Give Jesus Your...Worst

When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

Matthew 8:1-4

It is not uncommon in the church I serve in to hear people talk about giving God your best. Specifically, I hear Christians talk about dressing a certain way when we come to church in order to give Him your best. I think I understand the heart behind this, but today I want to ask, what about giving Jesus your worst?

In Matthew 8 we come across a man who made it into the biblical record because he brought his worst to Jesus believing that He could heal him. And Jesus did heal him! I think this man's story is included in part so we can follow him as a model. Notice this man didn't have to tell Jesus what his problem was. His illness was obvious. He simply said “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Do you know that you can't hide your need any more than he could? You might be able to cover it up with a nice suit and tie at church. You might be able to hide it behind a fake smile at work. You might even be able to pass it off as "just being tired" at home. But you can't hide your sin, your brokenness, or your need from the Lord. 

Are you trying to hide your sin? Do you do your best to keep your brokenness out of sight? Do you have secrets? Chances are you do. Most people don't enjoy airing their dirty laundry. But be careful you don't start to think that you are smarter than you really are, because you can't hide these things from God. They are as plain to Him as the nose on your face. He knows about your pride and your selfish ambition, your jealousy, and your greed. He knows about the lust, the pornography, and the affair that they led to. You wear it on your sleeve every time you enter His presence. You can't hide it from God.  

I don't have a problem with dressing nice to go to church. In fact, I do it every Sunday. But you better make sure that the condition of your heart matches the condition of your clothes. Otherwise that suit or that dress may function more like a disguise than an outfit spiritually speaking. And to me it seems that it would be rather insulting to God for you to enter His presence week after week thinking that you were somehow fooling Him. 

So today, why don't you bring Him your worst and ask Him to heal you? What sin is in your life that you haven't turned away from? Bring it to the Lord right now believing that because of His death on the cross He can forgive your sin and set you free from the power it holds over you. What part of you is broken and hurting and in need of a healing touch? Bring it to Jesus believing that it is easy for Him to heal you if it's His will. What discouragement has grabbed hold of you and is beating you down today? Bring that discouragement to Jesus. Be honest with Him about how you feel, then lift it up to Him and ask Him to give you the courage to persevere in growing nearer to Him.

God sees the worst in your life. You aren't fooling Him, so stop hiding it from Him. Bring it to Jesus and ask for healing.

For further reading...

• Matthew 11:28-30- Come to me, all you who are weary...
• Psalm 51- David's psalm of repentance.
• Matthew 8- Read the rest of Matthew 8 to encounter to mind blowing power of Christ.

I just don't feel close to God like I thought I would...

Come near to God and he will come near to you.

James 4:8

 

 

As a youth pastor I sometimes have teenagers come up to me and say something like, "You know Lance, I just don't feel as close to God as I thought I would. I got saved a few months back (or a few years back) and I just don't feel any closer to God." Generally, I respond by asking the student if he is spending regular time with the Lord. Is he reading his Bible and praying everyday? Almost always the answer is no.

 

Scripture gives us a very clear teaching on this matter. If we come near (approach, draw near, pursue) God, then He will draw near to us as well. I don't know why this is so difficult for us to grasp. It isn't just teenagers that struggle with this; many adults, including myself, continue to struggle to have regular quiet times and then wonder why we aren't closer to God. Somehow we think that a close relationship with God just happens without any hard work. We don't expect this to happen in any other area of life. We don't expect relationships to just blossom without  ever spending time with the person. We don't expect to have increased knowledge of math without studying. We don't expect to suddenly acquire better basketball skills without practicing. And yet, once we become a Christian we somehow think that we are going to experience a deep relationship with God, knowledge of God, and skill at discerning His will without ever investing any time or energy developing them. It is absurd and frankly angering.

 

There are some parts of the Christian life that are automatic. The Bible tells us that when we become a Christian we become a new creation (II Corinthians 5:17). The Holy Spirit comes to reside in us (Ephesians 1:13) and we are given a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26-27). Most new Christians sense a greater intimacy with the Lord at this time. But as Christians we have a responsibility to develop this new relationship with the Lord, our knowledge of Him, and our skill at handling His Word over time. In fact, when we stop to think of just how much God has pursued us, it is embarrassing that we should struggle so much to simply spend time with Him.

