Life In a No-Loss Zone 10/24/99

Philippians 3:7-10

Jesus Christ said, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21).

Most of us have a strong gathering instinct. We are still collectors. Likewise, we are competitors. We like to win and have trophies to prove it. In proper balance these are highly motivating predispositions. They drive us to achieve.

Are you a collector? Some collections are very valuable.

Are you a competitor? Winning is wonderful. It is imbalance about which we should be concerned.

Jesus Chris said, “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).

That puts things in perspective.

All of us like to achieve. That motivates us to be and do our best. It is a driving influence that results in a sense of fulfillment. A sense of accomplishment is bought at the price of effort. It is a sin not to want to be and do our best.

Our every task should be driven by this exhortation: “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men” (Colossians 3:23).

It is expedient to put these instinctive drives in perspective. Out of control they, though having the potential of achieving great good, can become our all consuming god.

A Biblical model of an achiever is the paragon of success from Tarsus named Paul. He knew he had a pedigree and personal profile of which to be proud and he noted it: “though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless” (Phil. 3:4-6).

Of his achievements he summarily says: “…these I have counted loss for Christ,” they are, “rubbish” (Philippians 3:7, 8).

Comparatively speaking all our trophies, awards, medals, titles, bank accounts, market investments, houses and lands are rubbish compared to having a personal relationship with Christ. It is the lasting quality of our identity with Christ that counts.

A visit to my high school put this in perspective. During my high school era trophies were rare and only given for extremely significant accomplishments. The Balfour representative came to our school to take orders for senior rings. By the way, do you know where your highly treasured ring is today? He learned we were to have our first football game of the year against a team contending for the state championship. He promised us a trophy if we won —- which was highly unlikely. Actually, out of the question. That potential trophy was a safe offer by him. However, to us the idea of a trophy was highly motivating. We blew away a far superior veteran team and proudly claimed our trophy. I can remember standing at that trophy case and smiling at that trophy many times. What an achievement! We won.

Some years later I revisited my high school remembering with pride our victories. They were moving the school’s administrative offices. Moving always involves cleaning out and straightening up. There in a large box of trash I could see sticking out from under waste paper the little gold football player mounted on top of our trophy. That treasured trophy was now being trashed.

Paul said of his “trophies” they are “rubbish.” SKUBALON, the Greek word translated “rubbish” can be translated several ways. It was a term used for left over food to be thrown away. It is a term used for scraps given dogs. It was also the word for dung, excrement, body waste.

This is a bit indelicate but the Authorized King James translates it “dung.” Some of you having been in cow pastures know of what he is speaking. Those little meadow muffins you try to avoid stepping on aren’t considered valuable.

By comparison our relationship with Christ makes all other trophies look like dehydrated meadow muffins.

Consider what is number one in your life. After what are you striving most earnestly? We are to seek first the kingdom of God. That is, God’s will and rule in our life. Are you putting any meadow muffins ahead of that? They some times take the shape of a car, house, sports league, job, person, or financial balance sheet. All of them with Christ as number one are wonderful. Without Him they are dung.

With Him and them in proper relationship life takes on meaning. It then has a power source.

We are a society driven to achieve and acquire above all else. We are so fast paced there is a report of a new microwave fireplace soon to be marketed. You can sit in front of it and enjoy it all evening in just eight minutes.

I have a desk in my study and one in my office. Both contain many little personal treasures and valued items. I have told my wife of the desk in our home and my executive assistant of my desk in the office that everything in those desks is important to me, but if anything happens to me there is no need to go through them just bring in the trash can and dump it because it will mean nothing to anyone else. It then will be rubbish.

When Elvis took his last breath a lot of treasures became rubbish and much was recently disposed of. The same is true of Princess Di and JFK.

That moment will come for each of us. Now is the time to put things in proper perspective. Don’t wait until a crisis or dramatic moment to drive you to do so.

We recently had such a dramatic moment. While in San Diego for the Tom Landry Associates Week End with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes we stayed on the 22nd floor of our lovely hotel. At 3:55 AM I was awakened by the shaking of our bed. Suddenly there was a jolt. I had always said Trudy could sleep through an earthquake. This was her moment as an earthquake registering 7.1 shook the earth. As I awakened her the hotel began to creak and sway. Some walls cracked and plaster fell from some. Clothes in the closet and curtains began to swing back and forth. In fright some persons cried, others screamed, some ran down long flights of stairs to try to escape. We stayed and prayed.

