{"id":10789,"date":"2016-03-03T10:34:41","date_gmt":"2016-03-03T14:34:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=10789"},"modified":"2016-04-14T09:33:51","modified_gmt":"2016-04-14T13:33:51","slug":"for-lent-lets-lose-a-bad-habit-22816","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=10789","title":{"rendered":"For Lent, Let’s Lose a Bad Habit (2\/28\/16)"},"content":{"rendered":"

We are now into a season of preparation for the passion and resurrection of our Lord.\u00a0 This preparation- which we call Lent- involves reevaluating our Walk and then getting rid of anything that’s getting in the way.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Last Week, Pastor Jim showed us how to give up the “bad attitude” of being judgmental.\u00a0 This week, we continued the series of “Bad things” by focusing on Bad Habits.
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Click the below “Play” button and scroll down to follow along (the recording is from the 11:00 service)…<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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Scripture<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Luke 11:24-26<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

24 “When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, searching for rest. But when it finds none, it says, ‘I will return to the person I came from.’<\/p>\n

25 So it returns and finds that its former home is all swept and in order.<\/p>\n

26 Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before.”<\/p>\n

= = = = = =<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Luke 19:1-10<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

1 Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho.<\/p>\n

2 Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich.<\/p>\n

3 And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature.<\/p>\n

4 So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way.<\/p>\n

5 And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.”<\/p>\n

6 So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully.<\/p>\n

7 But when they saw it, they all complained, saying, “He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.”<\/p>\n

8 Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.”<\/p>\n

9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham;<\/p>\n

10 for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

In a Rut?<\/span><\/h3>\n

Here’s what might be a familiar song… you may recognize the tune (if you’re old enough!), but listen to the words…<\/p>\n

Bet you didn’t expect to hear words like these…<\/p>\n\n\t\t

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\n\t\t\tDoing it God’s way …\n\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t
\n\t\t\tSet their people free …\n\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t
\n\t\t\tMoses talked to a burning bush…\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\tthen he knew all things were possible… \n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>Cross the sea and don’t look back!\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\n

That song highlights the root of our bad habits, which is our sin nature.\u00a0 If we are really serious about eliminating the bad habits that separate us from God, we must constantly learn to find God’s Way.\u00a0 Self help books won’t do the trick!\u00a0 God is a god of Change and Power…<\/p>\n

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Our church’s signboard recently posted the message:<\/span><\/p>\n

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“God Loves Us Too Much to Let Us Stay As We Are.<\/span><\/strong>”\u00a0 \"Signboard<\/p>\n

Change can be difficult and painful, but it’s the only path to growth.\u00a0 God loves us so much that He wants us to grow closer to Him!<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

In order to change, it’s all got to be connected with God.\u00a0 If you’re stuck in the rut of bad habits, start out if you’re really interested in doing it God’s way.<\/p>\n

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Good Habits…<\/span><\/h3>\n

In Matthew 5, Jesus clearly laid out the Good Habits that God wants us to take\u00a0 up.\u00a0 In Bible-Speak, we call these “Good Habits” the Beattitudes.”<\/p>\n

Here are the good habits that God wants us to develop…<\/p>\n\n\t\t

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\n\t\t\tGod blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him<\/span><\/strong>,<\/p>\n

…for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t

\n\t\t\tGod blesses those who mourn,<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

…for they will be comforted.\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t

\n\t\t\tGod blesses those who are humble,<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

…for they will inherit the whole earth.\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t

\n\t\t\tGod blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice,<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

…for they will be satisfied.\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t

\n\t\t\tGod blesses those who are merciful,<\/span><\/p>\n

…for they will be shown mercy.\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t

\n\t\t\tGod blesses those whose hearts are pure,<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

…for they will see God.\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t

\n\t\t\tGod blesses those who work for peace,<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

…for they will be called the children of God.\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t

\n\t\t\tGod blesses those who are persecuted for doing right,<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

