So how do we gain eternal security if we are seeking God? Divest ourselves of what hinders us from finding true security in Christ. Invest in the kingdom of God, which is the only thing that will last, and leave the rest. The first will be last and the last first. Follow Christ. He will take care of all of our needs. What this world counts as wealth and what God counts as wealth are two different things.
Recently, Jack Welch, the retired CEO of General Electric, went through a very messy and very public divorce. During that time, his vast holdings, the luxurious lifestyle afforded to him by people like my son who owns five shares of GE, were all made public. Sadly, Mr. Welch had also suffered a heart attack. Sometime after it was over, he was asked what he learned from his brush with death. And do you know what this business genius said?
“I learned I didn’t spend enough money.” When pressed — they thought he was joking — he added that, after his bypass surgery, he vowed never again to drink wine that cost less than one hundred dollars a bottle — and he was completely serious.4
In other words, life is too short not to blow every bit of money I have and live it up. These are the words of a fool. Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow you shall die. That is Epicureanism at its finest. That is the philosophy of a fool who believes that since there is no God, no life after this one, no judgment of sin, chance is all there is, then why not be first in line?
Someone told this story to Chuck Colson, the former top-level legal counsel to President Nixon, who served prison time for his part in the scandal.
“. . . what a bankrupt and hopeless way to live. Christians know that chance doesn’t govern the universe — that there’s much more to our existence than this transitory life. Because of this, we never lack purpose. I get up every day excited that I’ve got something I can do that day to serve God, to help make a difference in the lives of others.”5
This morning God is calling you to a new life that begins, not with the question, What’s in it for me? but with the confession, “I divest my life of all pretensions of holiness. I turn from seeking to please you through my righteousness. I want to invest my life and my all, because I am overwhelmed that you would do that for me. And I follow you no matter what. And I trust you no matter what comes. You are my only security. You are my treasure.”
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Michael Milton is Senior Minister of First Presbyterian Church, Chattanooga, TN.
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NOTES:
1. Rev. Robert G. Herring, Bethel Lutheran Church, Fort Smith, AR, in his sermon, “The Affluent Poor” preached on September 10, 2000 (http://bethelfortsmith.org/pages/sermons/2000/sept1000.html accessed October 19, 2005).
2. Anonymous, found in many sources.
3. Robert Farrar Capon, The Foolishness of Preaching : Proclaiming the Gospel against the Wisdom of the World (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1998).
4. Taken from “What is the Source of the Good Life?” from http://www.preaching.com/newsletter/archive_2002/12_03.htm (accessed on October 19, 2005).
5. Ibid.
