Vantage Points

Last year on Chinese New Year we had a car accident.  We were parked near an intersection and a truck cut the corner too tight and damaged the left rear quarter panel of our car.  When the police responded, the first thing he did was look to see if there was a camera on that intersection.  He talked to the other driver, he spoke to my wife, but then looked for the camera, because he wanted to see the accident from the camera’s vantage point.  The camera, because it was up on a pole had a wider view of the accident. It had a better vantage point to help the officer determine who was at fault.

That phrase VANTAGE POINT means a place or situation affording some advantage:  A comprehensive view or commanding perspective.  In other words, the camera’s angle and perspective of the accident gave the officer an advantage in determining who was at fault.

Today, I want to look at vantage points at work in our lives:

Deuteronomy 30:19-20 (NKJV)
^30:19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; ²⁰ that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them."

Making Choices

How often do you make choices in a lifetime?  I don’t mean choices like which shirt to put on, or what to eat for breakfast.  I’m talking about life choices; decisions that affect more than day to day living. Decisions like who to marry, what job to take, or buying a home:  Decisions that can affect the outcomes of your life, or your children’s lives.

I don’t know about you but I've made a number of choices that have turned out to be life decisions.  Allowing my pastor to speak into my life was one.  Opening myself up to pioneering a church in Riverside, California was another.  Coming to Taiwan as a missionary was still another.  But there were others, too.  Moving to Southern California, marrying Brenda, having children, all of those things were life decisions.

Before I got saved I had to make my decisions alone.  I had to try and understand all of the effects of the decisions I was making.  How would it affect my future?  Would it open the door to opportunity?  Would this decision change the outcome of other decisions I had already made?  If you’re wise you have to examine all of those things, when you make an important decision. 

One of the things that people often overlook is, will this decision enhance or detract from my relationship with God?  Will it cause the relationship to be closer or will it begin the process of separation from the will of God?

The big problem with making decisions is that we can’t see the future.  We can’t know how situations or dynamics will change as we move forward, because we don’t have the proper vantage point to see clearly the outcome of the decision.

Have you ever heard the phrase, “You can’t see the forest for the trees”?  It speaks of a limited perspective.  You can see what’s right before you but you can’t see the big picture.  You can see the parts and situations right in front of you, but you can’t see how those things make up your overall future.  We make a decision around one problem or obstacle and another one is immediately in our path that we have to make another decision to get around.  Because of our limited perspective we make a series of small decisions but have no idea if those will takes us in the direction we need to go to get out of the forest.

Our text is about making decisions; choosing blessing or choosing death.  When I say that we make decisions that enhance or detract from our relationship with God, I’m talking about choosing blessing or death.  There is the example of the prodigal son:

Luke 15:11-12 (NKJV)
^15:11 Then He said: "A certain man had two sons. ¹² And the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.' So he divided to them his livelihood.

  

Here is a young man that’s made a decision.  It’s a life decision, but look at it:

He’s causing damage to family relationships.

He’s asking for his inheritance, which he’s not prepared to manage.

He’s leaving a loving father to travel far away.

I’m sure the outcome of that decision isn't what he intended.

Luke 15:13-16 (NKJV)
^15:13 And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. ¹⁴ But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. ¹⁵ Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. ¹⁶ And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.

So what has he chosen?  He’s chosen death.  This is a parable, a story that Jesus has told to illustrate a point.  In this story the father represents God.  So, this young man has made a decision that moves him away from God.  It’s a decision that moves him out of God’s will for his life.  Think about his motivation for a moment.  I see this with young people all the time.  They’re eager to be on their own; to begin life on their own terms, away from the influences of their parents, but they need to be careful, because the decisions that they make can have unintended consequences. 

The same is true of us as adults.  Sometimes, we think we’re looking for the will of God, but actually are substituting our will for God’s will.  Decisions have to be made prayerfully and with an eye to unintended consequences. How will those decisions affect your children or your spouse later in their lives. 

Recently, we've seen people in our church make decisions that limit their access to the Word of God and the Will of God.  The problem is that limiting access to God is choosing death.  This is from our text, “choose life that you and your descendants may live.”

Deuteronomy 30:20a(NKJV)
^30:20 that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days.

That you may love the Lord and obey His voice and cling to Him… What kind of decisions are you making?  Are you limiting the time you spend in the presence of God?  Are you doing what’s necessary to cling to Him?  Are you obedient to the commands and will of God?  It’s in those decisions that we find life or death.

