Video Transcript: Why Eternity Matters Now

I’m preaching for a while in the book of Colossians, and in Colossians, chapter three, the first four verses we thought about what it means to be heavenly minded. And then I've had a couple of messages on heavenly relationships and eternal pleasures. And I'm not quite ready to leave those four verses, yet I've been lingering over them quite a while and thinking about various aspects. And I've been doing that because it's so very important and more and more rare, to be people with our hearts in eternity, and with our minds on heaven, and on Christ, and because it is just so very crucial. And so we're going to again, just say together the words of Colossians, three verses one through four, and then we'll think think about why eternity matters now. Let's say this together. If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not things that are on the earth, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears you also will appear with Him in glory. 

Sometimes, folks speak of those who are so heavenly minded, that are no earthly good. And they complain that Christianity too often offers pie in the sky in the sweet by and by when you die. And what good is a religion that's so heavenly minded and just offers this pie in the sky? Well, I could give a very short answer. The question is simply why eternity matters. We can get that over with in about 30 seconds. Eternity matters because it lasts a really, really, really, really long time. And you either have total joy for that really, really long time or total agony and anguish and regret and suffering for an unending time. So why does eternity matter? Well, if you like being happy, and you want to be happy forever, you would want to have eternity with the Lord. If, you're a glutton for punishment, well, I won't go into detail. 

The Bible simply speaks of the terrors of hell, of the outer darkness, of punishment, of weeping and gnashing of teeth, of unending torment. And if you need to ask why eternity matters after hearing those basic facts, then I might as well not even say anymore. You're too thick headed and stupid, even to think about your own well being. If this life last a few years and eternity lasts forever, then it is absolutely obvious why eternity matters. The only question really for us to talk about today is why eternity matters now. And even that kind of question deserves almost be flipped on its head in light of what I just said. It'd be a better question to say why does now matter in light of eternity? Because eternity matters so hugely, and it is exactly because we are so stuck on this world and this life without thoughts of Christ, without thoughts of eternity, that we could be as clueless as the kind of questions that get asked. 

Let me just ask you this question. Do you know anybody who's so heavenly minded, they're no earthly good, whose thoughts are so much on Jesus Christ and looking forward so eagerly to eternity? They're just kind of worthless in this world. I don't know anybody like that. It's maybe kind of a cliche to be so heavenly minded and no earthly good. I don't know anybody like that. And as for pie in the sky in the sweet by and by when you die, you can make wisecracks and jokes about high and holy and great things. But really, it'd be a lot wiser to just shut your mouth. You don't know you're talking about. I don’t to be rude. But if you're going to speak of the things of eternity that casually and that stupidly, it would be a lot healthier to close it down, shut it and listen very carefully and think about why eternity matters. You're not even maybe ready to move on to why eternity matters now, but just to take eternity seriously in the first place. But let's get into that question of why eternity matters now. It matters enormously because heaven and the new creation are very real and lasts forever. Hell is very real and lasts forever and it matters. 

But what impact does it have now? And in light of our study, the book Colossians I'm emphasizing this because the book of Colossians goes on right after this passage to tell us how to live in our personal life in personal purity and how to relate to our fellow Christians and how to live in relations between husband wife and between parents and children. And how to live in relationship to unbelieving people who aren't yet Christians. It tells us all of these things about how to live now. But how does it launch us into those instructions on how to live now. By telling us to set our minds and our hearts on things that are above where Christ is and to focus forward also on the appearing of Jesus Christ and the glory that we will have with him. The very placement of it in Paul's letter shows that everything he says about living now is based on eternity. 

Well, let's go into a little more detail. I'm just going to offer 10 Words ending in why. We're asking why. So 10 words ending in why that explain why eternity matters now. It's the key to bravery, to a sense of reality, to what real prosperity is. It's the launching pad for true generosity. It's the key to purity, to dignity, to unity of believers. It's the key to a sense of urgency and the importance of the gospel. It helps us get our priorities in order. And it energizes us and gives us the power to keep on going in this life. Let's just think about each of those 10 words. If your memory isn't that hot, you don't have to memorize every word say, okay, I'm going to go home and store away 100% of that teaching. You may find that one or two of these are areas where you've really been needing help from the Lord lately. And so you say, Well, that's an area I needed help. And one of the keys to that is having my mind on things above where Christ is. And so let's think about each of these. 

