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What Will it Profit a Man …?

Matthew 16:26 (ESV)
26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

In a great illustration that I saw recently, a preacher had a rope stretched around the perimeter of an auditorium.  Holding up a short end wrapped in red tape, he explained that the rope represented eternity and the tape was our brief life on earth.  Then, asking this very question from Scripture, he lamented how we work so much to benefit the first inch while ignoring preparation for the rest of the rope.

Sadly, we are a society that thrives on immediate gratification.  Gone are our grandmothers’ days of pinching pennies to buy something big.  An item purchased at a rental store may cost three times its value by the time it’s paid in full, but the customer has it right away while TV and the internet bombard us with products we “can’t do without” at such a fast pace that they’re often obsolete before we buy them.

So, what about the rest of the rope?  Several versions of the Faust story from the 1500s on tell the tragedy of a man who sells his soul to the devil for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures.  The day of reckoning comes, however, for Faust to pay for his extravagances as the devil arrives to collect what was bargained for.  For a very short time, he had gained the whole world at the cost of his soul.

Most of us do not go to the extremes of Faust.  No, we sell out at a much lower price.  We compromise obedience to the gospel and a true walk with God for a state of quasi-Christianity.  We give if it doesn’t inconvenience us, believe a mixture of information we’ve picked up in church and on social media, and tell of Jesus only if it doesn’t make us too uncomfortable.  True study, prayer, and service to strengthen our relationship with God is secondary to checking our watches to get on to our “real” lives.

If a command seems too strict, we call it outdated; if love and forgiveness, mercy and grace are too hard to offer, we justify a reason not to extend them.  Only half-gaining the whole world, we still forfeit our souls.  A deal with the devil has been struck—we’re just haggling on the price.

Instead of being so nearsighted, God would have us look beyond the temporary tape on the end.  James describes our existence as a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.  Rather, should we not prepare for the rope that stretches into eternity?

This article will also appear in the January/February 2019 issue of Christ For Today, David Tarbet editor.

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My Food is …

Many of our New Year’s resolutions have to do with food: the quantity, the quality, or the management of it in the form of exercise.  Many make resolutions as well about our spiritual food.

After all, we are what we eat, so be careful what you ingest!

I.  John 4:6-38.  Jesus starts speaking with the woman at the well in Samaria about physical water and ends up revealing to her that He is the Messiah.  As she goes away to tell her friends and neighbors, Jesus’ disciples return with food, only to find that He claims to have food that they know nothing about.  That food: doing God’s work and will!

II.  John 6:22-69.  The crowd that Jesus had fed wanted more physical food so badly they crossed the sea by boat to find Him.  Jesus calls them out on their limited diet, challenging them to seek Him the true bread from heaven.  He tells them that whoever comes to Him and believes in Him will never hunger or thirst spiritually.  Like the mother who whisks away the plate of cookies for veggies, Jesus offends many who just wanted more loaves and fishes.

III.  1 Peter 2:1-5.  In the same way that we are careful about what we take in physically, counting calories and watching sugars and carbs, we must beware of what we’re ingesting spiritually.  The internet, tabloids, and even good meaning family members and friends offer to fill our plates with junk food, but only the Lord is good.  We begin as infants on milk but must soon grow up into our salvation eating solid food.

What does your spiritual diet consist of?  Even in adulthood, I may not like the vegetables served at dinner, but I’ve come to know that they are for my good to eat them.

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Immerse Yourself in Them

There are two ways to enter a pool: cannonball or creep.  Those who creep endure a slow, inch-by-excruciating-inch torture of cold water on their feet, ankles, legs, knees, etc. and usually complain loudly at each step of the way until they finally put their heads under and exclaim, “It’s alright once you get in!”  Those who jump right in skip the torture in a split-second shock … and usually splash (and annoy) those creeping in.

This is how it is with a living out of our faith (1 Timothy 4:15-16).

I.  Revelation 3:15-16.  We’ve all been around those who have truly realized the gospel, obeyed it, and then been “on fire” for God.  If we’re ones creeping into our Christian walk, then we might have even found ourselves splashed with a little more church or Jesus than we’re acclimated to.  Paul’s advice to Timothy is immerse himself into His Christian walk.  God does not like lukewarm Christianity!