 

Scripture tells us that before the foundation of the world God was working out His plan to pursue and save us from our sin (Ephesians 1:4-5). He took on flesh and suffered and died the worst imaginable death for us, even when we were opposed to Him. Over the course of thousands of years He carefully revealed His nature and His will to His prophets and apostles and had them write this revelation down. Then He raised up scribes to painstakingly copy and preserve this revelation for future generations. The Bible was copied by hand for thousands of years before the printing press was invented. Because this process was so slow and costly, it was very rare for individuals to personally own any of the books of the Bible. Churches had Bibles, but generally individuals didn't. Then when the Roman emperor Diocletian decided to wipe out Christianity by destroying all the Bibles in the whole world, many Christians chose imprisonment, torture and even death rather than reveal where Bibles were hidden. Much later, more Christians were martyred for translating the Bible into English. The Roman Catholic church didn't want the Bible to be translated into the common language but men like John Wycliffe and William Tyndale wanted every poor farmer in England to be able to read the Bible in their own language.

 

Today, we have this precious book, this love letter, that God has so providentially worked through the lives and deaths of His saints to put into our hands. Most of us have two or three or more, and we completely ignore the great privilege we have to read it on our own. We don't read it every day or even every week. Instead, we wait for Sunday so the preacher can tell us what it says. We take God's self-revelation for granted. We take the blood of His saints for granted. We ignore the amazing right we have to approach the throne of grace in prayer won for us by Christ on His cross, and then we dare to question why we don't feel closer to God.

 

The answer is simple. You don't feel close to God, because you aren't. You aren't close to God because you aren't pursuing Him. And it seems pretty clear to me why we aren't doing these things...it's because we don't want to. I think it can be said that according to the above verse, you are as close to God as you want to be. The truth is that we would rather watch TV, and listen to music, go on Facebook, and do whatever else we spend all of our time doing, than spend time with God. No wonder we don't know Him. No wonder we aren't close to Him. This isn't rocket science. God has promised that if you draw near to Him, He will reciprocate. It isn't always easy. You can't do it for five minutes and expect earth shattering results. You have to persevere and spend time with God even when it doesn't feel like He is there. Trust His promise. Keep at it. Read your Bible, pray, study with other Christians, and sing His praises. Come near to God and He will come near to you.

 

 

For further reading...

• Spend 10 minutes alone with God. Just you, Him, and your Bible. If you don't know where to start reading. Try Psalms or any of the four gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John).

Last Letter

Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’

“Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.

“Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.

“Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

Luke 14:25-35

It used to be the case that missionaries who were called to the field would write a last letter to their family and friends before they left. This letter was a manifesto of sorts. It was an attempt to explain to their families why they were leaving to go to the mission field, why they were willing to die for the cause of Christ. This was necessary because at that time a call to the mission field was a call to die. The missionaries would literally pack their belongings in a coffin and load them on a boat to sail to their mission field, because they knew they wouldn't be back. One way or another, either very soon or possibly in the distant future, these missionaries would die in a foreign country. Often they never even made it to the field because of the hazards of sea travel. So these letters were an effort to explain their strange commitment to Jesus to their families and to say anything they wanted or needed to say to them before they died. 

The simple truth is that American culture values security and safety. We buy insurance to protect ourselves and our families from all types of potential disasters: fires, floods, disability, car wrecks, even death. (This last one we call life insurance because death insurance just sounds too morbid.) So it shouldn't surprise us that our culture struggles to understand why believers are willing to follow the call of Jesus to take the gospel to the nations when we know that persecutions and potential death await them. Often their families, even the Christian ones unfortunately, still find it odd when they choose to follow Jesus into risky areas or situations. 

Jesus warned us about this though. He tells us that our families will not always support us in following Him, and we must choose our priorities (Luke 12:49-53). Jesus demands the number one spot in our lives. We must be willing to follow Him above all else, even our families. Jesus makes this explicit because He knows that sometimes even our families will stand between us and faithful service.

