Sermon Archive

Most Important Question

"Life’s Most Important Question! " pt 1

Luke 10:25-37 Part 1

Some questions aren’t very important. Questions like:

How far east can you go before you're heading west?

Why doesn't McDonald's sell hotdogs?
When does it stop being partly cloudy & start being partly sunny?

Is there a time limit on fortune cookie predictions?

Can you daydream at night?

Why do people say "heads up" when you should duck?

Other questions are very important like the question asked Jesus in Luke 10:25: Luke 10:25-37 “On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" "What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?" He answered: "‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart & with all your soul & with all your strength & with all your mind’; &, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’" "You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this & you will live. "But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" This last question about “who is my neighbor” & Jesus answer we will look at it nest week.

The question: What must I do to inherit eternal life?” is critically important. It is more important than the question, “Whom shall I marry?” or “What career should I pursue?” or “How much do I invest for retirement?” It is important because you will live forever & because you will spend that forever in one of two places, heaven or hell. There is no purgatory. There is no limbo. There is only heaven & hell.

God has put a longing for eternity in the human heart. We feel the pull of eternity in our heart like a blind child flying a kite, feels the tug of the wind against his hand as it pulls the string though he can't see it. God has set eternity in our heart.

That's why in Egyptian society, for example, when they buried the Pharaohs in the pyramids they put a solar boat with them so that they would sail across the river into the next world.

That’s why when the Greeks buried somebody, they put a silver coin in their mouth when they put them into the ground so they could pay their toll across the mystic river into eternity.

That’s why, when some Native American Indian Tribes buried their warriors, they buried their ponies with them so they could have something to ride through the happy hunting ground. God has set eternity in the heart.

Now Jesus does not fully answer the question “How can I inherit eternal life” in this passage. But He does in John 3 where Jesus answered a similar question from a man named Nicodemus.

I. Nicodemus Question. John 3:1-2:

“Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. ²He came to Jesus at night & said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.

Nicodemus was a religious leader whose job was to interpret & defend the OT Jewish law. He came to Jesus at night, probably because he saw it as the best time for private talk with Jesus. His interest in Jesus had been prompted by Jesus miracles. So he came to get more information. The question he asked was similar to the lawyers’ question: "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

II. Jesus Answer.John 3:5-15

³In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. ⁴“How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!”

Jesus uses a metaphor of being “born again” to help Nicodemus understand. Jesus says just as we must experience birth to begin physical life, so we must experience a rebirth to experience spiritual life!

John 1:12-13 shares the same truth: “… to all who received Jesus, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - ¹³children born not of natural birth, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”

Nicodemus doesn’t understand the “born again” metaphor so he asks Jesus another question. Verse 4 “How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!”

Jesus goes on to explain: ⁵Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water & the Spirit. ⁶Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. ⁷You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’

There have been various interpretations of the “born of water & the Spirit ” in v5. Verse 6 gives the answer: “Flesh gives birth to flesh or born of water” refers to physical birth & “Spirit gives birth to spirit or “born of the Spirit” refers to spiritual birth.

Nicodemus, still not fully understanding Jesus asks another question: ⁹“How can this be?” Nicodemus response is not a statement of disbelief. It is a plea for understanding. He wanted to know how he could experience this “new birth”.

So, Jesus shares a story about the Jews in the OT to help Nicodemus understand. Jesus said: ¹⁴Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, …

The story, Jesus was referring to is in Numbers 21:4-9. It’s a story where the Jewish people had sinned against God. God punished them by sending snakes that bit the people. Many of the people were sick & dying from the bite. There was no cure! Here’s the point: They were unable to save themselves & they needed help. So Moses prayed & God provided a cure for the snakebite. He told Moses to make a brass snake & lift it up on a pole for all to see. Any person who looked at the snake, with faith, would immediately be healed.

The Jews bitten by the snakes only needed to look with faith at God’s cure for their sickness cause by their sin & they would be healed. Then Jesus makes the point. He says: “…so the Son of Man must be lifted up, ¹⁵that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

Jesus shares that He would be “lifted up”. They did NOT know that Jesus would later be “lifted up” on a cross to be killed for the sin of mankind. Jesus was telling Nicodemus that He was God’s cure for sin & he was to place his complete confidence in him. Such belief would ensure eternal life in heaven.

At this point in the conversation, a footnote is added. We don’t know if this is a direct quote from Jesus or the writer John’s comments on Jesus words. Which ever, it expresses the most important message of the Bible – the answer to the lawyer’s question: "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

¹⁶“For God so loved the world that he gave his one & only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

What does “believe in Jesus” mean? The answer: God wants us to BELIEVE two things & then DO a third.

Believe #1 = God asks us to believe that He is perfect & we are not. Therefore everyone is separated from God.

Sometimes people object to this truth by saying: I’m not so bad! I’m not as non-perfect as murders, drug dealers, rapists, or child molesters. So how come I’m put in the same category as them?

On Jan. 17, 2009 -- The FDA & CDC recommended that consumers not eat products containing peanut butter (such as cookies, crackers, cereal, candy, ice cream) until information becomes available about whether those products are linked to an ongoing salmonella outbreak. The tainted peanut butter contributed to at least 474 people in 43 states to be sickened by the Salmonella & six have died.

Let me ask this question: How much salmonella is needed to make a 1000lb batch of peanut butter unsuitable to eat? A pound? An ounce? Any salmonella in the peanut butter makes it unfit to eat. In the same way, God asks you to take his word that any sin makes you & I a sinner. It doesn’t matter if it is a 1 pound or 1 ounce sin. God says any sin make us sinners & thus unsuitable for heaven.

Believe #2 = God asks you to believe that He loves you in spite of your sin & that he has provided a Savior. We are all sinners. God loves sinners & Jesus died for sinners. God did this so that you might not perish but have eternal life.

Believing # 1 & 2 is not enough! We must also so DO!

Do = Jesus said these sobering words in Matt. 7:21-23:“Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. ²²On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name & cast out demons in your name & performed many miracles in your name.’ ²³But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’

The final test is not what we think of ourselves, or what others may think. The test is not words, like saying “Lord, Lord,” or religious works like performing miracles. Obedience (not perfection) to His will is the test of true faith in Christ.

God wants you to grow your faith! The Apostle Paul put it this way: -“You have accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord. Now keep following Him…Be strong in your faith, just as you were taught. (Col. 2:6-7CEV)

-“Keep on working to complete your salvation with fear & trembling, ¹³because God is working in you to help you want to do & be able to do what pleases him.” (Phil 2:12-13 NCV) So let me ask you, what are you doing to grow your faith? God designed us to grow & develop our faith.

Our Heavenly Father loved us so much that he provided the Bible, which is filled with counsel & principles that enable us how to grow. God has provided teachers to help us grow. God has provided a community, we call the church, to help us grow & experience an abundant life. 2 Peter 1:3 says: “By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life.”

Life’s most import question: What must I do to inherit eternal life? The answer to life’s most important question: “…whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

The bottom line is this:

There are only two possible responses to Jesus:

belief or unbelief.

There are only two possible futures to those responses:

life WITH Jesus now & heaven later OR

life WITHOUT Jesus now & hell later.

I pray, that if you haven’t, you would chose to experience life with Jesus!