Seek Higher Things

Introduction

The Son is indeed Lord this day. As we sang in verse 2 of high above the Seraphim, and that has a lot to do with the nature of the things I’m going to be talking about with you shortly. I’ve always, Shiri and I have always loved that song, Listen to Our Hearts. In fact, we would sing it with Shelley and Brett. We had all four parts, and we love that song. We’ve not sung it here too much, which was evidenced by the fact we’re trying to figure it out in the first verse. But I am going to say that whoever’s on to lead songs two weeks from today, Lord willing, I may be revisiting that. So whoever that is, get with me. And I’ve thought of a text in Hosea.

I want to wrap with that song, so get with me on that. And I have to point out in John’s prayer, he used an ellipsis. You don’t hear that very often in prayers. It’s not what we have received, but what God has given us. And the reason why I point that out is ellipses are all over the New Testament, and John is praying in ellipses. So I got to give you props for that, brother. But it was good thoughts as well. Good to see everybody today. We have a number of visitors and family members of our folks, including my parents.

I finally got to meet those other Frasers I’d been hearing about every time they came. I was off in a gospel meeting, and it’s good to see John and family with us today. Man, he’s a lot like that. Okay.

They don’t think that deeply about anything. I think I’ve run into some of those people. But most people think about the meaning of life. What does all this mean? What does my existence here mean? And for hundreds of people, thousands and millions of people, they have no idea what the real answer to that question is. And this morning I want to help with that to make sure that we have the answers, and the fact that the Lord, the Son is Lord this day, has to be a great deal or a great part of those answers. Now, it was a week ago Friday night that at the urging of my daughter and son-in-law, excuse me, my voice gone too, Jared. At the urging of my daughter and son-in-law, who will be here tonight, Sherry and I went to the rodeo.

I hadn’t been to the rodeo in years. I try to stay away from places where there’s a hundred thousand people.

And so, we’re down there a week ago Friday night, and we’re sitting there waiting briefly for Chris and Shelly to show up. And I look at Sherry, and she’s probably not surprised at all that I say this. What in the world are we doing here? But we were there to hear Tim McGraw. And I sort of like Tim McGraw. I’ve been listening to his music through the years, but I tell you, the best thing is to watch those little kids ride those lambs. I tell you, that’s the best part of the whole rodeo experience. Mutton busting or whatever it’s called. And to see one little kid hanging on for dear life underneath the lamb and see these kids get trampled, well, I guess I probably shouldn’t like that.

But so then Tim McGraw came, and of course he put on a very good performance. But he was singing a lot of new songs that I hadn’t been listening to, Tim McGraw lately, and he didn’t sing Indian Outlaw. Half Cherokee and Choctaw. I mean, how can you have a concert, Tim McGraw, and not sing Indian Outlaw? And don’t take the girl. You know, I was, and there’s a couple others. I thought, well, he’s not singing some of the old favorites. Of course, those are about 20 years old now, and I guess he’s appealing to a younger audience. Boy, how time gets away from us, doesn’t it? But he did sing one of his signature songs that has a pretty intriguing message to it. And that’s Live Like You Were Dying.

And if you don’t know that song, but many of you do, I’m sure. The song says, He said I was in my early 40s with a lot of life before me. When a moment came that stopped me on a dime. And I spent most of the next days looking at the x-rays. Isn’t it amazing how country songs rhyme? And talking about the options. Talking about sweet time. And I asked him when it sank in that this might really be the end. How’s it hit you when you get that kind of news? Man, what would you do? He said. And then the chorus. I went skydiving. I went Rocky Mountain climbing. I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named Fu Man Chu. And I loved deeper, and I spoke sweeter.

And I gave forgiveness I’d been denying. And he said, one day I hope you get a chance to live like you were dying. He said, I was finally the husband that most of the time I wasn’t. And I became a friend, a friend would like to have. And all of sudden, going fishing wasn’t such an imposition. I haven’t gotten there yet. And I went three times that year, I lost my dad. And I finally read the good book. And I took a good hard look at what I’d do if I could do it all again. And then, like tomorrow was a gift, and you’ve got eternity to think of what you did with it, what you did with it. What did I do with it? You know, those are pretty good lyrics for a country song.

Live like you’re dying. And there’s some good thoughts in that. And certainly, if death was swearing you in the face, you’d want to take care of the things that you would like to take care of. You’d like to do some things that you hadn’t got done at that point, but then to think about the things that ultimately matter, to take a good, hard long look at this book. All of that would be important. Well, just when you get excited about that on that track on that album, the next song is Drugs or Jesus. And then the one line in that everyone just wants to get high. Sit and watch a perfect world go by. We’re all looking for love and meaning in our lives. We follow the roads that lead us to drugs or Jesus.

