Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] It was the last night I'd ever spend in my hometown, Lewisburg, Tennessee as a resident.
[00:00:07] It was a Sunday night and I was preaching at my home church.
[00:00:12] The church was ready to send me off to Bible college and eventually seminary to train for ministry.
[00:00:19] And my granddad, as we're leaving for church, he handed me a pocket watch.
[00:00:26] Was a gold pocket watch, gold chain. If you don't know what that is, it's a watch you put in your pocket and you pull out and it tells time. Most of them are not digital analog. Some of you need to know that.
[00:00:39] But I thought this was an amazing gift.
[00:00:42] And I thought this gift was kind of sentimental for the moment, probably a family heirloom.
[00:00:51] My granddad had been waiting all this time to give it to me at just the right time.
[00:00:56] And I was going to value this watch. I was going to use it every time I preach. And some of you think that's funny because I don't use any watch. I got no watch up here. And you can tell by the time of the sermons.
[00:01:08] But I was determined to have this watch and keep it with me.
[00:01:13] And about a month into being in Birmingham Bible College carrying this pocket watch around, I realized it wasn't that expensive at all.
[00:01:23] And I thought, well, you know, it's the thought that counts and I really need to protect it. And then eventually the chain, the cheap gold chain on it, broke and I lost the watch.
[00:01:36] And I was hesitant to tell my granddad I lost this, you know, precious symbol of your love and support to me.
[00:01:46] I hesitated to tell him until one day it came up. We were talking about watches. He loved watches. We were talking about watches. And I said, you remember that pocket watch that you gave me before I moved to Birmingham?
[00:02:01] And he looked at me confused and said, not really.
[00:02:07] And I thought, well, you know, his mind isn't so good now. So I said, you know that pocket watch you gave me the night before I left when I preached the sermon and you gave it to me? He said, I have no idea what your talking about. I said, well, I lost it.
[00:02:23] And he said, you want another one?
[00:02:27] And I said, sure.
[00:02:30] And he took me back to his bedroom and in his closet he pulled off a shelf of a box that was full of just junk, knives, cheap flea market watches. And there were probably six or seven of these pocket watches in there. And I realized he had gotten this pocket watch from a dumpster dive, just a box of junk, probably from a flea market.
[00:03:02] And all this time I thought it was this valuable gift meant so much to him. And yet it was a piece of junk.
[00:03:11] The gift didn't match the moment I thought I was leaving home with this precious gift to commemorate all of this. And to be honest with you, to my granddad, it was an afterthought. Hey, you want this piece of junk? Here you go.
[00:03:27] Well, when we begin to look at first and second Thessalonians, Paul talks about our life as a gift, as an offering that is to match the worth of. Of Jesus Christ.
[00:03:43] God has, by the power of the Gospel and the Spirit called us into his family.
[00:03:50] He has made us sons and daughters, and he has given us this amazing kingdom that we wait for.
[00:03:58] And in response to that, we are to offer our lives as the only worthy gift we could give God.
[00:04:07] This is what the Bible does when it talks about the idea of worship.
[00:04:13] Worship means to declare the worth of God.
[00:04:18] And throughout the Bible, we declare the worth of God through what we sacrifice for God. In the Old Testament, it is animals, it's days of the week. It's. It's our time, it's our lives that are to be given over to God as an act of worship.
[00:04:34] To say to God, this is what you are worthy of.
[00:04:38] This is the gift from me that declares your value, that matches what you have done for me. It is an act of worship. And Paul explains this idea in 1st and 2nd Thessalonians when he uses this word, worthy, it means to declare value or weight to something. And it is the picture of scales that are to be balanced. And on one side, you have God, you have the glory of God in Christ. And Christ has all the weight. He has all of the gravity. And when we live and worship and serve Christ, we are to put our life and the things of our life on the scales and in a way that match his worth that declare he truly is worthy. He has the most value and weight in my life. And we see that in chapter one as Paul wants to describe and kind of flesh out this idea of what it means to live a life worthy of God. And first of all, we see in verses one through four that our faith is to match the worth of our identity. We, we are children of God in the Gospel, and the way that we live for the kingdom is to match that identity. In verse one, he reminds us who the missionary team is. These three men that went into Thessalonica and they have planted a church. We're reminded again, as we were in First Thessalonians, that the believers there, they're in this city. But more than that, they are In God the Father, in Christ. They are in this family, family of God gathered together in this city. This is who they are as a church. This is their identity. And in verse 2 again we see this prayer. That they would have grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. That they would experience what it means to be in God. That they would have unmerited favor and peace with God and this would be lived out and experienced in their life.
