1 Peter 4:7-11 Use Your Gifts!

1  Peter 4:7-11  The end of all things is near.  Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray.  Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.  Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.  Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.  If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God.  If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.  To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever.  Amen.

As the end of all things is near, Christians should be fervent in serving the Lord.  As stated in the above scriptures, God has given all believers gifts.  Each of us is responsible for using our gifts for the Lord.  If we are not close enough to God to recognize what He has given us, we will flounder in expressing God to the world.  Sometimes, Christians are like people who fear death and therefore whistle by the graveyard, pretending that either the end of the world is not near or that they will not find an end in that graveyard.  Without recognizing God’s imminent return in our lives, we often function by placing as much gaiety in our existence as possible.  Otherwise, we attempt to do what the world does so well, avoid questions of eternity or spiritual matters.  We blend in with the attitudes and behaviors of the secular environment in which we live so well that few people know us as Christians.  Sometimes our Christian culture and activities do assuage our conscience concerning our anemic testimony in the world.  Of course, as some cults do, we orient ourselves more towards the family and community functions.  We try to be the good, upright people in most circumstances.  We attend church more than our non-Christian friends; however, if the Lord walked with us as a YMCA trainer with his client, would He see us doing anything different from the other people in the facility.  Would He see our daily journey focused on him and our light shining in a dark world?  Would He see our entertainment choices different from the world?  Would He see the hours spent on ourselves anything different from the world?  Looking into our minds, would He see our thoughts different from the world?  Would He see his people whistling by the graveyard, pretending we will never have to face the Father God of all time.  God knows our hearts.  Hebrews say his  word is powerful and as sharp as a sword, a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.  And there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.  (Hebrews 4:12-13 NKJV)   How difficult life can be for us when we are double minded: when one foot is planted solidly in the secular world and the other foot is planted tentatively in the spiritual realm.  When we fail to activate the gift of God within us, life is difficult if we try to win the world for God.  Life becomes chaotic when our bucket list is aimed at getting the most out of life before we die.  Our mantra becomes secularized: live life to the full, for you go around only once.  But a Christian’s mantra in life should be focused on obedience to the will of God and not on our fleshly wills.  As Peter states in today’s verses, we should aim to please God by activating all the gifts and strength within us: Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.  We should speak fervently for God; we should practice hospitality graciously and wholeheartedly; we should serve with love and concern.  We should do everything in this life with the strength God provides.  Why?  So that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.

How easy it is to stand back and criticize Christians for being lukewarm?  How easy for the writers of this breakfast to discuss the tendencies of the flesh.  In fact, criticism and harsh judgments are not good incentives to keep the Spirit of God active in our lives.  The law does not inspire, it condemns.  “Should be different,” “ought to be different,” do not help much in living for Christ.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.  (John 3:17 NKJV)  Hallelujah, we are new creatures, transformed by the blood of Jesus.  Our focus should be on that fact, not on where we fail.  We are new—this world has nothing for us or in us.  In fact, as we have discussed before in our breakfasts, this world is not going to be redeemed, restored.  A new world will be created: the end of all things is near.  The old man has not been redeemed, restored; a new man has been created.  We are to walk in that newness.  How do we do that?  We are corrupted by sin, our fleshly bodies are so terminal!  Our understanding of God and eternity rests in the life and activities of Jesus Christ who gives us eternalness.  None of us can imagine what this gift of eternal life is truly like, for we are limited by the constructs of time, living finite lives.  The fence of time surrounds us, confines us.  The flesh in its temporary state finds it impossible to imagine life beyond that fence.  As Christians, we know the infinite and the divine through the actions and words of Jesus Christ and the indwelling Holy Spirit.  Jesus is the perfect representation of God; of course, Christ was God, the Son on Earth.  As Jesus said, No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father.  Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life.  I am the bread of life.  Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died.   But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die.  I am the living bread that came down from heaven.  Whoever eats this bread will live forever.  This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.  (John 6:46-51)  Jesus tells us how to live a life in the Spirit.  Daily, we pick up the manna that God has provided for us, manna that will sustain us as we walk through the wilderness.  Now of course, we know the manna in one sense is the written word of God, but manna to the Christian, also includes the voice of God within us.  We do not walk only by the written word, for the letter of the law can condemn us, but we should be deeply invested in reading the Word of God.  Without the Spirit energizing the word, we are internalizing it only as wisdom and knowledge.  But this is not what Jesus desires, the manna is his living body—the living Word.  We are to eat of him for when we do, we eat and do not die.  The written word is good, essential, but it must provide us with more than knowledge and wisdom.  The written word must help us partake of Christ, providing us the daily nutrients of a Christ-like life.  The Spirit of God activates the Christ in us.  Our gifts will be activated each day for God’s purposes.  Our speech, our countenances, and our actions will be his.  We do not live by the law or good intentions.  We do not live by what we “ought to do” or “should do.”  When Jesus was tempted by the devil, He said, It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”  (Matthew 4:4 NKJV)

