…But Do Not Sin
Illustration
Stories
Most of us are passionate in our young days. It is not a reasonable time. It is a time to be driven, consumed, ignited. None of these easily fit into categories of polite, considerate, or gentle -- let alone organizational. These are the moments in life that we easily get into trouble, make ridiculous decisions, and believe that we can not only reach for the stars, but touch them. Looking back on these times, we wince at the decisions we made and the fools we made of ourselves in the most awkward of all possible moments. And then we remember what it felt like to carry lightning in our back pocket and see each moment as a context of glory.
It was in that passionate time of my life that I discovered this phrase, ‘Be angry, but do not sin.’ I have never been a fan of anger, but passion? Ahh, there’s another subject. My own passion had been mistaken for anger many times, and I had received judgment because of it. There was in this phrase the key to how I felt, the intensity I knew was imbedded in the gospels. How could one be called by the fire and wind of the Holy Spirit and not approach that call with a sense of passion? Too often, when I had brought my passion to my work, in school or in my pastorate, I was told to calm down, to ‘grow up’ and approach these subjects with a reasonable attitude that everyone expected when they came to church. As my brother used to say, ‘Them’s fightin’ words.’ You see, I come by it naturally. He was a pastor as well.
So, I found my Lord speaking to me as many times before. These words of encouragement and hope let me see that to lose our passion is to lose the fuel for our fire. We are in the business of igniting. We cannot do that without a fire living within us. A fire that cannot be overcome or even understood by evil.
I loved it. But then, before I could comfortably dance onto the floor of self-righteousness, I noticed the ‘but’. It seems every time we find affirmation for our own pet issues, there is a qualifying bumper in our way. In this case, it’s a doosey. ‘…but do not sin.’ So, all this wonderful, glorious passion is corralled, modified, channeled. How can it be so? Doesn’t that destroy the passion? Sure, if we try to make love the reasonable, rigid, corseted version taught in an awful lot of our communities of worship. I got a card upon my ordination from my loving brother, recommending the subject of my first sermon. Evidently, he saw it in front of a church: ‘Jesus is coming, and boy is he pissed.’ Sorry about the language, but that’s what the card said.
Judgment is the usual main course; redemption is the desert. God has all the passion and it righteous anger. I’m sorry. We are not called to be bit players here. We are called to be warriors of the light. To proclaim love where there is hatred. To proclaim generosity where there is greed. To proclaim freedom where there is oppression. You get it. To do all that stuff, we’ve got to be passionate, or it won’t get done. The apostles didn’t get much done until they got the fire and the wind. Then, well then, here we are. That took fire and wind and a lot of people doing foolish things passionately.
So, my friends, to retool an old saw, be passionate, but do not sin. Don’t be relieved when you outgrow your passion. Robert Burns had a poem put on his tomb stone. “I burned the candle at both ends, it did not last the night. But oh, my foes, and ahh my friends, it gave a wondrous light. Shine. Be a light on the hill. And don’t worry about it when people shake their heads and say, ‘but we’ve never done it that way before.’ Remind them that’s what was said at the resurrection.
Don’t tell anybody, but I never really grew up. And I’m proud of it.
*****************************************
StoryShare, August 8, 2021 issue.
Copyright 2021 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
It was in that passionate time of my life that I discovered this phrase, ‘Be angry, but do not sin.’ I have never been a fan of anger, but passion? Ahh, there’s another subject. My own passion had been mistaken for anger many times, and I had received judgment because of it. There was in this phrase the key to how I felt, the intensity I knew was imbedded in the gospels. How could one be called by the fire and wind of the Holy Spirit and not approach that call with a sense of passion? Too often, when I had brought my passion to my work, in school or in my pastorate, I was told to calm down, to ‘grow up’ and approach these subjects with a reasonable attitude that everyone expected when they came to church. As my brother used to say, ‘Them’s fightin’ words.’ You see, I come by it naturally. He was a pastor as well.
So, I found my Lord speaking to me as many times before. These words of encouragement and hope let me see that to lose our passion is to lose the fuel for our fire. We are in the business of igniting. We cannot do that without a fire living within us. A fire that cannot be overcome or even understood by evil.
I loved it. But then, before I could comfortably dance onto the floor of self-righteousness, I noticed the ‘but’. It seems every time we find affirmation for our own pet issues, there is a qualifying bumper in our way. In this case, it’s a doosey. ‘…but do not sin.’ So, all this wonderful, glorious passion is corralled, modified, channeled. How can it be so? Doesn’t that destroy the passion? Sure, if we try to make love the reasonable, rigid, corseted version taught in an awful lot of our communities of worship. I got a card upon my ordination from my loving brother, recommending the subject of my first sermon. Evidently, he saw it in front of a church: ‘Jesus is coming, and boy is he pissed.’ Sorry about the language, but that’s what the card said.
Judgment is the usual main course; redemption is the desert. God has all the passion and it righteous anger. I’m sorry. We are not called to be bit players here. We are called to be warriors of the light. To proclaim love where there is hatred. To proclaim generosity where there is greed. To proclaim freedom where there is oppression. You get it. To do all that stuff, we’ve got to be passionate, or it won’t get done. The apostles didn’t get much done until they got the fire and the wind. Then, well then, here we are. That took fire and wind and a lot of people doing foolish things passionately.
So, my friends, to retool an old saw, be passionate, but do not sin. Don’t be relieved when you outgrow your passion. Robert Burns had a poem put on his tomb stone. “I burned the candle at both ends, it did not last the night. But oh, my foes, and ahh my friends, it gave a wondrous light. Shine. Be a light on the hill. And don’t worry about it when people shake their heads and say, ‘but we’ve never done it that way before.’ Remind them that’s what was said at the resurrection.
Don’t tell anybody, but I never really grew up. And I’m proud of it.
*****************************************
StoryShare, August 8, 2021 issue.
Copyright 2021 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
