28

Jump Start # 2047

Posted on February 28, 2018 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 2047

Matthew 11:29 “Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in hear; and you shall find rest for your souls.”

Come, learn from Me. What a welcoming and inviting invitation from Jesus. There are some great lessons that we can pull from that very statement.

 

First, God wants us to know Him. He is not standoffish. He is not distant from us. He is not seeking privacy and shelter. There are some people, especially high profile ones, that you never can get close to. They don’t want you to get close to them. They are very secretive and very private about their lives. Jesus is not like that. For three years the Holy Spirit reveals the conversations, the interruptions, the travels and the life of Jesus’ ministry. We see Jesus before massive crowds. We see Jesus alone with people like Nicodemus, the woman at the well. We see Jesus with people who are at their worst moments. A frantic father, whose daughter is dying. He pleads with Jesus to come. We see Martha, upset and bothered because she is left to serve alone. We see the curious Zacchaeus up in a tree. We see the twisted Pharisees, plotting a trap to expose Jesus. And, we see Jesus in all of these situations.

 

Second, this generation can learn so much more about Jesus. At our finger tips are multiple translations of the Bible that in times past had to be purchased and many were not available. Most of these are free on Bible apps. And, that is another amazing way to learn from Jesus. We always have our phones with us. We never go anywhere without our phones. And right there, with us everywhere can be the word of God. Don’t know where to start? There are dozens of Bible reading schedules on apps. We are never without the Bible. I sat with Jeremy Dehut of Appian Media yesterday. He and Barry Britnell, along with a crew of Christians have filmed a 10 episode series called, “Following the Messiah.” The DVD’s are inexpensive and many of the episodes are on Youtube. What they have done is gone to Israel and professionally and Biblically brought the story of Jesus and the background together. Most will never get the chance to travel to Israel. Some have seen still pictures, but here in brilliant color, sitting in our living rooms, we can see what the Jordan River, the sea of Galilee not only looked like, but here preachers explaining things from the text that we would never know. This was not possible, nor affordable in earlier generations. It brings accuracy to the text and it brings it alive in our hearts.

 

Learn from Me. We have so much information today. It is amazing what we can know and learn.

 

Third, what we learn from Jesus is not trivial facts, fun facts, things to ask in game, but rather, the qualities of character. We see Jesus the servant. We see Jesus the faithful and dedicated follower of God’s will. We see the pure Jesus. We see the honest Jesus. We see the compassionate Jesus. Traits of a heart that is selfless and kind. Characteristics of a heat that is focused, dedicated and determined. This is what we learn from Jesus. The praying Jesus. The Jesus that always referred to the word of God. The Jesus that came to do the will of His Father. What the Gospels do not show is what did Jesus wear on this day or that day. Nor, what did Jesus eat on this day or that day. Those are the kinds of things that many would want to know, but that doesn’t show the heart and the will of Jesus. Learn from Me, is not about eating what Jesus ate. It’s about becoming like Jesus. It’s about thinking like Jesus. It’s about making righteous choices as Jesus did.

 

In learning from Jesus, we see that people disappoint and people let you down. In learning from Jesus, we see that Satan is always nearby, trying to trip us. In learning from Jesus, we see that showing people that you care is important. In learning from Jesus we understand that people are not in the same place spiritually. Jesus, by talking with them, understood where they were and He knew then where to begin with people. A Nicodemus, who was a teacher of the law, was not in the same place as the Samaritan woman, who didn’t fully understand worship. We learn how to connect to people when we watch Jesus.

 

Fourth, learning from Jesus, changes us. This is the central point of that thought. We really haven’t learned Jesus, when we are demanding, selfish, being a bully, and always upset and arguing with others. You may have learned that, but not from Jesus. Being too good to help others, is not something you picked up from Jesus. Spending time in the Gospels ought to more than smooth off our rough edges. It ought to rewire our house. It should change the way we think. It should open our eyes and allow us to see things as God sees them. When Peter and John were arrested, it was obvious that they had been with Jesus. The Lord had rubbed off on them. Worship, prayer, Bible study, fellowshipping with spiritual giants, ought to do the same for us. We are not the same any more. We’ve been to Jesus. It shows. It shows in our attitude. It shows in our words. It shows in what’s important to us. It shows in our trust of the Lord. It shows in how we worry less, complain less and are bothered less. It shows in the depth of our conversation. It shows in our obsession with the eternal. We have learned from Jesus. We have become like Him.