First of all, it's the key to bravery. The apostle Paul said, What do I gain if humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus. You know, Christians were being thrown to animals and being persecuted and killed. He says, Why would I do that if the dead aren't raised? Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die. That's pretty blunt and to the point. This is the same chapter of the Bible where Paul says if Christ hasn't been raised your faith is useless. Okay? If you wonder why eternity matters now, your faith is useless if there is no eternity. And you would have no bravery if there is no return. You'd be stupid to go get yourself killed for the sake of the gospel if all of life is have a blast while you last. Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow you die. Scripture says that some believers, followers of Jesus were tortured and refused to accept release. Now, why were they so courageous in the face of such suffering? Well, so that they might rise again to a better life. Their bravery came from their awareness of eternity. 

Jesus spoke of the fact that labor pain is a little bit like this, where you look ahead. He says, a woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come. But when a baby is born, she forgets the anguish. Why? Because of the joy that a child is born into the world. And how many women say, you know, labor is the ultimate period of life. That period when I'm actually in labor. And this is the only thing I would like to focus on and pay attention to. You'd say, lady, you've got some problems up here. Because the purpose of the labor is the child and the only thing that really makes the labor have a sense of worth and value is the joy that is coming because of that labor. And the Bible says the whole creation is in the birth pangs moving towards that new destiny that God has for it. And it's only with our eye on that, that we understand what's going on with the pains and struggles that are in this world. 

Jim Elliot was a missionary who went to South America with four other missionaries to a people group that was not only unreached but was known to be very hostile and dangerous. And when he got there, he and the four other missionaries were speared to death. Now why did he go knowing the kind of danger that was there? Well, here's a very famous sentence of his. He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain when he cannot lose. You can't keep your life anyway. You can't lose eternity. And we have that conviction. You are brave. When Korean Christians were facing ferocious persecution, one of their sayings was we are like nails, the harder they hit us, the deeper they drive us. Okay, that's braver. And it comes from knowledge of eternity not just for being a glutton for punishment. 

Well a second thing that eternity is key to is having a sense of reality. I've spoken of this before. We have this cliche. Welcome to the real world. And when do we say, Welcome to the real world? Almost always, when something kind of rotten happens. When somebody does something really mean to us, when some sort of disaster hits or when we've been cheated or disappointed in some way or another we say Well, welcome to the real world. Says who? You need to have a little better sense of reality. The Bible says that when God arises in his might and brings his new creation, all of that other stuff is going to vanish like a bad dream. That is not the real world. That is the passing dream. The real world is the one that lasts forever, this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient or temporary or passing away. But the things that are unseen are eternal, they last forever. We speak of people being sheltered and then finally getting into the real world. We very often mean those who grew up in a loving situation where they taste of something of God's righteousness and goodness and purity and kindness, and the real world is where all the bad stuff happens. 

I submit that that's upside down. Very many people do not know the real world at all. They do not know the world of God's love and the power of God's love at work in people they know. They've been sheltered from reality, unfortunately and they are part of what is corrupt and vanishing and fading. And when we preach the gospel of eternal life in Jesus Christ, people are for the first time finding out what the real world really is. When we arrive in that new creation, perhaps our Lord will say to us, welcome to the real world. In the meantime, we live in light of the fact that this is the real world and it's the weight of glory. That the other stuff is fluff. That is what lasts forever. The other stuff is vanishing like a bad dream. Oh, by the way, I love the prosperity gospel, just not the prosperity gospel that gets preached so often nowadays, that if you trust in the Lord, your bank account will get fatter and fatter and fatter. Your body will get healthier and healthier without getting fatter and fatter and that all good things will happen to you now in this life. That's not the prosperity gospel that I believe. But I do believe in a prosperity gospel. You just have to understand what prosperity is and when it comes fully in light of eternity. 

