Runnymede Christian Fellowship, a church in Egham

Week 22 (28/05/2007) - Passing through to purpose

There are crossover times in every life.

Some people call them the "peak" experiences. You know what they are. They are those times of transition. They are times fraught with potential disaster. The are the times in your life so similar to that of the people of Israel capsuled in the phrase, " . . . for you have not passed this way before" (Joshua 3:4).  The human inclination is to get used to one's natural habitat. It is familiar. Change doesn't come easily.

In the Book of Joshua, there is another word. It is the word we are concentrating on today. The word `bar, which literally means to "cross over" or to "pass over."  This verb `bar emphasizes the decisive nature of this moment in the history of the Hebrew people. It distinguishes this event from everything that had gone before. It describes a "peak" moment.

You and I have those occasional `bar times, those crossover times in our lives. Crossover times can be frightening.  This crossover lifestyle has implications for us as individuals.

We are often determined to hold on to the past. God wants to break through that constitutional conservatism that is ours and to help us become the `bar people, the crossover people, the people who are willing to grow and expand, claiming new territory, inheriting the future God has in store.

Why don't you try listing the crossover times in your life?

Birth would be one. Some crisis in childhood may be another.

What is it that fascinates us with the biographies of movie stars and musical performers? Why do we watch their biographies on television and read those articles about them in Cheers magazine? We are fascinated to see how they handle the crises of life.

Those crisis moments of life have that quality, don't they--such as the death of a parent or brother or sister.

And then come the important decisions we make in our teenage years. What college should I go to? What career should be mine? Should I marry? Who should I marry? What job should I accept?

Then we tend to settle down, don't we? Crises may come. That painful divorce. That financial failure that seriously alters our lifestyle. Or perhaps that financial success that thrusts us into a potentially altered lifestyle. How do we handle that crossover experience? It is the fear of the unknown.

Some of us create an artificial crossover time. It may be at age 40 or 50, the "midlife crisis." We begin to think of old age. Try to tell that to the majority of people in our culture and they will laugh at you. But let's face it, the Bible has no theology of retirement, putting your feet up. If anything, God's Word elevates to a position of respect for our elders. It attributes to them the wisdom that comes with age and venerates them for their life experience. You have the privilege of looking into the mirror every morning and seeing not a young face or an old face but a human being created in the image of God who was never more alive and never will be more alive in this life than you are at the present moment. Live every day to the fullest. Don't get locked in by your age.

You are never too young. Don't let anyone despise your youth. You are never too old.

But there are very significant crossover times. Disease can be one of these.  Our response in faith to pending bad health news from the doctor, gives us a a place to choose to cross over.

Remember that every pathway which is new to you is not new to your God. As you stand on the bank of that Jordan River in your life, remember that your God is capable of making a pathway through it. He will walk through it with you, keeping your feet on dry ground. Even in the darkest hour of sickness, there can be joy that is unspeakable. Fear will not diminish the danger.

Death itself is another one of these `bar moments. Jesus Christ has assured us that He has taken the sting out of death. The sting of death is sin. The victory is Christ's. He walks through that Jordan with you and me.

Another crossover time is that moment of spiritual decision. It is that moment in which you decide to accept the invitation of Jesus Christ to come into your life. You open yourself to Him in repentance and receive His forgiveness and grace. It's the moment in which you rededicate your life to Him after days or even years of wandering in your own spiritual wilderness, once again crossing over into the Promised Land, inheriting the promises He has given to you.

This crossover lifestyle has implications also for all of us, are you ready to take steps.