Like
a Kid in a Candy Store
Ephesians 1:3
By Alan Walker
We go to Winco, Walgreens, K-mart, Ace Hardware, Wal-mart, Sam’s Club, Target
and Safeway with a shopping cart. But sometimes, we come to Church without so much as an
open hand to receive or an open mind to be surprised.
It was in Bandon, Oregon, no earlier than 1962 when Mom asked me to
go down to the corner market and pick up a half-gallon of milk. The store was about a half
block away and it was the first time this second grade toe-head with suspenders, marched
to the store with money in his pocket. Mom knew to the penny how much milk would be and
that I would get fifty-one cents in change. She told me I could spend the penny.
It must have been a warm summer in Bandon, because my brain
wasn’t working properly and I thought Mom said I could spend all the change.
I picked up the right milk, because I knew what kind of carton we
used. The store owner rang up the purchase and gave me the fifty-one cents back in change.
My eyes light up, my jaw dropped, I was numb all over, because there was candy everywhere!
I may have only been adding small numbers in Bandon Elementary and
reading about Dick and Jane and their famous dog Spot, but even I knew that fifty-one
cents could buy a lot of candy, especially when much of the candy was two for a penny.
Well the story didn’t have as happy an ending as I thought it
would.
I probably should have had a hint that things were going south when
the store owner asked me twice if I was sure my mom wanted me to spend the change on
candy. Boy was I sure!
However in retrospect I realize I may have been the victim of
subjective rather than objective reasoning.
When I triumphantly entered the house with fifty-one cents worth of
candy in a nice little sack about a half hour later than my mother anticipated, I had some
explaining to do, before she even saw the sack of candy. What’s a second grader to
do? I gave her my very best blank look. It didn’t work.
Oh my, mom may have invented words that day in Bandon. To the best of
my recollection I didn’t hear some of those words until I entered High School, and
I’m not sure I’ve ever heard some of
them.
She gave me a lesson on math - financial matters such as how many
bills Mom and her husband, i.e., my Dad had to pay each week.
I got a lesson on Economics 101, basically, there were more bills
than there was income.
I was given a hearing test as she shouted at me, “Didn’t
you hear I said you could spend only the penny?” (After that I really did need a
hearing test)
My middle name is Dean, and my mom seldom used it, but that afternoon
she put a dent in it as she kept saying with her voice raising to operatic pitches –
ALAN DEAN WALKER what were you thinking?
Then the lesson on the advantages of corporal punishment.
And then a lesson on patience - as she said, “wait until your
dad gets home young man.”
And perhaps worst of all she took my candy.
1962 - Not a great year!
Ten years later, I accepted Jesus Christ. I again felt like a kid in
a candy store.
As a Christian – I believe our Jesus Journey is a lot like a kid
in a candy store – but with a happy ending.
Our Scripture in this message is just one verse in Ephesians –
but an exciting, “kid in a candy story” verse it is!
Ephesians 1:3: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
It’s been awhile since some of us have been kids, but let’s
think back, over the years, back to when we could run all day, leap tall buildings, had a
full head of hair, didn’t need a prescription, and were at the candy story counter
for the first time…
You remember. There’s that…
1. Eye-Popping,
Jaw-Dropping Awareness.
Whoa! This is a diabetic’s nightmare. Candy everywhere. In jars,
in bars, in the form of cars, and some that may have tasted like tar…. (A poor
attempt at a rhyme)
Back when it was safe to take candy from a stranger – yes, there
was a time – in Myrtle Point, Oregon, there was this old guy that dressed as a clown
and wore a Jughead hat. He would balance his cane on his foot, and give us candy. When we
went to Myrtle Point, I was on the look out for this guy! He was the Candy Man long before
Sammy Davis, Jr.
Praise be to the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms…
I have to tell you folks I have seen the hand of God bless people. I
have been blessed by God. God is in the blessing business.
I get excited about what God is going to do next. What blessings he
is going to share.
I think Paul may have struggled to find a word to express all God has
for us in Jesus – he used the word “blessed,” but that just doesn’t
seem to cut it. It seems lacking a little. It needs something more, but I can’t come
up with another word either. Maybe because it’s indescribable.
We are blessed!
 | We’re saved people on the way to glory!
|
| God loves us so much Jesus died for us
|
| God cares for us – every day and in every way
|
| God blesses us with gifts
|
| God has given us the family we call the Church
|
| God has given us a relationship with His Son Jesus
|
| God has given us our closest pals here in the Church
|
| God has given us a mission, a purpose, a plan
|
| God is full of surprises!
|
It’s an adventure I wouldn’t miss for the world. I wake up
in the mornings wondering what God is going to do today! What is He planning for me? What
divine appointments has he planned and not put on my PDA? Man, it is exciting; I have to
tell you I feel like a kid in a candy store.
Now, Alan, truthfully, has it always been that way in your Christian
life?
My adventure with Jesus has not always been like this – maybe
yours hasn’t been either. What’s
the difference now?
I believe it’s this - a growing, energetic, electrifying, and
challenging day in and day out walk with Jesus Christ.
| Why do I read the bible? How can I not do it?
|
| Why do I pray? How can I not pray?
|
| Why do I get excited about my walk with Jesus? How could I not?
|
I’m as excited about Jesus and what he’s doing as I have
ever been in my life.
How can we have that? How can we not?
