Harvest Laws for Holy Living - 4 - The Law of Parity (2)

Do you recognize the name Stanley "Tookie" Williams? You may recall that he was in the news quite a bit this past December. He was the co-founder, in the late 1970s, of the Crips gang in LA. A violent man, he determined that no one could become a member of the Crips unless they murdered someone as part of their initiation.

And as Williams' date with death approached, most media zoomed in on the clamor for clemency, while training little focus on the nature of the death-row killer's crimes—and his legacy of assault, rape, and murder.

In the early-morning hours of Feb. 28, 1979, Williams, wielding a 12-gauge sawed-off shotgun, burst into a Los Angeles convenience store. While three accomplices robbed the till, Williams jammed his weapon into store clerk Albert Owens' back and forced him to walk to the stockroom.

"Lay down!" Williams ordered. Mr. Owens, 26, an Army veteran and divorced father of two, complied. Williams then fired two shots into his back. Accomplices in the robbery later testified that Williams bragged about the gurgling noise that his victim made while dying: "You should have heard the way he sounded when I shot him."

Less than two weeks later, at a South L.A. motel owned by his family, Robert Yang was asleep when he heard loud banging. Then he heard gun blasts and screaming. When he reached the motel office he found his 63-year-old mother, Tsai-Shai Yang, his father Yen-I Yang, 76, and his sister Yee-Chen Lin, 43, all dying from shotgun wounds. Williams, before robbing the motel cash register of about $100, had shot Yang's father and sister twice each, and his mother once in the face, all at point-blank range. The killer later told friends that the next time he committed a robbery, he would murder his victims "just like I blew them Buddaheads away."

During 24 years in prison, Williams generated a avalanche of appeals that proclaimed his innocence. His persistent denials of guilt seem to have figured heavily in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's decision to deny Williams clemency. "Without an apology and atonement for these senseless and brutal killings, there can be no redemption," Gov. Schwarzenegger said in a Dec. 12 statement denying Williams clemency. "In this case, the one thing that would be the clearest indication of complete remorse and full redemption is the one thing Williams will not do."

And not only was he directly responsible for these four murders, but he was an accessory to every other murder committed by the Crips gang members...thousands of murders.

So, after 25 years on death row, Williams was executed by lethal injection on Dec. 13, 2005. Later that morning, the radio talk shows were abuzz, discussing these events. I listened as caller after caller phoned in to express virtually the same sentiments. One after another said, in affect, that though Williams had changed for the better in prison, even being nominated for the Nobel Prize nine times, he was never remorseful for his murder spree, nor did he ever admit his guilt, even in the face of overwhelming evidence of his guilt, and that he still needed to pay with his life, because choices have consequences. He reaped what he had sown, and now, it was harvest time.

In our most recent message, we introduced the second law of the harvest: the Law of Parity? Simply stated, this law emphasizes that we reap the same in kind as we have sown. We zeroed in on two principles regarding this law: its application (illustrating it from the life of David), its absoluteness, realizing that there are no exceptions to this law either in agriculture or in our personal lives.

This morning, I want us to concentrate on a third, final principle:

  1. The aftermath of this law

Choosing David as an illustration of the Law of Parity is quite deliberate. You see, beloved, much of the sowing we do in our lives will be reaped not only in our own loves personally, but in the lives of our children. However, just because you don't have children doesn't mean that this law won't affect you or apply to you.

Let me be perfectly blunt: David's children reaped a bitter harvest because of their father's rebellion!

And let me warn you of something equally serious: regardless of the age of your children, they are very impressionable. They pick up, like magnets, our attitudes--even the unconscious ones--as well as our actions. For example, parents can undermine their children's teachers, their authority, by making snide remarks or saying derogatory things of the teacher...the kids pick right up on it.

Who among us has been unaware of a particular habit or annoyance we have until we see it reflected in one of our children? And when we challenge them on it, they respond, "But, Daddy, I'm only doing what I've seen you do many times!" OUCH!!

Years ago, Dorothy Nolte wrote a brief essay entitled "Children Learn What They Live."

If a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn . . .
If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight . . .
If a child lives with fear, he learns to be apprehensive . . .
If a child lives with pity, he learns to feel sorry for himself . . .
If a child lives with ridicule, he learns to be shy . . .
If a child lives with shame, he learns to feel guilt . . .

BUT

If a child lives with encouragement, he learns to be confident . . .
If a child lives with praise, he learns to be appreciative . . .
If a child lives with acceptance, he learns what it means to love . . .
If a child lives with honesty, he learns what truth is . . .
If a child lives with fairness, he learns justice . . .
If a child lives with security, he learns to have faith in himself and those about him.

