The Book of Daniel: Resolutions in Light of Eternity

Pastor Fletcher preaches from Daniel 5 about King Belshazzar and the writing on the wall. Discussion points: Belshazzar glorified himself and God humbled him, facing our mortality should affect the decisions we make and how we spend our time, only the kingdom of God will last past this mortal life.

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  Scripture reader: [Daniel 5:1-12] King Belshazzar made a great feast for a thousand of his lords and drank wine in front of the thousand. Belshazzar, when he tasted the wine, commanded that the vessels of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar, his father, had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem be brought, that the kings and his lords, his wives and his concubines might drink from them. Then they brought in the golden vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.

  Immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace opposite the lampstand. And the king saw the hand as it wrote. Then the king's color changed, and his thoughts alarmed him. His limbs gave way and his knees knocked together. The king called loudly to bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers. The king declared to the wise men of Babylon, "Whoever reads this writing and shows me its interpretation shall be clothed in purple and have a chain of gold around his neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom."

  Then all the king's wise men came in. They, but they could not read the writing or make known to the king the interpretation. Then King Belshazzar was greatly alarmed and his color changed and the and his lords were perplexed. The queen, because of the words of the king and his lords, came into the banqueting hall, and the queen declared, "O king, live forever. Let not your thoughts alarm you or your color change. There is a man in your kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy gods. In the days of your father, light and understanding and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods were found in him. And King Nebuchadnezzar, your father, your father the king, made him chief of the magicians, enchanters, Chaldeans, and astrologers, because an excellent spirit, knowledge and understanding to interpret dreams, explain riddles and solve problems were found in this Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Now let Daniel be called and he will show the interpretation."

  This is the word of the Lord.

  Preacher: Happy New Year. if you're anything like us, the new year has been, slow to get started for the Lang family, we always take the week between Christmas and New Year's completely off full hibernation mode. We're going dormant and this year was unlike any other because I was the only one in the Lang household that did not catch a terrible cold. And so everybody else in my house, we woke up, you know, Christmas Eve was great. We were here, hope you were here too if you were around. Christmas Eve was fantastic. We all went home, woke up the next morning. We're opening presents. Megan looked half dead on the couch as all the children were opening presents. So after the kids got done opening their gifts, she went to bed and then I didn't see her again until 5 p.m. and I came in there and I was like, would you like some dinner? And she said, What time is it? And I told her it was 5. She could not believe it. It just the day had gone completely away from us.

  So I cooked Christmas dinner, by myself, which is the first time I've ever cooked. Christmas dinner in my entire life and we had like a nice spiral cut ham and some mashed potatoes. The only problem was after I served it to everyone, no one was hungry except for me. So there I am alone with 10 pounds of mashed potatoes just hammering it, you know, just, just going for it. I was living my best life with the mashed potatoes and for the next week, basically, because that's what I had to eat for the rest of the, the, the holiday break. And if you're anything like me, the holiday break. It kind of comes to an abrupt ending, right? It's like January 2nd, you're expected to function as a full human being that hasn't been eating mashed potatoes for the past seven days. And I just wasn't ready for it.

  I don't know if you were ready for it coming back to work after the holiday break, it was, it was a little tough, and that's a little bit how I feel coming back to the book of Daniel now. All right, we've had 4 weeks where we've been in Advent, we did the short series on witnesses. To the birth of Christ and now we're back to the book of Daniel which we started way back when sometime in November, October something like that, but it's a joy to be back in Daniel and Daniel is a wonderful book with a timely message for us. But to get you a little caught up, I think, I think we need to prime the pumps a little bit. I think we need to get everybody back up into the story, the where we were before we took the break, before the holiday.

  So I created just a a little brief, this is not. Bible project worthy artwork or anything, but I created a brief summary of what we've done in Daniel so far to catch you up. OK, so I'm just gonna give you a quick synopsis of where we are, and then we're gonna jump into chapter 5, OK? Because if you were like me, you don't remember anything that happened earlier in the book. I preached it all and I was still like, what happens in that chapter? I had to go back and look some things up and remind myself. So, let's, let's walk through there here.

