SPEAKER_00: I did a recent poll and discovered that everyone that was born in 1908 or earlier is no longer alive.
SPEAKER_00: None of them responded to the poll.
SPEAKER_00: Actually, it wasn't really a poll, it was more of a search.
SPEAKER_00: But here's the amazing thing the oldest living person was born in 1909.
SPEAKER_00: Ethel Caterham, right now, as of 9 o'clock this morning, is still alive at 116 years old.
SPEAKER_00: She lives in England in August.
SPEAKER_00: She's looking at 117 years old.
SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine that?
SPEAKER_00: She has already surpassed the length of life that her children have had.
SPEAKER_00: So she's 116 years old.
SPEAKER_00: Now, when we hear of someone like Ethel Caterham, I mean, we can't imagine.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, this is someone that was born before World War I, before World War II, all of the technology, all of the changes in life that have occurred in that 116 years old, because our expectation is that Ethel should be gone by now.
SPEAKER_00: People don't live that long, and that brings about a very real reality for us as well that in the back of our minds know is out there, but we don't really like to think about.
SPEAKER_00: And that is you are going to die.
SPEAKER_00: Those are five words that we don't like to think about, five words that we know inevitably is in our future, and how much future each of us has is the unknown.
SPEAKER_00: Most of us might have the idea that, oh yeah, we're gonna live to be 80, 90 years old, but that's not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00: And so, how does the fact that death is inevitable for each one of us, how does that shape the way that we live now?
SPEAKER_00: How does it shape the way in which we view and live life?
SPEAKER_00: Good morning, Spring Lake.
SPEAKER_00: It is so good to worship together this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Happy Father's Day.
SPEAKER_00: If we have not yet met, if you are brand new to Spring Lake, my name is Adam.
SPEAKER_00: I am the campus pastor here at our Bellevue campus, and we are in the second week of a series that we are looking at this summer entitled Uncomfortable, where we are looking at uncomfortable topics, things that we may not like to think about, things that might not get talked about very often, and honestly, things that might make us squirm a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, why we bring them up, why we talk about them, is because they're biblically grounded.
SPEAKER_00: They impact how we view and how we live life.
SPEAKER_00: And so it's really important to address those.
SPEAKER_00: And again, if you were not here last week, I just want to highlight that this series is one that rotates, as opposed to when we do do book studies over uh the course of the year where it's the same uh same message or same passage of scripture at each of our campuses.
SPEAKER_00: This is a rotational series, meaning that it rotates among all the campuses.
SPEAKER_00: So if you are someone that sometimes you go to Bellevue, sometimes you go to Lawrence, sometimes you go downtown, just be aware that if you do that over the summer, there's a good chance you're gonna hear the same sermon twice or three times.
SPEAKER_00: If you like that sermon, that's great.
SPEAKER_00: But just want to prepare you that for this summer, you may want to be parked at one campus in particular.
SPEAKER_00: But this morning, as we look at the inevitability of our death, ultimately we are looking at three life-giving statements that are so important for us to understand in how we view and how we live our lives.
SPEAKER_00: And the first one is live in wisdom, not denial.
SPEAKER_00: Live in wisdom, not denial.
SPEAKER_00: And that's based out of Psalm 90, verse 12, where the psalmist says, Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: How are we to see life?
SPEAKER_00: Most of us would say that life is a gift.
SPEAKER_00: Many of us would say life is a God-given gift.
SPEAKER_00: Some might not look at life with that kind of divine providence.
SPEAKER_00: Some might say, hey, it's just a matter of chance, of biological processes, of some cosmic force, of some impersonal power.
SPEAKER_00: But if that is the case, then meaning is something that we have to try to create for ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: Because there's no design to anything.
SPEAKER_00: It's just something you have to try to make, something you have to try to discover, something you have to try to carve out with all of your efforts, with all of your abilities.
SPEAKER_00: Human life, then, is just one of countless other living organisms among many.
SPEAKER_00: And with that, it's to be clung to with every fiber of our being because this is all there is.
SPEAKER_00: However, I believe that God has something altogether different to say.
SPEAKER_00: And so within the context of this sermon, it's not going to be used so much as a defense that God exists, but the understanding that God does exist, that he has revealed himself to us through the Bible, and through the Bible that we actually gain perspective on who he is and what life is all about.
