The 260 Journey

Day 71

Today’s Reading: John 3

There are a few chapters in our 260 Journey where you just pause, exhale, and know you are seeing beauty and majesty. John 3 is one of those chapters.

Plato said, “Whoever tells the stories shapes society.” Do we have a story to tell or what? We have the story—the gospel story. God’s story.

John 3:16 is God’s story stuffed into one verse. And Jesus tells it in twenty-five words—because that’s all He needed.

If we could choose one verse of the 31,102 verses of the Bible, this one verse sums up the gospel. The word gospel means Good News.

So here’s God’s story: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

This is the most wonderful sentence ever written. It begins with God, who has no beginning, and concludes with life that has no ending.

Let’s break down the verse:

God . . . the greatest lover
so loved . . . the greatest degree
the world . . . the greatest number
that He gave . . . the greatest act
His only begotten Son . . . the greatest gift
that whoever . . . the greatest invitation
believes . . . the greatest simplicity
in Him . . . the greatest person
shall not perish . . . the greatest deliverance

but . . . the greatest difference
have . . . the greatest certainty
everlasting life . . . the greatest possession

How did John 3:16 come to be? It was spoken to one man, Nicodemus, one night. (The original Nick at Night.)

Nicodemus was a religious man, and it seemed something was bothering him. Religion wasn’t enough.

What’s interesting is that some of the greatest verses in the Bible from Jesus’ lips happen through one-on-one conversations, not in sermons.

While Nicodemus did not ask a question to be answered, Jesus answered the question he meant to ask. He did not realize the conversation would be turned from religion to regeneration. To make sure we understand what Jesus was emphasizing that night to Nicodemus, let’s read a few verses surrounding this one so we can get a sense of the context:

So that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:15-18)

If I were to say to my children: “Dinner is great, but now it’s time to clean up. When you clean up, Mom and Dad are happy, because cleaning up means you respect our words, and when you clean up you do your part.” What is the key phrase? Clean up.

Jesus did the same thing. You have to pay attention to see it in these verses. Jesus’ key word: believe.

Belief is crucial, because it is the hinge upon which the door to heaven turns. Jesus used variations of belief five times. If you were to speak three sentences, and you included one verb five times, I would get the feeling you were stressing a highly critical point. And indeed, He was.

John 3:16 begins with God and His love, and it ends in heaven. But the one variable in the equation is this word, believes.

Believe is at the fork in the road of perish and eternal life.

God’s love gave us Christ, who died, giving us our only access to heaven. Therefore, salvation is not in question. It is there for the taking. The only thing in question is our response. Will we believe?

Pastor J. C. Ryle put it succinctly: “Salvation . . . does not turn on the point, ‘Did Christ die for me?’ but on the point, ‘Do I believe in Christ?’”

Think about it in this way. When the word finally came over the telegraph in New York City in 1912 that Titanic had sunk, despite all the rich and famous on the ship, the list had only two columns—lost and saved.

Don’t miss the important word, believe.

Not baptize. Believe.

Not communion. Believe.

Not join a group. Not pick one of nine thousand denominations to attend. Believe, believe, believe.

The story goes that a man had a dream. He stood at the gate of heaven and confronted Peter. “What does it take to get into heaven?”

“One thousand points,” Peter said.

“Okay,” the man said. “I have been faithful in church attendance all my life.”

“That’s one point,” said Peter.

The man could not believe it. “I was a deacon in my church for more than twenty years.”

“That’s another point.”

Getting very anxious, the man said, “I did many good things to help people.”

“That’s another point.”

In great despair the man said, “If all I can get is three points for a long life in the church and doing good works, I guess I’m just going to have to throw myself on the mercy of God and the love of Christ displayed on the cross, and believe that Jesus paid for my sins on the cross.”

Peter smiled. “That’s a thousand points. Come on in.”

Today I want you to get your thousand points. Throw yourself on the mercy of God and stop trying to pay for something that’s impossible to accomplish. Simply believe that Jesus did what you could not do for yourself.

Here is the obvious: Jesus said eternal life comes through “belief.” Don’t make it more difficult than it is.

Day 70

Today’s Reading: John 2

Today our 260 Journey takes us to John 2. If we are not paying attention, we may feel as if we are at the end of the Gospel of John and not at the beginning. Let me explain why this can be confusing by reading something Jesus did in this chapter:

The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; and to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.” (John 2:13-16)

Anything seem odd to you?

What Jesus did here is in all three Synoptic Gospels—Matthew, Mark, and Luke. But here is what makes this scene stand out: it isn’t the same thing.

