Sermon: What Lasts Forever?

I want to encourage you to uh, open your Bible or to grab one from the pew rec in front of you and turn to the book of First Corinthians page 953 if you're using the Pew Bible. The past few months in the evening service, we have been looking at how the Bible and the Christian faith deal with questions related to death and dying. During that time, we've considered questions of why there is death and what happens at death, how to prepare for death,

whether it matters whether someone is buried or cremated, how to grieve or help others to grieve. And tonight I want us to spend some time considering a question that I have frankly found difficult to articulate concisely. So we're gonna take a few minutes to try to understand the question that we are thinking through today. The title in your bulletin is What Lasts Forever. A more pointed way perhaps to ask the question is, what

of this life we are now living can and will survive death? Part of the challenge is that the more I considered the topic, the more options there were for what direction we could take. This concept is addressed in one form or another, all over the scriptures and comes to bear in many areas of life. So I wanna make a disclaimer and an apology upfront. We will not be able to address all the things that would be good to consider

or probably all the things that you hope we will consider. We won't be able to nuance every area that I would like to nuance, but we have to narrow the focus to a feasible and helpful scope for the time that we have. So under the general topic of what will last forever want us to consider this particular question, what can you work on or toward that will survive death? Put another way, what of your efforts or labors will last beyond death?

Not simply for future generations on earth but for eternity? Perhaps most simply does anything we do matter beyond death? So that's the question that I, I want us to, to consider tonight to try to answer this question. We're gonna use one Corinthians chapter three as a guide. Before we read God's word, would you please pray with me that he would give us understanding,

father, with all the things that may be uh, fighting for attention in our hearts and minds right now, all the things that we have going on, would you quiet our hearts that we might hear from you? Would you instruct us from your word in such a way that our hearts are shaped and our minds are renewed and our paths are illuminated, that we might walk in faithfulness by the grace of your son Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray?

Amen. Gonna read now one Corinthians chapter three verses 10 through 15.

According to the grace of God given to me like a skilled master builder, I laid a foundation and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it, where no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become manifest for the day will disclose it

because it will be revealed by fire and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss. Though he himself will be saved but only as through fire.

In this chapter, Paul is addressing the fact that different factions are breaking out and in the church as people are attaching themselves to different leaders, some are saying, I follow Paul, others are saying, I follow Apollos. Paul rebukes them pointing out the foolishness of focusing on God's human servants rather than focusing on God himself. And to make his point, Paul uses a couple of images. First he talks about a field arguing that the ones who plant

and the ones who water are nothing compared to the one who brings the growth. And then he switches to the picture of a building that we find here in the verses we just read. Paul describes by or how by the grace of God he laid a foundation for the church in Corinth and that foundation is Jesus Christ. Now others have come in and are building on that foundation and there is a day coming when the work of each of these builders will be tested, will either survive

and they will receive a reward or it will be destroyed.

And these verses are admittedly seeking to address a different question than the one we are asking tonight. They're seeking to address questions related to divisions in the church and esteeming god's servants too highly. However, in addressing that particular challenge within the Corinthian church, I believe we can find some helpful insights about what it means to live and act in a manner that crosses over the great divide that is death.

One, one quick side note here, 'cause we're gonna look at a few different verses in different places and some of these passages that we will look at tonight are gonna speak about physical death. Others are gonna address sort of final judgment. These two events are intimately connected, although they are not the same. In Hebrews nine we read that it is appointed for a man to die once and after that comes judgment. There's death and there's judgment.

