Bad News

Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, has left behind his, “bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection,” in his autobiography. The wise statesman, known for his many contributions to humanity, enumerated these virtues that he pursued, “as necessary or desirable,” along with a plan for how to acquire them. Franklin also transparently recounted the moment a true friend helped him identify his pride—a human being’s natural disposition that is, “so hard to subdue.”

Benjamin Franklin was one of the oldest (and wisest) men in his time period, and I wonder if it was because he committed his years to undertaking the enormous task of facing off against pride…

The story goes that, when Ben was a younger lad, he realized the necessity of becoming a man of great virtue and character, if he was to ever accomplish anything of notable worth with his life. His adventure towards accomplishing historically impactful and now famous achievements is very similar to the Scriptural journey of the Biblical fathers. Mr. Franklin, in his own journal writings, admits to a slew of moral and ethical failures for which there is no justification. In like manner, after their despicable disappointments, many of the Biblical figures do not attempt feel-good self-justification to reduce the impact of their choices. The ones that attempted it (i.e. – Adam, “it was that WOMAN that YOU gave me,” blaming Eve and God…) are now punchlines to sad jokes about their flawed integrity.

A familiar and popular cultural operation of attempting to misdirect shame or guilt onto YOU for noticing and (how dare you!) commenting on the dishonorable, unacceptable, wicked, and un-Christ-like fruits or lifestyles of the degeneracy around us has become the arrogant standard in our present broken society. This is so contrary to authentic, healthy Christianity that it should be dejected as an alien concept or philosophy. But, the fragility and sensitivity of our feelings-led civilization has de-evolved us into a group of people who basically live on the daily precipice of emotional breakdowns as a, “new normal,” way of life. This makes for an explosively unhealthy world.

• The Apostle Paul confessed to being a murderer and the, “chiefest,” sinner to have ever been saved by, “the surpassing riches of His grace, demonstrated by His kindness to us in Christ Jesus,” that expressed, “His [God’s] great love,” (Eph 2:4,7). This experience so radically impacted him that literally spent the rest of his life in persecution, torture, and humility of servitude to this Jesus who gave him mercy instead of trying to convince everyone of his self-justified actions. “C’mon, guys! I was deceived and thought what I was doing was what God wanted! Stop being so judgemental and critical!” Nope… he had deep and radical revelations of how terribly wrong he was and accepted the fact that he would need to live fervently righteous for the rest of his life as a necessary consequence of his previous failures. He never justified his sin, but always highlighted God’s mercy and grace.
• King Soloman was famous for his moral degeneracy and lascivious escapades that were recorded for all to see in scripture. He defiled many of the simple moral codes so blatantly that, even in modern society, people wag their heads at his indiscretion. Look at God’s honest commentary of his life:

King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter, including Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites.
They came from the nations about which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, “You must not enter into marriage with them, and they must not enter into marriage with you, or they will turn your hearts after other gods.” Solomon clung to them in love.
He had seven hundred wives who held the rank of princess and three hundred concubines. So they turned his heart away.
When Solomon became old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, so that his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord as the heart of his father David had been.
(Sheesh God! Be nice… will ya!?)
Then Solomon followed Ashtarte, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom, the detestable god of the Ammonites.
So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord. He did not devote himself to the Lord as his father David had done.
(Stop calling out my sin and comparing my morality and heart to others, you meanie!)
So the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord…
(No cover-up in sight…)
So the Lord said to Solomon, “Because this is your attitude, and because you did not keep my covenant and my statutes which I commanded you, I will surely rip the kingdom out of your hands and give it to your servant.
1 Kings 11:1-9 EHV (italics mine)

Whoa… heavy.

• God did not justify Solomon, but neither did Solomon in the end… Here are the last two verses in the Solomonic book of Ecclesiastes: “When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is this: Fear God and keep His commandments, because this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, along with every hidden thing, whether good or evil.” (12:13-14 BSB)

Solomon’s evil led the nation of Israel into civil war, a division of the once-unified tribes, sinister apostasy, and eventual slavery in Babylon for centuries.  These facts are clearly recorded without attempted justification by Solomon, God, or Biblical authors. This is not how things are often recounted in our personal stories, if you have noticed. There is a push to make the bad not so bad, and the good REALLY good. In so doing, the true measuring of a matter is now skewed by that subtle little monster known as, “pride.”  That human flaw that Ben Franklin admitted was, “hard to subdue.” It also destroyed Lucifer, Sodom & Gomorrah, and multitudes of others in and out of scripture.

Same-same with King David, Samson, Elijah, and other success stories that are often highlighted for their spiritual contribution to the Kingdom. Yet, we oftentimes either miss or ignore the monumental failures in their character so we can smooth over or even ignore our own true recollection of our real story. This emotionally driven activity has the dire consequence of reducing or eliminating the enormously beneficial process of a sincere and powerful redemption. When we falsely reduce the depths in which our failures submerged our whole being, we devalue the divine cleansing operation of the blood of our Redeemer.

Such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us. And the Scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled.

Romans 15:4 NLT

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.

2 Timothy 3:16

What makes the Good News of the Gospel about the love, mercy, and saving grace of Jesus SO good is the really BAD news of why we needed it… and still need it today. I honestly believe the more bad (I know, grammar mistakes are intentional here…) an individual realizes their sin and failures are and were, the more good God’s redemption can be. The nastier the filth on a person is, the more refreshing the cleansing shower can be.

Ben Franklin needed a Quaker friend to point out his pride and arrogance before humbly adding it to his list. This was a necessary step toward personal character growth… and yet, he almost rejected it initially. David needed a prophet to come and rebuke him for his narcissistic and monumental wickedness. Shockingly, he was pridefully oblivious to it before the confrontation. He then sobbingly wrote Psalm 51. Jesus had to appear in glorious physical form to interrupt Saul/Paul’s self-centered ignorance. He responded in humble submission and went on to passionately save nearly the entire Gentile world.

Your Beloved pastor testifies to the fact that Kay and I have the greatest marriage on the planet, as you likely well know. But, what may be sometimes missed in that declaration is the, “how,” we got there. I, me, Steve failed MISERABLY and EMBARRASINGLY as a covenant husband… but the journey of redemption has taken Kay and me to heights that we were previously unaware of their possibility and reachability. The clear painful revelation of my abysmal sin qualified me to reach for and receive the redemption of Jesus and the mercy of Kay… both of them motivated by undeserved love.

For at just the right time, while we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly… But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:6,8 BSB

Christ only died for sinners. What qualifies us for redemption is our failure. What makes redemption so beautiful is our failure. What will inspire others in your testimony of God’s redemption is the transparent reality of your failure. Pride fights to not be embarrassed, but love fights to work our embarrassing failures into glorious redemption.

“Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will become like wool.”

Isaiah 1:18 BSB

Be willing to have that reasoned conversation with your loving Father. The Great Awakening is going to be precipitated by genuinely redeemed people… be one of those people, Beloved.

I love you authentically,
Steve