Time for
Eternity
1Cor.13:8-13
Introduction: It
had been some time since Jack had seen the old man that he had lived next door
to when he was a child. College, girls, career, and life itself got in the way.
In fact, Jack moved clear across the country in pursuit of his dreams. There,
in the rush of his busy life, Jack had little time to think about the past and
often no time to spend with his wife and son. He was working on his future, and
nothing could stop him.
Over the phone, his mother told him, "(the old man)Mr.
Belser died last night. The funeral is
Wednesday." Memories flashed through his mind like an old newsreel as he
sat quietly remembering his childhood days. "Jack, did you hear me?" "Oh sorry, Mom. Yes, I heard you. It’s been so long
since I had thought of him. I’m sorry, but I honestly thought he had died years
ago," Jack said.
"Well, he didn’t forget you. Every time I saw him he’d ask how you were
doing. He’d reminisce about the many days you spent over ’his side of the
fence’ as he put it," Mom told him. Jack remembered how he loved that old
house Mr. Belser lived in Jack said."You know,
Jack, after your father died, Mr. Belser stepped in
to make sure you had a man’s influence in your life," she said. Jack
remembered "He’s the one who taught me carpentry," he said. "I
wouldn’t be in this business if it weren’t for him. He spent a lot of time
teaching me things he thought were important...Mom, I’ll be there for the
funeral," Jack said.
As busy as he was, Jack kept his word. He caught the next flight to his
hometown. Mr. Belser’s funeral was small and
uneventful. He had no children of his own, and most of his relatives had passed
away.
The night before Jack had to return home, He and his Mom stopped by to see the
old house next door one more time. Standing in the doorway, Jack paused for a
moment. It was like going back in time. The house was exactly as he remembered.
Every step held memories. Every picture, every piece of furniture....Jack
stopped suddenly.
"What’s wrong, Jack?" his Mom asked. "The box is gone," he
said. What box?" Mom asked. "There was a small gold box that he kept
locked on top of his desk. I must have asked him a thousand times what was
inside. All he’d ever tell me was ’the thing I value most, ’" Jack said.
It was gone. Everything about the house was exactly how Jack remembered it,
except for the box. He figured someone from the Belser
family had taken it. "Now I’ll never know what was so valuable to
him," Jack said.
"I better get some sleep. I have an early flight home, Mom."
It had been about two weeks since Mr. Belser died.
Returning home from work one day Jack discovered a note in his mailbox.
"Signature required on a package. No one at home.
Please stop by the main post office within the next three days," the note
read.
Early the next day Jack retrieved the package. The small box was old and looked
like it had been mailed a hundred years ago. The handwriting was difficult to
read, but the return address caught his attention. Mr. Harold Belser" it read. Jack took the box out to his car and
ripped open the package. There inside was the gold box and an envelope. Jack’s
hands shook as he read the note inside.
"Upon my death, please forward this box and its contents to Jack Bennett.
It’s the thing I valued most in my life." A small key was taped to the
letter. His heart racing, as tears filling his eyes, Jack carefully unlocked
the box. There inside he found a beautiful gold pocket watch. Running his
fingers slowly over the finely etched casing, he unlatched the cover. Inside he
found these word s engraved: "Jack, thanks for your time! -Harold Belser."
"The thing he valued most...was...my time."
Jack held the watch for a few minutes, then called his office and cleared his
appointments for the next two days. "Why?" Janet, his assistant
asked. "I need some time to spend with my son," he said. "Oh, by
the way, Janet...thanks for your time!"
When we think of faith, hope and charity many different definitions come to mind. Each depending upon what frame of mind we are in at the time we consider them. Regardless of the definition we are considering time is involved with all of them. The one limit we all have, the one asset everyone wants, the one thing we are all running out of. Today lets think about time and what the word of God has to tell us concerning the time we have.
Paul tells us that life on this side of eternity is temporary and our knowledge of it is limited to the revelation we have concerning it. He goes on to tell us that three things abide with us on this side of eternity the first is faith. What is faith? That question has been asked by millions and there have been about that many answers given to the question. We know from Heb 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” We all have heard this verse but no all of us understand it, as a matter of fact a lot of preachers cannot preach a correct sermon on it.
Faith is something we believe in! When you got in your car
and cranked it up this morning you had faith in it, you believed it would get
you to church. Most of us have faith in our jobs, meaning that we believe they
will be there when we get to work tomorrow. Most people claim to have faith in God;
some even live like they do!! Well that is the kind of faith Paul was talking
about when he wrote the epistle to the church at
The
second thing Paul tells us about life is that we have hope. What is hope and
how does it affect my life? Hope is an expectation we have of obtaining
something good, it is not a wish or a desirer you see they always come with
pain or anxiety attached to them, but hope only has an expectation that good
will come; Heb 6:19
Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into
that within the veil; what the
author of Hebrews is saying is that we have an expectation in something (Jesus
Christ) to be an anchor for our soul an anchor that is dependable and unmovable
one that is able to approach God the father.
We all have an eternal hope in something.
For some it is a hope that nothing is out there, men and women deny God, Jesus
and everything about the God’s word and hope they are right. For some it is
hope that is placed in a man such as Buddha, or Hara Krishna or maybe Joseph
Smith a hope that these people have the key to eternity. True Christians
however hold hope in Jesus Christ, God the Son the only begotten son of God who
came to earth as man live some 33 years and freely gave His sinless life on
Calvary’s cross was buried 3 days and whose body was resurrected to walk upon
this earth for 40 days before being taken to heaven on a cloud where He stays
at the Fathers right hand today. Buddha is in a grave, Hara Krishna is in a
grave Joseph Smith is in a grave, and however Jesus Christ leaves with us the
testimony of many men and women who witnessed his ascension to heaven. When it
comes to eternal things what is your hope in today?
The third thing Paul tells us about life is that we have charity and that charity is the greatest of all three. Most of us have been raised to avoid charity, and at the same time to be charitable, kind of an oxy moron isn’t it? That isn’t the kind of charity Paul is talking about. In the Bible charity means in general a disposition of the heart that makes people behave with true and genuine love, benevolence and good will toward their fellow man. In some translations it is listed as love but that doesn’t give the depth of the meaning. In the theological sense it means man’s supreme love and disposition to God and a universal good will toward all men. Why does Paul tell us Charity is the greatest?
In
verses 9&10 Paul tells us what we know in part will be done away. He is
talking about faith and hope; they are based on a partial knowledge that is
acquired only by revelation. They will be done away with because the Christian
will be in heaven, with the Lord, our faith will be fulfilled our hope will be
fulfilled we will not need them any longer, praise God!!! However Charity will
carry over into eternity, we will for ever love our fellow man, we will forever
love our God supremely, and we will for ever sing praises to our savior.
Charity will be multiplied, strengthened and physically manifested when we get
to heaven. Charity isn’t being kind or friendly to others, it isn’t just giving
generously to worthwhile causes, it comes from the heart, it is genuine and it
produces good will toward all men. In Luk 2:14
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. Where we find the Christmas story the term
good will means charity, the angel was telling us that God was bringing charity
to all men in the person of Jesus Christ. Good will toward man and our love of
God takes time. We should be giving time to God in many ways, worship, prayer,
praise, etc... When it comes to eternal things do you know charity?
Conclusion: In our introduction Jack learned a valuable
lesson about time and how to properly use it. It came at a terrible cost
through the loss of his old friend Mr. Belser but in
time to help with his family and quite possibly his relationship with God. How
do you spend your time, what’s important to you?