Forest Park Church

One day, four guys were talking about various translations of the Bible. One said, “I prefer the King James Version of the Bible” for its eloquent use of English.”  Another preacher said no Bible could match the New American Standard’s faithfulness to the original Greek and Hebrew text.  “The third said, “I prefer the New International Version for its contemporary language and easy readability.”  There was a period of silence, and the fourth preacher said, “I like my mother’s translation best.” Surprised, the others said: “We didn’t know that your mother had translated the Bible.” “Yes, she did,” he replied. “She translated it into her daily life, and it was through her translation that led me to Christ.”

Mothers are constantly planting seeds, some of which grow today and some tomorrow. They play a vital role in helping the family get there. 

All clean and cooled off by a nice swim in the ocean, Herman Trueblood saw a sweating man and his two sons trying on a hot day to push a disabled car up an incline. Two voices started yelling at each other inside him. One said, "There is an opportunity for service; you ought to help them push." The other voice protested, "Now that is none of your business. You will get yourself all hot and dirty. Let them handle their own affair."

He finally yielded to his better impulse and put his shoulder to the task. The car moved and kept moving. A simple thing then happened that Trueblood never forgot.

The father stuck out his dirty hand, and Trueblood stuck out his... The father said, "I am very glad that you came along. You had just enough strength, added to ours, to make the thing go."

Trueblood reflected, "Years have passed since that hot day, but I can still hear that man saying, "You had just enough strength, added to ours, to make the thing go."

Many people are struggling to get some heavy load over the hill, and I probably have just enough strength, added to theirs, to make the thing go. In I Peter 4, Peter challenges us to put our shoulders to the task of helping one another, loving one another, and serving one another. 

Imagine you’re standing in your kitchen, bedroom, or at your desk, you are probably surrounded by drawers, small compartments built to access and put away things you may need.  

  Many people live functionally compartmentalized lives. Whether they realize it or not, they have divided their lives neatly into two drawers: real life and spiritual life.  The “real life” drawer is the one they dig into frequently and are most comfortable with. It contains everything about everyday life, like their job, physical health, friends and family, leisure, money, possessions, and daily routine.

And then there's the second drawer, the 'spiritual life' drawer. This is where all the 'God' stuff goes. It’s the drawer for our Sunday worship, our small groups, our tithes and offerings, our short-term mission trips, and those evangelistic conversations with neighbors or extended family members.

  The goal is that as we grow in Christ, these two doors become one.  We should increasingly resemble Jesus not only on Sunday but every day.  Peter says to arm yourselves with the attitude that pain is gain. 

Every year, countless American schoolchildren memorize the Gettysburg Address. It’s a simple history lesson, an opportunity to learn about the Civil War, a turning point in American history. Yet it’s also much more. Memorizing that short two-minute speech is also an act of identity formation. It is a chance for students to connect to the ideals and aspirations of the people who founded this country. This is how Lincoln begins his speech:

“Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”

The Gettysburg Address provides an opportunity for every American child who remembers its words to internalize the values and aspirations of their country. As they recite the address, it becomes a part of them. 

  The Bible provides several similar points of reference, commands that seem insignificant until we consider their larger implications. This morning, we will consider one of these in the closing verses of I Peter 3, the method by which we pledge a clear conscience to God. 

  A retired couple alarmed by the threat of nuclear war undertook a serious study of all the inhabited places on the globe. Their goal was to determine where in the world would be the place to be least likely affected by a nuclear war. A place of ultimate security. They studied and traveled, and finally, they found the place. And on Christmas 1981, they sent their Christmas cards from their new home - in the Falkland Islands. However, their "paradise" was turned into a war zone four months later by Great Britain and Argentina in April 1982.

  Since the beginning of recorded history, the entire world has been at peace less than eight percent of the time! In the Personel Journal study, the periodical discovered that of 3530 years of recorded history, only 286 years saw peace, and tragically, more than 8000 peace treaties were made--and broken. 

  Everyone wants peace. Whether you're a national leader sitting across a table from other world leaders, a businessman facing the pressures and deadlines at the office, a homemaker trying to corral the kids, or a student just trying to make it through the semester, everyone wants peace. But most of us would admit that we experience more stress than peace. So, how do we find real peace? This week, we’ll see what Peter says in I Peter 3. 

As the third chapter of 1 Peter opens, the apostle continues to tackle some of the most complex human relationships and turns his eyes to the home.  Peter writes to Christian wives, some of whom were married to unbelieving husbands, in a society where it was unacceptable for a wife to have a different religious faith than her husband. Peter writes to offer the Christian wife a strategy that would enable her to avoid violence, disarm the opposition of her unbelieving husband, and lead him to Christ.

  Whether it be citizens to their government, servants to owners, wives to husbands, husbands to Christ, or Christ to God's perfect will, we are all ultimately in submission to Christ. The word used here for submission is the same one used in a military setting. Soldiers submit to their superiors, giving up their own right or will to establish order rather than chaos. To submit is the voluntary attitude of cooperating, assuming responsibility, and sharing the burden so that our homes and Churches reflect the peace and purpose of Christ. 

 An interesting protocol is in place for when a king or queen of England passes away. One of the more unexpected details is that the BBC will suspend all comedy programming for 12 days after their death. There will be no laughing in England during the time of mourning. 

 If you love your leader, you’ll mourn their death. If you despise your leader, you’ll likely celebrate their death. However, in the death of Jesus, everything is different. Those who love King Jesus do not observe his death with mourning but with celebration because they know it’s not final. They know it means victory. 

 If you’re skeptical about the resurrection, we get it. But I always find what Chuck Colson, Nixon’s special counsel on Watergate and henchman, said, ‘I know the resurrection is a fact. And Watergate proved it to me. How? Because 12 men testified that they had seen Jesus raised from the dead and then proclaimed that truth for 40 years, never once denying it. Everyone was beaten, tortured, stoned, eventually killed, and put in prison- they would not have endured it if it weren’t true. Watergate embroiled 12 of the most powerful men in Washington DC, and they couldn’t keep a lie for three weeks.”  

 This Sunday, we celebrate the most significant event in history, the moment that death was broken and our hope was given life. 

  The original cornerstone of the Washington Monument, which was laid on July 4, 1884, disappeared and has never been found. It makes you wonder how someone could have carried off the stone, which weighed 24,500 pounds. Over the years, many things have come and gone; monuments were built and lost, but the cornerstone of the Christian faith is not one of those.  Jesus is the cornerstone of our faith and His church. Throughout time, some have argued that the cornerstone is missing. But this cornerstone is a living stone, and He reigns from his place at the right hand of God.  

  This week, as we celebrate the moment Jesus was honored for who he really was, we realize the joy of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem would soon fade. The colors will go from bright to dark. The crowds have gone away, and on Monday morning, the day after the Triumphal Entry, Jesus walks back to the city, as He had lodged in Bethany. Along the way, He finds a fig tree with no fruit on it, and He curses the fig tree. The fig tree withers at once. The fig tree represents both the people of Israel, who bore no fruit in rejecting Jesus as the Christ, and it also represents us today, if our faith bears no fruit or if our lives do not bear spiritual fruit. We will wither, just as the fig tree.