Category Archives: John

Posted on

Making Hay While The Sun Shines

Being With Jesus:
John 9:4

Jesus said, “All of us must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent me, for there is little time left before the night falls and all work comes to an end.”

Do you live with a sense of urgency as it relates to God’s timetable? Our grandparents and generations before them seemed to understand that life came with an expiration date. We don’t! Probably because life was hard, opportunities weren’t dished out on silver platters, life expectancy was significantly less than it is today, they approached life with a great deal more seriousness than we do today.

Our generation seems to fit the profile of the people Jesus described who will be living in the last days:

“The world will be at ease—banquets and parties and weddings—just as it was in Noah’s time before the sudden coming of the Flood; people wouldn’t believe what was going to happen until the Flood actually arrived and took them all away. So shall my coming be.”

In this John 9 story, Jesus heals a man born blind on the Sabbath—a real no-no in first century Jewish religious culture. As Jesus performs this miracle, serious questions are thrown his way from both the crowd of astounded onlookers as well as the angry Jewish spiritual leaders. The crowd peppers Jesus with a “stump the messiah” question: Why was this man born blind; was it his parents’ sin or his? The religious leaders’ interrogative was more dastardly: How could you do this on our holy day, the Sabbath? Never mind that a flesh and blood miracle was standing in living color before their very eyes, they wanted to know who he thought he was to “work” on a day no work was to take place.

Work, For The Night ComethThen in the midst of all these questions, Jesus makes this statement about carrying out the task assigned by God before time expires. It seems a bit out of the blue and disconnected until you consider the context. On the one hand, since the man had been born blind, it would have been perfectly acceptable to allow things to remain as they were. The fates had determined this man’s condition; no need to rock his boat. On the other hand, Jesus knew that performing this miracle on this day—the Sabbath—would invoke the ire of the religious rule keepers and even seal their blind hatred for him. So it would have been easier for Jesus not to do this, or to delay doing it.

But Jesus was not one to avoid conflict or to take an easy path. And in this statement, he was sending both a message and a warning. The message was that the work of God must take priority over everything else in life—religious rules, man’s time, cultural mores, people’s feelings. And the warning was that there was a limited amount of time and opportunity to carry out the work of God. Tomorrow may not come; night is falling; if we are to do the work of God, we must act as if this is our window of opportunity, because that divine window is closing.

Now that truth applied to not only Jesus, but it applies to you and me as well. Notice that Jesus said “‘we’ must do the work of the One who sent me.” As God-followers, we have been given the same two things Jesus had been given: a divine assignment and a limited amount of time. So stop underestimating the brevity of your life and the time you have to make your days count; look up and see that eternity is in view.

James 4:14-16 tells us, “You don’t even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.”

James says that it is foolish and downright sinful to assume that we’ve got tomorrow. Why? Because life is unpredictable: “you don’t even know”. None of us know what is going to happen tonight much less next year: a war could start, the economy could collapse, your friends could leave you. That is not meant to frighten you, but to cause you to be more dependent on God and more serious about doing his will while you keep an eye on eternity.

Not only is life unpredictable, but James is also saying that life is brief. “You are a mist”, he says. Mist comes from the Greek word, “atmos”, which is where we get our word “atmosphere”. Your life is like fog; it rolls in at night but it burns off by noon. Who knows how long you are going to live? None of us do. I’m only one heartbeat away from eternity. Life is short; you go from highchair to wheelchair, from diapers to decay in a millisecond. As Chris Matakas said, “We rise to meet each day because there will come a time when the day will rise without us”

The point is, there are no guarantees, so don’t presume on tomorrow. For sure, plan for the future, but live like today is the last. Moses prayed, “Lord teach us to number our days aright, so that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12) Wisdom would teach you to live today as if you knew tomorrow you would stand before God. And that is a great way to live.

The early Christians lived that way. They were pretty urgent about the time. They learned to order their lives by seriously seeking and then immediately living out the Lord’s. They came up with a Latin watchword to remind each other of the importance of actively keeping the Lord’s will in mind. It was Deo Volente: “If God wills.” In fact, in some periods of history, the believers would end their letters with “D.V.”, Deo Volente. Then they would respond to, “If God wills” with another phrase, “Carpe Diem: Seize the day!” What a great philosophy for living to live like Jesus lived: “If the Lord wills, I will seize the day!”

