LIFE IS A ZOO
THE WOLF
DR. JIM DIXON
JOHN 10:11-15
JUNE 20, 2004
In the year 509 BC, the Roman Republic was established. The Roman Republic lasted for almost 500 years, until 27 BC, when Octavian took the title Caesar Augustus and established the Roman Empire, proclaiming himself the first emperor. In the year 395 AD, the Roman Empire split into East and West. The Western Roman Empire centered at Rome, and the Eastern Roman Empire centered at Constantinople, which had been called Byzantium and of course today is called Istanbul. The West Roman Empire continued until the year 476 AD, when Germanic tribes conquered the city of Rome and cast down the last Roman emperor, whose name was Romulus Augustulus. Of course, the East Roman Empire became the Byzantine Empire and it continued all the way to the year 1453 when the city of Constantinople was conquered by the Turks.
Historians today look back on the Roman world and they marvel at its length. Some historians with a narrow view would say that the Empire of Rome really only lasted 503 years, from 27 BC to 476 AD, from Octavian to Romulus Augustulus. But most historians have a broader view. Some would say, “No, they had the years of the Roman Republic wrong.” They would say that the Roman rule continued for a thousand years. Other historians would add, “The East Roman Empire (or the Byzantine Empire) extended over 2,000 years.” Any way you slice it, it all goes back to Rome. It all goes back to the city of Rome. Here’s the amazing thing. Nobody knows how the city of Rome began. Nobody knows who established the city of Rome.
According to legend, according to mythology, the city of Rome was established by Romulus and Remus. Romulus was the first king of Rome, and the city took its name from his name. But historians don’t buy it. They think the legend is bogus and they think it’s bogus primarily because the hero of the whole story is a wolf. According to the legend, Romulus and Remus were identical twin brothers and they were cast into a river in a basket. They washed ashore. They would have died but they were rescued by a wolf, a she-wolf that was walking by and had compassion on these twin boys. This wolf began to nurse them and began to rear them and protect them and provide for them. In a sense, the whole Roman Empire then is traced back to a wolf.
You can go back and you can look at ancient Roman art from sculptures to painting and you see this constant theme, Romulus and Remus and the wolf. You see them walking together. You see Romulus and Remus nursing on wolf’s milk. It’s all portrayed in Roman art. Of course, for most of us, it’s an incredulous story. Here in America, in our stories, wolves are almost never heroes. In fact, even in myth and in legend in America, wolves are never heroes. We raise our children and we tell them the story of Little Red Riding Hood and the wolf is the villain. The wolf is the Big Bad Wolf. We tell them the story of The Three Little Pigs, and again, the wolf is the villain. The wolf is the creature that wants to huff and puff and blow the house down.
What’s true in America is true in nations all over the world. Wolves are normally portrayed as villains in literature. This is true in the Bible, and this is true in the nation of Israel. In nations where you have farming and agriculture, wolves are viewed as villains. Israel had an economy that was predicated and established upon the reality of the shepherd and the sheep. In a nation that was focused on shepherds and sheep, wolves were villains.
So, you have this image of the wolf in the Bible as a predator, this image of the wolf as the enemy. And you have John, chapter 10, our scripture for today, where Jesus said, “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. He who is a hireling sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees and the wolf snatches them and devours them.”
You see Jesus describing those who attack His people as ravenous wolves. You see the Apostle Paul doing the same in his letters. Wolves are those who attack the saints. Jesus said, “I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves.” Again, wolves are the symbol of evil. Of course, in Israel, the Canis Lupus Lupus was the form of the European wolf that was so extremely fierce, able to kill so many animals, and we have this portrayal in scripture.
This is Father’s Day, and you are shepherds. Fathers are shepherds. Moms are shepherds. We have sheep. We have flocks. As dads and as shepherds, we’re called to protect our sheep. We’re called to protect the flock. We’re called to be good shepherds. We’re called to lay down our life for the sheep. This morning on this Father’s Day, I want us to focus on three wolves that attack the flock, three wolves that attack the sheep. Our responsibility as dads and as moms is to protect our children and to fend off these wolves.