Investing. Do you want to invest in a company that you know for an absolute fact is going to go belly up before you have a chance to sell the stock? No investor his right mind would buy something that you knew was going to be worthless. My kids sometimes like to watch old episodes of a Little House on the Prairie on DVD. In one of those episodes, Charles inherits the estate of a rich uncle. Maybe some of you've seen that one. It turns out that he was a rich uncle who squandered most of his stuff, and finally that he had left was a big box. And they open that box and what relief after all, because it was still full of money. We got it. It was Confederate money. And those of you who know your history know that after the Confederacy was defeated in the Civil War, the money that it printed wasn't even worth the paper it was printed on. Or some of you may have monopoly money. You don't say Yippee I am a bazillionaire. I'm gonna go on a spending spree because I got a whole stack that was nice orange, five hundreds. You can do that while you're playing Monopoly. But once you get out of monopoly into the real world, that money is worth zippo, nothing. 

And the kind of stuff that we talked about in connection with prosperity is going to be worth nothing in the real world. Jesus says what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? A big part of our Bible reading plan lately has come from the Gospel of Luke. And Luke in relating Jesus word shows us what real prosperity is. He tells about the retirement plan of a rich farmer. And the farmer says Self you have laid up a lot of wealth for many years to come. Eat drink and be merry. And God said Fool. He didn't say oh, you wise prosperous, good manager of money. He said fool, for tonight you die, then who gets it all? Or Jesus says, sell when you've got so much. Sell and give to the poor so that you can have treasure in heaven? Jesus tells the story of prosperity where there's a very, very rich man and a man near his gate who is so poor, that he just lies there in the gutter and the dogs come and lick his sores because nobody else wants to help him out. And then the rich man dies and is buried with honors. And the poor man dies too. But the poor man ends up by Abraham’s side in the place of the blessing and the rich man ends up in hell begging for even one drop of water to cool his tongue and relieve his suffering. Now, who's prosperous? Well, you get a real sense of prosperity, when you have a real sense of eternity. And the person who seems to be prosperous in this life, maybe even a person who was kind of carried along and encouraged by his favorite prosperity preacher, may find himself in very different circumstances in the world to come when he has nothing of Christ. And when he did nothing in this world that showed the kindness of Christ to others. 

Well, speaking of that generosity is a fourth why for why eternity matters now. Jesus says when you give a dinner banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors. Now, that doesn't mean you can never have family over for dinner or never have a business lunch. Just don't think that it's worth a whole lot in God's eyes. So don't do that. Because they're gonna invite you back. You may get a business deal out of it. The relatives may have you over in return, and now you're repaid, and oh man, that would be a bad deal to get repaid. Now, why is it that you wouldn't want to get repaid? Well, Jesus says, when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed because they cannot repay you. You're not gonna get anything back on your investment. Isn't that great news? Because you will get repaid at the resurrection of the just. 

You can live a certain way where you're always asking what's in it for me. If you were really shrewd and even if that were your question, what's in it for me Jesus say there's a lot more in it for you if you're investing in eternity, investing in those who can't pay it back right now. Because then the only one who can pay you back and who will pay you back is God himself at the resurrection of the righteous and he's been known to pay rich dividends on those who invest in it. Really, the main way to invest in God is to invest in the needs of others. The Bible says in Book of Proverbs, He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord and the Lord has an excellent credit rating. And he pays very, very high interest when you lend to him. So when you lend to the poor and know that they're probably not gonna pay you back, or when you give to those in need, and you can't get anything back from them, then you’re being generous. Then you're investing. And this kind of vision of generosity makes zero sense without a vision of eternity. 

