THE ADDICT’S CURSE: Double mindedness

SERMON STARTER

          This sermon is 32 years in the making. No pastor has ever attempted any pastoral counseling without encountering the addiction problem. Every family or family tree has one or more addicts in it. We are the most addictive culture that has ever existed on the planet.

          The strongest insight about this material is how a person can become twin-souled. The world accuses us of being hypocritical, but it is not only in Christianity where people become two-faced. It strongly happens in addicts and the families that produce them. Scripture has much to say about the superficial religion of the Pharisees of the past and the present.

          Pharisees are the religious addicts that view religion as a temporary mood lift, but have no concern about connecting spirituality with their day to day conduct. This sermon is an attempt to enter the world of the addict and bring a strong Gospel message to those who walk in their dark world of lies and confusion.

          Anyone raised in a family with addicts in their family tree can understand the splitting that occurs in the addict’s mind. My family tree is sprinkled with compulsives and addicts. I felt the splitting first hand that caused me to be a spectator to life rather than a participant. It’s like being on the outside and watching everyone on the inside enjoying themselves, while you feel alienated and profoundly alone.

          My healing from the Addict’s Curse of Double-Mindedness began when I was 29 and reached a peak when I was 32. It was 1972 when God broke through my personal clouds of doubt, cynicism and despair with His love. Experiencing God’s love was the beginning of the cure for my personal problem with double-mindedness.

 

Pastor Phil   <><<

 

March 29, 2009

Sheepfold Ministries, Pastor Phil Roland

 

THE ADDICT’S CURSE: Double mindedness

Romans 7:15-25 - James 4:8

 

“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”

 

I.  WHAT IS AN ADDICTION?

    “An addiction is the failed attempt to fill your heart and life with anything but

      God Himself. Any human activity has the potential of becoming an addiction.”

1. A.     In the beginning God and Adam walked together in peace

     1. Obedience was the key to their peace – 1 Sam 15:22b

        “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.”

     2. God’s Command – Exodus 20:3

          "You shall have no other gods before Me.”

B. Adam/Eve Disobeyed God’s Command and Lost Connection – Gen 3:8

     “And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the

       cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence

       of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.”

 

II. THE RESULT OF ADAM’S SIN SPLIT MANKIND’S REASON

    “a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” James 1:8

    A.  Greek = DIA-PSUKE – “Twin Souled”

            1. Twin-Souled people – Lives conflicting one against the other

            2. Torn/Split all the time – Romans 7:24

             “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?”

     B. Public Self / Private Self – George Lucas, Star Wars - “The Force”

            1. The Public Self is the “Light Side”

            2. The Private Self can be the “Dark Side”

                a. Dark Side feeds off negative emotions: rage, fear, hatred, guilt

                b. The Flesh, The Sin Nature, Oppositional, Defiant

      C. David hated the double-minded, because he was double-minded

           “I hate the double-minded, But I love Your law.” Psalm 119:113

 

III.  WHAT IS AN ADDICT?

       “An addict is someone who substitutes relationships, rituals, substances

         and/or human activities of all kinds for loving and worshipping the Most High

         God.”

       A. Simple Sinners, some are saved by the Grace of God

            1. All sinners are addicts of some sort or another – Romans 3:23

                “All (ADDICTS) have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”

            2. All have fallen short of His Glory and His Sobriety

      B. We can show contempt for all kinds of Junkies

            1. Inebriated unconscious wino’s urinating themselves on LA streets

            2. Pot-Heads wasting their lives on the smoke from their next joint

      C. What if the Junkie is the one staring back at you in your mirror?

IV.  WHO IS AN ADDICT?

       A. Addicts are. . .   (See Paper)

        B. Overtly Pious – More concerned with externals than internals

        C. We all are Addiction-Prone

        D. There is a terrible Price Tag for Addiction, Death - Romans 6:23

            “The wages of addiction are death, but the gift of God is eternal life in

              Christ Jesus our Lord.”

 

V. THE CORE OF THE ADDICTION PROBLEM

     A. All ADDICTS are broken-hearted people

            1. We are broken-hearted over things we had no control

                 a. Traumatic Events in Childhood

                 b. Genetic Inheritance

                 c. Relationship Problems

                 d. Misplaced Values

            2. We are broken-hearted over our own poor life-choices

                a. Sowing and Reaping – Gal. 6:7

                    “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows,

                       that he will also reap.”

                 b. Shame-Based  Guilt – Romans 8:1

                 “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ

                      Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the

                      Spirit.”

 

VI.  THE CURE FOR ADDICTION: THE CROSS

      A. The Gospel Poem:

                        Life is Short

                        Death is Sure

                        Sin the Cause

                        The Cross, the Cure

       B. Higher Power? Jesus Christ is my Higher Power

            1. There is no power higher than Him - Psalm 97:9

                “For You, LORD, are most high above all the earth; You are exalted far

                  above all gods.”

