Read
Mark
10:13-22
So, let’s get to it.
I told the
session before I left that I would not be available to fill the pulpit for the
first six months of the year. We had some travel planned, and that was part of
the reasoning, but not the main part.
For years, I
longed to see ministries kick into gear. Some did. Many stalled in the red
zone.
I was very
pleased that VBS was reconstituted years ago, produced good fruit, and stayed
strong, and will continue this year.
In the last
couple of years, the growth of our older youth has become noticeable and has
clearly brought glory to God, as many have come to embrace God’s words. The
fact that I am proud of them pales in comparison to the glory they bring to
God.
But there
were more times when there was a need or a challenge, and the most we did was
talk about it.
I informed,
analyzed, challenged, presented alternatives, and on occasion, provoked, hoping
for action. I realize that many of you associate the word provoked with anger.
You can be provoked to anger, but you can also be provoked to action. It’s that
inertia thing again.
What else
could I do?
I could
leave. I could get out of the way. Your leaders and potential leaders and disciples
needed something more from me, my absence.
Three years
ago, I gave a general notice that I would leave sometime between the end of
2025 and the end of 2027. I was thinking that the end of 2026 would be the most
likely, but the end of last year was the right choice.
I have
watched from afar as that vacancy has been filled in different ways. I am not
talking just about the pulpit. Many are moved to action. I hope more will be.
I realize
that sometimes my assessments are unique and not shared by many others. I am
glad I made the Spring Presbytery in Fort Worth this year.
A theme
among the denominational representatives prevailed across many reports. It was
to repent.
Repent for what? I repented. I’m saved. So, repent for
what? Repent for talk
without action. Across so
many functional areas, the message at the last meeting of the Red River
Presbytery was the same.
Jesus did not say that the wise man
puts his words into
conversation. He did not say that the one who put his words into the most posts
gets the most points. He said that the
one who puts his words into practice is the one who builds his house on solid
rock.
We as Christians in general, and I can
talk specifically as Cumberland Presbyterians, talk a lot but do little. We
need to repent of that, and repentance requires action.
Repentance is more than just turning
away from the ways of the world. It is turning away from everything that is not
of God and leaving all of the worldly junk behind, without getting a claim ticket
to come back for it later.
The denomination is on the precipice
of fully embracing that faith without works is dead. We acknowledge it.
Will we act upon it?
We are at what could be the tipping
point of the next great awakening. But to embrace that faith without works is
dead requires some action from us, from us all, or it’s just more talk.
The rich young man went away sad
because Jesus told him to sell all that he had, give the proceeds to the poor,
and follow him. This was a pick up your cross and follow me moment.
To which we—Americans—often retreat to
the position that this was just about this one rich man. It doesn’t apply to
everyone, not to us regular folks in any case.
You would be correct. It does not
apply to everyone, but it very much applies to you and just about everyone who
lives in this country.
You may not have a lot of money in the
bank, but you are richer than the young man in this account in so many ways.
The first and perhaps most important way is comfort.
For all the money and possessions that
this young man had, he couldn’t turn on the bathroom light with the flick of a
switch.
He couldn’t turn on a faucet and step
into a hot shower whenever he wanted.
He couldn’t kill the afternoon
watching Netflix or reels on his phone.
He couldn’t say, “Let’s make a quick
trip to OKC and catch a movie.” That wasn’t a day trip.
He couldn’t one click his
purchase and have it there the next day or two.
He never knew the thrills of Taco
Tuesday or Throwback Thursday, or watching a grandchild smack a ball into the
outfield on his phone while the kid is in another town.
Make no mistake that we who live in
this country are as rich as this young man who had many possessions. We are
rich and the words of Jesus that we find in Mark 10 apply to us.
Before Jesus told this rich young man
to sell everything he owned and give the proceeds to the poor, we find these
words. They are among my favorite words, and we see them in verse 21.
Jesus looked at him and loved him.
