How to be a Pilgrim and a Stranger on Earth

On Saturday I was privileged to preach the graduation ceremony at the college where I teach.  I preached from 1 Corinthians 7:29-31:

This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, 30 and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, 31 and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.

My desire was to challenge our graduates to adopt non-citizen mindset as they set out to live and make a living in this world.  From Paul’s amazing words in 1 Corinthians 7, I shared four ways to be a pilgrim and a stranger on earth.  These are truths that God has taught me personally this last year.

1. Develop a profound conviction concerning the temporary nature of this world.
   • Paul says, “the appointed time has grown very short“ and “the present form of this world is passing away.“
   • There is an appointed, limited time for this world and it has grown very short.  The external, visible form of this world as we know it –everything that we can perceive with our senses–will soon be destroyed and pass away.
   • Therefore, learn to live in the light of this transience.
   • David called his house the “house of his sojourning.“  Learn to look at everything as a temporary gift from God.  Your car is simply the “car of your sojourning.”  Your job is the “job of your sojourning.”  Your body is the “body of your sojourning.”  Your career is the “career of your sojourning.”  Even your ministry will be “the ministry of your sojournings.”  Therefore, neither getting nor loosing nor protecting any of these things in this life will be your chief occupation.  Getting them will not drive you, keeping them will not consume you, and loosing them will not destroy you.  You live for another time and another place.
2. Keep your personal relationships in their appropriate place.
   • Paul says, “From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none.” Wow!
   • Christians have wives and husbands and children and parents, etc., but should never have and hold them as if they were everything.  My wife is the “wife of my sojournings” and my children are “the children of my sojournings.”
   • Therefore if any of these people whom I love and hold dear fails or disappoints me, my life will not end because God is my portion. “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” (Psalm 73:25-26)
   • If God in his providence should choose to take any of them from me, I should be able to say “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”
3. Allow neither your joy nor your sorrow to be rooted in temporal things.
   • Paul says, “[Let] those who mourn [do so] as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing.“
   • As human beings we rejoice and we suffer sorrow in this world.  But ultimately, our joy and sorrow are deeply rooted in eternity.  They are controlled and regulated by eternal values.
   • My joy and sorrow will not be controlled by personal security or comfort, but by God and his Son and their priorities.
4. Don’t allow the acquiring of material goods to be a end in itself.
   
   • Paul says, “[Let] those who buy [do so] as though they had no goods, 31 and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it.“
   • The quality, success, or value of my life is NOT dependent upon the abundance of my possessions.  Jesus said, “life is more than food, and the body more than clothing” and “one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
   • Therefore, although I do buy and sell and deal with this world, I do so in a manner ultimately unattached from those things.
   • I should use this world and its treasures as means to lay up treasures in the next world.
   • Be careful to maintain a healthy distance emotionally from this world and its goods.  Don’t love this world, nor the things in this world (1 John 2:15).