Our time is shorter than we think, so as they say, let’s “make hay while the sun shines!”

________________

“I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.”
(Leonardo da Vinci)

 

Getting To Know Jesus: What is it that God is calling you to do that you have been putting off? Telling someone that you love them or asking for their forgiveness? Volunteering to lead a ministry? Going on a missions trip? Getting counseling for an addiction? Having a difficult conversation with a loved one? Witnessing to someone you care about? Carl F.H. Henry said, “The gospel is only good news if it gets there in time.” Jesus says to you, “now is the time, night is at hand, so do the work my Father has assigned to you.” Today is the day!

Posted on

Grace!

Being With Jesus:
John 8:2-5

At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”

In one of my favorite books, What’s So Amazing About Grace, Philip Yancey writes,

“Grace means there’s nothing we can do to make God love us more—no amount of spiritual calisthenics and renunciations, no amount of knowledge gained from seminaries, no amount of crusading on behalf of righteous causes. And grace means there’s nothing we can do to make God love us less—no amount of racism, pride, pornography, adultery or even murder. Grace means that God already loves us as much as an infinite God can possibly love.”

That’s why I love this story of the adulterous woman’s life-transforming encounter with Jesus; it just exudes grace! And it reminds me of how God looks right into what Lewis Smedes called this, “glob of unworthiness that is me and offers to accept me, own me, hold me, affirm me, and never let go of me even if he’s not too impressed with what he has on his hands.”

A glob of unworthiness—that’s me…you, too! And that’s God—loving us, without limit—because of his incredibly great grace! King David, who knew a lot about personal failure and unworthiness, wrote in Psalm 103:8-14,

Grace Greater Than My Sin“The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love…he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we’re formed, he remembers that we’re dust.”

That theology of unconditional love, undeserved mercy and unlimited grace is what’s fleshed out here in this story in John 8. And it’s not only the message Jesus wrote with his finger as he stooped to scribble in the dirt, he wrote it with his blood as it dripped to the dirt from the cross. Grace is his life-message! Amazing grace, how sweet the sound! It’s the one thing that’ll touch your core need today; it’s the only thing that’ll transform our lost world.

In 1988, a concert was held in London’s Wembley Stadium, and throughout the day, bands blasted the crowd high on booze and drugs with their ear-splitting music. But for some reason, the promoters scheduled an opera singer as the closing act, Jessye Norman. At the finale, she walked out with no band or singers —unknown to the crowd, which was shouting for more Guns ‘n Roses. Jessye began to sing, “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound. That saved a wretch like me!” And remark-ably, 70,000 fans got quiet.

By the second verse, “Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved”, they were putty; by the third verse they were digging into their memories to sing along, “and grace will lead me home”. As she sang, “When we’ve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun; We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise, than when we first begun” a transcendent reverence had enveloped the stadium.

What on earth wields that kind of power over a beleaguered psalmist, or an adulterous woman, or a stadium full of drug-addled rock-n-rollers? Grace!

Now don’t miss the point of this story: The adulterous woman reminds us that every sinner has a future, but every saint has a past. We’re all born broken, and we become whole only by the mending of grace, God’s glue. And no matter how bad, how unworthy, how disqualified you think you are, you are not beyond the renewing reach of God’s grace. That’s why prostitutes, publicans, and other sinners responded to Jesus so readily—still do. They knew their sin; that’s why forgiveness was so appealing.

And no matter how good, worthy and qualified you think you are, apart from grace, there’s no good in you. In fact, on your best day, apart from grace, Isaiah said your righteousness is as filthy rags. (Isaiah 64:6) That’s why, as C.S. Lewis said, “[Adulterous women] are in no danger of finding their present life so satisfactory that they cannot turn to God; [it’s] the proud …the self-righteous [that] are in that danger.”

So wherever you fall on the continuum—from super-saint to seedy sinner—just remember: every saint has a past, but every sinner has a future. And grace is there waiting for you! Grace! It’s only by grace that the brokenness we’re born with, and live with, is mended.

________________

“To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.”
(C.S. Lewis)

 

Getting To Know Jesus: Take a moment today to simply and gratefully reflect on God’s grace.

Posted on

Calling Out Sin

Being With Jesus:
John 7:7

Jesus said, “[the world] hates me because I accuse it of sin and evil.”