Count the cost. Even if Jesus doesn't call you to missionary service, He still expects the same level of surrender out of you. Are you willing to make Him your first priority? Are you willing to follow Him in risky propositions? Maybe you have committed your life to Christ but today you realize that you are like the salt who has begun to lose its saltiness. Repent and return to Christ! Sometimes God takes our all. Sometimes He requires the ultimate sacrifice. We choose to trust Him anyway. We trust that even if He asks for our lives in His service, that He will use it for His glory and our good. Because of this we can say with Paul, "I know whom I have believed and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day" (2 Timothy 1:12). Like Stephen, we gladly lay down our lives when called to do so, in the hopes that somewhere in the crowd of a persecutors, there is a Saul waiting to be called to salvation and service by our God.

For further reading...

• thelastletter.org- Check out this website. It has a good video and some other stuff on it. Think about writing your own last letter. What would it say? What are you willing to die for?
• Acts 6-8:1- Read the story of Stephen.

Time to Get Real: Ambassadors for Christ

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

 II Corinthians 5:18-21

A few months back the new U.S. ambassador to China Mr. Gary Locke garnered quite a bit of attention when some photos emerged. These photos included Mr. Locke buying his own coffee in an airport and then later he and his family carrying their own bags out of another airport. If you are having trouble understanding why this was considered newsworthy in China it might help for me to tell you that in China even low level government officials have secretaries and personal assistants that do things like this for them. Journalist Chen Weihua explained, "To many Americans, there was probably nothing unusual about this. But to most Chinese people, the scene was so unusual it almost defied belief." It is kind of surprising that doing something so simple could cause such a stir, but it did. In fact, Mr. Locke's actions have some Chinese people rethinking how their government officials spend money.*

Gary Locke is an excellent example of what it means to be an ambassador. An ambassador represents their people, their customs, and their mission to a foreign country. It is always their goal to reflect positively on those whom they represent, even (and especially) when doing so means that they are out of step with the culture of the country they serve in.

It's interesting that Scripture calls us "Christ's ambassadors." Now I know that in the original context of II Corinthians chapter 5 Paul is talking about himself and his group of ministers/missionaries, however, in the grater context of Scripture and considering the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20), I think it is more than appropriate to apply this passage to all believers at least in some measure. The old saying holds true, you may be the only Jesus some people meet. Yes, 21st century culture is foreign and very different from the way we are called to live our lives as representatives of Jesus and His coming kingdom; but like Mr. Locke sometimes it is the ways that we are different that make our way of life most attractive.

The above passage of Scripture says that God has trusted the message of reconciliation to us, and He has. He has entrusted it to all of us. We are all called to preach the gospel and to make disciples wherever we go. We are all called to live as salt and light in this world and to be ready to give an answer for the hope that we have (I Peter 3:15). Paul even says that it is "as though God were making His appeal through us," because in a way He is. Yes, it is really the Holy Spirit working in people's hearts that changes them from sinners to believers, but God often chooses to use people like you and me to work in coordination with that Spirit. The Spirit will bless something you say or do and use that to minister to a lost person's soul and call them to repentance.

Of course we are most useful to God when we are willing to step out on faith and try to be used by Him. "God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." Are you really going to respond to that amazing gift by just going halfway in your Christian life...just doing the minimum but never really giving God your all? It is time for you to get real about your faith. God deserves better than your halfway. Not only does God deserve better, but what about your friends and your family? They need to be told the truth about Jesus and to have a chance to escape the coming judgment. And what about you? Don't you want to stand before your Savior with a clear conscience on that last day? We won't be perfect, but join me today in praying and asking God to somehow use us to draw other people to Him. Ask Him to help you give Him your all and not to be paralyzed by fear any longer. Ask Him to give you opportunities to share the good news, then, when the time comes, step out on faith and trust Him to bless it. God can use the smallest action or word done in faith.

For further reading...

• Ephesians 6:19-21- Paul uses the metaphor of being an ambassador in this passage as well.
• I Chronicles 18:9- King David's advice to his son Solomon. Notice he doesn't urge his son to serve God with half-hearted devotion.

*http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/08/17/139720794/ambassador-locke-picks-up-his-own-coffee-gains-hero-status-among-chinese

Time to Get Real: Share the Good News

Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven. 

