Sermon Tone Analysis

I. What we think matters today, doesn’t really matter in eternity.

lk.

A. We spend our lives building lives that won’t matter one bit in eternity.

lk 16:

Illus: Have you ever been to the beach?

Imagine with me going to the beach and starting to build a sand castle.

But you don’t want to build just any sand castle, you want to build a huge detailed sand castle.

You get to building, packing the sand, digging a moat, building layer upon layer of with turrets, towers and even a bridge.

You spend an entire day at the beach building this castle.

As people walk bye they are impressed by the shear detail of your structure.

As a couple of kids playing Frisbee get a little close to your castle, you stand between them and your castle to protect your building.

As the day comes to a close you leave to go sleep.

Tomorrow you are comeback and build on to what you started.

YOu are going to take this castle to another level.

But what happens to sand castles?

As the tide comes in, all the work you did during the day will become a distant memory.

You come back and the beach will show no evidence to all of your work.

This is the way we live our lives.

We are all busy building sand castle kingdoms which will be washed away the moment the tide of eternity rolls in.

You’ve worked you whole life to grow a business, to gain a title, to gain the recognition of others.

You’ve strived to get “that house”, “that truck”, “that boat”.

You’ve done everything you can to make a name for yourself, but your sand castle kingdom will fall.

When you step onto the shores of eternity you will realize all that you found important in this world was not worth a hill of beans.

When you look at what your life is all about… are you building a life that will be wiped away, or are you building eternity for yourself and others?

mk 8:34

B. We do not live with eternity as our focus.

Lk 16:

Illus: Do you invest your life or do you spend your life.

This is what I mean… do you give your life for the mission of God investing it into the eternity of others, or do yo spend your life on temporal things that will all fade away.

Most of our lives are spent pursuing the temporal.

We wake up, get ready for the day, work, eat, work, eat, go home, watch television, and go to bed.

The next day is more of the same.

That is a futile life.

That is a life which will be washed away.

We try to make life matter more.

Sometimes filling it with experience, sometimes filling it with success, sometimes attempting to gain a name, or be recognized.

We look for meaning in social media.

How many likes will it take to give you eternal value.

Hear me friends.

We need to stop looking to world to define what a meaningful life looks like.

An eternally valued life is one purchased by Christ on the cross.

A meaningful life is one lived in a growing relationship with God on mission for Him.

In the midst of the drudgery of work, eat, work, eat, tv, sleep routine, there is meaning when you use your time at home and work eternally.

If you never gain riches, a promotion, a large internet following, or all that the world says matters, but you introduce others those around you to CHrist, you have given your life far more meaning than any of “the most successful” people in this world.

II.

There are eternal consequences to our decisions on this earth.

Lk 16:

A. Earthly wealth and success are not a sign of God’s favor, and are idols which will leave you empty.

Illus: I can imagine the rich man probably on many occasions talked about how God had blessed him.

Just like we do saying that God’s blessing are connected to temporal pleasures.

We get a better paying job and we say we are blessed.

We make that expensive purchase and say God has blessed us.

We show off our home and say I’m blessed.

What if the poor person is really the blessed one because their heart finds contentment in God and not in things.

What if the day laborer is really blessed because they find their value in God and not in their status?

In this parable, Abraham turned the tables on the rich man showing that that guy he always despised, looked down on, pitied was the truly blessed on because God was his treasure, not the kingdom he had built.

mt 6:

B. Once you die, what is done is done.

Illus: It has been a rough few weeks.

In the past three weeks I have done funerals for a 16 year old, a friend who was taken to soon, and the mom of the 16 year old who passed on from a heart attack.

Tomorrow is not promised.

It is not promised for you and it is not promised for any of your loved ones.

When we think about sharing with them the eternity changing news of Jesus Christ we procrastinate thinking… there is always tomorrow.

I can tell you, tomorrow is not promised, and once a person passes away there is not a second chance.

The decisions of faith in this life are final in eternity.

If you don’t compel your friends to place their trust in Jesus, and they pass away tomorrow, you won’t get a second chance.

Heaven is real.

Heaven is the eternal home of every person who places their faith God’s work on the cross through Jesus.

Hell is real.

Hell is the eternal place of torment and judgment for every person who that has not placed their faith in Christ.

Hear me friends.

Every person gets hell.

Doing nothing today get you hell.

The only escape for you is faith in Christ.

If the only escape from hell is faith in Christ.... why do we remain silent to those we love?

III.

You don’t get a second chance to share.

lk 16:

A. Tomorrow is not guaranteed to anyone.

Are you living for your today, or for your “one’s” eternity?

Illus: Imagine with me that your “on”e has cancer.

Now, not just any cancer, but a fatal form of cancer that will claim their life.

No imagine that today you were given a single pill which would completely cure your friend.

It was a hundred percent guaranteed.

Would you sit back and say, “you know I’m kind of busy today, I’ll get them the pill when I have time in my schedule”

Would you say, “I don’t know if I want to give them the pill, because all giving them the cure would do is remind them that they have cancer.”

Would you stick it in your pocket and forget all about the medicine?

Wouldn’t you get the medicine, drive immediately to your friends house and do whatever was necessary to convince them to take this life saving treatment?

Why would you put so much effort into a physical solution when there is a far greater eternal cancer at war in your friends and family?

And we know the cure beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Rev

2 cor 5:16