Why is it Important to Think About the Afterlife Part 2

Pastor Mike will be speaking on Why is it Important to Think About the Afterlife Part 2. He will be reading out of Ecclesiastes 3:1, 11-14.

I want you to consider this, what God has in store for his children in the next life gives us hope, helping us to navigate the trials and the disappointments in this world. Hello, this is Pastor Mike Sanders from the Open Door Church and we welcome you to our radio broadcast, Hope Worth Having. We are delighted to have you and certainly thankful that you’ve taken time to tune us in and we are looking forward to what God has for us today.

We’re gonna be in the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 3. We’re talking about eternity, we’re talking about this question, why is it important to think about the afterlife? Too many people wait too long to do that, so let’s learn more about why it’s important to think about it. He is in charge of all of our circumstances and all that we encounter and deal with day to day in life and he goes on to say in verse 11, also he has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end. I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice and to do good in their lives and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor.

It is the gift of God. Verse 14, and here is the crux of the matter that we eventually want to get to in our response to God. I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever.

Nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it that men should fear or revere or worship before Him. The Bible teaches us in this text that God has put eternity in our hearts.

The Bible reminds us that we have a sense of the past and we have a sense of the future. It is in our minds, it is in our spirit, it is in our soul, it is in our very heart. We have eternity built within us and that makes us unique as humans.

Unlike animals who will live only for the present, you and I have the ability to study the past. We can not only study the past, but we can contemplate the future. We can think about what life is, what it has been, what it will be.

We can consider the values, the morals of our choices and even the choices of society. For God has given to all humans a self-consciousness that enables us to transcend the present and reflect upon the past and to think about the future. And so this morning I’d like to have us consider this question, why is it important to reflect or to think about the afterlife? Why is it important? I submit unto you three things this morning.

First is that our belief in the afterlife causes a hunger for justice in our hearts. You see, we know that there is evil in this world and the Bible teaches us that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. When we talk about the sinfulness of people, we’re not just simply saying that yes, we’re all sinners, but we’re also understanding that the presence of sin and the presence of evil is even in this world.

We know that we live in a world there is a battle of good and evil and we see this all the time as we look on our social feed, as we look and watch the news. We are reminded that there is evil in this world. The Bible teaches us that we are sinners.

It doesn’t mean that as a sinner I live out the full capacity of my selfishness or my sinfulness, but it does teach us that the ability and some have lived out to the full capacity of their sinfulness. And that’s why we conclude that some of the evil that is in this world is heinous. It’s almost unspeakable.

It’s horrible. It’s hard for us to even contemplate what has taken place. On October 7th, you and I heard the breaking news that Hamas had invaded Israel and began to kill and murder people and rape the women.

And we learned that they took 40 children, preschool children, some of them infants, and cut their heads off even while they were living. How heinous was their crime and sin and evil. We learned through news reporting that they took one little infant baby and put it in an oven and made the parents watch the baby be baked to death.

It’s hard. It sometimes becomes so much for me I have to turn it all off because I’m weary. I’m tapped out with so much of the evil that’s in this world that it’s hard for me to process it all.

But from our hearts, there is no doubt that whether we are believers or not believers, that we wonder where is justice for the victims? Where is justice for the victims of human trafficking and those who are oppressed? We could all tell stories and we could all talk about these particular horrifying things and perhaps even some could give testimony this morning of some of the horrific things that they have endured in relating to abuse and neglect. The question is where is the justice? Let’s be honest this morning. If we imagine that there is no heaven or hell and that all we have is just living for today, then we have also imagined a universe that is not only out of kilter, but a universe where the scales of justice are never balanced.

They’re never balanced. But if we believe that we are eternal creatures and God has put eternity in our hearts, that we are the image of an eternal God and we are endowed with a clear sense of what is right and wrong and that God has given us this moral compass and it is either trained by the Word of God and enhanced and enrooted by the Word of God or it is trained and enhanced by society or our own sinful nature. But we understand that in every person there is a sense of justice and there is a sense of things that are right and things that are wrong.

