SOUTHSIDE CHURCH OF CHRIST

But Everybody Else is Doing It!, Sunday, 3 September 2000

Dec 13, 2000

Leland R. Ping

In I Samuel 8, Samuel is at the close of his life and the children of Israel find themselves without a leader to fill the space that will be left open after their leader's death. Instead of letting God figure things out and provide for them as He saw fit, the Israel people demanded a king for themselves. And, what was their reasoning - everybody else was doing it! In verse four, the elders of Israel went to Samuel and asked him to, "make us a king to judge us like all the nations." By that time in history, kings were quite plentiful. Yet, Israel had no king and, wanting to be live everyone else, it too wanted a king.
Like the children of Israel, we, whether young or old, find ourselves using the logic of so many. This is true not only in our personal lives, but of indivudual congregations. In a soceity that thinks religion is about secular education, children's entertainment or using the Lord's money for any and every purpose, it can be easy for us to say that maybe we should join in. After all, everybody else is doing it! Even if everybody is doing it, we still have no authorization for involving the Lord's church in things for which it was not intended. Paul instructs the Roman church that, "the kingdom of God is not eathing and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." Thus, let's look not to what others in the world do, but let us turn to the scriptures for our authority in everything we do.