Rev. David Holwick X Hot Potatoes, #2
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
July 27, 2014
Romans 6:9-14
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I. Everybody loves a meltdown.
A. Addiction is a feature of modern life.
1) The travails of Toronto's Mayor Rob Ford.
Accusations were made that he was seen smoking crack.
He vehemently denied it.
Then a video surfaced of the mayor hold a flame below a
glass pipe.
No one could prove it contained cocaine but it seemed very
damaging.
The mayor finally admitted to it, but infamously blamed it
on his being an alcoholic.
(Apparently some addictions are easier to admit to than
others.)
The city council took away most of his powers but he has
not resigned.
Instead, he checked into rehab. For two months.
While he was there, he fought with the other patients.
Other politicians have labeled him a disgrace and a
source of ridicule for their city.
You may feel the same way.
But some recovering addicts have noted we should have
compassion on him.
His life is obviously out of control.
Do you think you are immune from this condition?
2) We associate addiction with "the other side of the tracks."
a) Among people I helped through the deacons' fund this
week, one showed me the track marks in his arms
from his former heroin addiction.
b) Another woman said she was almost homeless because
her son, also addicted to heroin, had spent all
the deposit money they had accumulated.
c) A third person, a man, was injured when he was hit
by a car. Someone told me he was probably drunk
at the time, and has been most of the time since.
3) There are plenty of addictions among "good people," too.
a) Many have found they can juggle addiction and a normal
life, at least for a while.
1> Alcohol abuse is big in the middle-class.
2> So are prescription painkillers.
3> Gambling and cocaine are found as well.
4> Some would add eating disorders and sex to the list
of common addictions.
b) Addiction can happen to anyone, in any stage of life.
4) Christians themselves are not immune.
Mark Derksen, 63, of Fountain Hills, Arizona, was known
to local police as a drug dealer.
They followed him for two years to get enough evidence.
Mark's business model was to give away free samples of
methamphetamine so people would get hooked.
Then he would then sell them more.
When police finally raided his apartment, they found large
amounts of heroin, methamphetamine, and other drugs,
as well as guns.
Derksen allegedly admitted to investigators he sold drugs
to people to "bring them closer to God."
He's the pastor at Faith Mountain Christian Church.
#63845
B. How do you handle addiction?
1) You may be dealing with it yourself.
a) Perhaps it involves someone in your family, or a close
friend.
b) Very few families are left untouched.
2) Churches often have a hard time dealing with it.
a) We are all about victory rather than struggle.
1> It can be hard to admit to Christians that we
haven't overcome a problem yet.
2> But you can't get to the victory before you
overcome your problem through struggle.
b) Christians who don't struggle with an addiction can be
very judgmental toward those who do.
1> Addicts make great sermon illustrations!
2> We are glad we aren't messed up like them.
C. Jesus is all about delivering people from sins and slavery.
1) Maybe middle-class Christians aren't very supportive, but
Jesus feels your pain.
2) He wants to help you have a victory over addiction and sin.
3) He wants you to be truly free.
II. Our passions can be very powerful.
A. Think of the impact of addictions on our society.
1) Big news about the flood of kids over our borders.
a) Many are fleeing violence in their home countries.
b) The source of the violence? Immigrants who came to
America, got caught up in gangs, then got deported.
c) Back in their own countries they continued those
gangs and brutalized their communities, all of it
fueled by drug money.
2) In our own country, alcohol, tobacco and pharmaceuticals
are multi-billion dollar industries, as is gambling.
a) They have a profit incentive to hook you on their
product.
b) But if there is money in it, then everyone wants a
piece of the action.
c) It is no secret that Atlantic City is on a downward
slide because gambling has exploded everywhere else.
B. We always want more pleasure.
1) Basic needs are pretty much covered in our society.
a) Even the poorest people are often fat.
b) We all have excess, and we don't know how to handle it.
2) Pleasure can be more dangerous than tyranny.
a) Novelists have debated this.
