When Our Deeds Follow Us

Revelation 14:13

INTRODUCTION

“What we do in life echoes throughout eternity.”

A couple of weeks ago we were studying the Book of Proverbs in a Bible class at church.

A verse from Proverbs that struck me was in 10:7: “The memory of the righteous is a blessing.”

The first person on my list of people whose memory is a blessing is my Granny Sommerville.

We loved to go to Granny’s house in Kansas City. We lived in another town about 50 miles away, so we didn’t get there often.

(Grandpa Sommerville, had died when I was too little to remember him.)

Granny lived in a three-story house. During the Depression the families of one of an uncle and an aunt lived on the first two floors.

Granny lived on the third floor. It was exciting to kneel on the sofa and look out of the dormer windows and see the rooftops below.

Granny had a whole box of toys—a wind-up train, blocks, games…I don’t remember what else.

I collected stamps. Granny corresponded with missionaries she supported. So sometime during our visit she would call me to her desk and go through her foreign correspondence and give me stamps from her missionary friends in the Belgian Congo, China, The Dominican Republic, and other countries around the world.

Before we’d sit down to lunch at Granny’s house, she’d take us to her pantry and we could each pick out a jar of jam from her collection to use during the meal. She had jams from fruits we had never heard of, like boysenberry. Granny always made us feel loved.

Granny loved Jesus too. She was an good example for us of a godly woman.

Her example helped make the faith of Christ attractive to us.

There are many other people in my past whose memory blesses me—even though most of them been with Jesus for years and years.

I. Each of our faith comes to us through other people.

A. In 2 Timothy 1:4-5 Paul wrote to his young friend this way: “As I remember your tears, I long night and day to see you, that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice.”

Our knowledge of God has come from believers in our past—our parents, teachers, pastors, friends, or maybe even the authors of books that helped us find and know God.

I don’t think any of us would be followers of Jesus if it just depended on knowing theology.

It’s not enough to know the “way of salvation.”

We have to see faith lived.

And because we saw the faith lived out by people like my granny, we have come to faith.

B, Think of the long chain of believers who brought the faith to you and me from the time of Jesus—for 2000 years people have been living for God and telling others, and worshiping and praying and loving and serving.

And they were blessed by the faith of believers before them, and so on, all the way back to the time of Christ.

We know the names of only a few of the people who brought the knowledge of Jesus down through the ages until it reached us.

Some people are proud that they are descendents of admired people of the past like George Washington or William Bradford or William Shakespeare.

But for each of us our important ancestors are the ones who carried the torch of the knowledge of God down through the ages.

II. Now I want to switch gears and talk about us.

A. Each of us has also influenced those who come after. Even if you’ve had no children, you’ve been an influence for God.

Some of you have been Sunday school teachers. Some of you have volunteered at hospitals.

Some of you have served your church in hidden ways.

Because you are a Christian believer you have stepped up and done things that needed to be done.

Some of you were teachers or nurses or salespeople or housekeepers.

Some of you have done your job as unto the Lord. He has been honored by your work. People have noticed.

Maybe you didn’t think it was a Christian witness, but people were watching.

They were forming their idea of what it means to be a Christian by watching you.

Probably there will be people in heaven because of you.

They may be people who you don’t know you influenced at an important time in their life.

Maybe they don’t even remember the time you drew them toward God by a kind action or a word of encouragement.

B. I want to read a verse from the last book in the Bible, the Book of Revelation. It’s in chapter 14, verse 13: “I heard a voice from heaven saying, “’Write this; Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord henceforth.’ ‘Blessed indeed,’ says the Spirit, ‘that they may rest from their labors for their deeds follow them!’”

“For their deeds follow them”! Your deeds follow you—and will follow you.

John is writing to believers who were suffering for their faith. He tells them about some who have been faithful even unto death.

But even though these people are no longer on earth, their good deeds are still blessing people on earth.

The influence of a good person goes on for ever.

I read a quotation from a Scottish Theologian from long ago. He wrote: “The smallest work for God lasts forever, whether it abide in men’s memories or no” (Alexander MacLaren).

Even though no one remembers the good you do, its influence goes on and on—for all eternity.

Every good thing we do affects eternity.

Every good action we have ever done has eternal consequences.

I’m talking to you in this way because sometimes when we get old we wonder whether our lives have really made a difference.

I think your life has.

Out of all the dozens of people in Village Ridge, you are the few who have enough interest in your faith to show up today.

