When a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem after the stoning of Stephen, the scriptures tell us that the brethren were scattered from the city.  Some of these brethren came to the city of Antioch in Syria where they began preaching to the Gentiles.  When the church in Jerusalem learned that the Gentiles in Antioch had obeyed the gospel, they sent Barnabas to verify this information.  In Acts 11:23 the scripture says, “Then when he arrived and witnessed the grace of God, he rejoiced and began to encourage them all with resolute heart to remain true to the Lord.”

When we consider this brief statement we find a fundamental truth that makes all the difference in our walk as Christians.  Barnabas encouraged the new Christians in Antioch to remain true to the Lord with a resolute heart.  In the Greek language in which Acts was originally written this phrase is literally, “purpose of heart.”  In either case, the meaning is clear.  The key to successful Christian living is to be resolute in the practice of our faith.  We must be purposeful in our Christian walk if we hope to reach the goal.

This truth is particularly timely as we begin a new year.  Many people are going through the exercise of making resolutions for the new year.  Most of us are well-aware that in the majority of cases this is a futile endeavor.  A few years ago a fitness expert was interviewed and asked about resolutions involving diet and exercise.  He said that in his experience most people keep these resolutions for only about twelve days before giving up.  The truth of his assessment cannot be discounted, because too many of us have been there and done that.

Whether we follow through on our resolutions to diet, or to exercise more, will certainly have an impact on our physical health, but this is nothing in the big picture of eternity.  When we decide to follow the Lord, our resolve must be unshakable if we hope to reach heaven.  The parable of the sower in Mt. 13 certainly bears this out.  The rocky and weedy soils are examples of people whose resolve faltered.  Both eagerly received the word and responded positively to it, but both failed to remain true to the Lord.  This is why they withered, and were choked out by the cares of the world.

A resolute heart is what enabled Paul to look back at the end of his life and to tell Timothy, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but to all who have loved His appearing” (2 Tim. 4:7-8).  Paul finished his course because he remained true to the Lord.  He did so because he purposely acted in such a way so as to remain true to Him.  He didn’t meander along the pathway of life.  Instead, he resolutely took one step after another toward the goal and did not stop until he reached it.

As we begin a brand new year, let us each pledge that we will be true to the Lord with a resolute heart.  To do so, let us resolve to read God’s word each day of the year.  Let us resolve to be present every Lord’s Day for Bible study and worship, and to give an appropriate gift of love to the Lord each Lord’s Day.  Let us resolve to seek first God’s kingdom and His righteousness each day this year.  And, finally, let us resolve to seek God’s forgiveness every time we sin.  Unlike some diet and exercise resolutions, these are things we absolutely can do.  If we keep these resolutions, we’ll be much better disciples this year, and we’ll move ever closer to heaven.

At this time of year the world’s attention is turned to the story of the birth of the Christ-child.  It is a beautiful and inspiring story that evokes the very best expressions of human nature.  Even those who are not consistently religious throughout the year tend to focus more on spiritual things during this season.  Many of these same folks give similar attention to a second great celebration, the resurrection of the Lord, in the spring of each year.  As moving and sincere as these celebrations are, however, they focus on only two moments in the life of our Lord while He was on the earth.  If these are the only parts of the Lord’s life to which one gives attention, he is bound to have a skewed view of the Lord.  After all, these moments are only part of the story.

Seeing the Lord only in His birth and His resurrection is like reading the introduction to a great novel, then reading the next to last chapter of it, and assuming that one knows the novel.  We would never do this with a great work of literature, so why would we do so with the greatest story never told at Christmas?  It is, in fact, the rest of the story that gives true meaning to the parts that so many people so singly celebrate.

When we open the pages of the New Testament, particularly in the preaching and teaching of the apostles, we discover that the Lord’s birth and resurrection took place in order to accomplish God’s greatest purpose.  That purpose was the redemption of mankind from their sins.  When the Lord came to the house of Zaccheus, He said, “Today salvation has come to this house, because, He, too, is a son of Abraham.  For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Lk. 19:9-10).

