Stand firm: in your eternal life

“All good things...must come to an end.” We are well aware of the shortness of everything in life, including life
itself. Every time I visit someone in the hospital, God wakes me up with this much-needed reminder.

I hear things like… “It’s been a good life. Those were some good times. I can’t complain.” In the blink of an eye,
“all good things must come to an end,” as they say.

There are a few different reactions we could have to this sobering reality. Our reaction will likely depend on
where our faith is currently standing. One reaction we might have is to conclude, “Life is short, live it up.” I
completely understand how we and many people fall into this. Another reaction we might have is to conclude,
“life is short, but this life is not all there is.” Hmmm..interesting. Both of these reactions come from different
faiths.

I taught the 7th-8th graders this week how to examine where their faith is standing by using this acronym...
MESH-AGE. First of all, MESH is a what? Mesh is fabric intricately woven together. It is strong, but it is flexible.
Much like the chain-mail armor a knight would wear in the middle ages. It needed to be woven together very
tightly to protect the knight from sword and arrow, but still loose enough that the knight could move and fight in it. 

In the same way, a Christian needs MESH armor. A Christian needs to look at their own faith and the faiths of
others. MESH-AGE teaches us how. M-stands for “man”. We need to be able to ask ourselves and others,
“What do we believe about humanity and our destiny?” E-stands for Evil. What do we belive about evil, where
it came from, who is responsible for it? S-stands for Salvation. How do we believe we will be rescued from the
inevitable suffering everyone experiences here? H stands for History. What do we believe about the significance
of world events? Are they random? Is there a purpose for it all? A-stands for Authority. What is our ultimate
source of truth? Is there one? G-stands for God. What is God like? Is there a God/higher power? E-stands for
Ethics/Morality. What does my faith say is acceptable ethical/moral behavior?

Where is your faith standing? What does your faith say about all these topics? Where your faith stands will
determine what you think, what you say, what you do, how you live, how you react and so on. Today, Paul
teaches young Pastor Timothy and the church he pastors there in Ephesus to stand firm...in their eternal life.

Read 1 Timothy 6:6-16...6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the
world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.
9 People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires
that plunge men into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some
people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

11 But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance
and gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called
when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13 In the sight of God, who
gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good
confession, I charge you 14 to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord
Jesus Christ, 15 which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King
of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no
one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen. 

We say that we stand with the blessed and only Ruler. The King of Kings and Lord of lords. Who alone is
immortal. Who lives in unapproachable light. Who gets honor and might forever. You and I say we stand with
that God. And if we truly stand with that God, eternal life is ours. We have it. We’re already living it!

“Take hold of that eternal life!” You can see every vein on Paul’s face fills with blood and passion as he pleads
with you, “take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in
the presence of many witnesses!” You made that confession on your confirmation day or when you became
a member of the body of Christ that meets here. When you were married, if you were baptized as an adult, you
made that confession. Every time you meet together publicly, you make the confession that you believe in the
eternal God. 

You confess that you stand with the One who confessed before Pontius Pilate that he was the King of the Jews.
After making that confession, the eternal King was silent as the impatient crowds shouted, “Crucify, crucify!”
The eternal King was led to his death as the guilty prisoner Barabbas was set free. When we confess faith in
Jesus Christ, we confess that we are the guilty prisoner who got to live because our eternal King died. What a
confession. What a serious confession. That is where we stand.

So I ask you again, where is your faith standing? With your eternal God? Or in the things of this world that have
a shelf life? “All good things must come to an end…” Right?

Paul uses logic that a kindergartner could understand. “We brought nothing into the world. We can take
nothing out of the world.” Everything, including the world, has been given to us. Like a birthday present.
For a time. Why do we put our faith in the gifts instead of the Giver? Why do we put our faith into that which
is temporary? Why do we put our faith into things into anything that we cannot take out of this world with us?

“Flee from all this!” If your faith is standing on the temporary things of this world, flee! Flee where? Flee to
the one who stood firm in righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness before God so we
could stand before God with him. Flee to the one who fought the good fight of the faith to win you back from
all good things coming to an end in hell. Flee to the one who took hold of the cross that should have been
yours and mine so that we could take hold of the eternal life God has called us to!

Stand firm in your eternal life! Today! Jesus shows you what eternal life looks like. You know it’s yours. You
know you have it. Now live it! Here’s how. Pursue righteousness. You are not the ultimate authority in your life.
God is. Let him be King and rule you. Pursue godliness. There’s that term again, two weeks in a row.
Godliness...letting God clean our spiritual glasses so we can see him clearly again. Brush up your view of God.
Today. Pursue faith. Examine where your faith is standing. Ask God to re-situate you if your faith has wandered.
Ask God to ground your faith more firmly into him. Pursue love. Love like you have nothing to lose because you
don’t. God’s love for you is eternal. Pursue endurance. Get ready to weather some more storms together,
my friends, because we are still on this side of eternity. Pursue gentleness. Confess your faith, as Jesus did
before Pilate. But be gentle about it, knowing that God’s Spirit is at work through that confession like a gentle
breeze drifting into the hearts of those who hear that confession and experience your Christ-like gentleness. 

“All good things...must come to an end.” That’s true of a lot of good things. But it’s not true of the eternal life
that God wants you to take hold of. Stand firm in your eternal life.