Matthew 10:32-33

If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

Mark 8:38

Charlie Peace was a notorious criminal in 19th century England. A known burglar and murderer, Peace was eventually sentenced to hang, and on February 25th 1879 marched out to meet his fate. As Peace undertook his "death-walk" a prison chaplain walked with him halfheartedly reading from Scripture and urging repentance. Peace responded by uttering his most famous words. "'Sir, if I believed what you and the church of God say that you believe, even if England were covered with broken glass from coast to coast, I would walk over it, if need be, on hands and knees and think it worth while living, just to save one soul from an eternal hell like that!”*

I first heard this story years ago and it has always stuck with me. The idea of a man crawling across all of England on broken glass to save just one soul and considering it a worthwhile task is powerful. The truth is that Charlie Peace, scoundrel that he was, preached a sermon that day that God in His grace is still using for His glory. If we really believe what the Bible teaches about Hell- that those who die without forgiveness for their sins will spend eternity in torment for those sins- then we should do all that we can to prevent that from happening. Indeed we have an even greater responsibility because we not only know that Hell is waiting for these individuals but we also know the solution to their problem. We know that "there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved" but Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12). How great a crime it is to keep silent about such things.

The Scriptures above speak as plainly to this subject as Charlie Peace did. We Christians have no excuse for failing to share Jesus with the world. It is our duty. In fact, Jesus used His last words to encourage us to do the same. "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20).

Yet many of us still fail to share. There are many reasons why we do not share the gospel as we should, but one of those reasons is that many of us simply do not know how. Today, I would like to show you the simplest way I have found to share the gospel. (Disclaimer: This is not my own invention. I have found it used in many LifeWay resources and assume they developed it. I share it here in my own words and adjusted to my liking.) It is as easy as remembering A-B-C. 

A- Admit that you are a sinner and in need of God's grace (Romans 3:10 and 3:23).

B- Believe that Jesus is God's Son, that He died on the cross to pay the penalty for your sin, and was raised from the dead (Romans 6:23 and 5:8).

C- Confess Jesus as Lord of your life. Turn from sin (from living life your way) and commit to live your life for God (Romans 10:9).

I Peter 3:15 says that you should, "always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." So, I encourage you to take a few minutes and study this or another form of sharing the gospel message so that you are ready when God gives you opportunities to share. I also encourage you to commit to memory the passages of Scripture that I reference above, because you don't always have a Bible handy when you have a chance to witness. Lastly, pray that the Lord would give you an opportunity to plant a gospel seed in someone's life; and when He does, step out on faith.

For further reading...

• Memorize the gospel plan and passages above.

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Peace#Trial - There seem to be many variations of this story floating around. They are all essentially the same, but the quote especially seems to change a little from story to story. This Wikipedia entry seemed to me to be fairly reliable so I chose to use it over some of the other sources I came across.

Time to Get Real: The Gospel Story

If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Romans 10:9 

In the beginning the one true God (the all-powerful, all-knowing, and ever present One whom the Bible says is by His very nature love), in order to make His love known and in order to bring glory to Himself (Isaiah 43:7 & Revelation 21:6-7), created the world and mankind in it. He created all things and without Him nothing was made that has been made (John 1:1-3). The Bible says that God said to Himself “let us make man in our own image,” and He did. He created men and women both in His image (Genesis 1:27). He made them priests and Kings: Kings, in that they were given dominion over all the earth that they might rule over it in His name to bring Him glory and priests, in that they stood before Him as the representatives of all creation bringing its praise and worship to the Creator  (Genesis 1:28-30 & Revelation 1:6). When God had finished his creation, He saw that it was good.

But it did not stay that way for long. Humanity chose to rebel against God. A serpent who was under the control of the Devil tempted Adam and Eve with the promise of equality with God. The Lord had already put all of creation under their rule, but that was not enough. Just like us today, they had an insatiable appetite for more. They desired to be equal with God, and so disobeyed God’s command and ate of the fruit of the tree (Genesis 3). The Bible says that because of their rebellion not only was the creation marred with imperfection but the first man and woman died, not physically but spiritually. Since two spiritually dead people cannot give birth to spiritually living ones, all humans since Adam and Eve have been born in sin (Romans 5:12-21). At birth we are no more able to love God or desire the things of Him than a dead man is able to walk. Thus, from that day on, all of mankind has been in rebellion against God. A great gulf has been fixed between us and Him, and that gulf is our sin. For all of us have chosen to rebel against God too...in our own ways (Romans 3:23).

