How To Stop- Or Applying The Brakes Series

How to stop

We are following a series called Top Gear and today I want to discus the importance of stopping

In WRC rallying and race cars in General stopping is important.

Brakes are one of the most critical components on WRC racing car. Each car's brake setup is also different for gravel and asphalt rallies, owing to the different demands and usage in each condition.

Stopping and slowing in Christianity are important issues.

When you are living the Christian life on the edge – in Top Gear as the title of this series suggests – you need to know how to accelerate but you also need to know how to stop and when stopping is appropriate. You also need to know when to use your brakes to slow down.

In John chapter 3 verse 16 we read the very famous lines for God so ;loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but shall have everlasting life.

It would have been wrong for Jesus to have stopped halfway through his 3 years of public ministry but there came a day when he did stop – the bible says he set his eyes towards Jerusalem – in the words of the new Zealand road code – prepare to stop.

Prepare to stop.

Jesus was becoming popular and a cult figure – he had gathered popular support because of his compassion and love and he gathered popular support because he exposed the ludicrous religious

Stupidity of His day.

Had he chosen to ride the groundswell of support he enjoyed he could have rode up to be the world leader of his day just as Satan had tempted him to do in his temptations in the wilderness.

But God whispered into his heart Stop.

In fact he had prophesied the stopping of Jesus hundreds of years before his death in the words of the prophet Isaiah. His words are recorded in chapter 53 in the book that bears his name.

Isaiah 53

3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,

a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.

Like one from whom people hide their faces

he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

4 Surely he took up our pain

and bore our suffering,

yet we considered him punished by God,

stricken by him, and afflicted.

He – Jesus – took our sin – He heard God say stop -and he stopped.

Jesus applied the brakes and at times we need to too.

In the ten commandments God tells us again and again to stop apply the brakes – Thou shall have no idols before me – God says stop! – Remember the Sabbath – Stop everything for a day - - Thou shalt not commit adultery – stop stop stop says God – God erects huge stop! signs for us That is all about brakes.

Ever seen a steam train stop?

It takes a long time to stop.

In our bible reading today there is stopping involved.

In this incredible story that Jesus tells there are stopping issues for each of the characters involved in the story.

In Ecclesiastes 3

3 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

The key for the Christian is to understand the time. – When God says stop we are to stop.

In the parable of the Good Samaritan stopping is an issue.

This morning I would like to discus the importance of stopping in this passage.

Firstly the wounded man on the side of the road.

If only he had stopped and thought before he started on his journey.

If it was a rally the navigator would have been shouting stop dangerous curve!

He was obviously a reckless and foolhardy character. People seldom attempted the Jerusalem to Jericho road alone if they were carrying goods or valuables. Seeking safety in numbers, they traveled in convoys or caravans. This man had no one but himself to blame for the plight in which he found himself.

He should have stopped!!!!

How often does our conscience scream stop – how often do we plough on like this traveller and then weep over our stupidity later?

Isn’t there a real need for us to listen to God’s quiet voice and scream stop when we should?

Key point be guided by our conscience (mentored by God’s word.) and not our feelings.

Secondly there is the robbers the brigands.

How did they end up here being criminals. – Something in their circumstances early on said you can get away with this. As time went on they became theives and violent men well out of step with the God who made them. What was the first step. The first step was when their consciences were alert when their conscience still worked and said stop!