One of the things an authentic, fruitful, effective Christ-follower must master in life is balance. Balance isn’t listed as a virtue in New Testament theology; it is not a mark of discipleship that Jesus articulated; it is not the tenth fruit of the Spirit. Yet balance is the byproduct of Christian virtue. It demonstrate that we have a grasp on what it means to live as a true disciple and it is evidence of the Holy Spirit’s production of spiritual fruit in our lives.

If we are to live as Jesus lived and think like Jesus thought, then like Jesus, we must learn to balance truth with grace, tolerance of flawed humanity with fidelity to God’s standard of holiness, working out our salvation with resting in God’s effort, and on and on the list of needful balances will go. But balance for the Christian is neither easy to achieve, nor to maintain, because the drift of the sin nature still fighting for mastery of our lives is always toward an extreme.

Nowhere is this imbalance more apparent in our contemporary American experience of Christianity than in our posture toward sin. It is especially noticeable in our current American cultural debate on same-sex attraction where many spiritual leaders are now rejecting this idea that the believer must “love the sinner but hate the sin” as un-Christlike. Yet Jesus did exactly that. So that, too, is a balance that we must learn to achieve.

Of course, some will passionately disagree with my statement. I understand that push back. There is a legitimate discussion these days about how to approach the issue of sin in our culture. But my fear is that because the secular mindset is increasingly pressuring the church to not only condone same-sex lifestyles, but to celebrate them as perfectly healthy and appropriate, and because of our growing fear that the world will hate us if we stand in their way, many Christians—leaders and lay people alike—are going to great lengths to avoid calling out sin where sin desperately needs to be called out. A too large percentage of believers now live with a consuming phobia of being labeled—labeled a homophobe, a hate-monger, intolerant and ignorant, and worse.

But let’s remember that Jesus was hated and called names precisely because he pointed out the evil and sin in the world. Sinful man didn’t reject and ultimately crucify him because he came saying “everything is alright; go your merry way.” Jesus was murdered because he said things like, “You are slaves of sin, every one of you.” (John 8:34) Believers by the thousands have not been martyred throughout Christian history because of their tolerance of sin; they were killed because they rubbed against the grain of evil cultures.

Leave Your Life of SinNow again, balance is the key. Jesus didn’t come to condemn sinners—they were already under condemnation—but by his righteous lifestyle and message of holiness, sin was condemned. Jesus didn’t condemn the woman caught in adultery in John 8, but he wasn’t afraid to tell her to go and “sin” no more. The very first words out of Jesus mouth as he began to proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom was “repent”! “From then on, Jesus began to preach, ‘Turn from sin and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.’” (Matthew 4:17)

Jesus wasn’t afraid to use the “s” word. Sin is sin, and it separates from God. As C.S. Lewis said, “Jesus Christ did not say – Go into all the world and tell the world that it is quite right.” If we are to truly love people as Jesus did, then at some point their sin must be a topic of conversation. For people to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, sin must be acknowledged and repentance must be expressed. There is no other way. To point that out is truly the most loving thing a believer can do with an unbeliever.

“Jesus Christ did not say – Go into all the world and tell the world that it is quite right.” (C.S. Lewis)

Of course, it is all in the delivery. People must know that you truly love them if the call to repentance is to be received from a loving heart. But even them, since the message of righteousness rubs against the grain of a fallen world, we must be prepared to be labeled. But remember, it won’t be the first time.

________________

“The greatest want of the world is the want of men—men who will not be bought or sold; men who in their inmost souls are true and honest; men who do not fear to call sin by its right name; men whose conscience is as true to duty as the needle to the pole; men who will stand for the right though the heavens fall.” (Ellen G. White)

Getting To Know Jesus: Don’t ever be afraid to call sin, sin. Jesus did, so should you. But you must figure out how to do it as Jesus did—from a posture of love, grace and mercy. And one of the best ways to get into that posture is to, first, truly repent of your own sin, and secondly, humbly live in the knowledge that you are nothing more than a sinner saved by grace.

Posted on

Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff (It’s All Small Stuff)

Being With Jesus:
John 6:5-6

Jesus went up into the hills and sat down with his disciples around him. Soon he saw a great multitude of people climbing the hill, looking for him. Turning to Philip he asked, “Philip, where can we buy bread to feed all these people?” (He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do.)

