{"id":4270,"date":"2017-07-02T03:04:20","date_gmt":"2017-07-02T03:04:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/balboaunionchurch.org\/?post_type=ctc_sermon&p=4270"},"modified":"2018-01-09T16:59:20","modified_gmt":"2018-01-09T16:59:20","slug":"slavery-or-freedom","status":"publish","type":"ctc_sermon","link":"http:\/\/balboaunionchurch.org\/es\/sermons\/slavery-or-freedom\/","title":{"rendered":"Slavery or Freedom"},"content":{"rendered":"

Disculpa, pero esta entrada est\u00e1 disponible s\u00f3lo en English<\/a>. For the sake of viewer convenience, the content is shown below in the alternative language. You may click the link to switch the active language.<\/p>

Yesterday, July 1st – was Canada Day… in a couple of days, the United States will be celebrating 4th of July – a day of celebration of independence. \u00a0Choosing whom to serve. \u00a0It seems very appropriate then, that today we consider Romans 6: 12-23<\/strong> that Phil Edmonston<\/a> read for us: freedom or slavery, discussing who we choose to serve.<\/p>\n

For my example today, I’m going to use \u00abanger\u00bb, because it is such a controlling emotion. How many have not felt controlled by their anger, rather than in control of their anger. \u00a0But the reality is that you could replace anger with any sin, because there are so many to which we can be slaves. Proverbs 6, verses 16 to 19 caution us:<\/p>\n

16\u00a0<\/sup>There are\u00a0six things that the\u00a0Lord<\/span>\u00a0hates,<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>seven that are an abomination to him:<\/span><\/span>
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>haughty eyes (pride of the heart – arrogance, someone who is holier than thou, looking down on others because\u00a0someone is better than…<\/em>),\u00a0a lying tongue (deception in speech, a lie is a lie – no matter how white or little<\/em>),<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>and\u00a0hands that shed innocent blood (while it’s talking about murder, it even applies to gossip & character assassination<\/em>),<\/span><\/span>
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>a heart that devises wicked plans (remember – \u00abas a man thinks in his heart, so he is\u00bb, this is premeditation, planning<\/em>)<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>feet that make haste to run to mischief (they have gone from machinations to execution readily – from planning to doing without restraint. But it’s more than that! \u00a0It is also when we know what to do and we consciously choose NOT to do it! It could be not participating in gossip – when you listen avidly and fuel the fire; it could be character assassination)<\/em>,<\/span><\/span>
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>a false witness who\u00a0breathes out lies (knowingly speaking falsely about another person, not simply lying – and that, once again, could include circulating rumours and gossiping<\/em>),<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>and (this is the worst one of them all, the 7th<\/em>) one who\u00a0sows discord among brothers (this is basically the sum of the previous 6… and we are back again to<\/em>\u00a0gossip & slander, speaking ill of another behind their back, creating divisions rather than unity<\/em>).<\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"anger,<\/a>
Are you letting off steam?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And the reason that I want to talk about anger, is that it is so closely related to many of these sins mentioned in Proverbs. \u00a0You know, that emotion that you feel: fury; wrath; rage; mad; ticked off; peeved… whatever you want to call it! \u00a0However much we may value loving kindness, we still get angry. \u00a0But what happens when anger controls your life? Let me clarify what I mean: there is a healthy and normal anger. \u00a0It is part of our fight\/flight\/freeze response, in which many species, not just humans, get a driving force of adrenaline that helps them escape from danger. With this, we respond to a perceived threat, whether to our children, our self, or our home. \u00a0We also see in animals, the same as in humans, the anger that arises from frustration, when we are trying to do a task, and confront failure in our performance. \u00a0I’ve watch more than one horse kick the bucket to get the water out!<\/p>\n

But, unlike animals, humans suppress anger, and more importantly we have anger problems because we forget the purpose of anger. \u00a0Instead of using anger to protect our \u00abcubs\u00bb, life, loved ones or friends, we have started to use anger to protect our ego!<\/p>\n

