Life Ministries

“Becoming A ‘4-H’ Christian” (“Hopeful, Helpful, Happy, Holy”)
1^st Thessalonians 5:1-11 and 1^st Thessalonians 1:2-8a.

    As a youngster, I was involved in a 4-H club. I remember the 4 H’s were “Head, Heart, Hands, and Health.” The 4-H clubs were a big part of the County Fair every year, and there were several categories you could be involved with. Mine were leathercraft and woodworking. The goal and the reward for your displays of course, were blue, red, or yellow ribbons…1^st, 2^nd, or 3^rd place.  In all my years of involvement no one that I know of tried their best to get third place!  In 1st Corinthians 9:24, Paul says that we all ought to “run as if to win the prize.” Today, and for the next few days, I want to give you four things that will help us as Christ-ians, to win the prize…to receive the crown of righteousness! Think of this as being a “4-H” Christian… They are: Hopefulness, Helpfulness, Happiness, and Holiness.

    One day while hunting, Larry and Elmer got lost in the woods. Trying to reassure his friend, Larry said “Don’t worry, all we have to do is shoot in the air three times (which is the universal hunting code for “I’m lost and need help”)…stay where we are, and someone will come and find us.” So they shot in the air three times and waited…but no one came. After a while they shot three times again…still no one came. Feeling hopeless, they decided to try once more, Elmer said “I sure hope it works this time, we’re down to our last three arrows!”
    The first thing we need to win in this Christian life is “Hopefulness”. The hopefulness of a Christian is based on Paul’s teaching in the chapter previous to our text, chapter 4:13-18… “Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. ¹⁴We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. ¹⁵According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. ¹⁸Therefore encourage each other with these words.”… Put this together with 5:9 of our text - “For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁰He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. ¹¹Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.”…This is our hope!
    Hope is vital - in fact it’s critical for our every day survival in life. God understands that. That’s why, in Romans 15:4 we’re told: "For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have HOPE." When we speak of this type of hope it could best be described as an attitude of confidence, expectation, and trust; no matter what the circumstance.
    While “hope” is a future word, the hope of Christ’s return and our rapture, and the eternal rewards of heaven, are not just something we “hope” will come in the future someday…in the sweet by and by…This is our present hope! It is also not just “wishful thinking”…it is absolute belief, absolute trust, absolute assur-ance, that God will do what He says He will do! We are not called to hope that it might, maybe, possibly will happen, but that Christ IS coming and it could be at any given moment of time! In the twinkling of an eye!     
    Our hope is based on fact! By the way, Robert Schuller II said something that bears repeating and quoting in every church around the world today; He was speaking to the issue of the Davinci Code, and to the fact that it is pure fiction and is found in the fiction section of the book store…And he said, “The book that I believe in, the book that I base my life and my future upon is not fiction!” Where is your hope today?  Is it based on absolute fact, or just wishful thinking?  In order to have any hope for the future, we must have a relationship with the one who holds the future.
    Of course, the hopefulness of a Christian is more than a hope of heaven…it holds out hope for all things; Our relationship with God gives us a hope for a better future for our families; a better future for our extended church family; a better future for our world; not because we think life is just a bed of roses, but because we know that no matter what we may face in the future, God is on our side and He is by our side! And, “He works all things out for the good of those who love him.” ”If God is for us, who can be against us?” ³²He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? ³³Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. ³⁴Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. ³⁵Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?”… “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”!! My friends, that is a positive HOPE! It is a hope that the world does not have.  All who are in Christ are “blue ribbon,” #number 1, first place Christians because of our hopefulness!
    Some Christians seem to be hopeful and doubtful at the same time. A Christian cannot be hopeful and worry about the future at the same time. There is a way to overcome worry and doubt…the Apostle Paul tells us how in Philippians 4:8 - ( Before you turn there, let me tell you a story about my Grandfather’s coffee;) Granmps had the old time percolating pots that you put on the stove. Instead of taking the time to clean out the coffee grounds and the pot, he would just add water and more grounds! Thank God for coffee filters! And, water filters; and furnace filters; and pool filters; gas filters, oil filters and air filters…What does a filter do? It filters out the bad, the unwanted, the evil, and allows the good to flow through!  In Philippians 4:8 Paul tells us we need to filter our minds in order to remain hopeful; He says; “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, pure, lovely, admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things”…Why? …Because negative thoughts bring us down and they destroy our hope!  It is easier to filter out the bad and fill up with the good than it is to try and remove the bad later.
    When it comes to “running as if to win the prize” Hebrews 10:23 says “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful”…Hopeful, Helpful, Happy and Holy Christians are always winners!