02

Jump Start # 1487

Posted on December 2, 2015 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 1487

Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”

  Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer was on last night. I sat and watched it. I watched it by myself. I have seen that so many times I can quote the lines. But last night I saw something for the first time. I saw a parallel to the church today. It was the island of misfit toys. Those goofy toys that no children loved. A train with square wheels. A squirt gun that shot jelly. A bird that couldn’t fly but swam instead. A Charlie in the box. Misfits. Unwanted. Unloved. Banned to the island of misfits. Like lepers long ago, the only thing that they had in common were that they were all misfits.

 

There are times that some in the church feel like those misfit toys. They feel unwanted and even unloved. They are not invited into homes. They are not included by others. The misfits are the ones that are ignored, stared at and if folks could have their way, they would be banned to the isle of misfit Christians. Some wish that “those people” would go to another congregation. Often they do. They leave feeling unloved and unwelcomed. When they leave, the rest feel a sense of relief. “Yeah, they are gone,” is a common thought.

 

The “misfits” feel the unwelcome message that others are sending. They are not wanted because they are not “normal” like the rest. They have had a baby out of wedlock. They have been divorced. They continue to struggle with the bottle. They can’t find a job. They seem to be just a step away from being evicted. They never finished school. They have a past. Some have criminal records. They don’t shop at the malls, but rather at Goodwill. They may seem to be high maintenance. They need a ride to services. They need some rent money. They need to talk to someone, all the time. They respond often to the invitation and are confessing failures on a regular basis. They are just not like the rest of us (oh, we think that way). Misfits.

 

Have you noticed how many times Jesus visited the island of misfits? The Samaritan woman had been married multiple times and was with someone that she currently wasn’t married to. Little Zacchaeus up in the tree was a social outcast. There was a woman caught in adultery. There were lepers. Even among the apostles, there was Matthew, a tax collector. Jesus was with the misfits so often, that the Pharisees charged, “This man receives sinners and eats with them” (Lk 15:1). Jesus was the hero of the misfits. He came to save all mankind, even those who were misfits. I made the comment recently in a sermon, that in a large audience, it is very, very likely that there would be some that we would not invite to our home. We don’t know them well. We have little in common with them. Truth be told, we may not even like some. Yet, God is inviting each and all of us into His home. God is better than we are.

 

Our verse today reminds us that all of us have sinned. All of us have a past. All of us are misfits to the Lord. Instead of being cast to the island of misfits, God sends Jesus to save us. This passage reminds us that we have many things in common with everyone else.

 

We all have sinned. There is no one who can rise up and say that he hasn’t, other than Jesus. We are all broken. We have all disappointed God. We all have sinned. We might think, ‘my sin wasn’t as bad as your sin,’ but really, are we going there? We are in the same boat. It doesn’t matter.

 

We all need Jesus. All of us. The guy who is successful needs Jesus just as much as the one who is a constant failure. We all need Jesus. We all need Jesus all the time. We never get to the point where we don’t need Jesus. We never get so advanced that we “out grow” our need for Jesus. Never. Some may seem to need Jesus more than others, but that’s just an outward observation. We all need Jesus deeply.

 

We all have a future with God. God hasn’t given up on any of us. Although we may think some do not fit in with the rest of us, God doesn’t think that way. Jesus gave the adulterous woman another chance. Jesus gave Zacchaeus another chance. Jesus gives you another chance.

 

We all must be careful with our attitudes and judgmental spirits. Pointing fingers isn’t nice, nor is it the nature of Christians. Avoiding some, ignoring some, playing favorites is what the world does. The church must do better. That misfit person who is always asking the odd question in a Bible class may have a greater faith and be closer to the Lord than I am. Our smug attitudes and self righteous spirits may be the very thing that sickens the Lord. If there were such a thing as an island for misfits, we might be surprised that we would be the one exiled there. We, who believe that we have all the answers. We, who have all of our ducks lined up, nice and pretty. We, who are always on time. We, who are always there. We, who are dressed so proper. It may be we who are the true spiritual misfits and who are lacking that simple, child-like faith in the Lord.

 

The church, our fellowship, ought to be a haven where all are welcomed and loved. Some come bruised and beat up on the insides. They need help. They need to be loved. And in their innocent faith they may be the very ones that help the rest of us. They remind us of who Jesus loved. They remind us of who Jesus spent time with. They remind us of those that trusted Jesus, purely and openly. They remind us of what we ought to be like.

 

Misfits—that word should never be used within the fellowship of God’s people. The world loves that word. The world loves to ignore certain ones. The magazines, the billboards, the movies are full of beautiful people that are dressed sharp. What if you are not like that? What if you have crooked teeth? What if you have big ears? What if you can’t afford to dress sharply? What then? The world laughs at you. The world puts you down. The world makes you feel inferior. The world is vain, selfish and lacking Christ.

 

The church shouldn’t be like that. It may be that some among us ought to ask God to forgive us for the way we have treated others. It may be that we need to start opening our hearts and our homes to all those who confess Christ as the Lord. It may be that we stop trying to make some “normal” and appreciate their love for the Lord. It may be that we recognize that we may be the true misfits.

