All That Matters Is Eternity!

Last week I spoke with our leadership about eternity. The title of the message was: Eternity! Eternity! All that matters is eternity! How will you live in eternity?

Today, I’m going to continue a discussion around the subject of eternity with a question; why we are so fixated on the here and now?

We get so worried over the things that we see that are coming. We covet things of the world and bring on the troubles of the world. But, considering the word of God we should be focused more on the things of eternity.

It is a certainty that you and I, as Christians, should definitely consider eternity more important than the here and now.

Let's be honest with ourselves, the majority of us are more concerned about the here and now. We are mostly concerned about the quality of life we have in this world. Yet, the Bible emphasizes this world is not our home!

Why we are so fixated on the here and now? Our lives are but a vapor. We are here, and then in a brief second, we are gone. What was the meaning of all of our years? What have we accomplished? Why were we allowed to have our moment in time? Did it matter?

Let us spend the next few moments discussing the difference between God's thinking and our thinking regarding what the focus of our life should be. I will prove to you that our ways of thinking about this world and God's way of thinking about this world are as different as night and day.

God is focused on our eternity. We are principally focused on the here and now, – the things we need for this world, things that don’t matter, things that too will pass – and too few of us focus on our eternity.

Why we are so fixated on the here and now? For many the concerns of it consumes their entire life, but their entire life is not in the here and now.

Now let me be perfectly clear. We all are concerned about the here and now to some degree, because that is the way of all men, but God clearly tells us if we will focus on him, and the things that he desires, he will take care of the here and now and in addition he will secure for us a rich inheritance in eternity (Matthew 6:33).

We Were Created For an Existence of Eternity with God

In the beginning God created humankind for eternity. Eternity was clearly in the mind of God because he told the man, if you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you will die.

Why would he have to tell the man he would die, if the man was going to die anyway?

This makes it clear that before eating of the tree, Death was not the plan of God. Adam and Eve would have lived and not died and would have had a perfect relationship with God.

The problem was a tree providing knowledge of good and evil. A tree that provided knowledge that was of the earth; a thing created by God. Adam had God! Why did he go to a tree to get knowledge replacing his God? God created us to focus on him and not on anything of the earth. To not put him first would mean death, for God is a jealous God, He demands complete loyalty to Him!

This reminds us of the first two of the 10 Commandments, we are not to have any other gods before him nor make for ourselves an idol out of anything on the earth.

However, the man chose to listen to the voice of the serpent, and went after knowledge from a thing of this world and not the mind of God.

Why we are so fixated on the here and now? Having knowledge of the world has made us fools, why we are so fixated on the here and now?

We should not focus on the created things, but the Creator of things we should focus!

The result, eternity was snatched away from us because this man did not look at life the way that God did. We must not make the same mistakes with the knowledge we have. We must seek a different knowledge. We have to recognize that God’s focus is eternity. He created us for eternity and he expects us to have the wisdom to realize that eternity is better than anything we can see or have in the here and now.

Don’t just look at what’s in the here and now, and not see what comes after the here and now.

We must not fall for the trap of Satan. He knows how to put beautiful and wonderful things before us that are of the earth. There are so many enticements that he places before us. Many men and women have sold their souls to the devil and don’t even know it.

Satan can dangle a little bit of temptation in front of us and we go after it like a fish after a worm on a hook. We can see others getting caught in the trap but we continue to press on until we also, get caught also.

The same temptations over and over again. Men and women are falling for them again and again. What is wrong with us? If God can make something beautiful and wonderful for us here, if he can give us so much tremendous pleasure from things here on earth, consider how unspeakable is the pleasure we can have in his presence with the gifts he gives us in eternity!

We must not, like Adam and Eve let our eyes get ourselves in trouble. Why we are so fixated on the here and now?

Just because it is before you, does not mean it right for you!

How many of us have chosen things we think are going to make us happy, labored for them, and then when we get them, they are not what we thought they were?

Not everything is beneficial even though all things are permissible.

1 Corinthians 10:23 NKJV

23 All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify.

God wants us to look beyond that which is before us and see ahead to that which is for us.

