When It's All Said and Done

My wife and I recently took a group of people through a video series on the book of Matthew.  Actually, the script WAS the book of Matthew and the actor who played Jesus was superb.  He accurately spoke Jesus’ words and beautifully captured the emotions of each event in the narrative. Matthew’s “snapshots” of Jesus’ life and ministry were astounding as we were transported back in time!

The book of Matthew was written to a Jewish audience.  The writer’s goal was to present Jesus as their long-awaited Messiah.  The story of His birth, His baptism in the River Jordan, the feeding of the four thousand, then later five thousand astounds the imagination.  His dealings with the Scribes and Pharisees, His miracles, and ultimately His mock trial, crucifixion, death and resurrection all capture the essence of His short life and life-changing wonderful ministry.

Toward the end of Matthew’s discourse, I was deeply touched by Jesus’ parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30).  Something Jesus said twice captured my attention and my heart.  The Master rewards the first two men and condemns the third for not using his talents (gifts) wisely.

Jesus told the wise investors, “Well done thou good and faithful servant…”

Then it hit me.  One day we will stand before the Lord and judged according to our faithfulness.  The big question will not be, “Did you preach to thousands?”  Or, “Did you raise your kids to be preachers?”

No.  On that day we will be judged according to our faithfulness while on earth.  To put it another way, we will be measured by what we did with the gifts and assignment the Lord placed upon us.  I will not be compared with Billy Graham.  I will not be compared with other pastors and ministries.  Jesus will reward me according to how I invested my gifts and calling.  Was I faithful to what he called me to do?  Not, was I perfect, but was I faithful.  Not, did I make mistakes?  But was I faithful.

Church cleaners who were faithful to their calling will hear, “Well done!”  Faithful single moms will hear, “Well done!”  Billy Graham will hear “Well done,” not because he preached the gospel to millions of people over his lifetime, but because he was faithful to what God called HIM to do. 

What assignment has God placed upon your life?  What innate gifts get you up in the morning?  Understand something.  This measure of judgment will be qualitative, not quantitative.  Numerical statistics will have nothing to do with Jesus’ evaluation of your life’s work.  Only your faithfulness to what He called you to do.

Like you, I relish the day when Jesus looks me in the eyes and says, “Roger, well done my faithful servant.”  Oh what a day!

A Contradiction? (Part 3)

Parts 1 and 2 of this blog launched from the story of my friend losing his job and ultimately his home, all the while tithing to God.  Let’s continue this discussion.

Sometimes the promises of God do seem to contradict our way of thinking.  For example, what about those heroes of the faith in Hebrews 11, who walked in faith and yet did not realize the outcome of promises received?  God's promises are unfailing, but His timing is often called into question by we, who hold on indefinitely without seeing the results of promises given.  God sees the larger picture, so we are called upon to place our total trust and faith in His all-sustaining grace.

May I share a personal struggle I had when a promise in the Scriptures seemed to contradict reality?  Psalm 91:11 says, "For He will give His angels charge concerning you, to guard you in all your ways."  However, in March 1995 my in-laws (pastors) were traveling in a foggy rain to visit a man in an Indianapolis hospital.  Just outside of Frankfort, another preacher ran a stop sign, resulting in the instant death of my father-in-law and five weeks later my mother-in-law.  That accident ushered in some of the most trying days of my life.

What happened seemed to directly contradict the promise of Psalm 91:11.  No, I did not get bitter, but I certainly questioned the Lord as to His ways.  Is the Bible true?  Yes indeed! However, God's ways are above ours; His thoughts are higher than ours.  He's sovereign (all-powerful) and we're not.  He makes decisions based out of His sovereignty.  To us, these times may seem to contradict His Word.  Times of inexplicable loss have always plagued the hearts of men.  Ask Job!

My friend lost his good job and now his home.  I don't know the reasons why, and I would not begin to wax eloquently or even to defend what may appear to be God's indifference. What I do know, however, is that because he has been faithful with his tithes and offerings, God is obligated to fulfill His Word in his life.  What appears to be so unfair and contradictory in the scheme of life and God's promises, I believe, will "produce for [you] an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:17-18).  Remember In the end, God blessed Job with what he lost and more!