SPEAKER_00: And so that's where the psalmist is declaring in Psalm 90, teach us.
SPEAKER_00: Now, who's he referring to?
SPEAKER_00: Because there's so many people that could teach us.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's teachers and scientists and philosophers and entertainers and influencers.
SPEAKER_00: There's so many people out there that would claim to have a corner on the market on truth of what life should be lived for, of how it should be lived for.
SPEAKER_00: But of course, the psalmist here is referring to God.
SPEAKER_00: That if you want to know how life is to be lived, of how it's to be seen, you have to get to the source.
SPEAKER_00: And so throughout Psalm 90, what the psalmist is reflecting on is the eternality of God and the brevity of human life.
SPEAKER_00: He says that as we consider human life, we're going to live 70 to 80 years if we're lucky.
SPEAKER_00: He actually doesn't say if you're lucky, he says if our strength sustains us.
SPEAKER_00: That's what we have to look forward to.
SPEAKER_00: And we have the most knowledge, the most technology, the most medical advancement in the history of the world.
SPEAKER_00: And yet every human life comes to an end.
SPEAKER_00: Medical advancement has helped fight different illnesses, it has helped change the course of how many different situations and ailments, but it cannot provide the ultimate solution.
SPEAKER_00: Because each of us is going to die.
SPEAKER_00: Life is finite.
SPEAKER_00: That doesn't mean that people have given up the fight to try to fight off their finiteness.
SPEAKER_00: Eternal life is something that people have been searching generations for.
SPEAKER_00: The fountain of youth is something well known that has some historical context as well as some fictional tales about the search for that which is going to erase the effects of time.
SPEAKER_00: Fighting off the wrinkles, doing everything that is possible to fight off the aging of our bodies that happens.
SPEAKER_00: There's a company in Scottsdale, Arizona, where people will pay big money to have their bodies frozen after they die.
SPEAKER_00: They will pay over$220,000 to have their bodies chiroprozen in order that the hopes that someday the illness or the ailment that took their life that there will be a discovery that will provide the solution for that.
SPEAKER_00: And then not only the solution for that, but the hopes that they'll be able to be brought back to life.
SPEAKER_00: And people are spending over$200,000.
SPEAKER_00: There are thousands of bodies being frozen in Scottsdale, Arizona, with that hope of ongoing life.
SPEAKER_00: So it's not just a fictional tale, it's not just something of science fiction or Indiana Jones.
SPEAKER_00: It's something that people are searching for.
SPEAKER_00: And the psalmist is teaching us that there is wisdom in understanding the brevity of life, that our days are numbered.
SPEAKER_00: But it's not just that, in understanding that our days are numbered, it's in being taught by the infinite God and depending on him in our finiteness.
SPEAKER_00: This is the heart of wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: Many of you may be familiar with Ben Sass, who is the senator of Nebraska, 53 years old, solid follower of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He was told in December that he had pancreatic cancer, that he had three to four months to live.
SPEAKER_00: Now that cancer has metastasized.
SPEAKER_00: It's in five different parts of his body, in his organs, in his liver.
SPEAKER_00: He's gone beyond the four months that was expected.
SPEAKER_00: But here's a guy that you maybe you've seen or heard some of his interviews that he has had.
SPEAKER_00: He's got three kids.
SPEAKER_00: His two older girls are in their 20s.
SPEAKER_00: His youngest son is 14.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, Man, I want to see my son girl up.
SPEAKER_00: But this is one of the things that Ben Sass was quoted in his recent interview on 60 Minutes.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Death is wicked, death is evil.
SPEAKER_00: Death is not how it's supposed to be.
SPEAKER_00: Me getting a cancer diagnosis, again, is pretty small on the grand scheme of things, but it's a touch of grace because it forces me to tell the truth.
SPEAKER_00: And the lie I want to tell myself is that I'm the center of everything.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm going to be around forever.
SPEAKER_00: I can work harder and store up enough that I can that I can alone, I can atone for my own brokenness.
SPEAKER_00: I can't.
SPEAKER_00: And so I hate cancer.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm also grateful for it.