 

There are a lot of things we learn throughout our lives. That little baby comes into the world and it cannot speak. It doesn’t even know it’s name. By the time one graduates from college, there have been so many things learned. Some useful. Others, not so much. Many of the things we have learned will stay with us for a long, long time. Many lessons didn’t come from the classroom but from family and friends. We learn at an early age to be honest, or to stretch things and lie. Habits, often carried throughout our lives, are formed when we are young. Most smokers didn’t start when they were 50. By then, they are trying to quit. By then, they are dying from lung disease. No, most started very young. The same with drinking alcohol. The same with lying. The same with addiction to porn. Others, have learned from a young age, to worship God every week. Some have learned the value of praying to God every day. Some have learned to mold their thoughts, character and habits after the Lord. Some, from a very early age, have learned to share and be a servant.

 

There are lessons all of our lives. We are always learning. I heard a professor from George Mason University, an economist, make the claim that all the materials necessary to make a cell phone were available in George Washington’s day. I wasn’t sure about that. Chips? Plastics? His point was, technology and human ingenuity has taken the materials already on the planet to develop what is in our cell phones today. Man’s ability to know these things wasn’t developed in Washington’s time, but, the material was all there. Man learned.

 

The greatest lesson we can ever learn is about Jesus. Come, learn from Me. Our times would be much better, if we opened up the Bible and learned from the best. We become our best, when we learn from the best.

 

Roger

 

27

Jump Start # 2046

Posted on February 27, 2018 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 2046

Colossians 4:2 “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving.”

Prayer is an essential link to our faith in God. Prayer is talking to God. All relationships need communication. It’s the way that we connect with God. The disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. In the sermon on the mount, Jesus outlined a simple prayer.

But here, Paul etches three reminders about prayer.

First, be devoted to it. Dedicate yourselves to prayer. We remember the apostles in Acts 6 told the congregation to appoint seven men to take care of the widows so they could devote themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word. Prayer is easy to do and it’s easy to put off. Unlike studying the Bible, you don’t need paper, pen, books to pray. You don’t need to be seated to pray. You can pray anywhere. You can pray all the time. Praying in the car. Praying at work. Praying at school. Praying in public. You don’t have to make a show of it, but, like Daniel, it’s not bad to let others see and know what you are doing. Yet, prayer is easy to put off. Other things seem to take the place of prayer. We rush around so much, that sweet hour of prayer is most often, just a few quick seconds of prayer.

Most congregations will spend a quarter looking at the subject of prayer. We’ll talk about the prayers in the Bible. We’ll hand out little reminders of who to pray for. Paul’s words here, be devoted to it. Stick to it. There are so many that need prayers. There are so many things to pray for.

Second, keeping alert in it. That’s interesting. One wonders why the Holy Spirit led Paul to write that line. Do we tend to day dream during prayers? Do we tend to think about other things during prayers? Do we find ourselves not focusing upon God when we pray? Keep alert in prayer. We tell young drivers to keep alert and don’t be distracted by phones and radios. Teachers try to keep students alert in the classrooms. Preachers want a congregation that is alert while they are delivering their sermons. Keep alert in prayer. Remember who you are talking to. Remember respect, reverence and honor as you address God.

What’s a good way to keep alert? I’m not sure what Paul had in mind, but I have found shorter more specific prayers work well. Pin point your prayer. Our prayers do not have to touch every item to please God. This is true even of public prayers. The first prayer in worship and the last prayer in worship do not have to repeat each other. The first prayer is setting the stage for us to worship God. Focus upon that. The honor of having God in our presence. The value of His word. The importance of following God. The last prayer of worship is sending us out into the world. We need to be safe. We need to be strong. We need to keep the essence of God within us. Thinking about why I am praying will help guide those prayers.

