The Abilene Paradox

Well, thank you very much, Mr. Hanson. Still feels weird to say, but thank you so very much. I say that because I had Luke as a camper at one point in time. I was actually reflecting on that not too long back that that group of kids, there are most of them married off at this point in time, and you know, it's just crazy. I'm getting old. Getting old. Well, good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to our visitors. It's good to see you. I'm glad you're here. And I wanted to... today is the day of Part 2's. You had the Part 2 of the Babylon message. You're going to get the Part 2 of the Abilene Paradox today, and so we're going to... just it's Part 2 day. So it's the sequel day, if you will. But in the last message, we were introduced to this concept known as the Abilene Paradox. And in the story that accompanies the paradox itself and the description of the paradox, four reasonably sensible individuals all made the decision to leave the comfort of the cold glasses of lemonade, the cool fan, and the games of dominoes on the back porch for a hot, miserable, dusty, 53-mile trip in an un-air-conditioned Buick from Coleman, Texas to Abilene, Texas, to eat a lousy, heartburn-inducing meal at a local cafeteria. When it turns out, they find out later, none of them wanted to go in the first place. As they all sat around afterwards and kind of deciphered what had just happened and admitted that they all, to A.T., would have rather been doing what they had just previously given up, Jerry Harvey, who was one of the unwilling participants, wondered what had just happened. What had just happened? Why had no one spoke up? Why did somebody say something? Nobody wanted to do this! Why didn't somebody speak up? Why didn't somebody say something about the situation? Jerry defined the Abilene paradox as an attempt at explaining the events of that evening. He defined it as this, when a person or an organization frequently takes actions in contradiction to what they really want to do, and therefore defeat the very purposes of what they're trying to achieve. Psychologists kind of have worked around this and tried to explain this principle through the concepts of social conformity and social influence. They say that those are the primary reasons that this paradox exists, because it turns out, as you probably well know, the vast majority of people don't want to rock the boat. The vast majority of people don't want to rock the boat. If they really are not super passionate about it, they kind of do whatever. You know, it's no big deal. It's fine. It's okay. And they do that as a way to either maintain peace or to, pardon me, reduce conflict. So in a group setting, they might not speak out against something that they disagreed with in order to keep everybody else happy. Or they may actually think that their opinion isn't wanted, or even that they may not be quite properly calibrated. You have that moment where you're going, am I the only one thinking that this isn't a good idea? Everybody else seems totally cool with this. Maybe I am way off. I don't know about you, but I've been there in a couple of different meetings at school. There are some, turns out, you know, vast majority don't want to rock the boat. That's not entirely the case. There are some who love to rock the boat and who love to tell you. I mean, they'll purposefully write, you're in it, they're going, check this out, right? And you're going, what is happening? Why are we doing this?

But for the most part, you know, those are the folks that are going to tell you what they think at every turn, whether you want to hear it or not. And, you know, they, the vast majority, though, are pretty content being in the boat and leaving things alone. The problem with the Abilene Paradox is not a problem, ultimately, of managing conflict. It's a problem of managing agreement, managing your yeses. And as we mentioned last time, unfortunately, silence is tacit approval.

