The Life That Matters
Eph 5:15-18
2-15-09
The title of my message this morning is “The Life That Matters.” Soon you will see signs on this building that not only communicate the name of our church but also our passion.
That passion is expressed in the brief statement “Pursuing the Life That Matters.”
The phrase is designed to raise curiosity. No doubt, somebody is going to ask, “So, what is the life that matters? What are you pursuing at Gateway?” That’s the question we want them to ask; for the Bible is full of answers to that question. I want to share three answers this morning.
What is the life that matters? The life that matters is:
I. The life that God has designed for you to live.
Did you know that your Heavenly Father has a plan for your life? The steps of a good man or women are ordered of the Lord. God has thought about you a lot. In fact, He thought about you long before the world was ever formed—long before you were ever conceived in the womb. God said to Jeremiah, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations" (Jer 1:5). And God says to every person in this room today, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.....” Long ago God revealed His love toward me. I know that God loves me not because of anything I have done or will do; He loves me because it’s His nature to love. The struggle I have had is this, “Does God really like me?” I really hope He likes me more than I like myself. Can you identify with what I’m saying? I’ve got good new for everybody here. God not only loves you; He likes you. Are there things in all of us that need changing? Yes, we are work in process. But when God created mankind, He looked upon Adam and all of us who would proceed from Adam and He saw what? Gen 1:27 “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” Now listen closely to Gen 1:31, “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.” I want people (saved and unsaved) to get a glimpse of God’s attitude toward them. I want people to know a God who not only loves them but also likes them—a God so interested in them that He personally planned their lives.
Eph 1:4 says this about our Heavenly Father, “just as He chose us in Him (speaking of Christ) before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.” The Amplified Bible brings out a precious thought in that verse. It says that He “actually picked us out for Himself as His own.” You’re hand picked by the Lord—every one of you. God’s got good intentions toward you. God’s got the best of intentions toward you. My favorite verse in the Bible, Jer 29:11, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
So here’s the key to a successful life. Find out what your Heavenly Father has in mind for you and do it. Don’t devise your own plan. You’re not as smart as Him. In fact, you don’t love yourself as much as He loves you. The devil will offer you an alternative course of life. He will entice you with promises that he will never keep and never intends to keep. We at Gateway want to point people to God who will never do them wrong—to God whose thoughts toward them are good—to God who will give them a future and a hope.
Look with me at Eph 5:15-18. I’m reading from the NIV. “Be very careful, then, how you live-not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.” Here is the call to wisdom in that passage—verse 17, “Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” Let the discovery of God’s will for your life be the greatest adventure you ever experience. I feel sorry for people who do not know the Lord. No wonder they get drunk. I would be bored to death with their life. I would hate to think that I was in control of my life and there were no surprises around the corner. Serving God is the greatest adventure I have ever known. There is a thrill in jumping out of an airplane and skydiving toward the earth at 130 mph. I’m sure the Philadelphia Eagles were on a high at the end of the Super Bowl when they won during the last minutes of the game. But in my opinion none of that compares to stepping out in obedience to God and watching God come through. We’ve seen it during this building program. I don’t want to ever get so old and comfortable that I won’t give God a chance to show Himself strong in my life. I’m like James Taylor. “I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain.” I’ve been in hot water and I’ve seen God intervene. I’ve walked in the middle of gangs and seen God do miracles. I’ve preached to drug dealers in Peru. I’ve led people to the Lord in Porto Rico and Honduras. I’ve planted church in Texas and Missouri. Young people, sell out to God and just see how exciting and satisfying He can make your life. Poor old sinners who sit on bar stools and drink themselves into a stupor, there’s a life for you in Christ. The thrill is gone in all that sin. But the thrill never goes out of doing exploits in God.
Paul lived his life in the fast lane of ministry. He had turned kingdoms upside down by the power of God. He had survived ship wrecks. He had shaken vipers off in the fire unharmed. Some people got so upset with him they stoned him to death. But God raised him from the dead and sent him to continue preaching. Now listen to what he says at the end of his life. 2 Tim 4:6-8 “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.”
I like the way the old KJV puts verse 7, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” Paul had a course to finish—a race to run in life—that God had planned for him. He lived that life and it was a life that mattered.
The life that matters is also
II. The life that produces enduring reward.
When Paul got at the end of his life he could say with confidence, “..., there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.” We’re not just trying to escape hell. We make it our aim to please the Lord. Imagine that, bringing pleasure to Almighty God. Did you know, that your Heavenly Father takes great pleasure in you? Did you know that He has positioned you to be His delight?
The world is racing toward all the wrong finish lines. Even Christians can get out of step with God’s plan and purpose for their lives. Jonah got out of step with God’s plan for His life. It’s encouraging to see the lengths God went to get him back in step. But oh the trouble he could have saved himself had he just trusted God’s wisdom and obeyed His voice.
The world around us doesn’t have a clue of what it’s all about. The god of this world has blinded their minds. They grope around in darkness searching for something that will satisfy. They try one thing after another hoping to fill the empty void in their souls. If you can get them settled down long enough to have a serious conversation they are screaming for relief—they are screaming for real purpose—they are longing to find something worth living for. During the last decade the suicide rate for middle-aged adults has risen by 16%. And that’s as of Oct. 2008, before the financial crisis really got bad. There is a hopelessness in millions of people because they bet on the wrong horse and lost. They thought a little more money would make the difference and it didn’t.
