A RICHER, FULLER LIFE
I Thess. 5:16-18
INTRO.- ILL.- A man by the name of George owned an apartment complex and had just completed the exterior brick work on the 2nd floor. He had some bricks left over and was trying to decide the best way to get the load of bricks back down to the ground level without breaking them.
He noticed a 55-gal. Barrel on the ground and thought, "I know what I’ll do. I’ll tie some rope around that barrel, hook a pulley to the 2nd floor eave and pull the barrel up to the 2nd floor. Then I can load the bricks into the barrel and let it back down to the ground."
So that’s what he began to do. He tied the rope around the barrel, ran it over the pulley on the 2nd floor and pulled the barrel up to the 2nd floor. Then he tied the rope to the root of a nearby tree. He went up to the 2nd floor balcony and loaded the bricks into the barrel. Then he went back downstairs, grabbed the rope and pulled it loose from the root.
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT, HOWEVER, GEORGE HADN’T COUNTED ON! That 55-gal barrel full of bricks weighed about 4 times as much as George! So the barrel shot down like lightning and George shot up like a rocket! As George shot past the barrel, it hit his shoulder, slammed against his hip and hit his kneecap. The barrel crashed to the ground, and George’s head smashed into the pulley above, cracking his skull. THERE HE WAS, DANGLING BY THE ROPE FROM THE 2ND STORY.
When the barrel hit the ground, the bricks were so heavy they knocked the bottom out of the barrel. NOW GEORGE WAS HEAVIER THAN THE BARREL! What a predicament!
Down came George and up came the empty barrel. This time, however, the barrel caught him on the other side. It hit his other knee, scraped his hip, broke his nose and dumped him on top of the pile of bricks.
He turned both his ankles and scuffed up both his shins. George let out a yell and turned loosed of the rope. SINCE THE BARREL WAS HEAVIER THAN THE ROPE, DOWN CAME THE BARREL. And you guessed it, it hit George one more time. As George found himself in the hospital bed: bruised, broken, cut, and sprained, he kept saying to himself, "I DON’T KNOW WHETHER TO FILE ONE INSURANCE CLAIM OR FIVE."
George’s story reminds us that we are living in a terribly mixed up world! Our world is forever going up and down. And about the time we think we have the bucket filled, the bottom falls out of the bucket and we get cracked in the head.
We expect life to have a few bumps, BUT NOT ONE CONSTANT ROLLER-COASTER RIDE FULL OF PAIN, MISERY AND BRUISES!
Brethren, we all get "dumped on" in life! Rich and poor, saints and sinners alike. Some worse than others, of course.
How do we get "dumped on" in life? In all kinds of ways. A poor home life, a bad upbringing, family troubles, marital messes, financial struggles, work hassles, addictive practices, health problems, and the list goes on.
Life is not very good to us at times. And sometimes it seems downright rotten, but this doesn’t mean that we can’t experience a richer, fuller life! It is possible! But only in the Lord!
John 10:10 Jesus said, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I HAVE COME THAT THEY MAY HAVE LIFE, AND HAVE IT TO THE FULL."
"The thief." Who is that? Satan. Satan comes to steal life from us. He wants to steal the rich, full life from us. BUT JESUS CAME TO GIVE IT TO US!
I believe that the answer to a richer, fuller life is in Jesus Christ. It is found in a continual relationship to Him through commitment, surrender, and obedience. There are all kinds of things that we can do to bring about a richer, fuller in Christ.
PROP.- In I Thessalonians 5:16-18, Paul gives us three simple acts to do that will help to bring about a richer, fuller life in Christ.
1- Be joyful
2- Pray constantly
3- Give thanks
I. BE JOYFUL
V. 16 "Be joyful always."
To have a richer, fuller life we must find our joy in the Lord!
ILL.- How did you like the Thanksgiving meal our ladies served last Thursday night? Great! Fantastic! Delicious! Yummy! Scrumptious! What did you like best about the dinner? The turkey? The ham? The side dishes? The desserts? They were all good.
I was looking over the desserts before the dinner (as most of you did) and found some delicious-looking peanut butter cream pie. At least, that’s what it looked like to me. But when I finally got to the dessert table it wasn’t there. SOMEBODY GOT THE GOOD PIE! Several somebodies. And I ain’t happy about it!
No, seriously that didn’t bother me. Maybe a little!
Have you noticed? Have you noticed how so many of us get our jollies in life from food?
