limit himself in forgetting our sins when we ask him for forgiveness. He makes saints out of sinners. That should lift anyone out of a rut.
CONCLUSION
I suppose I am the world’s worst about getting into ruts. Because of my personality and my tendency to be very organized and to want things to work in an orderly fashion, it is very easy for me to get into ruts. I seem to function better when my routines are the same. But as I get older, and as I reconsider my philosophy in life, I am learning not to let the routines and ruts destroy my enjoyment in life.
Sometimes we just need to get out of the ruts like Paul did at God’s invitation. We can do that by trading traditions for timeless truths, turning our eyes from self to others, trading our complacency for vision and trading mindsets.
