Wake Up! We have Unfinished Business

 

Read Mark 10:13-22

Revelation 3:1-3

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 90^th 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:

·       Integrity

·       Fidelity

·       Speaking the truth in a spirit of love

·       Living in the light

·       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?

Sin’s deceitfulness.

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.  

Make the Most of Every Opportunity

 Read Ephesians 5

Paul used the first part of this chapter to remind his readers that there is God’s way and there is everything else.  Walk in the light, not in darkness. Walk in love not apathy. 

It’s a continuation of what he said earlier.  Live a life worthy of the calling you have received.  You have heard it from me many times.  Live in grateful response to your salvation.

So, we get more of that from Paul, but before transitioning to his next topic, he says WAKE UP!  Don’t just drift through life.  Don’t just exist.  Live!

Every day we choose to live in the light or sneak around in the darkness.  We live a life pleasing to God or we grieve the Holy Spirit by our choices. We live God’s way or we live in the everything else.

Wake up!  Your life is full of moment-to-moment choices.  It’s not just getting up in the morning saying I am bringing glory to God today.  That would be a good start, but soon something will happen or nothing will happen and our minds are distracted or adrift.

We can find ourselves heading down the wrong path or just drifting through the day.  We must be awake.  I didn’t say woke.  We are to awaken.  We are to make conscious choices as to how we will live.

Wake up!

Then Paul gives us words that I used all through our journey through the Proverbs.

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

When we concluded the Proverbs, I used these words from Paul to bring us to something of a conclusion, at least a wrap up.  I used the New King James Version at that time.

See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

Following counsel to awaken, we are told to take care in our next steps.  There is a minefield out there.  There is a narrow path that leads to God and to living in the right standing that he gave us in the blood of Jesus. 

Wake up!  Stay on course.  Press on towards the goal, don’t be distracted.  Don’t start drifting.  Make good choices moment-to-moment.

If you are in the middle of an algebra test for which you did not study, you might think that hour will never end, but in life, we are counseled that we are but a mist.  We are here for only a moment.

In the context of eternity, the time that we give to making good choices in the here and now is so brief but so important.  Wake up.  Stop and think. Take your next steps with care that they keep you on the path directed by the Lord.

Paul next ventures into marital counseling.  How does a man that we don’t think was ever married counsel married couples?

He bases his guidance upon the relationship between Christ and his church.

Let me cut to the heart of the matter.  Ladies, how would you feel is your husband said that I will love you when you earn it?  I will love her when she earns my love.  How would that make you feel?

How would you husbands feel if your wives said, I will respect you when you earn it? 

Both love and respect fall under the umbrella of love, but for the man, unconditional respect is as important as unconditional love is to the woman.

Both men and women in a marital relationship need love.  Both need respect but unconditional love is the greater need of the woman and unconditional respect is the greater need of the man.

If you don’t like it that way, talk to the One who designed us.  If you will set your sights on meeting your partner’s greater need, you will understand what it is to submit to one another in Christ.

Wives are to present themselves as radiant and unblemished with the husband as the head of the wife.  We may have protesters outside of the building next week.

Husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church.  What does that mean?  Christ died for the church.  He died for all of us, but the counsel to husbands is that you love your wives as Christ loved the church.

Ladies, in the sacrament of Christian Marriage, your husbands have said they would die for you. To which the ladies reply, yeah, but he never does it.

Ok gals, the next time you are giving your guy the look because his body makes strange noises, remember that he said he would die for you.

Unconditional love and unconditional respect will get us to submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

Our first opportunity comes when we wake up.  We wake up in the morning and set our sights on pleasing the Lord, and when we wake up to the life that is before us.  We choose wisely.

Our next opportunity comes when men choose to love their wives unconditionally and women respect their husbands unconditionally. Husbands and wives submit to each other in the Lord.

Our next opportunity comes with our own children.  We know about bringing them up in the way they should go.  Paul adds a little counsel about our children in the next chapter.