We found out we don’t do earthquakes well. We also found out who the dominant personality in our family is. I kept begging Trudy to make it stop.

It was a moving experience. For nearly three minutes that hotel swayed back and forth with us wondering if the next sway would be too much and the building would crumble. If it had everything we have would have been rubbish. Everything that is but one. Our relationship with Christ would have been more precious than gold. In Him is our victory in time and for eternity.

THREE THINGS ENABLE BELIEVERS TO ENJOY SPIRITUAL VICTORY.

I. POWER Vs. 10 “that I may know Him and the power…”

You might well be musing: “Well somewhere between Him and me the power-line has been short- circuited. There is a power outage in my life.” That may well be. If it is, it can be corrected. You may feel you don’t have enough power to light a pen light for ten seconds. There is a reason.

You may be so lacking in spiritual power you can’t conquer that sin which does so easily beset you. Perhaps every time you meet sin on the field of temptation you suffer defeat. Instead of saying “I came, I saw, I conquered,” you may feel, “I came, I saw, I concurred.”

To do battle in the energy of the flesh is to suffer repetitious defeats. To wage spiritual warfare in the power of the Lord Jesus Christ is to be assured of victory for, “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.”

Satan recognizes this to be true even if we don’t. He knows He can’t deal with the power imparted by Christ. His only successful ploy is to mislead the believer. He started in the Garden of Eden and still uses the same tactic. It simply is to convince believers God is cheating us and denying us good things that are harmless. Adam and Eve believed that lie rather than the fact that God is trying to preserve our good

Do you desire to know Christ better? This expression does not refer to mere academic information about Christ. It means to come to know by experience. This results in a faith-union that grows. Every venture in faith lets you know the power of Christ to perform in your life.

The power of Christ is available to you as a Christian. That is the same power that removed the grave clothes from Jesus and put back on Him the robe of immortality.

The God who conquered Canna waits to help you conquer your besetting sin. The power that shook the realm earth and the region of the underworld is available to you.

The power that fed the 5,000 is available to you. The power that stilled the storm on Galilee is accessible to you.

WHAT IS THIS POWER?
A. It is the ability to achieve purpose.
B. It is authority to perform.

To have His power enables a believer to respond as He would to any circumstance. We more often respond like the little boy whose mother had of necessity been very stern in disciplining him. He hid and she looked for him. She finally found him in her closet and asked what he was doing there. He said, “I have spit on your dress. I have spit in your purse. I have spit in your shoes and I am just sitting here waiting for more spit.

II. PARTICIPATION “fellowship of His suffering”

“Fellowship,” KOINONIA, means to associate with. Paul aspired to be so sensitive to Christ’s heart that when a person insulted or affronted Christ, it grieved him also.

Suffering is often the cost to be paid for allegiance. It is His power that enables the believer to endure it as did Christ. Christ not only endured the agony of the cross, He will enable persons to bear their physical sufferings.

He not only endured the mocking and ridicule of the mock trial He will enable the believer to endure and grow through social and emotional abuse.

The Christian life isn’t a detour around suffering; it is a straight guided path through it. If Paul longed to walk in the footprints of Jesus, should we not.

Everybody suffers. EVERYBODY. Christ only gives strength to endure and the ability to interpret it.

• Suffering purifies. It helps us reassess our values and determine our priorities. It burns out all the impure and improper things in life. It burns in the promises of God. We want to clear out a path so that little red fire truck of selfishness can get through and save some of our carnal possession.
• Suffering prepares. A believer who suffers better understands others and is prepared to help them. “Comfort you one another with the comfort with which you are comforted.”

It was suffering that purified and prepared the disciples. After seeing the resurrected Christ, it was Peter who strolled back before the very Sanhedrin that condemned Christ and said, “I count it all joy that I am considered worthy to suffer for Him.”

Peter later wrote, “…rejoice, inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ’s sufferings” (I Peter 4:13).

We can expect to suffer as did Christ. How did He suffer?

^ He suffered Satanic attack. In hell’s game-plan sleeping saints are allowed to lie. Once they awaken, they become fair game.
^ He suffered ostracism and rejection. Identify with Him and you will alienate certain people. It is strange how a warm heart can result in a cold shoulder.

