Eternal Life Now
8.24.8
Dennis Mullen 

                  Several years ago, a couple from Blackstock, Ontario in Canada received prison time for child abuse.  The wife got five years, and the husband got four.  A tragic, but common story these days.  But this was an uncommon case of child abuse.  This couple abused their two adopted teenage sons by keeping them locked in cages for days at a time.  The cages were made out of modified baby cribs which were enclosed in mesh, and the boys (in their early teens) were forced to wear diapers and chained in the cages, sometimes for weeks, and food was passed to them through the bars.  Ontario officials believe that this pattern of abuse persisted on and off over a course of 13 years. 

            Can you imagine that situation?  Lay aside the inhumanity of the couple, which is almost incomprehensible, and think about how strange it is that two half-grown boys allowed themselves to be caged like that.  The only way it could happen is that it started when they boys were so young and had been going on for such a long time that they didn’t know life could be any different.  It’s nearly beyond belief!

            Then again, maybe it isn’t.  I see it all the time.  Satan keeps God’s children caged up in sin, in self-destructive habits and attitudes, in anger, in rebellion, in pride and bitterness and materialism.  We belong to God, we’ve been redeemed by Christ.  Yet we live in bondage to our worst impulses and addictions.  It’s a cage, but it’s all we’ve ever known.  We explain it by pointing out that we’re “sinners saved by grace” and the emphasis is on “sinner.”  We can hardly imagine a different kind of life.

            This month I have been preaching on eternal life.  So far, we’ve talked about the need to be ready to die and enter eternity, and we’ve spent some time looking at what the heavenly city will be like.

            But we skipped over something.  When Jesus promised us eternal life, he didn’t mean simply that we would live forever (although he certainly meant that).  He also meant that the quality of THESE days and years would, should, must take on an eternal flavor.  In John 10, Jesus called himself the good shepherd, and he made this promise about his sheep:  “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10)

            Full life, abundant life, is NOT life in a cage.  But many Christians live in a cage.  Ronald Sider wrote a depressing book called The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience in which he points out that Bible-believing Christians (and especially the ones who live in the “Bible-belt”) have some of the highest divorce rates in the country, and they give less of their income to the Lord than previous generations of Christians (poorer generations), and they give less to help the poor than many unbelievers.  Sider also gives good evidence that evangelical Christians are just as likely to commit sexual immorality or to have racist attitudes as their non-Christian counterparts. 

            If our encounter with Jesus doesn’t make us purer and less selfish and more loving – then we are living in a cage.  There is no abundant life in a cage.

            But Jesus came to give us eternal life now – to cover THIS life with the fragrance of heaven.  What does that mean?

            1.  Eternal life NOW means:  Freedom from sin in ever-increasing measure.   The old saying “I’m just a sinner saved by grace” is both partially true and self-defeating.  It makes us feel better and it also keeps the cage locked.

            It IS partially true.  In Romans 7, Paul recounts his struggle to overcome sin and live in accordance with God’s law.  He says:  “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing” (vs. 18-19).  Some say that Paul is merely speaking here about his past, before he became a Christian.  Others say that he’s only illustrating that you can’t overcome sin by following the law.  To me, it sounds like that and more; it sounds very personal.  And since he speaks in the present tense and cries out “What a wretched man I am!” (v. 24), I take this to be a confession of his weakness.  No one will get very far in the struggle to be holy if they lose sight of the sinful nature within.  As long as this life lasts, there will be a part of us that finds sin appealing and that would rebel against God.  We need never surrender to it, but we’d better always acknowledge it.  The history of the church is littered with the wreckage of lives of men and women who thought they had defeated temptation once and for all, only to discover that pride comes before a fall.

            And yet I can’t find anything in Jesus or Paul or the rest of Scripture that tells us to identify ourselves primarily as sinners – not even as sinners saved by grace.  While Paul speaks frankly about his sinful nature in Romans 7, that passage is surrounded by declarations of victory in Christ. 

            Listen to Romans 6:14 – “For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.”  Grace, which we sometimes use as an excuse for sin, is the very reason Paul gives us that we don’t have to sin.  “Sin isn’t your boss anymore.  Grace is! “

            Listen to 6:17-18 – “But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.  You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.”

            Then, after chapter 7 in which Paul talks about the battle within, he says in Romans 8:1-4 – “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.”

            There is no mistaking that life in the Spirit is a life of freedom – freedom from the punishment our sins deserve to be sure – but also freedom from the destructive actions, the selfish decisions, the hateful results that come from sinning.  Eternal life NOW means freedom from sin in ever-increasing measure.

            If you are not experiencing this, the thing to do is most certainly NOT to hide the truth.  There is no freedom down that road.  And the answer isn’t to try harder either.  Paul tried that in Romans 7 when he worked so hard to obey God’s law, and here’s what happened:  “…When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.  For in my inner being I delight in God's law;  but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.” (7:21-23)

            No, the path to freedom is not in faking it, nor in trying harder to be good.  Freedom comes from offering yourself hourly and daily to God, putting yourself in the school of the Holy Spirit.  Paul says in 6:11-13 - “…count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.  Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.  Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.”  And he says in v. 19 – “I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.”

            If I wanted to be a slave to sin, how would I go about it?  I’d just do what comes naturally.  I’d sit in front of the TV and watch whatever is on, and just soak in whatever values people put on the screen.  I’d deny myself no impulse, and I’d let my mind dwell on money or sex or power or world domination or any other attractive thing.  Which is exactly what many Christians are doing.  Ronald Sider also points out in his book that American Christians spend seven times more hours in front of the TV each week than they do in Bible reading, worship and prayer.  So what are they offering themselves to? 

