Gtoctr/ss121309
When I was a young boy I loved to play a game called chase – not chess – chase. I think it may be called ‘tag’ now, but it was chase back when I played it. Invariably I would find myself on the playground each school day just waiting for my crowd of kids to get out there. For as long as I can remember I have been strategic, or at least fore-thoughtful. So, I would wait as long as possible, waiting for someone else to say “let’s play chase”.
I couldn’t wait too long or someone might suggest something else and then I’d lose the group. So, if someone didn’t suggest what I wanted within the anxious window of allotted time, I would whisper it to someone nearby.
Boy, as soon as they said it out loud it was immediately followed up in the same breath with “NOT IT!” Then the frenzy began … kids yelling “not it … not it … not it” as they each took off and spread the circle waiting to see who was the last one to catch on, the one who would be forced to chase the others while they ran in circles trying to find a way to make it to the tree we had long established as base. (Base is that safe place where a person can’t be tagged. It is meant to be a temporary resting place to catch a breath before running back out into the game.) It always bothered me that so many kids stayed on base, or only an arm’s length away from it, for the whole game.
Some kids felt sorry for me or thought I was a bit slower to catch on than the others because I was always either the last one to say ‘not it’ or the first one to get tagged. I didn’t really think too much about what others thought about me, I just wanted to be ‘it’. I loved the chase … I loved that it was my choice who I was going to go after. I was it!
At that time in my life, and even today at 55 years old, I am still pretty quick. I could have caught so many, so quickly, but then my turn would be over and I’d just become one more of the crowd, trying to get somebody to chase me.
In the game of chase as well as in the game of life the main character, the main player, the one who is in command is always “it”. I can’t understand why more people don’t want to be it. Where is the thrill, where is the adventure, where is the feeling of accomplishment, the willingness to take responsibility for the game and the satisfaction seeing your team win?
I also loved the game of keep away … but I loved being the one in the middle … the one trying to get the ball …
In today’s world where almost everyone else is screaming “Not It!”, “Not Me!”, “Not My Fault!”, … where are those who say “I’ll do it … I’ll be responsible … You can count on me” … Where are those who run to the fire with confidence they can help, while almost everyone else is running away from the fire screaming “Not it! … I didn’t do it … don’t blame me … not my fault!”
So many people are willing to be in charge but they don’t want to be responsible. Just like those who scream ‘not it’ on the playground then stand around, safe on base, and say: “Chase John, catch Billy, tag Marsha”. Many would like to be it as long as they don’t have to do it.
Many want to ‘be it’ but not many want to ‘do it’ … in other words … not many want to do what it takes to ‘be it’.
For our initial scripture reading today let’s turn to the book of Genesis, chapter 3. While you turn let me catch us up on the story.
Sometime after God created man and planted a garden eastward in Eden, (probably just north of the Persian Gulf in the current nation of Iraq, near the Iranian border, a fair distance southeast of Baghdad), God gave them instructions commanding that they not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which was in the midst of the garden. Genesis 3 is the account of the serpent tempting Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit and the subsequent results of her failure to obey the Word of God.
Once she partook of the fruit, she presented it to her husband Adam, told him to eat some, and so he did. The account continues with their eyes being opened to the sin they committed. As a result they chose to hide from the presence of the Lord.
Why did they choose to withdraw from fellowship with God? Because they were afraid; they felt guilty, and reasonably so … they were guilty! However, neither of them wanted to be responsible for the failure.
You see, there is an eternal principle that says: “You break it, you fix it.” Only, they did not know how to fix this one and they certainly did not want to be seen as the one who broke it. So …
When God came walking in the garden in the cool of the evening to spend time with His children, He did not find them where He expected. So He called out to them and finally they came. When God asked them what happened, you know what they said? “NOT IT!!!!!” (Not me! Not my fault! Don’t blame me! I didn’t do it! I’m not responsible for it!) lol - Let’s read:
Genesis
9 ¶ Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, "Where are you?"
10 So he said, "I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself."
11 ¶ And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?"
12 Then the man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate."
13 And the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."
14 ¶ So the LORD God said to the serpent: "Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel."
16 ¶ To the woman He said: "I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you."
17 ¶ Then to Adam He said, "Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: "Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life.
18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field.
19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return."
20 ¶ And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.