Keep alert. So simple, yet needed back then and needed today.

Third, with an attitude of thanksgiving. Attitude. Attitude is like noses, we all have one. Our attitudes can soar or they can sink the ship. Negative, complaining, “do we have to” spirit, dampens any activity. It kills birthday parties. It can ruin worship. It makes things tense, miserable and unhealthy. Attitude. Yet, the opposite is also true. An attitude that wants to do things brings sunshine, hope and joy to any setting. Friends that want to be together. Grandkids that want to visit grandma. Disciples that want to worship God. Attitude is important. So many of the works of the flesh, found in Galatians, are attitudes. The thing about attitudes is that we choose our attitudes. We can not control the weather or the world around us, but we certainly can control what those things do to us on the inside. My good friend, the late Barbara Johnson, often wrote in her books, “Pain is inevitable, but misery is optional.” Attitude.

Paul puts attitude in prayer. Keeping an attitude of thanksgiving. He didn’t just say, ‘be thankful.’ Nor, did he say, ‘Remember to thank God.’ But, keep an attitude of thanksgiving. Attitude is the dish that contains the food. Our prayers are built around a spirit of thankfulness. We recognize how blessed we are. We are thankful for God. We are thankful that He loves us. We are thankful to be forgiven. We are thankful that He hears us. We are thankful to be numbered among His people. Are you seeing the tone of this. We continue this on and on, and we find ourselves counting our blessings and naming them one by one. We find ourselves asking less and thanking more. We come to understand how much God is in our lives and how dependent we are upon Him.

An attitude of thankfulness. Wouldn’t it be awesome to have one prayer on Sunday to be designated a Thanksgiving prayer. Not praying for the sick. Not praying for the preacher to remember. Not praying for growth. But thanking the Lord. Thank Him for us. Thank Him for worship. Thank Him for healthy babies. Thank Him for the journey of senior saints. Thank Him for being patient with us. Thank Him for changing us. Thank Him for not giving up on us. Thank Him for His promises. Thank Him for His word.

An attitude of thankfulness. Is it wrong to ask God for things? No. Be careful what you ask. New cars, fat bank accounts and things like that do not interest God. Spiritual things, such as opportunities to help. New ways to serve. Eyes opened to see Scriptures. A closer walk with Him. Now, you are understanding God and what He wants. World peace? Won’t ever happen until people are walking with Him. Sunny days? Sometimes we need rain and storms and even pig pens to bring us back to Him.

Be devoted. Stay alert. Have an attitude of thankfulness. Now, go pray. Those three simple ingredients sets the tone and shapes our prayers. How interesting it is that we need God’s help just to talk to Him. We wouldn’t know how to do this had it not been God guiding us.

Be devoted. Stay alert. Have an attitude of thankfulness. It doesn’t take 13 weeks to figure that out. Got a family? Thank the Lord for them and then pray about each one, one by one. Part of a church? Be thankful for that and then pray for each one, one by one. That’ll keep you busy for a while. And guess what? While you are praying, being thankful and be devoted, Satan can’t find a way into your heart. Things just work that way when you do things God’s way.

Roger

26

Jump Start # 2045

Posted on February 26, 2018 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 2045

Proverbs 2:20 “So you will walk in the way of good men and keep to the paths of the righteous.”

This weekend it was off to the symphony for us. An amazing program, Holst’s Planets was the feature piece. While the orchestra played, a giant screen showed actual pictures of each planet. The images were provided by NASA. On top of all of that, there was a guest conductor from Omaha, Thomas Wilkins. This was our first time to see him. He’s very good. He is black. There are not many African-Americans in symphonies, especially conducting. Before each performance, there is a lecture about the major piece to be played. The feature speaker at the lecture was the guest conductor, Thomas Wilkins. He was asked to tell his story. It is incredible.

 

He grew up in a housing project in Norfolk, Virginia. His mom was a single parent. In the third grade, his class took a field trip to the symphony. He had never seen anything like that. He had never been introduced to classical music. He was spell bound by the conductor. There at age eight, he decided he wanted to be a conductor of an orchestra. He told the story of lining up his green plastic army men and standing in front of them, with an imitation baton, conducting them. He jokingly said, ‘My first performance was a military band.’