…for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\n

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Jesus knew the power, the contentment, the quality of life that there is in good habits.\u00a0 We all know and the Bible teaches may examples of how destructive, hurtful, and long lasting BAD habits can be.\u00a0 Bad habits can destroy relationships, and they can devastate us, demoralize us, and dishearten us physically, emotionally, and spiritually.<\/p>\n

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Zacchaeus:\u00a0 A Wee Little Man with Big Bad Habits…<\/span><\/h3>\n

Luke 19:1-10 tells\u00a0 us the encounter between Jesus and a man named Zacchaeus.\u00a0 Zacchaeus wasn’t just a man with a name that’s really hard to spell, he was a TAX COLLECTOR!\u00a0 That means he was a really bad dude back in Jesus’ time!\u00a0 If anyone had bad Habits, Zacchaeus was it.<\/p>\n

In ancient Israel, tax collectors were very often “Jewish men who worked for the Roman government.\u00a0\u00a0 They had the power to collect extra taxes in order to make a profit” (from Harper’s Dictionary<\/span><\/em>). If somebody owed the government $100 in taxes, ‘ole Zacchaeus would force his victim \/ citizen to fork over $300.\u00a0 He’d then pocket the extra $200 for his “trouble.”<\/p>\n

And it wasn’t really a lot of trouble… Verse 2 tells us that Zacchaeus was very rich, and that his wealth was achieved from some “bad habits.”\u00a0 These bad habits not only made Zacchaeus rich, but it also had the downside of cutting him off from the rest of the people.\u00a0 Zacchaeus wasn’t very popular, to say the least.\u00a0 In a sense, his “bad habits” imprisoned him.<\/p>\n

\"Sycamore

Sycamore Tree in Jericho<\/p><\/div>\n

Luke 19:3 tells us that Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus.\u00a0 Nobody was going to help this short man to the front of the crowd so he could get a decent view of Jesus as He passed by.\u00a0 In fact, they were more likely to push him away and tell him to shut up!<\/p>\n

But Zacchaeus was determined.\u00a0 He wouldn’t let anything stop him.\u00a0 So found the closest sycamore tree and climbed up it.\u00a0 When we want to drop a bad habit, we must resolve to get rid of it right now.\u00a0 We can’t stand\u00a0 around waiting for a better moment.\u00a0 Zacchaeus seized the moment, found a way to see Jesus, and he took advantage of it.\u00a0 Right away.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Zaccheaus had a lot of things going against him, but this story does teach us some lessons about how to handle our bad habits.\u00a0 Here are some ideas…<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1:\u00a0 Call Out the Bad Habit<\/span><\/h3>\n

Don’t try to rationalize your bad habit away!\u00a0 If you’ve got a bad habit of looking in the stands when fielding a pop fly in a softball game, don’t keep saying that the sun was in your eyes when you keep dropping the ball!\u00a0 In a 12-step program, one of the keys to begin kicking the habit is to acknowledge our need for help.\u00a0 In our Spiritual struggles, we have to start by acknowledging our need for God’s help.\u00a0 We need to admit that there’s a problem before we can think of getting rid of it.<\/p>\n

If you keep saying, “well that’s just the way I am” that’s the way you’ll stay! Zacchaeus could have said\u00a0 “I’m only doing my job.<\/span><\/em><\/strong>”\u00a0 But he knew something was lacking and he was determined to see Jesus.<\/p>\n

And Jesus responded by calling him out!\u00a0 Zacchaeus was perched in the sycamore tree when Jesus came by.\u00a0 Instead of walking on by and ignoring Zacchaeus, He stopped in front of the tree and invited Himself to Zacchaeus’ house for dinner.<\/p>\n

Being in the presence of Jesus makes all the difference!<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

By being in the presence and goodness of Jesus, the bad habits of Zacchaeus we exposed so that even he could see them.<\/p>\n

