Don't you love all of these warnings floating around? A lot of folks these days have warning fatigue! "What. Sky's falling in? Ahh... phooey"
BTW, did you see a few months back about that Detroit church that had its roof cave in? True story! No joke. It happened back at Easter. Some poor old guy was probably like, "Hey I warned them not to invite me to church, but they insisted." http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/story/28793942/detroit-church-looks-for-help-after-roof-caves-in
But for corporate lawyers these days, no warning is too obvious! Are we really becoming that dumb as a nation? Somewhere there's a room full of lawyers, sitting around, seeing what they can get away with. If I were a lawyer, that's what I'd be doing! Talk about the dream job! Gee, what ridiculous warnings can we come up with today?
Sometimes I will text this picture to staff members after giving them obvious advice. Aren't those great glasses? I found them in the ditch while walking home!
Anyway, Forbes magazine pulled together their Top 25 List of Dumb Warnings. If you buy eggs, the carton says, "Contains Eggs." If you buy a letter opener, there is a warning, "Blades are extremely sharp. Wear Safety Goggles." The label for a vanishing marker says, "The Vanishing Fabric Marker should not be used as a writing instrument for signing checks or any legal documents" Washing machines say, "Do not put a person in this washer." The Dremel tool box says, "Do not use for dental work!" Do you even need a legal degree to write these warnings? http://www.forbes.com/2011/02/23/dumbest-warning-labels-entrepreneurs-sales-marketing-warning-labels_slide_1.html
There are so many legal warnings! And what about the weather warnings? Being from central Illinois, you know the routine. The tornado sirens start blaring and parents are like, "Hey kids, who wants funnel cones? Let's go outside and play in driveway. Get Todo. Oh Look a flying cow. How cool! Grab your iPhone, this is going viral!"
Then there is the whole Nanny State thing. In major cities all over the United States feeding the homeless has been banned due to "health reasons". In Louisiana, one church was ordered to stop passing out water because it did not have the proper permit. In some cities, police have been called to shut down little kids lemonade stands. In the state of Alabama, bear wrestling is completely illegal. In Fairbanks, Alaska it is illegal to give alcoholic beverages to a moose.
Do you remember all the stuff we were warned about when we were kids? My parents warned me not to climb the trees in our yard. Should have listened, I broke my arm falling out of a stupid tree! At church camp they warned me not to mess with a hornet's nest. Yep, should have listened. They also told me to stay away from that electric fence. They told us boys not to canoe downstream--else we'd get tired paddling upstream, and never make it back to camp. They told us not to taunt the neighbor dog. It was all fun and games until Bo Joe the Doberman snagged my best friends face!
The thing about warnings, is we always want to test our limits. Of course there were some limits I never wanted to test. Remember those commercials? "This is your brain... and this is your brain on drugs..." Nope, decided not to mess with drugs. And remember the seatbelt warnings? Click it or ticket? At our High School they staged this big bloody crash scene in the school parking lot to show us the horror of death. Whoa!
There were those really severe warnings too. Like during the Reagan era, we were warned about the potential of a Nuclear Holocaust. I used to look at my calendar and wonder, "Will we all die before Christmas?" Remember that movie Red Dawn? I was pretty much ready for the Russian Invasion any day.
Then there was the whole Iraq War thing? Remember Hal Lindsey, and all those doomsday warnings about Armageddon? All the world armies would converge on the middle east? A popular book back then was "88 Reasons Jesus is coming in 88." Our family was glued to CNN watching for the signs of the times to be fulfilled. Who knows, maybe he did come and I was LEFT BEHIND? Then Al Gore got everyone worked up about Global Warming. Everything's melting! And Y2K? With all these warnings, who do we believe anymore? Skepticism seems to be the wiser response, do you agree?
One of Aesop's most famous stories is about... A shepherd-boy, who watched a flock of sheep near a village, [and] brought out the villagers three or four times by crying out, "Wolf! Wolf!" ... and when his neighbors came to help him, he laughed at them for their troubles.
The Wolf, however, did truly come at last. The Shepherd-boy, now really alarmed, shouted in an agony of terror: "Pray, do come and help me; the Wolf is killing the sheep"; but no one paid any heed to his cries, nor rendered any assistance. The Wolf, having no cause of fear, at his leisure lacerated or destroyed the whole flock.
And the moral of Aesop's story is, "There is no believing a liar, even when he speaks the truth." There are a lot of arm-chair prophets out there, pretending to have some direct line to God, presuming to speak definitively about the future. So what's the deal? Is there a wolf coming or not?
Psychologists tell the reasons people ignore warnings. For example...