SPEAKER_00: I tell a lot more truth to myself than I used to do when I thought I was super omnicompetent and interesting.
SPEAKER_00: I find that last part fascinating.
SPEAKER_00: Here's someone that is looking at the measure of his life, the number of his days, and he's realizing the number of his days is much shorter than he once realized.
SPEAKER_00: And yet he's realizing in that there is a touch of grace where he is speaking the truth about what life is about.
SPEAKER_00: And it's causing him an altogether different kind of focus.
SPEAKER_00: That is the wisdom that the psalmist is talking about in numbering our days, realizing that it's not going to go on forever.
SPEAKER_00: The span of my years is as nothing before you.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone is but a breath, even those who seem secure.
SPEAKER_00: One life.
SPEAKER_00: One life is all we get.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone from the greatest to the least is gonna die.
SPEAKER_00: It's inevitable.
SPEAKER_00: We cannot hide from death, we cannot avoid death, we cannot ultimately prevent death.
SPEAKER_00: It is a certainty, and that awareness should produce within us a particular kind of humility and an earnestness to our life.
SPEAKER_00: See, the psalmist does not hide from the recognition of life's brevity.
SPEAKER_00: That might be something that we want to do, but to avoid it, to pretend that it's not out there, is to miss out on the wisdom that comes from acknowledging the brevity and the shortness of life.
SPEAKER_00: Life is a breath.
SPEAKER_00: And modern medicine can add to the quality of our life and even combat particular illnesses that in the past would have been a certain death sentence, and yet all of it is within the sovereignty of God, that we're not going to be given one more breath, that we are not going to be given one more heartbeat than what God gives us.
SPEAKER_00: And so the psalmist acknowledges in verse 5 here the acknowledgement that God has given us life and that life is but a mere hand breadth.
SPEAKER_00: As he is measuring that out, a handbreadth is that distance between your four fingers.
SPEAKER_00: When you consider, like you pull up Apple maps and you want to know how far something is, we're tracking like miles, right?
SPEAKER_00: You're looking at how long a distance, how long it's gonna take you to get there, and he's saying, Hey, our life is but a hand breath, and all the measurements that we have.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying it's between these four fingers, and some of us might want to go, uh, but this is all this is all you get.
SPEAKER_00: This hand breath and everything in perspective.
SPEAKER_00: How short of a time that is, and as we get older, perspective changes.
SPEAKER_00: I remember 20 years ago seeing a guy my age and thinking, man, he's he's pretty old.
SPEAKER_00: And now I'm at that age that I once thought was old, and I'm like, it's never been this young.
SPEAKER_00: Because perspective changes.
SPEAKER_00: Throughout life, you hear people that are up there in ears saying life goes quick.
SPEAKER_00: When you're young, it's like it's not going that quick.
SPEAKER_00: Senior year is taking forever.
SPEAKER_00: But life is so short, and so acknowledging that life is short should cause us to focus on what really matters and to rely on God who supplies every breath.
SPEAKER_00: And so when it comes to this uncomfortable topic of death, we should not avoid it.
SPEAKER_00: We should not pretend it's not there.
SPEAKER_00: We shouldn't pretend that it doesn't exist, and at the same time, it's not enough just to acknowledge it as though some biological process.
SPEAKER_00: It's not enough just to be aware of it, and it shouldn't cause us to have a negative outlook on life either.
SPEAKER_00: It's about realizing that life is so much shorter than we realize, and so live it well.
SPEAKER_00: Live it wisely.
SPEAKER_00: But what does it look like to live life wisely?
SPEAKER_00: And that leads to the second life statement: live with focus, not distraction.
SPEAKER_00: Live with focus, not distraction.
SPEAKER_00: We get this out of James 4, where James says in verse 13, now listen, you who say today or tomorrow we will go to this sit or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make money.
SPEAKER_00: Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00: What is your life?
SPEAKER_00: You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, you ought to say, if it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.
SPEAKER_00: As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes, all such boasting is evil.
SPEAKER_00: If anyone then knows the good they ought to do and doesn't do it, it is sin for them.
SPEAKER_00: When we think about it, all of us have our routines.
SPEAKER_00: We have our daily tasks, our weekly goals, our monthly objectives, our annual aspirations, our family responsibilities, our seasonal trips, our disciplined exercise, all good things, all things that life is made up of.
