https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Reasonable-Risks.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n\tby Jeffrey W. Hamilton<\/p>\n\t
Text: Esther 4:7-16<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I. Increasingly I run into people who are obsessive-compulsive.<\/p>\n A. It is sometimes referred to as the doubter’s disease because the sufferer is\nconstantly plagued with uncertainty.\n 1. A person might repeatedly wash his hands because he might not have done\na thorough enough cleaning earlier\n 2. Another might constantly wonder if some point about his baptism was\ndone incorrectly.\n
3. Still another is constantly asking for reassurance<\/p>\n a. This includes people who are constantly looking for signs from\nGod regarding what they should do\n B. But OCD can also be viewed as having an intolerance for risk [Fletcher\nWortmann, “The Danger of Doubt: The Ruthless and Frequently Misunderstood\nLogic of OCD]\n 1. The sufferer is striving for greater perfection than God (or anyone else)\nexpects because he wants absolute certainty that he will be saved\n 2. Thus, the person adds stringent rules because he believe rules might make\nhim more acceptable to God.\n
3. But man-made rules don’t produce righteousness – Colossians 2:20-23<\/p>\n C. In other words, the OCD sufferer strives for perfection because in his mind\nanything less carries too much risk\n 1. What he doesn’t realize is that he sets himself up for failure because no\none is perfect\n
2. It leads to ruin as Solomon warned – Ecclesiastes 7:16<\/p>\n
II. Life requires that we take reasonable risks<\/p>\n A. Abram took a risk to follow God, not knowing where he was going – Hebrews\n11:8\n
B. Jacob took a risk sending his youngest son to Egypt – Genesis 43:8-14<\/p>\n
1. He delayed, but it was that or the family starving to death<\/p>\n C. Esther took a risk appearing before the king in order to save her countrymen –\nEsther 4:7-16\n
D. Paul, heading to Jerusalem, was told things would not go well – Acts 20:22-24<\/p>\n
1. He did not know if he would die there or not – Acts 21:13-14<\/p>\n 2. Jesus had told his disciples that they would have lose their life to gain it –\nLuke 9:24\n 3. Staying in this world is always a risk. Paul found it hard to choose –\nPhilippians 1:22-24\n
E. Other Christians took risks<\/p>\n
1. Priscilla and Aquila – Romans 16:3-4<\/p>\n
2. Epaphroditus – Philippians 2:29-30<\/p>\n
III. But let’s look at one that doesn’t involve life or death decisions<\/p>\n
A. Abraham’s servant was sent to find a wife for Isaac – Genesis 24:2-4<\/p>\n B. The servant minimized his risks by asking about the possibility of failure –\nGenesis 24:5-8\n
C. When the servant arrived, he asked God for help – Genesis 24:12-14<\/p>\n
1. The actions he looked for are indications of an admirable character. <\/p>\n
2. A woman carrying a water jug shows someone who is strong and healthy. <\/p>\n
3. It also shows she is industrious. <\/p>\n
4. Giving a drink to a stranger who asks shows kindness and hospitality. <\/p>\n 5. Offering drinks to the rest of the travelers and watering the camels until\nthey are satisfied shows a person who is not afraid of hard work and who\nis willing to go the extra mile. Ten camels after a long journey will drink a\nlarge quantity of water. \n 6. All the events were not likely to happen without the Lord’s intervention on\nbehalf of the servant.\n
D. The result was that Isaac quickly fell in love with Rebekah – Genesis 24:67<\/p>\n
E. Could this have failed? Of course! <\/p>\n
1. But it succeeded because of the willingness to take reasonable risks.<\/p>\n
2. It would not have succeed if all risks were avoided<\/p>\n
IV. Years ago, it became a fad to have rules of courtship<\/p>\n A. A boy and girl were not allowed to be alone together. They took someone with\nthem on dates.\n B. The boy had to ask the father for permission to date and later to marry his\ndaughter.\n C. On the surface, all this sounds good. But it also was driven by a desire to\neliminate all risks in finding a spouse\n D. However, it ended up limiting options. People married without really knowing\nwhat they were looking for in a spouse.\n E. Traditional dating carries more risks, but it actually results in better selection of a\nspouse\n
1. It is not to be confused with the modern idea of dating<\/p>\n
2. One rule is that you don’t go out with the same person twice in a row. <\/p>\n
a. You need to know what kinds of people are available <\/p>\n b. But the lack of exclusivity also keeps things from getting too\nserious too quickly.\n
c. In other words, going out on a date was no big deal.<\/p>\n 3. Dating the same person multiple times in a row happens only after you are\nmore certain that you might want to marry that person. It older terms, it is\ncalled “going steady.”\n
4. There is actually less heartache because there is no early commitment<\/p>\n
F. Modern dating is seen as an immediate commitment<\/p>\n
1. It often leads people to thinking they can get sexually involved.<\/p>\n 2. It also ends up limiting your options because the thought is once you are\ndating one person, you cannot go on a date with anyone else.\n 3. But in a sense, it is also avoiding risk. “I might not find another person, so\nI’ll lock on this person.”\n
V. God lets people make their own plans<\/p>\n
A. Those plans involve risks because you and I don’t control the future<\/p>\n
B. Those plans may not succeed because God remains in control – Proverbs 16:1,9<\/p>\n
1. Thus, all our plans should consider what is God’s will – Proverbs 16:3<\/p>\n
C. This is the same warning James gives – James 4:13-16<\/p>\n 1. This is also why we must not throw away opportunities to do good – James\n4:17\n D. Eliminating all risks is impossible, but I can strive for reasonable risks and accept\nthat sometimes I will fail.\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Esther 4:7-16 I. Increasingly I run into people who are obsessive-compulsive. A. It is sometimes referred to as the doubter’s disease because the sufferer is constantly plagued with uncertainty. 1. A person might repeatedly wash his hands because he might not have done a thorough enough cleaning earlier 2. Another might constantly wonder…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[119,32],"tags":[150,149,1185,965,1613],"class_list":["post-58671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio","category-sermon","tag-courtship","tag-dating","tag-obsessions","tag-ocd","tag-risk"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":45868,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/faith-is-reasonable\/","url_meta":{"origin":58671,"position":0},"title":"Faith Is Reasonable","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 31, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer Faith is reasonable because trust, which is the heart of biblical faith, is reasonable. 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Paul says we should be known for being\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":46938,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-to-indulge-in-food-and-drink-at-worship\/","url_meta":{"origin":58671,"position":5},"title":"Is it wrong to indulge in food and drink at worship?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 18, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is it wrong for members of the church to indulge in food and drink while worship is happening? We have this problem, and I need an answer with Scripture, please. Thank you. Answer: I've noticed that people like to make rules instead of citing the Scriptures. 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