THE FINAL WORD

Lamentations 3:1-66; Hebrews 1:1-14; Psalm 102:1-28; Proverbs 26:21-22

“Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: the faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!’ The Lord is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him. So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord.”

“Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe. The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command…. Angels are only servants—spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation.”

“Then the nations will tremble before the Lord. The kings of the earth will tremble before his glory. For the Lord will rebuild Jerusalem. He will appear in his glory. He will listen to the prayers of the destitute. He will not reject their pleas. Let this be recorded for future generations, so that a people not yet born will praise the Lord. Tell them the Lord looked down from his heavenly sanctuary. He looked down to earth from heaven to hear the groans of the prisoners, to release those condemned to die. And so the Lord’s fame will be celebrated...!”

Let us never forget that, no matter the outcome of our lives or circumstances, God has the final Word. When He wanted to teach us how to live the perfect, most fulfilled and fulfilling life, He sent His Son to empty Himself on our behalf. When He wanted to teach us compassion and wisdom, He placed His Spirit inside us, to live through us. No matter what, God lives. God rules. God decrees. And God loves. His response to sin is simple: He loves us through it, giving of Himself, lest we – His beloved children - perish. But this is not something we can ever learn by reading. Our victory in Christ is only something we experience by doing. Therein lies the rub. Most folks are afraid to bet their lives on Christ. They hold back. They live timid lives without Kingdom effect. So, in the end, they leave feeling fearful and uncertain, mainly because they never put Christ to the test in real life.

It’s no sin to test Jesus. How can we tell if He’ll catch us when we never fall into His arms? How do we know we can do all things through Him if we never muster the courage to trust Him with anything? God commands, “Test Me in this.” I think it’s Paul (or John, or the writer of Hebrews) who directs that we test the spirits. In any event, if we don’t take Christ and His teachings out for a test drive once in a while, we will never develop the confidence to fully live in His love.

There are any number of stories about the sad ends of people who were just too afraid to trust the Lord. I have my own. It involves the first person I ever really tried to bring to Christ. This particular young man was involved with our Singles Ministry back in the days when I was its primary facilitator (i.e., teacher/leader). He was friendly, involved and very interested in the Christian doctrine and lifestyle. For several years, he hung in with the group and took part in all their activities, but I never heard him claim Christ. One night during a retreat, I asked him about his faith. Turned out, he was one of the legion of seekers frozen on the doorstep to salvation. He could not bring himself to make the commitment. He pretended not to know how. When I explained – again – that all he had to do was ask and asked him if he wanted to do that, it was like being caught in an outtake from the movie Sybil. To this day, I remember being truly moved by the dichotomy between his words and actions. It was like watching someone who was demon possessed. He said yes, he would like to claim Christ, but as he said it, he fell to his knees and recoiled, seeming to shrink before my very eyes. He prayed the salvation prayer – or said the words, anyway - and claimed to have experienced the touch of the Master’s hand afterward, but we never saw him again. Like a true prodigal, he ran from the Father, afraid of even attempting the life to which he was called. And because he never to my knowledge tried living in Christ, he never did find the security and certainty he so desperately wanted.

We can be sure. We can know. But we have got to live it. If we want to determine whether the fire is hot, we may have to get a little warm. If we want to know the properties of water, we need to get our feet wet. Standing on the sidelines with our Christian books and music in hand never saved anyone. Until we have quite literally gambled something significant, something life changing, on the One we call Savior, we will never know for sure if we have won the game or not.

The true test of Christianity is change. If we cling to the people we were before Christ, we can never honestly become people of Christ. However, Jesus never asks for change just for change’s sake. He asks for it to help us prove to ourselves the reality of His presence in our lives. I have a hunch our serenity and certainty at death will be in direct proportion to the number of times we have allowed Christ to work in us and through us in this life. So, it’s probably a good time to get started. We need to get in position to make our last words all about God’s final Word.