Think about this, Jesus cleared the temple of the money changers and those buying and selling. He made a scourge and then declared, “My Father’s house shall be called a house of prayer.” This happens in Matthew 21, Mark 11, and Luke 19—all on Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem, which we call Palm Sunday.

But this is totally different. This is not Palm Sunday. This is the beginning of His ministry. This is John 2, not John 19.

Wow! This is huge. This is Jesus clearing the temple at the beginning of His ministry where the other gospels record Jesus clearing the temple at the end of His ministry.

What He cleaned out, three years later came back in.

Why? Junk is always trying to make its way back into the temple. That’s not just true for this New Testament temple but for another temple. In this same chapter, in verse 19, Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up”—and then it goes on to say, “He was speaking of the temple of His body” (verse 21).

In other words: I am now the temple that sin and money changers are looking to get back into.

This is so true. Stuff that was driven out of my life years ago is always trying to find its way back in years later; just like those money changers were.

In I Surrender, Patrick Morley wrote that the church’s integrity problem is in the misconception “that we can add Christ to our lives, but not subtract sin. It is a change in belief without a change in behavior. . . . It is revival without reformation, without repentance.

Jesus would not let something into the temple that did not belong. I need God to come into my life each day and make a clean sweep of my personal temple, because junk always wants to come back. The same is true of you. As C. S. Lewis reminds us, “We have a strange illusion that mere time cancels sin. But mere time does nothing either to the fact or to the guilt of a sin."

How do we keep sin out? The Holy Spirit’s conviction is the scourge to make us aware, and repentance drives the money changers out. Conviction and repentance get the money changers out of our temples that are trying to get back in like old times.

Repentance is best defined by a little girl who said, “It’s to be sorry enough to quit.”

The great American evangelist, Billy Sunday, spoke about the fight against sin being a fight he would wage until he died: “Listen, I’m against sin. I’ll kick it as long as I’ve got a foot, I’ll fight it as long as I’ve got a fist, I’ll butt it as long as I’ve got a head, and I’ll bite it as long as I’ve got a tooth. And when I’m old, fistless, footless, and toothless, I’ll gum it till I go home to glory and it goes home to perdition.”

Fight sin. Let Jesus clean house. Each day you wake up, ask Jesus to go through the temple and expose anything in your life that should not be there.

Day 69

Today’s Reading: John 1

I am excited that today on our 260 Journey we begin a journey through the Gospel of John. This is the most unique gospel because it doesn’t start out like the other three gospels. It takes us to the beginning . . . the real beginning. Listen to its opening verse: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).

That sounds very much like Genesis 1:1 at creation: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

Here’s what’s even crazier: the “In the beginning” of John takes place before the “In the beginning” of Genesis.

What does that mean?

This puts Jesus in a unique category as the only person who ever lived before He was born. As one theologian said, “Jesus is the invisible God and God is the visible Jesus.” And that visible Jesus was about to embark on a three-year ministry that would change the planet forever.

French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte said it with the greatest clarity: “I know men, and I tell you that Jesus Christ is not a man. Superficial minds see a resemblance between Christ and the founders of empires and the gods of other religions. That resemblance does not exist. There is between Christianity and every other religion the distance of infinity.”

Let’s start this journey through John by reading verses 37-39 and see one of the most amazing venues Jesus ever taught in: “The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus” (verse 37). It’s good to stop here and take note that the “him” in this verse is John the Baptist. We would think it should have been that John spoke and they followed John. But this is epic: “They heard him [John] speak and followed Jesus.” John, you rock. You challenge me.

The challenge and the proof of any true minister and ministry is that people hear us speak and they follow Jesus, not us, our church, our denomination.

That is why distinctives about denominations are so bogus. Distinctives about what day we worship on, what we call Jesus, our water baptism formula, our theology about the gifts. It’s so anti-New Testament. They make the organization distinct not Jesus.

Can people hear me speak and not follow my church or my denomination? Can people hear an Assembly of God pastor speak and not follow Pentecostalism or a Baptist preacher preach and not follow Calvinism? This is a challenge to twenty-first-century preaching. Thank you, John the Baptist for modeling what we should be doing.

Here is where it gets good: Jesus’ first 10:00 a.m. service. It’s a service unlike any other in history. It’s in an unexpected place but it’s in the best place:

Jesus turned and saw them following, and said to them, “What do you seek?” They said to Him, “Rabbi (which translated means Teacher), where are You staying?” He said to them, “Come, and you will see.” So they came and saw where He was staying; and they stayed with Him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. (verses 38-39)

They asked Jesus, “Where are You staying?” Or, “Where is Your home?” And Jesus responded, “Come and you will see.” “Come to My home,” they came, and they had the first home group. The first Christian 10:00 a.m. service would take place where Jesus resided.

