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TITLE: White Castle
DATE: November 17, 2019 Christ is risen. He is risen, indeed. TEXT: 2 Timothy 2: 14-15 ESV - Remind them of these things, and charge them before God[b] not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. 15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved,[c] a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth I remember, when I used to teach Confirmation, every year, during the discussion on the Commandments, somebody would ask, “Pastor, do you think it is wrong if someone and they listed a specific example.” There were times when the answer to their question was easy, a clear cut black and white. More often than not the kids landed their question in the grey area of faith and conscience. The best I could do was tell them that they were, at all times, to live their Christian lives, in a way that didn’t bring shame to them or their Savior. Indiana’s Clark County Circuit Court Judges Andrew Adams and Bradley Jacobs and Crawford County Circuit Court Judge Sabrina Bell would understand... or they should. You see, they are bound by the Indiana Code of Judicial Conduct, which says they will... "act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the independence, integrity, and impartiality of the judiciary, and shall avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety." The problem is, at a conference not so long ago, they went bar hopping, tried to enter a closed “Gentlemen’s Club” and then to a White Castle. While the Judges were outside the White Castle two guys in a passing car shouted an insult at them. Judge Bell replied with a gesture which caused the men in the car to stop. Before long there was a brawl. Judge Adams ended up being shot in the stomach and Judge Jacobs was shot twice in the chest. They have since recovered from their wounds. While the guys with the gun are facing a whole bunch of charges.... Judges Bell, Adams and Jacob have been charged with multiple counts of misconduct. Now I don’t know what will happen to our Judges. I would imagine that their colleagues, communities and families have all weighed in on what their punishment should be. Me, I’ll simply observe that drunken fisticuffs and shootings outside a White Castle restaurant do not make people think better of the law and those who enforce those laws. I think all of my Confirmands would have been able to understand that even though there is no specific law about brawling in front of a White Castle, it is still not the wise thing to do, nor is it sensible or beneficial. Which answer, I think, might be of help to those Christians who are trying to live their lives. The Bible is a big Book, but it is not so big that it can lay down a ruling for every possible situation life can throw at a believer. Instead of doing that it prefers to have men like Paul give us warning and encouragement on how to live. Look at our passage from above.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, every day provides many opportunities where I can glorify the Savior, or I can embarrass Him. For when I do wrong, I ask forgiveness. Help me live as a workman who doesn’t need correction. In Jesus’ Name. I pray. Amen. The devotion for today was inspired by various recent news articles. For further reading you may wish to go to this address: h https://blogs.findlaw.com/legally_weird/2019/10/3-indiana-judges-facing-ethics-charges-for-white-castle-brawl.html and the article written by Andrew Leonattti . The music which introduces and concludes our devotions was written by Guy Baumann. He along with three of his brothers perform on the album: The Baumann Brothers which may be ordered here: http://thebaumannbrothers.com/index.html
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