Don’t Live For The Moment

In a song that was popular about 8 years ago, Katy Perry sings, “Let’s go all the way tonight. No regrets. Just love. We can dance until we die. You and I, will be young forever.” She’s so into the moment, she just wants to go all the way. No regrets, just love! … Do you think that’s how it works? If they live for the moment they will have no regrets, right?!  Fittingly, the name of the song is Teenage Dream. Because that’s a dream.  We can’t just live for the moment, do what we want, do what feels right, and not have any regrets afterwards!  Of course that’s a dream. Unlike what the teenage brain thinks, life has consequences.

That’s why we are striving to be the Church God Wants.   The Church is willing to say and do hard things for the sake of those Jesus died on the cross to save.  Unfortunately, our sinful flesh is very similar to a teenage brain. It tricks us into thinking that if we just live for the moment, live the way we want, we won’t have any regrets. But today we get a reminder that if we live life that way, we will have an eternity of regrets. Today God tells us:

Don’t Just Live For The Moment

Live For Eternity

Paul writes, “Do not be deceived.  God is not mocked,” Why? Because it’s so easy for us to deceived, but not God.  So, Paul writes, “To be sure, whatever a man sows, he will also reap. ⁸ Indeed, the one who sows for his own sinful flesh will reap destruction from the sinful flesh.” It’s true—but it’s also easy to ignore because the reaping is far off in the future.  Allow me to use this example.  Several months ago I noticed how tight all my clothes were.  “How did it happen?! These clothes used to fit when I tried them on!”  Then I thought about how I was eating, I wasn’t drinking much water, and wasn’t really exercising like I should.   It wasn’t really all that hard to realize how I got into the condition I was in after the fact, but you can understand how it happened.  It didn’t happen instantly—eventually I reaped what I sowed. Since bad results often happen gradually, I was easily deceived into letting bad results happen. That’s especially true spiritually for all of us.

Some people won’t see the effects of unbelief until Judgment Day. That’s a long time, and so it’s very easy to be deceived about the effects of how we live in the moment.  In Galatians 5 Paul talked about some of the things that our sinful nature wants:

“sexual immorality, impurity, complete lack of restraint, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, discord, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and things similar to these. I warn you, just as I also warned you before, that those who continue to do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God”

Galatians 5:19-21

The Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write these serious words to warn us how easily in the moment these sins harm our soul and deceive us!  Sexual immorality—“What will one small glance hurt, lusting for someone I’m not married to. No lightning fell, no one saw, no one got hurt. It’s fine.” Outbursts of anger—“What, so I lost my temper once, everyone does sometimes, and they had it coming, what’s the big deal?” Heresies—“Oh, big deal, why are you so picky about false teachings? As long as I believe the basics, God won’t care.” Idolatry—I prioritize other things over God all the time, what’s the big deal if I don’t make worship a priority every day and weekend? My life is still going fine, God doesn’t mind.” Sorcery—“I just check my horoscope every day, it’s not a big deal, they’re very accurate, that doesn’t really count as witchcraft right? They’ve never led me into a false religion.” This can even be true for the seemingly big sins on the list, like murder, drunkenness, orgies. In this life, sometimes people literally get away with murder—so it must not matter. No regrets right!?  No!  God calls the Church to Say Hard Things and call sinners to repentance!

“Do not be deceived,” Paul says. “God cannot be mocked.” Who are we dealing with here? God! We might fool ourselves, but God is not a human who can be tricked or persuaded. He’s not a pushover, who says, “No big deal.” God is like the force of gravity—A fact. What comes up must come down. And if you jump up in sin, God’s judgment will come down in the end. Pick any one of those sins, even if they seem fine in the moment, they will bring destruction in the end. You can’t get away from them without regrets! “Indeed, the one who sows for his own sinful flesh will reap destruction from the sinful flesh.”

So don’t live for the moment in this life! Instead, live for eternal life. Paul says, “But the one who sows for the spirit will reap eternal life from the spirit.” What does it mean to sow for the spirit? Right after that list of sins in the previous chapter, Paul presents the fruit of the spirit.

“But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control… Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful flesh with its passion and desires”

Galations 5:22,23

You get the picture.  Don’t Live For the Moment, Live For Eternal Life! That is, we belong to Christ Jesus through baptism. We don’t belong to our sinful flesh—It’s been nailed to the cross with Christ. So, we live not for the moment, but for eternal life.  That’s difficult in the moment, but the harvest will come, and it will be worth it!  Do you want some proof?  Then look to Jesus!

Jesus laid out his plan in our gospel reading.  He would continue to live his whole life for God, even though it would mean he would suffer and die.  Then Peter rebuked him! That seemed a waste of a life!   But Jesus wouldn’t be deceived. “Get behind me, Satan!” He said to Peter. “You do not have your mind set on the things of God, but the things of men” (Mark 8:31). Jesus knew that God would not be mocked. Jesus could live for the moment and lose his soul, or he could lose his life for God, and save us forever.

