Were you a fan of ‘Meatloaf’ when you were growing up?

No, not that meat dish heavily bathed in ketchup that your mom used to make for dinner; I’m talking about the pop/rock singer who went by the name of ‘Meatloaf’. Seems he was around for a while but if you asked me to name any songs he wrote/sang, there is only one well known one that comes to mind: “Two out of three ain’t Bad”. That may not even be the title of the song, but it sure stuck with me for many years. And I apologize in advance if that tune ‘sticks’ with you for the rest of the day. :- )

But I’m sure you remember his line...”I want you...I need you...but their ain’t no way I’m ever gonna love you...now don’t be sad... ‘cause 2 out of 3 ain’t bad.”

Like I said...it was a popular song and resonated with lots of folks; and you may be wondering how on earth this song could possibly fit with a Bible lesson today? ;- ). I think it may be a good one, and truth be told, it may ‘resonate’ with a lot of people who might come across this post as well. But I’m leaving that up to the Holy Spirit.

‘Two out of three ain’t bad’, the singer claimed. I suppose it depends on whether you are on the giving end or receiving end of that ‘math’, because 2 out of 3 is 2/3’s or 66%. And for decades, we all know that a 66% was never a passing grade in any school subject I ever took. So if someone came home with a 66 on their report card and tried singing that song to their parents in order to put a positive spin on the ‘non-passing’ grade, I suspect that tune did not play as well as it did for Meatloaf when he sang it. ;-). My goodness, my folks were not thrilled if I came home with a passing ‘70’ in any subject. Moving along now...

In Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, he closes it out with this expression of hope, or prayer of blessing, as he writes: “May the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit...soul...and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thess. 5:23)

This is one of those verses that packs in so much in just one sentence; and I want to circle back at some point and dive off further in to this subject of what it means to ‘sanctify’, but for now, let’s take a look at an interesting revelation here that many might not be aware of.

We as humans, according to the Bible, were created by God to be ‘triune’ in nature, or made up of 3 parts: spirit, soul, and body.

You probably are aware from Gen. 1:26-27 that we were created in the ‘image and likeness of God’. And God...is Spirit. (John 4:24)

But God also created us to have or possess a ‘soul’. That word comes from a Greek word, ‘psyche’ which is where we get the word ‘psychology’ and ‘psychiatry’ from, which is the field of medicine that focuses on the minds and emotions of humans. So when you think of your soul, most would agree this would be the seat of our consciousness, or self-awareness, our intellect, our ‘will’ and our emotional bank where our personalities are formed, etc.

And last, and sort of least, we have a physical body, or ‘tent’ that we ‘live’ in while on earth for oh...such a short fleeting time. Hence, this idea of us being made up of ‘spirit, soul, and body’. I know...some of you might have questions for God regarding the body He gave you to live in, but like I said, that should be the least of our concerns right now.

But here is where this gets interesting and hopefully quite helpful to anyone reading today. In fact, I would encourage you to share this with anyone who is not a ‘believer’ for them to read and at least ponder and give some thought to; as it might help bring some clarity to questions they have most likely considered when it comes to searching for ‘meaning’ in this life.

Now follow me closely on this line of thought: Paul, writing to ‘believers’ who were in Ephesus at the time, shares this revelation that I cannot stress enough, is worthy of our time to study and meditate on:

“And you, (He made alive), who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience...” (Eph. 2:1-2)

As far as Paul was concerned, not to mention God who is sharing this revelation, we were ‘dead’ prior to being ‘made alive’ after we came to Jesus. The Greek word for ‘dead’ there...means...’dead’. He even explains ‘why’ we were dead – because of ‘sin’. That’s what sin does...it kills and brings forth death. (Rom. 6:23). Sin also separates us from God, (Isa. 59:2) ...and friends, I don’t know who needs to hear this, but apart from God, we cannot truly live.

