Good Things

 Last Monday was of course Memorial Day, a day when we honor and remember those in our armed forces who gave their lives for their country. Why would they do that? Certainly many were drafted, but many enlisted of their own accord - why? Why would they give up their lives - and the ones they would have had if they had lived? Because they loved their country, because they loved freedom - because they valued other's freedom over their own lives.

Our military cemeteries are filled with men and women who made that sacrifice. I don't want to be too gloomy - but nothing makes you evaluate life, and what it's all about, as much as death does. Death reminds us of our own mortality and causes us to stop and look at our own lives knowing that death comes to everyone, eventually.

To more fully understand our lives as God's Creation, it's important to occasionally pause and look at...

I. The BIG Picture

Sometimes we get so busy with the 'here and now' that we forget there's more than just 'this'. Whether people understand it or not, this life is preparation for the next. When you look at the 'big picture', your perspective changes drastically.

For instance - If you only look at 'this life', if you don't accept that there is anything more than this life – the little irritating things and struggles here aren't so little. If this is all we get, I suppose it's okay to get upset about every little detail. If this is it – then why not focus all of your time and resources on making yourself comfortable and happy?

However, the Bible tells us that there is more! We were created for God's purposes! Life and death take on a whole new meaning in the context of God's bigger picture. And we've expressed God's purpose, as given to us in His Word, in our mission at Deep River - to Know Jesus, to Grow closer to God and Grow closer to each other, to Go serve our fellow man and to Go share the Good news of the Gospel Message.

In that context – our understanding on life and death changes quite a bit. When you know you were created for more than just 'this' - your…

A. Priorities change

When you recognize why you are here, when you learn to understand your God given purpose – sometimes 'small things' can actually become vital, and other things become huge distractions.

For those who have been in the Church, who have followed Jesus for a while - are you still the same person you were before Jesus? Hopefully, over time, you've grown into a different person. - You don't value the same things, you don't respond the same way to situations as you used to - you don't see 'sin' and 'life' the same way you used to.

When you look at everything knowing that God has a purpose for you beyond just this life – your attitudes about the things of this life will change to match your higher goals. Jesus pointed out, to those in His day, that they were chasing after things that really didn't matter in light of the 'big picture'. I want us to look again at a key passage that we've read together multiple times...

Matthew 16:24-28 (NIV)

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. (25) For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. (26) What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
(27) For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. (28) I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom."

"If anyone would come after me..." - "Anyone", that's us. When you understand that God's plans for your life are so much higher than your own plans – your priorities have to change. And in order to align your priorities with God's – you have to make sure that your goal for your life lines up with…

B. God's goal

For context, I want us to jump back to the passage right before the one we just read - where Jesus challenged His disciples to deny themselves. Let's turn to Matthew 16:21-23 (NIV)...

From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. (22) Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "Never, Lord!" he said. "This shall never happen to you!"
(23) Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."

Peter wasn't trying to do anything evil - from his perspective. He was trying to defend Jesus, he was trying to declare his allegiance to Jesus. In his own way, he was trying to protect Jesus. - Nothing wrong with that. But then Jesus actually called Peter, 'Satan'. That's an awful harsh thing to say, and it must have hurt Peter pretty badly. But I don't think Jesus chose His words casually here - He meant to be very strong.

Does Jesus not want us to stand up for Him? No – He does. But ultimately Jesus wants "us" more than He wants 'our help'. In this account, Jesus was very capable of making His own decisions and protecting Himself. He'd just proved that earlier by casting out demons, walking on water, a crowd tried to throw Him off a cliff and He just walked right threw them unharmed. What Peter wanted to give Jesus, Jesus didn't really need. Peter and Jesus had radically different priorities.

Is your goal, God's goal for your life? By the way you live, would others around you say that you get the BIG Picture? And if, yes, your goals do seem to line up with God's goals - how committed are you to achieving those goals? When it comes to God's purpose for your life, what are you willing to give up to achieve those goals?

Would you give up your life to achieve God's purposes? And that's at the crux of what Jesus asks from those who want to follow him. Again, that passage...

Matthew 16:24-25 (NIV)

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. (25) For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it."

- What would be important enough for you to give your entire life to it? For most people, they'd say that's a pretty short list. But everybody is spending their life on something. And frequently, those things can be pretty small compared to eternity. Some people just spend their lives doing 'stuff', getting by, making a living – not bad things, but how much of it will matter in eternity?

Then look at the flip side - look at a person who gives their entire life to building a successful career, a business empire – again it's not necessarily a bad thing, but if it doesn't match up with God's purposes – was it the best use of time in light of eternity? Each of us only have so much time here in this life – are we willing to give it up to reach God's higher goals, or are we focused more on what we want?