Without Jesus, we would be mocked forever.  No one here would ever want to hear, “You gave in to that sin and lived for that moment of pleasure, even though you knew it would bring eternal death; I bet you regret that now!”   No, everyone here loves to hear, “Jesus, the God who cannot be mocked, allowed himself to be mocked in our place.” People saw him on the cross and mocked him, “What a waste of a life!” Jesus allowed himself to reap that harvest of destruction that we deserve. But because he had sown for eternity through his perfect life, he was able to rise from the dead, producing a harvest of eternal life for us.  Through faith in Jesus your sinful moments are forgiven.  Your life is a life sown with seeds of the Spirit for eternal life. Because of that, in the end, we can face an eternity without regrets. That’s not a teenage dream; that’s God’s love! And that’s what we’re living for when we resist our sinful desires and live with love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, and self-control.

And here’s the wonderful part about focusing on eternity—it does help you live in the moment in this life. But not just for yourself but also for others.

Live For Opportunities To Do Good

Every moment of this life, we live for the opportunity to do good. Paul writes, “Let us not become weary of doing good, because at the appointed time we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people and especially to those who belong to the household of faith.”

On January 15, 2009, US Airways flight 1549 lost power in both engines 100 seconds into the flight. Half a mile into the air, geese had been sucked in the jet engines, which exploded with fire. Captain Sully, the pilot, had 208 seconds until the plane would hit the ground. He made a split-second decision, glided the plane into position, and landed perfectly on the Hudson River. Before the plane sank, he got everyone out safely, and was the last to leave the plane after walking the length of it twice to make sure no one had been left behind. He saved 155 lives, not including the lives of several unborn babies. In the movie based on this event, he says, “Here’s the funny thing. I’ve delivered a million passengers over 40 years in the air, but in the end, I’m gonna be judged on 208 seconds.”

But that’s not entirely right. Sully didn’t become a hero in those 208 seconds; he had been working towards it his entire life. In real life, Sully said, “For 42 years, I’ve been making small, regular, deposits into the bank of experience, education, and training, and on January 15 the balance was sufficient so that I could make a very large withdrawal.” Sully was ready to be judged on that moment, because of how he lived the previous 42 years.

Captain Sully could’ve grown lax in his hard work over 42 years—he didn’t have any emergencies in all that time after all!  Likewise, we are tempted to grow lax in our godly living.  Doing good usually doesn’t give great rewards in this life. It often doesn’t even seem like it makes a difference!  “You mean I have to forgive that person again!?!  You mean I have to talk to that person who is living in active sin again!?!”  It’s hard to keep sowing those seeds of the spirit for however many years God gives us on earth. That’s why Paul says, “Let us not become weary of doing good.”   We’re not living for rewards now.  In Jesus Christ you are a new creation, created for good works.  The appointed time will come, when Jesus will come and give us the gift of eternal life.  The good seeds you planted, because you took advantage of the Opportunities God Gave You To Do Good, will stand as a testimony of your thankful faith in Jesus Christ. 

God creates these special works and the Opportunities To Do These Good Works For Others.  Think of Esther!  She was one of the Jewish captives in Babylon who ended up being the Queen.  A death threat against the Jewish people gave her the opportunity to approach the king and plant seeds to rescue her people.  It worked.  God worked through Esther to save his people.  You are here today to be filled with God’s Word, be reminded that you are a baptized child of God.  You will leave worship filled with that hope of eternity.  Open your eyes and live in the moment.  Seize the opportunities to do good to all people, especially to those right around you.  To help us all do this Divine Peace is having our SHAPED Workshop to help us realize the spiritual gifts God has given to us to use in service to him.

A great example of this was in our reading from Acts. “For David, after he had served God’s purpose in his own generation, fell asleep, was laid to rest with his fathers, and saw decay. But the one God raised did not see decay” (Acts 13:26, 27). David used his life to serve God’s purpose.  King David did not compose any Psalms that said, “Let’s go all the way tonight. No regrets. Just love. We can dance until we die. You and I, will be young forever.” A life like this doesn’t end in a dream, but with eternal regrets.  Rather, serve God’s purpose in your life to look for Opportunities To Do Good and serve the people around you, and then fall asleep.  But, that won’t be a dream!  Jesus who died and rose again will raise you up again, too.  Like David, after we have served our purpose in the Church God Wants, we too will rise to enjoy the harvest of eternal life that Jesus has sown.  That’s Not Just Living For The Moment, That’s Living Without Regrets For Opportunities To Do Good To All People That Results In An Eternal Life Surrounded By God’s Love.  Amen!