Monday, July 23, 2012

Might as well face it...


“Jesus also heals our relationship with others. One day, there will be no more sin to separate people from God and each other.” ~ The Gospel Project

“For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.” ~ Romans 7:18

During the 80’s MTV burst onto the scene and video truly did kill the radio star.  One of the iconic music videos of the era was Robert Palmer’s “Addicted to Love” which featured five fashion models as his band.  The “band” all had pale skin, bright red lipstick and slicked back dark hair.  They were expressionless, robotic and obviously not musicians because none of them looked fluid or comfortable strumming a guitar or beating the drum.  If you watch the video you very quickly notice that these ladies were not hired for their rhythm.  There are many choreographical errors and the band is out of sync with one another and moving when there is no back beat.  The director of the video hired a musician to try to teach the models basic guitar fingering techniques but he gave up after an hour and left.   I guess you get tired and have a short attention span when your only means of meaningful sustenance is a steady diet of Altoids.

None of us like to think that we are addicted to something and there is the tendency to think less of or look down on those who struggle with addictions.  But the sobering reality (pun intended) is that the lyrics Robert Palmer sang can apply to us all; “you like to think you’re immune to this stuff, oh yeah…it’s closer to the truth to say you can’t get enough…you’re gonna have to face it you’re addicted to______.”  We think of addictions as the “big sins” e.g. drugs, porn, alcohol or sex.  In the drugs category do we include abuse of over the counter or prescribed drugs?  We need them to “cope”.   We wring our hands when a young adult is slamming down energy drinks but we have to put our third Venti down before we can…  We may begrudgingly admit that we can be addicted to food or eating, shopping, hoarding, hobbies, work, politics and even materialism but those tend to take a back seat to the more “grievous” addictions.  We are in denial if we think we have no addictions; “the lights are on, but you’re not home…your mind is not your own.”  The big question for us all; are we humble enough to ask ourselves the tough questions?  Are we open to letting the Holy Spirit reveal to us what are we addicted to?

One of the local ministry opportunities that I have had the pleasure to be involved with is a men’s alcohol and drug recovery center.  I have the privilege to serve in this ministry with a number of men from my church and it has been both a challenge and a blessing.  You go into it with the idea of being an encouragement to the residents and then you quickly realize how much they are blessing you.  Stories of redemption and God’s mercy and grace drive home the point that God is in the recovery business.  Week in and week out you see that no matter who you are or what you struggle with God can and will rescue you if you are willing to come to the end of yourself.  You learn very quickly that addictions cut across all age, socioeconomic and racial groups.  No one is immune and addictions touch everyone.  It can cause you to take a step back and examine yourself and ask God to reveal to you what are you addicted to?

In his book “Addictions: A Banquet in the Grave”, author Edward T. Welch provides some key insights on addictions and how we can find hope in the Gospel.  Welch points out that we entertain our desires and cravings to deal with a sense of emptiness and those that give into cravings do so in order “to indulge their own desires, whether those desires are pleasure, freedom from pain, alleviation of fear, forgetting, vengeance, or a host of others.”  He further states that with every one of us it is not so much that we don’t know what scripture says on a subject but that “we don’t want to believe the truth we already have.  Even when we know the truth, we don’t always want it to guide our lives.”  He goes on to say that “when our desires conflict with Scripture, human beings do not always live according to what we say we believe.  We can say we believe in one thing, but our lives betray other allegiances.”

 Both the laymen and the trained psychologist will agree that addictions start out as a craving and we like the feeling or experience it produces.  These cravings meet our needs, our desires and our agenda.  The craving makes us want to do it again and again which eventually leads to an addiction.  Our desires become cravings, and those cravings give way to fulfilling those desires which eventually become habits.  Habits then become addictions and the end result is that we peacefully coexist with sin.

