Why Aren’t You Up Here?

For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 1 Corinthians 2:2

What’s your mission in life? Or maybe more simply, what’s your mission for this year? Many of us don’t have an answer to this question, though we will have much more productive years and lives if we do. Our verse today tells us what Paul’s answer was during his time with the Corinthian church-to know nothing but Christ and Him crucified. Nothing else mattered to Paul.

This became Paul’s mission. And, in the name of Jesus Christ, I greatly encourage you to make it yours. Just like Paul, determine to make it happen.

Or what have you determined? That’s a great question for us to sort of consider right now.

What have I determined to live for? What have I determined to confess with my life, with each and every one of my breaths? Am I somewhat conflicted or confused concerning this? Or have I determined, like Paul, that I will know nothing but Christ and Him crucified?

You’re like, Well, of course this is clear for you. You’re the pastor.

It should be just as clear for you. There should be no difference between what has become clear for me and clear for you in terms of what we’ve determined to confess. We know that one day all creation will confess the name of Jesus above all else, but we can choose to do that now, and it will benefit us greatly both now and in that day. But more than that, we live as examples for those around us. What we confess will influence our family, neighbors, and coworkers for Christ.

When you are at home, do you confess television sex and violence? Do you confess disrespect toward your husband, wife, children, or parents (yes, you can still dishonor your parents as an adult, and yet we then strangely expect our kids to honor us)? Or do you confess Christ, not only with your words, but with your example?

When you are at work, do you confess the water cooler gossip? Do you confess ladderclimbing competitiveness? Do you confess bottom-line-at-all-costs integrity? Do you confess laziness, doing only what’s necessary? Or do you confess Christ as your supplier and provider?

Every circumstance in life provides us with an opportunity to confess Christ and all He did for us in being crucified on the cross. Don’t let your life be empty of that message today. Determine to know Christ and Him crucified.

Prayer Jesus Christ,

I’m so sorry for the other things I have confessed in my life besides You. Please forgive me, and set me free from all my past confessions as I choose today to confess one thing: You in all that You have done for me.

Amen

Who’s Being Held

If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Colossians 3:1-4

How would a glimpse into your future change how you live today?

Paul knew the power of seeing the future. This is why he wrote today’s verses to the church at Colossae, saying to them, This is your future. This is what God has for you unless you’re being held back, unless you somehow are still being held hostage.

Now, some of us live still being held by something other than Christ. For a lot of us, that’s our past. We’re held hostage to our past.

So let me tell you something about your past. Ready? Here it is-your past is past. It’s gone. It’s done. It’s not your future. It’s not what’s in front of you; it’s what’s behind you, and unless you keep looking behind you to what’s already happened then your past will remain simply that-past.

In fact, here’s what Paul has to say about your past-you died with Christ and have been raised with Him. Notice that those words are past tense, which tells us that’s the past that really matters. Your history without Christ doesn’t matter anymore because your history with Christ includes the cross. Your sinful past, the abuse you suffered, that nonexistent relationship with your absent father, it’s all gone now, crucified with Christ and buried with Him. He paid for it all, and when He was raised from the dead, so were you.

Or didn’t you realize this? Paul says. If then you were raised with Christ, stop looking to the past! Start looking at your future! Seek the things above, where Christ is, where your life is hidden in Christ even right now!

Why would you choose to be the guy in the room that’s connected to his past instead of receiving the victory and freedom and liberty in which Christ has set you free from whatever happened in the past?

So many people let their whole identity get shaped around what did happen or didn’t happen in their past, and you’re being held by it. But listen, as strong as the past can be, the cross is stronger.

I care what happened in your past, but we need to see our choice today. We can choose to let our lives be held by our past or to let them be hidden in Christ. Which one will you choose today?

Prayer Lord Jesus,

Thank You for taking my past with You on the cross so that I have died and been raised with You! I choose to leave my past behind me and focus instead on what You have for me in the future: A life in which I will appear with You in glory!

Waste Management

But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: How they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. Jude 17

There was a time when I took some people to Egypt. There we were, at the base of Mt. Sinai together. We’d just climbed up to the very top. We took this film crew with us to shoot this Bible study on top.

We rode the camels up and we hiked back down. But there at the top, we were at the monastery, the oldest monastery in the world-St. Catherine’s Monastery. It was totally off the charts for me. I mean, it was completely amazing, because there, in the monastery, are the oldest manuscripts of the Bible that we have on this planet.