Jesus tells the story of a guy who's dishonest and Jesus doesn't say go out and do likewise. You know, this manager of money who is a crook. But Jesus tells a story about this kind of crooked money manager who's about to get fired. But the boss gives him just a couple days to clean up his affairs. And so the guy says, What a pie. This is a fix. Because I'm too proud to beg and I'm too wimpy to dig ditches. Yes, I got it. And so he goes out and he's only got a few days to clean up his business. And he goes to all the guys who he's been working who owe his master money, and he cuts all their bills big time. Just takes off a huge amount of what they owe their master. Because he figures, man, I'm out of my job in a few days. But there's a lot of people and they're gonna like me a whole bunch if I cut their bills. And now Jesus doesn't advise us to go and be equally crooked. But he does say You know what, the sons of this world are smarter, in a certain sense, than the children of light. Because some of this world if he knew he had only a few days to manage his money, would be using those few days to get in good with others. And Jesus says, Now you, use worldly wealth to make friends for yourselves so that when it's gone, you'll be welcomed into eternal dwellings. That's his point in the parable of the crooked manager. That you should use your worldly wealth and these few years that you have to make friends for yourself. The purpose of money is relationships, building love and kindness toward others. So again, generosity in light of eternity. 

A fifth thing to keep in mind is purity. The Bible says when Jesus appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is. Now if that's your expectation, if you expect that when Christ appears, you also will appear with Him in glory, as it says in Colossians three, verse four. Or if as it says here, we'll be like him. Then what's the upshot? Well, everyone who expects that and hopes that purifies himself even now, even as He is pure. There was a group of people right after the time that New Testament was being written who were called Gnostics. And Gnostics had a belief that bodies didn't count for much. Not only didn't they count for much, they were downright bad. And bodies were not going to be resurrected for sure. And so some of the Gnostics had that opinion that you could do with your body, whatever you wanted in this life, because it was just trash anyway. And it was never going to rise again. And so do whatever you want. Be as sexually promiscuous as you want. Do other things in the body that are bad because hey, bodies are dispensable anyway, and Christians said bodies rise again. They last forever. And what you do with your body matters right now. 

Peter says something similar. He says you ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed it's coming. In keeping with his promises, we're looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. So when you're looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, of the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven to earth, and having heaven on earth, if you expect that to be a home of righteousness. well to be at home in your new home, righteousness is going to be what makes you at home. And if you have that hope then even now you start seeking Lord make me pure, make me holy, make me more and more fit for that. I know I'm not going to be ready fully while I'm in this life. But I'd like to be moving long, long ways in that direction. And pray for the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit to bring that about. this focus on eternity and knowing that it is a place and the domain of purity makes you seek to be a person of eternity right now in the purity of your life. 

Another key thing is dignity. Dignity for yourself, the importance and role that you have in God's plan, as well as the dignity of other people and recognizing their great value and worth. The Apostle says, Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more then matters pertaining to this life? You need to see yourself as someone who has a tremendous destiny, to be exalted perhaps even above the Great and Holy Angels of God, and to see somebody else in that same way and what a difference that can make right now, in this life. The context where Paul says, Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? Don't you know they will judge angels? What is the passage about? He's talking about Christians suing each other. Taking each other to court. And he says, when you do that you've already lost. You already lost. You'd be far better off just taking the loss yourself, even if you're right, than going to court against fellow believers. And then he said Don't you know. I mean, why would you the least Christian, you should just be willing to submit the case to them and have them take care of it. Because someday you're gonna be judging the world. You're gonna be judging angels and it's just beneath you to be scrounging and scrapping with each other over the passing things of this world. And that's part of what dignity involves is saying, well, some of the stuff isn't as worth fighting over as we'd like to think it is. 

Another part of it is just the way you regard other people. If you are a basketball player, let's say you were playing on one of your little basketball teams, and you really enjoyed that. And would it make any difference if you knew that one of your teammates was somebody's going to be the leading superstar in the NBA. Now I think that's probably unlikely with the teams that you played on. But just suppose would it make any difference in the way that you treated your fellow player or if you happen to be the coach, if you knew that this was how one of those kids was, that kid was going to turn out? It'd be just a little more careful, wouldn't you? And it sure be a little more careful about cutting him down or telling him he was no good if you knew how he was going to turn out. And you can use the same analogy if he knew someone's gonna be president. If you just knew that for a fact, you would begin to treat them somewhat differently now. 

