Then Thomas,
who is called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we
may die with Him.”- John 11:16
Life is filled with
uncertainties. Life is filled with risks. How will you deal with that? Life in
Christ is lived by a faith that helps us wade through the sea of darkness. But
there are times, even as a Christian, when we will have to choose to follow
Jesus based on very limited circumstantial evidence. There is a time in every
Christian’s life when they will have to risk all and follow Jesus. At some
point, maybe at many points in life, we will have to step in line behind Thomas
and say, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.” If we refuse to do that,
the consequences could be tragic.
The story is told of a
dissatisfied man.[1] He
had inherited a farm but felt tending it was more of a burden than a blessing.
He was looking for anyway out from under this “burden.” He had little
appreciation and saw his life as an aggravation. So frustrated and dissatisfied
was the man that he took the matter to the Lord in prayer. He prayed and
prayed, “Lord, get me out of here! I hate farming!” As time went on and nothing
happened he approached the edge of despair. He began pleading with God to show
him a sign of the way out. His prayers became expressions of his panic.
One day, as he was plowing in
the field, he looked up into the sky. He stared at two particular clouds as they
floated conspicuously across the sky. Then in astonishment he perceived the
clouds seemed to form two letters. “I see a ‘P’ and a ‘C.’ My sign? Thank You
Jesus!” But what did it mean? It didn’t take him long to interpret the “sign”
in the clouds to mean, “Leave your farming and Preach Christ.” “Hallelujah!’ he shouted, “I’m finally
set free from this curse of farming.” The dissatisfied man sold his farm and
everything with it at a price that was far less than its true worth. He just
wanted to get out of there.
The dissatisfied man turned
preacher left and went to Bible school. There he struggled to pass his classes.
Learning the Bible seemed to him drudgery. He was hell bent to “Preach Christ.” He lost interest in his
studies. He didn’t seem to have any staying power. He struggled and stalled. He
was confronted with another dead end of dissatisfaction. He decided to quit.
“But not all is lost” he thought, “I have met the perfect pastor’s wife.” He
married and moved on leaving school before graduation. He justified his
decision by reasoning there were too many lost souls that needed him to save
them.
At the urging of his wife he
found a church that would have him as pastor. The church was desperate and so
was he. A “perfect match” he thought. Soon he was caught up in the busy-ness of
ministry. He was obsessed with “ministry.” But a preacher is not necessarily a
pastor. And as hard as he preached Christ to the lost, no one ever seemed to
listen to what he had to say. No one seemed to ever get saved.
The man turned pastor labored
and toiled in ministry to the “bride of Christ.” But he neglected his own
bride. This soured the mood of “the perfect pastor’s wife.” Their marriage was
in trouble. They thought that children, “a blessing from the Lord,” would bring
them together. So they jumped into parenthood and family. But the little
blessings only added stress to their lives. They just seemed to get in the way.
They were a nuisance to the Mom who was thought to be a perfect pastor’s wife.
They were a nuisance to the Dad who was the dissatisfied farmer preacher pastor.
They just didn’t have the time or interest to be parents.
No matter what this
dissatisfied man did it seemed out of sync with everything around him. This led
to more dissatisfaction and more emptiness for not only him but for his wife
too. That led to anger. They fought with each other. They fought with their
children. They fought with the congregation. They fought with their neighbors. There
was no blessing. They struggled to pay their bills. They struggled to make ends
meet. They seemed to be opposed at every turn. Life was misery.
Dissatisfaction is
contagious. The dissatisfied man led to a dissatisfied woman. Dissatisfied
parents led to dissatisfied children. The children grew and couldn’t wait to
leave home. And when the last one did leave, “the perfect pastor’s wife” had
nothing to hold her to the dissatisfied farmer preacher pastor husband and
father. She didn’t feel she even knew him. And she didn’t care. All she knew
was that she was dissatisfied. It was her time to live for herself. So the
dissatisfied woman left the dissatisfied man. And the man who was a
dissatisfied farmer, preacher, student, pastor, husband, and father sunk deeper
and deeper into greater and greater darkness.
The dissatisfied man had long
since stopped praying or reading his Bible. He was a preacher and pastor in
title only. His heart wasn’t in it. He settled on using online sermon outlines.
He didn’t have the time or interest to seek the Lord for his own sermons. He
settled to “preach” a company line. He was tossed to and fro with every wind
and wave of doctrine. He had long since stopped trying to “Preach Christ.” He
didn’t pray but he did shake his fist at God.
If the dissatisfied man did
have a time with God it was only to complain. And his complaints took the form
of, “Why are You doing this to me? Why doesn’t anything go my way? Why has life
been such a struggle? Why do I feel so empty? Where is Your peace? Why have You
forsaken me?” And then finally he shouted at God, “I can’t take this anymore! I
hate You!” The dissatisfied man’s faith was hanging by a thread.
