The BEST Things In Life
James 1:17
This sermon comes largely from my son Reese. There is a saying, "Out of the mouth of babes". There must be an end to that statement but I don't know what it is. But I know that it means that sometimes the greatest truth comes from a child.
We were walking up the steps and Reese asked, I don't know what he was thinking about, but he asked, "Dad, what is the most important thing you have?
I started to think, "I have many things that are very important." Then I get to church and am searching for God's leadership in a sermon and I am led to this verse, James 1: 17,
"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of Heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. "
Immediately my mind flashed back to Reese's question. And I realized that God was teaching me that day that there is a difference in gifts ... there are good gifts, better gifts and there are the BEST gifts ... the "good and perfect gifts. "
Today, I want us to contemplate these gifts. Let's deal only with the last two types ... the better and the best.
1. AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP
Let me begin by saying that everyone of you in this room have been the lucky recipient of one of the greatest and most prized gifts in this world ---YOU ARE AN AMERICAN.
And the sad thing is that 90% of you have absolutely no idea what that means. It means nothing to you because you have never been out of the United States, never seen what a third world country is like. Oh, you have seen, but you didn't look, you turned the channel.
You can't imagine living in a country where the average income is $400 per YEAR!
Where education is not a possibility, where you can be the hardest working person in the world and you will still watch your children starve to death or die from diseases that we think of as silly children's diseases. You can't imagine living where the government owns everything, all the land. Where medical care is UNAVAILABLE. Where ther are no jobs, no money for little extras, not even enough for essentials.
You can't even imagine living in more developed countries of Europe where the wash weekly or less, defecate in the streams, urinate on the streets, where medicine is social. .. cheap but unavailable.
You don't realize that people will risk their lives in make-shift rafts to cross the ocean just to be here ... to escape the poverty, the political oppression, the disease, the hopelessness of their country. And they are not dead beats who want to loaf... they have no hope there.
You should thank God EVERY DAY that you are an American.
2. A JOB.
I know you gripe about your job, want out of it, think you have it rough. But you have a job. And that is more than half the people in the world can say. That is more than a large number of Americans can say. Oh, there is a belief that there are plenty of jobs out there if people really want to work. It is not true. There are people for whom, through no fault of their own... they have lost a job... then a home ... and now they can't bathe or dress for a job, have no transportation, and they cannot get a job.
There are others locked into Welfare because they have no education and no experience... so they can't get a job that pays enough for them to afford child care. They have to stay home to watch the kids.
If you have a job you should thank God every day on your way there and back.
3. HEALTH.
I want you to know that only recently have I had enough sense to realize just how blessed a person is to have health... adequate health. I have stood by the bedside of persons with cancer, strokes, heart attack, accidents, aids, breathing problems, stomach problems, and back problems. They have been really old and really young.
I just started back jumping rope every night because I have been scared into it. I am healthy, I can walk without wheezing, I can run a mile without chest pains, I can touch my toes without pain; I can enjoy my friends and family, play softball, enjoy golf And I realize that every year that I live and can say that; I am in a smaller and smaller group. If you have health that allows you to work, enjoy recreation, and enjoy people ... you are fortunate.
4. CHRISTIAN PARENTS.
And you know, it was not until I was grown, in the ministry, 27 years old that I saw this blessing. My mother is a believer, my father. .. I doubt it. I grew up in a home with an abusive, binge alcoholic. My mother worked, we were "latch key children" and we did not go to church often. My home was like every other home around us… except when my father was drunk.... then it was worse. They didn't teach us to pray or read the bible. I never saw them do either. They were not un-Christian ... anti-Christian, they were just very, very worldly. But as I began to see Christian homes, where parents raised their children in church and by the Word, when I saw how much better they turned out than children who were not raised that way ... when I saw the pain those children went through with drugs, alcohol, divorce, and selfishness, I began to see just how important that Christian up- bringing was.
When I see those of you who are reaping the fruit of your un-Christian years
and decisions... I see how blessed those of you are who had a Christian home... and I know that is exactly what I want for my kids. I'm not perfect, not the witness I want to be ... but I WILL teach them to read and know God's Word and to talk to Him in prayer. I see the blessing of having a Christian wife and mother for my kids.
If you have Christian parents you are probably not even aware of how blessed you are, you've always had it and think all parents are like that. YOU ARE BLESSED.
If you have the blessings that I have named… you are rich, filthy rich, and blessed beyond your wildest imagination.
These are great gifts. But they are not the BEST, the HIGHEST.
