“Only One Life”—My Favorite Motto
Chuck Slih
March 10, 2014
TEXT: James 4:14 – “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.”
INTRODUCTION
Years ago I heard a motto that has never left me. In fact, hardly a month goes by that I don’t think of it. Through the years, that little motto has become my favorite, because nothing else distills in one phrase the whole of the goal and purpose of the Christian life.
The motto goes like this: “Only one life, ’twill soon be past; only what’s done for Christ will last.”
Perhaps you’ve heard it before. I’d like us to ponder that little motto today. This motto tells me three things about my life and yours that are encapsulated in our text. So let’s see what they:
I. THE MOTTO BEGINS WITH “ONLY ONE LIFE…” – THIS TELLS US THAT OUR LIFE IS SINGLE
The first modern missionary from America, Adoniram Judson, said this:
You have but one life in which to prepare for eternity. Had you four or five lives, two or three of them might be spent in carelessness. But you have only one. Every action of that one life gives coloring to your eternity. How important, then, that you spend that life so as to please the Savior.
Those are profound words.
Folks, this life you have is the only one you will EVER have, so… God help you to make it count for eternity. God help you to live your life for the things that count. God help you to spend your time doing things that make a difference in God's kingdom.
Illus. – I remember several years ago, when I was an assistant pastor in Tennessee going to visit an old man who had lived his whole life in sin and selfishness. He finally came to the Lord in his sixties. When he was diagnosed with cancer, I went to visit him at his home shortly before his death.
The day I was there he was in a reminiscent mood. But I didn't hear a soliloquy about “the good ’ole days” like I expected. It was more like a confessional. The old man shared with me how before he came to the Lord, he had neglected his family for his job;… how he had not been there for his children like he ought to have been;… how he had not trained up his children in the Lord, or even with any real character;… how he had squandered opportunities to make his life count by doing good to others or serving God; how he had lived for sin and pleasure and popularity and mostly making money and accumulating material things and power.
I recall that during our conversation, he suddenly grew very quiet. Sensing some inner struggle, I too sat silently—pensively awaiting his next words, pondering the things he had shared with me, frankly not knowing quite what to say. After a few moments, he looked away from me and I saw him wipe a tear away as he said, “I sure wish I could live my life over again.”
As I looked at eyes misty with tears, I remember myself also wishing that he could live his life over again. But he couldn’t—because our lives are SINGLE.
You only have ONE life to live, and then it’s over—so you’d better make it count because your life is SINGLE!
II. THE MOTTO GOES ON TO SAY, “’TWILL SOON BE PAST” – THIS REMINDS US THAT OUR LIFE IS SHORT
It’s amazing that we preachers don’t make more of this fact than we do, because it’s a very prominent theme in God’s Word. In fact, it’s the source of many fascinating metaphors and colorful comparisons in the Bible.
Listen to what the Bible compares our lives to, and as you do, notice that the central theme of each comparison is the idea of the BREVITY of our lives upon this earth (EXPAND ON EACH AS LED):
• First, our lives are compared to A VAPOR – James 4:14 (our text) – “……For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” – COMMENT ON: Vapor from a teapot. It’s there one moment and poof!—It’s gone.
• Our lives are compared to GRASS AND FLOWERS THAT WITHER AFTER A SHORT TIME IN THE SUN – Psalm 103:15-16 – “As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. 16 For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.” – Illus. – When we lived in England, in the Spring, we see stunningly beautiful wildflowers along the roads and in the fields. England is about the dreariest place in the world to live in the winter, but when Spring comes, there is no more beautiful place on earthy. As you drove down the road, they were lined with But very soon, the highway department comes and mows them down. Their lifespan is only a very short time.
• Our lives are compared to A SHADOW – Job 14:1-2 – “Man that is born of a woman is of few days,… 2 …he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.” – Illus. – Stand stationary in your yard tomorrow in the morning, and you’ll have a long shadow. But by midday it will be gone.
• Our lives are compared to A STORY – Psalm 90:9 – “For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.” – Illus. – I remember when my kids were little, before they went to bed, they would beg me for a story. So I would make up elaborate tales of knights and dragons and ladies in distress and courageous acts of daring do—all in a few fleeting moments, until their eyes drooped and they dropped off to sleep.