[00:06:50] But notice verse three we ought always to give thanks to you brothers, as is right.
[00:06:58] Meaning we thank God for you. We praise God. He says here we will boast about God of you because this is right. Why is it right?
[00:07:10] Why is it right and genuine to praise God?
[00:07:14] Because what's going on in your life? Notice as verse three continues.
[00:07:18] Because your faith is growing abundantly. It is multiplying. The word actually means it's getting out of control. It's growing so much it can't be contained. We praise God because you're growing in your faith in unbelievable ways. People everywhere are talking about your faith. Why?
[00:07:38] Because you love every one of you. Your love is increasing for one another. He is adding these words abundantly and increasing your just to communicate. You're growing like crazy in Christ.
[00:07:53] You are thriving as a church and we praise God for this. Even verse four, when we are in other churches and around other believers, we boast about you.
[00:08:05] Not about you, but about what God is doing in you. Notice it is we are praising God that this is a God centered boast. Notice he continues, for your steadfastness, your perseverance and your faith in all persecution and affliction that you are enduring.
[00:08:27] Remember these believers are suffering for being Christians.
[00:08:31] And instead of stifling their faith, their suffering is causing them to grow in their faith. They begin to love one another and others even more.
[00:08:42] They become more steadfast in the gospel.
[00:08:46] They become more steadfast in their hope that there is a kingdom that is coming that is better than what they are experiencing now. And Paul says we stand back and praise God for this. We praise God because only God could do that.
[00:09:00] Only God could do this.
[00:09:03] We praise God who produced faith in you that loves and hopes in suffering.
[00:09:11] And we need to be reminded that genuine faith is a work of God.
[00:09:15] It's supernatural and it's not hollow and empty and it's not cheap.
[00:09:22] When you believe the gospel, the word of God comes and lives within you and it's like a seed that begins to grow inside you and it produces love and perseverance and Hope and faith that begins to grow and flourish. That's what the word of God does. That's what the gospel does. That's what the spirit of God does in the life of a believer. Specifically here, the fruit that grows is love and perseverance. These will be evident in the life of believer. And Paul stands back and says, we praise God because we see it.
[00:10:00] Which brings me to a point of application.
[00:10:05] Paul did this in First Thessalonians. But even here I want to drive home the point that we should be a people who are about this praise of encouragement, praise to God that encourages one another.
[00:10:20] Praise to God for what he is doing in the lives of one another in a way that encourages one another.
[00:10:29] Constantly going up to one another and saying, not I see what you're doing, but I see what God is doing in your life.
[00:10:38] That's an act of worship.
[00:10:40] Because before God, you're saying, God, I see what you're doing in this person's life. And then you say to that person, come here, come here, come here.
[00:10:47] I want us to see together what God is doing in your life, and I want to point that out to you. It's an act of worship because you give God the glory and then you encourage your brother and sister and you embolden them. There are people in this room who are struggling with their faith.
[00:11:05] There's people in this room who are struggling with assurance and doubt. And they need you to step in their life and say, come on, come on, let's go before God and let me show you, Let me help you see what God is doing in your life.
[00:11:20] You know, when you have an injury, you often just trying to get better or your sickness, you're trying to get better.
[00:11:29] And you often do not remember how bad you were when it first started, how sick you were.
[00:11:38] All you can focus on is the suffering in the moment.
[00:11:42] And it's hard for us to look up and go, wow, I was really hurt, I was really sick, and I'm a lot better now.
[00:11:52] And that goes on in the Christian life.
[00:11:55] When you are struggling in sin and it just seems to be the same sin, it's like you're ramming your head against a wall. I can't get through this.