To once again believe it’s possible – for us to have again
an eye-popping, jaw dropping awareness of the blessing of a relationship with Jesus! Just
like we did when we first entered the candy-store called the Church!
The second emotion of a kid in a candy store is…
2. Indecision: I
Can’t Decide What I Want.
I am sure one reason they have children’s menus in restaurants
is to give the child less choices so they can make up their minds faster.
Oh my goodness, I can’t even begin to tell you the times we took
the kids to dinner, and waited and waited until they made up their mind. Indecision!
To solve that we took them occasionally to the old King’s Table
– they knew what they wanted – they ran to the Ice Cream Machine!
A kid in a candy store, with limited resources has to decide what
they will walk out with. If they take the Sugar Daddy, then they can’t have the Look
Candy bar. If they take the Look, they have to give up on the Big Hunk. If you bought the
Idaho Spud, then you had to pass on the Red Vines, and if you wanted the Red Hots or the
Lemon Heads, then you had to pass on the Red Vines - a decision had to be made.
As we read - Praise be to the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms…
we begin to look about wanting to make the right selections to get the most for our walk
with Jesus.
I’ll take a bit of grace, and some of that righteousness, a
smidgen of justification and a tad-bit of that sanctification stuff, and if I still have
some room with my fifty-one cents, I want to get a skoch of communication and a double
serving of Jesus’ love.
Maybe as you’re going to the check out and you remember one time
in your life when you bought it all and forgot your check book and only had $40.00 cash
and the register rang up $95.00. While everyone in the store was watching, you had to say
– please take this back, and that, and I guess I don’t need this anyway.
I remember a friend of mine when we came to Christ years ago. He was
like a kid in a candy store. He wanted as much as he could get of Jesus. On
Saturday’s much to our minister’s concern, he attended a 7th Day Church. Then
the Assembly of God Church had a special service during the week and he would be there.
And then the Methodists would have a sing-along and he would go there. He was everywhere.
Like a kid in a candy store – it finally comes down to
this…
3. Realization: I
Want It All!
You see the wheels spinning in their eyes and the jaw begins to
clench and the eyes begin to withdraw and they start to get beady. Now they’re
thinking…I want it all! I want it all!
I want every candy bar, every jaw breaker, every pack of gum, I want
every piece of licorice, I want every piece of chocolate there is. Give me the biggest
sack in the store, better yet a wheel-barrel. I want it!
I imagine every kid has dreamed of hi-jacking an air-plane full of
candy to Cuba to enjoy it on a nice beach while escaping extradition.
The truth is regardless of how sweet your tooth is, or even how large
your penny bank is, you are not going to get it all. It won’t happen. You may want it
all, you may day-dream of it all, but it ain’t-a-gonna happen in this life time.
Here’s the good news – we can have everything Jesus has in
his store for us. We don’t have to settle for less than everything!
Look at the rest of verse 3 with me… “…with every spiritual blessing in Christ.”
Listen to this…
2 Peter 1:3: His divine power has given us everything we need for
life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and
goodness. (NIV)
2 Corinthians 6:10: Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many
rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything. (NIV)
In Jesus, we find a Savior who does not hold back. He’s prepared
to give us everything we need to grow in him. All the candy so to speak is on the lowest
shelves.
It’s there for us:
| The reassurance of Heaven
|
| The power of His Holy Spirit who indwells us
|
| The Word of God we have read to grow us
|
| Our prayers are not mere words but He hears them
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| His incredible love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness,
forgiveness, friendship, eternity,
surprises, his presence, understanding, time, and His nurturing.
|
We go to Winco, Walgreens, K-mart, Ace Hardware, Wal-mart, Sam’s
Club, Target and Safeway with a shopping cart. But sometimes, we come to Church without so
much as an open hand to receive or an open mind to be surprised.
And that’s sad – and I believe you agree with me…
| Jesus is not about an hour a week – He’s about eternity
|
| Jesus is not about creating problems – but resolving them
|
| Jesus is not about getting – but growing
|
| Jesus is about a relationship. 24/7
|
| Jesus is about a passionate relationship
|
| Jesus is about a giving relationship
|
| Jesus is about a growing relationship
|
| Jesus is about a relationship that will change our life.
|
As Christians, we’re meant to have it all. To experience it all!
We don’t have to pick and choose. And that is the glorious message of this passage.
Wrapping it Up
A couple of quick thoughts I want to leave you with.
#1. Regardless of how long, or maybe in spite of how long you serve
the Lord – don’t ever lose that eye-popping, jaw-dropping awareness that Jesus
has blessed us and is still blessing us.
“Are you sure Alan that this is the way it is, because, I feel
like my life is in a spiritual drought. Why don’t I feel as close to Him as
you’re describing?” Hey, I’ve been there.
Take this verse home with you and ponder it, mull it over, and then
get down on your knees and follow the directions…
John 16:24: Until now you have not asked for anything in my name.
Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. (NIV)
#2. Expect to be surprised in your relationship with Jesus!
Always have that kid in a candy store fascination – that wide
eyed wonder for Jesus - and see what He will do in your life.
Copyright © 2005. Alan Walker is minister of the Arcata Church of
Christ in Arcata, California. Used by permission. Permission is granted by the author and
by The Preacher's Study to use this document in total or in sermon preparation in the
context of the local congregation only. Publishing it in a book, on the Internet, or any
place beyond the local congregation is prohibited.