We are God’s instruments on Earth.  We are his light on Earth.  He did not say that we ought to be lights or should be lights; He said we are lights!  You are the light of the world.  A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.  Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.  Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.  (Matthew 5:14-16)  Therefore, we should agree with Jesus’ words.  If we are what He says, we do shine, whether we know it or not.  Now we can shine incognito, hardly noticeable by the world because our identification marks are so close to the world’s likeness, or we can show our light brilliantly and clearly because of our identification with Jesus Christ.  To know Jesus is every Christian’s desire.  To know him, we must pick up the word and read it; to know him, we must be in constant communication with him.  To know him, we must continually ask him to do a deeper work within our spirits.  Sometimes, we have experiences that are damaging to our self-willed nature.  Maybe we did not get the job we desired or the promotion we sought.  Maybe our relationships with others are deteriorating.  Maybe sickness has come to our bodies with damaging effects on how we live.  Maybe the vicissitudes of life seem intractable, unsolvable.  Maybe?  Maybe?  Regardless of where you are today, know that God is there with you.  The Spirit of God is the Trainer that stays by your side, asking you to try methods or attitudes that you have never attempted before.  The Trainer is always whispering in your ear, telling you that you can endure through anything.  In Romans 8, we read,  In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.  We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.  And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.  God has partnered with you to make you a great light in your community, in your family, in your surroundings.  We read in the Psalms, The Lord will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever; Do not forsake the work of your hands.  (Psalms 138:8)  We started this breakfast with a lot of should’s and ought’s for Christians.  But the Trainer does not talk to us in that way.  He tells us we can do all things, we are God’s children, He is with us, He gives us strength, we can trust him and He will stay with us until the end.  Once when Mom was attempting a very difficult task, a friend called her and said, “I see you going through the day, saying, ‘I think I can, I think I can.’  God wants you to say, ‘I know I can, I know I can!’”  She was right.  That is what God says to us today.  Dear friends, use your gifts, reveal Christ in you.  For sure, ENDURE TO THE END.  Remember what we read in Philippians 4:13: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (NKJV) 
   

1 Peter 4:1-6 Life Through Death!

1 Peter 4:1-6  Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin.  As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.  For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.  They are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless, wild living, and they heap abuse on you.  But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.  For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to human standards in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit.

In the above focus, Peter talks about suffering in the body and being done with sin.  This speaks of the reality of physical trials, but he also is talking about a suffering that is greater than the mere difficulties of one’s physical self.  He is associating with a greater suffering that one might go through for the sake of serving Christ.  As Paul discusses in Romans 7, we died with Christ when He was murdered on the cross.  We went into the grave with Christ.  By suffering with Christ in his death, we have been loosed from the bondage of sin.  We are done with sin.  A person might suffer in his body at this present time for the sake of Christ but might not be done with sin.  But in identifying with Christ in his death, we are permanently finished with sin, for the new creature that came to us because of that identification with Christ is perfect in the eyes of the Lord.  Just as a heavenly body might not have any geothermal activity in it, so is the body without the Holy Spirit.  But when we are raised in the newness of the Holy Spirit as Christ was raised, we become a body radiating the Spirit of God within us.  We become an active, energized body for God, for deep within us burns the fire of God.  Peter is talking about this suffering, this death.  We died with Christ, allowing the inert body, born to sin, to become the active new creature.  Now we image God as the Spirit reveals himself in us.  So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.  For when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death.  But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.  (Romans 7:4-6)  After our salvation experience, we do not live the rest of our earthly journey for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.  As new creatures we are not bound to the law of good and evil.  We do not measure our lives on what we do or do not do; we measure our lives on the perfection of Jesus Christ in us.  We are holy because He is holy.  We have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.  Christ has been resurrected to a new way of living.  Even in his earthly journey, Christ was bound to the law; He lived as a Jewish man, but as the resurrected Christ, He put to death the strictures of the law and brought freedom to us to live by the unction of the Spirit.  Peter says, since we are free in Christ, for He has appeased God’s anger on sin, why not put away the old ways of living that lead to death.  These former practices produce nothing but evil.  Why live there any longer—put them aside and live for God in his mercy and love.  We have no obligation to the ways of the flesh, why not live as new creatures, energized by the Holy Spirit of goodness and grace within us. 