I’m not a psychiatrist or physiologist…I just play one on the internet.  I am just an observer of the human condition, most notably my own sinful heart.  We all need to ask ourselves where or in what we find our satisfaction.  Welch states that we each need to; “Look for activities or substances that entice you, leaving you wanting to come back for more, even though “more” may not be wise, godly, or legal.  Look especially at the activities that provide you with a fairly rapid bodily experience.”    What do we crave or what are we addicted to within the body of Christ?  Welch points out that what unites all addictions is that these activities or substances is that, “they deliver a bodily experience.  With them we feel more alert, more calm, less shy, or more powerful.”  Welch reminds us that God’s Word doesn’t simply point to activities as addictions, but behaviors as well, and that these behaviors can be found in every human heart.  With that in mind we each need to ask the question what gives us a “high” or what do we find our identity in?

  • “Righteous” indignation as a cover to be harsh, critical, cynical and spew invective
  • Tradition for tradition’s sake – any and all change is bad or worldliness creeping in 
  • Manipulation – shame others to make ourselves look spiritual (doing the Jesus Juke)
  • Getting or having our own way – the tyranny of our own agenda
  • Desiring to be served rather than to serve others – “Ask not what you can do for your church, but what can your church do for you?” ~ John F. Christian
  • Pursuit of knowledge – but in the spiritual sense the failure to apply it…
  • Anger, resentment, wrath & slander – Holding a grudge or impugning the character of a fellow believer in gossip or “expressing your concern”
  • Jealousy & strife
  • Innuendo
  • Conspiracy theories – The world is out of control and some nefarious group is running amok
  • Bitterness – walking into church w/ a chip on our shoulder
  • Elijah Syndrome or a martyr complex – “I even, I only am left” (I Kings 19) – no one else is faithful and I am all alone.
  • Entitlement – because of who you are, what you do or what you have endured, your fellow Christians owe you something or should grant you concessions in perpetuity.
  • Distrust – people will eventually let you down so you build a wall and won’t allow them in
  • Blame shifting – we are “drawn away of our OWN lusts” but we can always find a scapegoat
  • Respect – demanded rather than earned
  • Prestige – trotting out our “accomplishments” or material trinkets to get others to hold us in awe
  • Power/Authority – need to have people listen to you or follow your lead
  • Talking and not listening – it’s not about you, it’s about ME!
  • Name dropping or being “in the know”
  • Fear of man or a desire to please others
  • Passive aggressive behavior – trying to make others insecure with cryptic, sarcastic and pointed but punishing “jest”
  • Being “right” – my opinion or ideas about a topic are correct and all others are just plain wrong!
  • Demanding concessions – e.g. “esteeming others” means you do it my way
  • Weaker brotherhood as a means to control the behavior of others or make them conform to your will
  • “Worship-tainment” – our ability to be “blessed” hinges on whether or not the presentation or performance is aesthetically pleasing…passive rather than active worship.
  • Having the last word – on-line or in person you have to get in that final comment
  • Trolling & Lurking – waiting to pounce when people “get out of line”
  • Always thinking or seeing the worse in others rather looking for evidence of grace
  • Arguing over non-essentials
  • Correcting others but not willing to receive correction – drive-by accountability…
  • Ambivalence – not my problem…it doesn’t affect me
  • Crisis & Drama – if a crisis doesn’t exist we will create it
  • Victim-hood – making everyone else look like the bad guy and you are the one being oppressed
  • Need to be the center of attention; aka “attention hogs” that are jealous or angry if you aren’t
  • Drawing attention to ourselves – how we dress or through loud or bombastic behavior
  • Self promotion – on social media and in conversation
  • Self deprecation or poor mouthing yourself to receive praise
  • Exaggeration – need to embellish the story to gain sympathy or to make ourselves more heroic
  • Me time – don’t bother me…Calgon take me away…lethargy masked as needing a break


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What is very sobering about this list is that oft times we are guilty of these very things we detest.   Preachers must preach to themselves before they can preach to others and we must all examine ourselves as well as those we wish to help.  We all tend to despise or find those things objectionable or offensive that we consciously or unconsciously do ourselves.  In physiological terms this is known as projection or projection bias.  It is a defense mechanism whereby we deny our own attributes, thoughts or emotions and ascribe them to the outside world and typically to other people.  We lie to ourselves about how the hearts of others are desperately wicked, (Jeremiah 17:9), but surely we don’t struggle with this problem.  Under inspiration of the Holy Spirit the Apostle John reminds us that if we say we are without sin we deceive ourselves, (I John  1:8), and sadly we all are accomplished liars to ourselves.  Addicts first need to admit they have a problem before they can break free of their addiction.  Are we quenching the Holy Spirit and putting up the defenses?  Welch points out that “the addict has an alternative system that preaches, “I can stop any time I want”; “I am in control”; “They are wrong, I am right.” This is one reason why it is so critical for each one of us to be accountable to others.”

