Share the Gospel – Go On! Speak!

Acts 18:9-10 – “And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, ‘Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.”

Many of us as Christians know of times in which God has called us to share the Gospel with some random person, but instead of obeying, we came up with an excuse and walked away from the awesome opportunity to be used by God.  This has happened in my life quite often recently, so I began to consider why I have been constantly saying “No” to God when it came to this issue.  Now, it is true that after you say “No” the first time, it becomes easier and easier; so, that constant refusal has contributed to it, but what were my excuses and what were the actual reasons behind them?  After careful consideration, I found that there were two main reasons why I did not share the Gospel:  1) Fear of “Something” (i.e. what people will say, not knowing what to say, being rejected) and 2) Inconvenience.  These two main things were not two new attitudes that only developed in my own life, but are certainly the two most common reasons why Christians in general refuse to share the Gospel.  These two things have kept Christians from being used completely and fully by God to bring about His kingdom in this world.  So how do we overcome these feelings when we are prompted by God?  Easy enough!  Just like Christ battled temptation, we will battle these feelings with Scripture as well.

The first feeling we need to conquer is fear – the fear of “something,” whatever it may be.  Now, the Bible actually addresses the most common fears we have when sharing the Gospel.  For example, if you are afraid of what people will say when you share the Gospel, refer to Luke 9:26, “For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when He comes in His glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.”  Why are you afraid of what people will say?  Usually the reason behind it is because you are ashamed of Jesus Christ.  Don’t be ashamed of Him.  He is a gracious and loving Savior who died for you.  How dare you be ashamed of a Person who loves you that much?  Why would you be ashamed of sharing this great love with others?  No boyfriend/girlfriend would be ashamed of his/her significant other at a party.  So why would we be ashamed of Christ, who gives us a greater love than this?  His love alone should dispel that fear of shame, for it is something to take glory in – God loves you.  Another example is if you are afraid of not knowing what to say.  In this case, remember three points.  First, remember that when the time comes, the Holy Spirit will guide and teach you what to say – Luke 12:11-12, “And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”  Second, remember that if you have no idea what to say, preach Christ, His Crucifixion, and His Resurrection; in other words, go back to the basics.  Paul never swayed from this simple message – Christ and Him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:1-2 – “And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.  For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”).  If Paul, one of the greatest missionaries and Bible heroes, preached something so simple, who are we to try to vary that message?  Third, if you are afraid of not knowing what to say, then study and be ready to share it by reading and meditating on and memorizing Scripture (1 Peter 3:15 – “…Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect…”)  Also, to answer the example of fear of being rejected, remember that you are not the only one they refuse to listen to, they are actually rejecting Christ (Luke 10:16 – “The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects Him who sent me.”)  If you are afraid of persecution, remember that persecution is a guarantee to all believers for we are enemies of the world, but in the midst of persecution just remember that He is with you in all of it (Matthew 28:19-20).

If fear is the one thing that is stopping you from sharing the Gospel, then place your heart’s and mind’s focus on Jesus Christ; for knowing who He is, His character, His promises, and His faithfulness should keep you from being afraid, for you have the Almighty God on your side.

The second feeling we need to conquer is that feeling of being inconvenienced.  A lot of the time, we don’t share the Gospel when God prompts us to because it is out of our “time schedule.”  We need to get home and watch a TV show.  We have an important test to study for.  We need to go get dinner ready for the family.  We find reason after reason to show that the “practical” thing is to wait until a more convenient time to witness.  This is the wrong attitude to have, for we were bought with a price, no longer to serve ourselves but to serve the One who saved us – Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:15).  We need to remember that our lives don’t belong to us any longer, for when we made the decision to become Christians, we chose to give our lives to Him as Savior and LORD.  He must have foremost authority of all we say and do, meaning that if He wants you to share, you should do it.  Who in his right mind, would say no to the request of his king?  No one.  So why are you doing that to our LORD, the Lord of lords and King of kings?  Also, we must take heed to the verse in 2 Corinthians 6:2b – “…Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”  This moment that God has called you to share the Gospel may be the perfect time, in which God is calling a ready heart to Himself.  Now is the day of salvation, for you know not when that person’s life may end.  It could be a minute from that point, a day from that point, a week from that point.  Is it not an urgent message you have to share?  D.L. Moody, a great evangelist, at one point in his ministry after sharing the Gospel told the people attending the church to come back next week with a decision.  That night the Great Chicago Fire occurred where many people died, some who may have been in that church that night.  From that point forward, Moody never stopped preaching the urgency of the Gospel.  There is no next week to receive, receive now.  If that message is that urgent, should we not share it no matter what – no matter what the “inconvenience”?  We would be extremely mad at a person if he knew he could prevent something bad from happening and did not (like in the CBS show Person of Interest).  We are in that same position; we can prevent people from living a life apart from God and living out eternity in hell.  We should do everything in our power to share this news.  We belong to Christ and have an urgent message to share – what can be more important than that to make you feel like sharing the Gospel is an inconvenience?

