Jump Start # 1220

Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in Heaven will enter.”

  This evening is Halloween, trick or treating, as we always called it. It’s a time for kids to put on costumes and go from house to house getting candy. It seems that this event is getting larger and larger each year. It was a lot of fun taking my kids out and they were thrilled to survey the loot that they were given. Part of the Halloween atmosphere is horror and scaring people. Haunted houses, woods and movies are a huge piece of the Halloween scene. That’s one segment that I have never been a fan of. I don’t consider get scared out of my boots to be fun. Paying money to be frightened isn’t in my book. Many love it. I’m glad. You won’t find me there.

Our verse today is about some who were shocked. They were stunned. They couldn’t believe what was happening. It has nothing to do with Halloween, haunted houses or someone jumping out at them and frightening them. Rather, these people were shocked at Jesus. The words are found in the sermon on the mount. Jesus is painting a picture of reality. They were comfortable in serving God from a distance and superficially and causally. They didn’t take God too seriously. They did what they wanted to do. Still, in their minds, they thought that this was enough. They were confident that Heaven was theirs. How could they miss it? Smug in their beliefs, assured in their reasoning, they anticipated Jesus throwing open the gates of Heaven and proclaiming loudly, “Come on in, boys!” It didn’t happen that way. They received just the opposite. A couple of verses later Jesus revealed two very crushing statements to them.

First, I never knew you. It’s one thing to say, ‘I once knew you, but I’ve forgotten your name.’ That happens to me all the time. Too many places, too many faces—they get jumbled up in my mind. Sometimes we move away from one another and lose touch and time passes and then our paths cross. We see someone in the airport from long ago. There is some catching up to do. We do this at weddings and funerals. People show up and we haven’t seen them in years.

What Jesus is saying is different. “Never knew you,” means we don’t have a history together. We’ve not met. We don’t have a relationship, friendship or past. There are no stories from long ago. There are no photos of us together. There’s nothing. Never knew you, implies we are strangers. Now that happens every day and just about everywhere. In a store, how many people do you pass but you don’t recognize them, know them or have a friendship with them? How many cars drive by you and it’s the same thing. In a restaurant…at the gas station…in a movie theatre…at a ballgame…at a theme park—all those people, but you don’t know any of them. Strangers. This is what Jesus is implying. They thought they had the Lord in their back pocket. They thought Heaven was all sewed up for them. Instead, Jesus tells them, we are strangers to each other. Strangers don’t get into Heaven. Heaven is for those who know the Lord, walk with the Lord, obey the Lord and love the Lord. I never knew you.

Secondly, Jesus tells them to depart from Him. Get out of here. Get out of My face. Leave Me. You are not coming in. You are not welcome. It’s hard to see Jesus saying such things. He’s always inviting. He always welcomes. Even His critics weren’t tossed out. But here, at the end, those who marched to their own drumbeat, who were insistent in doing things their own way, will find the door closed and locked.

The driving theme in these shocking verses is obeying God. Jesus tells us that we are to do the will of the Father. Doing anything else is considered “lawlessness.” Without law, rebellious, without restraints, disobedient, ignoring the will of Heaven—that’s what this word means. John uses this word to define sin. Sin is disobeying God.

Here was a group of people who were religious but on their own terms. They thought that Heaven was certain for them. It wasn’t. They were busy doing this and that but not following and obeying the will of God. Few things have changed. In the name of religion today churches do everything and anything and most cannot be found in the Bible. If it’s not from the Bible, how does one know that it’s the will of God? Put the word “ministry” behind any other word and you’ll find folks doing it and being convinced that it’s a good work and pleasing to God. Cooking ministry, bike ministry, puppet ministry, camp ministry, children’s ministry, financial ministry, sports ministry, music ministry, pet ministry, day care ministry, art ministry, and on and on it goes. Busy, busy people, finding a niche to do what they have a passion for, but is it the will of the Father? In our context, these people were prophesying, casting out demons and even doing miracles. Sounds wonderful in my book. However, in God’s book, they were not following His will.

These folks were shocked that the door to Heaven was closed to them. They were not out partying and being immoral. They were not drugging it up. They were not sought by the police for crimes they committed. No, the people that prophesy, do miracles and cast out demons are religious folks. These were good folks. Yet, they did not do the will of the Father. The door was closed because they did not do the will of the Father.

