The Crossroads

I look at the world’s philosophy of getting as much as you can as an interesting phenomena. I’ll phrase it in the form of a question, just because I am a Jeopardy! fan. Why are the Japanese successful in their endeavors and the US ranks toward the bottom? It seems a strange question, but the answer is epitomized on a piece of software I recently received from AOL. It states: “If you want to be more capable, powerful, connected, knowledgeable, productive, prosperous, and happier . . .just insert this CD! Enjoy 10 free hours of America Online, America’s most exciting online service.” The Japanese drive their children to success through hard work; while the US drives their children to success through happiness. That is to say, get as much as you can with as little effort as possible. I see this in most places I go-a man quits his job because he is not happy in it, forgetting his responsibilities at home; a woman seeks a job in order to get out of her marriage; a man seeks relationships and leaves when the thrill is gone; a woman takes the life of her born or unborn children because they are inconveniencing her pursuit of happiness. When are we going to learn that happiness is not the key to success living nor the key to a fruitful and powerful life, following Jesus is.

I look back over the centuries and see the truth of 1 Peter 4.12-14 [12 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.] in powerful ways. We suffer because we are showing the world it is not in the kingdom of God but in the kingdom of Satan by the very way we live. If you remember yesterday’s message, the Jews sought to kill Jesus because He did just that. For those saints of old who lived powerfully in Jesus, producing great fruit, happiness was never a factor. As they sought Jesus, happiness was never considered-although joy was always a by-product. Jesus showed us, as did Wesley, Luther, Paul, and Peter that following after Jesus is most difficult. Jesus said it was the narrow road [Matthew 7.13 "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.] and the road less traveled [John 6.60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?" 61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, "Does this offend you? 62 What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! 63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. 64 Yet there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. 65 He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him." 66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.] Today we all stand at a crossroad of the easy, well-traveled road or the road less traveled, the difficult road, the road Jesus commanded us to walk down which is filled with trials but is passionate and abounding in life. [1 Peter 1.6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.]

If you are one of the many who would cry out for renewed passion and restored joy in your Christian walk there are a few things we must do. We must admit we have lost our passion for God, for His work, for His kingdom-this is hard for it requires humility to admit such a thing. Before we can move on, we must first admit that we have fallen short in the area of our passion for Jesus [Revelation 2.4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. 5 Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.] and walking in His paths [1 John 2.6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.]. This is not to say the will is not there, just that the doing is absent. As Jesus told His followers, “The Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” Our desires to follow Jesus with great passion may burn within our souls every morning but by dinner we whimper at the failings of the day. There are countless times I have done just that. “Lord, today I will not forsake You. I will not deny You!” Only to be proven a liar by mid-morning or the rooster’s crow. The disciple Peter was always the first to admit his passion for Jesus [Matthew 16.21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. 22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "Never, Lord!" he said. "This shall never happen to you!"]; but when it came time to doing it, he failed. I am sure we know the account of Jesus predicting that His death would cause all the disciples to betray Him. At that time Peter passionately stated “I won’t Lord!” [Matthew 26.31 Then Jesus told them, "This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written: "'I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.' 32 But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee." 33 Peter replied, "Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will." 34 "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times." 35 But Peter declared, "Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you." And all the other disciples said the same.] Then another time: Luke 22.33 But he replied, "Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death." 34 Jesus answered, "I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me." Peter did, three times; sounds like me. Peter’s intentions are great but powerless because he was missing the passion unto death that we are missing as evidenced in each of our denials of Jesus. Our denials are not as blatant as saying, “I don’t even know the man!” such as was Peter’s; but they are as evident. We are silent when God is defamed; silent when others seek His glory; silent when His name is abused; silent when He is ignored; silent with our testimony; silent with a much needed word of encouragement; silent. At least Peter had a real fear to contend with-death. Our fears are laughter, a lowered grade, a rebuke.

Something happened to Peter after he denied Jesus. Luke 22.54-62 tells us: 54 Then seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance. 55 But when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them. 56 A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, "This man was with him." 57 But he denied it. "Woman, I don't know him," he said. 58 A little later someone else saw him and said, "You also are one of them." "Man, I am not!" Peter replied. 59 About an hour later another asserted, "Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean." 60 Peter replied, "Man, I don't know what you're talking about!" Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. 61 The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: "Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times." 62 And he went outside and wept bitterly. Jesus looked at Peter and Peter left weeping bitterly. I can’t tell you how many times that has happened to me. I deny the Lord, go home and weep only to return to deny Him again the next day or the next moment.

