The Frailty of Life
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00:55:50
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…
I have many scriptures which I intend to read, but not at this point in time.
I want to read them as we go along.
So, let's have another hymn.
This time I want us to sing 3-4-9.
3-4-9
My soul, repeat his praise, whose mercies are so great, whose anger is so slow to rise, so ready to abate.
Verse 4
Man's life is as the grass, or like the morning flower.
If one sharp blast sweep o'er the field, it withers in an hour.
But thy compassions, Lord, to endless years endure.
A hymn by Isaac Watts, and based, I assume, on Psalm 103.
3-4-9
Well, we don't have to use our brains much to realize how short and fragile human life is.
I have been thinking a little about this, but just before I was asked to speak here,
I had attended two funerals, almost on successive days.
One was a former boss who was age 71, and the other was someone who had been a Sunday school parent who was age 43.
Seeing illness and decline in close family, and those we love, also reminds us of this.
And it's often the case, I find, that much of our prayer meetings are concerned with those who are unwell,
or with loved ones of those who've passed away.
When we're young, time passes so slowly, doesn't it?
The life ahead seems so long, almost going on forever.
But when we get older, it speeds up, and time passes so quickly.
So what seems like a very long time, soon becomes a very short time.
Now, for man in general, death is the only certainty.
In fact, it's the most appalling truth that cannot be prevented.
Modern medicine, modern technology may delay it, but that's all.
Only for a time.
Now, we know it wasn't always like that.
When God created man, once we read in the first chapters of Genesis,
it was when the first man and woman sinned that their relationship with God was broken and death came in.
And of course, since we're all descended from Adam and Eve, death is visited upon us all.
And it's something we have to recognise.
And I appreciate that this is literally a morbid subject, but it's fundamental.
And it's something that so many like to avoid thinking about.
But we as believers in the Lord Jesus have no fear of death.
But there are issues for us in relation to this truth.
Now, of course, scripture comments on this.
It comments in quite a few places on the human limitations of our short and frail lives.
And to emphasise the truth, we're given pictures.
Scripture gives us pictures.
Some of the pictures used, some of the scriptural imagery, seems to emphasise the brevity of it all, how short it is.
There are other pictures that seem to emphasise the lack of real substance to our lives, what impact our lives make.
So, this is my topic.
My topic is the brevity and frailty of life.
And I'm thinking particularly of those scriptures where we're given pictures to emphasise the truth.
And this afternoon, I want to see how these scriptures, how the Holy Spirit through the scriptures, brings up the topic, the context in which we find it.
And I think there are things that the Lord wants us to learn in connection with this.
I believe that as we look at this, we should find, and I think we will find, some interesting and instructive lessons and contrasts.
Now, the truth is used in the scripture in several different ways.
We'll look at these.
Now, of course, I won't refer to every relevant scripture, and no doubt you'll think when we've finished,
he should have talked about this one, and he should have talked about that one.
Okay? Forgive me.
Okay, now the first area I want to talk about is this.
First of all, the brevity and frailty of life is used as the basis of an appeal to God.
Okay?
The brevity and frailty of life is used as a basis of an appeal to God.
And to see this, we'll start in Job.
Okay?
Now, in Job, we see Job and his friends debating.
And unsurprisingly, the passing of life, the feebleness of man, is a topic that's touched on in their discussion.
And Job brings forth several pictures to show his feelings about the speed of life's passing.
Now, I just want to touch on some of these ideas expressed in Job, not to dwell on them.
So, Job is suffering so much, and then he's having to listen to the comments and accusations of his friends.
Life has is the first of his friends, and Job, in answering what a life has says,
comments on the speed of life's passing and its lack of substance.
Turn to Job chapter 7, and I'm just going to pick up a couple of verses from here.
Job 7, and verse 6.
My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope.
Oh, remember that my life is wind, mine eyes shall no more see good.
Life passes quickly, swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and life is wind.