The dissatisfied man became
bitter, left the ministry, and lived the rest of his life in resentment toward
God and anger toward everyone else. He lived on scraps. It was a sad story.
Finally he died. Finally it was time to go before the Lord. The dissatisfied man
had some questions to bring up to the Lord. He wanted some answers. And in
“righteous” indignation he was determined to confront God with his questions.
He passed from this life to
the next. He was ushered into the presence of the Lord. There he was forced to
bow in God’s Holy Presence. He tried to
hang on to his proud indignation but that was hard to do while bowed in the
presence of the Sovereign of the universe. As his turn came to be addressed by
God he was summoned not by the sound of an angry ogre but by a powerful calm and
controlled voice. It was a voice that soothed and oozed with grace, mercy and
love.
The man’s name was called. He
was brought forward. He nearly melted in the gaze of the Lord. Then the Judge
said, “Hmmm, I see you’ve had a rough time in life. A lot of starts and few
finishes: farmer, preacher, student, pastor, husband, father, and man. Much
dissatisfaction. Much depression. Much division. Much disappointment. Many
defeats, few victories. A divorce. What’s this, you shouted at Me in prayer and
said, ‘I hate You!’ Well you may hate me, but I love you. Thank Me for your
sake that My grace is sufficient. At least you received My gift of salvation.
And I’m still glad that you’re here. But what have you to say for
yourself?”
The dissatisfied man gathered
his strength and lifted his head. He said, “I was born into a cursed farming
family. I prayed and prayed to You for freedom. Then finally one day You gave
me a sign in the clouds. A “P” and a “C.” Your call to “Preach Christ. And I
answered that call. But my life as a whole has been miserable even after I
answered Your call. I just don’t understand.” With this the Lord opened His Book
of Life. He turned to the man’s name and looked at the record. Then He said, “Hmmm.
You’re right. I did answer your prayer in the clouds of the sky that day. But you
seem to have misinterpreted My message. That sometimes happens when a person
such as yourself trusts in himself and not in Me. That sometimes happens when
someone rejects my blessings and obsesses over their own lusts like you did.
That is what happens when a person fights My will like you did. That’s what
happens when people like you think they know better than Me.” The weight of
God’s words was heavy on the man. The LORD paused to let the dissatisfied man
catch his breath.
Then the LORD continued, “You
see, I indeed sent you the sign of “P” and “C” but My word to you was ‘Plant
Corn,’ not ‘Preach Christ.’ My plan for you was that you be blessed from
working My land. If you had only been open to My will and plan for you I would
have blessed you with complete and full satisfaction. From My blessing of your harvest
you were to provide financial support for My Great Commission. Many souls would
have been saved. I provided grace for you to do that. I had great plans for
you. I wanted to use you so mightily for My glory. But you weren’t open to
that. And so you read into My sign
what you wanted. The result is that
you were indeed out of sync in life. You sowed selfishness and reaped
dissatisfaction. You and those you touched missed so much. If only at some
point you would have come to Me in full surrender and just listened to Me, I
could have turned things around for you. Oh, you would have been so blessed by
what I wanted to do in and through you. Too bad, I had so much more for you
than you were able to grab on your own. The blessing that could have been yours
was passed on to another.”
There was a heavy silence
when the Lord ended His words. The dissatisfied man was dumbfounded by God’s truth
and reality. The Lord’s revelation explained his life exactly. All he could
initially muster in response to His Lord was, “O LORD, I see.” Then, after
another moment, the dissatisfied man submitted, “Forgive me Lord for my
selfishness and dissatisfaction. Forgive me for seeking my will and not Your
will. Forgive me for being more concerned with representing me and not You. Forgive
me for a wasted life. Forgive me for not loving You and trusting You the way I
should have. Forgive me Lord, my sin, in Jesus’ name, by His blood, forgive
me.”
The Lord forgave him. He
forgave him with a final word. “Yes, in Jesus’ name, by His blood, I forgive
you. You have believed in My Name by the Gospel for your salvation. And
salvation is by My grace not your works. But you will pass into eternity naked
with no evidence of God-glorifying fruit. In fact, people have looked at your
miserable life and questioned My grace, My wisdom, My love. Your dissatisfaction,
pride, self-serving attitude, and self-centered living have robbed you of My
blessings. I can see here that you have finally died to self. But had you died to self earlier, your final
chapter would not have been such a sad epitaph. Had you died to you and
followed Me your life would have been abundant and not such an abomination. Go
now into eternity.” With that the dissatisfied man walked into eternity.