 

But, here is the reason I bring this up. He said, knowing what I wanted to be, made the choice of who I would hang around with, what college I would go to and what I would do with my time. He was asked if it was hard for a kid from the projects to pursue something that seemed so removed and different, especially conducting. He said all the people in his life encouraged him and supported his decisions.

 

What a great story. What a successful story. And, in many ways, a story that ought to not just be shared with others, but it should mirror our story. Our choice to follow Christ, ought to make certain decisions for us. It ought to decide who we hang around with and who we listen to. It ought to make the choice for us about how we fill our time and how we pursue the righteous life in Christ. What Thomas Wilkins did with music, ought to be what we do spiritually.

 

Maybe some of our troubles come from not fully deciding to walk with Christ. We know we should. We know it’s the right choice in the end. We know this is what pleases God. However, we drag ourselves to the church building, not fully committed, nor excited about fellowshipping one another or worshipping God. We keep one foot in the world and we wonder why our progress seems so slow. We have the same battles within our mind about what choices we ought to be making. We struggle with the same sins, over and over.

 

For a long time we’ve looked at what has been taught at church. Out of touch lessons. Topics we’ve heard before. Outdated preachers. Long winded teachers. We’ve parked our car at these excuses, when possibly, unlike conductor Wilkins, we just have fully made up our minds. As an 8 year old, he wanted to be a conductor. He came to that decision because of one orchestra event he went to. That impression stayed with him. It stayed with him when he was a teenager and so many of his friends were playing ball. It stayed with him when he started dating. It stayed with him when it came time to graduate and actually find a college to attend. He never mentioned his struggles, but I can only imagine. During the lecture he gave last Saturday, he was the only black person in the room. In a world of stuffy, high brow, ego driven musicians, who are white or Asian, a black man didn’t have many role models of his same race. Yet, he was driven. He had a goal for a long, long time. He worked hard. He stayed with it. He overcame. And, today, he is not only a successful conductor, but he did things that I have never seen before. We have been to a lot of symphonies in the past few years. We have seen a lot of conductors. I have never seen a conductor, at the end of a piece, walk across the stage to where the big bases are, and shake the hand of the first chair player. I’ve never seen a conductor, as he is leaving, reach down and shake the hands of children in the front roll. He brought a kindness and a warmth to the program that is often stiff. I left wondering what it would take to hire him to be the conductor of our symphony all the time. He left an impression upon us.

 

And that’s what I liked even more than the NASA photos. Here was a man who had been impressed by a conductor a long time ago. And, now, he is in that same position, and he is doing all that he can to leave an impression upon all of us. I wondered if there was a child in the audience who after that performance, went home and announced, “I want to be a conductor when I grow up.” He was impressed and now he impresses others.

 

Take that thought spiritually. Many of us who preach today were impressed by a preacher a long time ago. That stuck with us. For me, it was in high school. Our congregation had hired a new preacher. His first Sunday, he wore an all black suit and his hair was jet black. I thought he looked like a Russian, and back then, that wasn’t good. I told myself, I’ll never like him. But that changed. I got to know him and even like him. He baptized me into Christ. Very shortly after that, he had me giving an Wednesday night invitation. I hated that. He was kind. He asked me to write an article for the bulletin. I liked that. Slowly, without realizing it, I was being impressed by a man of God. It was my senior year in high school. I went off to college never thinking about preaching. But an impression had been made. Two years into college, I decided to switch majors, schools and dreams. I wanted to preach. Now, nearly forty years later, I’m still doing that.

 

You ask your preacher. Most of us have a story like this. We have been impressed and now, it is our turn to leave impressions. But it’s not just preachers, it’s all of us. It’s elders. It’s moms. It’s deacons. It’s Bible class teachers. You pour your heart into what you are doing, never realizing that there may be an eight year old boy out there, who is watching and deciding I want to do what you are doing some day.

