Brothers In Christ

In the Old Testament, the Book of Proverbs 27:17 reads: "As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another."

In the New Testament, the Gospel of Matthew 18:20 quotes Jesus Christ as teaching: "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them."

We modern men can be funny creatures. There are many who consider themselves to be men of faith, yet find themselves trapped by fear or embarrassment when faced with the challenge of publicly professing that faith, especially among other men.

In a world that is rapidly deteriorating all around us in matters of faith, spirituality, religion, and morality, we no longer have the choice to seek comfort in private prayer. We must come together, publicly, and call this world to order in the name of Jesus Christ.

There are many ways that you can individually participate in this calling. First, of course, you can simply go to Mass. Attending a service at Church on a regular basis establishes a personal and community base. It is only a minimum, but it is a must.

Surrender Like Christ

Today is Palm Sunday, celebrating the triumphant entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem to begin the pentultimate week of his life which would end in the most important event in human history.

As Christ willingly surrendered himself for our sake, we should follow his lead. Our inspiration can be found right in the Bible, in Proverbs 16.

It is the Old Testament's Book of Proverbs chapter 16 where we learn to "entrust your works to the Lord, and your plans will succeed." This important chapter of God's own book of wisdom is full of lessons and inspirational sayings that guide us to surrender our lives to the Lord.

We all make plans and set our lives on a course. But no matter how well-meaning or well planned that personal direction might be, you will not find ultimate success without the blessings and guidance of the Lord. You must not only make your plans, but your plans must include yielding to God's ultimate plan for you.

"In his mind a man plans his course, but the Lord directs his steps" says Proverbs 16. "Happy is he who trusts in the Lord." 

Make your plans, they are necessary. But just as necessary is to both pray on your plans and to include in your prayers to God an acknowledgement that He might have another direction for you. Make your plea that His will be done.

He Who Sows Discord Among Brothers

For the past six weeks this regular 'Sunday Sermon' series has covered Proverbs 6:16-19 in which the Bible speaks of "6 Things the Lord Hates (7 an Abomination)", and today we wrap the discussion with that 7th and final item.

This item speaks particularly to families, and serves as both a calling and a warning not only to brothers and sisters, but to anyone who would sow discord within a family situation.

In past weeks we have spoken of people with 'Haughty Eyes', basically those who think they are better than others. We have spoken of 'A Lying Tongue', but the seventh item addresses not only liars but also those who use truthful situations to sow discord.

We have spoken of 'Hands That Shed Innocent Blood', but the seventh need not lead necessarily to physical bloodshed in accomplishing what is still its own brand of violence. In 'A Heart That Plots Wicked Schemes' we spoke very much of the person in this seventh item and the intentional nature of their actions.

In 'Feet That Run Swiftly to Evil' we spoke of how some just can't wait to pounce on an other's misfortune and also who seem almost joyful when approaching evil. Last week we spoke of 'The False Witness', the gossiper among man and he who not only will lie among friends, but who also is willing to take his lie all the way into an official proceeding or on to an official document.

It is all of these six things which the Bible says that the Lord hates which together lead to perhaps the worst of them all, the seventh which is an abomination in his eyes.

In the earliest book of the Bible, 'Genesis', God teaches us that the family is of utmost importance, and warns against turning against your family. He begins to teach the lesson in the story of the very first brothers, Cain and Abel.

When Cain becomes jealous of Abel, God says to Cain "If you do well, you can hold up your head; but if not, sin is a demon lurking at the door; his urge is toward you, yet you can be his master." 

The False Witness

She spreads the rumors that are not true, sometimes willing to do so even when she knows they are false. He takes the witness stand in court, swears an oath to God that he will tell the truth, and then lies knowingly.

According to the Bible in Proverbs 6:16-19, one of those things that we have been talking about the past few Sundays which the Lord hates is 'The False Witness'.

These individuals use many of the characteristics of those whom we have talked about in previous weeks: lying, plotting, scheming, stabbing people in the back, and often doing so enthusiastically.

There is even an inside term for what this person is capable of in the police lingo of my own law enforcement profession: testilying. It is a merger of the words 'testifying' and 'lying', and basically refers to those times when police officers themselves lie under oath in a court proceeding.

Shocked that it happens, and that a police officer with two decades in the field such as myself would speak of it? You shouldn't be. Every Judge, prosecutor, defense attorney, and cop knows that it happens.

This is not to say that every cop lies, or that cops who are willing to lie in court do so all the time. This is not the case at all. But it does happen, and it happens for one simple reason that should be obvious to anyone with half a brain. That reason is that police officers are human beings, and human beings lie.

Feet That Run Swiftly to Evil

Continuing in the 'Sunday Sermon' series (each entry of which can be read by clicking in to the label below this posting) with the fifth of the six things that the Lord hates from Proverbs 6:16-19 in the Bible's 'Old Testament.'

This time we are discussing those times that we not only sin, not only plan and plot to sin, but we rush to it enthusiastically, even happily. Of course we know that gluttony is one of the seven deadly sins. Some of us know that all too well.

And yet despite that knowledge we not only fail to control our appetites, we not only allow ourselves to remain obese, but we rush to the ice cream aisle at the grocery store for some Haagen Dazs or Breyers or Turkey Hill.

We know that lust is a deadly sin, but we dive into that sexual affair anyway. We not only plan and plot to make time for physical intimacy with that illicit partner, but we rush happily and excitedly to those liaisons.