Jesus saw that the man practiced the big-ticket
items of the Law but that something was in the way of him being
complete—perfected if you will.
In modern vernacular, this young man
made it to services, even stayed awake for the message, only got up to go to
the bathroom twice and once was during a song he didn’t like, and surely made
the required trips to the temple with the required offering or sacrifice. He
checked the blocks but never knew the heart of the God of love who was behind
his directives.
Something was in his way. That
something was his possessions—his stuff—and evidently, he had a bunch of it. I’m
guessing he had more than one Connex box.
Do we need to sell everything we own?
Yes! If our possessions, our comfort, our anything
has equal status with God in our lives, it’s got to go.
More than likely, it is not money or
stuff that is in our way, but our reluctance, complacency, or hesitation to put
God’s words into practice. We are
comfortable just talking and not acting.
What we need to get rid of in our
lives is our complacency and desire to live unchanged by the gospel. We must
discharge our desires to make the words of Jesus fit into our comfort zones.
I was blessed to watch the movie, “A
Great Awakening.” It is the story of George Whitfield coming to America and spiritually
awakening its people—our forefathers—a few decades before our independence and
the writing of our Constitution.
Just over 47 years ago I received my
degree in Political Science from the Oklahoma State University, but I learned a
couple of things about Benjamin Franklin that I didn’t know before, trusting
the film was faithful to the facts in most matters. Most notably that this God-fearing
man came to receive Jesus as Lord late in life.
Franklin was always a God-fearing man,
but he had systems for righteousness—ways to be right with God. He was his own
Pharisee. His mantra, his code was his comfort zone and professing Jesus as
Lord would take him out of that comfort zone.
I won’t spoil the movie for you.
I also took to heart this story
related by Whitfield as his own, but there was a little license with that as the
historical documents note that Whitfield attributed it to someone else.
I'll tell you a story. The Archbishop
of Canterbury in the year 1675 was acquainted with Mr. Butterton the actor. One
day the Archbishop . . . said to Butterton . . . 'pray inform me Mr. Butterton,
what is the reason you actors on stage can affect your congregations with
speaking of things imaginary, as if they were real, while we in church speak of
things real, which our congregations only receive as if they were imaginary?'
'Why my Lord,' says Butterton, 'the
reason is very plain. We actors on stage speak of
things imaginary, as if they were real and you in the pulpit speak of things
real as if they were imaginary.'
On the 90th anniversary of pronouncement
of Fake News—Google George
Orwell and the Spanish Civil War—let’s
commit to speaking the truth. That truth resides in God’s word.
We need to quit acting like God’s word
is just one proposal among many to consider or that it might be true.
We need to repent of knowing what God
tells us to do and doing nothing, or doing something else, or just talking
about it.
We need to repent of thinking if we
build it, they will come—not to knock that movie—and embrace, go and
make disciples.
We need to speak the truth as if it were
the truth for it is the truth. We speak
the truth in a spirit of love, not worried that the truth might offend
someone. It’s the truth.
Know it.
Speak it.
Live it.
Your measure
of faith was sufficient to receive the gift of salvation. It’s all from
God. You just had to receive it by faith.
We like that part, and we should,
because we could never receive salvation by the way we live, yet having received
grace
by faith, so many have parked their
faith on the shelf.
Faith is not a one-and-done deal.
Salvation is a done deal, and if you are content in having received grace by
faith and having your faith parked on the shelf for the rest of this life, why
are you listening today?
If you are listening today and have no
intention of putting our Lord’s words into practice, what’s the point? It’s just a placebo.
Well, it felt good to hear God’s word. It feels good to talk about God’s word.
Don’t ruin it by asking me to put those words into practice.
I am preaching mostly to the saints—to
the saved. I’m not trying to get most of you to the altar to profess
your faith.
You have been there. I am talking about picking up
your cross daily and
following Jesus.
That’s a whole ‘nuther deal.
