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.
11Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world....
You and I don’t belong here, even though we may think we do. This world is all we’ve known and this is why we get so attached to it, but the truth is, we belong to another world! This world is not our home! We need to get this into our heads and live it every day!
ILL.- Brother Don DeWelt had the faith and the right attitude. He was one of my professors at Ozark Bible College in the 60’s. Every time you greeted Don DeWelt and said, "How are you?" He would respond, "Happy, on the way to heaven." THAT’S IT!
And because we are on the way and it’s a better place no matter how good earth seems, we must live differently in this world. We must live good lives because we are citizens of another country, kingdom and world!
Phil. 3:20-21 "Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body."
II. LIVE GOOD LIVES BECAUSE SIN WARS AGAINST THE SOUL
11Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Whether we realize it or not, there’s a war going right now!
ILL.- The teacher gave her fifth grade class an assignment: Have your parents tell you a story with a moral at the end. The next day the kids came back and one by one began to tell their stories. "Johnny, do you have a story to share?"
"Yes ma’am. My daddy told a story about my Aunt Carol. She was a pilot in Desert Storm and her plane got hit. She had to bail out over enemy territory and all she had was a small flask of whiskey, a pistol and a survival knife.
"She drank the whiskey on the way down so it wouldn’t break and then her parachute landed right in the middle of twenty enemy troopers. She was able to shoot fifteen of them with the gun until she was out of bullets, she killed four more with the knife, till the blade broke, and then she killed the last Iraqi with her bare hands."
"Good Heavens" said the horrified teacher. "What kind of moral did your daddy tell you from this horrible story?" "Stay away from Aunt Carol when she’s drinking."
There is also the moral that drinking wars against the human soul. That may not be our problem. More than likely it isn’t, but something is. Any and all sin wars against the soul God gave us.
Romans 7:14-20 "14We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it."
Now what do these words sound like? They sound like something of a confession from the apostle Paul. The good I want to do, I can’t do because sin lives within me!
I Tim. 1:15 "Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst."
I believe that every person who is in Christ should be humble enough and perhaps broken enough to make this same confession. The truth is: WE ALL WAR WITH SIN!
Even though this happens we must do our best to live good lives. We must repent of sin, turn the other way, and do the best we can to live for Christ.
If we don’t put up a fight against sin, guess who will win?
ILL.- It’s like an old story I once heard about a boxer who got knocked down in the first round. He went back to his corner and his trainer said, "Don’t worry. He hasn’t laid a glove on you. Go back in there and get him." This went on for several rounds...same thing. He would get knocked and barely make it back to his corner. His trainer would say the same thing, "Don’t worry. He hasn’t laid a glove on you. Go back in there and get him."
The frustrated fighter finally said, "Well you keep an eye on that referee because somebody in there is beating the devil out of me!"
And we should know who that someone is! The devil is out to get you and me and he generally does it through sin. We must fight against him and sin. If not, the devil and sin will win. We must abstain from sinful desires and the live the life that God has called us to.
III. LIVE GOOD LIVES BECAUSE GOD MUST BE GLORIFIED
12Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
Our business is to glorify God, always and any way we can.
ILL.- The Devil tells a Hollywood Agent, "Look, I can make you richer, more famous, and more successful than any agent alive. In fact, I can make you the greatest agent that ever lived."
"Well," says the agent, "what do I have to do in return?"
The Devil smiles, "Well, of course you have to give me your soul," he says, "but you also have to give me the souls of your children, the souls of your children’s children and, as a matter of fact, you have to give me the souls of all your descendants throughout eternity."
"Wait a minute," the agent says cautiously, "What’s the catch?"
Many people have been caught when it comes to what the devil offers whether they realize it or not. Many people are caught by the devil because they’ve been "caught up" in the thinking of the world and it’s goals: lust of the flesh, lust of the eye and the pride of life.
ILL.- According to a report in Sports Illustrated, A-Rod, Rodriguez was one of 104 players who in 2003 tested positive—in his case for two different anabolic steroids—in Major League Baseball’s trial-testing program. One man wrote: You might even call him A-Fraud instead of A-Rod.
Why did he do that? Why do many players (including Barry Bonds) do it? For fame and fortune! And it’s a trap of the world and the devil!
Brothers and sister, they don’t get it! Most people don’t get it. Some do, like St. Cardinal’s Al Pujols! He gets it. How so? Well, have you ever seen make a catch or hit a home run? WHAT DOES HE DO? He gives God the credit, the glory.
That’s the way it’s supposed to be. You and I are not in this world or in this game to do anything for us. We’re here to honor and glorify God!
I Cor. 10:31 "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."
Whenever I watch Pujols play ball and hit a homer it thrills me because I know that he is right when he points heavenward.
And this is what we all must do! And we all need to figure out how best we can do this. How can you do this best of all? Can you go to church and sing Him praise? Yes. Would that glorify Him? Of course, but there are other ways and other things we can do. Can you can do the best you can at anything in life and then point to the Lord? YES!
ILL.- My friend, Truman Brady, gives me far too much credit. He loves my sermons and uses them almost exclusively. And as E J says, "He does better with your sermons than you do." Of course, I think it could be the crowd he’s preaching to and not the messenger!
But I always remind Truman: "If it’s good, it’s from the Lord." TO HIM BELONGS THE GLORY, BOTH NOW AND FOREVERMORE! And this is why we live the best can.
CONCLUSION-------------------------------
Romans 12:1-2 "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."
We are to live differently than the rest of the world. We are to live for the Lord and the best we can. We abstain from sin as best we can. We recognize that we belong to a different world. We recognize that God is to be honored in the way we live.
ILL.- There is a difference in a thermostat and a thermometer. One records the temperature and the other sets the temperature. We need to "set" the temperature of our own lives with Christ’s help and do our best to set the temperature around us.
With His help and to His glory. Even so amen.
