The Age-Old Game of “Pass the Buck”

In many ways this is a game similar to “The Gift of Blame”. When we’re not sure what the right decision would be, we leave it for someone else to decide. We don’t want to take responsibility for a potential wrong decision. This might be seen as wise. In reality we are letting someone else make the decision and be held accountable for the results.

 The active way to do this is hand the decision to someone else. Tell them they are blessed with the authority to make the decision, and in unspoken words tell them they are responsible for any mistakes. The passive way is to leave the decision on your desk until the deadline passes, and by default the decision is made. I’m really good at the latter. In fact this is such an acceptable way of making decisions we have it built into our executive branch legal system. A law can sit on the governor’s desk long enough, and it will become law without a signature.

How old is the game of “Pass the Buck”? It’s old enough to be seen in the Bible. The case in point is the Apostle Paul as we discover in the book of Acts, chapter 23.

Act 23:26-30 "Claudius Lysias to His Excellency, Governor Felix: Greetings. The Jews seized this man and were about to kill him. I learned that he is a Roman citizen, so I went with my soldiers and rescued him. I wanted to know what they were accusing him of, so I took him down to their Council. I found out that he had not done a thing for which he deserved to die or be put in prison; the accusation against him had to do with questions about their own law. And when I was informed that there was a plot against him, at once I decided to send him to you. I have told his accusers to make their charges against him before you."

Lysias wouldn’t make the decision about what to do with Paul. Paul was a Jew which made him of little importance to the Romans. Paul was a Roman citizen which made him extremely important to the Romans. What did Lysias do? He passed the buck. The same thing happens again at the end of chapter 24 between two Roman representatives.

How often do we do this in our personal lives? How often do we do it in our churches? Taking responsibility for making a decision can be a scary thing. When we claim the authority to make a decision, we are also putting ourselves in the position of being held accountable for the results. That is not always a comfortable situation.

Asking for advice upon which to make a decision is a wise move. Taking time to weigh all options is also wise if sufficient time is available. The bottom line is someone has to make decisions. That’s why they get paid the megabucks. Those who refuse to make decisions stay on the bottom rung and do what someone tells them. It’s safe, it’s comfortable, and it’s nearly free from the pressure of accountability.

Daily we must make decisions some of which involve significant consequences. What kind of education will we seek? What kind of job will we take? Will we marry and if so whom? Will we uproot our family to take a different job? How will we handle our material resources? How will we prepare for retirement and end of life events? Sometimes it would be so nice if someone else made the decisions for us, but alas.

In the church how much does not get done because someone believes a decision is not necessary? A more common statement is, “That’s not my job.” That’s called passing the buck by default. It’s not my responsibility so no one can hold me responsible.

God made the decision to send his Son to be our Savior. He took the responsibility. He paid the price. We are the recipients of the divine love. We are also recipients of the responsibility to pass the love on, the best kind of passing the buck.

Bad Weather Doubts

School has been closed for the last two days due to ice and snow. My office follows the school schedule so I have been making myself useful working around home, clearing the street in front of my house, writing, and making plans for when the ice finally leaves.

That it will leave some day I am assured. What it will leave behind is another matter. Though the plants stored in my garage in anticipation of the spring have been protected from the snow, they have not been protected from the worst of the cold air. If the snow and ice melt too quickly, some flooding will occur. Single digit temperatures are mild compare to what some people are facing this winter, but all such cold is hard on people and machinery.

When the disciples of Jesus faced bad weather, they may have been experienced fishermen, but they had their fears nonetheless. We have no idea how many of their friends and fellow fishermen may have been lost in a sudden storm on the Sea of Galilee. They had seen these men go out in the evening and seen the storm clouds form. In the morning hours they had waited with anxious family members for boats that never returned. They may have had real reason to be afraid.

In the Gospel of Mark Jesus assured those with him in the boat they had nothing to fear. Was it because he was a better sailor than they? Was it because he understood boats better than they? No, it was because he knew his heavenly Father better than they.

Mar 4:38  Jesus was in the back of the boat, sleeping with his head on a pillow. The disciples woke him up and said, "Teacher, don't you care that we are about to die?"

Mar 4:39  Jesus stood up and commanded the wind, "Be quiet!" and he said to the waves, "Be still!" The wind died down, and there was a great calm.

Mar 4:40  Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Why are you frightened? Do you still have no faith?"

Jesus heard the doubts and fears of his disciples. The world said they had reason to be afraid. He called them to see their situation through different eyes. He called them to see their situation through the eyes of faith. Where there is faith focused on the right Person, there is no place for fear.

When the Apostle Paul found himself a prisoner on a ship bound for Rome, he went knowing God planned for him to give his testimony in the capital of the empire. He saw himself in the hands of God. Neither the power of nature nor the Roman Empire could prevent him from carrying out his divine commands.

When a great storm appears to be ready to sink his ship, Paul tells the crew that once again God has confirmed his plans for the prisoner apostle. He will go to Rome. He will arrive safely, and he will give his testimony of faith in the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. His assurances to the crew are recorded in the Book of Acts.

Act 27:23  For last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship came to me

Act 27:24  and said, 'Don't be afraid, Paul! You must stand before the Emperor. And God in his goodness to you has spared the lives of all those who are sailing with you.'

Act 27:25  So take courage, men! For I trust in God that it will be just as I was told.

Bad weather can cause us to have doubts, even fears. Troubled relationships and a society desperately seeking to crush our witness to Jesus Christ can also cause doubts and fears. Jesus was in the boat with his disciples. God was present with Paul all the way to Rome. Storms will come. We live in a world filled with storms. We have God’s promise we need have no fear. He is with us to the end of the age.