For our purposes tonight, we are going to consider them somewhat interchangeable. Since you cannot have one without the other when life ends, then that life is evaluated in judgment. So they there, there are technical differences but what what we're talking about is, is sort of the the holistic view of of what can survive both physical death and this final judgment. For those of you who are taking notes or like to know what's coming, we're gonna consider these

verses uh, in three ways. We're gonna look at, at the foundation that Paul lays, we're gonna look at his exhortation to the church and then we're gonna look at an illustration he gives to hopefully help us understand. So foundation, exhortation, illustration, if you wanna have some hooks to hang things on. First the foundation as Paul uses this analogy of a building being built, he begins in verse 10 by stating that he himself laid the foundation

by the grace of God. In verse 11, he makes it clear that this foundation is Jesus Christ. The verses immediately following what we just read reveal that the building Paul is talking about of which Jesus is the foundation is an analogy for the church, the foundation of the church. The basis of all that the church is or does is Jesus Christ. The church is established on the solid ground of Christ and Paul is just simply reiterating

what he has already said in chapter two. When he tells the Corinthians reminds him, I came to you and I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I laid this foundation that was Jesus I decided to know nothing else but Jesus Christ and him crucified. Everything that Paul has written to the church, every encouragement, every rebuke, every command, they are all founded on Jesus and on his death on the cross.

To take things one step further, Paul says, Jesus is not simply a foundation but the foundation. There is no other foundation that can be laid other than the one which has been laid. Let's to think for a minute why. Why this is the reason there is no other foundation is because Jesus alone has conquered death. Paul will write later in one Corinthians in chapter 15, that death is swallowed up in victory and that this victory belongs to God through Jesus Christ.

Death reigned over all men from the time of Adam's sin in the garden, it was undefeated until Jesus died, he alone was sinless. He alone of all mankind was unstained by the curse.

He was the only righteous man to ever succumb to death. And in this moment of seemingly great triumph for death, it was utterly defeated. The grave could not hold him. He rose victorious. And as we consider our question of what in this life can survive death, we have to start where Paul starts, where all good builders start with the foundation. In first Corinthians 15, Paul makes it the claim that if Christ had not been raised, your faith is futile

and you are of all people to be pitied. In Revelation five, when no one is found, who is able to open the scroll in its seven seals, John says he wept and wept. If Jesus had not come, lived, died and risen victorious, then there is no foundation on which to build anything lasting. Your faith is in vain and you have no hope.

But as John is weeping in Revelation five, someone taps him on the shoulder and says, Jesus did come, he was raised and your faith is not futile. So there is one foundation which can and will survive death and judgment and that is Jesus Christ. It's the same thing that Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount with his story of the wise and the foolish builders can either build your house on the rock or on the sand. You can build it either with a foundation

or without a foundation. But there are not multiple foundations to choose from. It is either rock or sand.

Both Jesus and Matthew seven and Paul here in one Corinthians three are considering a structure in relation to its ability to survive the judgment that follows death. And both state that the only way to survive this day is to be built upon the rock of Jesus and his word. There is no other foundation because there is no other savior from sin and death. And so if anything is going to survive death, it must be attached to this foundation.

Think of just a few of the other things that scripture will tell us. Last into the next life.

Individual Christians. In one Corinthians 15, again, Paul declares that because Christ has been raised, his people will also be raised to new life. He is the first fruits then Paul says, and at his coming, those who belong to Christ will be raised. The church collectively will last. In Matthew 16, Jesus states that he is building his church and that the gates of hell will not be able to stand against it. Revelation paints the picture of a church, of the church

as the bride united with her groom in glory.

The word of God will last. Jesus says in Matthew 24 35, heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. Those who belong to him will rise his church, his bride, his word, and they all survive because they are connected to him who has defeated death. They are, they belong to Christ, they are his bride. They are his words.

I don't know if this will help anybody else but all week the image that just keeps running through my mind as I think about this is an old movie that I don't know why I can't even tell you when I saw it, but Apollo 13, uh, there's a, a craft in space and it has to come back and and it was damaged. There was an explosion, it was damaged and and they weren't sure if it was gonna be able to survive reentry because of the fire that comes

and, and what was damaged was the heat shield. And so there's there's a scene where they're coming through and it's just blazing fire all around. And and the question is, is the heat shield gonna hold? 'cause if the shield doesn't hold everything behind it is not, is not designed to, to carry that kind of heat. And and this is what Jesus as the foundation is. He is the heat shield. Anything protected by him, anything behind him can endure because he can endure

and anything disconnected from him cannot endure. So as we consider what can survive death, we could have gone back a step and we could have asked simply can anything survive death? But the answer is yes because of Jesus, because he overcame death. Anything built on him, anything connected to him, anything which is hidden in him can also survive death.