Later, when Paul wrote his letter to the church in Ephesus, he proclaimed that redemption was indeed the focal point of the Lord’s coming to the earth.  In Eph. 1:8-10 he said, “In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth.”  This declaration echoed Peter’s statement in Acts 4:12 that there is salvation in no other name than the name of Jesus.

This is the most important aspect of the Lord’s life on the earth.  He came to fulfill God’s eternal purpose, and He could only do this as the full-grown, mature, adult man who willingly gave His life on the cross as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.  As beautiful as the baby Jesus is, and how marvelous His virgin birth, He had to grow up into the obedient Son of God in order to accomplish our salvation.  Although we do not intend it, we dishonor our Lord by focusing upon Him as the baby in the manger.  Obviously He had to be born in order to accomplish God’s purpose, but He also had to live a sinless life as an adult man in order to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins.  But even this is not the whole story.  The Lord has been appointed by God to judge the world in righteousness (Acts 17:31).  He Himself said that His word will judge us at the last day (Jn. 12:48), and in 2 Th. 1:7-8 Paul said that when the Lord returns at the end of time, He will deal out retribution to those who do not know God, and to those who do not obey the gospel.

This, then, is the rest of the story, which began with the birth of a baby two thousand years ago.  To properly honor Jesus, we must let Him be what God sent Him to be; that is, our Lord and Savior, by means of our obedience to the gospel.  Jesus is both Lord and Christ, as Peter said in Acts 2:36.  Therefore, let us honor Him as such, in accordance with the rest of the story.

The holiday season is generally very busy for us.  We have special meals and travel to plan and execute, we have gifts to purchase, wrap, and in some cases, to mail, and we have special, year-end celebrations at work, at school, and in the community to prepare for, and to attend.  As we concentrate on these preparations, we may work harder at them than we do in our day-to-day activities.  Even so, we enjoy these times of celebration and we tend to feel a sense of refreshment as we participate in them.

The reason for this feeling is that while we are celebrating our end of the year holidays, we temporarily set aside the cares of daily life.  We still go to work and pay our bills and deal with the typical issues, but our focus on the celebrations of the season minimizes these concerns.  As a result, our spirits are refreshed, even if our bodies end up exhausted.

Everyone acknowledges the fact that we need times in which our spirits and our bodies may be refreshed.  This is one of the underlying principles behind taking yearly vacations from work and school. We simply need time away from the regular grind to relax and to renew ourselves.  If we do it right, we come back from these respites ready to give our best to the tasks at hand.

The idea of times of refreshing did not originate with vacations and our year-end holidays, however.  This is a principle that has its roots in God’s word.  After Peter and John had healed a lame man in the temple, they had an opportunity to preach Christ to the assembled crowd.  In Acts 3:19-21 Peter said, “Therefore, repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presences of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.”

As Peter spoke to this assembly, he, for the second time, convicted the Jews of having put to death the Savior whom God had sent into the world.  Although this was according to the eternal plan of God, the Jews bore the stain of sin because they had rejected God’s Son and had turned Him over to Pilate for crucifixion.  This is the context in which Peter spoke to them of “times of refreshing.”

Under the burden of our sins, we are not only separated from God, but we are beaten down physically and emotionally by this load.  Our lives are drudgery, and we are literally without hope and without God in the world (Eph. 2:12).  The only way in which we can recover, or be refreshed from this heavy load, is to repent of our sins and return to God.  This is what Peter called upon the Jews at the temple to do.  When the Jewish rulers released Peter and John, the people glorified God over the miracle that had happened, but we do not know how many of them, if any, obeyed Peter’s command to repent and return to God.

It is certain that the times of refreshing of which Peter spoke only came upon those who obeyed the gospel, whether on that day, or at some time thereafter.  The same is true still today.  As our spirits long for renewal and strength, we can only find that refreshing by obedience to God’s word.  If we choose to continue on carrying the burden of our sins, we will be exhausted in life, and lost in eternity.  If we repent and return to God, our burdens will be lifted and we will receive times of refreshing in His Son, both here, and forever more.