 

From our verse today, the choices we make, decide what paths we journey on and who we will associate with. Choosing to follow Christ, makes other decisions for us. It opens certain doors, as well as closes other doors. It puts us around the best people on the face of the earth. It decides what we will do with our Sundays. It decides what choices we want to make.

 

Above all things, you and I have been impressed with Jesus. His life, His words, and His love is what has led us to give up all to follow Him.

 

The music was grand. The pictures from NASA were amazing. But the black man conducting was what I will always remember. He left a wonderful impression. Are we doing the same? Are we doing that with one another? Are we doing that with our visitors? Are we doing that with eight year olds?

 

We have been impressed by others. Now, we need to leave amazing impressions for others. It can change their lives. It can change their eternal choices.

 

Roger

 

23

Jump Start # 2044

Posted on February 23, 2018 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 2044

2 Timothy 4:6 “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.”

The time is here. Paul was about to exit this world. Locked in a Roman prison, having stood before Caesar once, he knew this time would be it. He would be executed. There was no escaping. There was no getting out of this. His departure time had come. His life was almost over. His work was now finished.

We understand that expression when flying. We look at the monitors at the airport and we make sure we are at the right gate at the right time. The time of departure is important when flying. It’s one thing to miss a flight, but there was no missing this coming appointment with death for Paul.

There are two perspectives that we need to look at with this expression, the time of my departure has come.

First, the perspective of the church. Paul had been everywhere. Paul was completely engaged in the work of the kingdom. How would those Christians survive in a world without Paul? He was answering questions from the Corinthians. He’d told two sisters in Philippi to get along. He’d written Philemon and encouraged him to take back the run-away slave. He was building a backbone for Timothy so he would not be so timid. Paul’s fingers are on nearly every page of the N.T. and engaged in nearly every church we read about. He is warning. He is encouraging. He is solving problems. He is pleading with others to do better. He is teaching. He is preaching. He seems to be everywhere.

But one day, brethren would wake up and there would be no Paul on earth. He had departed. I expect for a while there was an emptiness felt and a wondering what will we do. Can’t write Paul about this, he’s not here. Can’t seek Paul’s advice on this, he’s no longer among us. Life without Paul.

Second, from Heaven’s perspective, there was no one like Paul. We trace his steps in Acts. We call it, “Paul’s missionary journeys.” City after city. Church after church. We don’t refer to Andrew’s missionary journeys. We don’t talk about the work of Thomas. Outside of Peter, and a little from John, most of the work of the other apostles is left to speculation, legends and vague historical accounts outside of the Bible. Paul was leaving. Paul was departing. When the apostle James was killed by Herod, there didn’t seem to be much of a loss in momentum, growth or spread of the Gospel. Things moved on without him. The kingdom didn’t seem to skip a beat. The other apostles died, one by one. We are not told when or how. But with Paul, there are pages and pages about the good he did for the kingdom. Who would take his place? Who would fill his shoes? Who would care like he cared? Who would sacrifice himself like he did? Life without Paul.

There are some lessons for us in this.

First, there was a transition taking place late in the N.T. that shifted from the voice of the apostles to the written word. It was the inspired word that would fill the place of the apostles. It was that word that disciples would refer to when they had questions. It was that word that would encourage them and warn them. The word would then go farther and farther than the apostles ever did. The word would do more good than the apostles ever did personally. The death of Paul and the other apostles was not crippling to the church. It was part of God’s plan. The maturing church would not need physical apostles to survive. The word of God would supply all that they needed.

Second, the church is larger and stronger than any one of us. None of us today are close to what Paul was. We are not inspired. We cannot do miracles. We are not chosen apostles. The church survived without apostles and it can survive without us. The kingdom is bigger than we are. The death or moving away of an elder or a preacher can take the wind out of us, but it doesn’t defeat us. Others can rise up and do rise up. Preachers have come and gone and congregations have survived.