And the Bible tells us that not just you if you're a believer, but your fellow believer is going to be someone who sits on a throne with Christ and judges the world. What an impact that makes it how you treat them now. Jesus says to him overcomes I will give the right to sit with Me on My throne. What a tremendous encouragement that is when you're facing hard times and seeking to overcome. But also, what a call that is to recognize the dignity of others who belong to Jesus Christ. That's a person who's going to be sitting on a throne with Jesus Christ. You've made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God and they shall reign on earth. We have no clue about the real dignity and the true greatness of human beings until we have a sense of eternity of just how great you're destined to be if you belong to Jesus Christ. We will reign forever and ever. What difference does eternity make now? Well, there is no other view that gives such dignity to small humans in the fact that Jesus Christ Himself took on humanity has exalted us and lifted us very very high indeed, and we have our minds on Christ and on we're going to be in Christ, then we discover the reality of who we are in our dignity. 

Another aspect of this why eternity matters now is a unity among Christian people. You know, the old saying, to dwell above with saints in love all that will surely glory. To dwell, below saints we know that's another story. And it is a fact that churches have lots of splits, Christians have lots of bickering, we're stupid and we're sinful, okay? There's no nice way to say it. But to start thinking on things about where Christ is, we will do quite a bit to encourage us toward a greater unity among believers in the vision of the new creation. We see a great multitude that no one can number from every nation will all tribes and peoples languages standing before the throne and before the Lamb clothed in white robes. That vision of the future that vision of eternity is a deathblow to racism. If you are going to look down on someone of a different skin color, or a different people group, and God says we're all going to be gathered around the throne of God in eternity because of Jesus Christ then you can only call yourself a blockhead, if you're racist, and you're prejudiced, and you just look down on people just because they're from different people. God evidently has other plans for them. It's also true that if we, as part of the body of Christ come from different congregations or denominations, sometimes we're tempted to think that we are vastly superior to those lower life forms who don't quite hold the same set of ideas that we held, based on their study of the Bible. Well, a vision of heaven tells us that all Christ exalting Bible believing churches and the people within those churches who are saved are one in Jesus Christ. 

You've heard the story before of the angel who was giving a tour of heaven and was commenting on the various sites and people he was giving the tour to were talking and jabbering, and then it got to a certain area, and he said, Be quiet when we go past here. And so everybody didn't talk and kind of tiptoed and moved along. And finally, when they were aways away, then they could start talking again and the angel began speaking about the tour again, somebody asked, Well, why do we have to be so quiet when we went past those people? He said, Well, they think they're the only ones here. And of course, that's not a true story, but it does indicate the way that some can think of themselves as the only possible candidates for glory. And when we think on eternity as God has revealed it, people from every tribe and language, young people who may have some different opinions, but who are united in their faith in Jesus Christ and in the revelation that comes to us from God's word. 

Well, an eighth a very, very important aspect of the importance of eternity for right now is the sense of urgency that it gives us. Jesus often spoke of heaven as an eternal banquet, and in some of his parables, he talked about an invitation to that banquet, and someone would say, Well, I've got to do this, and I’ve got to do that. I can't come now and say, Oh, I gotta go over there and take care of that. I really can't come and they miss out. They blow their chance. And there is a great invitation that goes out to join God in His eternity of joy. And it is urgent that we respond to that invitation now and enter into God's kingdom now, because later is too late. In Matthew's version of that parable, he tells us somebody actually did accept the invitation and thought he was going to enjoy it but he refused to wear the robe that was provided when he went in. And the master the banquet comes in and says, friend why aren’t you wearing the robe. Get him out of here. Throw him into the outer darkness where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth. There are some people who kind of would like to go to heaven. They just don't care to have the robe of righteousness that Christ provides. They don't want to put their faith in Jesus’ finished work on their behalf and his perfect obedience and his death on their behalf. And they don't want either the transformed life that Jesus provides. 

You will not enjoy eternity, you will not be an eternity of God's banquet unless you accept now his invitation. And unless you accept now, the provision that he makes for you, to be right with Him. So this sense of urgency comes from the fact that eternity is coming, and we have a very limited timeframe in which to receive God's invitation. It's urgent to trust in Jesus Christ yourself. You don't know how long you have on this earth. You do know that when your life ends, God does not give you another chance. Now is the time of salvation. Now is the time of God's favor. And the scripture says Now is the time to respond to him and whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Whoever doesn't won’t. It’s that simple. And so it's very, very urgent that each one of us have put our faith in Jesus Christ before we meet him face to face. Eternity needs to come into our lives now, before we enter into eternity. And it's urgent to understand that. 

