Originally published August 2014

Break Every Chain

By Rev. Tom Tuura

Pastor of Christ Lutheran Church

We need to be honest and acknowledge the reach of this enticement via technology and media.

Pretending we don't have temptation or struggle only alienates those who do.

Let's be honest... is a statement we are hearing more often. Its even an irritating advertising campaign about a personal product. Let's be honest--about something else personal.“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us...” Hebrews 12:1

What's keeping you from running the race? What's keeping you from really getting into the game? For many, its some besetting, or entangling sin.

I've struggled to approach this subject honestly from the pulpit, not wanting to become too overly specific thus singling people out, and not wanting to disgrace the pulpit as some preachers I've heard, who get way too graphic. Also, because I am vulnerable with sins of pride as well as weakness, as is everyone else.

But it must be preached because, “Sin will take you where you do not want to go. It will keep you longer than you planned to stay. And it will cost you more than you intended to pay.” James L Nicodem

It has just been redefined—in fact turned upside down. Sin is now entities, pollution, waste, wealth, corporations, greed, intolerance, racism, inequality.

Sin is not out of style. There's more preaching against it than ever. There's shaming, and ostracizing of those involved in it. It has just been redefined—in fact turned upside down. Sin is now entities, pollution, waste, wealth, corporations, greed, intolerance, racism, inequality.

Still a highly emotional subject today, society is highly resistant to the “old” definitions of sin. In fact there is an all out educational reprogramming taking place. The courts and legislatures are in an all out blitz to this reprogramming.

But society never informed our consciences of the changes, because the heart is still programmed to bring guilt and shame from the old definitions. St. Paul tells us in Romans 1:19 “because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.”

The Bible also informs us that a violation of God's will has occurred and natural man is stuck. But as the contemporary song playing on the Christian Radio say, “There is power in the Name of Jesus, to BREAK EVERY CHAIN”

Here's my approach to dealing with this as pastor. Ultimate goal is to expose it to light. There are sins of pride and power, and sins of weakness. Your areas may be opposite of mine. And we eventually have both, sins of pride and weakness.

Sins of pride are often out in the open. Sins of weakness, we tend to want to hide, in secret.

Sin is always dynamic, so the minute you and I think we have it fenced in, it breaks out. Or the fence that worked so effectively up til now, suddenly is less and less effective.

All sins are deceitful. The thing about being deceived, is...you got it—you don't realize it. Before we know it, the fence we built to put around sin, sin has put around us.

With regard to sins of pride and power, James says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” James 4:6 Sins of pride and power, can be busyness, success, power, and money. Sins of pride and power are also often commended as drive, motivation, self promotion etc. Also breeds hypocrisy.

Here's the thing. While the pride and power sinner may sit in the choir, the person taken by sins of weakness, lives in a cycle of despondency and away from church. Sins of weakness are just as deadly. These are the secret sins we are ashamed of, the addictions we fear. But there is a new wrinkle to consider.

We have new enticements today. They say that our interstate highway system is the largest illegal drug pipeline ever invented. But its also used to drive the family across country. Well there is another superhighway of information that has been built—the internet. This superhighway is no different. It has huge potential for good, and huge potential for catastrophe.

Are you are crushed under the weight of guilt and sin? It could be either kind, pride/power or weakness. Our church should be the ER where you want to be. As a pastor, I want to make it that way. There's power in the name of Jesus, He breaks every chain.

So here's what we do. We approach one another with this sins of power/weakness paradigm.

Are you are crushed under the weight of guilt and sin? It could be either kind, pride/power or weakness. Our church should be the ER where you want to be. As a pastor, I want to make it that way.

First, develop a plan. Lets ask each other about our personal “security procedures” against our vulnerabilities. We do this for our computers!

Second, we need to resist the temptation to reprogram our thinking about sin. The best selling book and movie “50 SHADES OF GREY” is the prime example of Hollywood making this elicit behavior acceptable. Christian singing artists Mandisa and Natalie Grant set a good example by avoiding or walking out on the Emmy's.

Third, stop pretending. We need to be honest, and acknowledge the reach of this enticement via technology into our very pockets. Pretending we don't have temptation, or struggle only alienates those who do. Every week that goes by in this cycle strengthens those chains.

Last, expose the sin to light. Sin exposed to light shrivels up. It is killed at Calvary.

But those chains can be broken. Lets be honest. The Bible talks about a cleaning product that is free. A pastor colleague recently wrote this: “You are not what you have done. You are what you have overcome.”

That’s my view from the Blackberry Patch Pulpit

Pastor Tom

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 Taken from the July 2014 Edition of the Focus on Christ Newsletter.

