I read a quote the other day that said this: “Some poor soul will one day pick up the Bible, read it, believe it, and the rest of us will be embarrassed”. This is true and it shows true belief is lacking today. We really don’t believe the Bible with all of our heart. Sure, we may affirm the Gospel and the truth claims found in scripture, but do we live them? I was reading an email from an Atheist, where the Atheist pointed out the obvious. The Atheist said if you Christians truly believed in an eternal Hell, that really did exist and the only hope for those so destined was faith in Jesus Christ, you would have to be desperately seeking to help those headed towards that damnation! The Atheist, at that moment had a better understanding of the duty of all Christian’s better than the majority of Christians understand. Do we as Christians really believe what we say we believe?
I think the answer is, no. We don’t believe what we say we believe. Why? It is very simple. You’re holding back for some reason, if you believe it, then why are you holding back? For example, if you knew someone was going to die, you would try to save that person. I just got into a car accident recently and all of these unregenerate, half drunk people came to my rescue, they wanted to help me, they were afraid that I might die or be injured. Their concern was not if I would accept the help, they were confident in the help they were offering, that is all that mattered, my reaction was irrelevant. This was lost people folks! We even go as far to help strangers from minor injury. Or even if a car is driving towards a stranger, we will tell that stranger to move, before we know if the stranger see’s the car or not. Something inside of us, a natural reaction, will tell us to reach out and help that person from physical harm. When we see opportunity for serious injury coming upon someone we try to help. We come across people everyday who are headed towards, not just injury, but an eternal damnation in Hell fire and we do nothing! Are you kidding me, we don’t hold back to help strangers from minor injuries, but we hold back the truth that could save them from an eternity in Hell! Is an eternity in Hell of less importance than physical suffering! Did Christ not say “for it is more profitable that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Hell” (Matt 5:29). Do you still say “yeah I believe the Bible is true”? If so then you are deceived, your mouth condemns you and your actions falsify your claim, you dare not loudly proclaim you believe the Bible is true, when your witness for Christ is silent as night.
Why is this so? I think it is because this present evil world is more real to us than the one to come. The Bible tells us of two eternal destinations that we don’t believe really exist. This world, as my brother J.D. once said “seems so present”. We fantasize about Christianity like it is a movie, joke about it likes it’s funny, hide it like it’s a secret, and then deceive ourselves into thinking Christ is important in our lives. We look at the words on the pages of Holy Scripture, read them, learn them, teach them, but don’t live the reality of them and wonder why God doesn’t seem to be working in our midst. We sing songs in church while thinking about the football game, the sinful movie, our outfit, lunch, or how the kids are behaving in nursery and then wonder why growth is not evident in our lives. We have relationships with others in our lives that we know are not saved and yet put off sharing the gospel with them because we are tired, we don’t like them, we want the sinful relationship, or we think we have no time. We get a so called “education” and read everything this sinful world can throw at us, while neglecting the scriptures and to make things worse we rarely pray but boldly ask God to bless us. We say we want to be like Christ, we say we believe that people are on the brink of Hell yet we do nothing, over and over again we do absolutely nothing, we are truly hypocrites.
Is that what Christ did? On the Sea of Galilee, in the 21′st chapter of John’s Gospel, Jesus confronted Peter, and asked him “Simon son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?” Peter is asked this three times by Christ in correlation to his subsequent three denials. Each time Peter answers by saying “yes Lord you know that I love you”. Peter even went so far to say “Lord you know all things; you know that I love you”. Jesus answers Peter all three times by saying “feed my lambs…tend my sheep…feed my sheep”. This is important because Jesus showed Peter what was most important to him, the care and feeding of his sheep. Christ had already told the Apostles “Follow me and I will make you a fisher’s of men” (Matt 4:19). It was like Christ drew the Apostles to himself then trained the Apostles to find others Christ was drawing. At the “Great Commission” Christ said “Go into all the world and Preach the Gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). Jesus was truly the supreme evangelist!
Christlikeness is the goal of every true Christian. We will one day be like Christ because it says “we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). In this world we will always fall short. Though, we will by grace see improvement and a passion to save the lost, just like Christ did. If we truly love Christ, we will act like Christ to one measure or another. Christ will be evident in our lives because as Martin Luther once said “it is the duty of every Christian, to be Christ to his neighbor”. Everywhere we go, every conversation we are in Christ should be supreme. We have so little time, we are but sojourners moving on to our eternal home, and we should never forget the “Great Commission” which is the duty of the Christian while here.
We must feed Christ’s sheep! True, some may not eat what we offer, but then that reveals they were probably not Christ’s sheep anyway. Christ will draw his sheep; you must not become concerned with how you feed his sheep, what the sheep think of you when you are feeding them, nor if you are feeding them too much. True sheep will come to the banqueting table for the delicacies of Jesus Christ and TRUE SHEEP will feast upon HIM, just make sure you are ready to serve HIM and only HIM!
Now, go serve you King…
JG
Jeff Anderson is Pastor of Grace Bible Church in Colorado Springs, which is the best church in Colorado Springs, without a doubt! Grace Bible Church exists to bring people to Christ and toward Christ-likeness by equipping believers to know, live, and defend God’s Truth (Ezra 7: 10). The sermon used is titled “The Wages of Sin” takin out of Psalm 73. I cut the sermon clips down to about 4 minutes. The music that accompanies the message is by “Shane and Shane” song titled “Yearn” from their “An Evening With Shane and Shane Album”. The video, which mainly my wife-God bless her, my family (that is some members thanks Joy and Nathan), and I made are just some pictures which we thought would impact the dramatic effect of the message. I hope this video is first, honoring to Christ, and second honoring to those whose voices it carries. Enjoy and leave comments…
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