Meditations in Luke – December 22, 2008

Luke 2:1-20

I can hardly believe what I read. Luke goes on to tell us about how Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem and had the baby. Then he throws this on at the end: “She wrapped [her baby] in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn” (7). I can’t believe this! They couldn’t find a room in Bethlehem so they stayed the night in someone’s barn. And they laid the Messiah, the Savior of God’s people, in a probably stinky and dirty feeding trough. Is there something wrong with this picture?! What kind of crib is this for a king?! What kind of crib is this for the King of Kings – the Lord?!

I am reminded of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians:

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; and the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.’ Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.

Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of this world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things – and the things that are not – to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God – that is, our righteousness, holiness, and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: ‘Let him who boasts boast in the Lord’” (1 Cor. 1:18-31).

What an amazing explanation of what is going on here in Luke. Celebrating the Son of God, the Messiah, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who has a feeding trough in a barn for his crib is much like worshipping the Son of God, the Messiah, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who was murdered on a cross like a criminal. This, I think, is one of the lowly and despised things that God has chosen to display his wisdom to those who will be shamed by its seeming foolishness. Notice in the passage above the reason Paul gives for God displaying his wisdom like this: “so that no one may boast before him” and so that we might be left with nothing to boast in except the Lord. Incredible.

This is exactly what happens after Jesus is born in Luke’s story. God in his wisdom sends angels not to the houses of the most influential people in town or the mayor or the effective communicators or the teachers and rabbis; but he sends the angels to tell the shepherds sitting out in the fields watching their sheep. He heralds the good news to what society would consider a bunch of dirty fleabags who probably weren’t educated or skilled at communicating, teaching, etc. He sends the angels with the good news to the lowly and despised! Think about this! You’re a shepherd sitting on a hill or in a field and an angel comes to you and says: the Savior, the promised Messiah, the Anointed One, the king who will resume David’s throne has been born tonight; he’s over there in so-and-so’s barn lying in a feeding trough. Even the shepherds must have wondered about this…the Messiah is lying in a feeding trough?!

So they go and find it just as the angels told them! And there is no way they can be prideful about this! There is no sense in which they can say, “I have seen the Messiah and you haven’t, nana nana boo boo!” There is no room for boasting in this. Have you ever thought about this, that the shepherds are going door to door late at night telling people that the new King and Savior of Israel is over in so-and-so’s barn lying in his feeding trough!? You shepherds must be out of your minds! You must be mad!...The good news is simultaneously the powerful wisdom of God and the utter foolishness of society! As a result the shepherds have nothing of themselves to boast about; they are left with no one else to magnify but God. So as soon as they finish waking the whole town with this ridiculous message, they return to the barn “glorifying and praising God for the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told” (20).

I remember a time in my life where I was hesitant in my faith. I was slow to believe all that God has said because I held the opinions and perceptions of my friends in high regard. I remember trying to show my non-Christian friends how “attractive” Christianity was in that I could be a Christian and have the same fun that they can have. I was careful not to step on their toes in sharing my faith because I didn’t want to offend them. The gospel I lived was my highly refined and polished version of the story that left out all of the silly and ridiculous parts. I was sub-consciously ashamed of the message because I had too much invested in the approval and acceptance of my peers. What a foul compromise! I had exchanged the glory, wisdom, and power of the good news for being liked by my friends.

I remember myself waiting for the “opportunity” to share the truth about Christ with my non-Christian friends. What that really meant in my heart was waiting for the moment in which the foolishness of the message seemed palatable to my friends. But God has not called us to judge when the soil is ready and when it is not. He has called us to proclaim the gospel, to go out into the harvest field, to sow and to water and to leave the growth and the results up to him. It seems like we sometimes expect God to save our non-Christian friends before we tell them the gospel. But have we forgotten this word? “How then can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news’” (Rom. 10:14-15)!

Father, please be gracious to us in North America and keep us in the truth. Help us to be faithful to the foolishness of the good news! Help us to renounce our own sinful desires to proclaim a message that is wise and winsome in the world’s eyes. God, help us to overcome the snare of compromise. It’s the foolish message of the cross and the trough that is the power and wisdom of God unto salvation for those you have called. Help us to be faithful to your Word. We thank you and praise you that you have revealed these things to us and that our celebration this Christmas magnifies a King with a feeding trough for a crib proclaimed by shepherds on that wonderful night over 2000 years ago! Amen.