  Chapter one. The events of Daniel, they're taking place before chapter one, just to set the, the, the scene. The events of Daniel are taking place 605 BC, the nation of Babylon conquers Israel. They take the Israeli people, the Israelite people out of Israel, and they remove them into Babylon. And the reason why they would do this was an ancient form of a. Oppression they would move them out of their home nation so that they would be foreigners and that they could could control the nation that they had conquered. And so the people of Israel are brought out of the land of Israel and into Babylon, where they're in exile. And while they're in Babylon, we get the story of four young men in Babylon. And one of them is Daniel, then he has 3 friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. You may know them from VeggieTales fame.

  So the first chapter is Daniel being pressured to compromise and to convert to Babylonian life through isolation, indoctrination, provision and re-identification. He's given a new name, Belteshazzar, and he is asked to eat the things that the that the Babylonians eat and instead Daniel says, no, let me eat what I want to eat, and he ends up being stronger as a result because of God's power through that. So that happens in chapter one.

  And then in the whole book of Daniel we have this interesting thing where the first chapters written in Hebrew and then chapters 2 through 7 are written in Aramaic, which was the, the language kind of the the lingua franca of the day it was the common, the most common language in the entire region, but it's an interesting choice for the author to write the book in two different languages. I mean, just imagine you pick up a book and then in chapter 2 it switches from English into French. It would be a little bit difficult. Most of us. And so here we have an Aramaic section that is starting here in chapter 2, and what you have in the Aramaic section is a lot of symmetry. You have 3 chapters and then you have 3 other chapters that kind of correspond to it. So I just want to point this out to you because it's so interesting.

  Chapter 2 is Daniel interpreting the dream of Nebuchadnezzar. All the earthly kingdoms, this is what the dream basically means that all earthly kingdoms will fall. But only the kingdom of God will endure forever. We did that one the week of the election. It was a great time. I was very nervous about that. Chapter 3, we have the fiery furnace. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, refuse to allow their faith to be co-opted for political gain, and so they're thrown into a fiery furnace, where they are seen with a 4th person in the fire, and they are delivered by God.

  Chapter 4. This is the last sermon that we went over. Nebuchadnezzar becomes a beast. Daniel interprets the second dream by Nebuchadnezzar. This time he actually remembers his dream. The first time Nebuchadnezzar is like, I want you to interpret my dream and I want you to tell me what my dream is, which was a difficult. Ask for those around him, but this time Nebuchadnezzar remembers his dream, and Daniel interprets his dream, and King Nebuchadnezzar is humbled. He becomes, he, he becomes a beast for 7 years, literally, he goes and lives in the wilderness and eats like a beast and grows his hair out long and his fingernails out long, and he, he becomes this really humbled figure, and then his sanity is restored, and he comes back to rule as king. And it is this lesson that God will humble the proud, but give grace to the humble.

  Chapter 5, where we are today. I'm gonna go ahead and go all the way through the book so that you know where we're going. chapter 5, the king is humbled Part 2. Belshazzar sees writing on the wall, and Daniel interprets the vision of Belshazzar, and he's brought down. Chapter 6. This is Daniel and the lions' den. It's fiery furnace part two, this time with lions. It's, basically the a very similar story, but with lions this time. And then chapter 7, we have crazy dreams part two.

  So you see there's, there's some symmetry between, the first chapter, the last chapter, the second chapter, and, the, the 3rd chapter and the 6th chapter of the. chapter in the 5th chapter with two kings being humbled and then chapter 7 this time dream, Daniel's doing the dreaming and that's what ends the Aramaic section. So we'll do chapter 7 in 2 weeks and we'll keep on going. Then we have, back to a Hebrew section.