You are the people who have loved Jesus, and served God by serving others.

Maybe you’re a one talent Christian, but you have used your talent for God.

C. Jesus told a parable about the last judgment in which men and women came before him at his throne of judgment. Maybe they are afraid because they don’t know what to expect.

But Jesus—the judge—surprises them by saying: ”Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.”

Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee or thirsty and give thee drink? And when did we see thee a stranger and welcome thee, or naked and clothe thee? And when did we see thee sick or in prison and visit thee?”

And the king will answer them, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers or sisters, you did it to me.”

Think about the people in your past to whom you owe your knowledge of God. Do they know the part they played in your life?

Probably not. Some were teachers and pastors and parents and friends and co-workers and the authors of books you read—too many to remember. Many influenced you in ways you weren’t aware of—and here you are, a child of God, on the way to glory—because of their influence.

I believe that someday we’re going to meet all those people to whom we owe our spiritual welfare and we are going to be able to thank them.

And likewise people will meet us, to whom they owe so much, and they will be able to thank us. And won’t that be a happy time?

The Well-Dressed Christian

COLOSSIANS 3:12

INTRODUCTION

Americans give a lot of attention to their clothing.

On cold days Charlotte and I walk in Lindale Mall for exercise.

We notice that there are more clothing stores than any other kind of shop.

We often get catalogs in the mail full of pictures of attractive models wearing handsome clothing.

We wear clothes to cover our bodies—which generally aren’t especially beautiful.

We wear clothes to protect ourselves from the elements.

We wear clothes so we will look nice for the people who look at us. Attractive clothes can be a mark of respect for others who have to look at us.

Here is a verse from Colossians about clothes: “As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience” (Colossians 3:12).

You’ve noticed, Paul isn’t talking about literal clothing. He is using the idea of clothes as a metaphor for how we are to adorn ourselves in a spiritual sense as we live among our friends and neighbors.

I. Just as it is important to wear appropriate clothes out of respect for other people and for our own sense of confidence, so it is important for us to clothe ourselves with the virtues—or graces—appropriate to God’s chosen people—as Paul says, who are “holy and beloved.”

A. Putting on these graces, it isn’t like putting on garments that call attention to our good taste or make us look stylish.

It is more like putting on a uniform.

Policemen wear uniforms to mark them out from other people.

So do nurses, and letter-carriers, and soldiers, and firemen, and airline pilots.

The uniform keeps them on their toes. The one wearing the uniform strives to serve appropriately as a member of his or her profession.

The uniform gives us confidence that that person will serve us according to his or her expertise—whether it’s nursing, or putting out fires, or carrying the mail, or catching law-breakers, or piloting the airplane.

B. When we Christian believers wear the graces of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience, we are constantly reminded of why God has put us into the world.

God has not put us into this world to gratify ourselves but to serve him by serving people he loves—and that is everyone.

He has put us here to spread his love and kindness around the world.

Many years ago an older friend told me this: “I used to think that I was put on earth to be happy and to make other people good. I have since learned that I am put on earth to be good and to make other people happy.”

That is what God expects of us. That is why he tells us to put on—to clothe ourselves—with these attractive virtues. I call them “graces” because they come from God.

II. These “graces” come from God. They are not natural.

A. I used to teach young children. I will tell you that compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness and patience do not come naturally.

They have to be learned. You know how hard it was to teach these virtues to your children.

You also know how hard it is for you to maintain those habits in your life.

Even when we know how we should behave, we often slip into the opposite habits—habits of selfishness, unkindness, pride, self-assertion, and impatience.

It’s a life-long project to change from the natural “me-first” attitude we are born with to the godly attitude of living to bring love and happiness into the world.

B. Notice that each of these graces has to do with helping others to be happier.

Each of these graces involves putting the interests of another person above our own.

Each of these graces makes us more useful to other people.

Each of these graces involves some kind of sacrifice.

Each of these graces requires the help of God.

C. Let’s look briefly at each of these graces and consider how we can—with God’s help—build them into our lives.

COMPASSION

Compassion doesn’t simply mean feeling sorry for someone. I can imagine that the priest and the Levite who were going down the Jericho road felt sorry for the man who had been beat up by the robbers. But the Samaritan not only felt sorry, but he stopped—at great danger and inconvenience to himself—and helped him.

Compassion is to feel the hurt in another person’s heart—and then to do something kind.