Eternal life with Jesus for the dissatisfied man was still so wonderful. But it
would have been better to have been able to offer Him a life of thanks.
Our life can be better than
that dissatisfied man. It can be better if we follow the example of Thomas.
Thomas is so real. Thomas is so practical. Later in John’s gospel he misses a
resurrection appearance of Jesus and insists on seeing and touching Jesus for
himself before he will believe that Jesus had risen from the dead (John
20:24-29). Thomas was not one to dwell on esoteric ideas. Thomas was not the
kind of person who looks at a cloud and sees letters in the sky. Thomas is a
meat and potatoes man from the show me state. He was a man of faith and loyalty
to his Lord.
When Jesus announced He was
going to see Lazarus, Thomas knew that meant going into a life threatening place
where Jesus would be vulnerable to His enemies. They might take Him and stone
Him. Thomas and the others knew that. They knew following Jesus was not
comfortable, it was costly. When we look at Thomas’ response we see he didn’t
fully understand what Jesus plan entailed. None of the disciples did at this
point. But he followed Him anyway. We can learn a lot about following Jesus by
looking at Thomas.
Even though Thomas didn’t quite understand Jesus’ plan
and even though accompanying Jesus meant putting his own life at risk, Thomas
was willing to die with and for Jesus. Thomas
wasn’t a perfect disciple. But neither are we. There are no perfect disciples. Thomas
had a faith that believed in Jesus through times of unseen outcome. Faith is
the assurance of things hoped for the belief in things not seen (Hebrews 11:1).
Thomas didn’t see the end of Jesus’ plan. But he was willing to die to his own
plans in order to be with Jesus and be a part of His plans. Even though they
aren’t revealed to us, it’s likely that Thomas had hopes, dreams, aspirations,
goals in life. He was human. But he was willing to physically die with Jesus. His
physical death meant he was willing to die to the things of this life.
How about you? Are you
willing to trust Jesus even though you don’t know what the final outcome with
Jesus will be? You may be willing to physically die for Jesus like Thomas.
Peter said he was willing to physically die for Jesus too (John 13:37). But
later Peter kept his distance from the arrested Jesus (John 18:15-27). Later
Peter denied His Lord three times. Thomas departed from Jesus’ side in the end
too. But here Thomas is willing to die with Jesus. We need to come to that
place as well.
We may not be called upon to
physically die. But we will need to come to that place where we are willing to
follow Jesus even if we must die to the things of this world. His call on us
will bring us to a place of crucifixion and death. To count the cost of following Christ means
to be willing to pay the price of all we hold dear that isn’t Christ. We have
to die to our dreams, hopes, expectations, aspirations by being willing to lose them for the sake of God’s will in our life. We
have to go to our personal Gethsemane like Jesus. Jesus asked the Father to
take the cup from Him. He asked the Father for an alternative to the cross if
possible. There’s nothing wrong with questioning God or asking Him for
something. But like Jesus we must end our request with “nevertheless not My
will, but Yours, be done” (Luke 22:42).
We must submit, “not my will, but Yours be done.”
Like Jesus, we need to get
alone and get quiet with the Father. We need to get still and listen to the
Father (Psalm 46:10). We then need to seek His will in all that we hold dear to
us. We might ask, “Father, I would like to get married. But not my will but
Yours be done.” Or, “Father, I want to pursue this career. But not my will but
Yours be done.” Or, “Father, I want ________. But not my will but Yours be
done.” We have to come before Him as a living sacrifice with open hands, open
mind, and open heart and seek His will (cf. Romans 12:1-2).
God’s will for us must be our
top priority. We must decide to truly follow Jesus. We have to die to “me” and
live to Thee. Why is that so? Because if we “Preach Christ,” when we were
called to “Plant Corn,” life will be miserable. If we compromise and do
something that contradicts God’s word or His expressed will, that which we
thought would be a blessing will turn into a curse. Let me provide a more
practical example.
In our day we see more and
more Christians disregarding God’s truth. One area we see this is in the area
of marriage. There is the same-sex marriage abomination. But even in normal marriage
arrangements we see a departure from God’s truth. For instance, we see Christians
open to being unequally yoked with unbelievers (2 Corinthians 6). We see
Christians, especially those who are getting further up in age, compromising
and marrying people who don’t know the Lord or who know Him in only a very
superficial way. We see a redefinition of what a “Christian” is in order to
marry unbelievers. Or we see the manipulation by affection to drag people to church
and act like a “Christian” before the wedding only to see such an artificial “Christian”
evaporate in absence to the church after the wedding. Lowering God’s standards
to get what you want always leads to frustration and dissatisfaction. You’d be
better to die with Jesus.
