Preparing for What Future? -- 8/27/06 (Eternal Realities)

Sunday, August 27, 2006

PREPARING FOR WHAT FUTURE?

How we need to set our eyes on eternity. Before long someone is surely going to think, "Ron, it hasn’t been long since you preached on this subject. Wasn’t it just about six weeks ago? You would be right, but you would also be wrong. You would be right in that we did indeed consider this subject some six weeks ago. You would be wrong in finding it strange that we should consider it again so soon.

It was His last night with the apostles, shortly before His arrest. Jesus was praying to His Father, in the presence of those eleven men. Listen to His words… Jn. 17:15-19
I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. 16. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. 18. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. 19. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.

It is the will of God that His people penetrate this world with His truth. Unfortunately, what we see today is the world penetrating the church with its lies. And one of the biggest lies that has crippled the church of God is this: "It is important to make preparations for living in this world." That is a lie. Actually, it is a half-truth. Yes, it is very important that we make preparations for the future. But herein is the lie – we have been instructed to focus on the wrong future. The important future is not what we see in this world, for our citizenship is in heaven, from whence we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ (Phil. 3:20).

ILL -- Looking too close in front of us, and not focusing on the long range goal. Perhaps something about mountains/ trip / or the tadpoles

I remind you of what Paul said in Rom 12:1-2…
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

We can never present our bodies a living sacrifice to our Lord, as long as we are being conformed to this world, as long as the world is allowed to squeeze us into its mold. Paul literally says, "Stop being conformed to this world."
I Pet. 4:1-3…
Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; 2. That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. 3. For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:

We’ve spent enough time doing the will of the Gentiles, the heathen, the world. You may look at the example he gives of doing the will of the Gentiles and conclude that you were never like that. don’t kid yourself. You may not have been guilty of excess of wine, revellings, and banquetings, but we were all idolaters. We all walked after our own lusts, which is simply our selfish desires.

The point is this: we’ve spent enough time doing that. Now it is time for us to arm ourselves with the mind of Christ, even as Paul says, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Jesus didn’t live for this world. As a matter of fact, the world crucified Him because He lived for His Father and the eternal values that will never be received by this world. Hear the words of our Lord Jesus in John 14:16-17, "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17. Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." Why should we live like the world, when we have the Spirit of God dwelling within us?

Back in May we had four of our young people graduate from high school. Latisha and Nikki graduated from Alamogordo High School. Jake graduated as a home schooler. Carl received his GED. To the best of my knowledge, all of them are now taking college classes, and I’m not condemning that in any way, if that is indeed the will of God. I grew up in a generation, where our parents were committed to sending us to college. My own parents helped me save money for college. While I was in college, they provided me with free room and board during the summers, while I worked and made the money to go to school the other nine months of the year. I am grateful.

But think with me for a moment. Consider this attitude that our kids ought to go to college. Is that a godly principle? Or is that one of those areas where we have been conformed to the world? Is it necessarily the will of God that our kids go to college? Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not thinking of what is taught in the college classroom at this point, as important as it may be to consider that.

Let me put it to you this way. How many parents make sacrifices so that their kids can go to college? Surely it is a noble thing to make sacrifices on behalf of our children. But now let me ask you this question: How many parents do you know who would encourage their son or daughter to take a year off and do nothing but seek the Lord? What father will say to his son, "My son, I know you’re eager to get on with life, but I want to make an offer to you. For one year, I would like to encourage you to spend your time feasting on the Word of God. Spend time getting together with other believers to pray and seek counsel. Ask older brothers in the church to let you go with them, as they minister to people. And all the while, cry out to God that He would make you hungry for Himself and for His Word. Son, I want to encourage you to get a tent and go to the mountains for a week at a time, and just spend time with the Lord. In order to help you do this, I am willing to let you continue to live here without any financial obligations. At times, I should be able to provide some additional help, so you will have to work as little as possible for that year."

What do you think of that idea? I know what most of us think of it. Do you know why I know? I know because I know something of the spirit of the world that plagues us. We think that would be nice, but it isn’t practical. Our young people have to be prepared to make a living. And besides, that would encourage laziness. A young man can’t just sit around and study his Bible and seek fellowship and minister to others. Why not? We will send a son or daughter off to college and have them spend all their time studying. We don’t consider that a waste. So why do we tend to consider what I have described as a waste, or as impractical?

I will tell you exactly why. It is because our preparation is to live in this world rather than to live with our Lord for eternity. That’s it. Though we hate to admit it, we are consumed with making it in this world. If our son or daughter spent a year just seeking the Lord, he or she would get behind. Behind what? Behind the rest of the world.