III. PURSUIT “being conformed to His death”
A simple principle must be applied. There is no resurrection without a crucifixion.

Can you say, “I am crucified with Christ…” (Gal. 2:20).

Do you exhibit the fact, “I die daily” (I Cor. 15:31).

We should share Paul’s desire to reflect the living and glorified Christ in all our present attitudes and actions.

A grub worm in the earth and a pupa in a cocoon both have a butterfly nature. In each stage they are in the process of becoming a full grown butterfly. The moment we are saved, we receive our new nature -our butterfly nature. In this body, our “caterpillar shell,” our true nature is that of a butterfly. In this body we are a child of God. We are in the process of becoming all we can be through Christ.

The text exhorts us to pursue: “if by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead” (Vs. 11). The butterfly process is seen in this statement. We should live with the aspiration of attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

There will come a day when all the dead will experience resurrection. This text is the only place in the Bible this Greek word for resurrection is used. It consists of the regular word for “resurrection” with the prefix meaning “out of.” The word means “to be resurrected out from the dead.”

Our ambition should be to be included in the resurrection of the saints out from among the wicked dead who are later to be resurrected.

Back to the opening of our text. In the Greek the word translated “gain” is plural and the word for “loss” singular. Thus, “For Christ’s sake I have learned to count my former gains (plural) as a loss (singular).”

All earthly gains are bundled as one collection and totaled as a “loss” when Christ is omitted.

How to Be a Powered-up Dad 6/20/99

Ephesians 6:1-3

JESUS CHRIST had an earthly dad who obviously impacted his life constructively. Joseph is an unsung hero in the family of Jesus and His brothers and sisters.

Two stories regarding Joseph let us see two sides of fatherhood.

It was the day of the final rehearsal for the Christmas pageant when a mother called the teacher to report her child who was to play the role of Joseph was sick and would not be able to be in the play. The teacher knowing it was too late to get a replacement said, “That’s OK we’ll just write Joseph out of the script.” They did and no one noticed.

There are some dads who feel they won’t be missed if they don’t function, but they are.

A major problem in America today isn’t there are too many dad’s with children, but that there are too many children without dads.

A second story regarding Joseph comes from a plantation home near Thomaston in South Georgia. Tours of the home are accompanied by hosts or hostesses. Occasionally the number of tourists requires more than are available. There is an old butler in the home that fills in and perhaps does the best job of all. He always stops before a large painting of the Nativity. Diligently he identifies and explains the role of every figure. There is the unbiblical donkey everyone assumes brought Mary to Bethlehem, the shepherds, and the wise men are even included. He talks about Mary and the infant Jesus and explains their roles. Then he points out Joseph and says, “There is ole Joe, he’s just there.”

In doing so he identifies for us one of the most strategic roles of a dad. He’s just there. Being there is critically important to the role of dad. The absentee father is one of the most detrimental things in American life.

It is a matter of poor spelling. Love as spelled by children is T-I-M-E.

Dads often spell it M-O-N-E-Y!

I saw this misspelling dramatized in a family. The child had been stealing money from his dad. He would get it out of his wallet during the night. If any was left on a dresser he would pick it up. The professional counselor explained it. The dad spent all of his time making money. To the child time equaled money. The parent wasn’t giving the time so the child took the symbol of time, the money.

The saying “time is money” has never been more true. Many people are living a life of time- depravity. Many time-challenged Americans are evidencing a willingness to cut corners to scale down their lives.

Nearly 1/3 of all Americans get by on less than 6 hours of sleep.

An estimated 81% of employed Americans feel the need to simplify their lives and create more time for home and family.

Managing your time is managing your life. Managing your calendar is managing your life.

Keeping up with your child is more important than keeping up with the Joneses. Work for too many dads is their priority, not the family. Our government boasts of creating thousands of new jobs. One dad said, “Yeah, I know they have because I have four of them.”

Consider this: “What does it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and lose his own child?”

We must learn to balance the material wonders of technology with the spiritual demands of our human nature. (John Naisbitt)

Developing into a dad is a delightful challenge. It is delightful but it is challenging in light of where we come from. Differences in males and females is observable at young ages. Watch little girls at play they are talking and sharing. Their sounds are for communicating.