When automobiles became affordable for more people, it soon became imperative to create roadways on which these automobiles could operate.  In 1925 Congress passed legislation which authorized the creation of a federal highway commission to create and maintain highways across the country.  The next year, a highway route from Chicago, IL to Los Angeles, CA received the designation, US 66.  It was among the first interstate highways to be created by the federal government.  This road stretched about 2,448 miles from the heartland of America to the West Coast, and passed through eight states.  In 1938 it became the first U.S. highway to be completely paved.

The highway, which came to be known as Route 66, was the main thoroughfare from the Midwest to California during the Depression, and in the war years, as people moved to work in the agricultural and industrial centers of California.  Over time this route captured the fascination of Americans and was immortalized in songs and television programs in the 1960s.  Although its official designation was US 66, it came to be known as “The Mother Road.”  It was decertified in 1985, due to the completion of the U.S. Interstate Highway system, which in many places bypassed the old route.  Nevertheless, the lure of the old Route 66 still captivates many travelers, and restoration and historical efforts mark its route in nearly every state in which it passed.

The story of Route 66 is interesting and entertaining, but it also illustrates an important spiritual truth.  When Jesus was coming to the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount, He told His audience that there are only two ways in which they could travel through life.  In Mt. 7:13-14 He said that they must enter through the narrow gate because this is the one that leads to eternal life.  But, He added, few would find it.  In contrast, He said that the other way, the broad way, leads to destruction, and many enter it.

The narrow way of which the Lord spoke is like old Route 66.  It is not a super highway.  It is not built for comfort and speed.  It is sometimes difficult to navigate, and it takes considerable thought, and planning, and attention in order to travel it.  However, like Route 66, it is a road that is marked by things of great beauty and inspiration.  Those who travel this road will experience things that simply cannot be experienced on the only other available route.  The broad way, on the other hand, is convenient and easy to travel.  It is marked by all the things a traveler might desire, and promises both speed and comfort to those who use it.

Every analogy breaks down at some point, and so we acknowledge that one can travel from Chicago to Los Angeles by any number of routes and still arrive at the destination.  However, the Lord did not offer a variety of options for our spiritual journey through life.  He said there are only two routes that we may take through life, and we must carefully choose which one we take.  One is certainly  the route of less resistance, the super highway as it were, but no one truly wants to go where this route leads.

Instead, we need to choose the spiritual “Mother Road,” which is the narrow way that leads to eternal life.  Yes, it will be the more challenging route to take, but these challenges will be more than offset by the many blessings we will receive as we travel it, and by the greatest blessing of all, a home in heaven at the end of it.  Though few may find it, all who do find it will discover that they are among like-minded people who will help them along the way.  When all is said and done, there is no better route that we may travel.  Let “the Mother Road” take you all the way to heaven.

Founding Father Benjamin Franklin is reported to have said, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.”  These are strong words that suggest that success is largely dependent upon having a definite goal in mind and then having thought through the steps to reaching that goal.  Modern motivational speakers have taken Franklin’s words and modified them to be somewhat less harsh.  The declaration today is, “Most people do not plan to fail.  They simply fail to plan.”  Most of us understand and accept the premise behind this statement.  We recognize the need to make plans, and to follow them, in order to achieve our goals in life.

There is another side to this principle, however.  It is suggested in the statement, “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”  This is a line from a poem entitled, To A Mouse, On Turning Her Up in Her Nest with a Plough, written by Robert Burns.  Burns’ point was that no matter how well one may plan a course of action, it often doesn’t work out as planned.  Military commanders understand this point all too well, and often note that a battle plan gets thrown out the window as soon as the first shots are fired.