There is another level of blessing, another level of happiness that very few will ever know.
This is the level that you live on when you have the ''good and perfect gifts. "
What are they?
1. SALVATION AND THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS.
I wish that Christians understood this fact. But I genuinely believe that only about 3 in 10 do. We are saved, we believe it, but WE ARE NOT EXCITED BY IT. We take it for granted ... along with having food on our plates, a bed to sleep in, the ability to read, a job, ears that hear, eyes that see and a mouth that speaks. You never appreciate those things UNTIL YOU LOSE THEM. Most Christians won't appreciate their salvation until they see the lost, bound and thrown into the flames of hell... see the smoke, smell the stinch and hear the weeping and gnashing of teeth. On that day you will thank God a thousand times for saving you ... you will stand around the throne of God and join in with the angels and cherubim ... "Worthy is He to receive Honor and glory."
You may have American Citizenship, a good job, great health, and fine Christian home. But all of that will be left behind and won't help you one little bit to get into the gates of heaven. God will be seated on his throne, Jesus Christ will stand as the judge ... on His right you will see the gates of heaven, beautiful and pure, sparkling and golden. On His left you will see the smoke, smell the stinch, and feel the heat. You will tremble with great fear that you will be told to step to the left, that you were not good enough to step to the right. Your mind will travel at the speed of light, searching your memories, trying to think of one good thing you have done that should entitle you to go to heaven. You won't find a one. Then Jesus will open a book, the Lamb's book of life. And he will read the names there and you will hear your name. Then He will tell you... "Step to the right, with my flock." And your heart will jump; and your mouth will shout praises. THEN ... you will know just how blessed you are as you watch the next person, no name in the book, cast
to the left, to be tossed into hell.
You may have many great blessings in your life but NONE exceeds this one.
2. CONSCIOUS FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD.
If someone were to offer me the opportunity to go back in time to any person at any time and trade places with them for 15 minutes .. who would I choose?
Michael Jordan as he rockets down court, jukes and jives, blows by a defender, takes to the air, changes hands to avoid a blocker and then SLAMs it home, pulls his knees up to his chest, and drops to the court, and trots away as if it were nothing?
Troy Aikman as he wins his second Super Bowl?
Jack Nicholas, playing the 18th hole at Augusta National Golf Course on the day that he won his first Masters?
Wilbur Wright as he piloted the airplane the first time it got off the ground at Kitty Hawk?
The Russian cosmonaut as he was the first person in history to step on the moon.
Or Billy Graham, just one time, as he offers the invitation and sees hundreds and hundreds as they stream to the altar to accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord?
NO!!! Who?
A man who owns absolutely nothing, has no education, no job, and is totally naked... ADAM. Why? Because he is the ONL Y man who ever lived that walked with God, face to face, talking and listening to the very voice of God. Because more than any other man in all of history he had conscious fellowship with God. Even Jesus Christ, while in the flesh, never walked with God like that.
I absolutely believe that there is NO GREATER GIFT, bar none, in the whole universe than this one ... to know the close, intimate fellowship of God the Father. I wish I could tell you what it is like to stand in this pulpit on some weeks, and have the feeling that I do. God is present like nowhere else, he fills my mind and heart, takes over my thoughts and words and something magical happens... I begin to be used, saying and thinking things not in my notes, and I know that it is God. And there are other times when I have sensed the presence of God in special ways. I have had peace in the midst of a storm, I have had wisdom in the midst of confusion, and even in the midst of great loss and tragedy .. there was a strange warmness that flooded my heart, soul, and mind and I have felt His closeness.
And I have seen and felt the reverse. I have stood by those who were going through the shadow of death and disease ... and have felt the coldness, the emptiness in their soul. And I knew there was nothing there. I have seen the groping for hope, for help, for answers, for anything and I could sense that they were hopeless. I see people who are doing OK. .. who have a nice house, good paying job, retirement, benefits, and they were feeling good and successful. But I could tell it was like a Hollywood prop ... all show, no substance and I could tell what would happen when the wind blew.
And I have known the times when god felt like a million miles away from l\1E .. when my sin was a barrier between us and I was alone, powerless, useless. And having stood in both places ... close to God and far away ... I can tell you that the greatest blessing in this life is not wealth or health, or power, or friends, or things... it is the feeling that comes from walking hand in hand, close, intimately with your Lord and feeling the warmth, the peace, the joy that flows through you.
I would sell everything I have ... even my friends, even my family ... for that.
That is what Paul meant by Phil. 3: 7 -11
INVITATION