A weaver's shuttle moves backwards and forwards at great speed to create the cloth.
A weaver's shuttle.
The other picture here is wind. Now, many translations give breath rather than wind.
I think that's probably more accurate.
Life is but a breath.
Brief, insubstantial.
And Job feels he has grounds to complain to God about what's happening to him.
Verse 11, a couple of verses down, end of the verse he says,
I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
Now, interestingly, if we go on to the next chapter, where Bildad presents his case against Job,
he also brings forward the brevity of life.
Bildad bases his arguments on received wisdom.
What's been said before? Tradition.
He doesn't seem to think through issues.
He just generalizes from what's been said in the past.
And his argument is, we've been here such a short time,
we need to accept the accumulated experience of previous generations.
That's his argument.
A sort of collective knowledge built up over generations.
So Job chapter 8 and verse 8, this is Bildad talking, he says,
For inquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers.
For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow.
Shall not they teach thee and tell thee, and utter words out of their heart?
Our days on earth are but a shadow.
And what does the collective knowledge of previous generations tell Bildad?
It says that those who forget God suffer in this life.
Well it's a generalization.
It's often true, but certainly not always.
And Job later on in the debate points that out.
So Bildad goes from this generalization to maintaining that Job must have sinned greatly
in order to be suffering as he was.
And then in the next chapter, Job replying to Bildad,
he again sees life passing swiftly.
He brings in three other pictures to illustrate.
Chapter 9, verse 25.
He says, Now my days are swifter than a post or a runner.
They flee away, they see no good.
They are passed away as the swift ships, as the eagle that hasteth to the prey.
So Job comes up with three more pictures to show the speed at which life passes on.
With life moving on uncontrollably fast,
we notice just a few verses further down,
he wants someone to come between him and God.
Verse 33, Neither is there any day's man betwixt us
that might lay his hand upon both of us.
He's looking for a mediator.
He sees life passing so fast, he wants a mediator.
OK. Now I want to move on to chapter 14.
Just one more from Job.
Beginning of chapter 14, he says,
Man that is born of a woman is a few days and full of trouble.
He cometh forth like a flower and is cut down.
He fleeth also as a shadow and continueth not.
And dost thou open thine eyes upon such one
and bringest me into judgment with thee?
His argument here is that life is so short
that God shouldn't intervene and cause him trouble.
As I understand this passage, Job is blaming God
for what has happened to him and considers it unfair.
We have such a short time here, why doesn't God leave us alone?
And although we won't read them for time's sake,
we find further on, chapter 16, chapter 17,
life's brevity is still on Job's mind.
But then after that, there seems to be a change.
And Job's faith seems to be coming through more clearly.
He gets the point in chapter 19 when he can declare,
I know that my Redeemer lives.
And as his focus changes, so his obsession with life's brevity
and frailty, it just seems to fade.
The point I'm making here is that Job is using
his recognition of human frailty and the brevity of life
as a basis for appealing to God to stay his hand,
to show some mercy.
This sort of thing, this sort of recognition,
is used in the scriptures elsewhere
in a similar sort of way.
If we turn over to Psalm 89.
Psalm 89, it's a masculine of Ethan the Ezraite.
Ethan praises God, and then there's a reminder
that God made his covenant with David,
and it's a permanent covenant.
His seed shall endure forever.
Then the tone of the psalm changes.
He says,
Thou hast cast us off and abhorred.
Thou hast been wroth with thine anointed.
And he briefly recounts the disasters
that have befallen the king and his kingdom.
Now, in 1 Kings 4, we see that Ethan the Ezraite
was a contemporary of Solomon's.
He's described as one of the great wise men,
although Solomon himself, it says,
was wiser even than he.
So this would seem to fix when this was written.
Verse 46.
This is what Ethan writes.
How long, Lord?
Will thou hide thyself forever?
Shall thou wrath burn like fire?
Remember how short my time is.
