TEASER

INTRODUCTION

New Year's Day is a great time to begin life anew as it were --to turn over a new leaf --to resolve to make needed changes in the direction of our lives; --however you want to say it. "Oh," you say, "I don't make new year's resolutions. They're more often broken within a week, so I just don't make 'em anymore." I agree, they're easily broken, but with the help of God, they need not be. And they won't be if they pertain to renewed interest and vigor in our pursuit of a better spiritual life; because, you see, we have the help which only God can supply. I reed that in Philippians 4:19. We'll get into it in a few minutes.

We're giving our message today the title, "The Days Of Our Lives." If you think you might want a free copy of it, either on audio cassette tape, or a written copy, please address your request o In Search Of The Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083. By e-mail our address is Searchtv@aol.com. And if you prefer to call, our toll-free telephone number is 1-800-321-8633. You may see it again or download it at your convenience from our website: www.searchtv.0rg. Ken Helterbrand's going to lead us now as we sing, then I'll be back for Bible reading and we'll pray together.

The holiday season --Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years, seem always to remind us of the very fleeting nature of time. I was 14 years old when I committed my life to preaching the gospel of Christ. It was three years later, when I was 17 that I preached my first sermon. I won't say how long ago that was, but I will tell you that it doesn't seem like it could possibly have been that long. My mother was a big influence and the greatest source of encouragement I had in those very difficult and trying days. She gave me a little plaque to hang on the wall that said, "ONLY ONE LIFE, 'TWILL SOON BE PAST. ONLY WHAT'S DONE FOR CHRIST WILL LAST." For a long time, wherever I lived, that plaque, hung on the wall of my study. But in traveling around the world, somewhere I guess it got misplaced. I regret having lost it, but it's message is so permanently engraved in my heart and its appearance is so etched in my memory, I can still see it and am encouraged by it.

Only one life --how true. Each of us is given only one life. We may live in any number of countries, or cities or houses in a lifetime, but only one life. We may lose a house by fire or natural disaster or slothfulness or folly, and obtain another, but it isn't so with life. We have only one. That makes it pretty sacred, wouldn't you say? It's sacred, too, because it's given us of God (Acts 17:25). "He gives to all life and breath and all things." And to Him we must give account for the use we make of it. There may be hearing me now, some young person who's just entering upon the threshold of responsibility in life, and with all of the optimism and enthusiasm of youth, has well-laid plans and hopes for great ventures. Or there may be somewhere, someone who's reached the sunset of life with precious memories --or you may be somewhere between those two, but wherever you are in it, all of us have only one life.

"'Twill soon be past." The Psalmist of Israel said in the passage from the 90th Psalm that we red awhile ago, "The days of our years are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years; it is soon cut off, and we fly away." Today, this first day of the new year, is a clean white page --the first page of the rest of your life and mine. It may be likened to the first page of 365, and it may not; certainly no one knows. No one can tell. Even so, 'Twill soon be past. The apostle Peter was inspired by the Holy Spirit of God to write, "All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the word of the Lord endures forever. Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you." Yes, You have only one life --and it will soon be past. Life is so very precious. It's so sacred. It's so short when we think of it like that, isn't it? What shall I do with mine? That's the question for me. What will you do with yours? That's the question for you.

Some advertising man a few years ago, must've been thinking about that when he prepared the ad for the beer company that said something like, "You only go 'round once, so do it with all the gusto you can get." I weep at times when I think of friends and even some members of the church whom I love so much, who have applied the message of the beer company to life. Their lives seem to be around a can of beer or a bottle of whiskey or wine. Only one life. When it's past, will it have made any lasting contribution to the world? Wouldn't it be sad to have lived an entire lifetime, and have spent that precious gift from the eternal, loving God, in the making and peddling --or in consumption of intoxicating drink with all the misery and evil that goes with it?

Only one life, 'Twill soon be past. Only what's done for Christ will last." Suppose we do a little paraphrasing and see what meaning we receive from it. Only one life, 'twill soon be past. Only what's done for wealth will last. How does that strike you? I saw a television documentary the other day of the history of the stock market. It depicted the "crash" in 1929, then another in the eighties, when people lost every cent of the millions they'd accrued. It showed Mr. Dow, the father of the stock market, actually washing dishes in a restaurant for a living after his great loss. It seemed to be a response to the question before us now: "Only one life; 'twill soon be passed; Only what's done for an accumulation of wealth will last." Is that your life? Or is it "Only what's done for fun will last." Or only what's done pleasure will last. W-e-l-l, none of that's any better, is it? Why don't you try a paraphrase. "Only one life, 'twill soon be past. Only what's done for _________ (you fill in the blank) only what's done for that will it last?

Well, some of the things to which we've dedicated our lives are not bad in themselves. In fact, we're genuinely grateful for much of the good done by many people who're dedicated workers in honorable causes. The environmentalists, for example, who've done so much to preserve our natural world for coming generations --that's a good cause. But even so, when Christ comes this whole world will be burned up, and only what's done for Christ will last. Some people have given themselves and their resources unreservedly to the education of younger generations, and have prepared them well for success in this life. Oh, how grateful we are to them for their sacrificial good works. But when the bodies of those successful people go back to the dust from whence God made them in the beginning, only what's done for Christ will last!

It's tragic that so many people are "wasting" that one life which God has given them. Wasted in sin, lust, greed, immorality. One of America's great men of the past (I'll not call his name, lest someone think I'm being political and his political party doesn't matter to me), he said, "If there is any hope for the future of America, if there is to be peace and happiness in our homes, then we, as a nation, must return to God and the practice of daily prayer. Can we have peace without morality?, he asked. "Can we build homes without God?" A Godless home is built upon the sand; it's a breeding ground for moral decay and national demise.