Normal

By Rev. Tom Tuura

Pastor of Christ Lutheran Church

What I've learned from aviation, is that planes are lost not in the storms, or when the engines quit, but when the training is neglected under blue skies, and calm winds, when the engines are running. Its too late when the storm hits. You are either prepared, or not. Captain Sullenberger who made the emergency landing in the Hudson, said in an interview with Air and Space, that they didn't have time to get through page one of the engine restart checklist. That day however started like any other--normal. Normal is good. In the space shuttle days, the astronauts talking to ground control about their systems working correctly, called it “nominal”.

How do you handle emergencies? Unfortunately, some emergencies are catastrophic and there just isn't time to do anything. There are three phases in these unfolding events, that determine whether they are catastrophic, or miraculous.

The first is the what we might call the nominal phase. What are the conditions prior to the event? To me, this is the most important phase. And the reason is the next two phases. It is the daily discipline that take place here that determine the outcomes. Where many of us are now.

The second phase is common to all emergencies. The year 2009 gave us two events to learn from. The first was US Air flight 1549 which I already referred, and Air France flight 447.

While there are notable and obvious differences, notwithstanding the outcomes, there are a couple of crucial similarities, and lessons learned. In both cases, there was mere seconds to save the ship. The transfer of a routine flight when everything is "peachy" to certain perishing of all on board took place in seconds. It is mind numbing how quickly we have to be called on to that transition. One moment peace and quiet, or the wonderful scream of jet engines to chaos, and a much more ominous silence from the engines. Unfortunately not all captains realize this. Recent mass tragedies of cruise ships and ferries tell us this. That screeching noise of rocks on the hull, or listing to port are ominous harbingers of something wrong.

Both flights took off normally, with a period of nominal performance. Admitted Captain Sullenburger's normal flight was measured in only seconds. Flight 447's flight plan was normal for several hours. Passengers had time to watch a movie, be served their refreshments, and settle in for a good sleep.

The other similarity is the suddenness to which the pilots needed to declare an emergency. Experiencing an emergency, is not the same as declaring and emergency. It may be surprising, but just declaring an emergency is a big issue. Certain things happen when those words are stated. And too many of us think we can handle a situation, which really is an emergency. For Captain Sullenberger, it was obvious--the engines quit not long after takeoff--talk about an awkward silence. For the pilots of flight 447 it was "kinda" obvious, and "kinda" not. However, for them, after some three to four hours in the air, they were all dead in three and a half minutes. The last question heard on the black boxes in the cockpit, was "What is happening?" It would be over three years before they knew the answer to the pilots' question after recovering the wreckage from the Atlantic. Realizing an emergency saves lives.
Both cases held grave consequences for the passengers and crew. That is the last similarity between these two fateful flights. It is the consequences that are often the unseen factor in these situations. We live in a day and age when consequences seemingly can be "ducked", postponed or avoided altogether. But there are always consequences to our actions, or inactions.

Not every person, or ship captain, for that matter takes preparation seriously. Including all of us at one time or another. We've seen catastrophe's over the last hundred years beginning with the Titanic, and more recently, Asiana 777 crash in San Francisco, a cruise ship, and just this past spring, the South Korean ferry. Each of those has a different reason why they ended badly.

The only one of these situations that ended without loss of life, was one in which there was advance preparation. All others were catastrophic.

The Bible tells us there is an emergency coming. It is certain. Unlike air travel, one's chance of emergency is almost nil. But for each of us, there is a crisis coming. We are going to die and face judgment. Some of us will have time to prepare, and some of us will not.

So how prepared are you and I for our certain emergency? We are in a period of calm--normal. We have blue skies and calm winds above. Now is the day of salvation, according to Hebrews chapter three. Here is the warning from chapter two, “Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him...”

We can look to the Cross of Calvary, where Jesus faced judgment for us. That's the beginning of the “heeding” mentioned in the above text. The rest is daily walking and surrender to Christ.

As a congregation too, as leadership, we are in preparation mode—while things are seeming “normal”, The horizon is screaming change. The landscape is changing before our eyes. And if we are not careful, we will be caught unprepared. The only preparation is that of the soldier, in Ephesians 6.
Not only is there persecution increasing at an exponential rate, critical academics are ratcheting up attacks. Because of our Biblical/Theological positions, we could find ourselves on the wrong end of the law, facing legal costs, defense and issues we've never dreamed of.
We need to pray. Its all around us, and we have to decide NOW what our position is.

Today's Wall Street Journal had a story, about a Washington DC couple who were scheduled to go to Granada in Spain for vacation. After departure, watching the monitor on the seat in front of them were horrified to discover they were headed to the Carribean. They are suing British Airways. How much worse would it be to discover you are headed to Hell because of bad scheduling? Trust Christ today. Nothing else is more important. Realize the situation, and declare an emergency. Your emergency will not be catastrophic, but miraculous.

That’s my view from the Blackberry Patch Pulpit

Pastor Tom

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