THINGS TO HELP US LIVE
INTRODUCTION
Today we want to study some things to should prompt us
to live more mature. Things to make us more productive
and serviceable as we walk before the Lord, and among our fellows.
Matthew 25:31-46
Our service rendered to Christ is a service out of our love for him. We render such services to others when we help the unfortunate, down trodden, lost, sorrowing and hurting in this life.
As his followers we have a primary responsibility to him discharged in our service to others.
It follows that our attitude toward our fellowman gives the only true indication of our attitude towards God;
To many of us are negative in our attitudes in this life.
Too many of us having opportunity to serve, fail miserably to do so.
But we need to think of something which should prompt us in our consideration
of duty and responsibility to greater fidelity.
HAVE YOU CONSIDERED THE VALUE OF YOUR SOUL
I know we consider the value of our physical life constantly.
Our physical body is in our constant attention and thoughts.
Would you consider selling your eyesight in exchange for a sum of money
I need not mention the amount because the answer would be, no.
If we had to do without any one of the five senses we would have a difficult time.
I am happy the Lord does not leave such decisions for me to make.
I may lose the sight of my eyes. Others have and have lived productive lives unable to see. I trust that will never happen.
Would you sell both legs for a million dollars, No, No.
We take care of the physical man. Even in regard to its adornment from day to day.
We look in the mirror daily to see if we are presentable.
We spend a good deal of time and effort on the physical body. We make sure the body is properly attired.
Have you given genuine, serious, personal consideration, for the
value of your soul?
Matthew 16: 26 "What shall a man be profited if he should
gain the whole world and lose his own soul".
All in the world you could do with the world is to look at it, eat it, and use it. Thetas all for the benefit of the physical man.
The eyesight is gone, the appetite is no more, and the hand is stilled, that used the tools that the world supplied.
What I left when the physical man begins to become feeble and deteriorate?
What's really left in the end.
Matthew 6:19-21 Lay up not for yourselves treasures on
earth. Where moth rust consume and thieves break through and
steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither
moth nor rust doth consume. Where
thieves do not break through and steal for where your treasure is that
is where your heart is also.
Someone says, yeah that's right, the Lord is against thrift.
The Lord is against no such thing!
What does the Lord want?
I see many people who are in such grievous error.
They say in their latter days, as they have grown
older. They and have not given consideration to the Lord,
or his desire for their life. They say I have waited to
long.
I did not give him the vigor of youth. I have waited too long to serve God.
So, I am not going to give him the dregs of my life.
My friend, you don't understand what God wants. God doesn't want your service....
Somebody said what did you say preacher? Well listen to this and learn a lesson.
Acts17:24 The God that made the world and all things therein,
he being lord of heaven and earth. Dwelleth not in temples
made with hands. Neither is he served with by men's hands as though
he needed anything.
Lets learn a lesson here that will put things into focus and proper perspective.
God is not served by mans hands? No, sure God is served with mans hands.
God is not concerned with my service? Sure he is concerned with my service.
But you see he is not served by men as if he needed anything!
The reason God is concerned with my service is for my benefit.
It is for my good. The Lord wants me to be saved.
I run into people that seem negative about that fact. They assume that the Lord wants them to be lost.
Oh No, no. Its not how much service I can render, or how long
I will live on this earth, or how strong and vigorous I am
on earth.
Sure, the Lord wants my commitment and my dedication. But just how is he going to require this?
Beat me like a slave? Keep me in a dungeon? Oh, no !
"For where thy treasure is, there will your heart be also",
Matthew 6:22.
The Lord wants me to center my thoughts on spiritual things.
Colossians 3:1 " If ye be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God".
Thing that are of everlasting value should occupy my time and thoughts.
Things which will never fade in beauty. A joy that never dies. A place where riches never rust.
You are growing old. We will not abide here forever.
We take care of the physical man. We feed the physical body and adorn this flesh.
We lay up for rainy days, and we are concerned about going to a nursing home. That's all fine.
Yet, what preparation are you making for your eternal life and destiny?
If you live here the full tenure and span of human life. Lets say you live for 120 years which is very rare.
You still are going to die.
Death is a separation of body and soul.
"Thanatos", does not simply mean separation.
"But the body without the soul is dead", James 2:26.
Until the separation of body and soul takes place you are not dead. But we all know this will occur one day.
Have you given thought about the adornment of the inner man?
I Tim. 2:9-11 "Knowing this that the law is not made for
a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the
Ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers,
and murderers of mothers,
for man slayers. For whoremongerers, for them that defile themselves
with mankind, for men stealers,
for all liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that
is contrary to sound doctrine.
