In considering the life of John the Baptist as an example of a life on fire, I would like to move on to the responsiveness of this life. “…the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. And he went in to all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.” Luke 3:2b-3
Notice these phrases – “the word of God came” “and he went”. John didn’t sit around luxuriating in the warmth of a word from God. He recognized that the word made a requirement of him. The word came…and he went. The word makes a requirement of us as well – obedience.
Somewhere after being born again, as we become more acclimated in the Christian environment, we can find ourselves receiving the word of God in a way other than how God meant for us to receive it. Consider what was happening in the day of Ezekiel the prophet:
“As for you, son of man, the children of your people are talking about you beside the walls and in the doors of the houses; and they speak to one another, everyone saying to his brother, ‘Please come and hear what the word is that comes from the Lord.’ So they come to you as people do, they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their own gain. Indeed you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they do not do them.” Ezekiel 33:30-32
These were the religious folks; happy to get together for church, ready to hear a message. But they had no intention of allowing that word to impact their lives. It was just their religious form of entertainment. And it is just as prevalent in our day. How many people do you know that run from church to church, conference to conference, book to book, always looking for the latest word in religion. They aren’t necessarily just interested in the religious cotton candy that’s out there, but find an in-your-face message just as tasty. However, the word is not allowed to nourish and bring growth to their inner man. It makes its way to the belly and is eliminated without ever having affected the heart. It is spiritual bulimia.
But those whose lives are on fire by God will listen with a heart to obey, to hear the very voice of God speaking to them through the message. “Speak to me God!” is the cry of their heart, and they treasure one word from heaven over 10,000 messages from the most learned theologians. Then, and only then, can they go with something to share with the world.
Oh let us hear! Let us respond! And let our hearts burn for His speaking!
“I came to send a fire on the earth and how I wish it were already kindled” Luke 12:49
These are the words of Jesus. A fire is to be kindled. A fire that He desires to be kindled. What is this fire that He longs for? As I have thought upon this passage, I keep returning to the same conclusion – Jesus is longing for the day when His followers are aflame with desire for Him. He came to send a fire on earth. That fire is this new life that He gives those who believe in Him. It is a life on fire.
But what does this look like? What is a life on fire? My meditations on this subject kept leading me back to one man – John the Baptist. He illustrates it well.
A life on fire is a focused life
John’s life was a focused life. He wasn’t into fancy clothes and fine cuisine, but was satisfied with camels hair and locusts. He was so focused on one thing that he didn’t need a whole lot of other things. And that one thing was this – I must prepare the way. John could have been a priest, with all the prestige and perks that accompanied such a life. Instead he chose the wilderness and a life of seeking God, being prepared for the work that God had created him for. When the prophet Malachi put down his pen, then began 400 years of silence from heaven. And then….
“Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberias Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in thee wilderness.” Luke 3:1-2
These verses are a veritable who’s who of that day. There were many powerful leaders both in the secular world and the religious world. These were men of influence, wealth and power; respected (or at least feared) by those they ruled. But when God was looking for someone to speak through, He spoke through John. John was nobody; some obscure man living in deserted places. But he had set himself apart to seek the face of God and be a vessel prepared for His use. So God was pleased to overlook the well-known and look upon the unknown. This man who had spent his life seeking God was now to speak for God and when he emerged on the scene, his was a life on fire.
Several days ago I returned from my first ever missions trip, to Nagua, Dominican Republic. The trip was absolutely tremendous. So much happened that I hardly know where to start. But for 3 days we walked through the streets of Nagua and shared the gospel with people in their homes and businesses. We did not have one single instance of someone refusing to listen. And many, many people received Christ. We went into the prison and 2 ladies (of the 15 that are incarcerated) received Christ, with tears. We went into the hospital and the Lord healed a man who had some type of palsy and people got saved there too. We held church services each night and they were packed, with people standing outside in the streets to hear.
As much of a creature of habit as I am, and as much as I am accustomed to American comforts, I found myself adjusting to Nagua very quickly. It was hard to come back home and I still cry when I think about the time in Nagua.
Personally, this has affected me greatly. Sitting at a desk doing accounting for 8-10 hours a day doesn’t make sense anymore. Everybody said this would be a life changing experience. They were right.
The 4th of July weekend is usually a busy time in downtown Baton Rouge. It seemed a very good time to go share with people about the freedom available in Jesus Christ. This time we had a larger group of people from the church that went with us. (See Part 1 here) We were nervous, we were excited, but most of all we were desiring to see people’s lives impacted by the gospel.
This time I was paired up with a young man named Michael. He’s been saved about 3 years and is very passionate about Jesus. When he prays, the words practically explode from his heart. We worked very well together as a team and were able to share the gospel effectively with many people. There were some people who were not interested in what we had to say, but there were more who were interested and heard the gospel.
I know that there are people who feel like this type of thing is not successful if you haven’t “closed the deal” by leading someone in the sinner’s prayer, but I believe that every time the gospel is presented to a person it works in their heart. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation. Nobody can come into contact with that kind of power and walk away unchanged. I know that I never walk away unchanged.