• Our lives are compared to A WIND THAT PASSES BY – Psalm 78:39 – “For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.” (Whoooossshhhh [sound of wind]…and it’s gone.)
• Our lives are compared to A WEAVER’S SHUTTLE – Job 7:6 – “My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle….” – Illus. – A weaver's shuttle can make a complete rotation in about one second.
• Our lives are compared to FOAM ON THE WATER – Hosea 10:7 – “As for Samaria, her king is cut off as the foam upon the water.” – Illus. – Go to the ocean and watch a wave come in. As the water recedes, it leaves little foam bubbles. But within seconds, they disappear before another wave rolls in.
Aside from the masterful poetic beauty of these passages, one thing stands out in each of them—our lives are SHORT!
Illus. – The army that Xerxes led against Greece in 480 BC consisted of 1,700,000 men, besides an enormous fleet. When Xerxes looked over his vast forces from a prominent point, the port below was covered with his ships, and the plains were filled with his troops from different nations. He turned to his uncle, one of his commanders and told him he was happy.
But after a few moments, he began to weep. Asked by his uncle why he wept, surrounded as he was by so much glory, he replied that he wept to think that of the vast crowd arrayed before him, not one individual in it would be living in a hundred years—including himself! That leader not only had military genius, but some measure of wisdom as well.
In the light of eternity, this brief span of your life is infinitesimally brief in duration. Our life is single—“Only one life,…” and our life is short!—“…twill soon be past…”
III. THE LAST PART OF MY FAVORITE MOTTO SAYS, “ONLY WHAT’S DONE FOR CHRIST WILL LAST” – THIS REMINDS US THAT OUR LIFE IS SERIOUS
Maltbie Babcock wrote, “We are not here to play, to dream, to drift. We have hard work to do, and loads to lift.”
Yes, our life IS serious. And yet, many people have no idea why they’re here on this earth.
Illus. – There’s a story about the notoriously absent-mindedness of Dwight Morrow, the distinguished American lawyer, banker, and diplomat in the late 1800s and early 1900s. One time, getting off the train in New York, he rushed into the telegraph office and wired to his secretary: “Why am I in New York? What am I supposed to do?”
Think about that—here was one of America’s premier business and legal leaders getting off a train to New York, having no clue what he was there for! His secretary promptly wired him back: “You are on your way to Princeton to deliver a lecture. Hurry!!!”
How in the world to you forget something so important as THAT?
Sad to say, like Morrow, millions of people wander through life with no earthly idea what they’re here for.
Illus. – When we lived over in Wiesbaden, there was a shepherd who brought his flock of sheep around our village every year. Knowing that the Bible so often compares humans to sheep and never growing up on a farm, I would go down and observe them to see what I could learn from them. What stood out to me in particular is that sheep live literally from one mouthful to the next. Their entire life seems to be wrapped up in one thing alone—to eat and then to chew it up again a few times! (Chewing the cud).
This is, in fact, how sheep get lost. I noticed that sheep just look from the one tuft of grass to the next and at nothing else. Pretty soon, they begin to get further and further away from the fold without even realizing it. If not for the shepherd who calls out to his two sheep dogs that travel along to nip at their legs and make them go back into the fold, they would soon wander away from the fold and be in danger.
People are just like that. They live for just the pleasures and the needs of the next moment with little or no heed for the most important things in life, most importantly, eternity. They find themselves lost and in great danger—and do not even realize it! They have no concept about what they’re really on this earth for.
God’s Word tells us what we’re here for. The Bible tells us that we were created for one paramount purpose from which every other purpose emanates—to bring glory to God.
• In Isaiah 43:7 we read “…every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory…”
• Ephesians 1:5-6 – “Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.”
Why are we here?—To bring glory to God through our lives. If this is true, then everything that we do ought to be done for the glory of God.
No wonder Paul commands us in 1 Corinthians 10:31 – “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”
God has put us on this earth to glorify Him, and we do that by loving Him with all our hearts, fellowshipping with Him, and serving Him. And we can only do that by trusting Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and then letting Him guide and rule our lives.
