Let us consider how to stir one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

Hebrews 10:24-25, ESV

 

When I was in the 4th grade (or so) I had a teacher who really knew how to motivate her students. She did so in such a subtle way as to make us want to do the work without realizing that it was her idea. She could come up with a project and make it seem so exciting that we enthusiastically would dive into it with all of our efforts. It's a rare gift, and one that would be beneficial to each one of us, if we all could but learn to emulate it.

 

The best example of her "sneaky" encouragement was with a simple chain made of paper links. She wanted her class to learn to love to read, so she came across the idea to make it into a competition - not only a competition against the entire class, but also against ourselves as individuals. She began with a single paper link affixed to the ceiling, and each student's name was written on their personal link. Every time a student read an approved book, another link was added to the chain. Now this may seem simple, but I was absolutely fascinated by the concept of watching my own personal chain grow in comparison to the chains of my classmates.

 

As the year went by, I saw the links on my chain edging closer and closer to the floor, and I began to dive into the project with an even greater enthusiasm. Finally, the day came when several of our chains actually touched the floor, and then the teacher went back to the top of that chain and began adding the additional links that started the whole process over. I don't remember who won the competition for the year, but I can tell you that my chain went from floor to ceiling more than once.

 

it wasn't until years later that I realized the teacher was building within us an enthusiasm for reading, instead of a zeal for building chains!

 

There is a similarity to that teacher's strategy and the command we read above from Hebrews. As the inspired writer tells us not to forsake our gathering together as a church for the worship, he does so in such a way as to describe God's reason for this particular responsibility: It is so that we will encourage one another in such a way as to make us want to stir each other up to love and good deeds.

 

We are not building a chain of "perfect attendance" by simply meeting together. God wants us to have this common fellowship so that we can be a continual encouragement to one another. God takes no pleasure in our merely "filling the pew" on Sunday morning; rather, He wants us to go beyond that and do something that is beneficial to our fellow Christians. And when we actually think about how we can stir one another up towards love and good deeds, it gives us a purpose in that fellowship. We are actually seeking to make each other feel good for being at the worship. 

 

We have all visited that "cold" congregation where hardly anyone spoke to us the whole time we were there. Did you want to go back to such a lackluster group, or did you continue your search for a body of Christians who would provide you with an encouragement because of their enthusiasm and friendliness? The fact is that most churches grow much faster when they are obeying both sides of this commandment you see above. It is true that they are not neglecting the gathering together for worship, but it is also true that they have a zeal for being there in the first place.

 

And like the teacher's strategy in my younger years, the Master's strategy has a way of making us want to be at the worship, because we feel good just by being with people who are genuinely happy to see us. This in turn makes us want to "grow our chains" of stirring one another on to love and good works. It is a fact that being around enthusiastic people builds an enthusiasm in us, and being around friendly people makes us want to be friendly in return.

 

And the chain grows in such an environment of love! 

 

When you think about it, God is the master motivator! He is not manipulative as some might believe. He loves us more than words can say, and He desires for us to be surrounded by a family of Christians who will make us feel not only accepted but valued. And such an attitude is contagious! It has a way of making the entire church want to be with each other, and it is quite attractive to outsiders. And when the church serves as a loving encouragement to one another, it entices others who need that same encouragement in their own lives.

 

And when they get the encouragement that we all need, it has a way of motivating them to do the same for others! It has a way of making us want to start a chain of our own, a chain that will extend far enough to provide loving encouragement to everyone we come in contact with. Have you started your chain yet? You can begin the very next time the church meets!

 

What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

Mark 8: 36-37, KJV

 

This quote from Jesus came at one of the pivotal points of His ministry. Peter had just made that great confession that Jesus was the Son of God, and Jesus revealed right after that He was about to be arrested and then crucified. Peter didn't like that prospect any more than would we have had we been in his position. So, Peter rebuked Jesus! We don't know exactly what he said, but we can imagine the gist of the conversation. He likely reminded Jesus that since He was the Son of God that He could do anything - including preventing His impending arrest and crucifixion. 

 

This is the point when Jesus told Peter that He did not have in mind the things of God; rather, he had in mind the things of men. And just as it would have been true if Jesus had made this comment to us, it was absolutely true when He made it to Peter, for Peter was not looking at the big picture. God had not sent Jesus into the world to establish a physical kingdom with Himself at the head. God had sent Jesus into the world to die for the sins of men so that they could be part of His eternal kingdom! And while anyone can understand that the eternal is more important than the temporary, Peter at the time just couldn't see it.