Man’s total depravity brought him outside of God’s mercy and grace, but Jesus paid the price for the new life within us.  In fact, mankind was so marred by sin that he was beyond redemption.  The implication in the story about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is that God spared only Lot and his family in those cities.  Generally, man was beyond redemption.  This story is told to show us the condition of mankind before the law brought the light of God to people.  God did choose men such as Noah, Abraham, Moses and others for his purposes, but He did not make them perfect or holy.  We see imperfections cropping up in their lives, behaviors and attitudes in opposition of God’s perfection.  The law brought light into the world for it reflected God’s holiness and rightness.  Without any wavering, the law required exact obedience.  Judgment would fall upon the lawbreaker.  The only escape for the Jewish people were the sacrifices offered to God to appease him for their sins.  God was placated by these sacrifices, allowing the people to go on with their lives.  All others outside of those who received the law were called barbarians or heathens—the Gentiles, for they functioned without the light of the law.  Their consciences had to be pricked to know right from wrong.  Some societies and cultures called certain attitudes and activities good, but the law called them evil: such as sacrificing children to gods.  Yet the law or even their consciences could not deliver mankind from slavery to sin.  Within man’s basic nature was interwoven a DNA string of sinfulness or self-willed behavior that was estranged from the goodness and mercy of God.  Men and women’s imperfection tended to mar their actions and interactions.  Consequently, violence, destruction, and often chaos were part of mankind’s existence.  What could restore goodness to God’s creation?  What could bring love to the forefront of all of people’s involvement?  What could make them prefer others above themselves?  Only a perfect sacrifice of a perfect man could change the basic nature of humankind?  A new creature had to be created.  The old man would always be under the sentence of death.  He would not escape the judgment of God, for God cannot allow sin to exist without exacting payment.  A perfect sacrifice must be offered to God, One who has fulfilled the law to every jot or tittle.  Was there one who could have saved Sodom and Gomorrah from destruction?  He alone would be the one to pay the price for all who are under the penalty of their sinful actions: death.  Jesus fulfilled the law, completing the task of pleasing God.  He would pay the price of death, taking sin to the cross, the sins He had not committed in the flesh.  There, He would pay the price, as their substitution for death, the replacement for their penalty of death.  As Paul writes to the church at Rome, You see, at just the right time, when were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.  Paul goes on to say, While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  (Romans 5:6 & 8)

Peter wants the church to understand that they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.  We all will fall under the judgment of God.  Either we will be judged by Christ’s work or our own work in the flesh.  Christ died, we died with him.  Christ was raised, we are raised with him.  When Christ died, we died with him.  As we read from Paul, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  (Galatians 2:20)  When Jesus was on Earth, no salvation was possible.  All the people Christ ministered to were open to the eternal judgment of death, even the apostles.  For all were still judged strictly by the law.  The law had not yet been killed or done away with.  Goodness, mercy and holiness were the operative standards for judging all humans.  Any variation or waywardness from those traits throughout one’s life would be judged harshly, for God will not allow cancer to be part of his eternal dwelling.  Mankind must be made into new creatures in perfection or rightness with God.  Christ’s death and resurrection through the power of the Holy Spirit created this new life.  He died as the perfect man for those who are imperfect.  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!  (Philippians 2:8)  The cross brought death to the penalties of the law, for we who trust in Christ died with him and to the consequences of the law.  The law holds no more dominion over a dead person.  Christ’s resurrection brought a new life to us who trust in him by faith and keep our promise to follow him.  Being found IN HIM through faith in his works on the cross, we are new creatures as He was new after his resurrection.  We are like him because He is in us and through us.  The Holy Spirit has come to energize these earthly bodies into eternal creatures for God’s glory.  We are no longer our own, for we have been bought with a high price: the blood of Jesus Christ.  We are like him: his nature is within us.  That attributes of the Holy Spirit or within us—the fruit of the Spirit described in Galatians 5:22-23, love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  Therefore, why live as the old man lived, in sin and debauchery?  Why not live to the glory of God, revealing the Holy Spirit’s work in us to the world.  As his creations we give love and grace in place of hate and judgement, peace and harmony in place of unrest and chaos.  Stop whatever you are doing right now and take time to realize you have died to the flesh.  Now begin anew, starting over to live the resurrected life for the Christ who lives in you by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Whoever suffers in the body is done with sin; whoever realizes he or she is dead is done with sin and the attraction of the world and the flesh.  This new creature no longer lives for self, but for Christ.  Bless you today and every day!  