[00:12:07] Every day it is what is in front of you. It is all you think about.
[00:12:12] And over time you begin to think, am I getting anywhere with this?
[00:12:16] Am I loving anymore? Am I being merciful and gracious?
[00:12:21] Am I defeating this?
[00:12:24] And you need other people to step in and say, yeah, yeah, yeah, hold on, hold on. Before you despair, remember where you were last year.
[00:12:32] Remember when we met and talked about this and how you were ready to give up and you, the situation in front of you, your marriage, your friendship, your struggle, your. You never thought you would be where you are today.
[00:12:48] Look what God has done. Not look what you've done, but look what God has done. Let's go to God again. Let's pray. Let's work on this even more.
[00:12:58] Do you remember where you were?
[00:13:00] We need this praise of encouragement, praising God that encourages one another. And I want to challenge you. Pick a person in the room today that you're going to do this for. Today you're going to go and say, hey, let's look at what God has done in your life.
[00:13:19] Write it. Write their name down. Text them now. I don't care. Use your phone, like, let's get to work on this. Let's encourage one another with God's grace in our life.
[00:13:30] So our faith is to prove our identity. It is to equal the worth of who we are.
[00:13:38] But next we get even further into this concept when we see suffering proves the worth of the kingdom.
[00:13:46] You have the kingdom on the scales.
[00:13:49] It is of great eternal value.
[00:13:51] When you suffer for the kingdom, you display the kingdom's worth. And that's what he talks about here in verse 5 when he says this, referring to their faith, their perseverance, their endurance and affliction is evidence that of the righteous judgment of God. We could say the work of God, we could say the decision of God. The way God has judged things to be, ultimately the way that God will reveal things to be at the coming of Christ.
[00:14:20] And he kind of gives us a picture here of the judgment seat of Christ.
[00:14:25] And when we stand before Christ, there will be two outcomes. You have the sheet and you have the goats.
[00:14:32] And he says, the way that you are living now proves that you are sheep who will receive the kingdom because you're living worthy. And how does he describe their worth here? How are you living worthy of the kingdom you are suffering.
[00:14:48] Notice he says that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom. This will happen when Christ comes. You can see it now in your life in the way that you are living, because you are suffering for the kingdom. He says, your endurance proves that God is going to give you the kingdom.
[00:15:06] You are worthy of the kingdom, meaning God is making you worthy of the kingdom. He is doing this in your life.
[00:15:14] And we see this idea In Philippians, chapter 1, verse 29, when Paul's writing to the church and he says, you've been given the grace to believe the gospel, but not just to believe the gospel, to suffer for Jesus.
[00:15:31] You've been given the kingdom. Yeah.
[00:15:34] But you've also been considered worthy of something else.
[00:15:38] God has chosen you to suffer for the kingdom. And why has he chosen you to suffer for the kingdom? In your suffering, you prove the kingdom's worthy. And that's what he's describing here in Acts, chapter 5, verse 41, when we see the disciples, the apostles suffered, that they walk away from suffering and persecution, declaring that they're overwhelmed, that they were worthy to suffer.
[00:16:04] God has chosen you to suffer.
[00:16:07] What a privilege, what an honor. Paul is trying to communicate to them. And it is proof of who you will be in the end. And so we got to understand, suffering for Jesus is not punishment.
[00:16:19] I want to say that again. Suffering for Jesus, we suffer in a lot of ways that we choose that are just foolish and idiotic.
[00:16:29] But suffering, when you choose to serve and identify with Jesus, is never punishment. What Paul's describing here is it is proof Jesus is worth it, and it's proof of God's work in your life.
[00:16:42] And we've got to understand in our cultural context, it takes some effort to suffer for Jesus.
[00:16:50] In a lot of places today, it takes no effort.
[00:16:54] They're not allowed to meet. It's against the law.
[00:16:59] They've been disowned by family and friends.
[00:17:03] Everything that makes them who they are, believers around the world, in certain countries where it's illegal. Everything that makes them who they are, their heritage, their background is, is taken from them when they identify with Christ.
[00:17:17] And we are not suffering on that level.