Our passage in Acts 18 was a direct word from the Lord to Paul to continue to share the Gospel in Corinth even in the midst of persecution and trials, for Christ would always be with Him.  (He did also promise him physical safety, although that may not be a guarantee for us.)  Knowing that Christ is always with us though, which is a much greater promise than mere safety, let us not be silent in sharing the Gospel.  We have been given this great opportunity to be part of God’s ministry in this world.  We have been honored with the chance to care take this beautiful message of redemption.  We have been given a sacred duty to be watchmen warning the world of the upcoming judgment if they choose not to turn to Christ.  Unlike Jonah, may we not run from God’s calling for us to witness but let us run to Him, trusting that He will use us to say what needs to be said to that person in that time to bring them, as well as, ourselves, to a closer walk with Him.  Share the Gospel!  Go on!  Speak!

Quick Note: Prayers for the Persecuted

Acts 12:5 – “So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.”

It is a little unusual for me to put in a quick note as well as an endorsement to do something here as a blog post, but while reading my Bible today, I was struck by a verse that really pushed me to do this, which is our passage today.  For the past few months, while I drive to work, I listen to a radio show called Jay Sekulow Live!  The show talks a lot about American politics and what is going on here and now, but one topic they have continued to address is the  current imprisonment of Pastor Saeed Abedini.  This American pastor who moved from Iran went back to start an orphanage as a missionary last year when he was arrested.  He has been held in captivity now for a little over a year and was recently moved from a horrible Evin Prison to the dangerous Rajai Shahr Prison.  This current prison is home to many criminals who are serving life sentences for murder and rape and the like.  Additionally, the prison is overcrowded beyond comparison.  Pastor Saeed is serving this time in prison all because of his Christian faith.  

This situation that Pastor Saeed is currently in parallels our passage today in which Peter was thrown into prison for his Christian faith.  Like Pastor Saeed, Peter was also being used a political tool of Herod to gain favor with the Jews after he saw how killing James the brother of John pleased them.  In our verse, we are reminded of how the church prayed for Peter as he was locked up in prison, and on the night before he was to be delivered over to Herod, the Lord miraculously set him free.  It was through the powerful prayer of the saints.  Like Peter and Pastor Saeed, there are tons of Christians today who are experiencing persecution around the world – they can be in prison, they can be beaten, they can be killed, ostracized, or punished in various ways, all because they have put their faith and trust in Christ.  We as disciples of Jesus Christ must pray for them.  We must ask the Lord for protection for them, for provisions for them, for health for them, and for encouragement.  We must also pray that the Lord takes each and every opportunity even the ones that look bleakest to bring Him more honor and glory as Paul’s time in prison did for salvation of the Philippian jailer (Acts 16) or Peter’s time did for the encouragement of the church.  Let us add Pastor Saeed and any other people you know of to our daily prayer list.

For Pastor Saeed specifically, I encourage you to do the following:

1.  Go to BeHeardProject.org and sign the petition to urge the President of the US to take diplomatic action for his freedom.

2.  If you have a Twitter Feed, post the following “To @JZarif & @HassanRouhani: Free American #PastorSaeed Abedini. He is no threat to Iran’s national security #SaveSaeed” This will flood the Iranian president’s twitter feed with reminders to free Pastor Saeed.

3.  Keep him, his family, and his ministry in your prayers.

How to Battle Worry – Knowing the Value of Things

Matthew 6:25-34 – ²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷ And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?^[a] 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹ yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹ Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.³⁴ “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

We all know a few details from the story of Chicken Little like how the little chicken would go out claiming to everyone that the sky is falling after some acorn or apple falls on top of his head, but most of us don’t really know the ending.  The reason for that is because it has many different endings, teaching different morals based on the ending given (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henny_Penny).  For example, in one story, the chicken ends up getting a bunch of animals to join him on his quest to warn the king about the end of the world, but in the end gets his friends and himself eaten by a fox.  The moral of that specific story was not to believe everything you hear.  The Disney version of this story had Chicken Little warn the world about aliens and actually saved them from the incurring invasion.  That moral was that even the smallest person could make a big difference.  The lessons that these two versions of the story were trying to teach are completely different, but one thing is common – Chicken Little worried about the sky falling after something that was not the sky fell on his head.  He had some really unrealistic worries that spread fear and panic in the community.