Wherefore hast thou made all men in vain?
What man is he that liveth and shall not see death?
Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave?
Lord, where are thy former lovingkindnesses
which thou swearest unto David in thy truth?
Remember, Lord, the reproach of thy servants.
The writer wants to see a change.
How long before you cease this punishment, Lord?
Why don't you answer us?
Why do you hide when we call?
They're suffering reproach as God's faithful people.
Now, there is a clear prophetic aspect to this
which we won't go into,
but they're appealing to the Lord
on the basis of the brevity of life and its frailty.
Okay, now let's move on.
I want to move on to the second way
in which I see the brevity of life as used in scripture.
And here the Holy Spirit uses it to emphasize other truths.
Okay?
I'll show you what I mean.
Move over to Psalm 102.
Psalm 102 and verse 11.
And the psalmist says,
My days are like a shadow that declineth,
and I am withered like grass.
But thou, O Lord, shall endure forever,
and thy remembrance unto all generations.
Now, there's a lot we could take from this psalm
and the context of these words,
but for time's sake, I just want to pick up one point.
The psalmist sees his days as declining like a shadow,
brief and insubstantial.
But he contrasts this with the Lord.
The Lord endures forever.
So there's a clear contrast there between us and the Lord.
Now, we know it, of course. Of course we know it.
But it's something we need to remember, always remember.
When we see and look at our own frail lives,
we must remember that our Lord God and Savior
is outside of time.
He's everlasting.
So we see this contrast between ourselves and the Lord.
He's mortal. We're mortal. Sorry. He's immortal.
A basic point that everything flows from that.
Turn over to the next psalm.
Psalm 103.
Now, I want to come back to this psalm later on.
But at this point, I want to note the picture
that David in this psalm gives us and the contrast.
Verse 15.
The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting
upon them that fear him
and his righteousness unto children's children.
His mercy extends from everlasting to everlasting.
It's outside of our short time span.
He is and always will be merciful.
God's mercy is upon those that fear him.
So we see this picture of our lives like grass and flowers
that grow up, flourish, then wither and fade.
And then the contrast.
The mercy or loving kindness, as some translations put it,
of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting
upon them that fear him.
OK. I want to go to a third contrast now.
Turn over to Isaiah 40.
In Isaiah 40, a cry is heard.
Crying in the wilderness to prepare the way for the Lord
and the glory of the Lord will be revealed.
It will be seen by all flesh.
It will be seen by all flesh.
It will be seen by all flesh.
It will be seen by all flesh.
It will be seen by all flesh.
Verse 3.
The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness,
prepare ye the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be exalted
and every mountain and hill shall be made low
and the crooked shall be made straight
and the rough places plain
and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed
and all flesh shall see it together
for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
The voice said, Cry.
And he said, What shall I cry?
All flesh is grass
and all the goodliness thereof
is as the flower of the field.
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth,
but the Spirit of the Lord gloweth upon it.
Surely the people is grass.
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth,
but the word of our God shall stand forever.
So we see this picture of our lives
like grass and flowers again
that grow up and then wither and fade.
Then Isaiah presents a strong contrast.
The grass and flowers quickly wither and fade
but the word of the Lord, that lives forever.
Now back in Psalm 103 we saw this picture of grass
and frail flowers used to contrast our lives
with the Lord's everlasting mercy.
Here in Isaiah we see the same picture
to contrast our lives with something else
that's everlasting.
And this time it's God's word.
And that's what we have to rely on, isn't it?
A living and everlasting word.
God's full, complete revelation
has existed for over 1,900 years now.
In that time very many generations have come and gone.
If we were to say that on average
each generation lived about 30 years
then that's 60 generations, over 60 generations.
People live, they die,
and they are here no more.
But God's word continues unchanged.
With the world's morality like shifting sands
God's word doesn't change.
It gets translated of course
but God's word doesn't change.