Choosing Life in the Twenty-First Century

There is no decision that we can make that doesn't come with some balance or sacrifice – Simon Sinek

When we decided to bring our family to Taiwan, to preach the Gospel, there were a number of trade-offs that we understood would take place.  We’d be moving thousands of miles from our support system.  We’d be giving up our country and all the things that go with living in the United States.  We had to sell our car, our home and most of what we had.  We gave up friends and family to move here.  That was the trade-off to being in God’s will.  We made a decision to choose God’s will.

It wasn't about making more money.  It wasn't about an advantage that we could gain over other people.  It really wasn't about what WE wanted.  It was about God’s calling and God’s will for our lives.  Our destiny is tied to Taiwan.  There were trade-offs.  There are always trade-offs but living the will of God is a choice.

When Abraham left Haran to follow God to that place, he left everything behind:  He left family, he left friends, he left everything.  He chose the to follow the call of God.  He got blessed, but first there was sacrifice.  He made his decision on God’s calling.  The first thing you have to do is determine what it is that God’s calling you to.  It’s backwards to go and then try to determine whether or not it was God’s call. 

Let’s look at Gideon for a moment.  God has called Gideon to fight against the Midianites, but Gideon can’t believe it.  Gideon thinks, “I’m not a leader.  I come from the lowliest family in all of Israel.” He’s not sure if it’s really God that’s called Him. He wants to be sure, because there is a lot a stake.  So look what he does:

Judges 6:36-40 (NKJV)
^6:36 So Gideon said to God, "If You will save Israel by my hand as You have said-- ³⁷ look, I shall put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that You will save Israel by my hand, as You have said." ³⁸ And it was so. When he rose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece together, he wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowlful of water. ³⁹ Then Gideon said to God, "Do not be angry with me, but let me speak just once more: Let me test, I pray, just once more with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, but on all the ground let there be dew." ⁴⁰ And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only, but there was dew on all the ground.

Before he does anything else, he determines whether or not it’s God that’s called.  The thing is that God calls you according to HIS purpose.  God called Abraham to establish HIS promise.  God called Moses to deliver HIS people into the Promised Land.  God called Gideon to deliver HIS people from the oppression of the Midianites.  God always calls us to HIS purposes.

Do you want to know if it’s God that speaking to you?  If you do, then you have to determine what purpose God would have for that thing, you think is God’s calling.  God’s calling will be specific.  God doesn't call you to a place so you can get close to God.  He expects you to do that where you are.  God will have a specific purpose for your calling, something that will impact something God is doing.  When God called me to Taiwan I knew it was God because I understood His purpose in my coming here.

Granted there are benefits to me to be in Taiwan. It’s less expensive than living in the US.  I've met people whom I love, that I wouldn't have met if I stayed home.  I like living here, but that wasn't God’s purpose in my calling.  Those are the blessings of obedience.  The calling was for His purposes.

The Vantage Point

So why am I writing all of this?  Let’s go back to the forest for a moment.  We’re in the forest, among the trees.  Our vision is limited.  We can’t see past the obstacles to make a decision that will move us out of the forest.  We don’t have the proper vantage point for that, but God does.

Think of it like this, God is above; He sees the whole forest.  He sees where you are and where you need to be… He can guide you in the direction to go, to find your way out of the forest; to get past all the obstacles.  If you allow Him to He will order your steps.

Psalms 37:23 (NKJV)
^37:23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, And He delights in his way.

God directs our steps.  The steps of a good man are ordered. So God has a direction for you.  God has a plan for your life.  He’s calling you to something.  That’s what that means – the steps of a good man are ordered.  God can help you make a decision, but you have to be open to having your steps ordered.  Are you listening for God’s calling?  Are you really looking for God’s plan for your life?  Do you want God to order your steps?  If you’re not looking for God’s plan, it’s your plan you’re looking for.  If you’re not asking God to order your steps, then you’re asking God to make your plan work out.  “This is what I’m doing God, make it happen for me.”  Things turn out much better if we allow God to direct us. He’s up there looking at the direction you’re going.  “Turn right, there’s a big rock you won’t get past if you go left.  Stop, now go left because otherwise you’ll have that raging river to swim across.”  God can guide you around the obstacles in a way that will lead you out of the forest.

I was just reading a book on Mount Everest*.  This guy climbed the mountain and on the day he was supposed to summit, his Sherpa guide fell sick.  He was by himself.  He didn't have a Sherpa guide to help him.  So, he went alone.