It's also urgent to help others meet the Savior. Why do people go to Mongolia as missionaries? Why does somebody work in Moldova among students and try to lead people in a highly atheistic culture to come to Jesus Christ? Why do we witness to people around us? Why do I spend my life trying to teach the gospel and spread it whether it's for the radio or prisoners or any other reason? Because of the urgency of eternity. Because I know that people perish without Christ. And so I can't keep good news to myself. I can't keep the urgent summons and invitation to myself. 

Scripture says flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. We're coming up on that date soon. I told you the story before. A young man in a church I previously served told his mom he was giving her miracle seeds, and she just had to plant them and put them in a sunny window and they will be flowering within a week from seed to flower in less than a week. Beautiful. So she took it and she put it in some rich soil in a pot. And she put the pot in the window and waited and waited and waited and all she had was a pot of dirt. And her son showed up on April one and said Well, April Fool's mom. Those were a bunch of the tips from turkey beads that I got off the farm. Now, expecting turkey beads to come and bloom as flowers is not going to go very well. Because turkey beads do not have the life that a real seed has. And that's about as logical as thinking that you're going to flower into eternal life if you don't have that life in you right now. Okay, in order to truly flower in eternity, the eternal has to already be in you now. You must be born again says Jesus or you will not see or enter the kingdom of heaven. The life of the kingdom of heaven has to be in you now. And so knowing of eternity gives us that sense of urgency to respond to God and to share the gospel with others. 

And related to that, of course, it just your sense of priorities. What matters. What are you going to invest your time and your energy in. if you're a college student, hey, partying is quite often funner than studying. And if you go through your years of college, there may be times when you have some fun together with your friends. But if you don't learn anything, if you don't study, if you don't cultivate your intellect and your abilities, you just blew college, okay? Because the purpose of it is preparation for something that comes after. There is zero point in it if it's not a preparation for what comes next. So your attitude is simply based on whether you think college is the ultimate experience, or is it mainly preparation for what comes after? Or think of it this way. Athletes, they don’t train for the sheer joy of sore legs as they're running along? Or aching muscles after they're done lifting weights? At least most of them I hope don't. 

But the Bible says everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last. They get their medals or their wreath or whatever. And they get their reward it doesn't last. We pursue godliness and train for godliness in order to get a crown that will last forever. And that arranges our priorities. An athlete, if they really want to succeed at the highest level, has to work hard. Exercise hard. Watch what they eat very carefully, and train to their utmost. And the only reason they'll do that is if they have their eye on the prize. If they don't, they're not going to succeed. And for us too. We've got to put a priority on godliness. On knowing Jesus Christ. On becoming more like him. And make that our highest priority. Or we've missed the point of why we're here. We're here in this life to get ready for eternal life. Train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things. Holding promise, both for the present life and for the life to come. Eternity matters now, and it matters in eternity. Godliness has value now, and it has enormous value for the life to come. 

And then finally, this vision of eternity, this sense of what awaits those who love God and whom God has loved with his everlasting love. That's what energizes us and empowers us. The apostle Paul spoke of this. He says, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Our citizenship is in heaven. There's a song in an old hymnal that is titled, dwell in me blessed spirit and the chorus goes dwell in me o blessed spirit, gracious teacher, friend divine, for the whole of bliss that waits me. Oh prepare this heart of mine. Now, when my denomination was working on a new version of that hymn book and what they did, they changed the chorus to dwell in me O blessed spirit, gracious teacher, friend divine for the kingdom work that calls me. O prepare this heart of mine. Stupidest change I can ever imagine. Because if you forget about the whole of bliss, you're going to run out of energy for the kingdom work. 

