It’s an interesting time. When I go to the pumps, rather than considering how many dollars worth I will purchase, I think through my week and estimate how many gallons I will need to get by. I rarely fill the tank anymore even though it only holds twelve gallons.

It’s troubling to consider what the next few months hold for us at the pumps. We might find ourselves parking our cars and running on empty for awhile.

As much as this concerns me, what causes me even more apprehension is the condition of men and women in our city, our county, our state, some of whom I know and others I’ve never met who are running their lives full speed ahead – on empty!

Waking up each morning, going to work all day, grabbing a quick lunch, a hurried dinner, laughing through some sit-coms, catching the late news, kissing their kids they don’t know good-night, going to bed with their spouse they are thinking of trading in for a newer model, and hitting the pillow - empty!

Tomorrow will be the magic day that they will discover the allusive dream coming true, their emptiness filled, the answer finally discovered as to why they are here.

I recently listened to a sermon and a preacher was sharing that one of his elders had been telling him of his deep desire to grow closer to the Lord, wanting to take the next step in his spiritual journey, reaching out to Jesus. Then a few months later, having left his family and moved in with a woman much younger than himself, he sat in a booth at a restaurant and told the preacher, "I have never felt so alive."

We're looking at 1 Peter 1:17-21.

17 Since you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. 18 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, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God. (NIV)

These verses and a few more we’re going to look at in Ephesians paint for us two portraits, two pictures, two scenes - one sketch of emptiness and confusion and the other of fulfillment and satisfaction.

I dare say all of us are going to find ourselves in one of these pictures.

Peter paints a portrait of strangers and a drawing of emptiness…let’s look at the second painting first and call it…

It’s like your car, you fill it up, the gauge is full, it’s great, but before you are aware, the gauge is on empty again, and we are always looking for a better octane, or the right kind of additive, something that will keep it filled longer. Satisfied longer! Happy longer!

The bible tells us this way of life was handed down to us from our parents and grandparents. Contextually, we’re talking about the life of the Old Testament law they handed down that could never quite get the gauge to full.

Realistically, we’re talking about the life our parents gave us. The example they showed us. The baton they passed to us. You can shout "Hallelujah" if you had the luxury of being raised in a Christian home...

The truth is, many today were not raised in Christian homes, or perhaps they were raised in Christian homes in name only. Homes where God was not the center, where his Son was not enthroned, where bible verses were not memorized, where devotions were not shared, where daily life and application of Christianity did not go hand in hand.

What was handed down was just the same ol’ same ol’. Nothing new. Nothing different. Nothing exciting. Nothing to fill the emptiness.

Go to work, sleep, go on vacation, buy a home, retire, die, have a funeral, life is over. Emptiness!

Yet, people all around us are saying there must be more. There must be more! Please tell me there is more.

In the book of Ephesians – Paul paints another tragic picture of a life of emptiness…a life running on empty.

It’s so stark, I almost don’t want to share it with you.

Ephesians 2:3 - All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. NIV

We were...

We’re not alone in this - Paul says, "Like the rest…." Frankly, this describes the majority, desperately wanting something – needing something – demanding something!

A fix – a better job – another child – another spouse – to be single again –to be married – another degree – a mid-life crisis – an affair – an expensive vacation – moving – another State – another home...

In the Old Testament there is what we might call a journal or a diary written by a very wise man who lost his way for awhile. His name was Solomon and his journal is called Ecclesiastes.

He felt what you may be feeling, or what your neighbor is experiencing, or what your co-worker is struggling with. He lived with what perhaps your grown children are living with, playing with, are tempted with, and perhaps have even fallen for.

He tried everything there was to try: Alcohol, buying vast amounts of property, working on his portfolio, and even women. He had 300 wives and as a child in Sunday school once said, 700 Cucumber vines – well – he was spreading out.

His conclusion after everything – Emptiness! All is empty! None of it filled his life with satisfaction.

I hear so much sad news! So do you. Go back with me to Ephesians and look at Ephesians 2:4-6 - But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus… NIV

Regardless of who you are or what your relationship with Jesus might be, take a moment and look with me at those three words. They're good news! Circle them, underline them, mark them with yellow, and thank God they are in the book. God... "made us alive!"

Alive is a much more exciting word than "empty".

What we’re talking about is better than a Costco Card that entitles you to free gasoline for the rest of your life. (You don’t want this anyway – I’m sure that some Oil Company might put out a hit on you.)

This is better than the current price of Gasoline in Venezuela which, as of a week ago Wednesday, was reported to be 12 cents a gallon.

Peter calls us to a different kind of life. A life of uniqueness, a life with a direction, a goal, a life that has no end.

We are called to live not a life of strangeness – but a life as a stranger!

Not searching to find answers, but to discover the Alex Trebek of Christianity, to discover Jesus, who holds all the answers to life as well as the key to living life with satisfaction!

We are to live as "strangers" because we have found in Jesus answers. We have found in Jesus purpose. We have found in Jesus His life-giving and spirit-filling words that gently share how we can avoid emptiness and step right in to an exciting adventure.

Oh you might wrestle with the "do nots" of the Word of God, but I thank God for them. For when God tells us to avoid certain things, he is nudging us away from a life of emptiness.

I don’t believe it’s necessary to harp on the "do nots" of scripture, but they are there, for a reason.

They are for our protection, for our spiritual development, for our becoming closer to Jesus Christ.

All these life giving words are to "make us alive in Christ"

While I regret any of you have ever had to experience emptiness, I praise God all of us can be made alive because of God’s great love.

This passage we are considering in 1 Peter shares with us 3 great truths that…well if they don’t cause your spiritual tank to overflow, a trip to Costco certainly won’t help.

#1. We’ve Been Redeemed! – "…you were redeemed…" (v. 18)

Did you know that you can be given another chance at life - to begin that proverbial second chance so many wish for, long for, and cry out for?

Come on Alan, how?

Oh, you’re going to love this. It may cause a tear to form in your eye. Guys, just tell the person next to you it’s an allergy or a chill the went up your spine. – Here’s how: "…with the precious blood of Christ…"

Not the same old thing – something new, something potent, something lasting, something precious!

#2. We Have The Reality of The Resurrection! – "Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead…" (v. 21)

Life goes on - but not as the expression is commonly used when life takes a nose-dive. A spouse dies. Faith withers, trust subsides, and life is turned upside down. People say – Life goes on, while all they feel is disdain for life – and wish it wouldn’t go on. That's not what we mean when we say, "Life goes on."

What I mean is this: Jesus who was raised from the Dead, can and will raise us from not only the emptiness and pain of this world, but will raise us from the dead, and we will live with him forevermore! Only in Jesus and by his Precious Blood is it true that life really does go on!

When he "made us alive in Christ" – I would say he did a pretty good job!

#3. We have Faith and Hope! – "…and so your faith and hope are in God."

Faith and hope - what incredible words! You might be thinking they are just a little over-rated. But try living your life without them.

Hope and faith are the ingredients that dissolve emptiness in our life. Where there is emptiness hope and faith simply are in short supply or they do not exist at all. Faith and hope are the additives that will keep our tanks, our lives full and emptiness to be forever cast off.

Being a "stranger" in this world isn’t really all that strange at all, is it?

If your life is running on empty – it doesn’t have to stay that way.

If your life was once on full, but…well it doesn’t matter what happened…your fault, their fault, what does matter is you can once again life your life on full!

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.