[00:17:20] Now, there are some cultural things that would frustrate us and irritate us, but our lives are not at stake at this point for being Christians.
[00:17:30] And so it takes some effort, and mostly the effort is to actually speak the gospel.
[00:17:40] A lot of times we don't want to go there because we know, okay, suffering is good. It proves the worth of the kingdom. How do I do that? There's a lot of ways we could generically describe we're suffering.
[00:17:54] But it happens when you start talking about Jesus and you start speaking the gospel and you know that, you know there are family and friends and there are people at your workplace that if you just started talking to them about the gospel and there's going to be consequences, probably not your life, but maybe silence, maybe alienation, maybe you're not accepted in the cool group, it's going to cost you something for speaking the gospel, for witnessing the gospel, and so identifying with Christ that you would suffer for it. You may lose a friendship, you may, you may lose some status, you may miss out on something. But what is Paul teaching here when that happens? That's God's grace in your life.
[00:18:47] He's considered you worthy to prove the worth of the kingdom when you suffer for speaking about Christ. So pick that one person this week and it's probably not going to go that bad.
[00:19:01] See, I'm setting you up for worst case scenario. That's where I live.
[00:19:05] Worst case scenario.
[00:19:07] Let's get ready for the worst case scenario. And then when you're not punched in the face, you're going to say, yes, this is awesome. I'm going to go back tomorrow and share the gospel with this person.
[00:19:20] Just pick that person. I'm going to pray this week.
[00:19:23] I was walking in my neighborhood and an 88 year old man came out to talk with me and I just prayed.
[00:19:31] I want to share the gospel with this man. He doesn't have much longer to live and God gave me an opportunity to talk with him about Jesus.
[00:19:40] I don't know that God has never not answered that prayer when I prayed it.
[00:19:45] Pray that you would have opportunity to preach the gospel and if you do, suffer, yes, this is the glory of God that is being revealed in your life. The worth of the kingdom. So suffering proves the worth of the kingdom. Next we see hell proves the worth of Jesus. Notice verse 6, since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you. And so again, there's two outcomes here that will happen before the judgment seat of Christ. You have believers, they will get relief that he talks about here when Jesus comes. And then you have unbelievers. And they will be repaid with affliction. And notice it says repaid. They will get what they deserve. The folks who are persecuting you, they will be afflicted beyond what you're afflicted because God will punish them for what they are doing.
[00:20:39] Those who afflict you, vengeance is the Lord and he will take care of this when he comes.
[00:20:46] Notice when the Lord Jesus is revealed, unveiled from heaven with his mighty angels. This day of the Lord when everyone will see Jesus come to rule and reign.
[00:20:59] And on that day, those who persecute you, they will be punished. This is to give them hope. Many of them thought that the day of the Lord had already gone by and that their suffering is meaningless. He says, no, no, you're suffering to prove the worth of the kingdom. And those who afflict you, they're going to be punished. They're not getting away with something.
[00:21:19] What's going on right now isn't that they miss judgment. That is still to come. And notice how it is to come in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. I think that section is so important.
[00:21:39] Why are they punished? Why would anyone be punished under eternal judgment of God? It's right there. They don't know God. Why don't they know God? They haven't obeyed the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. They have not believed in Jesus and they will suffer judgment. Now the persecutors, they're carrying it even further. They reject Jesus and they're harming you for following Jesus. But at the end of the day, we stand before God either believing in Jesus, obeying the gospel, trusting in his life, death and resurrection for us, or not.
[00:22:17] That is the issue.
[00:22:18] And so in general, he describes what an unbeliever will endure when God's judgment is consummated. And ultimately, at the end of our Bibles, God's judgment, the judgment of hell, is consummated in a lake of fire. And we see here that this is something Jesus will personally do. He will rescue his people and he will judge his enemies. I know the song sounded really cool. Go back and listen to the lyrics.
[00:22:48] There's some. There's some stuff in that song that should cause us to tremble. The Lord is a warrior.
[00:22:57] He would destroy his enemies. He will personally do it. Judgment will be personal. Jesus will do it when he returns.
[00:23:06] Then notice they will be repaid, as we saw earlier in verse six, they will get the wage that they deserve.