The Holy Spirit says the Bible was given to us as the downpayment on eternal life. And because he's the downpayment on it that energizes us and keeps us going, and keeping our minds on the fact that our citizenship is in heaven energizes us. My kids at a Christian college in the orientation course for one of the books they were required to read was titled, Heaven is not my home. Now, even if that book had some good stuff, and I would burn the book because of the title, okay, you know, I mean, I've made the point in the past that you know, since heaven isn't our home but the heaven on earth, is our home and we're meant to be earthly people. But the Bible does say our citizenship is in heaven, and we're really going to be the holy one of heaven come to earth. It is not to try to get here at home on earth now and put down really deep roots and get really attached to everything that goes on in this life as heaven is not our home. And that's just nuts. 

This emphasis on making a difference in his life now and doing God's Kingdom work here and now. If all you get is long speeches on that, I guarantee you there will be less Kingdom work accomplished than if you have people who have their minds set on eternity. It's just the fact that we are energized by the promises of God not by one more speech on how to work harder. Maybe some of you are good at working harder just cause you get speeches and I get real tired after a while. You know if I'm working at all if only gives one more speech about working harder. When the promises of God come and when that future is drawing me then I get some energy again. Bible says that those heroes of faith did what they did because they were longing for a better country, the heavenly one. We have a building from God an eternal house in heaven. 

And so there's a variety of things to be said about why eternity matters now. For bravery, for reality, for prosperity, generosity, purity, dignity, unity, urgency, priority energy, you could add a lot to that list. It doesn't end in that list I'm sure. But as we think about that, just one final thing, a story I've told you before about the old pony that I had growing up, Frosty. A white old pony, was quite a bit older than I am. Well, you're not older than I am. He's older than I was. But anyway, he was an old pony, and I was just a kid. But he when you saddle him up and want to go riding on him, he would pull all sorts of tricks to prevent having to go anywhere. First, he would just stand there and not move. Then if you whacked him a time or two, he would rear up on his hind legs and try to dump me off the back. If I stayed in the saddle, and after awhile, I could because he got used to that then he would start crow hopping, you know, bucking going up and down and trying to throw you off that way. And if I was still in the saddle, he would look for a convenient fence post or corner of a barn to walk real close to and rub me off on. You know, because you don't you just get your leg and rub you off. And then when all else failed, finally, that old pony would head down the path where I wanted him to go and we'd go for a ride and we'd get aways and then fatigue would set in. not just fatigue, but injury, serious injury. Pony crippling injury. And he went limp and the limp would become more severe and more severe and more severe till finally my 10 year old heart can bear no more and I would turn him around toward home and miracle…he was healed. It was better than any phony evangelist you've ever seen that he was healed, and he was just full of health and vigor and energy as he headed for home. 

It makes a very great difference what direction you're heading. And if you think that your best years are behind you. And if you think that now you're just moving further and further from life and gladness and vigor into deterioration and then death. And that's how you look at things. Your energy is sapped, and you're going to be limping worse than frosty as you head toward the end. But if you understand that you're pointed toward home, well then that changes everything and it gives you an energy and an eagerness to keep on going toward that final destination. And after all was said and done, after all the sermons I've been preaching on being heavenly minded and on heavenly relationships, and on eternal pleasures, and why heaven matters now, maybe the one thing to stick in your mind about eternity is simply this. It's home. 

Lord, we pray that you will set our hearts and our minds on home. And as we move through this life as aliens and strangers, as citizens of heaven, we pray that you will more and more detach us from sin and from attachment to the things that are passing away and more and more set our hearts and minds on Jesus Christ, on lifting our hearts on Him right now, in communion with Him as He reigns from the right hand of God and communicates to us by His Word and Spirit. And Lord, help us all to look forward to that day when Christ appears and we also will appear with Him in glory. We thank You, Lord Jesus, that you are preparing a place for us that it is our true home that you promised to take us to be with you where you are, and to see your glory. That you promised that you and the Father will make your home with us that you have prayed, you prayed to the Father, and said that you want us to be with you and to see your glory, the glory the Father gave you before the creation of the world. So Lord set our hearts on home and help us to witness and live for you in this world in a way that really makes a difference both for time and for eternity. For Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.