Life Is So Good
Introduction
I was reading an article in a magazine about a man named George Dawson. You may have heard about him. In 1998 he enrolled in a class to learn how to read and write, he was 98 years old. Four years later he published the story of his life. He was the grandson of slaves, born in a log cabin, labored at menial jobs and endured racism throughout his life. But what was profound in his story was the philosophy that he carried with him from his father. His father’s philosophy was that no matter what, Life is so good.
This morning I want to share with you the fact that life is so good. Our outlook on life often depends on what we’re dealing with, our attitudes, and our circumstances. Last week I mentioned how it affects how we respond to a gift that’s presented to us, how it hinders our praise. This week I want to explore this a little deeper.
Your views on life will be evident in everything you do. Have you ever had the opportunity to interact with someone who was a pessimist? No matter what was going on in his life or around him, he could find something negative. Pretty soon, if you hang out with him long enough he will vex your spirit or you too will start seeing things through his glasses. All of us wear sunglasses to protect our eyes from the harmful rays of the sun. They provide a shade over everything that we see. They change how we see the world around us when the sun is bright.
Now take this over to our lives. Each of us wears emotional and spiritual sunglasses that change how we see and respond to things around us. These glasses, or filters, control how we see things, how we process situations and how we respond to them. 1 Cor. 13:12 says “For now we see in a mirror dimly but then face to face; now I know in part but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.” Concentrate on the first sentence – we see in a mirror dimly and the fact that we know in part. We see the Lord and that we don’t have it all or can’t see it all right now but one day we will. Now how does this relate to our spiritual walk? When you don’t have all of the information, or you can’t see clearly – your decision-making ability is impaired because you are making decisions with limited information. James wrote that we should be doers of the word. He stated that those who are not doers of the word are like the man who looks at his face in a mirror “for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.” (Vs. 24) The word of God replaces our sunglasses so that we see clearly. When we’re able to see clearly, our responses to the world around us changes. Remember last week when I mentioned that we have been given a gift but, due to our circumstances, sometimes we’re not able to enjoy the gift? That’s because of the glasses that we wear. Just as our sunglasses block the harmful rays of the sun, our spiritual and emotional glasses can sometime block out our understanding of what God is doing and therefore we are not able to appreciate it.
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This morning God wants you to know that you are blessed and Life is so good. Turn to your neighbor, smile at them and say, “Life is so good!” Didn’t that feel good? Now that you’re in the right frame of mind, I can proceed with the message – which was just the introduction. I want to share with you why our lives are so good – it’s not because of us, but because of who we serve and the gifts that he has given to us. Sometimes we must change our filters in order to appreciate what we’re getting and what we have. I need for you to have an appreciation for how gifts are selected. This will help you understand the care and thought that God put into the gifts that He has given each of us. So we will start at the beginning. If I am not able to complete this message today, I will pick it up next week with where I leave off today.
I. Steps For Giving Gifts And Receiving Gifts
• The first thing you do is seek to know the person you are getting the gift for. It’s very hard to buy a gift for someone you don’t know. By spending time with a person, you get to know them, their likes, dislikes and their needs. You have an understanding of who they are and what piques their interest. You know what they’re most likely to appreciate so you try to find something that will be unique to them. Sometimes this may be a difficult thing to do, especially for that person who has everything. Sometimes those gifts are purchased from the store, sometimes you may make them in your house, but whatever it is, the gift should be something that the person for whom it is given will find value in it.
• The next step is to get the gift. Once you know what you need to get, the next thing is to actually get it. This may require shopping around for the best buy or purchasing the items to make the gift. But one way or another, you get the gift.
• Prepare the gift to be given. This step requires you to get the gift ready for its delivery. This normally requires wrapping the gift. It also requires removing the price tag if you purchased it. Now if you are receiving a gift, the price should not matter, it is the thought and intentions of the heart that matters. However, in our society, price matters as well as the store in which you purchase it. So as not to cause hurt feelings, in this stage remove the price.
• Give the gift. In this step you deliver the gift with expressions of joy and appreciation for the person. Once you have delivered the gift – your responsibility is over. It’s now up to the receiver of the gift to receive it graciously and with true appreciation.
• Receiving the gift. Once you have received the gift, even if it’s not something that you would have selected for yourself, appreciate it and be thankful that the person saw fit to give you a gift. You express your thanks and mean it. You must understand your filters when receiving – your filters will question the giver’s motivation and intentions, so you must be careful.
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These are the steps for giving and receiving gifts. Each process is important and builds on the one before it. If any of the steps are omitted the gift may not be appropriate and the receiver may not be receptive of the gift. So care must be taken when selecting, giving and receiving gifts. Remember these steps for they’re the steps that God used when He gave us His gift; steps that Jesus used when He gave us His gift and they’re the steps that the Holy Spirit uses when He gives us His gifts. Finally, the last step, this is how we should receive the gift. So let us start with the gift that God gave us.
II. God’s Gift To Mankind
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:16
The first gift that man ever received came from God. God knew man since He had created him – the first step. When man first fell in the garden, it separated him from God. Since that time sin has continued to keep us separated from God. Because of His knowledge of sinful man, God chose a gift for us – His Son.