  I'll just show you the whole overview here. Chapter 1, it's in, in Hebrew, we already talked about that. Chapters 2 through 7, that's the main story. Of the book of Daniel, and it's how they survive and thrive in exile. And then chapters 8 through 12 are all of these crazy apocalyptic visions, which is gonna be really interesting for us to dive into, but it's back in Hebrew, and we, we finished the book with Daniel's prayer and his visions and everything that goes with that. So that's where we're going. All right, quick overview. Everybody's caught up. We're ready to dive into chapter 5. Let's go. All right.

  Chapter 5, verse 1, let's go. King Belshazzar made a great feast for a thousand of his lords and drank wine in front of the thousand. Alright, just a couple things here before we dive too deep into here. Who, first of all, who's this King Belshazzar? Wasn't Nebuchadnezzar the king? In fact, chapter 4, it ends. If you look, if you have your Bibles open, chapter 4 ends with, now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the king of heaven, for all his works are right and his ways are just, and those who walk in pride he is able to humble. Chapter 5. Next word. King Belshazzar made a great feast for a thousand. That is an abrupt change. It's not just an abrupt change in characters, an abrupt change in voice. We went from, Nebuchadnezzar speaking in first person back to the third person narrative story that we have in Daniel chapter 5, and this is just all Daniel is just a very kind of artsy book of the Bible. He changed his voice, he changed his perspective.

  Here we have King Belshazzar. Couple of things to note about him. His name sounds really familiar if you remember in chapter one, Daniel was given a new name and his name is Belteshazzar. You gotta get that tough in there, OK? So Daniel's, Babylonian name is Belteshazzar. This is Belshazzar. They mean very similar things. I'm not a master at ancient names, but from what I understand, Belshazzar means, may Bel, the god of Babylonia of Babylon, may he protect the king. And then Belteshazzar, it either means may Bel, the god of Babylon of Babylon, protect his life or it means, may the lady of Bel protect the king. So very similar names, whatever it is, it's very similar names.

  And in verse two, we're told that Nebuchadnezzar is the father of Belshazzar. I'm not gonna bore you with all the details here. We have lots of extrabiblical act of extrabiblical information. In fact, we didn't know who Belshazzar was until not that long ago, but the from some extra things that we found that aren't included in the Bible, we've learned that Belshazzar is actually. Probably not the literal son of Nebuchadnezzar, but in ancient days, they didn't have words for like grandfather, they didn't use it. It's basically saying he is a direct, in the direct lineage of Nebuchadnezzar. He's probably a generation or two removed from from Nebuchadnezzar. And what most scholars think is that, he was, his father was a man named Nabonidus, with whom he shared a co-regency during the closing years of the Babylonian monarchy, and, so he's, he's basically serving as the king, but he's kind of like the party boy prince while his dad, the, the, the king is off somewhere else doing something else.

  And so we have Belshazzar, and he is throwing a party. That's what we know about Belshazzar, and that's the important thing to know is that he's king at this time, and he likes to party. He's got a thousand of his lords, the most important men in the entire empire, right in front of him, probably with members of their family. And he's like, you guys are here to see me drink wine, and I'm good at it. So you guys check this out. Could you imagine the type of power that he was drunk off of to bring that many people together to drink wine for their entertainment.

  Verse 2, Belshazzar, when he tasted the wine, he commanded that the vessels of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar, his father had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem, be brought, that the king and his lords, his wives and his concubines might drink from them. Now you don't need a PhD in the Old Testament to know that this is a very bad idea. He is taking the sacred items from the temple, and he is using them to get drunk in his own party for his own pleasure, for his own pride. God will not be mocked. This is blasphemous. What he is doing here.

  Verse 4, they drink wine and praise the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone. To take God's sacred items and to praise the gods have created things such as this. And in fact, if we look at those words, they're, they're pretty familiar to us, because if you could think back to chapter one, Nebuchadnezzar had a dream of a statue that was made out of what? Gold, silver, bronze, iron, clay, and then a stone came from heaven and crushed it. And so here, there's a little bit of foreshadowing that's happening, where the author is saying, hey, you remember that dream from chapter one, and how this this guy was made out of these things, and he was brought down. Belshazzar is about to be brought down.

