Jump Start # 3784

Matthew 5:45 “So that you may be sons of your Father who is in Heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”

We were off to the symphony the other evening to hear Stravinsky’s Firebird. I admit that sometimes when I attend I do not focus so much on the music as I do people watch. We had in the previous two concerts that we attended an old guy sitting next to me who cough so hard, I thought his lung was coming out. It really irritated the guy sitting in front of him and he gave him some stern words as the show was over. But, this time, the cougher wasn’t sitting next to me. As the show was about to begin, two twenty-something females came in about five rows in front of us. One was wearing a strap thing which you could see most of her bare back, but she had a shawl which covered her. I could see that she had a series of sentences tattooed across her back. All I could make out was “I want…” During the intermission, they stepped out and I could read the last sentence tattooed on her back. It read,  “I want sin.” I had to look again because I thought I must of misread that. But, no. There it was, “I want sin.”

I don’t know if this was her bucket list tattooed on her, or, what the intention was, but it speaks volumes. I want sin, what a sad, sad thing to mark your body with and worse, to live that way in life. Carefree. Indifferent. Godless. Clueless. Happy as one can try to be, but blind to the realities of God and His word.

Some thoughts:

First, the Bible declares that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Wanting sin is easy to accomplish. You won’t meet an adult today who has not tasted the bitter fruit of sin. We all have. From the best among us, to the worst among us, we all have sinned. Our sin is what has separated us from God. God doesn’t move, we do. And, when following sin, we move further and further away from God.

Why would anyone want that? It must come from a soul that does not believe in it’s Creator. It comes from one who wants to do what they want. It comes from one who does not realize that they are headed rapidly to a judgment with the God they did not believe existed.

As the music played in our concert, I kept thinking about what I would say to such a person if we could sit across a table and have a conversation. Where to begin? And, as the thoughts were swirling around I landed on the idea that “God really loves you.” Maybe she had a bad experience with religion. Maybe she had some horrific things happen to her when she was a child. Maybe life hasn’t worked out the way she planned. But God has been there and there has been blessings from Heaven upon her, as Jesus said in our verse today. God’s rain and God’s sunshine aren’t just for the righteous. But the wicked and the evil benefit from God even though they do not believe in Him.

Second, rather than tattooing your back with “I want…,” I want…,” “I want.” How much better to pursue, God wants. What I want most times leads straight into sin. It’s when I follow what He wants that righteousness, peace and goodness follows. And, just what happens when a “I want,” person doesn’t get what they want? Most times, they’ll get angry, upset and feel cheated.

We know that the first step into discipleship is to deny yourself (Luke 9:23). When people start demanding in church, “I want…,” “I want…, “ “I want,” it won’t be long before they leave. The church isn’t arranged to satisfy all of your wants. The church is not a democracy. The church is to be the bride of Christ. We are to honor the Lord. Selfish Christians don’t do well in a fellowship. Selfish Christians do not do well in submitting to one another. Selfish Christians don’t do well with the Bible. Selfish Christians won’t do well with the Lord.

Third, as I write this on a Monday morning, tears are in my eyes. I just got off the phone with the wife of one of our members. He was with us in worship yesterday. He died in his sleep. Sweet, kind and just a good heart was Max. He loved the Lord. He came to us after the pandemic shutdowns. His church didn’t have any services and had nothing on line. He found us on the internet. He started watching. He showed up one Sunday morning. He didn’t know anyone. He and I struck a bond. We got together and studied. I baptized him. He was loved by our church family. Well dressed and always with a smile on his face. Because of him, a few others came. We had a lengthy Lord’s Supper talk yesterday and then I preached. As he left, Max whispered to me, “We had two sermons this morning, but I liked yours the best.” And, now, Max is on the other side.

I wonder what the “I want sin” girl would have to say about all that? I know what God says, “Well done, good and faithful…enter into the joy of your Master.”

The concert ended and as I was leaving I saw the man who coughs. He was several rows behind us. Lessons all around us, if we will open our eyes and look. By the way, Firebird is an amazing piece to listen to.

Roger