There is something about teaching and learning in a home. They went that day to where Jesus was staying and had no idea how that 10:00 a.m. service would impact their “forever.”

The home of Jesus. Wow! It’s one thing to learn from a pulpit and in a pew, it’s another level to learn from a classroom and a lecture. But the playing field changes when you learn in a home—and it beats all other venues.

Jesus’ first place of teaching wasn’t the synagogue, it was the home. When the home is involved, you are inviting people up close for them to see if what you have is real. Anyone can put on a show on Sundays for an hour and a half. When you have a whiteboard and pulpit, you are inviting them into your academic life and knowledge. But the home is different—it points to relationships.

I think from the get-go, Jesus was saying that this relationship was not for the weekends but for every day.

One of my favorite preachers from the past, G. Campbell Morgan, said this: “If you cannot be a Christian where you are, you cannot be a Christian anywhere. It is not place, but grace.”

And the home—not the church—needs to be the first place we are Christian.

Home means to these disciples:

• They see faith worked out
• They see vulnerability
• They see up close
• They see life, not words

David had a word for all of us in Psalm 101:2 that tackles this very topic: "I’m doing the very best I can, and I’m doing it at home, where it counts” (MSG).

The disciples could hear a sermon on the mount—and that’s good. But when it’s a sermon in the home—that’s epic!

Day 68

Today’s Reading: Luke 24

It’s resurrection morning for Jesus. All of the Gospels highlight Jesus’ post-resurrection conversations with His disciples and followers, but only Luke highlights a conversation that happened seven miles outside of Jerusalem. To put it another way, a fire started seven miles outside of Jerusalem.

No building burst into flames.

No property was damaged.

No one was trapped.

No life was lost.

But two hearts caught on fire in a conversation with the resurrected Jesus. As someone once said, “Get on fire for God and men will come watch you burn.”

Fire needs no advertisement. When people hear the fire engines, people look for smoke. And seven miles outside of Jerusalem on a road heading toward Emmaus two hearts caught fire.

Let’s look at the story.

Two of them were going that very day to a village named Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem. And they were talking with each other about all these things which had taken place. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus Himself approached and began traveling with them. But their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him. And He said to them, “What are these words that you are exchanging with one another as you are walking?” . . . And they said to Him, “The things about Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to the sentence of death, and crucified Him. But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened.”

He said to them, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?” Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures. . .

They urged him, saying, “Stay with us, for it is getting toward evening, and the day is now nearly over.” So He went in to stay with them. When He had reclined at the table with them, He took the bread and blessed it, and breaking it, He began giving it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him, and He vanished from their sight. They said to one another, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?” And they got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found gathered together the eleven and those who were with them, saying, “The Lord has really risen and has appeared to Simon.” (Luke 24:13-17, 19-21, 25-27, 29-34)

I have been reading a sermon a day for almost thirty years. It’s a practice I picked up when I started pastoring. One of my favorite preachers is the great Baptist, Vance Havner. In one of his sermons based on this story, Havner gives four characteristics that happen to someone who has a genuine experience with God.

First, their experience is based on the Scriptures. As Luke 24:27 tells us, “He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.” Men who part company with the Old Testament also part company with Jesus. Moses wrote Genesis. Jesus promoted Genesis.

Second, it stirs their hearts. Luke 24:32: They said to one another, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?” A genuine experience with God has its foundation in the Bible, not in our feelings, although that does not mean our feelings aren’t affected. We are not saved because we feel saved, but being saved makes us happy. As Havner said, “There was never a real revival that did not produce heartburn and hallelujahs."

Third, Jesus shows up at their house: “They urged Him, saying, ‘Stay with us, for it is getting toward evening, and the day is now nearly over.’ So He went in to stay with them. When He had reclined at the table with them, He took the bread and blessed it, and breaking it, He began giving it to them” (Luke 24:29-30). Men stop at the Bible or they stop at feelings. If it’s real, it goes home with you. A genuine experience with God affects your home life, not your church life.

Fourth, it sends them back out to tell others. Read how the two men responded after Jesus disappeared: “They got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found gathered together the eleven and those who were with them, saying, ‘The Lord has really risen and has appeared to Simon.’ They began to relate their experiences on the road and how He was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread” (Luke 24:33-35).

And as they told the story, He showed up again: “While they were telling these things, He Himself stood in their midst and said to them, ‘Peace be to you’” (Luke 24:36).