In the home, the Law of Parity teaches us that our actions, attitudes speak decibels louder than our words! One preacher recounts the story of visiting in a Christian home for two days. The parents acknowledged a sincere love for the Lord, and a desire that their three children grow up to serve, honor the Lord. In the course of his visit, this preacher ate six meals with this family. At each meal, he sought to turn the conversation to spiritual matters, but he failed each time. Today, none of those three children have the slightest interest in spiritual things...they care nothing about the Lord...never attend church.

These parents were successful sowers. Unfortunately, they planted the wrong seed. Parents whose children are rebellious can't put all the blame of the kids. Their rebellion was at least partially learned at home!

But such a situation can be broken, and it begins by getting right with God first, and then going to your children, apologizing to them for failing them spiritually, and seeking to restore them to salvation, or fellowship with the Lord.

Hear me clearly, beloved: our children are what they are in large part based upon those who influence them the most. Someone has stated it this way: "As the twig is bent, so it is apt to snap back in your face."

Let me show you some...

Biblical Illustrations of this Law

See Hosea 8:1-10. Note especially v. 7.

The phrase "they sow the wind" is transitional. It alludes to the futility of Israel's human solutions and strategies by which she sought to handle life and her problems, specifically, her idolatrous worship by which she was seeking to design God according to her own wishes, and her foreign policy independently of God. This she was doing in place of knowing and trusting in the Word and the true and living God.

"Wind" represents that which lacks substance and is, like all efforts of the flesh, futile, worthless, and of no assistance. cf. Prov. 11:28-29.

"Whirlwind" represents the harvest in kind which comes from sowing the wind. "The futility (wind) which she had planted like seed would yield a crop of destruction (represented by the whirlwind). All her efforts directed toward self-preservation would be self-destructive."

Note these verses from Psalms, Proverbs: Psalm 7:12-16; Psalm 9:15-16; Psalm 10:2; Psalm 35:7-8; Proverbs 11:18; Proverbs 22:8; Proverbs 26:27.

Obviously, many of these passages emphasize the negative aspects of the Law of Parity. But there are some very positive steps we can follow to make sure that we are sowing the right kind of seed in the lives of our children. I offer the following for your encouragement:

It was none less that Gen. Douglas MacArthur who wrote this prayer to God regarding his son, written in the early days of WWII as a legacy to that son:

Build me a son, O Lord, who will be strong enough to know when he is weak, and brave enough to face himself when he is afraid; one who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat, and humble and gentle in victory.

Build me a son whose wishbone will not be where his backbone should be; a son who will know Thee and that to know himself is the foundation stone of knowledge.

Lead him I pray, not in the path of ease and comfort, but under the stress and spur of difficulties and challenge. Here let him learn to stand up in the storm; here let him learn compassion for those who fail.

Build me a son whose heart will be clear, whose goal will be high; a son who will master himself before he seeks to master other men; one who will learn to laugh, yet never forget how to weep; one who will reach into the future, yet never forget the past.

And after all these things are his, add, I pray, enough of a sense of humor, so that he may always be serious, yet never take himself too seriously. Give him humility, so that he may always remember the simplicity of true greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, the meekness of true strength.

Then, I, his father, will dare to whisper, "I have not lived in vain."

One day, many generations ago, a mover's wagon passed by Farmer Jones' gate. Being a friendly sort of fellow, he asked the movers where they were going.

"We're moving from Johnstown to Jamestown," they replied. "Can you tell us what kind of neighbors to expect in our new home?"

"What kind did you find in Johnstown?"

"The very worst," they said. "Gossipy, unkind, and indifferent. We're glad to move away."

"Well, you'll find the same in Jamestown."

The next day, another mover's wagon drove past Farmer Jones' gate. A similar conversation ensued. The movers asked what kind of neighbors they could expect in Johnstown, and were asked about what kind they had left behind in Jamestown.

"The very best. So kind and considerate. We really hate to move away."

"You'll find the same kind in Jamestown, friends."

Yes, beloved, the second law of the harvest advises us that we will reap the same kind as we have sown, for there is a correspondence between what is sown and what is reaped.

If we answer softly to other, they'll answer softly back. If we speak angrily, anger will be the response. If we lie to others, eventually, we'll be lied to. Cheat someone, and someone will cheat you.

Solomon put it succinctly in Ecc. 10:8-"He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it."

Jacob the trickster, who took advantage of his brother, Esau, later became Jacob the tricked, who was taken advantage of by Laban. cf. Gen. 29:20-26.

He lied, and was lied to. He plotted, and was plotted against. Even Paul reaped the principles of this law. He who had persecuted became himself persecuted. He who had sown suffering in others reaped the same in himself.

Everyone of us here today has or will reap the consequences of this law of parity...the good as well as the not so good. But by God's grace, we can shorten the length of the harvest by cutting short the length of the planting season on this end, and determining to cease what displeases the Lord. The choice is strictly ours to make.