Interestingly, both of these aspects of planning have biblical foundations.  The first is suggested by our Lord in the Sermon on the Mount.  In Mt. 7:13-14 He exhorted His audience to enter through the narrow gate that leads to life, rather than through the wide gate that leads to destruction.  The idea of planning is seen in the Lord’s statement that many enter the wide gate, but only a few find the narrow gate.  This suggests that one does not enter the narrow gate by accident.  He must plan to do so by his obedience to the gospel.  Those who do not plan to be saved will wind up on the broad path that leads to destruction.

The second aspect is seen in the Lord’s parable of the rich fool in Lk. 12:16-21.  In this parable the rich man had great plans for himself, but things did not turn out as he had planned.  In vs. 18-20 the rich man laid out his plans to tear down his old barns and to build larger ones.  Then, he planned to take his ease, to eat, drink and be merry, for many years to come.  This man had detailed plans for reaching the goal he had set for himself.  However, in v. 20 God called him a fool because that very night his soul would be required of him.  In this case, the best laid plans absolutely went awry.

The reason the rich man’s plans did not work out for him is explained in v. 21.  The Lord said, “So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”  The rich man’s plans failed because they were self-centered and took no account for God’s will.  This is exactly the point that James made in Jas. 4:13-15.  In these verses James chastised those who proudly spoke of the plans they had for themselves.  He reminded them that life is a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away (v. 14).  For this reason, James concluded that we should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that” (v. 15).

Taken together, we see from these things that it is important to make plans so we will have the best opportunity to reach our goals.  However, our plans must always be made with God’s will in mind.  We do so by insuring that our plans are in accordance with His revealed will.  We cannot expect to be successful in any plan that goes against God’s plan for us, which is our salvation (1 Tim. 2:4).  Also, our plans must also take into account the fragile nature of life.  As we plan, we must say, “If the Lord wills”.  If we have planned to walk the narrow path that leads to life, and if we have acknowledged that life is fragile, then we will indeed have “best laid plans”, and these plans will not go awry.

In a recent article in a brotherhood journal the writer related a story told by a Christian university official in a sermon.  This brother used the analogy of a football huddle to teach important lessons on Christian living.  He pointed out that in the huddle the players lean on each other for mutual support.  While in the huddle they communicate a plan to overcome their opponent during the next play.  Finally, he said that the huddle symbolizes a sense of unity, even though each person in the huddle has different talents and assignments.

This brother was not the first to use a sports analogy to represent the Christian life.  Paul used the examples of running a race and boxing in his letter to the church in Corinth (1 Cor. 9:24-27).  These examples were based upon individual athletic effort, which fit into the context of his exhortation to this church.  His point was that each individual Christian must put forth the effort to win in the great struggle against evil.  Nevertheless, Paul was also keenly aware of the corporate, or team, aspect of the Christian endeavor.

He spoke of this aspect in his analogy in which he described the church as a body.  His words in 1 Cor. 12:14-27 are especially important in this regard.  In this passage Paul spoke of the various members of the body, each of whom is different, and has a different purpose in the body.  Even so, he pointed out that the body needs each of these various members in order to function properly.  He underscored this point in Eph. 4:11-16, where he concluded that the body is held together by that which each joint supplies, and grows because of the working of each individual part (v. 16).

These truths suggest that the brother’s analogy of a football huddle fits perfectly into the reality of the Christian walk.  Like football, the Christian walk cannot be successfully navigated alone.  It takes eleven players working together to make a successful football team.  In a similar way, it takes all the members of the body of Christ working together to be successful in our pursuit of eternal life.  In football, each of the players has different skills and different tasks.  If any one of them fails in his assignment, the play fails, and the game may be lost.  In our walk as Christians, we each have differing abilities and gifts from God.  Each of these gifts and abilities are necessary for the success of our team, the church.  If any of us fails to do his or her part, the church suffers for it.

