Jump Start # 2318

Titus 2:11-12 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age”

ESPN, the cable sports program, once ran a segment during football season in which they would show clips of bad plays, mistakes, missed calls and bloopers during the game. The segment was titled, “C’mon Man.” The host would shout, “C’mon man, what are you thinking…” I loved watching this, because it was so funny.

Our verse today from Titus, reminds us that because of God’s grace we ought to have learned some things. God’s grace is never deserved, expected nor something that God has to grant to us. Grace doesn’t make sense. It’s not getting off on good behavior. It’s not bestowed upon us after we have cleaned up our act. Without the grace of God we are not going to make it. We cannot be good enough, do enough, or be righteous without God’s mercy, favor and forgiveness.

God’s grace is shown in Hosea buying back his unfaithful wife. It is shown in the father celebrating the prodigal’s return. It is shown in Jesus not condemning a guilty woman caught in the arms of another man. Grace has allowed us to be forgiven, cleansed and righteous before God. We will be in Heaven not because we can name the books of the Bible in order or have perfect attendance at worship. We will be in Heaven because of God’s grace. Our faith and trust in God and His amazing mercy, love and grace for us, has made it possible for us to be Heaven bound people.

In our verse today, grace has changed us. Because of God’s grace we live sensibly, righteously and godly. When a policeman pulls you over for speeding and rather than giving you a ticket which you rightly deserve, he warns you, that’s a form of grace. As you pull back onto the highway, if you smoke your tires, and kick up a bunch of rocks on the hood of the police car, you’ll find your grace gone. You’ll get pulled over again. The cop will say, “Didn’t you learn anything?”

So, here is my “C’mon Man” List:

• Here’s the guy who comes to worship but won’t stick around for Bible Class. C’mon Man! Do you think you don’t need to learn? If you got it down so well in your mind, why aren’t you teaching?

• Here’s the person who spends the entire worship watching the crowd. They count how many times people go in and out. They notice who is sitting where. They pick up on what people are wearing. All of this gives them more ammo to talk about others. C’mon Man! How can you sit through a whole worship and miss God? You see all the faults of others, you notice who falls asleep, who is playing on their phone, and yet you never see that you have failed to worship God as well. What is worship about?

• Here’s the person who barely gives any money on Sunday. Oh, he could. He has it, but he won’t let go of it. But as soon as services are over, and one of the kids comes up to him selling cookies or a fund raiser at school, he opens his wallet and goes overboard. C’mon Man! There’s nothing wrong with helping the kids out, but where’s your heart at when it comes to God’s kingdom? It takes money to keep the building nice. It takes money to print things, mail things and put things out on social media. It takes money to help preachers and do the good that needs to be done. You may not be able to preach. You may not be able to put things on social media. You may not be in contact with preachers all over the world. But what you can do is support those things. Support it with your heart, your money, your love and your prayers. If it were up to some folks, the kingdom would go bankrupt because they’d rather buy cookies than see good being done spiritually.

• Here’s an elder and he’s gotten cranky in his old age. He’s forgotten that he’s a shepherd. He likes to boss, yell, and demand people to do things. People cower around him in fear. No one would dare talk to him about a personal problem because they know they will get a brow beating. He has forgotten that these are God’s people. C’mon Man! You can’t treat people that way. You’ll run them off. You’ll kill the church. You are setting a bad example. This is not how Jesus acted. This is not Biblical leadership. Men will run from the opportunity to serve because of the way this is being done. Abuse and fear and domination do not belong in the toolbox of the shepherd.

• Here is a young Christian. He loves the Lord. He is busy all the time. He brings friends with him to services. He is doing all that he can. Some are jealous of him. Some think that he is doing too much. Some talk about him in a negative way. C’mon Man! He is doing more than the rest combined. Don’t get in his way. Encourage him. Help him. Pray for him. He is showing the rest of us what we ought to be doing. If we keep discouraging him, and throwing water on his fire, he’ll get disappointed and quit. We don’t want him to be like the rest of us. We need to be like him.

• Here is a preacher who said something in his sermon that wasn’t correct. Someone pointed it out to him and now the preacher blows up. How dare anyone question him, is the atmosphere he presents. Rather than being humble, thankful and corrected, he makes a little thing a big thing. C’mon Man! You’re not the Lord and you certainly aren’t perfect. So you went to college. Big deal. You don’t know everything. If you can take a little criticism given in love to make you better, maybe you ought to get out of the way and let someone else preach. Word gets around. No one wants to cross the preacher. His ego gets the best of him and he begins to believe that he runs the place. “The place” is the church, and it’s not his, but the Lord’s. Get over it, Mr. Preacher. Calm down. Change your spirit it will ruin you.

• Here is a congregation that is sitting on hundreds of thousands of dollars. The bank roll grows and grows and no one wants to spend a dime. C’mon Man! The church isn’t in the banking business. Fear that something bad could happen keeps all the money safe in the bank. The building looks like a dump. Preachers could be supported. A presence on social media could spread the word. But that won’t happen in this place. They just keep adding more and more money. Some begin to question why they even give on Sunday. It just sits in the bank doing nothing. Get some insurance and keep just a little for a rainy day, and then have some faith in the Lord. Put that money in circulation and help the kingdom where you can. You wonder if this group ever read about the one talent man burying the talent in the ground. Not much difference here.

The grace of God has appeared teaching us…C’mon Man, don’t you get it? We are to be changed, better, spiritual and engaged in the kingdom. Haven’t we learned anything from grace?

C’mon Man! That’s one way to look at this.

Roger