How should we view life?

2 Tim. 4:7

One of the really big questions of human existence is: what is life? How many of you ever ask yourselves, Am I a man? Am I a woman? I don't mean the question that you are 18 and can vote, or whether you have reached a physical age of begetting children. As I really a man or woman is not a biological question of gender. It is a question of meaning in life. In the same way we seldom ask ourselves the question: what is life? Just what is the meaning of my coming
into existence? There were millions of sperms swimming toward that egg for conception. We are the end product of that race for the egg. Is this all there is to the meaning oflife, 1 won and the rest of the sperm did not?

2. Let's take a look at the question, what is the meaning of existence?
A. Life is for acquiring things ...There are those who seek to line their bank statements with lots of money, and acquire all the luxuries of life. Who does not dream of making a great success in the financial world with a big salary, and a big surplus of money. There is a story of a business student named George. He had majored in business and was not a good student. He barely graduated. On the 20th anniversary of the graduating class, they had a reunion and everyone wondered about ole George, almost surely a failure and they wondered ifhe would show up. But he did appear, driving a new Cadillac. He got out and people were amazed at his 500 dollar suit, his immaculate appearance and he was a picture of success. Everyone was curious about his appearance of success. After a while his old professor sided up to him and asked, "George, how did you make such a go of it, when you nearly flunked out of business?"
"Well," George replied, "1 found a product that 1 could make for a dollar and sell for 5 dollars, and the 4 percent profit made me rich."

B. Life is for pleasure. This is closely related to acquiring things. We want to acquire for pleasure. Most characteristic of this is the emphasis on hedonism, sensual pleasure, that is reflected in the Playboy philosophy. Pleasure is not limited to sexuality. A pleasure approach to life means avoiding pain and pursuing pleasure. None of us want pain, but pleasure is not as unambiguous as we sometimes think. Some of the pleasure that people seek are difficult to see
as pleasures when weighed against the heartbreaks of hangovers, trippings of the mind that one cannot control, the breakup offamilies, the deliberate use of other people for one's own pleasure.
C. There are other ways oflooking at life, but a comment or two about these. God has not said that you shall not enjoy life, nor give up the use of things in the world. You know that. The problem is in getting them in the right place. Do we live to eat, or eat to live? Do we live to
get things; or are things accepted as God's gift rather than becoming gods themselves.

3. Much can be learned from those who have lived before us. We have the example of Paul sitting in Nero's jail writing to a younger mend. If this jail is the same Memertine prison in Rome, it is dark without light, damp because it is close to the Tiber river and would have the possibility of back-water and had little to offer in the way of pleasure. But in these surroundings were written some words that give a truthful perspective on life.

Note this summary.

I. Life is a battle V. 7
1. We must think of the different kinds of battles. Theodore Dreiser's novel tells a story ofa young boy on a sea coast town of New England who passed by one of the stores where a tank in ITont of the story held curious oddities ITomthe ocean. One day he saw a lobster and a
squid. As the boy view the event ITom day to day, he consider that the squid was the rightful prey of the lobster. The lobster lay at the bottom of the tank with his eyes on the squid. Then he would
leap to where the squid was and the squid would dart away, shooting out a cloud of ink. But it was not always successful. Small portions were ITequently left in the claws of the beady-eyed
monster. The lobster kept up his attack. Day by day the ink bag of the squid grew more empty with another bit of his body gone. The squid was growing tire. He didn't have a chance. In t he story, the growing boy figured out that this situation was true for all life. Lobster
lived on squids and other things. Men lived on lobsters. What lived on men? Other men. "Sure," that's it, he said, men kill other men and that's what life is." This is the conclusion for many people of the world as well as nations. Right is on the side of those who have the most bombs, warships, or big clubs. It is the survival of the fittest.
But the survival of the fittest is not what Christian faith is all about.

2. The battle that Paul talks about relates to the OLYMPIC tradition. The word refers to a contest of athletes, runners, and charioteers and Paul uses this to symbolize t4e struggles, dangers, obstacles standing in the way of faith, holiness and a desire to be faithful toChrist. This
battle is more serious and severe than any other battle we face. Life is a battle for the Christian to avoid making pleasure our only purpose in life. Life is a battle for the Christian in avoiding the pursuit of power for one's own sake. Life is a battle to keep from making life merely an existence, or survival. Life is a battle to keep our minds clean from the filthy influence of decadent culture. Life is a battle to keep our hearts pure before God. Life is a battle to keep Jesus first place in our hearts. Life is a battle to keep our commitments to one another in marriage. Life is a battle to keep the Word of God in our hearts and let) God's Spirit work to transform us.

3. What is necessary about doing battle? Some things are obvious as we think about it.
(1) A battle implies the object of winning. Life is not a football game in which one wins and one loses. In the Christian context everyone can be a winner in this battle. (2) the stakes are important. We seek everlasting life in the presence of God. Life is for real and man's eternal destiny is involved. (3) motivation ...in a game, winning is more fun than losing. Yingming always beats me at ping-pong. That is no issue. We are to be motivated by the love of Christ for us in the battle of life. We do not battle alone. We have a Victorious Leader who has promised us his victory, his life, his presence forever in the Kingdom of God.