Observe and listen to little boys at play. Their sounds are not for communication. They are simply sounds: crash, boom, smack, yow, ugh. Moving from that level of communication to learning to be expressive to a wife and children is a task.

Failing to do it leads to failure.

For the longest time the children in the family had pleaded for a hamster. They made all the promises regarding care and feeding. Finally, the parents weakened and bought one. With excitement the children named it Danny. Soon the care of Danny became the sole responsibility of mom. Creative mom soon found a new home for Danny and told the children Danny was on the way out. They took it well but one child exclaimed, “He’s been around here a long time and we are going to miss him.”

“Yes,” said mom, “but he is too much work for one person, and since I am that one person, I say Danny goes.”

Another more compassionate child pleaded, “Well, maybe if he wouldn’t eat so much and wouldn’t be so messy, we could keep him.”

Mom was firm. “It’s time to take Danny to his new home,” she insisted. “Go get his cage.”

In one voice and in tears the children exclaimed, “Danny? Oh, no! We thought you said daddy!”

Dad are you so endeared to the family that your departure would be met with more resistance than that of a hamster?

The Bible gives insight into how to function as a dad in a constructive way that is sure to be endearing.

It begins with your love for your wife. “Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church…” Put her interest first.

Barbara Walters did a story on gender roles in Kuwait several years before the Gulf War, and noticed women customarily walked about ten feet behind their husbands. She returned to Kuwait after the war and noticed the men now walking several yards behind their wives.

Perceiving this to be progress she exclaimed to a wife, “This is marvelous. What enabled women here to achieve this reversal of roles?”

The Kuwaiti woman replied, “Land mines.”

Husbands don’t wait for some upheaval to cause you to consider the welfare of your wife. Above all remember she is still an admirable bit like she was as a little girl. She still wants to use words to communicate.

The Bible identifies three things a dad should do in Ephesians 6:1-3.

I. FIRST, NEGATIVELY [DON’T ROUSE THEM TO IRRITATION]

“Do not provoke your children to wrath…”

How is this done?
1. Saying one thing and doing another.
2. Showing favoritism.
3. Making promises and not keeping them
4. Constantly finding fault.
5. Dishing out harsh criticism.

Let’s turn this negative, “don’t provoke your children to wrath,” into a positive as expressed in Colossians 3:21: “Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.” Encourage them.

Standing by the pool suddenly a cousin screamed, “Where is Jamie?” Jamie’s dad looked around in horror and there in the bottom of the deep water of the pool on the bottom was Jamie. He rushed to pull the little fellow out screaming and spewing water, crying, “I wanna go home.”

Instinctively the dad held Jamie close as he walked in the pool with himself shaking more than the child. He walked and talked reassuringly until finally, both were more calm. Soon little Jamie, reassured, began to splash around and play in the shallow water.

Jamie’s dad finally settled down but was about to drown in self-pity thinking no good dad lets his child nearly drown. Cousin Lee Ann walked by and said, “You are a terrific dad and I really admire the way you handled that. He will never be afraid of water again.”

Is your child drowning in a different kind of pool? Do you need to encourage your child?

II. NURTURE THEM [GIVE MENTAL AND MORAL TRAINING TO MATURE THEM]

To insure you know what you intend to do to achieve this write yourself a “Mission Statement.” What is your mission? Not having one would be like a CEO without a strategic plan. It will help set priorities and direct decisions.

GET INVOLVED. A statement isn’t enough. There must be a plan of action. If you make your family a priority you will make time for the family. Be attentive to their needs and observant of their emotions. Tune in.

EXPRESS AFFECTION. Released love registers on a child’s emotions. One young adult said, “As a child whenever I said, ‘I love you dad,’ he would always reply, ‘I love you ALL.’” I wanted him to say, “I love you,” and make it personal.

LISTEN TO YOUR CHILD. Pay attention to what is meant by what is said. If a child knows he or she is understood the conversation will continue. If not there is no need to talk.

One little child crawled up in his glassy eyed dad’s lap and said, “Dad, listen to me! You’re not inside your eyes.”

BE A ROLE MODEL. Father power is much more impressive if we change ourselves before we try to change our children.

I am going to make a harsh statement that will apply to some dads. I don’t know to which ones it applies but I know it applies to some. Dads, some of you are hard to love. Do you want to change that? You can by loving on a personal level.

