Sermon Central
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Make Your Life Count
Contributed by Ray Ellis on May 3, 2004 (message contributor)
Summary: This sermon is about making your life count not just for this brief life but for eternity.
Make Your Life Count
-Live to the Glory of God-
The scripture passage in Ephesians 5:15-20 reminds me of the motto:
Only one life,
Will soon be past;
Only what’s done for Christ
Will last.
Every day you are faced with decisions. What will you give your time and energy to? Sports, hobbies, gaining wealth, work? None of these bring lasting satisfaction. J.B. Phillips, a New Testament Scholar translates Ephesians 5:15 this way, “Live life then with a due sense of responsibility, not as amen who do not know the meaning and purpose of life but as those who do.”
God’s purpose for you is to make your life count not just for this brief life on earth but for eternity. A good life purpose would be to “Know God and to make Him known.” Jesus gave the great commandment: “Love the Lord god with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this, Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31
We love God and make Him know by serving others. Service is the pathway to joy and fulfillment. If you aren’t involved in something greater than yourself, you are just putting in time because life is meant for ministry to others. God wants you to make a difference in the world. God wants to work through you.
The god of this world, Satan, will do all he can to keep you from fulfilling God’s purpose for your life. “Your struggle is not against people, it is against principalities and powers and darkness present in this world.” Ephesians 6:12
It’s interesting that the “Passion of Christ” has been seen by millions giving the New Testament story of the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Parallel to the true story of Christ’s life and death is the novel by Dan Brown, “Da Vinci Code. The Da-Vinci-Code gives the fictional story of Jesus that runs counter to the New Testament. Brown sows seeds of doubt on the New Testament account by saying that the New Testament story of the life of Christ was a great conspiracy and did not tell the truth.
Brown writes that Jesus was a mere mortal man who married Mary Magadalene and had children whose descendants now live in France. Jesus is not the divine Son of God. The book has sold over 6 million copies.
The same warning that the Apostle Paul gave young Timothy is needed today. 2 Timothy 3:1-5 “You should also know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control; they will be cruel and have no interest in what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. They will act as if they are religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. You must stay away form people like that.”
J.B. Phillips in the introduction to his book, The Ring of Truth, tells of a retired clergyman who took his own life because he started listening to skeptics that finally drove him to take his own life because he concluded his own life’s work was founded upon a lie.
J.B. Phillips felt that it was time someone who had given his life studying the New Testament wrote a book giving the historicity and reliability of the New Testament. Ring of Truth is his testimony.
J.B. Phillips gives this paraphrase of Ephesians 5:15-20. Under the title – “You Know the Truth Let Your Life Show it.”
“Live life, then with a due sense of responsibility, not as men who do not know the meaning and purpose of life but as those who do. Make the best use of your time, despite all the difficulties of these days. Don’t be vague but firmly grasp what you know to be the will of God. Don’t get your stimulus from wine (for there is always the danger of excessive drinking), but let the Spirit stimulate your souls. Express your joy in singing among yourselves psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making music in your hearts for the ears of God! Thank God at all times for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And ‘fit in with’ each other, just because you all recognize that God is the Supreme Power over all.”
This passage tells how to make your life count.
I. Be Careful How You live. Ephesians 5:15-16