And so we begin to contemplate a world without heaven, a world without hell, a world without an afterlife. And how would there ever be justice? Because I’m here to tell you that everything in this world is not always dealt with appropriately. There are times we have to say, Lord I give this to you.

Maybe you have been personally wrong and it just seems like it should have been handled differently. It seems like there should have been other things done to bring about the justice, to right the wrong, but it was never done. And here you are left to work through that emotionally and to work through that spiritually and to somehow make sure that your heart doesn’t become bitter and that you don’t let the root of bitterness to begin to dig deep into your spirit and soul.

And then you watch what’s going on in this world. Are we in a crazy world or what? Crazy times Church, but I want you to know something. I want you to be reminded of something.

I want you to jump down to verse 17 of Ephesians chapter 3. The author writes under the inspiration of God, chapter 3 of Ecclesiastes chapter 3 verse 17, I said in my heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked. For there is a time there for every purpose and for every work. You see friends, there is a time, there is a season.

God has these times and though everything in this world is not always dealt with as it should be, I promise you that one day Jesus Christ is going to right every wrong in this world. And if you, yes go ahead and clap, amen. If you spend your life trying to right every wrong, you’re gonna be like the dog chasing its tail and you’re gonna become weary, you’re gonna become overwhelmed, and there comes a point that you understand that you are like what the scripture says, a person who comprehends that God is working and though as we learn back in verse 11, He has put eternity in our hearts except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.

And here’s what he’s saying, not that you and I can’t know what God is doing, but that we don’t know the full scale or scope of all that God is doing. You don’t know how God is working all the time and what you might think is being left undone and God is not rightly dealing with it. We are reminded that God is always at work and He’s not only always working in us and He is always working around us and through us, that God is always dealing with what is before us as believers.

And we don’t have to be bitter and we don’t have to be angry. Yes, there’s a sense of justice and if it doesn’t happen in this time span, I promise you that we will stand before God and everyone will get an account of their life. And the Scriptures teach us in Romans chapter 2 verse 5 and 6, but because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God who will repay each person according to his, what church? Deeds.

Now, I often get asked the question, are there degrees in hell? Yes. You see, every person will be judged according to their deeds. And Jesus said there’s a greater condemnation for those who hurt these little ones.

See, I’m just telling you, you start messing with the children and God is going to put the smackdown on you. And it may not always happen in the time that I want it to happen, and it may not always happen in the way that I want it to happen, but I promise you in the scope of all eternity, God is going to make every person have to deal and give an account and repay for the deeds that they have done. And so church, remember, go back to chapter 3 verse 1, to everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven, a time to be born, a time to die, a time to plant, a time to pluck what is planted, a time to kill, a time to heal, a time to break down, and a time to build up.

Now hear me, there is a judgment time in God’s sovereign plan. No one will escape. What is done in secret will be proclaimed, the housetop.

And everybody will give an account. God will judge the wicked, but he will also reward the righteous. We rejoice in that there is a time for everything.

And we sometimes say, Lord, we give that matter to you. And sometimes we wonder, is what am I doing, does it have any impact? My friends, it does. And there are even, if you will, I like to put it like this, if you will, degrees in heaven.

In that some will be rewarded more than others. Perhaps I have often thought that maybe God, out of great compassion and sympathy for me, that he would reward me with the responsibility of overseeing all the golf courses in the new millennium. Because I am the worst golfer at the Open Door Church.

That not even my own sons would allow their own father win a particular golf game. That there are members in this church who have made every effort to make sure they humiliate me on the golf course, and not even give their pastor that 20-foot putt. See, I have the Sanders rules, and there’s a rule that if the club can reach the ball from the hole, then it’s a gimme.

