2/26/23 1 Peter 3:15-22 “Being Prepared”

24 Feb 2/26/23 1 Peter 3:15-22 “Being Prepared”

2/26/23   1 Peter 3:15-22         “Being Prepared”

We live in a very fast paced world.  It seems like we are always buzzing around doing this and doing that before we are done with the first this.  It’s really quite incredible that people can even keep up.  The ones that do the best job of this are those of you who are best prepared.  This is true for just about anything that you might do.  I look back on my high school days and I find that they didn’t really prepare me for the world I would meet.  Oh, I could add, subtract, read and write but I wasn’t really ready for any thing else in the world.  I would guess that there are many who feel this way.  It was the same when I went to seminary.  They did a fine job of giving me a little book learning, but they did very little as to how to be a pastor for a church.  They lacked the common-sense things like how to do your first funeral or how to council people with their personal problems.  What I’m trying to say is that I wasn’t very prepared for what was to come in my future.  I also think that these two schools and others were very good.  They just felt it wasn’t their job to get too far off their subjects.  And I guess that is ok.  I have found that we learn by living.  This works for many things including college.  Most jobs that we get out of college have little to do with our degrees.  However, there is one area that you must really be prepared or you will end up in a place where you don’t want to be.  Of course, I’m talking about our spiritual life and you’re going to heaven or not.  It is really very easy but many churches and people try to make it so difficult.  Today, we are going to talk a little about this so that you can be assured that you will be in heaven.

Mark Brunner tells the story of a great patriot, John Randolph of Virginia.  He was intelligent, generous and he signed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.  But he died a lonely and bitter man.  You see he had it all in this world.  He was rich and owned hundreds of acres of rich farm land.  He owned the best stable of horses in Virginia.  His slaves were well treated and freed upon his death.  He was as well known in Virginia as Jefferson and Washington.  And yet when he died, he died a lonely man.  You see, despite all his riches and accomplishments, he failed to do one thing in his life and that was to make good friends.  There was something about his uncompromising, bitter and cantankerous nature that turned people off.  He was harsh, caustic, abrupt and even rude in dealing with people.  The story goes that later in life he mounted his horse to go visit a friend.  He sat on the horse for half an hour before he got off.  He couldn’t think of one friend to visit.  I think at this point he would have traded all his horses for one friend.  John Randolph had done lots of things but he had never prepared for the future as he never made one friend.  I think that most of us have friends but I would also guess that we also might know someone like this.  You need to understand that these people have never really gotten prepared for the future.  So, my question is this; how prepared are you for your future, your eternal future?

There are several things to do to help you prepare for your future.  The first is to get your focus on Jesus.  One of the ways to accomplish this is to learn to pray continuously.  This really isn’t that hard to do but you do have to train yourself.  To become effective with this, you need to look and see that God is working in everything you do.  God is all around you all the time, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  Now I know how most people think and it’s not like that.  We like to think in terms of our world, the people we know and ourselves.  We don’t think of God that much but rather we seem to like to think of ourselves first, and sometimes all the time.  Get over yourselves a little.  Jesus Christ is the center of the universe, not you.  Take a look around your world and see Jesus.  He is in everything.

Now, you may not realize it but He is in the snow we’ve had this winter.  He is in every day the temperatures are cold or warm.  He is in the breakfast you had or didn’t have this morning.  He is in the vehicle you are driving.  Have you ever thought about how many things have to come together and work perfectly so that you can even have that car or truck?  Have you ever thought about what had to come together through the workings of God, just so that we could all gather like this?  This is what I mean by Him being everywhere and in everything and in everybody.

Do you remember the Staples advertisement a few years ago.  Staples is an office supply discount chain and they had what they called the “Easy” button.  If you pressed this button, then Staples would help you with whatever problem you were having.  When you got done, you would say “that was easy.”

Things are similar with Jesus.  He is your easy button.  When you realize that the man in church is your former boss who belittled you at every turn, then focus on Jesus.  Hit your easy button from Jesus.  Or how in the world do you deal with your children who are running out of control and wrecking things and lives, especially yours.  Focus on Jesus and hit the Jesus button and be in prayer.  Or how in the world do you deal with all your monthly bills that just keep coming and coming?  You have no money because you have a poor job or maybe your spouse just drinks or shoots up all your money.  Push your easy focus on Jesus button and pray.  Or better yet, what is the problem that you have that takes all your money or time or energy?  People this isn’t rocket science.  Go to your easy focus on your Jesus button and pray.  Jesus only wants what is good for you and He will help.  That is a promise.

Something that helps with this is to always be ready to tell people why you love Jesus so much.  We have talked about this quite a bit in the past and here it comes again.  You know your story.  You know how God has saved you.  You know how He has healed you.  I love Jesus because He saved me from a massive heart attack.  He saved me from a gall bladder attack.  He has done many other things to bail me out of my ignorance and I’d be willing to tell you all about it sometime.  I know that you have stories like this also.  These are the stories that you are to tell.  You should even try to tell one at least once a day.  If you did that, then you would be on your way to having your total focus on Jesus and praying continuously.

