A TALE OF THREE TICKETS

Transcription

1 1 Thessalonians 4: 13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words. A TALE OF THREE TICKETS First, a word of disclaimer. By using the following fabricated items, I am, in no way, advocating nor encouraging their usage. They are merely being used, by me, as objects to trigger some thinking. To be truthful, I m not a big fan, but they serve my purposes today. So here we go. Today I d like to tell the tale of three imaginary tickets. Here they are. Ticket one was found on the ground near the trash can at the local Kwik Trip. Thinking it might have fallen out of a winner s pocket, the finder took it inside to have it scanned. The store owner confirmed that it was indeed a ticket for a previous drawing and that it was not a winner. Let s call this ticket: NO HOPE. It is valueless. Worthless. Destined for the trash heap. Nothing more than random useless numbers on a page. Then there s ticket two. Ticket two was purchased just the other day for a drawing that s coming up. The drawing will be for 300 million dollars. The ticket is legitimate. The ticket, among, of course, many others, is a possible winner. The owner will know on Tuesday if he has a share in the jackpot. Let s call this ticket: HOPE. It has potential. It may win. But no one can be sure. Then there s ticket number three. Ticket three was purchased six months ago when the Jackpot was $421 million dollars. This is actually only a replica of the winning ticket. The real one, which looks exactly like it, is locked away in a safe somewhere because it is the singular winning ticket and the owner is currently going through all the legal paperwork to be able to

2 accept his winnings. But ticket three is his and his alone. He is the certified and guaranteed single winner of $421 million dollars. Let s call this ticket facsimile CONFIDENCE. So here s today s difficult question. Which one do you want? Number one, number two or number three? 1) NO HOPE, 2) HOPE, OR 3) CONFIDENCE. Now hold on. We need the music.. Okay. Ding ding ding. What do you think? Everyone agree? Confidence is the answer. It s the only one that actually transforms your life. In our text for today, St. Paul tells the Thessalonian Christians that, when it comes to their future, they own ticket number three. The Messiah, Jesus, DID come as promised in the Old Testament, DID give His life on the cross of Calvary to pay the price for their sins, DID rise again to fulfill all righteousness, DID show Himself to be the Son of God, DID promise to all who believe in Him that they have a heavenly future in glory. Jesus said that He would be there for all His people not only in death, but also in life. That He will care for each one, watch over them with vigilance, and bless them with abundance. There IS no question. It s not a pipedream. It may not always be a picnic, but Jesus is there guiding His people through, every day. And Paul wants the Thessalonians to shine forth with this CONFIDENCE, this guarantee, to all the world so that everyone might come to know that ticket number three is available to them, too, without cost -- free of charge -- no strings attached. They have the riches of God s grace. He says, verse 13, Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. In short, his point is something like this: Hey, Thessalonians. Remember, as you go out into that world, that if your mind tells you that you have no future -- that life is all about this day, this moment and nothing more -- that you must invest yourself in all that you can get out of these days on this earth and forget that you have One who is overseeing it all, -- then you are missing EVERYTHING that you learned from me. It s not about what you get, it s about whose you are! It s not about earthly pleasure, it s about an eternal relationship with the living God. And yet, how easy it is to live that way, don t you think? The world says, you got ticket number one, NO HOPE. You re just a bunch of molecules all pressed together by a random chance -- you re a blob of DNA that s gonna, one day, rot in the ground, and that might, even