I’m not sure who first said it (its origin has been attributed to several different authors), but I think it offers some sage advice for people who follow Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Rules for living, we could rightly call them.  It simply goes like this:

Rule # 1: Don’t sweat the small stuff.

Rule #2: It’s all small stuff.

That is true! You see, with God, nothing is impossible; it’s all small stuff to him. That is not just my theology, that comes from God’s own mouth. God told a perplexed Abraham and a cynical Sarah when he announced to them that they would have a son well into their 90’s (and beyond, actually, for Abraham):

“Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, ‘Can an old woman like me have a baby?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” (Genesis 18:13-14)

Is anything too hard for the Lord? No—it’s all small stuff! Even giving barren, octogenarian couples their first child.

When Jeremiah the prophet was crying out to God over the devastation of Israel and the insurmountable problems the nation was facing, the Holy Spirit inspired him to prayerfully pour out this affirmation in his appeal to the Almighty for help:

“O Sovereign Lord! You made the heavens and earth by your strong hand and powerful arm. Nothing is too hard for you!” (Jeremiah 32:17)

Later in that same chapter, God himself sent this word to the prophet:

“I am the Lord, the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything too hard for me?” (Jeremiah 32:26-27)

Is anything too hard for the Lord? No—it’s all small stuff! Even taking a shattered, scattered nation and reconstituting them for his glory and purpose.

Nothing Is Too Hard For GodDo you get the point? Nothing is above God’s pay grade. That’s because the created order in its entirety was conceived and perfectly engineered in the mind of God before it came into being. God created everything that exists by the breath of his mouth. God hung the stars by flicking them into space with his finger. He holds everything that we see and don’t see perfectly in place by his powerful and caring hand. There is nothing—absolutely nothing—that escapes his watchful eye.

And therefore, there is nothing—absolutely nothing—that’s too big or too hard for him. Nothing is impossible to God, and therefore, all things are possible for his people.

That’s why Jesus, who is God the Son, the agent of creation, said to Phillip, “what shall we do with this gigantic crowd of seekers? They’re hungry, and we’ve got to feed them. Where can we get that much food?” Of course, we know how the massive crowd would get miraculously fed because John clearly states that Jesus already knew what he was going to do. His question was just to test Phillip for the purpose of stretching his faith.

And Jesus will do that with us, too. Even though he already knows what he’s going to do, he doesn’t automatically do it without first stretching, tempering, testing and strengthening our faith, which is of greater value than any miraculous intervention we could hope for.

But don’t miss the whole point of this: Jesus already knows what he needs to do. And if that is true, then Rule #1 for you as his follower would be, “Don’t’ sweat the small stuff!”  Why? It is a wasted use of energy, and it’s dishonoring to the One who already knows what to do. Therefore, as his follower, Rule #2 is certainly true, too: “It’s all small stuff!”

Since that is true, why not relax a little bit today, and let God be God. Exercise your trust and let God take care of your big stuff, since it’s all small stuff to him.

________________

“All things are possible until they are proved impossible and even the impossible may only be so, as of now.” (Pearl S. Buck)

Getting To Know Jesus: What are you sweating today? Visualize holding it in the palms of your hands. Walk outside and lift your hands heavenward and release it to the Lord with these words, “Father, this is too big for me, but not for you. Here, you take it and do with it according to your purpose.” Then thank God that he has just given you the greatest gift: He has stretched your faith!

Posted on

Kick The Approval Habit

Being With Jesus:
John 5:41

“Your approval or disapproval means nothing to me, for as I know so well, you don’t have God’s love within you.”

One of the secrets to Jesus’ life—his incomparable achievements, his inner joy, his impact on history—was his freedom from the need for human approval. He understood his identity was in God; his Father’s approval was his true north. Nothing else mattered; nothing else swayed him—even to the point of enduring the worst kind of rejection and suffering to fulfill what his identity demanded of him. And that is why we call him Savior!

Don’t you wish you could live that way too—free from the addiction of human approval? Well, you can—and you should. Now it won’t be easy to embrace that your true identity comes from God, because your enemy, Satan, works constantly to rob you of it and replace it with a false identity that requires the constant approval of others.  But it will be well worth the effort to live, like Jesus did, as the person God’s sees you to be.