 

There was a sign on church that read, “God loves you and we are trying our best!” Maybe we can try a bit harder. Maybe we can show it a bit more.

Oh, I love Rudolph. What a great lesson. I wonder what I can learn from Frosty the snow man?

Roger

 

 

 

01

Jump Start # 1486

Posted on December 1, 2015 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 1486

2 Timothy 4:13 “When you come bring the cloak which I left at Troas with Carpus, and the books, especially the parchments.”

  Our verse today comes from the last few things the apostle Paul wrote in the Bible. He was an old man by this time. He was in Rome awaiting his next trial. He had already been in prison but was granted a short release. He knows this time there is no getting out. “The time of my departure is at hand,” is what was awaiting him. Roman prisons were dark, damp and cold. While awaiting what was to come, Paul asked Timothy to bring him some things. Later in the chapter, he urges Timothy to “come before winter.” When winter sets in, travel was difficult and Timothy wouldn’t be able to journey. Paul’s time was short. He needed these three items.

 

  • Paul wanted his cloak. He was cold. This would bring him some external comfort.

 

  • Paul wanted his books. Paul wanted to read and study, even to the very end. Those of us that are book lovers want to know what those books were. These books would bring him some internal comfort. The nature of Paul leads us to believe that these books were something spiritual. I doubt Paul was wanting novels to kill the time. Were these books Paul had written? Were these books written by the other apostles? No one knows.

 

The need for books shows us that Paul, being inspired by the Holy Spirit, still needed to feed his soul, grow his faith and be encouraged. Like us, books, good books, help serve that purpose. No book takes the place of the Bible. We can read all kinds of books about the Bible, and read all kinds of thoughts about the Bible, but in the end, we need to open God’s word. What God says and the way in which He says it always is superior to what man thinks or says.

 

There is a wonderful place for books in our lives. Many today are not opening books anymore. Statistics reveal that high percentages of college grads do not read much after graduation. We’ve become a very visual society. Show me a video has replaced reading something. The child of God knows and understands the great value of reading. Faith is fed by reading the word of God. There are so many wonderful tools that can help us in the journey to learn the Bible more. Books about the Bible make wonderful gifts to give.  Do I have to have these to go to Heaven? No. Can I know God’s word without them? Yes. But the more I know, the more I study, the greater my understanding will be.

 

One tool that has shaped the American landscape for God’s people for generations is religious magazines. Much of what we have learned about our history has come from these old papers. There was a time when literally dozens of religious papers were being published. It was a mark of most preachers back in the 1800’s to be an editor of his own paper. The powerful ones, such as the Christian Baptist, helped open the eyes of many people and led a movement back to the New Testament pattern for worship and organization. There were many papers that had unique names such as the “Heretic Detector,” or, “The Christian Casket.” With most of those papers, as the editor aged or died, so did the paper. Financial troubles caused many of the papers to cease. Some merged. There is one still being published that is over 150 years old. Word came recently, of the ending of another paper, Biblical Insights. It’s fifteen year run is now wrapping up for good. It was a delightful paper and filled with good teaching tools. It remained true to it’s name, Biblical Insights. I knew all the editors, from the first issue to the last. I had written for it some. I hate to see it close but the times have changed. It’s expensive to publish these days. Folks don’t read papers like they once did. Blogs, such as Jump Starts, have become the way of writing in our times. It’s sad. I thank the Lord for the good that it did. Well done, brothers!

Bring me my books. Great thought.

 

  • Especially bring the parchments. Parchments is what people wrote letters on. It would be the same as bringing the stationary or paper and envelopes. Paul had some writing to do. I expect he wasn’t writing his will as much as he was writing one final time to people to encourage them. Our journey is always a struggle. There are always someone to encourage. There are always questions to be answered. There are always things to further teach people. Paul needed some paper because he had some things to write.

 

These three items, his cloak, his books and his parchments, show us what Paul was thinking as he approached the end of his time here. He was wanting to fill his mind and his heart and help others to the very end. He wasn’t going to stop until the Lord stopped him. What a tribute to Paul and what an example for us. How many get to a point and they are finished. No more. Already did that in the past. Not Paul. Sure there were people like Timothy and Titus to come on the scene, but Paul wasn’t finished. He wasn’t done until he was done. Some of our older folks need to take this to heart. You may not be able to stand up and teach a whole quarter of classes any more. You may not be able to preach a Sunday sermon anymore, but can you get out some paper and encourage someone? Can you use your experiences and your wisdom to help out a new Christian? Don’t be done until you are done! It’s sad to see all those years of experience going untapped in a congregation. The younger ones’ coming on need to appreciate and spend an afternoon with the older ones. They’d learn a few things if they did. Younger preachers need to spend some time with older preachers. They need to just listen and take in what those voices of the past have to say.

 

Bring me the cloak, the books and the parchments. Makes a person wonder what they would want in their final days? I sure hope it’s not the TV remote. Bring me the Bible. Bring me the books. Bring me some paper. There are things to be done and we need to be set to do them.

Give these some thoughts.

 

Roger