You talk about seeking polar extremes here about the search for the meaning of life. I don’t know that it’s just this end or that end, drugs or Jesus, but a lot of people usually end in very divergent roads as to the meaning of life. It’s really quite astonishing how many people look for life and all sorts of things. And they cannot find the real answers. John 11, 26, Jesus, as we’ve been talking about in our study of the Gospel of John, at the resurrection of Lazarus, says, everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Boy, that’s something we need to pay attention to. Do you believe this? And that’s a good question for us. Do you believe this? The one who believes in Jesus shall never die.

Obviously, that doesn’t mean die physically, because we all do. But he’s talking about spiritual death, eternal separation from the Father, and we need to avoid that. And he’s the answer for doing so, he who is the way, the truth, and the life. I saw an interview this week. Somebody posted it on Facebook. An interview with Phil Robertson, not the preacher in Gainesville, Florida, who’s a good friend of mine, but the guy on Duck Dynasty. He was giving his testimonial about his former life in his 20s when he said his life was about sex, drugs, and rock and roll. And he talked about choosing to serve Jesus. He goes, you know, we’re all counting time by Jesus. He talked about BC and AD, and we’re all counting time by Jesus, and he said, I just decided to follow him.

1. The Search of Solomon

And he made an interesting point. That if you reject Jesus, you just got to hope he’s not there. And that’s a good point. And he quoted John 11, 26 in that interview, and he says, we trust that he is. And so I want to talk to you this morning about the quest for life and the quest for answers, and that we need to seek. And what we need to seek is higher things. And I want to make four points about finding answers for our lives and seeking higher things. I want to begin this morning with the search of Solomon, the wise preacher in Ecclesiastes 2. And I’ve loved this passage for a long time because I think it describes, it describes people now in our times.

Ecclesiastes chapter 2. If you had all the wherewithal to do whatever you wanted to look for the meaning of life, what would that search look like? This is it. Ecclesiastes chapter 2. I said to myself, come now. I will test you with pleasure. So enjoy yourself. And behold, it too was futility. I said of laughter. It is madness. And of pleasure. What does it accomplish? And that’s probably the question we should be asking about a lot of things that we pursue. Well, what does it accomplish about going to the rodeo? What does that accomplish? Well, I have to spend time with my daughter and son in law, my wife. I guess that’s a positive thing, isn’t it? I explored with my mind how to stimulate my body with wine while my mind was guiding me wisely in how to take hold of folly until I could see that what good there is for the sons of men to do under heaven the few years of their lives.

I enlarged my works. I built houses for myself. I planted vineyards for myself. He did a lot of things that were that were beautiful, and a lot of industry was involved in all of this. I made gardens and parks for myself, and I planted in them all kinds of trees, all kinds of fruit trees. I made ponds of water for myself, from which to irrigate a forest of growing trees. I had male and female slaves, he says. I had homeborn slaves. Also I possessed flocks and herds larger than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. I collected for myself silver and gold, the treasure of kings and provinces. I provided for myself male and female singers and the pleasures of men, many concubines. And I became great and increased more than all who preceded me in Jerusalem.

And I had wisdom too, he says. And all that my eyes desired, I did not refuse them. Boy, now that’s the experiment right there. If you had the ability, whatever your eyes saw, and you said, I want that. I want to do that. That looks fun. That looks entertaining. Oh, I have time to do that because I’m the richest man in the whole world, and I’m the king, and nobody’s going to stop me. I’m going to do that. All that my eyes desired, he says.

For my heart was pleased because of all my labor. But then this, underline this in your Bibles. And this was my reward for all my labor. You know what he’s saying there? What I got out of it is what I got out of it. And that was it. Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done, and the labor which I had exerted. And behold, all was vanity and striving after wind. And there was no prophet under the sun. I don’t think Solomon is saved. That there is no benefit or purpose to any of the activities that he mentioned. I think what he’s saying is, as ends in and of themselves, and of course, some of these certainly involve sinful activity, but he’s saying as these activities are ends in and of themselves, they don’t supply the meaning of life.

At the end of the day, it’s still empty, it’s over, it’s done. It’s what it is. The reward I got from him is what I got from it, and that’s it. And that’s why he comes to the conclusion that really what life is about is about the person that is above the sun. If you’re looking merely from a horizontal level, this is all empty and pointless and striving after wind. It’s only when you look above the sun and include him that all of this begins to make sense. I wonder what Solomon’s experiment would look like now. Poor guy didn’t have high-depth television. He didn’t have March Madness. He didn’t have ESPN, and we know Solomon would have loved ESPN. He didn’t have video games. He didn’t have Xbox.