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Have you ever gone somewhere and the person standing or seated next to you is so neat, so clean, so “dressed to the nines,” and you’re unkempt and rumpled in your wrinkled sweat pants and sweat shirt?\u00a0 You’re there with our dirty, weather-beaten sneakers and they have shoes which are polished so shiny you can see your reflection in them?\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

You begin to feel under dressed and wishing you had invested the time to present yourself better?\u00a0<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

In a spiritual sense, Jesus has that kind of effect on others.\u00a0 When we compare ourselves to Him, when we see our habits in light of His perfect holiness, in that moment of being exposed we see who we really are compared to Him and how we do not measure up.<\/p>\n

Jesus should be our barometer.\u00a0 We need to stand next to Him to see how we’re really measuring up.\u00a0 It may not be a pleasant experience, but we need to regard Jesus as our standard or mirror; not the things of the world or friend’s opinions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2: Determine to Stop it NOW!<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"sin-146121__180\"<\/p>\n

Habits are unusual because they often form gradually and subtly.\u00a0 Someone has written that “habits begin with a single decision.”\u00a0 That decision becomes another and another.\u00a0 Each time it becomes easier to give into it.<\/p>\n

Bad habits begin slowly.\u00a0 But:\u00a0 They begin with a choice, and they End with a choice!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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A mother once asked her minister, “Pastor, how early shall I teach my child religious habits?”<\/span><\/p>\n

The pastor said, “How old is your child?”\u00a0 The mother said, “My child is three years old.”<\/span><\/p>\n

The pastor quickly said, “Hurry home!\u00a0 You’re already four years too late!”<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n

If we really want to give up a bad habit, it will take commitment and we must make up our mind to stop it now.\u00a0 Giving up a bad habit is a conscious choice.\u00a0 Sin doesn’t go away all by itself.<\/p>\n

The Prodigal Son came to a moment where he had to make such a conscious choice…<\/p>\n

“When he came to his senses<\/span>, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I will set out<\/span> and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.\u00a0 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’ <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

So he got up and went<\/span> to his father.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

NIV, Luke 15:17-20<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

In a similar way, Zacchaeus made a similar decision that day in Jericho.\u00a0 He “came to his senses” and realized that although the life he was leading was gaining him personal riches, it was leaving him with an empty life.\u00a0 He made up his mind to stop his bad habits right then and there, and he scooted up the tree to get an encounter with Jesus.<\/p>\n

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3: Replace the Bad Habit with a Good One<\/span><\/h3>\n

Take another look at our passage from Luke 11…<\/p>\n

“When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, searching for rest. But when it finds none, it says, ‘I will return to the person I came from.’<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

So it returns and finds that its former home is all swept and in order.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before.”<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s not healthy to take something away because we leave a vacuum.\u00a0 And that vacuum will be filled with something. That’s Jesus’ point in this passage. Replace the words “Evil Spirit” (or demon), and this is what you have…<\/p>\n

When a Bad Habit<\/span> leaves a person, it goes into the desert, searching for rest. But when it finds none, it says, ‘I will return to the person I came from.’<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

So it returns and finds that its former home is all swept and in order.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Then the Habit gives way to even more bad habits<\/span>, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before.”<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So it’s all well and good to give up a bad habit, but if you don’t replace it with a good habit, something else will move in, and you’ll have another bad habit.<\/p>\n

Cross the sea and don’t look back…<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

We need the continuing filling of the Holy Spirit to keep the bad habits away.\u00a0 Sometimes people get into the bad habit of not going to church on Sunday.\u00a0 People will often say, “Oh, I really should get back to church someday.\u00a0 I do miss it, but I’m just so busy…<\/span><\/em><\/strong>”<\/p>\n

But it all started with one missed Sunday.\u00a0 And it must end with determination on one Sunday.<\/p>\n

Zacchaeus’ determination to encounter Jesus rewarded him with a transformation and a change in attitude:<\/p>\n

Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.”<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham;<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

For Zacchaeus’ transformation to be complete, he had to replace his bad (sinful) habits with something else….\n\t\t\t

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