He made it to the summit.  He took a few pictures.  He celebrated a few minutes up there, but on the way down something happened.  He went snow blind.  This is temporary blindness that comes from the reflection of the sun off the snow.  He was completely blind; he couldn't see at all and had to descend the mountain like that.  Here’s the thing, no one had ever survived that on Everest.  He thought he was going to die.  All he could think about was his family, his children and his wife, how much they would miss him, and how much they needed him.

Do you know what he did?  He fell down on his knees and prayed for God to guide him.  He prayed God would help him, show him where to put his feet, help him to find the fixed ropes. He turned himself over to God’s guidance.

He went through a lot that day.  A three-hour descent turned into a seven-hour one.  There were missteps and fumbles but he made it through.  He made it to Camp Four, were there were people that could help him.

We’re often like that guy.  We do things; we get ourselves into situations, because we make decisions on our own.  He knew he shouldn't have gone up alone, bit he didn't want to be distracted from HIS goal.  He was blinded by his pride.  He didn't know if there would be another opportunity to reach the summit on this trip or if he’d have to come back again.  He didn't weigh it all out; he didn't seek God, first.  He went out and then after got into trouble, he asked God to bail him out. 

He finally surrendered.  I can’t do this alone God.  I will never make it through this on my own.  God you have a better vantage point.  God you can see the direction better than I can.  God guide my steps – pick my direction.  I will be obedient to your plan and I will be blessed. 

As far as the future goes, we’re all snow blind, but if we surrender to His directions, God can see us through.

* Blind Descent: Surviving Alone and Blind on Mount Everest, Brian Dickinson, Tynedale Publishing, (c) 2014

The Hero

The author Vladimir Nabakov, best known for his novel “Lolita,” once stayed with family friends in the rural area of Alta, Utah. He was an avid butterfly collector and took advantage of the time the to increase the size of his butterfly and moth collection. This was his passion he was difficult to distract when engaged in this hobby.


One day he returned to the house and told the family he was staying with, that while he was down by the stream chasing a particular butterfly, he heard someone moaning terribly. Alarmed, the family asked him if he stopped t render assistance to whoever was in need at the stream. Nabakov replied, “No, I had to get the butterfly.” The next morning they found the corpse of an old prospector, in the area described by Nabakov.

As he was engaged in his own pursuits a man died. Hoew many times have you felt like Nabakov? Too busy with your own business to reach into someone else’s life? Consider this:

James 1:15
15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death

So if we think about this in this way, then those who are lost in sin are like the prospector, they are in the midst of the throes of death. It is up to us to not be like Nabakov, but to offer any help we can. We can’t give them salvation but we can lead them to the one who can. It’s up to them to accept or reject Jesus but it is our responsibility to give them the opportunity to make that choice. If not then we are no better than Nabakov who allowed a man to die because it would interfere with his hunt for butterflies. What are our priorities as Christians? Is it the salvation of other people? Or are butterflies the priority? 

Today I have entitled my post “The Hero.” It’s taken from the scriptures surrounding Jesus’ death. It’s a look at the men who crucified Him and the willingness of only one to offer aid to Jesus as he died.

Matthew 27:37-50
37 And they put up over His head the accusation written against Him: THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.38 Then two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and another on the left.39 And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads40 and saying, “You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”41 Likewise the chief priests also, mocking with the scribes and elders, said,42 “He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him.43 “He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ”44 Even the robbers who were crucified with Him reviled Him with the same thing. 45 Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land.46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”47 Some of those who stood there, when they heard that, said, “This Man is calling for Elijah!”48 Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and offered it to Him to drink.49 The rest said, “Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to save Him.”50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.

The Men Who Crucified Him
Let’s look at what is happening in this moment. The soldiers have finished their work. It’s their job to get those who will be crucified from the garrison to Golgotha, nail them to the cross and then basically, wait for them to die. Crucifixion was a slow and gruesome death. The soldiers, after bringing them to the hill of death, were left to while away the time until those who were crucified died.

We know from the scriptures that some of them spent their time gambling for the seamless tunic that Jesus wore, but after that there was a long time spent just waiting. The soldiers were somewhat disconnected from Jesus’ crucifixion. To them, this was just a “Jewish thing.” They weren’t Jews; they didn’t understand the religious significance of what was happening. So they made no judgments about whether it was right or wrong. They were only following orders.