The first wolf is a wolf called Sloth. This wolf seeks to attack our sheep. A wolf called Sloth. In the year 1678, John Bunyan wrote “Pilgrim’s Progress.” It is a classic in world literature. Today it has been translated into more than 100 languages and read all over the world. It is an allegory regarding the Christian life. It describes a Christian named Pilgrim who is on an incredible journey from the city of destruction to the heavenly city, the City of Zion. Of course, as Christian leaves the city of destruction and begins this journey, he encounters this person called Sloth. This person wants Christian to just sleep a little more, rest a little more, take some more naps, enjoy himself and take it easy. Christian understands that if he gives in to Sloth, he’ll never get anywhere and he’ll never arrive at the heavenly city, the City of Zion.
I think as parents having children—having flocks, being shepherds today—we recognize the importance of work and industriousness and we don’t want our children to be seized by this wolf called Sloth. We know they will never amount to anything, will never accomplish anything, will never be of any heavenly or earthly good, if they give in to Sloth.
My father died 8-1/2 years ago, and so often I miss him. Dad used to call along with Mom every Sunday. I was the third-born son. He would always say, “Is this #3?” I would love to hear him call again and ask me that. Dad had many virtues. He had a few flaws. We all have flaws, but Dad had many virtues and one of Dad’s virtues was his work ethic. Dad was a hard worker and really an industrious man. My dad hated sloth. We realized this, my brothers and I, as we grew up, that Dad hated sloth. He hated laziness. Of course, we soon learned that summers were times where you’re supposed to get a job. In the evening, you’re supposed to get your homework done before you relaxed. Weekends we were supposed to work around the house and Saturdays we were supposed to pull weeds. Dad did not like us just laying and lounging around the house. You could tell it really bugged him. He made the nest kind of a prickly place. But now my brothers and I look back and we thank God for Dad. We thank God for what he taught us about the importance of work.
At the University of California at Berkeley, they conducted a study recently on the amoeba and they put an amoeba in a perfect environment where the temperature was perfect and there was a perfect amount of moisture and a constant supply of food. This was an environment where the amoeba needed no adaptation, no adjustment. It was an environment of comfort. An amazing thing happened. The amoeba died. The thought something must be wrong, so they redid the experiment and the next amoeba died. They did it again and again and again, and in every case, in this perfect environment, the amoeba died. These researchers at the University of Cal Berkeley concluded that amoebas, in order to thrive and in order to live, can’t be in an environment of comfort. They need to have some requirement of adaptation and they need to be in an environment that has at least some level of stress. They suggested perhaps that human beings also have this need and it’s not good for people just to be always in an environment of comfort. I know my dad felt like that. I think as shepherds of sheep, it’s very important with your kids to teach them about work and that you warn them with regard to sloth.
Zoologists tell us that the animal with the highest metabolism is the shrew. It looks a lot like a mouse, a little mouse with a pointed nose, but shrews are unique creatures and they have very high metabolism. They are found in the eastern and the western world all over the place. They’re very, very small. The midget or the pygmy shrew weighs exactly the same as the American penny. And yet they eat constantly. They never cease eating. Their metabolism is so fast that they must constantly eat and they don’t sleep. They’re awake 24/7. Many shrews have to be awake 24/7.
On the other end of the spectrum, zoologists tell us about the animal called the sloth that is found in South America. It has the slowest metabolism in the world and it virtually always sleeps. It sleeps more than 20 hours a day and when it’s awake it just barely moves because it’s a sloth. But the sloth is not lazy and the shrew is not industrious. They’re just animals and they’re doing what God created them to do.
What did God create you to do? What did God create me to do? Certainly, most of us need 8 hours sleep. Some of you perhaps need 6 hours sleep. Maybe some of you need 9. Most of us need 8 and God rejoices in that. But what do you do with the 16 hours you’re awake? What do you do?
