Jump Start # 2071

Titus 3:3 “For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.”

Our passage today is an honest look into not only an apostle’s past, but ours as well. We’ve all been there. This is why we came to Christ. The words are powerful: disobedient, deceived, enslaved.

Here are some thoughts:

First, most of us have similar pasts when it comes to sin. We’ve been there. We’ve done it. Disobedient, deceived and enslaved. The magnitude, depth and consequences of these sins may vary among us, but we all pretty much can check off these big three: disobedient, deceived and enslaved.

Second, most of us were spending our life in these things. This was our world. Hateful and hating one another sums up why so many are negative, jealous and stuck on a cycle of bad behavior. Spending our life, what an honest statement. In Colossians, the expression is “living in them.” This is life without Christ. The picture isn’t pretty. The results are not healthy nor helpful. For some, this is the entirety of their life. I was watching a documentary about crime boss Al Capone the other day. There was a scene from his funeral. His large casket was being carried out to be placed in the hearse. A large cross was on the top of his casket. A cross? Jesus and Capone don’t belong in the same sentence. He lived his life and it wasn’t being spiritual.

Third, change is possible. That’s the point Paul is using here. We were just like you. We were a mess. We were living in these sins. We were disobedient, deceived and enslaved. Yet, they broke free from the enslavement. They learned the truth. They became obedient. How? Jesus Christ. They learned the Gospel, believed it and became followers of Jesus. The following verses in Titus report that they were justified by His grace, saved by His mercy and washed by the Holy Spirit. A person can change. It’s never too late as long as there is breath in the body.

Fourth, because we all have a similar past, we can understand, relate and help others. Our specific sins may differ, but disobedience, enslavement and deception are all pretty much standard. What helped you? What turned you around? What opened your eyes? How did you get out of the ditch of sin? Share that with others. Let them know that you understand where they are. Let them know that they can turn. Life can get better. God made us for better things.

Fifth, this honesty is helpful in our fellowship. We tend to think, especially on a Sunday morning, that everyone gathered is perfect. Everyone that is except us. They all have fantastic marriages. The teens always listen to their parents. Everyone is reading the Bible every night. No one yells at each other. Just perfect people. We tend to believe that everyone came from perfect homes. That all of us were taken to Bible classes as children. We all held hands and smiled at one another. Not true. If anything, we held hands and stuck our tongues out at each other. Our elders were once disobedient? Our preacher once was deceived? The Bible class teacher was hooked and enslaved to sin? And, even more honest, each of us still has our battles and struggles today. The fight isn’t over. Satan isn’t done with us. We have moments that we are not proud of. There are times we still are deceived and disobedient. If that wasn’t the case, then we’d never sin again. First John takes care of that. If we say we have no sin, we lie. There are thoughts that are not the best. There are words said that shouldn’t be said. There are times the past comes becomes our present. However, through Christ, we seek forgiveness, change and growth. We are not perfect people and the church is not a perfect church. However, we do follow the perfect Jesus. He is what makes us our best.

It’s easy for some to think that they are the only one in the entire church building who struggles. They struggle with doubt. Each week it’s a battle, do I go to worship or not? They struggle with sin. They struggle with attitudes. They have a hard time loving some and forgiving those who have hurt them. They look around at all the people in the church building and feel like they are an embarrassment to everyone else. They feel like they are letting everyone else down. They believe they are the only one who is not getting it. Those thoughts magnify the reasons not to come. “I’m not like the rest that go there,” is how they feel. But truth be known, they are just like the rest. There are days when even the preacher doesn’t feel like preaching. But it’s expected and he does it, realizing that he needs the message more than anyone else.

Honesty in our fellowship doesn’t hurt us nor hinder us, it actually helps us. We all need Jesus. We all are a work in progress. We all need each other. Putting on masks, and denying the truth about ourselves only makes things worse. This breeds hypocrisy and keeping up an image rather than dealing with reality. This is why “going forward,” has been so misused and misunderstood. We should welcome and want to pray for one another. However, when some brave soul walks down the aisle on Sunday morning, immediately folks start thinking, “I wonder what he did wrong?” We’ve turned it into a walk of shame rather than a powerful and helpful force of help. Others ought to get up and walk with the person. Others ought to say, “We’re here for you.” The person who seeks prayers feels so ashamed and so unlike everyone else. “No one else is walking down to the front,” I must be the only terrible person here. That’s not stated, but it certainly can feel that way.

