Weekly Sharpening Session
Write down one single
significant decision
you must make in the
next three months.
Walk thorough the
sources of how God
speaks to us. Listen
to what He says. We
will discuss them
next in two weeks.
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Sharpen Your Faith
Living with an Eternal Perspective
Paul T. Quelet
May 6, 2007
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Eternity: On Everyone’s Mind
Eternally speaking, what seems to be the
goal of most major world religions?
• They are trying to get people to the
afterlife.
• Their form of liberation/salvation
involves an existence beyond this world.
Why is it that all people at the core think
there must be life after death? (Read
Ecclesiastes 3:11)
• Eternity gives us a reason to have hope.
•
•
•
We have the hope of resurrection.
The desire for everlasting life was
placed in us by God.
“If I find in myself desires which
nothing in this world can satisfy, the only
logical explanation is that I was made
for another world.”—C.S. Lewis
“What we do in life…echoes in
eternity.”—Maximus Decimus Meridius
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Eternity and Desires
Premise: We all strongly desire things that cannot be met through
things of this world.
Possible responses:
1. Blame the things meeting desires.
2. Some people become disillusioned and cynical.
3. The other alternative considers earthly things as shadows,
hints, and echoes of the authentic things to come.
• Every natural desires correspond to real things that can satisfy
them.
• Since we are never truly satisfied about life unless we live forever,
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we have the ability.
Preparation for Eternity
How does the nearness of Jesus’ return affect how we
dedicate our lives to God? (Read Luke 12:39-40)
• The nearness of the second coming of Jesus compels us to
live righteously.
• It beckons us to live with our hearts prepared, expecting
him to take us home any day.
• If we were staying in a house that does not belong to us,
we should take care of the order of things well before 5
the owner returned.
“It ought to be
the business of
everyday to
prepare for our
final day.”
—Matthew Henry
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Eternity’s Urgency (Phil.3:18-21)
• Living in light of eternity gives
us a sense of urgency to share
the gospel, not knowing how
long any of us has remaining.
• God’s hesitancy in coming is
not His impotence but His
patience.
• Sharing our faith is an
opportunity to change the
eternity of someone else.
• Read John 5:24. In salvation,
eternal life begins the moment
we accept Christ.
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Victory in Eternity
What is the significance of the
statement Jesus makes: ‘It is
finished.’? (Read John 19:30)
• Jesus completed His mission on
•
•
•
earth.
Jesus paid for all sins for all
time and was victorious.
He conquered death and the
grave.
When we view our lives from the
perspective that Jesus has
already won, then events begin
to unfold without worry. We
start to watch and play out the
games differently.
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Time Toward Eternity (Ps.39:4-5)
• Eternity allows us to travel light from
all the things of this world, since we
have no idea how long we’ll be able to
hold to any of them.
• The popular Christian author John
Piper notes that each year seems to
pass by more quickly as we age. Time
seems to go faster and faster.
Perhaps this is God’s way of preparing
our hearts to receive time in eternity.
• We know we have eternity to look
forward to, so we do not look forward
in this life but only toward what
Jesus has taught us in the past, what
He has for us today, and what he
would have us do tomorrow under His
guidance.
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“My journey today
will bring me
closer to home; it
may be just around
the bend.”
—John Eldredge
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Eternal Rewards
What kinds of things do we know
about the rewards we will receive in
heaven? (Read Matthew 6:19-21
also see John 12:24-26)
• C.S. Lewis noted, “All that is not
•
•
•
eternal is eternally useless.”
There are only two things from this
world that last forever: The Word
of God and the souls of people. (see
1 Peter 1:24-25)
When we examine the enduring
legacy of the things in this world,
they are futile in their practical
usefulness for infinite future.
Your treasures in heaven are
concealed and safe with God.
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Degrees of Reward
• The ones who are going to enjoy heaven the most
are the ones who trained in godliness here in this
world.
• When we discipline ourselves in God’s ways now,
our enjoyment of His goodness is more satisfying.
• Eternity prompts us to live holy. Each little action
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has cosmic ramifications.
“He is no fool who
gives up what he
cannot keep to gain
what he cannot
lose.”
—Jim Elliot
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“If for all practical
purposes we believe
that this life is our
best shot at happiness,
if this is as good as it
gets, we will live as
despairing men and
women. We will place on
this world a burden it
was never meant to
bear.”—John Eldredge
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Heavenly Imagery
• We use images to be representations of
what we don’t know.
• We must start from the knowledge we have
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to understand what we do not.
“All the scriptural imagery (harps,
crowns, gold, etc.) is, of course, a
merely symbolic attempt to express
the inexpressible. Musical
instruments are mentioned because
for many people (not all) music is the
thing known in the present life which
most strongly suggests ecstasy and
infinity. Crowns are mentioned to
suggest the fact that those who are
united with God in eternity share His
splendor and power and joy. Gold is
mentioned to suggest the
timelessness of it. People who take
these symbols literally might as well
think that when Christ told us to be
like doves, He meant that we were16 to
lay eggs.”—C.S. Lewis
Heaven is Physical
• See Romans 8:19-21 (creation
redeemed), 1 Corinthians
15:42-43 (bodily existence),
Romans 8:23 (bodily
redemption), and Revelation
21:1 (new earth).
• Heaven is not an ethereal
place in the clouds.
• One of the biggest ways for
the devil to discourage us
from following God is to trick
us into thinking that heaven
will be boring!
• It is going to be a place of joy!
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How Will We be Known?
If there is no sex in heaven (see
Matthew 22:29-31), how is there
great happiness?
• We think intercourse is best, but
an even greater knowing of all
other people will come in heaven.
• We will know each other in heaven
even more than spouses know each
other in this world.
• When we explain sex to a little
boy, we have to say “it is like
chocolate” which seems like the
best thing to him even though sex
is way better than that.
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Our Tasks in Heaven
1. Relationship—knowing 2. Cultivation—
working 3. Worship—adoring God, just like
in the Garden of Eden.
• The Bible goes from a garden (Genesis 1) to
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a city (Revelation 22).
“[In heaven] we will
be free to be the
true selves God
designed us to be.”
—Peter Kreeft
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Closing Exhortation:
Eternal Significance
• Read 1 Corinthians 15:58.
• Brent Cunningham: “Being more
concerned with eternity plants
our feet more firmly on the
ground of this world because of
the eternal echo.”
• Dary Northrop: “This verse says
to me, ‘Make it count Northrop!’”
• Me: “The worse thing you can do
is go after God with half a
heart.”
• Also me: “The reason we must
labor for the Lord is BECAUSE
IT’S WORTH IT!”
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Ending Story
It was said (according to church tradition) that the apostle
Peter would often weep, and no one quite knew the reason.
Finally one day, a young saint worked up enough courage to
ask him about it:
“Peter, why do you so often weep?” he inquired cautiously.
Peter turned to the young man, and with a look of intense
yearning burning in his eyes he replied softly, “Desiderio
Domini.” (Latin for: “I dearly long to be with my Lord.”)22
Weekly Sharpening Session
Journal or write
about how you can
better live with
an eternal
perspective. We
will discuss these
next week.
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