Sunday, March 4, 2018 Exodus 20:1-17 Theme: "REHAB-WORKING THE PROGRAM" REHAB Two Sundays ago - Wilderness... Last Sundey - Intervention... Today - Working the program... 1. FORM A TEAM... 2. COMMIT TO THE PROGRAM... 3. REEVALUATE THE PROGRAM... When we check into REHAB, usually there is a team of professionals that work with us... Teamwork is emphasized... The basic principle of REHAB is that we need a program... A second principle is we need others to support and encourage us as we work through the program... Depending on the needs, a variety of experts are needed... Physiatrists (rehabilitation doctors) direct therapies and services provided by the rehabilitation team and coordinate care provided by other specialists... Rehabilitation psychologists provide psychological testing and individualized and family counseling, if needed... Rehabilitation care coordinators are registered nurses with special training who coordinate our care beginning from admission to discharge... Rehabilitation nurses encourage us and help us practice the skills learned in therapy sessions... Physical therapists develop treatment programs to help us improve mobility through exercise and training... Occupational therapists help us develop the skills needed for the activities of day-to-day life... Recreational therapists assess our leisure needs and interests and develop treatments to help us return to a satisfying lifestyle...
Speech-language pathologists work to improve speech and language, conversation skills and the thinking skills necessary for communication... Registered dietitians advise us about healthy diet choices and special dietary needs... Repiratory therapists help us with breathing disorders, including training in use of ventilators... Medical social workers provide emotional support, identify economic resources and community agencies and help us make arrangements to leave the hospital and find follow-up care... Vocational case coordinators help us develop a plan to return to work in our communities... Child life specialists help children and their families prepare for, adjust to, and benefit from hospital experiences... Chaplains support the spiritual, religious and emotional needs of you and our family... The steps are challenging... Whether we think we can do it or not... Whether we are afraid or not... Whether we think it might kill us or not... We must commit to WORKING THE PROGRAM... The good news is that we don t have to perfect the program... We don t have to work the program by ourselves... God promises to be with us in our journey... For those in addiction recovery/rehab, there is a period of DETOX... This is a time when they abstain from unhealthy substances... Those in AA work the 12-Steps 1. They admittt that they are powerless over alcohol - that their lives had become unmanageable...
2. They come to believe that a Power greater than themselves could restore them to sanity... 3. They make a decision to turn their will and lives lives over to the care of God as they understand Him... 4. They make a searching and fearless moral inventory of themselves... 5. They admit to God, to themselves and to another human being the exact nature of their wrongs... 6. They are entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character... 7. They humbl asked Him to remove their shortcomings... 8. They make a list of all persons they had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all... 9. They make direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others... 10. They continue to take personal inventory and when they are wrong promptly admitted it... 11. They seek through prayer and meditation to improve their conscious contact with God as they understand Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for them and the power to carry that out. 12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, they try to carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all their affairs... AA participants will tell you that the more committed they are, the better are the changes of working through the program and REHABBING... Those who go through REHAB will tell you that the more committed they are the better are the chances of working the program and REHABBING... The same is true when Christians repent and abstain from unhealthy behaviors... In our scripture today, the first four commandments emphasize our obligations to God... The last six emphasize our relationship with community... The commandments give us guidelines on how to relate to God and each other... The Ten Commandments are our 10-Step Program as followers of Jesus...
The more committed we to our program, the better are our chances of working our program and being in authentic relationship with Jesus... Our salvation does not depend on obeying these commandments, but on the relationship we have with Jesus... So, we not only need to learn the steps, but we need to work them under the guidance and support of others... We can work the steps of our program in the community of faith... (Mark 12:28-21) We can work the steps of our program in our love of God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength... We can also work the steps of our program in our love of our neighbors as ourselves... But which of the steps are we overlooking... How can our ten-step program help us to be accountable to members of our TEAM and to honor one another as believers... How can our ten-step program address the difficult and polarizing issue of gun control in the country... How can our ten-step program demand the level of accountability from our congress... How can our ten-step program address the opposing views of human sexuality in our beloved UMC... How can our ten-step program move us to embrace a degree of civility amidst the challenges we continue to face as a nation... *Each time we fail to keep these commandments... *Each time we fail to follow our ten-step program... *We reject our obligation to God and our relationship with Jesus... We were once in the wilderness... God intervened by sending Jesus to die for our sins... Which of these steps might we be refusing to follow that may keep Jesus on the cross... As we transition to the Lord's Table, think about your commitment to ensuring that you appreciate Jesus's sacrifice on the Cross by working the program...
Observe a depiction of Christ on the Cross... As you observe, become aware of our ten-step program and think of at least one roytine practice in your life that out Jesus on the Cross and at least one way you see God already at work in your life to free you from the influetence of that routine practice... Amen!