Although we laugh at the tale of Chicken Little and how foolish his worries were, if we were to be honest with ourselves, we would agree that we tend to worry quite a lot as well and usually over things just as nonsensical as the sky falling.  Just this week, I can name you at least three things that I worried about which may or may not have been justified.  First, I worried about getting some of my applications for school in on time.  Now that was a legitimate worry because they were due last Friday, but the hours I spent worrying about the deadline would have surely been enough time to get some of them done.  Second, I worried about getting to work safely without any car accidents.  Once again, a fairly legitimate worry seeing that I was only getting about three-four hours of sleep a day last week.  Third, I worried about what some people would say to me if I shared the Gospel with them or invited them to church, which ended up with me not doing anything at all and possibly missing a chance to be part of God’s wonderful work.  And these are only three of the worries that I remember having this past week.

Let me tell you about a time I worried about something quite ludicrous.  When I was maybe ten-twelve years old, I went on vacation with my parents to Austria and Switzerland.  On that trip I had two “traumatizing” events.  During the trip, twice I almost got locked in a bathroom unable to escape.  The first time I used the small bathroom on the bus when everyone was out looking at some memorial outside.  Right when I closed the door, I realized that I had no clue where the light switch was, so I moved for the door handle to open the door and shed some light.  But when I tried pushing it open, the door was stuck.  It had no way of opening!  Right then and there, I thought to myself, “Great!  I am going to die young in a bus bathroom.”  Fortunately, after pushing hard enough I got out, or I wouldn’t be with you here today.  The second time on that trip we went into a bathroom at the hotel.  Now, in America, our bathroom stalls tend to have openings on the bottom and the top so that air can flow and so that claustrophobic people don’t panic.  But in Europe, they are sealed shut from top to bottom like a child’s lips in a library.  Once again, I entered the stall and tried to come out but could not.  I was stuck again! – The second time on the trip!  I started to worry again because I thought I would lose oxygen and die in this bathroom.  Fortunately, my dad was in the room as well, and after panicking a little, he was able to figure out how to open the handle and taught me what to do from the other side.  In both cases, worry and fear made me freeze from action and prevented me from getting out.  Truthfully, those were really unwarranted worries about dying in a bathroom and had no reason to even cross my mind.  But even today, when I close a bathroom door, I check to make sure everything is okay, so I don’t die in a bathroom.

In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus addressed this topic of worry right after He talked about the choice between serving God and money.  He knew that after telling people that they should not lay up treasures here on earth, that the next logical question they would ask is “Then how are we going to feed or clothes ourselves?”  Anticipating that question, He went straight to the solution and told them, “Do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on” or simply like Bob Marley said, “Don’t worry.”  But how do we prevent from worrying?  How do we keep ourselves from this natural reaction to any issues that arise in life?  Jesus Christ left us a regiment of four questions to consider which evaluate the value of things.  By considering the answers to these questions, we can help dispel worry.

The Value of Life

The first question He presented the people with was found in vs. 25, “Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?”  This one simple question forces us to consider the value of life.  Is life really just about food and drink?  Is the body all about the clothing you put on it?  Of course not, even a non-sentimentalist knows that life cannot be summed up to those three things – food, drink, and clothing.  Yes, of course, these three things are important in maintaining life but is that where its value lies?  No way!  Life is something precious, something dear, something that you just cannot put a price tag on.  Think about how the abortion industry values life.  They merely see it as a blob of cells that is invading another human being.  The “doctor” values it to however much money he can get to perform the procedure, while the “mother” values it to her future, her dreams, her upcoming career.  Life is a lot more valuable than that.

Here is a verse for you to consider when you think about the value of life:

• Genesis 1:26 – “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…’”  Would God make something to be just like Him and not see it as valuable?

