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Ministries
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2nd Sunday of Easter -----March 30, 2008 1 Peter 1:3-9 For a while there was that email scam that read something like this: "Congratulations! Research has shown you are a distant cousin of the King of Tanzania. He has unfortunately just passed. You have inherited $ 40 million. But legal fees have prevented us from sending this immediately. So kindly send $ 500 to the address listed below and you will receive the amount due to you." That Internet scam may still be circulating out there trying to dupe people into parting with their life savings. In the scam, there is no real treasure. They just want your money. But what Peter is talking about is true treasure and he's encouraging us to keep our eyes focused on the hope and on the treasure that is truly ours. Because even though the hope cannot be taken away, we can mistakenly give our joy away. Imagine that. We have riches that cannot be stolen but we can squander the joy of being rich. We can drop our hope when we let the other things crowd out what is important. It's like being at a potluck and seeing your favorite food, say a banana crème pie. But there is other good food in the line. So you fill your plate full of stew, rice, and salad - maybe you throw a couple of pieces of bread and jam and by the time you get to the banana pie, there is no room on your plate. So you decide to eat everything else first and then come back for the pie. But by the time you finish your plate, you are stuffed and have no room left to eat your favorite dessert. Or else we can be so overwhelmed by our hardships that we lose our appetite for the banquet the Lord has laid out for us. Either way, the treasure is there for us and we can fill our plates with all He has given us. It's not that Peter tells us to ignore the trials and struggles that are before us. He doesn't discount our problems, but he tells us that if we focus on our true fortune, we can actually rejoice when trouble hits us. I can see it in my mind, "Wow! I can see that you're having a rotten time. It's too bad that you lost your… pool, project, promotion, pal, or poodle." Reply…. "Nope. I am rejoicing. I have my eyes on Jesus who promises His love will never fail me no matter what comes my way." If we want to keep our true joy, we have to aim at the true treasure. If you knew that there was a way to get a true fortune, would you be willing to wait a bit to receive it? What would you be willing to give to get it? And what price will you pay to get riches that will never run out? Sometimes there are things that are so important that you are willing to pay whatever price Some people are willing to sacrifice for a new car, a new house, a new boat, a family vacation… they're willing to put off gratification because they're convinced their sacrifice will ultimately be worth it. You might say that the treasure is worth the wait. People are willing to go into debt for thousands of dollars to get educated so that they can pursue a career. Some people work for companies whose pay isn't stellar, but they have great benefits. Even though the pay isn't great they feel that the health or retirement benefits are worth it. So here is a short exercise to help us from losing our joy. Take out your prayer list and in the margin write down the 4 most important treasures in your life… Now on the other margin of your paper, write down the 4 things that take up the most of your time every day... No fair leaning over and correcting your neighbor's list! Is there a match? How much time do you spend investing in your treasure? If a part of your fortune is that you love the outdoors, and you spend 8 hours a day in front of the television, you're in danger of squandering the joy of your treasure. If God is somewhere on your list and the only time you pray is sometimes saying grace at meals, it's not surprising that the joy of your treasure is not overflowing. The author of today's epistle is Peter. He knew a little bit about sacrifice and he knew a little bit about true wealth, and he knew a little about having a list that didn't match how he spent his time. For three years he followed Jesus all over in hope that when Jesus was crowned the Messiah, Peter would be receiving the riches that come from being a part of the inner circle of the King. Peter left his wife, his home, and his family to spend time getting the wealth he thought he deserved for following Jesus. But then something went terribly wrong. Instead of a crown of jewels, Jesus got a crown of thorns. Instead of being put up on a pedestal, Jesus got put up on a cross. And all the treasure, all the wealth, all the fame that Peter expected poured slowly away as Jesus blood flowed from His hands, His feet, His side. Peter wept when he betrayed Jesus three times, just as his friend predicted. But the Bible doesn't tell us how much he wept because of what he thought he'd lost. We always assume it was just because of the betrayal, but his whole world, his hopes, his dreams, his treasure, had just crashed. Then Peter changed from seeing Jesus as a provider of earthly riches. This same Peter, who seemed to lose everything, said that we could have a true treasure that can never perish. Before we go on, let's ask this question of ourselves. Do we see