7^th Sunday of Easter – June 5, 2011

2 Corinthians 4:13-18 - ¹³ It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, ¹⁴ because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. ¹⁵ All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. ¹⁶ Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. ¹⁸ So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Live Life in View of Eternity

I have heard it said that little girls start thinking about their wedding day from a very early age. So much so in fact, that often times they have half the details ironed out before they’re even engaged. Now, whether this is true or not, I’m not the one to ask. But if it is, I suppose you could say that those girls have been living life in view of their wedding day.

When the infamous Tiger Woods broke onto the golf scene back in the 1990’s, you might recall that stories were told about how he started playing golf at the age of 3. He, I suppose you could say, was living life in view of playing profession golf.

Or maybe it’s the son or daughter of a wealthy business owner, who’s told that they are heir apparent to their father’s company. They would be living in view of taking over the company.

In our lesson this morning, the Lord, through the pen of the apostle Paul, urges and encourages us to live in view of something too. But unlike each of the examples above, it isn’t something to do with the here and now. Instead, he urges us to Live Life in View of Eternity: for it changes the way we view service to the Lord; and it changes the way we view suffering.

Eternity is a difficult concept for us, and that’s because nothing in this world lasts forever. Happiness in life is not eternal. Our bodies are not eternal. Not even this world is eternal. Yet, even though this is the case, all people will spend an eternity somewhere, and God tells us that that somewhere is either heaven or hell. Heaven is described to us as a place with unending peace, joy and happiness; a place where there is no sorrow, sickness or pain; a place where we have perfect fellowship with all believers and get to be in the presence of God himself. Hell, on the other hand, is described as a place of bitter agony and pain, worse than anything experienced or ever imagined; a place where every day of a person’s existence they want to die, but know they never will; a place completely and totally separated from the blessings of a loving God; a place reserved for those who have not perfectly kept God’s Law.

Heaven certainly sounds good, but what we deserve is hell, and we can’t deny it. Sin deserves to be punished. That punishment is hell. We sin…so we deserve hell. I know I can’t deny that! Can you? But what we deserve is not what we have received. That is the totally incredible thing. Oh, to be sure, we have sinned, but the punishment we deserved was directed and taken out on someone else. In his tremendous mercy and love, God took out his justice on his Son Jesus Christ. On the cross, Jesus suffered our hell, received our punishment, and died our death. And when God raised Jesus on Easter morning he said to you and me – I declare you not guilty. We have received this forgiveness by faith and we are now perfect through Christ. Now we have been promised the joy, peace, and happiness of an eternity in heaven! And when we live life in view of that eternity, it changes the way we view service to the Lord.

Service, that’s another word we have a difficult time with, isn’t it? Have you ever stopped to consider why that is? The reasons, really, are as simple as they are obvious. It is because it requires us to focus on someone else instead of ourselves. It is because it takes away from our precious “me” time. As selfish human beings that’s hard for us to handle. And so when it comes to our service to the Lord, what so often happens? We find it hard to give of ourselves.

We have a hard time parting with the money we worked so hard to earn, even though the Lord’s mission work is calling. We can’t possibly find an hour in our “woe-is-me” hectic life to visit a shut-in or widow, or speak with a fellow member who needs encouragement. What we have planned is more important than taking a few extra minutes to listen to someone’s problems and hope a door opens so we can witness to them. And OUR to-do and project lists get so long we think they must be done before committing to something like canvassing.

And so, in reality, our personal comfort takes first priority over service to the Lord. Our personal convenience becomes greater than the Great Commission of making disciples of all nations. Our view of life gets stuck on the here and now and we fail to live the life of service asked, yes even expected of us by our Lord.

But now listen to the Apostle Paul – “We also believe and therefore speak, ¹⁴ because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. ¹⁵ All this is for your benefit.” Paul says that since they believed, they spoke. It was as simple as that. It didn’t matter whether it was convenient or not. It didn’t matter whether they had lots of free time or not. It didn’t matter if it made them personally comfortable or not. In fact, we know that on more than one occasion their speaking resulted in imprisonment, being flogged, and being exposed to death. Paul himself was beaten, shipwrecked, and constantly on the move. He even went without sleep and food. (2 Corinthians 11:23-27)

And what possible reason could he have for going through all that? He did it for the benefit of others that they might know the grace of God. He did it so that God would be glorified. He did it because he knew that the day was coming when he would be raised to live in the presence of Jesus. He did it because he lived life in view of eternity.