Before we move on, I just wanna pause here and ask a question. Are you connected to Jesus Christ? Have you taken hold of him by faith? If you are not connected to him then nothing of your work will last. And not only can you do nothing, what that will last beyond death, but you yourself are facing a forever under the condemnation of God.

That's the bad news. The good news, however, is that it is not too late to turn to him as the one and only foundation, the one and only savior of mankind to trust in him and to live for him. For those of you who do belong to him, you are affixed to the firm foundation that will remain immovable no matter what happens. Even in the face of death.

Having established this foundation, Paul then gives an exhortation. If you look at verse 10 again, Paul gives this wor word of warning and encouragement.

Let each one take care how he builds. Let each one take care how he builds. He goes on to explain that simply building on the foundation is not enough. The construction needs to be done in the right way. We've already seen that the works of those who are not united to Jesus will be destroyed. But Paul has a category for someone who is connected to Christ but who is living in such a way that nothing of their work survives even though they

themselves will escape.

Here I was going to take a couple minutes to make an argument that even though this is written specifically to leaders in the church, it is applicable to everyone. But Dave actually did that this morning for me. So if you were here, remember that if you weren't, go back and listen. But in summary, first Peter speaks of judgment in the same terms of fire and says that the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

Everyone will have the quality of their work revealed. Not just leaders.

Death and judgment are like a fire that will test all of the works on earth. Are they made of subpar material They will burn. Are they made of high quality? They will survive. As we think about what will last forever and recognize that there are some things which can survive death, we also have to recognize that not everything will, there are some things that we can do or invest in or give our energy toward that will not last.

It is not a given that everything, even everything done by Christians or in the name of Christ will last. It matters how you build. So this leads to the obvious question, how to build with care. What does it look like to build on the foundation in such a way that the work survives the fire of death and judgment. In our college young adult Sunday school class, we've been working our way through the Westminster Confession of Faith and we just finished chapter

16 on good works. I think this chapter can help us think through how to build well. So I want to take a few minutes to think about it. And if you are here and you are in that class, thank you for listening again, if you want to look at it as we go through, uh, it's in the hymnal on page 857. I just wanna look at a couple things that I think this chapter helps to succinctly describe to help us think through this idea of how do we build

carefully or rightly.

So if we look at paragraph two, what paragraph two does is it describes the fruit of good works. These good works done in obedience to God's commands. Commandments are the fruits and evidences of a true and lively faith. And then it says by them believers manifest their thankfulness, strengthen their assurance, edify their brethren, adorn the profession of the gospel. Stop the mouths of the adversaries and glorify God whose workmanship they are

created in Christ Jesus there unto that having their fruit unto holiness, they may have the end eternal life Do. Do you hear some of what comes from good works? Thanksgiving, Strengthened assurance, edification of the brev brethren, the gospel, the profession of the gospel, adorned, adversaries silenced, God glorified.

All of these things are things that last. These are fruits that will make it through death. Assurance of salvation, edification of our fellow Christians. The profession of the gospel adorned and made beautiful adversary. Silence such that the the church can move forward with more ease. God glorified. And we just said that nothing can survive if it's not connected with Christ. And we see here just quoting from Ephesians two, that all

of these are done because we have been created in Christ Jesus. We are his workmanship. So good works as we're gonna look in a minute as we think about defining that these good works are a reflection of the one who made us. And in case you aren't sure that these good works can bear fruit that will last. We come then to the end, the last fruit, eternal life, eternal life that will last beyond death. Just move over to paragraph six.

