MPC, 9th December 2001.I Peter 1:18-2:5 - "Building to Last"
Phil Campbell MPC, 9th December 2001.
Last Monday Lou and I found the most unique junk shop we've ever been in. A little back street over Zillmere way; run down little shop with a tacked on bit out the back. Dark and dingy inside, and absolutely LOADED with COLLECTIBLE ITEMS from the last 2000 years. Treasures… or junk… depending on your perspective.
And so, if you wanted to, you could buy a cabinet with two dead crocodiles; saltwater and freshwater, killed and stuffed in 1958. Perfectly preserved.
More interesting, genuine Egyptian relics. From the Ptolemaic dynasty 300 years before Christ. Tiny carved stone figures. Cloth from the wrappings of a mummy. Framed, for $600. A broken piece of a wooden sarcophagus cover with genuine Egyptian paintings. You can see the brush-strokes, just like it was painted yesterday. $2000.
And then alongside that in the same shop, an electric fan from 1958. $40. And best of all if you're a fan of the Simpsons on TV, an original 1994 pencil sketch of BART SIMPSON by one of the animators. An ANIMATION CEL. Framed and signed. Your own piece of animation history for 800 dollars.
But kind of weird seeing them side by side. And seeing what people who decide what's collectible say is WORTH KEEPING. And remembering. Which somehow determines what it is about a culture that's going to LAST. And what's going to just disappear. I mean, you've got an original picture of an Egyptian pharaoh from 2000 years ago in a frame alongside a BART SIMPSON cartoon from 8 years ago. Both around the same value.
And it gets a bit spine tingling when you ask the question what's going to be left 2000 years from NOW? That's going to turn up framed in the COLLECTIBLES SHOPS. Or a thousand years beyond that. Or beyond that. What is it that's going to survive? And what's going to disappear in the dust?
Puts things in perspective, doesn't it? As we think for a minute this morning about BUILDING TO LAST. Because I want to ask the question, what is it as we look around here today, what is it from THIS MORNING… that's going to last the distance?
And let me tell you the bad news, it's not going to be the newly renovated Mitchelton Presbyterian Church building. We've built it, we've painted it, we've scrubbed it; we've done a great job. But I want you to take an ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE. And ask the question, what's going to LAST. From here, now. The answer, according to the passage we just read, is RENOVATED PEOPLE.
Because even though we're celebrating here this morning, and we're excited by what a great job we've done together… and we're relieved it's over… we need to keep reminding ourselves that this isn't the main game. This is NOT WHAT'S GOING TO LAST. I mean, the building's still brand new and you don't have to look far to find paint chips already. Or marks on the carpet. Or signs of wear and tear where the doors open. We'll give Wayne the list later! But the fact is we know, don't we, that even a great looking building like this one, it's not going to be there for the long haul.
And that's what we're reminded of in the passage that Rob just read for us.
Verse 24. When you stand back and get things in perspective, here's what you see.
All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
ALL THEIR GLORY… the best we can make, the best we can do, the buildings we build, the treasures we treasure… all our glory goes the same way as the grass and the flowers. Which are stunning today. And wilted tomorrow. And so if bits of our bricks don't end up in some 22nd century junk shop, that's only going to be because the next generation has bulldozed the whole thing and carted it off to the tip. ALL men are like grass. And ALL OUR GLORY is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers, and the flowers fail.
So what's going to last? Well, ONE THING, according the passage. And it's funny, isn't it? The one thing that lasts is the thing you'd think would be most fleeting of all. The lasting thing, according to the disciple Peter who's writing this letter we're looking at, the lasting thing is what he calls THE WORD OF THE LORD. By which he means THE MESSAGE… ABOUT THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. The message which he says was preached to the people he's writing to.
Follow what it says:
The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the WORD OF THE LORD STANDS FOREVER. And this is the word that was preached to you.
Peter says to them, look around. And realise that the things that look most solid aren't going to last. But the WORD YOU HEARD, it's got an ETERNAL EFFECT.
The word that says THERE'S THE PROSPECT of something more than emptiness.
The word that says you've been bought and paid for at huge cost. Redeemed.
The word that says all your previous wrongs can be counted as right… because of the death of the perfect man. Jesus Christ. And so there IS A WAY to turn back the clock and have everything forgiven that needs to be forgiven.
That's the WORD THEY'VE HEARD. That Peter says will keep on doing it's work forever. No matter what else comes and goes.
The word is going to keep on renovating lives. Sowing seeds for eternity. Read from verse 18; follow it on the service sheet.
For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
Which means if you're looking for something more than an empty life, you can try gold and silver; or internet share trading. But it's not going to work. Perishable stuff. The use-by date's printed on the bottom. We just don't bother reading it. If you're looking for something more than an empty void, then the place to start is in meditating on the SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. Which is at the very heart of the Christian message. The WORD THEY HEARD. Which won't go away.
And so while we celebrate what we've built here together… we need always to be very, very aware that THIS BUILDING is not here for the long haul. But the WORD is. And has been. And will be.
And what that word does, is it RENOVATES PEOPLE.
In the passage we're looking at Peter calls it being BORN AGAIN. Which is a phrase that's been so overused by American TV evangelists that it's almost embarrassing. But he's talking about the new start that comes from coming to Christ. The forgiveness that wipes the slate clean.
There's this idea around that RELIGION is all about trading in guilt. Loading people down with rules and regulations that they can never match. Well that's not what we're on about. REAL Christianity is just the opposite. It's about being RENOVATED. It's there in verse 23 there on the sheet. He says,
For you have been BORN AGAIN, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God
The WORD changes people. And that's something that lasts for eternity. An imperishable seed, in the midst of everything else that's wilting away.
You know, renovating a building is exciting. It's tiring. But it's exciting. You look around, and it's almost unbelievable, isn't it? If you haven't been here for a while, it's hard to even imagine what it used to be like. In fact, even if you've watched it happen almost every day like I have, sometimes you have to stop and scratch yourself just to work out how things used to be. I mean, it's still the same building. But it's changed. The roof's new, the walls are new…
Let me tell you, seeing people renovated is even MORE EXCITING THAN THAT. Seeing people grow and change in the ways Peter talks about in the passage. With sincere love. Getting rid of malice and deceit.
The question we're asking is, in the face of eternity, what's going to last? And the answer is, not a building like this one. But the WORD FROM GOD. That says come to Jesus Christ and BE RENOVATED. Get a new start. And then when you've done that, get on with the business of GENUINE self sacrificial LOVE FOR ONE ANOTHER.
Our prayer is that God's going to use us here at Mitchelton Presbyterian Church, and our resources and our buildings to BE CLEAR about that. To be committed to that as our number one goal. To be connecting that WORD with our WORLD in a 21st century way. For lots of years to come. Because then we'll really be BUILDING TO LAST. As we're GROWING FOLLOWERS OF JESUS.