04.23.2023 - The Cost of Eternal Life

Anthony W. Franklin

Easter • Sermon • Submitted a year ago • Presented a year ago

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Scripture: 1 Peter 1:17-23

1 Peter 1:17–23 NRSV

17 If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of your exile. 18 You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish. 20 He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake. 21 Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God. 22 Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart. 23 You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God.

The Cost of Eternal Life

04.23.2023

The Price of Cows in Kenya

How much is a cow worth? That depends on a lot of factors. A cow could cost you anywhere between $900-$5,000. If you were to butcher, process, and package a cow by yourself, you could make $6,000 selling the meat from it. You could make even more money if you cooked and sold that meat yourself. Bear in mind this all depends on the age, weight, breed of cow, and the current beef market value. It also does not take out the costs of feeding and caring for the cow, which can get expensive. Cows can eat and drink a lot, even when roaming the pasture.

In rural Kenya, among the Maasai people, there is an old tradition that all of them have a right to access water from any source, both for themselves and their livestock. But in the drought seasons, when they take their cattle to find water, they leave a cow as payment for the drink of water. That’s a very expensive drink of water, even for the amount a herd of cattle would drink. But sometimes, when water is scarce, it becomes more costly than the cow that drinks it.

That may seem extreme, but consider the alternative. Without water, the entire herd would die of thirst. Is it not preferable that the life of one cow be given so that the herd can live? By their tradition, one cow was left behind, and that cow’s life became worth the salvation of the herd.

Such is the price of cows. But what about our lives? What are they worth? The value of our lives and the salvation of our souls cost Jesus His perfect life.

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The Life of Jesus

What does it mean that Jesus had a perfect life?

First, it means that Jesus lived a life without sin. In the 2,000 years leading up to Jesus, the people of God were taught to bring sacrifices to God. Typically these sacrifices were taken from the livestock: cattle, sheep, goats, or birds. When they made these sacrifices, their main acts of worship, God told them to offer the best they had available. Their worship was rejected if they brought a cow with a broken leg that couldn’t keep up with the herd or a sheep born blind. God deserved the best, not the leftovers.

When you give, do you give God the best you have, or does He get your leftovers?

When Jesus was arrested, and the long process of torture and interrogation began leading toward His death on the cross, He was perfectly healthy. His body was not riddled with disease or injury. He did not have a bad heart or a brain aneurysm that could go at any time. He had another 30 years to live and maybe more. If the people had chosen who would be sacrificed for their sins, they could have chosen someone old or sick, who didn’t have much life left to live anyway. Someone like that might have even volunteered. Not someone like Jesus. He had so much potential to serve and give and teach others. He was worth so much more alive, and that doesn’t even begin to consider his miraculous powers. If He had lived just an ordinary life, His life would have been worth more than most. And He did so much more than that.

The second thing that set Jesus apart is that He lived in perfect obedience to God. He not only avoided sin, but He also did everything God wanted Him to do. Can you imagine that? It is difficult enough to live a life avoiding sin. Jesus focused so much on obeying God that temptation never got a chance to get a hold of Him. Jesus spent so much time listening to God that the devil could never get a word in.

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Given willingly

Jesus was given a perfect life, and He lived it perfectly. However, perfect doesn’t mean easy, and it doesn’t mean painless. Some people wanted Him dead from the day He was born, and the world eventually got its way. He did not have a long life, but He made the best use of what He was given.

I have often thought that if we used every breath we were given for the glory of God, we might be able to say were earned our lives. If every act, every thought, and every word that came out of our mouths were given back as an offering to God when we died, we might be able to say we paid back our lives. Maybe. If we lived that perfect life, we would know that we gave back to God everything that He had given us.

That is the kind of life that Jesus led.

And that is the perfect life that He gave up for us because He loved us as much as God loves us. You and I have had times when we have acted like we love someone because we know God loves them, and we should too. We go through the motions of loving them, hoping that God’s love will eventually inspire us to love them as well. Jesus never had to act. He and God love us with the same love all the time.

Jesus is the one and only person who ever deserved eternal life. He lived His life on earth so faithfully and was willing to give it up so lovingly that it is only right that He should be able to live forever, and so justice was done when God raised Jesus from the grave on the third day. Even more, Jesus lived life so well that He is the only one worthy of deciding who else should be given eternal life. He will come again and judge the living and the dead, and He will do it with the righteousness and love of God.

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The Life of Great Price

Jesus told a story about a merchant pearl merchant. One day, the merchant strolled along the docks, looking over the oysters for sale. Suddenly he came upon the most fabulous pearl he had ever seen. He looked around to ensure no other merchants were nearby and then darted back home. He gathered up the deed to his house and all his belongings. He emptied his closet and put it in his cart. Whatever he could not sell immediately, he brought over to the fisherman, took off his sandals and his jacket, trading everything he had for this one pearl. This merchant walked away, owning nothing but this one pearl.

The fishermen and the village people thought he was crazy. Surely no pearl is worth everything. But they were not the experts in pearls. They had no idea how wealthy that merchant was walking away with nothing but perhaps his shorts and the shirt on his back, holding that precious pearl in his hands. Jesus said that was what the Kingdom of God was like. The kingdom of God is like someone trading everything for one thing and walking away so much richer for the effort.

Jesus is that pearl of great price for us. He is flawless and perfect. His life is worth all the lives in creation, and because He is not just human, He is also fully God, it is worth so much more. When we go through the marketplace of life, seeing all the things we can live for, nothing even comes close to Jesus. There is no comparison. The old African-American spiritual, Give Me Jesus says it best:

“Give me Jesus.

Give me Jesus.

You can have all this world, just give me Jesus.”

- Give Me Jesus

He is the pearl of great value.

But you and I are His pearl of great value. We may say the words or go through the motions of giving up everything for Jesus. Yet the truth is, Jesus is the merchant who gave up everything for us. We may be slimy, misshapen, stained, stuck in the mouth of a dead sea creature, and in need of so much work that it doesn’t seem worth the effort... but Jesus is the expert at salvaging pearls. If we allow Jesus to work on us, He can bring out more in us than we will ever see in ourselves.

Because of the great sacrifice that Jesus made for us, Peter writes:

1 Peter 1:22–23 NRSV

22 Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart. 23 You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God.

If you turn your life over to Jesus, He will give you new life in Him. He works on us to remold and make us into His image. The best things about ourselves are the things that are most like Jesus.

Take a moment. Look around you. Who do you see the marks of Jesus on from those around you? Where do you see that Word of God growing among those near you? Will you let Jesus love them through you, deeply and from the heart? You are not your own. Jesus bought you at a great price - His very life. Will you honor that by being His people?

Part of living a new life in Christ is learning to make decisions rather than letting sin run our lives. God loved you through Donna Cook and her faithful, timely, and generous gift last year that allowed us even to have a vote on the future of our church. Without her, our church would have been stuck in place. As you are all aware, Bekah and I have had our own decision to make, and we had multiple paths to consider. There were a lot of things to think and pray through, but for us, there has only been one deciding factor:

Where do we see Jesus leading us?

On our own, we know we lack the wisdom and insight to make those decisions, and even at our most self-centered moments, we don’t value ourselves and each other enough to want the best for each other. We are lost without Jesus, so we follow where He leads.