Honesty in our fellowship changes that. We’re all in this together. We all need each other. We all need Jesus. There is nothing to be ashamed about. That atmosphere can be created, enhanced and supported by how we view ourselves and others.

For we were once, Paul said. He didn’t forget. Even though forgiven, he didn’t forget. He knew where he came from and he knew that it was God’s grace that has taken him to where he was. Have you forgotten where you came from? Peter said concerning the virtues that he wrote about, “He who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.”

For we were once…

Roger

Jump Start # 1600

Titus 3:3 “For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.”

  Today marks another huge milestone for our Jump Starts. We have reached number 1600, which means there has been 1600 Jump Starts or articles. Unbelievable. This little journey started six years ago as a way to try to encourage the congregation I worship with. It has now exploded world wide. Our readership is at an all time high with just about 1250 subscribers and who knows how many others that are getting them from friends. We just published our 16th Jump Start book on preachers and preaching. I run into readers all the time now. It is remarkable how God has used something so simple to help touch the hearts of so many people. I have people now telling me, “You can never stop writing Jump Starts.” That’s encouraging, but we know someday this train ride will end. My dear friend Jim, who is now on the other side of life, would be calling me today if he was still with us. He’d ask me if there was still anything in the well to draw from. I’ll miss his call today.

Thank you for reading these. Thank you for sharing these with others. Thank you for the kind emails. I save every one. I have a folder full of them. Thank you, Lord, for using this simple morning exercise to encourage others.

Our verse today reminds us of the good that comes from God’s word. Sometimes we forget where we came from. Sometimes we are embarrassed of what we used to be like. God has changed us through His gospel. It’s not that we are simply going to church on Sundays, we are different. There has been a rewiring in our thinking and on the insides. Our natures have changed.

This is thought that is being discounted by progressives today. They want a person to embrace what they are and to believe that they cannot change. Instead of changing, they want everyone else to accept them as they are. Some in this camp, go so far as believing that a person is incapable of changing. So we have men dressing like women. We have foul mouths. We have hatred, prejudice and anger. That’s just the way we are, doesn’t cut it and this verse disproves it.

Look at this verse. It begins with, “for we also once were…” The “we also,” included the writer, Paul. The list includes foolish, disobedient, enslaved to various lusts, hating others. They weren’t nice people. We wouldn’t want them as neighbors. If you were “in” with them, it was great. But if you weren’t “in” then you were really “out.” They wouldn’t have anything to do with you. Hating others and enslaved to various lusts are two destructive behaviors and attitudes that separate and hurt others. We were. They are not now. Once, but changed.

The next verse begins, “But when the kindness of God our Savior and the love for mankind appeared…” They were saved. They were changed. They no longer thought that way. They learned not to hate others. They walked away from the lusts that enslaved them. They changed. God was patient with them and forgave them.

This one powerful verse reminds us of two central truths in the Bible.

First, we all have a past. We all have a story. We all have hurt others. We all have done wrong. We all are sinners. Some Christians seem to forget this. They act as if they have always been saints. Not true. They act as if they never crossed the line with God. They did. Maybe remembering where we came from would allow us to help others and make us stop pointing our fingers so much. The church has had a long history of judging others. There is a place for judging. God does not condemn all judging. But too often it is done to put others down and to make ourselves stand taller. “For we also once were…” Did you forget?

Second, we changed. It wasn’t on our own that we changed. It was through the kindness of God. This change wasn’t easy. Look again at some of these words. We were “deceived.” We thought we were right, but we weren’t. That’s hard to deal with. The light bulb comes on in your head and you realize that what you thought was right, wasn’t. You realize that you believed a lie. You were misled. You were deceived.