  Verse 5. Immediately, the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace opposite the lampstand. And the king saw the hand as it wrote. You may have heard the phrase, the writing was on the wall. And you probably have friends that have said that and have no idea that that comes from the Bible. The idea of the writing on the wall is that Belshazzar saw this writing on the wall. He did not know how to interpret it, but he should have known that the end is nigh. And so he sees kind of a a dismembered hand floating in the air, writing on the wall, and it has a message for him, and he doesn't understand the message, he just knows that it's bad.

  Verse 6, then the color, the king's color changed. Have you ever met someone whose color changed? Usually when they're embarrassed, but if someone is really afraid. Their color changes, and his thoughts alarmed him, his limbs gave way, his knees started knocking together. He's been living a secular life. Ignoring God, ignoring the fact that he would die one day, and all of a sudden he is snapped out of his secular drunkenness, and he's brought back to a a sobriety that tells him that life is temporary and fleeting.

  And so at that moment, he calls in what it says, the wise men. Now, if you were here during Advent, you know that more than likely, these are the same class of, scholars that visited Jesus as a young child, the wise men in the Advent story, but he calls in his wise men, the magi. To help him to understand what these words mean. But none of the wise men are able to read the writing or interpret it for Daniel. For Daniel, for, for Belshazzar.

  But then the queen comes in, and so the queen is introduced, and we know from hearing earlier that his that Belshazzar's wives and his concubines are already at this feast, and so we are led to assume that this is probably not one of his wives, but this is the queen mother. This is the queen queen, the real queen, as he's serving as the party prince, this is the queen, and his mom walks in, and his mom has things to say. And she says this, "There is a man in your kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy gods. In the days of your father, light and understanding and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods were found in him. And King Nebuchadnezzar, your father, your father, the king, made him chief of the magicians, enchanters, Chaldeans, and astrologers, because an excellent spirit, knowledge, and understanding to interpret dreams, explain riddles, and solve problems were found in this Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Now let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation."

  Now, it's interesting because at this point, Daniel should have already been called. If he was made the chief of the wise men, of the magi, of the interpreters, the astrologers, and all of those people, wouldn't he have already come to the king to interpret these things? No, but he hasn't. Daniel has obviously had a demotion under Belteshazzar. I bet he was harsh in the vibes of the party prince. And so Daniel comes before Belteshazzar, Belshazzar. And Belshazzar says, Daniel, if you can tell me what these words mean, you will live like a king. Riches beyond what you can imagine. And Daniel responds by saying, keep your riches. I don't care about that stuff, but I'll tell you what it means.

  And then he recounts the story of Nebuchadnezzar. Who was prideful. And who God brought low. Like a beast in the field. But yet he humbled himself. And his power was restored. And then Daniel applies the same lesson that Nebuchadnezzar had to learn to Belshazzar, verse 22. And you, his son Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all of this. But you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven. And the vessels of his house have been brought in before you. And you and your lords, your wives, your lords, your wives and your concubines have drunk wine from them. What were you thinking? Read between the lines, that's what Daniel's saying. What were you thinking? Why have you been so prideful?

  And so here's what the writing on the wall says. Verse 25, and this is the writing that was inscribed, Mene Mene Tekel Parsin. Now when When Belshazzar looks at this, he probably interprets it as nouns, seeing it, and what you would think it means is, a mene mene, that's a unit of measurement. A tekel is like a portion of that unit of measurement, and a parsin is like a smaller portion even of that. And so, he's looking at that and he doesn't understand what that means even though he knows it's bad, but in Hebrew and in Aramaic, it's really kind of interesting in the written form, even today in modern Hebrew, there is, there are usually not vowels included unless you're teaching it to someone. You write the language with just the consonants and the vowels in Hebrew are like little marks above and to the sides of the vowel of the consonants. So they're not like full letters in the way that we have letters in our language. It's just a very different language.