Thankfully the Bible shows me I am not alone here. Just as I went the next day, although not planning to, and denied Him, the Bible shows me Peter did the same thing. After his repentant weeping; after realizing the missing passion; he forgot the Lord. He knew Jesus had risen, he knew Jesus had told him to wait in Jerusalem for Him. Instead, he went far to the North to the Sea of Galilee to go fishing, to return to his former way of life-defeated; frustrated and powerless. [John 21.1 Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Tiberias. It happened this way: 2 Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. 3 "I'm going out to fish," Simon Peter told them, and they said, "We'll go with you." So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.] I know I have done this too often as-well. I would fail the Lord and repent in tears; fail Him again and never wanting to feel the guilt of denial, of sin again-I ran back to a dead, fruitless, powerless, passionless life that looked like a productive Christian life-I read the Bible but was never changed; I prayed to God but had no answers; I never committed myself totally to Him for I was afraid of that look from Him. I was afraid of displeasing Him, so I eventually hid from Him (much like Adam and Eve). I did what others thought a good Christian should do, but never wanted to regain the passion. This was Peter, me and you-isn’t it? Far too often we become content with where we are and, though we say we want passion, we lose out on the life God has called us to because we don’t want to give ourselves completely over to Him. For our sake, God doesn’t stop there.

Just as Peter was about to become satisfied with a common place, uninterrupted life, God intervened.

I think this is marvelous. God had never intended us to live mundane lives but promised us life in abundance. We need to see how God intervenes in our lives. For Peter, Jesus came in an obscure manner-He was cooking breakfast by the Sea. [John 21.1 Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Tiberias. It happened this way: 4 Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. 5 He called out to them, "Friends, haven't you any fish?" "No," they answered. 6 He said, "Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some." When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. 7 Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, "It is the Lord," he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. 8 The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards.] He called them to do something that reminded Peter of that first day he met Jesus; Peter recognized this and swam to Him. It was here around breakfast that Jesus restored Peter’s vision and passion. That reminds me of a favourite verse: Revelation 3.20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. Jesus took hold of the guilt that consumed Peter, which kept him from serving Jesus, causing him to return to a life without God. He took hold of Peter’s guilt and forgave him completely, restored him unconditionally and commanded him to serve Him unswervingly-to have a vision of the King and the Kingdom always before him. Let’s look at that passage for a moment:

John 21.15 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?" "Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my lambs." 16 Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?" He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep." 17 The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my sheep.

John 21.15 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?" "Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I like you." Jesus said, "Feed my lambs." 16 Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?" He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I like you." Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep." 17 The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you like me?" Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you like me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I like you." Jesus said, "Feed my sheep.

Isn’t that fascinating? Jesus restored him and commanded him at the level where Peter was. Jesus desire was greater than Peter’s experienced allowed him to be. Jesus accepted him there and, as we shall see, caused him to grow where Jesus desire for him was.

I thank God that He had done this in my life. He caused me to go up to Berkeley to take care of some matters a few years ago. He caused me to visit a bookstore there and showed me a book to buy. His breakfast for me was that book. A book that reminded me of my first love. He wanted to focus my vision on Him, to release me form my guilt and its ugly consequences of defeat. It was there He restored my passion and vision. It was there He restored me unconditionally into His service and commanded me to speak His word. I have been “visited” in this manner many a time: He always comes obscurely but He was there. What guilt consumes you? What in your life keeps you from being passionate for Jesus? When we are consumed by anything other than Jesus we will be destroyed. For Peter to be released from guilt and the things that held him down, he had to do one thing-obey! To be restored he had to feed the sheep which was the very desire of his heart. To grow and be given freedom to live that all abundant life, he had to do what Jesus said. To be restored, to be passionate, you need to hear His word and obey it. We must begin with what He has told us in His Word and do it, completely for Him. If we don’t follow exactly what He says, we will never live a joyous life. Remember: God tells us-to obey is better than sacrifice.