Paul also states, “spending our life in malice and envy.” This wasn’t a one time slip into wrong. They were spending their lives there. This was their life. Hatred raced through their veins. They hated Christ. They hated Christians. They hated the Gospel. But they changed. They no longer hated. They learned the truth. They obeyed the truth. They loved the truth.

Even after they changed, all these years later, Paul never forgot. He was forgiven, but there were scars. These scars allowed him to help others. It allowed him to understand others. One perception that outsiders have of Christians is that we are all perfect. We never make a mistake. We have always been perfect. Wrong. We stood exactly where this verse is. Each of us has a “for we also once were…” It may help others for you to tell them your story. How did you leave hatred and become kind, generous and loving? How did you get away from those lusts that you were enslaved to? Was it hard? Was it smooth? Did you stumble? This is not a “I’m better than you are,” situation. It’s a “I’ve been where you are. I know what it’s like. I’m a follower of Christ today. He changed my life.”

Financial expert Dave Ramsey does this everyday on the radio. He tells listeners that he was broke. He made big mistakes. He learned. He shares his financial story with all who will listen. You have your own story. It’s not financial, it’s spiritual. It may have been a moral mess. It may have been years spent in hatred and prejudice. It may have been foolishly following others. It may have been how deceived you were in false religions. But through the kindness of God, you changed. You are not like that today.

A person can change. There is hope. Instead of accepting sin, and believing that’s just the way I am, a person can become obedient to Christ and leave the wilderness of selfishness and deception.

Amazing Grace…I once was lost, but now I’m found. That’s the Gospel message. That’s your story. That’s my story. It’s not about us. It’s about the amazing God who loves us and never gave up on us. Where would we be today had it not been for the kindness of God? How many marriages would we have destroyed by now? How many years left on our prison sentence? How addicted would we be to some substance? Would we even be alive, had God not saved us? It takes effort on your part. It takes an honest and good heart. It takes a willingness to come back home as the prodigal did. He got up and he came. The father didn’t come out to the pig pen. We must get up and head home.

I once was, but now I’m not. People change. Allow that to happen. Don’t pour concrete around the past. Don’t give up on people. God didn’t. He took a hateful man and through change, allowed him to become an apostle.

God is good. He treats us better than we deserve.

Roger

Jump Start # 936

Titus 3:3 “For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.”

This week we have been looking at some of the unpleasant and even wrong emotions that we have to deal with. Emotions such as anger, jealousy and guilt. These often get the best of us. They are so regular in our life that they can seem normal. We even have a game on our phones called, “Angry birds.” It’s not just birds, it’s ANGRY birds. I’m just waiting for someone at church to start leading the song, “Angry Birds…” instead of “Angry Words.” Our verse today reveals yet another emotion that is often found within our hearts. I wish there weren’t so many of these, but there are. I find this laundry list of “bad thinking” more than an interesting and technical study but a reality check. These are the things that we face. These are the things we must fight, control and conquer through Jesus. We can appear so sweet and pleasant at times and then become so mean and ugly at other times. All of this reminds us that we are a work in progress. The work is not finished. God is not done with us.

Our passage reminds us that we all have a past, even the apostle that wrote these words. Our past can trip us and keep us from excelling as we ought to. Our past can rise up and some days it seems that our past isn’t really past at all.

I want to give special notice to the final words in this verse. Paul said that we, including himself, was hateful and hating one another. Hate. Hatred. That cursed feeling toward others ruins relationships and keeps us at a distance with others.

Paul, as a Jew, had a long list of those that he would have hated. Jews hated Gentiles. Jews hated Samaritans. Jews hated Christians. Jews hated Romans. Jews hated tax collectors. Jews, sometimes, even hated other Jews, especially those who were not of the same group. Many Jews grew up learning to hate. Many of us have done the same. Some hate “foreigners.” Some hate those of a different race. Some in the middle of the country hate those who live on either coast. Those on the coast hate those in the middle. Republicans hate democrats and democrats hate republicans. I went to Purdue University—we had strong feelings against Indiana University and especially Notre Dame. Dislike and hate are not the same level. I dislike seeing people throw trash out their car windows. That dislike would never lead me to doing anything mean to them. Hatred will go that far. Because of hatred, some have no limits what they could do to another person.