I’m not talking about doing all the
right things so you can get into heaven. I’m talking about doing things—the right
things--the right way because heaven has already been gifted to you. I am
talking about responding to the love of God that we know in Christ Jesus with
action.
I’m not talking about talking about
the words of Jesus—thought they are worth discussing
when you awaken, go to
sleep, go to work, or in anything else you do. I’m talking about putting his
words into practice.
In so doing, you never have to worry
about:
· Fidelity
· Speaking
the truth in a spirit of love
· And the list goes on…
I am talking about never thinking, I’m
doing too much church stuff. I’m doing too much for the Lord.
I don’t mean getting sucked into every
activity on the church calendar—though for some, that's their daily bread. Some
have been called and ordained as elders and should have more skin in the game
in the ministry and life of the body. They received and accepted a call from
God to be ordained as elders and should put more time and effort into this than
most of you.
But today I am talking to everyone about
feeling the gentle nudge from the Spirit or the still small voice of the Lord
leading you, and you saying, I’m already doing enough. I hear you,
Lord, but would you recheck your metrics? I think you will see that I’ve done
my fair share and more.
If that’s your situation, if you don’t
want to play the antiphonal game with God—He calls and you answer, then go buy
a cross, a crucifix like the Roman Catholics have with Jesus hanging on the
cross. I love our cross without Jesus nailed to it.
He
is not there. He
is risen. He
is risen indeed. He is not on the cross or in the tomb. He is at the right
hand of the Father, interceding
for you and for me.
Amen! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
But go get you one of those crosses
and keep it handy for those times you are ready to dismiss the calling of the
Lord upon your life, and you want to say, I think I’m doing enough already.
When that time comes, say those words
to Jesus hanging on the cross and tell him how much you are doing for him and
how that surely must be enough. I want you to devalue what Jesus did for you on
the cross in your conversation with the image of him hanging there. See if that
doesn’t change your perspective.
You might be doing a lot to bring
glory to God’s name, but do you remember the precondition to the directions of
Jesus to this rich young man? If you want to be perfect, if you want to be
complete, if you really want some life out of life, then…
If you want to be complete…
If the saints are too busy or burdened
to put our Master’s words into practice, how
do we expect the lost to hear our words, or believe them because our lives
belie the words of our Master?
Remember these words quoted earlier
between the archbishop and the actor. This is Butterton’s reply to the
archbishop.
We actors on stage speak of things
imaginary, as if they were real and you in the pulpit speak of things real as
if they were imaginary.
It’s not just the preachers that need
to treat the truth as the truth, but every disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.
How do we do that? We put his
words into practice.
How do we do that? We sell everything
that we own—or discard everything that supplants the place of God. If it
is in
the place of God, it’s got to go.
We cast off
everything that hinders
and run our race of faith fully for him.
We pick
up our cross daily
and follow
Jesus.
Do we act like Jesus Christ is
the most important person, relationship, and entity in our lives? Do we act
like Jesus is truly number one?
No!
I say emphatically, no! Do not act
like Jesus is at the very top of the list of what matters in your life.
Live like it! There is no acting, just
fidelity, for he is the One who is most important in your life. Everything else
that we love must be no closer to the number one spot in our lives than a
distant, a very distant second.
But,
but, but we know this. So, what do we do?
I
go to the words of
Jesus to the church at Sardis
and to the church universal.
Wake up! Strengthen what remains and
is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God.
The church that we know in our time
has unfinished work. You have unfinished work. We have unfinished work.
We have unfinished work!
What do we do?
“Wake up, sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”
Go all the way back to Isaiah and see how long God has been calling his
people to awaken.
Arise, shine;
For your light has come!
And the glory of the Lord is risen
upon you.
For behold, the darkness shall cover
the earth,
And deep darkness the people;
But the Lord will arise over you,
And His glory will be seen upon you.
And Paul has
something to say on the matter
as well.
