WHERE WILL YOU STAND
Luke 23:50-53
And a man named Joseph, who was a member of the Council, a good and righteous man 51 (he had not consented to their plan and action), a man from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who was waiting for the kingdom of God; 52 this man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 53 And he took it down and wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid Him in a tomb cut into the rock, where no one had ever lain.
We had a great afternoon in the stand. Devon, his dad and I had to sneak in because there were already deer in the field. We sat for a few minutes in the mid-afternoon sunshine, enjoying the view and as we talked we decided that it would be good to pray and praise God for the opportunity that we had together and ask Him to bless our hunt. A couple hours later we had seen a lot of deer and 8 or 10 young bucks… finally a good 8 point buck came into the field and after some shuffling around in the blind, Devon made a good shot.
After a short time we tracked his buck down and as we excitedly looked him over I suggested we ought to thank God for what He provided. After all, we asked for a blessing and God gave it, the least we could do is thank Him for it. I didn’t know Devon and his dad for more than a few hours at that point, but it didn’t matter, I felt it necessary that we do what was right and that they knew where I stood with God. That prayer time together should have given them enough information, about me, to know where I stood and what I stood for.
I remember reading a story years ago about a professing Christian who got a job in a lumber camp that had the reputation of being very ungodly. A friend, hearing that the man had been hired, said to him, “If those lumberjacks ever find out you’re a Christian, you’re going to be in for a hard time!” The man responded, “I know, but I need the job!” A year later, he came home for a visit. While in town, he met his friend who asked, “Well, how did it go? Did they give you a hard time because you’re a Christian?” “Oh no, not at all,” the man replied. “They didn’t give me a bit of trouble, they never even found out!”
What a shame. If we’ve come to a place where we have given our lives to Jesus Christ, we’ve got one great responsibility left to fulfill in life… to tell as many other people as we can about what Christ did for them. If we aren’t supposed to do that, God could take us home to heaven as soon as turned our lives over to Him. After all, this world is not our true and final home… why would He leave us here if not to bring others to Him?
In Matthew 10:32-33 Jesus talks about the importance of standing out for Him and what happens when we hide the fact that we know Him “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 10:32-33 We need to be bold in what we believe and what and who we stand for.
There is a quote from the movie, GOD'S NOT DEAD II that shows our choice... "I would rather stand with God and be judged by the world than stand with the world and be judged by God..." That’s a choice we all face if we’re truly His children. We don’t know much about the background of Joseph from the accounts of Luke 23 (above). We know that he was a leader and a Godly man but not much else. The first we see of Him is when he is willing to step out and love Jesus after His death. He stood for Christ when many of the others and run and hid, in fear of persecution. Joseph stood for Jesus at a time when no one else did. Other than John, the rest were like the young man in the logging camp story… they didn’t let anyone know that day who they stood with.
Remember… “But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 10:33 If you’ve made the choice to trust Jesus with your life and your eternal future, do others know where you stand? Is there any doubt of who you are spiritually? If someone were to try to explain who you are to someone else, would the description include, “Christian “? If not, how would they describe you?
When the time comes to stand with Christ or without Him, Where will you stand?
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