4. Life then involves a spiritual battle-a battle to keep a spiritual outlook on all of life. If we can do this, the skirmishes along the way, whether we lose a few, or not, take on the perspective of eternity and one can keep from being caught up in a life of selfishness, sensuality
and sin.

II. Life is a Course 7

1. When Paul said that Life is a course, the idea of purpose and direction are included in it. The word (course) appears only three times in the New Test ament, although the idea of doing the will of God appears all through the Bible. (1) Acts 13:25-the first reference is to John the Baptist whose real fulfillment was announcing the coming Messiah. John fulfilled his course. (2) Acts 20:24, Paul tells close fiiends :trom Ephesus "but I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may accomplish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God." (3) The third reference now comes at the end of the days when Paul is on the verge of being executed by the Roman government-he declares-I have finished my course." Paul was motivated by a sense of destiny, a purpose, a course of actions, and he was able to keep to it by the help and grace of God.

2. One of the very interesting books that I have read is Victor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning. Frank! describes his experience in a Nazi concentration camp. His main point is that life must have purpose and meaning-it must be a course as Paul says-or life is worthless. In the concentration camp, the prisoner who had lost faith in the future-his future-was doomed. With his loss of belief in the future, he also lost his spiritual hold; he let himself decline and became subject to mental and physical decay. Frank! tells of a noted composer who confided to him one day, "I would like to tell you something, Doctor, I have had a strange dream. A voice told me
that I could wish for something, that I should only say what I wanted to know, and all my questions would be answered. What do you think I asked? That I would like to know when the war would be over for me. You know what I mean, Doctor, for me! I wanted to know when we,
when our camp, would be liberated and our sufferings come to an end."
"And when did you have this dream?" Frankl asked.
"In February, 1945," he answered. It was then the beginning of March. "What did your dream voice answer?" "Furtively he whispered to me, March 30th." When the composer told Frank! his dream, he was still full of hope and convinced that the voice of his dream would be right. But as the promised day drew nearer, the war news which reached our camp made it appear unlikely that we would be free on the promised day. On March 29, the composer suddenly became ill and ran a high temperature. On March 30 the day his
prophecy had told him that the war and suffering would be over for him, he became delirious and lost consciousness. On March 31 he was dead. To all outward appearances he had died of typhus. Those who know how close the connection is between t he state of mind of a man-his course and hope-or lack of them, and the state of immunity of his body will understand that the sudden loss of hope and courage can have a deadly effect. The ultimate cause of the composer's
death was that the expected liberation did not come and he was severely disappointed. This suddenly lowered his body's resistance against the latent typhus infection. His faith in the future and his will to live had become paralyzed and his body fell victim to illness, and thus the voice of his dream was right after all.

3. We need to ask ourselves what kind of course we are running? The course and the battle are related. Are you battling for a course that has a dead-end? Are you battling for a crown of flowers that will wilt the next day because they are dead already to begin with?
Some of you young people are struggling with the course you want to pursue in life-is it worth the struggle? Have you thought seriously just how you can serve God? Will it not be tragic to come to the end of your days and confess that life was not worth the effort? Some of you are retired, or are going to be retired soon and you have much time on your hands, but you are not doing anything for finishing your course. There are no retirees fromGod's service and presence. Are you busy pursuing the necessities of life and the affluence of your labors that you have forgotten the course God wants you to take. Do you have a course in life that makes sense out of all this?

III.   Life is a faith v.7

1. Faith means two things (1) faith means a relation to a person, in this sense, it is commitment. This is what Paul means, I have remained in my commitment to Jesus Christ.Paul began his new life by giving his old life away and becoming a follower of Jesus. This commitment grew through the years and now at the point of death he can say, "I have kept faith."

There is a second sense of the word faith, (2) where faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. This kind of faith is only possible when we are related to Jesus.Knowing him as Lord and Savior makes it possible to get above the endless flow of distracting things.

2. One of the problems that people face today is that without the perspective of faith they do not understand the battle they are required to fight. Nor do they understanding the possibility of divine help that comes from commitment to Jesus.

Many years ago my family and I camped in Europe for the summer. Our first night, however, was to be spent in a hotel in Heidelberg, Germany. With our trusty guide to Europe on $5 a day, I called the Bock-Muhde Hotel and made reservations. Then we headed in that
direction. The streets in the old city near the university were for us a veritable obstacle course. We got within about 2 or three blocks of the place, but could not figure out how to get there with the camper because of the one way streets. We finally parked and walked to the hotel. Leaving my family there I returned to the camper and was to drive back. I thought surely, I could find it now, have been there on foot. Turn after turn I made and I kept getting further way; then I made pass after pass around the area, and still could not get there. I began to think, after about 45 minutes that I would never get back. I finally found a native who had sympathy for my plight.
Instead of giving me directions, he got into the camper-a total stranger-leaving his friends for a while, and drove me to the hotel. I was so relieved to find that I could really get back.
The story points up two things: I committed myselfto someone and I had faith that this faith could get me to where I wanted to go. Both of these are related.
3.When it comes to Paul's statement, God has done us one better. We are not always sure where we should be going. But he invites us to join our hands in his and he will bring us on the way, the only way, the right way.

Concl.:
1. What is your life? Do you have the most important person in your life? Jesus!