And how does God see you? Probably the most powerful truth in Scripture on God’s view of you is Ephesians 2:10,

“For you are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for you to do…”

Do you realize what that means? You—right now, not someday, but right now—are God’s masterpiece. You are his work of art created anew in Christ to reflect the supernatural beauty, fundamental goodness and intrinsic worth of God himself. That is why Ephesians 2:11 goes on to say, “Therefore, remember…” Don’t forget who you are and “Whose” you are and what he has done to recreate you!

You see, you are not the sum total of what you do and how well you do it. That’s not your identity. Obviously, you live in a world where you are expected to perform at a high level of effectiveness and excellence if you hope to succeed and have the approval of others. That is what you must do, but that’s not who you are! And if you make your performance the basis of your identity and worth, your life will be dominated by anxiety, dissatisfaction, fear of failure and all kinds of other insecurities.

Ephesians 2:10I am not the sum total of what I do and how well I do it. That is not my identity. Nor am I the sum total of what others think of me. My worth is not the result of their approval. I am of inestimable worth and infinite value because God says so! And He says I am His masterpiece!

Likewise, you are not the sum total of what others think about you. Your worth is not the result of their approval. You live in a world governed by popularity and polls where approval and acceptance are important. It would be foolish to deny that. But your worth is not based on whether others think you are pretty or powerful or charismatic or charming. You are of inestimable worth and infinite value because God says so. He says, “you are my work of art! A masterpiece. When I made you, I outdid myself! And when sin messed you up, I spent a lot to restore you; I paid to reclaim you as my very own with my son’s blood. Don’t ever forget that!”

If you do, you will succumb to this debilitating addiction that blinds you to the truth that you are of such high value to God. Being addicted to the approval of others will lead you to become a people-pleaser, overly sensitive to criticism and ultimately to a life where the fear of rejection affects everything about you.

God doesn’t want you to live your life addicted to others’ approval; he paid with his sons’ blood to set you free from the fear of rejection. That is why in Ephesians 2:11 the Apostle Paul called you to a very spiritual activity—the practice of remembering. What do you need to remember?

For one, remember that striving for other people’s approval is a wasted expenditure of energy and counterproductive to your faith. It’s foolish to exert effort to get what God has already given! When you catch yourself trying to convince people how smart, successful or striking you are just to gain their admiration, just stop and practice remembering: Remember just how enriching and freeing it is to live in God’s acceptance and approval.

For another, remember that other people’s opinions can only enslave you if you let them. Author David Burns writes, “It is not another person’s approval that makes me feel good. It’s my belief that there is validity to their approval or disapproval.”

Quit giving other people’s opinion of you that kind of divine power. Suppose you were to visit a psychiatric ward, and a patient came up to you and said, “I had a vision, and I was told the fourth person to walk through that door today would be special messenger from God. You’re the fourth, so I know you are the chosen, the holy one, the world’s savior. Let me kiss your feet.” Would you base your identity on that? Would your self-esteem rise as a result of that? Of course not! Why? You considered the source.

God is the only true source for your identity; only God’s opinion truly matters! As Ephesians 2:10 says, “You are his workmanship.” As your Designer, he alone is qualified to evaluate your worth. So don’t give worship to another’s judgment of you!

Practice remembering who you are—and Whose you are—and you will begin to live a lot more like Jesus did: free from the need for others’ approval.

________________

“The fear of human opinion will only disable; trusting in God will keep you stable.” (Proverbs 29:25)

Getting To Know Jesus: If you haven’t already, memorize Ephesians 2:10. And for extra credit, memorize I John 3:1 as well. Then each day this week, spend time before you head out for the day and before you go to sleep at night meditating on what God’s truth means for you.

Posted on

The Best Investment You Will Ever Make

Being With Jesus:
John 4:34-38

Jesus said to them, “My food is doing the will of him who sent me and finishing the work he has given me. Don’t you say, ‘Four months more and then comes the harvest’? But I tell you to open your eyes and look to the field—they are gleaming white, all ready for the harvest! The reaper is already being rewarded and getting in a harvest for eternal life, so that both sower and reaper may be glad together. For in this harvest the old saying comes true, ‘One man sows and another reaps.’ I have sent you to reap a harvest for which you never labored; other men have worked hard and you have reaped the results of their labors.”

