P.O. Box 53055    
Los Angeles, CA 90053   

TEMPORARY FIXES #5

JUST A CUP OF COLD WATER

If you ever read the "My Turn" columns in the front of Newsweek Magazine, you might have recently seen this powerful story by a high school junior, Nick Sheff. It's entitled "My Long-Distance Life." His parents, he writes, split up when he was four years old. And he became one of those airline-shuttle kids, flying back and forth between the Bay Area and L.A. every Christmas, every summer, every holiday. By the time he was six, he was making the trip alone, his toys and clothes all stuffed into a "Hello Kitty" backpack, and the flight attendants looking after him.

"I began flying between two cities and two different lives," he admits. "I've probably earned enough miles for a round-trip ticket to Mars. Some people love to fly, but I dreaded the trips."

Well, it's a tough story, brilliantly written by this young man who is still just a junior at San Marin High School in San Rafael. But we were struck by something that happened to him on one of these enforced journeys. At the tender age of seven, he ended up sitting next to a lady on the plane who spent the whole flight trying to convert him to Christianity. And it must not have been a good experience for Nick; he lumps it in with the bad-turbulence-luggage-compartments-falling-open-man-behind-him-throwing-up story that happened two years after that.

So this is an experience to think about. There's a kid on the plane, and someone witnesses to him. "Come to Jesus. Give your heart to God." Etc. The same message beamed on CBS's Touched By An Angel every Sunday night. The same message broadcast six days a week right here on this radio program, The Voice of Prophecy, on both our daily and Sunday lineup of stations. Inviting people to come to Jesus is just about all we do. But for this young man, and for the anonymous seatmate back in 1989, it was clearly an unwelcome message.

This has been our topic for the week: TEMPORARY FIXES. Christianity is certainly concerned with PERMANENT cures, with the salvation offer of eternity. If John 3:16 is the Christian church's hallmark text, it certainly isn't in the business of just bringing people a momentary palliative, an abbreviated boost for the coming weekend.

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have EVERLASTING life."

This was the mission of Jesus Christ, friend. And maybe I sound like that pushy passenger on the plane when I read this familiar verse to you. But then we've spent this week noticing that Jesus Christ, who longed with a Calvary desperation to bring people eternal life, also spent the vast bulk of His 3½ years of ministry just helping blind people see and deaf people hear and lame people walk. He even provided headache cures, we discovered yesterday. In other words, the love which is the foundation of our faith isn't blinded to the human needs of the moment while keeping its focus on eternity.

Now, what does this mean for you in your life and for us here in our radio ministry? Many times people who are active in church work brainstorm in a committee room about how to reach their neighbors and friends for Christ. There's nothing wrong with that; this is the gospel mandate of Matthew 24. And they come up with something like this: "Well, let's offer a cooking school to the community. Then after people have come to that, we'll run a stress seminar. (In my Adventist denomination, smoking cessation programs have been, and continue to be, huge successes.)" But then the thinking continues: "And after people have been to those two things, they'll be ready to study Bible prophecy with us . . . and maybe they'll join our church!"

Now, friend, let me say again: there's nothing wrong with this line of thinking. Sometimes we use phrases like "sequence evangelism" or "felt-need ministry." And the intermediate programs we devise are called "bridge events."

And it would be foolish indeed if Christians offered programs to the general public, designed to make the next six months better for them, without giving thought to how they could offer those same new friends the FOREVER gift of Jesus and His promise of eternal life. That would be ludicrous! It would be like a billionaire passing out nickels when he could just as easily give away thousand-dollar bills.

But what about the person who only stays for the cooking school? Perhaps they're simply not ready for the charts and prophetic graphs of the book of Daniel. So they come to our cooking school, use up a $15 syllabus, get a bunch of recipes, and go out into the world with their delicious, nutritious pot roast. And we never see them again, which makes us feel ripped off. "What a waste," we mutter. "They weren't baptized."

The same mentality, I must confess, could so easily invade OUR offices and our radio airwaves here. We can find ourselves thinking, "Well, it's okay to do a radio series on health, or on marriage relations, but we had better have a link somewhere to the Bible, or to our Discover Bible Course." Now, it's all right to have that link, but how should we feel if a radio program we air simply makes a person's marriage better . . . and that's it? I said yesterday, "We are all pharmacists." What if someone only wants from us, and will only accept, a 24-hour pill and nothing more?

Well, friend, there's an interesting story in the Bible that all radio preachers, and all operators of Christian cooking schools, and all witnessing travelers on Shuttle-By-United should consider. It's found in Matthew chapter 25, and it's actually the great scene described by Jesus Himself regarding Judgment Day! God, the holy Judge, is measuring the performance of earth's citizens. Will they be saved or lost? This is known as the story of the Sheep and the Goats, and it's told right before Calvary: a vital, central message.

So the Son of Man, who has just come in His glory — Jesus is talking about Himself here — sits down on His throne, and the nations are separated into these two groups: the sheep on His right, and the goats on His left. Our big question then: what factor or factors decide who goes where? Here's verse 34:

"Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited Me in, I needed clothes and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you came to visit Me."

Well, you know the story. These people in the saved column, the sheep, look up in surprise. "Jesus, when did we do that for You? We don't remember anything like that." And with great gratitude He tells them, "Whenever you did it for one of the least of My brothers or sisters, you were really doing it for Me."

Is there mention here of witnessing? Of getting people to be baptized? Of giving huge sums of money to the church? No. Just acts of kindness, small moments of TEMPORARY healing. Glasses of water, meals, clothes, prison visits. Friend, it becomes clear here that God has put us in this world to bring joy and relief and healing and the quiet comfort of a full stomach to those around us. And Matthew 26 says explicitly that we are going to be judged on that basis!

Is it still important to tell others what a friend we have found in Jesus? Is it a good thing to invite friends to church? Should The Voice of Prophecy still broadcast message that contain the full gospel, the important Bible texts? Certainly. But the Word God tells us here that we are called, in an unselfish and unquestioning way, to serve others, to bring them happiness, whether they do or DON'T get into our baptismal font the following weekend.

I think of that small, lonely seven-year-old kid on the airplane. And certainly it's all right for an adult nearby to remark in the conversation: "I'm so glad I got to sit here next to you. This has been fun. You know, Jesus is my best Friend, and now you're my new friend too." That would be fine. But what about: "Show me that picture you're coloring, Nick. That's really great. Tell me about the school you go to. I'll bet your daddy's really excited about seeing you again. We have two cats at our house — they're named Fluffy and Stomp. Do you have any pets?" And then when the plane lands: "Let me help you with your suitcase." And: "Have a great Christmas, Nick. And I won't forget to send you that game I promised. No, I won't lose your address. I have it right here."

We've mentioned a couple of times this week the two wrenching medical stories from Dr. Oliver Sacks. In the recent film, At First Sight, Val Kilmer plays a young blind man named Virgil. Good people with generous hearts are able to give him the gift of sight — but only temporarily. Despite their best intentions, all they can give is a few months before darkness returns.

But friend, a little bit of sight is better than none! The gift of a prison visit is better than none. A meal for the homeless. A cup of cold water. Jesus says these moments, these small friendship acts of what we call "disinterested benevolence" — Christian charity done without overriding regard for the baptismal pool — are all done for Him. Will many of them lead to the pool after all, to eternal life, to eyesight that lasts forever? Certainly! And that motivates us. But it's not ALL that motivates us.

So be that kind of friend, the next time you fly the friendly skies.