The 260 Journey

Day 25

Today’s Reading: Matthew 25

Leonard Ravenhill, one of my spiritual fathers, said: “Many pastors criticize me for taking the Gospel so seriously. But do they really think that on Judgment Day, Christ will chastise me, saying, ‘Leonard, you took Me too seriously’?”

This chapter makes us take eternity seriously. Jesus starts right away in verse one with, “God’s kingdom is like . . .” and then He tells three stories.

This chapter is made up of three parables on the kingdom of heaven. It is very simple to outline. In His first parable, He tells of the silly, or foolish, virgins. Then He tells about the parable of the talents. Finally, He shares the parable of the sheep and goats at the throne.

We can see similarities among the three. First, there are winners and losers. Everyone does not go to heaven. There is consequence for living a selfish life and there is reward for living a life sold out to Jesus. In parable 1, He called the winners the ready and the wise. In parable 2, He called them the faithful. And in parable #3, He called them the blessed (“of My Father”) or the righteous. The wise, the faithful, and the righteous. The losers were called the foolish, the wicked, and the accursed ones.

Second, no one is born a loser but a chooser. That means they all had opportunities to be on the right side, filled with oil, a prospering talent, or doing the right thing for the poor, imprisoned, and sick. Things were presented to them that would determine what they would do with their life.

Third, each of the losing groups had explanations, excuses, and desires to get freebies and not play by the rules. The coming of the Lord will be a time of separation, a time of evaluation, and a time of commendation.

Time of separation: all of them were virgins and looked alike.
Time of evaluation: we are held responsible for what we are given.
Time of commendation: everything we do for God does not go unnoticed.

Finally, the end result of the silly virgins, the one-talent man, and the goats was final. Finally is final. It is called “the door is shut,” outer darkness, going away into eternal punishment—a place for the devil and his angels.

Let me give you one quick lesson from each of the three:

Parable 1’s lesson: What is on the inside is not looked after. Though the outside resembles everyone else, it is the inside that makes all the difference.

Parable 2’s lesson: What we are given must produce.

Parable 3’s lesson: Jesus does not look like any of the pictures. Is He black, white, Hispanic? Jewish? None of the above. He is naked, a convict, and one who is hungry and thirsty.

Leonard Ravenhill said, “If Jesus had preached the same message that ministers preach today, He would never have been crucified.” And this is one of those sobering messages Jesus preached.

Day 24

Today’s Reading: Matthew 24

"When the Author steps on the stage the play is over.” This is how C. S. Lewis spoke about the ending of planet Earth. We would call that the second coming of Jesus. This is where we are in today’s reading. This chapter is very sobering; it’s all about the last days just before the Author steps on the stage.

In the 260 chapters of the New Testament, there are 318 references to the second coming of Christ. To break that down even more: one out of every thirty verses in the New Testament speaks about the second coming; twenty-three of the twenty-seven New Testament books refer to the second coming of Jesus. For every prophecy in the Bible concerning Christ’s first coming, there are eight that look forward to His second! Matthew 24 and 25 devote a lot of space to it.

The second coming of Jesus is going to be the most dramatic happening in human history. It will terminate human history and will usher in eternity. In a moment God will say to human history, “Curtains!” And down the curtains will go.

What’s interesting is that Matthew 24 and 25 are Jesus’ final words before His crucifixion. What stands out to me is something He stated five times in chapter 24—that no one knows when the second coming will happen:

• “Of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.” (Matthew 24:36)

• “They did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.” (Matthew 24:39)

• “Therefore, be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.” (Matthew 24:42)

• “You also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.” (Matthew 24:44)

• “The master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know.” (Matthew 24:50)

Five times in this chapter Jesus tells us that the time cannot be known.

Augustine said, “The last days is hidden so that every day would be regarded.”

Somebody asked John Wesley, “Supposing that you knew you were to die at twelve o’clock to-morrow night, how would you spend the intervening time?”

“How, madam?” Wesley told her. “Why, just as I intend to spend it now. I should preach this evening at Gloucester, and again at five tomorrow morning; after that, I should ride to Tewkesbury, preach in the afternoon, and meet the societies in the evening. I should then repair to friend Martin’s house, who expects to entertain me, converse and pray with the family as usual, retire to my room at ten o’clock, commend myself to my heavenly Father, lie down to rest, and wake up in glory.” It did not matter whether his home going would be by death or rapture. He would not change anything. It did not make any difference to him.

