Live Like You Were Dying

Live Like You Were Dying – Sermon #5

Embrace Eternity

Today we wrap up a series of messages inspired by Tim McGraw’s song live like

you were dying.

Life is totally unpredictable.

One moment everything is routine, normal, same ole same ole.

Then in a second everything is thrown into chaos.

In Tim’s song it’s a bad report from the doctor.

Sounds like cancer.

Maybe for you it will be a car accident,

Or a fall at home,

Or like Joni Erickson Tada a dive into too shallow

waters.

For me it was a heart attack at 42.

For me it was Carol’s diagnosis of breast cancer.

For me it was just plain turning 50.

Life is not to be lived waiting on tomorrow to come.

Life is to be lived to the full right here, right now.

When you have a sense of eternity,

When you know that today is a gift of time,

You tend to prioritize your life around things that really

matter.

You need to say the things that you feel need to be said.

You need to do the things that you’ve been putting off.

You need to make right the relationships that went

wrong.

You need to be with the people you love.

No guarantees for tomorrow,

motivates you to spend your precious time wisely today

Our series is your wake up call.

It’s your chance to live like you were dying.

I hope they don’t issue your death certificate anytime soon.

I hope your clock is full of minutes, hours, days, weeks, years,

decades,

And you use each second being the person God

created you to be.

Yet regardless its your time to live like you don’t have tomorrow.

One more time, Let’s listen to Tim’s song.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=1407731

Speak Sweeter, Love Deeper, Give Forgiveness and today I want to talk about

embracing eternity.

About living with a sense that time is short.

Today you are going to learn how not to be a fool with the time you have,

We’re going to look at a fool’s miscalculation,

A fool’s procrastination,

And a fools lack of preparation.

that we all will escape the fool’s folly.

Luke 12:15-21 (MSG)

Speaking to the people, Jesus went on, "Take care! Protect yourself against the least bit of greed. Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot." Then he told them this story: "The farm of a certain rich man produced a terrific crop. He talked to himself: 'What can I do? My barn isn't big enough for this harvest.' Then he said, 'Here's what I'll do: I'll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I'll gather in all my grain and goods, and I'll say to myself, Self, you've done well! You've got it made and can now retire. Take it easy and have the time of your life!' "Just then God showed up and said, 'Fool! Tonight you die. And your barnful of goods—who gets it?' "That's what happens when you fill your barn with Self and not with God."

Jesus says that if we franticly pursue a life style of SELF at the expense of

authentic Christianity then - we are a “fool”.

Self interested and egoism driven

you can pursue all kinds of things that tickle your fancy.

Fame, fortune, accolades, leaving a mark.

Your heart may turn towards altruism and philanthropy,

championing great social causes, righting the injustices of the world,

good things, great things, needful things.

But if God is just an add on then Self is calling the shots,

And egoism will lead you to a dead end.

In Jesus story it’s the successful business man whose wise leadership allows for

early retirement.

But notice, all his great skill and wealth is now focused one thing,

Himself.

And Jesus calls him a fool for it.

When you live for self you are being foolish.

It’s only when you lay self down, and allow God’s grace to crucify egoism

That you will ever really be able to live.

It’s only the things on God’s agenda for you that matter.

Pursuing anything else is a fool’s game.

There are some truths we can pull out of Jesus’ story about the foolish man.

1. JESUS SAYS IT IS FOOLISH TO LIVE LIKE THIS LIFE IS ALL THERE

IS – THAT IS A FOOL’S FATAL MISCALCULATION.

It’s a fool’s miscalculation to build ones life on a temporal foundation.

It’s hard to comprehend that just beyond our ability to see, taste, touch, and

hear is another reality,

that there is a spiritual reality to life,

a spiritual reality that is eternal

It doesn’t matter if you are a believer or not,

You will spend more time in that reality than this one.

It’s only till historically very recent that some people began to believe that when

you die, that’s it.

You’re an animal, a highly evolved animal but an animal none the

less,

there is no spiritual world, no after life, when you die,

you decompose that’s it.

But does that even feel right to you?

As of yet there is no nation whose culture supports this point of view.

Most people sense that there is something more to life than the here

and now.

I believe the reason for this is that God planted eternity in the human heart.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT

“God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has

planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole

scope of God's work from beginning to end.”

I think its wise to embrace eternity in the here and now.

It changes your value system,

It switches the price tags on the stuff of life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFNXwor69-U

The priceless things in life are not material,

They are spiritual.

A fool lives for the material.

To live like you were dying you must

live for the spiritual..