We live by grace. But as you are serving Jesus Christ, and you consider that God is just, that he is not only just to deal with the wicked and the heinous crimes that have gone unpunished, but he is also a God who is rewarding, and he is blessing, and he is giving grace to those who love him. And that’s why we hunger for justice.

We hunger for it to be dealt with. The prophet Nahum gave us a promise in Nahum 1 verse 3, and he said, the Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and he will not at all acquit the wicked. The Lord has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

I don’t want you to be discouraged, church. I don’t want you to throw in the towel. I want you to do as the scripture says.

I want you to see it there in verse 12. I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice and to do good in their lives. What can I rejoice in? I can rejoice that he has made everything beautiful in its time.

I can rejoice that, verse 1, to everything there is a season, a time, for every purpose under heaven, I can rejoice in these things. And what should it motivate me to do? To do good in their lives. You see, friends, God will right every wrong.

Now, why should we think about the afterlife? Number two is that our belief in the afterlife motivates us to live sacrificially for others. So we must contemplate this question, why sacrifice for the needs of others if, in the end, nothing we do will make a difference? If we are just the result of evolution and we are just going to end with a whimper or perhaps even a bang, if we’re just going to be done, then why would we ever sacrifice? Why not eat, drink, and be merry and live for self? Right? Are we made for something more? Did God create us for a higher purpose? If there is no afterlife of heaven and hell after you die, then your life does not have meaning. A worldview that regards others as made in the image of a good, just, loving God are going to see the world totally different.

They’re going to see eternal value, not only in ministering and serving humanity, but bringing glory to God. And it is that very motivation that spurs us to practical application or action in eliminating people’s misery. What we do to help others has no expiration date because, go back to our text, he says, in verse 11, he has put eternity in our hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.

And I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice and to do good in their lives. And then look at verse 14, I know that whatever God does, it shall be what? Forever. You think listening to that hurting heart is meaningless, but it’s not.

You think helping people who are struggling has no impact, but it does. You think giving a gift to someone who’s without doesn’t really make an impact, but it is having a ripple effect on people’s spiritual lives. I’m reminded that a few weeks ago, my class went down to the rescue mission, as many of you have.

And when we get down there, we feed them, and then we do a chapel program for them. And I like to go amongst the people and talk to them and interact with them and kind of hear their story and ask them questions. And one guy said to me, he said, where are you from? I said, the Open Door Church.

He said, the Open Door Church. The Open Door Church, I got saved at the Open Door Church. I said, you did? He said, yeah.

He said, I was a young man. I was bussed in. I got saved at the Open Door Church.

How would God bring it full circle in the midst of his tough time, the Open Door Church would be there to minister to him? We got to encourage him and give him some next steps on what he should be doing to get his life aligned with Jesus Christ again. And he committed in his heart that evening that he would begin to reaffirm his love for God and his commitment to follow Jesus Christ. That’s what I’m trying to say to you, is that because eternity matters and because there is an afterlife, we are motivated to live our lives sacrificially for others because we don’t always see the ripple effect of what God is doing.

I think about the history of America, and one thing stands out in the history of America, that it is through the work, the sacrificial work of Christians who lived in light of eternity, that they have done more to alleviate the plight of the downtrodden and the suffering than any other faith or religion or philosophy has ever done. It’s been the Christians who’ve always been on the forefront, who not only loved Jesus Christ, but loved their fellow man and cared about their sufferings and their plights that they found themselves in. C.S. Lewis understood this when he said, and I quote, if you read history, you will find that the Christians who did the most for the present world were just those who thought the most of the next.

End of quote. Why does the afterlife matter? Why talk about heaven and hell, Pastor? It not only gives me a hunger for justice, but it also motivates me to live sacrificially for others. And then finally, our belief in the afterlife gives us hope.