This brings us back to the imagery of the huddle.  For Christians, the huddle occurs every time we gather together for Bible study or worship.  Our first purpose in assembling, of course, is to offer acceptable worship to God the Father, but an adjunct to this is the encouragement we give to each other when we assemble.  Like a football huddle, we pump each other up and gain mutual support.  Like a football huddle, we communicate the plan that God has given us in order to overcome our spiritual enemy, the devil.  And like a football huddle, we experience unity, even though we are of differing gifts and abilities, and have different assignments in the body of Christ.

A football player who misses the huddle will not be able to contribute to the success of his team.  The same is true of Christians.  If we’re not in the huddle, we aren’t helping the church.  The writer of Hebrews said it this way: “And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near” (Heb. 10:24-25).  Therefore, let’s huddle up, each and every time the church meets.

Two of the most important words in any language are, “Thank You.”  They are some of the very first words we learn to speak as children, and most parents are very diligent to be sure that their children use them regularly.  They are words of common courtesy that reflect one’s gratitude for something done for them by another.  Even in as rushed and impersonal a society as the one in which we now live, saying “Thank You” is still pretty common, and it is noticed when it is neglected.

When it comes to expressing gratitude, there is no one more deserving of thanks than our Father in heaven, and our Lord Jesus Christ.  All we need do is consider the world in which we live.  It is a special place, created by God just for human beings.  It contains all the resources necessary for us to thrive.  Despite the alarmist warnings of unbelievers that the earth’s resources are limited or diminishing, God has provided for us far in excess of what mankind will ever need.  The earth will continue to abundantly provide for mankind until our Father sends His Son for judgment at the end of time (cf. Gen. 8:22).

As a result, just waking up in the morning, breathing the fresh air, eating a meal, and enjoying all that God has placed at our disposal should be more than enough reason to say, “Thank You, Lord!”  When we look up at the stars at night and see the majesty of the heavens, and note that all the stars and planets travel in their courses at God’s command and under His control, we should also be prompted to say, “Thank You, Lord!”  What a marvelous and wonderful world God has provided for us!

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught us that our Father in heaven cares for us in such detail that He will provide for all of our physical needs.  The unbelievers worry about what they will eat, or what they will drink, or how they will be clothed, but Jesus said that His Father knows our needs and will abundantly supply them.  In Mt. 6:24-33 He spoke in detail about this truth and concluded by saying, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (v. 33).

As important as these physical blessings are, there is something even more important for which we should express our gratitude to our Father in heaven.  The most important thing our Father has done for us is to provide His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins (1 Jn. 2:1-2).  In Christ we have all spiritual blessings, redemption through His blood, and the forgiveness of our trespasses (Eph. 1:3-7).  Because of this sacrifice, we have hope, not only in life, but also in eternity.  If this is not something for which we should say, “Thank You, Lord,” it is hard to imagine what would deserve such a response.

In Phil. 4:6 Paul said, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”  In Col. 4:2 Paul said, “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving.”  In Rev. 7:9-12 John describes a marvelous scene in heaven in which all the angels, the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures all fell down before the Father’s throne and offered praise, saying, “Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever.  Amen.” (v. 12).

May this be our prayer of thanksgiving every day as we remember God’s marvelous gift of eternal life.  For Christians, every day is a day to say, “Thank You, Lord!”

One of the characteristics of modern society is its infatuation with things that are new.  Marketing experts recognize this and capitalize on it whenever possible.  They convince a company to make a minor adjustment in the appearance or in the ingredients of a product, and just like that, the product is “new and improved.”  It may not be substantially different from its predecessor, but because it is not exactly the same, it can be called “new.”  Consumers, who have been conditioned to think that they must have the newest version of every product, flock to purchase these “new” items with little thought as to whether the new thing is actually better than the old one.

It may be surprising to some to learn that this fascination with “newness” is not itself a new thing.  One proof of this fact is what Luke said about the Athenians when Paul visited that city during his second missionary journey.  In Acts 17:21, after the Athenians had invited Paul to speak to them in the Areopagus, Luke noted, “(Now all the Athenians and the strangers visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new.)”  This was nearly 2,000 years ago and even back then people loved “new” things.