Neil Postman's book, "Amusing Ourselves To Death,"
contrasts the futuristic visions of George Orwell's
"1984" and Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World."
(Like many of you, I had to read these in high school.)
In "1984," Huxley said that people would be controlled
by inflicting pain.
In "Brave New World," they are controlled by inflicting
pleasure.
Orwell feared that what we hate would ruin us.
Huxley feared that what we love would ruin us.
Current events seem to show that Huxley, not Orwell,
was right.
Ravi Zacharius says that any pleasure - whether good or
bad - can make us slaves.
Hunger for even the simple pleasure of food may become
a life-dominating drive.
Oscar Wilde said, "The only way to get rid of temptation
is to yield to it."
He's got it wrong.
The unrestrained appeasement of desire only expands
hungers.
Our everyday experiences confirm this.
#17685
b) ISIS is an aberration.
1> They are the strict Islamists who have overrun
much of Syria and northern Iraq.
2> They have expelled all the Christians even though
churches have been established there since
soon after the time of Christ.
3> Reports also say they are ordering all women to
have surgery so they cannot get pleasure from sex.
A> The Islamist radicals must love George Orwell.
B> But I don't expect the world to pant after ISIS.
1: Even regular Muslims will soon reject them.
III. The nuts and bolts of addiction.
A. First you need to define it.
1) Professor Gerald May defines addiction this way:
"Addiction is a self-defeating force that abuses our
freedom and makes us do things we really do not want
to do."
He says addiction attaches to desire and uses it to
enslave us to certain behaviors, things and people.
#25349
2) Rev. Jeff Olive notes that addiction is simply a desire to
feel good and not bad.
Addiction makes you feel good, for a time, and blocks out
the negative realities around you.
Instead of dealing with painful things, you do something
that feels good.
#24537
B. There are different understandings of how addiction works.
1) Disease model.
a) This is very popular in our society.
b) Addiction is a disease like measles.
1> It is not your fault if you catch it.
2> What you need is treatment and understanding.
2) Genetics model.
a) Your DNA predestines you to certain weaknesses.
1> Some genes can predispose you to alcoholism.
b) Once again, it is not your fault.
1> If you are programmed that way, there may not be
much you can do about it anyway.
3) Moral model.
a) This is the standard Christian approach.
1> We often call it the Sin Model.
b) You may have genetic predispositions, you may have
bad experiences that leave you weak, but in the end
you choose self-destructive behavior.
1> You can't blame anyone but yourself. #17606
2> At the same time, you have the power to break the
addiction and be free again.
IV. Addiction is a complex web.
A. It is usually more than a simple choice.
1) Your culture has an impact. (American Indians and alcohol)
2) Even so, your personal decisions make a big difference.
a) I believe some people are more prone to alcoholism
than others.
b) But if you never take that first drink, you won't
become an alcoholic.
B. Five characteristics that distinguish genuine addiction.
Rev. Michael Dent lists the following:
1) Tolerance - the experience of your always wanting or
needing more of the behavior or substance in order to
feel satisfied.
a) The pleasure it gives lessens, so you have to have more.
b) In the end, it produces little joy, just slavery.
2) Withdrawal symptoms - you experience stress, irritability,
agitation and perhaps panic when you are deprived of
the object of your addiction.
3) Self-deception - you deny, defend or rationalize evil
behavior to yourself as being acceptable and harmless.
a) You end up lying to lots of other people, too.
b) Denial and excuses define your life.
4) Loss of willpower - you repeatedly resolve to end a
behavior, but you are unable to do so.
a) You become its slave, just like Paul says in Romans 6.
5) Distortion of attention - addiction and its mind tricks
inevitably kidnap and distort our focus.
a) Your relationships become crippled and superficial;
loved ones are just tools to provide your high.
b) Many addicts will steal from their family.
c) A heroin addict can focus little more than obtaining
his next fix.
