Cell Phone vs. Jesus
Scripture: John 15:5; 14:13-14; Matthew 28:19-20; John 10:18
Introduction:
I have received some interesting emails and phone calls recently pertaining to some things that Christians have been involved in. The message this morning was inspired by several of those messages. I have titled this message “Cell Phone vs. Jesus” and is based on an email I received. In the email, the primary question was “What would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our cell phone?” I took it one step further in that I wondered what would happen if we treated Jesus like we treat our cell phones. For those of you who have cell phones I hope that this message will have the same effect on you as that email had on me.
I. Twice As Much
There are many of you out there that have more than one cell phone, me included. I have one cell phone that was issued to me by my company and then I have a personal cell phone. When I am traveling, I keep both cell phones with me although I primarily use my work cell phone. Having two cell phones is not convenient. When I am talking on one, sometimes the second one rings. Instead of ignoring the second phone, I feel obligated to at least look and see who it is that is calling. What would happen if we had twice as much Jesus operating in our lives? Jesus said in John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in Him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.” When I visualize this verse, I imagine a vine bush that my wife has planted along our fence. Those vines encircle themselves around the fence in such a tight way that you cannot pull them down; you have to cut them off. If I had a double dose of Jesus, I imagine myself being so wrapped up within Him that I would not be swayed by the things of this world. Can you imagine the power and confidence that we can walk in as a Christian when we have a double dose of Christ (if it were possible) operating in our lives? Can you imagine our lives if we’d let the fullness of Christ that is available to us now operate in our lives? Many of us have two cell phones that we proudly carry with us everyone. Some of us even have a beeper just in case we step away from the cell phone. All of this is so we can stay in touch with someone. Stay in touch with Christ, today, tomorrow, forever.
II. Don’t Leave Home Without It
How many of you have your cell phones with you right now? How many of you have your cell phone here, but you left it in the car? How many of you intentionally left your cell phone at home? How many of you, “if you left your cell phone at home and you lived near by” would turn around after getting to your destination and go home and get your cell phone? How many of you feel sort of naked without your cell phone hanging on your side, in your case or in your purse? Do you see the point? We must have our cell phones with us. If we leave it at home, we will drive miles to retrieve it “just in case” someone calls us. What would our lives be like if we felt the same way about Jesus? Remember what Jesus said in St. John 15:5? In the last part of the verse He said “for apart from Me you can do nothing.” If we fully understood (as we do with the cell phones) that without Jesus we can do nothing, I think we’d begin to make a difference in our lives and in this world. Many of us can not operate if we forget our cell phones. Heaven forbid if we are on a trip and forget to bring our charger and the battery runs down. We wake up in the morning rushing and we leave our homes in a hurry, forgetting to take Jesus with us. Would we turn around and go home to get Him? Do we ever feel naked when we do not have Jesus with us? When we leave our homes we think about the cell phone, whether or not we have it or checking it for messages if we have it with us. However, we sometimes do not even think about Jesus. Some of us can go days without thinking about Jesus, but we keep that phone close by “just in case.” We need Jesus with us much more than the cell phone.
III. Making The Call
How many calls do you average a day on your cell phone? Consider for just a moment if you called on the name of Jesus as many times as you dialed a number on your cell phone. Do you understand that Jesus said “And whatever you ASK in my name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.” (John 14:13-14) The only way to ask is to call on Him. We call people multiple times a day to ask them something; try calling Jesus. Can you imagine being in a face to face conversation with someone and then telling them to hold a minute while you talk to Jesus for a second? That person would probably think you were losing your mind. I attend a lot of business meetings. During those meetings, cell phones are turned off or placed on vibrate so as not to disturb the meeting. At every break, people immediately reach for their cell phones to make calls or see who has called them. It is like an addiction. Imagine, if you will, the response you’d get if when you took a break you went and talked with Jesus? (You’d just walk to a corner, bow your head and begin to pray. Just call Him up for chit chat. Also, all of us at some point in time have talked on our cell phones while driving – ever talked to Jesus while you were driving? Before I move on, I must touch on the infamous text messaging. I have been driving down the highway watching people type in a text message while they were driving. I have received text messages while I have been working and found myself almost obligated to return the message ASAP. What would happen if we rushed to read Jesus “text messages” just as we rush to read those we receive on our phone? (In case you’re wondering, His text messages are in your Bible.) Better yet, imagine our lives if we RESPONDED to Jesus’ text messages every time we read them, and do so with an urgency as we do with our cell phones.