I admit that food is one of life’s many pleasures. But have you also noticed that it never lasts? The pleasure, the joy that food gives us is only momentary. And this is like so many things.
Most people try to find their joy in the toys, trinkets, and treasurers of this life. But none of them are lasting. None of them bring lasting joy or happiness.
ILL.- Throughout my nearly 57 years of life I have done many things which have brought me a certain amount of joy or pleasure. For example, I have enjoyed cars. I have raced cars at the Mokan Dragway in Pittsburgh, KS. I never won, but I sure enjoyed the thrill of it.
I have lifted weights and in competition. I actually won the Iowa State Weightlifting Championship in the lightheavy division in Olympic style weightlifting in 1972. I even got my picture on the front page of the newspaper. I was the talk of the town; all 500 of them!
I have fished for largemouth bass for a long time and enjoyed most of it. When I lived in Iberia, MO, I fished on the Lake of the Ozarks. A friend of mine and I caught nearly a 100 bass one day in November. It was a blast!
When I got into running I had no idea the pleasure, the high that it would bring. I discovered the "runner’s high." It’s real! It’s exciting! One my best marathons I ran was in June of 1990. Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, MN. But it was hot. Not marathon weather. The temp was a high of 75. But that day there were over 4,500 runners and I finished about 135th overall. I crossed that finish line hollering, "Praise the Lord!"
Brothers and sisters, I have discovered a certain amount of enjoyment in each of these. But I have also discovered that enjoyment is not lasting.
I Tim. 6:17 "Command those who are rich in this
present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment."
It’s all right to enjoy the blessings that God has given us. If it’s something good, it’s from God and to be enjoyed. Be it food, fishing, clothes, cars or whatever. But we must not put all our eggs in one basket! The basket of this world.
We often get wrapped up in the world and worldly things to the point that we forget where true joy comes from. If we seek after joy in the toys and trinkets of this world we are going to be sadly disappointed. THERE AIN’T NO POT OF GOLD AT THE END OF THE RAINBOW! There will come a time when they will bring no joy, no satisfaction to us. True joy, lasting joy is not found in the things of this world!
Hab. 3:17-18 "Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no cattle in the stalls, YET I WILL REJOICE IN THE LORD, I WILL BE JOYFUL IN GOD MY SAVIOR."
Habakkuk saw a time when he might not have any material possessions, but still, he would rejoice! His joy was not based on the material things of this life, but rather the living, eternal God!
If we want a richer, fuller life we must find our joy in the Lord! Enjoy your life. Yes. Enjoy your blessings. But dig deeper. Get spiritual. Look up. Seek the Lord. He will sustain you, save you and bring a joy into your life that will never cease!
II. PRAY CONSTANTLY
V. 17 "Pray continually."
ILL.- Two women on a train argued over the window. They called the conductor. One of the women said, "If this window is open I will get pneumonia and die." The other woman said, "If this window is shut I will suffocate."
The two women just sat and glared at one another. The conductor was at a loss to know what to do when finally a man sitting nearby said, "First, open the window and that kill one of them. Then shut the window and that will kill the other one. Then we’ll have peace."
Some conversations in life are not very nice nor peaceable. We’ve all had them. We’ve experienced them either at work or at home or somewhere. But we need to make our conversations with others as good and uplifting as we can. We all need to think before we speak.
Eph. 4:29 "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs..."
Prov. 12:18 "Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing."
Brothers and sisters, we must work at making our conversations with others a blessing. We must learn to bless people with our words!
Even though some conversations are not nice nor peaceable, I know of one conversation that is always pleasant and peaceable!
Ps. 18:1-3 "I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies."
SAVED FROM MY ENEMIES. Doesn’t that sound good? Reassuring? Comforting? David was saying, "I get salvation, peace and security from the Lord. From talking to the Lord."
Ps. 40:1-3 "I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit... He set my feet on a rock. He put a new song in my mouth."
David said, "I had a conversation with the Lord about my slimy pit of a life and he lifted me out of it. He brought peace into my life. He brought joy back into my life."
Ps. 42:1-2 "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?"
David found such joy and security in the Lord that he couldn’t wait to talk to Him, to converse with Him, to commune with Him.
There is nothing like talking to someone who loves you no matter what you have done in life. There is nothing like sharing with someone who is not going to criticize you nor condemn you. SUCH A PERSON IS THE LORD!