As unfortunate as it was that they no longer let groups in to see those manuscripts, those manuscripts dating back to the early second century are there and can prove to us the very fact that our Bible has been inspired and preserved and protected by the very power of God Himself.

We’ve got 3,500 of the oldest documents in that monastery alone, not to mention where our group went next, having lunch over at Qumran where they discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls. Of all the scrolls for those little shepherd boys to be digging out in the sand and coming across and discovering, it would be from the scroll of Isaiah, where he’s talking about this servant of a Messiah who would come and give His life as the atoning sacrifice for our sin. That’s the one that’s discovered?

You bet it is. Remember this Word. Remember the power of God’s perfect Word. Don’t begin to tweak it. Don’t begin to change it.

If you got in a spaceship and said, Okay, tonight I’m flying to the moon, and your navigation was just one degree off, you’d never get there. You’d be so far off into left field by just being a little one degree off.

If you get in a plane and fly to Maui and that pilot says, You know what? I just have a better feel today about getting there instead of trusting these instruments, you’ll never find that little dot of an island if you’re just going to base it all on feelings.

This Word is to be your navigation. This is to be your foundation.

Prayer Father God,

Thank You for Your unchanging Word! Thank You for giving me something so strong and powerful to be the foundation and rudder of my life. Lead me and guide me as I seek You in Your Word!

Amen

Wrong Way Worship

Now some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me. And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts, and put before them that which causes them to stumble into iniquity. Should I let Myself be inquired of at all by them?’ Ezekiel 14:1-3

Are you a good multitasker? I want you to know today that there are areas of life where multitasking is fine, but there are areas where it is eternally fatal.

Take worship for example. If we try to multitask worship, bad move. The career and the education and the house and all of it is never meant to be something that takes the place of God, but instead allows for us to worship God with those things for all that He has blessed us with.

No, I’ve got it managed. I’ve got it compartmentalized. Here’s my God slice and here is everything else. I can manage it all.

That’s like convincing yourself that even though the law has now changed so that it’s illegal, you can still drive and text at the same time. You’ve got it down. You can do it.

Oh well, Bob, it might be a problem for you, but I am a multitasker.

Listen. When it comes to worship, it is a bad trait to be a multitasker. You should be so single-minded and focused that there is one and one only that you worship. And if somehow you’re still convinced that you can pull it off, that you can manage it all, it doesn’t mean you’re right. And it doesn’t mean you’ll succeed.

It simply means my illustration has failed, because here is God saying, You have to choose. Are you with me or are you against me? Are you going to be my child or are you going to be a child of the god of this world-the devil? Who are you going to live for? Will you stack up on the left or on the right on the Day of Judgment? Will you be a sheep or will you be a goat?

Both.

You can’t. Goofy or regular, you’ve got to choose how you’re going to ride this. You can’t serve two masters. You’re going to end up loving one and hating the other. And so, which will it be, left or right? Goat or sheep? Right or wrong? Blessings or curses? Life or death?

It’s not both. It’s an either/or proposition. You’ve got to choose sides and pick a team. Is God really your God today?

Prayer Lord God,

Thank You for being jealous of my worship and my heart, so that I can only serve one God. I choose to make You my God and worship You alone, not just on Sundays, but with my whole life, my whole heart, with all that I am!

Amen

Heartguard

But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You; Let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; Let those also who love Your name be joyful in You. Psalm 5:11

Trust is important, wouldn’t you say? Think for a moment about all the times in any given day when you use or need trust.

You trust your mechanic when you get into your car. You trust your grocery store when you eat your food. You have a measure of trust for the other drivers on the road when you drive. You trust the makers of your chairs when you sit down, your employees when you assign tasks to them, and your employers when you accomplish tasks for them.

Trust is the currency of all your relationships. You will only go as deep with a person as you can trust them.

Trust is important. Equally important is knowing whom we trust.

Consider the things you are facing in life right now, and then think of the person or organization you trust to solve that specific problem. Do you trust the government for welfare? Do you even trust the government to make America a moral place to live through its legislations?

Do you trust the people of authority in your life to do something for you? I have this happen to me all the time, where people insist on seeing me because I’m the senior pastor. They tell me, I need to get off of alcohol; I need you to help me. And all I can say is, I will do everything I can, but the best I can do is to send you to some guys I know who used to be stuck on alcohol, but now they love Jesus.

