Warren Buffett is 77 and is considered strong and healthy even at this advance age. He filed his first tax return at age 13, claiming a $35 deduction for bicycle. His net worth is valued at over $62 billion and in the summer of 2006, he donated $31 billion to the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, has set up a foundation to seek cures for the world’s worst diseases and improve American education among other things. When Buffett gave the money he said a couple of noteworthy things: “There is no reason we can’t cure the top 20 diseases,” Gates said while appearing with Buffett during a donation ceremony at the New York Public Library. And then he said something significant to us for today: “There is more than one way to get to heaven, but this is a great way,” said Buffett. Had Buffett said “There is more than one way to skin a cat,” then perhaps PETA would have been knocking down his door. Yet the majority of Americans let such a comment on slide. Why? I suspect that most Americans believe such a notion. Actually, I don’t just suspect it, it’s been recently confirmed. A majority of religious people do not believe their religion is the only way to salvation. According to recent surveys, 57% of evangelicals (people who attend churches much like the one you are in this morning) agree with the statement that many religions – not just their own – can lead to eternal life. The survey asked Muslims, Catholics, Jews, Buddhists, Latter Day Saints, and Hindu’s. Overall around 70% of Americans believe that many religions – not just their own – can lead to eternal life.
This morning as we continue the series, Navigating Home, we will examine the words of Peter, one of the original twelve disciples with Jesus on how a person gets to heaven. Peter believes there is only way to get to heaven: “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Our faith lives in a hostile world. When navigating the road of life, God’s power directs your road safely to Him.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 1:3-7)
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…” (1 Peter 1:3).
Peter’s response to God’s causing His people to be born again, raising his Son Jesus from the dead, giving us a living hope, providing us an imperishable inheritance in heaven is to bless God: “Blessed be God!” And if that is his response, it should be our response. What he is going to talk about makes him exult and bless God. He did not have to tell us that. He did not have to begin by letting his emotions for God show. He could have begun in a cool, collected, dispassionate, unemotional way. He could have said: "My lecture topic today is regeneration. I have several related doctrines upon which I wish to discourse. Let me list them: 1) God; 2) regeneration; 3) hope; 4) the resurrection of Jesus; 5) inheritance; 6) heaven. Let us give close attention to these things.” He could have begun that way. But he didn’t. Instead, He says, "“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!” He does it in 4:11, “To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” He does it again in 5:11, “To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” Peter breaks out again and again in praise and blessing.
Now if he believed like so many Americans that there was many ways to God, then there is no praise for God. There is respect for oneself. Instead, Peter writes about the greatest realities in the universe with a worshipful spirit. Peter writes with exultation and wonder and awe and marvel and heartfelt gratitude. WHY? Now what truth, what great reality brought Peter to this exultation? If we limit our answer just to verses 3 and 4 there are five great realities about God that gripped Peter’s mind and heart. I want you to see all five before we’re done, but for the moment, let’s simply focus on the first two.
1. God’s Great Mercy
There’s the first one: God’s great mercy: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!” (1 Peter 1:1a) If you wonder if there is mercy with God, the answer is that there is great mercy: “According to his great mercy.” (1 Peter 1:3) Peter is moved by that.
2. God's Work of New Birth
“. . According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again. . .” (1 Peter 1:3)
There’s the second reality about God that moves Peter: God is the one who caused us to be born again. New birth is God’s work. His mercy not our work produces a new being called a child of God and an exile and alien in the world. Now if you believe these two realities then …
3. Christ is Risen from the Dead.
“. . . he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…” (1 Peter 1:3)
There’s the third reality about God that gripped Peter: God raised Jesus from the dead. Many of you are familiar with the wristbands popularized by cyclist Lance Armstrong. Yet there is another less familiar wristband labeled “DNR.” It is something you find in the hospitals. A son wrote about his experience with that wristband. He didn’t know what “DNR” meant. His mother had been in the hospital and he had talked to the doctors and they said, “We have done everything we can for your mother and we want to know if you want to put a “DNR” bracelet on her arm. He said, “What do you mean?” The doctor said, “Do Not Resuscitate.” He said, “At that moment I realized that all hope was gone for my mother. Do not resuscitate; hopeless. My mom had lived her life. It was time for her to go to heaven to be with Jesus.” Do not resuscitate. There are a lot of people in the world today who are not in hospital beds but they have “DNR” on the arm bands of their heart. Do not resuscitate. Life seems to be hopeless in a lot of ways. H. L. Mencken said, “Hope – it is a pathological belief in the occurrence of the impossible.” Peter has reason for hope. Paul writes “So now faith, hope, and love abide…” (1 Corinthians 13:13)
Some of you have listened to James Taylor's music. Rolling Stone Magazine was interviewing James Taylor about his music. There was one particular CD that he came out with that seemed so hopeless in its context. They said, “Why did you write this kind of music? There is no hope in it.” He said, “I am writing that kind of music for spiritual agnostics. Because spiritual agnostics are trying to make sense of life and it does not have any sense without hope.”
Verse 21 makes the reason for Peter’s praise even more explicit: “God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God” (1 Peter 1:21). The resurrection is about God. God did it. So we trust God. We hope in God. And Peter says, “Blessed be God!”
