Life’s Greatest Hope
by Pastor Jim May
The greatest hope that we have is the hope of the resurrection. All that I am, all that I will ever be, my hopes, my dreams, my life’s work, and all of my plans are centered upon that one single hope. Because I am convinced that there is a resurrection and that I have eternal life, I can cast aside the things of this world, taking only what is necessary to live in the manner that Jesus has called me to do. I cannot get attached to many of the things of this life. It isn’t that I wouldn’t want them, or perhaps that I would not have the finer things of life, if that opportunity should come, but that can never be my central focus.
There was a time in my life, about 15 years ago, when my focus was changed for a long time. I chased after the American Dream of wealth, prosperity and financial independence. I seemed to be on a fast track to great financial success and I am convinced that if things had continued to happen as they did in those first few years of chasing that dream, today I would not be standing here before you as a minister, or as a pastor. I would be out there with the rich and “not-so-famous”, enjoying the life of leisure and luxury.
But I wonder if I would still possess eternal life? It is not impossible to be rich and still be saved because I know a lot of people who are, but I’m not sure that I would have been.
Have you ever seen things in life that you just wanted so bad that you could taste it? That’s what I saw in financial independence. I saw a great chance to become debt free and have the things in life that make this life better! Now that is a worthy goal and one that all of us should aim for. Don’t you just hate the monthly bills that seem to come twice a month and there isn’t enough money to go around. It seems that the harder we work, and the more we try, we just keep getting further behind.
I am reminded of the passage written by the prophet Haggai in Haggai 1:5-7, "Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways."
But it wasn’t just being debt free that I wanted. I also wanted to be able to feel successful and to have the things that so many other people have. I wanted, and I still desire, to have the boats, bigger and nicer home, a camp on the river, free time to just kick back and enjoy life without a care in the world, and maybe a really nice diesel pusher 45’ Prevost Motor Coach to travel across America.
There are so many good things out there that I would love to have, but for me, the price of having them was just too high. It’s not the price in money that I’m talking about. Money can be made. I know that a lot of people just can’t see it, but there is money all around you just waiting to be picked of the tree, if you will.
I’ve read a lot of books from secular authors that teach you how to become a leader, how to improve your personality, how to mastermind and how to become rich in this world’s goods.
Think and Grow Rich, written by Napoleon Hill taught me how to mastermind with other leaders and plan for a successful journey (but you have to have other leaders with the same mentality for this to work).
Acres of Diamonds by Russell Conwell, was the little book that made me realize that money, wealth and prosperity was all around you if you are just willing to pay the price and do what it takes to get it for yourself.
I have read a lot of books on creating, building and obtaining your dreams. All of them were very influencing and had some great dream building lessons for any who would like to learn. I read Dreamers Never Sleep and Wake Up And Dream, by Pat Mesiti. His books are very good reading for those who want to rekindle or build a vision that is far beyond their imagination for the present.
I have read so many self-improvement books and psychological books as well in an attempt to become the best I could be. I wanted to change all of my weaknesses and make them stronger, then to tone down my overpowering strengths and make myself more acceptable to everyone I met. Personality Plus and Personality Tree by Florence Littauer were two of the most influencial books that I read although there were many more on this same subject. They taught me my weaknesses and my strengths and how to change them to be what I needed to be. They also taught me how to relate to other people and to pick out their personality traits very quickly so that I could better influence them to do what I wanted them to do.
I also read about developing the habits of successful people. Perhaps you have also read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey. I found it to be a fascinating book that had so much to teach me so that I could become successful.
These are just a few of the hundreds of books that I have read over the years on these subjects. A lot of what they had to say seemed good and right, but not all of what they proposed agreed with what the Word of God had to say. I read all of them in a time when I was out there, running the roads and burning the midnight oil until 2:00 and 3:00 in the morning, 6 and 7 days a week. I had a dream of become wealthy and I chased it with all my might. I survived this race for 15 years and most of those years I would put up to 60,000 and 70,000 miles on my cars and get no more than 4 hours of sleep most nights. All of this was done with one goal in mind, to become successful and financial independent.