What could he have done with a sports car? A race car, airplanes. Think of the experiment. But it wouldn’t matter. What era or age he lived in, it would still be the same result. This is an experiment. If you exclude God from your life and thinking, if he doesn’t affect your pursuits in life, this experiment still fails, even if you could do what Solomon did in our time. Everything that your heart desires. C.S. Lewis has a great quote. I’d never seen it until Sherry found it this week. Awesome quote. All that we call human history money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empire, slavery. And then he says, the long, terrible story of man. And boy, isn’t it. The long, terrible story of man trying to find something other than God that will make him happy.

That is indeed the long, terrible story of man. Trying to find something other than God to make him happy. And Solomon says, that’s bankrupt. And I want to tell you, folks. Sin’s promise is just as empty as it’s always been.

Because it intrigued me. It says on the back, spark clean car wash. I didn’t know where the business was, but I thought, hey, I’m about to get a free car wash. And so I got excited about the postcard I got in the mail. And can you read that in the back? This was the other side of the postcard. Can you read that? You know what that says? It’s as blank as you think it is. There was nothing on the other side of the postcard. It’s like, well, a lot of good that’s going to do me. And I thought about this little yellow postcard, and I said to myself, that’s sin’s offer. It promises what it cannot deliver. This life does not consist in the abundance of a thing which a person possesses.

2. The Ultimate Wisdom of Scripture

Jesus said that long ago in Luke chapter 12 and verse 15. And so if we’re going to seek ultimate things, if we’re going to find the answers to the meaning of life, we’re going to have to search in the ultimate wisdom that’s ever been revealed. The wisdom of Scripture. And what does it tell us? Well, the very nature of the title of this sermon this morning. Colossians chapter 3 and verse 1. If you have then been raised up with Christ, and I want to tell you that’s where it starts. In baptism, when one commits himself to the Lord, because of his faith in him, you remember the one who believes in him shall never die. And then you’re baptized into Christ, then you are raised up with him.

He says, if that’s you, and that’s where it starts. You keep seeking the things above. Where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above and not on the things of this earth. If your mind is dominated by earthly things, if your mind rarely goes to the spiritual realm, let that be your test this week. How often do your thoughts get to the spiritual realm beyond Sundays? How often do you cast your affections at God’s throne, thinking of Him, thinking of His will for you, thinking of the wisdom of Scripture. Is it true of us in verse 4? When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then we also will be revealed with him in glory. Because, verse 3, you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Charge those that are rich not to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches. Paul says in 1 Timothy chapter 6. Lay up for yourselves a good foundation for the future. Store up for yourselves what is life indeed. Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 6, and young people, we need to hang out with wisdom in Proverbs chapter 8. If you’ll read these verses with me in Proverbs chapter 8, verses 32 through 36. One of the final appeals that this man or the personification of wisdom makes to the young man, now therefore, O sons, listen to me. For blessed are they who keep my ways. Heed instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it. Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at my doorposts.

For he who finds me, finds life and obtains favor from the Lord. But he who sins against me injures himself. And all those who hate me love death. You know when people go off in this pursuit, the pursuit that still fails, by the way. The wise writer says they don’t realize something. They’re injuring themselves. They’re hurting themselves. You know, people say it all the time. I love death. I just love death. Death is wonderful. Who says that? But the wise writer says, everyone who hates wisdom, everyone who rejects this instruction, this spiritual instruction, they’re a lover of death. Remember, he who believes in me shall never die. Jesus said in John 11 and verse 26. And so we come back to Colossians chapter 3. There’s the wisdom.

You need to set your affections on things above. You know what’s challenging about that? You can’t do it for me, and I can’t do it for you. The preacher can’t do it for anybody. I’d like to. I’d like to flag people down out here in hardened store road as they drive by. Do you realize what’s going on in this building? We’re providing the answers for life and immortality. Get on in here. Maybe we need to do it by gunpoint. Some of you could help me with that, probably. Y’all get in here. We’ve got the answers for living and immortality. Don’t you want that? People just drive right on by. And that’s the thing. I can’t force people to do that. And I can’t force you. The elders can’t force you.