There is one person that stands out in this century as having the greatest voice. I say this knowing that you will argue with me about it, but also knowing that you will lose the argument because I am bigger than you. This man was given a gift by God to sing and sing gracefully. He started out singing in churches and the like for God’s glory. He was called to sing for God’s kingdom and glory. His voice was suppossed to have been used to changed the future of Gospel music and to glorify God. That was the road God had called him down. God gifted him with a beautiful voice. He listened to God’s command but only obeyed it partially. He sang and used the gift God had given him, but not for God’s glory. When he first started to sing he was offered the Gospel for God’s glory or the road more travelled where he could make fame, fortune, meet females and receive his own glory. He chose the road more travelled. He obeyed God but only partially, not completely. What happened to him? When we use the gifts God gives us for our own gain, when we travel the well-trod trail and the not the less-travelled road, what happens? According to Jeremiah 6:

Jeremiah 6.16 This is what the Lord says: "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, 'We will not walk in it.' 17 I appointed watchmen over you and said, 'Listen to the sound of the trumpet!' But you said, 'We will not listen.' 18 Therefore hear, O nations; observe, O witnesses, what will happen to them. 19 Hear, O earth: I am bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their schemes, because they have not listened to my words and have rejected my law. 20 What do I care about incense from Sheba or sweet calamus from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable; your sacrifices do not please me." 21 Therefore this is what the Lord says: "I will put obstacles before this people. Fathers and sons alike will stumble over them; neighbors and friends will perish."

This man was no different. He started to sing, became famous, made a fortune, met females and recieved glory. But was never satisfied. One day he decided to cut a Gospel album, the very thing he was made for, and found peace-at last-life-at last-and purpose-at last. After cutting the Gospel album he would go out and make more secular rock albums, make movies, and do concerts for his own purposes. According to some of his biographers, when he was in despair he would go make a Gospel album. It is only in doing what God has called us to do that we find peace and life. He found this out. Every four or so years he would make a Gospel album. This would bring him back to life. Then one year, he forget about the album; he forgot that God called him to Gospel and disaster struck. The man with the beautiful gift from God, the man with the fame, fortune and glory, the man with the concerts, albums, movies, and twitch in his leg-was found one morning in a bathroom, dead from an overdose of drugs-what he turned to instead of God. The headlines read: The King of Rock-n-Roll is Dead! Long Live the King! Elvis Presley died in misery because he forsook the gift of God by not obeying completely God’s call for him to sing Gospel.

The other example is of someone you are acquainted with. He was called into the ministry but when the times got tough he walked away from it. God had gifted him with the ability to preach and teach. He felt that if he taught he was using God’s gift for God’s glory. Then one day it dawned on him that he, like Presley, was taking the easy way and was forsaking the road-less-travelled. It was at this point when he began to realize why his life was in such great misery. He was given a great gift and purpose in life, and he forsook it because of trials and tough times. Well, this story ended much better than Elvis Presley’s. This man called out to God to give him the passion and vision to serve Him again on the road-less-travelled. God heard my cries and has given me another ministry to use His gifts in. I again have purpose and direction, life and peace, joy and fulfillment because He refreshed my vision of Him and has given me passion again.

Once we obey, we can live for Him passionately. The very act of obedience will restore passion-not happiness, but life. Not a simple, easy life, but filled, hard, abundant living. This is quite vivid as we see the life of Peter after John 21.

Acts 10-11 Peter preaches to non-Jews and defencs his message by the Word of God.

Acts 12 Peter is miracouloslyj released from prison. He was sent there for his passion.

1 Peter Peter calls us to live like Jesus and suffer with Him and our passion will grow.

By the end of his life, Peter becomes the very person God wanted him to be through his obedience to the Word of God. Do you obey what you read? [if time, the memorizing Filipino]

Isn’t it remarkable how closely the life of Peter resembles 2 Chronicles 7.14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Peter humbled; he called; he repented. God healed! What is your life like today? Is it powerful and passionate? Do the very tears of God drive you? Do you see obedience to what you read? Do you see action to your prayers? Then I want to be with you, I want to see you turn your world around to God just as Peter, Wesley, and Graham have. As we obey we are restored and passionate.

take time to ask a friend if they see that you are travelling the road less taken.

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