Are You Missing God’s Best for Your Life?
Matthew 16:24-28
Sermon by Rick Crandall
McClendon Baptist Church - March 29, 2009
*Have you ever been watching something on TV? -- Maybe it was a movie or a show you really wanted to see, maybe it was the big game, and at just the crucial moment the power went out on you. Has that ever happened to you? Don’t you hate that? But you may be missing out on something much more important, without even knowing it. You may be missing out on God’s best for you life. Today I have 5 questions to help you find God’s best for your life.
1. The first question is: Have you measured the treasure of your life?
*In vs. 24-26, Jesus wants you to know how valuable you life really is.
24. Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
25. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
26. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”
*Your life, your soul is worth more that all the riches of the world.
-Your soul is worth more than every dime, every diamond and every drop of oil.
-Your soul is priceless. There is nothing worth more.
*I want you to think of the incredible value God has put on your life.
-Nobody in their right mind would trade a finger for a thousand dollars.
-Would you trade your arm for $100,000?
-Would you trade your tongue for a million? -- Of course not.
*But the real you who lives inside your body is worth exponentially more.
-You are priceless, and we know that because you are God’s creation.
*Zig Ziglar put it in perspective when he asked us to think about the priceless masterpieces painted by DaVinci or Michelangelo. Zig said, “I am roughly familiar with the price of the canvass and the paints. In and of themselves, they are not worth much at all. No -- The value of the painting comes from the touch of the Master’s Hand.” (1)
*And you are priceless, because you were created by the greatest Master of all. On top of that, you are priceless because of the high price Jesus paid on the cross for your soul. So Peter tells believers that we should live our lives in Godly reverence, “knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:18-19). Have you measured the treasure of your life?
2. And have you determined the destiny of your life?
*Jesus asked in vs. 26, “What is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” Sadly, it is possible to lose your soul -- and most people will, because the just punishment for sin is eternal separation from God in a terrible place called hell.
*We don’t like to think about the wrath of God, but it is a very real thing. Nave’s Topical Bible has over 80 references to the anger of God.
-One of those is Rom 2:5, where Paul said this to judgmental, hard-hearted, Christ-rejecting people, “In accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.”
*On the other hand, Paul was speaking to other Christians in 1 Thess 1:9-10. And he talked about how they “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.”
*The wrath of God is coming on this wicked world. And “what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?”
*David Holwick once said: “I am convinced there is life after death. The question is not whether we live forever but where we will spend eternity. For though there is a heaven, which the Bible abundantly makes clear, it makes equally plain that not everyone is going there. Listen to the words of Jesus in Matt 7:13-14: ‘Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.’
*How do we go to heaven? In John 14:5 Thomas says, ‘Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?’
-Jesus answered him, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’”
*Then David Holwick added these words: “The way to heaven is as narrow as the Cross. Only those who are willing to humble themselves and acknowledge their sin and place their trust in Christ will even enter the gates of heaven.”
*There are two personal truths I know about myself. The first is: I ought to go to hell because that is where I belong. I stand guilty before God and deserve his displeasure. But the second truth, which I know equally, is: I am going to heaven because Jesus (took my punishment on the) cross for me. I have no other hope but Christ’s free gift.” (2)
*Everybody is not going to heaven. Are you? Have you really admitted your sin and trusted in Jesus for salvation? Have you determined the destiny of your life?
3. And do you recognize your responsibility before God?
*In vs. 27 Jesus said, “The Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.”
-Can you see that all people are accountable to God? Lost people are accountable to God, -- and saved people are accountable to God.
*Yes, believers, our sins are washed away by the blood of Jesus Christ. Praise God! Our sins are buried in the sea of God’s forgetfulness. As God said in Hebrews 8:12, “I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.” But does that mean we can live any old selfish sinful way? -- Of course not! In Rom 6:1-2 Paul asked:
1. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2. God forbid (Certainly not! May it never be!) How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
*Christians, we are still accountable to God. In Rom 14:10-12 Paul asked:
10. Why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
11. For it is written: "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God.’’
12. So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.
*Along with DiscipleNow this weekend, we hosted the annual statewide meeting for the Baptist Women’s Missionary Union. The key Scripture for the meeting talked about Paul’s determination to serve the Lord. And in Acts 20:22-24, Paul shows all of us how to live. There Paul said:
22. Now I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there,
23. except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me.
24. But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”
*This is the life all Christians are called to: Finishing our race with joy, and the ministry which we received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. One of the WMU ladies summed it up this way: “Pray. Give. Go.”
*Easter is two weeks from today. You can use our invitation cards to help testify to the Good News of the grace of God. One of our children passed out these Easter cards at ball practice this past week. We also have two weeks left for our current emphasis on A.R.K. -- Acts of Random Kindness.
*One of our senior adults gave some extra money to guys who were cleaning her yard this week. They wondered why in the world she was doing that. And she told them that she wanted them to know that God loves them. Both of these cards go together. And it is just one way of sharing the Good News about Jesus Christ, one way of living a life that is pleasing to God.