I Peter 3:3-4 " Whose adorning let it not be that of the
outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of
putting on apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in
that which is not corruptible, even the ornament
of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price."
Somebody says preacher, Peter is condemning wearing jewelry, gold and braiding the hair.
If he condemns this, then he also condemns wearing clothes, he used that term "apparel" also.
What the writers are saying is to give emphasis to our immortal nature.
We will be here only a few years. Maybe not even that many.
Yet you will never cease to be
You are a immortal soul clothed in a very temporary tabernacle of clay.
This body can be injured terrible and bounce back and recover, yet can be slain so easily.
The thread of life is very brittle.
We must all go the way of all flesh.
We occupy this physical body presently, but eternity will find us alive, and vigorous, a billion years from today.
The only time we have to prepare for the eternity to come, is in the few brief years we have on this earth.
Matthew 10:28 "Fear not him who can destroy the body
and after that have no more he can do. But rather fear
him that can cast both body and soul into hell.
I understand about human frailty, and the physical fears we have.
We don't like to think about death we are just human.
We don't want to be abused, we will avoid a flying bullet if we can, we don't like the prospect of dying.
We don't want to die pre-maturely and that is natural, and the Lord made us that way.
The Lord wants us to be concerned about eternal affairs,
not consumed and concerned about physical matters only.
Men can slay the body they have done this for centuries.
We must be concerned about the one who can cast body and soul into hell.
By the way, whether you die violently or peacefully in sleep you are still dead.
Don't worry totally about the physical aspect, but be concerned with
the soul.
We have a battle raging between materialism and spirituality.
This has been so from the dawn of time.
That battle perhaps has never been in greater evidence than here in the United States.
Brethren if we get away from the word of God
If we fail to read and meditate on the word of God the world takes over.
This is inevitable, I cannot escape that conclusion.
I am a physical being in a physical world with certain physical needs.
It is very easy for the physical needs of the world to outweigh the spiritual needs.
If I turn from the spiritual food, the illumination and light, of God's word, I have failed my soul!
We can see this in our children.
Are we more concerned about, the matter of a more abundantly living, or making a life?
Think about it. cast in your mind former conversations with your children.
Your example, your interest in spiritual things. What do you consider
most important in this life?
What have you magnified before them? Is it materialistic as opposed to spirituality.
Yes I am talking to good people.
We begin to think more of material things, relationships, circumstances, and minimize spiritual matters.
We do this because we are not staying as close to the Lord as we should.
These things are so important, and I must give attention to my soul.
Of all the things I possess the most valuable is my soul.
Everything I have will dissolve and be gone. Nothing else transcends time except my soul.
Sometimes we say when we die we can't take it with us. That's right, but we can send it on ahead.
You see, we can use things to create a better environment, to enrich our own soul, to reach out to others.
Brethren, I am pleading with you to think more soberly about your soul
To think of the welfare of others who we have responsibility for. We are to be keepers of others souls also.
There are people today absent from this assembly that should be here today.
These are not bad people, they are good people, yet they are being pulled the physical and not the spiritual.
They are becoming unbalanced.
They are losing sight of the spiritual, and are magnifying the material.
We assume that people will not miss us. We diminish the benefits of attendance.
We become spiritually obese. None of this is valid to us we think.
The problem is a heart problem, a problem of materialism over spirituality.
They need our help. They need our visits, prayers, and personal attention.
The only way I will become that interested in their eternal welfare, is to become concerned about my own soul.
There are passage after passage from the Bible that teaches us the necessity of keeping the soul.
II Corinthians 4:16 Wherefore we faint not. But though
I outward man is decaying our inward man is renewed
day by day. For our light affliction yet our inward man is renewed
day by day.
What he said causes lots of people to faint.
The house burns down and we lose everything. Only the clothing on the back is saved.
This is horrible. Some people have even committed suicide because of such things.
Paul said. " we faint not"!
Paul is looking at what happens in this world in relationship to vast eternity.
The soul transcends eternity. The light afflictions are anything physical and earthly.
Paul had the marks of Jesus in his body.
The five times he had been beaten with 39 stripes by Jews.
It has to do with 3 times beaten by the Roman rods.
By the pallor on his face as he was in a dark dungeon. He called all of this light affliction.
This will not transcend eternity only the spiritual things abide
That is why we are to magnify the spiritual. Jesus died so we could have eternal life.
Yet we become so concerned about wealth, and material things, that we neglect the spiritual.
We are concerned with the physical but not spiritual things.
