Investing in Eternity!
Chuck Sligh
September 19, 2021
NOTE: A PowerPoint presentation is available for this sermon by request at chucksligh@hotmail.com. Please mention the full title of the sermon and the Bible text to help me find the sermon in my archives.
TEXT: Acts 16:9-10 – “And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia, and help us.’ 10 And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.”
INTRODUCTION
Over the next few weeks, we launch out into a missions emphasis at Grace Baptist Church. [PROMOTE MISSIONS EMPHASIS SUNDAYS + SHOW “MISSIONS INVESTMENT CARD” (FORMERLY CALLD “FAITH PROMISE CARD” & OFFERING ENVELOPE IN THE SLIDES & EXPLAIN.]
As we launch into our mission emphasis, I want God to have His way in your heart and life. In our passage here, we see that Paul and Silas, and apparently Timothy and Luke who were with them at this time, were extremely sensitive to the Holy Spirit. God was at work, and God gave Paul a vision—a vision that called them to get in on the next big thing God is going to do—to take the Gospel to Europe.
In our text, I want you to see four things God wants you to get in on that God’s up to in the world, and how it ought to compel you to get involved by giving to missions.
I. FIRST OF ALL, CATCH GOD’S VISION – Acts 16:9a – “And a vision appeared to Paul in the night…”
Paul had a literal vision, but I’m speaking of a different kind of vision this morning. Today I think we need a vision in two senses of the word:
First, we need a vision in the sense of having a mission.
Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish….”
God’s people move when they get a vision of what God’s plan is on earth. Did you know that Jesus has given the church a vision in this sense? It’s called the “Great Commission.”
In Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus said, “Go…therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit: 20 Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
We need a vision to go forth and accomplish the mission of the church—to win the lost to Jesus both near and far; to baptize them in the name of the Trinity; to disciple them in the teachings of God’s Word.
Second, we need a vision in the sense of seeing things the way God does.
We need a vision of eternity—a realization that everyone will go to either heaven or hell.
Illus. – I remember years ago my brother and sister in law taking ut to the Reunion Tower in Dallas, TX. The dusk and we could see Ft. Worth silhouetted in front of the big orange sun setting in the west.
It was breathtakingly beautiful. My brother-in showed me various important buildings and then we just wandered around on the top of the building looking down below. I saw tiny cars like ants winding their way home on the expressways below. I could see miniature houses that looked like houses on a train set. I saw teensy trees that were throughout the city.
But I didn’t see what Jesus would have seen if he were on those towers. Shortly before His death, the Gospels tell us Jesus stood on the Mount of Olives and saw Jerusalem across the valley. He didn’t gawk at the beautiful temple, or notice the tiny stone houses, or even notice the miniscule trees and scenery. He saw people who would spend eternity in heaven or hell. The Gospels say he wept, while saying, through bitter tears, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”
When you get a vision of these contrasting destinies of every person, you realize that really, everything else pales by comparison doesn’t it?
We also need a vision of the holiness and perfect righteousness of God. If we realize that God’s holiness is perfect and infinite and all-encompassing, you begin to understand mankind’s precarious condition. It’s because of the holiness of God that God judges sin and why we cannot stand before God in our own goodness because our own goodness still falls short of God’s infinite perfection.
But we also need a vision of the goodness and mercy of God. God IS infinitely holy, but 1 John 4:8 tells us that God is also love. And it is God’s goodness, love and mercy that caused Him to reach down to sinners like us to provide a way to know Him and be His child.
John said, “…God is love. 9 In this was the love of God manifested toward us,…that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:8b-10)
Can you get a vision of this marvelous truth? God in His great love provided a way for the lost to be saved; to have their sins forgiven; to be accepted by God; to have a home in heaven.
Finally, we also need a vision of multitudes in heaven someday, saved by the Blood of the Lamb. Can you envision it?—Multitudes of people around the throne…there because God’s grace provided an answer to the sinfulness of man. But how will all these multitudes make it into heaven? Each will be there because someone told them the wonderful story of Jesus and the cross and the way of forgiveness through faith in the risen Savior.
May God help us to get a vision of these eternal verities!
II. A SECOND THING GOD WANTS YOU TO DO TODAY IS TO FOCUS ON WHAT’S IMPORTANT TO HIM – Acts 16:9b – “…A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia, and help us.’”
It was the voice of a man; a human; a person in this passage. God wants the focus of our lives to be on PEOPLE.