Matthew 6:19-21 NLT

"Don't store up treasures here on earth, where they can be

eaten by moths and get rusty, and where thieves break in and steal. [20]

Store your treasures in heaven, where they will never become moth-eaten or

rusty and where they will be safe from thieves. [21] Wherever your treasure

is, there your heart and thoughts will also be.”

It’s a fool’s game to live like this life is all there is.

It will be a fatal miscalculation if you do.

Another truth form the story of the foolish man

2. JESUS SAYS IT IS FOOLISH TO LIVE LIKE THERE WILL ALWAYS BE

MORE TIME – THAT’S A FOOL’S COSTLY PROCRASTINATION.

I’ve been trying for years to work on my procrastination but I keep putting it off.

The motto of procrastinators is “carpe diem cras”

“Seize the day tomorrow”

If we escape the trap of the fool’s miscalculation,

Then there’s the fool’s procrastination that can trip us up.

James 4:14 (MSG)

You don't know the first thing about tomorrow. You're nothing but a wisp of fog, catching a brief bit of sun before disappearing.

We live with the delusion that we will have a tomorrow.

So since our spiritual life is important but not urgent,

We think we can let the spiritual slide till tomorrow.

But what happens if tomorrow never comes?

"If Tomorrow Never Comes"

If I knew it would be the last time

that I'd see you fall asleep,

I would tuck you in more tightly

and pray the Lord, your soul to keep.

If I knew it would be the last time

that I see you walk out the door,

I would give you a hug and kiss

and call you back for one more.

If I knew it would be the last time

I'd hear your voice lifted up in praise,

I would video tape each action and word,

so I could play them back day after day.

If I knew it would be the last time,

I could spare an extra minute or two

to stop and say "I love you,"

instead of assuming you would KNOW I do.

If I knew it would be the last time

I would be there to share your day,

well I'm sure you'll have so many more,

so I can let just this one slip away.

For surely there's always tomorrow

to make up for an oversight,

and we always get a second chance

to make everything right.

There will always be another day

to say our "I love you's",

And certainly there's another chance

to say our "Anything I can do's?"

But just in case I might be wrong,

and today is all I get,

I'd like to say how much I love you

and I hope we never forget,

Tomorrow is not promised to anyone,

young or old alike,

And today may be the last chance

you get to hold your loved one tight..

So if you're waiting for tomorrow,

why not do it today?

For if tomorrow never comes,

you'll surely regret the day,

That you didn't take that extra time

for a smile, a hug, or a kiss

and you were too busy to grant someone,

what turned out to be their one last wish.

So hold your loved ones close today,

whisper in their ear,

Tell them how much you love them

and that you'll always hold them dear,

Take time to say "I'm sorry," "please forgive me,"

"thank you" or "it's okay".

And if tomorrow never comes,

you'll have no regrets about today

A fool’s procrastination is to put off the important but not urgent stuff till tomorrow.

I’ll start speaking sweeter tomorrow

I’ll start loving deeper tomorrow

I’ll give that forgiveness tomorrow.

The practice of the spiritual disciplines,

I’ll get on that tomorrow.

Living our authentic Christianity,

I’ll get on that tomorrow.

Doing what God wants me to do

I’ll get on that tomorrow

Psalms 103:15-16 (MSG)

Men and women don't live very long; like wildflowers they spring up and blossom, But a storm snuffs them out just as quickly, leaving nothing to show they were here.

It’s a fool’s fatal miscalculation to think that this life is all there is.

And it’s a fool’s procrastination not to live life to the full now.

3. JESUS SAYS IT IS FOOLISH NOT TO LIVE THIS LIFE IN LIGHT OF

THE LIFE TO COME – THIS IS A FOOL’S MISSED PREPARATION.

From what I can discern from the scripture the time we have right now is a time for

preparing for eternity.

Hebrews 11:8-10 (NIV)

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

Abraham was on a pilgrimage of obedience looking beyond this life into the next.

By faith he embraced eternity.

He super glued himself to the things of heaven

He velcroed himself to the things of this world.

1 Corinthians 2:9 NLT

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined

what God has prepared for those who love him."

It’s in this life that we have an opportunity to reconcile our relationship with God

through faith in Jesus.

It all rises and falls on the quality of your relationships,

Not the stuff you have,

Not the good that you do,

Rather we prepare for eternity by working on our

relationship with God, with Others. With Self and

with the Earth.

We work to make them righteous.

God supplies all the grace we need to prepare for eternity.

We must appropriate it into our lives.

The fool in Jesus parable had prepared well for his retirement,

But he failed to prepare for eternity.

Luke 9:25 NLT

“And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose or

forfeit your own soul in the process?”