Now travel forward with me. It’s now a year later, a year after Dad has shared that possibility with his son. Suppose his son embraces that arrangement with all his heart. He devotes himself to seeking the Lord. During that year, his parents have made some sacrifices, while he himself has given himself to the Word of God, prayer, and fellowship with the saints. Now the son is suddenly killed in a car wreck. When he stands before the Lord, do you think the Lord will chastise that young man for how he spent his last year? Can you hear the Lord saying, "My son, you didn’t get in a year of college. You didn’t hold down a job." I can’t hear our Lord saying that.

And what about the time when his father stands before the Lord. Can you hear the Lord saying, "Why did you encourage your son to waste that year in Bible study and prayer? Why did you allow him to take week-long vacations in the mountains doing nothing?" I can hear the Lord saying to that father, "Well done, my good and faithful servant."

You say, "But that’s different. Most young men aren’t going to be killed at 19 or 20 in a car wreck. Most are going to be living a longer life in this world." First of all, you don’t know that. We may all stand before the Lord before this date in 2007. But even if we don’t, what are we preparing for?

Let me ask you another question: Why do we work? Why do we have jobs? Is it not so that we can have enough to eat and to have something with which to clothe our bodies? Do we not work in order to have the bare necessities of life? The fact is that the world has convinced us that we need to have more. I remind you that "to have more" is the literal meaning of one of the New Testament words that is translated "covetousness."

Let’s read it again from the lips of our Lord… Matt. 6:19-34
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. 22. The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. 23. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! 24. No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. 25. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? 26. Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? 27. Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? 28. And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29. And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? 31. Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32. (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Why does the Lord tell us to not be concerned about the physical necessities, but rather to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness? Why does He assure us that He will provide our basic needs? Hear me and hear me well. He does so in order that we can spend the bare minimum of our time and energy preparing for life in this world, and so we can spend as much or ourselves as possible preparing for our future with Him, for our real home in heaven. But the world has invaded the sanctuary of God and convinced us that it is advisable to spend most of our time preparing to live in the world and give the leftovers to preparing for an eternal future.

But we are so worried about wasting our time on things that won’t get us ahead in this world. The Lord is far more concerned with us wasting our time preparing for life in this world and making so few eternal investments. We think we are so wise. But "let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God" ( Cor. 3:18-19a). The truth is that we will never be wise in God’s economy until we become a fool in the eyes of this world.

What would you think about a leader in God’s Kingdom going and spending 40 years on the backside of the desert. That’s what Moses did. Can we understand the length of 40 years? That was a third of his life. And if we should consider it a waste, consider what God used Moses to do during the next 40 years. "But couldn’t God have done more through Him, if he hadn’t stayed so long in the desert?" No. While the Lord announced serious consequences for Moses’ failure toward the end of his life, He never scolded Moses for spending 40 years in the desert.

What about Saul of Tarsus? Surely there was no finer religious man in all the world. How could any man have demonstrated more zeal than Saul did? He gave himself completely to what he believed. And he believed that the followers of Jesus were wrong and that they should be persecuted most severely. Saul led the way in that persecution. Surely if God could get hold of that man, He could do mighty things through him. And God did get hold of that man. You know the story. Even when Saul was on his way to the distant city of Damascus to round up Christians, Jesus met Saul and claimed him for Himself. Praise God? Now surely God would quickly begin to useSaul (whom we know as Paul) to preach the gospel with power. Let’s read what happened after his conversion… Acts 9:19-29
And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus. 20. And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. 21. But all that heard him were amazed, and said; Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem, and came hither for that intent, that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests? 22. But Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ. 23. And after that many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him: 24. But their laying await was known of Saul. And they watched the gates day and night to kill him. 25. Then the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket. 26. And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples: but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple. 27. But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. 28. And he was with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem. 29. And he spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the Grecians: but they went about to slay him.
There it is. He immediately began preaching Christ in the synagogues of Damscus. When they ran him out of Damascus, he went to Jerusalem. After Barnabas persuaded the disciples there to receive him as a brother, he then began to preach boldly in that city.

Now come with me to Galatians 1. Acts 9 gives us the story, but not the whole story. There is a very important truth that Paul shares here in Gal. 1:15-18…
But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, 16. To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood: 17. Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus. 18. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days.

While Acts 9 tells us that Paul went to Jerusalem and preached boldly, Paul Himself makes it clear that it wasn’t until some three years later. While he was at Damascus, he took a little side trip into Arabia. It seems that after preaching for a short time following his conversion, the Lord then took him into the desert of Arabia for the better part of three years. Now I ask you: Was that wasted time? How could the world possibly wait for three years to hear from this man who had been gloriously converted? Wouldn’t it have been better if he had spent three weeks in Arabia and then gone back to tell people about this Jesus he had met? No, it couldn’t have been better. God used Paul, exactly the way He wanted to use Paul.