Christ has given a call to action. He said, “My Father is working still, and I am working. And He called His people to labor.” We don’t just have the labor of provision for our families, but we have labor for the cause of the kingdom of Christ in this world.
The Apostle Paul, in 2 Thessalonians, wrote to the Christians at Thessalonica and he warned them because of their laziness. He said that many of them were just “ergazomai peri ergazomai,” “working around working.” He said, “Earn your living with your hands. Go to work. Get a job.” He warned them about sloth, and he said something pretty radical. He said, “If anyone will not work, let them not eat.” He didn’t say if anyone CANNOT work, let them not eat. But he said, “If anyone WILL NOT work, let them not eat.” That’s why the early church recognized sloth as one of the seven deadly sins. So, we have this wolf called sloth that would attack our sheep.
There’s a second wolf and the second wolf is called Lust. You might be thinking, “Well, I don’t have any problem with lust and my kids don’t have any problem with lust.” But you would be wrong because the biblical word for lust, when we understand it, makes it very evident that we all struggle with lust. The biblical or Greek word for lust is the word, “epithumia.” The prefix, “epi,” is a prefix of intensification. It means, “excessive desire,” or in some cases, “improper desire.” So lust, epithumia, is excessive desire or improper desire in any area of life.
Again, in Pilgrim’s Progress, you see Christian moving toward the celestial city. Christian comes upon this man who has three daughters. The three daughters are named “The lust of the flesh,” “The lust of the eyes,” and “The pride of life.” This man wants Christian to marry all three of his daughters. Of course, this passage really is taken out of the Book of 1 John, chapter 2, where the Bible says, “Do not love the world or the things that are in the world, for if anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world passes away and the desires of it, but he who does the will of the Father abides forever.”
In the Bible, generally these two different types of lust are identified: the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes. If we’re going to understand this wolf called lust, we need to look at both of them briefly. First of all, the lust of the flesh. The lust of the flesh is a reference to hedonism or hedonistic sins, sins relating to pleasure. It is excessive desire or improper desire with regard to the world of pleasure. Of course, sometimes the lust of the flesh in the Bible refers to sexual sin. The Bible is very clear and we need to be clear with our kids. The Bible warns us about adultery, which is sex outside of marriage. The Bible warns us about “porneia,” or fornication, which is sex outside of marriage or prior to marriage. The Bible warns us about homosexual lifestyles. The Bible warns us indirectly even with regard to the lust of masturbation because it all has to do with excessive or improper desire.
We understand this when we see what the Bible says to us with regard to the gift of sex. The Bible tells us that sex is a wonderful and beautiful gift meant to be opened only within the context of marriage. When it is opened in any other context, it is cheapened and tainted. It is, the Bible tells us, the highest expression of physical union in this world, the physical union between a husband and a wife. That’s why Paul, to the Corinthians, explains that when you have sex with someone, you become one with them and, in a sense, you marry them. That’s why sex is set aside for the marriage union. Of course, this view is not politically correct, but it’s biblical. We raise our kids in a fallen world and the task is tough.
The lust of the flesh does not always refer to sexual sin. There are other pleasures where our desire may be excessive or improper. This is true even of food. This month, the cover story in a special issue of Time Magazine has to do with the problem of obesity in the United States of America. There are really some wonderful articles in here relating to America’s growing problem of obesity and how, with regard to food, we have excessive desires and we have improper desires and how we’re addicted to fast foods and people are getting super-sized all the time.
There are instructions in here for what to tell your kids. Even Time Magazine would like us to be better shepherds as dads and moms. There’s an article in here on “What to Tell Your Kids,” and some of it is pretty good. It talks about turning off the TV set and unplugging the computer once in a while, encouraging your kids to ride their bike or taking a family hike. It talks about how health and how eating right is a family issue and there needs to be a family table and a family meal and parents need to model what it means to eat right. We need to make good eating fun. They tell us we should focus not so much on pounds but on nutrients. They warn us that if our kids have an obesity problem, we’re to confront it and not ignore it. Some pretty good advice.
