Maranatha Messenger

WHAT TO DO
WHEN YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO
Do Right
(Part 1)

What do you do when you don’t know what to do? Do right! These two words were a favorite expression of the late Evangelist, Dr. Bob Jones, Sr., founder of Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. On February 1, 1957, during a University chapel service, Dr. Jones preached a sermon titled, Do Right Though the Stars Fall. In that particular sermon, Dr. Jones made some tremendous statements. First of all he said, “The trouble in America today is that religious people have sacrificed the principle of right on the altar of temporary convenience.” He went on to say, “It is never right to do wrong. It is not right to do wrong to get a chance to do right.” At the conclusion of the chapel service, Dr. Jones said,

“Now, if all of you people in this auditorium today would just make up your minds that these two little words, DO RIGHT, are going to dominate your lives, you have already prepared yourselves for the problems you are going to meet. DO RIGHT. Do right if all the guns mounted on Hell’s battlement are turned on you. Do right if the stars fall out of their silver sockets. Do right if you have to die. It is better to die for the right that to live for the wrong.”

I whole heartily agree with Dr. Jones! If we would simply decide to do right we would be prepared to handle life’s problems. God has endowed every man with a moral compass! It’s called a conscience, the innate ability to determine right from wrong. Even though our conscience may be depraved, we still have the ability to choose right from wrong. The choice is yours for the making! So, what should you do when you don’t know what to do? Do right!

“DADDY, I’M PREGNANT”

Let’s suppose your fifteen year old daughter comes home from school one day and you discover she is pregnant. First of all, you pinch yourself to make sure this is not some type of nightmare. Those horrifying words ring continuously in your ears, “Daddy, I’m pregnant.” In that one phrase your entire world comes crashing in around you! Dreams of a lifetime are shattered! It is as if someone has lit a stick of dynamite and put it in your hands to let it go off. You are totally blown away! You cry until tears soak your shirt. You mind races a million miles a minute and all you can think about is “What are we going to do?” “What are we going to do?” “What are we going to do?” You would almost do anything to make this whole thing go away. You ask your daughter, “Who’s the father?” You discover he’s a fifteen year old freshman who goes to school with your child. After a couple of hours you decide to call the boys parents who are totally unaware of this situation. Needless, to say they too are devastated by this shocking news. You set up a meeting with all six people involved, both sets of parents as well as the boy and the girl. At the meeting the boy’s parents insist that your daughter get an abortion. Their rationale is that a secret abortion would make this whole thing go away. I mean let’s face it, “my son and your daughter are just kids too.” After this three hour meeting you go home totally spent, both emotionally and physically. You lay your head on the pillow exhausted! One question rolls through your mind endlessly, “What am I going to do?” Suddenly you entertain the idea of abortion. “No one will even know,” as you try to convince yourself. Furthermore, the boy’s parents made a pretty good argument about terminating the pregnancy privately. “These kids need to finish school. How are they going to complete their education if they have a baby to raise? What about college? What about their careers?” In turmoil you finally fall asleep only to wake to reality the next morning. By this time your daughter is having a terrible bout with morning sickness.

IS ABORTION AN OPTION?

I have personally talked to several Christian parents who have faced this same dilemma. With the exception of two or three, almost all confessed they were tempted with thoughts of abortion. Whereas temptation in itself is not a sin, however, to constantly entertain thoughts of this satanic procedure as a viable option is wicked. We need to remember the wisdom of Solomon who said “the thought of foolishness is sin” (Proverbs 24:9). For the Christian to consider abortion as an alternative solution to an untimely pregnancy is a sin. Dr. Jones was right! Christian America has sacrificed the principle of right on the altar
of temporary convenience! We cannot argue that terminating your daughter’s pregnancy would be convenient! But is it Right? Let’s answer five important questions.

DOES GOD’S LAW PROTECT THE BABY IN THE MOTHER’S WOMB?