The greatest example of all is our Lord Jesus Himself. We read in Gal. 4:4-5, "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5. To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." Finally, after waiting for thousands of years, the God who so loved the world sent His only begotten Son. How the world desperately needed the Savior. Now He had finally come. He was born in Bethlehem. The shepherds came, saw Him, and announced His birth. The wise men came and worshiped Him. At 12, Jesus was in the temple, sitting there with the finest of the Jewish scholars and demonstrating such wisdom that they were "astonished at his understanding and answers" (Lk. 2:47).

So how long before Jesus began to reveal Himself as the Son of God? Would He wait a couple more years, until He was 14? But why wait? He had more understanding of the things of God than all the Pharisees and Saducees put together. Surely Israel couldn’t wait any longer for the unveiling of her Messiah. And surely the pagan world desperately needed Jesus to come forth as the salvation of all the earth. You know how long He waited. His public ministry began with His baptism. Now let’s read about that baptism in Lk. 2:21-23…
Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, 22. And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased. 23. And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli…

Jesus was 30 years old before He began to go out and publicly proclaim the kingdom of God. What about those years between the age of 12 and 30. Surely those were wasted years. Jesus could have been teaching and preaching, and healing the sick and raising the dead. Again, "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out" (Rom. 11:33).

Brothers and sisters, friends, seekers, please hear me. God is working for eternity. And when He works in us, we will do the same. As we hear our Lord, ringing in our ears will be those words: "Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto eternal life, which the Son of man shall give unto you; for him hath God the Father sealed" (Jn. 6:27).

Conclusion

A few years ago Jody told a little story. I don’t know where he got it; what I do know is that I never forgot it. Since I don’t remember it exactly the way he told it, I will adapt it a bit…

I want to tell you about Teddy Tadpole. Tadpoles are interesting little creatures. Caleb and Derrick have some they have been watching. Well Teddy was a very industrious little Tadpole. He build him the most wonderful tadpole house you could ever imagine. Day after day he worked on that house, and he did a great job. That house protected him well from intruders, giving him great security. It not only had plenty of room for Teddy, but in that house he could store extra food and anything else he needed. When he was in that house, Teddy felt like all was well. But then something happened that Teddy didn’t expect. You know what happened. Teddy grew legs and became a frog. Now his house was of no use whatsoever. Even if he tried to enter the house as a frog, he would tear it up. It wasn’t made for a frog; it was made for a tadpole. Poor Teddy. About the time he got his dream house built, he no longer had any use for it. He had poured his tadpole life into that house only to find that he would not be able to use it.

Now we can’t blame Teddy for wasting his tadpole life building that house. He didn’t know any better. He didn’t know what the future held. But what about us? We do know what the future holds. Whether you are currently on the road to heaven or on the road to hell, you know that this world is not going to last. Life as we know it in this world will end, and the end is coming very soon, much sooner than you think. Even if you live another 60 years, the end is coming very soon. People are scurrying here and there building a wonderful life in this world. They aren’t even finished building it, when life comes to an end and they stand before God. All they have built to prepare them for this world is left behind, because now "all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do" (Heb. 4:13).

So I ask you… For what future are you preparing? For a future in this world? Or, for a future in eternity. May God give us grace to look on the things that are not seen, rather than the things that are seen; for the things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are unseen are eternal (II Cor. 4:18).



… Alternate words for "This World Is Not My Home"

This world is not my home, where riches do deceive, (Matt. 13:22)
Where men from one another honor do receive; (Jn. 5:44)
Where kingdoms come and go, But this one thing I know, (Rev. 11:15)
That I can’t feel at home in this world any more.
Chorus: O Lord, you know I have no friend like you,
If heaven’s not my home, then Lord will I do?
The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door,
And I can’t feel at home in this world any more.
No place to lay His head had Jesus Christ my Lord, (Lk. 9:58)
Where His precious name’s despised, and people shun His Word; (Jms. 2:7; Jn. 17:14)
But I’m going to a place where I’ll see Him face to face, (I Cor. 13:12; I Jn. 3:2)
And I can’t feel at home in this world any more.
Don’t you store your treasures in this world below, (Matt. 6:19)
If you trust in riches, you will watch them go; (Prov. 23:5)
Invest in heaven’s bank, and God you’ll ever thank, (Matt. 6:20)
And you won’t feel at home in this world any more.
For where your treasure is, oh there your heart will be, (Matt. 6:21)
If it’s in this world, then Christ you will not see; (Jms. 4:4)
But if you look above, as a channel of His love, (Col. 3:1-4; Jn. 7:37-39)
Then you won’t feel at home in this world any more.