The scary truth of the gospel—the truth that we don’t talk about nearly as much as we should—is that God responds to our sin with righteous wrath. God hates sin! Though this is hard for us to understand, it would be ungodly for Him not to hate it. I know that many of us like to think of God as all loving and only loving but Scripture does not portray Him that way. He is all loving but He is not only loving. His character is much too complex and righteous for that. He exhibits wrath (Nahum 1:2-3) under the right circumstances and in the right proportions. Our sin is deserving of God’s wrath and so all humans by our own choice of rebellion have become God's enemies, deserving of Hell (Romans 5:9-11).

But herein lies the good news of God’s grace. While we were still sinners... while we were still rebelling against God's authority, He chose to love us with an indescribable love and to offer us forgiveness. God the Father sent God the Son to take the penalty for our sin (Romans 5:8). Do you remember that Adam and Eve found out that the penalty for sin was spiritual death? Well it is also physical death (it just isn't as immediate as the spiritual death). Thus, because of sin all humans die and when we die we face God's judgment where those who have chosen to join Satan in rebellion are thrown into Hell (Romans 6:23). So the Father sent the Son. In Christ the Creator took humanity upon Himself, dwelt among us and eventually died for our sins. He walked this earth and was tempted in every way just as we are but He remained sinless (Hebrews 4:15). He was wholly God and wholly man. And this man, the only innocent man in the history of the world, died a criminal's death so that we could be forgiven. He bore the shame of the Roman cross so that He might satisfy God’s wrath. He died the death that we deserved. This is the greatest news the world has ever heard.

But our story does not end there, because Jesus not only died for you, He was also raised from the dead for you (Matthew 28). At the cross Jesus paid the price for your sin, but in His resurrection from the dead He beat the power that sin holds over you: death (Hebrews 2:14-15). No longer does sin have the power to enslave you. Sin has been beaten by Christ in His death and resurrection. Those who have believed in Him have been set free. What's more, in the resurrected Christ we glimpse the great promise He has made for our future. Christ has promised to return one day and put this world to rights. All the marring effects of sin will be erased. The earth will once again be what it was created to be. So too you and I, if we have believed in Jesus, will be resurrected for life. We will be given incorruptible bodies like Christ's resurrection body and we will reign with our God (II Timothy 2:11-12,  I Corinthians 6:1-3, I Corinthians 15). Those who have not believed will also be resurrected, but not for life. They will be cast into the Lake of Fire which is the final resting place of those who participate in Satan's rebellion (Revelation 21:1-8).

So what must you do to accept the incredible gift of forgiveness? Romans 10:9 says that, "If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." It's that simple. Believe that Jesus was who He said He was, i.e. God's Son. Believe that He died on the cross for your sins and that He was raised from the dead. Repent (turn) from your sin and confess Jesus as Lord (master) of your life. Surrender your life to Him today and experience true freedom.

For further reading...check out any of the passages above.

Time to Get Real: Love God

One of the teachers of the law came and... asked [Jesus], “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” "The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

Mark 12:29-31

If you can get this one thing right, then everything else will fall into place. If you can fall madly, passionately in love with God, then everything else in your spiritual walk will eventually work itself out. I have often prayed and continue to pray on a regular basis that God will help me love Him more. I even pray that He would woo me and cause me to fall more deeply in love with Him. Now that may sound strange but Scripture often uses romance as an analogy for our relationship to God (Isaiah 62:5, Jeremiah 2:1-4:4, Hosea 2, Matthew 9:14-17, Revelation 19:6-9, many believe that the Song of Solomon is an extended metaphor to this point.). It even goes so far as to call the body of believers the bride of Christ. So, as a bride in training, let me ask you, how in love with God are you?

Notice what Christ asks of you- heart, soul, mind, and strength. That doesn't leave a lot of room for you to run after other lovers. God expects of us what any good spouse does, total faithfulness. Yet, we often find ourselves putting other "loves" ahead of Him. Consider how you spend your time. How much of your time does the Lord get in a given day or week? What is it that you spend more time on?

