The Journey's End - Eternity in Our Hearts

James Watson

The Journey • Sermon • Submitted 6 years ago

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Introduction: Over the last 9 months we have been looking at this overarching biblical theme that we are on a journey. We’ve looked at the beginning. We’ve looked at the path, the guide, the map, the speed-bumps. But if you’ve watched Avengers End Game (or even just the trailer) you may have heard a quote from Tony Stark (Iron Man)....”Part of the Journey is the End.”

And for the next 4 weeks as we finish The Journey, we look to the journey’s end. And we are going to be answer the question, “What happens when this life ends and eternity begins?” And in so doing, we have to ask how does our Journey now ultimately affect the end.

For many of us this issue of eternity is pretty close to our hearts. We’ve lost people that we long to see in eternity. Family friends. Heroes of faith. But more than anything we get to see Jesus.

But in order for us to do that we have to correct some misconceptions about eternity and also the journey that we are on.

Turn in you Bibles to

Introduction to Scripture:

Ecclesiastes is a book of the Bible that deals with the perspective we have with regard to our lives. Solomon was a king that had wasted the prime of his life rebelling against God and worshiping idols. So in the twilight of his life in he realizes that he’s made a grievous error in the way he lives his life and gets some perspective. He realizes what life is really about and writes us this beautiful book so that his son as well as us will not make the same mistakes that we do.

Now the second we will be reading follows the lyrics to a very popular 70s beegee’s song about how everything happens in it’s season. Now Solomon turns to productivity, eternity and God’s sovereignty.

Let’s read the Word of God as spoken through the Preacher-King.

Ecclesiastes 3:9–14 ESV

9 What gain has the worker from his toil? 10 I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 12 I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; 13 also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man. 14 I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him.

Ecc 3:9-14

Ecclesiastes 3:9–15 ESV

Transition to Big Idea: You pretty much have to read this through the eyes of a guy that has wasted his life chasing down things he thinks will please him only to find that the only thing that satisfies was there all along. It was God. And in spite of all that he had done, God was bringing Solomon back to Himself..

And in

In the emd, Solomon gained an eternal perspective. And he instructs his children and the people of God to never lose that eternal perspective.

Big Idea: Keep an Eternal Perspective

Transition to Points: Now for most of his life, Solomon had viewed everything through the lens of the present. Now. And now, he is looking at things through a much different lens. Things that we do begin to look different. Things we think are important becoming, in the words of Solomon, “vanity” or “meaningless.” Things we thought weren’t important actually have an eternal impact.

Take work for example...

#1 - We were Created to be Productive.

Explanation: There are a couple things that we get wrong about the Christian faith. 1 thing is that nothing matters so long as we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, say a prayer. All that matters is the end. The rest is just a waiting game. And why? Because we have made religion and Christianity a personal thing. It’s all about me. So long as I have my parachute, when the plane goes down I’ll be find. We forget that there are others who won’t be so lucky. God always expected His children to be productive. 1 as an example of what a relationship with God is like. 2 to tell others about the wonderful God that we serve. Even before Jesus, God expected the Jewish people to be a blessing to the nations. That’s actually what he story of the prodigal son is about. The older brother shouldn’t have waited for the younger brother to come home, but should have gone out and brought him home. And that’s exactly what Jesus expects His followers to do. Be productive in leading many people back to Him, by any means necessary. So get busy.

The second misconception is that work is bad and must be endured as a punishment. A lot of people draw the false conclusion that work is a curse and that had Adam and Eve not sinned we would have never had to work and we could sit around eating whatever we wanted without gaining wait binge watching Veggietales. But the truth is that we were created to work.

The second is that work is bad and must be endured as a punishment. A lot of people draw the false conclusion that work is a curse and that had Adam and Eve not sinned we would have never had to work and we could sit around eating whatever we wanted without gaining wait binge watching Veggietales. But the truth is that we were created to work.

If you were to go back to Chapter 2, you would see that Solomon laments work as vanity when you are finding your identity in it. That’s because we have work in a fallen world and work simply becomes a means to an end. But in verse 9, he asks the question again. And verse 10 answers by saying that toil or work is given to man by God. Verse 14 even calls our work a gift. And the first part of vs. 11 even calls it beautiful.

This should remind us of

Genesis 2:15 ESV

15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.

Notice that this is before the fall. We were created to toil not as a means to an end, but an end in itself. Work is good and if you think you won’t work in eternity you are wrong. But the difference is that you will reap the rewards of your work. The hope is that if we understand this now, we can redeem the work that we do so that can see it’s effects in eternity.

Illustration: Have you ever been working on a project. Maybe it was at work or just a hobby. You finish it and step back and you are wowed by what you have done. Sometimes it just feels great to finish something that you started. Other times you feel like you are wowed by your own work. People have an innate desire to be productive. This is why losing your job can be so soul crushing. It’s like you lose your humanity.