Satan puts things in front of our faces, he knows they will harm us – sometimes we even know it – but we cannot deny ourselves just a moment of pleasure.

Satan has been watching us all of our lives. He has a lot of spirits that have been assigned to our families for generations. They had been our friends for years. Mama and daddy knew them, grandma and grandpa knew them, great grandma and great grandpa knew them.

Until we put a stop to them, he will keep bringing them before us. Not everything we see before us, is good for us.

He offered Jesus the kingdoms of this world, just as he had offered to his earthy ancestors and Jesus rejected them. How many of us have turned away from the word of God, and what pleases God to seek after things that please ourselves? We must remember there is going to be a judgment!

God wants us to look beyond what is facing us and see ahead to who is facing us!

There is A Mansion in Eternity Prepared for Us

Jesus said

John 14:1–3 NKJV

1 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

He told us, “let not your hearts be trouble.” He said if we believe in God, then we should believe in him. He was going to prepare a place for us. A place where we would be with him. A place that he is still preparing for us. Imagine, God spent 7 days creating us a place on earth for us, consider the magnitude of the home he has spent over 2000 years building for us!

We no longer are residents of this earth. We are just traveling pilgrims passing through this world. So, why we are so fixated on the here and now?

The focus of the entire Bible and God's will is to move us from just seeing the here and now, to seeing eternity. Our place is with Jesus! He said we would be with him and He is God and he is Alpha and Omega. He is eternity. The fact that, we are to be with him, and he will never leave us means we are with him in eternity. He said we will be with him, who is, and will ever be, also means we will ever be.

The more we conform to his image, the more we are like him!

God Wants Us To Have A Mind For Eternity

It is God's will that we have the mind of Christ. He has cleared our past record so that we may now retrain our thinking and be renewed into the image of Christ.

Philippians 2:5 NKJV

5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,

Philippians 2:6–11 NKJV

6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

To receive a reward for eternity Christ was focused on doing the will of the father. He was not concerned with the quality of life he experienced here.

He was God, but he humbled himself to fulfill the mission that God had called him (vs 7-8). We should have the same mind and think the same way Christ does about eternity. We should pray that he will help us to be more focused on eternity rather than giving so much attention to the here and now.

Once we are born again and considered as children of God, we must get our minds renewed to focus on eternity just like Jesus.

Hebrews 12:2 NKJV

2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

He was not concerned about the troubles of this world. He was focused on eternity! Look at the words of the Scripture, he endured the cross, despising the shame. Meaning he was willing to go through some temporary discomfort for a season in order to experience long term gain for an eternity! We should let this mind be in us.

How do we let this mind be in us that is in Christ Jesus question? It comes about by the renewing of our minds, and we are conformed into the image of Christ.

Romans 12:2 NKJV

2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Now, let me show you something else about this having our minds right.

How We Live Here & Now Affects Our Eternity

The here and now should not be our major concern; but eternity should be!

Why? Let’s read again.

John 14:2 NKJV

2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

We are told there are many mansions, not one mansion. But many mansions in the father's house. Why many? There are different mansions for everyone of us. Each mansion is uniquely built for each person depended upon how you view eternity in the here and now.

This is confirmed by the apostle Paul and we should pay careful attention to how we live in the here and now.

1 Corinthians 3:12–15 NKJV

12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

This makes it clear that how we live in this life, determines the quality of our eternity.

What type of mansion you have?

We should not be concerned about what we get in this life, but what we are to get in life, eternally.

If we will focus on his kingdom, and be faithful to the work of his kingdom, he has promised us he will give us everything else we need.

Matthew 6:33 NKJV

33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

Our concern should not be about what we are going to eat or what we are going to wear. We don't have to be concerned about a job. We just have to be concerned about being faithful to do what God has called us to do.

2 Timothy 2:4 NKJV

4 No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.

Let us reason together now and strengthen and encourage one another to fix our minds on eternity and not the troubles of this world.

This is a very important subject. I am going to continue with it on Wednesday. I hope you will tune in to get the second part of this message. I want to strengthen your resolve to focus on what God desires for you rather than what you desire for yourself.

I will live my life focused on eternity because

Eternity! Eternity! All that matters is Eternity! And how I will live, in Eternity!