Henderson Hills Baptist Church

Didōmi #86
More Encouragement for Today  

The Currency of Christmas  

Part Two
“We Have Met the Enemy and the Enemy is Us” (W. Churchill)  

I have a Jeopardy question for you.  This song is the most popular song played in Great Britain for funeral services.  It was used by German Chancellor Schroder for his final military farewell.  Former Serbian president Milosevic played this song repeatedly in his prison cell during his trial for crimes against humanity.  William Shatner sang it at a Life Achievement Award banquet. 

And the question is: What is, “I Did it My Way,” written by Paul Anka and immortalized by Frank Sinatra?  Read the words slowly and deliberately.  They are amazing in what they reveal.  

And now, the end is near;
And so I face the final curtain.
My friend, I’ll say it clear,
I'll state my case, of which I’m certain.

I’ve lived a life that’s full.
I’ve traveled each and every highway;
And more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

Regrets, I’ve had a few;
But then again, too few to mention.
I did what I had to do
And saw it through without exemption.

I planned each charted course;
Each careful step along the byway,
But more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

To think I did all that;
And may I say — not in a shy way,
No, oh no not me,
I did it my way.

For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught.
To say the things he truly feels;
And not the words of one who kneels.
The record shows I took the blows -
And did it my way!

Why has this song been so popular?  It might be attributed to the fact that it is the national anthem of our little kingdoms.  We want to rule and reign over ourselves.  We’ve replaced the words of the Christian chorus to say, “I’m coming back to the heart of my worship and it’s all about me.”  Jeremiah, speaking for the Lord, said these words to his people, “For I know the plans that I have for you…plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope” (Jer 29:11 NASB95).  Our version is, “For I know the plans that I have for me, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give me a future and a hope with no pain, problems, suffering or sacrifice.”  We love ourselves, live for ourselves, want to rule ourselves, protect ourselves, and do life our way.

So what?  We’ve got to at least ask that question.  What does it matter if that is the way that we are all bent?  There is a clear answer but not a simple answer to that question.  You see, God clearly did not create us to live in our own kingdoms.  He created us for His.  The Christian life is about repenting because the Kingdom of God is at hand.  In other words, John the Baptist’s sermons and Jesus’ first sermons taught that we need to pray to live for God and not for ourselves.  Our prayers are to be, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”  (See Matthew 6:10).  Requesting forgiveness is, to use another Ali illustration, the ultimate Rumble in the Jungle.  It is the soul’s tortuous battle for kingdom preference.  My willingness or reluctance to ask for forgiveness and to freely offer it speaks volumes about me.   These two acts reveal my fundamental motivation.  It exposes my passion to either further God’s kingdom or to promote mine.  When I am unwilling to confess that I’ve wronged another person or unwilling to offer forgiveness, I’m saying the pledge of allegiance to me!  “I pledge allegiance to myself and to my acquisition of power, money, pleasure, and the honor of my fellowman.  I will be undaunted from my pursuit of selfishness, undisturbed in my attempt at self-rule, and unconcerned about the Greater Kingdom—with liberty and mercy for me.  So help me, me.”

One of the most famous battles in WWII is known as D-Day.  It happened on June 6, 1944, when Allied armies stormed the beaches of occupied France and fought a long and tortuous battle up the beach and over the hills at Normandy.  When the smoke finally cleared and the last drop of blood had soaked into the soil of France, there were 209,000 Allied casualties and the world was in the process of being rescued.  The scale of this battle was enormous and the scale of our battle is colossal as well.  We face an intense conflict between our desire for self-sovereignty and God’s Sovereignty.  While the outcome is assured the ferocity of the fight is staggering.  We will do almost anything to keep our defenses up.  Surrender is not an appealing option.  Admitting that we have wronged someone, that we’ve been living a life of self-promotion and self-glorification is a nauseating prospect.  Let me admit it, I don’t like the idea.  After all, I’d have to admit that “I’ve done it my way.”  And I do not want to say that someone’s offense against my self-glorification is pardonable.  Once more, if you have truly wronged me and sinned, it would make me all the more incensed.  How dare you err related to me!  After all, I’m the king! 

I’ll try to cut back on the sarcasm because there are times when each of us will be truly wronged, betrayed, and offended.  Some attacks are unprovoked and some are downright evil.  Yet even in those times we still have to keep a wary eye out for the ravenous wolves of our self kingdom.  Here are some thoughts that I’ve found easy to dismiss at earlier times in my life.  Now, they shine in my face like the headlight of an oncoming train during the night.  When I am wronged and hurt, why do I react the way that I do?  Now, of course, I’m not talking about myself here, I’m talking about what others have told me (tongue in cheek).  Why is it so easy to wallow in self-indulgent self-pity?  Why do we let the creeping cancer of bitterness infect our hearts?  Why do we grow cynical and quit trusting?  What causes us to lie down at night rehearsing the events surrounding our wounds like a budding actor preparing for an audition?  Why do we feel like quitting because of the way we’ve been offended?   Why?  My standard operating answer to that question very clear in my mind!  This is righteous indignation!  You know the kind of anger that Jesus felt when he drove those money changers out of the temple.  That’s why I react in these ways; I’m righteously indignant!  Actually, I rather doubt that that is true.  What’s the rarest element in the world?  According to the APS (a physics society), the rarest element in the world is called Francium; only 30 g exist in the entire world at any given moment.  That is what these physicists say.  I’m telling you that they are all wrong!  I think the rarest element in the world is true righteous indignation.  Maybe only Jesus was truly capable of that.  Our anger, malice, indignation, rage, and wrath are all adulterated substances.  Don’t get me wrong.  People can experience great pain at the hands of others.  Cruel things have been done, sometimes under the guise of defending our understanding of “right” and religion.  My heart goes out to those who have been harmed, which probably means all of us.  Yet no matter what stick, stone, word, or device that has ever been used to inflict pain in my life, I still adulterate my response to it by throwing in little morsels of the kingdom of self.  What about you?  

2 Peter 3:18