So when Jesus announced why He came...that we might ‘have life, and it more abundantly’ (John 10:10), I would imagine that many folks back then, as well as folks today, had to be thinking...”What are you talking about? I’m alive right now! I have a heartbeat, I’m breathing, I can think and function; what do you mean I can have ‘life’?”

So let me say it again: You might be breathing and have a heartbeat and be able to get around as you think and rationalize and contemplate on a daily basis, but if you are apart from God, as in not abiding in Him, you are d-e-a-d! Clearly, we are talking about being ‘spiritually dead’. Your ‘body’ may be alive and your ‘soul’ may be alive and functioning, but if your ‘spirit’ is dead because of sin, then you need to realize that while Meatloaf tried to convince his girlfriend that 2 out of 3 ain’t bad, it still is not passing with God. Because He says you were/are ‘dead’.

Do you remember the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15? The younger son packed up and left his father’s house to do his own thing. That did not go well for him as he discovered over time. Lots of us have come to that sad revelation that our way is never better than God’s way; it just takes some of us longer to realize that truth. But...the younger son ‘came to his senses’ and with a broken and contrite heart, he turned (repented) and came home to his father. You know the story...it’s a beautiful depiction of how our heavenly Father receives us when we too, are broken and contrite and draw near to Him. (James 4:7-10)

But here is what gets lost on us sometimes when reading this story. Many would prefer to take up the debate as to whether the younger son was still ‘saved’ or not while he was dining with the swine. What a ridiculous and distracting discussion that is to engage in, as some would want to make the case: “but he was still a son’. Yet, listen to what the father had to say about his ‘son’ prior to his return home: “For this my son was - dead - and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” (Luke 15:24). As far as the father was concerned, his son was ‘dead’ to him. (same word used for dead in the Greek that we saw in Eph. 2:1)

If you had a loved one who suffered a tragic accident and they were unconscious, yet hooked up to life support where machines were breathing for them and keeping their heart beating, it would be hard to truly celebrate, let alone appreciate, the condition they were now in. And I don’t think any of us would respond favorably if the doctors told you this was as good as you could hope for from here on out. They could tell you...”well, they’re breathing and their heart is beating but they will never be able to communicate or interact with you again, but ...Hey...2 out of 3 ain’t bad, right?”

I mean, really...what kind of living is that? Well that is exactly how God looks at us in our separated state of spiritual death. And to Him, not only is 2 out of 3 not good, it is bad, it is bad indeed. Which is why God sent Jesus to offer us ‘life’, and it more abundantly.

Now here is where this gets very interesting and I’m warning you now, it may get a tad uncomfortable for some, if not many who read this along with tomorrow’s message. If you have been around church circles before, you know we’ve all heard the case made when evangelizing others who were not ‘believers’ that analogy how we all had this ‘hole’ in our hearts, this void or emptiness that we sought trying to fill through various means the world offered us; yet it never did completely fill it up. That’s when we ‘sell them’ on how it is a ‘God shaped hole’ that only Jesus can fill, etc. And yes, I would agree with that premise of teaching, for the most part.

But here is the ‘painfully delicate’ point I want to bring up that is going to touch a few nerves. There are plenty of people in ‘churches’ today...who are in the exact same condition as their ‘lost' neighbors/co-workers; and sadly... they are not even aware of it; as in spiritually 'dead'.

They may ‘think they are alive’, for brief moments in time, but the moment that ‘life support machine’ gets unplugged, they begin to ‘flatline’. So they figure it must the church or preacher they are sitting under and they move on to another one. Or they are constantly picking up a new devotional book to read hoping it will be a spark, or attending one spiritual conference or retreat after another that offers up so much hope and promise because of all the great speakers they will parade across the stage. Or maybe they get on that train of going from one ‘gospel singing to another’ looking for life. And yet, they too, know something is missing IF...they are honest with themselves. If you join me tomorrow, I’m pretty sure I can share with you here, what it is... that is ‘missing’; and I might even use another popular pop song to begin the lesson. ;-)