The Lutheran Hour
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"Not Like Bob"
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Text: 1 Peter 1:17-19
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Prayer: Heavenly Father, we are so weary from trying to prove ourselves in this world. Give us rest from living as the world wants us to live and give us new life and a new way to live through Your dear Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Life is hard. Just ask Bob. He is working himself to death trying to prove himself to the world. There is another way to live your life. It is not about proving yourself. It’s about God showing you how much He loves you. What a difference? Today we will consider the word of God from 1 Peter 1:17-19. “And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your sojourning here in fear, knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”
Life is hard. At least it was for Bob. Bob lived in the suburbs. He had a nice home with a pool. He had a wife and two kids. The alarm went off one morning, and he slammed his hand down on the snooze button. He was sick of life. He was sick of work. He was sick of driving half an hour in horrendous traffic to get to work. He was sick of the people at work who were trying to “one up” the other all the time. He was sick of the pressure to try to get ahead. He was sick of trying to get that promotion, the late hours, the lack of time with the family. When he did get home there were a million things to do around the house – the yard work, the pool needed attention, the little odd jobs that needed doing. Everything had become a rut, a drudgery. Life wasn’t fun anymore.
What really made Bob mad was that he had given in to all of it. He was trying to prove himself to everyone. He had to prove to them at work that he deserved a promotion. He had to prove to his family he could handle work, the house, and all of their needs. He had to prove to the world that he was somebody with a nice home, nice cars, the more the better. Bob was trying to prove to somebody out that there he was worth something. This quest, this goal of working to prove himself was eating him alive. It was consuming him. Still, he went on and on. He had to prove himself. He had to earn his way in life and make it. Even if life wasn’t fun anymore, he had to go on.
Sound familiar? It’s easy for us to be like Bob. We are very focused on showing the world we are somebody. We read of sports figures making astronomical, ludicrous salaries. CEO’s are measured by the profit margin at the end of the year. If you are in sales, there are quotas. If you are in law, it’s how many cases you have won. Where do you live, how many square feet in your house? What do you drive? You know how it is. We never believe we quite make it.
In an NBC interview with Paul McCartney, one of the Beatles, the interviewer posed this question, “It has been said that you get up every morning thinking you have to justify yourself. Is that true?” McCartney answered, “Yes, doesn’t everybody? I have asked my wife when have I done enough? Has anyone ever done enough?” It is a nagging question that can plague any of us. It has plagued all of us at some time in our life.
Plagued by the “prove yourself” mentality of our age, questioning whether or not we have done enough, isn’t it time to ask yourself a different question? Isn’t there another way to live your life? Isn’t there another way to view life and find meaning in life? Yes, there is. First, we have to move away from the great deceit of this world. The great deceit is this: we have learned, been taught, grown up thinking, been indoctrinated that in America and Canada you have to earn your own way. Anybody can do it, but you have to work hard. We have been taught in our culture you are what you have even if getting it shortens your life or kills you.
There is another way. Only we don’t find it at work. We don’t find it in killing ourselves. We don’t find it in those around us. We find it in God. For you see, God does not deal with us like the world does. We have to earn our way in the world. We have to do the same with God. We fall into that deceit quite easily. However, God tells us about Himself. He tells us that this is not the way He deals with us. He tells us that leading a life like this is living in ignorance.
God does not care where you work or how much overtime you put in. He doesn’t care if you command a big salary. He doesn’t care if you have a title like Reverend or doctor or CEO or president. He does not care how big your house is. He does not care what you drive. None of these things matter to God.
Each of us stands before God without any earthly trappings. If we put our faith in these earthly trappings, then we will receive condemnation and death from God.
We can offer God nothing. We cannot do anything to impress Him.
When we deal with God, we deal with Him on His terms. These earthly things mean nothing to Him. What matters to God is you. That is amazing in itself. We are doing things just the opposite of what He wants. We are focused on money, cars, homes, power, prestige, proving our worth. These are the most important things in life from a human, worldly perspective. These things have become our gods, and they are consuming us and making life miserable. They are hard task masters that always demand more. They always want more of our time and our lives. We stand before God without all these things. We stand before God and all these earthly trappings mean nothing. So how does God deal with us then? In a most amazing way!
God does not look at what we’ve earned, our work, or our accomplishments. God does not deal with us based on a salary range. God deals with you in love. You cannot prove your worth to God. You are worth more than you imagine to God. He takes care of the whole creation. He feeds the birds of the air. Are you not worth more? “Do not be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows” (Matthew 10:31).
How much are you worth to God? A very important question, indeed. You are worth so much that He wanted to rescue you from living your life the way Bob does. He does not come to your rescue with earthly things, “not with perishable things such as silver or gold.” You are far more precious. Worldly things hold no standing with God. He cares and loves you more than that.