#25349
V. You don't have to be a slave.
A. Decide to obey a different power. Rom 6:13,16
1) The only way to break an addiction is to give it to God.
a) Recognize something else has mastery over you.
b) Admit that you are powerless to overcome it on your own.
c) Believe that God has the power to deliver you from it.
d) Decide to turn over your whole life to him.
1> Some addicts have told me - I prayed for help and
it didn't help.
2> I am not talking about a single heart-felt prayer.
3> Deliverance requires total repentance and commitment
to God.
e) Seek others who will help you gave the victory.
B. Deliverance is usually not an instant miracle.
1) Recovery is a process, not a quick fix.
a) Relapses are common.
2) You need others to help you.
a) A dilemma for many Christians is we end up assisting
their addiction instead of helping conquering it.
1> Psychologists call this co-dependency.
2> Helping them makes us feel better, even if we make
them worse off.
b) You may need to stop giving them bail or protecting
them from failure and pain.
After years of hard work, George and Liz Hunt had a
beautiful home in an exclusive suburb of Houston.
They thought they had it made.
But gradually they noticed a change in their oldest son,
Paul.
At times he seemed drunk, but they never smelled alcohol
on his breath.
They began finding what they thought was drugs in his
clothes.
Paul was hanging with a rough looking group of kids, and
soon his own appearance changed.
He gradually became dirty and sickly looking.
One morning when Paul was in the shower, his dad yelled to
him that he was going to move his car.
Just as George was unlocking the door, Paul flew out of
the house dripping-wet, and pushed his dad aside.
He grabbed a baggie filled with drugs and jumped out again.
Right there in front of the whole neighborhood, George Hunt
started beating on his son with his fists.
But Paul was able to get away and raced naked into the
woods.
What does a parent do?
A concerned, but direct approach can do wonders.
It can also be costly.
After Paul Hunt ran off naked into the woods, a few days
later his father gave him an ultimatum.
He told his son to enroll in drug therapy or leave the
house.
His son left.
Thanksgiving came and went. So did Christmas.
But Paul finally saw the truth in what his parents said.
He was admitted to a hospital program and eventually
kicked his habits.
If his parents had not confronted him in love, he may
never have changed.
Trying to beat it out of him wouldn't have worked either.
It was their love and firmness that persuaded him.
#28944
C. You can overcome addiction.
1) Johnny Cash is a powerful example.
a) He became a Christian early in life, but still had a
failed marriage and drug addiction.
b) His struggles continued after he married June Carter,
who had a very strong Christian family.
c) But he was very honest about his struggles and his
desire to live a clean life.
People appreciated how "real" he was. #30224
Cash once noted that his favorite Scripture verse was
Romans 8:13, which says,
"For if you live according to the sinful nature, you
will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the
misdeeds of the body, you will live...."
#25537
2) Do you want to live? [give invitation]
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
#17606 “Is Being Hooked A Choice?” Andy Dehnart, Don Johnson Collection,
January 10, 2000.
#17685 “Enslaved Through Pleasure,” Ravi Zacharias, A Slice of Infinity:
Ravi Zacharias International Ministries; July 23, 2002;
http://www.gospelcom.net/slice/.
#24537 “Addiction,” sermon by Rev. Jeff Olive, Marvin United Methodist
Church of Tyler, Texas; http://www.marvinumc.com, January 22, 2006.
#25349 “Addiction: Let Go and Let God,” sermon by Rev. Michael Dent,
Marvin United Methodist Church of Tyler, Texas;
http://www.marvinumc.com. [no date]
#25537 “Johnny Cash's Conversion,” Erin Curry, Baptist Press,
http://www.baptistpress.org; September 12, 2003.
#28944 “What Does a Parent Do?” original source unknown, taken from old
sermon by Rev. David Holwick, August 3, 1986.
#63845 “Not How Angels Got High,” Randy Cassingham, This Is True internet
newsletter; December 28, 20012. Original source is the
Arizona Republic. Also see <http://www.azfamily.com/news/local/Arizona-pastor-arrested-for-dealing-dr ugs-181308941.html>
These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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