Just a side note: Men, women, listen to me. Eve, not women, did this … Adam, not men, did this, satan, not snakes, did this. The results of sin being in the earth caused things to change as long as the earth remains. The results of sin are not curses of the law but rather God established guidelines for humanity. Work, pain, submission, and mortality are not things you have been delivered from through Jesus Christ. These are continuing realities of life on planet earth. Not accepting God’s guidelines is what caused all this trouble to begin with so we don’t need any more fanciful ideas of how to get around what God really said.
Now … back to the message: Adam and Eve’s response reveals a bit about the fallen nature of man. No one wanted to be responsible for their actions, their decisions or the outcome. No one wanted to be it! But someone had to be it … someone had to be responsible … someone had to take the lead and work on fixing this problem. Why? Because:
Bad things left to themselves don’t get better, they get worse.
Fallen man shirked his responsibility however, Jesus did the opposite. He became responsible for everyone. While many men and women today don’t want to be seen as the responsible party, Believers and those who want to be more like Jesus, are stepping up to the plate and accepting responsibility not only for their past but more importantly for their future. Not only their own future but also for the future of others, even others who have failed in their past and need someone to help them recover.
Come on … don’t you want to be more like Jesus? Don’t you want to be it! Why not? Why sit all of your life on the sidelines, safe on base, armchair quarterbacks, watching others be responsible, watching others embrace the adventures, watching others win the game. There is an old saying:
Everyone will die, but not everyone will truly live!
So what if you aren’t faster than everybody else, so what if you don’t fix everything, so what if you have to get help with the big ones … so what if others think you are slow, or gullible, or whatever … I bet those who talk about you are sitting on the sidelines, safe off base, afraid to get into the game themselves, the first ones to say “Not It” when it comes to taking responsibility. They’re trying to control the game from the sidelines … don’t listen to what they say … don’t let the voices of the ‘not its’ control you.
Remember the story of Peter walking on the water? The 11 other disciples, safe on the boat, probably remember him sinking … they might have even made fun of him, after all, Peter was the only one who got wet … but you know what Peter remembers and what all of the ‘its’ remember: PETER WALKED ON THE WATER ! Why? Because he got out of the boat, off base.
Some of you may remember the story I told about going to Pamplona, Spain and running with the bulls for my 50th birthday. How after running with the bulls the first day of the festival, I raced a couple of thousand runners on the second morning in an attempt to get into the bull fighting ring and participate in the Encierro. Perhaps it was because I was among the slim minority of sober people running that day or maybe it was due to strategically placing myself at the front of the crowd before the race began, but whatever, I was the first one to enter the bull ring after a long, long run through the streets of Pamplona.
I was excited, dressed in white with my red bandana around my neck and red sash tied at the waste. People in the bull ring screamed and shouted as I took my victory lap. Thousands of people shook their fist in the air and even threw things to me in the ring. They poured wine on me and came down to the edge of the ring to get closer with chants.
It turns out that after a while I noticed they were not throwing roses but cans, fruit, trash and other odd articles. Their chant was now in unison. I stopped my victory laps and asked another participant who spoke Spanish to translate … he said that they were calling me the ‘son of a whore’. Why? Because I was first and they saw me as a chicken that had run so fast only because I was afraid of the bulls … it turns out that I ran all the way to the ring before they even let the bulls go out of their pen that morning.
Now here I was deflated, ashamed, people making fun of me, calling me names. What these people, who I thought were my fans, were saying was not something I expected. I felt embarrassed and so misunderstood. How was I going to continue … I thought of leaving the ring in shame.
But, then again I thought … what have I got to be ashamed of? You know what saved me? I realized that not one of those thousands who were mocking me were out in the streets with the bulls yesterday morning or this morning for that matter. Not one of these people were out here in the bull ring with 10 angry bulls about to enter. None of these chanting irritants were about to face 5 fresh bulls in the Encierro like I was about to do. Which one of them wanted to come out here with me and touch the bull’s tail or slap one of these mean bulls on the nose? They could say what they wanted but they were all just spectators … I was a participator!
I was it!
The its in life will always give the spectators something to talk about, something to complain about, something to judge or criticize … but also … the its in life will as well give these same spectators a game worth watching and a world worth living in.
For me, Jesus is It and I want to be just like Him. What about you? Refuse to shirk your responsibility and commit to take responsibility for more than just you and your family. Decide to do all you can for as long as you can and then find a way to do more so that people here in our communities and people living in communities like ours all over the world are fed, clothed, educated, live in peace, and come to know Jesus, the Son of the living God, as their personal Lord, Messiah, Savior and Friend.
So, let the games begin … who wants to be it?