Not saying something is saying yes, in some ways. So I would love to tell you, I don't have a creative title today. I don't have a creative title today. Today's message is simply the Abilene Paradox Part Two. I would love to have a creative title, but I didn't come up with one. But the focus of this particular message is designed to take us from where we left off the last time, with a recognition of the issues in the world around us, some of which Mr. Hanson kind of illustrated in his split sermon, and the fact that some of these issues can and will ultimately creep into the church as time goes on. And how do we extend judgment, mercy, and faith to our brethren as we live through these last days together? I would also love to tell you that this is going to wrap this particular message, but as I finish this up, there's going to be a Part Three. There's one whole aspect of this that hasn't been addressed, but I'm pretty sure that Part Three will wrap this. So be patient. The end is coming. But the goal here is that we want to take a look at where we've been and where we're going and how this concept of judgment, mercy, and faith impact us in the church today, but also as it impacts us organizationally as a greater body of Christ going forward. So we're going to keep our theme today, though, on the focus of this year's General Conference of Elders, the concept of the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith, which will bridge us from where we've been to where we're going. To start with today, let's turn over to Matthew 23, which has already been read through today. My wife was telling me she'd tell everybody to come to the men's weekend, and that'll be Part Three. Yeah, well, by the time we get there, it actually might be. It's June now, right? Yeah, that's the weekend that I would be giving Part Three. That's a good point. So it might be a little later than that. I apologize. So we'll turn to Matthew 23, and rather than just read verse 23, what I'd like to do is take the entirety of Matthew 23 so that we can get the context here rather than just pull it out. And the reason being is because we need to understand exactly what Christ was telling the Pharisees and the scribes in this particular section. What was the overarching message that was being given to them with what we see recorded in this section of Matthew 23? So we'll go ahead and read through the entirety of the account. And to begin with, we need to recognize that this passage of Matthew is a scathing rebuke. It is an absolute scathing rebuke on the scribes and the Pharisees. He is Christ systematically taking them and the attitude with which they approached the law in many ways apart, piece by piece by piece by piece. And to understand that and understand why that's a big deal, the Pharisees, as a whole, broke the branches of the law clear out into its respective twigs. So they went way, way, way, way out into these little bits of minutia that in many cases they had defined.

In many cases they had defined. And their lives and the lives of those who they had authority over at that point in time were ruled by those details. Ruled by those details. So in addition to the law of God, they have continued and had continued to add their own restrictions to the law in order to prevent accidental breaking of the law. They built, we sometimes say, a fence around the Torah to ensure that things were not accidentally broken. There were certain burdens that you were unable to do in certain capacities on the Sabbath. There were certain things here and there. But in doing that, that minutia and that focus on the minutia got in the way of them being able to identify the aspects of the law that God identified as weightier. We see it written in Matthew 23, 23, that there are aspects that are defined as weightier, as very important aspects. So in their effort to ensure that everybody obeyed their particular interpretation of the law, they by and large forgot to follow through with the underlying principles.

They missed the purpose and in some ways were prevented from truly understanding and keeping the law of God properly. Let's go ahead and pick it up in Matthew 23 and verse 1 to begin with today. Matthew 23 and verse 1. We'll go ahead and read through verse 4 here to begin. It says, Then Jesus Christ spoke to the multitudes and to his disciples, saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' feet. Then, in other words, they had the authority at that point in time. Therefore, whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do. But do not do according to their works.

For they say, and they do not do. For they bind heavy burdens hard to bear, and they lay them on men's shoulders. But they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. So they set, at that point in time, set a pretty terrible example for the people of Christ's time.

They sat in the seat of authority. They had the ability to bind and to loose.

And in their attempt to regulate the law and what was allowed and what was not allowed, had bound heavy burdens on the people. Burdens that they themselves would not move.

Wouldn't follow their own teaching. Verse 5 goes on, But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their flactories broad, and they enlarge the borders of their garments. They love the best seats, or the best places at the feasts, the best seats in the synagogues. Greetings in the marketplaces and to be called by men, Rabbi. They did what they did to be seen. They did what they did to be noticed. They enlarged their flactories. Their flactories were these leather boxes that included Hebraic writings that they would wear to prayer. They made them bigger. It's almost like, for lack of a better reason, I'm picking on Texas a lot in this series of messages, I apologize. You know the giant Texas-sized belt buckle? You know the real big Texas belt buckle? You know, you do those sort of things to be noticed. People see the belt buckle, and they go, oh, look at that belt buckle. Maybe? Do people say that? I don't know. Maybe they do.

They just look uncomfortable. They just look uncomfortable to me.

Or you see, like on the front of the car, you know the set of longhorns. You know the big set of longhorns out on the front of the car. Those things are done to be seen. They're done to be noticed. It says that they enlarged their flactories. They enlarged the hems of their garments. They lengthened the tassels. These things were done to be seen. They were done to be noticed.

They were social climbers. They were social climbers. They sought the uppermost rooms. They sought the chief seats. They loved to be called teacher. They loved to be called rabbi. Verse 8, But you do not be called rabbi, for one is your teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. Do not call anyone on earth your father, for one is your father who is in heaven, and do not be called teachers, for one is your teacher, the Christ. But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant, and whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. Christ makes the point that God's way of doing things is different.