So, you need to focus on Jesus and the fact that He died for your sins.  I think that this is one topic we don’t like to talk about too much.  Sin!  We all do it.  Maybe no one is worse at it than me.  I’m a sinner and so are you.  I’m talking about specific sin, not the general sin where we just shrug it off and continue our day.  Have you ever seen an apple that has had a worm in it?  We think that this worm came along and got into the apple and ruined it.  We would be wrong in this thinking.  Actually, an insect will lay eggs on the flower of the apple and it hatches when the apple is growing.  In other words, the worm doesn’t come from the outside but from the inside.  It’s the same way with sin for us.  Don’t blame others for your sin.  It is your sin.

An illustration might help a little.  Bernie May of Wycliffe Bible Translators wrote, “As an airplane pilot, from the first time I sat in the beginner’s seat beside my instructor I was taught to ’trust’ my instruments. ’Your instincts will fool you,’ my instructor rightly told me. ’You must learn that even though you may feel you are flying south, if your compass says you are flying east, you’d better believe it.’ Often when a plane is surrounded by swirling mist and being buffeted by strong winds, you may feel you are in a dive and be tempted to pull back on the controls. But if your instruments say you are flying level – or even climbing – you’d better believe them. To pull back on the controls might put you into a steep climb, which would cause the plane to stall, drop off in a spin, and leave you out of control.”

Unfortunately, we in two worlds.  We have the world of God and the world of the devil.  The devil is master of this physical world where we live.  Don’t ever fool yourself into thinking that you can outsmart the devil.  You can’t.  The devil is far more powerful and smart than you can ever dream to be.  What he is so good at is telling you that you are right when you are so very wrong.  This is why we have 56 different sexes and many other sins that are disguised as good.  John Wesley had one thing very right.  When you want to know if a behavior is a sin or not, start by going to your Bible.

What I’m trying to say is that sin is divisive.  Now that is a term we like to use in our modern world.  If you are being divisive, then you are probably doing something wrong.  I have to agree with this to a certain extent.  But be careful here.  Many think that if you disagree with them, then you are divisive.  I don’t think that this is right.  So be careful because people throw this term out there when they don’t get their own way.

Now sin definitely is divisive.  Any place you look and see sin, you see things that are divisive, from families up through government and corporations.  Murder divides us as does rape, stealing, coveting, and so on.  The UMC has been very divisive to the point where members are leaving and starting a new church.  Unfortunately, those who are divisive feel they are innocent and everyone but them is wrong and divisive.  Even this is divisive.  Anyway, enough divisive.  The good news here is that we have a Savior who will forgive you of all your sin.  He will forgive all of us to the point where we can spend eternity with Him in heaven.  All you have to do is confess your sins to Jesus and accept Him as your Lord and Savior.  He will forgive all your sins and help to a much better life.  It is that easy so do it today.  This is so very important.

The last point I want to make today is one that has sparked outrage over the centuries.  There have even been wars fought over this.  I’m going to talk a little about baptism.  Before I begin, I want you to know that I realize that we are called to baptize.  Jesus tells us that is one of our responsibilities as Christians.  There is not problem so far.  The problem comes when we say that the water used in baptism cleanses us.  It sure can do this but there are many instances where nothing happens.  I have baptized children and I have never seen them again.  So, there must be something missing in all of this.

And what is missing is the Holy Spirit.  At many churches we baptize infants and many who cannot speak for themselves.  There are other churches who think that baptizing infants is a terrible idea.  What these people don’t understand is that infant baptism is a process that takes many years.  It is supposed to culminate in confirmation but I have found that it doesn’t most of the time.  But it does culminate at some point when the person can speak for themselves and they accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  When we baptize infants with water, it doesn’t mean what we think baptism saves but rather the beginning of a process of becoming a Christian.  I have known many people who have been baptized as an infant and then later in life they are baptized again.  Many church doctrines say this is all wrong but I don’t see any problem with it.  It is at the second baptism that they gain the Holy Spirit.  It is interesting to note that many Christians began their journey to Christ through the water of infant baptism.

Paul is trying to tell us this and more.  Jim Kane sums it up this way.  “Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”  There are many churches today who try to pass off cheap grace as real grace.

This is a big deal in today’s world.  We have pastors and denominations who try to pass cheap grace off as real grace.  That is one of the problems in the United Methodist Church.  They are trying to offer cheap grace because they need more people to attend.  What they don’t understand is that cheap grace like they offer, is only good to look at because when you try to practice it, it falls apart.  The result is that we now have 56 or 72 different sexes.  That is what they think people want so they give it to them.  They think that they don’t want their leaders held to a higher standard.  This has caused all sorts of problems.  They think they can offer baptism without church discipline.  All these things and more have added up to empty pews and empty hearts.

Paul is telling us to keep our focus on Jesus at all times.  He tells us that Jesus died for our sins, for your sins and mine.  He tells us that we are to baptize with water but the real conversion comes when you are baptized with the Holy Spirit.  In parts of this country we have been witnessing revival.  This country, this world needs this very badly.  We have way, way too much cheap grace being offered.  What makes revival go is when the Holy Spirit enters into people, many people.  Hopefully, this will help all those people who are divisive and self-centered.  We live in a world where we need revival.  We need Jesus Christ and we need Him in everything we do.  As I said earlier, if you don’t know Jesus like this, then ask Him in to your life today.  Have your own personal revival!

Jesus Christ will wait and wait but He won’t wait forever.  He wants you, your family, your friends plus total strangers.  He wants everyone to join Him so you can have a home in the next world, heaven.  Heaven is a world that is so great, so wonderful that we cannot begin to imagine how good it is.  Please join Him.  And thank you Jesus for first loving us.  Let’s pray.