Cause For Contemplation

CAUSE FOR CONTEMPLATION

Text: Matt.16: 27; Acts 1: 8-11; James 5: 8

Intro: The passages that we have just read all have one basic theme: JESUS IS COMING AGAIN. We Baptists would readily agree that we believe Jesus is going to come again someday, sometime, or one of these days. But folks, how does what you believe about the return of Christ affect the way you live? What you really believe affects how you behave.

Sometimes we get so caught up in the here and now that we don’t live in the expectation of our Lord’s return. But folks, for the Christian, the promise of Jesus’ return is our encouragement. It is our hope and expectation. It is that which fills our hearts with joy, even when life throws us the inevitable curves that so often come our way. As children of God, the return of Christ is one hope that can never be dashed. It will happen. It could happen today.

The longer I live, the more I realize that nothing in this life is certain except our relationship with Jesus, and the promise of His return. Popularity is evasive. Possessions are fleeting. Our health passes away. Physical life itself is but temporary. Why then do we spend so much time and effort on that which will ultimately pass away?

For the next few minutes, I want us to consider that wonderful point in time when Jesus returns for His own. If you’ve given your heart and life to Christ, that should fill you with hope today.

Theme: At Christ’s return:

I. OUR JOURNEY WILL BE OVER

A. Our Earthly Life Is Temporary

I Chron.29: 15b “…our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.”

Ps.39: 5a “Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee…”

Ps.90: 10 “The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.”

NOTE: When compared to the eternity of God, our lives are relatively short. One man has defined life by seven stages. He says, “The seven stages of man: spills, drills, thrills, bills, ills, pills, wills” (Richard J. Needham).

B. Our Earthly Life Is Tempestuous.

1. Life has its triumphs.

II Cor.2: 14 “Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.”

Prov.16: 20b “…whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he.”

2. Life has its troubles.

Job 14: 1 “Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.”

John 16: 33b “…In the world ye shall have tribulation…”

NOTE: Life can really be a workout sometimes. Like comedian Flip Wilson used to say, “If I had my whole life to live over again, I don’t think I’d have the strength.”

C. Our Earthly Life Will End Triumphantly.

1. We’ll have a new form.

II Cor.5: 1 “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”

Phil.3: 21 “Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself.”

NOTE: These bodies of ours are marvelous, when you think about it. But as wonderful as they are, they still wear out. Here are some of the things your body performs every twenty-four hours:

If you are an adult of average weight, here is what you accomplish in 24 hours:

· your heart beats 103,689 times

· your blood travels 168,000,000 miles

· you breathe 23,040 times

· you inhale 438 cubic feet of air

· you eat 3.25 pounds of food

· you drink 2.9 quarts of liquids

· you lose 7/8 pounds of waste

· you speak 4,800 words, including some unnecessary ones

· you move 750 muscles

· your nails grow .000046 inch

· your hair grows .01714 inch

· you exercise 7,000,000 brain cells

Source unknown

2. We’ll have new feelings.

Rev.21: 4 “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”

3. We’ll have a new future.

II Tim.2: 12a “If we suffer, we shall also reign with him…”

II. OUR JOY WILL BE OVERWHELMING

A. Our Hope Will Be Reality.

1. Now we look for Him.

Titus 2: 13 “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;”