Redeemed from an empty way of life

This past Sunday, It was my turn to serve as speaker for the Lutheran Chapel Service that airs Sunday mornings on KNUJ radio (New Ulm MN).   I thought I'd share that message also here in written form.

- David Sellnow

Electric Gospel editor

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Since you call on a Father who judges each peson's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God (1 Peter 1:17-21).

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Christopher McCandless wanted life to have meaning. His father was a NASA scientist who later started his own computer software business. Chris didn't find purpose in that. In high school, Chris was captain of the cross-country team. He was an outstanding long-distance runner ... but that didn't satisfy his yearnings completely. He attended Emory University in Atlanta, where he got good grades and wrote for the school newspaper. Still, he wasn't fulfilled. 

The summer after he graduated from college, Chris McCandless donated his entire bank account of $25,000 to a charity for feeding the hungry. He left Atlanta, making sure neither his parents nor his sister knew when he left or where he was going. He traveled the country for two years, some by car till it died in the desert, the rest by hitchhiking. He never stayed anywhere too long. He was always off on another adventure. He worked odd jobs from time to time—but only to put together enough cash for his next departure. 

On April 15, 1992, he left from South Dakota to begin a trek to Alaska.  His “great Alaskan odyssey," he called it. He hitchhiked all the way there—not an easy thing to do.  He arrived in Fairbanks on April 25. Three days later he was walking out into the wilderness, determined that he would find life's meaning by living in the wild, living off the land. 

He ate roots and berries. He hunted game—various birds, porcupines, squirrels. At one point he managed to kill a moose but then felt great guilt because he could not process and preserve all the meat before it rotted. He survived all alone through the Alaskan summer. But on July 30, his journal contained this ominous entry:  

"EXTREMELY WEAK.  
FAULT OF POTATO SEED.
MUCH TROUBLE JUST TO STAND UP.  
STARVING.
GREAT JEOPARDY."

McCandless had been using a field guide for finding edible roots and berries. But he made a mistake. He began eating seed pods of a wild potato plant that, at that time of year, contained a locoweed type toxin. He had no body fat left by this time, so the effects of the toxin were worse. He could no longer hunt or find enough food to survive. By about August 18, he was dead. Later, other hikers happened upon his camp and discovered his dead body.  (Details as told in Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer, Anchor/Doubleday 1996).

Christopher McCandless thought he could find meaning and purpose in life by retreating into the solitude of nature. Instead, the young man who donated all his money to a hunger charity died of starvation. It was an empty way of life that he had chosen. 

The apostle Peter writes about "the empty way of life handed down ... from (our) forefathers.” Many people pursue goals in life that are, ultimately, empty and meaningless. For some it's career. For others it's power and position. Then there are those like Chris McCandless, who may live like hermits or climb mountains or attempt round-the-world trips in balloons or some other extreme thing and still, they can’t find what the human heart is looking for. People yearn for fulfillment in many ways. But there is only one way that life is made truly full and meaningful, and that is through Christ—through his life, his death and his resurrection.

Peter's priceless passage says this: "For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect." 

In the case of Peter's forefathers, the empty way of life they handed down was one full of much religion. But their religion was empty of true spiritual life. They had rules, they had ceremonies, they had rituals, they had sacrifices. But in their religiosity, they had failed to maintain a genuine connection with God. They had ripped the rules and laws apart from the meaning God had given them and made the rituals into events in and of themselves. 

Peter points to Jesus as the one and only Redeemer from such emptiness. Human religion is only ritual without Jesus. Human search for meaning is meaningless without Jesus. It's his life that gives meaning to ours, his resurrection that makes faith worth believing. 

Jesus redeemed our lives from emptiness with his own fullness. He is God in the flesh, come down from heaven. His is the most precious, meaningful life ever lived. He healed the sick. He raised the dead. He lived completely for the sake of others. He preached the truth. He opposed evil. Then he died. 

But this was no ordinary death. This was no ordinary man. His was no ordinary life, and his death was an atonement for all the world. The Son of God from heaven was giving himself up for me and you. That is precious. It is the most precious gift ever given. Worth more than gold, worth more than silver, worth more than anything you could gain or experience in this world—Jesus gave his life for you. And he returned to life, his resurrection giving us "a living hope ... an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade" (1 Peter 3:3,4).  You were redeemed from an empty life with a precious life—the life of Jesus. 

And since you have been redeemed, you now have a precious life. You have been redeemed—bought back—by Jesus for a purpose. Peter's epistle urges us: "Since you call on a Father who judges each person's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. ... You believe in God, who raised Jesus from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God." 

You don't need to climb Mt. Everest to prove you're worth something. You don't have to cross a desert or survive alone in Alaska to be doing something worthwhile. You have a worthwhile life in Jesus Christ every day. Whatever your work or hobbies or ambitions here on earth, those are all temporary things. You are strangers here. Heaven is your home. Live your life here on earth—enjoy your career, your pursuits, your activities and hobbies.  But live always with your eye on heaven. That's where you're headed. That's what gives you direction. Put your faith and hope in God each day. Be confident of life and the future and resurrection, because of Jesus. You were redeemed with his precious life, from an otherwise empty life, to live a full and precious life. It is as Jesus himself said: "I have come that [you] may have life, and have it to the full" (John 10:10). 

May your life be full, today and every day and forever, because of Jesus.