Live Good Lives Series

INTRO.- ILL.- A woman and her little girl were visiting the grave of the little girl’s grandmother. On their way through the cemetery back to the car, the little girl asked, "Mommy, do they ever bury two people in the same grave?"

"Of course not, dear." replied the mother, "Why would you think that?" "The tombstone back there said, ’Here lies a lawyer and an honest man.’"

We assume that most people don’t respect lawyers very much and the same could be said of politicians as well. Most people are not sure they have an honest bone in their body.

ILL.- Blago is at it again. This happened around Feb. 12th. Ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich is lashing out at the Illinois lawmakers who removed him from office, calling them drunkards and adulterers who don’t know how to do their jobs.

Blagojevich, impeached and ousted last month (January) in the wake of federal corruption charges, seems open to spilling in a book at least some of what he saw during his two terms in the state’s highest office.

"I’ve got my crayons ready, I’m ready to write it. I’d like to tell those stories," Blagojevich said during a interview on WLS Radio. Blagojevich said he wants to point out "the phoniness and hypocrisy" of the politicians who run state government.

"A bunch of them are cheating on their spouses, a lot of them drink in excess, very few of them know what’s going on, they just take their marching orders from legislative leaders," Blagojevich said.

Lawmakers brushed off Blagojevich’s latest remarks. "We’re watching a guy destroy himself in front of our eyes," said Democratic state Rep. John D’Amico of Chicago.

NOW WHAT DO YOU CALL THIS? Could it be the pot calling the kettle black? Blago is accusing his accusers of sinful living, but he’s not guilty of sinful living! Or is he?

I guess using the "f" word in his conversations is not considered sinful living, just slurred speech. And I don’t know if Blago is trying to do better or not, but he should. He should for the Lord’s sake and the sake of his small girls. It’s called repentance.

Even though we all struggle with sin we must live the best we can in this world. We must live good lives in this world. Can we? Will we? Is it possible? YES, BY HIS GRACE!

PROP.- Basically, our text tells us why we must live good lives in this world.

1- Live good lives because we are aliens

2- Live good lives because sin wars against the soul

3- Live good lives because God must be glorified

I. LIVE GOOD LIVES BECAUSE WE ARE ALIENS

11Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.

ILL.- Two men went bear hunting. While one stayed in the cabin, the other went out looking for a bear. He soon found a huge bear, shot at it but only wounded it.

The enraged bear charged toward him, he dropped his rifle and started running for the cabin as fast as he could. He ran pretty fast but the bear was just a little faster and gained on him with every step. Just as he reached the open cabin door, he tripped and fell flat.

Too close behind to stop, the bear tripped over him and went rolling into the cabin. The man jumped up, closed the cabin door and yelled to his friend inside, "You skin this one while I go and get another one!"

ILL.- A fisherman returned to shore with a giant marlin that was bigger and heavier than he. On the way to the cleaning shed, he ran into a second fisherman who had a stringer with a dozen baby minnows. The second fisherman looked at the marlin, turned to the first fisherman and said, "Only caught one, eh?"

What’s the most fun you ever had in life? A great hunting or fishing trip? A pleasurable or exotic vacation? Raising your children? Reaching some grand goal in life educationally, etc.?

No matter how much fun you’ve had in this life there is something better. There will be something better. CARE TO GUESS?

I Cor. 2:9 "However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him."

Do you believe it? We should. God has something better in store for us in the next life. We must walk by faith.

ILL.- C. S. Lewis wrote: We are very shy nowadays of even mentioning Heaven. We are afraid of the jeer about "pie in the sky," and of being told that we are trying to "escape from the duty of making a happy world here and now into dreams of a happy world elsewhere." But either there is "pie in the sky" or there is not. If there is not, then Christianity is false, for this doctrine is woven into its whole fabric.