Life is not merely a bunch of carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur atoms joined together to create a human body.  Life is not merely the money you make, the career you have, the people you know.  Life is not merely the vacations you enjoy, the hobbies you have, or the activities you participate in.  It is so much more than that.  If that was all there was to life, then life is simply not worth living.  But life is something valuable, something precious.  It is treasured by God and should be treasured by us.  Life is Jesus Christ, for He states in John 14:6, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”  It is having a relationship with the God and Creator who desires to have that same relationship with us.  It is living for Him, dying for Him, and all that comes between.  It is having a Savior and Friend and King.  Life is valuable; life is Jesus Christ.

But when we worry about things saying words like “How are we going to pay for the car?” or “How will I put food on the table?” or “How am I going to get into medical school?”  We are simply treating life as if they can be valued by a car payment, a plate of food, or a career.  Life is infinitely more valuable and if summed up in a catch phrase, we could use the Mastercard commercials, “It’s priceless.”

The Value of You

The second question Jesus Christ asked the people to consider is found in vs. 26, “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”  After asking them to consider the value of life in general, Christ asked them to dig in more personally – to search their own hearts and to find how they value themselves.  How do you value yourself?  Is it by how much money is in your bank account at this exact time?  Is it by the career that you currently have?  Is it by the family members who love and support you?  As good as all of those things are, you are worth more than all of that.  Let’s consider nature, just as Christ asked the people to do in this verse.  When you look at any bird, do they plant, do they reap, do they gather up like we do?  Of course not, they wait upon God knowing that their food will be supplied according to His timing and His will.  There is a famous poem called “Overheard in an Orchard” by Elizabeth Cheney that actually became a song, which I believe found its basis in this verse:

Said the robin to the sparrow,

“I should really like to know

Why these anxious human beings

Rush about and worry so!” 

 

Said the Sparrow to the Robin,

“Friend, I think that it must be

That they have no heavenly Father

Such as cares for you and me!”

We have a God who loves us, who even though we were enemies of His, sent His only begotten Son to die for our sins (John 3:16).  Anybody who knows a father’s love understands the emotional heartache and difficulty this one task would bring; but God did it for us.  He loved us so much that He wanted a relationship with us.  That He chased us.  That He like the father of the prodigal son runs to us if we will but open our hearts to Him.  God values us.  He gave His Son for us.  So what is your value?  You are worth everything to God.  How can you worry if you have a Heavenly Father like that, who will tax every animal, plant, ocean, and sky to bring you to Him?  You are worth a lot more than the birds.  You are worth His Son.

The Value of Worry

The third question Jesus posed in vs. 27 was actually quite practical to ask, “And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?”  Jesus Christ asked them to consider the value of worrying.  Did it amount to anything in the end?  Would it bring out a profit of any kind?  No, the value of worry is simply nothing.  Worrying gets you nowhere, and I should know, as my parents can attest, I waste way too much time worrying.  The truth is that if I didn’t worry, I would probably get more things done in a day, but I still choose to do it, because when I worry, I forget to consider its value of nothing.  How many of us if we had $60, would go into a store and would pay $60 for an item that was only priced at $15?  No one in their right mind would do that; but we do that every time we worry.  We spend precious time (60 minutes of our every hour) that can never be recovered worrying, when we could have easily finished our task in less time if we didn’t.  Worry has robbed people of sleep.  Worry has robbed people of their future.  Worry has robbed people of opportunities.  It is completely useless and usually only results in guilt afterwards, when we realize that we didn’t need to worry in the first place.  If there is no point in doing it, why do it?  The value of worrying is nothing.

The Value of Gifts from God

The last question Jesus Christ asked the people was found in vs. 28-30, “And why are you anxious about clothing?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow:  they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?”  Being a person that enjoys photography, I love looking at the pictures people enter for contests.  Almost every time there is a nature category, a significant amount of photos are flowers.  People submit these photos, not necessarily because their photo was extremely powerful in conveying a message or because it took a significant amount of skill, but because they were able to capture the natural beauty of that flower on film/bits.  Flowers are beautifully dressed with more colors, more smells, and more designs than we can imagine.  They are so intricately and beautifully made.  Yet flowers have a life span of maybe two-three weeks at most, before they start wilting and dying.  Even grass, which is there one day and out the next, is beautifully arrayed.  If you have no appreciation for the beauty in a blade of grass, just go to the hills of Ireland and take in the breathtaking view of rolling green hills and come back with a changed mindset.  Consider the beauty of sunrises and sunsets, which do nothing more in those few minutes than display beauty, yet God spent the time to paint the sky those intertwisting colors of purple, red, yellow, and orange.  As fleeting as these things are, God took the time to array them with such beauty.  Could Louis Vuitton or Gucci or Coach come anywhere near to designing a purse that beautiful?  Could any high-end fashion designer, paint as beautiful a picture in nature as God did?  I think not; they actually borrow from nature.  God provided each and every one of these fleeting things the best clothing they could ever have.  Solomon with all his wealth, wisdom, and servants could not even array himself in a more glorious fashion.  If we remember that our God values life and values us and creates such things of beauty for things that are fleeting, how dare we think that He would provide us anything less?  God is no Scrooge McDuck.  God is no tightfisted Silas Marner.  God is no cheapskate.  God will always give you the best.  Worrying tends to cause us to settle for something less than the best.  Surely, we all know someone who has settled for a boyfriend/girlfriend that is definitely subpar to what they deserve, yet they decided to date them because they were afraid that nobody else would come along.  They were worried, they would not find someone.  We need not worry or fear, for our God, our Father, will give us the best.  He loves us.  If we can give good gifts to our children, cannot the God who owns the universe do the same for His?  The value of all things given by God is the best.