I have found that hatred can be taught. A child can grow up in a home with prejudice and evil speaking toward a group of people is as common as mashed potatoes. Unless there is some real effort, that child will become an adult with the same hatred. A lot of hatred is generic. It’s not toward a specific person, but toward a group of people. Often, hatred is not based upon anything personal, but something that they heard about. Hatred is often founded upon misinformation and ignorance. We don’t want to admit that, but that is the truth.

The Jews were comfortable with hating their enemies. Jesus referred to this in the sermon on the mount. There Jesus said to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Jesus, who died for all, has no room for hatred in His kingdom.

Even among those who follow Jesus, I have seen hatred. There is a hatred toward those who worship differently. Mean things are said about “those people.” Some would not go out of their way for “them.” Hatred does that. It builds walls, instead of bridges. It isolates instead of reaching out. Hatred uses words like “us” and “them.” The “us” is right. The “them” are wrong. Haters will not go out of their way for “them,” because they are not one of “us.”

I’ve also seen that hatred lives next door to fear. Being afraid of someone or something has led to hating them. You won’t find a hater praying for the one he hates. That doesn’t happen. You won’t find one with hatred going out of his way for the one he hates. Doesn’t happen.

Our verse reminds us that Paul and others once hated. Christ changed them. It is possible for a person who hates to stop hating. It is possible for someone who grew up in a home filled with hatred to overcome that and be the spirit that Jesus wants. It can happen. Paul and those with him are proof of that. Paul once hated. He stopped that. He no longer hated. He changed.

You start chipping away hatred when you realize that each of us are made in the image of God. All of us—black, white; American and all nations. It helps realizing that Jesus died for all, including the guy I hate. Jesus loved the guy I hate. Jesus wants the guy I hate to spend forever in Heaven. If Jesus wants that, what’s my problem?

Then you start thinking about all of this and it makes you realize that the hatred that you have held in your heart has not made you a better person. Your spouse never says, “I’m so glad you hate. It’s made you such a delightful person.” The church will never hold your hand up for hating others. No, hatred makes us miserable. It eats at us. Hatred makes us think dark thoughts that we shouldn’t have. Hatred nourishes the bad attitudes that leads to more trouble. Hatred doesn’t do any good at all.

Next, it starts coming to your mind that God may very well be more pleased with the guy you hate than He is with you, especially since you harbor hatred in your hearts. Hatred doesn’t make you more Christ like. It isn’t something that we admire in others. We don’t like to be on the receiving end of hatred. Christians are. Jesus said that would happen. People love darkness more than light. Christians are light—so it figures that we will be hated. We will be hunted down. We will be the made fun of. We will be tried and tested. We are hated, however we do not hate in return.

Then you start praying, really praying for the person that bothers you so much. You pray about that co-worker—not that a dump truck would pull out in front of him. No. You pray that he has a good day. You pray that he follows Jesus. You pray that God can use you to show him Jesus. You pray that you have better feelings toward him. You pray to see good in him. You pray and pray and pray. The more praying you are doing, the less hating you will be doing.

Will people still bug you? Of course. Will some people be rude? Yes. Will some co-workers continue to work the system and be lazy? Yes. Will some church members drive you batty? Certainly. Will your patience be tried? Yes. Will some push your buttons? Yes. Are there days that you feel like a one way vacation? Yes. With some, will you have to count to ten? With some, you may have to count to one hundred! Will you be hated by others? Yes. But, even with all of this, you do not HATE. You want the best for them. This is God’s way.

We can never be what God wants as long as hatred rules our hearts. This is easier for some than others. Still, it can be done.

We were once haters…been there. But not any more, thanks to Jesus. Be honest here. Do you need to do some heart surgery and remove some hatred? Get about it.

You’ll be glad once you’ve conquered this. Others will notice, especially God.

Roger