No, I need you to help me.

It seems that sometimes I just can’t get people to see the truth that I am not the one they need. Who they really need is Jesus, but they come to me like I’m the only one who can fix them.

Don’t put your trust in me. Don’t put your trust in your job, or your possessions, or your government, or your friends. All of these things will disappoint you eventually.

Trust in God. He is your protector, defender, and deliverer. He is the one you need.

Prayer Father God,

I choose to rejoice in You, because I do trust in You for all my needs! I choose to guard my heart for You, not trusting in anything else. Please help me by Your Spirit to stand firm as I put my trust in You.

Amen

A Glimpse of Gory

I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago…was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words. 2 Corinthians 12:2,4

What do you think Heaven will be like? Studies show that most American Christians think that Heaven will be just one great, big, unending church service. How sad is that?

I mean, a lot of church-goers don’t even come for all of church. They either like the music and leave before the preaching starts or they like the preaching and come late so they don’t have to endure so much music. And then these people, discouraged about what they expect in Heaven, turn toward the things of this world to find whatever they can down here.

Listen, if Heaven is nothing more than a bunch of halo-wearing, harp-playing, cloudsitting little cherubs with wings, I’m not going there. It’s like, no wonder people are out to seek significance and satisfaction here on this planet, in this life, when they’ve been given very little to look forward to in Heaven.

Gang, let’s take it from someone who glimpsed Heaven that these pictures I’ve described so far are nothing like the real thing. In fact, our witness Paul tells us that Heaven can’t be described by human words.

It would be like you trying to describe the sunset at La Jolla Shores with the green grass coming up to the white sand and the waves breaking and the pinks and the oranges and the reds of the sunset to someone who’s been blind their entire life.

You say to your blind friend, Oh, how I wish you could see this. And he says, So do I. Explain it to me.

And you’re like, Well, the greens are so green.

And he’s like, What’s green?

I don’t know, but it’s nothing like the sand, which is so white, reflecting the sun. What’s the sun?

I don’t know, but it’s turning orange and pink.

What’s pink?

I don’t know. It’s a combination of red and…

What’s red?

He just is not getting it. And neither do we yet. We have no ability to understand what God has in store for us in Heaven.

So let’s stop telling lies about Heaven that make people think Earth is the better deal and instead start talking about it as it really is-indescribable Paradise-and invite our friends to the higher place.

Prayer Father God,

Thank You for such a wonderful place as Heaven will be! Please help me to change how people think about Heaven so we can live together with our eyes set on the eternity You have for us!

Amen

How Far Is Heaven?

Thus says the LORD: Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest?…But on this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word.’ Isaiah 66:1-2

God is just a crutch for people who can’t make it on their own. Have you ever heard that before? I hear it all the time and you know how I respond? I tell the person that they’re right.

They’re right. I’m not good enough. I can’t make it alone. But the truth is that none of us can. None of us can fix ourselves; we’re all bankrupt when it comes to that. We need a Savior! God wants all of us to learn this truth for ourselves, and in our verse today, He gives a promise for all who do. He says that He will look upon those who are contrite in spirit. The Hebrew word there that’s translated contrite is only used two other times in the Old Testament. Both times refer to the same person-Mephibosheth, the crippled son of Jonathan whom David took into his own home.

Crippled. That’s what this word contrite means. Do you feel crippled in your spirit? Are you convinced of your inability to walk anywhere without God? Are you ready, like the lame man in Acts 3, to receive better than silver and gold, and beyond that to receive strength in the legs of your life so that you can walk freely in abundant life?

This is what God wants to do for us and it’s what David did for Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth thought David was going to kill him because he was the only living relative of King Saul, but David did the opposite. He searched him out to carry him into the palace, to let him eat from the king’s table, to have all of his needs met from the king’s bounty for the rest of his life.

God will do all this for us if we will just let Him, recognizing our inability to do it on our own. He is looking for those who will choose to humble themselves and become contrite in spirit.

Is God my crutch? You bet. I couldn’t walk without Him.

Prayer Lord God,

Thank You for looking on those who know they need You, because I really need You! Please come and carry me in my life. Let me lean on Your strength and live off the things You have for me, not on the little things I can find for myself!

Amen