What Does This All Come Down To

To wrap up this portion of the Sermon on the Mount about money and the things of this earth, Jesus Christ boils down how to handle the worries of this life into two simple statements, “Therefore do not be anxious, saying ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.  But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

First, Christ reveals to us how worry originates from two factors:  Desire and Fear/Lack of Faith.  Worry is first an issue of desire.  What you treasure is what you worry about.  Jesus Christ mentioned how the Gentiles (referring to unbelievers) seek after food, drink, clothing, and any other transient thing in this life.  They know not better than to go after money (which at one instant could disappear like it did in the 1929 stock market crash), fame (which tends to last only 15 minutes), or power (which according to Ecclesiastes 4:13-16 changes with time and population ).  Their desires are for the things of the earth and that is why they spend so much time worrying about how to get and then keep these things.  Jesus wanted all His disciples to realize that if they worried about the things of this earth, they were not doing anything different from the world, they were not shining as lights or salt, drawing this world to Him.  No, they were simply doing the same exact thing.

Worry is also an issue of fear/lack of faith.  It comes from this idea that what we desire or need will not be provided for us when the time comes that we want/need it.  Christ quells these fears by reminding His disciples that God already knew.  He knows exactly what we need and want and is already preparing a way for us to have it if it is according to His will.  A beautiful illustration of this is an old Native American ritual, in which, boys were sent to spend the night out into the woods all alone on their thirteenth birthday after they had learned how to hunt, scout, and fish.  They were put through this one final test in order to be considered a man.  Surely, many of the boys were afraid as they were dropped off in the middle of nowhere with no friends, no family, no anything except their own fears.  This happened to one young brave.  He was blindfolded, taken out into the woods, and left there alone without help or friends nearby.  When he heard a branch snap or some other mysterious sound, all he could think about was how long it would be before the next danger would come.  Could it be a bear?  Could it be a wolf?  He was shaking as he felt afraid and abandoned; but to his surprise, when the sun arose and the light illuminated the background, he saw his father armed with bow and arrow in the background ready to strike anything at a moment’s notice.  He was there all night.  It is the same with us and God.  We fear that He isn’t there, but He is there, always watching.  Another great picture of this is in the Chronicles of Narnia Book 3, The Horse and His Boy.  In this story, a boy named Shasta runs away with a horse from a slave trader and into a life of adventure.  As he was running away, a lion appeared and began chasing them towards a specific direction.  Throughout the book, the lion would appear and continue to alter the course of events so that the boy in the end would discover that he was a long-lost prince.  It was not until the end of the book though that the boy discovered that the lion was Aslan himself (a picture of God in all of C.S. Lewis’ books on Narnia), watching over every situation to make sure that the best would be worked out for the boy in the end.  This is what happens with God.  We may fear that He is not there.  We may think that He has no control over our lives, but He is there always working in the background to make sure that the best will come from it all.

