Reflect on YOUR Jungle Journey

INTRODUCTION

THANK YOU!

Katelyn, Mack, Jenny (and families) - Directing/doing much of the leg/prep work.

Rhonda - music/media/video presentations

All volunteers - giving of their time, energy, resources to ensure another successful year of VBS. Plans have already begun for next year.

TELL A FEW OF THE JOKES IN THE BOOK

The kids did a fabulous job presenting these 7 C’s of history.

I had never thought of Biblical history in that light before, but it is a very profound way of considering the journey humans have taken to bring us to a place where Jesus and His cross must be central to everything we do as Christians.

It’s like how a story you are reading or watching on TV might feel like you are on a roller coaster. The characters are introduced to us and we see how they relate to each other. Things usually start out pretty good. Everything is going as it should when suddenly something bad or sad happens, and we are presented with a conflict that must be resolved to bring the story back to a happy ending. And it’s how the story falls and rises through those experiences and emotions that determine how interesting the story is, and how much we appreciate what’s happening. (P)

Well, when we think about our story, the kinds of things that happen and that we experience in life, we understand a couple of things.

First, our story is a true story, what we experience in life really happens - it isn’t made up like many of the other stories we read or watch. How humans have progressed through history in the highs and lows of their lives are what really happens.

And secondly, understanding how high and wonderful the perfection of God is, and how low and tough things get when sin comes into the picture, is key. The more we realize how big of a gap there is between the awesomeness of God’s perfection, and the horrors of sin that we commit, the more we appreciate what Jesus did to bring us from what could have happened to us because of our sin to what does happen for the believer.

If the perfection of God isn’t something that’s truly impresses us, and our sin isn’t something that truly breaks us or horrifies us, and the dynamic between the highs and lows aren’t that large, the gospel story probably isn’t going to mean much more to us than a well told story we like to hear.

The Apostle Paul understood this dynamic quite well, and it becomes the centerpiece of his conversation with Timothy in the text we read for today. Verse 17 of that passage was the main theme of the week, where it talks about the awesomeness of God who deserves all of our praise and honor, but we aren’t really going to see it that way until we see how big and great God is, and how low and terrible sin is.

Paul tells Timothy that he recognized that Jesus had a calling on his life, one in which He would be of service to Christ. It was a good purpose, just as he was created to be, but like the corruption, catastrophe, and confusion sin caused at the beginning of time, Paul’s life had been full of that every time he persecuted Christians, and our life is like that every time we sin.

There is no “little” sin. The wages of all sin is death, because all sin is direct disobedience to God, and all sin has the power to cause great amounts of pain for other people. And because God cannot have any of that in a perfect Heaven, he had to decide that all sin is punishable by eternal death. He needed us to understand that there is no mild sin, and we can’t just pass sin off as no big deal, just because we think we are better than those who have committed what we call big sins, and we know what some of those are.

That just isn’t how sin works, and we need to understand that we are all sinners, and we are all guilty, and we are all deserving of eternal separation of God. (P)

It’s not until we understand all of that, that we realize how precious these last three C’s of Christ, His Cross, and His consummation, or completion, of His loving sacrifice are. It’s what Paul realized when he encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus, and received the loving grace of Christ, and then decided to turn away from his sin to turn, instead, to the call of Jesus on his life. (P)

For Jesus to serve us and give His for us in this way is a love that cannot be matched by any human being, no matter how “good” they think they are. And it’s not until people realize the horrors of sin that they understand how amazing the grace of Christ is, and that’s when they learn to appreciate it the most. (P)

You know, I have never loved going to the doctor. It takes up time, especially since my doctor is in Hershey, which is not a pleasant drive through York or Harrisburg to get to. It isn’t something I ever appreciated as much as I should, until my gallbladder started giving me hours-long episodes of pain that had me on the floor, and I couldn’t get relief, and had me more miserable than I had ever been before. All of a sudden, to go to a doctor who could set the stage of curing this issue was something for which I couldn’t have been more grateful.

We don’t understand or appreciate what Christ did for us until we understand how perfect he is - way up here, and how sinful we are - way down there - and we stop thinking that the gap in between isn’t so large.

Without Christ, we would be bound for an eternal, miserable death - everyone of us. We aren’t in a good place until we can fully understand that and appreciate that. It’s a love that can’t be beat, and it’s a love that you can rest assured Jesus Christ has for you. And so He just beckons you to come to Him - for the first time if need be, or to return to Him, if you have slipped away.

To know what He has offered us is an unspeakable joy that we need to embrace and appreciate in our lives. It’s why the closing statement Paul makes in this passage in 1 Timothy 1:17, and our theme verse for VBS this week, is a good one to make as a heartfelt praise we can offer to God.

1 Timothy 1:17 NIV

Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

May that be the praise on our lips this week as we reconsider these 7 C’s that make up the greatest journey through history that has ever been taken, and the only one to offer us eternal paradise. Let’s spend some time thanking God for this today.