By Pastor Greg
A cowboy named Bud was overseeing his herd in a
remote mountainous pasture in Montana when suddenly a BMW came rushing toward
him in a cloud of dust. The driver, a young man, leaned out the window and
asked the cowboy, “If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in
your herd, will you give me a calf?" Bud looked at the man then
looked at his peacefully grazing herd and calmly answered, "Sure, why not?"
The guy whipped out his laptop, connected to his iPhone, and surfed to a NASA
page on the Internet, where he called up a GPS satellite to get an exact fix on
his location which then scanned the area in an ultra-high-resolution photo. He
then exported the photo to an image processing facility in Hamburg, Germany.
Within seconds, the image was processed and the data stored. Finally, he turned
to Bud and said, "You have exactly 1,586 cows and calves."
"That’s right,” said Bud. “Well, I guess you can take one of my calves.”
He watched the young man select one of the animals and stuff it into the trunk
of his car. Then Bud said to the young man. “Hey, if I can tell you
exactly what your business is, will you give me back my calf?" The
young man thought about it for a second and then said, "Okay, why
not?" Bud said, "You’re a Member of Congress.” “Wow! That’s
correct” said the young man, "but how did you guess that?"
"No guess required,” answered Bud.
“You showed up here even though nobody called you; you want to get paid for an
answer I already knew, to a question I never asked. You used millions of
dollars’ worth of equipment trying to show me how much smarter than me you are;
and, you don’t know a thing about how working people make a living … or about
cows, for that matter. This is a herd of sheep." … "Now, give me back
my dog.”
I get that. I
understand how frustrating it is when people who have no clue tell you how to
do your job. Do you know what I
mean? And how about in spiritual matters
or issues concerning the Kingdom of God.
People who have never surrendered their heart to Jesus start telling
Christians all about Jesus, or God, or the Bible. Doesn’t make sense to me. There is too much of the world and not enough
of Jesus in their heart. Perhaps this
would explain Pilate’s reaction to Jesus.
Then Pilate had Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip. 2 The
soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they put a purple
robe on him. 3 “Hail! King of the Jews!” they mocked, as they
slapped him across the face. 4 Pilate went outside again and
said to the people, “I am going to bring him out to you now, but understand
clearly that I find him not guilty.” 5 Then Jesus came out
wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said, “Look, here
is the man!” 6 When they
saw him, the leading priests and Temple guards began shouting, “Crucify him!
Crucify him!” “Take him yourselves and crucify him,” Pilate said. “I find him
not guilty.” 7 The Jewish leaders replied, “By our law he ought to die because he called himself
the Son of God.” 8 When Pilate heard this, he was more
frightened than ever. 9 He took Jesus back into the
headquarters again and asked him, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave no
answer. 10 “Why don’t you talk to me?” Pilate demanded. “Don’t
you realize that I have the power to release you or crucify you?” 11 Then
Jesus said, “You would have no power over me at all unless it were given to you
from above. So the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin.” 12 Then
Pilate tried to release him, but the Jewish leaders shouted, “If you release this
man, you are no ‘friend of Caesar.’ Anyone who declares himself a king is a
rebel against Caesar.” 13 When
they said this, Pilate brought Jesus out to them again. Then Pilate sat down on
the judgment seat on the platform that is called the Stone Pavement (in Hebrew,
Gabbatha). 14 It was now about noon on the day of preparation
for the Passover. And Pilate said to the people, “Look, here is your king!” 15 “Away
with him,” they yelled. “Away with him! Crucify him!” “What? Crucify your
king?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” the leading priests shouted back. 16 Then Pilate turned
Jesus over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus away.
These Jewish Religious Leaders had
no clue. It’s as if the Devil swept his
hand before their eyes and said “This isn’t the Messiah you’re looking
for. Move along.” However, as shocking as that is, look how
Pilate reacts. He has a wrestling match
with his heart. Earlier, his wife had
told him to “Leave
that innocent man alone.” She
had suffered through a terrible nightmare about him the night before (see Matthew
27:19). Then here, these Jewish Leaders
inform him that Jesus claimed to be the Son of God (verse 7). These events caused Pilate to become quite
disturbed. But, rather than listen to
his heart, Pilate gives in to worldly pressure. His job was more important than surrendering
to the Lordship of Jesus. Finally, Jesus reminds this Roman Governor who is
really in charge. That shook him up a
bit.
When confronted with the Lordship
of Jesus, people typically respond in three different ways. They fight against it (Pilate), they deny it
(Religious Leaders), or they surrender their heart and allow Jesus to be Lord
of their life (the apostles).
I doubt many who go to church
would self-identify with the Jewish Religious Leaders (the Sanhedrin, as they
are called). I mean, which of us would
look Jesus straight in the eye and doubt?
And I know most of us would say we have nothing in common with Pilate. We would have surrendered to Jesus. But I’m not so sure this is true … at least
not for me. You see, sometimes I think many of us have a wrestling match with our
heart. We struggle with Heart Surrender in certain areas of our
lives. We call Jesus Lord, but when it
comes to living like Jesus is our Lord, well, that’s where
things get tough.
From the things we do, the words
we say, and the life we live, we must
allow Jesus to be Lord of all. This
takes a lot of work. It just doesn’t
come naturally. It takes a conscience effort. It takes self-evaluation. We should assess the amount of time we spend
in the world, and contrast that with the amount of time we spend with the Lord. If you’re like most, the balance is way
off. How much of your time do you give
to Jesus? And when I say “Give your time
to Jesus” I’m talking about time spent with Him in prayer and study, not just the
hour on Sunday morning. I’m talking
about opening your heart to Jesus and allowing Him to guide and direct your
entire life. That’s Heart Surrender.
When it comes to worry and fear,
we Christians are not much different than a non-Christian. The same sadness, depression, hopelessness,
and despair is heard from Christians and
non-Christians alike. Why is that? Why do we, who
have been given a peace the world cannot receive still fret and worry (Peace I leave with
you; my peace I give to you; I do not give it to you as the world does. Do not
let your hearts be distressed or lacking in courage – John 14:27). Maybe it’s because we fill our lives with depressing stories and worldly tensions; listening
to songs that draw us into the world and not into the Kingdom of God. When our emotional diet is sadness and anger,
is it any wonder that our lives reflect this?
When we fill our hearts with the worries of the world, there is no room
left for Jesus. Have we forgotten that He is to be our Lord and King?
I think each of us struggles with this. I know I do.
I need to give God more of my time and attention. I know this because I get grumpy and
irritable when Jesus has taken a back seat in my life. I am not fit to live with when I get into a
wrestling match with the Lord; when He says “Go” and I stay. I can tell when my heart is filled with the
worries of the world and not the Peace of
Christ because I am tense and quick to anger. I’m just like Pilate.
We give our heart over to Jesus
for salvation, but giving over our lives is much more challenging. And when we don’t,
we miss out on the blessings in this
life. When Jesus isn’t Lord of our life,
we live in fear for tomorrow. We stop
living in faith. This even affects a
Church. When a local congregation
refuses to make Jesus Lord of its life, that church stops making great leaps of
faith and merely exist from day to day.
This happens because the people of that church make no room for Jesus.
Those who deny that Jesus is Lord
are living outside the Kingdom of God.
We can’t expect them to display “Heart Surrender” while they remain
proud and stubborn (again, consider the actions of the Religious Leaders). But shouldn’t we expect a “born-again” Christian to display this Heart Surrender? Shouldn’t it be evident that a Christian has
allowed Jesus to be Lord of their life?
No comments:
Post a Comment