Second, Christ gave us an alternative to worrying – to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.”  Instead of worrying and being like the Gentiles who seek after the perishable things of this life, Christ asked us to place our eyes on Him, to focus our hearts and our attention to bringing about His rule and His righteousness in our lives and the world’s; because in the end of it all, God will provide the rest.  You know those deals, in which, you are told to put down the principle, and everything else will be taken care of.  That is exactly what Christ is asking His disciples to do.  Put down the principle of spending your time seeking and drawing closer to me, and I will take care of the rest.  There are countless illustrations of the trustworthiness of this statement; for example, when Solomon was given the option to request anything He wanted from God, all he said was that he wanted wisdom to rule the people of Israel according to the ways of God.  God in the end did not only give him his request to rule in that manner but gave him all the other things he could ask for, whether servants or wealth or peace from conflict with neighbors.  Solomon sought God first, and God took care of the rest (2 Chronicles 1).  Abraham was told to sacrifice his only son Isaac, the son he was promised his line would be established by; yet Abraham obeyed and found his son delivered in the end (Genesis 22).  Moses, according to Hebrews 11, gave up the pleasures of sin for a season and suffered to serve God and His people in the wilderness and is now remembered as one of the greatest faith heroes.  And these are only a few of the examples of people who put God first.  He will do the same for every disciple of His if we would but first focus our hearts and desires on Him.  He wants us to seek His rule over our hearts.  He wants us to seek His righteousness and be more like Him each day.  He wants us to know that God will supply all our needs according to His riches in glory (Phil 4:9) by Christ Jesus.  Let us just spend and be spent for God.

Christ’s sermon on money gets wrapped up here and leaves us equipped to battle worry and fear in our lives.  First, we need to remember the values of things:  the value of life (priceless), the value of you (a treasure worth His Son), the value of worry (nothing), and the value of God’s good gifts (the best there is).  Second, we need to remember that we must act as lights in the world, which means that our desires need to be God’s desires.  Third, we must replace the bad habit of worrying with the desire to spread His Word to the world and see His character grow in and out of us.  Stop worrying about the rest of this day.   Stop worrying about tomorrow.  Worry will do nothing, instead seek God’s kingdom in your life and the lives of others and watch as God takes care of all the rest.

The Three Abides that Bring Joy

Before reading this post further it is recommended that you read the accompanying passage from john 15:1-11.  The passage is provided here:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+15%3A1-11&version=ESV

John 15:11 – “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”

As we approach the Christmas season, we are going to start hearing a ton of Christmas music in the stores as we shop, in our cars as we drive to work, and in our homes as we decorate.  We all have our favorite ones whether it is the old-time classics like “Frosty the Snowman” or “White Christmas,” the new hits like “All I Want for Christmas is You,” or the hymns like “Away in a Manger” or “Go Tell It on the Mountain.”  One of the most well-known hymns is “Joy to the World” written by Isaac Watts.  Interestingly, according to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joy_to_the_World), the song wasn’t actually written to commemorate the birth of Christ and Christmas but to glorify His Second Coming.  Whether or not the song was written for Christmas or not, this hymn is loved and cherished by all.  But have we ever thought what is meant by the word joy?  Joy is not simply an elated feeling of happiness that is felt during Christmas time, but something deeper, more lasting, and more beautiful than we have ever given it credit for.  Joy endures through any circumstance, while happiness is fleeting.  D.L. Moody, a famous Christian evangelist of the 19^th century, described it best in the quote below:

I think there is a difference between happiness and joy. Happiness is caused by things which happen around me, and circumstances will mar it, but joy flows right on through trouble; joy flows on through the dark; joy flows in the night as well as in the day; joy flows all through persecution and opposition; it flows right along, for it is an unceasing fountain bubbling up in the heart; a secret spring which the world can’t see and don’t know anything about; but the Lord gives His people perpetual joy when they walk in obedience to Him.

http://www.wisdom-of-the-wise.com/D-L-Moody.htm

In our passage today in John 15:11, Christ explained why He spoke the words in the preceding verses – “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”  Christ wanted His people to experience His joy – the joy that would continue even through the scourging, the cross, and the eventual death.  But how do we get this incredible joy that lasts?  Jesus tells us in our passage today in John 15.  There are three “abides” that Christ talks about that will produce His joy in you.

1)       “Abide in Him”

In verse 1 of this chapter, Jesus Christ told His disciples that He was the true vine and that we are the branches.  In plant biology, if a branch is not connected to the main stem, it cannot receive any nutrients from the roots; it will have no water, no sugar, no anything that it needs for growth or to produce fruit.  The branch will eventually wither and deteriorate until it finally dies and falls off.  The branch must always be connected to the stem.  In the same manner, we as Christians if we desire to grow and produce fruit must always be attached to our true Vine, Jesus Christ.  It is only in and Him through Him that we can do anything of lasting value.  In vs. 5b, He clearly states, “…Apart from me you can do nothing.”  Without Christ, we are completely and utterly useless.  There is no purpose in life, there is no lasting value, there is no relationship with God, there is no eternal life.  We need Jesus Christ.  We need to have our lives fully and completely invested in Him with Him abiding in our hearts.  Make sure that your life is first and foremost founded upon the Rock of Christ, grafted into the true Vine.  This comes by giving your life to Him as Savior and Lord.  Then second, make sure that you are drawing from that source and grounding yourself further and further into Him by reading and studying His Word.  Third, let His life come out through you, so that lasting fruit may be produced.  When you abide in Christ, He abides in you and His joy can and will flow through and out of you.

