Today’s sermon was a continuation of the Andy Stanley Series on “The Best Question Ever: Fool-proofing Your Life“. The topic today was entitled “Living on the Edge” and dealt specifically with the issue of our morality. Powerful, powerful stuff. For some odd reason I was reminded of this photo of Andre Agassi in Dubai (see video at end of post). He and Roger Federrer were invited to play a game of tennis for fun on this court. Each time I see this picture, I wonder if the thrill of the moment and game would have taken them one step too far. The consequences could have been terrible. This wasn’t a part of todays message, but it came to mind when I reflected on the sermon later. With that in mind, here are the notes from today’s sermon.

OUTLINE:

1. Three key arenas of life that we can ask this question, ie “what is the wise thing to do?“. One is our time. Second is money, but the third, and probably the most important one is the arena of morality.

2. Every wrong moral decision is introduced by a series of unwise decisions.

3. The “wise” thing to do will lead you away from moral disaster.

4. God’s advice for avoiding moral failure is to RUN. (1 Corinthians 6:18a)

5. Sexual sin is in a category of it’s own. (1 Corinthians 6:18b)

6. The way you flee from sexual immorality is to set standards for your conduct and your life that are so high, that are so far back from the edge that if you were to violate or compromise your standard there would be no consequences.

MY NOTES:

“a moral sin is like honey that sticks to your soul”

“Sexual sin is a category where we have the most difficult time forgiving ourselves”

“No matter how many times you pray, ask forgiveness, it’s the memory and the scar that may haunt you your entire life”.

“If you would be willing to do ANYTHING to go back and undo the past moral failures, why won’t you set the standards for the future so high to protect from those failures again”?

REFLECTION:

A key point he made was about how we justify those small decisions with “there’s nothing wrong with (insert unwise decision here)” and ultimately they lead to the wrong moral decision. I couldn’t help but think of the hauntingly cryptic words of South Carolina Senator Mark Sanford when he said of his affair, “it started with an email“. I again think of Agassi playing tennis on the court stories above Dubai. Had something happened, someone probably would have said, “it seemed like a fun idea” or “there was nothing wrong with playing tennis”. Yet in the moment, in the battle, when the wise decisions are often not made, the consequences could have been deadly…literally.

YOUR TURN: What were they preaching where you went to Church on Sunday?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRkEuUWCwpg]