Pure Joy

 

Read James 1

 

So, thus far, you have gotten a good dose of “My grace is sufficient for you.” Whatever our circumstances—to include our worst days ever—we celebrate victory.

It is victory in Jesus, and it is ours. We can’t mess that up, even if we are a total mess from now until our heart stops or Jesus comes in the clouds. That victory is ours.

You most recently heard me speak about considering ourselves blessed when we are persecuted for following Christ.  We are blessed when the world won’t claim us because Jesus did.

And what could be next? Your grace is enough, persecuted for the name of Jesus is a blessing, and let’s just throw in consider it pure joy when you endure suffering of all kinds.

Now, we’re pushing the envelope. I can see counting it as a blessing when I am persecuted because I follow Jesus. I actually think that one is cool. I would much rather be rejected by the world and claimed by Jesus than to hear, Depart from me. I never knew you.

I can see the blessing in being disowned by the world and claimed by Christ. I get it, but this pericope says suffering of all kinds. That includes having the flu or Covid or even a man-cold—far more painful than giving birth.

This sort of suffering includes…

It includes having a real nowhere man for my boss.

It includes having to change a flat when it’s icy and the wind chill is brutal.

It includes turning the sofa upside down to get enough change for a loaf of bread. I remember my parents doing this to get a pack of cigarettes. You can still search the sofa for change, but you had better find some serious folding money if you hope to buy cigarettes. Those suckers are crazy high.

It includes all the things that fall under the category of life; some are not much fun, some are unpleasant, and some hurt.

But we are told to be joyful. Consider the suffering experience as a labor of love.

And I come to a place I have come many times before—wind sprints.

Back in the day, wind sprints marked the dreaded end of football practice. You ran until you puked your guts out. Almost everyone hated them, and the coach knew it.

I enjoyed football practice, but I always had this thought in my mind: Wind sprints are coming.

One day in his pontifications about the things of life that may or may not relate to football, the coach noted that a horse will run itself to death. It will run until it drops dead.

Then he added, “A man will pass out first, so why are you holding back?”

Then it was back to wind sprints, but Tom’s mind was hard at work. I would show the coach. I would run with everything I had, and maybe I would pass out, or maybe I would die, but in either case, the coach was going to be sorry.

So, when it was time for the linemen and linebackers to run, I gave it all I had. That was the day that I died, or not.

What actually happened was that I finished my sprint five yards ahead of everyone else.

The next time, it was the same thing. It hadn’t killed me yet.

The third time, I jumped the line and ran with the backs and receivers. I beat them all but one, and I got him the next time.

I never dreaded wind sprints again. In fact, I loved them. It was now something to look forward to—wind sprints, I know. I was getting stronger, and I wanted more. I was all in for whatever the coach threw at us.

James tells us to look forward to, embrace, and consider it pure joy when we face trials of all sorts—anything and everything.

Being patient, waiting on the Lord, sticking it out, pressing on towards the goal, and running the good race are what we do when we face a trial.

We know that we will have trouble in the world. It is not something to be totally avoided. Making wise decisions can reduce the amount of trouble that comes our way somewhat, but we will still face trials.

Do you remember why Jesus told his disciples that they would have trouble in the world, but to take heart, Jesus has overcome the world? Why did he say this?

So, in the midst of the world’s madness, we can still have peace. Trials are just a part of life, but because of what Jesus did for us on the cross, we have already won the ultimate prize.

It’s that God’s way and everything else mindset. We can eliminate the unnecessary pain and suffering that comes from our bad decisions, but we will still suffer and have trials. That’s the way it is.

But if we stay the course, we will be closer to completeness than when we started. Remember that God is the Potter, and we are the clay.

Everything we do is rolled into the masterpiece God is making with our lives. If we remain faithful, trust in the Lord over our own understanding, and simply wait upon the Lord, we will emerge refined at the end of our trial.

Our struggle will not diminish us. Like in resistance training, we grow stronger with each repetition. We have survived 100% of our worst days ever and are stronger for it.

So, consider it pure joy when we face trials of many kinds. Remember the three things I reminded you of when you are persecuted for the name of Jesus.

So, when you suffer for any reason, also remember:

·       God’s grace is enough. You have already won the ultimate victory.

·       You can handle whatever it is at the moment. It’s momentary. It could take 5 minutes or 20 years and 5 minutes, but it is momentary.

·       Great is your reward in heaven and in the here and now. Great is your reward in heaven when you are persecuted because you follow Jesus. Great is your reward now because if you hold on and trust God through the trial—whatever it is and however it came about—you will grow. And we get to grow in God’s grace, knowing that our salvation is the gift of God and not dependent upon our performance.

We just have to trust and remain faithful.

What does that trust look like? We are joyful in our trials and suffering. It’s just part of the deal, and we come out the better for it.

Amen.

Rescue not Anger

 

Read James 1

James takes a couple of parallel tracks on suffering but both come with an endorsement of our suffering. Put a smile on your face, press on towards the goal, trust that God will use whatever suffering it is for good.  Trust him.

You will get more along those lines in the next service. For now, let’s look at some words that have become catchphrases.  Here’s one: Be doers of the word.

Be doers of the word.

Don’t just hear it, though good things start with the hearing of the word.

Don’t just memorize it, though good things come when the word of God is always on your heart as well as the tip of your tongue.

Don’t just be able to recite an address, though knowing where to find a specific scripture is often helpful.

Over all of these things, put your Master’s words into practice. Be doers of the word.

Be doers of the word. Faith compels action. There is more on that in the next chapter.

And one more catchphrase that we know in memory verse—and abbreviated verse form. Let’s go.

Quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.

 You know this one. A basic human need is to be understood. Some people insist on being right, but everyone has a need to be understood, even when people don’t agree with you.

So, listening before you speak, and listening with the intent to understand, meet a basic human need. Doesn’t that seem to fit in well with our God’s love in action motto?

Slow to speak is the natural concomitant of quick to listen. You don’t listen well if you are speaking concurrently. There is a group of people that thinks they can do both concurrently. You know the group, right?

They are called women.

But you can’t really talk and intently listen—the listening needed to meet a human need—at the same time.

Listen first and with the intent to understand. Put talking on hold for a while, and that includes formulating your response. For if you are thinking about what to say, then you are not listening to understand. Understand the other person. You may not agree with them. You may have a dozen suggestions for them. You may know exactly what they need to do, but just listen.

Sometimes meeting this need is greater than solving the problem that prompted the conversation.

Meet the need that can only be met by truly listening. First, meet the need of others, then have your say, but meet their need to be understood.

Finally, no matter how much it seems like the right thing to do, don’t get angry quickly. Take your time when it comes to anger.

But, but, but you don’t understand what they did or said or were about to say.

It doesn’t matter. Our anger will not bring about righteousness. How can it bring glory to God?

But God is not happy with that sort of behavior. He wants me to be angry with it.

No, his anger is sufficient if it is indeed needed. Our job is to bring people to a saving knowledge of God through Christ Jesus, not to be a part of God’s anger.

God’s anger can bring justice.

Our anger—however righteous it may seem in contemplation or in the emotional moment—only placates an emotional desire that wants to be satisfied.

But what they did or said or failed to do was totally disgusting.

That might just be the case, but our roles—our missions—are defined for us.

God judges and pours out his anger where he sees fit.

We rescue people about to be on the receiving end of God’s wrath for eternity.

We are on a rescue mission, not looking for an emotional high that comes initially with anger.

Human anger, even if it’s emulating righteous anger, can’t do anything to promote righteousness or bring glory to God. It is very much a placebo and the tool of the enemy.

Human anger brings about violence, hate, war, theft, bullying, murder, and a slew of other things that are anything but the righteousness of God.

So, for this brief soirée into James, remember:

·       Put his words into practice. Be a doer of the word.

·       Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger.

·       Human anger can’t get us to God’s righteousness.

Now, go rescue the lost.

Those who have wrath coming, that’s between them and God. We are not Wrath Plus. We are on rescue missions so that the wrath of God will not be poured out on many.

Our anger won’t rescue anyone!

Amen.

We are Blessed!

 

Read Matthew 5

We look now at the beatitudes.

"Beatitudes" is derived from the Latin word "beatus," meaning blessed or happy.  That’s the AI synthesis that my computer gave. It’s on target.

Each of these beatitudes begins with the words, “Blessed are…”

And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him.  Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn,

For they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek,

For they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

For they shall be filled.

Blessed are the merciful,

For they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart,

For they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers,

For they shall be called sons of God.

Jesus turned the world upside down for those who were listening. For those of us who have the benefit of decades of biblical study, we know he was turning the world right-side up, but in the moment, some of these must have seemed way off the mark. Some seem to make sense in our own understanding, but…

But blessed are the poor in spirit? Whether it’s spirit or money or stuff, poor is poor. How can it be a blessing?

Try this: If your needs are not satisfied by the things of this world, your spirit is poor by world standards.

Or, try it this way: Your spirit is ready to be redeemed and fully satisfied by God.

Yeah, ok, I’ll give you that one, but not mourning.

Mourning is not something we put on our calendars, but it shows up. It’s no fun. It stinks. To some extent, it helps us accept our loss, but it still stinks. So, how can it be a blessing?

God will comfort those who mourn. God knows we suffer. God will use our suffering for good, but he also grants us peace that goes beyond what we can figure out.

Too often, when we suffer loss and all we can see is hurt, pain, and mourning, what we do is look for answers as to why we lost someone or something close to us.  What our own understanding craves are why answers. Why me? Why him? Why her? Why here? Why now?

All of the answers in the world only placate a need they can never meet.

But peace, comfort, and assurance are exactly what we need. We will have trouble in the world, but we are to take heart and courage, and I will extend the thought a little further and say, "Take comfort and assurance in the Lord."

Isn’t peace and comfort what we need most when we are mourning a lost loved one? If we had every answer to every question that seems to haunt us, but we didn’t have peace and this blessed assurance, we would be unsatisfied.

Here is another thought on mourning. What if the mourners are mourning the loss of a relationship with God? What if they mourn for the lost?

In that case, they are after the desire of God’s heart, that none should perish.  If that’s the case, we all should be mourners desiring what God desires and hurting when people remain lost.

Part of our comforting resides in our evangelism. God grants us peace that we can’t understand, but we understand there is comfort in working the problem. For us that’s sharing the gospel.

Salvation is 100% the gift of God. That hasn’t changed.

Discipleship, on the other hand, is mostly our efforts and we want efficacy in our efforts. We want to hit the target.

So if we mourn because of the lost, the target is rescuing the lost. But we are blessed because we do mourn the lost. That’s lost in the moment and lost for eternity.

The meek inherit the earth, really? The Proverbs tell us that hard work and discipline provide for our needs in this world.

They do in the here and now. That’s how we navigate a world where work is required.

But note the verb in this teaching. It’s inherit. It will come to them by a benefactor who just so happens to be the Lord.

Yes, work is a good thing. You don’t work, you don’t eat still applies, but there is an inheritance for those who simply want to serve in this world.

There is an inheritance for those who don’t have to take the hill in this world.

There is an inheritance for those who humbly were known by their love.

What’s an inheritance based on?  Your relationship with the benefactor.  Our benefactor happens to be the Lord, and he is giving the world to those who understand turn the other cheek and go the extra mile.

We all will receive an inheritance that has been set aside for us for longer than we can know.

Now we get to one that seems straightforward. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

Understand the verbs. This does not say those who are righteous. We know that we can’t get there on our own.

But the verbs are hunger and thirst. We eat and drink every day, frequently more than once. Do we hunger and thirst for the righteousness of God as often as we grab something to eat or drink during the course of the day?

Do I hunger and thirst for the ways of God as often as I reach for my coffee cup? As often as I reach for my $5 herb-filled, mega-dose energy tea? As often as I reach for a snack during the course of the day, or look forward to that evening meal?

Is my hunger for the ways of God even in competition for me satisfying my carnal needs?

If the answer is yes, I do hunger and thirst for the ways of God, then the promise is that you will be filled.  Jesus is not talking Ramen here. That stuff is filling but of no value.

The promise from Jesus here is that if we seek God with our very being, then our very being will be satisfied with the things of God. God will not leave us hungry.

And like the wine at the wedding banquet, yes, the stuff that Jesus made from big vats of water, it will be the best ever. You will truly be satisfied by what the Lord gives you.

You will be filled.

The next three seem to make sense without having to do too much right-side upping. They are:

Blessed are the merciful,

For they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart,

For they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers,

For they shall be called sons of God.

Tom’s executive summary is if you are putting the words of our Master into practice, he sees it, likes it, and rewards it.

If you are moving towards God, he is moving towards you.

We are merciful, pure in heart, and something of a peacemaker, not so we get the rewards. We are rewarded because we “get” God's thoughts and ways, and we try to live by them.

It’s not always the Primrose Path, more on that in the next service, but we are blessed to walk it.

Know that once we professed Jesus is Lord, not only did we cross over from death to life, but we began a journey in which everything that happens to us is just grist for the mill. That is, God takes everything and works it for our good because we believed in him and he called us to his purpose.

Now that we begin each day with your grace is enough, we can see the blessings of seeking God in everything we do.

We are blessed because we seek God. Some of those blessings we realize now, and some we will realize at some point in our eternity.

But let’s have eyes to see the promise of all of these blessings, and more, in our victories, struggles, trials, hardships, and moments that we mistake as ordinary.

We don’t do ordinary. We do blessed, for we are blessed to be God’s children and wholly owned by our Master, Savior, Lord, and Friend.

Every moment that we live as his disciples is ordained from above and is blessed.

In every moment and every circumstance, even when we can’t see it, we are blessed.

We are blessed!

Amen.

Disowned by the World, A Blessing!

 

Read Matthew 5

Here are the first two verses of this chapter.

And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:

Do you know what’s different in these two verses, as opposed to the other 46 verses?  Those other 46 are all in red in my Bible. In fact, those red letters continued unbroken until the end of chapter 7. This is how 7 ends.

And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

Jesus taught with authority. If you are a learner who does best when reading or listening, then these red-letter words are just what you need. Just meditate upon the words of your Master. You really don’t need a sermon. You’re getting one, but the Sermon on the Mount is always available to you.

We all know this chapter. It contains the beatitudes, is about salt and light, and is about Jesus fulfilling the law.

You know the beatitudes. Blessed are the poor, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, and the peacemakers.

It’s about Jesus coming to fulfill the law. It’s about following the law unless you can exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees. What does that mean? I thought the Pharisees were a bunch of hypocrites.

They were, but they followed the law. So, we have to follow the law?  Yes, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees.

What happened to being saved by grace?  You know, the gift of God. How could the ordinary person follow everything in the law? 

They can’t, at least alone, but in our profession of faith, the righteousness of God is imputed to us. That’s some top-shelf righteousness right there.

That’s way more than the Pharisees.    

Jesus talked about what’s going on in our hearts. He said the anger, hatred, or lust in our hearts is the same as far as sin goes as the actual manifestation of these things in our physical world. God sees the heart.

This is the chapter about turning the other cheek, going the extra mile, and loving our enemies.

Jesus discussed a lot in this chapter, but I intentionally skipped over one item. Let’s dig into verses 10-12 as a stand-alone package of counsel.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 

Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

 What did Jesus just tell us?

If you are persecuted because you follow Jesus, try to live God’s way, or just reject all that is unholy and give only God first place, that’s a good thing, at least according to Jesus.

On the surface, it doesn’t seem to be a blessing.  How can being persecuted be a blessing?

It’s not if it’s because you were unwise. That’s just your boss chewing you out.

It’s not a blessing if you are persecuted by the police because you stole your neighbor’s car. That’s not persecution. That’s pursuit followed by prosecution.  By the way, most law-abiding citizens like this.

It’s not a blessing if the hurt you receive is from a hold my beer experience. That’s just stupidity.

It is a blessing if the world rejects you as its own. If the world does not recognize you as one of its children and persecutes you for being a stranger, that’s a blessing. We are strangers in this world.

That’s being disowned by the world because you belong to God. That’s good stuff.

That’s the if you were accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you sort of stuff, and you stand guilty as charged for being known by your love.

The godless of the world are telling us that we are guilty of following the one true God, whom we know best in Jesus, and the Spirit that lives within us.

Jesus tells us that when we are persecuted—in whatever form that takes in this modern century—and the persecution is because we follow him, then we are in good company.

The world came after the prophets, too. You are in good company.

The price might seem very high in the moment; however, in the context of eternity, knowing that God’s grace is enough for us, persecution is momentary in its inconvenience and eternal in its rewards.

Being attacked, scorned, and otherwise hated because you belong to Christ is a good thing.  You think it’s a good thing when you reject the ways of a sinful world, right?

Is it not also a good thing when the sinful world hates you because you look too much like the One they reject?

Is it not a good thing when you are known by your love and not by the rules of those who have so willingly conformed themselves to the world?

Is it not a good thing for the world not to want you as opposed to hearing our Master say, “Depart from me. I never knew you.”

Persecution by the world is just it’s way of disowning us. If the world tells us “Depart from me. I never knew you,” just say hallelujah, praise the Lord, and amen.

Consider our trials as minor—I know that seems to be a stretch sometimes—consider them as minor inconveniences on our way to eternal joy.

I’ll close with the words of the Master. Let’s take those with us above everything else we covered.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 

Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

 

Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven.

So, when you are persecuted because you follow Jesus, go here:

·       God’s grace is enough.

·       You can handle whatever it is at the moment. It’s momentary.

·       Great is your reward in heaven. The world has disowned you because you belong completely to the Lord.

Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven.

Amen.

Parable of the Talents--Yes, Again!

 

Read Matthew 25:14-30

I have preached this parable at least twice a year to this body, and most of those twice-a-year occasions included two different messages at our services. Some years, I worked it in more.

I have preached this in other locations. It is a Go-to Parable. It is jam-packed. It is good for preaching, good for Bible study, and best when put into practice.

So, where do I go this time? I will follow my Sermon for Dummies guidelines that I keep posted by my computer.

·       Include the good news in the message.

·       Connect the good news to our current situation.

·       Repeat critical items.

I am going to focus on the third guideline: Repeat critical items. So here we go again with my acronym: TURN

T is for trusted. All of the servants were trusted with money in accordance with their ability. They had a preexisting relationship with their master before this parable began. They were trusted servants. Even the third servant was trusted with a substantial investment in his ability. We are trusted servants.

U stands for urgency. The first two servants put their talents to work at once. They were ready to be trusted more, and because of that, they could put their master’s money to work immediately. We are to act with urgency.

R is for Return on Investment (ROI). The master expected a return on the trust he placed in his servants. He didn’t have to say this. These servants knew this because of the existing relationship. We are to produce a return for our Master.

N is for No Fear. Every servant had to contend with fear, but only the third one was debilitated by fear. We all deal with fear, but we should not be afraid. Our desire to produce a return for our master should be enough to overcome whatever fear is taunting us. If you must be afraid, be afraid of not pleasing your master, but fear does not govern the trusted servants' thinking or actions. We are to live without fear interfering with our decisions.

This acronym brings us to the question of what we did with what our Master (the Lord) gave us. We must realize that we are his trusted servants, are to act with urgency, are to produce a return on our Master’s trust, and that fear does not govern our lives.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge… The key word there is beginning.

Perfect love casts out fear.

But the question remains. What did we do with what God gave us?

I have posed this as a challenge in various areas of our discipleship. Among the gifts or trusts given to us were time, talents, and treasure, the standard three.

Also, in this context of what did we do with what God gave us, we explored our salvation, wisdom, children, leadership, spiritual gifts, Sabbath rest, and even God’s generosity.

We have looked at fear and why the third servant was called wicked in addition to being easily labeled as lazy.

And we have looked at this parable in the context of fear.

So what is left?

How about victory? What did we do with the victory that God gave—I say it again, gave—us. In our belief and profession of Jesus as Lord, we receive the victory that Jesus won on the cross. We pass from death to life.

Our sin is set aside. Death has no more sting for us. Yes, we hurt when we lose a loved one. Even Jesus wept over Lazarus, knowing full well that he would see his friend momentarily. He would need a shower and some new clothes but death would not claim him for now.

Only a few, ok that few could be a few billion people, but in comparison to all who have lived since God created humans, it’s not that many, will meet Jesus the old fashioned way, through death. Most won’ get to meet him in the clouds without experiencing death.

Most of us will get to heaven the old-fashioned way. We will die in these bodies, but the death of this body is not the end for the believer.

We get that, and we discussed this when we discussed the parable and salvation, but this time, let’s look deeper into that salvation.

Let’s consider this salvation, which we know through our faith and God’s grace, in the context of victory.

Sin does not enslave us and death cannot hold us. That’s victory. No, that’s the ultimate victory.

Remember God’s answer to Paul’s prayers to remove the thorn in his side: My grace is sufficient for you.

So, what’s different from just asking what we did with our salvation?

With the words "Your grace is enough for me," we affirm that we have already won the ultimate victory. Nothing in this world can take that away from me or you.

So, should we not be the boldest people on the planet? We have already won even if we mess up everything from now until our hearts stop. We have already won.

There should be nothing that holds us back from putting our Master’s words into practice. We should be bold, we can’t lose.

Back in the mid 1990s, I went to a Chester L. Karrass negotiating seminar. It was good training, so much so that I hired the guy to train 20 of my people, who quite frankly were terrible negotiators. It was money well spent, but I’m not talking about negotiation.

The instructor began the class by asking who would bet $100 on the flip of a coin. Nobody responded.

Then he said, "What if I gave you 10 to 1 odds, and we would do this 10 times?"

I stood up right then, started pulling my wallet out of my back pocket, and said, “I’ll take that action!”

If you have a 50-50 chance of winning each time and if only won once, you would break even. Any coin flip that came up in your favor after that was gravy.

The offer was only for instructional purposes and I became good friends with the instructor, wrote a few things for him, and still consider the training he provided some of the best I have received in my life.

OBTW—for the couple of dozen negotiating strategies and tactics discuss, the instructor noted that the Karass organization only endorsed one—the Win-Win.

We have the ultimate win-win in our salvation that came by God’s mercy and grace.

We have better than 10-1 odds. We’ve already won.

That should give us peace. We should be assured of our right standing with God. We should be fully convinced in our own minds—doubt gets the boot—that we will enjoy the company of our God and Savior for eternity.

That should make us bold as disciples of Christ Jesus, bold in our witness, and send us into the world without fear of anything the world can do to us.

Yes, we will have trouble, pain, sorrow, hurt, and a bunch of stuff that if we wrote the script for our own day, would not be included. But all of that stuff is nothing compared to what is in store for us.

So we should be bold as we serve the Lord and bring glory to his name. Do not be timid. Do not hold back. We don’t do fear.

