Sermon: "LIVING FOR ETERNITY" D. Anderson
Is. 26:1ff; Rev. 21:9-11,22-27; Mat. 5:1-12
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Here again these breath-giving Words
proclaimed by the prophet Isaiah:
But your dead will live; their bodies will
rise. You who dwell in the dust, wake up and
shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew of
the morning; the earth will give birth to her
dead. (Isaiah 26:19 NIV)
These are Your Words, Heavenly Father,
sanctify us in Your Truth, Your Word is
everlasting Truth. Amen.
November has come and with it the first
tattle-tale signs that winder stands at a
distance, but its frigid breath is even now
blowing across our lands and neighborhoods.
November gives us reason to dream again of
the summer mornings which came with a bright
sun, a warm breathless sky, and the light-
cover of dew sprinkled over the grass with
gossamer fairy napkins dropped here and there
along the way.
I have always been fascinated by the dew of
early morning. The invisible moisture of a
rich Minnesota atmosphere condensed against
blades of green grass as the evening
temperature had cooled with the setting sun.
Dew-swept grass looks brand new... like no
human foot has ever walked its way.
Last summer was a bit dry, and the dew seemed
lighter than usual in the early morning. In
all the changing weather patterns of
Minnesota, we are taught many lessons about
faith and life. Do you remember how dry it
was back in the late 80’s? Well--imagine
with me a desert area much dryer than
anything that we have ever experienced in
Minnesota.
Imagine with me a man lost in a cruel, hot
and barren desert. For days he has gone
without water-- his body scorched by day
under a relentless sun, and chilled at night
without shelter.
He is parched to the bone-- dehydrated and
about to die of thirst. He finally falls
face first into the sand with little energy
left. He looks up, and within twenty feet,
under the shade of a large cliff, he sees a
water pump, a small jar of water and a
tattered piece of leather.
You can imagine his joy as he runs to the
cliff and begins to down the jar of water!
But before he was halfway done with the jar,
he sees some words scribbled on the piece of
leather. The message says: "Do not drink
the jar of water. You must use it to prime
the pump. Pour it down the top opening and
it will wet the washer and allow you to draw
water. Then drink as much as you desire, and
fill the jar for the next traveler."
The man now is in a terrible predicament.
What if the pump doesn’t work... or the well
is dry? Should he risk the precious little
water that he has? Should he trust that
there is water beyond his sight? Or should
he drink what he has, hope for the best, and
let the next traveler fend for himself? What
would you do?
The man in the desert is a parable about life
and faith? It describes each one of us, but
not the outcome--the outcome for each one of
us will be tailored by our justified...
sanctified life.
The man lost in the desert is you, or me, or
any other child of Adam and Eve. Each of us
sense that we live in a world that is
dangerous and we are far more frail for life
than we would like.
-->We fear a deadly disease suddenly
diagnosed within our flesh...
-->We are concerned about the midnight
intruder breaking into our homes...
-->We think about tornadoes and lightning in
the summer, and devastating, life-threatening
blizzards in the winter.
-->We jump like a leaf hit by a gust of wind
when in the room next door, where our child
is at play, we here a large thumb and a
sudden, chilling scream...
-->We try to push aside catastrophic fears
about the destruction of our planet...
Most of these fears have been with the human
family since the Fall. When Jesus spoke the
words of our Gospel text, He was speaking to
the heart of all our fears.
He spoke to people who were themselves broken
because they lived in a broken world. And
our Lord tells them, and us, that in all our
trials and conflict, we can experience
blessings in Him.
And yet, and we must be clear about this, the
blessings of Christ do not come by way of the
world... after all, the world is broken.
They do not come by the logic of the world
which says "eat, drink and be merry, for
tomorrow we may die!"
Each of us, according to the parable, has
been given a small amount of time, as the
traveler in the desert had a small amount of
water. Some say that this time has come from
God, others do not know, but we all live in
time. We all know that the space of time we
live within is limited and all too brief.
Apart from God, we walk down a path into
darkness. One of our members shared with me
how in context to a severe injury he had a
vision in which he walked upon a path which
forked. One branch led into deep darkness,
the other into a city of light.
Without God, people see life’s end in dark
and depressing ways. Carl Sagan the atheist,
as he was diagnosed with a life-taking
disease, lamented the darkness where he was
heading. If one believes that life ends in
darkness, usually that person sees the goal
of life as accumulating as much personal
pleasure as possible-- drink the water down!
Let the next traveler take care of himself!
The other branch in the road leads in a
different direction, but most of us will not
see its destination in this life. God’s Word
comes to us and tells us of a glorious city,
and reminds us to use our time wisely--not
just for this life and not just for
ourselves.
We are to have the mind of Christ... to pour
out our lives in service to our neighbor and
trust that as we have faith in God, He will
return to us, not a small jar of time--"but a
spring of water welling up to eternal life."
But here is the catch: We cannot see the
vast springs and oceans of eternal life. All
we are given is a taste of life in this
world, a taste that for some is even bitter,
and we are told by our Lord not to use our
time in this world for ourselves, but to pour
it out for God and His kingdom and trust that
God will bless this offering... Trust that He
will return to us a great, great gift from
the waters which run down the city of New
Jerusalem, "bright as crystal, flowing from
the throne of God and the Lamb."
God’s gift of faith does more than bring us
forgiveness of sins, it empowers us for life
temporal and life eternal.
So how does God’s gift of faith affect each
of us? In our faith do we say, "yes I
believe in life eternal," but live as if time
in this world were our most precious
possession?
Do we say, "Yes, I believe," and then take
the precious little time of life given in
this world to selfishly pursue wealth,
pleasure and the fancies of our mortal
natures?
Do we claim Christ as Savior, but not as
Lord, and so refuse to pour ourselves out by
serving actively within God’s kingdom...
teaching... serving on boards... financially
supporting the work of the church?
I’m going to pause for just a brief time--and
I want you to meditate upon the brevity of
life, and whether your life reflects a life
lived for your pursuits--grabbing the gusto
mainly for yourself, or a pouring out of your
life according to God’s Word and will?
<<
No man can be your judge, but God speaks
through His Word to your conscience. He
holds up before you His Son hanging on the
cross of Calvary’s mountain. The words of
Christ echo back to you,"Take up your cross
and follow me." This is God’s invitation to
us to live for others, and not ourselves, as
we trust the blessings promised to the
faithful, fruitful saints.
One summer, a bee was drawn into the open
window of a car traveling down the road. The
bee was upset, and so was a boy in the car,
who had previously suffered a severe reaction
from a bee sting. But before things got our
of hand, the boy’s father caught the bee in
his hand and tossed it back out the window.
Then he pulled the car over to comfort his
son.
The boy, however, was desperately worried
that his father would die from the bee sting.
"Oh, no," said the father, showing him that
his hand was only slightly swollen. "The
sting won’t hurt me like it would you, so I
took the sting for you."
My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ,
Jesus took the sting of death for us, because
He had the power to give His life up, and
take it back again--something we could not
do.
Now the sting is gone for each child of
faith. Those whom you have known, if they
died in the faith, have entered the city
without bitter drink, and will sup endlessly
upon the sweet blessings of God. All of
Christ’s words in the Beatitudes are
fulfilled in heaven.
But we must have faith that God exists...
that heaven exists also beyond our sight.
May God the Holy Spirit not only empower us
to be faith-filled, but also to be fruit-
bearing, pouring out our little time in this
world to the glory of God, trusting that He
will in turn glorify us forever in heaven...
trusting that the dew of heaven will be ever
new, ever fresh, and always abundant. Amen.
