C, Lent 3 - Luke 13:1-5 & 1 Cor 10:1-13 "The Compass of God"

In a recent television drama, a man named Grissom, made a very precise observation on society in Las Vegas. A group of regular teenagers who had become bored with their lives of sex, drugs, gambling, and little to no parental supervision, turned to beating tourists to death to get a thrill and have some fun. After the kids were caught by the crime scene investigators, the investigators discuss what the kids did, and what might have been the cause, and the kids’ culpability and guilt. Their boss Grissom enters the room and says…

The truth is: A moral compass can only point you in the right direction — it can’t make you go there! Our culture preaches that you shouldn’t be ashamed of anything you do anymore. And unfortunately this city is built on the principle that there’s no such thing as guilt, “Do whatever you want — we won’t tell!” So without a conscience there’s nothing to stop you from killing someone. And evidently, you don’t even have to feel bad about it! (A clip from CSI, aired in Australia on the Nine Network, Sunday 4^th of March)

A moral compass can only point you in the right direction — it can’t make you go there! This is a very powerful observation, but it’s not the whole truth — it’s only a half truth! So what direction do our moral compasses point us? If it is our morals pulling within us, to where will our consciences ultimately be pulled?

Grissom’s observations about guilt, conscience, and killing — very much hit the crucifix nails on their heads! Humanity’s compass has magnetic distortions acting upon it, and ultimately with our morals decaying and distorting this compass our morals will kill us.

The investigation staff, not old themselves, struggle with the disregard these kids have for the sanctity of life. However, this Las Vegas youth mindset is not an isolated incident. What this television show observed and characterised is a principle or rule in the mainstream of our society today.

Our culture preaches that you can have all the privileges now without the responsibilities. We can gratify the pleasures of our nature and leave the consequences to someone else.

This happens because we become desensitised when we’re encouraged to take our conscience and put it aside. Therefore, guilt and shame no longer affect, or, get in the way of, one’s desire for fun and frivolity. And when irresponsibility and a lack of trust occur, our beliefs are distorted. We in the church are brainwashed with the rest of society, to put off our trust in God, and our fear of God — in favour of a “happiness now” way of thinking.

Once the “happiness now” deception, takes a hold, it quickly allies itself with pride. And we all know when pride rules the roost in our hearts, all sorts of stubbornness and sins are born, leading us further along the slippery slope towards uncertainty, confusion, and the complete unconsciousness of the conscience. Behind this all, stands the master of distortion and deception — the devil. And his will for us is death and destruction, as we’re deceived into happily rolling along the highways to hell.

Every one of us makes mistakes! We all sin! But the thing I most regret in my mistakes is the pride which first led me there, which also seeks to keep me there, and threatens to daily woo me into a state of having no guilt, no shame, and less and less trust in God.

It’s not the sin which separates us anymore. However, when I begin to justify my sin as not being sin, or I seek to grade another’s sin into levels from the despicable through to my achievements as being the greatest, my sinful nature tempts me to wrongly name God, a liar. Our sinful natures, full of pride, treat God with complete contempt.

God deals with this in me in the same way as he does with all believers caught up in their pride, and as he does with the Pharisees, the disciples, and the crowd in the gospel…

1 Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4 Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” (Luke 13:1-5 NIV)

Notice how Jesus’ stern words prickle your conscience? I hope and pray that God’s word does, for your sake and for Jesus’ sake too!

Jesus has sent the Holy Spirit to convict and counsel us, and he does this with and through God’s Word. The Holy Spirit wants us to have “holiness now”, much more than the shallow happiness we so often seek. He is called the “Holy” Spirit; so therefore, he comes to make us “holy”! He is sent to bring us to Jesus through the word with trusting faith, having produced in us contrition and removing our pride from God’s compass within us!

In this holy state of mind and being, worked only by the Holy Spirit, our trust is restored in God and we repent. The truly amazing thing is this: Although we’re brought to repentance, we’ve “already” been forgiven at the cross and in our baptism. But if we justify our sin, thinking there’s no cause for our repentance, we “remain” in our sin, separated from God.

This is why the battle God wages in you and me is a daily struggle. The waring of our sin and pride always threatens to overpower us, but God is much more powerful! He wills us to remain firm in him and stand in trust and confidence. Although the battle for our conscience and life is fierce, he has already won the battle at the cross. The Holy Spirit opens your hearts to faith, so you take hold of holiness, as he continues to put you under the cross with Jesus.

How does this happen? How does God give us his holiness, his grace, deliverance from death and the devil, forgiveness of sins, the benefits of Jesus’ bitter suffering and death on the cross? He gives them to us when he provides us with spiritual food and drink!

God says to you through Saint Paul …I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sister, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food 4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert.

6 Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry.” 8 We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. 9 We should not test the Lord, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. 10 And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.

11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfilment of the ages has come. 12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! 13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to humanity. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. (1 Corinthians 10:1-13)

We stand up in Christ! We stand up with him in baptism, where we received the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, and the forgiveness of sins. We stand up with he who withstood the devil’s temptation, and delivers us from death and the devil! We stand up with him in prayer before him who is our hallowed Father in heaven! We stand up with him when in repentance we allow our sins to be forgiven and nailed to the cross!

We stand up with him when we allow the Spirit access to us through the preaching of the word! He physically stands up in us when we eat and drink the spiritual food of the altar, when we eat and drink his body and blood!

God is faithful to us; we are his children, brothers and sister through baptism into our brother, Jesus Christ. So God cannot be unfaithful to his own, he provides us with a way out. Jesus Christ is the way! He is our compass!

Our magnetism is the holiness and faith of the Holy Spirit which draws us to God, our pointer is Christ and his saving grace won for us on the cross. And together with him and the magnetism of the Spirit, we are the compass which points to God in all his glory, now and forever, Amen.

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