[00:23:16] You understand that God's justice in hell, eternal torment is God's justice.
[00:23:26] A lot of times we like to use this phrase, that's not fair.
[00:23:30] The only thing that is fair, this life and world is hell.
[00:23:37] That's just.
[00:23:38] We all deserve hell in judgment.
[00:23:43] And if God executed justice to everyone in the same way, we would all go to hell.
[00:23:50] And it's just. Why is it just?
[00:23:53] Sin is an infinite offense against God and it deserves infinite justice.
[00:23:58] God is holy and he's righteous. There's no end to his holiness. So there should be no end to the judgment against his holiness sin. And to reject Jesus is to reject eternal life.
[00:24:10] So it's justice that they would endure eternal death.
[00:24:14] But notice the way it's described here, inflaming fire 25 times in the New Testament, fire describes judgment mostly by Jesus himself. Using that description in Revelation 21:8. Their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death, the ultimate death in the lake of fire, judged forever by Jesus.
[00:24:42] And notice he's inflicting vengeance. Notice that phrase again. This is personal.
[00:24:47] Jesus takes it personal that he is rejected. Jesus takes it personal when his church is persecuted. Remember the apostle Paul when he's persecuting the church. What does Jesus say when he saves him?
[00:25:02] Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?
[00:25:05] I'm not persecuting you. Yeah, you are, if you're persecuting my church.
[00:25:09] And he will exact vengeance on anyone who hurts his church. And notice, they will suffer. Notice the word suffer.
[00:25:20] This means conscious, physical torment.
[00:25:25] It's not just some annihilation that goes away.
[00:25:29] You feel it.
[00:25:31] You're conscious in hell.
[00:25:33] And it never ends. And it's torment forever that you know and that you experience. Matthew 13:50. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Revelation 14:11.
[00:25:46] And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. And they have no rest day or night. This is God's judgment forever that people in hell will consciously feel and experience forever. It's not fake.
[00:26:01] It's real. And Jesus will do it. And notice the description eternal destruction seven to ten times in the New Testament, eternal, unending, unquenchable is used.
[00:26:14] It is where the worm or the person does not die and the fire is not quenched.
[00:26:20] It doesn't go away, and it doesn't stop forever and ever. Why?
[00:26:24] God is infinitely holy. Jesus is infinitely righteous.
[00:26:29] It takes eternity not to pay, but to endure the destruction and judgment violating God's infinite holiness and Jesus righteousness. And notice this last description.
[00:26:47] They will be punished away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. That could be away from the kingdom. And that means away from all goodness and life in God. From Genesis 3, when Adam sinned, death was the curse of sin. We deserve to physically die. We've separated ourselves from God. We've. We sin. We continually separate ourselves from God.
[00:27:11] But eternal death in hell means to be separated from his goodness forever. His goodness will ultimately be revealed in the glory and might of Jesus.
[00:27:20] But the unbeliever will not taste or know that goodness.
[00:27:23] He will not know a redeemed earth.
[00:27:27] She will not know what it means to be in a world restored to the goodness and life of God in Christ. They will not know this. And you have to understand, this doesn't mean God is not active in hell.
[00:27:38] He's active, but there Is no goodness that is shown to anyone in hell forever, only judgment.
[00:27:53] This picture of hell is meant to give us gravity when it comes to justice.
[00:27:59] It's not gleeful or trivial, is it?
[00:28:05] To be honest with you, the New Testament actually puts us in a way of thinking that we wouldn't wish it on our worst enemy.
[00:28:17] We would not say go to hell to anyone if we understood the gravity of it.
[00:28:27] And even the person who's caused you the most harm or even the most harm in the world, if you really understood what they are going to endure, you would say, no, no, no, no. That's why Jesus says, bless those who persecute you and pray for your enemies. Love your enemies. Why Hell?
[00:28:46] You don't want them to go. You don't want anybody to go to hell. And if that's true, we should be way more evangelistic.
[00:28:54] It is the work of Satan and the sin in our heart that keeps us from looking into the eyes of unbelievers created in the image and seeing them as eternal beings that if they don't believe the gospel, they will endure hell.