How much are you worth to God? What does He use to rescue you? He uses His own Son. He sends His own precious Son. His Child comes down from heaven to rescue you from living, like Bob. His Son, Jesus Christ, is sent for you. You are worth so much to God that He sends His Son for you. Jesus Christ, and His Father love you. You are worth everything to God. Nothing is too great a sacrifice to rescue you from living a futile life like the world wants you to live. It does not stop with the sending of His Son. God does more. His Son died for you. His Son was nailed to a cross for you. His Son shed His precious blood for you. What are you worth to God? The very blood of His Son shed for you. You have been rescued. God has come to rescue you from a life like Bob lives it. God loves you just the way you are. His Son sheds His blood to forgive you for living like the world teaches you to live. He forgives you for putting God last in life. He forgives you for replacing Him in life with the things of this world. He tells you He loves you. You cannot earn His love. You already have His love. You do not have to prove your worth. He proved it by sending His Son to die for you — to shed His blood for you.
God has come to you. God loves you. You are worth so much to God that His own Son died for you. When He died and shed His blood, you were freed from this world. You are free from trying to prove yourself to anyone in this world. You are free from serving this world and its ways. You are free from wondering if you have done enough. You have not done enough. You never will. God loves you anyway. He did it for you. He did enough, more than enough, more than we can imagine, by sending Jesus Christ to shed His blood, to rescue you from living like Bob.
Now when you stand before God you can be sure He loves you. You can be sure He will give you the joys of heaven. You can be sure because your Savior has done enough, more than enough, to give you heaven itself. “Not with perishable things as silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ.” Not like Bob’s life seeking silver and gold but life with God by the precious blood of Christ. Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) from April 14, 2002
ANNOUNCER: Joining us once again is Dr. James Lamb, executive director of Lutherans for Life. I’m Mark Eischer. Dr. Lamb, do you see the health care system changing in such a way as to facilitate euthanasia and further experimentation with human life?
LAMB: Yes, things are changing and the bottom line, of course, is money. Just imagine an insurance executive or head of an HMO holding up charts about how much money it takes to keep someone in a nursing home for so long. Then the alternative, of course, is holding up a bottle of pills that cost $35. That’s about what it costs for the prescription in Oregon to end your life. So anyone can readily see how that alone can push the whole process. On the other end, things are certainly changing too, and once again, money is involved. Because we’re approaching and using this technology where we hope we can use stem cells to treat disease and if we’re going to advance that, we’re going to need lots of stem cells. There are already companies out there gearing up to market stem cells. It’s going to create what some have called “embryo farms,” for the production and selling of those embryos in order to advance in medical research.
ANNOUNCER: But can’t stem cells also be obtained from adult sources such as bone marrow or the placenta? Why would there not also be an economic incentive to go in that direction?
LAMB: Well, there are two reasons that scientists are pushing embryonic stem cell research. One is that the embryo is more versatile. There are a couple of different kinds of stem cells, and embryonic stem cells are at that state where they can become any other cell type in the body, plus they replicate more quickly. However, in January, the University of Minnesota announced they had discovered stem cells in bone marrow that behaved just like embryonic stem cells. In other words, they can indeed become other cell types. So the reasons scientists are looking at embryonic stem cells don’t hold as much weight as they used to.
ANNOUNCER: So the scientists at other places were perhaps pre-disposed toward embryonic stem cells because more experimentation had been done on them up to that point?
LAMB: Yes. That’s true. They just seem to be focused on them to the point where they’re turning a blind eye to some of the research that’s already been going on. So, to me, we need to focus our attention, we need to shift where the money is going and look at adult stem cells. Because it just does away with all the ethical questions about the human embryo.
ANNOUNCER: I’m looking at a list of the core values that guide the work of Lutherans for Life and one of them talks about “the mind of Christ.” What do you mean by the mind of Christ and how does that affect your work?
LAMB: We mean approaching these things through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Not being afraid to stand up and call wrong things wrong as Jesus did. He confronted people with their sins in a Christ-like manner. Paul says, “Speak the truth, but speak the truth in love.” In other words, pastors can climb up into the pulpit and can rant and rave against abortion and against stem cell research and they can tell people “don’t do these things because they’re bad.” Of course, they are bad, but you see, we also can stand up there and say, “You don’t have to do these things because God is good and He has shown His goodness to us in Jesus Christ.” The proof of God’s love and His goodness is the cross of Jesus. Because Jesus died for us to redeem us, He’s not going to forsake us now.
ANNOUNCER: We’ve been talking with Dr. James Lamb, executive director of Lutherans for Life. Dr. Lamb, thank you for being with us.
LAMB: I’ve truly appreciated the opportunity to be here.