A Majestic Completion Series

“Majestic” Series: A Majestic Completion

1st Peter 2:9

Introduction:

By God’s grace we’re winding up the “Majestic” series this morning. It’s a series that talks about the majestic life you have in Christ. And it focuses on the calling, the commitment, the consecration, and the completeness, of the life God has brought you into via the New Birth.

The series is based on 1st Peter 2:9…and prayerfully, it’ll help you understand more fully what you are saved to be.

Why don’t you stand with me, and let’s read that text aloud together now.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Let’s pray together now…that our hearts will be open to what we’re going to hear in the next few minutes.

Destinations matter.

I know it’s been popular for quite a while to say things like, “It’s the journey that matters, not the destination.” And I think I get that…I think I get what that bit of popular “wisdom” is trying to tell us. You know, take time to appreciate the journey itself. Don’t be so focused on the destination that you miss the good, the joy, and the beauty of the journey.

After all, there’s a lot to be gained on the journey itself! There’s a lot to be learned, a lot to be enjoyed, on the journey. So yeah…the journey is important. But still; destinations matter.

During my childhood my dad was in the ministry and in the army, so we traveled a lot…and most of our travel from one place to another was done by car. Then, our family vacations were almost always road trips. And sometimes during the holidays we’d load into the car and drive a thousand miles to be home for Christmas. So, we did lots of driving on a lot of roads.

And there were always maps…plenty of maps…folded and refolded…with markings on them where dad had painstakingly planned the route. Evening stops at a motel would find a map spread out on a table as dad checked and rechecked the route, planning the driving for the next day.

I learned something in all that…I mean, besides how to use a roadmap. I learned that it was good to talk to other people who’d traveled that route before. They knew if there were construction delays. They knew where you needed to be very careful about traffic laws, because there were some places where you did not want to get pulled over. They knew about gas stations, motels, and restaurants.

But I think that the most important thing I learned was that destinations matter. I learned that you really need to know where you’re headed, where you want to wind up. After all, Bedford and New Bedford aren’t the same place. Neither are Attleboro and North Attleboro. And no one will ever mistake Sydney, Nova Scotia, for Sydney, Australia. Or Paris, Maine for Paris, France.

We enjoyed the journey; we’d stop at places of interest, at scenic pull-offs, and most always took time to have fun on the way. But ultimately, we wanted to arrive at a particular place…at our destination.

So, while I think I understand what people mean when they say, “It’s the journey”…well…I have to disagree. The significance of the journey lies in the destination. In all our travels during my childhood, we tried hard not to get lost, take a wrong road, or miss the right exit…because we had a destination in mind.

You know, the Christian life is a lot like that. It’s a journey…most definitely! And there are things we learn, things we experience, on that journey. There are valleys we pass through and rivers we cross over and mountains we climb…and there’s a lot to be said for the journey itself.

But every step on our Christian journey is taking us someplace. There’s a destination. There’s an end-goal. There’s a finish line. There’s a definite point of completion. Our journey isn’t on a road meandering to nowhere in particular; there’s a very specific someplace it’s taking us. And if we stay on the road, that’s where we’ll end our journey.

And by God’s grace, that’s what I want to talk to you about today…about the completion of that journey. I want to talk to you about where God’s really taking us…about what He had in mind for us way back when He saved us and placed us on this glory road.

Let’s pray again right now…

I. What’s the Point, Anyway?

Listen to the following three words; information, misinformation, disinformation. One can be informed, misinformed, or disinformed…and it’s important to know the difference between them all.

Information is knowledge & facts about a certain subject, things that are correct, true, and are presented in their proper context.