And it's no wonder that God's word
seems always to be under attack.
It is really quite extraordinary to think
that back in the Middle Ages
the leaders of Christendom,
yet so-called Christian leaders,
banned God's word in anything other than Latin,
a language that ordinary people couldn't understand.
And men were burned at the stake
for translating and distributing Bibles
that ordinary people could understand.
Perhaps things may seem better nowadays.
After all, the scriptures are available
in very many languages
and they can be easily obtained.
But now it's the truth of the scriptures
that's under attack.
Satan convinces the world
that the scriptures are no more than a myth.
But God's word is God's word.
It's eternal. It's immutable.
Now this contrast between our mortality
and the immortality of scripture
appears several times.
OK, I want us to just look at another one quickly.
1 Peter 1.
So if we go to the New Testament
see what Peter has to say about this.
.
Verse 23, 1 Peter 1.23.
Being born again not of corruptible seed
but of incorruptible
by the word of God
which liveth and abideth forever
for all flesh is as grass
and all the glory of man as the flower of grass.
The grass withereth and the flower thereof
falleth away
but the word of the Lord endureth forever.
And this is the word which by the gospel
is preached unto you.
Peter draws a comparison between seeds.
.
A corruptible or perishable seed
and an incorruptible seed that lasts.
The corruptible seed to the basis of our mortal lives
and the incorruptible.
We are born again by the word of God.
And then the contrast is extended
into verse 24
between all flesh and the word of God.
All living things are mortal
their lives like the flower of the field are short
the word of God lives forever.
So we see this picture of our lives again
as in Psalm 103
and Isaiah 40
They are like grass and flowers
that grow up and then wither and fall.
And again as in Isaiah 40 the contrast here
is with God's word
that lives forever.
And that's what we have to rely on
a living and abiding word
and that's what provides us with new birth
a new life
The word itself is eternal
and our lives coming from our new birth
are incorruptible, permanent, forever.
So what other truths
are we reminded of
through mentioning our brief and frail lives?
Well there's one more that I want to look at.
I need to turn back to 1 Chronicles 29 for this.
1 Chronicles 29
Near the end of his life David decided
he wanted to build a house for God.
He wasn't allowed to because he was a man of war
but Solomon his son was to build it.
David however organised the vast project
including the funding
it says that he himself gave generously
and first all the leaders and then the people
also offered willingly and generously.
And in 1 Chronicles 29
David praises the Lord in the congregation of Israel
and in his praise he recognises
that what they have been able to give
belongs to God anyway.
This is what he says
1 Chronicles 29 verse 13
Now therefore our God we thank thee
and praise thy glorious name
but who am I
and what is my people
that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort
for all things come of thee
and of thine own have we given thee
for we are strangers before thee and sojourners
as were all our fathers
our days on earth are as a shadow
and there is none abiding
O Lord our God all this store that we've prepared
to build thee a house for thine holy name
cometh of thine hand
and is all thine own
our days are a shadow he says
a shadow something of no substance
passing quickly
that's the picture he uses here
and David uses that fact to reinforce that
it all belongs to God
everything all belongs to him
it all comes from him
even what we give back to him
if we like to call it that
actually doesn't belong to us
it's his
everything belongs to him
so what have we seen so far
let's sort of pull it all together a bit
firstly we saw that life's brevity
is used as an appeal to God
with examples from Job and Asaph
secondly we saw this truth
used to emphasise other truths
so we saw in Psalm 102
it emphasised that the Lord himself is eternal
and then in Psalm 103
it emphasised that God's mercy is everlasting
and then in Isaiah 40 and 1 Peter 1 we see
it emphasises that God's word is everlasting
now I'm going to come to my third section
I want us to consider how life's brevity
affects God, if I may put it like that
what God does is linked
in several references
to his recognition of our limitations
you'll see what I mean in a moment
turn over to Psalm 78
in Psalm 78
Asaph recounts the marvellous things that God did for his people
particularly at the Exodus and in the wilderness journey
as they get to their promised land
and how time and again
they were disobedient and rebellious
and he notes that God punishes them
and then generally when God punishes them
then they sought him
but in reality
their hearts weren't really right with him
that's what verses 35 to 37 tell us
but, verse 38
But he, being full of compassion
forgave their iniquity and destroyed them not
Yea, many a time turned he his anger away
and did not stir up all his wrath
for he remembered
that they were but flesh
a wind that passeth away
and cometh not again
He was merciful
he forgave their iniquity
many times he turned away his anger
we see here he's merciful
and he's patient
and surely as we see
not only his dealings with Israel
we can think of the wilderness journey
because it's documented so clearly there in the scriptures
we can think of when they're in the land
it's documented so clearly in the scriptures
we can think of Israel subsequent to that
or when we look at ourselves
what do we see?
