STICK-TO-IT-IVNESS REQUIRED

STICK-TO-IT-IVNESS REQUIRED

Job 5:7   Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.

WHAT IS OUR part in GOD’S plan?

IS STICK-TO-IT-IVNESS PART OD WHO YOU ARE?

DID JESUS EVER SAY FOLLOWING HIM WOULD BE EASY?

DOES YOUR LIFE PRESENT A SUGAR COATED THE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPEL?

Dear reader, please don’t let your familiarity with these verses and concepts distract you from this message about them.

STICK TO IT IVNESS!!! The following verses are not a promise of instant answer, instant gratification. Faith grows by testing. God answers prayer in 3 ways, Yes, No, and Wait.

Matt. 7:7   “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.

8   For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. [NLT]

What stands out here are the 3 verbs, the action words, ASK, SEEK, and KNOCK. These are not passive words; they require us to actually do something. The NLT translation makes the point even stronger by preceding the words with “keep on.” Not all of God’s blessings come floating down from heaven or handed to us on silver platters. We have to do something, we have to take the steps Holy Spirit leads and it all takes the grace of God.

Further down in Matt. 7 Jesus drivers the point from a different angle

Matt. 7:13   “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way.

14   But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it. [NLT] 

The people of God have great love, and it motivates us to act, but there is another side to the equation.

Galatians 5:6   For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor un-circumcision avails anything, but faith working through love. [NKJV]

We’re not on the Love Boat, hanging out on deck and enjoying the cruise; we’re on a warship battling the forces of darkness and experiencing the victories because we are co-laborers with Christ. The Word is full of great and precious promises but almost all are conditional. We have a part in His plan that requires faithful obedience to meet those conditions. Thank God it is not by our own capabilities that we meet those conditions but the grace and capabilities He works into the fabric of our being.

DON’T SUGAR COAT THE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPEL.

What do unbelievers see when they look at you? Your life speaks more than your words.

None of us are perfect yet, nor will we be, until the rapture or we pass from death to life. But that is not an excuse for lack of trading those imperfections for God’s character. As He exposes our imperfections to us He simultaneously shows us some aspect of His character giving us the opportunity to make a choice. Do you want your junk or His greatness? Here is the challenge,

Philippians 3:17   Brothers and sisters, together follow my example and observe those who live by the pattern we gave you. [Amp.]

The provocation to make this point was the last 2 verses we read, Matt 7:13 & 14. Look at them again. That phrase at the end of verse 14 ("and only a few ever find it") breaks my heart and I am sure the Father’s too, we want to see everyone find, and get on, this narrow road.

What is filling some Churches? I am not inferring that every growing church, or mega-church is like this but I suspect there is considerable soft peddling, many “Love Boat” presentations of the Gospel. Are people being fed a line that if they come to Jesus everything is sweet and rosy? I am sure people who really know any of the Christians I am in fellowship with see that our lives are not trouble free. Do those outside those circles consistently see us getting thru the trials with grace and often miraculous blessings along the way?

Let me give you an example. My oldest daughter is the Clinical Director at Peniel, a Christ based drug and Alcohol rehab program in Johnstown, PA. My wife and I recently drove up there to visit her and I met with the Pastor of the church affiliated with program. I asked him about the percentage of graduates of the program still free after 5 years. He said they are still about 70%. It’s not an easy path to get thru that program; it’s a tough 13 months of getting set free and prepared for life. “The gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult.” Shorter, easier, programs, that are not Christ based, are usually at 5%, 15-20% at best.

Matt. 7:14 is so short, sweet and to the point. I fear that just as there many addicts on the street who have been thru short term secular programs, some of them repeatedly, there are vast multitudes that are lost but, for many reasons, may be sitting in church pews. Worse yet is that because their lives do not portray Jesus, so many are not getting opportunity to see Jesus through His people. 

Coney Island Light House

I grew up in Sea Gate, a small peninsula on on the western tip of Coney Island, at the entrance to NY harbor. Our lighthouse is an important landmark for ships coming to port. The consequences for its lamp getting very dirty or broken could be catastrophic. It’s automated now but for over 100 years the keeper tended it carefully. Jesus calls us the light of the world. We must STICK TO IT IVLY keep our hearts clean, focused on the task of pointing souls to Jesus. I encourage believers to do a little soul searching and figure out it others are see Jesus in your life – they are watching.