Moses said, “If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart [from her], and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman's husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges [determine]. 23 And if [any] mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life” (Exodus 21:22-23). What was Moses saying? He was speaking of two men who were engaged in an argument. Their disagreement escalated into a physical altercation. A pregnant woman gets injured during the struggle. Consequently, she gives birth prematurely as a result of this fight. The Hebrew phrase lo' 'acown hayah {no mischief follows} literally means no physical harm occurs. In other words, the baby is born prematurely, but lives. Notice, Moses said he should be “surely punished” according to the husband’s desire. The men who caused this premature birth should be 'anash {punished} or fined even if the baby lives. However, should the premature infant die, Moses said, “thou shalt give life for life.” Let me use a 21st Century illustration. Suppose a drunk driver hits the car of a pregnant woman. The baby dies in the womb of this mother due to the trauma inflicted by the intoxicated driver. According to Exodus 21:22-23 the inebriated driver should be executed! God’s law provides protection for the unborn infant!

SCOTT PETERSON

Do you remember the Scott Peterson case? On Christmas Eve, 2002, Laci Peterson, 27 was reported missing from her home in Modesto, California. Laci was 8 months pregnant at the time. Her husband, Scott, a fertilizer salesman was the prime suspect in this murder case. On April 13, 2003 the remains of a male infant were found on the shore of San Francisco Bay. The next day a decapitated female body washes up on the shore near where the infant’s body was found. Both bodies were discovered a few miles from where Peterson said he went fishing the day his wife was reported missing. On April 18, 2003 the remains were identified as Laci Peterson and her baby Conner. That same day Peterson was arrest in San Diego near the Mexican border. Peterson’s hair was dyed and he had grown a goatee. A few days later on April 21, 2003 he was charged in Stanislaus County Superior Court before Judge Nancy Ashley with two felony counts of murder with premeditation and special circumstances. On June 1, 2004 the Peterson trial began. Six months later on November 12, 2004 the same six-man, six-woman jury convicted Peterson of first-degree murder with special circumstances in the death of Laci, who was eight months pregnant, and of second-degree murder in the death of the fetus, which the couple planned to name Conner. Almost one month later, on December 13, 2004 the jury sentenced Peterson to death. The prosecutors proved and the jurors agreed that Peterson killed Laci by strangling or smothering her, then dumped her weighted body into the bay. Prosecutors said Peterson killed his wife because he wanted to live as a freewheeling bachelor, unencumbered by a wife and child. Today Peterson is incarcerated on death row at San Quentin State Prison outside San Francisco. Scott Peterson did not do right and he must pay the consequences! This verdict was a great victory for all right to life advocates in American.

1. Is it ever right to do wrong to get a chance to do right?

2. How were you tempted this week to do wrong?

3. What should happen to a drunk driver that kills an unborn child?

4. Does the Bible teach right from wrong?

Maranatha Messenger

WHAT TO DO
WHEN YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO
(Believe God Pt. 4)

FAITH IS BELIEVING IN THE UNSEEN

1. What do you do when you don’t know what to do? You believe God! We must remember the Christian life is a journey of faith! Sometimes our individual lives appear to be like a broken puzzle scattered into a thousand pieces. We just can’t see how the pieces are going to fit together. This is where faith comes in!

2. We must remember that God works from the vantage point of omniscience. He can see the completion of the puzzle! As He begins to work in my life one piece at a time I must believe in His sovereign plan. This is why Paul told the Corinthian believers that they should “walk by faith and not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). Even though we cannot see the completion of the puzzle we can believe that God is putting the pieces together according to His plan. This is the walk of faith!

3. How often have you heard this philosophical mindset? “Seeing is believing.” Probably thousands of times. Yet on the other hand, biblical theology teaches believing is seeing. Let me explain. The writer of Hebrews defined faith as “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). In other words, faith is believing in the unseen!

4. For instance, Hebrews says, “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house” (Hebrews 11:7). When you read this text you must defined the meaning of the phrase “things not seen as yet.” Does it mean Noah and his family had never seen rain or even a local flood? German scholar, R.C.H. Lenski says, “The divine communication certainly also concerned things that were not yet seen, namely the rain, the flood, the devastation of the world.”[1] Likewise, John Phillips says,

“When God first spoke to Noah about the building of the ark more than a hundred
years before the Flood, there was no sign that such a catastrophe would take place.
For a full century things on earth would continue as they were, with evil men and
seducers waxing worse and worse. If, as some believe, it had never rained before the
Flood, then the Lord’s pronouncement must have seemed all the more unlikely of
fulfillment.”[2]

5. Although Noah had never seen rain, he believed God and built the ark. Day after day his sons would question him, “Daddy, why are we building this ark?” Noah would respond, “Son, because God said it is going to rain forty days and forty nights.” I can hear Shem, the oldest son; respond by saying, “Daddy, what is rain?”