EQUIP YOUR CHILDREN SPIRITUALLY. Establish the discipline of regular home Bible reading and prayer, and public worship. Be prepared to integrate these into teachable moments.

Doing these things can help you become a powered-up dad.

Gayle Erwin wrote his personal testimony of his dad in the book “The Jesus Style.” He tells of his dad’s airplane accident that left him paralyzed and brain damaged. His mom had to become the bread winner and wasn’t at home. Dad was at home but not functioning. The stage was set for family failure. They did not fail. Through good and bad times, they prayed together, shared love and were faithful to God. When their dad died Gayle and his two brothers stood by the casket and publicly make this commitment:

“Our father did not leave a financial empire for us to carry on. Many things that a dad normally does with his sons, ours was unable to do. He was unable to teach us many things that a dad normally teaches. But he did leave us something he had. He left us with a love of God, a love for the Bible, a love for people, and understanding of worship and an inability to hate. We feel that he has left us only those things that last. So we stand here before you as his sons to declare publically that we will follow his God.” What a legacy!

III. ADMONISH THEM [CORRECT AND WARN THEM]

Admonish means to correct if necessary as well as to encourage if opportunity presents itself. Both are vital. To fail to do either is to fail to properly do the other.

What are the values in which you want your child to believe?

Will your children follow your God?

Job: The Calm Amid the Storm

“Laissez les bons temps rouler” is Cajun French for “Let the good times roll.” When they do, a good time is had by all. Reality is they don’t always, not for anybody, regardless of their appearance, not even for good godly people. Job was a man who “was blameless and upright, and a man who feared God and shunned evil.” (Job 1:1) Yet, he lost every possession and his health.

There is no record of him whining “Why me, God?” His three responses are worth noting and emulating in the good, and yes, bad time.

Before considering Job’s responses, observe Satan was bringing charges against him before God. As if He didn’t know “…the Lord said to Satan, ‘From where do you come?’ So Satan answered the Lord and said, ‘From going to and from on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.’” (Job 1:7) That fact disproves the misconception that Satan is in hell. He is instead commuting between earth and heaven. That is why so many productive prominent Christians fail. They have been the objects of Satan’s hatred and he designs their destruction. He isn’t in hell, but you can be assured he is hell bound.

Satan said to God, Job doesn’t love you, he just loves the things you have given him. Take them away and “he will curse you to your face.” (Job 1:11). Remember the situation. Job has become the object of Satan’s attacks under the mysterious permission of the sovereign Lord. His children are dead, his wife has deserted him, his home and his business lie in ruins, his health has collapsed; he’s left sitting in the ashes of his former life, mourning and pouring out his confusion before God as he scrapes the sores on his skin with broken potsherds. He is suffering grievously physically, financially and emotionally. How will Job respond?

First, he said, “I know my Redeemer lives….” (Job 19:25) He had confidence in the Lord and never thought He was out of control.

There is an important sidebar truth here. People sometimes ask how people were saved before Jesus’ death and resurrection. Visualize the cross as a point in time. Since then persons have been saved by looking back historically to the cross. Before the cross persons were saved by faithfully looking forward to what the cross achieved. The Book of Job is the oldest book in the Bible and Job was in faith looking forward to his Redeemer.

Second, He knows me. Job confidently said, “He knows the way I take.” (Job 23:10) Job was assured God was not unaware of his plight and loved him. God knows what is going on. He is never insensitive to us and our needs. 

Third, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” (Job 13:15) His strong resolve sustained Job and God ultimately restored him.

Imagine Satan is standing before God with an accusation and the topic of discussion is you. Satan is saying that person doesn’t love you, they just love the things you give them. Take them away and they will want to curse you and die. How would you respond?

All of us have losses, defeats, injuries and sickness. We will have others. Be sure that when you do, you have the same resolve as Job. No whining allowed. No, why me.

Job knew he might die, he actually wanted to. He had faith death was not the end. He compares life to a tree: “For there is hope for a tree if it be cut down that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease.” (Job 14:7)

A tree is cut down, but sprouts again from the root. Job is confident that if he dies he will live again with the Lord. Make sure you will also.

The God Who Is With You

“Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10)

Paradigm is a beautiful word meaning an example or pattern. Our Lord has set before us an example to be used as a pattern.