4. You are Guaranteed an Inheritance
“to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,…” (1 Peter 1:4). There’s the fourth reality about God that gripped Peter: God promises an inheritance to His newborns. We have an inheritance that will never spoil. No contamination. It will never fade away. It is not going to shrink up in quality. It is kept in heaven. That means it is guarded. It is a military word. It is given in what is called the present participle in the original language. I know you are not caring about the original language but, there is a powerful truth here and the present participle means this: He keeps on keeping your inheritance. Not only once did He give it to you when you trusted Jesus, but He keeps on guarding your inheritance. God is the source of the inheritance. Fathers leave an inheritance to their children, not vice versa. God is the giver here. All the way through this passage God is the fountain. God is the One overflowing. We are receivers at every point: mercy, new birth, resurrection, inheritance.
Finally . . .
5. God’s Power Guards You
“[the inheritance is] kept in heaven for you..” (1 Peter 1:4)
“Should an unfaithful professing “Christian” be assured of his or her salvation?” Christianity has been the dominant religion in the United States for over two centuries. Because Christianity has been so widespread in the USA, there are some glaring examples of people who have at one time placed their faith in Christ and turned against Christ in later life. In April of this year (2008), Kate Perry released “I Kissed a Girl,” a song that is lesbian even its title. What is amazing about the song (itunes #1 song this week (June 29, 2008) is the songwriter. Kate Perry was formerly known as Kate Hudson (not Goldie Hawn’s daughter). Kate Hudson was the daughter of two conservative preachers (wife was also a preacher) and she even released a 2001 Christian album. She was 16 at the time of album’s release in the Christian marketplace. She was interviewed at the time and told how she believed in abstinence before marriage. The lyrics to the song, “Lost,” allude to Kate Perry s spiritual searching: “Have you ever been so lost Known the way and still so lost ...?My mother says I should come back home but Can’t find the way cause the way is gone So if I pray am I just sending words into outer space”
There's a reason that a lot of Christian teens get to college and rebel. They need to find out on their own what their faith means and how Jesus is real in their lives. Sometimes they stay on the Christian path and end up with a stronger faith, but sometimes they step away and never look back, sometimes because they never really believed to begin with.
There is a warning here for us this morning. There is danger on the way to salvation in heaven. We need ongoing protection after our conversion. Our security does not mean we are home free. There is a battle to be fought. And in this battle we need protection and help far beyond what we can supply for ourselves.
I began this message talking about a rich man, Warren Buffett. Another of America’s most wealthiest, Ted Turner was interviewed in 2003 about his faith. “I’ve read the Bible from cover to cover twice.” Turner spouted off a list of religious activities of his childhood to prove his knowledge of Christianity. He said that while he attended a Christian school in Chattanooga, he was required to study the Bible in class each semester for six (6) years. He even volunteered for a Billy Graham crusade and “was born again seven times.” He said he was in the habit of praying an hour a day in his teens. What shook his devotion was the sickness and death of his younger sister. When he was 15, his 12-year-old sister developed terminal lupus, which over the course of five years, destroyed her body and her mind. “I prayed for [her] an hour a day. She used to go around the apartment and run into the padded walls and say, ‘God, I’m in such pain; please let me die.’ My family broke apart. I prayed so much. She said, ‘God, please let me die.’ She couldn’t say a whole lot of things, but she would say, ‘Teddy, you’re my brother. I know you.’” His voice oozed hurt and anger: “I said, ‘How could God let my sister suffer so much? She never did anything wrong. She was 12 years old. At that time, I was going to be a missionary. I was going to dedicate my life to what I really believed … But my religious faith got shaken. I mean, I prayed an hour a day for my sister.” Turner went on to begin one of America’s most watched networks in CNN and TNT. In his later years, Turner has set up the Turner Foundation where he has granted up nearly 70 million in grants in 2001. “Look at my philanthropy,” Turner pointed out. “I mean, that’s something that every religion, particularly Christianity, places as a top priority for everybody during their lifetime. Contribute as much as you can to help those less fortunate than yourself. Well, I’m living like a Christian.” Turner said these good works will be enough to get him into heaven. “I guarantee you I’ll see you there,” Turner joked. “I’m going to be like the guy who has the last two tickets in the stadium. But I’ll be there.”
“[the inheritance is] kept in heaven for you..” (1 Peter 1:4)
Who is keeping it? Answer: God is. There is danger on the way to salvation in heaven. What about Ted Turner and Kate Perry? While I have never meet either of these people and am unable to pronounce a final verdict over anyone, we need be cautious here about anyone in a similar spiritual condition: “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.” (1 John 2:19)
Remember, Peter himself was nearly a Ted Turner. Peter was nearly a Kate Perry. Except God’s power guarded him: “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, 32 but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:31-32). “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” (John 10:27-29)
So if you just take verses 3 and 4 from 1 Peter 1, there are five answers to the question: What great reality brought Peter to worship this way? What gripped his mind and moved his heart and opened his mouth to say, “Blessed be God?” The answer is: God is great in mercy. God causes us to be born again to a living hope. God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. God promises an inheritance to those whom he fathers. (And) God is keeping that inheritance so that it will never, ever perish or soil or fade.
A father toke his son to the fair and told him to bring his buddies for his birthday party. He bought a bunch of tickets for everything at the fair. His son had six friends so there were seven of them in total. They would come to a ride and he would tear off seven tickets and they would all get on the ride.
They came to the Ferris wheel and he handed out seven tickets. All of a sudden there was another little boy in the line. The father said, “What do you want?” The boy said, “I want one of those tickets.” He said, “Well, who are you?” He said, “I am your son’s new friend. He told me to come to you and you would get me on the Ferris wheel.” The father gave the boy a ticket and he spent the rest of the afternoon being his son’s new friend at his birthday party.
