Unintended Consequences
Rev. Steve Boyd

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

• It has often been said of sin… "IT WILL TAKE YOU FURTHER THAN YOU INTENDED TO GO, COST YOU MORE THAN YOU INTENDED TO PAY, AND KEEP YOU LONGER THAN YOU INTENDED TO STAY!"
• There is an interesting passage that I would like to read in its entirety. Although it is a familiar scripture, let’s consider it again.

2 Sam 11:1-18
1 And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem.
2 And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.
3 And David sent and inquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bath-sheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?
4 And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house.
5 And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child.
6 And David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David.
7 And when Uriah was come unto him, David demanded of him how Joab did, and how the people did, and how the war prospered.
8 And David said to Uriah, Go down to thy house, and wash thy feet. And Uriah departed out of the king’s house, and there followed him a mess of meat from the king.
9 But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house.
10 And when they had told David, saying, Uriah went not down unto his house, David said unto Uriah, Camest thou not from thy journey? why then didst thou not go down unto thine house?
11 And Uriah said unto David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open fields; shall I then go into mine house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? as thou livest, and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing.
12 And David said to Uriah, Tarry here to day also, and to morrow I will let thee depart. So Uriah abode in Jerusalem that day, and the morrow.
13 And when David had called him, he did eat and drink before him; and he made him drunk: and at even he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but went not down to his house.
14 And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah.
15 And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die.
16 And it came to pass, when Joab observed the city, that he assigned Uriah unto a place where he knew that valiant men were.
17 And the men of the city went out, and fought with Joab: and there fell some of the people of the servants of David; and Uriah the Hittite died also.
18 Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war;

• It is a story that goes from good to bad and then a beautiful story of hope and restoration in the end.
• One thing that we MUST understand is that we are all interconnected and what I do affects your life and what you do affects mine! Everything is affected by everything.
• In scuba diving, there are laws that relegate what you can and cannot do when you are in cave and cavern environments. You cannot write your name or take pieces of rock formations, etc.
• That may seem silly, but if everybody took something without giving anything back, soon natural resources would be depleted.

No man is an island unto himself.

• Criminal investigators know that if a person enters a building he will affect that building and that building will have an affect on him.
• Regardless of how insignificant or unrecognizable, nothing is completely immune to outside forces.
• Fibers fall from your clothes to the place where you sit.
• When you’re gone we can prove that you’ve been here because you have, regardless of how minuscule, affected this environment.
• Job 37:7 He sealeth up the hand of every man; that all men may know his work.
• A common thief races through the woods hoping to escape but he leaves a scent and is tracked down by blood hounds.
• DNA is collected from a hair follicle and matched to a suspect.
• You never move independently.

The Law of Unintended Consequences

• CAFÉ – Congress instituted regulations mandating that auto manufacturers increase the average "miles per gallon" on their cars to 30 MPG.
• The good intention was that GMC, FORD, HONDA and others would improve the fuel economy of their vehicles thereby protecting the environment and using fewer natural resources.
• It was a good intention. However, unintended consequences were reaped instead.
• Instead of improving the technology of the fuel injectors and carburetors and other engine components in an effort to raise the average MPG of their cars to 30 MPG, manufacturers reduced the size and lightened the weight of cars.
• The smaller and lighter cars did measure up to the new standard. However, consumers were not happy driving, what turned out to be, the more fragile and less dependable compacts.
• As a result the consumers began purchasing vans and pick-up trucks.
• The CAFÉ regulation did not apply to truck based vehicles.
• Consumers had found a way to get their roomy and high cargo capacity vehicles back.
• Auto Manufacturers then realized a whole new market had been developed.
• The Sports Utility Vehicle market.
• Today one out of every seven vehicles on the road is a SUV.
• The "Good Intention" of Congress was to protect the environment and natural resources by improving the fuel economy of vehicles.

The "Unintended Consequence" was:

1. manufacturers shrunk the size of cars making them more dangerous and less dependable
2. consumers flocked to truck-based-vehicles which use more fuel
3. 2,000 more people die per year as a result of collisions between SUVs and cars than died prior to the CAFÉ ruling.

• The "Intention" was good but the results have, at best, been humorous and, at worst, disastrous.
• The same Law of Unintended Consequences applies to sin.
• Paul said, "The wages of sin is death."
• However, people do not sin because they intend on dying.
• People sin to fulfill the wants of their flesh.
  People sin for pleasure.
  People sin for a "good feeling."
• If a person steals he does so to benefit himself, not to be incarcerated.
• Incarceration is the unintended consequence.
• If a person commits adultery he does so to please his own desires.
• Divorce, illegitimate children, and disease are the unintended consequences.
• If a person lies he does so to make himself look better in the eyes of others.
• The unintended consequence is that people will no longer trust him.
• The Law of Unintended Consequences does not, however, only apply to sin.
• It also applies to good.
• In fact, you can differentiate, many times, between good and evil by analyzing the unintended consequences.
• Not that the end justifies the means.
• There are many things we do that result in improved circumstances.
• People have inadvertently won people to God because of their lifestyle.
• People have unknowingly blessed other people because of their behavior.
• Saul’s servant sent him to the prophet Samuel so that he might find his donkey.
• Instead Saul was anointed to be the first king over Israel.
• Jesse sent David to the battle to check on his brothers.
• Goliath was slain.