Embrace Eternity
Luke 12:13-21
There are a lot of different thoughts about death and heaven, and who is going and how we get there. In life, there is a finish line. There is an end. It's called death. It's a topic we don't like to talk about. But our refusal to talk about it doesn't delay its coming. We're all terminal… some of us are just blessed enough to know it.
(Luke 12:13-21).
"Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me." Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?" Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ "Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry."’ "But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ "This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."
He lived like this life is all there is — This is a fatal miscalculation
Everybody has to decide what they believe about life and what matters most.
If Jesus' death and resurrection doesn't answer the "then what" question, we have no hope.
1 Corinthians 15:19. Paul says, "If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men."
Christ came so that you could have eternal life.
"We think that we are in the land of the living going to the land of the dying when in reality we are in the land of the dying going to the land of the living."
In Ecclesiastes 3:11 Solomon writes, "He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end."
When you believe that this life is all there is, you begin to mistakenly act as though making a living is the same as making a life. That is wrong.
In Ecclesiastes 2:18 Solomon says, "I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me."
In Matthew 6:19-21, the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said it like this. "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
He lived like there would always be more time — This is a costly procrastination
We become presumptuous when we stop recognizing God's ultimate control and start living as though we control the universe.
There is so little in this life that we really control. Life is in God's hands.
"Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes." (James 4:14)
He didn't live this life in light of the life to come — This is a missed preparation
Many people believe heaven is real, but live as though it is irrelevant.
"Eternity is primary. Heaven must become our first and ultimate point of reference. We are built for it, redeemed for it, and on our way to it. Success demands that we see and respond to NOW in light of THEN."
The Bible says that heaven is the true home of those who are Christ followers. We are pilgrims just passing through this world. If we really believe that, it should and will change what matters to us and how we live.
Wise people build their lives around what is eternal.
In 2 Corinthians 4:17-5:1 Paul said,
"For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands."
What lies beyond death is so breathtakingly wonderful; we can't wrap our minds around it.
"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him." (1 Corinthians 2:9).
Nothing could be more tragic than to prosper in this world and fail to prepare for the world to come.
In Luke 9:25 (NLT) "And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose or forfeit your own soul in the process?"
You could do everything we have talked about over the last 30 days and still end up a fool. There is only one thing you can do to be ready when death comes knocking on your door. In order for you to be ready for eternity, you must be reconciled with God. I am asking you today, will you accept his gift of salvation and become a Christ follower? Your eternity is riding on your answer to that question.
Hebrews 9:27 (NLT) says, "And just as it is destined that each person dies only once and after that comes judgment."