2)       “My words abide in you…” – vs. 7

If you want Christ’s joy to be in your heart, then you must certainly have His words in your heart as well.  For the Word of God is like medicine to the heart.  It brings comfort to those who are mourning, strength to those who are weak, and wisdom to those who are lost.  Even more, the context in which this phrase is found shows how God’s Word answers prayers – “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”  Now, this verse is not one of those “get-rich-quick schemes,” where if you do something, God will give you anything you want.  It is not a “name it, claim it” idea.  It states nothing of that sort.  The passage actually carries two points that are interconnected.  The first is that you abide in Christ and that His words abide in you.  We already talked about abiding in Christ.  “His words abiding in you” is simply having God’s Word – the Bible – in your heart – to have it fully and completely treasured by you.  This can only happen with constant reading, studying, and praying.  It is not something that happens overnight but over a lifetime.  As you read more of His Word, it becomes more and more a part of your life, reflecting the image of Christ in you.  The second point in the verse is that whatever you ask, it will be done for you.  This will certainly happen when you abide in Christ and His Word abides in you, because from that point forward your will, your desires, your everything is Christ’s.  The riches of this world will mean nothing to you when you have a heart for Christ, for the only thing that matters is to please your Heavenly Father.  When you have this type of heart, filled with God’s Word, your prayers are answered with a firm and resounding “Yes” for every prayer is followed by “Not my will, but Thine be done.”  Once that heart is produced, no matter what the circumstance, only joy can be experienced, for you will know that God is in control.  You will find joy through the promises He lays out in His Word.

3)       “Abide in my love.” – vs. 9

The last “abide” is to abide in Christ’s love – to rest and continue in His love.  This phrase does not only mean to experience His love for us, which is a joy beyond compare in and of itself, but to also love Him with that same love – an even greater joy.  To abide in His love means that we grasp even a small part of John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  To abide in His love means to rest in the knowledge of how much God loves you.  He loves you so much that He sent His only Son to die for you; a father’s love for his son is almost unmatched by any other love in this world, which means for a father to let his son die for another requires even more love for that other person.  And this verse can only describe a small part of how much God loves you.  Second, to abide in His love means to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.  Jesus Christ simply stated, “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in His love.”  To abide in Christ’s love is to be obedient to His commandments.  Once again, that requires a knowledge of His Word, but even more, it requires a heart of obedience.  When you abide in His love, you not only get the joy of knowing that you are loved but the joy of producing that same love for God and for others.  Paul stated it best in Romans 8:38-39, “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  If nothing can separate us from His love, certainly nothing can separate us from His joy which finds its source in His love.  Is there any greater joy than being loved unconditionally?

If you want to experience true and lasting joy, follow these three interconnected “abides” – 1)  Abide  in Christ, 2) Let His Word Abide in You, and 3)  Abide in His love.  This will not only keep you abiding in the True Vine but will also produce fruit beyond measure.

Two Servants at the End of the Age

Matthew 24:45-51 – “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time?  Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.  Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions.  But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites.  In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 

People have always been interested about the end of the world.  Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic movie stories are probably one of the most recycled topics used by Hollywood, whether it occurs by natural disaster, zombie invasion, or giant meteor.  But people don’t need to watch movies and speculate about what will happen during the end of days; all they need to do to know the details of those days is to pick up their Bible and read – read passages in Revelation, Daniel, and even specific chapters of the Gospels.  The Bible is a rich source of information about the last days.

Many Christians have an obsession with the last days, spending a lot of time trying to predict the date of Christ’s return; but the Bible is clear that no one knows the day except for God the Father.  So why do we keep wasting our time speculating on the date?  Don’t we have something better to do as disciples of Jesus Christ?  Our passage today in Matthew 24 was actually the end of a conversation Jesus had with His disciples on the end of days.  It actually began with the disciples asking the same question that many of us ask, “When will that day come?”  To which Jesus replied, “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son but the Father only” (vs.36).  By stating this and telling the story that we have as our passage today, He was getting His disciples to switch their focus from a date to a prepared attitude and heart – that is the better thing we can do than speculating the date.  This same story should inspire us as His disciples today to prepare our hearts for His return.