6. Keep in mind that Noah built the ark on dry land. He wasn’t even near a large body of water. Furthermore, it cost him a great deal of time and money to complete this project. Some even believe it took him one hundred and twenty years to build the ark. Picture in your mind as this preacher of righteousness was interrogated day after day while he was constructing this huge boat. Imagine the ridicule he received from his neighbors in the community. Nevertheless, Noah kept building because he believed God! In Noah’s case he believed and then a decade later he saw the flood. For Noah, believing was seeing!

Are you confused? Things kind of seem foggy in your life? Do you feel like you’ve lost your spiritual equilibrium? Perhaps you just don’t know how to get back on track? What do you do when you don’t know what to do? Simply believe God! Believe in a sovereign Savior who is in control of “all things” in your individual world. Believe Him when you are tempted to ask, “why?” Believe in the omniscient God who is orchestrating the events in your life for the ultimate purpose of Christ-likeness. Even though our lives are surrounded by the dark clouds of doubt or our circumstances are stormy at best. May we continue to believe God and walk with Him by faith.

Discussion

1. Why is faith so important in our Christian journey?

2. What does it mean to walk by faith and not by sight?

3. How does the author of Hebrews define faith?

4. When God warned Noah about the catastrophic flood, had Noah even seen rain?

5. How long did it take Noah to build the ark?

6. What motivated Noah to stay by the stuff?

[1] R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of The Epistle to the Hebrews and The Epistle of James, (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1966), 387.
[2] John Phillips, Exploring Hebrews, (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2002), 154.

Maranatha Messenger

WHAT TO DO
WHEN YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO
(Believe God Pt. 3)

HOW CAN I GET BETTER AND NOT BITTER ?

Two ways: Faith and submission. Consider what James has to say about this very subject. “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 3 Knowing [this], that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 4 But let patience have [her] perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing (James 1:2-4).

1. First of all, faith permits me to have a good attitude through my trials. James specifically addresses my attitude concerning difficulties. He commands the believer to hegeomai {count} it all chara {joy} when he encounters various problems. How can I possess a joyful attitude in the midst of my trials? The answer is faith! James explains that ginosko {knowing} the testing of my faith works endurance. Recognizing that God is at katergazomai {work} in my life makes all the difference in the world. Suppose you are driving down the interstate and you see a sign that says, “Men at work.” You start to slow down and you become aware of your surroundings. Maybe the left lane is closed for repairs? Or maybe the construction crew is putting down black top. At the present you feel inconvenienced. Nevertheless, you understand the highway will be much better when the construction is completed. This insight will help you patiently deal with the construction process. The Christian life is very similar. You are faced with an alternative route. The way may be difficult and problematic. By faith you view your trial as a road sign that says, “God at work.” Knowing that God may use a crisis to construct
Christ-like character into the Christian can make a difference. This faith based knowledge can produce joy in the heart of the believer when he understands that God is at work. Notice the word hotan {when} in verse 2. It is just a matter of time. The believer will face trials and testing. Therefore, a strategy must be developed beforehand. The course of action that James encouraged the believer to employ was faith!

2. Secondly, submission to the Lordship of Christ will keep the believer from becoming bitter. Submission takes place in the believer’s heart when he willingly accepts by faith that God matures him through trials and difficulties. Stop fighting God! James commands us, to “let” patience complete her work of maturity. Stop resisting the work of God in your life. But “let” God do as He desires!

STUDY QUESTIONS:

1. How will faith help my attitude when I encounter trials?

2. According to James what kind of attitude should the believer have when he encounters various trials and testing?

3. What does the trying of my faith produce?

4. Who is at work when trials come into our lives?

5. Will God use a crisis to build character in my life?

6. What kind of character is God building in the believer’s life?

7. What does the word “let” mean in James 1:2-4?