Today’s AP headline screams “World stock markets plunged and Wall Street was due to suffer heavy losses on Monday after China’s main index sank 8.5 percent amid fears over the health of the world’s second-largest economy.” Obviously, your money is not as safe as you’d like it to be. But Jesus spoke of an investment you can make that will yield never-ending, ever-increasing returns. He promised that those who give financially to missions will get in on an eternal harvest that is unprecedented in history. If there was ever a time, it’s now to repurpose your life, especially your finances for greater missional engagement. Jesus says to you, “open your eyes and look to the field—they are gleaming white, all ready for the harvest! The reaper is already being rewarded and getting in a harvest for eternal life.” (John 4:35-36)

Yes, now is the time! It’s true, there has never been a greater opportunity for return on your missions investment than right now—your investment of praying for missions, giving to missions, encouraging missionaries, going on a mission and in a way that encompasses everything about you, living a missions driven life. And by “missions”, I mean anything that has to do with proclaiming Christ in places with no sustainable Christian witness to those who haven’t received the Good News yet and influencing them into God’s eternal kingdom.

That’s what Jesus is prophetically saying in John 4:34-38. In verse 35, he pleads with his disciples: “Open your eyes; see the fields! Now is the time—they’re ripe for harvest.” And notice how he frames his missions appeal in terms of return on investment in verse 36: “The reaper will get rewarded now, plus bring in a harvest that’s eternal.” (JBP)

The Fields Are White Unto HarvestAs we sit at the end of the age, the evidence shouts that this is a “kairos” moment. “Kairos” is the Greek word used in the New Testament for a God-opportunity; “chronos”, on the other hand, is the word used for actual time, that is, chronological time. This is that kairos time of which Jesus spoke where those who pray for, go on and give to missions will get in on an eternal harvest that is unprecedented in history.

If there was ever a time, it’s now to repurpose your life for greater missional engagement. If you’ve not, get all in, make the change to go all out for missions. If you already are engaged in missions, recalibrate for more. Now is the time! Don’t miss out!

As you correctly absorb John 4, there are three unavoidable convictions you will lay claim to in relation to the huge and ripened harvest that is our present world:

First, you will become convinced that doing missions is your divine mandate. In verse 34, Jesus directly connected reaching this foreign seeker (the Samaritan woman at the well of Sychar) with both the will and the work of God: “What keeps me going is to do the will of the One who sent me, finishing the work he started.” (MSG)

I realize that what I’m talking about—dedicating your time, energy and money…or more of it—may not be too comfortable for you. Unless you are convinced of what Jesus was convinced of—that this is the will and work of God—any call to commit your resources of time and energy will seem pushy about this. But sincerely pray about it. Don’t do or not do it because a pastor or missionary is pressuring you. Open your heart to God, and simply ask, “God, help me to see the harvest—and what you would have me to do about it!”

Secondly, you will become convinced that doing missions brings the deepest satisfaction. In verse 32, Jesus said, “this is my nourishment!” It has been my experience that missional investment and involvement satisfies a core desire like no other. In an age that deeply longs for satisfaction but can never seem to really find it, I can promise you this: what deeply satisfied Jesus’ soul will be that which can only and fully satisfy your soul!

Thirdly, you will become convinced that the missional sacrifice of others demands your best sacrifice. Notice verse 38: “I’m sending you to reap what you’ve not worked for. Others have done the hard work, now you’ll reap the benefits of their labor.” The investment of those who’ve gone before us demands that we do no less.

Think of the comfort missionaries have given up over the centuries to take Jesus to unreached people. It is the story of sacrifice! They died—often literally—to our version of the good life to bring the Good News so others can live.

James Calvert, in the 1800’s, shipped off to go as a missionary to the cannibals on the Fiji Islands. As they neared the islands, the captain tried to dissuade him back.“You’ll lose your life and the lives of those with you if you go among these savages.” To that, Calvert replied, “Captain, we died before we came here.”

To Calvert—and other missionaries, I think they would all say, it was no sacrifice; it was our nourishment; it was our calling. We would do it all over again.

When you consider missionaries, starting with Jesus clear down to those serving in far away and difficult places in the world today, their sacrifice is best honored by your sacrifice! Mine, too! Missions is your calling! It’s your privilege. It will be your nourishment! And in eternity, it will prove to be the best investment you ever made.

