Jump Start # 2348

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Our verse today contains a series of contrasts. First, there is death and there is life. Sin brings death and God brings life. Another contrast is wages and free gift. Wages is what you earn. Wages are owed to you. Free gift is another matter. A contest takes place and you happen to hold the lucky number and you win a prize. It’s free. There is another contrast. Christ Jesus is the one who offers life. Behind sin is always the devil. Jesus and Satan, such opposites.

There are some powerful lessons to pull from these thoughts.

First, no one gets away with sin. Sin comes with a price tag. You did it and now you’ll get it, that’s the nature of sin. Satan never shows the price tag. He shows you how exciting the pleasure is. He shows you how easy it is to get away with it. He reminds you that you deserve it. He convinces you that you’ll never be happy until you give in to it. Satan presents the opportunity and even the crowd for sin. But as the verse tells us, there is a cost. There is a wage. It’s terribly high. It costs you all that you are. It costs you your soul. What comes with sin is death. Contextually, the death here is spiritual. Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit and what came with that was being banished from the garden of Eden. That was the cost of sin. They lost their fellowship with God.

Now, there are a variety of levels of getting caught and the consequences of sin. But eventually, they all lead to God. You may hide your sins for years or even forever. It could be that no one knows. You have hidden those dark secrets deep within a closet. You are careful to leave no tracks so others will discover. But, God knows. He already knows. The consequences may not be a divorce, getting fired from a job, being kicked out of school, or being arrested. However, while a person may believe that he has gotten away with things, he’ll find out, much too late, that the greatest consequence comes from being banished from Heaven. God knows. There is no getting away with sin.

Second, once one has sinned, he doesn’t have to stay that way. There is a free gift that God offers. That gift is forgiveness. God is allowing us back into the garden. He’s offering you a second chance. This is huge. So many give up because they have messed up. They throw the towel in and just quit. They no longer try to do what is right. They dive into sin even deeper and deeper. Ashamed and convinced that they can never do things right is all it takes for some to walk away from God when He is standing with His arms opened up for them. What is powerful about these contrasts is that we don’t deserve the free gift. The gift is given to those who have sinned, not to those who are excelling well. It’s not the healthy person, but the sick person who is in need of doctors and medicine. God’s gift is grace. It doesn’t make sense. It’s not right nor fair. It’s not something that ought to be expected. God doesn’t owe us forgiveness. God doesn’t have to forgive us. It’s His gift. It is His choice.

Third, God’s gift is based upon our faith and walking with Him. Otherwise, all would be saved, even those who didn’t want to be saved. There are those who like laying in the mud with pigs. There are those who given the opportunity to live better, wouldn’t. There are those who like sin and want to stay in sin. The gift is there for them, but they have to leave the pigs and come home. We can’t live like a sinner and die like a saint. That doesn’t work. The holiness and justice of God demands that His free gift be qualified, otherwise it’s meaningless and without any real value. God loves us. God made us to live a better way. But if we are content to stay with the pigs, He’ll allow that. Some get used to the smell of pigs. Some don’t mind the filth. Some don’t even recognize how dirty they are. But for those who have a conscience, and a heart that is good, they know better. They know the road of alcohol isn’t the direction that they ought to be on. They know that dishonesty and cheating isn’t the path that builds relationships. The wages of sin will kill you. You must leave it before payday. The wages is death. There is a payday coming. Unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins, is what Jesus said. God wants you to come home and stay home. God wants you to walk in righteousness and walk by faith. Obey God is a message throughout the entire Bible.

Fourth, God is doing all that He can to get us to Heaven. God cares more for our souls than we do. Too often we go from one pig pen to the next. We don’t think much beyond today. We don’t think about God. We don’t realize how many people all over the place are praying for us. We don’t see the good that comes from worship or the value of fellowship with God’s people. Just like the garden of Eden, the problem of sin was caused by us, not God. We made the wrong choices. We forgot about God. And, just like the garden, the serpent left and it was up to God to clean up the mess that Adam and Eve made. Likewise, as with our verse, we have chosen sin and it was God would offers the free gift of salvation. God cleans up the mess we made. There are not many uses for broken things. I expect none of us hang on to burned out light bulbs. There’s not many uses for them. A broken hanger—you won’t get much for that on Ebay. There are some things that are just beyond fixing. We are broken, but God can fix us. He hasn’t given up on us. He hasn’t thrown us away. We have shown that our way didn’t work. That’s why there is sin and death following us. Our ideas are wrong. Our choices, bad. Our thoughts, not the best. But God has a way. God knows how to live as we ought to. God knows how our marriages ought to look. God knows how we ought to parent. God knows how we ought to be during the storms of life. His way works. His way is always the best. His way heals broken relationships. His way, though not always the easiest, is always the best.

Wages and free gift. Death and life. Satan and Christ. Contrasts. But more than literary contrasts, life’s choices. Your choices. My choices. Why dine with pigs, when we can sit down at a banquet table and feast with God? Why face the fear of death and hell, when you can have life and Heaven? Why follow losers when you can follow Christ? Why quit on yourself when God hasn’t?