God's way of doing things is different than what the Pharisees have been setting as an example.

In God's way, the greatest would be the servant. Those who would humble themselves, he says, would be exalted. Those that exalt themselves, those that broaden the flattery, those that lengthen the tassels, those that do the things that they do to be seen, would be abased. Not exalted, but abased. He goes on in verse 13, But woe do you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. Now, there are no punches pulled in this section of Matthew 23. I mean, there are a lot of things that are said. There are some names and characterizations made at the end, you know, calling them a brood of vipers. This is a pretty scathing review. But woe do you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. Christ makes the point that their teaching had the reverse effect. It actually drove people away from the kingdom rather than brought them towards it. You could say that the overall net effect of their religion was negative. Their overall effect was negative. Verse 14, woe do you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. For you devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore, you will receive greater condemnation. Woe do you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. Woe do you, blind guides, who say, whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing, but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it. Fools and blind, for which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold. It began to be blinded by greed, devouring widows' houses, making long prayers for pretense. Again, kind of continuing and expounding and going on and on and on to be heard and to be seen. It says every proselyte they made was twice as bad as before they were converted.

There was not a change in the people that they were converting. They made them worse.

It goes on in verse 18, and whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing, but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it. Fools and blind, for which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift. Therefore, he who swears by the altar swears by it, and by all things on it. He who swears by the temple swears by it, and by him who dwells in it. And he who swears by heaven swears by the throne of God, and by him who sits on it. You know, there was a degree of evasion that was going on here. The Pharisees had maintained that oaths sworn in certain places in certain ways. There was some wiggle room at times. Depending on how that was done, certain ones were able to be backed out of, but other ones were considered binding. In this case, it mentions swearing by the altar you could wiggle yourself out of, but swearing by the gold offered on it, and backing out you were obliged to perform it, and it caused guilt. Christ's point was, which was more important, the gift or the altar that sanctified the gift? Additionally, this is a admonition once again for us to let our yeses be yes, to ensure that we are not trying to actively back out of things that we oblige ourselves to. It goes on in verse 23. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, and this was the themed Scripture, woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done without leaving the others undone. Now, I want to make a real quick point here. Note, Christ didn't attack them for tithing itself.

This is not a Scripture to abolish tithing. This is not something where Christ said, whoa, whoa, whoa, you don't need to be doing that. You need to be doing this. And he said, no, you need to be doing that, but don't leave these things undone. Do these things too.

At that point in time, it was accepted that there would be tithe on the harvest of their crops.

That was it was accepted. It was part of the law, and it was done. And as Phil is today, we still tithe on our increase. Christ's point to the Pharisees was they were tithing on the smallest of harvests, the cooking herbs of their home garden. These were not commercially viable crops. They were personal cooking herbs, and they tithed on the seed as commanded in the law. But while they were meticulously tithing these little itty-bitty tiny seeds, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, they were leaving the principles and the purposes of the law itself undone. They were so focused on the minutiae that the weightier matters, those aspects of the law that were absolutely essential, righteous, impartial judgment, extending mercy to others, and placing your faith in the right places, those were the things that were being left undone while the focus was on the little teeny tiny seeds. You might say in today's vernacular they missed the forest for the trees. They missed the forest for the trees. Pharisees were corrupt in their judgment.