II.   James 3:1.  Even the first duty of someone seeking to be a shepherd over God’s flock is to watch himself first (Acts 20:28-31).  That is Paul’s next piece of advice to the young evangelist, but it is not just for ourselves that we pay careful attention to how we walk.  We also are to be careful of what we teach to make sure that whether in word or deed we do all according to God’s Word (Colossians 3:17).

III.  James 1:2-12.  Anyone can do right as an event (even a stopped clock is right twice a day), but it takes someone truly committed to walking as Jesus did (1 John 2:6) to persist in living out God’s Word.  If we persevere, Paul tells Timothy that he will save both himself and his hearers.

This doesn’t happen by those inching their way into their Christian walk.  It’s time to cannonball in!

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The Lord Has Indeed Risen

A resurrection lesson just before Christmas?  It makes sense if we realize that Jesus was the baby born to die.  The angel declared to Joseph in Matthew 1:21 as Mary was with child that Jesus would save their people from their sins.  The second person of the Godhead took on flesh in Bethlehem so that He could die on the cross for our sins and be raised for our redemption.  Good news indeed!

I.  Luke 24:13-27.  Not all get this–even those who would call upon His name.  Like the two who were in Jerusalem and heard that Jesus was alive, we too trudge on to Emmaus, not realizing the implication of what His resurrection means for us.  We need to spend time with the risen Savior and let Him speak to us of how His sufferings were necessary for Him to overcome death for us.

II.  Luke 24:28-32.  Just like their eyes were opened with the breaking of bread, so must we be cut to the heart (Acts 2:36-41) like those at Pentecost.  We have to have a moment of awakening to what God has done for us through the gospel.  And no wonder the reenactment of the Lord’s Supper hit them.  No doubt that Jesus spoke of the Passover from their history in escaping slavery in Egypt and how the Christ was the Lamb of God, whose blood saved them from death (1 Peter 1:17-21).

III.  Luke 24:33-35.  Tired from their seven-mile journey no more, the disciples, hearts burning from the Scriptures made alive in them, returned to Jerusalem that same day, bursting in on the remaining Eleven with the good news that Jesus had indeed risen.  It was the same information that they had left Jerusalem with earlier that day, but this time they were convinced and could not contain the joy of that message.

Awakened to the good news of great joy, these two followers didn’t need to be told to tell others; they couldn’t wait to proclaim the gospel!  God’s plan has been there all along: He would be born a baby to grow up without sin to die on the cross and then be raised from the dead.  Do you truly know this?  Or are you trudging on your way to Emmaus?

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If You Are …

Who are you at the cross?  One who scoffs? Challenges God to prove who He is? Like a soldier just there out of obligation hoping to collect a paycheck?  A follower who deserted at the garden who has slunk back to the edges of the cross hoping not to be recognized?  One who weeps for the terrible way they treated Jesus?  Like the first criminal hanging beside him who doubts but turns to Him in desperation?  Or, are you like the second one who took accountability for his sins and turned to the One you know to be the Son of God to save you?

I.  Luke 23:32-39.  Jesus is the I Am whether we acknowledge Him or not.  In Psalm 22:12-18, those surrounding the cross are described as lions, dogs, and bulls.  If Jesus would have given in to earthly taunts, He would have saved only Himself, but He followed His Father’s heavenly plan and died to save us all.  Just because man couldn’t see the plan didn’t make Him any less God in the flesh.  Rather, His work on the cross gave those obedient to Him eternal life (Hebrews 5:7-9).

II.  Matthew 10:32-33.  There are so many ways we deny Jesus each and every day.  Notice Jesus forgave the people from the cross before they began.  Surrounding Him there were those who defied, those who were duty-bound, and those who doubted.  Sadly, Christians today often fall into these categories of those who wear His name while compromising with the world (2 Timothy 3:1-7).