 We attempt to justify or rationalize away these things and couch them in spirituality by calling it discernment, concern, contending for the faith, wisdom or prudence.  Or that we have earned the right to do these things. Welch rightly points out that “the basic theology for addictions is that the root problem goes deeper than our genetic makeup.  Addictions are ultimately a disorder of worship.  Will we worship ourselves and our own desires or will we worship the true God?”  All of these things I have listed have one root cause; we are addicted to ourselves rather than addicted to God.  The glorification of self is ultimately the sin beneath the sin.  We act as if the chief end of man is to glorify us and enjoy ourselves forever.  We’re gonna have to face it we are addicted to self.  God broke into this world and gracefully and lovingly gave us the Gospel and His Word so that through Christ and the indwelling Holy Spirit He could stage an intervention from our biggest addiction of all; our addiction to ourselves.  Psalm 46:10 commands us to be still and know He is God.  Where the rubber meets the road for each and every one of us; will we be addicted to self or “stuff” or will we be addicted to God?

Welch provides this definition through the lens of the Gospel; “Addiction is bondage to the rule of a substance, activity, or state of mind, which becomes the center of life, defending itself from truth so that even bad consequences don’t bring repentance, and leading to further estrangement from God.”  So the key question for us all; are we willing and open to the Holy Spirit revealing to us what are we addicted to?

“If sin is not our core problem, the Gospel itself—the thing of first importance—is marginalized.” ~ Edward T. Welch

“Bound as I was, not with another man’s irons, but by my own iron will.  My will the enemy held, and thence had made a chain for me, and bound me.  For of a forward will, was lust made; and a lust served, became custom; and custom not registered became necessity.  By which links, as it were, joined together (whence it a chain) a hard bondage held me enthralled.”  ~ Augustine, (Confessions, Book 8)

“Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.” ~ Romans 7:24-25

2 comments:

  1. Keep them coming, Mitch!!! I remember watching that video and Tom pointing out the lack of talent. Useful illustration now. :)

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  2. What great thoughts you have brought forward! "There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God." These words being both in the OT and NT (Romans 3, Pslam 14 and 53) are certainly worthy of great consideration upon our souls. It is Christ alone whom brings us ANY righteousness. How I praise Him for the shed blood on the cross.
    We can run, but we can not hide from the sin within. It is present within us all. To deny it, we would be lying as you stated and God's Word factually tells us.
    If we carry on into Chapter 8 of Romans, as if there were no pause of thought, we read in verses 5-11, "For those who live according to flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is DEATH, but to be spiritually minded is LIFE and PEACE. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
    But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, IF INDEED the SPIRIT of GOD DWELLS in YOU. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also GIVE LIFE to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you."
    We do have the the precious power to overcome sin... and it is ONLY by the help of the HOLY SPIRIT. I pray that we never fall prey of the enemy thinking we are better then others, but rather we would be encouragers and proclaimers of Truth and be humble repenters. Perfection is not our aim... honoring our Lord in all that we say, do and partake in is worthy of our aim. Jesus is worthy <3 We share the gospel no better way then when we "live it out" in fullness. Not as "holier then thou" people, but set apart. As 1 Peter 1:15-15 says, "...but ad He who called you is holy, you also be holy in ALL your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” Our aim should be no less.
    "Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in SINCERE LOVE of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because
    “All flesh is as grass,
    And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass.
    The grass withers,
    And its flower falls away, But the WORD of the Lord ENDURES FOREVER.”
    1 Peter1:22-25 <3

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