They did not show mercy, and their faith was misplaced. They cared more about how they were seen by others than they did about moral matters. They were hypocrites. He goes on, Christ does in verse 24, blind guides who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. Another one of those giant, you know, comparisons here. Like, you're going to take the time to make sure that little, little, little gnat is out of your drink because you wouldn't want to get one that's unclean, but in the meantime, you're swallowing a camel. Verse 25, woe to you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites, for you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee first cleans the outside of the cup and the dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites, for you are like whitewashed tombs, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Even so, you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. James Barkley writes in his daily study Bible series commentary on the book of Matthew, it's volume 2, page 294, said, that is precisely what the Pharisees were like. They were so absolutely meticulous about ties that they would tie even one clump of mint, and yet these same men could be guilty of injustice. Could be hard and arrogant and cruel, forgetting the claims of mercy. Could take oaths and pledges and promises with the deliberate intention of evading them, forgetting fidelity. In other words, many of them kept the trifles of the law and forgot the things which really matter. That spirit is not dead. It never will be until Christ rules in the hearts of men. There is many a man who wears the right clothes to church, carefully hands in his offering to the church, adopts the right attitude at prayer, is never absent from the celebration of the sacrament, and who is not doing an honest day's work, who is irritable, bad-tempered, and mean with his money. There are women who are full of good works and who serve on all kinds of committees, and whose children are lonely for them at night. There is nothing easier than to observe all the outward actions of religion and yet be completely irreligious. There is nothing more necessary than a sense of proportion to save us from confusing religious observance with real devotion. Now, with all things that are extra-scriptural, which Barkley is, Barkley is not scripture, he's a commentary on scripture, we have to read those writings with a lens. We have to read them with a lens. But he hits the nail on the head. This attitude is prevalent in the world around us today. It's prevalent in the churches of the world, and it has the potential, and I mean, if we're being honest with ourselves, has, at times, crept into the ecclesia, confusing religious observance with devotion, going through the motions, getting lost in the minutia and not seeing the forest for the trees, keeping the Sabbath yet refusing to extend mercy and forgiveness, tithing but being unwilling to show love and serve others, leaving those weightier matters undone.

And again, it's not that we should do one over the other, it's that we should do both, carefully ensuring that in addition to the necessary aspects of the law, that the weightier matters are not left undone in the process. We are expected by God to perform righteous judgment, to show godly mercy, and to have strong faith. Let's turn over to 2 Timothy 3. We read this in the first message. We looked actually at 2 Timothy 3 as well as Romans 1 with recognition that it described conditions in the world around us as well as in the church during the last days. And those last days have been going for the last couple thousand years. You know, it was mentioned the last days right after Christ time. We have been in the last days for some time now, but let's go ahead and turn over there briefly for the sake of review here. 2 Timothy 3, and we'll pick it up in verse 1. 2 Timothy 3 and verse 1. 2 Timothy 3 and verse 1 says, But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Verse 5, Having a form of godliness, but denying its power, and from such people turn away. We are not immune. It can, it will, and it has crept into the church over the years. Men have been lovers of themselves.

There have been false accusations that have shattered relationships.

There has been pride and an unwillingness to humble oneself.

People have been lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. And some have had a form of godliness, but denied the power thereof. And in all of these things, all of these things, we have to remember we should always be looking at that person who stares back at us every single day in that mirror. Do we see these things in ourselves? Not just other people. It's easy to find these things in other people. Do we see them in ourselves? These things are against the expectations of God. And so the question that we asked last time, when we see or we experience these things in the church, when we see these things creeping in, will we go to Abilene? Will we go along with it? Will we drift along with it, headed someplace that we don't want to go?

Or will we stand in the gap and uphold the word of God? So how do we implement righteous judgment, godly mercy, and faith? How do we uphold the standard that God has provided for us? And maybe even more importantly, how do we do that with the admonition that we read a few pages earlier in 2 Timothy 2? Let's go ahead and flip over there. 2 Timothy 2, we'll go ahead and pick it up in verses 24 and 25. 2 Timothy 2, verse 24 and 25. So in addition to upholding righteous judgment, godly mercy, and faith, we have this admonition in 2 Timothy 2, verse 24. And a servant of the Lord, which all of us are working towards becoming, all of us want to be servants of the Lord, and a servant of the Lord must not quarrel, but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility, correcting those who are in opposition. And a very important word there, in humility, correcting those who are in opposition. If God perhaps will grant them repentance so that they may know the truth and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will. You know, when you consider the concept of judgment, mercy, and faith, we have a tendency to look at this as a linear relationship, like front-loaded on judgment. A plus B plus C, in other words, judge first, then show mercy, then build faith. We kind of look at it as this kind of progression. Boom, boom, boom. We also tend to view it as hierarchical, in that judgment is put first, so therefore it's more important, maybe, than mercy or than faith. Can't have mercy without judgment. Faith, well, faith fits in there somewhere.

