Days Journey

I heard that cowboy dave isn’t a cowboy at all and he’s from somewhere in Illinois? …but masquerading as a native texan, missing work and going to Texas Rangers games? Tell me it’s not so!

This past week I had the honor of preaching my grandmother’s funeral service. Make no mistake about it, there were plenty of tears. We will miss her very much. However, there are few things in life I’ve desired as much as the privilege of preaching her funeral. Sound odd? Yeh . . . maybe a little bit. But, let me explain. My grandmother was everything you’d want and expect a grandmother to be. She was very hospitable. Her cooking was simple, but excellent. To this day I’m chided about having consumed the last of her green beans from her garden a number of years ago. Yes. Her green beans. They were that good. She was unpretentious, honest, loving, treated everyone as equals, and well . . . you get the picture. But, the key thing about my grandma that I keyed in on in the message was that she lived everyday of her 102.5 years with purpose.

As I reflected on the significance of that, it occurred to me that people attempt to answer the fundamental question of life “Why am I here?” in different ways. Some people effectively avoid the question most of their life. However, the stark reality of our mortality comes into full view when we’re at someone’s funeral or perhaps the emergency room. Perhaps a larger group of people seek to fulfill purpose (value, dignity, self-worth) by means of self-fulfillment. They are in a constant pursuit of things, power, or pleasure. The problem with this is that they are often more temporal than we are. The pursuit of these things is an endless cycle that results in futility. The last group I could think of was the group of people who consider themselves to be worthless. Attitudes and actions in their lives reveal that they don’t believe they have any purpose or value in life. Habits and addictions of various kinds destroy every facet of their lives. Some ultimately result to suicide.

My grandmother however, never seemed to fit any of these categories. When she moved to an assisted care center after her 100th birthday, she would occasionally say, “I don’t know why the Lord still has me here. But, I think it’s so I can share the gospel with people here (at this facility.)” I was certain this was the case. Her purpose was to live her faith by sharing her faith with a hope and conviction that this life was not the end.

The author of Hebrews writes to his audience with the understanding that some of his readers are tempted to abandon fellowship with other Christians and return to the temple with the priests, sacrifices, and rituals of the Mosaic Law due to persecution. The author however, encourages them to stay with it despite the potential consequences. His reason is that there is nothing to go back to. All of it was temporal in and of itself and only served to foreshadow what God would accomplish through Jesus Christ, God’s Son. Through Him, our purpose is on that which is eternal and perfect, not limited and temporal. In chapter 12 he says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses,¹ we must get rid of every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and run with endurance the race set out for us, 12:2 keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set out for him he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.² 12:3 Think of him who endured such opposition against himself by sinners, so that you may not grow weary in your souls and give up.” (NET Bible, www.bible.org)

The author had just listed a number of the heroes of the faith and argued that what they had done to be pleasing to God was to obey His word. And so he concludes that in light of all these people who have obeyed God by faith, we must do the same by obeying God’s word about His Son Jesus by faith. Salvation (justification) may come in the instant you believe the good news of Jesus Christ (See 1 Corinthians 15:1-11). However, true and satisfying purpose in living comes through a daily “fixing our eyes on Jesus Christ” and running this race with endurance. Get rid of those things that detract us and wear us down.

This was what my grandma did. All of the other good things about her flowed out from this single purpose in her life.  She was the “witness” that ran this race extremely well and her legacy is the testimony that continues to speak even after her death “Fix your eyes on Jesus and keep running.” -Amen

A few years ago I started eating some pre-packaged meals that I thought were good for me. But, one day a friend made a passing comment about the amount of sodium in those meals. I had not thought about checking out the nutritional content of the meal. It appeared appetizing, it tasted good, the name suggested “healthy.” I had made some assumptions without whether or not the content of this meal would really help facilitate good health.

Upon examining the nutritional contents, I discovered that the meal (not a large portion) contained 50% of the recommended daily allowance of sodium and more grams of fat than I really needed.  There was no continuity between what the name suggested and the reality of what was inside.

Unfortunately, we sometimes see a similar problem within the Christian faith.  The Apostle John writes in his first of three letters:

“3:1 (See what sort of love the Father has given to us: that we should be called God’s children – and indeed we are! For this reason the world does not know us: because it did not know him. 3:2 whenever Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that it is revealed we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is. 3:3 And everyone who has this hope focused on him purifies himself, just as Jesus is pure).” (1 John 3:1-3, NET Bible, www.bible.org)

Notice the “label” God’s children that is given to those who are in Christ. That is a pretty serious label. If you think about it, what higher calling is there? If we’re not careful, we can fall into the prideful thought that some other criteria (denomination, church involvement, etc.) makes us a better kind of Christian. But, that kind of reasoning has no Biblical foundation. Rather, the text in view emphasizes that the label of being God’s children is a demonstration of God’s amazing love for us.

But, the text doesn’t just say this to make us feel good about ourselves. It serves to inspire our attitude and to motivate our actions. It challenges us to question whether or not the label we wear is consistent with the contents.  I believe that one of the “contents” John suggests is necessary is “faith.” This is evident by the fact that while we are now called God’s children, we have not yet arrived at the complete transformation into what God will make of us. That will come in the resurrection. John’s words indicate that he understands that his readers have faith that they will really be raised from the dead and transformed into a “pure” state.

Just in case someone might think, “Well, if I’m going to be made pure in the resurrection, I can live however I want right now” John says that “everyone who has this hope focused on him purifies himself, just a Jesus is pure.” (3:3) His point is think about how God has loved you and will fulfill his promise to you in giving you eternal life. Let this motivate you to honor Him by seeking to live a pure life.  Let the contents be consistent with the label.

May the Lord help us cooperate with His Spirit in putting to death the deeds of the flesh.  Amen.

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