And do this, understanding the present
time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because
our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.
Take all these commands to awaken in
the context of the words of
the Lord Jesus Christ.
“But about that day or hour no one
knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it
was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in
the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving
in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about
what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it
will be at the coming of the Son of Man.”
Do not go through life with a business-as-usual
attitude. As long as it is called “Today”, you are called to action. You know the
truth. Now is the time to live it.
What could keep us from that? What is
the root cause of complacency?
God’s got it covered. He will just get
someone else. I’m doing enough. Those people aren’t doing anything. Sin’s deceitfulness will make you deaf to
God’s call upon your life.
God’s sheep know
his voice and will do what
God requires of them. His disciples will put his words
into practice. We will all be Doers
of the Word.
So, what’s that mean?
Cast off everything that hinders, and
complacency needs to go first.
Sell everything that is taking the
place of God. Just give it to Christi’s or Mission House or Judah House. If
it’s taking the place of God in your lives, it’s got to go.
Discharge your doubt. Speak
the truth and live
it.
Wake up! The time of his coming draws
near.
And one last thing, for now: OK, one
last thing in three points.
The day is coming when you will have
your next pastor. Remind him or her that you don’t need to be coddled. Tell
your next shepherd to:
1.
Preach the
word. Don’t try to see what we like. Just
preach the truth. Don’t sugar coat it. If I need to sell all my stuff, then
tell me.
2.
Disciple us. Don’t coddle us. Don’t find the lowest
common denominator. Don’t lower the bar. We might have to put more steps in the
process of making disciples, but don’t forsake it. Disciple us. Challenge us to
be complete.
3.
Here’s one that
goes back to my observations when I began. Tell your new pastor, “Try to
keep up.” That’s right, challenge your next pastor, whom you will love dearly,
to keep up. You are on your way to being overcomers. Look around you. We are on our way to
another Great Awakening. Don’t give up being an integral part of that up for
anything, especially comfort or complacency. You don’t breathe a sigh of
relief when you get your new pastor. OK, the search committee can for a
couple of hours, but don’t lose the momentum
that you have now and are growing into in your service and discipleship.
Tell
your new pastor to hit the deck running because you are not slowing down.
But
for you, if it is in the way of your discipleship and evangelism, get it out of
the way. Sell it. Discard it. Give it away. Kick it to the curb!
What
might be in your way of keeping God in first place in your lives might just
help someone else make it through the day or week.
Probably
more than our money and stuff is our comfort. We so value our comfort in this
nation.
Paul
said that he could be content in
all circumstances, and so can
we. That’s not the same as being comfortable or complacent in every situation. We
are content if we have a little or a lot, but we don’t do complacency. We don’t
do slothfulness.
When
the Spirit moves us or we hear that still small voice leading us, or the written
word of God judges your thoughts and attitudes, failure to act in the way God
is leading is sin for
us.
Pick up
your cross every day and do the
things that we know God wants us to do. No excuses.
You
can’t do too much for God. You can’t out
give God. And when he prompts us to act, we don’t go away sad because we might
have to give up something in this world—of this temporary lodging facility—to give
up something that is not eternal.
We
respond with great joy in putting his words into practice.
When
you talk to your next pastor, tell him or her to challenge you because you want
to be a part—a big part in a small Oklahoma town—of the next Great Awakening.
If
we will get off of our behinds and put his words into action, we might see this
next Great Awakening in our time.
The
times ahead may look dark but light is coming. Help bring that light, the
truth, and faith in God through Christ Jesus to everyone you know.
Whatever
you have to give up—money, things, comfort, status, or anything else that is encroaching
on that number one spot—will seem
like nothing compared to what is in store for us.
Eye
has not seen and hear has not heard what the Lord God has in store for us.
Discharge what is in your way and embrace the glory to come for we have unfinished
business.
Wake
up, for we have unfinished business.
Amen.
