Living in the Light of Eternity
Ephesians 1:15-23 (Message)
When waiting in slow traffic on a hot day with 100-degree heat do you wonder why you do what you do? Do you wonder what’s the point of your daily activity? What gives you sense of purpose?
Events can happen in your life that helps you put life in proper perspective. Paul Azinger was at the height of his professional golf career when the doctor told him that he had life-threatening cancer. Up to that point in his life he hadn’t thought much about dying. Life for Paul Azinger was too all consuming for him to stop and consider the reality of death and eternity. But the encounter with the brevity of life brought an immediate reality check. His life would never be the same again. Even the 1.4 million dollars he had made as a professional golfer that yea seemed insignificant. He remembered the words of the chaplain of the tour who said: “WE think that we are in the land of the living going to the land of the dying when in reality we are in the land of the dying headed for the land of the living.”
The crisis of cancer brought Paul Azinger to a vital faith in Jesus Christ.
When you embrace the reality of the world to come radically changes how you view this world. Your priorities change concerning money, things, time, friends, family, and life itself.
For most Americans the quality of life is measured in terms of accumulating stacks of stuff and achieving high positions and power. Eating this world’s best food and drinking its best wines define life. When eternity is left off the screen, all of life is compressed into the distorted assumption that this is all we have. And what we have is never enough.
Life is most disappointing and most despairing when it is lived, as through this world is all we have. This present world only makes sense when lived in the light of eternity. The Apostle Paul said, “If we have hoped in Christ this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.” (I Cor. 15:19) If this life on earth is all you have you need a reality check.
Too often people look for the meaning to life in the wrong places. Newspaper William Randolph Hearst invested a fortune collecting art from around the world. On day he found a description of some valuable items he just had to own, so he sent his agent abroad to locate them. After a month searching, the agent reported that the words of art had been found. They were in Hearst’s own warehouse! Hearst had searched frantically for treasures he already possessed. Had he read the catalog of his valuables, he would have saved himself a great deal of money and trouble.
God has given you his clear plan for your life. You may search for meaning to life in many places but God’s Plan is right before you in His Word.
Paul in writing to the Christians in Ephesus points out to them and to all of us God’s grand plan for all who are “In Christ.” God grand scheme does not necessarily involved a big house, a hefty stock portfolio or health. God plan does provide a sense of permanent and eternal direction in life.
Living in the light of eternity involves living in three worlds: The world within, the world to come and the world around us.
I. The World Within
• Dead in Trespasses and sin
Paul declares that the world within is a dark world. Ephesians 2:1 he says prior to a life in Christ all people are dead in trespasses and sins.
Every person that is born is born is an infectious disease. The disease has been spread through the sin and rebellion of Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve became the representatives of all humankind. You say, why blame me for what Adam and Eve did. You are not to blame for what they did. You are accountable for what you do.
The Bible defines sin as the willful transgression of God’s law. Children are not held accountable for sin. A person sins and disobeys God when he or she willfully sins and knows right from wrong and chooses wrong.
• Spiritual warfare within
The Apostle Paul in Ephesians chapter 6:12 says, “For our warfare is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
The bible says that the Angel Lucifer was not satisfied to be an Archangel. He wanted to be equal with God and was cast out of heaven and became the Prince of this world. His mission is to keep God’s creation from turning to God. His strategy spells out four D’s.
1. Diversion. He diverts your attention from the things of God to work, pleasure, and possessions.
2. Delusion. He temps people to believe they don’t need God.
3. Doubt. He wants people to believe that God is only a figment of their mind so there is no need to pray, read the Bible, or go to church.’
4. Delay. He wants you to believe there is no hurry. Wait until tomorrow to get serious about eternity. There will always be a tomorrow.
Satan is Defeated by the life and ministry of Jesus.
Paul told the Ephesians Christians that they once were dead in trespasses and sins but not they are made alive in Christ. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God – not of works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9
Saint Pascal wrote about the emptiness of man’s inner world when he wrote: “All men are created with a spiritual vacuum that only God can fill.” Christ alone fills the spiritual vacuum and gives inner peace. Jesus said, “In me you will have peace, in the world you face persecution. But take courage, I have conquered the world.” John 16:33
As Christians we are citizens of two worlds. This world we call earth and the world beyond, heaven. Our inner longing is for something more than this world can offer. Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 3:11, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”
When you are in Christ you are ready for the world to come. You have a new set of values and goals in life. II Corinthians 5:17, “If any one be in Christ, there is a new creation; everything old has passed away, everything has become new.”
Every Christian wears bifocals. You look at this world close up but you are continually looking for the world to come.