________________

“The spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions. The nearer we get to Him, the more intensely missionary we become.” (Henry Martyn)

Getting To Know Jesus: Your assignment this week is to give an offering to a missions organization. It is not the only way to be missional, it is a good start, because as Jesus said, “where your treasure is there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21)

Posted on

How We Kill Our Christian Witness

Being With Jesus:
John 3:16-17

“God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it. There is no eternal doom awaiting those who trust him to save them. But those who don’t trust him have already been tried and condemned for not believing in the only Son of God.”

Unfortunately for too many Christians, John 3:17 gets lost in the shadows of the verse that immediately precedes it—John 3:16. Who doesn’t love that verse? It is the heart of God—his sacrificial love for a sinful world; it’s the Bible summed up in one short verse; it’s the simplest yet most powerful collection of words the world has ever known. The truth that Jesus declares in John 3:16 is the only hope for the world.

But Jesus’ followers often miss what follows: he didn’t come to force his gracious offer of eternal life down the throats of those who resisted. His plan wasn’t to set up a spiritual police state to enforce adherence to his sacrificial love. He wasn’t even going to publically condemn those who foolishly, perhaps even violently, rejected the divine plan to eternal life.

So why do so many believers have an insatiable need to condemn the unbelieving world? If condemnation were what sinners needed, Jesus would have done that. Rather, Jesus understood that their very resistance of his grace and rejection of his atonement was all the condemnation that was needed. The unbelieving world already stood condemned. Why condemn what was already condemned?

Contrary to Jesus’ approach, condemnation seems too often to be our leading evangelistic strategy. But when believers, churches and spiritual leaders take to their social media outlets to decry the current crisis of morality in America, or lash out on the airwaves about the obvious failures of our out-of-control government, or write in their blogs about the evils of gay marriage or the horror of late term abortion or the ills of our increasingly secular culture, we are well on our way to destroying whatever Christian witness we might have once been able to exert. Does that mean I am in favor of those things, or believe that we should never speak out about sin or injustice in the world? Not at all!

It’s just sadly interesting to me that we tend to pass too quickly over the greatest truth in the Bible, John 3:16, and go right for the jugular vein in condemning what already stands condemned when Jesus himself, the one we represent, didn’t even do that. Christian pollster George Barna summarized recently some research on the church’s perception in the world by stating, “the Christian community is not known for love.” If Jesus was known for loving the world so much that he gave his life to redeem it, why should that be any less true of his followers? He concludes that this perception renders ineffective most of our evangelistic efforts. Our condemning voice overshadows our loving heart.

So what should be our response to all of these ills in the world that need to be set aright? Are we to just idly stand by, do nothing and say nothing? No—we would be derelict in our discipleship to take that approach.

We would, however, be far more effective in reaching and redeeming the world if we would do what Jesus did. The best evangelism remains that by our love—for the Lord, for each other, and for the lost—that an unbelieving world will be attracted to our Savior. Like Jesus, when we demonstrate selfless, stubborn, sacrificial love, we will have the undeniable effect that Jesus had: the world will be both repulsed yet attracted by God’s irresistible love in us.

That is the strange thing about God’s love: while every human being fundamentally craves it, because of sin, many foolishly, sadly reject. Those who do stand condemned already. Yet the fact remains, whether our witness is embraced or repulsed, we have an undeniable impact in forgoing condemnation and letting love speak for itself. The Apostle Peter,

“You’ve been chosen…to declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his light …[So] live such good lives among unbelievers that even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us…Always be ready [to share your faith], but do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.” (I Peter 2:9 & 12, 3:16)

I watch too many believers who are anything but that as they engage in politics, cultural issues or theological debates. It seems that some Christian’s are more passionate about their point of view than pointing people to Jesus. We would win more debates, elections and, souls too, if we’d learn to offer our opinions with more love and less condemnation.

The word “evangelism” is from a compound Greek word, “eu,” meaning “good” (euphoria) and “aggelos” meaning “messenger” (angel). So euaggelos is simply “a good messenger.” Our task is just translating the Good News by our selfless, sacrificial lives in a way that connects—or reconnects—lost people with a loving God.

Bottom line: Jesus didn’t condemn; he just fiercely, stubbornly, unconditionally loved. We should go and do likewise.

_____________________

“You must be the good news before you can share the good news.”
(Joe Aldrich)

 

Getting To Know Jesus: Your assignment this week will be to light a candle instead of cursing darkness when you come across the temptation to condemn. And believe me, you will face such a temptation.