Back To The Basics

Columnist L. M. Boyd recently described the amazing good fortune of a man named Jack Wurm. In 1949, Mr. Wurm was broke and out of a job. No job and no money, just like some of us here. One day he was walking along a San Francisco beach when he came across a bottle with a piece of paper in it. As he read the note, he discovered that it was the last will and testament of Daisy Singer Alexander, heir to the Singer sewing machine fortune. The note read, “To avoid confusion, I leave my entire estate to the lucky person who finds this bottle and to my attorney, Barry Cohen, share and share alike.”

According to Boyd, the courts accepted the theory that the heiress had written the note 12 years earlier, and had thrown the bottle into the Thames River in London, from where it had drifted across the oceans to the feet of a penniless and jobless Jack Wurm. His chance discovery netted him over 6 million dollars in cash and Singer stock. How would you like to have been making Mr. Wurm’s footprints on that San Francisco beach? What a find!

You know I learned of even a better story of a group of people who received an inheritance. The thing with this inheritance is that it last forever like the win for life lottery where you get so much money every week for the rest of your life, where the man’s six million dollars can be spent. Like the man who received six million dollars the inheritance changed his life temporality. This group of people are changed eternally. Hopefully by now you can see that this group of people is us, Christians.

"Back to the Basics"

Reason: Look at the life a champion boxer, like Rocky 4 when he fought the Russian, if you noticed, when he trained for that fight, it was the basic exercises that made the difference, the Russian had all the fancy equipment, Rocky didn’t have any equipment accept good old fashion sit ups, pushups, and a lot of running.

I believe that if Christians grasp these basic principles and apply them to their lives, they will then reflect God’s glory on earth, which will in turn draw the world to Him.

1. Owning Your Inheritance:

1 Peter 2:9, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

Historical Context: Peter the apostle wrote this book in a time when great persecution was taking place, which is the reason why the emphasis of the epistle teaches about proper Christian conduct in the face of persecution towards the church and a future hope in Jesus’ return. Peter wrote the epistle from Rome in 63-64 AD, shortly before he was killed for his faith by the emperor, Nero in 65AD. The majority of the audience were Gentile Christians with the minority being Jewish Christians.

This verse contains a list of rights that we as believers in Christ have inherited for free, but don’t take advantage of :

1. Peter first says that we are a chosen people: before there was anything God chose us. I don’t think your hearing me! Read Ephesians 1:2,11,13.

Ephesians 1: 4 "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5. he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will."

11. "In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will."

13. "And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14. who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession-to the praise of his glory."

God chose all of us knowing exactly all the mistakes we will make in the beginning of time. Knowing our short comings and sin problems that we will have. He still found it in his heart to adopt us as his children.

Let’s look at a basketball coach, I don’t think he would pick players that he knew would miss more shots than they would make or cause fights and bring disgrace to his team. But the coach would chose players that are not going to miss and bring praise to their team for their good sportsman like conduct. With God it is the opposite the Bible says that he doesn’t show partiality or favoritism. One of my professors says that “God is not a racist, but a gracist.” “He does not discriminate.”