II. The World to Come
When Jesus is Lord of our Inner World we are then ready for the world to come. In fact we are not ready to really enjoy this world until we are prepared for eternity.
We know that two things are guaranteed to happen in our lives, Taxes and Death. We try to avoid paying taxes and don’t want to talk or think about death. My wife, Carollyn, works with our Free Methodist Foundation and assists people in writing wills and trusts and estate planning. People avoid writing a will or a trust because they don’t want to think about death.
One of our regular participants in church worship, Harry D”Angelo, stepped into eternity on Tuesday, For over a year Harry has battled cancer of the bone. He suffered a lot of pain, but Harry had faith in God. He enjoyed my visits when we talked about heaven where there would be no more pain or suffering. Harry had few complaints about his condition. He exemplified Christian courage and faith in action. Harry had a passion for fishing. He hoped thee would b fishing in heaven. In the universe of heaven there may well be fishing. Fishing in heaven will be no different than fishing here on earth for Harry. He always threw back the fish he caught.
Too often we only think about eternity when a loved one died. Most of us live as if this world is where we are rewarded, and happiness, satisfaction, fulfillment and prosperity not only can be ours here and now, but should be.
From time to time we think of eternity, but quickly slip back into living fort the here and now and put the idea of eternity out of our minds. We only have one life to live so get all you can.
It is sad but true that we live in a culture that denies heaven as a true reality. Philosophers like Hume, Hegel and Feuerbach have influenced modern education, they dismissed altogether hope for life after death. The founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud believed there was no eternity. Charles Darwin promoted his theory of evolution and argued against both the existence of God and immortality. With no hope of eternity people are satisfied to live for themselves.
#In 1864 at the age of 30 Hetty Green inherited her father’s fortune of 1 million dollars. She bought Civil War bonds and became a multimillionaire.
But Hetty lived like a person in poverty. She worked alone at a bank for lunch she would pull out a ham sandwich. When her son was injured in a sledding accident, Hetty tried to get free treatment at a charity ward, but she was recognized and charged for the services. Unwilling to pay, she treated the wound herself. It festered, and her son’s leg had to be amputated. At her death, Hetty Green’s estate was worth more than $100 million dollars. She lived out the words of the Apostle Paul, “If our only hope is in this life than you live without hope.”
The resurrection of Jesus and the post resurrection appearances of Jesus gave the apostles and early Christians a keen sense of the reality of the world to come. The world around them did all it could to silence them but they became a force to penetrate the Roman world with the good news of the Gospel. They were threatened with death, but they viewed the threat of death as simply the door to all that is better.
Ephesians 2:20-21 the Message reads, “God raised him (Jesus) from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever, He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything.”
Jesus had a lot to say about eternity. Jesus came from heaven and knew that heaven is a real place. Heaven was and is His home. Jesus came to earth for our benefit not his. He came to earth on a mission of mercy and grace. While on earth Jesus taught eternal and kingdom views.
When Jesus concluded the prayer he taught his disciples he declared the fact of the world to come: “For Thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory” beyond this moment and beyond our time into eternity “forever. Amen” Matthew 6:13
When you read through the Gospels of Christ’s life on earth you note his passion about Heaven. Jesus said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go to prepare a place for you. I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.” John 14:1-2
Living in the light of eternity gives you hope. John Milton wrote Paradise Lost, a poem that tells of God’s creation, man’s rebellion and concludes with the banishment of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. When he finished his work he gave it to a friend to read, Thomas Ellwood. Ellwood read the work and returned it to Milton and remarked: “You have said much here of Paradise Lost, but what have you to say of Paradise Found?”
The remark pushed Milton to write a second work entitled, Paradise Regained that captured the compelling hope of God’s love in the restoration of humankind.
When you live your life focused on eternity you live with hope. Our hope is based on the historical reality of the empty tomb. Paul said in Romans 8:24-25, “For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one also hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.”
Peter speaks about this hope in I Peter 1:3-5, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again in a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ form the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
#Winston Churchill communicated this hope at his funeral. The British Prime Minister made plans for his funeral. He requested that his casket be placed under the massive dome in the center of the St. Paul’s Cathedral. He requested that two trumpeters be stationed on each end of the balcony that circles the dome. It was his wish that at the close of the service the trumpeter on one side would play taps. When he was finished the trumpeter on the other side was to play reveille.
Christians living in the light of eternity live in the constant hope of hearing reveille, God’s wake up call, when you will be welcomed home by Him.
Only after we have embraced the world within and the world beyond, are we ready to face the world around us.
III. The World Around Us.
The present world is a place created by God for His glory, His gain, and our enjoyment. But is a place corrupted by the Fall and crowded with a fallen race. It is a place under the domination of Satan who is bent on defacing and defaming God and His glory.