3 now, go through suffering, difficulty, trauma, or hardship. So you are responsible to make your own joy -- create your own future. So do it -- climb high in your career, build a big family with a beautiful wife and perfect kids, have every luxury, live life with gusto. Eat, drink, and be merry, -- for tomorrow you may die. But that, says Paul, is a lie. Because there IS one who created all things, and He does love you, and He did rescue from HOPELESSNESS by walking into your world and carrying every burden and every sin. And He did it because you are not just a blob of molecules or a load of DNA to Him, you are His people -- the ones He created, saved, and loves. What do you think? Do you agree? Do you hear Paul s words and are you ready to live not as a people of NO HOPE, but as a people who are embraced by the God of the Universe, who have the CONFIDENCE to go forward and live for Him? Are you?. (Jeopardy music) But wait just a second. Wait. There s always ticket number two, right? It s kind of the best of both worlds -- the happy medium. It works like this. The Gospel of Jesus Christ might be true, but it might not. The jury s still out, cause we can t actually see the future. The ticket may be a winner, or it might be a pipedream. It might lead to the jackpot or might be worthy of the trash heap. So.let s keep our options open. Invest a little in Jesus, and a little in the world. Live a little bit like you have a glorious future, but also be sure you get the most out of today. How s that sound? Do you know that voice? To me, it sounds kinda familiar. I hear that chorus going on all the time in my head. Don t you? It s the voice that encourages me to stake my claim with half my heart -- to hold onto the dream, but be prepared if the dream is a fantasy. Like the boyfriend who says he is committed to his girlfriend, but never commits. Like the man who claims allegiance to his country, but when asked to fight for it runs away. Like five virgins who claim they are ready for the bridegroom s arrival, but in reality have let the world and its ways rob them of the very thing they needed to have to be ready for Him. The words which glorify half-heartedness, lukewarmness also are a delusion, my friends, because the nature of our Savior was never half-hearted toward us. No. He went all in. When

4 we were lost in trespasses and sins and headed for a deserved destruction, Jesus jumped in with both feet. And He gave everything. Not half a human, but completely human. Not a little bit of suffering. But carrying the sins of the whole world to a brutal torture. Not sorta resurrected. No, He opened up His hands for the disciples to see and touch and declared, I am the resurrection and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me. Such love demands a whole heart, not because it is obligatory by law or required by the One who gives it, but because He is simply worthy of it. It is, in plain words, what He deserves. So ticket number two will never be satisfying. It is tentative, uncertain, cautious and afraid. And Paul says, That s not who you are, in Christ, you have been redeemed, rescued, and delivered. Listen to his words in Colossians 2: So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. Brothers and Sisters, the truth is, we have the winning ticket. No question. No doubt. Jesus, our Savior, has opened up the floodgates of His blessings and declares us His own. He proved His incredible love on the hard wood of the cross and affirms His eternal commitment to us everywhere in the pages of the Scriptures. So let s not just tentatively dip our toes into the fountain of His plan and desire for us, let s jump in with both feet and ask Him to empower us to do what He wants, to live as He pleases, and to give not 5%, or 10% or 20% or 50 %, but 100% of who we are to serving and following Him. Let s be like the Veteran, on this Veteran s Day weekend, who steps onto the theater of operations ready to sacrifice it all for that which is -- or better -- HE who is worthy. How do you do that? Well, that s where stewardship comes it. It IS about time, treasure and talent. It IS about prayerfully seeking God s guidance as to what He wants from us and being willing to listen to what He has to say. It IS about submitting ourselves to His will and not making Him fit into ours.

5 How that guides you in your service of Him is a matter between you and your Lord, and, of course, every day we will need to go to the cross for forgiveness because we will, in some way or another, return to our selfishness and short-sighted ways of living. But I would challenge you to consider that ticket number three is an empowering ticket. It enables you to have a vision toward what is actually lasts forever, knowing that you already bask in the comfort of His care. This world and its treasures are but a mere glimpse of the future He has for us in glory. So let s live like it, stretching ourselves to maximize our role as disciples of Jesus. One way (and only one way) can be found in this envelope. You can challenge yourself fiscally to do a little more, as God has blessed you and as He leads you. But it may not be this. It may be this, (one of these bags for the food pantry). Maybe you could do two. Or it maybe this (pointing to watch) -- maybe you have a little time you could donate toward some mission activity, work project, extra prayer, or some other act of service. Whatever it may be, in the end, it is not done to make Him a deeper love for you -- because He already loves you beyond measure. No. It s because He s worth it. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.