SPEAKER_00: If we were to pull out our calendars right now, some of us would have certain dates highlighted or circled.
SPEAKER_00: Here's our wedding day, here's our due date, here's retirement day, all things that are good things, and yet James is warning against a mindset that makes plans independent of the awareness of the brevity of life and the need for dependence on God.
SPEAKER_00: It's a warning against assuming longevity of life and living independent of God.
SPEAKER_00: James 4.13 shares the mindset of so many self-help books today and thinking that could be titled Getting Things Done, Keys to Success, How to Retire Early, Go Hard, Have Fun, Live Comfortable.
SPEAKER_00: That sounds like the ideal, the American dream.
SPEAKER_00: YOLO, fortune favors the bold, live without limits, no regrets, make it count.
SPEAKER_00: All phrases that are meant to reflect a life that is not wasted.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't think any of us would admit saying, yeah, I want I want to waste my life.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want my life to count for anything.
SPEAKER_00: Most of us would say, I want my life to count for something, to have some kind of positive impact, and yet it's possible to live with those pursuits of kind of like, hey, you only you only live once and have this no regrets mindset and yet end up with eternal regret.
SPEAKER_00: The key to living life, according to James, is understanding how short and fragile it is.
SPEAKER_00: But not only that, to live with the acknowledgement of independence on God, that is the key.
SPEAKER_00: That is the mindset to a way of life, not just to a way of the weekend or a one-hour service on the weekend, but how we view life, how we surrender to God, how we see life through the lens as He looks at it, because we are never guaranteed the ending that we envision.
SPEAKER_00: Most of us are looking at, hey, 80 years, 90 years.
SPEAKER_00: We eat right, we exercise, we do all those things.
SPEAKER_00: We expect that's just gonna be the outcome, but we're not guaranteed the ending that we envision.
SPEAKER_00: Our ideas, our plans, our abilities, while incredible gifts can be changed or taken away in a moment.
SPEAKER_00: And wisdom is understanding the brevity of life and actively looking to and depending on God.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to the words of Jesus in Luke 12, verse 16.
SPEAKER_00: And he told them this parable.
SPEAKER_00: I have no place to store my crops.
SPEAKER_00: Then he said, This is what I'll do.
SPEAKER_00: I'll tear down my barns and build bigger ones.
SPEAKER_00: There I'll store my surplus grain.
SPEAKER_00: And I'll say to myself, You have plenty of grain laid up for many years.
SPEAKER_00: Take life easy, eat, drink, and be merry.
SPEAKER_00: But God said to him, You fool, this very night your life will be demanded from you.
SPEAKER_00: Then who get what you have prepared for yourself?
SPEAKER_00: This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves, but is not rich toward God.
SPEAKER_00: It's better to be poor and wise than rich and a fool.
SPEAKER_00: Because no amount of prestige or resources can ultimately prevent us from dying.
SPEAKER_00: So we have to be really careful that we're not distracted by our abilities, by our intelligence, by our resources, by our age, or by our connections.
SPEAKER_00: Because in this parable that Jesus is telling, it's really marking the uncertainty of our own understanding of how long we have.
SPEAKER_00: Because for this man in the parable, here he was.
SPEAKER_00: He was still actively productive.
SPEAKER_00: He was successful, he was ambitious, he had energy for more.
SPEAKER_00: He wasn't at the point about thinking he was gonna slow down.
SPEAKER_00: He wasn't at the point of downsizing, he wasn't thinking about retirement, he wasn't starting to work on his golf game from appearances that looked like he was still in good health.
SPEAKER_00: He wasn't worrying about what was in store, he still had dreams, he had goals, he had a hunger for more.
SPEAKER_00: He wasn't slowing down, he wasn't done with life.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, but he was.
SPEAKER_00: He was, he just didn't realize it.
SPEAKER_00: Life was over far sooner than he expected.
SPEAKER_00: And he didn't plan on this, he didn't see it coming because not everyone gets a deathbed moment.
SPEAKER_00: But all of us have a death sentence.
SPEAKER_00: So, what does God call the person who is incredibly ambitious but ignorant of life's brevity and isn't looking to him.