Interesting contrasts…interesting questions. And, the way we live, answers those questions.

Roger

Jump Start # 2067

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Recently, my wife and I went to an Eagles concert in Indianapolis. Amazing. Those guys are old but good. Ever since, I’ve been listening to an Eagles station on Iheart. As I was driving yesterday, the song, “Lyin’ Eyes,’ came on. That’s such a catchy song. It’s not a good song. The music is fine, the words are the story of an adulterous affair. ‘You can’t hide your lyin’ eyes,’ is sung over and over at the end of the song. As the ballad unfolds about this cheating woman, there is one line that brings us to our verse today. The Eagles sing, “She wonders how it ever got this crazy…”

How did it get to this point? How did I sink so low? Lying to her husband, to go meet someone on the other side of town. The wonderful thing about the song is that it doesn’t justify, glorify or try to assume what the adulterous woman was doing was good. She knows all along it’s wrong. Her life is filled with deception. “She wonders how it ever got this crazy…”

Sin will do that. It knocks the stuffin’ out of reason and common sense. It becomes a downward cycle and anyone that still has any conscience about them wonders, “how it ever got so crazy.”

Consider some places we see this:

First, there is the person who is addicted to drugs. It started off as a curiosity. Playing around with some friends. But soon the person is hooked. They are addicted. They have to have more. And, they begin doing things that they never thought possible. They steal the identity of someone in the family to get money. They literally steal from family members. They wonder, “how it ever got so crazy.”

Second, there are friends, life long friends who have traveled through the ups and downs of life. But a misunderstanding took place. Words were said. Pride refuses to admit wrong or apologize. Now, they have nothing to do with each other. Others have tried to intercede but it never works. They wonder “how it ever got this crazy.”

Third, a preacher begins working with a congregation. The eldership loves him and has high hopes. Things start well. But before long, something is misunderstood. Feelings are hurt. Trust is shattered. Now, they are suspicious of each other. The preacher feels the elders are out to get him. The elders try to read between the lines of every word the preacher preaches. Tensions swell. They find it hard to be civil and even remain in the same room with each other. They wonder, “how it ever got this crazy.”

Fourth, a person comes to believe in Christ and is baptized. He loves singing hymns to God. His Bible is marked full of notes and he has come to learn so much about the Lord. But along this journey something happened. A prayer wasn’t answered the way he felt like it should have been. A tragedy took place. A job was lost. The person questions God’s love. His faith wavers and weakens. For a while he still attends, but he finds no joy in singing. He finds the sermons to be empty promises. Eventually, he walks away from God. He’s finished. He no longer believes. He wonders, “how it ever got this crazy.”

We often find ourselves on the cycle of sin, moving away from what we once held dear. Those things didn’t just happen overnight. How did it ever get this crazy? There’s answers to that question.

First, a person isn’t paying attention to their soul. That’s how sin snares us. We see the pleasure and the fun and we don’t see the consequences. We don’t see the depth that sin will drag us to. Is it any wonder that the New Testament gives us those obvious warnings. Words such as: beware, be alert, watch, each remind us that we need to keep our eyes on the road and not be looking around.

Second, a person gets lazy and selfish. They feel empty and feel that they deserve whatever wrong they are pursuing. They have forgotten that they have denied themselves. They have taken their eyes off of the cross. We expect others to apologize. We expect others to take the first step. We sit back doing nothing, just waiting and waiting. And as we wait, we get content with the way things are.

Third, a person stopped following Christ. They stopped thinking pure thoughts. They stopped being holy. They stopped forgiving. They stopped treating others the way that they would like to be treated. And once they stopped following Jesus, they started sinking into the world of sin. Deeper and deeper they sank. They have thoughts that they never had before. They are doing things that they simply cannot believe that they are doing. How did it ever get so crazy? They pushed Christ out of their life.

The wages of sin is death. Death of our relationship with God. Death of our relationship with what is right and good. Death of our fellowship with God’s children. The person who says, “what I am doing isn’t hurting anyone,” not only doesn’t know the Bible, but he is fooling himself. Sin kills. Sin kills all that is good and right. And, sin can carry us so deep that we wonder if we can ever come back up to the surface. Many believe that it’s too late for them. There’s no hope. So they surrender to sin and it takes them even deeper.

God can and will forgive. Turn around and surround yourself with God’s people and God’s word. Fill your heart with goodness. You ought to drop to your knees and ask God to forgive you. You need to go and apologize to those you have wounded and trashed. You need to make things right as best as you can. You need new friends, a new path and a new purpose.

She wonders how it ever got this crazy…too bad she didn’t think about that before she made her wrong choices. Too bad she allowed her self to sink so low. Too bad this song is the anthem of so many lives today. Marriages destroyed by affairs. Friendships ruined by refusing to forgive. Relationships strained by hurtful words. Down, down, down many have sunk. Miserable. Lost. Empty. Realizing you’ve hurt those you love. And, now stuck and feeling like you are unable to stop even if you wanted to. This is the life of sin. This is death. Controlled by Satan. Addicted to lying and deception. Certainly not the way one expected life to turn out.