\"ego\"<\/a>And by ego, I mean our perception of our ego, which is partly how we want to regard ourselves (internal) and how we want others to perceive us (external). \u00a0Ego is our sense of \u00abI\u00bb, the way we differentiate ourselves from others. \u00a0For some, it is an intoxicating sense of self-importance, something that must be protected. \u00a0But it is interesting that the Western view of ego is so different from the Eastern view of ego. For us, our ego is the self, the conscious part of me (my mind, my being) that knows the experience. \u00a0But, in Eastern tradition, ego is simply a part of the mind, a trait, a characteristic – but it isn’t actually WHO you are. \u00a0And this is important to differentiate when we are talking about anger, especially anger that is directed at protecting the ego! And this kind of anger is poisonous to us.<\/p>\n

You all know the story about the boy with the bad temper, whose father sent him out with a bag of nails, and to hammer a nail into the fence every time he lost his temper, right? The first day, he had to drive 37 nails into the fence. \u00a0Over time, he got control of his temper, and it gradually dwindled down. \u00a0He discovered that it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence. \u00a0Finally, the day arrived: the boy didn’t lose his temper at all. \u00a0He told his father, and for a moment they celebrated that he had finally learnt to control it. \u00a0The father than suggested that for each day that the boy was able to hold his temper, he pull one nail out of the fence! \u00a0It took a long time, but finally the boy was able to return to his father and tell him that all the nails were finally pulled out of the fence.
\nThe father took the son by the hand, and they went to look at the fence. And here they saw all of the holes that the nails had left. \u00a0The fence would never been the same. \u00a0And the father told his son: \u00abWhen ou say things in anger, or lash out at another person, the words leave scars like these. \u00a0You can put a knife into a person and draw it back out, but the hole remains. \u00a0Saying \u00abI’m sorry\u00bb will not fix the wound. \u00a0It is still there.\u00bb<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Many of you may think that you handle your anger well: \u00abI don’t express my anger, I hold it in and don’t say nasty things.\u00bb \u00a0But bottling the anger up inside, if you are not actually addressing it, leads to problems also. \u00a0In the Sermon on the Mount<\/a>, in Matthew 5, verses 21 and 22, Jesus said:<\/p>\n

21\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cYou have heard that it was said to those of old,\u00a0\u2018You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable\u00a0to judgment.\u2019<\/em><\/span><\/span>\u00a022\u00a0<\/sup>But I say to you that\u00a0everyone who is angry with his brother\u00a0will be liable\u00a0to judgment; whoever insults\u00a0his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, \u2018You fool!\u2019 will be liable to\u00a0the hell\u00a0of fire.<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"apple&worm\"<\/a>So, a small question: \u00a0how many of you know how a worm gets inside an apple? \u00a0You may think that the worm burrows in from the outside. \u00a0But scientists have discovered that the worm actually comes from the inside. \u00a0What happens is that the insect lays its egg on the apple blossom. \u00a0The blossom becomes an apple, and when the worm hatches, it is already INSIDE the apple. This is how our ego works on our thoughts, words and actions. \u00a0It is already inside of us, and we are busy protecting it!<\/p>\n

But, like I said, our \u00abego\u00bb is not \u00abus\u00bb – it is our perception of how we \u00absee\u00bb ourselves and how the world \u00abshould see\u00bb us. It is only when we are able to not identify with our ego, that we are able to stop protecting it against every attack and begin to look rationally at our anger! Many of ous think \u00abthat made me so angry\u00bb or \u00abif so-and-so hadn’t said that, I wouldn’t have reacted that way\u00bb. \u00a0But the truth is: they didn’t actually \u00abmake us\u00bb do anything. They may have been a source of temptation, but the reality is that they simply EXPOSED<\/em> <\/strong>us and how we relate to our ego! And what comes out of our mouths when we are angry, is simply an expression of what is in our heart!<\/p>\n

If we would take a moment, and \u00ablisten\u00bb to the thoughts in our head when we are angry, our self-talk, you might hear:<\/p>\n