Chilling words, set to remind us that we best be doing the will of God. We can spend a lifetime being religious but miss Heaven because we did not do the will of the Father. It’s not find whatever you can do. It’s not ‘surprise me.’ It’s not ‘be original.’ It’s do the will of the Father. It’s laid out in the Bible. It’s taught and defined and explained in the Bible. Follow that. Do that. Practice that. This is what Jesus wants.

These people were stunned. They thought they had it made. They had deceived themselves and wasted a lifetime doing the wrong things.

It’s not just the “unchurched” that God is calling. He’s calling all of us. Even those of us that think Heaven is a sure thing, but we have never developed a heart like Christ, nor walked in the ways of the Savior. Being like Jesus, in heart, behavior and spirit is the will of God. Following the Bible is the will of God.

Don’t miss Heaven.

Roger

Jump Start # 1219

Matthew 25:21 “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave; you were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things, enter into the joy of your master.’”

Well, it happened earlier this week. I checked off a huge “gotta do sometime” off my bucket list. I tried to do this many times before but didn’t have the money or the time. This was going to be it. Now or never. I got tickets to see Paul McCartney. He finally came to Louisville. First time ever. We had great seats. I paid dearly for them and would do it again. Growing up, Paul was always my favorite Beatle. I wanted hair like his. Loved his music. He is now in his 70’s. So I did it. I got tickets. Did I say we had great seats? The show was impressive. Hit after hit. Nearly three hours of non-stop Sir Paul. The sound, light show, music, crowd—incredible. Top to bottom—it was simply awesome. I was impressed. It beat my expectations.

That got me thinking about impressive things. When the Queen of Sheba visited Solomon, she was impressed. The first temple was impressive. When Isaiah saw God in the temple vision, he was impressed. The disciples were impressed when the wind and storm suddenly stopped when Jesus, walking on the water,  got into their boat. The multitudes were impressed with what Jesus said. The image John shows us of Heaven is impressive. Pearl gates, golden street, walls with costly jewels—we’ve never seen anything like that.

There are times when Jesus was impressed. A centurion asked Jesus to heal his servant. He told Jesus that all was necessary was for Him to say the word. That impressed Jesus. He marveled. The woman with the issue of blood, reached out in a crowd and touched Jesus from behind. She touched in faith. Jesus said, her faith made her well. He was impressed. When the Canaanite woman was satisfied with just the crumbs of mercy from God’s table, Jesus said, “great is your faith.” When the four men lowered their crippled friend through the roof in the presence of Jesus, He saw their faith and was impressed.

There were times God was impressed. What caught His attention was the honest and genuine faith of His followers. Folks that were trying to show off or look good to get a compliment  failed. Their hearts were not right. It was those who overcame obstacles. A crowded street didn’t stop a woman from reaching out and touching Jesus. A crowded house didn’t stop four friends from taking apart a roof to find Jesus for their friend. A foreign woman was persistent in seeking help for her demon possessed child. There was that poor widow. She put in two small coins in the temple treasury. Jesus saw. He noticed. He commented. He complimented. He was impressed. These people believed. They wouldn’t stop easy. These things impressed Jesus.

I wonder what impresses Jesus today? Surely it’s not the guy who barely shows up for worship and sleeps during the service. He fools himself into thinking he’s better than others. There’s nothing impressive about that. Likewise, it’s not the person who just happens to tell just about everyone all the things that they’ve done that week. They gave this person a ride. They visited this nursing home. They did this and that. Name dropping. Bragging. Waving their own banner. Nope. That doesn’t catch the Lord’s eyes. It does just the opposite. It turns His stomach.

I think about the young mother whose husband is not a Christian. Come Sunday morning he is found either in bed, dead asleep, or off to the woods to hunt. She readies the children and does the best she can to worship and teach her children about the Savior. She’s often overwhelmed and exhausted but she comes because she knows deep down inside that these things are important and she wants her children to know the Lord. The Lord notices such a sweet and dedicated heart.

I think of the young preacher who is working with a small group of disciples. He pours his heart out week after week, trying to teach the word of God. Throughout the week, he’s spending his evenings visiting homes and trying to increase the faith of others. Often his work is unappreciated. Stubborn and stale hearts do not want to change nor be challenged. His ideas are shot down by older brethren. He fights an atmosphere of contentment and stagnation. Often discouraged. Often wondering if he is doing any good. Often feeling the temptation to just throw in the towel and quit, he keeps plugging away. God notices.