[00:29:08] By the way, this isn't harsh, this is loving to hear this today.
[00:29:14] But the work of Satan blinds us to that reality.
[00:29:21] And if we really understood the judgment they would face, we would be on our hands and knees to anyone, pleading with them to believe in Jesus. Charles Spurgeon said, let them jump and step over our bodies on the ground as we are laid out, grabbing at their ankles and feet to keep them from going to hell. If we really believed and acted as if this was a reality. And what is hell for it is to prove the worth of Jesus.
[00:29:55] What do I mean by that?
[00:29:57] Jesus is the only one worthy of your obedience and faith and trust and hope.
[00:30:04] And to reject that is infinite, and you deserve infinite judgment for that. Hell will prove the worth of Jesus, that he was the one worthy of your obedience and you didn't give it to him, that he was the one worthy of your trust and faith and you didn't trust in him. That's what hell will declare forever. That this Creator who made you in the image of God and saved you from your sin forever and ever you will consider the reality that Jesus was the only worthy king and you rejected him. And if you are here today, here's the reality. You will either pay for your sin in hell or today you will look to Jesus to pay for your sin at the cross.
[00:30:50] And so I beg and I plead with you to believe in Jesus today before you think about anything else further in this worship service or that's happened in this worship service or your kids that are in Ashland Kidd, or where you're going. Will you believe in Jesus?
[00:31:06] Will you trust in Jesus? Would today be the day that you look to him as the one who faced judgment for your sin?
[00:31:14] Would you be shaken by the reality of judgment before Christ and believe in him?
[00:31:23] Or in hell? Will you declare the worth of Jesus in your suffering because you would not believe in him today?
[00:31:33] Let's stop and pray for unbelievers in the room right now.
[00:31:37] Oh God, we pray.
[00:31:39] We pray that we would be shaken to the core by your justice and we would be way more fervent in pleading with those we love and know to believe in Jesus. And we pray across this room that there would be people who believe the gospel today and look to Jesus.
[00:31:58] It's in his name that we pray.
[00:32:00] Amen.
[00:32:02] Well, verses 10 through 12, we see a prayer that proves the worth of Christ. Notice all of this happens when, when he comes on that day to be glorified again. This idea of weight and scales. At the end you have the scales, Jesus comes and he proves to everybody he weighs more.
[00:32:21] He's got more glory. His name, it means most.
[00:32:26] His glory is heavy and it outweighs everything that we've ever known or experienced. And then we will enter into that glory. Notice in his saints to be marveled at among all who have believed because our testimony to you was believed. The believers there, they will know what it means to glorify God on that day because they will be transformed in their lives and their worship will match the weight of Jesus and he will be marveled at. The word marvel just means to be overwhelmed, almost speechless.
[00:33:00] We see little glimpses of the glory of Christ and then the sky opens up and we see his glory and we can't even talk.
[00:33:09] And we're entering into what we should be because we will see his glory and then nothing will compare to him and we will not be able to live another second giving worth to anything else. Do you see that? Once you see him, you will marvel and then your life will be transformed and you will live and serve and worship him forever.
[00:33:34] That is what happens on the day of judgments for those who believe the gospel. And so Paul says, to this end, we always pray for you. And again, please go back and read these two books and see where Paul talks about prayer and that this is all a work of God, that God may make you worthy of his calling. So if that is your eternity, you see Jesus and you always live A life that is worthy of Jesus. Paul says, we pray that you would do it now, live for him now.
[00:34:02] Because you're going to see on the last day that there was nothing else worth living for.
[00:34:08] And you're going to look back on your life and go, wow, I wasted it. I should have been living for his worth and his value and making much of him. And he says, we pray to this that our God may make you worthy of his calling. Your life would match the kingdom, would match Jesus worth. How do you do that? Every resolve would be fulfilled, meaning every desire that you have. When you believe the gospel, God gives you a desire to honor Jesus first and foremost. And Paul says we pray that every one of those desires would be followed through with, would be completed today. Right now you think, how can I honor Jesus? Well, I need to pray. I need to read the Bible, I need to share the gospel.
[00:34:49] I need to give my life over to Mission. Paul says, I'm praying that you would be able to fulfill every one of those desires because God put them there.