IV. Giving Jesus As A Gift
Jesus said in Matthew 28:19-20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” In carrying out this command, we are offering Jesus to a dying world – we are giving the world a gift. Nikki and I have given our daughters cell phones as gifts as I know many of you have done the same with your kids. Consider how our lives would be if we gave Jesus to our kids and to the world as a gift. I am not talking about forcing anyone to accept Christ for that must be their personal decision, but showing them Christ everyday in how we live and carry ourselves in front of them. If I gave Christ as a gift, it is the one gift that keeps on giving. What happens with those cell phone gifts? Every one to two years people want to upgrade to the next newest model with the added bells and whistles.
V. Use Jesus In An Emergency
Many of us carry our cell phones with us for emergency situations. We want to make sure we can call someone in case of an emergency. What about Jesus in an emergency? A couple of weeks ago, there was a show on TV about people stealing cars. The policemen rigged the cars with a device that would turn them off once stolen and they also installed cameras in each car. Once everything was set, they left the cars running in open areas to see if someone would steal them. Well, in the city of St. Louis, they set up the rigged car. Two ladies come walking by and notices the car, that the keys were in the ignition and that the doors were unlocked. The jumped in the front seat and sped off. Well, they did not get very far before they noticed the police lights behind them. The camera in the car taped the interaction between the two women who had stolen the car. The woman driving the car began to scream out “Lord Jesus help, help Lord Jesus.” Now imagine this woman screaming this out because she just got caught stealing a car. She should have called on Jesus when she was being tempted. Now back to my earlier point. We carry cell phone with confidence that if needed in an emergency, we will be able to call someone for help. The only things we have to worry about is whether or not the phone will work in the area that we are in and if we do get a signal, that it will not drop the call. You can call on Jesus and you will never get a busy signal, He will always answer; you will always have a signal; He will never place you on hold; and most important, He will NEVER drop you.
VI. Pre-Paid and Connected
When cell phone first came out, they were large and bulky. They did not have many plans that let you talk for however long you wanted; the primary plans had a certain number of minutes and you paid through the nose if you went over. Thousands of people paid hundreds of dollars in fees because they went over their allocated number of minutes. Today, in response to the growing problem of people going over their minutes, companies have added larger bundle packages; free mobile to mobile calling and free nights and weekends. They also have “pre-paid” cards that you pay for up front. When you use up the minutes you have pre-paid for, your phone ceases to operate. Well, Jesus has already “pre-paid” for your communication with Him. You never have to worry about going over for He has already paid for your “extended” use. Jesus said in reference to His sacrifice for us “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.” (John 10:18) Jesus laid down His life voluntarily for us to save us. His sacrifice pre-paid our way into heaven. We do not have to work for it; all we have to do is receive the gift in our heart. Once you are connected, there are no more fees and you will always be connected. Nothing will disconnect you from Christ.
Conclusion
When I pick up my cell phone now, I think about my relationship with Jesus. There are other things in my life that I am learning to balance based on its importance. My first priority is to make my life one that people would easily be able to identify as someone who loves Christ. No I am not going to plaster my clothes with buttons or make signs that I carry around stating that fact, but I want to love so that my life will be evident of the facts. I had a conversation this week with a dear friend about love in action and how we may say we love someone yet our actions do not always measure up to the statement. I want my actions to speak louder than my mouth and hopefully get to the point where I do not have to speak about it at all, for nothing more would need to be said based on the evidence.
So, as we are about to end this service and you will be free to get the cell phones out again, as you do so, think about Jesus. Whenever you make a call on your cell phone moving forward, think about whether or not you’ve talked to Jesus that day. May god bless and keep you is my prayer.