It gives us hope. I want you to consider this, what God has in store for his children in the next life gives us hope, helping us to navigate the trials and the disappointments in this world. I want to say something to you, church, and this is really the crux of what I want to say to you so much this morning as we go through this study that we’re beginning on heaven and this study on hell, but I want you to look at verse 4 of chapter 3. There’s a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn, and a time to dance.

Our belief in the afterlife gives us hope because we are reminded that there is a time for every purpose under heaven. You’ve walked through the valley. You’ve dealt with the sorrows of life.

You know what it’s like to lose loved ones. You’ve stood at the foot of a grave. You know what he is saying, a time to weep and a time to mourn.

You understand it, but what is it that sustains you? What is it that is helping you to put one foot in front of the other? It is your belief in the afterlife. It is your belief in what God has in store for those who love him that gives you hope. Jesus said in Matthew 29, are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your father’s will.

I don’t know and I can’t explain and I don’t have all the answers to your questions in mind, but I know what the scripture says that except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end, we can’t always know everything that God is doing that is within the father’s will. But it is all under his sovereignty, his care and his control. Not even a sparrow falls to the ground apart from the father’s will.

God hasn’t caused every sorrow in your heart, but he sometimes allows sorrow in your heart. And this is where we are called to live by faith. And remember, God has not called us to live by explanations, but we are called to live by faith.

The Bible says the secret things belong to the Lord. If I had the answers for everything, my questions are so many. When I burst into heaven, I need to get to the throne because I got a lot of questions.

Perhaps those questions will fade away, I don’t know. But as I live in this world, I know under the sovereign plan of God that there’s a time to weep and there’s a time to laugh. There’s a time to mourn and there’s a time to dance.

And I see that the full scope that God has his own timetable and that he is working even when I cannot see it and he is doing things even though I may not fully comprehend it. And I don’t understand all that’s going on in this crazy world. When I grew up, there were just certain values and traditions.

I never heard in my lifetime until recently that it was wrong to be a patriotic Christian. I didn’t know it was wrong to pledge the allegiance. The world’s been turned upside down on me.

Sometimes I’m not even sure what I can say and what I can’t say. But hear me, though I grieve over the state of our world, and I grieve over the pain of personal loss, though I mourn over the sin that even lies within my heart, I do so as one who looks at the ultimate victory to a day in which every tear will be wiped away from my eyes, to a day in which not only will God right every wrong, but I’ll be reunited with my loved ones and sin and sorrow will be cast away and I will live in the constant presence and the fullness of joy of Jesus Christ. It is no wonder that the Apostle said in Romans 8-19, For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God, meaning that all of creation in great anticipation is even waiting for this glorious day when every tear will be wiped away and we will all be promoted in the presence of God and the kingdom of God will be established forever and ever and we will rejoice in all that God has done and is doing and will forever do and it is all for Him, through Him, and to Him we will give glory to God Almighty.

Amen. Church, thank you. I want you to know this.

Don’t ever halfway clap to God. You give Him everything you’ve got. If you’re excited, go for it.

Knowing this is what gives me strength, not merely to endure, but to thrive for Jesus because I can consider what this future waits for me and I am waiting along with creation for the revealing of the sons of God. Would you pray with me? It’s never too late, as long as you have breath in your life, to think about eternity. And the question is, if you stand before God, where are you going to spend eternity? Are you going to be with Jesus in heaven or separated from Jesus in hell? And the way to spend eternity with Jesus is to acknowledge that you’re a sinner in need of a Savior and to believe in your heart that Christ died on the cross for your sins and that you would turn away from your sins and repent and believe in Jesus and to call upon His name for eternal life, for true salvation.

And the Bible gives us a promise that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. So I hope that’ll be true in your life today. If you’ve responded and you’re ready to receive Christ and you feel His call upon you, then reach out to us and let us know through our website, HopeWorthHaving.com. In addition, as you’re reaching out to us, share your prayer requests.

We want to be able to pray for you. Don’t be afraid to reach out to us and let us know how we can pray for you and your family. This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ there is hope worth having.