III.  Luke 23:40-43.  There was one, however, the second criminal who hung beside Jesus who, even though under the sentence of death, acknowledged his sins and who Jesus was.  He was promised Paradise because of it.  This criminal rebuked the first that He did not fear God, which is our duty (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).    We should all live as if we know we’re dying and obey the gospel (Acts 2:36-40).

Save yourself from this crooked generation’ is the same appeal today.  Save yourself from those surrounding the cross.  Be instead like the dying believer who was hanged next to Jesus.

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Command & Teach These Things

Timothy was a young evangelist, and yet Paul told him to “command and teach” the things that he had been writing to him about (1 Timothy 4:11-14).  The bigger issue was how could Timothy (or us for that matter) be the kind of Christian that when he would command and teach that others would want to listen and learn?

I. 1 Corinthians 11:1.  The first thing to remember is that we are not asking others to follow the best version of ourselves that we can put forth.  No, we want others to follow us as we follow Christ.  So, Jesus is the example to others that we must follow ourselves, so that others in our sphere of influence can listen and learn from us.

II. Acts 2:42.  To ensure that our example of Christ is one to follow, we must be devoted to God’s Word.  We have the example of the early Christians who, among other things, devoted themselves to the public reading, exhortation, and teaching of Scripture.  When others we hope to command and teach see our devotion, then they will want to listen and learn from us.

III. 1 Corinthians 12:14-31.  The illustration of the church as a body with all of its parts working together and arranged just where God has placed them is a powerful one.  When others see us encouraging and ministering in whatever way God has blessed us to work for the whole of the body and not just ourselves, then they will want to listen and learn from us.

Whether young or old, rich or poor, educated or unschooled, God has a place for you and work that He has prepared in advance for you to do (Ephesians 2:10).  When we are about it, only then are we in a position to “command and teach these things.”

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New Covenant in My Blood

Apparently in the religious world at large, some suggest that Jesus’ plans to establish His Kingdom were thwarted by wicked men who put Him on the cross, and so He had to establish His church instead.  Ridiculous on so many levels, this false idea is easily refuted through a look at the new covenant that Jesus said He was establishing through His blood.

I. Acts 2:22-24.  How would you ever surprise an omniscient and omnipresent God with a surprise party?  Yet, at the base of this false teaching is the idea that man somehow tricked God, that the One who breathed everything into existence was derailed by wicked men who were too clever for Him.  The cross was done through God’s purpose and foreknowledge as evidenced by how often Jesus spoke of His impending death.

II. Luke 24:25-27.  What a Bible study the two disciples must have had when the resurrected Christ revealed ALL the Old Testament scriptures that spoke about His suffering, death, and resurrection!  Among them must have been the fulfillment of the Passover (Exodus 12:5-11) and the eyewitness-like descriptions of Him on the cross in Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53 recorded centuries before He came in the flesh.

III. Jeremiah 31:31-34.  Perhaps the most convincing was the prophet’s description of the new covenant that God would make with His people, its hallmark forgiveness of sins and knowing God.  Jesus announces that that is what is being established at the Last Supper (Luke 22:19-22) with plenty of time to avoid the cross if that truly indeed was what God was trying to do.  Indeed, the new covenant, as with the old one, was established through blood (Hebrews 9:16-28).

Many passages use Kingdom and church interchangeably, but the establishment of the new covenant through the blood of the perfect Lamb truly shows that the church is His Kingdom on earth.  Have you entered the new covenant with God through Jesus’ blood being shed for you?

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Stand Before the Son of Man

When coming to Luke 21, we can’t switch from preaching the gospel to reading the tabloids!  In the manual for life, Jesus, zeroing in on verses 34-36, gives us advice about how to live in this life so we can live in the next.

I. Matthew 14:27-30.  After Peter is invited to step out of the boat, he loses his focus on Jesus and begins to sink.  So do we when our hearts are weighed down by the struggles of this life.  We are to fix our eyes on the eternal (2 Corinthians 4:16-18), particularly on Jesus so we don’t grow weary and lose heart (Hebrews 12:1-3).