  And so in Aramaic, it's the same thing. You have a word written, and then there's like little vowels and. With this writing on the wall, likelihood there are no vowels on there. And so there's some openness to interpretation. You have to kind of have context clues to understand what the language means when you're reading it. It makes sense to them, not to me. If you speak another language that's like not a Western language, you probably understand this a little bit since there's so much differences between the ways that languages are communicated. And so Daniel says you're reading it all wrong. This is what it means.

  Verse 26, Mene. God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end. Mene means number, if you change it to change the vowels to mean to be verbs, the words mean numbered, numbered, weighed, and divided instead of unit of measurement, unit of measurement, smaller unit of measurements, smaller unit of measurement. So numbered numbered, weighed and divided. So he says, Mene, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end. Tekel, you've been weighed in the balances and found wanting. And Peres, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.

  At that moment, Belshazzar, he knew that his days were numbered. He knew that it was all over, but he still lived up to his word. He gave Daniel purple clothes to wear, the sign of royalty, very expensive in that day, gave him gold jewelry, got him all the drip going and everything, and he became a ruler in the kingdom, but the, the story ends with a strong warning, verse 30. That very night, Belshazzar, the Chaldean king, was killed, and Darius the Mead received the kingdom. Of being about 62 years old. So Belshazzar, he partied until he dropped, and we don't really know what killed Belshazzar. It could have just been a sudden act of God. It could have been, and many interpreters do see it this way, as actually the entire city of Babylon is actually being sieged under under siege during this entire party. But the walls of Babylon are so strong. If you remember Nebuchadnezzar, very powerful, had 2, 2 lanes of walls, very strong. They had lots of food, and he was so prideful though, that his walls and his, material would last, that he just had the party until the very end. And so some interpreters say that that's when they broke through and they killed Belshazzar, and it was taken over by the other kingdoms.

  This story, it's meant to help us, to consider our life in light of mortality. We don't think about mortality very often. But we're meant to think about mortality more often than what we do. We're so isolated from death, are we not? We put people who are dying in the places where we don't have to see them. Our society is more isolated from death than it ever has been, but this story is here to remind us that we are mortal. It's the time of year where we make resolutions and many of us have made great resolutions, you know, you might want to lose a few pounds, gain a little bit of muscle, you might want to stop drinking as much or stop another habit that you dislike or stop it with all the screen time, whatever that might be.

  All these things are good things. But I am here, once again to remind you. And I feel like I could just do this every week, and it would probably be, what if we just all come together and this is what I said every week, it'd be great. It's just a really good reminder, you are going to die. Let me just put that in a different, I'm just gonna say that a few times for us, OK? And different emphasizing different things. You are going to die. You are going to die. You're going to die. What do your resolutions mean in light of mortality? How has your life been spent? If your life ended tomorrow, what would that mean for you? How would you have been living your life? And what does that mean for your little resolutions?

  There was a famous Puritan pastor from Western Massachusetts. I don't, you know, I'm not gonna endorse everything about the Puritans, but sometimes they have great quotes in here. Jonathan Edwards, famous for a list of resolutions involving mortality. And he said this, he's resolved that I will live so as I shall wish I had done when I come to die. Or how about this one? Resolved never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do if it were the last hour of my life. He's an intense dude. That that's an intense thing, but sometimes I look at my life and I'm like, I, I think about that quote all the time actually, all the time. Over Christmas break, I'm like playing Legos with my sons. And I'm like, you know what? If I had an hour left, probably how I'd want to spend it. Or sometimes I go to sleep. And I'm like, really? Is this how I would spend my last hour? And I'm like, yeah, I'm tired. I love sleep. It's the best way.