"Whatsoever our hand finds to do do it with all our might". Ecclesiastes 9:10
Take care of the body it is the temple of God. I Corinthians 6:19
Money is only a medium of exchange neither good nor bad.
The Lord is wanting us to think first about first thing
Jesus told the rich young ruler to exchange what he could not keep for that he could not lose.
Earthly accumulation should still belong to the Lord. We are just temporary stewards here for a brief time.
Use what we have to make friends with God. So that when this earthly
fails, he will receive us into the eternal tabernacle.
There will come a time when I can't see it, taste it, or touch it. That's all the world has to offer.
I will live better if I constantly remember I am an immortal soul.
A DAY OF RECKONING WILL COME
The day of judgment is real and is certain. Hebrews 9:27
Somebody says, preacher, I am not sure I believe that.
Yes you do! Yes, you do.
If you are with us today there is no other creature on earth possessing your mentality.
No other form of animal life that has your ability to reason.
No other touched with compassion, love, and genuine concern as is mankind.
There is not a full grown animal on this earth today, that pays homage to mothers and parents like man.
We know the Bible is true and right.
If you read its pages you will know it came from an omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient God.
The source of life originated from God.
The Bible describes you better than you know yourself. It reveals the innermost thoughts.
It corrects your life, It fills us with hope. We will all give
account to God concerning our life.
Romans 14:12 "So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God".
II Corinthians 5:10 " For we must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive
the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it
be good or bad".
We will all answer to God about our lives.
No ,no, mother had an awesome responsibility in raising her offspring but we all reach the age of accountability
Mother will answer for her responsibilities and her motherhood.
She was human and not perfect but has so many good things about her.
But I will answer for myself.
Mother will answer for herself, Father for himself.
Each one of us gives account of ourselves before God.
Daniel Webster. 1782- 1852, seventy years of age when he died.
American statesman and outstanding orator. Someone said that he
could reach out and grab verbose like thunderbolts
and touch the heart of men. with the words he employed.
Tremendously powerful speaker, great command of the English language.
He was a tremendous storehouse of human knowledge.
He was asked, what was the most sobering thought you have ever entertained.
He said the fact that I must stand before God and give account in the day of judgment.
This is indeed a sobering thought just as sure as you are alive today you will appear before God .
We are so often prone to put things off.
God did not intend for us to be a morbid people
But I have said to almost every young parent, "that child will soon be in college".
I understand young people react to this with indifference.
As we get older we seem to notice that the times fly away.
My children grow so quickly and soon they are gone. Time gets away.
James 4:14 "Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow.
For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that
appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away".
Years go by so quickly.
As we assemble and worship God, let's make it meaningful.
Talk to God about the frailty of life.
All too soon its gone, then we die, and one day we will face God.
No matter how old you are, each one of us will all stand before the
Lord and be judged.
LIVE EACH DAY AS IF IT WERE THE LAST
This is a sobering thought isn't it?
No, no, morbid, morbidity is not what we are after. But live each day as if it were the last.
One morning we will get up, maybe eat a good breakfast. Go out the because the day is young.
The day has great promise. We kiss our wife good-bye, not knowing we will never return.
We will never see our wife or children again in this life.
Lie down for a rest and soon there will never be another sunrise for you.
On a documentary dealing with Normandy Beach it showed the carnage and the death.
Young boys popping silk and fighting for their lives.
The skies were filled with death. Many died falling from planes
in their parachutes. The cream of American manhood
was dying on those fields.
Their last day approached. One day our last day will arrive. will we be prepared.
If you knew this was our last day what would we do. I know there would be tears, emotion, and pain.
We would think of our plans and things that we will never fulfill.
We hate to leave our loved ones, we have anxiety, and fright gripping us in a strangle hold.
But would we change our daily habits, what we read, what we watch, and what we say.
If we knew this was the last day for us what we do today..
Would we try to get closer to God. This is a very sobering thing
Job14:1 " Man that is born of woman is of few days, and full of trouble".
This is the way of life even under the best of conditions.
We come on earth and soon go the way of all flesh.
We are like a meteor flashing across life's path then we are gone.
We leave prints on the sand of time then they blow away.
Your eternity is contingent on your life today.
If this was your last day on earth how would you think. This is sobering
I believe we have said enough to make you think about your life today.
CONCLUSION
How is your life and service today? To become a Christian
one
must obey the commands of the Lord.
Believe in Jesus Christ,
John 8:24
Repent of sins, Acts
3:19
Confess Christ before men,
Matthew 10:32
Be baptized for remission
of sins, Acts 2:38
Live faithful unto
death, Revelation 2:10