My friend, you and I have only one life --no more --that's all. A this time of year, the passing of the old year and the beginning of the new year, we're more conscious of the passing of time, and man's purpose here, than at any other, unless it would be a birthday. And that one life --that gift from the eternal God --is passing ever so swiftly. Now, don't you think, it's time we stop long enough to get our priorities straight, set some new goals, establish some new and noble ideals and get going in the right direction? One response that's so often heard to that question is, "I just don't have time right now." Why don't we have dime? Has someone or something taken it from us? What could be consuming so much of our time, that we have no time for God? What a frightening condition! That's a problem that's basic to other human problems! We're not supposed to serve God when everything else is finished, --when we have no work to do, no more things to see, no more places to go, nothing else to do, or when we've become sick, worn out and can't do anything, but now. Someone's said, "Make Christ the center of your life and everything else will fall into place." To try to work God into a busy schedule will never work, friend. There'll never be time for God that way! The only way to have time for God is to work the schedule around Him. Put Him first and at the very center of all of life. Anything else is futile and folly! It's all over.

Ephesians 2:8-10 says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." The "salvation by grace alone" folks miss something in that passage. Of course eternal, lasting, salvation is by the grace of God. God doesn't have a plan for the salvation of angels that sinned. He cast them down to Tartarus (2 Pet. 2:4). Why would He do it for man, but not for the angels that sinned. Is man more worthy than angels? No. Is man more capable of preparing his own way of salvation than angels? No, it's not that. It's by God's grace that man can be reconciled to God, through faith, but the faith referenced there is not merely an assertion of belief in Jesus as personal Savior. Faith there (in that verse --and most others) involves a person with God in God's eternal plan. "Faith" is never used in Scripture as a synonym for idleness, but for involvement.

James says, "Faith without works is dead" (Jas. 2:26). In his book, "New Testament Christianity," J.B. Phillips explained it this way: "If we do not use our faith faculty, we are bound to be out of harmony with the divine Plan." (And, "Plan" he capitalized, meaning deity --or God.) The "faith only person" is "out of harmony with God." The faith only idea is that a person hopes to reap the retirement benefits (heaven) from a company (in this case, the Lord) in whom he says he believes, but for whom he's never enjoyed a relationship and never doing anything. It doesn't work that way, does it? Such a person says he believes in the company, the CEO, the policies, the product and all that but he's never worked for the company. For that endorsement he expects regular compensation, company dividends and generous retirement benefits? Try it 'n' see if works, and let me know.

Well, "Only one life, "Twill soon be past." Isaiah 40:6-8 says, "All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, because the breath of the Lord blows upon it; Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever." And, the apostle Peter was inspired of the Holy Spirit of God to quote those words in his first epistle, as we saw a moment ago. Jesus said of Himself, "I must work the works of Him who sent Me, while it is day; the night is coming comes when no one can work" (John 9:4). And that passage in Ephesians we noticed awhile ago (Ephesians 2:10) says, "We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."

My friend, today is the first day of the rest of your life. I hope you're a believer in Christ. And I have an idea you are, else you wouldn't still be with me. But faith only isn't enough. Jesus, our Savior said, "Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness (iniquity --KJV)" (Matt. 7:21-23). According to Acts 2:38, you need, also, to repent and be baptized for the remission of your sins." Do it promptly, will you?

Yes! Forgiveness and hope --forgiveness in this life, and hope for eternal life are two, but only two of the blessed benefits of being a Christian and living the genuine Christian life. Both of these are acquired through the grace of God, by faith on our part (Eph. 2:8-10). The Bible says, "Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him" (Heb. 11:6). It's unfortunate, in some respects, that we must use the word "faith," to describe our walk with God, because that word has degenerated in our times into no more, or only a little more, than a stubborn holding on to something which we define as "truth." While it is that alright, it's more than that. It's also the ability, which might be described as a sixth sense by which we can see the unseen, to grasp it, draw upon it and live by it. And if we do not use it, we lose it. Part of --no!, I should say a big, big part of the blessing of being a Christian is the use of our faith to join hands with God in a very serious way, to advance His plan and purpose in the world. Yes, my mother taught me, "Only one life; 'Twill soon be past. Only what's done for Christ will last."

Let me close this message about that serious side of life with some of Longfellow's Psalm of Life. I don't have time for all of it. I don't know when it was written, but it was first published in October 1893 --112 years ago. We had a high school teacher who taught us to commit such poetry to memory and this one's stayed with me. He began: "Tell me not, in mournful numbers, / Life is but an empty dream!-- / For the soul is dead that slumbers, / And things are not what they seem. // Life is real! Life is earnest! / And the grave is not its goal; / Dust thou art, to dust returnest, / Was not spoken of the soul. // Lives of great men all remind us / We can make our lives sublime, / And, departing, leave behind us / Footprints on the sands of time."

If you'd like a free copy of today's message in either printed form, or on an audio cassette tape, you need only to address your request for it to In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083. You won't need to send money. It's been paid for by some friends of yours who're members of churches of Christ in the area of this station. Sooo, if you're into e-mail, and many are nowadays, our address is Searchtv@aol.com. If you'd rather call than write, our toll-free telephone number is 1-800-321-8633. Give us a few days to prepare and mail it. There'll be thousands of them to be mailed out. And, incidentally, all that's done by volunteers from the Edmond, Oklahoma Church of Christ. Say, why not begin this new year by worshiping God --yet today if possible --at a church of Christ. We'd love to have you. Join us again next week at this time, too. God bless you now --and throughout the year. We love you.