I encourage you (at the same time as I encourage myself) to check the status of your heart. What do you love more than God? What interests in your life have begun to dethrone your heavenly Father as first priority?  Is it your beauty? Is it your spouse, or your child, TV, sports, music, or friends? Return to your first love today (Revelation 2:4). Cling to Him and love Him. Pursue Him with all that you have and ask Him to reveal Himself to you and to help you fall for Him again.

So take a moment right now to spend with your God. Sit quietly and contemplate His might. Or serenade Him with the praises that He deserves (perhaps you could sing your favorite worship song). Open His Word and remind yourself of His goodness. No moment spent in prayer, or worship, or adoration of your Lord is wasted. Give Him all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, and all your strength. Renew your vows. Take a moment and love God.  

For further reading...

• I Corinthians 13- If I do not have love...
• Revelation 2:1-7- Have you forsaken your first love?
• Hosea 2- Meet Him in the wilderness (see verse 14).

Time to Get Real: Be Different

What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

James 2:14-19 

Becoming a Christian changes everything. Scripture says that when a person gets saved she becomes a “new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17) The gospel has the power to change your life. In fact, that is what the gospel does. The gospel changes lives. You can’t have the Holy Spirit of God living in you and still be the same sinful person that you always were. Jesus puts it this way. “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit"(Matthew 12:33). In other words, apple trees produce apples and fig trees produce figs. An apple tree will never produce a fig or vice versa. It is the same with people. Christians haven't merely been forgiven, they have been changed. Who they are has changed, the Holy Spirit of God now lives in them and they produce good works in keeping with their new identity and relationship with God.

 

The sad truth is that although this should be the case most surveys and studies find that American Christians on the whole aren't as different from their non-believing neighbors as they claim to be. Divorce rates are roughly the same. Christians don't really give much more money to the poor. Half of evangelical pastors admit to a struggle with pornography. And generally speaking non-believers don't have too high an opinion of Christians because they see our behavior. They know that we aren't really that different. The question is, "Why aren't we different?"

 

I think that much of the answer lies in the above passage. It says that even the demons believe there is one God and shudder. The implication is that such faith is not enough. It is not enough to simply believe that God and Jesus Christ exist, or even to believe that Jesus Christ is God. This is a dead faith. You need a living faith to be saved, and this living faith produces good deeds and a changed life.

 

Let’s look at how you get a living faith. Romans 10:9 says, “If you confess with your mouth [that] 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” The word that is used for "believe" in this passage and all throughout the New Testament does not mean to simply believe something intellectually; it means to believe it physically. It is positional. For example, intellectually you might believe that a chair or a tree limb can support your weight, but until you sit in that chair or climb out on that tree limb you do not believe it in the New Testament sense of the word.

 

Many of us “believe” that Jesus is God and that He died on the cross for our sins, but we have not BELIEVED in Him and put our weight on Him. We confess that He is Lord, but we don’t confess Him to be Lord of OUR life and we don’t give control of our life to Him nor do we live our life for Him. A living faith, a faith that saves, is a faith that puts its weight on Jesus. A living faith says I am going to live my life for Christ because I believe that He died on the cross for my sins and that He rose from the dead. It is not simply a matter of intellectually accepting this to be true in the way that you might accept the answer to a math problem. It is about placing your faith in it physically and positionally. Until you do that you don’t really believe it.

 

Let me be clear on one thing. We are saved by grace! We do not earn God’s favor by doing good deeds. Praise God, and hallelujah! Because I know that I could never measure up to God’s holiness. If I had to please God by my good deeds, then I would fail. In fact, the Bible says that “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6). So we are saved by faith and not by doing good things, but true faith produces good works in keeping with repentance. Have you believed in the physical sense of the word? Give your life to Christ today.

 

The good news of the gospel is that in spite of our sins God loved us and made a way for us to receive forgiveness through Christ’s death on the cross. But Christ did not stay in the grave. He rose from the dead, defeating death so that we no longer have to fear it or be enslaved to sin. Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead and you will be saved.

 

For further reading...