The irony of this fascination with newness, especially in a spiritual context, is that “new and improved” was never a part of God’s plan.  In Eph. 3:1-12 Paul explained to the church in Ephesus that the message he had proclaimed to them was the eternal purpose of God that He carried out in Christ (v. 11).  Even though it had been a mystery in past generations (vs. 4-5), and had only been fully revealed in the ministry of the apostles, it was the same message that God had ordained before the foundation of the world.

This should suggest something to us about the content of our preaching, and about the substance of our beliefs.  The message of God may, in fact, be new to those who have never heard it, but it is actually an old message.  It is a message that was first revealed in Gen. 3:15 when God told Satan that He would put enmity between him and the woman, and between his seed and her seed.  That enmity is Jesus Christ, by whose sacrifice on the cross the sins of all mankind for all time have been atoned.

More than this, however, it is a perfect and timeless message.  It is a perfect message, because it came directly from the mind of God.  When the Lord Jesus lived on the earth, He said that He only spoke what the Father gave Him to speak (Jn. 12:49).  Before He left the earth, He told the apostles that He would send the Holy Spirit to guide them into all the truth, but in doing so also pointed out that the Holy Spirit would only speak what God the Father commanded Him to speak (Jn. 16:13).  Therefore, the message the apostles proclaimed was the one the Holy Spirit give them, and it was perfect and complete in every respect because it came from God Himself.

Because that message was, and remains, perfect, it is timeless and it needs no improvement.  Jude, the Lord’s half-brother, said that the faith was “once for all handed down to the saints” (Ju. 3).  For this reason, there is nothing new to be added to it.  There is nothing new which can improve it.  It must, therefore, be proclaimed just as it was by the men who first received it from the Lord.

We must be wary of anyone who claims something new with regard to God’s will for mankind.  The scriptures tell us that they are God-breathed (inspired), and that they equip us for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16-17).  Since this is true, the message they proclaim is a message for all people for all time, until the Lord comes again.  Let us therefore seek “the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it” (Jer. 6:16, NASB).

We sometimes chuckle as we remember things our mothers said or did as we were growing up.  We are less jovial about these things when we catch ourselves saying and doing the very same things with our own children.  One of the most common “mom-isms” is the question, “Do you hear me?”.  It’s a simple enough question, but what cements it in our memory is the fact that it is often shouted loudly and in heated tones only inches away from a child’s ears.  Most of us have had this question addressed to us in this manner, and have addressed it to our own children in the same way.  The point of the question is not to check the child’s hearing, but to emphasize the expectation that the child will obey the parent’s orders on that occasion.

Our Lord, of course, was not prone to outbursts of anger, but He used several phrases that made the same point as, “Do you hear me?”.  One of these was, “He who has ears, let him hear.”  He used this phrase at the end of the parable of the sower (Mt. 13:9), and on several other occasions.  He used similar words in each of His letters to the seven churches of Asia in Rev. 2 & 3.  The point of this phrase was just what our mothers wanted us to understand.  There is an expectation of obedience that accompanies what has just been said.

The Lord emphasized the need for obedience in another way at the end of the Sermon on the Mount.  In Mt. 7:24-27 the Lord said that one who heard His words and did them (that is, obeyed) would be like a man who built his house on a rock.  His house would withstand everything that life might throw at it.  On the other hand, one who heard the Lord’s words and did not do them would be like a man who built his house on the sand.  His house would fall when life came crashing down upon it.  The benefits of obedience should be evident from this illustration, especially in a spiritual sense.

On another occasion, the Pharisees accused the Lord of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons (Lk. 11:15).  In response to this the Lord explained that a house divided against itself will fall.  Therefore, He could not be casting out demons by the power of Beelzebul.  Instead, He was casting them out by the power of God, thus demonstrating that the kingdom of God had come upon them.

