2-11-96	Choose Life	Deuteronomy 30:15-20

1 Corinthians 3:1-9

Matthew 5:21-37

When my two children, Heather and Nathan, were about four or five years old, they loved to play the game called, "Which Hand Is it In?" Taking a piece of candy and hiding it one of my hands, I would make a fist with each hand and see if they could guess which hand had the candy. The game would go on until they picked the right hand and got the candy. Sometimes I would try to fool them, by making the hand that didn't have the candy look a little bigger than the hand with the candy. Or, if they picked the correct hand, I would ask them, "Are you sure?" And they'd give me a puzzled look and then pick the other hand. But, always, they would eventually pick the correct hand and then I'd enjoy the look of great accomplishment on their faces when they did.

Now, imagine a slightly different "game" going on in our Old Testament lesson for today. Here God is talking to his children – the people of Israel – and he is saying, "Look on one hand, before you now, is life and prosperity. But, on the other hand, there is death and destruction. All you have to do is decide which one you want." And the wonderful thing about this particular "game" was that there was no guessing about it. There was nothing hidden. The choice to be made was as plain as day. God's children could either choose life by walking in God's ways and keeping God's commandments. Or, they could choose the way that leads to death by walking the other way, by not being obedient to God's laws, by doing their own thing, and worshiping other gods. It was a very simple choice, a very easy game to play.

Of course, God offers the same thing to us, today, as well. He says to us, "Look! Before you I have placed life and death, prosperity and destruction. Which one do you want? Now, you would think that the decision wouldn't be so difficult to make. I mean, after all, life or death? prosperity or destruction? You would think it would be a "no-brainer," not all that difficult to figure out. Of course, some choices are difficult. For instance, if we were given the opportunity to choose between a higher paying job and a lower paying job, most of us would take the higher paying job. But I remember the story of a man who, several years ago, was offered a higher paying job in a federal agency in Washington, D.C. It looked like a good offer, but when he mulled it over for a few minutes he turned it down. Why? Because taking the job would mean he would lose the free parking space he had with his lower paying job. Taking the higher paying job would mean he would have to pay for a parking space and the difference in the salaries would be more than eaten up within the next few months. So, he turned the job down. That wasn't such a difficult decision to make.

Nevertheless, over and over again each of us sitting here today has somehow succeeded at one time or the other of making the wrong decision, of going the wrong way in our life, even when the choice was a no-brainer. And when we have, we have then had no choice but to suffer even life-long consequences.

I'll never forget the story of Betty and Larry, who were members of a church I served a number of years ago. When I first met this couple, I got the impression that they were a really neat pair of persons. Larry was the lay-leader of my church and Betty was a faithful Sunday School teacher. They had three children — a daughter in high school, a son just graduated from engineering school, and a married daughter with two little girls of her own.

Things seemed to be going along well with Larry and Betty until one day Betty came into my office, sat down in a chair and started to cry. She could hardly get the words out. But, as she talked, she told me how Larry had been having an affair with LuAnn, who was married to Steve, also members of my church. Betty told me that Larry had decided to move out and that LuAnn was leaving Steve so that they could move in together.

Several days after Betty's visit to my office, Larry stopped in. He sat down and readily admitted that things were over between himself and Betty. He told me that although Betty had been a good and faithful wife, he wasn't getting any younger and that he really needed to add some spice and excitement to his life, something that LuAnn could offer him. I asked him to reconsider his decision and think about how this would affect his witness to the church and how this might affect his children and grandchildren in the months and years to come. But, he wouldn't think about it. He had made his decision and that was that. So over the days and weeks to come, in spite of all my efforts, I saw two marriages fall apart.

About two years went by. In that period of time, Larry's son and Larry's married daughter had been so repulsed by their father's decision that they hardly talked to him, anymore. And then a terrible thing happened. One day Larry's married daughter, her husband, and her two little girls were in a terrible automobile accident. Only the two little girls in the back seat of the car survived. Their daddy, their mommy, and an unborn child were all killed when they were broadsided by drunken teenager on his way home from a high school graduation party. The girls suffered facial abrasions and broken legs, but they survived.