Of course, the Bible warns us about the sin of gluttony and the problem of excessive desire even with regard to this pleasure. It’s not that the Bible is anti-pleasure. God created us with a capacity for pleasure, but the Bible gives us boundaries. And this is true even with regard to food, and of course it’s true with regard to drink. Alcoholism is a form of lust. We are a culture with many lusts of the flesh.
There’s a second category of lust and that second category is lust of the eyes. The lust of the eyes has to do with materialism. This, too, is epithumia. When you say you have no problem with lust, you need to look at the total scope of the definition of lust in the Bible. The lust of the eyes has to do with materialism. I think that is a great problem within our national culture—certainly in suburban America.
In the year 1848 when gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill in California, there was the first of the great gold rushes. Of course, that next year, in 1849, the 49ers came from all over America to California. It was gold fever. In 1851, gold was discovered down in Australia, in southeast Australia near Victoria, near New South Wales. The town of Eureka just sprang up overnight as many people rushed to Australia for gold. In nine years, the continent of Australia’s population increased by 300%! Gold fever!
In 1859, gold was discovered right here in Denver, Colorado, at Cherry Creek. People came from the east to the west, “Pike’s Peak or Bust.” But they really didn’t want to see Pike’s Peak. They were looking for gold. Incredibly, 100,000 people came to Colorado in one year’s time because of gold fever in 1859.
In 1886, gold was discovered in South Africa at the Witwatersrand Gold Field and the town of Johannesburg just sprang up overnight. Many people went to South Africa. To this day, the gold field at Witwatersrand is still the largest gold field in the world and it produces one-third of the world’s gold.
In 1896 we had the Canadian gold rush and you read how gold was discovered in the Klondike and how people went up there and the city of Dawson City sprang up—30,000 people almost overnight. Of course, in 1898 the Alaskan gold rush created the city of Nome. A lust for gold.
It’s still going on today. The lust is just as strong as ever. People mine for gold in the stock market and they mine for gold in real estate and in various other economic arenas of profit. Mining for gold. A lust for gold. Of course, the problem is, with regard for the soul, this lust is vacuous. It will never produce happiness. It ruins lives. It never produces fulfillment. It never provides purpose because we were created for God and our souls were made for God. If we give our lives to the pursuit of “stuff,” it destroys us at the core. Therefore, Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “Seek first the kingdom of heaven and its righteousness and I’ll give you everything you need.” Seek first the kingdom of heaven and its righteousness and you will have everything you need.
We need to give this message to our children. “Seek first the kingdom of heaven and its righteousness.” The Bible says in 1 Timothy, chapter 6, “There is great gain in godliness with contentment. For we brought nothing into this world, and we can take nothing out of this world. If we have food and clothing, with these we shall be content. For those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, and do many senseless and hurtful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all evil. It is through this craving that many have wandered away from the faith and pierced their heart with many pangs.” Lust takes many forms and there is this second wolf called Lust. We are to live for Christ and within His boundaries.
There’s a third and final wolf I wanted us to take a look at this morning and this last wolf is a wolf called, Doubt. I think, as shepherds of the sheep, we recognize that oftentimes this wolf seeks our children. Doubt.
When Jesus walked in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the Jewish people had already been oppressed by the Romans for 100 years. Some of the Jews had had it and they were full of rage and they formed a party called the Zealots. They sought the violent overthrow of Rome. Within the Zealot movement there were many factions. One of the factions was called the Sicarii, which means, “the daggermen.” The Sicarii would work their way into the crowds, in and around Jerusalem and other large cities in Judea and Israel. They would work their way around in the crowds and look for Roman soldiers. When they found them, they would just drive their daggers in the back of the Roman soldier, killing him. Rome was enraged.