The Lord’s rebuttal was so eloquent and powerful that a woman standing in the crowd exclaimed, “Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed” (Lk. 11:27).  To this the Lord replied, “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it” (Lk. 11:28).  This reply was not a sign of disrespect for His earthly mother, Mary.  Rather, it was the kind of corrective statement that the Lord often made when people missed the point of His teachings.

The most important aspect of the Lord’s teaching was, and is, that we are expected not only to hear what He said, but to obey it as well.  Many heard the Lord’s teachings as He went from place to place, but few actually obeyed His teaching.  Some listened looking only for an opportunity to accuse Him.  Others listened out of simple politeness, with no intention of acting on what He said.  Those who heard and obeyed what He said were the only ones who would be blessed by God.

This is a fundamental truth that has not changed since God put Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.  He expected them to hear and obey, and He still expects us to hear and obey today.  If we truly want to go to heaven, we must not only hear the word of God, but we must observe it as well.  Nothing else will please Him.

My late mother-in-law’s favorite hymn was I’ll Fly Away.  This great old song, which was written by Albert E. Brumley in 1932, expresses the joy and anticipation that Christians have over the prospects of going home to be with the Lord.  The lyrics soar with the upbeat tempo of the music and the singers are transported from the dreariness of earthly life to the very edge of Paradise.  One cannot sing these words without a smile, because as we sing them we are grasping a glimpse of the joy that awaits the faithful.

The words of the song say, “Some glad morning when this life is o’er, I’ll fly away; to a home on God’s celestial shore, I’ll fly away.  When the shadows of this life have grown, I’ll fly away; like a bird from prison bars has flown, I’ll fly away.  Just a few more weary days and then, I’ll fly away; to a land where joys shall never end, I’ll fly away.”  The chorus completes the picture:  “I’ll fly away, O glory, I’ll fly away; When I die, hallelujah, by and by, I’ll fly away.”

Death is the separation of the spirit from the body.  The spirit is what animates the body, and when the spirit departs, the body ceases to live.  Everyone who has ever lived has experienced, or will experience, this separation of spirit and body.  However, not everyone who dies “flies away” in the way described in this beautiful song.  The Lord’s teaching about the rich man and Lazarus in Lk. 16:19-31 bears this out.  As the Lord taught this great lesson, He said that the poor man Lazarus died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom (v. 22).  The rich man’s death, on the other hand, was described very differently in the same verse.  The Lord said, “And the rich man died and was buried.”

The poor beggar Lazarus flew away, as it were, because the angels carried his soul to Paradise.  There he was comforted after a lifetime of toil and affliction (v. 25).  The implication is that Lazarus had lived a godly life, and for this reason his death was a transition to the waiting place of the righteous dead.  He flew away from all the bad things of life, to a taste of the eternal reward awaiting all the redeemed.

The rich man, however, found himself in torment (v. 23).  There he began to experience the reward for his ungodly life.  The Lord said that the rich man was “in agony in this flame” (v. 24).  Not only this, but he was in a place from which he could not pass, and to which no one in Paradise could go (v. 26).  The rich man’s death was a transition to the place of the unrighteous dead, where there is no hope, and no relief.

The lesson for each of us is that we have to live a particular kind of life if we hope to “fly away” when we die.  The kind of life we must lead is revealed in the lesson of the rich man and Lazarus.  As the rich man pleaded with Abraham to send someone back to warn his five brothers, Abraham said, “They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.”  For a first century Jew, the phrase “Moses and the Prophets” was shorthand for the scriptures, by which they could stand justified before God.  For us today, Abraham’s words point us to the revealed word of God, the Bible, which is able to save our souls (Jas. 1:21).

If we hear the words of Scripture, and obey those words, we can look forward in joyful anticipation to the end of our earthly sojourn.  If we have shown our love for the Lord by obeying His commandments (Jn. 14:15), our souls will be secure, just as Lazarus’ was.  Then we can, in fact, sing, “Some glad morning when this life is o’er, I’ll fly away”, and it will be the truth.

*My sweet mother-in-law, Louise Forrister, flew away to Paradise on October 17, 2016.