The Good Life Redefined

What happens to you the moment after you die? 

It’s the question most of us spend our entire lives avoiding — but it’s the one that matters most. In this episode, Tim walks through the words Jesus spoke in Luke chapter 6, unpacking what is arguably the greatest life wisdom ever spoken. But this is more than a better way to live — it points straight at eternity and asks the one question that good living alone can never answer.

In this episode you’ll hear:

∙Why the people the world overlooks are actually closer to the truth than the people who have everything
∙The massive difference between calling Jesus Lord and actually making him Lord
∙Why you can’t fake your fruit forever — and what to do when you don’t like what comes out under pressure
∙What the Bible says happens the moment after you die — and how to make sure that moment doesn’t catch you unprepared

Check out our YouTube Channel “You Finishing Well” and our website: www.youfinishingwell.com 

All you have to do is go to our website and sign up for updates - all free. 

Stay strong, pure, and like Christ - Thanks for taking the journey with me! 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

You know, I don't have to tell you that we all are working very hard to enjoy the good life. Today, on You Finishing Well, I'm Tim Owen. I'd like to redefine what the good life actually looks like and what God says the good life actually is. Because if you're chasing the wrong thing, you'll end up in the wrong place. Let's talk about it. So let me ask you a question. If someone handed you a book and no author was listed and no religious label was on the cover, and inside of that book was a collection of the most honest, practical, countercultural wisdom about actually how to live well, would you read that book? What if the wisdom said, stop chasing status? Love the people who hurt you. Don't be a hypocrite. Give without expecting anything back. And build your life on something that won't collapse when the storm hits. Would you call that good advice? Because that's exactly what one man said. He said it out loud on a hillside to a crowd of broken and ordinary people. And he said it almost 2,000 years ago. And honestly, the world has never been the same since. But here's what I want you to know before we go any farther in my podcast. What Jesus taught that day is absolutely great advice for living. But it's not just a life plan, because there's the thing that really nobody says out loud, that this life, your life, it ends. And every single one of us, after we die, the next moment, the very second after you take your last breath, you are somewhere. And what Jesus said on that hillside that day, it really brings all of this to fruition. So today I want you to hear it fresh, but at the end, I'm going to ask you a question, a personal one, one that goes way beyond what you believe about Jesus Christ. And frankly, it gets to whether you've actually surrendered your life to him. So let's get started. So let me kind of set the scene for you. Jesus comes down, he's off of a hillside, he's standing on a level ground. People do call it the Sermon on the Mount, but it really wasn't a mountain. In the book of Luke, Luke 6, chapter 6, if you want to look at it, Luke tells us that the crowd was huge. It was enormous. People had come from all over. Some were desperate, some were curious, some were probably there because everybody else was going there. I mean, that sounds kind of familiar, right? And Jesus opens his mouth and immediately dismantles, redefines what culture had told those people during that time. Here's what he said in Luke 6.20. You people who are poor are happy because the kingdom of God belongs to you. You people who are now hungry are happy. Other versions say blessed, because you will be satisfied. And you people who are now crying are happy or blessed, because you will laugh. So then Christ gives kind of a contrast and he starts talking to the people who are rich and who don't who really don't need anything. Here's what he says in Luke 6 24. But how terrible for you who are rich, because you have had your easy life, and how terrible for you who are full now, because you will be hungry, and how terrible for you who are laughing now, because you will be sad and cry. And now that comes from Luke 6, 24, 25. So now before you think that Jesus is just sort of anti-wealth or anti-happiness, understand what he's actually saying here. He's not saying poverty is holy and laughter is sinful. He's actually saying in this life, right now, where you and I are living, is the best. This is speaking to the rich people and the people who really are just living the so-called good life, this is the best it's ever going to get for you because you are in serious trouble. Now, I don't know about you, because I pretty much live the good life. We had a business, we've done well, and this kind of rattles my cage a bit. I'm going to be honest with you. Because the person who has everything they need right here, and they feel no hunger for anything beyond what this world can offer, I'm going to be honest, that's kind of me. That person has no reason to seek anything deeper. So what about you? Do you seek anything beyond the good life, the good comfort that you have? There really isn't for that kind of person a reason to reach for God. There's no reason to ask the hard questions of who am I? But in contrast, the person who is poor, who's grieving, who's hungry, they know that something the comfortable person really doesn't know. They know that this world that they live in, it's just not enough. You know, comfort, if you really stop and think about it, and a lot of us have comfort, it can be the most dangerous thing that's ever happened to us. It kind of makes us forget that we need God. I mean, when it's all good, why do you need Jesus? Why do you need God? And here's the question underneath what I think is that main theme is if life is all you're living for, what happens when it's all over? What happens to the moment that your life ends? So Jesus, I think, moves into what I think is really, I mean, the Sermon on the Mount Man, it just covers soup