My own heart is encouraged today as my sharing with others reminded me of the wonder of the gospel, the love of God, and the riches of His mercy in Jesus Christ.
There are infidels on earth, but there are none in heaven, and there can be none in hell. They are convinced—convinced by terrible facts—convinced that there is a God while they are crushed beneath his vengeance, and made to tremble at his eternal power. But I pray you, sirs, be not such fools as to live as though your bones were iron and your ribs were brass. Let us not be such madmen as to run as though there were no bounds to our race; let us not play away our precious days as though days were common as sands on a sea shore. That hour-glass yonder contains all the sands of your life. Do you see them running? How swiftly do they empty out! With some of you, the most of the sands are in the bottom bulb of the glass, and there are only a few to go trickling through the narrow passway of its days. Ah! and that glass shall never be turned again; it shall never run a second time for you. Let it once run out and you will die. Oh! live as though you meant to die. Live as though you knew you might die to-morrow. Think as though you might die now, and act this very hour as though I could utter the mandate of death, and summon you to pass through the portals of the tomb.
And then take care, I pray you, that you who do know Christ not only live as though you meant to die, but live while you live. Oh what a work we have to do, and how short the time to do it! Millions of men unconverted yet, and nothing but our feeble voice with which to preach the Word! My soul, shalt thou ever condemn thyself in thy dying moments for having preached too often or too earnestly? No, never. Thou mayest rebuke thy soul, but thou canst never bemoan thy excessive industry. Minister of Christ! in thy dying hour it will never be a theme of reproach to you that you preached ten times in the week, that you stood up every day to preach Christ, and that you so preached that you spent yourself, and wasted your body with weakness. No, it will be our dull sermons that will haunt us on our dying beds, our tearless preaching, our long studyings, when we might have preached better had we come away and preached without them; our huntings after popularity, by gathering together fine words, instead of coming right up, and saying to the people, “Men and women, you are dying, escape for your life and fly to Christ;” preaching to them in red-hot simple words of the wrath to come and of the love of Christ. Oh! there are some of you members of our churches, who are living, but what are you living for? Surely you are not living to get money—that is the worldling’s object. Are you living merely to please yourselves? Why that is but the beast’s delight. Oh! how few there are of the members of our churches who really live for God with all their might. Do we give to God as much as we give to our own pleasures? Do we give Christ’s service as much time as we give to many of our trifling amusements? Why, we have professional men of education, men of excellent training and ability, who when they once get into a church, feel that they could be very active anywhere else, but as Christians they have nothing to do. They can be energetic in parish vestries or in the rifle corps, but in the church they give their name, but their energies are dormant. Ah! my dear hearers, you who love the Saviour, when we shall come before Christ in heaven, if there can be a regret, it will be that we did not do more for Christ while we were here. I think as we fall down before his feet and worship him, if we could know a sorrow, it would be because we did not bring him in more jewels for his crown—did not seek more to feed the hungry, or to clothe the naked—did not give more to his cause, and did not labour more that the lost sheep of the house of Israel might be restored. Live while you live; while it is called to-day, work, for the night cometh wherein no man can work.
Oh, my brothers and sisters in Christ, if sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies; and if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay, and not madly to destroy themselves. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for.
Last Sunday in Sunday School we watched a video. The purpose of the video was to help us understand God’s bigness and our smallness. The man who was speaking gave fact after fact about the size of our universe, the complexity of it all and quite frankly, most of it went way over my head. When you tell me that something is 5.8 million light years away, I really have no concept of that number.
But then at the end of the video he showed a picture taken from the space shuttle Voyager I as it neared the edge of our solar system. NASA sent instructions for the shuttle to turn back towards the earth and take pictures, which it did. It took months for the images to make their way back to earth, but when they did, what they revealed was breathtaking.
I sat in stunned silence as I realized that we were not, in fact, the center of all importance. This world that had seemed so large only moments earlier was suddenly reduced to the size of an insignificant speck – a pale blue dot.
Yet it was to this pale blue dot that the Lord of creation came. For the insignificant inhabitants of this speck, He did the unthinkable – He joined us in our speckness. The meaning of Philippians 2:8 “He humbled Himself” now explodes in my mind.
I feel that there are multitudes of words that want to come tumbling onto the page – yet somehow only silence seems appropriate.
I recently took some time off from work to be alone with God. I went away to a place near the water and spent a lot of time outside, reading my Bible, praying, loving Jesus.
In the evenings I would eat supper outside, watching the beautiful colors of the sunset. Each evening a group of about five birds would appear and they would fly above the tree tops. They would flap their wings a few times and then catch a current of air and be lifted and soar. There didn’t seem to be any purpose to their flight. They weren’t going anywhere, but seemed to just circle around and around, as though they were enjoying the ride.
And as I watched them I thought “They were made for this and look how great a delight they take in it.” And I imagined that this brought God much pleasure.
There are things that God gives me opportunity to do, and in the doing I realize “I was made for this.” In these things my heart is lifted and I feel as though I could soar there forever. And my delight in God nearly explodes in my soul and I sense His pleasure in it.
He is my Delight 