SPEAKER_00: Does not make the man, success also makes the fool.
SPEAKER_00: The wise person is the one who is rich toward God.
SPEAKER_00: The man thought he was wise in his investments, but he hadn't invested in his spiritual life.
SPEAKER_00: And the difference between the wise person and the foolish person is the investments we make.
SPEAKER_00: Are we invested in temporary things or are we invested in eternal things?
SPEAKER_00: That leads us to the last life statement.
SPEAKER_00: Because I realize in a topic that deals with death, man, we don't want to hear about this.
SPEAKER_00: We don't want to talk about this.
SPEAKER_00: It feels heavy, but it doesn't end heavy.
SPEAKER_00: Because the last statement: live in hope, not in fear.
SPEAKER_00: As sobering as a sermon about death might be, it does not end in despair for the follower of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Because ultimately, this message is not so much about how we deal with the death of a loved one.
SPEAKER_00: It's not about dealing with the grief of that.
SPEAKER_00: It's about how each one of us faces the inevitability of our own death and how we live life now.
SPEAKER_00: And only you can determine that.
SPEAKER_00: Only you determine your focus.
SPEAKER_00: And it's sobering for us when we realize that someday there's gonna be someone else sitting in that cubicle or that office chair that we used to occupy.
SPEAKER_00: There's gonna be someone else that is living in the home that we live in now.
SPEAKER_00: It's really sobering when we realize within just a couple generations, our own blood won't even know our names.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you have those times where you bring out an old photo and you're like, who is this?
SPEAKER_00: And you have to go to like a parent, a grandparent, and ask them, who is this in the photo?
SPEAKER_00: Because there's a realization that within a couple generations, even our own family will not know our name.
SPEAKER_00: So, what is it that we're living for?
SPEAKER_00: Life is a gift and it's temporary.
SPEAKER_00: However, what comes next for the follower of Jesus at the moment of death is infinitely greater and eternal.
SPEAKER_00: We may not like to think about death, but death for the follower of Jesus is a means of something incredibly greater.
SPEAKER_00: Tim Keller was a pastor in New York City who about three years ago passed away from pancreatic cancer.
SPEAKER_00: One of the statements that he used to make is that death used to be an executioner, but the gospel makes him just a gardener.
SPEAKER_00: I love that.
SPEAKER_00: It's really reflected in the words of Paul in Philippians 1, verse 20, where he says, I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always, Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death, for to for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.
SPEAKER_00: If I'm to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me, yet what shall I choose?
SPEAKER_00: I do not know.
SPEAKER_00: I am torn between the two.
SPEAKER_00: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far.
SPEAKER_00: Do you remember growing up and playing freeze tag?
SPEAKER_00: And if you got tagged, remember, you couldn't do anything.
SPEAKER_00: All you could do was sit there frozen and watch everyone else running around and having a good time.
SPEAKER_00: Honestly, I believe that there are some believers that think that's what happens to us at the moment of death.
SPEAKER_00: Like we go up to be with Jesus and then we just watch what's happening on earth like 24-7.
SPEAKER_00: Like it's just how many channels of watching our loved ones.
SPEAKER_00: There are some people that have this mindset that, hey, you just come back as a cardinal to watch your loved ones.
SPEAKER_00: Let me just say I've seen that so many times, more so in the Midwest than anywhere else I've lived.
SPEAKER_00: This mindset that, oh, I saw a carnal in my yard, that's a loved one.
SPEAKER_00: No, that's folklore, that's not Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, but it brings me comfort.
SPEAKER_00: It's not truth.
SPEAKER_00: If your greatest hope is that at the moment you die, you just watch your loved ones blow it.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, quite frankly, there are things I'm so glad that my loved ones are not seeing me doing.
SPEAKER_00: Like, oh, he blew it again.
SPEAKER_00: What in the world?
SPEAKER_00: He's losing focus.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I don't want to be seeing that.
SPEAKER_00: You know, there are so many things I am glad my loved ones are not seeing because the significance of what happens for the follower of Jesus is not that we watch our loved ones that are still living making their mess and doing their thing, it's that our eyes are on Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That's the incredible hope that we see him, that every memory of the failure, of the brokenness, of sin is gone, and we are with him.