As theywere waiting jesus cries out, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani.” I’ve always wondered about this. He cries out and the people standing around assume he is calling for Elijah. The people didn’t understand what he was saying, but he was crying out in the language of the Jews. They should have understood in their own language. But perhaps, the men were not Jews but Roman soldiers. They didn’t understand the words because they didn’t speak that language. But they all recognize this cry as a cry of anguish; a cry of suffering.

When they heard the cry they were immediately broken up into two groups of people: Those that recognized the cry of suffering and wanted to help, and those who recognized it for what it was but chose not to do anything.

In the late 1960s, a young woman was brutally murdered in the streets of her apartment complex. This was a murder that took place over a period of time. It was not to quick shots from a gun. She was chased up and down the street, beaten and stabbed to death. She screamed and fought for her life for a full twenty minutes. But no one came to help her. There were hundreds of people within earshot of this murder. They heard the screams; they shut their windows; they tried not to look at her. No one called the police, thinking that surely someone else already had. People recognized her screams for what they were. No one came to offer help. While Jesus’ cries were only for that moment and that time, there are cries of suffering that we hear today.

What Jesus cried out, “Eli, eli lama sabachthani” is translated as, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” Why have you turned your back on me? I wonder if you’ve ever felt the same way. I know that I did. As I wallowed in the sin and bondage that was my life before salvation, I wondered why God seemed to not know or care about me. We hear this cry from other people all the time as we rub shoulders with those still lost in sin. We hear it in our workplace; we hear it in our school, wherever we may be. People aren’t always wearing their misery on their sleeves, but we can see it in the emptiness of their lifestyles. We can see their loneliness and need and we recognize it because we have experienced it, ourselves. The question then, is what are we going to do about it. That’s where we see the division of thought; those that won’t offer help and those that will.

Why We Can't Answer the Call
Most of the men in our text were willing to ignore the cries of anguish. If we could project ourselves back in time to that moment, I’m sure if we asked them they would have reasons; logical, well thought out reasons why it was impossible to help, in the same way that we have reasons when we don’t help.

One reason might be that they thought the call was for Elijah. If the call is for Elijah, then it’s none of their business. But this is wrong thinking.

There is law that governs ocean-going vessels; it’s called Maritime Law. In Maritime Law it’s illegal to disregard a distress call. You cannot see or receive a radio call of a vessel in distress and not try to render assistance. If you do then you are held morally and legally responsible for any loss of life. It isn’t enough to say they weren’t calling me so it wasn’t my business. There is a requirement that aid be offered. This same thing is true in other circumstances as well. If a house is burning and you know people are inside, you can’t just walk away and say, “I’m not a fireman, so it’s not my business.” Drivers are required to help the injured if they pass a traffic accident, they can’t say, “I’m not a policeman.” We can’t ignore a crime victim bleeding in the street by saying, “I’m not a doctor.” It is no excuse for our behavior; we are to render assistance as we see the need. Recognition of need is a cry unto itself.

Another reason might be that they heard the cry but figured someone else would help. Surely someone else will do something. This is the thinking of those who left that young woman to be murdered in the street while they closed their windows to her screams. Christians do that as well: The others will cover outreach today. That brother will pray with that sinner, “He likes to do that.” Other people will be evangelists, they always do.

Have you ever hung back, when you know God is speaking to you to witness to someone, thinking, “I really don’t know what to say so if I stay back, someone else will step up and do it.”

Or probably the most compelling reason is that maybe they wanted to help but ti all seemed so hopeless. The man is being crucified, what good can a drink of water do? What can I really do, anyway? Will anything I do change the outcome? If I make an emotional investment in helping and things don’t change I may be disappointed or hurt. So rather than face disappointment we would rather suffer the paralysis of hopelessness.

We face that all the time, don’t we? The Gospel has been preached for two thousand years and look around you, most of the world remains unconverted. Even in your own community, most people aren’t Christians. I live in Taiwan and the vast majority of the people in my community are not Christian. There are so many people that aren’t converted, “What can I do on my own?”