[00:34:59] And that sin Satan would not steal those desires to glorify him.
[00:35:05] Every work of faith, trusting in his power. Notice verse 12 so that the name of our Lord Jesus might be glorified in you and you and him so together in Christ. This amazing glory is unveiled when you are united to him forever. And Paul says, I want you to live by his grace like that now. I want you to glorify him now. The reality is Jesus will have glory in you when you are in him forever and ever.
[00:35:32] No sin, no death.
[00:35:35] He will have all the glory and he's the only one who deserves it.
[00:35:38] And Paul says, I'm praying that you would live that way now. A life that would match his glory. Lord, he will be the only king forever.
[00:35:47] So live like he's king now.
[00:35:50] And I'm praying that every desire in your heart would be fulfilled to honor Him.
[00:35:55] And see, this is the prayer we put on the scales every day of our life. You should pray this every morning.
[00:36:02] May every resolve for his name be fulfilled today.
[00:36:08] Some of you need to get that tattooed on your arm. That'd be cool tattoo, right?
[00:36:13] Just kidding.
[00:36:16] May every resolve for his name be fulfilled today.
[00:36:22] Because if you're a Christian, you wake up and you have a lot of desires for his name.
[00:36:28] I need to pray with my wife and my kids. I need to share the gospel with this person. I need to give more, I need to sacrifice more. Oh God, would every one of those desires be fulfilled in my life to today?
[00:36:41] What a Prayer.
[00:36:43] And Paul's praying it for him.
[00:36:45] Will I serve and give Jesus everything?
[00:36:51] Or will he have the cheap flea market junk drawer of my life?
[00:36:57] What will you do? You see, we act as if we, if we live for ourself every day, that at the end we would have everything I want.
[00:37:09] And I've seen too many people die and know that's not the way it works out.
[00:37:18] The saints that I know. This is gonna be a long sermon today. Just chill.
[00:37:23] The believers that I know when I watch them die. And the most godly. The most godly people I know lay on their deathbed with tons of regrets.
[00:37:34] And so often I'm there. No, no, no.
[00:37:36] You are a great father. You're a great mother. You shared the gospel. Listen. No, no, but we think right now, if I just live for myself, I'm gonna be happier. And what happens is we end up wasting it all and we order our life this way. I'll serve Jesus at this time, in this way, on this day when the opposite should be going on, I'm going to serve Jesus and then I will do whatever else when I have time.
[00:38:06] Why? That's what matches the worth of Jesus. He's worthy of that.
[00:38:12] And so we ask the question, the best part of my day, will I give it to Jesus, my family that I love so much?
[00:38:25] It is this precious treasure. Will I give them to Jesus?
[00:38:29] Will I be resolved in every desire for them fulfilled by living out the gospel in front of them and making the things of God a priority for my family and teaching them it is better to invest in eternity than anything else.
[00:38:48] I don't want you, son. I don't want you, daughter, granddaughter, grandson, to waste your life.
[00:38:56] I want it to be full of the glory of Christ.
[00:38:59] So that when Jesus comes, you know, because you've always known he is the most glorious, matchless treasure.
[00:39:11] Your time, your energy, your job, your career, you put it on the scales and you say, jesus, here it is.
[00:39:19] I don't want to waste it.
[00:39:21] The truth is, compared to the eternal worth of Jesus, his glory, all we really have are cheap pocket watches.
[00:39:31] That's all we got. And to be honest with you, that's just the way life is, right?
[00:39:37] As much as we want to get out of that cheap flea market, watch. This is awesome.
[00:39:45] And there's some good stuff in there.
[00:39:49] Means something. This life. There's joy and there's goodness to be experienced, but at the end of the day, it ain't enough.
[00:39:57] And it won't be enough.
[00:40:00] It's insignificant and it's full of sin and yet God still calls for it by faith to be given over to Him.
[00:40:09] And he is the one that transforms it into a weight of glory covered in the life and death of Christ.
[00:40:16] And by his grace he makes our janky broken down flea market cheap lives, glory, weight value on the scales that prove the worth of the kingdom.