we see amazing patience on God's part
why is God patient with us?
well this gives us a reason
God recognises that we are flesh
a breath that passes and doesn't come again
a breath, that's how short it is
a breath, no substance
and then it's gone
and there's a sense
in which the infinite God sees our lives like that
because that's the picture he's using in the scriptures
and because of our weakness, our frailty
he is amazingly patient
he is merciful, he forgives
one of the distinctions between us humans and angels
is our mortality, we grow old and we die
they don't
another distinction is that God is patient and merciful
towards us rebellious humans
and graciously and mercifully provides salvation for us
through our Lord Jesus Christ
so God is patient
because of our frailty and the brevity of our lives
now I want to go back to Psalm 103
where we were earlier
for a second example
of God reacting to this truth
if you like
verse 14, again
I know we've read it, but we'll read it again
verse 14
for, that's the Lord
knoweth our frame, he remembereth that we are dust
as for man, his days are as grass
as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth
for the wind passeth over it and it is gone
and the place thereof shall know it no more
but the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting
I should have read verse 13, I apologise
like as a father pitieth his children
so the Lord pitieth them that fear him
for he knoweth our frame
he remembereth that we are dust
I should have read that as well
in this wonderful psalm
God is shown
having mercy, grace and forgiveness
and David blesses God for that
and he tells us that the Lord pities us
or has compassion on us
compassion, that's what the word really means
he has compassion on us, he has real sympathy with us
because he knows what we are
we're dust
as Adam was told after he'd sinned in Genesis 3
from dust you came, and to dust you will return
so the picture he's giving us here
in this psalm
is of a father with a small child
weak and pretty powerless
yet the object of a father's compassion and love
the Lord knows our frame
he remembers what we are, he remembers we're dust
he remembers what we're made of, he remembers our limitations
and it's wonderful, isn't it, to experience the Lord's
understanding and compassion
and David then brings in the picture we noted earlier
of flowers and grass to emphasise
the shortness of our lives and our frailty
OK, now I want to come on to our fourth section
now this is our last section, you'll be pleased to hear
How should we respond?
How does the fact that our lives here
are so brief and powerless affect us?
Does it have any implications for the way that we think
the way we behave?
Now I'll say before I start, I appreciate that the lessons here
are ones that I myself need to learn
maybe others do too
Let's start in James
James chapter 4
It's been a desire of man right from the fall
to be autonomous
to be independent of God
and of course
this has become particularly prominent in this age
where in Britain and much of the Western world
the God-fearing
that there used to be, at least on the surface
for many it went deeper
has largely disappeared
Acknowledging God, attending a place of worship
these are very minority pursuits
and most will openly state
that they do not accept the personal God
who we know
much of the love of the hypothesis
of evolution
is that it gets rid of God
and so in general
man believes there is no God
he is without God
and he, man, is therefore in control
man wants to be in control
he doesn't want to be beholden to any other being
other than himself
but of course man isn't in control
he doesn't even know what will happen tomorrow
because our lives are so short
and insubstantial
even tomorrow is uncertain
we don't know the future
therefore what James tells us
in this passage I'm just about to read to us
he says it's totally wrong
to make arrogant assumptions
James 4 verse 13
Go to now ye that say
today or tomorrow
we will go into such a city
and continue there for a year
and buy and sell and get gain
whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow
for what is your life?