In the story, there is a master who leaves his household in the caretaking of his servant for an unknown period of time.  The servant had the simple task of making sure that the household would be provided for and taken care of while his master was away.  Seeing that his master was not present, the servant then had two choices – 1) He could obey his master’s command and serve even without a watchful eye on him or 2) He could ignore it until there was a sign of his master’s return.  In one case, where the servant is “faithful and wise,” he simply did his master’s work at the appointed times, continually serving his master even in his absence.  It mattered not what time his master would return, for he was ready at any moment to show that he had been faithful.  He cared not for recognition or credit, for to him, being faithful to his master through obedience was its own reward.  In the end, his obedience was rewarded with a higher position, in which he became caretaker of all his master’s possessions.   In the other case, the servant was described as “wicked,” for although the task was the same, the attitude it was approached with was completely different.  Instead of being prepared at any moment for his master’s return, the servant assumed that his master would be delayed and that he could put off the work given to him.  He was so concerned about times and dates, that instead of being prepared, he actually fell into a worse state than if his master was present.  He not only ignored his task of watching the household but went contrary to it by destroying it (beating his fellow servants and squandering his time and money with drunkards).    Instead of being prepared, he was found unfit for the work given to him and in the end was rewarded with shame and punishment.

By examining the consequences of both choices, we as disciples of Jesus Christ can certainly learn a few lessons on how we need to prepare for Christ’s return.  First, like the servant, we have been given a task by our Master and Lord to caretake His church, building it up as the servant was to provide food for the household.  Matthew 28:19-20 reminds us that we are not only to share the Gospel with all nations building the kingdom of God in numbers but also to make disciples building the kingdom in heart and maturity.  Paul stated it best, “Encourage one another and build up each other.” (1 Thess 5:11 NRSV)  This is our task and should be what every Christian continues to do as He awaits Christ’s return.  Second, the faithful servant was faithful continually.  So much of the time, we as Christians get tired of serving God, of being faithful, of continually carrying the faith.  We start out with a bright fire, wanting to be all that God has called us to be but eventually die out into lives of mediocrity.  But in this passage, the faithful servant served not only once but continuously until his master’s return.  We should also continue to serve and not allow our hearts to grow weary, for in due season we shall reap (Galatians 6:9).  Third, unlike the wicked servant, we should expect Christ to return at any moment.  The wicked servant assumed that his master’s return would be delayed, giving him ample reason every time to push off his work and to revel in sin.  We as Christians tend to live our lives on earth as if Christ would never return.  We state with our mouths that He can come at any moment but we live our lives as if He won’t show up in our lifetime.  As His disciples privileged to carry the Gospel to the world, we must understand that there is an urgency to share these words of life with all around us.  We must live each day as if it were the last time any person will ever hear about God’s love.  If Christians lived with that type of heart, the world would be a much different place.  Also, if we lived in that way, a Christian’s heart would also be completely different, for he would certainly remove the sins in his life that he would be ashamed of if Christ was present at that moment.  Because we don’t really believe that He will show up in the blink of an eye, we let our sins continue to fester in our lives.  We must get rid of it ASAP, for He can show up at any moment.  Simply, as Christians we need to live in a manner where we can be proud to have Christ present at any moment.  Fourth, as the wicked servant who failed to do his master’s work ended up bringing down the household, a Christian who is not performing the tasks God has assigned Him also brings down the church.  Very often, we find that a Christian who is idle in God’s work tends to fall into sin, for idle hands are simply the tools of the devil.  When one is not filled up with God’s Spirit doing His work, there can only be one alternative which is a heart that is filled with sin and wickedness – that type of heart destroys the body of Christ.  Are you sinning with sinners instead of being a light?  Are you discouraging fellow Christians through your words or actions?  Let us be careful that we are not doing anything to hurt or destroy the church instead of building it up.  Remove any stumbling block you know of in your life that will be an obstacle for growth to your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

Our passage today reveals two responses of a servant to a master’s calling.  We as Christians have been called by Christ to build up His church – to prepare it for the day of His return.  What type of servant will He find you to be at the end of the age?  Will you be considered a wicked servant who will be tossed out to a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth?  Or will you be considered a “good and faithful” servant?