Our next opportunities come outside the walls of our homes.  When we get to the letter to the Colossians, Paul will instruct us to do our jobs—work as if we were working for the Lord, not men.

We have a standing directive to love one another.  That thought should govern in our moment-to-moment decisions.

We have a commission to take the gospel to the world.  That mission entrusted to us helps us take care in our choices.  What choice will best let me share the love of God with someone who is lost?

But, but, but… There is evil all around us.  The days are classified as evil. Yes, you are surrounded by minefields.  Don’t step on the mines.

Realize you are also surrounded by opportunities.  Make the most of your opportunities.  You can’t do this if you are asleep.  Awaken.  See the world as a series of wise choices to be made.  In so doing, Christ will keep you in the light.

He will direct your steps.  You can live wisely in the age of evil. That’s individuals, families, and communities.

Let’s put this in the first person.  I can live wisely in an age that is evil.

Amen.

Hit the target. Please God!

 Read Ephesians 5

I am the Lord your God.  Be holy because I am holy.  We read this in Leviticus. It was very much the theme of the entire book.

We see the same thought in Peter’s letters.

But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;  for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.

God has always set us apart, made us special just for him, and taken a special interest in his children.  He started with the Hebrew people but his love is for all of his children.  Be the special creation that God has designed you to be. He made a way for you to be that person in the sacrifice made by God himself.

Paul puts it this way.

Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Paul spent a good part of his letter to the church in Ephesus telling them—and us—just how much we are blessed in Christ.  Now it’s time for the how do we live part. Remember the general guidance from the previous chapter.

 I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.

In this chapter, Paul gives some specifics.  You remember that orgy you were invited to attend next weekend.  Send your regrets or just don’t go without regret.

Remember those raunchy jokes you heard at work.  Don’t repeat them.  In fact, don’t even remember them.

And this whole greed thing, it doesn’t go with your wardrobe.  It clashes with the new clothes that you are now wearing as a new creation.  Did you forget how blessed you are?  Why must we covet more and spend our lives in pursuit of that which can never really satisfy?

There is nothing wrong with having nice things and not having to check the balance in your checking account every two hours to make sure nothing bounced, but greed is an indicator that we are not seeking God, his kingdom, or his righteousness.  We cannot serve two masters.

If the things of this world have become your god—a false god for sure but one that has taken the place of the one true God—then we are not trusting the one and only God to deliver on his promises.  We are disobedient and have disdain for God.

Earlier Paul might have called this grieving the Spirit.

Enough for specifics.  Paul tells us to figure out what pleases God and do that.  Paul is preaching one body but we have our individual roles.  We have our set of gifts and talents.  Figure out what it is that God equipped you to do and do that!

It’s light and darkness.  It’s God’s way and everything else.  Live in the light.  Live God’s way.  Why these broad terms for a narrow path?

Leviticus is a laundry list of many things but it includes a whole bunch of don’ts.  Do not do this.  Do not do that.

Paul noted in his letter to the Romans that he didn’t know what sin was until the law said don’t do that. Until someone said don’t kick the cat, I didn’t even think about kicking the cat.

Paul is saying that instead of making a list of landmines to avoid, it’s better to focus on the target to be hit.  Live in the light.  Do what pleases God.  Love one another.  Help carry someone’s burden.  Speak the truth in love.

Sin—transgression—is missing the mark.  It’s missing the target.  If I had a Marine that was having trouble hitting the target, I first looked to his sight alignment and sight picture.

OK, we are not at the range, so what’s the point?  Make sure you have the things that please God in your sights.  You can’t hit the target if you keep glancing at the things in the everything else.

Focus on what pleases God. Be holy as God is holy. Live in the light as he is in the light. There is God’s way and there is everything else.  Focus on God’s way.

Where is your focus?

What is your target?

If you are adrift, asleep, or thinking of the everything else, wake up and focus on the target.  Do what pleases God.

Amen.