Not on THINGS. Why invest your life in things that will burn up one day?
Illus. – I’ve told you many times of when a missionary friend of mine came to visit me at my office and had to wait for a few minutes while I finished a task. A preacher is proud of his library. I had about as good a library as any preacher, I suppose, and I was very proud of it.Well, this missionary, James Rodehorst, was perusing my library when I came in and I said, “Well, Brother, what do you think?” He said “Not bad. Too bad it’s all going to burn up some day.”
Brethren, the same can be said of your car, your furniture, your computer, your sound system, your house, and all the money you have in the bank. They’ll all burn up some day. As someone has pointed out, “You never see a hearse pulling a U-Haul trailer.”
Jesus said, “Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things…he possesses.” (Luke 12:15)
That’s why Susan and I want to give up some of our money after our regular tithes and offerings for the cause of missions. I don’t want to be covetous: I want to focus on what Jesus died for—PEOPLE!
Our focus in life shouldn’t be on fun and entertainment either. I’m not saying that there is not a legitimate place in our lives for fun and entertainment for rest and relaxation. But I can never get my favorite motto out of my mind: “Only one life, ‘twill soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last.” Is all your free time and money focused on things that have value only in this life, or are you also investing in what Jesus gave His very life for—PEOPLE?
Instead of these temporal things, our emphasis should be ON PEOPLE. Why?
Well, first because people are what Jesus died for. – 1 Timothy 1:15 – “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am the foremost.”
Jesus didn’t die for an organization or for a political cause or for buildings. He died for PEOPLE—so people could be saved from sin and hell; so people could have life and purpose at its best; so people could find fellowship and community with God and one another.
Second, our life’s purpose should focus on people because we can take people to heaven when we go. – Matthew 6:19-21 – “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal: 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in nor steal: 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
The only way I know to lay up treasures in heaven is to invest some of my time and treasure in the winning of the lost to Christ… serving in my local church to reach the lost here and teaching them Christ’s commandments in accordance with the Great Commission. but also giving to provide the means to send others as missionaries around the world to reach the lost and disciple them there. I want to have a part in that; and in our annual missions investment commitment, Susan and I have personally increased every single year since we started in the 1980s except one.
III. THIRD, GOD WANTS YOU TO FEEL THE URGENCY OF THE TASK HE HAS GIVEN US – Acts 16:10 – “And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia,…”
When the Holy Spirit identified to them where the harvest was to be, they IMMEDIATELY endeavored to go there. Jesus talked of those without Christ as a great harvest of souls to be brought in by His laborers—you and me, and those we deputize to go in our place to other places…what we call “missionaries.”
In Matthew 9:37 He talked about its vast size when he said “…The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few.”
The harvest is plenteous, which means there are many, many people in this harvest. Brethren, there is never a shortage of lost souls who need to hear that Jesus died to save them from their sins and give them eternal life. In fact, the harvest grows with every passing year. So, if there ever was a time to stop playing games; if there ever was a time to make genuine sacrifices to our lifestyles to send more missionaries—it’s now!
Jesus emphasized the urgency of bringing in this harvest when he said in John 4:35 – “Do you not say, ‘There are still four months, and then comes the harvest?’ Behold, I say to you, ‘Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already for harvest.”
A farmer knows that when wheat has turned white it’s not just ripe, but overripe and he only has a short time to bring in the harvest, or it will be too late. In other words, folks, Jesus is saying the harvest of souls is OVERRIPE. What Jesus is saying is that time is of the essence! People are dying daily and going into eternity without Christ!
This has serious implications…
This means that we must be serious about the work of evangelism and missions!
This means that we must be about the Master’s business!
This means that the King’s business requires haste!
This means that if you are ever going to do anything for missions, you need to start THIS WEEK, not next year, or sometime in the future when your financial situation is better.
This means if you’re ever going to learn how to share your faith with others, you need to study and learn how to do it now!
This means that if you’re ever going to write a loved one to tell her about Jesus; or call that friend to invite him to church; or invite your neighbor over to share the plan of salvation with her—you need to do it NOW.
This means if you’re ever going to say to the Lord, “Here am I Lord, send me—even to the far-flung reaches of the world if that be your will.”—then it had better be now!
This means if you are ever going to get serious about God, and faithfulness to God’s house, and commitment, and surrender—NOW is the time to get going for God—because the harvest of souls is white already for harvest, and soon it will be too late.