            Watching too much TV distorts your perception of reality.  Someone came up with a list called Reality According to Hollywood of the various staples of TV and movies.  These include:

·        All grocery shopping bags contain at least one stick of French bread.

·        The ventilation system of any building is the perfect hiding place.

·        A man will show no pain while taking the most ferocious beating but will wince when a woman tries to clean his wounds.

·        Cars that crash will almost always burst into flames.

·        Persons knocked unconscious by a blow to the head will never suffer a concussion or brain damage.

·        Any lock can be picked by a credit card or a paper clip in seconds—unless it's the door to a burning building with a child trapped inside.

·        All bombs are fitted with electronic timing devices with large red readouts so you know exactly when they will go off.

·        Medieval peasants had perfect teeth.

·        It is not necessary to say hello or goodbye when beginning or ending phone conversations, nor to close a door when entering someone’s house.

·        In a martial arts fight, enemies will line up and attack you one at a time.

Some more serious items aren’t on the list.  People on TV and in the movies fall into bed with each other without consequence.  They have the latest in technology and toys because this is great subtle advertisement.  Most of the time, they live happy prosperous lives without any real need for God, because this is the fantasy of those who make the shows and it is also the message least likely to offend people. 

If I wanted to be a slave to righteousness, how would I go about it?  I’d take literally Paul’s words and offer in prayer my body and mind to the Lord each day.  I’d feed my soul on the Word; I’d find a way to serve in the Kingdom of God, performing a ministry, even if it cost me my TV time.  I’d build some deep spiritual friendships and I’d make sure that I not only listened to the sermon in church but took notes and looked up the Scriptures later and studied to make sure I understood what was being said.  And I’d pick out something in every Bible reading or lesson that I could concentrate on all day.

            Jesus said that when the Son sets you free, you are free indeed (John 8:36).  So don’t let yourself be content with life in a cage locked by sin.  You have been granted freedom from that.  Submit yourself to righteousness instead, and discover that eternal life now means freedom from sin in ever-increasing measure.

            2.  Eternal life NOW means:  A new set of priorities.  Ron Sider goes into some detail in showing that Christians are just as materialistic as the rest of the culture.  In the 60s, he says, evangelical Christians gave away over 6% of their income.  Now the Biblical standard is the tithe, or 10%, and God teaches that to be a minimum of generosity, in the 60s, Bible-believing Christians were giving 6%.  Now of course the country is richer and in general evangelical Christians are much wealthier too.  Your houses are much bigger than the houses of the people who attended here in the 60s.  Your cars are nicer and much more expensive (even accounting for inflation) and more than that, many more of you have cars, and a family of four may come in four SUVs (or even five!).  Since the 60s wages have increased, benefits have increased, and the standard of living has increased.  Only one thing has gone down, and that’s giving.  It has dropped from 6% in 1968 to just over 4% now.  Sider pointedly says:  “As we got richer and richer, evangelicals chose to spend more and more on themselves and give a smaller and smaller percentage to the church.  Today, on average, evangelicals in the U.S. give about two-fifths of a tithe.”

            If I knew that my life consisted only of 70-90 years (at the most, and without anything to come afterward), I’d give a lot less to helping people.  Without an afterlife Paul said that we are of all people most to be pitied, but I’d try to ease the pain by buying lots of nice stuff, by playing as much as I could, by sparing no expense to have an enjoyable life.  It makes a lot of sense to live that way if this life is all there is.

            We Christians say of course that there is much more.  There’s this life, and then eternity!  So how do we live?  We buy lots of nice stuff, way more than we need; we play as much as we can; we spare no expense to try to purchase an enjoyable life!

            But eternal life NOW results in a new set of priorities.  With regard to money and possessions, Jesus said  “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).

            James put a point on it too, saying:  “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?  Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.  If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?  In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” (James 2:14-17)

            Jesus though put it most strongly:  On judgment day, some will hear:  “`Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.  For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,  I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'

            “They also will answer, `Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'

            “He will reply, `I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'”  (Matthew 25:41-45)

            Eternal life NOW means a new set of priorities for your life.  If your priorities are the same as the world’s, you’re not listening to the Lord.  You’ve got forever to think about!  Don’t waste everything in this short life!

            3.  Eternal life NOW means:  Peace and joy on the journey home.  In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus said:  “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”  That’s a promise Jesus made to some distressed, downcast hard-working people.  He didn’t mean that they’d have to wait till they died for some rest, for an easy yoke and a light burden.  He was describing eternal life NOW.

            What is it that draws you to a really committed Christian?  It probably isn’t their deep morality, though they are deeply moral (that can actually be very threatening).  It probably isn’t their thorough knowledge of Scripture though, very likely, they know the Scriptures.  Doesn’t it have to do with their abiding sense of peace and joy no matter what life throws at them?  The Christians you admire most walk with God.  They are not perfect, and they probably see the depth of their imperfection more than you do.  But they DO experience freedom from sin in ever increasing measure.   And they don’t always do what they should do, but it can be said of them that they don’t live exactly as the world lives, but rather they have received from God a new set of priorities.  And because of their walk with the Lord, they have peace and joy on their journey home.

            Do you have peace and joy on your journey home?  If not, I can’t give you three steps to finding it.  Peace and joy are God’s gifts, the fruit of the Holy Spirit.  So let this last point be for your evaluation. If you find in your heart that you lack peace and joy in the midst of daily life, and in the midst of trying circumstances, come closer to God.  Become his disciple.  Turn to his Word daily.  Learn to talk to him in prayer.  Build some deep spiritual friendships.  Find a ministry.  Learn to put your whole heart into worship.  Get serious about your relationship with your Lord. 

            Eternal life begins NOW.  Start living it today.

 Morrison Hill Christian Church
P.O. Box 59 - 1008 E. Race St.
Kingston, TN  37763   (865) 376-5205