We're not gonna look in depth there, but paragraph six says again, because we are in Christ, even though it's the Holy Spirit that is responsible for any good that comes out of us, some miraculous grace, he does a good work in and through us. And yet because we are accepted by him through Christ, our works can also be acceptable to him. And not only acceptable to him, but we can receive a reward for works that he has done

by his own power through us. He rewards us in eternity. So the fruit of good works, the fruit of building well is eternal and lasting fruit. Now I wanna look just for a minute at paragraph seven because paragraph seven I think does a good job of helping to define what do we mean by good works.

Paragraph seven is talking about how no matter how useful to the public, the works of an unregenerate person may be they they don't fall into this category of good works because they may be according to God's commands, but they do not proceed from a heart purified by faith nor are they done in a right manner according to the word, nor to a right end the glory of God. So if we flip those around and we use the positive, I think we get a picture of

what a good work is. What is a careful way of building to obey God's command? To live out of a heart renewed by faith, to act in a manner that is in accordance with the word of God and to act for the end of God's glory.

If you see all four of those things are again built on that one foundation of Christ is only in obedience to him. It only if it proceeds out of a heart of faith in Him only if it is a done according to his word and only if it is done for the praise of his name.

I think this helps us to think through what what does it mean to build with care? Take care then how you build it means to act, to build, to live, to work in obedience and faith according to God's word and for his glory. Some ways this definition of good work and the fruit that comes from it makes building wisely both easier and more difficult than we might first be tempted to think. It's easier 'cause it's possible for everyone.

Age doesn't matter you. You don't have to be at a certain certain point in life to begin to build with care. At the youngest of ages to the oldest of ages, you are able to build carefully. It doesn't matter what your situation in life is, it doesn't even really necessarily matter how you spend your days. It doesn't matter whether you are an engineer or a doctor or a stay at home mom or a salesman. You can be faithful.

You don't have to quit your job or move to a new neighborhood or anything else. You can do good works with lasting fruit. You can build wisely right where you are.

However, this idea of abiding good works comes with some difficulty 'cause it's not just a set of dos and don'ts to check off good works. It doesn't work to just look at somebody you admire and say, well if I just do the same things they do, if I live the same lifestyle they live, do the same church events, I'll be good 'cause it's, it's not actually about the outward actions. It is the heart, which is another reason why it is

impossible to build in a lasting way apart from the foundation because Jesus is required to have a change heart. So as you think about your life, are you seeking to live in obedience to God's commands? Is faith simply a get out of hell free card? Or does all of your life proceed from faith in the one who loved you and washed you clean? Do you seek to align yourself and your actions with God's word? Are you striving above all else for the glory of God?

Are you spending your time and energy and resources for things that will last forever? Or for things that are temporary more pointedly? Perhaps you can think in specific categories. Are you being careful in how you build in your family, in your marriage? Are you being careful how you build in the church? Are you being careful how you build at work in your neighborhood? Friendships? What would your checkbook maybe today it would be a bank app say about whether you are

building with care when it comes to money. What would your calendar say about whether you are building with care when it comes to time? What would your weekly screen time report say about whether you are building with care digitally? Encourage you to take some time this week and to heed Paul's exhortation. Be careful then how you build. Are you being careful or are you being careless?

All right, having looked at the foundation of Christ and Paul's exhortation to build with care, I want to conclude by taking a few minutes to think about what does this look like.

Paul, in this passage gives us an illustration and I want to be careful to not get too far ahead. Upcoming sermons are gonna talk about what does the Bible say about the resurrection? What will heaven look like? So I don't want to get too much into looking at life after death, I wanna make sure we stay on this side of the grave. But I want you to consider the illustration that is given in these verses, the building, which

as we said is an analogy from the church, for the church, but we also learn in the following verses that this is specifically to be understood as the temple of God. So want us to consider this illustration of the temple. What does the temple help to show us about what lasts forever? The temple was one of the high points in Israel's history and decades of carrying around a tent, a temporary dwelling place for God, having finally settled

into the promised land and prospered under King David and his son Solomon. God commanded that the temple be built and it was a splendid building. The best materials were utilized, the most precious metals were lavishly incorporated. It was a majestic wonder and in addition to what it was externally, it was the place where God himself would reside amongst his people. His glory descended upon this building as it was consecrated.