This reminds us of our place and role in the kingdom. We are servants and tools of God for the moment. We do all that we can for this generation. We use what is available to us to teach, encourage and build the kingdom. Those before us did the same things in their generation. Preachers rode on trains and outlined lessons on chalk boards. They used mimeographs and carbon paper to make copies of outlines. Before that, preachers rode in buggies and on horse back. They carried lessons in saddlebags and preached in barns, and in homes, and in courthouses. Today, we are using the internet, live streaming across the world and making material in bright colors. The technology and methods have changed, but we are doing the same work. Aside from a few well known names, most today do not know the names of those hard, tireless workers of just a hundred years ago. They did their work and the time of their departure came. The same will be for us. We do all that we can, working as hard as we can, realizing that most in the next generation will not remember us, but it’s Heaven that will never forget.

Third, the good that is done is known to eternity. Most of the names that Paul helped, taught and encouraged are not known to us. There are a few names here and there in the N.T., but the majority of those early disciples are not known to us. God knows them. Their faith and love for the Lord is known to Heaven. Those that walked faithfully with the Lord will be numbered among the saved in Heaven. But the same is true of us. Outside of the community and the church where we worship, most even today, do not know the lives that are touched and made better because of the work of the Gospel. God knows. Heaven is being filled with devoted saints that were taught, encouraged and helped by God’s tireless workers.

Someday, the time of our departure will come. What good did we do? A person here. A person there. It may look like we didn’t do much, but we did. Our names will not be known such as Billy Graham. We will not fill stadiums like he did. We may wonder, what good am I doing. The good you are doing is changing the eternity for someone. You are shinning light into a dark world. You are raising a family to know Jesus. You are making a difference. You are passing on the pure word of God.

Life without Paul. Here we are today, and we are doing fine. Someday, it will be life without us. The kingdom will do fine. Others will step up and do what they can. The work will continue until God pulls the plug on this world and Jesus comes. Servant after servant. Soldier after soldier. We are all in this grand work of telling the world about Jesus.

I expect that first Sunday, as news spread of Paul’s death, there was some sadness and tears. But sermons were preached. The word was taught. The work carried on. The torch was passed into other hands. And, now that same torch has reached our hands. We carry it with honor. We carry it, knowing who carried it before us. We carry it carefully, understanding that someday we too must hand this same torch over to others.

Life without Paul…an interesting thought.

Roger

22

Jump Start # 2043

Posted on February 22, 2018 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 2043

Luke 12:4 “I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear; fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!”

The background of our verse today is very interesting. The chapter begins with Luke telling us that so many thousands had gathered that they were stepping on one another. That’s hard to imagine. Jesus uses the occasion to deliver a series of warnings.

 

The first warning was about the leaven or influence of the Pharisees. The second warning is our passage today. The final warning is about denying God, and blaspheming the Holy Spirit. Our thoughts surround this second warning.

 

There are four observations that we make in this passage:

 

First, Jesus calls the disciples “My friends.” We remember Abraham being called God’s friend. God has friends. The disciples were some of them. Friends help each other. Friends tell each other about dangers. Sometimes, as preachers, we forget that the people in the pews are our friends. That ought to set the tone for what we say. That ought to put fire and love in our hearts as well as in our voices. In the parable of the laborers in the vineyard, when it came time to receive their pay, those that worked all day thought that they would receive more than what had been agreed to. The master’s reply was, “Friend, I am doing you no wrong.” Friend. When you are asked to name your friends, do you ever include the Lord in that list?

 

Jesus calls His followers “friends.” Do we treat Jesus like a friend? Do we seek to be with Him? Do we talk to Him? Do we do things that disappoints or hurts Him? Do we act like we are His friend? “What a friend we have in Jesus,” is a great old hymn. Friends love, support, defend and are there for each other. Jesus has held up His side of things. Have we held up our side?

 

Second, fear is a paralyzing emotion. Do not be afraid of the one who can kill the body. Who would kill our body? Evil people. The nightly news reminds us that the world has bad people in it. Some would kill just to steal what you have. Some, as we have witnessed in recent mass shootings, would kill for no other reason than just to shoot innocent people. They are evil, sick and wrong. The thinking of some is that if we took away all the guns then people would get along. They would be nice. No. There are evil people in the world. Why are they evil? They are sick mentally. They have lived without God. They have no reverence for life. They think only of self. They come from broken homes. They have never been disciplined, trained, taught nor made accountable for their thinking or actions. They have filled their heart with hate. They thrive on violence. They have surrounded themselves with worthless people. The reasons why people are evil are numerous. Simply passing out more pills or taking away guns are only band-aides to a deeper, spiritual problem.