Have any of you seen a 3 D movie. Years ago when I was in High school I attended a scary movie, the House of Wax. You were given special glasses with tended lens when you entered the theatre. If you tried to see the movie without the glasses it was fuzzy and didn’t make sense. But with the glasses on you seemed to be right in the action. You would dodge boulders come right at you.
As Christians living in the light of eternity we wear the lenses of eternity and can see our present world with clearer focus. Our feet are placed on solid ground because our mind and heart are focused on eternity with God.
It’s hard for the world to understand that in time of death the Christian feels sorrow but also joy knowing the loved one is with their heavenly Father where there is no more sorrow or suffering. My mother died at the age of 62. She had a stroke that left her partially paralyzed. When I visited her in the hospital and had prayer with she said, “Remember Raymond, goodbye down here is hello up there.”
Duane and Janet Willis lived on the south side of Chicago with their nine children. Their three oldest had moved on, but Janet home-schooled the other six. They were active in their church and committed to having a Christian home.
In 1995 Duane and Janet climbed into their new van with their six children to drive north near Milwaukee to visit one of their children. It was like any other trip they had taken except on the west side of Milwaukee, a large piece of metal fell form a truck in front of them and pierced the underside the their fuel take igniting the gas. Immediately flames engulfed their van. Scott and Janet were on fire and rolled form the van into grass putting out the fire on their clothes. All but one of their children were still in the van. One had climbed out but died at the hospital. The other five died in the burning van.
The world around us is not an easy world to live in. Things don’t go as they should. Why would an accident like that happen. Why would God give them children and then seemingly snatch them away? Why in a world of abusive parents would God permit this to happen to a family with such love and concerned parents?
What’s wrong with this picture? Have you ever looked at a picture full of contradictions and inconsistencies? Your task is to figure out all the discrepancies with the picture. You see a boy with no eyes on his face, a dog with no tail, a squirrel taking a birdbath, etc.
The world around you is filled with inequities. We live in an imperfect world. The Psalmist cried out to god, “Why do the righteous so often struggle and suffer when the wicked seem to prosper? Job suffered in horrendous proportions for no apparent earthly good; Joseph was thrown in the slammer for three years for being righteous; God’s own people killed prophets: Jesus came I love and was crucified.
Janet cried out, “No, No, this can’t be happening to us.” Duane tried to comfort her. He looked at their black singed clothes and said: “Janet, this is what we’ve been prepared for. Janet, it was quick, and they are with the Lord.”
The front-page story in the Chicago Tribune reported: Burned, bandaged, and still in physical pain in a Milwaukee area hospital, the couple displayed extraordinary grace and courage. Wednesday as they calmly presided over a news conference they had requested to tell of how their unquestioning belief has sustained them through the loss of six of their nine children.” At the news Conference, the father said, “I know God has purposes and God has reasons…God ahs demonstrated His love to us and our family. There is no question in our minds that God is good, and we praise Him in all things.”
As we experience personal tragedies we need to be careful that we do not forget that we live in a fallen world. Our only hope is to keep our eyes on Jesus and look forward to ultimate victory in Jesus.
Isaac Watts wrote years ago the penetrating hymn: “Am I a Soldier of the Cross.”
Am I a soldier of the cross,
A follower of the Lamb,
And shall I fear to own His cause,
Or blush to speak His name?
Must I be carried to the skies
On flowery beds of ease,
While others fought to win the prize,
And sailed through bloods seas?
Are there no foes for me to face?
Must I not stem the flood?
Is this vile world a friend to grace,
To help me on to God?
Sure, I must fight if I would reign,
Increase my courage, Lord:
I’ll bear the toil, endure the pain,
Supported by Thy Word.
When we come to grips with the world around us, the world beyond us and the world within us, we sense a revived faith, no longer chained by the questions of life. A three-world perspective sets you free to be all that God created you to be.
The editorial in the Chicago Tribune in 1995 quoted Duane Willes as saying: “I must tell you, we hurt and sorrow as you parents would for your children. The depth of pain is indescribable. The Bible expresses our feelings that we sorrow, but not as those without hope.” The writer of the editorial made the comment: ”Hope is founded in faith and in the conviction, in Janet Willis’s words, that ‘He is the giver and the taker of life and He sustains us.”
Duane Willis was also quoted as saying: “Janet and I have had to realize that we’re not taking the short view of life. We take the long view and that includes eternal life.”
The editorial concluded with these words: There are only two possible responses to the kind of loss that Duane and Janet Willis suffered last week: utter despair or unquestioning faith. For the Willises, despair was never an option.
