Another negative way of looking at this passage that I look at it this way often is that every
good thing in our life will eventually be gone.
It will be taken away from us.
We will eventually lose everything.
And the reason that I like to think about this is because it's good to go through life
with a loose grip on the things of this world.
You don't want to hold on too tightly of the things of this world.
And I'll tell you why, because if you try to cling tightly to the things of this world,
you know what you're going to do? You're going to compromise or sin or make bad decisions
because you're just trying to just hang on to things that are temporary, okay?
For example, you know, what are the things that are the most important to us in our life?
What are the things that we love the most? What are the things we care about the most?
You know, you can stop and think about it. You say, well, you know, family, friends,
loved ones, right? Those are the most important things in our lives, are the people in our
lives. And then you can think about other really important things in your life, like
your church. I hope that's important to you. You could think about your job. That's pretty
important. And then you could think about the house that you live in and your possessions.
You know, as you kind of move down the list of things that are in this world that matter
to you. But let me tell you something. Eventually you will lose them all, all of them, every
single one of them. So when God asks you to put everything on the altar, when God asks
you to be willing to lose everything, when God says, "Be thou faithful unto death and
I'll give thee a crown of life." You know what my attitude is? If God says to me, "Be
faithful unto death," I'm just going to say, "You know what? That's easy because I was
going to die anyway." So basically God's telling me to do something that I was going to do
no matter what. Because no matter how unfaithful I am, I'm still going to die. I could go hide
and cower and not speak the truth, not preach, not witness to people, and just keep all my
beliefs totally secret. I could go get some cabin in the woods and get off the grid and
just get the most organic food and stay clear of all the pollution and all the junk and
eat healthy, live healthy, not mess with anybody, and just be totally... But you know what's
going to happen to me? I'm going to die if I do that. So what, I might live to be 119
years old and 364 days and then die, but eventually I'm going to die. So here's the thing. Maybe
my vapor can last a little longer than somebody else's vapor, but they're both a vapor. And
so if you actually understand the fact that we're all going to die, we're all going to
eventually lose everything, then when God asks us to sacrifice something, you know what
we can say? You know what? Yeah, I'll sacrifice that because I was going to lose it anyway.
Think about that. It makes it a lot easier to sacrifice when you stop thinking that things
are permanent. You think your bank account is permanent? It's not. This building that
we're in, one day this building will not exist. This building will be completely gone. Okay,
now you say, "Well, who cares because this is a pretty humble building." But you know
there are a lot of churches that have a pretty fancy building and they're pretty proud of
that building and they would even look down at our church and talk down to our church.
I don't think a single news article has ever been written in the history of journalism
about our church that didn't mention, "Oh, they're meeting in a rented office space,
you know, meeting in a strip mall, meeting in a rented..." right?
Because that's supposedly some kind of an insult.
But what's the difference if we're meeting in a rented office space or if we're meeting
in some cathedral-like hall?
They're both going to burn up, they're both going to be gone someday, they're both not
going to exist a few hundred years from now, they're both going to be consumed.
So why does it matter?
It doesn't.
But the people that are gathered here tonight, guess what?
They're all going to be gone someday too.
A hundred years from now, virtually no one in this building is going to be alive on this
earth, you know, unless the second coming of Christ and the millennium and all that.
But humanly speaking, a hundred years from now, probably none of us are going to be here.
But here's the thing, that's what we see, that's the body, the things that are seen
are temporal.
So I see a bunch of bodies out here, they're all going to be gone someday.
Now the souls inside those bodies are still going to exist a hundred years from now, two
hundred years from now.
But can we see the soul?
No, because the things that are not seen are eternal.
So I'd rather spend my time worried about preaching to souls, getting souls saved, edifying
souls because that's what matters than to spend my time trying to get a fancier building
and trying to impress people with facilities and vehicles and clothes and all the things
that are going to be gone someday.
So we need to realize that the things that are seen are temporal, the things that are
not seen are eternal, eventually I'm going to lose everything.
You say my spouse is everything to me, you're going to lose your spouse someday.
My kids, it's all about my kids, you will lose your children someday.
My parents, your parents are going to be gone someday, your brother, your sister, your friends,
they're all eventually going to be gone.
And sorry, this isn't Mormonism where the family stays together for all eternity and
whatever.
You need to realize that the things on this earth are all temporary.
Here's another way of putting it.
Everything in your life is borrowed.
You know what I mean?
Stop and think about that.
And this is why we need to just enjoy what we have while we have it.
Every day that God gives us is a gift.
Every day with our spouse is a gift.
Every day with our children is a gift.
Every day in our nice homes and in our nice vehicles is a gift.
Every day at our job is a gift.
Every day that we get to go to church, every service we attend is a gift, and you need
to enjoy it, not take it for granted, because it will all be gone someday and it's all temporary.
But I'm not saying that to be doom and gloom and negative, because you know what?
I can enjoy my wife today.
I can enjoy my kids today.
I can enjoy serving the Lord today.
I'm enjoying being at church today, because today is all that I'm guaranteed.
Today is all that I have.