So how do you prepare for eternity?

Get right with God,

Get right with others.

Get right with your self

Get right with you material possessions.

I’ve found that this getting right,

Is a continuing process.

Think about it relationally.

To make relationships work you have to cultivate them.

Relationships are hard work,

They take time and energy,

Sometimes they need help.

It’s a fool’s fatal miscalculation to think that this life is all there is.

And it’s a fool’s procrastination not to live life to the full now.

And it’s a fool’s missed preparation that results in an unfavorable

eternity.

This week in your home group you don’t have a video for this session.

I would like you to discuss how to get right,

Some concrete things you can do to not be foolish

The fool

Makes a fatal miscalculation that there is no life after this one.

The fool

Procrastinates all his or her opportunities to embrace eternity

The fool

Falls to prepare for inevitable

Don’t be foolish live your life like you were dying.

Don’t be foolish live your life embracing eternity.

BACK

Live Like You Were Dying – Sermon #5

Embrace Eternity

Life is not to be lived waiting on tomorrow to come.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=1407731

Luke 12:15-21 (MSG)

Jesus says that if you franticly pursue a life style of SELF at the expense of authentic Christianity then - you are a “fool”.

When you live for self you are being foolish.

1. Jesus Says It Is Foolish To Live Like This Life Is All There Is –

That Is A Fool’s Fatal Miscalculation.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT

“God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has

planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole

scope of God's work from beginning to end.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFNXwor69-U

The priceless things in life are not material, they are spiritual.

Matthew 6:19-21 NLT

"Don't store up treasures here on earth, where they can be

eaten by moths and get rusty, and where thieves break in and steal. [20]

Store your treasures in heaven, where they will never become moth-eaten or

rusty and where they will be safe from thieves. [21] Wherever your treasure

is, there your heart and thoughts will also be.”

2. Jesus Says It Is Foolish To Live Like There Will Always Be More Time –

That’s A Fool’s Costly Procrastination.

James 4:14 (MSG)

You don't know the first thing about tomorrow. You're nothing but a wisp of fog, catching a brief bit of sun before disappearing.

"If Tomorrow Never Comes"

If I knew it would be the last time

that I'd see you fall asleep,

I would tuck you in more tightly

and pray the Lord, your soul to keep.

If I knew it would be the last time

that I see you walk out the door,

I would give you a hug and kiss

and call you back for one more.

If I knew it would be the last time

I'd hear your voice lifted up in praise,

I would video tape each action and word,

so I could play them back day after day.

If I knew it would be the last time,

I could spare an extra minute or two

to stop and say "I love you,"

instead of assuming you would KNOW I do.

If I knew it would be the last time

I would be there to share your day,

well I'm sure you'll have so many more,

so I can let just this one slip away.

For surely there's always tomorrow

to make up for an oversight,

and we always get a second chance

to make everything right.

There will always be another day

to say our "I love you's",

And certainly there's another chance

to say our "Anything I can do's?"

But just in case I might be wrong,

and today is all I get,

I'd like to say how much I love you

and I hope we never forget,

Tomorrow is not promised to anyone,

young or old alike,

And today may be the last chance

you get to hold your loved one tight..

So if you're waiting for tomorrow,

why not do it today?

For if tomorrow never comes,

you'll surely regret the day,

That you didn't take that extra time

for a smile, a hug, or a kiss

and you were too busy to grant someone,

what turned out to be their one last wish.

So hold your loved ones close today,

whisper in their ear,

Tell them how much you love them

and that you'll always hold them dear,

Take time to say "I'm sorry," "please forgive me,"

"thank you" or "it's okay".

And if tomorrow never comes,

you'll have no regrets about today

A fool’s procrastination is to put off the important but not urgent stuff till tomorrow.

Psalms 103:15-16 (MSG)

Men and women don't live very long; like wildflowers they spring up and blossom, But a storm snuffs them out just as quickly, leaving nothing to show they were here.

3. Jesus Says It Is Foolish Not To Live This Life In Light Of The Life To Come –

This Is A Fool’s Missed Preparation.

Hebrews 11:8-10 (NIV)

Abraham was on a pilgrimage of obedience looking beyond this life into the next.

1 Corinthians 2:9 NLT

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined

what God has prepared for those who love him."

It’s in this life that we have an opportunity to reconcile our relationship with God through faith in Jesus.

Luke 9:25 NLT

“And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose or

forfeit your own soul in the process?”

So how do you prepare for eternity?

Get right with God. Get right with others. Get right with your self. Get right with you material possessions.

Don’t be foolish live your life embracing eternity.