 

I believe this is the part that I struggle with as well. Not in a way that I think Jesus should have formed a kingdom here on earth, but in the way that I focus way too much on physical things and often give far too little thought as to the eternal.

 

In such instances, we all need to be reminded of Jesus' famous question: What good is it to accomplish our physical goals - even if that accomplishment were to yield us the entire world, if in the end we were to forfeit our very souls?

 

This is the common struggle we all share - this struggle between the physical and the spiritual, the struggle between the temporary and the eternal. Sometimes I get so caught up in the physical things I need to be doing that I actually lose sight of what I am here for in the first place. It's not that it is unimportant to take care of ourselves and our loved one's physical needs (after all, the Scriptures tell us that if a man will not work, neither should he eat), it's just that we cannot make this the priority of our lives.

 

Peter was properly concerned that if Jesus died that He would not have the opportunity to continue His ministry. Add that to the fact that Peter had to be upset at the idea of Jesus' impending death, and we can begin to see why he wanted to argue the point with Jesus. In a like manner, there are physical things that we can see would be good for us to be accomplishing. However, if we lose sight of the fact that our physical needs are secondary to the spiritual, then we might just end up gaining all sorts of physical wealth for ourselves and our families, but in the end, we might miss out on heaven because we have not given enough thought to the things that God wants us to accomplish.

 

In other words, we might find ourselves fat and happy from the neat things that we have been able to earn for ourselves, but it quite possibly was at the cost of our taking care of our spiritual duty to God and to Christ. So, instead of putting God first in important areas such as the study of His word and in making the church our priority so that we might help it maximize its mission of seeking and saving the lost, we might find that we were too busy studying the things that were needed to put food on the table and a roof over the heads of our children. And when it came to our duty to Christ's church? Well. we might have been too busy for that too, and as a result, the church was not able to accomplish all of the things that Christ desires for His body. And when the church fails in its mission, the seeking and saving of the lost just somehow does not happen.

 

If you find yourself in a similar position to me and Peter, a position where your main focus is on physical accomplishments, then welcome to the club! It is a common struggle for all men, is it not? The question now is what are we going to do about it? Will we repent and put our physical needs and wants in a secondary position, or will we continue to focus on our worldly pursuits and give the leftovers of our time, money and efforts to God? The fact is that God has never accepted a servant who seeks his own good first, and God's second. God and Christ will be first in our lives, or we may find that they never really were in our lives at all.

 

So, here is the bottom line: We must address this same question that Peter had to answer some 2,000 years ago when Christ asked it of him. What does it profit a man, if he should gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul in the process? What is it that we may have been exchanging for our souls? It is something to give serious thought to, wouldn't you agree?

If a man is lazy, the rafters sag; if his hands are idle, the house leaks.

Ecclesiastes 10:18, NIV (1978)

Most men do not wear out, they rust out. Colonel Harlan Sanders

 

I like Colonel Sanders! As the legend goes, the future founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken went out to his mailbox shortly after his 65th birthday and was met with his first "retirement" check from the government. He decided that he was not ready to be put out to pasture quite yet, so he took that retirement check and turned it into a business that eventually became one of the largest fast-food franchises in the world. His observation that you see above really was a motivating factor for him - he did not want to just sit and rust, he wanted to be useful.

 

Today is opening day of lawnmowing season. I know that there is probably something wrong with me (my wife agrees, though she thinks the word "probably" is completely unnecessary) but I always look forward to this time of year. After the long winter's months of inactivity, our bathroom scales always tend to remind me that my "rafters" are indeed sagging, and that it is time to get to work before the rook falls in.

 

And I have found through the years that hard work makes me happy.

 

I think most people would agree, despite their protests to the contrary. I often hear people complain about the load of work they might be experiencing from time to time, but if you scratch just a little beneath the surface of those complaints, I believe that you will find that they are secretly bragging, because hard work has a way of stirring the blood and making one feel useful. And what better way to feel useful than to have satisfying work that must be done lest things start to fall apart?