You see, the goal of our lives is not me, myself and I. It is not seeing how many personal possessions we can accumulate or how much leisure time we can collect. It isn’t simply taking care of me, my wife, my son and daughter, us four and no more. You see, when we live life in view of eternity, our attitude toward service completely changes.

When we live life in view of eternity, we can’t help but speak what we believe. We want more and more people to be reached with the message of Christ’s redeeming work. When we live life in view of eternity, we want to do and act in ways that bring glory to God. When we live life in view of eternity, we realize that we live for more than just this life; we live for the life to come. We live for the day that we will be raised to live with our Savior Jesus forever. Remembering that that is the aim of our life, we learn to say, “So what if I have a little less me time, serving others with the gospel is more important.” “So what if everything on my list doesn’t get done today, there’s always another day. And if I don’t get to it, what will it matter to me when I’m in heaven.” “So what if I don’t have everything the Jones’ have, I want to see the missionary go out into the mission field. I can’t take my money with me when I die.”

You see, realizing that Christ suffered, died and rose again, not so we could sit back eating bonbons taking care of number #1, but so that the doors of heaven could be opened to sinners like you and me, changes our view on our service to our Lord. It also changes our view on our sufferings while here on earth.

And who doesn’t seem to have those! In fact, our lives seem to be filled with troubles. Sometimes it even appears as if we, as Christians, have more troubles in our lives than other people. Our Christian, God-fearing grandfather lingers on in a terrible illness at the end of life, while the godless die quietly in their sleep. Our believing spouse is taken from us when there are many good years of marriage left, while the people of the world live together until they are old, and they never even get married. Maybe it’s a bad car accident, serious illness, loss of job or lingering pain.

Whatever they may be, troubles seem to be with us every day of our lives. They weigh us down. Wear away at our patience. Attack our faith. They never seem to go away. That makes it all the more amazing that in our lesson this morning, Paul would call these hardships, troubles, and sufferings light and momentary?!? And Paul certainly wasn’t saying this because he didn’t have any troubles. We were just reminded of some of the things he went through. So, how could he call these troubles and hardship momentary and light? It is because he viewed them from a view of eternity. It was because he was looking forward to something that made them light and momentary in comparison. He looked to the glory that awaited him when Jesus returned. And that glory, that glory, it would not be momentary but eternal. And its glory and splendor and beauty far outweighed any troubles of the present.

The same is true for you and for me as we live life in view of eternity. To the person in the midst of a burdensome, lingering trial, that might seem like a pipe dream. When we lose a loved one, when we face deadly illness or financial ruin – it’s hard to think of those troubles as momentary and light? But when considered in view of eternity, this truth can be seen. When we have a perspective that stretches to the limitless time of eternity and includes the endless joy that we eagerly expect there, we can consider them light or momentary.

That’s because living life in view of eternity is living life in view of the cross and empty tomb. That is where all this was made possible. That’s where our Savior went to battle for us to win our souls for salvation. That’s where he defeated our enemies – the devil, death and our sinful flesh.

It is when we stand in view of the cross that we soak up the forgiveness of sins that Christ won for us there – assuring us that we no longer need to cringe in fear of God. It is when we stand in the view of the cross that we are refreshed day by day, grasping again and again that the goal of this life isn’t here below, but with our Savior above. It is when we stand in view of the cross that we hear the victory cry of our Savior – it is finished, and know that Christ accomplished everything we couldn’t do. And it is when we stand in view of the empty tomb that we are assured that the future glory promised to those who believe in Jesus as their Savior is no exaggeration. It is mine! It is yours! And it enables us to view our sufferings as light and momentary.

During the first part of the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, no safety devices were used, and 23 men fell to their deaths. For the last part of the project, however, a large net which cost $100,000 was employed. At least 10 men fell into it and were saved. But an interesting side note is the fact that 25 percent more work was accomplished when the men were assured of their safety.

We are safe! Our sins have been paid for! The sentence of our hell has been served! The battle against Satan has been won! The doors to heaven are open to us, and now we simply wait until the day that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will take us there also. Until that day, live life in view of eternity, letting the joy and glory and splendor and wonder of that place move you to service for the Lord, patiently enduring the troubles that come. Amen.