I remember the funeral. The church, that normally seated 400 people was filled beyond standing room only. But, what I remember the most was Larry. After the funeral was over, during the funeral dinner, Larry came to me and said bitterly, "God, what a fool I've been! Just when my two little granddaughters need me the most, I'm helpless to lend a hand." He said that because he knew that his daughter had put it in writing that if anything happened to her and her husband, Larry was not to have custody and even share in custody of her children. And so Larry strongly regretted leaving Betty like he did. For now the affair he had been having with LuAnn was over.

The courts gave legal custody to Betty, who faithfully and lovingly raised those two little girls on her own. The two little girls have now graduated from high school and are in college. And Larry? He died a few months ago, still regretting the stupid decision he had made.

Yes, God presents to us choices: Life or death, prosperity or destruction. It's up to us to decide. Are we going to be faithful? Will we live according to the rules that God has laid down?

Most of us are familiar with the basics,The Ten Commandments. But, society considers even these rules to be passé, a bit old fashioned. "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" used to mean, "Our family will go to church every Sunday so we can worship God together." Now, rather than worshiping God, more persons are likely to worship at the altars of the TV-god, the Up-north-god, the Sleep-in-god, and the Shopping-god on Sunday morning. We still honor "Thou shalt not kill," for the most part, but when we get to "Thou shalt not commit adultery," we discount Jesus' words, warning about how a lustful look at someone else is really no different from having committed adultery. We still honor "Thou shalt not steal," for the most part, but when we get to that commandment about coveting our neighbor's house, we forget about how much we try to keep up with the Jones'. Indeed, we often pride ourselves about our piety. And yet God suspects our piety and is not impressed by it, at all, because we are so selective at which of his commandments we are going to keep and which ones we will not.

But, thanks be to God for grace! In spite of our bad choices, in spite of our willfulness and stubbornness, in spite of our rebellious nature, God forgives us. And even when we have make a wreck out of our lives, God is still able to step in and offer healing and reconciliation. Even when it looks like there's no hope; like the mess we've made of ourselves has no redemption, God offers us a new life, a new plan, a way out, resurrection and life. And that's the gospel, my friends. That's what it's all about. And that's why we're here, today. We're not here because we're good. We're not Christians because we've been successful at following God's commands. Rather, we're here because we know that in being here God continues to set us back upon God's pathways. We're here because we know that salvation is a continuing process. We're here because Jesus is able to take us when we're lost and find us and be a friend to us even when we feel like there's no friend left in the world.

As I said, this is the gospel of Jesus Christ, the very crux of our faith. And, yet, it is this one, central aspect of our faith that trips up even the most pious of Christians. In our Gospel lesson for today, Jesus said to the pious people of his day, "Before you do something pious like putting something in the offering plate, be at peace with your neighbor and with God, first." Be at peace with your neighbor and with God, first! And that, is something that can only come by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

There's an odd story out of the legal annals of American history. It seems that there was a man by the name of George Wilson who, in 1829, was sentenced to death by hanging by a court in Pennsylvania for robbing the mails and for murder. After he had been on death row for a while, President Andrew Jackson pardoned him, commuting the sentence to life. But George Wilson refused the pardon on the grounds that he didn't want to spend the rest of his life behind bars. So, the question was, "Is a pardon a pardon unless it is accepted?" That was a point of law never raised before. So, the President called upon the Supreme Court to decide.

Chief Justice John Marshall gave the following decision: "A pardon is a paper, the value of which depends upon its acceptance by the person implicated. It is hardly to be supposed that one under sentence of death would refuse to accept a pardon, but if it is refused, it is no pardon. George Wilson must be hanged!" And so he was!

God has given each of us life. It is up to us to accept it, to make that choice every day, to be constantly renewed in the grace of God.

Amen.