Our holy objective in marriage
should not merely be to find someone who will allow us to follow the Lord. A spouse should be someone who will advance in the Lord hand in hand
together with us. And God will supply such a person if we trust Him. God brought
Eve to Adam. God will bring a suitable spouse to you. If you say, “Okay, where
is my spouse? I don’t see them.” Well maybe you need to look harder. Maybe you
need to look more at the heart than the body. Or maybe God has Someone better
for you to be with; Himself. It’s better to die with Jesus.
Some might respond, “Wait a
minute pastor. I know believers who have married unbelievers and they’re okay.”
“Okay,” what does that mean? Will the unsaved spouse be able to join with the
saved spouse in fellowship in the holy presence of God? Will an unsaved spouse
relate to the things of God? If you have children are you sure the unsaved
spouse will agree to allow them to be raised in the counsel of the Lord? Will
their view of “raising them in the counsel of the Lord” be like yours? “Love”
and passion may tempt you to overlook the spiritual shortcomings of a spouse before
marriage, but you will regret it when you want to go deeper with the Lord. Can
two walk together unless they are agreed in such eternal things? (cf. Amos
3:3). Why would you settle for less than God’s best? Are you willing to die with
Jesus?
“But they will get saved by
my influence?” you retort. Truthfully, you don’t know that. In seeking a spouse there is the trap of
overlooking flaws or problems that are evident and revealed by God in
prospective spouses before marriage. A person does this because they presume
they can change the unsaved into the saved. Sometimes there is the fantasy of thinking
that a wedding certificate will miraculously change a person into to something
they have never been. A wedding will not change anyone; it is designed as a
rite of passage for those already devoted to God. Will a uniform make you a player?
Maybe for Halloween, but not in real life. You cannot save anyone. Only God can
save a person. You do not know if someone will be saved. Only God knows that. And
if such a disregard of God’s truth does work out in the end, it will be in
spite of you not because of you. Thank God for His mercy and grace but don’t
use that as an excuse for sinful presumption.
Marriage is a wonderful
thing; if it’s pursued in God’s way in God’s timing. If it isn’t God’s will for
you to be married, then maybe He wants you all to Himself. That’s not a bad
thing. He loves us so much. He deserves our trust. He knows what is best. The
bottom line is whether or not you trust Him enough to run your life. Jesus is
enough. Surrender to Him. “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you”
(James 4:8). Die with Him.
The decisions we make and
figuring the cost of following Jesus should take place in counsel with the
Lord. We need to get quiet before the Lord and seek His will. He will guide us
with His peace (cf. Colossians 3:15). God works in orderly not disorderly ways
(1 Cor. 14:33, 40). It is the enemy that wants you to compromise. Satan knows
if he can get you outside the parameters of God’s word you will be more
vulnerable. If we pursue unscriptural relationships, careers, work involvement,
or anything else, it will consume our time. It will rob us of our precious
quiet time with the Lord. Think about that.
Anything we rush into, force ourselves into, or do without seeking the
will of the Lord or waiting on Him will result in dissatisfaction,
discouragement, and distance from the Lord. Nothing is worth more than spending
time with Jesus. Nothing is worth more than following Jesus.
Life is blessed and faith is built by following Jesus
at the cost of death to our will and acceptance of His will. That is prerequisite to experiencing the abundant
life Jesus promised us. Some may see that as too risky or not to their liking. It’s
easy to surrender all to Jesus when you have nothing. But as life goes on we
begin to accumulate things that become more precious to us. As time goes by and
age becomes a factor, we are tempted to take things into our own hands; to bend
corners; to compromise. We start to get fidgety. We consider preaching when we
should be planting. The older we get the greater the calculated risks become.
It becomes harder and harder to hold to the cost we once counted. But think
about it. The Jesus you are turning to and forsaking all for is the same Jesus
who went to the cross and died for you to redeem you from your slavery to sin.
And He did that while you were still a sinner (Romans 5:8). He loves you
unconditionally. He loves you just the way you are. And He loves you too much
to leave you the way you are. He is devoted to finishing what He started in you
(Phil. 1:6). When He’s finished with you, your life will be a beautiful poem to
His glory (Eph. 2:10).
The closer you draw to Jesus,
the more clearly you will sense His will. The closer you come to Jesus the more
sensitive you will become to His beating heart. That beating heart of our Lord
beats for you. That beating heart of Jesus brings comfort and satisfaction.
That beating heart of Jesus reduces the risk because you are assured of His
dependability. Don’t be a dissatisfied
farmer who willfully turns preacher. Be a satisfied whatever-God-calls-you-to-be.
Follow Jesus like Thomas did. Pray, “Lord, I don’t know all of Your plan. But
I’m going with you even if it means I die.” That’s a life journey worth taking.
That’s a life blessed by the Lord.
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