Title: Life is Built for Eternity
Content Life of Purpose 4 Months 4th Sermon
Title: Life is Built for Eternal Life
Text: Ec 3:11
God loves us so much and is giving us abundant grace now. He is giving us amazing grace so that we can build our lives upright and live a healthy life. I hope you enjoy this grace. If you do not receive grace properly, you will lead a miserable life. That is what God is saying these days through the book of Jeremiah. God forsakes Israel who rejected, rejected, betrayed, and rebelled against grace. He even tells Jeremiah to stop praying for them. Still, God is saying that if they return even now, He will grant them the grace of regeneration.
God's true intention is for His people to live in fullness of grace. That is why he is proclaiming the truth of heaven to us today. I pray in the name of the Lord that you will listen to these words and receive grace and live a happy life in eternal life.
1. A life created to long for eternity
God has given human beings the instinct to see eternal life. He created us to live in the image of God for eternity. That is why we have a desire to live forever. Even though we know and accept that death is real, we always accept death as unnatural and unfair. The reason is that it is a being who longs for eternity.
Paul called the world we live in a tent, and the other world in which we will live forever is called home (2 Corinthians 5:1). A vacation to pitch a tent and spend with nature is full of joy, joy, and romance. But when the vacation is over, I pick it up and go home without any regrets. What Paul is saying is that our lives are like this. Life in this world is like living in a tent, and life in another world is like living in a house.
If you believe these words, you can easily agree that the present life, such as living in a tent, is not everything.
Life will be much longer than the time we spend here, eternity, after we leave this earth. Living on Earth is a middle ground, a pre-school, and it's like a workout or a warm-up workout. Life on earth is just a final rehearsal for a real performance.
Most of us live in the world for pleasure because we think that life on this earth is our whole life. They say that there is no need to think about being good, moral, and taking responsibility for your actions. And it claims you don't have to worry about its consequences. It is said that it is okay to live a self-centered life. Because you have decided that life is yours.
But life is not yours. If it's yours, why can't you solve death?
All life dies. Because death is not our end, but a transition to eternal life, every action we take while on earth has eternal consequences. Life in this world continues to affect you in eternal life. Death will be the end of this earth, but it will not be the end of our existence. It is not the end of life, but the beginning of eternal life. Death is the first day of the rest of my life and every day is the last day of my life on this planet. Death is the end of life in this world and moving into the eternal world.
There are only two eternal worlds: heaven and hell.
Where we will spend our eternal life depends on what kind of relationship we have with God on this earth. If we learn to love and trust the Son of God, Jesus Christ, and live with Him, we will spend eternal life with Him, and if we reject His love, forgiveness, and salvation, we must live forever apart from God. Sadly, many people have chosen to live without God on this earth, so they must live eternal life without God.
2. Preparing for Eternal Life
Life on Earth is temporary.
So, to make the most of our short life, we need to keep two things in mind. The first is that life on this earth is very short compared to eternal life, and the second is that the earth is a place where we live temporarily. I will not stay here for long, so do not be overly attached to it and pray like David, “O LORD, make me know the end of my days and how long I am, that I may know my weakness” (Psalm 39:4).
The Bible warns us that life in our world is temporary, using words such as pilgrims, sojourners, foreigners, visitors, and travelers. That is why you must live in fear. (1 Peter 1:17 Since you call him Father, who judges each person according to their deeds, not by outward appearance, live in fear while you are sojourners.)
Our identity is in eternal life and our homeland is heaven. That is why God very firmly said that falling into the values of this world and falling into temptation is fornication. (James 4:4 Adulterers, don't you know that friendship with the world is a turning away from God? Anyone who wants to be a friend becomes an enemy of God.)
Therefore, we must keep drawing a picture of eternal life in our minds, and we must keep in mind its preciousness and value. Because God's plan for us does not end with this world, it is eternal.
Psalm 33:11 The plans of the LORD stand forever, and his thoughts from generation to generation. , His will will never change. (Easy Bible)
A healthy life is a life that is prepared and lived for the life that will eventually happen someday. Why are you trying to be healthy in your mother's womb? Because that is the most basic thing for the health of 90 years of life in this world. Likewise, a healthy life in this world is the foundation of life in that eternal world.
It is said that life on earth is the blink of an eye, and the consequences of it will remain forever.
Suppose we have been appointed ambassadors. Then, in order to carry out their duties in that country, they have to live by example, learning the language, adapting to customs and culture, making contact and making connections. However, no matter how good the country is, I am loyal to my country and act as an ambassador for that country. He never throws away all his loyalty and patriotism to his country. If that happens, your position as an ambassador will be compromised, and worse, you become a traitor.
We are living in this world as ambassadors (ambassadors) of Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:20) Therefore, we must not mistake the present world we are living in as our eternal home. (1 Corinthians 7:31) Those who use the things of the world, let them be like those who cannot use them, for the outward appearance of this world is passing away. Because the present state is passing.)
The world we live in has become easier to live in, and things that we can enjoy and enjoy are beckoning to us everywhere we turn our heads. The peripheral pleasures of this world make us forget our ultimate purpose in life. Therefore, we must keep in mind the truth that our lives are temporary so that they do not take hold of our lives.
Why does God not answer all our prayers as we wish? It's to make sure we don't love the world too much. The reason we are not perfectly happy in this world is because this world is not the place to be.
If you think that God's goal in life for us is material abundance or popular success as defined in this world, you are making a fatal mistake. A life of true abundance has nothing to do with material abundance. The greatest heroes that God sees are not those who have prospered, succeeded, and seized power in the world. Those who believe that life on this earth is temporary and faithfully serve and obey God while waiting for the promised reward in eternal life. Paul, John, and James were all martyred. Worldly speaking, you are a failure. However, God praises them for doing well as martyrs, rewards them for their faithfulness, and gives them a welcome feast.
The time we breathe in this world is by no means the end of our life story. The rest of our lives must be filled in heaven. In this world we must live as strangers. To do this, we need unwavering faith. When life gets tough, clouds of doubt come in, and you wonder if living for Christ is worth it, we want you to remember that we are not yet home.
What is seen is temporary, but what is not seen is eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18). Our life is eternal. Therefore, keep in your heart the saying that what is not eternal is forever useless (C.S. Lewis).
Our life does not end in this world, but we must live forever in eternal life. Therefore, the way of life must change. There are some things that you have become accustomed to that you need to stop. And I have a new job to start from today. It should be a week of finding this and building a new life with it. It should be the remainder of 2009. When we succeed in this work, we will become true victors and enjoy the grace of God's praise, reward, and feast.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will be a channel of blessing to live a happy life in the presence of God by exercising wisdom in fulfilling the longing for eternity that God has given you without ignoring it.