  

   

1 Peter 3:19-22 Peace From Chaos!

1 Peter 3:19-22  For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.  He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.  After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits—to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built.  In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God.  It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.
In chapter 3, Peter talks about Christians submitting to others for order and harmony and subjecting ourselves to others to do good, not evil.  Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.  Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.  (3:8-9)  With freewill, our spirits so easily do what our flesh desires, not what a holy God desires.  When we feel abandoned, hurt or misunderstood by someone, we want to strike back.  If someone humiliates us, we want to retaliate, even humiliate him or her.  Our flesh is protective of self; why not, we go around only once in this world.  But we find in today’s passage that Christ suffered for us, to bring us to God.  He was put to death for our sins.  He was without sin; consequently, his suffering and death were unjust.  Clearly, the Bible says all men and women who have ever lived should pay the penalty of death for their own misdeeds and their waywardness from God’s perfection.  We were made in God’s image; therefore, we were made to reflect God in everything we do.  Because of our fallen nature, we have been unable to do that.  Instead of consistently doing good, we have fallen into the mode of evil, working and doing for ourselves what we believe is right in our own eyes.  The prophet Isaiah said we are like sheep who have gone astray, seeking our own pasture, feeding and drinking where we desire, and not the places the Shepherd of all creation desires us to inhabit.  The problem of abiding in our chosen fleshly pastures is that we feed from the wrong vegetation, consisting of noxious weeds that will eventually kill us.  Fleshly living leads to wrong thinking, impure thoughts, and selfish ambition.  In the days of Noah, we see this sinful willfulness in complete bloom.  The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.  The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.  So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.”  (Genesis 6:5-7)  Man had wandered far from the purpose for which God had made them: to interact with him intimately.  By creating his own environment, mankind became entirely not like God: not good, not caring, not loving.  God endured man’s wickedness for a long time, but finally destroyed every evidence of mankind except for what was in the Ark, safe within its confines.  Death and destruction came to all who chose evil and violence.  After Christ died on the cross, He also was in the bowels of death and destruction, but his resurrection revealed that death would no longer hold victory over mankind.  Eternal goodness arose with Jesus, allowing all who place their trust in him to find eternal life.  Mankind would no longer have to experience death as in the days of Noah, for God made a way through his beloved son.  And we all shout: Thanks be to God!  He gives us the victory through the Lord Jesus Christ.  (1 Corinthians 15:57)

Paul expressed the complete victory of Christ’s death and resurrection to the church at Corinth.  Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.  For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.  For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.  But each in turn: Christ, the first fruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. (1 Corinthians 15:20-23)  When Christ came out of the grave, He came out in perfection.  He was now eternal, not clothed in the shroud of death.  His grave clothes remained in the empty tomb.  His life after the resurrection revealed an entity that could move around in an instantaneous moment.  The fundamentals of our natural world such as the pull of gravity had no authority over him.  He was supernatural in every way; yet He intimately conversed with two men on the road to Emmaus; He ate with his disciples on the shore of Galilee; He appeared to Mary.  These activities were important for they reveal a relationship restored to mankind: men could interact closely with a holy God without being destroyed.  Jesus’ resurrection, his coming out of the grave as a new creature, defeating death in the process, brought man to God and God to man.  Jesus, the first fruit from the grave, was paving the way for all people to follow after him.  Men and women would no longer end their existence in a grave or under the horrible punishment of sin by a holy God; instead, they would be guaranteed eternal life if they placed their faith in the perfect One, Jesus Christ.  Eternity demands exactness, completeness, perfection, no wobbliness of character or the presence sin can be found in eternal existence.  Only the total authority of God will be found in the heavenly realm.  To live forevermore, men and women must hide in the eternal nature of God, the gift of God: Jesus Christ.  Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we much be saved.  (Acts 4:12) 