Deep within the building was the holy of Holies, the super set apart room, and that room held the Ark of the Covenant, the object in all of Israel that signified the promises of God to the people. Surely if anything was going to survive from this world to the next, it would be the temple.

But no, the temple would survive over 400 years. But then it was destroyed by Babylon. It would be rebuilt, but never to its former splendor. The second temple was still standing when Jesus walked the earth. But when he died, a massive curtain inside was torn in half and less than 50 years later, that temple two would be destroyed.

Lest we hold out hope that it would be rebuilt in a more lasting manner. Revelation is explicit that in the new heavens and the new earth, in the new city, there is no temple. So does that mean that the work on and in the temple was meaningless from the perspective of eternity? That all those who worked to build or keep up the building, all those who served in it as priests were wasting their lives. All those who went to worship at it, not at all.

The temple itself does not exist in glory because the reality of which it was a shadow is now known in full. The building may not exist, but the concept certainly does. In as much as work that was done on the building and that was done in the building, was done in genuine service of God and bore fruit in people's lives, there is much that will last. How often did the building itself draw the gaze of God's people off of themselves and up to the glory

and faithfulness of their God? How many thousands and thousands of sacrifices were made in faith, trusting in the promise of God who would one day send the perfect sacrifice? In the gospels we read that Anna and Simeon were serving in the temple awaiting this Christ when they recognized him, were many, many, many things related to that building that will last forever.

The temple as an illustration, shows us that it is possible to think both too highly and too lightly of the work that we do in this life. For some the temple, which was to be a tool to focus people on their God became the focal point. Instead, there was an emphasis. Think of both Jesus and Steven. Ultimately, the accusation that was levied against them before their death was that they were speaking against the temple.

There were men who saw this as a place of prophet,

and yet to minimize this grand achievement is to ignore and miss the foreshadowed eternal glory that God had commanded its use to demonstrate. We see this in the Old Testament. Jibal held the temple two lightly after Israel and Judah split. He sets up his own places of worship in other places so that people didn't have to travel to Jerusalem. He minimized how important this temple was and obedience to God in going there much to his own

and the people's destruction. So as we think about the temple, as we think about this life in relation to death and eternity wants to recognize, we are constantly confronted with these twin errors of either thinking too highly or too lightly of the work we do in this life. Some will think none of what I do in this life matters. It's all gonna burn anyway, Eat, drink, and be merry.

On the other hand, some people will be consumed by this life and will think that it is all that matters. All they will be able to see is what is right in front of them and and the labors that they desire to do. Some of you are prone to lean toward one of these or the other, some of you will bounce back and forth.

But I I want us to, to conclude by recognizing that there's a, a place in the middle.

We don't overlay that which occurs on this earth because it does not stand on its own. It is not sufficient on its own. So we view it rightly in light of that which is connected to Christ. And yet on the other hand, we do not take lightly that which we are living because there really are things, there really are ways to build. There really are ways to live that are connected to Christ in obedience to his commandments, according

to his word, done by faith for the glory of God that will resound throughout all eternity.

So what have we learned from one Corinthians three? Does anything matter beyond death? Yes it does, but only in as much it is, it is connected to Jesus in obedience, faith, and worship.

This is just the start of what could be said. There is many more ways we could think about this and, and apply this. Maybe you're leaving with more questions than answers, I'm sorry. But if, if you want your work here on earth to matter into eternity, here are a couple things you can know for sure. Build on Christ your Savior, the Sure Foundation, and be careful how you build obeying God's commands, acting out of faith, living according to the scriptures

and for the glory of your Creator and redeemer. If you do those two things and what you do in this life can matter for eternity. Would you pray with me? Please?

Father, would you help us to live and build in such a way that it matters forever? Even as we recognize that we can do nothing apart from you? Would you hold us firmly connected to the firm foundation of your son? Would you give us wisdom to build well in the places that you have called us to be? For our great delight and for your glory, the name of your son, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. A.