EASTER
3
April
29-May1, 2017
Pastor
Timothy J. Spaude
Text:
1 Peter 1:17-21
“YOU DON’T BELONG HERE!”
1. So Live Your
Lives in Reverent Fear.
2. You’ve
Been Redeemed.
3. Your
Faith and Hope are in God.
1 Peter 1:17-21
(NIV 1984) “Since you call
on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as
strangers here in reverent fear. 18For you know that it was not with
perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty
way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19but with the
precious blood of Christ, a Lamb without blemish or defect. 20He was
chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times
for your sake. 21Through Him you believe in God, who raised Him from
the dead and glorified Him, and so your faith and hope are in God.”
You. Don’t. Belong. Here. Those are
four words. The tone with which you say them makes a big difference. “You don’t
belong here!” are mean words when they are said to exclude a person from a
playground game or planned sleepover. “You don’t belong here!” are loving words
spoken by a mom scooping up a child whose crawling toward danger. It just matters
how you say it. Through the Apostle Peter God says those four words to us
today. You don’t belong here. How does He mean them? Let’s find out.
“Since
you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as
strangers here in reverent fear.” We call on a father who judges
impartially. God doesn’t play favorites. With these words Peter reminds us that
lip service to God does not cut it and never will. God did not put up with the
lip service of the Jewish people even though His Son would be born from them.
When they drew close to God with their lips but their hearts were far from Him
God didn’t put up with it. Do you remember how they did that? Made sure they got
to church each Sabbath but once they left the stole from each other and had no
mercy. How would it look among us? Coming to church and then leaving only to
curse at the guy who pulls out ahead of you in the parking lot or street.
Worshipping God here, calling on His name for help, but then living the rest of
the week with me in charge, giving no time to God, His word and prayer.
Instead we are urged to live in
reverent fear. There is a lot of fear mongering going on these days. And so you
might find yourself fearing what North Korea is doing or Syria. You might fear
growing crime. Maybe you fear how you will be treated as a Christian who holds
to God’s Word and God’s morals in a country that more and more does not.
Reverent fear is different. It means living with a desire for God’s approval
and a fear of disappointing Him. Reverent fear happens when we hear God’s voice
in our heads and our hearts saying “You don’t belong here looking at things
that cause you to lust. You don’t belong here breaking up someone’s marriage by
flirting with their spouse. You don’t belong here harming your body with drugs.
You don’t belong here in this facebook post, chat room or Instagram/twitter
feed that uses filthy language or is mean and derogatory.” You don’t’ belong in
those places because you don’t belong here in a world filled with sin. Heaven
is your home.
Why? You are a redeemed child of God. “For you know that it was not with
perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty
way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19but with the
precious blood of Christ, a Lamb without blemish or defect. 20He was
chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times
for your sake.” You don’t belong here, you aren’t really a part of this
world because you’ve been redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. To redeem
means to buy back. They don’t seem to be real popular up here but down south
there are pawn shops everywhere. If you need a little extra money you bring an
item. They give you money. If you did that with something special to you, if
you want your guitar or video game system back you have to buy it back. Not by
God’s choosing but because Adam and Eve chose to sin they and we and all people
were lost to Him. We pawned ourselves to the devil through sin. But God wanted
us back. He wants us with Him in heaven. So He redeemed us. Even though God
owns this entire world there is nothing in it that could pay the price so God
paid the ultimate. Jesus. He came. He lived. He suffered Hell. He died. We are
bought back. At the time Peter wrote this he acknowledged that the Old
Testament believers didn’t know the whole story but New Testament believers
like us do. It’s been revealed.
And now we don’t belong here. We’ve
been redeemed from an empty way of life. The empty way of life for people at
Peter’s time included Jewish people whose religion was just a formality, a
ritual. They went to church every Sabbath, they brought their tithe, they
adhered to an outward keeping of the 10 Commandments but it was done just
because that’s the way it was. It included Gentiles who tried to keep all their
many gods happy knowing that in the end the Fates would decide what would
happen to them. Today there are all kinds of empty ways of living. Think of a
worker who hates his job, drudges through, gets home, falls asleep in front of
the TV waking up to eat and go to bed, living for the weekend when a case of
beer will make it seem bearable. Think of the teens who feel so empty only the
drug high makes life bearable. Think of the millions who live to surround
themselves with things only to realize to late that things don’t bring
happiness. You don’t belong here says God. I’ve redeemed you. Heaven is your
home. Because the tomb is empty your life is full. You get to live storing up
treasures for heaven. You get to treat things as things. You get to have
your God sized heart hole filled with
God. You don’t belong here.
Your faith and hope are in God. “Through Him you believe in God, who raised
Him from the dead and glorified Him, and so your faith and hope are in God.”
Think of all the phrases or mottos that talk about believing. “The future
belongs
to those
who believe
in the beauty
of their
dreams.
- Eleanor
Roosevelt
Believe
nothing,
no
matter
where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it
agrees with your own reason and your own common sense. – Buddha. Think of how
many sports teams urge on their fan base with sayings like “You just gotta
believe!” But see there’s this thing about belief. It’s only as good as what
you believe in. Did you believe the Bucks would advance in the playoffs? Why
didn’t they? Because you didn’t believe enough? No, they couldn’t deliver. I
can believe all I want that I have the ability to fly but if I jumped off of a
high rise building I would find my trust in myself misplaced. I can believe
with all my heart that a board will hold my weight as I step on it to cross a
narrow canyon but if it is not strong enough I will fall no matter how hard or
how sincerely I believe. We don’t belong here, trusting in things or people
that will inevitably let us down.
Your
faith and hope are in God. He has the power to deliver anything. Go back to Easter.
God raised Jesus from the dead. He has the power to do anything. So you don’t
belong here getting your hope and confidence from how much money you have saved
up. You don’t belong here only being happy when things seem to be going well
and getting all down and worried when you have to face obstacles or challenges
or dealing with sickness and death. You don’t belong here letting your inner peace
be robbed by countries and politicians behaving badly. Your faith and hope are
in God who has promised never to leave you nor forsake you. Who has promised to
work all things for the good. Who disciplines those He loves. Your faith and hope are in God who gives us
back our dead so you can look forward to the life to come in our real home
where the peace, joy and happiness never wavers or gets robbed because we
forget where we belong.
Because, brothers and sister, you don’t
belong here and neither do I. God says that us in love. He saw before the
Creation of the world that it would not be the perfect place he intended. He
knew we wouldn’t belong here. So from the start He planned and carried out our
salvation. He committed Himself to paying the price of His Son. The next time
you see a believer dying or are gathering at their funeral, remember what
really happened. God said, “Shh! You don’t belong here with hurts in your heart
and a body that is failing. It’s time to come home.” And until that day happens
for you live in such a way that shows, you don’t belong here. Amen.
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