I think of the young family that doesn’t have a lot but they see a need, much like the good Samaritan did, and they help someone out. It may be someone in the congregation. An older member, alone, invited over for a meal. It may be a neighbor. What they do isn’t much. It may be nothing more than a cup of cold water. Yet, Heaven notices. They are doing what they can. They have a heart like Jesus, a servant.

I think of that dear senior citizen who has been worshipping God for decades. Now, declining in health, often living alone, having buried their mate, they find time each day for prayer and Bible study. They attend nearly every service. They no longer can teach classes nor do much publicly. Their time on this side of life is short and running out. They know that. They are eager to get to the other side. They are so grateful and thankful for a lifetime of blessings from the Lord. Their faith is the foundation of the congregation. They walk with cane and walker. They move slow. Yet, their faith is strong. Don’t you think God notices?

What opens the eyes of Jesus is faith. It’s not how large our Sunday crowd is. It’s not how fancy our church building is. It’s not how many this and that the church is doing. Jesus is interested in YOU. Your faith. Do you let the easiest inconveniences knock you out of service?

I read a book some time ago about Lou Gehrig, the hall of fame,  New York Yankee who played baseball with Babe Ruth. He was amazing. He held the record for most consecutive games played for years and years. At his death, it was discovered that he had played with multiple broken fingers. He never said anything. The love of the game kept him going. Thinking about that, I wonder how many of us have spiritual battle scars that never slow us down. We play hurt. We play with problems. We play with things that bother us. The love of the Lord keeps us going. Never complaining to others, we keep plugging away. Those are the things that God notices. It’s not our cars, our clothes, our square footage in our house or how large our TV screen is. Those things impress us. It’s the things inside our hearts that impress God. It’s asking God to help us forgive when we’ve been hurt. It’s going out of our way, when it’s so much easier to just go home. It’s the second mile kind of stuff that God notices. We don’t have to, but we do. We do it because it’s the right thing to do. We do it because we love the Lord.

Our passage shows a statement of the Lord. He was impressed with the five talent man. He said, “Well done good and faithful.” He said, “enter into the joy of your master.” He was impressed. The servant did what he was supposed to do. He did it well. He caught the eye of his master. What a great compliment from a master to his servant. Master’s didn’t usually compliment servants. Servants were to please their master. This master, God, noticed. He took the time to praise the one who was serving Him. “Well done,” from the One who did all things well. “Good,” from the One who was perfect. “Faithful” from the One who was obedient even to the point of death. “Well done, good and faithful.” Heaven was impressed. God can be impressed. He is not like that high school coach who is always demanding a bit more out of his team. God is not saying, “I wish you prayed more…attended more…did more.” Not here. Here it was, “Well done, good and faithful.” God was pleased. God can be pleased. Don’t you want that?

Yes, Sir Paul was impressive. I’ll long remember that concert. But more important than that is to live to please God. Hearing “Well done, good and faithful servant,” spoken to us, will be the most impressive thing we ever witness. Nothing else comes close.

Live as if one foot is already in Heaven.

Roger

Jump Start # 1217

Matthew 6:9 “Pray, then in this way: ‘Our Father who is in Heaven, hallowed be Your name.”

  The other day I was sitting in the dentist chair. He had the radio on and a song came on, “How to you talk to an angel?” The song is about a guy trying to talk to a girl. But as that song was playing, I got to thinking. Just how do you talk to an angel? A real angel.

Abraham talked to angels but he didn’t know who they were. Joseph saw angels in a dream. The women gathered at Jesus’ tomb talked to an angel. An angel appeared to Cornelius in a vision. He talked to that angel. It was an angel that poked Peter and woke him up when he was in prison. The angel led him out safely. An angel appeared to Paul on his long and dangerous journey to Rome. When John saw an angel in Revelation, he bowed down but was told to stand up.

How do you talk to an angel? That’s a neat thought to me. Typically, we greet someone with a, “Hi, how are you?” or, “What’s up?” I don’t think that would suffice for angel talk. I’d want to know what all Mr. angel has been up to and where he has been. I’d have a lot of curious questions for him, but most wouldn’t probably wouldn’t be answered.