My First Sermon - Preached on Aug. 3rd in Midale Baptist Church, SK

Today I am speaking from, the book of Ephesians. So if you have your Bibles here with you this morning, you can turn there with me. Before we begin reading, let me just give you a brief background on where our passage comes from.

As the gospel spread in the book of Acts, Paul traveled through Asia Minor, which is called Turkey today. One of the cities which he traveled to was called Ephesus. We read in Acts that Paul entered the synagogue in Ephesus and spoke boldly there…arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God (Acts 19:8). Paul stayed in Ephesus for over 2 years teaching the followers of Christ. Later on his missionary journey, Paul, as he was passing by the city of Ephesus, met with the elders of the church. During this encounter Paul says, I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God (Acts 20:27).

From this point forward, Paul moves over to Jerusalem where he is imprisoned and he remains a prisoner for the rest of his life eventually ending up in Rome where he dies. During Paul’s years in prison, he spends countless hours praying to God, and praising God, and thanking God for the church in Ephesus. Finally, Paul writes a letter to the church in Ephesus to encourage them and teach them as they continue to follow Jesus.

Our passage today comes from that letter which Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus. So let’s read the passage! I’m going to read it for you, and you can follow along in your Bibles.

Ephesians 2:1-5

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

So I am just going to work my way through this passage one verse at a time.

Paul begins this section of his letter by reminding his audience of their former condition: As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins. It’s important at this point to remember who Paul is talking to. Who’s the you that Paul is writing to? It’s the members of the church in Ephesus – the very people of God. That’s going to shape the way we read this passage, because Paul’s not talking to unbelievers or to worldly people, he’s talking to the saints. As for you, yes, you the members of the church at Ephesus, you were dead in your transgressions and sins.

I still remember the day that the full force of Paul’s statement hit me. Paul is very careful about the words that he chooses, especially in these first few verses. He says, you were dead in your transgressions and sins.

I know for myself that for a good chunk of my life as a Christian I had no idea what that meant. I was raised in a Christian home and I was a pretty good little boy, or at least I thought I was, (my parents might tell you different). As a young person I thought I was doing pretty well compared to my peers.

I think sometimes we can fall into the trap of thinking that we were pretty good people before we were saved. And maybe even subconsciously we believe that God’s getting someone really special by saving us.

But look at what Paul says in verse 1! He says, You were dead in your transgressions and sins. He doesn’t say you were pretty good, or you were ok, or even you were bad. He says, You were dead! There’s no spiritual life in you at all because of your sin and disobedience to God’s law!

As for you, Who? You, the members of the church in Ephesus, notice Paul’s careful choice of words, you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air. They were dead and they used to follow the way of this world and of the devil but they no longer do. Something changed. In fact something big changed if they are no longer dead in their sin! And we'll talk about what it was that changed in a few minutes because Paul’s not finished talking about their former condition.

Moving on to verse 3, Paul says, All of us also lived among them at one time. And skipping down to the end of verse 3, Like the rest, we were by nature objects of God’s wrath. In case we were hoping that it was only the members of the church in Ephesus who were dead in their sins and transgressions, Paul now includes everyone. It’s no longer you, the church in Ephesus, were dead; now it’s all of us also and like the rest, we.

So let’s walk through this verse and see what Paul is getting at. All of us also lived among them at one time. Lived among who? We look back up to verse 2 and read, those who are disobedient, the people who follow the ruler of the kingdom of the air and the ways of this world and are dead in their transgressions and sins.

That means that you and I are not excluded from Paul’s reminder to the Ephesians of their former condition. Just as they were dead in their transgressions and sins, you and I were dead in our transgressions and sins in which we used to live when we followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air.

Back to verse 3. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Please note that Paul is not simply talking about a moment in our lives where we caved in to temptation to our sinful nature. In the original language the words gratifying and following express that this was a continuous gratifying and a continuous following. Paul’s not just saying that we gratified the cravings of our sinful nature and followed its desires and thoughts, he’s saying that the continual pattern of our lives was gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and the continual pattern of our lives was following the desires and thoughts of our sinful nature.

Paul teaches this very clearly in Romans 8:

Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires…The mind of sinful man is death; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

So, All of us, also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts continually as the pattern of our lives.

Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. What does it mean that we were by nature objects of wrath? It means that our very essence and being – who we were deep down inside – made God angry! We were dead in our sins, followed the ways of this world and of the devil; we were disobedient and rebellious, continually gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts and all of this goes to show how we were hostile enemies of God, fit for punishment. It wasn’t just that we did sinful things; we were by nature of objects of wrath. Our whole being was consumed with sin and God’s natural reaction was to destroy us with his fierce wrath!

Even hearing about God’s wrath makes us uncomfortable. But I want us to get a good look at what it is to be an object of God’s wrath. Let me read for you a couple verses from other places in the Bible.

Job 20:23-26 - This is Zophar’s description of how God’s reacts towards the wicked and godless.

When he has filled his belly,
God will vent his burning anger against him
and rain down his blows upon him.

Though he flees from an iron weapon,
a bronze-tipped arrow pierces him.

He pulls it out of his back,
the gleaming point out of his liver.
Terrors will come over him;

total darkness lies in wait for his treasures.
A fire unfanned will consume him
and devour what is left in his tent.

The heavens will expose his guilt;
the earth will rise up against him.

A flood will carry off his house,
rushing waters on the day of God's wrath.

Such is the fate God allots the wicked,
the heritage appointed for them by God.

Reading that sends chills up my spine! God is a holy God and just judge and he cannot and will not let the wicked go unpunished!

In Mark 9, Jesus tells us about the fierce wrath of God in judgment:

If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.

The book of Revelation talks about the how the wicked will drink of the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath, and they will be tormented with burning sulfur…and the smoke of their torment rises forever and ever!

When we look at the intensity of how God reacts towards sin and wickedness – when we see how fierce his wrath is for the wicked, we get a better picture of just how detestable and sick sin really is. But it gets worse for us! Paul quotes the Psalms and the Prophets in Romans 3 to show that everyone is wicked and everyone is locked up under the power of sin! He says,

There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.

So when you read the places in Scripture that tell you how God feels about the wicked and their sinfulness. And when you read the verses that describe God’s fury and fierce anger and how he pours out his wrath on the wicked. We need to see that that is how God felt about us and that same wrath and judgment was in store for us. When Zophar describes how God sweeps away the wicked man with his fierce wrath, he was talking about you. When Jesus warns about hell and how awful it will be and when we read in John’s revelation about torment and burning sulfur in the lake of fire, we need to see that those passages are talking about us before we were saved.

That’s why Paul writes to the Ephesians and to us saying,

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature object of wrath.

BUT because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved.

We were hopelessly lost in sin; we were dead in our transgressions and sins, but God made us alive because of his grace and mercy and love toward us. And now we know why Paul has gone to such great lengths in all of his letters to remind his readers of how they were dead in their sin and slaves to sin. Because through understanding our sinfulness and depravity before we were saved, we see just how great God’s love for us really is, just how rich God’s mercy toward us really is, and just how magnificent God’s grace towards us really is! God looked down upon a world of disobedient, corrupted, depraved, and rebellious, God-haters and he loved them and he had mercy on them and he gave grace to them. That’s how great the love of God is! It can look upon the sickest of sinners and save them from their impossible condition. In Romans 5 Paul says this,

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man some one might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ. We see the depth of God’s love for us because of who we used to be when God stepped into our lives and saved us. We see the depth of God’s mercy in what he did for us – he made us alive with Christ.

God stepped into our lives in a powerful way, and resurrected us from the dead. Now we are no longer dead in our transgressions and sin, we are alive in Christ. We’ve been changed on the inside. We are no longer by nature objects of God’s wrath because all the fierce wrath of God that we deserved was poured out, full strength, on Jesus. Jesus traded places with us. He became an object of wrath, so we could become sons and daughters of God. What incredible mercy! What amazing love! What awesome grace! We are now alive spiritually. We’ve been made new on the inside. We have a new nature. This is the good news – the gospel.

Now I want to remind all of you, that this passage was written to the saints in Ephesus – to the church – to the people of God – to those who have been saved and made alive by God. And it’s my hope and prayer that all of you here this morning are saved and have been made alive by God. But some of you may still be dead in your sin. I want to show you a how you can test yourself by our passage this morning to know whether you are still dead in your sins or have been made alive.