At first it was exciting and wonderful, then God began to get my attention. Slowly I began to realize that I was not doing what God wanted me to do; I was doing what I wanted and I was leaving Him out of the picture. Oh, I was still in church regularly. I still taught Sunday School Classes every Sunday morning. Sometimes I would chase the dream until 1 AM Sunday morning in Monroe, Louisiana, then sleep until 4 AM, get up and dress for church, then drive back home and arrive just in time to walk into the church to teach Sunday School. Those were some exciting times.
During all of this time I did learn some valuable lessons that I will never forget. Let me share just a few of those with you.
Lesson #1
People will always find time to do what they think is important. If someone doesn’t have time to come to church, or to serve the Lord, it’s because it’s just not important enough. Just about any reason they give, no matter how good it sounds, is just an excuse. I hope that if we have an excuse, that we make it a good one, because one day we will have to stand before God and hope that God will accept it too.
Lesson # 2
People will change their ways, even try to change their personalities, while they are chasing a dream, but once they obtain that dream, they will revert quickly back to their original condition unless a new dream is found. How many times have I seen people in the church put on their “Christian Face” in the church to appear to be something they are not, and then revert to their old self as soon as they drive off the parking lot?
Lesson # 3
Success isn’t reaching a goal or obtaining a dream. Success is simply moving forward, getting better, growing wiser and keeping your dreams, visions and goals out in front of you, while you are working your plan to obtain them. I’ve heard success defined this way and I think it’s the best definition you can have: “Success is a progressive realization of a worthwhile dream.”
Lesson # 4
People are fickle and uncommitted, and for the most part lack integrity, and they do love to either stretch the truth from time to time. One thing I learned very quickly is that when you invite someone or make an appointment to meet with them and they say, “I’ll try to be there.” That means they aren’t coming so don’t look for them at all. If you invite 100 people to any meeting, count on about 1 in 5 to show up, 1 in 100 if there is work involved. If someone says “I might”, that means “no, I’m not”. If someone says, “I’ll think about it”, that means they already have and the answer is still “no”. Do you get my drift. People are fickle and when you find someone who has real integrity and real commitment, that’s usually the one that all the others will follow.
I said all of this to let you know that I know where I am coming from when I tell you what your Greatest Hope is! I have rubbed shoulders and become friends with some of the richest, most powerful men in America. I’ve known, and spoken with, and learned the principles and methods of success from hundreds of millionaires, a lot of multi-millionaires and a few billionaires. I’ve seen their lifestyles, ridden in their coaches, flown on their planes, seen their yachts and private Carribean Islands and visited in their homes that ran well into the millions of dollars. I’ve seen that side of life and I know that it has a very powerful drawing force upon your heart and soul because it had a firm grip on mine for a long time.
Have you noticed something about this sermon that isn’t right? Have you noticed how much of it is focused on me? How many times have I used the world “I”? You see that’s the real trouble with bowing before the “god of mammon”. When you get your eyes on the things of this world, you have to take your eyes off of Jesus. And that, my friend, is when your hope becomes placed in the wrong things and your focus changes to become only what I want and not what Jesus wants.
Please don’t misunderstand me. I don’t condemn the rich. I have wished that I could be one of them sometimes. I don’t condemn those who enjoy lives of leisure. There are times that I envy their ability to be free from so many of the burdens that most of us bear. I don’t condemn those who chase their dreams. I admire their tenacity and their ability to succeed against all odds. All of the greatest leaders that I have known, both in the world and in the church, had to have dreams, goals and visions, and they had to pay a great price in personal sacrifice and discipline to become who they are.
