Note: When I preached this (I preach 30 minutes), I only got through the frist point. I took the second point and then used it for the first point in a topical sermon called, "Easter Angels." Eddie
Has It Hit You Yet?
(I Peter 1:10-12)
1. "Celebrities tend to misbehave in tiresome and predictable ways--tantrums, affairs, addictions--and we tend to think they’re spoiled. But one psychiatrist, Cornell’s Robert B. Millman, says they’re not spoiled, they’re sick. The affliction is Acquired Situational Narcissism.
ASN develops when once-ordinary people achieve extra-ordinary success, such as winning an Oscar or being named rookie of the year. This double-dose of adulation loosens people’s grip on reality and they become (according to Millman) “unbelievably self-involved because of the attention from us. We make it so.” [From Reader’s Digest April 2002]
Now, there’s a unique twist: It’s OUR fault celebrities act that way! Even though most of us will never be at risk of getting Acquired Situational Narcissism--our lives are far too ordinary--we all struggle with the temptation of becoming overly self-focused. "
Source: www.sermonnotes.com
2. Perhaps a more accurate statement is that many people aiming for fame usually crave attention and praise….because they are messed up to begin with.
3. Then there are those who receive compliments but do not believe them.
[Wife Taken for Granted Too Long, Citation: Robert Leslie Holmes, God’s Man (Kregel, 1998)]
4. A man accompanied his friend home for dinner and was impressed by the way he entered his house, asked his wife how her day went, and told her she looked pretty.
Then, after they embraced, she served dinner.
After they ate, the husband complimented his wife on the meal and thanked her for it. When the two fellows were alone, the visitor asked, "Why do you treat your wife so well?"
"Because she deserves it, and it makes our marriage happier," replied the host. Impressed, the visitor decided to adopt the idea.
Arriving home, he embraced his wife and said, "You look wonderful!"
For good measure he added, "Sweetheart, I’m the luckiest guy in the world."
His wife burst into tears.
Bewildered, he asked her, "What in the world’s the matter?"
She wept, "What a day! Billy fought at school. The refrigerator quit and spoiled the groceries. And now you’ve come home drunk!"
5. But most of us take things for granted. I grew up with coal heat…I so appreciated having a thermostat. Computers, e-mail, microwaves, cell phones….at first, they give us a real high…then we adjust and they seem more like necessities than luxuries.
6. The same is true in the Spiritual Realm.
5. In Christ, You have it so good. You are accepted, saved, indwelt by His Spirit, forgiven, made new…and will have a glorious future. But many Christians view God as a God Who is disappointed in us, Who is out to take away our good times, a Cosmic killjoy Who never smiles but is obsessed with keeping us in line. Although most lost people think this, many of us who know Christ still don’t get it.
Main Idea: If you truly know Christ, you have it good –real good.
Do you realize how good you have it?
I. The Prophets CRAVED to Understand Blessings We May Take for Granted (10-12a)
1. They spoke about the grace WE are receiving
• Christianity was not invented in the first century
• How does the grace we have received differ from those who were saved in OT times?
• Hebrews 11:40, "God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect."
Do you realize how good you have it?
2. They searched to understand the MESSIANIC Age
(1) its time
(2) its circumstances
(3) In Luke 10:24, Jesus told His disciples, "For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it."
(4) Daniel 8:26-27, where an angel told Daniel, "The vision of the evenings and mornings that has been given you is true, but seal up the vision, for it concerns the distant future." I, Daniel, was exhausted and lay ill for several days. Then I got up and went about the king’s business. I was appalled by the vision; it was beyond understanding
(5) Deep Bible study can weary out the brain…but it does so much for the soul; these prophets poured themselves into understanding what they could; so today, godly Christians avail themselves of a church’s ministry for many reasons, one of them is to gain understanding…
Do you realize how good you have it?
3. They tried to comprehend the MESSIAH
(1) His sufferings
(2) His glory
(3) Throughout Acts, the Apostles quote the OT prophecies referring to Christ or this era of the "New Covenant." Acts 2:23-24, 3:13-15, 4:10, 5:29-32, 10:39-41, 13:28-33, 26:3
(4) later, Peter will apply this pattern of suffeing and glory to us: suffering for Christ means more glory
(5) theologians call this the "mimetic" sufferings of Christ (exemplary)
4. They understood they were serving US
(1) they did not understand everything they prophesied
(2) 2 Peter 1:19-20
• "And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit."
• “The word translated "serving" ( diekonoun ) is significant, for it points to the fact that the writings of the OT are of service to the new community--the church. The unity of the OT and NT writings centers in Christ and his salvation.” Frank Gabelein
Do you realize how good you have it?
II. The Angels STUDY Us to Learn About God’s Grace (12b)
? The verb parakypto (NIV, "long to look") means "to stoop over to look." It implies willingness to exert or inconvenience oneself to obtain a better perspective. Here the present tense gives it a continuous aspect.
Do you realize how good you have it?
It should be (but it is not) unnecessary to add that a belief in angels, whether good or evil, does not mean a belief in either as they are represented in art and literature. Devils are depicted with bats’ wings and good angels with birds’ wings, not because anyone holds that moral deterioration would be likely to turn feathers into membrane, but because most men like birds better than bats. —C. S. Lewis *?
The angels have intense interest in human salvation.
• it is not an experience they hav
• they learn about God by how He deals with us
• besides being messengers and servants, angels are students, and we are the curriculum
• Do you realize how good you have it?
1. Angels REJOICE when a sinner is converted (Luke 15:10)
2. They observed the LIFE of Jesus (I Timothy 3:16)
3. They learn about SALVATION from us (Eph 3:10)
4. They SERVE believers (Heb 1:14).
John Paton was a missionary in the New Hebrides Islands. One night hostile natives surrounded the mission station, intent on burning out the Patons and killing them. Paton and his wife prayed during that terror-filled night that God would deliver them. When daylight came they were amazed to see their attackers leave. A year later, the chief of the tribe was converted to Christ. Remembering what had happened, Paton asked the chief what had kept him from burning down the house and killing them. The chief replied in surprise, "Who were all those men with you there?" Paton knew no men were present--but the chief said he was afraid to attack because he had seen hundreds of big men in shining garments with drawn swords circling the mission station.
Today in the Word, MBI, October, 1991, p. 18. Higher Praise.org
Conclusion
1. When we realize how good we have it now, and what is waiting for us in the future, how can we but help aim to be spiritually successful for God’s Kingdom?
2. From Parade magazine comes the story of self-made millionaire Eugene Land, who greatly changed the lives of a sixth-grade class in East Harlem. Mr. Lang had been asked to speak to a class of 59 sixth-graders. What could he say to inspire these students, most of whom would drop out of school? He wondered how he could get these predominantly black and Puerto Rican children even to look at him. Scrapping his notes, he decided to speak to them from his heart. "Stay in school," he admonished, "and I’ll help pay the college tuition for every one of you." At that moment the lives of these students changed. For the first time they had hope. Said one student, "I had something to look forward to, something waiting for me. It was a golden feeling." Nearly 90 percent of that class went on to graduate from high school.
3. You have it good, real good –if you know Christ. You are special. You have a marvelous eternity, and any sacrifice you make now for Christ will be rewarded in multiplied fashion in eternity.
Do you realize how good you have it?