People can give their lives away for such small things, but let's remember…

II. What are the BIG things?

I've been beside the hospital bed of a person who is dying on multiple occasions. And not a single one, in reflecting on their life, ever said, "You know - I just wish I'd spent more time at the office. I wish I'd spent more on stuff. I really wish I had a nicer car and a larger TV." The 'BIG Picture' puts 'things' in perspective.

Let's jump back earlier in Matthew to where Jesus said in Matthew 6:19-21 (NIV)...

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. (20) But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. (21) For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Where is your heart? Is it focused more on things of the 'here and now' or are you looking forward to your true home?

A few years back we'd gone down to Riley Hospital on one of our many medical adventures. My in-laws had graciously allowed us to stay at a time share property south of Indy. It had a huge two story window on one entire wall by the fireplace. One rather cold, gray morning, my kids were sitting on the couch watching TV – all of a sudden, very quickly, the whole room immediately started to light up, the clouds had parted and incredibly bright sunshine just streamed through the huge window and everyone couldn't help but jump up and look outside to see what was happening.

And for one really brief moment, as the sunlight burst in – I thought, "Is this it…? Is Jesus coming back today..?" I've never had a feeling like that before. But I thought, "I'm ready! Let's go!" And even though I knew it was just the clouds dramatically parting, I had this feeling of anticipation, of expectation - followed closely by, "oh…."

Do you live your life with that sense of anticipation? Do you live like you believe Jesus' promise that He is coming back! And are you ready? Jesus said, "whoever loses his life for me will find it". Are you willing to 'lose your life' for Jesus - but - are you also willing to…

A. Live your life?

What I mean is - there've been many who have died, as martyrs for their belief in Jesus. We hear things like this continually in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. And I do not want to in any way diminish or imply that is not an incredible stand or invaluable witness to God's glory – it is! And those who chose to die rather than deny Christ have a special place in Heaven. But - for most of us - Jesus isn't first and foremost calling us to die for Him, but to live for Him.

Dying for the cause of Christ is a huge decision; it's an incredibly noble, dramatic, sacrificial choice… that none of us here today have had to make, so far. Dying, giving your life is a one time action – a huge, massive action – but living your life for Jesus, even during the mundane times of life – that is a series of choices; a series of tests.

I'm not saying that dying for Jesus is an easy act, but neither is living for Jesus. We are called by Jesus to be living sacrifices – giving our daily choices over to Him, continually. When Jesus calls us to give our lives, most times He doesn't mean death – but daily giving over every part of your life. And it's in those choices where it gets tough.

For instance – when you live for Christ, could something as innocent as fishing possibly be bad? Let's look at what the Bible says, back again even earlier in Matthew, in Matthew 4:18-20 (NIV)...

As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. (19) "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." (20) At once they left their nets and followed him.

Jesus never said that fishing was bad. So why was Peter called away from fishing? Because even though fishing can be a good thing, Jesus had something better planned for Peter. So as we make decisions about what we'll place in our lives as 'the Big things' - will we settle just for 'good things' or will we allow God to give us…

B. Better things?

We all only have so much time in this life. Shouldn't followers of Jesus be very intentional in how we spend that time? Jesus said…

Matthew 6:24 (NIV)

No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

In Peter's case, he had to make a choice between fishing or being a disciple. He couldn't 'serve' both of his passions.

As summer gets into full swing - everyone may need to get away, every now and then - but do you let summer activities pull you away from God, too...? The world has a lot of great activities and 'things' to occupy our time. We have more entertainment choices than ever before in all of history! We have so much 'on demand' - and then there's concerts and sports, and gardening, and camping, and shopping, and hobbies like fishing, hunting, biking, running, painting, golfing, video games, bowling - not to mention, maybe a job to fit in there somewhere...

Now remember, none of those things are 'bad' in and of themselves. But sometimes, does God ever take a 'back seat' to some of those things? I'm not saying that we aren't to enjoy this life. I think God enjoys watching his children do many of these things – but just remember God's goals, His purpose for your life. And then make that the 'Big thing' that comes first, which all the other things then take a back seat to, and not the other way around...

Even as the Church, we can get very busy with activities and forget why we are doing them, or for WHOM we are doing them. Remember - God wants 'us' more than He wants 'our help'. Let's make sure, as a Church, even as we are busy with the good things, we don't neglect the best.

So What?

If your life is so busy that you're too busy to pray or spend time reading God's Word, or telling others about Jesus – you are too busy. Yes, you may be enjoying the life God has given you, but are you making a difference for His Kingdom? Doing good things may make a difference in someone's day. Doing the best things, being about God's mission, can make a difference in someone's eternity.

If you're too busy to serve God - what might you need to give up?" Even 'good things' have the potential to take us away from God. For Peter, he could have chosen fishing, and that's not a bad thing - but he had to give it up to follow Jesus!

I'm asking each of us to live intentionally. Live to fulfill God's purposes for you in your life. Are you going to chase good things, or choose the best things?