You know, while Christ listed those things in that particular order in Matthew 23, there's nothing that specifically indicates that it's hierarchical, and there's nothing that specifically indicates that it's necessarily linear. There is a definite relationship, and I think you could not be able to make an argument for it being hierarchical or linear, but those three things could also be equivalent. Take, for example, 1 Corinthians 13. Faith, hope, and love are mentioned, but it specifically states the greatest of these is the third one mentioned, love. What if we were to turn it around? What if we were to look at the weightier matters of the law as faith, mercy, and judgment?

Faith, mercy, and judgment. Does that change the way that we view the weightier matters of the law? No, not really. It's still faith, mercy, and judgment, or judgment, mercy, and faith, but would it change how we approach our brethren and we apply these weightier matters?

I think it would, and I think that it does. When you approach a situation with judgment in the forefront of our mind, when we head into a situation and judgment is in the forefront of our mind, with our limited human willingness to forgive, or to be tactical, or to judge situations objectively, or frankly, in some cases, even going as far as making inappropriate judgments, acting on the testimony of a single witness, which has happened and does happen, we're rapidly headed in those situations for an offense that is going to require reconciliation at a later date. And we're heading down a road where at some point in time there is going to be a strained relationship that is going to have to be restored. If we instead begin with faith and with mercy in the forefront of our mind, recognizing first that faith is the substance of things hoped for, that we as brethren share a common faith, a common hope, and that we are not enemies, not adversaries, but brothers, that puts us in the right mindset to begin the process.

Once we've recognized our commonalities, once we've realized our common faith, then we can start to consider the aspect of mercy. When we consider mercy, and when we consider the incredible mercy that has been poured out upon us, the forgiveness that's been extended to us for our faults and for our sins, and that we are in need of mercy just as much as our brother is.

You know, we desire compassion and we desire understanding when we fall short.

But somewhat ironically, when it's on the other foot, we tend to exact justice. When we air against someone else, when we sin or we transgress someone else, and we cause an offense, we are hoping for mercy. We are really hoping that they're going to forgive us, that they're going to be okay with it, and that it's all going to be all right. But oftentimes, on the other end of it, our response can be, well, that low-down dirty blah blah blah blah blah blah, I can't believe he would have done that, right? We desire compassion and understanding, and because of the incredible mercy that we have received and in our continuing need for it, we have to extend compassion and understanding to others as they fall short or as they sin against us. We also need to recognize that most of the time, most of the time, the soft answer is far more effective than a hammer. Far more effective as a tool than a hammer. You know, when we recognize our need for mercy and its role in humbling us and reconciling us to God, then and only then can we be in the right attitude to go to our brother and to approach our brother. You know, extending mercy to our brother is not the same thing as tolerance.

It's not the same thing as tolerance. There absolutely is a standard. But often, our interpretation of that standard when it comes to specifics varies from person to person, based on their level of understanding and their level of experience. We would not necessarily expect somebody who came through the door for the very first time today to be at the same level as somebody who has been at this way of life for 60-plus years. There's a progression. And oftentimes, more often than not, we desire to hold people to the standard that we've defined for ourselves from the law, expecting that they are where we are with our spiritual walk. Let me give you an example. We all believe in the importance of the Sabbath day. We are here today worshiping God on the Sabbath day. We understand it to be a day of worship, a day of rest. We understand it to be holy time, and we understand it to be sanctified by God. How one person implements that sanctity, however, may be different than how someone else implements that sanctity. Now, some people actually may not appreciate this, but the Church has largely stepped back from dogmatic statements as to what is appropriate and not appropriate for Sabbath observance. The Church has kind of, in I don't know about recent years, but for some time now, kind of stepped back from, this is okay, this is okay, this is okay, this is okay, this is not okay, this is okay, this is not okay. Kind of being real dogmatic in that way. And at times we get accused of being really laissez-faire in that regard, because we don't take a specific, this is not okay, this is okay, sort of situation. Many would like to see a more dogmatic approach of this is okay, this is not okay, but frankly, personally, I appreciate our current approach. And here's why. Ultimately, your implementation of what you understand with regards to Sabbath observance is between you and God, based on the principle of the law. It is not dependent upon the commandments of man.

The principle of the Sabbath commandment, if we break that down and we look at what the principle is, it is a day of rest. It is a day in which you do not labor. It is a day in which 24 hours of holy time made holy by God's presence in it. It is set apart by God for things such as worship, prayer, study, time which you are expected to keep holy and to keep God's presence in it, and avoid doing your own pleasures. That's the expectation. That's the standard that we pull from a variety of scriptures. How you implement that principle is between you and God. And ultimately, each individual is responsible for their choices, and they will be held accountable for their choice.