If you want His peace and provisions you must guard against two “nots” noted in Isaiah 41:10. They lurk in the shadows of the pages of your calendar to rob you of the joy inherent in salvation.

God commands, “Fear not …Be not dismayed…” That is to be our pattern. God always supplies what He commands. In light of this, Augustine wrote this prayer: 

“Give what you command, and command what you will.”

God is not going to command us to do something without enabling it to be done. Keep that in mind as you consider–

“Fear not…”  This speaks of dread.

Fear is the child of doubt. Therefore, it is never a companion of faith. To have a life free of fear we must have a life in which our faith grows. It does so by trusting and obeying God. That is, acting upon His commands and promises even when the world suggests you not, or even threatens to shout you down if you do.

“Be not dismayed…”  This speaks of discouragement.

“Be not dismayed,” actually means don’t quit.

If you look back at your failures you will be tempted to quit.

If you look around at circumstances you will be inclined to quit.

If you look to Christ you will not be dismayed, you won’t quit.

In the text, for each of the two nots there is an “I am.”

“I am with you…”

He is ever present with us to fulfill all that is implied in the name Immanu-El, meaning, “God with us.”

Living, loving hands may be forced to release ours, but our Lord will perpetually be with us. A vacant chair may appear in our friendship circle, but our Lord will never leave us.

We can smile amid life’s storms if we know He is with us.

“I am your God…”

In our day there is an inordinate desire to know the future. Various self-proclaimed prophets, seers, crystal ball and card readers, and horoscopes proliferate that will allegedly tell us the future. All are of no value. 

This unreasonable desire to know the future is a symptom revealing that persons don’t know or trust the God who holds the future. This misguided drive has always been part of man’s base nature.

His power is revealed in His name: “I am your God.” The title used by Isaiah and translated “God” is “Elah” or “Eloah.”  “El” means “the strong one.” “Elah” speaks of His durability. It was also used to speak of binding oneself with an oath; it speaks of faithfulness.

Therefore, the God who has promised to be with you is the Strong Durable One who has bound Himself to you with an oath. Rejoice and relax in His grace.

Why Galilee

“Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath began to teach the people. They were amazed at his teaching, because his message had authority.” (Luke 4:31-32)

Questions persist as to why Jesus spent most of His time in Galilee rather than Jerusalem and even Athens, or Rome.

First, He visited Jerusalem only rarely because He knew of the hostility provided Him by the establishment religious leaders. He was accepted in Galilee and His message could be more openly shared there. The fact He taught in the synagogues of Galilee, especially His home town of Nazareth, attest to the fact of His deity, for no person born out of wedlock could even go into a synagogue. However, Jesus didn’t restrict his teaching to the synagogue like other rabbis. He took his ministry to the people. 

The government of Galilee was more tolerant also. Galilee at the time of Jesus, on the west side of the lake, was under the control of the Tetrarch, Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great.  

The local population was more open to Him because of there being no pious religious leaders there. Religious Jews shunned Tiberias because it was built on top of a cemetery. This made it “unclean” under Jewish law.

A few miles south-east of Tiberias, toward the outlet of the Sea of Galilee are the hot springs of Hammat Tiberias that today, as in that day, are visited by persons seeking healing. The Roman Aesclepius cult members practiced soaking in hot baths and fasting in order to try to get healed. 

Two things made the Galilee Grand Central Station of the day. The springs attracted many people from distant lands.

However, there is a more meaningful reason for Galilee being the crossroads between three continents. Two major caravan routes, the Via Mara and the King’s Highway both cross there. Having traveled through deserts, the caravans came there for the fresh water from the Sea of Galilee.

Galilee was populated not only by Jews, but also Gentiles: Greeks, Romans, Arabs,  Phoenicians, and others. In that sense they were rural, yet cosmopolitan. 

Near the end of Jesus’ ministry some Greeks came there seeking Him in hopes of attracting Him to come to Athens. Doubtless members of caravans that had passed there went home to Athens and told them of Jesus. His message spread to other regions from there. Had He centered His ministry there would not have been such a diverse audience.

All of these factors made Galilee the most logical place for Jesus to minister. In your life, as in the selection of the location of Galilee for Jesus ministry, God’s wisdom was at work. Ask Him to guide you through life.