In our Bibles people only talked to angels when they were approached by angels. No one prayed to angels. No one worshipped angels. No one thanked an angel in the newspaper for making their child well. No one buried a statue of an angel or had an angel keepsake for good luck. We can get a bit goofy when it comes to angels. Our images of angels would be crushed if we really looked intently in the Bible. They were not described as chubby kids with wings. They weren’t females. Either they looked like men or they had a glorious radiance about them. And sometimes angels were sent on violent missions to kill people.

But all of this leads to a greater thought and a more practical idea, if we wonder how do we talk to an angel, how do we talk to God? This is where our verse comes in. Jesus shows us. God can be talked to. Angels, I doubt it. God wants us to talk to Him. He invites our conversation and wants us to talk to Him often. We call this “Prayer.”

Jesus, from our passage, said, “Pray this way…” This is how you do it. This comes from one who knows. Jesus prayed often. He prayed all night long. He prayed and prayed. While the disciples were crossing the sea, Jesus was praying. While they were sleeping, Jesus was praying. Even on the cross, Jesus prayed. So, Jesus knew prayer. It was as much a part of Him as anything.

Right before our verse today, Jesus pointed out two negatives about prayer. Some folks do not pray right. Jesus knew that. He used their wrong prayers as an illustration of what not to do. The hypocrites pray. That thought alone is very interesting. But they do. They pray, Jesus noticed, in public places. They love to have people notice. The answer to this, the right way according to Jesus, was to go into your closet and pray. No one there but you and God. No one to hear you but you and God. No one to impress, because you’re not going to impress God. Maybe when eating alone, I ought to just say a prayer and not bow my head. I guess it’s ok to bow, but do I do it so others see that I am praying? That’s getting into the hypocrite prayers. I could just say a prayer and no one knows but me and God.

Jesus used another negative. The hypocrites were one wrong way. The Gentiles were the other. We’d typically think that the Gentiles would be praying to the wrong god, some pagan idol. Not all. Cornelius was a Gentile and he prayed to God. The Gentiles that Jesus noticed used many words. Many words means long. Many words in a sermon means a long sermon. Many words in a book means a long book. Many words in a prayer means a long prayer. Many words are not necessarily wrong. If Jesus prayed all night long, He must have used many words. These Gentiles thought the volume of words impressed God. The more words, the better the prayer. There are times for many words because there are many things upon your heart. But a long prayer isn’t better than a short prayer—the same as a long sermon isn’t better than a short sermon, or a long book isn’t better than a short book. It’s the content –what is said that matters.

Having pointed out what not to do in prayer, Jesus then said, “Pray this way.” What follows is a short prayer. Simple words. It touches upon our physical needs and our spiritual needs. It honors God and keeps before us His will and His plan.

How do you talk to God? That’s a greater thought than ‘how do you talk to an angel?’ God knows what you need before you ask Him. Yet, He wants you to ask. God knows what you have done before you confess to Him. Yet, He wants you to confess. God knows your heart. God knows your troubles. God knows you. Don’t forget, He made you.

Why then, does He invite us to talk to Him? He already knows. Prayer isn’t a fact finding mission by God. You aren’t going to surprise God by anything you say. Pray is how we talk to God. Communication is key to any relationships. Salesmen must keep in contact with customers and buyers. Husbands and wives must talk. Parents talk with their children. Friends talk. Sharing, talking, expressing—that keeps the relationship alive and close. We pray because we need God. Prayer reminds us of this. We pray because God can do things that we cannot. This is why we pray for those who are sick. God can heal. We pray because we love God. We want to follow Him, obey Him and trust Him. Prayer and faith are the huge areas that we demonstrate trust in God.

And guess what? God not only hears, but He answers your prayers. Prayer works. God sends blessings down that answers our prayers. We must remember that “No,” is an answer to prayer. We must also remember that God isn’t working for us. Prayer isn’t rubbing the magical lamp and God appears to grant any selfish wish that we want and then returns back to the bottle until we want something else. That concept of our relationship with God cannot be found in the Bible. Prayer is having God’s will in my life.

How do you talk to an angel? More importantly, how do you talk to God? Have you talked to Him today? He’s there. He’s eager to hear from you. Take a moment and talk to your God. What an amazing opportunity this is.

Roger