Application: Now, Solomon shows us that the problem is finding your identity in your work. However, if we find our identity in God, then we find beautiful joy in doing what we were created to do. Be productive. An eternal perspective on work shows us that God is in control of it all. So do it all for Him. This is what Paul means when he says in

1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV

31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

We were created to be productive. But our productivity should echo through eternity. And it’s not necessarily the work that you do, but the relationships you build in doing your work. Join with other people. Invite people into your journey at work, in your hobbies, in your day to day activities. You may not be whatever you do in eternity, but you can use your job to influence people to have an eternal perspective.

So what....well if we were created to be productive, then in this life, we’re not just waiting for heaven. We have a job to do.

Because....

#2 - We were Created for Eternity

Explanation: Verse 11 is a beautiful picture of how God has created us. “Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” We have to remember that when God created Adam and Eve, he created them to live forever with Him. It wasn’t until sin entered the world that death entered. But we were created with a soul that will live forever. So absolutely we should rejoice and long for heaven. But let’s be careful about praying for the second coming of Jesus. Let’s be careful about longing for eternity. If Jesus were to come back today, how many people in your life are still far from Him? And assuming that you believe that Bible, you know that not all will spend eternity with Jesus.

The problem is that we have been repeated lied to and many of us have believed the lie that what eternity will be like. One we have let society assume that everyone is going to heaven.

And this is the hardest part about. You see we all have eternity in our hearts because our souls will last for eternity. We’ll either have eternal life through Jesus Christ or eternal death. We don’t like to talk about hell. Many Christians have done away with the doctrine all together. But the issue of where we spend eternity is at the heart of the gospel. We have to come to grips with it. I don’t like the doctrine of Hell, but the Bible makes it impossible to avoid it.

The one truth that allows me to accept the justice of hell is the indisputable certitude of the goodness of God. While the notion of hell is difficult for me to grasp, Jesus (with nail-scarred hands) is worthy of my complete trust. His goodness causes me to look ultimately not to hell, but to the cross.

And if you are wondering why Jesus, the 2nd person of the Trinitarian the God of the Universe was so willing to endure the hell of the Cross. The answer is indisputably the reality of hell.

“Jesus talks about hell more than he talks about heaven, and describes it more vividly. There’s no denying that Jesus knew, believed, and warned against the absolute reality of hell. “

Now I don’t want to dwell here, because this is an otherwise happy encouraging sermon (next week we’ll dig deeper into the nature of hell). But ask yourself, if you were to die today, are you confident that you would be with Jesus?

Illustration: All of us have an innate feeling that there is more to existence than this life. Throughout human history people have always believed in an afterlife. That’s why the Pharaoh's built pyramids. God created us with a built in eternal perspective. We need to know that our lives are more than this 70 years plus or minus.

Application: We need to come to grips with eternity. Jesus talked a lot about eternity. He talked about heaven and hell. He talked about the reward of eternal life for the those who in Jesus. In he defines eternal life...

John 17:3 ESV

3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

And why is this so awesome? That gets to our final point that Solomon talks about...

Revelation 22:1–5 ESV

1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

rev 22:1-

And why is this so awesome? That gets to our final point that Solomon talks about...

We were...

#3 - We were Created for God.

Explanation: “God seeks what has been driven away.” And what is that? His people. In the garden of eden, Adam and Eve sinned and were driven away from His presence. Adam and Eve were created to have perfect communion with their creator and sinned ruined that. But that doesn’t dismiss the fact that the way things are is not the way they were created to be. So in eternity, the people of God will have a restored relationship with God. GOD SEEKS WHAT HE DROVE AWAY!

This is what the cross is all about.

Titus 2:14 ESV

14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

Ezekiel 37:23 ESV

23 They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

Eze 37:

Exodus 19:5–6 ESV

5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”

Illustration: Now if I’m honest, I spent most of my childhood going to church being a Christian because I was afraid to go to hell. But the truth is of the gospel is much more beautiful. You see we don’t go to heaven to avoid hell, we go to heaven to be with Jesus forever. That’s our reward Jesus.

Revelation 22:1–5 ESV

Main Point #4 - Pursue the eternal God.

You see Jesus didn’t just save us from having to spend eternity in Hell. Jesus saved us for Himself.

Concluding Application: So what does an eternal perspective give us?

Confidence

Boldness

Meaning

But it also helps us to see that we are so small from a worldly perspective. But an eternal perspectives helps us to see that in Jesus, our confidence, boldness, and meaning go on forever.

It means that not everything that we do here today will matter in 10,000 years, but some things will. So figure out what those things are do them.

But it also means that you can enjoy your life now because it is a gift from God.

Conclusion:

Transition to Reflection:

Reflection - What is the endgame of your journey?

If your endgame is riches and fame. Even if your endgame is to be forgiven and avoid Hell, you’ve missed the absolute perfect beauty of the gospel.