Death could not hold Jesus because the Father God sent the Holy Spirit to rescue him from the corruption of the grave.  Jesus paid the supreme price of death for the sins of the world, going all the way, giving up everything for the human race, holding nothing back.  On the cross when God turn his face from the sins of the world, Jesus exclaimed in misery, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?  (Matthew 27:46)  Jesus suffered in many ways: his apostles abandoned him, people mocked him, authorities abused him.  Because we are to image Christ, Peter asks the believers who read his letter to submit to others: to authorities, to communities, and to the long-standing conventions of their culture.  Peter seeks this submission so the secular people will see the goodness, innocency, purity and obedience of Christians.  We submit because Christ submitted for our good.  His submission brought salvation to all mankind.  Our submission will bring only a small lightbulb into our world.  But people who are close to us will notice that light.  As they see the light in us, we hope their hearts will open to the love of God and his plan to save them from their sins.  In the days of Noah, all were destroyed because the light in the land had been darkened by the chaos of sin.  If we lack submission, love, servanthood, tenderness, forgiveness, our pathway will become dark and our influence for Jesus will come to an end.  All societies need an undergirding of love and concern for others if they are going to be healthy.  To exist through the millenniums, cultures, religions, and societies must emphasize this cohesiveness.  If they do not, their existence eventually will cease.  Selfishness, deceit, and the exploitation of others will not only cause chaos and violence, they eventually will result in the cessation of that people group.  That is one of the reasons religions hold a special place in most cultures and societies.  Religion usually keeps people from destroying themselves through their own chaotic and violent self-willed nature by looking to a power greater than themselves.  Christianity is not a religion intended to preserve a culture, society, or group of people on this earth, but our faith provides a way to know God and live for him.  As Paul wrote, That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.  (Philippians 3:10-11)  When we find Christ, trust in him and his works, we have found the way to eternal life.  No one can enter the Kingdom of God unless he or she comes through the Gate.  Religion can help people on Earth live harmoniously, so that they do not destroy each other.  But Christianity brings a new life, an eternal life.  No longer as in Noah’s time will all people be destroyed because of their wickedness, for the Lord has made a proclamation to our imprisoned spirits that sets all people free who trust in Christ.
 

1 Peter 3:8-13 Inherit A Blessing!

1 Peter 3:8-13  Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.   Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult.  On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.  For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech.  They must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it.  For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.  Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good?    

Peter concludes his missive on submission to others, especially slaves and wives, by telling everyone in every category that he or she should live lives in harmonious order.  Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.  In a world of varied cultures and conventions, Christians should function in their communities with love and compassion, not as thorns in the flesh of those who do not agree with us.  Of course, righteousness comes only through trusting in Christ as the gate to salvation, and hiding in him brings us into the family of God.  No one can please God completely without the covering of the blood of the Lamb.  We are to bring grace and mercy to this earth whenever we can.  Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult.  On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.  How often as Christians, the shining examples of God’s love, do we bring the opposite of what Peter is talking about?  How often do we choose not to give a tip at a restaurant when we think that we have not received the best service.  How often are we willing to complain to people if we feel wronged by them.  How often do we reverse the adage of buyer beware to seller beware when we purchase items at a low price from individuals who do not know the real worth of what they are selling.  Doing so, we knowingly take advantage of an older person who is selling his or her possessions to move into a rest home.  Are we Christians truly the light of the world, or are we functioning as the world, unwilling to take the short end of any situation?  Are our tongues honest, forthright or are we dishonest, deceitful in our speech?  Jesus addresses the way one should live when He describes the difference between the sheep and the goats.  In this homily He does not talk about righteousness coming from faith but from how one lives.  Then the King will say to those on his right, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”  (Matthew 25:34-36)  Why were these people blessed by God?  They fed the hungry, gave water to the thirsty, invited strangers into their homes, clothed the naked, cared for the sick, visited those in prison.  Does this sound like the lifestyle of Christians in this modern age, especially in the most prosperous countries?  Yes, we give money to missionaries and agencies that help people in the third world.  But in the description of people that Jesus said were to be honored by God, He uses the word, “you,” an involvement with others that is personal.  Do we find ourselves avoiding what Jesus said depicts a righteous life?  We are not helping the hungry, thirsty, naked, imprisoned, shelterless people; instead, our activities often entirely focus on ourselves and our families.  Most sermons on a Sunday morning do not highlight a righteous lifestyle for believers.  The opposite of sacrificing for others becomes the focus of a successful Christian life: prosperity, security, and healthy, entertaining pursuits are our main goals.  This manner of living is not necessarily bad, but it can lead to the life of the goats, with no concern for the unfortunate, the least of these in our communities.  However, living for ourselves exclusively can be categorized as idolatry: serving self over God’s concerns.  We need to evaluate our lives in this matter, including the authors of this breakfast. 

