Where Does The Road End?

Where Does The Road End

4/2/2000 Proverbs 1:8-19 Mark 14:1-9

It’s good to know where a road is, but it’s even more important to know where the road ends. In a scene in Alice in Wonderland, Alice is lost and she ask the cat in the tree, “which way should I go?” The cat asked, “where are you going?” Alice responded, “I’m not sure.” The cat replied, “then I guess it does not matter which way you go.” If you’re trying to get from here to Chicago, it makes a difference whether you take I 77 South, I 90 East, or I-90 West. It has nothing to do with the view on the roads, or the number of pot holes. What matters is which of the roads will end in Chicago.

Now you can firmly believe I-77 south will take you there, but I can tell you unless you’re going to Chicago, South Carolina you’re wasting your time. You can be convinced that I-90 East will get you there and it just might after you have driven across the Atlantic Ocean, through Europe, over Asia, under the Pacific Ocean and try to Pick Up I-90 East in the state of Washington near Seattle. Just as it is important to know where a road ends when driving, it is equally important to know where a road ends that we are traveling on in life.

If you continue to travel on the same road in your life today that you’re following , where will you be five years from now if you do not make any changes in what you’re doing in school, at home, on the job or in the church. All of us should have goals in front of us that we desire to reach for ourselves and for our God. Otherwise we become like Alice, wandering aimlessly because we do not know where we want to eventually end up.

When God comes into a person’s life, God always comes with a purpose to make something happen The only problem with God is that God will not force us to do what we do not want to do. God can come up with some strong persuasion, but God respects our free will. God loves and respects us to much to turn us into robots. We truly have a freedom of choice as to whether or not we will serve the Lord or choose to love Him.

As we approach Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday and Easter, there are several important figures who chose different roads to travel. Let’s look at person who will always be remembered in history because of the choices he made. The person’s name was an honor to the Lord. His name means, “praise of the Lord.” He was a pretty smart young guy and had a good way with numbers. Very likeable person, with an honest and trustworthy appearance. He had a wife and some children. He understood the importance of networking and being around the right people at the right time. He could be very passionate in speaking up for the poor.

His life intersected one of the most important people in all of human history. One day he ran into Jesus Christ, and quickly followed the crowd in his pursuit. He probably had held several positions in his life, but none would have a greater impact than on that day when Jesus went upon on the mountain side. There were thousands of people there that day, and Jesus had to make a decision as to which twelve people he would fully invest himself in to become his 12 disciples.

Jesus said something to the effect, “will the following 12 people step out from the crowd. Simon and his brother Andrew, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, Phillip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James son of Alpheas, Thaddeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot. These are the people I’m choosing as my personal assistants and students”

After calling them to be his disciples, Jesus gave them authority to drive out evil spirits, to heal every disease and sickness, and to preach the good news. If only you could have seen that guy in action with the power of God upon His life. He was healing people left and right. Commanding demons to get out of people. You would have thought he was on the road to greatness in the kingdom of God. If you had of asked where will he be in five years, the answer to come to mind would probably be the pastor of a large church somewhere. But there was a problem, this guy was with Jesus, but he was not really with Jesus.

Well as the ministry of Jesus grew, people wanted to make offerings to thank Jesus for what he was doing. Plus there were a group of women, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Sussana and many others according to Luke’s gospel who were sending regular offerings to help support Jesus and the disciples. It became obvious that someone needed to be in charge of the money.