University Church Meets At:
397 South Church Street
Athens, Georgia 30605 USA
Telephone: 706-546-1923
| The Christian lives a life of spiritual
anticipation in his daily life. One may experience good times and
bad times. On an average, if you divide good times and bad times
into equal parts of human existence -- of course taking into consideration
the fact that we modern, middle-class Americans are all living the life
of an ancient monarch or some other kind of very rich person. We
Americans from the middle-class have forgotten how good we have it, if
you were to compare the well-to-do of our time in history with the people
of the first century, we would see our lives as being unbelievably rich
and luxurious compared to the lot of the majority of people in history,
we would think that the Millennium had already come.
And let us not forget, that, if you were to judge the lot of the present
American middle class, they would be like persons of royal birth and privilege
in the style of their lives. Even those whom we consider to be fairly
ordinary people, who are not rich (like most of us who are gathered here
this morning) live the life of the very rich and royalty of New Testament
times. But even we, who are so privileged, are aware of aspects of
life which are negative and which we are tempted to dwell upon, that we
don't have or can't experience. What we sometimes imagine are "lives
of hard knocks" would be thought by the people of the first century as
begin incredibly privileged and being like the perks of royalty and the
fabulously rich in olden times. Even in the lifetimes, of many of
us here the present life of the middle class is amazingly opulent compared
to, for example, ordinary people of the 1900s or even more so than the
people of the Great Depression at which time I was born and grew up as
a child.
I. AND YET, NOT ONE OF US WOULD BE UNABLE TO THINK OF SOMETHING ABOUT OUR LIVES WHICH WE REGARD AS NEGATIVE, BE IT IN HEALTH, IN COMFORT, IN RELATION-SHIPS WITH OTHER PEOPLE, OR IN OUR INDIVIDUAL LOT IN LIFE COMPARED TO SOMEONE ELSE WE KNOW. 1. Even we Christians, who are blessed by God, not just spiritually, but also having to do with "common grace" and, especially, in matters which deal with "special grace." Our "sufferings" are very "light weight" compared to those of the first century. (They would think that the quality of our lives was the beginning of the Millennium, they are so rich and desirable.)But even we, -- privileged though we be -- (comparatively speaking) must admit that there are negatives, "sufferings," as Paul calls them: disappointments regarding getting all the things we had hoped for, disappointments regarding outcomes in life that we had hoped for; the effects of sin in our lives and in the lives of those we love. Thankfully most of us have not, and hopefully will not experience persecution for our faith or experience bitter poverty, due to the bad decisions of wicked people, though it is always possible that you who are young may experience it in your lifetime, to a serious degree. And in that sense, even we -- privileged though we are, comparatively speaking -- must admit what Paul says in v.18, and we recognize that, as we reason with the promise of God to those who have come to him for salvation: that present suffering in any degree is not worthy of comparing with the glory that shall be revealed to us. And, especially, that grand and glorious heritage for us, who are children of God -both in some aspects of our present lives and in the light of the grand conclusion, when we come into our eternal heritage. ("v.18") Do you have some kind of a burden placed upon you by your health, your responsibilities in life, or by what we describe as "just plain bad luck"? Well, that is there by the providence of God and is a part of our discipleship to willingly bear it, even if we do not, for the time being, see a significant reason for it? Well, if you do, that is your burden to bear patiently as a part of God's will for your life. II. FURTHERMORE, EVEN LIFE HERE AND NOW IN A FALLEN WORLD IS ONE OF UNBELIEVABLE BLESSING, BECAUSE GOD'S BLESSING UPON HIS PEOPLE. 1. Listen again to "v.18."Now, think about your life. Do you realize that in the providence of God, you are incredibly blessed? Does it ever occur to you that in many ways in your life God has blessed you beyond belief? There are the matters of "common grace," the comforts of the American economy, the relative lawfulness of its society, the quality of our homes -- and their comfort, the stability and integrity of our government, the health care that all of us benefit from whether in individual ways or in professional treatment and medicine. Or it might be in living under a form of government which is basically "just," and living in a society which does not persecute us for our Christian faith. Do you realize how much God has blessed you and