In the book, “The Fall of the Fortresses” the author writes about the heroics of the pilots and crews of the B-17 “Flying Fortress” bombers during World War II. In one story a B-17 takes a hit from a 20mm shell that lodges in the fuel tank and remains unexploded. The pilot is able to safely land the plane with no losses. Had that shell exploded the bomber would have also exploded killing the entire crew. So the pilot asked the repair men if he could have that unexploded shell, as a souvenir of his incredible luck on that day. The repair man told him, there were 11 unexploded shells in the fuel tank that the bomb squad had to dislodge and defuse. Amazed the pilot then went to the bomb squad and asked for the shells. But the bomb squad leader told him the shells had been turned over to military intelligence, because every one of the shells was empty. There was no explosive in any of the shells. They weren’t completely empty, though, because inside one of the shells was a handwritten note. The note was in Czechoslovakian and it read, “This is all we can do for now.” The man who wrote this jt was no doubt a prisoner, forced to do slave labor after the Nazis overran that country. It must have seemed to futile to those prisoners, that this effort at risk of their lives, could change the course of the war. But for that one crew it made an incredible difference.

How many times have we met people and thought, “What can I say that is any different from what they’ve heard before?” Maybe nothing, but that doesn’t mean we don’t try. We don’t know how God is going to work in their circumstances. We only know that we’re called to reach out to the lost.

The One Who Responds

There is one man who responds. He hears the cry of anguish and he responds:

He doesn’t worry that he’s not the one called on:
He doesn’t wait to see if someone will respond first:
He doesn’t stop to analyze the outcome of the only effort he can make…He just responds.

He responds like we are to respond; with what he can do. He knows that giving Jesus sour wine he’s not going to save his life. He knows he can’t save Jesus from the Roman Empire. He can only offer what he can and hope that it helps. That’s what we can do. We can only offer what we can; an opportunity to respond to the Gospel. We can’t save them, we can’t forgive their sin; we can only bring them to a place where they can accept Jesus.

This nameless man, this Roman soldier is a role model for you and I. He did what he could do. We can only do what we can do, we can witness, testify, preach and pray. Sometimes it seems like so little but it’s what we can do.

So what happened to the soldiers at the crucifixion, what happened to the soldier who gave Jesus a drink? We don’t know, the Bible doesn’t mention them again. But I do know what the Bible does tell us:

Matthew 25:34-40
34 “Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:35 ‘for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in;36 ‘I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?38 ‘When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You?39 ‘Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’40 “And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.

We are called to reach the lost and we will find a reward. It may not be before men. It may not be in this world, but the Bible does promise reward.

2 Timothy 4:8
8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.

God desires that we will answer his call and in answering the call we will find a reward. We may not find that reward in this world but we will have a reward.

A number of years ago a missionary and his wife returned from Africa on the same ship as US President Theodore Roosevelt. They had given their lives to missionary service in Africa. They had given up their homeland, their friends and family and were on their way back to their homeland. President Roosevelt had been in Africa on a vacation. He had gone to go hunting. And as they returned there were hundreds of people at the docks to welcome the president back home. But the missionary and his wife had no one to meet them. They picked up their bags and walked to a cheap hotel near the docks.

As the msissionary watched the crowd cheering for the president he thought to himself, “My wife and I have given our lives to God’s service. We have made many sacrifices, this man has returned from a hunting trip, he has made no sacrifice and given no service. Why does he receive all for this and for us there is no one.”

When he arrives at his hoetel room he goes in to the room and prays. He laid it all out to God, he wept and repented of his bitterness and envy, and came out of the prayer with a changed countenance. He told his wife, “I complained to God. I told him my every thought. I told of my bitterness and envy at the great reward the president when he arrived at home, but for us there was nothing. God answered me with four simple words, “You’re not home, yet.”

There will be treasure for us in heaven if we are obedient here on eart. We think of Billy Graham and the thousands f people he has won to Jesus and we think, “I could never be that fruitful.” But the Bible tells us that there is rejoicing in heaven over one soul that is saved. The impact thatwe make is every bit as great as the impact that Billy Graham makes, especially for that one soul that’s saved. One last illustration:

There is a young boy walking a long the beach. The night before there had been a great storm at sea and on the beach were thousands of starfish that had been washed ashore. As he walks along he is picking up starfish and hurriedly throwing them back into the sea the to keep them from drying up on the beach. The child meets up with a man who has been watching throw the starfish into the sea and ask\s him what he’s doing. The child replies I’m throwing these starfish back to save their lives. The man looks up and down the beach and says, “There are too many of them you can’t possibly make a difference, throwing them one by one into the sea.” The child looks down at the starfish in his hand and throws it back into the sea. I made a difference in that one’s life.

We’re not called to change the whole world ourselves. We are called to make a difference in the lives of individuals, one heart at a time. We are called to render assistance when we hear the cry of anguish, just like that nameless hero.