This is not "preacher talk," but if we obsess over the inequities and all the unfair things that happen to us in this life, we could very well jeopardize our faith and become cynical, even bitter.  I encouraged my friend to look ahead and believe that God has placed a "replacement clause" in his life.  Job came out on top and he will, too!  

Are you facing financial loss or difficulties?  Keep tithing.  Keep giving offerings as He directs.  And know that in the future you have every right to make heavenly withdrawals because you have made earthly deposits.  I believe God will turn your circumstances around for your good and His glory.

Kids Out of Control

Have you ever been around children who were out of control?  And did you notice they acted even worse when the parents were around? 

Believe it or not, children not only need boundaries, but they actually respect them.  David said it well in Psalm 51:5, "In sin did my mother conceive me..."  Those cute little bundles of joy soon grow into older children who need to be trained and guided.  We see the sin nature begin to manifest early on!  Children must be taught to understand and obey righteous and reasonable boundaries from a very young age.  If parents don't establish proper boundaries, the children will establish their own, and the end results will produce out-of-control children.

Forget about those humanistic teachers who say that boundaries destroy the child's potential and creative flow.  If you let your child talk back to you and disrespect you at three years of age, you may very well be visiting him or her in jail at 23!  Once you give boundaries to a child and enforce the consequences of breaking those boundaries, carry through with your "promise."  Don't say, "I'm going to only tell you one more time" (for the fifth time!).  Children need consistency!  Also parents, never allow your children to pit you against one another.  After you come to a mutual decision, support one another.  Your child will soon learn that he cannot manipulate you.

God gives us children and trusts us to help shape their character and behavior and most important, lead them to the Savior.  We do this through instruction, lots of love and godly discipline.  We must be careful not to break their spirit, but we must break their will.  Remember too, there's a difference between disciplining and shaming a child.  Don't say, "You're no good."  Instead say, "Your behavior is not acceptable."  Obedience is learned, and some obedience is learned through suffering.  It worked that way with Jesus.  "Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered" (Hebrews 5:8).

Remember, parents can't wait until their children are 10-12 years old to begin this process. Training begins during infancy.  All four of my children were taught boundaries from the time they learned to crawl.  We never moved our household trinkets up higher to avoid breakage. The children received a smack on their hands if they touched them.  If I said, "No, no," that's what I meant, and when they defied the order, they paid the consequences.

Did we spank?  Yes we did!  Reasonably and on their back side!  Pain is a teacher!  Controlled and intentional spanking not driven by anger does not constitute abuse.  It is perhaps unwise to exercise spanking in public, so "minister" to your child in a private place!  Again, humanistic mindsets have many parents afraid to touch their children, so unfortunately many children are growing up without boundaries.  Many children today control their homes and sadly their school classrooms because of this unscriptural practice.  Sometimes I wonder, "Who's the parent and who's the child?"  Reasonable boundaries, an understanding of and love for authority, and the teaching of respect and godliness need to be re-introduced to our children.

Telling parents to "Shut up," rolling of the eyes, temper-tantrums, the raising of voices, and blatant disobedience all constitute disrespect and eventually produce rebellious kids.  I'm not recommending abuse, of course, but I do recommend that parents start training their children during their formative years.  Don't work to be their friend; be their parent first!

One "Whale" of a Story!

Imagine sitting on a Mediterranean beach sometime around 766 B.C.  Suddenly, as you’re watching the waves pounding the shore, a whale comes within close sight and projectile vomits out “something.”  Later, you discover it’s “someone” – a seaweed-covered, wrinkled man.  It’s a disgusting spectacle, but one for the books.

Jonah and the whale is one of my favorite Old Testament stories.  As a boy, I marveled at the run-away preacher who got swallowed by a great fish.  As an adult, I marvel at the imagery and suspense of the whole story.

