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Secrets of Abundant Living

THE SECR= ET OF SALVATION

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Ephesians 2:1-10

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Unlock your heart; unwrap your gift;<= /span>

uncork your passion, and live!=

A sermon preached by

Rev. William O. (Bud) = Reeves

First United Methodist Church

Hot= Springs, Arkansas

September 9, 2007=

There’s a cute story about a lady who di= ed after a long illness and found herself at the Pearly Gates of Heaven. She was so excited to be right the= re ready to go in to her eternal reward. As soon as she spotted St. Peter, she went right up to him and asked, “How do I get in?”

St. Peter replied, “You have to spell a word.”

“Which word?R= 21; the woman asked.

“Love,” St. Peter replied.

“L-O-V-E,”= the woman quickly responded, and St. Peter welcomed her into the joy of heaven.=

About six months later= , this same woman happened to be standing near the gate when St. Peter got an emergency call to another part of heaven.&= nbsp; He grabbed her and asked if she could watch the gate while he was aw= ay. She agreed, but St. Peter had hard= ly been gone when her husband arrived at the gate, seeking to get in.

“I didn’t = know you had died!” she exclaimed.

“I just did,R= 21; he said.

“Well, I am so surprised to see you here. Ho= w have you been doing?” she asked.

“Pretty well,= 221; her husband replied, “up until a few minutes ago.” He should have stopped there, but = he continued, “You remember that cute young nurse that took care of you while you were sick? We got m= arried about a month after you died. Then I won the lottery. So I sold = our little house and bought a big mansion.&nbs= p; My new wife and I took a trip around the world, just like you had al= ways wanted to do. I bought a ski = boat, and earlier today I was water-skiing and fell. The ski hit my head, and here I am= . So how do I get in?”

“You have to spe= ll a word,” the woman said.

“Fine. What is it?” he asked.<= /o:p>

“Czechoslovakia,” she replied.

How do you get into heaven? Do you have to spell a word? Do you have to know wha= t to tell and what not to tell the gatekeeper?&= nbsp; Is there a secret password that will get us through the heavenly gates?

A few months ago, ther= e was a book that came out entitled The S= ecret by Rhonda Byrne.[1] It was basically self-help psychobabble about creating your own reality with y= our thoughts—including weight loss, big cars, houses, and lottery winning= s. Oprah thought it was great, and so= it sold a gazillion copies. When= I read about The Secret, I thought about the truly abundant life that God wants each of us to have. The difference is, the real secret= s of abundant living are not even secrets. They have been revealed for thousands of years in God’s holy word. These open secrets are = what I want to share with you in the next few weeks.

Of all the secrets of abundant living, none is more important than this fundamental secret of faith—the secret of salvation. How are we saved? How = do we inherit eternal life? Knowing= the answer to that ultimate question will give your life here on earth a differ= ent quality. So let me tell you a secret today = that God wants you to know.

First, to be saved, UNLOCK YOUR HEART. You have to open up your heart= to let God do the work of salvation in your spirit. The religious word for this is repentance. It means realizing with sorrow tha= t you have failed to be what God wants you to be. You confess your sins to God and a= sk his forgiveness. Then you turn yo= ur life around and live for him. Sin and the selfishness that is at the root of all sin puts a lock around our hearts, and the key is simply a decision to = go to God for help. We hold the = key to the heart’s gate, and when we unlock it, Jesus can come in and take up residence. =

When Jesus first start= ed to preach, he had a very simple and very short sermon: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news!”[2] This turning of the mind, this unl= ocking of the heart, this repentance is just the first step, but it gives us anoth= er chance with God. This is what happens when you first enter into a relationship with God, but it continual= ly happens along the journey of faith. We are always turning away from God, but God always welcomes us back when we unlock our hearts again.

Eric Close is a young actor who plays on the CBS drama "Without a Trace." He is also a Chr= istian and a member of Brentwood Presbyterian Church in Hollywood. Eric found faith in God as a stude= nt at a Christian school when he was thirteen. But over the next decade, he decid= ed to make his own way in the world and put God on the shelf. After he graduated from USC, he be= came yet another struggling actor in L.A., looking for a big break. That= 's when he reevaluated his life. Eric said, "I was thinking about my future, and I was feeling empty. Then I started thinking back to wh= en I had accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior. So I sat there alone in my apartment and prayed. I said, 'God, I'v= e done everything my own way, but if you'll come back into my life, I'll give you everything.' That's when I re= ally made a commitment to follow him."&nbs= p; Close went on to say, "It's been an amazing adventure. There ha= ve been times when I have been discouraged, but it helps to know God is always with me."^{^[3]<=
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If you have never truly unlocked your heart to God, don’t wait for a more opportune time—there’s not one. If you are a believer who has known God, remember that repentance, l= ike salvation, is a process, and we have to continually repent and turn away fr= om the evil we do and say and think. We need a second chance just about every day of our lives.

I remember talking wit= h a man recently who had experienced his life crashing down around him. His marriage was shot; his kids didn’t want to be around him; he was dang= ling from the end of his rope. But= he was trying for the second chance. He was seeking counseling to reconcile with his wife; he was trying = to patch things up with his kids; and he came to me wanting to seek forgiveness from God, and he didn’t quite know how. We talked for a while, and then we prayed that he would restart his relationship with Christ. We prayed a very simple prayer, as= king God to forgive the mistakes he had made, re-affirming his faith in Christ, = and asking God to give him strength to lead the right kind of life. Then he thanked God for his love a= nd salvation. That was it. It wasn’t the end of his jou= rney; it was the start of a new chapter in his life. All he had to do was unlock his heart. It was as easy as open= ing a present, because that’s what it is.&= nbsp;

The second secret of salvation is to UNWRAP YOUR GIFT.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Salvation is a gift of GodR= 17;s grace, freely given to those who freely receive what he offers. We don’t deserve it, and we = can never earn it, but it is ours for the taking just the same.