Dad has been reading a book titled, Dangerous Love, by Ray Morgan.  Morgan describes an incident where he and his daughter almost lost their lives.  He was administering a World Vision outlet in a Moslem country after the 9-11 attack in New York.  The world, especially in the Moslem countries, was very unsettled.  For people from the Western world, the Islamic countries were a very dangerous place.  This was true of where the Morgans lived.  One day he and his daughter, Hannah, were attacked.  His ten-year-old daughter was shot in the chest, and he in the arm.  The bullet went through the car window, through his arm and into the chest of his daughter.  He was able to escape his attacker and get back to a small community for assistance.  They were then medivaced to France for surgery and medical help.  They had barely escaped this situation with their lives.  Tom and his wife Helene decided they would continue their mission in the country where they were attacked.  The people and the authorities in that country greeted them happily upon their return to further their work.  Tom and his daughter proceeded to live their lives as they did before the attack, seemingly integrating successfully back into the Moslem country and their daily routines: he at his work and his daughter in school.  But Helene, was struggling, for she was in the home without the involvement with others in the community.  She was in depression; the Christians around her could not offer her the right words of comfort and understanding.  They were not very sensitive to her emotional needs, for they knew she was not the direct target of the violent attack.  Consequently, they provided emotional assistance for her husband and daughter, but not for her.  One day, she received an invitation from a group of women in a migrant community; a place of extreme poverty.  The men in this large community would leave during the daytime to either work in the nearby city or beg on the streets.  The women were left alone during the day in their community of tents in the midst of chaos, squalor, and misery.  Garbage and sewage were everywhere in this encampment.  These women in this poor Moslem country were the poorest of the poor in the world.  But Tom’s wife accepted their invitation.  She was driven there by a World Vision driver.  She did not know what was going to happen that day.  The migrant Moslem women greeted her with joy, honored her, gave her a beautiful burka and jewelry.  With words of comfort and empathy, they expressed how difficult it must be for her to have members of her family attacked.  They understood how she felt as the wife and mother of those who were almost killed.  They had experienced or known someone who had the same trauma.  Their words were a healing salve, pacifying the frustrations and fears that troubled Helene.  These women who lived on less than a dollar a day, many dressed in ragged burkas, gave her gifts they could not afford to give themselves.  They gave their best to a Christian women who would never have to live in their community of poverty.  While doing so, they illustrated the lives of the sheep.  Helene was sick and they looked after her.

Are we as Christians willing to be examples of a sheep’s life?  Or are we desirous of evil happening to people with whom we disagree?  Do we want the migrants in our lives treated well?  Do we want people who express views contrary to our theology treated well?  Do we want people who disagree with our political views treated well?  Or are our deeds and attitudes evil?  Do we seek peace, goodwill, and harmony with others?  Do we express the attributes of the Holy Spirit in our daily lives?  Yes, most of us who know the Bible believe in Peter’s admonition of slaves submitting to a froward master, but we do not believe in us submitting to those with whom we disagree.  Yes, let the slave submit; yes, let the wives submit; but no, let us not submit to an adverse idea, politically or socially.  Peter says, we must turn from evil and do good; we must seek peace and pursue it.  For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.  Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good?  The Moslem women in the above situation disagreed with Helene’s Christian dogma and lifestyle; yet they gave their love to her.  How embarrassing it is for us Christians to despise other people who disagree with us.  Are we not all children of the same God?  Did not the angel who announced the coming of the Lord express that this baby would bless all people: But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid.  I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.  (Luke 2:10)  Jesus came as the Good News for everyone.  All people everywhere need this good news of a Savior, but Christians must express what God counts as righteousness.  We are to be sheep in our activities and attitudes.  Yes, Jesus is the gate to the inner circle of God’s family.  Yes, we IN JESUS, through faith in his works, are known as brothers and sisters in the family of God.  But we must be eager to do good.  The world is judgmental; the world destroys, tears apart.  The world esteems its ideas above all others.  Are we like the world or like Jesus Christ, who gave his life out of love for mankind?  Are we willing to be sheep, for God is watching?  It is not our attitude He is counting, but our actions.  Let all of us examine our lives continually, for God is examining them, even our thoughts and the purposes of our hearts.  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.  (Hebrews 4:12 KJV)