Paul says, as I mentioned earlier, you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air…All of us also lived (past tense) among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. As we said before, all of these things used to be the way that disciples in Ephesus lived, but something changed. God made them alive and at the time of this writing these things are no longer true of them. They no longer follow the ways of this world, now they follow the ways of God. Their lives are no longer characterized by disobedience and rebellion, now they are obedient to things that God has commanded them. Their lifestyle is no longer characterized by gratifying the cravings of their sinful nature and by following its desires and thoughts, now they live to please God and their minds are set on what the Spirit desires. Why? Because God has made them alive; they are resurrected people; new creatures with new life. The old has gone and the new has come. They have been changed from the inside out.

So you can test yourself against the Scriptures to see if you are truly alive. Ask yourself: Am I still following the ways of this world and the ways of the devil or am I following the ways of God as revealed in Scripture? Am I living in disobedience or am I living in obedience? Am I living to gratify the cravings of my sinful nature or am I living to please God according to the commands set forth by God in Scripture? These are the indicators of whether you are still dead in your sin or have been made alive with Christ by God.

If you find that in light of the Scripture you are still dead in your sins. Then there is good news for you. God is loving and merciful, forgiving and gracious and he sent Jesus to earth to die under his wrath so that your sin could be pardoned and so that you can be made alive! All that you have to do is repent of your sin, which means to acknowledge before God that you are dead in your sins and that all of these things that we talked about in the first 3 verses of our passage are true of you, and now you must turn away from your sin and turn to God and his ways. Ask him for forgiveness and mercy – ask him to make you alive. And secondly you must believe that Jesus Christ has accomplished this for you and that he will save you!

But I trust and pray that most of you who are here this morning have done this and have been made alive and are the very people of God, the church. And for you, I have three applications of this passage.

The first application is this: As the people of God, we NEVER outgrow the gospel. Sometimes as Christians we believe that the gospel is the message by which we were saved, and then from that point forward in our walk with God, we move on to bigger and better things in the Word of God. This attitude is absolutely wrong. The people in the church of Ephesus, were deeply familiar with the gospel, it was the message through which they were saved and made alive; yet Paul still took the time to remind them of the gospel by which they were saved. Personally, I don’t think the disciples in Ephesus had forgotten the gospel. Rather, the nature and importance of the gospel is such that Paul reminded them of it again! As we grow to understand more and more the depths of the gospel which saved us, we grow to understand more and more how deep the Father’s love for us and how rich the Father’s mercy toward us and how AMAZING the Father’s grace for us. Paul understood the power of the gospel and the depth of the gospel and so he preached it not only to the lost, but to the found!

But we lose sight of the gospel so easy. We so easily lose focus on what God has done for us when we were still hopeless! Even as quickly as when we take a day off from reading our Bible, the wonder and power of the gospel fades from our view. We need to daily be coming to the words of God and reminding ourselves of the gospel, meditating on the gospel, growing in the gospel, living in the wonder and power of the gospel! And so I challenge you, to preach the gospel straight from this passage to yourselves regularly.

Application #2 goes like this: One of the ways that we grow in our understanding of God’s love is by growing in our understanding of our condition before we were saved. Because, part of understanding God’s love is understanding what kind of people he loved before he changed them and made them alive. This is probably one of the most neglected truths in the church of North America. We spend so much time in the New Testament reading about Jesus and how he has saved us and we hardly have a clue of what he has saved us from. That’s why some one can hear the gospel, and not be impacted! Jesus is the hope that we have for salvation, but if people don’t realize that they are dead and that they so desperately need to be saved, then it’s not good news to them. It’s foolishness. There’s an evangelist in the States who likens it to walking up to a person and offering them the cure to some obscure disease that they’ve never heard of. The person would say, what on earth are you talking about? I don’t need that. People must realize that they are sick with the sin disease to ever appreciate the gospel. We need to get into the Old Testament and get others into the Old Testament. The Old Testament shows us the holy and just character of God. It shows us God’s law which in turn shows us our sin. The Old Testament is the story of Israel, God’s chosen people, who reject the law and live wickedly because of their sinful nature, and whose disobedience is really a pattern for all of humanity. The Old Testament shows us the desperation and the longing for the Promised One, the Messiah, the one would fulfill all righteousness and usher in the kingdom of God and make possible the atonement of their sins. If all we needed to know about was Jesus, God would have only given us the New Testament, but he gave us the Old Testament too so that we would know how people lived under the curse for thousands of years until the Deliverer and Redeemer finally came. When is the last time you read the prophets? Over and over again, God tells people through the prophets what they really look like and act like under the strain and slavery of sin. And that’s who we were before we were saved. Let’s get into the Old Testament and into the prophets and grow in our theology of sin, so we can grasp more of the how great God’s love for us in our salvation.

