Changing the Rules of the Game

Suggested Reading: Matthew 15:1-20

I know it is shocking, but when they were younger my children would occasionally get into fights. One of the things they sometimes fought about was the rules of whichever game that they happened to be playing. They would be playing along, having fun, until one of them decided that the rules didn't work as they were and they would attempt to change the rules of the game right then and there. Most of the time, the rule change was intended to give the one making the change an advantage over the other one, which, in turn, started a fight. "That's not how you play the game!" the other one would yell or cry, and the fight pretty much fueled itself from there.

In the New Testament, Jesus accused the Pharisees of trying to pull the same kind of rule change with the way God wants us to live. Jesus pointed out how they violated God's command to honor one's parents by devoting to the temple the money they would have used to care for their parents in their old age. That gift to the temple, in their minds, freed them from the obligation to care for their parents. Then, speaking for God the Father, Jesus quoted the book of Isaiah and said, "These people honor Me with their lips but their heart is far from me. They worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commands of men" (Matthew 15:8-9, HCSB).

Many times, we do the very same things the Pharisees did, and we make up our own rules that we think nullify God's commands. Jesus gave us the example of the Good Samaritan who stopped for a man on the side of the road, but we tell ourselves that we don't have to care for that person because it is more important to be "wise" and not put ourselves in dangerous positions. Jesus prayed for and encouraged unity among his followers, but we decide that we can only be united with other believers if they hold exactly the same doctrinal beliefs that we do. Through the Holy Spirit, Paul insisted that we not demand our own rights when doing so might cause other believers to falter in their faith, but we declare that anyone who is offended by our innocent actions is simply dumb and not our concern. 

Every day, as believers and as local churches, we "change the rules" for our own advantage, so that we don't have to work as hard or so that we can have the things we want, coming up with our own little traditions that give us the right to ignore God's commands.  If we were honest with ourselves, we normally know exactly when we do this because the Spirit pricks our consciences, and we do our best to pretend that nothing is wrong. Sometimes, we even pray for God to send someone else to do what we know we should be doing.  But there are two problems with making up our own rules like that: 1) many of the lost people we are trying to reach know how we are supposed to live and our contradictory behavior communicates that God isn't real to us so God doesn't need to be real to them; and 2) when we ignore God's commands and follow our own rules, we end up hurting ourselves, just like cheating in a game often helps you in the short-term but then messes you up in the next round.

What are the rules you have come up with to relieve yourself of following God's commands? When you feel the Spirit prick your conscience, what rules do you spout to yourself so you have an excuse to ignore God's voice? There is a lost and dying world that needs to see us living life as God commanded, not to mention that we end up hurting ourselves when we ignore God's commands. Let's not come up with our own rules so that we get exactly what we want. Let's not be those people who honor God with our lips but whose hearts are far from him. 

When Jesus took the Kobayashi Maru

Suggested Reading: John 8:1-11 

In the 2009 Star Trek movie, fans got to see something they had heard about for decades. Every Starfleet commander was required to take a test called the Kobayashi Maru. The test was designed to measure a person's response to the no-win scenario, to test their character. Unfortunately, James T. Kirk didn't believe in the existence of the no-win scenario, so he decided to change the rules and hacked into the test to change the parameters. He got into a heap of trouble, but he made his point. The way Captain Kirk would handle no-win scenarios would be to change the rules, to change the game itself. He chose to shape the game and the world into what they should be rather than what they were.

In John chapter 8, the Pharisees had a game they wanted to play with Jesus, trying to trap him in a no-win situation to make him look bad and themselves look good. So they found a woman who had been caught committing adultery and brought her alone to Jesus.  They didn't care about the woman or even about justice for her crime. All they cared about was trapping Jesus and they didn't care who they hurt or used to do it. They brought this woman who was probably naked (since she had been caught "in the act") and paraded her before Jesus. They reminded him that the law demanded she be stoned and asked him what to do, hoping he would either contradict the law of Moses and commit blasphemy or condemn her and lose credibility with his message of love. "This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground" (John 8:6, HCSB). When these Pharisees came along, using this woman in order to make a point, Jesus refused to play their game.  He stooped down and wrote in the sand in order to change the game and keep them from using this woman. Then he changed the premise they were operating under when he said, "The one without sin among you should be the first to throw a stone at her" (John 8:7, HCSB).

There are a lot of games that people play that we can choose not to be a part of, that we can choose to change. Sometimes that game is using people for one's own benefit. Sometimes it is taking advantage of an unfair playing field, getting ahead at someone else's expense. Sometimes that game is setting up other people to fail or intentionally making someone look bad so we can look good. Whatever game is being played where winning is more important than people, we can not only refuse to play but we can take action to change the game. We can change the rules by helping someone else even if it makes us look bad. We can refuse to allow people to define the conversation in a way that is suited to benefit them and no one else. We can choose to live by a different set of rules and demonstrate to people there is a better way to live.

Are you simply playing the game that you find yourself in? Playing along because that is the way the world is? You can choose to change the game. Don't let yourself or anyone else be reduced to being a pawn.