3. The Supremacy of Faith

You’re the only one that can set your affections on things above. And flowing out of that is the supremacy of faith. The course of faith is the most elevated course in life. As we talked about being raised up with him, Colossians chapter 3 and verse 1. Paul would say to the Ephesians, you have come to sit in heavenly places, in the heavenly realms. We have so been elevated from the destruction that our sin has brought. And the death that we’ve left behind us as we died to sin and arisen to walk in newness of life. I’ll tell you, if you make the decision to become a Christian, your life is immediately elevated. Higher things. Let me tell you something about your possessions, too. Once you are baptized into Christ and raised up with him, you’ll not have any more money than you had before you were baptized.

Did you know that? But I’ll tell you what you will have. You’ll have everything that matters. All things belong to you. And you belong to God. One of my favorite texts in Corinthians, 1 Corinthians chapter 3, verses 21 through 23. Believers have everything that matters because it reaches beyond the emptiness of Solomon’s experiment to the hope of immortality and the inheritance that is promised believers in 1 Peter chapter 1, that is undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you. Well, before I get to that final point, I want you to turn with me to Psalm 107. Psalm 107. If you’re already in the Proverbs, flip over to Psalm 107.

As we talk about making the higher choices in life, I want you to read these verses with me, beginning in verse 8. Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loving kindness and for his wonders to the sons of men. Psalm 107 and verse 9, for he has satisfied the thirsty soul. And the hungry soul he has filled with what is good. There were those who dwelt in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in misery and chains. Because they had rebelled against the words of God and spurned the counsel of the Most High. Therefore he humbled their heart with labor and they stumbled, and there was none to help.

4. The Quest for Legacy

I’ll tell you what, when you live life without God, when you stumble, there’s none to help. And on the other hand, God satisfies the thirsty soul and the hungry soul, he has filled. So as we talk about things with eternal implication and seeking higher things, I want to talk to you very briefly in conclusion this morning about the quest for legacy. A lot of people want to think their life counted for something. How can you make your life count for something? I choose the example of Antioch. When the gospel begins to flourish there, they’re going to send Barnabas down there. Why would you send Paul and Barnabas? Why Barnabas? Because he’s the son of encouragement. And he encouraged them all with resolute heart to remain true to the Lord.

And they were first called Christians in Antioch. How can you make a difference? I want to talk to you about a few simple things that you can do that fit with what Barnabas does in Acts chapter 11. Number one, the things you say to people can make a difference. Barnabas encouraged them all with resolute heart to remain true to the Lord. Our speech seasoned as it were with salt. A man has joy in an apt answer. How fitting is a timely word. Like apples of gold and in settings of silver. Don’t tell me that your words can’t make a difference in people’s life. And the example that you said, apparently that was important because Paul talked to Timothy about his faith and spirit and love and purity and that how he ought to be an example to those who believe.

And those of us that are parents.

More on that in regard to legacy in a moment. And your example of diligence and sacrifice and joy as a worshiper of God. One of the great things that could be said about you in your life is that you encouraged other people to do the right thing and go to heaven.

Mike, I’m going to exclude you this time. We’ll talk about the older elders that we have. Ken, I don’t know. You’re getting there. But particularly Ernie and Robert, and it’s the bannings are always having family members here, and of course we have a good portion of the Frasier family, but as they live their faith year after year, the effect that has upon their children, and their children’s children, and the impact that they have on other people. You know, sometimes I think we look at coming to services, and we did this last week and the week before, and it’s sort of we see it as an end in and of itself. But I want to tell you, as each week passes, and the truth continues to be taught in this place.

And people are encouraged to be faithful to God in their lives. You know what happens week after week after week? Some of us get a little bit older. I’ve been hearing about that. Some of us keep getting older, and then some of us die. And then another generation takes our place, and another generation after that. And look what’s happened. Two thousand years after the Lord ascended to the Father, there are still righteous people all throughout the world. As a result of the legacy that other Christians have left behind. And that gets to all of these important things that we need to be doing. And we need to value each assembly, each occasion of teaching, each prayer that we pray together. Because it’s about legacy. It’s about seeking higher things.

Conclusion

You know, there’s a lot of things that we like to do in the world, whether it’s go to the rodeo or go shopping, watch sports, tease other people about our crazy sports affiliations. But those things all become meaningless when we’re here. When we’re with the people of God. And when we’re looking to the place where there is fullness of joy and pleasure forever in the presence of God. How often do you think about the things that matter most? Is this going to be are you going to shut it down after you leave this morning and go back to that other life, that non spiritual life? Are you going to seek higher things as you do all those other things? Realizing that all that’s here is temporary and that God’s things are eternal.

And have you made that great decision to put on Christ so that you can have the hope? He who believes in me shall never die. If you need to come now as we stand to say.