Of course, the Zealot movement grew. About 35 years after the crucifixion, the Zealots took Masada, that fortress not too far from Jerusalem down by the Dead Sea. They cast the Romans out. The word spread that the Zealots had succeeded. They had taken Masada. The hopes rose and the insurrection of the Jews against the power of Rome grew. The Jews, in the year 67 AD, re-took the city of Jerusalem. They re-took the city of Jerusalem and they drove the Romans out. Rome was enraged and the word came to Nero. Nero was enraged and he sent Vespasian to Israel to put down this rebellion and re-seize the city of Jerusalem. But no sooner had Vespasian arrived in Jerusalem than Nero died. Vespasian was called back to Rome and ultimately he would become the Emperor of Rome. Vespasian sent his son then to Jerusalem, Titus, who would also later become Emperor of Rome.
Titus came in 70 AD. He came to Jerusalem with 80,000 Roman troops. They tried to retake the city of Jerusalem. The Jews remained within those walls. On July 17th of 70 AD, the last sacrifices took place in the Temple. Temple sacrifices ceased because every able-bodied male was required on the walls. Then in mid-August, the city of Jerusalem fell. The Roman soldiers flooded the city. Titus instructed the Roman soldiers to leave the Temple Mount alone. “Don’t destroy the Temple or anything there. We want to respect these people’s God.” But the Roman soldiers were so excited that they went up on the Temple Mount and they set the Temple ablaze. Much of the Temple was stone and could not burn but that which could burn created tremendous heat and the gold melted on the top and began to flow down the walls. The Roman soldiers began to push one stone off another, trying to get to the melting gold. Eventually not one stone was left upon another, fulfilling the prophecy of Jesus on Palm Sunday when He prophesied that the city of Jerusalem would be destroyed and on the Temple Mount not one stone would be left upon another.
Why did that happen? Why did that all happen? The Bible is very clear. It all happened because of unbelief. It happened because of unbelief. Jesus warned them that because of their unbelief, judgement would come. We don’t want our children to fall prey to unbelief, but remember this. Doubt is different than unbelief. The devil would like to use doubt to bring your children to unbelief, but unbelief and doubt are different. To really understand this, you need to understand the biblical word for belief. That word is “pistis” or “pisteuo.” The word for unbelief is “apistis” or apisteuo.” Of course, the word “pisteuo” does not refer to mere intellectual ascent. You’re not a Christian because you give intellectual ascent to creeds and confessions and doctrines. That alone does not save you. The word “pisteuo” always refers to commitment. It is an active word and refers to commitment.
The early church understood this. They knew that saving faith required a commitment where you come to Jesus Christ and you make the commitment and you embrace Him as your Savior and you trust Him as your Savior and then, making the commitment, you vow to live for Him as Lord as long as you draw breath until that day He takes you home. That’s what it means to be a Christian. No less. That’s what it means to be a Christian. You’ve made the commitment.
Unbelief means you’ve renounced the commitment. So, you can see it’s not the same as doubt. You can have doubts and still believe. The Bible is very clear that belief can be mixed with doubt. You can have doubt and still honor the commitment. You can have doubt and still make the commitment, but the problem is—and what we need to tell our children is—you can’t let doubt destroy the commitment.
Let me give you a little illustration. Barb, years ago, had a tremendous fear of flying. She still has some discomfort with flying, but she was committed to flying. She was committed to flying and traveling by air. So, she faced her fears and her doubts and she went into training to be a stewardess. She became a flight attendant; she became a stewardess for Western Airlines and Continental Airlines. I don’t know how you feel about having a stewardess or a flight attendant that’s afraid of flying, but it’s a noble thing—in my view an awesome thing—what Barb did in facing that doubt and facing that fear. Even to this day, though she has some doubt, she’s made the commitment and she does not fail to fly. She gets on those planes. She believes and it helps her unbelief. This is biblical.
Understand that with our kids the problem is not doubt. Satan would like you to think that’s huge and if you doubt you’ve got to chuck everything. Satan would like you to think that but it’s not true. Every Christian struggles with doubt at some time in their life. Some Christians struggle with doubt when they’re young and they have no doubt when they’re old. Some struggle at various times in their life.