IV. LASTLY, IN THIS PASSAGE, GOD WANTS YOU TO SEE YOUR PART IN THE HARVEST-GATHERING OF SOULS – Acts 16:10 – “…immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, [now watch this:] concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.”
Folks, we can say exactly the same thing. We can conclude from all we read in the Word of God that the Lord of the harvest has called every single one of us as well to bring in the harvest of souls for eternity.
Everyone here is either is a missionary or a mission field.
1. If you’re saved—that is, if you’ve turned from sin and trusted Christ to be your Savior and sin-bearer in your place—you are a MISSIONARY.
Five times in His remaining days on earth, Jesus uttered some form of the Great Commission. [ADD A SLIDE HERE WITH SNIPPETS OF EACH ONE?] Whenever God speaks once, we should listen. But if He repeats the same command four more times, we’d REALLY better sit up and pay attention.
God is trying to get our attention! He’s saying that every Christian is called to be a missionary. A missionary is “one called to share the Good News with others.” Some are called to share the Good News AT HOME. Some are called to share the Good News ABROAD.
A few minutes ago, I said, “There is never a shortage of lost souls.” But in Jesus’ statements about the harvest, did you notice that He said that there IS a shortage of LABORERS.
Jesus said in Luke 10:2 – “…The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest, to send out laborers into his harvest.”
Oh, that we would have the laborers for the field of God’s harvest! Christian, listen—God has called you to the mission field. Some are called to go out and labor here; others are called to go afar; but we are all called to go and bring in God’s harvest. Which field has God called you to? Have you surrendered to God’s will in the field that God has called you to?
2. If you have not been saved by trusting in the finished work of Christ on the cross for your sins, then friend, you are A MISSION FIELD.
You need to know that because of sin and disobedience to God’s laws, you are separated from God and cannot have a relationship with Him. But God loves you so deeply that no matter what your sins you have done or what commandments you have transgressed, He has provided a way for you to have your sins forgiven and to know God and to experience His love and forgiveness and to have a pure and meaningful purpose in life! The way He did that was to send Jesus Christ, His Son, to live a sinless life on earth and then to lay down that life and pay the penalty of your sins in your place. And if you will turn to Jesus today and trust in Him and ask Him to save you, He will save you and give you eternal life. I hope that this day will not end without your doing this today.
CONCLUSION
Believer, what will you do with this sermon today? Will it go through one ear and out the other—or will you let it penetrate your heart? Will it result in action?
What can you do about what we’ve learned this morning?
First, make a commitment today to be at every service of our missions emphasis over the next two Sundays and at our Saturday evening International Dinner.
Yes, it will involve sacrifice of time and it will mean a less restful day on Saturday of the International Dinner. But we’re talking about SOULS and we’re talking about GOD’S PLAN and we’re talking about ETERNITY and we’re talking about A HARVEST THAT IS OVERRIPE. I challenge you to make God’s priorities YOUR priorities during this time.
Second, resolve to tell your friends and co-workers and loved ones about the message that Jesus died for them and wants to save them, and then ask God for ways to share the Gospel with them.
Third, participate in our Missions Investment Commitment by praying for God to lay upon your and your spouse’s hearts an amount that involves some sacrifice to promise to give each month, or however God lays it on your heart to give. – Say, “I want to have a part in God’s vast harvest field in-gathering by supporting missionaries around the world through Grace Bapist Church.”
Illus. – Fritz Kreisler, a world-famous violinist of the early 20th century, earned a fortune with his concerts and compositions, but he generously gave most of it away. So, when he discovered an exquisite violin on one of his trips, he couldn’t afford it.
Later, having raised enough money for the asking price, he returned to the seller, only to discover to his consternation it had been sold to a collector. Kreisler made his way to the new owner’s home and offered to buy the violin. The collector said it had become his prized possession and he would not sell it.
Keenly disappointed, Kreisler was about to leave when he had an idea. “Could I play the instrument once more before it is consigned to silence?” he asked. Permission was granted, and the great virtuoso filled the room with such heart-moving music that the collector’s emotions were deeply stirred.
The collector said, “Mr. Kreisler, I have no right to keep that to myself. It’s yours. Take it into the world, and let people hear it.”
God has entrusted to us the greatest treasure of all time—the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We cannot hold on to it and be silent. Let us take it into the world to let people hear it! Let us share it with our friends and neighbors and let us each make a commitment to give sacrificially to the cause of worldwide missions.