it is even a vapour that appeareth for a little time
and then vanisheth away
for that ye ought to say if the Lord will
we shall live and do this or that
but now ye rejoice in your boastings
all such rejoicing is evil
what is our life?
the picture that the Holy Spirit
through James paints for us is of a vapour
or a mist
it's there for a little while and then it disappears
that's all that life is
no real substance
so given that that's what our lives are like
none of us can have any grounds at all for boasting
James is writing against
pride and arrogant presumption
a lack of acknowledgement
of our dependence on God
your life's uncertain and short he says
so always remember you are dependent on God
and in fact James
here in verse 16 is
describing this presumption as evil
all such glorying is evil he says
it's not wrong to plan for tomorrow of course
the point is that our plans
must acknowledge that we are
in God's hands
OK let's move on
as we've noticed a picture of our lives that the Holy Spirit
presents several times
is that of grass and flowers
they grow up but soon fade and die
and that's particularly true in hotter areas
in the Middle East
this picture being used to show the shortness and frailty of our lives
here today look good and healthy
but in a very short time some get chopped down
some just fade
and die
so we've seen this picture several times
and James uses this picture as well
go back to chapter 1
chapter 1 verse 10
But the rich
in that he is made low
because as the flower of the grass
he shall pass away
for the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat
but that it withereth the grass and the flower thereof falleth
and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth
so also shall the rich man fade away
in his ways
so James recounts how when the sun rises
with its burning heat the grass withers and the flower fades
and he uses that picture to remind us
that what we have here
the material things we focus on don't last
he's talking particularly to the rich
but the principles extend to us all
we know that Paul writes
in 1 Timothy that the love of money
is the root of all evil
this love drives us to sin
we know we can't take our money or possessions with us
but it can still so easily be a focus
for much of our lives
the more we concentrate on earthly possessions
the more we've lost when our lives end
we are reminded of that parable
that the Lord told in Luke 12
about the man with his excellent crops
he decided he would build bigger barns
to store it all so he could totally relax
without a thought of God
or thought of anyone but himself
and tonight you will die God says to him
he'll be gone and his possessions that he focused
so much energy on will be left behind
and the Lord draws a distinction between
treasure on earth and treasure in heaven
the lesson is obvious isn't it
our lives here are brief
the time when we will be with the Lord is eternal
where are we storing our treasure
Psalm 90
Psalm 90
Psalm 90 in verse 9
for all our days are passed away in thy wrath
we spend our years as a tale that is told
the days of our years are three score years and ten
and if by reason of strength they be four score years
yet it is their strength
yet it is their strength labor and sorrow
for it is soon cut off and we fly away
verse 12 so teach us
to number our days that we may apply
our hearts unto wisdom
Moses wrote this
Moses in spite of the fact that he himself
lived 120 years
he placed us at 70 years as a normal life span
it's soon cut off he says and we fly away
earlier on in verse 4 he writes
the thousand years in your sight
are as yesterday when it's passed
God is outside of time
and he notes that God is from verse 2
from everlasting to everlasting
a better translation of verse 9 says
we spend our years as a passing thought
a passing thought that's all
momentary, insubstantial
what's the lesson? verse 12
so teach us to number our days
that we may apply our hearts to wisdom
how important this is isn't it
we must recognize our short and frail existences
and make the most of our time
teach us to number our days
as we know we will stand before the judgment seat of Christ
to account for our lives and I'm sure that how we use our time
will be something that does come out here
OK let's turn back to Psalm 39
Psalm 39
we will notice if we read through it
we don't have time to read through it all
but we notice that David is suffering the Lord's discipline
and he feels it heavy upon him
but he's careful not to complain
particularly when the wicked are around
he has to speak, he has to talk to the Lord
verse 3
at his best state is altogether vanity
selah
surely every man walketh in a vain show
surely they're disquieted in vain
he heapeth up riches and knoweth not who shall gather them
and now Lord what wait I for
my hope is in thee
hand breath
my days are a hand breath
mine ages as nothing before thee
every man at his best state is altogether vanity
that's how David describes life here
contemplation of life's limits
brevity and frailty
so where do they drive David to?