Prayer and Bible Reading Begin at Home

Religious expression has been a source of conflict throughout American history. The colony of Rhode Island was established with the primary goal of freedom of religious expression. Thomas Jefferson wrote the defining statement on freedom of religion into the Virginia Statutes before the American Constitution was developed. Questions continue to be raised about the place of religious expression in the public setting.

Of most immediate concern is what are we doing about what we personally believe. Our court system is still addressing issues such as allowing prayer at the beginning of public government meetings whether it be town councils, state legislatures, or congress itself. People still raise the issue of the appropriateness of mentioning God in a public setting in a way that would be considered reverential.

Our Supreme Court issued rulings related to prayer and Bible reading in schools in cases handed down in 1962 and 1963 (Engel v. Vitale and Abingdon School District v. Schempp respectively). In summary these decisions said a public school could not demand a prayer composed by the institution be used by the students or faculty, nor could a sectarian book be required reading as devotional material. From these cases and others that followed, many have said the Supreme Court took the Bible and prayer out of schools.

As long as there are math tests there will be prayer in schools. I use this humorous statement to make the point the Supreme Court did not ban prayer or Bible reading in our public schools. The rulings were clear that religious expression could be banned from schools only if it disrupted the intended purpose of the school which is nonsectarian instruction.

This says students can pray in school all they want as long as it does not disrupt the purpose of the school. Students can read the Bible all they want as long as it does not disrupt the teaching program of the school. Student religious groups have the right to meet on school property as long as it is not during instruction time.

This all leads to my primary point. Most students will not know how to pray or how to study their Bibles in a school setting if they are not learning how in their homes and churches. People who complain about the courts taking the Bible and prayer out of public schools raise my blood pressure when I discover they do not practice regular family devotion periods at home, or they do not provide their children with Bible and devotional material designed for their comprehension level, nor make sure their kids are WITH them in Bible study at church on a regular basis.

In conjunction with this is my growing concern about the time we spend in prayer and Bible reading in our churches. During a year’s time I will be in more than thirty churches on multiple occasions. I find a diversity of worship styles and elements. I also find a lack of focused prayer and extensive Bible reading.

Most prayers in Sunday morning church service last less than 90 seconds. The pastoral prayer will last the longest at three to five minutes. Wednesday night prayer services are generally illness discussions, a brief Bible study, and a prayer time that may last ten minutes.  If most of our people only come to corporate worship services, when are we teaching them to pray?

Bible readings in most of our churches take even less time. The text for the sermon may often be the only biblical passage read. We spend more time singing than we do reading the Bible. It takes more time to take up the offering than it does to read the Bible. Is this how we teach our children the importance of the Bible?

Deu 6:6-7 Never forget these commands that I am giving you today. Teach them to your children. Repeat them when you are at home and when you are away, when you are resting and when you are working.

My patience runs thin when I hear someone complaining about our courts. I want to ask them if they have abdicated their roles as parents to the government. We are truly in a sad situation if we have.

Forgiveness and Spiritual Health

Recently I told a church in the beginning stages of seeking a new pastor becoming a healthy family of faith depended upon their ability to ask for forgiveness from and give forgiveness to each other. There could be no spiritual health in the congregation until everyone was willing to admit their own sins and be ready to forgive the faults in others.

This is not a significantly troubled church to my knowledge. They have no reason to suspect an uprising or a split over a particular issue. They have strong leadership among their membership, and there is a sense of unity in the congregation. They have no church fight from which to repent.

The big picture of the church’s health was not my focus. It was the heart of each individual member. This was my focus and has to be the focus of those members if they are to be spiritually prepared for their new pastor. They needed to be able to look at each other on a Sunday morning during a time of worship and say, “You are my brother and sister. I am not perfect. You are not perfect. Let us celebrate God’s forgiveness so freely given.”

Holding grudges destroys families, friendships, and churches. Nursing emotional wounds prevents them from healing and builds barriers against restored relationships. In the end the only person who loses is the one who refuses to forgive.

Jesus took the concept of forgiveness beyond human relationships. He pointed to its impact upon our relationship with God and our eternal destiny.

Mat 6:14-15 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

How we maintain our relationships with others has a direct bearing upon our relationship with God. As surely as we cannot separate our love of God from our love for our neighbors (Matthew 22:34-40), so we cannot separate our willingness to forgive our neighbor from our desire to be forgiven by God.

If I forgive you, then I am saying I choose to see you through a different set of eyes than if I refused to forgive you. In forgiveness I remove all thought of personal debt. I wipe the slate clean of emotional or physical payment. I see a common basis for our relationship. What I felt had been a wrong against me becomes a memory that no longer can impact our relationship.

The forgiveness can stem directly from a love which says no matter what you do, I love you too much to remember the wrong you did to me or the pain you caused me. Compared to my love for you, anything you do is inconsequential. Even your repentance is not necessary for me to forgive you and seek to restore what we had lost. You are too important to me to allow anything you do to keep me from forgiving you.

That forgiveness only has meaning if it is received. Jesus hung on the cross and spoke words meant for us all.

Luk 23:34 And Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

He offered a forgiveness to all, but it only had effect on recipients as it was accepted. To be forgiven means nothing if we refuse to acknowledge it and receive it. When we refuse to forgive others we are saying we are good enough to receive God’s forgiveness, but someone else is not good enough to receive forgiveness from us. That automatically builds a wall between God’s forgiveness and us.

When walls go up, relationships are strained or broken. A church cannot be healthy where such tension exists. Forgiveness must be offered and it must be received. Grudges and a right to revenge must be rejected. Only as we forgive and willingly receive forgiveness do we move toward spiritual health in a church and in our own lives.