You are on a mission from God and regardless of how many times you are wounded while you go into the world with good news, you will be with God and be in right standing with him for eternity.

You win!

Now, stop holding back.

What did we do with the mercy and grace that God gave us?

I hope that we all hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” one day. And maybe our Master might add, “You were fearless as you brought glory to my name.”

Bruh, you were fearless!

That’s what we long to hear. We are told that if we deny Jesus before men, he will deny us before his Father. That’s “Depart from me I never knew you,” sort of stuff.

But it doesn’t apply to you. You will not deny Jesus. You know the truth. You will remain faithful to the end, but will you be bold?

Bold is not boisterous, bravado, or something in which you need a Type-A/High Dominance personality profile. There is no preferred Myers-Briggs Type Indicator required.

It’s going where God sends you and not worrying about the consequences.

You want to do your best, but you are not afraid to trip and fall and get back up as you learn new things and ways to practice your discipleship.

We are bold!

We have no excuse to be timid. To be timid is to bury our talents in the ground.

We will not accept burying our talents in the ground. That’s not us. Being bold might take—will take—practice.

And once again, I come to the sage of modern-day wisdom, Yogi Berra, for further guidance.

When you come to a fork in the road, take it.

Take what God has given you and do something with it. Just do it. Make your best decision, don’t look back, and do what you know to do to bring glory to God’s name.

When you come to a fork in the road, take it. Which way? The way that God is leading you, and do it with urgency. There is no get around to it in the discipleship business.

There are some things that we do as organizations and in those cases groups of people make decisions or you need a supervisor’s approval to act.

That’s not the case with what God has given you by grace. You are free to act without worry about losing your right standing with God as you do your best to bring glory to his name.

Should you abide by the laws and regulations in place? Of course. Understand what the law prohibits, but don’t back off beyond that. The Pharisees did that by adding to the law.

You are not supposed to work on the Sabbath, so we should prohibit even picking up a shovel in case someone forgets it is the Sabbath and starts digging a ditch.

Should we not be concerned with our personal safety? In the big picture, your destination is assured even if you die in your endeavor, but don’t do stupid stuff to hasten the process.

Should I get up in people’s faces and thump them with my Bible? If that’s your approach, make sure you take a big, heavy Bible and not some little gospel the Gideons put out. And make sure your mouthwash is Listerine strength.

Seriously, we are not making people come and be disciples; we make disciples when they respond to the good news.

We deliver the good news. The receiver decides if he or she believes. We disciple those who believe and pray for those who don’t, at least haven’t yet. That’s our hope, that they will respond to the grace offered while they can.

We will be so bold to give those who refused another round at some point. As long as it is called today, we continue to share this gospel of truth.

We try to get along with everyone as much as possible, but we will not hold back on sharing what we are commissioned to share. We don’t go into the world to offend people, but if the truth offends them, they need to hear the truth and we must be bold and share it.

So, in this ongoing saga of sermons of the Parable of the Talents, what will we do with the words from God, “My grace is enough for you?”

Among all of our other responses that bring glory to God’s name, let’s add boldness to that list.

Let’s be bold in bringing glory to God by taking his love and good news to the world!

Amen.

For more on this jam-packed parable, follow the links…

 

The Parable of the Talents

Parable of the Talents – Part I

Parable of the Talents – Part II

Parable of the Talents – Part III

Parable of the Talents: You wicked, lazy servant

The Parable of the Talents: God’s Generosity

The Parable of the Talents: Leadership Lessons

The Parable of the Talents: Points & Prayers

The Parable of the Talents and our Spiritual Gifts

The Parable of the Talents & Wisdom

The Parable of the Talents & Children

The Parable of the Talents and Sabbath Rest

Take the Talent Away from Him

God wants to give you more

After a long time…

The Baseball Glove and Salvation

Christian Stewardship - Time

Christian Stewardship – Talents

Christian Stewardship – Treasure