• Romans 10:9-13- Get a little more context.
• James 4:4-10- A friend of the world?
• Ephesians 4:17-32- Put on the new self.
• Colossians 3:1-17- Set your heart on things above.

Time to Get Real: Count the Cost

And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish...’ 

In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.

Luke 14:27-30, 33 

 

 

There is a great story in the Old Testament about three young Jewish men who were taken into captivity by the Babylonians when Babylon defeated Judah in 587/586 BC. These three young men were taken with Daniel into the king's household and raised there because they were the cream of the crop from the Jewish exiles. These three men were named Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. But those were their Jewish names. You probably know them better by their Babylonian names: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These three were in a nation that did not worship the God of Israel. They worshiped idols that were made of gold and other substances. The people in Babylon wanted Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, and all the other exiles from Judah to conform to them and live life like they did. They refused. 

 

In Daniel chapter 3 we read the story that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are known for. King Nebuchadnezzar made a huge golden idol and decreed that everyone in the kingdom had to bow down and worship it on command. These three young men refused to do so. Since everyone else was bowing down at the command and they were standing, it was pretty obvious that they were not doing what everyone else was. Now the penalty for not worshiping the king's idol was being thrown into a fiery furnace. But the king liked these men so he called them forward and gave them another chance. Instead of bowing down, they made one of the best speeches in all of Scripture:

King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up. (Daniel 3:16-18)   

 

I'll let you read the rest of the story in Daniel 3 to see what God chose to do, but I bring these three men up today because I believe they help give a clear picture of not only the potential cost of being a believer but also how we need to be living that out today. You see, just like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you live in a nation that is not Christian. Many of the people in your life at work, or school, or in your neighborhood, or clubs do not worship God. Instead they worship the things that they love...sex, pornography, TV, money, and any number of other things. These people want you to be like they are. They want you to follow the crowd...and many of you do. Many Christians live their life just like the world does. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did not compromise. They didn't try to serve two masters. They didn't bow down to God and the idol. They chose their God. For that reason they stood out. They made a difference.

 

Being a Christian means that Jesus is your only Master. It means that you will live differently than the vast majority of the people in our world because you are living your life for Him. Sometimes this upsets non-Christians. They get angry that we won't blend in and they persecute us and even kill us. Over the centuries thousands upon thousands of Christians have chosen death rather than to deny Jesus. Even today Christians all over the world are imprisoned, beaten and even killed for their faith. They endure this; they refuse to serve the world, because Jesus is their Master.

 

I want to ask you a simple question: "Who is your Master?" Before you say that Christ is I am urging you to count the cost. You can't serve two Masters (Matthew 6:24). You must either choose to serve Christ or some other master. If you choose Christ then you need to be willing to pay the price that Jesus outlines in the above passage. "In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples." Choosing Christ as your Master will cost you everything.

 

It's time to get real about your faith. It's time to get serious. It's time for us to stop playing at being Christians, to stop pretending to be something we are not. It is time to stop living two lives. It's time to choose who you serve. Some of us have been playing at being a Christian for so long and have been surrounded by other people who are playing at it for so long that we have forgotten what it actually looks like to be a Christian. We don't remember what it looks like for a person to live their life for God. Over the next six weeks we are going to look at what it means to be serious about living out our faith.  But today, to start, I want you to count the cost. I want you to choose once and for all who you serve. I want you to commit. It would be better for you to admit you don't really believe than for you to keep living life however you want to while claiming to be a Christian.

 

For further reading...

• Daniel 3- Catch the whole story.
• Luke 14:25-35- read the passage in context.
• Revelation 3:15-16- See how God feels about people who ride the fence.  
• Prisoner Alert- There is a ministry called Voice of the Martyrs that ministers to the persecuted Church worldwide. One of their ministries is to put out prisoner alerts about Christians who are being persecuted for their faith. Read one or two of these. It is easy for us to think this doesn't happen anymore, but it does. Through this website you can actually write a send a letter to these imprisoned Christians and encourage them in the Lord.
• Jesus Freaks- A while back a Christian band named DC Talk teamed up with Voice of the Martyrs to put together a book of martyrs spanning from the ancient world up to today. You can check it out by going to this website and clicking the excerpts option.