 

It’s hard not to be afraid when someone wants to harm you. Fear causes panic. No one wants to be the victim of senseless killing. This passage is showing who we really ought to fear.

 

Third, the most that an evil person can do is kill the body. That’s huge. That’s the end of life. Yet, in the eyes of an eternal God, death isn’t the end. Death isn’t the worse thing that can happen to us. Death is simply leaving this room and moving into the next room. Nothing really changes, we’ve just switched rooms. We certainly do not see death the way God does. For those families in Florida, whose child was shot to death, their world has now changed forever. They may never recover from this. To tell a parent who lost a child, “it’s not so bad,” it is. This is not the way things are supposed to be. A child is supposed to grow up and eventually bury the parent, not the other way around. The child who goes to school is supposed to come home from school that same day.

 

The expression, “no more that they can do,” limits the extent of harm that can be done. It can only be done here. It can’t touch us in the next room. It can’t take away our eternity. It can’t invade our soul. The body stops, but not the soul. The body is going to stop someday. That’s the result of sin in the world. Man is limited in the harm that he can do. Don’t fear that, is what Jesus is saying. The body is killed, but the soul remains.

 

Fourth, the one we ought to fear is God. God can not only kill the body but He can crush the soul. There are multiple examples in the Bible of God killing the body. When Uzzah touched the ark of the covenant, he was struck dead. When Ananias and Sapphira lied, they were struck dead. The plagues, the closing of the Red Sea, the flood, Goliath, pages and pages of people who were struck dead by God. But this isn’t the worst.

 

The worst comes when God sends someone to Hell. Nothing is worse than that. Separation from God forever. No mercy. No hope. No future. No comfort. The rich man tasted that when he was in torment in Hades. His pleas for help were not answered. No water was brought to him. No word was sent back to his brothers. Every request was refused. His life didn’t end at death. His misery had no end in sight.

 

Jesus is telling the disciples to fear God. Fear God is in contrast to fearing the one who can kill the body and do no more. This is not respect as Solomon used that word. He said, “Fear God and keep the commandments.” We do that. But the fear Jesus is using comes from understanding who God is and what He can do. This fear will lead us to obeying Him. This fear will keep us from challenging Him. This fear will stop any desire to change what He has said. The contemporary world has driven the fear of God out of our theology. God’s our buddy. God’s on our side. God likes us no matter what. Yet, Hebrews says, “It’s a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Terrifying. Hebrews also says that God is a “consuming fire.”

 

Maybe if we had some good ole’ fear of God in us, we’d be more cautious with our words and our ways. Maybe we’d be more evangelistic with our friends and family. Maybe we’d stop playing church and become more engaged and more serious with what we are doing.

 

I will warn you whom to fear. Jesus didn’t say, “Don’t be afraid of anyone.” No, there is one that we need to fear. He has the position, the power and the right to send us to Hell. The wrath of God is something that is rarely preached these days. We’ve not mentioned Hell in sermons in a long time. We can leave the impression that everyone is going to Heaven, no matter what you do and no matter what you believe.

 

God’s mercy and God’s justice. Grace and judgment. Love and fear. Trust and obey. Those are not choices on a menu that we pick out. They go together. One doesn’t cancel out the other. God loves, but God is just. God has mercy but God will judge. Our attitude, our choices, our relationship with Him has much to do with all of this. Believe Him or be condemned by Him. Follow Him or be cast away from Him. Seek Him or be alone without Him. These are not decided by God, but by us. He wants us to want Him. He wants us to be saved. He wants us to trust Him. But, He won’t force us. He won’t make us. He’ll allow us to be fools if we want. He will allow us to be evil if we want. He will allow us to be lost if we want. We can be what we want, but there is a cost. There are consequences.

 

I will warn you whom to fear…serious words for a world that has not thought seriously about God.

 

Roger