SPEAKER_00: We are with him.
SPEAKER_00: That's where Paul is talking about this in Philippians, this incredible hope.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying his goal, Philippians 1.
SPEAKER_00: If I'm to live, it's for Jesus that Jesus is magnified, that Jesus is known, that Jesus is walked with, that Jesus is proclaimed, that Jesus is pointed to, that Jesus is demonstrated, that Jesus is shared, that's what life is to be about.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul says, I want to use up all my energy in my life.
SPEAKER_00: That is fruitful labor.
SPEAKER_00: That's what life is meant to be about.
SPEAKER_00: I want it to be all about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: If I live, I want to serve Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That doesn't mean that we don't enjoy our relationships, it doesn't mean that we don't enjoy our hobbies, our family, or our belongings, but those things do not become ultimate things.
SPEAKER_00: It's not what life is to be about.
SPEAKER_00: The man in Jesus parable could say all of his success left a great inheritance for his kids, and yet God calls him a fool.
SPEAKER_00: Because money, resources, and belongings are not the evidence of a life well lived.
SPEAKER_00: Paul models for us here what it should be.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me.
SPEAKER_00: He says it's all about fruitful labor, not just in the sense of, oh, making money.
SPEAKER_00: It's about Jesus having labor that has eternal rewards, making much of Jesus, words, attitudes, and act actions that reflect him.
SPEAKER_00: And at the same time, as he's doing that, he's like, hey, death is even better.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 22.
SPEAKER_00: I'm torn between the two.
SPEAKER_00: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far.
SPEAKER_00: So he's saying, Hey, if I live and I'm living and I'm focused on Jesus, I'm making much of Jesus, it's all about him.
SPEAKER_00: But if I die, that's not a runner a prize.
SPEAKER_00: That's not second place.
SPEAKER_00: That's even better.
SPEAKER_00: That's gain.
SPEAKER_00: That's glorious.
SPEAKER_00: That's good.
SPEAKER_00: I win.
SPEAKER_00: I can't lose.
SPEAKER_00: So death is not something to fear.
SPEAKER_00: Death is not something that we have to be afraid of.
SPEAKER_00: Life is not something that we so desperately have to cling to because we're afraid of what happens next.
SPEAKER_00: To be absent from the body for the follower of Jesus is to be present with the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: So because of that hope that the follower of Jesus has, every burial plot is just a rental space.
SPEAKER_00: Every coffin is only borrowed.
SPEAKER_00: Because ultimately we will be with Him.
SPEAKER_00: Death is not our loss.
SPEAKER_00: Oftentimes we think about death as being a loss, and for us, when we suffer the death of a loved one, it's like, oh yeah, it feels like loss.
SPEAKER_00: We miss them, but it is their gain if they knew Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And as we think about our own death as a follower of Jesus, the moment you take your last breath, you have gained everything.
SPEAKER_00: You have lost nothing.
SPEAKER_00: We win.
SPEAKER_00: Fruitful labor is the goal.
SPEAKER_00: Because what Christ gives to us cannot be lost.
SPEAKER_00: Because He is the resurrection and the life.
SPEAKER_00: He is the one who gives life to us.
SPEAKER_00: In a relay race, you only have so much time.
SPEAKER_00: You are given a baton, you have a leg that you run, and during the course of that race, how you run that race is so critical, whether you run with discipline or focus, because a lack of those two things is totally gonna throw off the race.
SPEAKER_00: And the goal in a relay is that as you have received that baton, that you are running for the next person, you are handing that off to the next person, realizing there is a finish line that is the goal that everyone is aiming for.
SPEAKER_00: Follower Jesus, we have been given the gift of life.
SPEAKER_00: You've been given so much time where you are doing this, where you are running.
SPEAKER_00: And there is a finish line coming that you don't always see exactly where that finish line is, but it's about running hard until you cross that finish line.
SPEAKER_00: But not just crossing the finish line, realizing you have an opportunity and a responsibility, not just across the finish line, but to hand off what God has been doing in your life.
SPEAKER_00: The incredible opportunity that we have as a church, a spring like church, is along the way to cheer each other on.
SPEAKER_00: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: Don't lose focus.