II. Mark 14:32-38.  At Gethsemane, Jesus asks his followers to watch while He prayed.  Why?  For Him or for them?  The question is answered when He returns and tells them to watch and pray to not be tempted.  Prayer is the church’s weapon of choice (Acts 12:4-5).  We do not wage spiritual war as the world does, and so must use heavenly weapons (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).

III. Ephesians 6:10-13.  At the end of all things, we must be able to stand before the Son of Man.  That’s what the decisions we make in this life are all about.  How good it will be to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21), if we have stood our ground using the full armor of God to aid us.  If we persevere, God will hand us a crown of life as we stand before Him (James 1:12).

So, is your heart weighed down by the temporary struggles of this life?  Where are your eyes fixed?  Are you watching and praying?  Are you wearing the full armor of God daily?

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Put Our Hope in the Living God

Most work hard for a paycheck, but if the company can no longer give us money for our work, we no longer show up.  We have a certain amount of loyalty but largely are not intrinsically invested in our jobs.  This is just the opposite of our walk with Christ–and good thing!  We must obey God, but heaven is not given to us because of our obedience.  We cannot work for our salvation; it is a gift.  In some ways, this seeming disconnect makes it harder for Christians to persevere and be faithful unto death if we must rely on grace through Jesus’ work on the cross that has nothing to do with us.

This is why we are left with one of the three big gifts (1 Corinthians 13:8-13)–hope!

I. Hebrews 6:17-20.  Hope is our motivator.  God, who never lies, confirmed eternity for us with an oath, so we might flee our old life of sin and selfishness and take hold of the only thing that can save us–His unchangeable promise of heaven!  It was this hope or the “joy set before him” that got Jesus through the cross to motivate us to throw off hindrances and sin and not grow weary in the Christian walk (Hebrews 12:1-3).

II. 1 Timothy 4:7-10.  We labor and strive because of hope in the living God.  When asked if he wanted to leave Him too, Peter replied that there was no one else to turn to (John 6:66-69).  Before the Sanhedrin, he declared that salvation was found in no one else (Acts 4:8-12).  But, the very nature of hope is that it is always just out of reach, and it is so hard to wait (Romans 8:23-25).  Yes, it is!

III. Mark 14:66-72.  There was a time when Peter had let go of hope.  It was Thursday through his talk with the resurrected Christ while eating some fish (John 21:15-19).  Having denied Jesus, the very thing he swore he would not do, Peter slunk back to huddle with those who had deserted their Master while Jesus was crucified and buried.  On the resurrection Sunday, the omniscient God calls him out when He, through the angel, tells the women at the tomb to tell “his disciples and Peter” (Mark 16:7).

When we sin, we let go of the hope that we have taken hold of to return to that which we have fled from.  We become like Peter, even pretending to fit in with His disciples today at church.  We must repent and re-grasp this great gift of hope, letting it be our motivator to walk as Jesus did (1 John 2:6).

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Unable to Trap Him

Satan lays all kinds of traps for us, preying on our weaknesses and sinful natures.  Sometimes, he comes to us in what seems an impossible situation–like David found himself in facing Goliath!  But, the secret is to know who is the real giant!

I. Luke 20:1-19.  Satan talks big (Luke 4:5-7), but because of Jesus’ work on the cross, He’s the true one in authority (Matthew 28:18).  The Goliaths of Jesus’ day roared their challenges to Him, but His stones easily knocked them down.  Jesus knew that those who believed themselves in power were afraid of the people.

II. Luke 20:20-40.  Like a cat pouncing on a red laser dot, those who believed themselves in power tried futilely to trap Jesus.  They did not realize that He was the Word made flesh (John 1:1-14) or that the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom or weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength (1 Corinthians 1:25).  The result of this mismatched battle was that all fell silent and did not dare to challenge Him further.

III.  1 John 5:3-5.  Those who believed they were in power in Jesus’ day were like Goliath in David’s.  So today, the world, for all of its bluster and threats, is not really the true giant when it comes up against those who are in Christ Jesus and have overcome the world through our faith.  In Jesus, we stand before the intimidating champion of the Philistines armed with God’s wisdom and strength.

… if we could only realize it!