Jesus came to give us life and to give it abundantly. Freedom from sin and Satan. A life of hope, joy and purpose. Come unto Me, the Lord said, all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Weary…she wonders how it ever got this crazy.

Roger

Jump Start # 1832

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

The news this morning headlines to high profile deaths, both suicides. The Facebook killer, shot himself as police were about to close in on him. Former NFL great, Aaron Hernadez, hung himself in prison. He had been found guilty of murder and was serving his sentence. Suicide is problem. Distraught high school students turn to killing themselves every year. The problem is so serious that there are national hotlines that people can call to help prevent this ugly tragedy.

There are many reasons why a person chooses to end their life. It’s complicated. Simplistic answers do not fix the problems. What is worse is for the family who has to deal with the aftermath. There is a stigma about suicide. The problems that the person could not face are often thrown upon the family and now they have to deal with them.

A deeply underlining belief is that death will end all the pain and death will escape all the coming trouble that one has caused. If I could just die, then it will all be over. It’s not. All suicide does is cast one into eternity, and before a God that they did not believe in nor followed.

Job asked the question, “If a man dies will he live again?” The answer is yes. Not here. Not as reincarnation. But the image of God that we are made in is a everlasting soul that transcends death. The body can die, but the soul won’t. All that a person is, continues on. So choosing death, doesn’t end things. It may elude capture by the police and it may escape a long prison sentence, but it never escapes God. Once a person has crossed over into the eternal side of things, there are no more options. Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

The jailer in Acts 16, drew his sword and was ready to take his life, when the apostle Paul told him that all the prisoners were still there. He then preached Christ to him. Not only was a life saved from death, but a life was saved by Christ. The jailer became a Christian.

Wrong choices often leads to one last final wrong choice, suicide. It is especially troubling to hear of young people choosing suicide. When my kids were in high school, a friend of a friend of theirs drop by one day to show one of my sons how to play drums. He was a friendly kid. He was in a band. I met him and to this day remember his name. He took his life. That was shocking to our family. There was a man years ago who was married to one of our members. I talked with him once about God. He claimed he was an agnostic. They had serious financial problems. She called early one morning. I arrived about the time the police did. I headed to the basement, the police right behind me. I turned the corner and nearly ran into his hanging body. That image haunted me for a long time.

I’m not an expert in this area and won’t pretend to be. There are some things that ought to be put on the table before the family.

• Suicide isn’t an option. Be blunt and plain talking about that.
• Problems can be dealt with one by one.
• With God we can overcome.
• Broken hearts and bullied are very real to young people. Parents need to be involved. Recognize what is going on in the lives and hearts of their children.
• Get professional help. It’s better to do that than to have to sit down with the funeral director.
• Pray. Pray. Pray.
• If necessary, make drastic changes. You may have to switch schools. You may have to move to a different community. You may have to switch congregations. But do what you have to.
• Drugs and alcohol are a quick path to a dead end street, including suicide. Know who your kids are texting and are friends with, where they are going and what they are doing.

There is another aspect that we need to mention. When a family has suffered the pain of a suicide, be helpful to them. Don’t be noisy. Don’t ask dumb things such as: “Did they leave a note?” Or, “Did you see this coming?” Or, even worse, “How did they do it?” Think about these families. They are hurting. They are trying to understand why? They are embarrassed and ashamed. Your inappropriate questions only deepens the pain. Instead of helping, you hurt. It is these kinds of questions that make some families shy away from the very people who ought to help them, the people of God. They don’t come to services, not because they do not believe, but they fear all the personal and private interrogations that they receive when they walk through the doors. The answers to those questions do not change the situation. It does not bring the person back. It only satisfies your curious mind which often leads you to telling others what you found out. Don’t do that. Take some food and sit on the couch with them and let them know that you care. Ask if you can take care of house work or yard work for a while. Bring groceries. Don’t stay long. Don’t talk much.

The greatest prevention to suicide is a strong faith in Christ. Knowing that God forgives and loves me even when He knows who I am and what I have done is powerful. Christ forgave Paul, who stood and watched the preacher Stephen being assassinated. The same Paul who ran down other Christians, men and women, and had them brought to Jewish authorities. Who knows how many of those early believers were executed because of Paul. He had blood on his hands and his heart. Yet, Christ forgave him. We need to preach that lesson. We need to believe that God will give each of us a second chance. It doesn’t matter how bad we were, God will forgive if we come to Him, believe Him and obey Him.

We have but one life. It’s precious. We need to use it for the glory of God. Problems come and problems go, but it’s that one and only life that we have that we must treasure and use rightly. Death isn’t the end. There is never a “The End,” to our story. What death does end is our options. Our options to be right with God. Our options to work through and find solutions to our problems. Our options to turn things around. Death seals our fate.

Parents, get talking to your kids. Be on their side. Make your home an environment that even when they have sinned and messed up, they are loved and helped. Preach Christ.

Roger