SPEAKER_00: Stay disciplined.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, you fell down.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, let's go.
SPEAKER_00: It's not over, it's not over.
SPEAKER_00: Keep running.
SPEAKER_00: Let's go.
SPEAKER_00: To encourage one another, to link arms with one another, to help one another run well.
SPEAKER_00: To help one another remember what is at the finish line, our greatest joy.
SPEAKER_00: To run hard, to run all out, to not lose hope.
SPEAKER_00: Because we only have so long to do this.
SPEAKER_00: There's only so much time.
SPEAKER_00: I want to close with the words of Richard Baxter before we take communion together.
SPEAKER_00: Richard Baxter was a pastor in the 17th century who himself had dealt with some things, some chronic illness in his life.
SPEAKER_00: At one point he dealt with imprisonment, and he had written this hymn that I think is so powerful for someone that was suffering, entitled, Lord, It Belongs Not to My Care.
SPEAKER_00: And it goes like this Lord, it belongs not to my care, whether I die or live.
SPEAKER_00: To love and serve thee is my share.
SPEAKER_00: And this thy grace must give.
SPEAKER_00: If life be long, I will be glad that I may long obey.
SPEAKER_00: If short, yet why should I be sad to welcome endless day?
SPEAKER_00: Christ leads me through no darker rooms than he went through before.
SPEAKER_00: He that unto God's kingdom comes must enter by this door.
SPEAKER_00: Come, Lord, when grace hath made me meet thy blessed face to see.
SPEAKER_00: For if thy work on earth be sweet, what will thy glory be?
SPEAKER_00: Then I shall end my sad complaints and weary sinful days, and join with the triumphant saints that sing my Savior's praise.
SPEAKER_00: My knowledge of thy life is small, the eye of faith is dim, but 'tis enough that Christ knows all, and I shall be with him.
SPEAKER_00: Amen, church.
SPEAKER_00: As we take communion together, it is a reminder for us of the most significant death in all of human history.
SPEAKER_00: We have no choice but to die because the wages of our sin is death and it is wreaking havoc on life.
SPEAKER_00: But there is one who, out of his immense love for us, chose to die, chose to die for us.
SPEAKER_00: That by living the perfect life that we cannot live, by dying the death that we deserve to die, paying our payment that any single one of us can be forgiven of all of our sin, can have victory over death, can have eternal life with Him.
SPEAKER_00: If you are here this morning and you have put your trust in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, I encourage you to take part with us.
SPEAKER_00: If you are here and you regularly attend Spring Lake, but you have not yet done that, I encourage you just to observe this part.
SPEAKER_00: That as we take this, it's a reminder the price has been paid.
SPEAKER_00: So as we take the bread together right now, it's a reminder that Jesus took our place willingly, that the price has been completely paid, that the righteousness that God demands was met in your place.
SPEAKER_00: I'm having a really hard time with this cellophane wrapper.
SPEAKER_00: This has never happened to me before.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: He is so good.
SPEAKER_00: He is so good to us.
SPEAKER_00: He is so good.
SPEAKER_00: So as we take this, let's remember him together.
SPEAKER_00: As we take the cup, the reminder of the blood of Jesus that was shed.
SPEAKER_00: And here's what I want to remind you.
SPEAKER_00: That because of the blood that was shed, your standing before God has been made possible.
SPEAKER_00: That He loves you, He embraces you, He welcomes you, you're declared righteous.
SPEAKER_00: Because the blood of Jesus covers you, brothers and sisters.
SPEAKER_00: Regardless of the kind of week you had, regardless of the bad choices that you made, regardless of the circumstances that you are facing, you are incredibly loved.
SPEAKER_00: How do you know that?
SPEAKER_00: Because God loved you so much, he sent his son to die for you willingly, and he lives now to welcome you.
SPEAKER_00: Let's take this as we remember him together.
SPEAKER_00: So, Father, we praise you for this hope that is greater than death.
SPEAKER_00: God, I praise that the certainty of our death would not cause us to live in fear, but to live in wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: To live our lives well in fruitful labor for you to be all about you.
SPEAKER_00: And God, knowing that when we cross the finish line, it is you that we will be seeing.
SPEAKER_00: So help us to live with the hope and the confidence of that day.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.