Week Twenty-Two, 2019
THE CHOICE
Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. Mark 8:34
American culture has never embraced unbiblical morality as it does today. Ten years ago, would you have imagined that same-sex marriage would be legal? Hollywood would be producing shows celebrating polygamy? Would be livestreaming their abortions? Would believe more than one hundred million people would view pornography every day?
Our secular society will cheer us as we scale the “first mountain” of popularity and temporal success. The more we agree with cultural wisdom on moral issues, the more our culture will applaud us. And the more our Father will grieve (Psalm 78:40; Ephesians 4:30).
Conversely, the more we focus on the “second mountain” of eternal significance, the more our culture will caricature and castigate us. And the more our Father will be glorified (Matthew 5:16).
Life is a series of choices. Where you will live? Who will be your friends, marry? How you will react to what happens to you? What you will do with your time, talent and energy?
When you look back at your life you can usually see the line it took by plotting out the choices you made along the way. Christian life is like this as well. Jesus tells all of His would-be disciples that their lives will eventually bring them to three choices and what they choose will determine the direction of their spiritual lives.
Peace or Conflict: Being a Christian will always bring the disciple into conflict with one’s surroundings. Christianity goes against the grain of this world – its ideas, actions, desires.
His Will Over Your Will: Whatever it means in your life the choice is always the same, to choose Christ is to choose to do HIS will over your own!
The Next Life Over This Life: The one who chooses Christ chooses also the life that is to come over this one, the world that is unseen over the one around us, the pleasure and riches of the heavenly kingdom over the glitter and temporary delights of the earthly kingdom.
If you’ve put off choosing to follow Christ by obeying the gospel or have made bad choices as a Christian, I encourage you to make the right choice by giving your life to God today.
Which “mountain” are you climbing today?
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SOMETIMES TRUE STORIES
LOOKING FOR A BARGAIN?
We live in a nation that loves a good deal. Hardly anyone wants to pay full price. So we wait for our favorite store to have a sale. Go to garage sales. Look on E-bay. Or surf the web for an internet deal.
The craziness on Black Friday, the crowds at after Christmas sales, and the shoppers at tax-free weekends all attest to the bargain hunter mindset. And their mantra is simple–To get the best quality merchandise for the lowest possible price.
Unfortunately, this mentality sometimes surfaces regarding spiritual matters. Some folks want to receive the most they can get while giving the very least they can get by with.
God is not in the business of making you a deal. Spiritual blessings, forgiveness of sins and communion with the Creator comes with a price to be paid. He made salvation available by giving the greatest sacrifice possible. Jesus’ death on the cross.
In turn, He calls for our commitment, consecration, and sacrifice. In a shocking and striking passage, Jesus speaks to the cost of discipleship.
“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple” (Lk. 14:26-27).
These seemingly radical words almost grate on our ears. Hate? Hate your parents? Hate your spouse? Hate your siblings? Really? That doesn’t sound like Jesus, does it?
We need to be reminded that Eastern language often spoke in vivid and colorful extremes to make a point. Jesus is not literally saying that we should harbor ill will, animosity, and antagonism toward others. That would violate the second commandment, “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt 22:39). As well as numerous New Testament passages about the love we ought to express in our families.
Furthermore, the context tells us that when Jesus left the Pharisees’ house that a great crowd of people followed Him. Apparently, Jesus was not impressed with their superficial interest. As on other occasions, some may have followed because he fed folks. Or to see a miracle. Or hoping He was the Messiah that would overthrow Rome and restore the nation of Israel to greatness.
Jesus was not interested in the quantity of the crowd but the quality of their character and commitment. Discipleship, he tells them, is not for the faint of heart. The casual Christian. Or the bargain hunter. There is a price to be paid.
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When Pew Research Center asked a representative sample of more than 1,300 religiously unaffiliated people why they were anti-church, their first answer was, “I question a lot of religious teachings” (60 percent). In second place was “I don’t like the positions churches take on social/political issues” (49 percent).
The number of Americans who say they have “no religion” (23.1 percent) now exceeds the number of Catholics (23 percent) and evangelicals (22.5 percent). This equates to fifty-eight million “nones.”
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Fifty-nine Jewish gravestones in Massachusetts were vandalized. Two of the gravestones had been knocked over. The stones were desecrated with swastikas and phrases including “Hitler was right.”
According to experts, America is experiencing a resurgence of anti-Semitism that is unprecedented in the last half-century. Anti-Semitism is also rising sharply across Europe: France reported a 74 percent increase in the number of offenses against Jews, while the number in Germany surged by more than 60 percent.
Discrimination is also escalating in America against those who affirm biblical morality.
We are certainly not facing aggression on a level experienced by Jews around the world, but Jesus’ prediction for his followers is nonetheless true for us: “The world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world” (John 17:14).
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QUOTES YOU CAN USE
We have always needed heroes or, more specifically, a Hero. From our beginning, humans have been creatures, dependent on our Creator.
Your love for the Lord must supersede all fleshly and family relationships. Our love for Christ must be so deep and strong that by comparison we “hate” our own family. Even our own life. Preacherman
C. S. Lewis: “God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He, Himself, is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other.
I Am Thankful for My Past. I’m Just Not Moving in that Direction. I am thankful for my past, but I am not moving in that direction. My past has been lived and can never be re-lived. Forward is the only direction we can live our lives.
The body of Christ is not composed of cell phones but of humans. Jim Denison
Our sedentary lives are evidence of the digital nature of contemporary connectivity. Unsurprisingly, researchers have discovered that we are spending more time sitting in front of screens than ever. This is problematic since sitting too long has been linked to numerous chronic diseases that can lead to an early death.
It would be easy to abandon hope for our culture. But it’s always too soon to give up on the future because it’s always too soon to give up on God. Jim Denison
We don’t stop playing because we are old; we are old because we stop playing.” I had been learning a similar lesson: “We don’t stop exercising because we are old; we are old because we stop exercising. Dr. Richard Furman
“The Lord is my shepherd;
I have all that I need.
He lets me rest in green meadows;
he leads me beside peaceful streams.
He renews my strength.
He guides me along right paths,
bringing honor to his name.” – Psalm 23: 1-3 NLT