The life that God has designed for you is not about accumulating a little more money. Jesus told the story about a wealthy farmer who was so successful his barns couldn’t hold all the increase. He decided to just keep building bigger barns and storing more things. He said to himself, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” And what did God say to that man? “Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?” (Luke 12:19-20).
The life God has provided for you consists of something far richer than simply accumulating more things. Solomon wrote the book of Ecclesiastes to warn us about the vanity of a life lived outside the will of God—a life that tries to find meaning and satisfaction independent of God. "Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher; "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." The NIV uses a different word than vanity. Eccl 1:2 “‘Meaningless! Meaningless!’ says the Teacher. ‘Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.’” What a contrast that is to Paul’s words at the end of his life. The life that matters is not meaningless; it is full of purpose; it is full of meaning.
There is a cause and effect relationship between what happens now and what happens in eternity. After Paul talks about finishing his course, he says “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness....” (2 Tim 4:8 KJV). After conducting several funerals, I discovered three ways people enter eternity. The most difficult funerals are for unsaved people whose family has no eternal hope. It’s hard to find words of comfort in those situations. Then there are Christians who received Christ and have eternal life but they never got in step with God’s plan for their life. They are saved “so as by fire.” They are like the thief on the cross who was saved but his life did not count for God. Then there are the funerals I love to do—funerals for people like Paul who finished their course. Those funerals have an air of victory that is hard to describe. Before I was a pastor, I would go to the city jail every Sunday afternoon and my team would share Christ with the inmates. I eventually turned that ministry over to a man who got saved in one of our meetings there. But there was an elderly woman in our team who would faithfully come and minister to the women in jail. I wouldn’t even guess how many women she led to the Lord over the years. I doubt many people in her church even knew she was involved in that jail ministry. She was a quite lady that loved those women and faithfully ministered every week. When she died her family asked me to conduct her funeral. The moment I stepped into that pulpit God’s presence overshadowed the whole service. I’ve never felt such victory at a funeral. Here was a woman who had lived a life worthwhile. It was worthwhile because in was in step with what the Father wanted this lady to do. That’s the kind of funeral I want when I die. The coffin was a cheap coffin—she had very little money. The procession to the grave site was not particularly large. But God was at that funeral saying, “This is my servant. She has finished her course. There is laid up for her a crown of righteousness.” The life that matters ends with God’s approval. The life that matters is a preparation for eternity. It is a life invested in people. The end of the matter is clear in Dan 12:2-3, “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,
Some to everlasting life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt.
3 Those who are wise shall shine Like the brightness of the firmament,
And those who turn many to righteousness Like the stars forever and ever.”
Let me share one more description of the life that matters. It is
III. The life of Christ expressed through you.
Ultimately it is not your life so much as it is Christ’s life manifested in and through you.
In Gal 2:20 Paul wrote, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
Paul discovered a power beyond himself. Paul did not live by mere willpower. He did not live by keeping a list of dos & don’t. He got filled with the Holy Spirit. He stayed filled with the Holy Spirit. And he lived life on a different level that most people.
The life that matters is not a life of laboriously trying to be good. It’s not a life of trying to live up to a legalistic set of rules. That’s what Paul is trying to get these Christians at Galatia to understand. There is an empowerment of the Holy Spirit that lifts us up above the temptations that assail us from the world and from our own carnality.
Later in this epistle Paul writes, “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Gal 5:16). Let me read that verse the way most Christians understand it, “I say then: Do not fulfill the lust of the flesh and you shall walk in the Spirit.” That’s not what the verse says. That’s putting the cart before the horse. The power to not fulfill the lusts of the flesh is found in walking in the Spirit. In fact, that’s the only place it’s found. Without the Spirit’s empowerment you and I are slaves to our own fleshly desires. But God has sent His Holy Spirit to lift us above that. He has sent His Holy Spirit so we can live the life that matters. Understand what the will of God is—be continually filled with the Holy Spirit.
Many of us in this room have been filled with the Spirit. We have spoken in tongues and we know the joy of opening our hearts to God in that way. But are you full of the Holy Spirit today? Paul’s message to the Christians in Eph 5:17-19 is “Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. 19 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord....” (NIV). The command to be filled with the Spirit is in the present tense—it is continuous action. Continually be filled with the Spirit. Some of us need a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit. We don’t need to be scolded and told to try harder. We need more of God in our lives. We need a fresh baptism in Holy Spirit. The life that matters is a Spirit-filled life.
This is what we want for ourselves at Gateway Foursquare Church. This is what we want for those who will be coming to this church.
How do we pursue that life together? We do it by worshipping God in Spirit and in truth.
“...be filled with the Spirit. 19 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.” We do it by seeking God in prayer. That room is going to be called the Prayer Cottage. It will be used for other things as well. But when people come into this place we want them to know they have come into a house of prayer. We want them to immediately feel the sweet presence of the Holy Spirit. We want them to experience the warm love of God and discover for themselves the life God has designed for them—the life that matters.
Invitation
Pastor Richard Tow
Gateway Foursquare Church
Nixa, Missouri
www.GatewayNixa.org