  Sometimes simple things can be spent in a way that glorifies the Lord. We don't have to go all intensity all the time. But I think that keeping mortality The front of our mind, really important. Now, I know some of you have that reminder of mortality. Whether it be from debilitating disease, or the loss of a loved one, or maybe you just have a loved one suffering with the debilitating disease to where you know death is coming. Maybe you've been to a funeral recently. Those are surreal moments for us. And when we look at mortality, It causes us to evaluate our lives. What better way to start the year than considering your own mortality. And evaluating your life. You know, it's a point that every man live once, and after that he dies. And he or she will face the judgment of God.

  You can party like Belshazzar, live your best life now. But you will face the judgment of God. And Maybe you don't believe in God and and that's all good. Maybe, maybe you don't believe in God. And if you, and if there isn't a God, That is the best way to look. The Bible actually says it, that if there is no resurrection from the dead, if there is no God, eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die. But, and this should terrify you if you're living like this. If there is a God. You will stand judgment for the way that you lived. And only those who have a perfect record before God. would be able to claim righteousness, and to live in heaven with him forever. If there is a heaven and hell, These are extremely important things.

  And for us as Christians, it's not because we're so good as to why God would let us into heaven or let us enjoy eternity with them. It's only because of what Christ has done. And so I urge you today. This is just kind of step number one. I urge you today, if you're not walking with Christ, if you're not following Him, place your trust in Him, your hope in Him. He is your only hope through eternity. Because none of us, not a single one of us has righteousness before God. You can't, you can't claim that. No one claims that. I certainly can't claim that. But only through Christ, and I praise Christ for that, that he has lived the life that I should have lived and died the death that I deserve and been resurrected so that I'll be resurrected with him.

  This whole thing, it reminds me of this parable that Jesus told, the rich fool. Are you familiar with the parable? Jesus tell us a parable. I'm just gonna read it for us. I think it's helpful. Luke chapter 12. Someone in the crowd said to him, Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. But Jesus said to him, man, who made me judge or arbitrator over you? And he said to them, take care and be on your guard against covetousness, for one's life does not consist of the abundance of his possessions. And he told them a parable saying, the land of a rich man produced plentiful. And he thought to himself, what shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops? And he said, I'll do this. I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store my all of my grain and my goods. And I will say in my soul, Soul, You have ample goods laid up for many years. Relax, eat, drink and be merry. But God said to him, Fool. This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be? So is the one who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

  I can't think of a better parable or a better application or illustration of this parable, then Belshazzar. Who had everything this life could offer. Except for anything beyond what this life has to offer. Several years ago, when I was an associate pastor in Brookline at City on the Hill in Brookline, there was a member of our church. His name was John Cortines, and he was a member of our church for just a couple of years. He had moved to the Boston area to go to Harvard Business School. He previously had worked at Chevron where he did quite well working in the oil business, and he had gotten into Harvard Business School where most people do quite well after they go to the Harvard Business School, and he had goals in life. He had a goal to make a million dollars by the time he turned 30, a millionaire by 30. He had a goal to retire by the time he was 40. Which he's probably getting close to these days.

  And while he was at Harvard Business School, God had different plans for him because during his time at Harvard he took a class at the divinity school. You're allowed to do that when you're a business student you can come take other classes at other schools. He took a class at the divinity school called God and wealth or God and and Money, something like that. And his entire perspective for his life changed. And he went from making A lot of money To deciding that he wants to spend the rest of his life convincing people to give their wealth away. So for years he worked for generous Giving an organization that goes around and and convinces wealthy people to give away their wealth, and he wrote a book with a friend from the Harvard Business School, and the book is actually well received and and kind of well known. It's called God and Money. And he gave a presentation to our church about it. It was a real honor to have him, be able to be a member of our church when all of this happened.