Is something Immediate vs. Future? The more immediate a warning the more effective it tends to be; but the more future a warning the less effective. If storms are predicted later in the day, everyone raids the Walmart, Meijers, Target. But other than that, No one acts too concerned. But if a funnel cloud is just minutes away, then we take cover, (unless your one of those funnel cone stalker families)
Is something Certain vs. Uncertain? If it's uncertain whether a tornado coming our way, we're quite relaxed. But once one of them bad boys has been spotted on the ground, and our neighborhood is named in its path, only then do we take action.
Has a person Experienced vs. Not Experienced? If you've been in a tornado, the slightest wind storm has you up in arms. I can tell you after the Springfield tornados a few years ago, people take the warnings a lot more serious! But if you've never experienced a tornado first hand, you're a lot more confident and adventurous. You go outside, looking up in the sky.
Are the consequences Positive vs. Negative? Surprisingly, we're less affected by negative, fear-based warnings. You can site statistics. You can put on high definition slide shows. You can renact a bloody accident scene. You can tell horror stories about F5 tornados. But the more apocalyptic the warning, the more wary we become! We have nothing to fear but fear itself! We're too used to having our chain yanked by fear mongers.
So let's put some of this together, and have serious conversation. What should we be concerned about? Whether as believers or unbelievers? 2 Cor 5:10, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad."
What are we to make of Biblical warnings? Are they immediate or future? Certain or uncertain? Positive or negative? Do we have any frame or reference, or personal experience, in regard to what God's judgment might be like?
In the Bible, even in the early Christian community, we find people dismissing God's warnings. Take 2 Peter 3 for example. "Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. 2 I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.
3 Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4 They will say, "Where is this ‘coming' he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation." 5 But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. 6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. 7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. [That sounds kinda certainty...God has always, will always, keep his word!]
8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. [Immediate or Future... what is time to God?]
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. 11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. [Sounds kinda negative] 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells. [Now that sounds positive!]
14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 15 Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation 17 Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
At the root of lawlessness is people have no fear of God. The wolf was emboldened when he realized no one was coming to the boy's aid. The lawless scoff at God's warnings because judgment doesn't appear to be immediate, certain.
Hebrews 9:27, "Just as man is destined to die once, and after that face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him."
1 Thessalonians 5:1-3, "Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, "Peace and safety," destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape."
There is a video out this week of some Christians in Nepal singing a worship song about how "God makes the nations tremble" just as the earthquake struck.
"Who spread out the clouds before Him? Who fashioned the earth with His hands?" the men sang. "Who created the starry host and formed the earth at His command?" The congregation sat listening quietly. "Who scatters lightning before Him? Commands the rain and snow to fall?" "Who makes the nations tremble?" they sang. At the exact moment the men sang the line, the room began to shake.
"Earthquake," one woman said calmly to the others, but her voice gaining urgency as she repeated the word. "Earthquake. Earthquake!"
Second later, screams rang out as the room shook. The Christians called upon the name of the Lord. "Let's pray!" one called out. "Lord, You are there!" another said. "Jesus! Jesus!" a third proclaimed. Within a minute, the ground stopped shaking and the people calmly moved outside. http://christiannews.net/2015/05/01/video-surfaces-of-christians-singing-who-makes-nations-tremble-at-moment-earthquake-rocked-nepal/
What if the scoffers are all wrong? What if every single thing does matter? How then would you go about living your life?
Hebrews 10:26-31, "If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," and again, "The Lord will judge his people." 31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."
Not only should WE take warning, God insists that WE warn others. Ezekiel 3:17-19, "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. 18 When I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,' and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their life, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. 19 But if you do warn the wicked person and they do not turn from their wickedness or from their evil ways, they will die for their sin; but you will have saved yourself."
If God's Word is true, and every scoffer proved a liar, we are totally accountable for ourselves and for one another. We're totally, and collectively, reliant upon God's mercy and grace, and there is no exception for anyone. Apart from God's mercy we're STUCK! But with God's mercy we have some certain, something positive, and something who knows how immediate or future?
Hey, we don't control outcomes. There are a lot of scoffers out there. Yet God reminds us he is faithful to always keep his word. And he invites us to be faithful in warning folks while inviting them to partake of his grace. In Acts 2:38-42 Peter says, "Repent and be baptized every one of you for the forgiveness of sin, and you will receive the promised Holy Spirit." But it goes on to say that, "with many other words Peter warned them, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." And many who heard his message were baptized and thousands were added to the church that day.
Great mercy and hope for the repentant; judgment for the wicked. In this series we've explored many ways we can get stuck and unstuck. The ultimate way we can be stuck is for eternity. We must make the most of our time for the days are evil.
In Ezekiel 13:10-16, God accuses the false prophets of "white washing" the truth... making is palatable for the masses, promising peace, peace... when there was no peace!
We cannot white-wash the truth about eternity. We owe it to others to hold out God's mercy and call them to obedience in the gospel.