Romans 6:23 states, &#= 8220;The wages of sin is death, but the fre= e gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.” Ephesians echoes that with the= se words: “But God, who is rich = in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace y= ou have been saved.”[4] This is the greatest gift we will = never understand—why God would offer eternal life simply to anyone who rece= ives it. Shouldn’t he have a= more elaborate screening process? (Of course, as long as we make it through!) Shouldn’t there be some word= s to spell or something?

Harvey Penick was one = of the great teaching pros in the game of golf.&n= bsp; He passed away several years ago after living over ninety years and teaching golf for about seventy years.&nbs= p; In the 1920’s Har= vey began to write down teaching tips and philosophical observations about the = game into a little red notebook. H= e never showed it to anyone except his son until 1991, when he shared it with a wri= ter friend of his and asked if he thought the little book could be published. <= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> The writer read it and said absolut= ely, and Harvey’s first book, called Harvey Penick= 217;s Little Red Book, became the best-selling golf book ever published.=

But before it was publ= ished, this writer friend called Harv= ey’s wife and told her that Simon and Schuster, the publisher, had agreed to a $90,000 advance on the book. = The next day, the friend was surprised to find Harvey in a troubled mood. Harvey told him that with all his medical bills, there was no way he could advance Simon and Schuster that much money. The writer then had to explain that Harvey would not be paying them $90,000= ; he would be receiving the advance from the publisher. What a difference that makes!= = [5]

People often feel that= way about the gift of salvation. = They feel they must be good enough to earn salvation. They have to get their act together before they can come to God. = They have to quit all their bad habits, get in shape, and acquire some wealth be= fore God will accept their cries for mercy.&nbs= p; If we had to do all that, it wouldn’t be mercy! It wouldn’t be grace. It wouldn’t be salvation.

The secret to salvatio= n is a simple acceptance by faith of the gracious gift of God. We believe the promise; we trust i= n God; and we are saved. Ephesians 2= :8-9 says it so well: “For by grac= e you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gi= ft of God—not the result of works, so that no one may boast.”<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Isn’t that liberating? Doesn’t that make you want to celebrate? =

Then UNCORK YOUR PASSION for life.&= nbsp; That is the third part of the salvation secret. The result of your experience of salvation is a passion for life, a zest for living, a robust and energetic enthusiasm for the gift that God has given us. We repent of our sins—unlock= our hearts—accept Christ by faith—unwrap the gift—and then we truly and abundantly live!

Salvation is a process= of living and learning and serving and growing in the Lord. It is not a one-time-get-your-ticket-for-heaven event. The initial experience simply prepa= res us to enter into a relationship that will mold us into the likeness of our partner, Jesus Christ our Lord. Paul said it this way: “For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which G= od prepared beforehand to be our way of life.”[6] God has a plan for our li= ves, and it’s different for every person, but it always involves living wi= th passion from the day you are born again until the day you die. It always involves finding your spiritual gifts and using your gifts in ministry. Jesus didn’t come to make li= fe easy; he came to make people great.[7] And the secret of a great life, a passionate life, is service to the Kingdom of God.<= /span>

One of Japan’s most passionate Christians w= as actually the same man who led the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor over 60 years ago.&nbs= p; His name was Mitsuo Fuchida. He was the top military pilot in Japan prior to World War II.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> It was his voice that uttered the = words, “Tora! Tora! Tora!” telling the Japanese = high command that they had achieved surprise and commencing the attack on Pearl Harbor. After the war, Fuchida became acqua= inted with Jacob deShazer, an American Christian missionary who had been a Japane= se prisoner-of-war, who then returned to share the Gospel in the country of his former enemies.

Fuchida became a Chris= tian evangelist, preaching the Good News in his own country and in our country to the Japanese-American communities. Shortly before Fuchida died in 1976, he said that he would like to be remembered not for the infamous attack on Pearl Harb= or, but for the legacy of his changed heart.&n= bsp; He wrote, “That morning [December 7, 1941] I lifted the curtai= n of warfare by dispatching that cursed order, and I put my whole effort into the war that followed…. But after buying and reading the Bible, my mind w= as strongly impressed and captivated. I think I can say today without hesitation that God’s grace has been set upon me.”[8]

Have you been impresse= d and captivated by the good news of Jesus Christ? Have you unlocked your heart before God? Have you unwrapped the gift of grace he has given you? Have you uncorked the passion of l= iving for him? Do you know how to g= et there? Do you know the secret= ?

This past May, the Bil= ly Graham library was dedicated in Charlotte, North Carolina. Three former presidents were in attendance, and about 1500 invited guests.= Billy Graham’s son Franklin reminded the crowd that the library was not there to honor Billy Graham, but to honor the message that he had preached for 60 years. He then reminded people that the only way to get into the library is through the do= or at the foot of a huge glass cross cut into the building.[9] That was on purpose, because that = is the secret of a relationship with God. We enter at the foot of the cross.&= nbsp; We see what God has done for us, that he gave his only Son to die for us, and that through that death and then his resurrection, we can have life eternal and abundant and glorious. <= /span>

That’s what̵= 7;s so wonderful about the cross. That’s what’s so amazing about grace. That’s what’s so excit= ing about being a disciple of Jesus Christ!&nb= sp; Amen!