I struggled with doubt when I was young in my faith. I can honestly say I do not doubt today. I’ve seen too much. I’ve experienced too much. I’d just be an idiot (and sometimes I am) if I denied that Jesus is real. I don’t doubt but there was a time I did. God understands. The issue is, don’t let doubt keep you from making the commitment and don’t let doubt turn you from the commitment once made.
Many of you have heard of Lee Strobel. Lee Strobel was trained in law at Yale and graduated from their law school. He became the award-winning Legal Editor of the Chicago Tribune. He was an agnostic until 1981 and he had not made the commitment and had no plans to. It was in that year that, through a variety of circumstances, he met Jesus Christ and he asked Jesus into his heart and he made the commitment, embracing Christ as his Lord and his Savior and resolving that he would live for Him.
Since then, he has written four books: “The Case for Christ,” “The Case for Faith,” “The Case for a Creator,” and “The Case for Easter.” This past Easter, as you came in the door, we handed out these books. In “The Case for Faith,” Lee Strobel interviews a man named Charles Templeton, Chuck Templeton. I was fascinated to read this because Chuck Templeton, in the 1940s, was one of the best friends of Billy Graham and he was an associate of Billy Graham. Like Billy Graham, Chuck Templeton had been a revivalist in the 1940s. He spoke to huge crowds in large arenas. He was very good at what he did, but he had nagging intellectual doubts and ultimately they compelled him to leave the ministry. He became a writer and an editor, a columnist, and then finally he just chucked his faith completely. He went to his one-time friend Billy Graham and he encouraged Billy Graham to chuck the faith. Billy Graham refused. Charles Templeton accused Billy Graham of intellectual folly.
When Lee Strobel interviewed Chuck Templeton for “The Case for Faith,” Chuck Templeton was 83 years old and experiencing some dementia. Lee Strobel asked him this question: “After all these years and having renounced your Christianity, who is Jesus Christ to you? Who do you think He was?” Chuck Templeton made this incredible response: “He was the greatest human being who has ever lived. He was a moral genius. His ethical sense was unique. He was the intrinsically wisest person that I’ve ever encountered in my life or in my readings. He’s the most important thing in my life. I know it may sound strange, but I have to say I adore Him. Everything good I know, everything decent I know, everything pure I know, I learned from Jesus. He is the most important human being who has ever existed. And if I may put it this way, I miss Him. I miss Him.” What an incredible response.
Here’s a guy who had faith, but he let his doubt prevail and he wound up renouncing Christ and he could not come back even though he missed Him, even though he adored Him. This is such a key and important issue that we communicate to our children that doubt is okay. But don’t let your doubt kill the seed of faith. Don’t let it kill the seed of faith.
You look at your kids. There are many things you want for them. Certainly, you want them to avoid this wolf called sloth and the wolf called lust. But most of all you don’t want to let their doubts quench their faith. I think as Christian moms and dads, more than anything what you long for is that your kids will believe and make the commitment and live for Jesus.
As we close, I want to mention a man named Lou Smedes, who died two years ago Christmas Day. Lou Smedes had been my mentor in my doctoral program. He’s written many books. I know his books have blessed many of you. Lou Smedes was a good man, a Professor of Philosophy and Ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary in California. I would meet with him often in his office. He had one of those old world offices with the wooden bookshelves and books everywhere. He had the ladder that went along the rack. He was always smoking a pipe and he seemed so professorial, a real loving man and a great intellectual. He told me that oftentimes as he would read some of the theologians of the world, he would find himself doubting his faith, but he said he resolved long ago he would never allow doubt to win—that he would fight the good fight, that he would finish the race, that he would keep the faith. And he did. He died on a ladder, falling from a ladder, as he was putting decorations on or off his Christmas tree, but he’s with the Lord. He’s with Jesus. He kept the faith. So, these are wolves that come against the flock. As good shepherds, we protect the sheep. Let’s close with a word of prayer.