We all understand that greed is a deadly sin, but we all too often succumb to the mantra spoken by Michael Douglas' character of Gordon Gekko (pictured) in the 1987 motion picture 'Wall Street': "..greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works." Especially when it comes to money, we want more.

Wanting more isn't the bad thing. What is bad about it is when we want that 'more money' so badly that we cut corners to get it, possibly even commit fraud and other crimes. When we take away from others what is rightly theirs, including time with us from our families.

A Heart That Plots Wicked Schemes

On this Sunday morning we continue the discussion of Proverbs 6:16-19 in the Bible which lists those things which the Lord hates.

The fourth item in the list journeys deep into our hearts. Not our physical hearts, but those things which can be found at our very inner core - for each of us, the heart of the matter in all things that we consider in our lives.

Those whom the Lord hates in this item are plotters and schemers of sin. Those who plan to do someone else ill. Those who plan to take what is not theirs. Those who intentionally and with malice aforethought actually take the time to sit down and think about their sin and how to make it happen.

The man who sees a way to deceive his business partners of money, and then goes about the planning and execution of his embezzelment. A woman who feels the desire and sees an opportunity to steal the body and possibly even the heart of a man who is already married to another, and then begins to lay the bait for her seduction.

The first human schemes occurred way back in the beginning of man himself. Eve used her seductiveness to get Adam to take a bite of the apple, the very act of defiance of God's will that drove man from paradise. She knew they were different, man and woman, for God had made them that way on purpose in order that they might procreate and populate the earth.

Eve had been led into this plot by the whisperings of the great deceiver Satan, who had lied and manipulated her as only he can to pull man away from God. Eve knew that her feminine charms would be enough to coax Adam into the bite, and went about the task of using them for that very purpose.

Hands That Shed Innocent Blood

For the past couple of weeks this 'Sunday Sermon' series (each entry can be read by clicking on the label at the bottom of this post) has been focusing on Proverbs 6:16-19 which covers the six things that the Lord hates, and a 7th which is an abomination.

The 3rd item in this list would be "hands that shed innocent blood" which is sadly ironic considering Friday night's murder of Philadelphia police officer John Pawlowski.

Whether or not John's killer will end up spending an eternity in hell, whether anyone who takes an innocent human life will suffer that fate, is not for us to say or know. But one thing that Proverbs makes undeniably clear is that this murder of innocents is particularly detestable to God Himself.

On Friday night, John Pawlowski was an innocent man. Perhaps more than that, he was working actively to try and help keep peace and order in his community. He was a police officer in an increasingly violent major American city that is itself ironically nicknamed 'The City of Brotherly Love'. It is a moniker that is no longer appropriate.

John and his partner exited their police vehicle after being flagged down to handle a disturbance on the highway. While handling this dispute, one of the individuals involved reached into his own pocket and shot right through his jacket, killing John Pawlowski there and then. Innocent blood once again shed in one of the acts that God hates.

Each year, hundreds and hundreds of Philadelphians are murdered in cold blood by their fellow citizens.

A Lying Tongue

If you ask almost anyone to list the things that they hate, 'liars' will inevitably be near the top. A funny thing, since every single one of us has lied, and continue to lie at times.

Not always about big things, but often in small ways that involve both actual words that come from our mouths, or actions that we take or do not take. We do it in ways that we ourselves might not define as a 'lie' but that others most certainly would.

You see, most of us equate a lie with intent. As long as we did not actually intend to mislead someone maliciously then it wasn't really lying.

Maybe a 'mistake', or an 'exaggeration', or we were being 'nice' to someone by not hurting their feelings in telling them the cold, hard truth. Perhaps we were simply balancing two bad outcomes and deciding that by telling a 'little white lie' (in our minds) we would spare ourselves and possibly others a worse outcome than would occur by telling the truth.

Lying does not in actuality go to 'intent', instead being defined as an untrue or inaccurate statement that may or may not be believed true by the speaker. Call it whatever you want, defend it however you want - we are all liars.

It is probably one of the reasons that we hate liars so much. When we tell a lie ourselves we understand what we are doing at our very core. That guilt feeling is hard-wired into us as a part of our humanity.

Haughty Eyes

While reading the Bible I came across this little part of Proverbs at 6:16-19 that was titled "6 things the Lord hates, 7 an abomination." The list seemed like a pretty interesting one, and so for the next month or so the postings in this 'Sunday Sermon' series will highlight and break down each item.

The very first item listed was 'haughty eyes'. Taken literally, haughty eyes would be those which are blatantly and disdainfully proud. They speak to someone who has excessive self-esteem. They suggest some assumed superiority or loftiness, showing scorn for anyone deemed socially inferior. They would imply a claim by the person who has these haughty eyes of more consideration or importance than is actually warranted them.

The Reverend Dennis Marquardt has said that the list of seven starts with 'Haughty Eyes' because "pride is the foundation for sin, it is at the root of all sins in our lives."

It is very important that we all remember that we could accomplish nothing without the blessings of the Lord. There are two obvious places in modern American culture that we have seen the manifestations of individuals giving glory to the Lord when they have been blessed with such accomplishments.

One is in the world of sports, where a number of athletes while being interviewed following a victory begin their interviews by giving honor and glory to the Lord, some even directly naming him as Jesus Christ.