Jump Start # 4178

Acts 15:26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

  After the discussion in Jerusalem concerning circumcision, the apostles thought it would be good to send Paul and Barnabas with a letter to the churches in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia who had a strong Gentile basis. The letter identified Paul and Barnabas as “men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The wonderful writer, F.B. Meyer, used the expression, “Men who have handed themselves over.” He used the idea of handing the keys over to someone else. You no longer have possession of them. They now take ownership. They possess full access to you. And, in essence, this is what Paul and Barnabas had done. In Acts 20 Paul said, “I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus.” Paul had handed the keys over to Jesus.

This is a concept that we ought to give some thought to. Have we handed the keys over to the Lord? Or, have we kept a couple of them, not wanting the Lord to have access to everything in our hearts and lives?

First, have we handed the keys of our possessions to the Lord? That’s a touchy topic for some. Don’t talk about my money, is how some want it. I work, so it’s mine. And, that spirit leads to being greedy, stingy, and not a generous help in the kingdom. Many a person may have converted their heart but not their wallet to the Lord. Paul handed himself to the Lord.

Second, have we handed all of our sins to the Lord? This is where we get into the deep secrets within our hearts. There are thoughts, lusts, attitudes, prejudices, hatreds that often linger for decades within us. The other sins, we readily hand to the Lord, but these for some reason we keep. We know we shouldn’t and we know that they keep us from being what we ought to be, but there they remain. Things no one knows about us. And, like the cycle of a merry-go-round, we continually struggle and fight these same temptations over and over. We convince ourselves that there is no getting better and we learn to live with these things. But, the real issue is that we have never given these keys over to the Lord. We have kept them. On our own, we cannot defeat these battles. Until we give them to the Lord, we will continue to struggle and be defeated. Paul handed himself to the Lord.

Third, have we handed the keys to our heart to the Lord? The first step in discipleship is to deny self. Many will follow Jesus, but they want to still be in charge. When they don’t feel like doing something, they won’t. Before taking up your cross and making sacrifices, comes denying self. All of this means, there will be times when I do not feel like doing things but I will. I will because the Lord has been given the keys to my heart. I may not feel like going to services because I’m tired, cranky or just don’t want to. I will go because the Lord has the keys of my heart. I have given them to him. There may be times when I am asked to teach, lead, help out, serve and I don’t want to. I will because I have given the Lord the keys to my heart. There may be times when I need to call someone up, invite someone to my home or just be a powerful encourager. Why doesn’t someone else do it, I think. Why is it always me, I complain. Then I remember that I have given the keys to my heart over to the Lord.

The Lord won’t take your keys. You have to hand them over.

Paul and Barnabas were two that had handed their keys over to the Lord. They had risked their lives for Jesus. They have given their all for the One who have His all.

Still got keys in your pockets? Maybe it’s time to turn them over to the Lord.

Roger