But we must realize that chasing the dreams of this world will not provide us with a long and lasting hope. No matter what we have of this world’s goods, it is all decaying and wasting away. No matter how wealthy we are, it can all be gone in an instant. The life of leisure can disappear as quickly as a puff of smoke on a windy day. Where is our hope then? What can man build that I can put my trust in for tomorrow? Nothing, that’s what! No matter how well it’s built, your Rolls Royce is already rusting away. No matter how solid your foundation is, that home might already be getting termites. The things of this world will burn away and there will be nothing left but your eternal soul to face God.
That’s what I began to see after a while. The things of this world that give us so much pleasure and hope for a better life can actually cause us to miss out on the greatest hope of all, eternal life in Jesus. God’s mercy and love reached out to me and stopped me before I could go too far to hear his voice. I never obtained many of those dreams of worldly things and I probably never will. I have traded them for something far better. They have been traded for a hope that is everlasting.
Your greatest hope this morning, and every day of your life, is not the job you have, the money in the bank, or even your loving family. Your Greatest Hope is in Jesus and the eternal life that only He can give to you.
Don’t ever forget that, this world, with all its mansions, manicured lawns, big businesses, beautiful scenery and great cities, will pass away. There will nothing left of the worldly possessions that we have now. Jesus is going to set up a whole new world with a whole different economy. Man doesn’t have the answer for a better economy, only Jesus does.
In man’s economy it seems that those who are poor are always at the mercy of the rich and that rich get richer while the poor get poorer. Let me tell you what the economy of the Lord Jesus Christ is like.
Psalms 1:1-3, "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper."
Isaiah 65:21-23, "And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them."
In God’s economy, no one gets rich because he takes from his neighbor. He prospers because of the blessings of God on whatever that man does.
God’s blessing upon America is what makes us a great nation, not the wisdom of a man, unless that wisdom is given to him by God. God’s blessings are upon America because we honor God. I shudder to think of America in the years to come as we are continuing to ignore Him and to kick Him out of our nation and our government because we don’t think He is relevant anymore.
God’s blessing upon your life and your home is what makes your life prosperous as well. Where would we be without the blessings of God upon us?
God’s greatest blessing to you is that He has given you hope for a wonderful, victorious, glorious eternal life. The life that you now have in this world is just a dressing room for the real life that is ahead if you know Jesus. If you don’t know Him, then this world is the best you will ever have, but if you know Jesus, the life that awaits is far beyond what we have now.
Jesus came to this world, not so that we could have a better life here. I thank God that He does bless us and that He provides our every need, but Jesus never said that you would have all that you desire in this life. Your inheritance is in Heaven, not in the earth.
If you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior then your mansion, your wealth, your focus, your desires, your dreams, your visions, your goals and all that you are will be centered and focused on the golden streets of the New Jerusalem and in the eternal life that you now possess and will enjoy forever after this world is gone.
There are a lot of people who just don’t seem to get it. Somehow they are convinced that they can’t serve Jesus and enjoy the good things of life at the same time. It’s as though they have to make a choice between enjoying life or living for Jesus.
We can enjoy life to its fullest if we put Jesus first. Everything else that we want or enjoy will be added to us to make life happy. Jesus may change some of our desires, like he did mine. He will always give us back more than we give to him.
Mark 10:29-30, "And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s, But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life."
Why give up eternal life for the fleeting pleasures of this world? Why not have eternal life and still enjoy life? There is a way that we can do both. That way is to put Jesus first and not second, third or last on our priority list.
He must be first, or not at all. His will must come above our will, or we will miss God’s blessings. Our life must be surrendered wholly, completely, fully, and without reservation if we are to have that Great Hope of Eternal Life in Christ.
Do you have that Greatest Hope living in you right now? Have you experienced the power of the resurrection in your soul? Do you know Jesus as your Savior? Have you surrendered your life, and your will, to Jesus completely?
Look to Jesus, for He alone, is your Greatest Hope of the resurrection and eternal life.