ILL.- On April 18, 1930, a man by the name of Frank Laubach wrote, "I have tasted a thrill in fellowship with God... This afternoon the possession of God has caught me up with such sheer joy that I thought I never had known anything like it. God was so close and so amazingly lovely that I felt like melting all over with a strange blissful contentment... After an hour of close friendship with God my soul feels clean, as new fallen snow."
That’s what I want. That’s what I need. That’s what I long for. Peace. Contentment. Unconditional love. Richness. Fullness. It comes through communing with our God.
GET A LIFE! Get a prayer life! Dig deeper. Talk longer. Share openly. Confess sincerely. Love strongly. And you find a richness that you’ve never found anywhere else.
1- Be joyful
2- Pray constantly
III. GIVE THANKS
V. 18 "Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus."
ILL.- There was once a lady who complained about everything and everybody. Finally, her minister found something that she couldn’t complain about. The lady’s crop of potatoes was the best for miles around. He said to her, "For once you must be pleased. Everyone is saying you have the best potatoes."
The lady glared at him and said, "THEY ARE NOT SO BAD, BUT WHERE ARE THE ROTTEN ONES FOR THE PIGS?"
Phil. 2:14-15 "Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure..."
Without twisting the context of Scripture, it could well read, "Don’t gripe, whine and complain all the time. Or you will never find any happiness or peace in this life." And this is true.
ILL.- Someone wrote, "Today upon a bus, I saw a lovely maid with golden hair; I envied her -- she seemed so gay, and how, I wished I were so fair; When suddenly she rose to leave, I saw her hobble down the aisle; she had one foot and used a crutch, but as she passed, a smile. Oh God, forgive me when I whine, I have two feet -- the world is mine.
"And when I stopped to buy some sweets, the lad who served me had such charm; he seemed to radiate good cheer, his manner was so kind and warm; I said, ‘It’s nice to deal with you, such courtesy I seldom find’ "He turned and said, ‘Oh, thank you sir.’ And then I saw that he was blind. Oh, God, forgive me when I whine, I have two eyes, the world is mine.
"Then, when walking down the street, I saw a child with eyes of blue; he stood and watched the others play, it seemed he knew not what to do; I stopped a moment, then I said, ‘Why don’t you join the others, dear?’ He looked ahead without a word, and then I knew he could not hear. Oh God, forgive me when I whine, I have two ears, the world is mine.
"With feet to take me where I’d go; with eyes to see the sunsets glow, with ears to hear what I would know. I am blessed indeed. The world is mine; oh, God, forgive me when I whine."
Brethren, we need to wake up and smell the roses! We need to wake up and look at all the beautiful roses in our lives instead of all the dead leaves! Then perhaps we would experience a joyous, richer, fuller life!
We need to be thankful to God for everything and in all situations.
ILL.- Before Erma Bombeck passed away she wrote, "An estimated 1.5 million people are living today after bouts with breast cancer. Every time I forget to feel grateful to be among them, I hear the voice of an eight-year-old named Christina, who had cancer of the nervous system.
"When asked what she wanted for her birthday, she thought long and hard and finally said, ‘I don’t know. I have two sticker books and a Cabbage Patch doll. I have everything!’"
We have a lot more than most people and most of us don’t have cancer! WE NEED TO BE THANKFUL! We need to be thankful to the people around us who bless us. And we all need to be thankful to our Father who has given us everything good. We need to thank Him daily, continually, quickly, always.
Grateful people are great people. Especially, in the eyes of God. They are the ones who will be blessed with a richer, fuller life.
CONCLUSION---------------------------------
ILL.- Last week I had blurred vision in my left eye, which is my dominant eye. I thought to myself, "I can’t see! There is something wrong. Everything I see is blurry."
I decided very quickly that I needed to get my eyes checked. I was fortunate enough to get an appointment last Monday morning. The eye doctor wanted to dilate my eyes in order to see into them, to check for disease, etc. What was my diagnosis? The doctor said the probable reason for the temporary blurred vision was "stress." And what’s the reason for stress? LOOKING AT THINGS IN LIFE THE WRONG WAY!
My blurred vision was the result of my blurred vision! My blurred physical vision was the result of my blurred spiritual vision. AND ISN’T THIS TRUE FOR MOST OF US?
We can’t see, because we don’t have a proper spiritual focus in life or about life. We can’t see things the way we should see them because we have a poor spiritual focus. We often have a messed up, confused and unhappy life because we have the wrong spiritual focus!
Col. 3:1-2 "Set your hearts (your spiritual eyes) on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things."
The outlook may not be very good, but uplook is always wonderful.