Jesus mainly as our provider? We thank the Lord for His many blessings but is He Lord of our lives or is He more like a vending machine for the good things in our life? If we see Jesus mainly as a rewarder of our hard work, He is more like a cosmic vending machine, Who gives us sweet things in response to the deposits we make. If we see the Lord as giving us sweets for our good works, at some point we're going to be very disappointed. We'll pay our price. We'll go to Bible studies and prayer groups and raise our kids the right way. We'll say all the right things and fight for all the right causes. We'll put in our dollar in the thank offering. And as long as God gives us money and health and kids that don't spill juice on the rug or run up a 2 hundred dollar cellular bill, all is well. Suddenly we get sick. Or our mortgage interest skyrockets. We lose our jobs, there's an unexpected pregnancy, or our family feuds escalate. We watch helplessly as things spiral out of our control. And then we think that God, the ATM of blessings, isn't playing by the rules anymore. "I've done my daily devos, Lord, shouldn't I get that promotion? I've tithed. I've come to worship. I've even been a part of a study, so how come my mother or my baby is sick?" And we get discouraged and mad at God because He didn't answer our prayers in the way we hoped He would, even when we followed all the rules. I've been there. Every one of us has been there. Every one of us has faced trials, heartache and loss and wanted to blame God. But Peter is reminding us that our real fortune is imperishable, undefiled, and can never fade away. That treasure is an irrevocable gift from God. I know of someone who spent his entire life waiting to get to the top.
He used all his skill, all his talent, to become the leader of a great
community. He was famous and everyone knew His name. He worked hard
for the Lord his entire life. Right at the pinnacle of his success his
own son tried to take him down and take his entire fortune. This wasn't
a foreigner, an outsider; it was his own son. Let read with me some
of the verses of the poetry that this man, King David, turn to Psalm
37:1-7 By the way, what we think is struggling and suffering and the Bible speaks of, is sometimes very different. If the Drug Store doesn't have the right shade of nail polish, or NAPA doesn't have the right auto part, sometimes we think, "Whoa, I can't take this." Well, the writer of Hebrews puts it in a different perspective, (12:4) "In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood." Think about that the next time they're out of mahi-mahi at your favorite restaurant! Now you may think I'm making a big deal, and making this harsh, but oftentimes we get frustrated and angry with God because we want Him to do what we want. We want Him to think our treasures are the same as His treasure. And that's often the reason that we lose our joy. Now Peter had truly lost everything on Friday when Jesus was killed. On Sunday his life changed and suddenly had a purpose and a mission. On Pentecost, 50 days later, Peter became fearless in proclaiming Jesus. That's a pretty amazing transition in such a short time. Peter saw the Risen Christ, He was filled with the Holy Spirit, and he discovered that his true treasure came from Jesus. It didn't come from power and prestige. It didn't come from what he'd accumulated or even from what he had given up. It came from being certain, deep in his heart, that he was a child of God. He knew even when he was in prison on trumped up charges, that the LORD would never leave him alone. And the man who denied knowing Jesus when the chips were down could have lived with that shame for all of his life. Instead he walked as a free man, forgiven, and changed. And when the entire church was being persecuted, Peter encouraged them that even when the worst circumstances happened, they could be filled with inexpressible joy because they were children of God, and given a true treasure. The world cannot attack the secure places where his true hope lived. Have you ever heard of Fort Knox? It's where the U.S. keeps the gold that backs up our currency. It currently holds about 147 million ounces of gold worth over 120 billion dollars. Needless to say, there are people who would love to steal it. So there's an entire fort and army garrison to guard it, with thick underground walls. The door to the vault weighs in at over 22 tons. No one person has the entire combination to the lock. No thieves have ever been able to penetrate this treasure of the U.S. Our salvation and status as children of God is even more secure than
the gold at Fort Knox. No external forces can ever change that. But
the joy of that treasure can slip away if we aren't paying attention. Remember that list you made? Let me ask you this morning, church, do you know you have a true treasure that can never be taken away? Do you know that it's backed by the absolute promise of God who never fails, and never sleeps, and never gives up on us? Make the small investments to refresh your joy as you recognize the depth of the treasure that God has given you. It will pay dividends beyond any IRA you add to before April 15! And as you take delight in the Lord, you will find that His treasure will fill the deepest desires of your heart. AMEN. |
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