They will be held accountable for their choice. You won't answer for the person sitting next to you, and they won't answer for you. You answer for your decisions and how you choose to implement the principle of the Sabbath. Even though you won't answer for the person next to you, and they won't answer for you, we do have a responsibility toward one another as brothers and sisters to help one another grow in grace and knowledge, and that is an ongoing, lifelong process. So recognizing that individuals are in different places in their understanding and in their interpretation, approaching judgment, mercy, and faith in a nonlinear way, starting with faith and mercy in the forefront, and then judgment, may be more appropriate when we take a look at Matthew 18. Let's go ahead and turn over there real quick as to the scripturally outlined method by which people go through this. Matthew 18. This is what was given to us to settle issues with one another. Matthew 18. This is the process that we have been given when it comes time for us to go to our brother. Matthew 18, beginning in verse 15, under a heading in the Lisa New King James version that I'm using dealing with a sinning brother. Matthew 18 verse 15 says, Moreover, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you've gained your brother. So the importance of not airing it out on social media, not yelling it from the rooftops at the beginning, but privately pulling someone aside and saying, hey, um, you know, this really hurt me. Uh, this was something that, uh, I'm a little bit, you know, kind of frustrated about. Can we, can we talk about this? One-on-one, without a whole bunch of people involved, without trotting it out in front of others. Verse 16, if you will not hear, take with you one or two more, that by the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may be established. Again, that's the principle of the law. By two to three witnesses, a matter may be established.

Now, theoretically, these are individuals who witnessed the event. These are not individuals that you have taken aside and prepared the witness, so to speak, as they often do in, uh, in situations of, of court of law today. Verse 17, if you refuses to hear them, tell it to the church, but he refuses even to hear the church. Let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. And he goes on in verse 18, as surely I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven, for where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them. Now, this particular procedure specifically states that it's designed by God as a system for when brother sins against brother, a way to reconcile conflict, remedy conflict. But it also follows directly on the heels of the parable of the lost sheep. And in the original text, there wasn't that little break in there that we see in our Bibles today. It immediately followed verse 14, even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. Moreover, referring back to here, if your brother sins against you, and on it goes. So there is a responsibility that we have to turn a brother back to God when they've strayed.

And when we know that they have strayed, it's our responsibility as a brother, just so it would be in a family, to be able to take care of our brother or our sister. In fact, Galatians 6 and verse 1 brings that concept up a little more directly. Galatians 6 and verse 1.

Galatians 6 and verse 1 says, Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness.

And notice the spirit in a spirit of gentleness.

But those who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Now notice the next piece. Considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. You have to make sure that we're actually able to help the person that we're dealing with. You know, we sometimes use the phrase these days, blind leading the blind, you know, and I'm not insinuating anything by that. But if we realize that the help that this person needs is way outside of our pay grade slash ability level, then we need to ensure that they're going to be able to get the help that they need.

And that may not be us. That may be someone else. It's very possible. We had a situation in Africa. I think I have time to tell a quick story. When we were in Nigeria, we just baptized Nambi, a Ninye, and he decided that he'd never gone swimming before. Ever. Not once. He'd never been in the ocean. And the ocean that we were in, I'm looking, Caleb is not around. He's probably around the side here. Caleb remembers this. The ocean that we were in was pretty rough, and it had some pretty nasty rip currents. And he was wearing a life jacket because he just didn't really know how to swim well in the ocean.

And he put that thing on and he got sucked out. I mean, it pulled him way, way, way out. And Paul and I, Paul Mugi and I, were out there swimming along with him. And we're watching Nambi just bobbing away out into the middle of the ocean, and we're going, oh no, so we start swimming. And Paul and I realized real quick, we're not in a good place to be able to get out there and help him. I mean, we may well find ourselves in a situation where the three of us drown, or the two of us drown, and Nambi's the one that lives.

