Woodhaven Baptist Church

24 February 2003

Dear Friend,

When the world and I were young, just yesterday. Life was such a simple
game, a child could play. It was easy then to know right from wrong. Easy
then to know weak from strong. When a man should stand and fight, and
when he should go along. But today there is no day or night. Today there is
no dark or light. Today there is no black or white, only shades of gray.
I remember when the world seemed so clear. We never lived with doubt nor
tasted fear. It was easy then to know truth from lies; selling out from
compromise; who to love and who to hate; the foolish from the wise. But
today there is no day or night. Today there is no dark or light. Today there
is no black or white, only shades of gray.
It was easy then to know what was fair; when to keep and when to share;
how much to protect your heart and how much to care. But today there is no
day or night. Today there is no dark or light. Today there is no black or
white, only shades of gray, only shades of gray.*

Nostalgia, part two: oh, the days when we had the illusion of the
simplicity of life. Before anyone makes up their mind where I am going with this
thought, let me state this has nothing to do with situational ethics. There
are some things that are always right and some that are always wrong. The
problem is that it is so easy to fall into legalism and put a blanket
statement on issues as long as they are academic. When the issues occur in
life many times the categorization does not fit. Okay, Pastor Scott what are
you trying to say?

The Pharisees and Scribes needed a way for them to understand the laws
which God gave to them. To not transgress the laws, they added numerous
hedges around them. There were three hundred sixty-five separate laws
pertaining to honor the Sabbath. When Jesus seemed to violate the Sabbath laws,
they were enraged and accused Him of going against God's commands. The truth
was not so.

We so often follow the pattern of the Pharisees by adding things to God's
word and calling it "the way to interpret Scripture." There is a certain
amount of righteousness in doing this; albeit, most is self-righteousness.
Jesus never said that the Pharisees were not righteous in their own way, just
that they were not righteous in God's way.

The Israelites believed that to honor God they must hate those who did not
honor God. Among those who did not measure up were the Samaritans. These
sell-outs were viewed with great contempt. But Jesus used this exact same
feelings of superiority against the Jews in His parable about the Good
Samaritan.

When I heard the above song, the only change I thought of making would be the word "grace" instead of "gray". As we grow in the Lord and learn more about Him and the grace He sheds on us, we also should grow in our grace toward others. Yes, there will be those people who despise us and reject us because they despise and reject Him (John 15:18-16:4). Sometimes in this sin drenched world the decisions we make to follow God's will may seem wrong according to the tradition we have been taught (1 Corinthians 1:26-31), but not according to His Word. Things are not always so cut and dried, because people are not so easily categorized into worth saving and not. Jesus is not willing that any should perish. As His followers, we should not be willing either. Under His guidance, we can know when to hold on and when to let go. This leaves us with an overwhelming sense of humility, when we realize that God is God and we are not.

"He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." Micah 6:8

*"Shades of Gray" written by Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil sung by 'The Monkees''.

With love,

Pastor Scott Patz

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Last updated: 16 June 2005