do they drive him to depression?
no, verse 7
they drive him to the Lord
my hope is in thee
so when we think about this truth
when we think about it all
where does it take us?
surely it takes us to the Lord
the one who is himself everlasting
whose word is everlasting
whose mercy is everlasting
you know there have been those thinkers, philosophers
who've been driven to suicide
by the futility and pointlessness of a brief life without God
and for those who haven't got a relationship with the everlasting God
that's all there is
it's just futile
ok, one more scripture and then we'll close
we've noted that both James and Peter in the New Testament
draw our attention to life's brevity and frailty
Paul also does
let's go to 2 Corinthians chapter 4
2 Corinthians chapter 4
verse 7 he writes
we have this treasure in earthen vessels
that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us
earthen vessels
a reminder of the clay from which we are formed
earthen vessels easily broken
let's go on to the end of the chapter
verse 16
for which cause we faint not
but though our outward man perisheth
yet the inward man is renewed day by day
for our light affliction which is but for a moment
worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory
while we look not at the things which are seen
but at the things which are not seen
for the things which are seen are temporal
but the things which are not seen are eternal
yet outwardly we fade and perish
inwardly the Lord renews us day by day
and we look for those things which are unseen and eternal
that's what our attitude should be
to the brevity and frailty of life
looking for those things that last
now of course there is an attitude in the world
which is exemplified by Paul's quotation in 1 Corinthians 15
where he says
if there is no resurrection then
let us eat and drink
for tomorrow we die
for those of us who trust in the Lord
it's completely different
our brief lives are a gateway to something
that is infinitely better
being at home with the Lord forever and ever
so it's no wonder that Paul could write to the Thessalonians
that they turn to God from idols
to serve a living and true God
and to wait his Son for heaven
and that's what we look forward to
that's what's in store for us
marvellous isn't it
the Lord Jesus will return to take us to be with him
and he's coming soon
right please give me one more minute
I just want to pull these thoughts together
I see that the truth
that human life is short and frail
is used in at least four major ways
in the scriptures we glanced at
firstly we see it used as an appeal to God
and we saw some examples
of those who suffered asking God
to remember what human life is
and they appealed to him on that basis
then we saw
the truth used
by the Holy Spirit to emphasise
other truths
we saw life's brevity contrasted
with God himself
the eternal God the everlasting God
we saw it contrasted with his everlasting mercy
we saw it contrasted with his everlasting word
and we also saw it used to remind us
that everything belongs to him
in the third section
we saw life's brevity used to explain
why God is patient
and why he is compassionate towards us
and then we saw how we should react
we are totally dependent on God
and therefore any sort of arrogant pride is wrong
we are warned against the focus
on the accumulation of riches here
and told to number our days
we are here briefly
we are responsible for how we use our time and resources
and finally we saw that in 2 Corinthians
how Paul viewed man's frailty
although we are here but briefly and we are weak
earthen vessels he says
we are renewed spiritually day by day
and we look to the things that are unseen
those things that really last
those things that really matter
those are the things that are eternal
where our Lord is
and where we will be very soon
ok I'd like us to close with
316
number 316
verse 2 says
our earthen vessels break
the world itself grows old
but Christ
our precious dust will take
and freshly mould
he'll give these bodies vile
a fashion like his own
he'll bid the whole creation smile
and hush it's grown
316 …