You know, he's got a life jacket at least, right? So it was one of those situations where you realize, you know, I'm getting in too deep here real quick. So, you know, prayer's going up like crazy, and then all of a sudden, my feet hit ground, and Paul's feet hit ground. We got out to this little sandbar, we rolled a gap to him and pulled him back in and whatever else. But, you know, it could have quickly gone south real, real fast, because we got in over our head. We didn't realize that we really didn't have the capability of helping him with that rip current the way that it was.

So we do have a responsibility to our brothers and sisters to help to restore them if we're able. If we're able. And again, in the right attitude. Many years ago, I had the opportunity to be involved with a program at the school that I teach at, where we took kids down to San Jose, California, to Great America to study real world physics of amusement park rides. Basically, we took the kids to go ride roller coasters. That's pretty much what it was. But we gave them stopwatches so they looked official, and they would time how long it took to go from the top of the hill to the bottom of the hill, whatever else, make these calculations.

Really cool program. Kids and I got to go down, go ride roller coasters all day on Friday, and then Saturday, the group of kids went down to Pier 39 and spent the day there. The first year that I got involved with this program, when I originally had signed up for it, I didn't really consider how I was going to manage to keep the Sabbath while I was down there. It didn't cross my mind, to be perfectly frank and to be perfectly honest, and I hadn't thought about it.

And so we get there, and I thought, well, I just, I'll kind of relax a little bit. I'll just, while they're down at Pier 39, I'll sit on a bench by the water and stare out into San Francisco Bay and meditate and think and whatever else. Well, they had planned for a trip to Alcatraz, a day trip out to Alcatraz. So I thought, wow!

You know, if you're out there on Alcatraz, you can kind of walk around and look at stuff, and it's kind of like creation. There's, you know, I mean, listen, the justification was strong. I'll put it that way. The justification was strong. You know, I'm sitting thinking, wow, this can't be really breaking the Sabbath. I had managed to convince myself, and I had managed to justify what I was doing in my own head. I got home. We returned home. Pardon me. Returned home, and I don't remember why, but we were over at some one of the brethren's homes that night, and we're talking about it, and I'm telling the story about the trip and whatever else.

And I went home, and the next day I had a couple emails in my inbox from two of the brethren that were there that night, both concerned about my actions and the fact that I had not kept the Sabbath in an appropriate manner while I was there. And they had gone absolutely through the process of Matthew 18. They had not, like, shouted it from the rooftops. They had absolutely come to me personally in the proper scriptural manner to bring up their concerns. At first, I didn't appreciate it. I'll be honest. At first, I didn't appreciate it. In fact, the first couple of emails I fired off were very grumbly, and part of that was I wasn't willing to consider that I had been wrong. Oftentimes, it's hard for us to consider that we may be wrong. I wasn't necessarily in the right frame of mind at that point in time to accept the correction, and so the first couple of emails that went back essentially typed out temper tantrum. Really. I mean, let's be honest. That's what they were. But later, as I thought about it, and as we kind of went back and forth a couple of different times, and I had some time to think about it and really, really focus on it, I kind of considered the principle of Sabbath observance and that the standard in Scripture was for me to put away my own pleasure, for me to keep that day holy, that I was to maintain the sanctity of that day. And I had to ask myself, had I done that? Had I done that while I was essentially wandering around San Francisco as a tourist? No, I hadn't. I hadn't attended church services that day. I hadn't gone through and kept God in that day. I hadn't sanctified that day. I hadn't kept it holy at all. I spent the day wandering around San Francisco like a tourist. The individuals who emailed me with their concern were absolutely correct, and I was 100% wrong.

100% wrong. But I didn't see it at the time, and it took them bringing it up to me for me to see it and for me to recognize the issue. Let's go to Hebrews 12 real quick. Hebrews 12. Hebrews 12. I think I can wrap it in time. Hebrews 12. As I look at the clock, a little faster. Turn quickly. Everybody turn. Flip faster. I'm just kidding. Hebrews 12.

Hebrews 12 verse 11. Hebrews 12 verse 11. It says, Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful. Nevertheless, afterward, it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. No discipline is pleasant at the time. It's hard to take a look at your actions and realize that you may or may not be correct, to entertain the possibility that you might be acting in a wrong manner. It's hard. It hurts. It's painful. But later on, it yields a harvest of righteousness. You know, for those of you that have orchards or have fruit trees, you realize that pruning the tree causes more fruit to grow. Put yourself in the shoes of the tree, though, for a minute. You just amputated limbs. You have cut off stuff that is important.