Now you must remember the steps and stay with me on this one. Once God knew that He wanted to give us a gift out of His love for us, He wanted us to have something that would bring us back to Him. He knew our nature, what we had the propensity to do, what sin is within us. He also knew what we would be up against; he understood the enemy, his tactics and his desires to hinder this. God understood that in our flesh we would be weak, that having opportunity to sin, often we would. He knew the gift that He needed for us must be something that would bring us back to Him, give us hope that we can overcome, show us that we’re not alone in the battle. With these requirements, He gave us His Son – His only begotten Son. Life is so good because of Him.
Having selected His Son, He now had the perfect gift. This gift, although unknown to man, would bring us back to God the Father by the sacrifice of the gift itself. God’s gift was one that would be the beginning point for gifts to come. Next He had to decide how to deliver this gift to men. How could He get the gift to us? He chose a vessel, Mary, to bring the gift to mankind. She, like everyone else, didn’t fully understand the gift she held within her, but she knew this gift would have some impact on the world. Having selected and prepared the gift, God delivered the gift to the world through Mary. Now you must understand that although this happened physically some 2000 years ago, spiritually it continues to happen every time someone receives Christ. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.
Now that the gift had been given, the responsibility fell to the world to receive it. God’s plan was to provide us eternal life through the gift that He had prepared for us. The only way to receive the eternal life would be to receive the gift – His Son.
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Remember me saying that the way we see things is often due to the glasses that we wear – our filters. Understanding what God did for us in sending His Son is the first step in changing your thoughts about what is going on around you. You see, the giving didn’t stop when God sent His Son. His Son brought us additional gifts. But first we must understand and appreciate the first gift before we can begin to accept the other gifts that were a result of the first gift. Think about it like this – someone gives you a bread-making machine as a gift. You gladly accept the gift and proceed to put it on the shelf, never using it. You never read the directions, you never take it out of the box and so it is never used and the blessing that you would receive from the gift is never realized. You continue to go to the store to purchase bread that’s days old even though you have received a gift by which you could make fresh bread daily. You’re not benefiting from the gift although you accepted it.
There are three groups in the world today.
• One group accepts the gift and receives all of the benefits of the gift.
• Another group accepts the gift but never realizes its potential. They don’t benefit from it with the exception of the initial benefit.
• The third group does not accept the gift at all.
Lets examine these three groups before I close.
A. The group that does not accept Him. Life is so good in the USA that many feel they don’t need an additional gift – regardless of what it would mean for their soul’s salvation. The gift is there, waiting to be received; yet they don’t see the benefit of the gift. They cannot see the gift bringing anything to their lives. They refuse the bread-making machine because they can afford to buy their bread so to speak. So they go through life walking by the gift because to them they don’t need it. People offer the gift to them and they deny it. People come to their house. You see, some people actually come seeking the gift while others don’t know it exist. So you have to seek them. But they come to their house – home delivery of the gift – and yet they still refuse it. They advertise the gift on TV, trying to get it to the people, you’ve see the ads, the 700 club, TBN and all of the other ads that are trying to get the gift to those who need it. Maybe they don’t like how the gift is packaged or presented to them, but the bottom line is that they refuse the gift. They don’t realize the benefits of the gift until they leave this world and end up in hell and they’re told “that gift you kept refusing was your ‘get out of hell free card’”. By then it will be too late – such a waste.
Jesus said “So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 13:49-50)
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B. The second group is those that receive the gift and that’s all. Now when you consider this, it’s not all bad. I mean they will have eternal life when they die. They will not have to suffer in hell. But remember my example of the bread-making machine? This is the person who receives the gift takes it out of the box and puts it on display on their countertop. When they have visitors they love to show them the gift, brag about all the things it can do for them, yet they never use it. When no one is around they walk by and admire the gift, but the only joy they receive from it is being able to look at it on their countertop and showing it off when visitors are around. They’re not receiving any of the natural benefits of the bread-making machine. You know some Christians like that? Those who are saved yet they exhibit no power in their lives. They’re down trodden in their spirits, every thing seems to be against them, they have little hope. Yet through all of this, they are truly saved, but some actually believe that they should be suffering in this life in order to receive in the next life. All of us suffer at some points in our lives, but we still have the opportunity to decide how we suffer. Let me explain it this way. Some people are happy and are able to praise God in the midst of the worst of circumstances, why? Because they know what we have here is temporal and will pass. Others crash when small problems rise because they have not grown from the baby stage of Christianity. Remember how babies will fall out and have temper tantrums when they can’t have their way? Imagine a grown person doing that same thing – they would be committed as if they are crazy. The difference is that as we get older – we put away those things of a child. 1 Cor. 3:2 says “I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it…” Paul was talking about baby Christians. There are those who never get past this state in their walk with Christ, yet they are much farther ahead than those who totally reject him.
I don’t have time to finish this message today so I will finish it next week. Next week we will talk about those who receives the gift and understand what they have received and benefits from that gift. As I close, I want you to leave here today knowing that Life is Good. To prove this point, I want to share with you a few statistics that will enable you to put your life in perspective to that of the world. Oftentimes we think only of our lives as compared to those around us – in our own little environment, community or city. What I hope you will gain from these statistics is an understanding that although you may not have everything that others have, you are very blessed and life is good. Consider these facts:
1. If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of the world.
2. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet and spare change in a dish somewhere, you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy.
3. If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed that the two million people who will not survive this week.
4. If you can attend a church without fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death, you are more blessed than 3 billion people.
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5. If you can read your Bible or any book, you are more blessed than over 2 billion people in the world that cannot read at all.
6. If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful, you are blessed because the majority can but most do not.