And my last application, #3: When we read this passage and hear again of the great love of God and rich mercy of God and amazing grace of God that has saved us and made us alive – we ought to be moved to thanksgiving and devotion. When we realize a new depth of God’s love for us and gain a greater understanding of how wonderful our salvation really is we should be moved inside with deep emotion. Our lips should be exploding with the praise and worship of God. Because when the depth of this good news washes over you in the Spirit, you can’t keep your mouth shut! Praise and adoration and thanksgiving will be ringing off your lips! And suddenly it’s no longer a burden to be obedient or to do the things that God commands. You obey out of a deep affection in your heart for the God who saved you, even when it’s hard. You give him your everything, you devote your life to him and to his service, to his work, because you want to see him glorified.

Jesus is Alive - Shai Linne

Paul Washer - The Truth About Salvation

Eternal Perspective – Infrared Goggles [Revised]

Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

Philippians 3:17-21

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

1 Corinthians 4:16-18

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

Colossians 3:1-3

The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.

1 Peter 4:7

Beloved, we are citizens of heaven, and not of this world. We belong to a heavenly kingdom, not the kingdom of this world.

As of late I’ve been feeling quite convicted regarding these passages. It seems as though we, the church in North America, have either not understood or not accepted these truths. These are few of countless passages in the Bible that express the same principle: Time is short and we should be spending our lives on what is eternal/important, not what is temporary.

Do we believe what God has said about our time and our purpose here on earth? If we did, would we spend countless hours sitting in front of an electricity powered piece of plastic and glass? Would we spend these precious hours in life reading empty and worthless pieces of tree with ink on them? Would we pump our ears full of empty and meaningless waves of sound? Would we waste our time rolling plastic cubes and moving little figurines around a piece of cardboard? Would we invest countless hours in our week in order to attain pieces of paper that will help us improve our “quality of life”? Consider what Peter wrote in his second letter to the churches in Asia:

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.

2 Peter 3:10-12

All of our pieces of paper and plastic and cardboard are going to be destroyed. What have I done with all of the time that I’ve spent staring at a piece of plastic and glass?! All that time is irredeemable. It’s gone! And it will probably amount to nothing in eternity.

Did you notice the reason that Peter gives for why the Lord appears to be slow in returning? He is patient, not wanting any to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. One reason why all our TVs and RVs and cars and boats and houses and patios and cell phones and computers are still around is because God is waiting for the salvation of lost people. Isn’t it ironic that we, the church in North America, are spending so much time with these temporary things to no eternal value, when the reason they haven’t been destroyed yet is because God is waiting for people?

How we have missed these critical verses which say, “Since everything will be destroyed this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.”

Beloved, our lives ought to be focused on two things and two things alone: God and people. Everything else destined to destruction; All of God’s law is summed up in two commands: Love God and love your neighbor (Matt. 22:37).

Several times I’ve heard the reasoning, “Well, there’s nothing wrong with spending my time in this particular activity.” Where did we ever get the idea that we should decide how to spend our time by whether it’s wrong or not? We’ve been asking the wrong question! We should not be asking “is this wrong for me to spend my time on?” (negative); we should be asking, “is this the best way to spend my time?” and “is this the right way to spend my time?” (positive). This is a wide application of what Paul is talking about when he says, “Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial” (1 Cor. 6:12); “Everything is permissible – but not everything is constructive. No one should seek his own good but the good of others” (1 Cor. 10:23-24).

There are two things that are eternal to which we are called to give our lives to: God and people. Jesus life is the perfect example; His whole life, ministry, and mission were centered on his Father and the people he came to save. And his parables tell us to keep watch and to be at work for when he returns.