How about you?

Jesus said, “They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other” (Matthew 24:30-33).

In The Rapture, Dr. Tim LaHaye vividly imagined what the unexpected suddenness of the rapture will be like: When Christ calls His living saints to be with Him, millions of people will suddenly vanish from the earth. An unsaved person who happens to be in the company of a believer will know immediately that his friend has vanished. There will certainly be worldwide recognition of the fact, for when more than one-half of a billion people suddenly depart this earth, leaving their earthly belongings behind, pandemonium and confusion will certainly reign for a time.

A million conversations will end midsentence. A million phones will suddenly go dead. A woman will reach for a man’s hand in the dark and no one will be there. A man will turn with a laugh to slap a colleague on the back and his hand will move through empty air. A basketball player will make a length-of-the-floor pass to a teammate streaking down the court and find there is no one there to receive it. A mother will pull back the covers in a bassinet, smelling the sweet baby smell one moment but suddenly kissing empty space and looking into empty blankets.

So what is our job before this happens? Oswald J. Smith tells us: “We talk of the second coming, while half the world has never heard of the first.” Let’s tell the world why Jesus came the first time.

Day 23

Today’s Reading: Matthew 23

Today’s reading is an intense chapter. It’s about hypocrites and religion—hypocrites in religion. In fact, Jesus said, “Woe to you hypocrites and religious people” eight times! (See verses 13-16, 23, 25, 27, and 29.) The word woe is an expression of how dreadful and how awful this is—to take something as powerful as God and pretend.

This is the argument of so many people who don’t want to go to church or be a Christian: “The church is full of hypocrites! That is why I don’t believe, that is why I don’t go to church.” To put it another way: "Christians say they have Jesus, but we don’t see much of Him in their lives. If Jesus is in them, then He must be hiding."

In his autobiography Mahatma Gandhi wrote that during his student days he read the Gospels seriously and considered converting to Christianity. He believed that in the teachings of Jesus he could find the solution to the caste system that was dividing the people of India. So one Sunday he decided to attend services at a nearby church and talk to the minister about becoming a Christian. When he entered the sanctuary, however, the usher refused to give him a seat and suggested that he worship with his own people. Gandhi left the church and never returned. “If Christians have caste differences also,” he said, “I might as well remain a Hindu.” Later Gandhi admitted, “I like your Christ; I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” In his prejudice, that usher not only betrayed Jesus, he also turned away a person from trusting Jesus as Savior.

What exactly is a hypocrite? A hypocrite is someone who does not practice what he believes. He can talk the talk but he doesn’t walk the walk. His lifestyle doesn’t equal his profession. Mouth and action are inconsistent.

And yet, let’s consider a couple things:

1. If there are hypocrites, then there must be genuine Christians. A counterfeit always implies a genuine. Christ said there would be hypocrites in the church. He called them wheat and tares growing together (see Matthew 13:24-30).

2. There is a difference between sinner and hypocrite. Hypocrisy is just one of many sins that all of us have committed. Full of it, no; in it, yes. Better to say the church is full of sinners.

The answer to the hypocrite problem? Look at the Savior! You don’t start by looking at the church, you start by looking at Jesus—and Jesus is not a hypocrite.

Since Christianity depends on Jesus, it is incorrect to try to invalidate the Christian faith by pointing to horrible things many have done in the name of Christianity. If this is your argument then be consistent with it.

What do hospitals do? Make sick people well. So, if sick people are in the hospital, is it full of hypocrites? You have mistaken what the church really is. It’s not a museum or a hall of fame, it is a hospital with a lot of sick people getting better . . . and you are looking at one of them.

So what is a Christian? A Christian is not a perfect person but is someone who is a continually-growing work in progress. When you get saved you don’t receive maturity all at once, you are not a theologian, and you do not have it all together. You got born again because you don’t have it all together.

Christianity is Christ. We are not perfect—but He is. When you take your eyes off of Him, you will see our issues. The church is like Noah’s ark: the stench on the inside would be unbearable if it weren’t for the storm on the outside. Many times we stink and the world is stormy.

