Several years ago the great evangelist, Billy Graham, did a very bold thing.  He went to Fort Lauderdale during spring break and tried a one-shot crusade for the college kids who had gone down to Florida for the big party.  There he stood at the end of Las Olas Boulevard along with Anita Bryant and a few other celebrities.

            The problem was how to get the attention of 10,000 or so college kids in a party mood.  It’s always dangerous to ask a rhetorical question, and Billy came up with a dandy: “What’s the one thing that is worth living for today?” Billy asked the students who were lounging around on the sand.

            “Sex!” one young man shouted immediately.

            “Yeah, sex!” echoed the assembled congregation who promptly burst into gales of raucous laughter.  It was several minutes before Billy got control of the crowd and himself!¹

            How would you answer that question?  The one thing that is worth living for today is... (fill in the blank).  Of course, here you are in church, and you know the right answer to that question probably will not be winning the biggest lottery jackpot in the history of Western civilization.  It’s got to be something spiritual, right?

            But just for the moment, imagine yourself not in this sanctuary but in that other great sanctuary out under God’s beautiful blue sky where so many people of all religions will be worshiping today: a golf course!  Imagine having that question put to you by one of the members of your foursome.  And imagine how the members of the foursome would answer that question, “What’s the one thing that is worth living for today?”

            Golf?  Well, probably not.  A great game, but probably not the one thing worth living for today. 

            Sex?  Take a quick look around you and ask yourself what percentage of this crowd would agree at this point in their lives that sex is the be-all end-all of human existence.  We might get a third of this crowd that would consider sex as a serious contender for number one position.

            Well, what then?  Money?  I’d venture to guess that a very high percentage of us and our neighbors would put money way up there on their priority list.  Like someone once said: “Money isn’t everything -- but it’s way out ahead of whatever is in second place!”

            Power?  That would be a pretty strong contender, too.  Friendship?  Achievement?  Success?  All strong contenders.

            St. Paul nominates Christ.  Of course you know that’s the right answer, the expected answer when you come to church.  But I want to support Paul’s nomination, and I want you to ask yourself seriously whether or not that answer works outside church.  I’m going to argue that it does.  I’m going to argue that of all the things that we might nominate to be the number one thing worth living for today, Jesus Christ is the clear winner.

            Money, sex, and power are three very important and potent factors in human life, let’s not minimize them.  But are they, individually or collectively, the one thing worth living for?

            Listen again to Paul’s words: “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

            Paul shows us the ground of his hope for time and eternity.  To live, right now in the here and now, is Christ.  There’s our hope for time.  To die in that great day when each one of us will have to shuffle off this mortal coil, to die, according to Paul, is gain.  There’s our hope for eternity.  In this life, the first best the hope of humankind according to Paul is Jesus Christ.  And after this life is done, the last best hope of humankind is still Jesus Christ.

 

THE FIRST BEST HOPE.

 

            The first best hope of humankind is Christ.  Is that a proposition that will stand up under scrutiny?  Paul says in another place, “We who first hoped in Christ have been destined and appointed to live for the praise of his glory.”² 

            Paul is saying that from all eternity the intention of God for the human race is that people live, day to day in this time-bound existence, for the sake of and with the power of Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ is the purpose and meaning of human existence.  There is nothing better, nothing more worthwhile, nothing more satisfying than to live for Christ.  Even if there were no promise of heaven at the end of life, that would still be true.

            Think about it: in politics, in commerce, in our neighborhoods, in our relationships with our international neighbors, the first best hope of humankind is to have people like Jesus Christ running the show.  Now, understand me: I’m not saying that the people who say they’re like Jesus Christ are necessarily the ones who ought to be in charge.  I mean the ones who really are like Jesus Christ.

            People who really love their neighbors as themselves.  People who really believe and practice the Golden Rule.  People who speak the truth without fear or hesitation, but always in a spirit of love.  People who do real life actions to improve the lot of their neighbors, rich or poor.  People who challenge us to think seriously about what is good and then who model for us what the good really is.  Our world cries out for people like this!

