Sermon Tone Analysis

Another from our series on Keeping Balance in our Christianity.

We talked about our relationship with the world and balancing faith and works in justification.

Today we look at our motive for being a Christian – .

I) Heaven as a reward

Man has always viewed heaven as three distinct realms – – atmosphere – ; ; – deep space – ; – and the abode of God – ; , – Hebrew word is plural

Being invited to God’s home is a concept seen in the OT – ; , ; – although it was not fully understood – – or believed –

With the coming of the Messiah, this concept becomes much clearer – ;

Jesus comforts His disciples with this message – – as does Paul – ;

Perhaps your question might be, “What more do you want?”

II) Not what I want

One thing that has long bothered me concerning speaking of heaven as our only motive for being a Christian (“Do you want to go to heaven?”) is that it is centered on us – – Jesus addresses what He wants and the will of the Father as two opposing ideas

There is another motivation in scripture that is more significant – – love for God – ;

Jesus emphasizes His only motive was to do the will of the One who sent Him – , ; ; ; ;

Then He begins to shift that message to the disciples – ();

If we are to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, consider what He regarded as His primary motive –

The kingdom parables of Jesus center on our service in this life, not the eternal life to come –

Love for God compels us to put His will above our own – , , ; – which should include our motivation for being Christians

Well-trained soldiers will fight harder to save the life of a fellow soldier, than they will to save their own life – – as Jesus proved

Concl: When we consider why we want to be Christians we must balance the idea of how it will benefit us in eternity with idea of how we can please our God.

Service is our purpose; heaven is our destiny.