Sermon Central
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The Temporary Versus The Eternal
Contributed by Gordon Weatherby on May 7, 2013 (message contributor)
Summary: This is a funeral sermon for an elderly Christian lady that had ended up in bed for the past few months of her life. I have replaced the lady's name with "Our Loved One", and have removed many of the personal remarks on her life.
THE TEMPORARY VERSUS THE ETERNAL
2 Cor. 4:16-5:10
INTRODUCTION:
1.) Today, like many times when we come together because of the occasion of death we have mixed feelings.
A.) None of us enjoy losing a loved one to the grave.
aa.) But at the same time we can come here today with rejoicing knowing that as we remember our loved one today we remember one who had put her life in the hands of Jesus Christ.
2.) What a difference in our perspective this makes at a time when we experience the pain of losing a loved one to death.
3.) Today as we remember and are thankful for the life of our loved one MacLean, there are two truths I want us to see about life and death today.
I. OUR PRESENT LIFE THAT IS SEEN IS ONLY TEMPORARY.
-- 2Cor. 4:18
1.) Many today will live in this life as though it was the entirety of one’s existence.
A.) Those who do so will often live in such a way that they will waste not only this life, but also the life which is to come.
B.) Those with thought only for this life usually come to the end of life with a sense of loss, emptiness, and even despair at the thoughts of death.
ba.) At the end of such a life, the question that comes up is “What now?”
bb.) Sadly, this is the view of life that many will have, and by which they will live their lives.
bba.) But the good news is that this is not the only choice or view of life.
bbb.) This was not the way that Our loved one chose to live her life.
bbc.) Our loved one like so many others who have come to recognize Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour have learned there is something far greater for this life, and also for eternity.
C.) John 17:3
Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
ca.) That is real life both now, and also after the time of death.
2.) Those with the wisdom to see this life as only temporary use it to prepare for the life which is eternal.
A.) One of the greatest lessons we can learn early in life is that it is not just for this life that we live.
aa.) The sooner in life that a person can come to that realization, the greater will be his desire to prepare for eternity.
B.) I am not aware at what age that Our loved one gave her heart and life to Jesus Christ.
ba.) But at whatever age that was in her youth, she has chosen to live her life and days as a child of God through Jesus her Christ.
II. OUR FUTURE LIFE THAT TO IS TO US YET UNSEEN IS ETERNAL.
1.) A very real truth of this life is that a time is coming when each one of us will pass through the portal of death.
A.) When that day comes we will be taken from that which is temporary, and enter into that which is eternal.
aa.) We take it by faith that what God has in store for his redeemed is far greater than anything we could ever imagine.
ab.) But from our perspectives, though we have faith in God and his promises, we have never seen or experienced ourselves what God has in store for those who have put their lives into His hands.
aba.) There is nothing of our experiences in life here to help us to comprehend the greatness and blessedness of heaven.
abb.) Even the description of heaven the Bible gives us as beautiful as it is, we are not able to imagine.
2.) The door of death will bring us to a new existence based on how we have lived while on this earth.
A.) I am sure that this hope gives strength to the heart and soul when like Our loved one the body has been aging, and wasting away.
aa.) The latter part of her time on this earth was harder for Our loved one. There were times she would become a bit discouraged because of being in her bed for so long.
ab.) But even in those times she still held onto hope and her faith.
B.) I believe the reason she was able to hold that hope was because of her faith in Jesus Christ.
ba.) She had hope, with a confidence that this life is not the end of the story.
C.) The Apostle Paul also shared that hope when life had not always been the greatest for him.
ca.) In my text, I have used in this sermon the Apostle Paul says in 2 Cor.4 beginning at verse 16: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