            We are suspicious of hypocrites, as well we might be.  But when we encounter a truly Christlike person, everything changes.  I ran into a truly Christlike woman back in Phoenix running a home for homeless people.  There’s nothing so overwhelming about our problem with homelessness in Grants or Albuquerque that 20 or 30 people like this Christlike woman couldn’t fix up in a hurry.

            I know a truly Christlike businessman who lives in Maine.  He is concerned about the bottom line just like all good businessmen should be.  He is smart, he turns a profit with his businesses, and, incidentally, he is an ordained minister.  But before he was ever a minister, his main concern was conducting his business in a Christlike way.  And as an ordained minister, his main ministry is through his business.

            I know a truly Christlike housewife in Pittsburgh.  A couple of years back  she was voted volunteer of the year for the whole state of Pennsylvania in the healthcare network where she works.  Believe me, I know this woman very well, and before she met Jesus Christ, no one would ever have thought of nominating her for anything, let alone for volunteer of the year!  She had no real purpose in life other than getting through the day before she met Jesus.  But after she became a Christian, her life turned around 180 degrees.

            When our world encounters a truly Christlike person, not a hypocrite who uses his or her Christian faith to advance their careers, but the genuine article, the world sits up and takes notice.  It is hard to demean or scoff at such a person.  The real thing is just too compelling.

            I know a bunch of truly Christlike people in churches that I have served.  Just spending time with them is the delight of my life.  When I see them in action, I am inspired, when I see what they accomplish in the church and community, it makes me realize that what I do for a living is really worthwhile, one of the greatest professions in the world.  Not the greatest profession necessarily!  The ministry is a wonderful and necessary profession.  But the object of ministry is the encouraging of faith in Christ so that people will become truly Christlike and live for Christ in places other than their churches: in their professions, in their businesses, in their neighborhoods.

            When genuinely Christlike people practice their faith in the public arena -- when an Abraham Lincoln, or a Mother Teresa, or a Joni Eareckson, or even Christians as diametrically opposed to each other politically as Chuck Colson, or Jim Wallis, when people like this are living for Christ and doing their level best to do what Christ would do -- the world becomes a better place.  The hungry get fed, prisoners get rehabilitated, the sick are visited and ministered to, slaves are freed, warring parties are brought to the table to negotiate with each other.  These things grow out of faith -- Christian faith!  Would anybody seriously argue, even those who do not believe in a God of any kind, that these things are bad for the world?

            Jesus Christ is the first best hope for humankind.  Paul, writing from his prison cell, chained to a Roman soldier 24/7, is the happiest, most hopeful individual in the neighborhood.  No matter what his circumstances, his hope in life is Jesus Christ.  For him, to live is Christ.

            Can anybody come up with a better hope for the human race than people who really live for Christ?

 

THE LAST BEST HOPE

            Jesus Christ is also the last best hope for humankind.

            I read the cover story of a Newsweek magazine that was entitled “Visions of Heaven: How Views of Paradise Inspire -- and Inflame -- Christians, Muslims and Jews.”  Interestingly, the inset on the cover showed a picture of Marilyn Monroe with the caption, “Lost Photos of Marilyn Monroe.”  So, if we don’t believe in heaven, there’s always Marilyn!

            But the article told us that most of us Americans -- 76 percent, in fact -- do believe in heaven.  We’re not necessarily in agreement on what kind of heaven there is, and how to get there, and who gets to go.

            Paul and the New Testament agree with that 76 percent of our countrymen and women.  There is not a lot of specific teaching in the New Testament about the exact details of what heaven is like.  There’s a lot, especially in the book of Revelation, that is highly symbolic, and the debate about the meaning of those astonishing pictures in Revelation continues to be intense even within the Christian Church.

            But on one thing there is no disagreement among Christians: heaven is where Christ is.  Christ is not only the first best hope of humankind, he is also the last best hope of humankind.

            So, what do we find in this marvelous first chapter of Philippians to indicate that Jesus is the last best hope of humankind?