me? Don't compare yourself with some friend of yours who has had a wonderful experience of provision or of healing or of inheritance of someone's fortune. Compare yourself with some poor person of the lower class in Russia or in one of the eastern European countries where whole families live in inadequate buildings and eat food which is not fit for feeding to animals. Do you realize how God has blessed you- by specific provision, or even by placing you at a particular time and place in history? The relatively comfortable jobs we have, compared to the working class of the 1800's, or the jobs of the majority of the people in China, or eastern Europe, or Russia which demands long hours and longer weeks that we expect to have. Do you appreciate that God gave you the beautiful home you probably have which, if it is average, is incomparable to those of the past or those of the world around for convenience and good health. Are you thankful for his provision -- physically, morally, environmentally, financially? Do you ever stop to thank God for modern conveniences, and the results of modern science, and the stability of our national and our local government? -- and how that plays into out in your daily life and freedom, and absence of fear? You who are students, do you realize how kind this society has been to you, because your parents are citizens? Are you thankful for the wonderful food we eat? Medicines and doctors, who prescribe them; are you thankful for them? I have several doctors who keep me relatively healthy without which I would be a total wreck. And all of this is an outcome of God's gracious provision. Are you thankful for protection from violence and from evil men that is a result of the integrity and presence of our government and God'swill? Are you thankful for your education and do you pray that you will never use it to harm your relationship to, and usefulness for God? Are you thankful that when you die, through the effects of old age, or the results of an accident, or an outcome of sickness, that you will have a heritage in heaven that is unspeakably blessed; and your situation will be unspeakably more blessed and pleasing than you life is here and now (even though we find it hard to grasp the truth from our present vantage point here and now?) Are you thankful for the conveniences of modern times, that God has brought about by the indirect outcome of his creation and the genius of his magnificent creature, mankind? And when, in his providence, he permits your life to become one of difficulty, and at the advent of some kind of limitation, will you be able to thank him for his providence? And those of you who sometimes think about your mortality, do you ever give thanks to God that because Christ the Savior has died for you, and God the Holy Spirit has regenerated you, you are going to live in eternal blessedness forever and ever -- hundreds of years, hundreds of millenniums, forever and ever into the future, and, as we understand, in a blessed society which we are not even able to fully conceive of, here and now. Are you, who are parents thankful to God for your children? -- And children for your parents? Are you thankful that God has allowed you to live in one of the easiest and most convertible of lifetimes (compared to the people in most other parts of the world) during your mortal lifetime? Are you thankful for this? You and I will always have negatives in this life which we might become preoccupied with. But oh, the blessing of the the positives that are the gifts of God as a part of our salvation. To an extent, we experience some of them now, in part, but we are reminded that the greatest of them all are yet to come! We are an eternal people whom God has saved and adopted through Jesus Christ, and we will live forever and forever in his presence. This is the incredible blessing of your heritage as a true Christian, who has accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior! This Sunday is the first Sunday of the month and it is the Sunday in which we renew our covenant with God by the use of the Communion, which speaks of our Savior in the bread and his sacrifice for our sins and sinfulness in the cup. Let us use it to wholeheartedly confirm our trust in the Savior and in the blessedness of our life of obedience, as we follow the path of discipleship to Him. Will you do so this morning? I hope you will. The issues may be different in all of our cases, but the nature of the Saviourhood and Lordship of Christ is the same. We confirm our trust and our obedience and plead for his gracious working in our individual lives. May the blessing of God be poured out upon every person here who acknowledges his Saviorhood and submits to his Lordship over their lives. |
University Church Meets At:
397 South Church Street
Athens, Georgia 30605 USA
Telephone: 706-546-1923
| Back to the University Church Homepage |