I love what Ruth Graham made her family put on her gravestone long before she was bedridden and passed away. She was driving one day and entered into a construction zone on the highway. When she reached the end, the sign said, “End of construction. Thank you for your patience.” That was it! That is what she wanted chiseled onto her headstone long before she needed it.

And this is true of all of us as we grow to be like Jesus. We are all one big construction zone—but one day we will reach the end of the construction and then: “We will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is” (1 John 3:2). There’s no hypocrisy in that.

John Newton, author of the famous hymn “Amazing Grace” said it best: “I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be in another world; but still I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am.”

Day 22

Today’s Reading: Matthew 22

The Bible never says you have to believe with all your heart, even though it says you must believe in your heart. But when it comes to loving God—that must be done with all your heart.

I think God leaves room for the growing faith and doubts that come with belief. But when it comes to love, we can make a choice immediately. Love is our greatest weapon against sin.

Nineteenth-century Scottish theologian Thomas Chalmers wrote, “The only way to dispossess the heart of an old affection is through the expulsive power of a new one—the expulsive power of a new affection.”

How do you get rid of an old boyfriend? Get a bigger boyfriend. Jesus is the bigger boyfriend.

So when Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment, He did not start with, “Thou shall not . . .” or “Thou shall . . .” Jesus started with love. “Jesus declared, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37).

If you get loving God right, loving your neighbor is easy—because it all starts with God and loving Him.

So many people want to change today. Change must have a starting point. To change a life without first addressing the core becomes futile. To educate and to try to reprogram without dealing with the love issue is a dead end. Why?

What you love you will do. What you love you will sacrifice for. What you love you will make time for. If you love your boyfriend, you will sacrifice all to be with him. If you love baseball, you will find a way to play year-round or watch year-round. If you love your spouse, you will sacrifice to please him or her. Change starts with love. Change starts with asking the question, “What do I love most?” And the answer could startle us.

Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” Everything self-corrects from there. To pursue Christianity without love does not last long. So, pray each day that you will love God with all your heart, soul, and mind. Because when you love, the other stuff naturally follows.

Start with love today. To try to change stuff without loving God is not change, it is conformity, and it won’t last long. A friend of C. S. Lewis asked him, “Is it easy to love God?” Lewis answered, “It is easy to those who do it.” Christianity is not easy for those who don’t love God but love church, love being moral, love the atmosphere. When you fall deeply in love, you want to please the Beloved. And that’s when real change will occur.

Day 21

Today’s Reading: Matthew 21

Theologian John Calvin said, “To know God as the Master and Bestower of all good things, who invites us to request them of Him, and still not go to Him and ask of Him—this would be of as little profit as for a man to neglect a treasure, buried and hidden in the earth, after it had been pointed out to him and he had the map.”

Jesus gave us a map and it’s called prayer. Right after Jesus spoke to a fig tree because it had no fruit, the “marveling” disciples asked, “How?” How did Jesus speak to that thing that was not producing fruit? And then Jesus revealed two treasure map verses:

Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will happen. And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.
(Matthew 21:21-22)

All things you ask in prayer, believing . . . you will receive. There are only two hurdles to get over in order to get to receive: (1) you must ask and (2) you must believe. They seem simple but they are challenges we all face.

Hurdle #1: Asking

Statistics suggest the average Christian spends three to seven minutes a day in prayer. Our asking is limited today. If “asking” is what gets us to receive, we are not even asking very well.

C. S. Lewis may have captured the enemy’s plan for the Christian in his Screwtape Letters, a fictional letter of instruction to the demon Wormwood: “Interfere at any price and in any fashion when people start to pray, for real prayer is lethal to our cause.”

F. B. Meyer said it like this: “The greatest tragedy of life is not unanswered prayer, but unoffered prayer.” Let’s make a commitment to fight busyness and get to prayer.

Hurdle #2: Believing

There is a difference between believing someone and believing in someone. The first one deals with existence. The second deals with character and who they are.

To have faith in God is to believe He is and who He said He is.

Suppose you tell a friend you have faith in her. What does that mean? It means two things. First, you are sure the person you are talking to actually exists. And second, you are convinced she is trustworthy; you can believe what she says and trust in her character. Believing in prayer is believing who God said He is. Faith honors God and God honors faith. Faith cashes God’s checks. Faith in God will not get you everything you want, but it will get you everything God wants you to have.