Powerball

Mark 16:15-20

What would you do if you won $550,000,000? That’s how much the Power-ball jackpot was scheduled to be at the time of this writing. Would you buy a new luxury home or car? Or would you set aside a trust to pay for your grand children’s college? Or would you donate 10% to your church or a ministry or charity?

If you are a believer and follower of Christ, in a way, you’ve already won the lottery because you know that eternal winnings are available now, and waiting for you in Heaven. The things of this world will perish, but Heaven is for eternity. It’s priceless. So what will you do with your priceless gift?

When Jesus was crucified, the disciples had lost all hope. They were sitting around feeling sorry for themselves, “mourning and weeping”. Even after Mary Magdalene and two other followers had seen the resurrected Christ, the disciples refused to believe; refused to act. They preferred to mope and do nothing. Then this happened.

¹⁴ Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. ¹⁵ And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.        ESV

 Jesus called them to action. He called them to “proclaim the gospel”. Basically, he gave them a swift kick in the pants with the following result.

²⁰ And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.          ESV

 

Jesus is still calling his disciples across the millennia to action. He’s calling you and me to be his hands and his feet. He’s calling us to touch the lepers of this world. He’s calling us to bring a message of hope to the hopeless; to the addicted; to the imprisoned. He’s calling us to share his love, grace and forgiveness with people at work, at school, in our neighborhood and in our family.

We’ve already won a bigger jackpot than Powerball. Let’s share it with those that God brings into our life. Let’s get up off the couch and do something. We don’t have to go around the world… just next door.

Christ-Centered Suffering

READ: Colossians 1:24-29

Everyone suffers. We fail ourselves and suffer internally. Then come the attacks of the world. We work hard, but our bosses don’t appreciate us. Friends and family return our affection with negligence, betrayal, and animosity. Even God torments us with disease or the premature deaths of people we dearly love.

Yet, bound up by all this suffering, we’re expected to proclaim Christ to the world by embodying the fruits of his Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). How is this even possible?

If we are focused on ourselves, it’s not, but if we, like the apostle Paul, are focused on Christ it’s actually quite easy.

Paul writes his letter to the Colossians from a prison cell where he is awaiting execution. For him, this is a natural consequence of the purpose God gave him: to proclaim the Gospel. His life’s suffering is probably far greater than what you and I have endured, yet he rejoices because he’s focused not on himself, but on Christ, whose mission is being fulfilled in him.

I can be incredibly self-centered at times, which causes me to wallow in sufferings when they come and lose sight of the purpose God gave me, namely to proclaim his love and grace to the world through my words and actions. I pray that soon the words Paul spoke in Acts 20:24 will echo in my heart as well: “I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.”

The Church Has Left the Building

READ: Romans 10:17

Many of us struggle with sharing our faith. We don’t want to be seen as pushy; we’re afraid of rejection; and we feel unqualified to answer the tough questions others may challenge us with.

If you have these fears, I hope you can be encouraged by a few of my stories.

During a recent business lunch, I was asked why I became a real estate agent. I explained that I’m a follower of Jesus, sought his guidance, and felt like he was leading me into this career. The transition was difficult, but God blessed it. My title affiliate responded by talking about difficult transitions in her career and began to see how God’s hand was at work in her life too.

Another time I briefly met with a client on a Sunday afternoon. Certain that I had a busy day of selling ahead of me, he was surprised to hear that I was spending the afternoon volunteering at a picnic for incoming international students. He opened up about how he had been burned in the past by abusers of church-run charities. I encouraged him to look past the people who take advantage and consider those who are helped.

Finally, as I was exiting the hospital this month, I was confronted by a young man begging for a ride to his broken down car. Many people, exercising reasonable caution, had refused to help him and he was exhausted from walking. I felt secure enough in the situation to give him a ride, and he was very grateful. He asked who I was visiting at the hospital. I told him it was a friend I knew from Bible study, and he began to discuss his rough upbringing and eventual connection to the Lord. I was the help God wanted to send him that day.

None of these stories climax with the sinner’s prayer, but in each one someone was pointed toward the Lord because I am in an authentic relationship with Jesus Christ, I look for natural opportunities to talk about that relationship, and I listen for a response. That last part is key. Listening is caring. Trade listening for arguing and conflict will come, but trade arguing for caring and the Spirit will come.

I Once Was Lost, but Now Am Found

READ: Ezekiel 34:11-16

I spent seven years as a lost sheep. Separated from the flock of the Lord’s people and from the Good Shepherd himself, I wandered through life alone. I was very self-reliant then. Proud too. I pushed people away, refused help, and tried to make it on my own. I failed miserably.

When my Shepherd found me, I was deeply broken. I had no friends. I had wounded my family through years of rebellion and separation. I was dissatisfied with every worldly treasure. My life felt meaningless, and I had little hope for the future.

“I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy,” promises the Lord. (Ezekiel 34:16)

I used to think I was sleek and strong -- I was doomed to destruction. But when I encountered the Good Shepherd, I realized that I was weak and injured and that he wanted to heal me. All he needed was my submission.

The Good Shepherd changed my life. I have friends now. Real friends. Friends that accept me for who I am and genuinely care about me. My relationship with my family is being restored. I am filled with hope and satisfied with the provisions the Good Shepherd makes for me each day.

Sometimes I still wander … drift away on the path of pride or self-reliance or solitude. But the Good Shepherd chases me, catches me, and carries me back home, to the good pasture of life with his people, life in his care. He is true to who he says he is and what he says he will do. As it is written in Proverbs (and quoted in 1 Peter and James), “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”