The Bucket List

There is a weird contradiction in the modern evangelical Christian. We say that Jesus is the only way. Yet we act as if there is no urgency or even need to share that way with others..


It’s like this. Suppose your mother were in the hospital with inoperable cancer. Now suppose you are suddenly given the cure for that cancer. Is there any doubt that you would rush hospital to give it to him?

Suppose it wasn't your mother, but a person you had never met. Is there any doubt that you would hurry to the hospital out of a sense of common decency and give them the cure?

Suppose that person were of another race, or a Muslim, an illegal alien, or your worst enemy? Wouldn't we go for the sake of his wife and children, or just out of common decency?

Yet here we are with our belief that all are eternally lost, and that Jesus is our only hope. Yet we are slow and timid to tell anyone. Based on the actions of contemporary Christianity, we must conclude that either we don’t believe what we claim to believe, or that we literally think that the rest of he world can go to hell for all we care. I cannot think of any other possibilities.

The atheist magician Penn Gillette once praised a man who gave him a Bible, though he did not believe it. He recognized it as an act of love. He observed that it was not a question of how much should we love a person to give him the gospel,, but how much do we have to hate a man to wish him an eternity in hell.

I confess that I do not understand hell.. Heaven and hell are both beyond our grasp, and may only be discussed in metaphors. Jesus' description of it as "outer darkness" might be the closest thing to a literal description of it,

It may be (and I think it is) that heaven and hell are not just places we go after we die, but states of being that begin on earth, and continue on for eternity. Where Christ is, heaven begins. Where Christ is not is the outskirts of hell. That would mean that millions of people (thousands in this very community) are in hell right now, walking through the day with the flame licking at their feet. Every time we go to a ball game or a shopping mall, we are surrounded by people who are already in hell and do not yet know it. Oh, they may have moments of happiness, as they enjoy communion with God’s creations. But there is a worm eating at their insides,. There is a cancer in their souls that is eating them alive, and only we have the cure. They don't see it, of course. But they are experiencing the outskirts of hell.

Hell was a place created not for people, but for Satan and his minions. Satan desires to bring the whole human race with him into his dark prison. No one in their right mind would choose to go to hell, so Satan has to deceive them and drag them in with him. Satan fishes for our souls. He dangles before us tasty treats and dainty delicacies. W see the bait. We do not see the hook. But when we feel the barb embedded in our sins, hell’s punishment begins. It never ends

How many lost souls are in our midst? How many are tasting the bait, and have not yet found the hook? How many are struggling to throw off the barb, even though they hide their predicament from others? Just because we cannot see the pain of sin does not mean that is isn't there.

Those are the people that God wants us to save. They are all around us, in our very homes, our churches, and our community. In fact, God loves them so much that He sent messengers into their lives to show them a better way. These messengers exist on earth solely for the purpose of saving them form their hell and pointing them towards God.

We are those messengers. That is our purpose on earth.

St. Jude, wrote about this in Jude 20--23



Be merciful to those who doubt;

snatch others from the fire and save them;

to others show mercy, mixed with fear-hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh."



Some people doubt that there is a God. Their minds are clouded by Satan. Show some mercy to them by helping them find their way.

Others are tasting the bait on Satan’s hook. They are very close to being hooked. Pull them away, if you can. Pray for them, talk to them and, if necessary snatch them awayl

Others are already caught. They are being pulled into the flames. Reach them befoe they are lost, even if you risk getting singed yourself. Unles we put ourselves in danger for the sake of the lost, we have not done all we can to help them. But take precautions that you do not get caught yourselves.

Jesus came to seek and save the lost. He did not pursue them in Sunday School and in church on Sunday. He went where they were. He made friends with people others would not touch. He risked his safety and his reputation to bring people to himself. Should we be any different? Shouldn’t we do what he did?

Maybe we don’t see the urgency. Maybe we think that if we don't tell them, someone else will. After all, we Presbyterians believe in predestination—the belief that God will save who He wishes and He doesn't need out help to do it.

I believe in predestination, too. But God does not allow us the luxury of sitting on the bench and waiting for Him to play the game. He expects us to be on His team and to fully participate in the work of saving His portion of mankind.

The apostle Paul makes that clear in Rom 10:11-15



For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile — the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."



We may be right about predestination, But who's to say who's chosen? Am I? Are you? Does he save one kind of people?

People thought so in Paul's day--if you were Jewish, you were going to heaven. Today we seem to think that God will save our good chuch-going families and no one else.

It's not that simple. There isn't one whit of difference between Jew and Gentile. Anyone, whether inside or outside the church, may be forgiven. All we have to do is to let go of our. False hopes and take hold of our false hopes and take hold of the real hope. We cannot save ourselves from Satan’s hook. But Jesus broke the power of Satan when He died on the cross for us. Any claim that Satan has on us is broken in the cross.

"There is no difference between Jew and Gentile" Paul says. There is also no difference between right and poor, black and white, churchgoer and sinner, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, or Catholic. Anyone from any place or any background who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Most of the world does not know this. Many who do do not believe it can be this simple. They think it has to do with joining a church, getting baptized, giving up cussing, and voting Republican. They have no idea that is it just calling on God's name, trusting Jesus--nor will they know, unless somebody explains it to them.



How then can they call on the one they have not believed in?

And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?

And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?

And how can they preach unless they are sent?



The only way they can call on God's name is if they believe. The only way they can believe is for someone to tell them . The only way they can really be told is if you and I tell them, or at least send someone on our behalf , supporting them with our prayers and money. Without crossing the great divide between believer and unbeliever, then people will ensnared by Satan will eventually go to hell.

I believe in God’s sovereignty. I believe that those God has prepared will accept him. But I want to do my part in helping them to accept. Every person we help to come to Christ becomes a trophy of God’s faithfulness and our obedience.

In the basement of our church, there’s a trophy case, containing trophies our church earned playing in a softball league. We haven't had a softball team for years, so these trophies are largely forgotten. Most of us have forgotten they are there. When you don't play ball anymore, who remembers the trophies?

It makes me wonder—where are our spiritual trophies? Can we point to those whom we have brought to Christ? If we have them, we no longer talk about them. Is it possible that we have quit the game, and therefore forgotten that we once had trophies? If we had a trophy case to display our spiritual trophies, I fear it would be empty.

Let's get in the game .Let's get busy doing what God put us here to do. It doesn't start in the pulpit. It is not something that I can do. It is something that we all must do. Let me tell you how.

Have you ever heard of a "bucket list?" It’s a list of things that we want to do before we "kick the bucket"-- adventures we want to have, places we want to go, things we want to build, and so forth.

I propose that we all have a new kind of "bucket list"--people that we want to see trust Jesus before they kick the bucket.

For the Christian, death is just the next chapter of life, that's all. But for our friends, relatives, neighbors, acquaintances, co-workers, and total strangers who occupy the space around us, who don't know Christ, death is the deadline for getting right with God. What we do from now until our death is inconsequential. What they do is vital for their eternity.

List five people you know that you don't know are believers. Pray for them daily. Make it your responsibility to see that they are given the chance to hear the Gospel before they die. Don't let them kick the bucket without an opportunity to know that God loves them and has a better plan for their eternity. If you get the chance, tell them how to know that Jesus is their Lord and Savior.