When we come to the end of our short lives and face eternity, the important thing will be what we have accomplished for the Lord and His kingdom through His power working in and through us.
Crowley wisely said, “Time is lent to us to be laid at God’s service…It is precious, short, passing, uncertain, irrevocable when gone, and that for which we must be accountable.”
POEM:
The clock of life is wound but once,
And no man has the power
To say just when the hands will stop;
At late, or early hour.
Now is the only time we own
To do His precious will,
Do not wait until tomorrow;
For the clock may then be still.
(Title: “Clock of Life”; Author Unknown)
Paul said in Philippians 1:21 – “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
Let me ask you a question: Is that your testimony? Can you honestly say “for to me to live is CHRIST, and to die is GAIN”? If you’re honest, might it not actually be…
• “For to me to live is PLEASURE,…”
• Or “For to me to live is my TV, movies, parties and video games—escapism of some kind,…”
• Or “For to me is live is my JOB,…”
• Or “For to me to live is money, or material things, or popularity or man’s acceptance.”
If ANY of those statements are true in your life, then you cannot say in all honesty the last part of the verse: “…and to die is gain.” No, if any of them are true, then to die is loss in a sense. Why?—Because to have LIVED would have been loss, and to die is to have to come to terms with a life misspent and wasted on lesser things!
Oh, listen—live your life with such a commitment to God and His Kingdom that you can honestly say in your heart of hearts, “For to me to live is CHRIST, and to die is gain.”
And so—consider these truths:
• Your life is SINGLE—you only have ONE LIFE to live.
• Your life is SHORT—only a TINY SPECK of time in the light of eternity.
• Your life is SERIOUS—very serious.
Illus. – Stephen Olford, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in New York City, relates how he was influenced by the motto, “Only One Life”:
My parents were missionaries in Angola, and I was born in Africa. At an early age I was saved. Then the day came when I went to Britain to study to be an engineer. Little by little I lost the glow of my Christian faith.
One night I had a motorcycle accident, and was taken to a hospital, where the doctors held out little hope for my recovery. At this time my father was still in Africa and did not know what I was going through. One day I received a letter from him, in which he said, “My son, of most importance is this fact: ‘Only one life, ’twill soon be past; only what’s done for Christ will last.’” It was like a hammer blow. I was shattered. I could see my life before my Maker as a shriveled-up piece of wastage.
With father’s words echoing in my soul, I capitulated. I just looked into the face of my Lord by faith and said, “I give in. No more rebellion. I have been a fool. I have tried to run my own life and have made an awful mess of it. I want to come back to you. I want You to receive me. I return in humility and in repentance.
As I knelt in the presence of God, a wonderful peace came into my heart. I yielded my life to Him. I said, “Lord Jesus, I want You to take over the reins of my life. I want You to be supreme Sovereign.”
And He did it! Not only did God meet me in my deep spiritual need, but He also healed me, for in three weeks’ time I was on my feet again.
CONCLUSION
“Only one life, ’twill soon be past; only what’s done for Christ will last.” If that is true—and it is—what should you do about it?—
• If you’re not saved this morning, you need to come to Christ.
Don’t waste another minute outside of Jesus Christ. You need to be saved TODAY so you can make what days you have left on this earth count for eternity.
The Bible says, “Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.” (Proverbs 27:1)
That’s why the Apostle Paul said, “…behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2)
• If you’re sure you are already a follower of Christ, you need to realign your life so that you are living with eternity’s values in view.
What changes do you need to make? What priorities do you need to set?
> Maybe you need to spend less time in front of the television and more time in your Bible.
> Maybe you need to share Christ with friends, neighbors and co-workers.
> Maybe there is a bad habit you need to give up.
> Perhaps you need to start giving to God a tithe and spending less of your money on fulfilling your own desires.
> Maybe you need to spend more time with your spouse and your children. – You can never take your career to heaven, but you can take them to heaven with you.
I could give many other applications, but I hope you get the idea. What do YOU need to do to live with eternity’s values in view?
Remember, “Only one life, ’twill soon be past; only what’s done for Christ will last.” Make that the motto of your life.