 

We all admire those firemen who answer the alarm and rush to put out the fire before it spreads. Their work is hard, but it is also vital to the safety and well-being of just about everyone in the community. In a like manner, hard work for us is a blessing, and there is no greater need for hard work than in our service to the Master. As Jesus so beautifully put it: "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field." (Matthew 9:37-38)

 

So, workers, where are you? You know that the work is both vital to the souls of others and that it will be satisfying to you. And in a way, it is like the work of the fireman: By getting to this important work, we can not only do the work that God has called us to, but we can literally spare others from the flames! Since that is the case, let's get to the work! You know that you will like it, and people are counting on you to do what is needed. I believe we will find that if we will do both our physical work and that which is spiritual, that we will be able to go to our graves at a ripe old age with the satisfaction of knowing that we were one of those noble few who wore out, rather than being just another one of the many who simply rusted out from inactivity.

Grandchildren are the crown of the aged...

Proverbs 17:6, ESV

 

An older preacher told the story of the first time one of his grandchildren saw snow. The little one and his family were staying with him, and to the grandchild's absolute delight, the whole property was covered in snow when they woke up at grandfather's one fine morning. Looking out at this magical scene, the little boy exclaimed, "Grandfather! How'd you do that?"

 

One of the things that most fills the heart of every grandparent with love is the innocence and wonder of their grandchildren. Every new sight, every new sound, every new taste just seems to fill these little ones' lives with awe and joy. By the time most of us get to that venerable age that qualifies us to be grandparents, we have often become tired and jaded and unexcited by life in general. We are not all that happy about all of the difficulties that come with old age, and life simply has often lost its zest. Then these precious little bundles come out of nowhere and fill our lives with an enthusiasm that we may have felt was no longer possible. For so many of us, our grandchildren provide for us a long-needed renewal.

 

Take this evening for example. I walked into the church building only to be met by my four-year old grandson. He is so filled with energy that he always seems about to burst at the seams. Then his sister - three-years old and going on thirty, decided that she needed to sit with her grandmother and me. She immediately snuggled up in my lap and began feeling of my face with the studied intensity of a blind person who was trying to get a more complete picture of the object of her attention. Later, her one-year-old sister walks up to me with a tiny Bible, tightly gripped in her little hands, and reaches up to me to be held.

 

Life just gets better and better, when you are a grandfather! I've got four more just as precious as these who live just 90 miles away, and another grandchild due in about four months. God has blessed me far mor than I could possibly deserve, and I am more than conscience of that fact. I am also more thankful than words could describe.

 

It is these "heavenly seven" plus the one on the way that will make them the "great eight" that gives my life more joy than I could have possibly imagined that my children having children could yield. They are also one of the primary motivating factors that makes me want to leave a better world behind than the one I am leaving now. They create within me a longing to leave this better world that gives my life purpose and direction. I realize that there are a lot of things that are wrong with this world that must be made right before my life is through.

 

I am fully aware of my personal limitations, so I understand that I can do little to change the present state of this world, but I can do something. And, since I can do something, I am determined to do what I can, praying to God all the time for the wisdom to know what is best for me to do while I still have the opportunity. 

 

So, despite the fact that no grandfather can change the entire world any more than he could cause it to snow, I do know this: I can still do all things through Him who gives me strength, and I therefore understand that I can at the very least do my best. It is not enough to just enjoy the cuteness and affections of our grandchildren - we have to be actively engaged to make their lives better. This means that we pray for wisdom to know best what we might best be doing with our time, and that we then get to the work of doing it!

 

You and I cannot change the entire world, but with God's help we can change that little corner in which we reside. These little ones are counting on us, and God has left us to do the work. While it is true that we are utterly and completely insufficient for a task so monumental as leaving behind a world that is worthy of our grandchildren, we can at least be doing what we can. It will take all of our focus and all of our efforts, and it will still not be enough, for we are only human. However, with God's help, we can accomplish anything that He wants us to accomplish and that we are willing to devote our best efforts to. Surely our grandchildren are worth these efforts and so too, by the way, is God.

 

So, let's get to the work and do what we can for as long as we can. God is more than capable of filling in the gaps that our efforts will surely leave.

 

And that will be enough!

 

We are so blessed, we who are grandparents. Since that is the case, let's do the best we can to repay God and our children, and our children's children, by leaving behind the best world that we can. It is a noble task, and no person can ask for anything more worthwhile to do with the time that God has given them.