  God working in a small way with it, but in the book, he retells the story of the rich fool with modern day language and I think it might hit home a little bit better for us this morning, from his. So, in modern language, the rich fool, someone in the crowd said to Jesus, Teacher, tell my boss to pay the full year in performance bonus, he promised me. But he said to a man, who made me judge an arbitrator over you? And he said to them, Take care and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions. And he told them a parable saying, the stock options belonging to a manager vested after a major run up in share price, and he thought to himself, What shall I do? For I already have enough to save enough saved to send my kids to college. My house is paid off and I already maxed out my 401k every year.

  And he said, I'll do this. I'll open an investment account and create a passive income portfolio, and I'll exercise my options and put the money there and I'll say to my soul soul, you have a big enough portfolio to be financially independent, retire early, plan some vacations, play golf. But God said to him, fool. This night, your soul is required of you. And the portfolio you've built, what use will it be then? So is the one who endlessly builds his net worth and is not rich toward God.

  Friends, I'll say it again. You are going to die. No exceptions. Unless the Lord Jesus comes back. Which we hope he will But you will And even then, you'll meet him in the sky, you'll stand in judgment even in that case. You, your life here on earth will end. It'll soon, it'll come sooner than you think and what you want. And only what's done for Christ will last. So just consider that. Consider that as the year begins. How do you want to invest in the kingdom of God? How do you want to, how do you want to invest in the one gift of life that you have? If God is real, if there is a heaven and hell, if you and I were created for something more than this world can provide, if humans are truly eternal beings, meant to reflect and live in harmony with our Creator, then we should live very differently than the rest of the world, with where we find our value and our worth.

  And so I don't know exactly how to apply this message to you individually. I just want you to consider it. Consider your decisions. Your purchases, your life, your investments, your time, your energy, in light of eternity. That sobering truth. No one gets to the end of their life and says, you know what, I really wish I'd worked a whole lot more. At the end of the life, I, I know this, OK? I don't know exactly how to apply it to you, but I do know, I've talked to people near the end of their life on multiple occasions, and I do know that the things they talk about. The regrets that they have usually center around relationships. Gone Or broken. Family. Forgotten about, or left behind. And meaning and purpose. That they've had in life.

  So I just encourage you to find your meaning, find your purpose, and I'm also here to tell you that there is more purpose and meaning in following Christ than in any other place in life that you can find it. If you put your purpose and meaning in your work, you'll be let down. If you put your purpose and meaning into something else, into a relationship, you'll be let down and to some type of success, you'll be let down. But if you invest in the kingdom of God, he will undo you with purpose. Your only hope, in light of this mortality is what Christ has done for you.

  And on the night that before Christ died, he also had a bit of a party with his friends, who watched him drink wine. When he took a cup He said, this is my blood shed for you. He took a loaf of bread and he said, this is my body broken for you. Unlike Belshazzar, Jesus was not there. To pridefully assert himself over everyone else, but instead, he removed his clothes, put on a towel. He bent down and he served. In the last hours of his life, he got down and he washed the feet of others, resolved to not spend any moment as if it were not his last. He spent his dying day washing the feet of those who followed him. And at this meal, he told us to remember this meal. To practice it. And to be reminded of the way that he laid down his life for us, that he was the he took on the penalty for the sin of the world, that he took on the penalty for even his enemies, and he loved them.

  And so as his followers, we lay down our lives for our friends, for our enemies, and we practiced the sacred meal, reminded of what Christ has done that we could never do. So this is your opportunity to respond to Christ this morning as we participate in the sacred meal. So let me invite you to stand. And pray with me as the band makes their way back up on the stage, so that we can respond to God with a few songs.

  Father, thank you for this opportunity, to be reminded of our mortality. We need more opportunities for this to evaluate our lives in light of mortality. How we should invest our time, our, our wealth, our attention. God, would you help us to put into practice some resolutions with mortality in in mind. Hey God, would you help us also to just prepare for death, and to have a right relationship with you and to make right with others. God bless this meal, we thank you for it. We thank you for what Christ has done on our behalf, we pray that you would fill us with your Holy Spirit this morning. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.