*Micah 6:8 says, “He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” Do you recognize your responsibility before God?
4. And are you willing to let God be God?
*Vs. 28 is a mystery to me because there Jesus said, “Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” That cannot mean what it seems to mean on the surface, because if it did, then the Lord would have come back 30 to 40 years after He rose from the dead. And that does not square with the rest of the Bible.
*So what does vs. 28 mean? “Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” Most commentaries I read said that this referred to the transfiguration on the mountain, where the glory of the Lord was revealed. One reason why is because the transfiguration closely follows this statement in the 3 Gospels where we see it. For example, we hear Jesus in Luke 9:27-31:
27. But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the kingdom of God.”
28. Now it came to pass, about eight days after these sayings, that He took Peter, John, and James and went up on the mountain to pray.
29. As He prayed, the appearance of His face was altered, and His robe became white and glistening.
30. And behold, two men talked with Him, who were Moses and Elijah,
31. who appeared in glory and spoke of His decease which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.
*Maybe Jesus was referring to the Transfiguration back in vs. 28, but listen to it again: “Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”
*Doesn’t sound like the Transfiguration to me. Maybe Jesus was talking about the revelation He knew He was going to give John to finish the Bible. In Rev 21:1-3 John said:
1. I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.
2. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God.
*That sounds more like it to me, but the most important thing I get out of this verse is this: There are going to be some mysteries in God’s Word, some things we don’t understand. There are also going to be some mysteries in our lives, some things we don’t understand. We have to let God be God, and realize that He works in mysterious ways.
*In her book Mystery on the Desert, Maria Reiche describes a series of strange lines made by the ancient Nazea people in the plains of Peru, perhaps as early as 200 years before the time of Christ. The area where the lines are covers over 37 miles. It is impossible to make out what these line drawings are from the ground, and people at one time assumed they were irrigation ditches. No one really knew what they were until 1939 when Dr. Paul Kosok of Long Island University studied them by flying over them in an airplane.
*There is an assortment of perfectly straight lines, many running parallel, others intersecting, forming a grand geometric form. In and around the lines there are also strange symbols, and pictures of 70 animal and plant figures that include a spider, hummingbird, monkey and a 1,000-foot-long pelican. One geometric figure goes in a straight line for nine miles across the plain. All of them are etched on a giant scale that can only be appreciated from the sky. When viewed from high in the air, these seemingly random lines form enormous drawings of art. They have meaning.
Here on the ground we cannot fully understand many of the things going on around us. But Rodney Buchanan tells us that from God’s perspective things make perfect sense. “There is not only order and design to what He is doing, it is a work of art. It doesn’t matter if you are too small to see the whole masterpiece, it is still there. And one day, looking from heaven, the mystery of what God has been doing will be clear to us.” (3)
*There are mysteries in God’s Word and mysteries in our lives. Are you willing to let God be God?
5. And are you focused on the fact of Christ’s return?
*We see the Lord’s victorious return in vs. 27-28. Jesus said:
27. “For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.
28. Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”
*Jesus Christ is coming back!
-Are you focused on the Lord’s return?
-Are you paying any attention at all to that fact?
-Are you intentionally thinking about His return and what it means for our world?
*C.S Lewis described it this way: “When the author walks onto the stage, the play is over. God is going to invade, all right; but what is the good of saying you are on His side then, when you see the whole natural universe melting away like a dream and something else comes crashing in? This time it will be God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature. It will be too late then to choose your side. That will not be the time for choosing; it will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, whether we realized it before or not. Now, today, this moment, is our chance to choose the right side.” (4)
*Lewis also said: “If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.” (5)
*Many times Jesus told us to be watching and waiting and ready for His return.
-Don’t miss out on God’s best for your life.
*Would you bow for prayer and take a few moments to search you heart:
1-Have you measured the treasure of your life?
-You are precious in the sight of God. -- Don’t miss that!
2-Have you determined the destiny of your life?
-Everybody is not going to heaven. Are you?
-Trust in Jesus Christ. He is the only way to go to Heaven.
3-Do you recognize your responsibility before God?
-We will all be accountable to Him. -- Don’t miss that.
4-Are you willing to let God be God? -- Even when He works in mysterious ways?
-Trust Him in every situation.
5-Are you focused on the fact of Christ’s return?
-Be intentional about it. Spend some time every day focusing on this profound truth: Jesus is coming again.
1. Original source for Zig Ziglar quote unknown
2. KERUX SERMON COLLECTION - ID Number: 706 - PREACHER: Rev. David Holwick - LOCATION: First Baptist Church; West Lafayette, Ohio - DATE: 4/24/1983 - MAIN TEXT: Revelation 21:1-4, 22-27 - Title: Why I Believe In Heaven
3. Adapted from SermonCentral sermon “Radical Gratitude” by Rodney Buchanan - Psalms 100:1-5 – 11/20/05 – (For pictures that can be placed in power point, see www.crystalinks.com/nasca.html)
4. C. S. Lewis quote from “Mere Christianity”
5. Original source for C. S. Lewis quote unknown