These four chapters are fast moving and action packed.  Many who renounce the literal interpretation of the Bible struggle with the idea that a man could possibly survive in the belly of a great fish (whale) for three days.  However, our Savior recognized Jonah as an actual historical figure, so that’s good enough for me.  If Jesus confirmed the story, it has to be true!

Prior to His crucifixion, Jesus told His disciples, “Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days and nights, so will the Son of Man be three days and nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40).   

Entire volumes have been written about the book of Jonah but generally speaking, it tells the story of an evangelist, who because of personal biases and attitudes, decided to run from his God-given assignment.  However, the deeper issues in this story are often overlooked for more surface discussions. 

I love preaching that confronts root issues. The intrigue of the book often skims the real meaning; and in typical Old Testament fashion cries out for the reader to explore the “story behind the story.”  One preacher dubbed this account, “The Gospel According to Jonah.”  Allow me to summarize the four chapters of Jonah by using the following recap:   

Chapter one  -- In a Fix

Chapter two – In a Fish

Chapter three – In a Revival

Chapter four – In a Rage

In a Fix

Chapter one sets the stage for the entire drama.  Jonah received his marching orders but refused to comply.  “Go to Nineveh,” the Lord said.  Instead Jonah boarded a vessel headed for Tarshish, located in what is now Spain.  But because the Lord is more concerned about WHO we are than WHAT we do, He caused a severe storm, which threatened the lives of the entire crew; and Jonah, per his request, was cast into the sea.  God had prearranged a whale to temporarily house the wayward preacher!

In a Fish

Chapter two describes incidents inside the whale’s belly, and records the only prayer meeting of its kind in history.  Jonah is taken deep below the surface, where seaweed (and whatever else) surrounded him.  You talk about cramped quarters! He did what you and I would do – he prayed.  You think! “When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you Lord…” (verse 7).

While in the depths of the sea, Jonah experienced an attitude change.  He said, “I, with a song of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you.  What I have vowed I will make good.  Salvation comes from the Lord” (verse 9). The Lord had his full attention but still, root issues inside him became exposed in chapter 4. First, let’s summarize chapter 3.

In a Revival

In this chapter Jonah fulfills his mission.  He goes to Nineveh, a city of about 120,000 people who needed to repent for their military atrocities. The Ninevites were a warrior people, who had a reputation for plunder and violence.  Jonah’s message was direct:  “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned” (verse 4). Then something both phenomenal and of course, supernatural happened!  Conviction seized the masses – including the king – and they repented immediately.  The king issued a decree (verses 7-10):  “Let everyone call urgently on God.  Let them give up their evil ways and their violence.  Who knows?  God may relent and with compassion turn from His fierce anger…” 

What a great revival!  A crowd the size of many of Billy Graham’s crusade audiences totally repented.  Any preacher today would give his left arm for such preaching results!  Ashtabula County boasts a population of 98,632 (as of 2015), so that puts Jonah’s results into a cool perspective.

In a Rage

Then we read chapter four.  The preacher shows his real motivation.  Ironically, it made him mad when the entire city repented of their evil ways.  Yes, you read this right.  He got angry!  He pouted outside the city.  In the heat of the day, God used a fast-growing vine to temporarily shade the contorted evangelist.  Subsequently, God sent a worm to destroy the vine and expose the preacher’s heart.  What an incredible object lesson!

Jonah secretly hated the Ninevites and was surprised when they responded positively to his message.  His deeper issue was called into question.  God asked Jonah, “Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?”  Jonah replied, “I do.  I am angry enough to die” (verse 9).

And like usual, God had the final word:  “Jonah, you have been more concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow...But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well.  Should I not be concerned about that great city” (verse 10)?

Root issues in the book of Jonah beckon us to search our heart and ask the hard questions:

1.  What motivations drive our actions?

2.  Do we love people like we truly should?

3.  Are we happy when others, perhaps totally different from us, experience the blessings of God?

4.  Do we secretly hold anger and hard feelings toward people God has called us to serve?

5.  And many more…

The “Gospel According to Jonah” bids us to search our hearts and make sure our motivations line up with the heart of God!