There’s a subtle lie that has crept into the church’s thinking and it’s called “You need to take time for yourself.” No you don’t. You were called to die to yourself (Mk. 8:34-36). Lie # 2: “But if I don’t take time for myself to rest, I’ll get burned out and be ineffective for God.” Yet Jesus has said, “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28 emphasis mine) and has modeled very well for us what it means to rest in God and to take time alone with the Father. Our rest is supposed to be had in God, not in distracting ourselves from the pressure of life with temporary pieces of glass and plastic and metal.

One of the most dangerous statements there is with regard to how we spend our time is this: “God has given us these things for our enjoyment.” It’s true that everything that has been given to us has been given by God. But none of these things was ever meant to distract us from the One who gave them and his purpose for our lives. God hasn’t called us to live a life void of pleasure. But with regards to our time, we, the church in North America, daily trade the greatest pleasure of knowing and living in relationship with God and working for him in people’s lives, for the infinitely inferior things of this world (which by implication are not of the world to come).

Some may suggest that we have been given these things as the means by which we can rest in God. Again, we need to be cautious. Are we satisfied to rest in God alone? Do we expect these things in order to rest? Have we fallen in love with the gifts? Are they distracting us from more meaningful communion with the Giver?

The practical outworking of this truth is far less cut and dry which is probably a reason that we struggle to accept it and live it. This is how I challenge you to apply it:

Spend your life on God and people. Orient everything else in your life around these two. Then what are the temporary things and the means you must use to accomplish God’s purposes for your life? Every waking moment of your life ought to be focused on bringing glory to God by living in relationship with him and with people. It is my conviction that a life lived like this will bring deeper joy and satisfaction than any of the temporary pleasures of the world ever could.

Beloved, endeavor to see the world as God sees it. Just like infrared goggles (used in military) are programmed to let you see only things that give off heat. Put on your eternal perspectacles which enable you to see what emanates with eternal value and what is entirely void of it.

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 6:19-21

Come, Follow me!

When for the fifth or sixth time I found myself glued to chess tactics server online, chess set set in front of me, chess books opened all around me, scribbling furiously in my chess notebook; not having said much to God and having spent little time with him in several days; I knew I had a problem. For those of you who know me from high school or PRBI, you know how much enjoy playing chess. But these last few days there have been several moments where I have gone off the deep end!

Coming to this realization started with a concert believe it or not. David Nasser spoke at the Starfield concert here in Regina and his message could hardly have been more pointed at me. He preached on the rich young ruler in a way that I had never heard before! The thought process began in my mind when David asked the question, "Why did Jesus ask the rich young ruler to sell all his possessions?" I had always thought the answer was simply "because he struggled with the love of money."

But David challenged that flat out for me. Jesus actually asked two things of the rich young ruler, but we often miss the second one because the first one seems so important. He asked him to sell all that he owned and to come follow him.

This wasn't just some helpful advice to inherit eternal life! This was a call to be Jesus' disciple! Jesus answer to the question, "What must I do to inherit eternal life was not simply, "overcome your struggle with wealth"...it was "come be my disciple! Come follow me!"

And here is where it hit home for me...all this talk about being rich and the wealth of the rich man and selling his possessions is all there to illustrate one thing: the cost of discipleship.

What does it cost be a disciple of Jesus? What does it cost to inherit eternal life?

Everything...

Go and sell all you have (aka. give up everything; all that stuff that is now your life) and follow me. As David put it so well, Jesus doesn't just want to be another thing on your shelf or even the thing on the top shelf of your life...he wants to be your everything. That's the cost of following Jesus.

With this stewing in my mind over the last few days, it became very obvious to me that I had set up chess as an idol in my life and it was stealing what God is jealous to have in my life. When I began to think of taking a break from chess or giving it up, I met all sorts of opposition within. That's when I realized it has to go!

Now I realize that chess is not inherently evil. I realize that is something that God has given me for my enjoyment. But God hates it when we fall so in love with the gift that we forget about Him who gave it to us. I don't know when I will play chess again. But I am willing to give it up in the meantime until I can play it with confidence that I am doing out of a pure heart.

Already I felt more freedom than before. My time with God is where it should be again, uncontested! And I am more satisfied in this than any moment I had before with the chess.

I strongly encourage you (the reader) to ask yourself some of these questions. Is there anything that I am not willing to give up to have Jesus as my everything? Am I willing to pay the price of true life?

If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. Mk. 8:35-36