            Just take a look at Paul’s attitude.  Paul says, “Wherever Christ is, that’s heaven, and that’s where I want to be.”  You remember the famous old Jack Benny routine where a robber sticks a gun in Jack’s ribs and says, “Your money or your life.”  Benny hesitates, and the robber says, “Come on, buddy, what’s it going to be, your money or your life?”  And Jack says, “I’m thinking, I’m thinking!”

            How many people do you know who, if asked the question, “Would you rather live or die?” would reply, “I’m thinking, I’m thinking!”

            Listen again to Paul’s words:  “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.  If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean productive work for me. Yet if you asked me which I would choose, I’d have a hard time answering!  I am torn between the two: I want to leave this world to be with Christ, which is better by far; but I’ve got to remember you and your needs.”

            He’s torn!  Can you beat that!  Living for him is Christ.  He lives joyfully, victoriously as a man in Christ even when he’s living in prison.  He makes the most of his circumstances.  He’s chained to a soldier from the elite Praetorian Guard, the bodyguard of the Emperor Nero, twenty-four hours a day.  And because of this, the whole cotton pickin’ Praetorian Guard has been exposed to the gospel!³  They tried to shut Paul up when they put him in prison, but instead, they gave him a pulpit!  Paul may not be living in the most comfortable of circumstances, but he’s having a ball!  Paul, even in prison, is doing what he loves to do best: he’s living for Christ and seeing the people around him infected and changed by this wonderful gospel.

            Nevertheless, Paul knows that departing this life to be with Christ would be a whole lot more fun.  And here he expresses the last best hope of humankind.  No more prison, no more pain, no more sickness, the destruction of death, the promise of a totally fulfilling life in which we leave our selfish human nature behind and take on the new nature, the nature of Jesus Christ.  Wow!  What a wonderful prospect, what a marvelous hope!

            God’s promise to us is that the world to come will be a place where all wrongs are righted, where all suffering is repaid infinitely, where all loose ends are tied up, where doubt is replaced by faith and where faith becomes sight.

            Friends, if this is true, and Christians through the ages have believed that it is true, we can’t lose!  We have hope for this life in Jesus Christ, the first best hope of humankind.  And we have hope for eternity in Jesus Christ, the last best hope of humankind.

            That Newsweek article I mentioned quoted Randall Balmer, professor of American religion at Barnard College, who said:  “Now, among main line Christians, hardly anyone in the pulpit preaches about heaven anymore.” 

            I guess I want to be the exception.  We Christians are often mocked when we talk about heaven.  As C. S. Lewis comments, “We are very shy nowadays of even mentioning heaven.  We are afraid of the jeer about ‘pie in the sky,’ and of being told that we are trying to ‘escape’ from the duty of making a happy world here and now into dreams of a happy world elsewhere.  But either there is ‘pie in the sky’ or there is not.  If there is not, then Christianity is false, for this doctrine is woven into its whole fabric.  If there is, then this truth, like any other, must be faced . . . .”⁴ 

            I’m not a betting man ordinarily, but I’m going to bet on Jesus and his promise of eternal life.  I just can’t believe that this Man who talks such good sense about the nature of human life, who lived a life so exemplary that even his enemies acknowledge its goodness, and who continues to change lives in today’s world, was just flat out wrong about heaven.  It doesn’t make sense to me that this man who was so right-on about everything else was wrong about this.  Furthermore, don’t forget the story of the resurrection.  Nobody else in history has died and then, according to hundreds of witnesses, has come back to tell us about it!

            So, I’m betting that Jesus is the first best and the last best hope of humankind.  For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.  How about you?  Maybe some of you want to bet the other way.  You want to bet that Jesus is a fraud.  If you win the bet, what have you won?  You’ve won nothing, and, really, I’ve lost nothing.

            But what if I win my bet and you lose yours?  I win everything – I hit the jackpot of the entire universe!  And, keep this in mind, if you lose, you lose everything!⁵

            I’m going to bet on Jesus as both the first and the last best hope of humankind!  How about you?