What a great grid for a genuine experience with Jesus:

• Scripture based
• Heart stirring
• Home-life affected
• Can’t stop talking about it

People need to experience Jesus, not church. As Havner said, "Sunday-morning Christianity is the greatest hindrance to true revival.”

I think it was all God’s plan that those two men’s hearts burned seven miles outside of Jerusalem. Not in the temple, not in a church, not in the mecca of Judaism and birthplace of Christianity. But seven miles outside a fire burned, meaning God can set us on fire anywhere.

Day 67

Today’s Reading: Luke 23

Today we come to the last solemn minutes of Jesus’ life on the cross. It is His final comment from the cross that catches my attention. It is a prayer but goes further than up. That prayer goes wide.

Let’s read Jesus’ final words before He breathed His last breath:

Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." When he had said this, he breathed his last. The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.” (Luke 23:46-47, NIV)

What a scene! Jesus was dying and this was His final sentence on earth before He was the resurrected Lord. He said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” Then He simply breathed His last.

Here is the incredible part—that when the centurion saw what had happened, he began praising God and saying that Jesus was a righteous man. A centurion who beat and dragged the Son of God to calvary, witnessed Jesus’ cry and final breath and, with praise, declared who Jesus was!

Søren Kierkegaard said something remarkable: “The gospel is seldom heard but it is overheard.” Jesus wasn’t even talking to the centurion; He was talking to His Father. Yet this man overheard and something changed in him.

It gets crazier in Mark’s account. I think it is the same centurion, but Mark adds a bit of a twist: “When the centurion, who was standing right in front of Him, saw the way He breathed His last, he said, ‘Truly this man was the Son of God!’” (Mark 15:39).

What? Breathing. Just His breathing. Just the way He breathed. And the man’s response to breathing was, “Truly this man was the Son of God."

St. Francis of Assisi said, “Preach the gospel at all times and when necessary use words.” Jesus didn’t use words in Mark’s account. He just breathed. What was happening? Did the centurion get saved by simply observing Jesus’ breath? I don’t think so. Let me explain.

Breathing is what we do every day and in every moment. And people watch the way we do life every day and in every moment. The simple things we do, such as breathing, we do them without thought. But there are other things we do that people watch: the way we raise our children, the way we speak to them; the way we treat people in retail; how we handle our finances; how we have a good work ethic; how we don’t get an attitude when we drive or when we work behind a counter or desk; when we come to work on time and don’t leave till the job is done; how we finish tasks.

I call that breathing. The stuff we do—that we do the right way.

The centurion did not get saved from Jesus’ one breath but by watching Jesus until the moment He died. It was the way Jesus responded to the abuse. Listen to how Peter described those moments on the cross, which gave breathing power:

If you endure suffering even when you have done right, God will bless you for it. It was to this that God called you, for Christ himself suffered for you and left you an example, so that you would follow in his steps. He committed no sin, and no one ever heard a lie come from his lips. When he was insulted, he did not answer back with an insult; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but placed his hopes in God, the righteous judge. (1 Peter 2:20-23, GNT)

The centurion did not just see breathing, he saw more—he saw no lies coming from Him. When Jesus was insulted, He did not answer back. When He was beaten, He did not threaten back. He placed His hope in God.

Everything added up to the centurion’s realization that “truly this man was the Son of God.” After seeing Him breathe during the pain, the suffering, and the false accusations, watching Him breathe that final breath was the icing on the cake.

When you live the way Jesus lived, then the simplest thing—like breathing—can change someone’s life.

We think it is a gospel-preaching moment or a church service or a powerful verse that draws people to get saved. We forget that if that happens, it was because they saw a lot of breathing before that.

Keep inviting people to church, keep sharing life with them, keep telling them about the love of Jesus. But don’t forget that when someone responds to Jesus, it wasn’t the breathing of one moment but the breathing that took place every day.

That’s what the famous African missionary, Dr. Albert Schweitzer, remembered when he stepped off a train in Chicago during the height of racial discrimination. He’d attained some renown and had won a Nobel Peace Prize, so, the story goes, when he arrived at the station, the city officials greeted him with handshakes and the key to the city and reporters questioned him about his long trip from Africa. As he took it all in, he finally noticed something over his shoulder and excused himself from the crowd.

Everyone watched as he maneuvered back to the train to help an older black woman who was struggling with her luggage. When he got back to the group, one of the reporters said, “That’s the first time I ever saw a walking sermon.”

Albert Schweitzer was just breathing. Doing what he did every day.

May we have the same said about you and me.