It could be a hug, a word of encouragement, a prayer, a gift—or  even just being a good listener.

KINDNESS

Kindness is more important than perfection.

In fact, you are not very holy if you are not very kind.

One of the rabbis said, “Kindness is more important than wisdom, and the recognition of this is the beginning of wisdom.”

Kindness is hard for some people because it is hard for them to put themselves in another’s place.

So kindness is a character trait that we should pray for and work hard to show in our lives.

LOWLINESS

Lowliness is an old-fashioned word for humility.

The ancient saints used to say that humility was the foundation for all the virtues. One of the saints said, “If you want to build a tall house of virtues, first plan for yourself a deep foundation of humility” (Thomas Hilton).

Humility is to realize that we are—each of us—sinners and fall short in many ways of what we should be.

Humility is to think about my faults instead of the other fellow’s.

Humility is to forget myself in my concern someone else.

Paul wrote in Philippians:

“Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in lowliness of mind count others better than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to your own interests but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which you have in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:3-5).

MEEKNESS

“Meekness” is another word for “gentleness.” To the ancient pagan Greek mind humility and gentleness were shameful. One of their philosophers, Celsus, derided the Christ and because they worshiped as God, a man who lowered himself to wash the dirty feet of his disciples.

To be meek is to be gentle, courteous, considerate, tenderhearted.

Gentleness seems to the world to be weakness. But it takes a strong person to be always gentle.

A pine tree stood on a mountainside. One day a tiny seed fell out of a pinecone on that tree and fluttered to the ground. It fell into a crack in the rock and finally sprouted—a tiny, weak shoot. But the shoot grew into a plant, and the plant into a sapling, and the sapling broke the rock. In its gentleness was its strength.

In the Soviet Union all the power was with the government. And the government was intent on stamping out faith in God. All the powers of the political system united themselves to destroy the church. The government controlled the educational system and the children were taught atheism in the schools.

Most of the churches were destroyed or turned into warehouses or museums. A generation grew up without God.

But there were people who kept believing. They were the grandmas, the babushkas. The babushkas kept going to church. The babushkas kept the faith.

And eventually the political system crumbled and the power of the state collapsed, and the church remained.

The grandmothers had won. The grandmothers had kept the faith alive. And now the churches are growing stronger, and people are again worshiping in Russia.

Jesus was weak. When he was arrested, he did not resist. When he was abused he did not curse his enemies but trusted in God.

And the cross, the point of Christ’s greatest weakness was also the source of his greatest power.

From Christ’s meekness and gentleness and helplessness came the great victory—the victory over sin and death and the devil.

Jesus calls us to follow in his path, the path of meekness—and strength.

PATIENCE

The patience Paul is recommending here isn’t the patience of someone who is working a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle or the patience it takes to learn a new language or to refinish a dining room set.

It is the patience of a teacher with a student who can’t understand.

It is the patience of a mother with a disobedient child.

It is the patience of a wife with a husband who has annoying habits.

The word used for patience here also means forbearance and mercy.

It also means forgiveness. When we are patient with people we forgive them.

III. As you think about clothing yourself with compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience, you are probably thinking—as I do—It’s impossible! I could never be this kind of person.

The only thing I can do is point you to Jesus, our Savior.

Jesus embodies all these qualities—compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience.

The more we learn of him…the more we walk in his company...the more we reflect on his life as recorded in the gospels …the more we will grow into his likeness.

Do you have a Bible? Get it out today and begin with Matthew…or Mark…or Luke…or John, and read about Jesus.

We won’t grow these graces so much by striving for them as by living with Jesus until his life begins to shine in ours.

I should warn you—

You won’t see the graces that adorn your life.

The more holy you become, the more you will be aware of how far short you fall of being all you should be for God. You will not feel yourself to be a godly person.

But others will see Christ in you.

CONCLUSION

A little girl was taken to visit a great cathedral. She was especially impressed by the beautiful stained glass windows in which were depicted various saints of God.

She asked her daddy, “Who are those people in the windows?”

“They are the saints,” her father replied.

“Oh, now I understand,” his daughter said. “Saints are people the light shines through!”

Does the light of Jesus shine through you?

The more you think about Jesus, the closer you live to him and let him live in you—the more like Jesus you will become.

Then you will be wearing Christ’s uniform—the clothing of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience.

People will see goodness in you.

People will see Jesus in you.

And you will be fulfilling your destiny as a child of God.