They bleed. The sack comes out of the thing. Maybe they scream. I don't know. They don't scream. I joke with my vegan friends sometimes that, how do you know that plants don't scream? They don't have vocal cords. How do you know they don't feel pain? So, the reality of it is, though, that you are taking off very important branches from this tree that it uses to make sugars and energy for its processes. But you also recognize that in pruning that tree and in changing that tree's limb structure, that you're opening it up for more sunlight, that you're opening it up for bigger and better future growth. It's essential. It's got to happen. Was it pleasant to realize that I'd messed up and made a mistake and that I'd been wrong? No! Of course it wasn't! Of course it wasn't! That I'd sinned against God and that I'd let other people down? No! No, it wasn't pleasant.

But as a result of that interaction, I was forced to examine how I kept the Sabbath. Not just in California, but here at home as well. And make the necessary adjustments to change. I didn't stop going. The next year that I went, I dropped the kids off at Pier 39 in the morning and I drove over to Oakland and I went to church. I got to know the brethren in Oakland. It was wonderful. Wonderful. Wonderful group of folks found that way. You know, going to your brother in the proper manner requires us to look at the process outlined in Matthew 18. It requires us to approach our brother with the right attitude, starting really with a recognition of our common faith and our hope. That we are not adversaries, but brothers. And with a recognition that we need mercy, just as much as they need mercy. And lastly, if a judgment has to be made, that judgment needs to be made in accordance with the word of God, without partiality, maintaining mercy and forgiveness, reconciliation, and keeping restoration in the future, in mind.

When it came to judgment, mercy, and faith, the Pharisees were so overly concerned with the minutia of the law that they lost sight of the important components. The weightier matters. And it's actually kind of interesting. In an interesting bit of irony, their efforts to keep the law more perfectly in their efforts to do that, they completely missed the point. They completely missed the point. The Messiah that they had been waiting for for so long was standing right there in front of them, and they're arguing with him. They missed the point entirely. The definition of the Abilene paradox is when a person or organization frequently takes actions in contradiction to what they really want to do, and therefore defeat the very purposes that they're trying to achieve. The Pharisees went to Abilene. They went to Abilene. The actions and the attitudes that they took, in order to more perfectly keep the law, caused them to defeat the very purposes that they were trying to achieve. You know, we have a responsibility to uphold the word of God and to maintain the truth as the world encroaches on the church. And when we have to go to our brother, the ultimate goal of us going to our brother is to restore our brother.

We don't enter into that agreement with this idea that we're going in there to fix this person.

You know, if we're going in there with the idea that we're going in to fix this, I'm going to take care of this and this and this and this. I can't believe this person is doing it. Your attitude is not in the right place to approach your brother at that point in time. That is going to end very, very, very poorly, because we haven't then taken the opportunity to point out the errors in our own life. We haven't identified the planks in our own eyes.

And if that's the attitude with which we go to somebody and that's the direction that we're going, I would submit to you that we're doing it wrong. I would submit to you that we're doing it wrong. The proper manner of extending righteous judgment, mercy, and faith with an appropriate attitude requires us to shift the order a little bit. We have to believe in best intentions. We have to believe. We have to start there. We have to believe in best intentions. Approaching our brother from a place of common faith and hope. We need to ensure that we extend the mercy that we all require to those around us, that we're willing to extend that mercy, interacting with that person with compassion and with forgiveness as they work through their issue. We support while we can. We help as we're able, recognizing that we also have an incredible need for mercy in our own lives.

Does it always work? No. No, it doesn't. It doesn't. Sometimes it has to go up the chain, from individual counsel to counseling with witnesses to taking it to the church.

And sometimes, unfortunately, if the person remains unrepentant and refuses to change, then an impartial judgment in accordance with the Word of God is made, with hopefully a path forward for restoration in the future. Matthew 18 illustrates the appropriate method with the right focus, with the right attitude, and with the right actions. In the next and final message, we will address the impact that judgment, mercy, and faith have on our greater organizational unity and the ultimate goal of becoming one as Jesus Christ and the Father are one. Have a wonderful Sabbath.