            2. He is the Most High God and Creator of the Universe

            3. He has nailed your addiction to His Cross – Col. 2:13-15

               “And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your

                 flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all

                 trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was

                 against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way,

                 having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers,

                 He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.”

      C. The cure for Dia-Psuke? - Be Singleminded – Matt. 6:22

            “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore your eye is single, your whole               body shall be full of light.”

  C. His love has set us free

 

THE ADDICT’S CURSE: Double mindedness, Text”

Romans 7:15-25a

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.

16  And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.

17  As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.

18  I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.

19  For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing.

20  Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

21  So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.

22  For in my inner being I delight in God's law;

23  but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.

24  What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

25  Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord!

 

LIST OF ADDICTIVE BEHAVIORS

Here are a FEW of our cultures’ addictive activities and behaviors

 

Money Matters

Preoccupation with Investing, Hoarding, Amassing a Fortune, Gambling, Risk-Taking, Collecting, Acquiring Valuables, Binge Shopping, Controlling Other Persons through Money

 

Wellness and Health

Body Building, Exercise, Diet and Weight Management, Medical Treatment, Tests, Surgery, Personal Hygiene, Hypochondria, Mega Vitamins, Sun Tanning

 

Relationships

Hero Worship, Worry about Others, Sexual Activities, Super Mom or Dad, Friendships, People Pleasing Addictions, Marital Fighting

 

Work / Play

Over-Achievement on the Job, Busy-aholism, Pursuit of Academic Degrees, Preoccupation with Self Improvement, Over-Zealous Homemaking, Cooking, Cleaning, Organization, Orderliness, Keeping up with the Joneses, Daydreaming, Fantasizing, Music, TV, Videos, Sports

 

Service and Volunteerism

Martyr Syndrome, Cause Groups, Charity, Church Work, Loaning Money to Other People, Rescue Relationships, Rescue Professions

 

Perfectionism

Cosmetic Surgery, Appearance, Clothes, Toxiphobia (A fear of contaminants), Unrealistic Standards of Performance, List Making, House Cleaning, Preoccupation with Rules, Structure, Ritual

 

This list is NOT comprehensive. Almost any human activity can have the potential of becoming an addiction. America is the most addictive culture in the world, partly because we have more wealth and leisure than any other culture.

 

 

 

Courtesy of Pastor Phil Roland, 4/09

A D D I C T S   A R E

 

Compulsive

Selfish

Immature

Passive

Impulsive

Thoughtless

Non-empathetic

Egocentric

Lacking in Motivation

Liars

Untrustworthy

Vindictive

Narcissistic

Hedonists

Cyclical Offenders

DAAR (Dumb As A Rock)

Unable to Learn from Experience

Controlling

Manipulative

Two-Faced

Scorners

Unable to Receive a Rebuke

Threatened by Change

Irresponsible

Overtly Religious

Pious

 

“WE has seen the enemy and he is us. . .” Pogo

 

 

 

 

THE ADDICT’S CURSE: Double mindedness

CONCLUDING ILLUSTRATION

'ALL THIS I DID FOR THEE,

WHAT HAST THOU DONE FOR ME?'

These were the words that went through my mind when I sat in the darkened theater with my wife Lois after watching the powerful, awesome film The Passion of The Christ.' It was a stunning, numbing experience to say the least. That phrase, 'All this I did for thee, what hast thou done for me' is from a story about the German artist Stenberg.

One day early in the eighteenth century, a German artist, Stenberg, walking through the market place of his home town, was attracted to the face of a dancing gypsy girl. He invited her to come to his studio and sit for him, and with her as a model, he painted his 'Dancing Gypsy Girl.' The little girl was much taken with what she saw in the artist’s studio, and watched him with great interest as he worked on a painting of the Crucifixion.

One day she said to Stenberg, 'He must have been a very bad man to have been nailed to the cross like that.'

‘No,’ the artist said, ‘he was a good man. The best man that ever lived. Indeed, he died for all men.’

‘Did he die for you?’ asked the girl.

That question set the artist to think, for he had not yet given his heart to Christ. One day he chanced to go to a meeting of the Reformers, who opened the Scriptures to him, showed him the way of salvation, and brought him to Christ. Then he went back to finish his painting of the Crucifixion, working this time not only with an artist's skill and technique but with the love that comes of a believing heart.

When the painting was finished it was hung in the gallery at Düsseldorf. One day, a young aristocratic German count, wandering through the studio, paused before Stenberg's Crucifixion.  The painting moved him greatly, as did the words written under it- ‘This I did for thee- what hast thou done for me?’ That set the young count to thinking about what he could do for Christ. The result was the founding of that noble pietistic and missionary brotherhood, the Moravians, for the young count was none other than Nicholas Zinzendorf.