to nuts start to finish. And I want you to kind of really sit with all of this. When Jesus said, But I say to you who are listening, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who are cruel to you. Man, this is upside down kind of teaching. That's Luke 27. You know, if there is someone, let's just take this little piece of verse for a moment. If there's someone in your life right now, maybe it's a family member, maybe it's a super close friend or an ex-spouse, or maybe it's a former business partner or a coworker, it can be, it can be anybody in your life, someone who has genuinely wronged you and it's really cost you something, who has really betrayed trust. Jesus, in this little verse, looks us right in the eye and he says something completely upside down. Love them. Do good to them. Pray for them. This is the Sermon on the Mount. Not because these bad people deserve goodness, but because it doesn't erase what they did, by the way. And it's not because you have to keep putting yourself in harm's way, and I'm not saying that, but because of what unforgiveness does to you, it erodes you. It causes you to rot on the inside. Bitterness, you've heard this phrase before, it's kind of like you drinking poison, poison, but you're waiting for the other person to get sick. It doesn't hurt them, it just hollows you out. And then Jesus gives the golden rule that everybody has ever heard. Do Luke 6.31, do to others what you would want them to do to you. Do you actually live that way? Because in the Sermon on the Mount, he's redefining the good life. I mean, doing good to others, it's very simple, it's obvious. You want them to do good to you, right? It's universally agreed upon, I think. But almost universally, we just don't live that way. We hold resentment, resentment, we struggle with the emotion of it, it depresses us, it makes us angry, we don't provide forgiveness. And then Jesus pushes this element a little bit farther by saying in Luke 6.32, I mean, every line on the Sermon of the Mount just so challenges me. He said, If you love only the people who love you, well, what praise should you get? Even sinners love the people who love them. So here's kind of the analogy. If anybody can be warm, I mean, anybody can be warm on a warm day. And I don't I don't think that's real impressive, and Jesus says it's not. What's impressive and actually remarkable is the person who stays warm on a cold day, who stays kind when kindness isn't returned, who keeps giving when they're frankly there's nothing coming back to you. And that kind of love just doesn't come from willpower. I mean, you can't muster this up on your own. It comes, it comes from someone, not something. And that someone is the one that needs to live inside of you. So, yes, it's Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit that should live inside of us. And I don't think that's just good advice. I think it's kind of a something pointing at something much larger, because the only way a human being consistently loves the unlovely, loves their enemy, forgives the unforgivable, they give without keeping score. It is when they themselves have been loved that radically first. It's the only time that you can feel as if you deserve bad, but God loves and forgives you. And that is exactly what God did for us in Jesus Christ. He gave us a way to be forgiven, to be whole, to be blessed. You know, those who are poor in spirit, we begin to see ourselves bankrupt, we begin to see ourselves dead, and Jesus Christ gave us life. He took what was dead and made it alive. And then he shifts uh even to another, a totally different topic. I mean, the Sermon on the Mount just bounces from one topic to the next. In Luke 6.37, he says, Don't judge other people, and you, listen, you will not be judged. I mean, that's about as straight as it comes, but that's not the end of it. He says, Don't accuse others of being guilty, and you will not be accused of being guilty. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. These are powerful words because we really don't live that way. We live in the most judgmental cultural moment, I think, in history. Everyone has a platform, everybody's got an opinion, and that sort of publicly pronouncing just tears people apart, and it's what's happening in our country right now. And Jesus clearly and plainly says, just stop it. And not because truth doesn't matter, because we should speak up for truth, and not because wrongs should go unchallenged, because wrongs should be challenged, but because the same measuring stick that you and I, listen, that you and I use on other people, that same measuring stick is going to be used on you and me. And if you're honest, I mean really, really honest, you probably don't want that kind of judgment from God. And then he says something that I think has a little bit of humor in it, or some people don't see it that way, but I do. Luke 6.41, again, he kind of changes the subject again. Why do you notice that little piece of dust in your friend's eye? A lot of versions say speck, but you don't notice the big piece of wood in your own eye. I mean, you've got a excuse me, you've got a log in your eye, and you're trying to tell someone else about their small speck. We just do it. And then why does what does Christ say about that? He says, You hypocrite, first take the wood out of your own eye, then you will see clearly to take the dust out of your friend's eye. That's Luke 6, 42. So he's not saying not to ever say anything, but he's saying deal with yourself first, and then you will see clearly. You know, I really think that self-examination, I mean, it isn't self-condemnation. It's kind of a clarifying moment. You deal honestly with what's inside of you, the pride, the fear, the bitterness, the hypocrisy, or whatever. And then you can actually help, once you've worked on yourself, someone else. I think the most, this is very important, the most dangerous person in any room is the one who has never honestly looked at themselves. And then Jesus gives us one of the most straightforward diagnostics of the human nature, I think, ever spoken. Uh Luke, maybe not ever spoken, but Luke 6, 43 through 45. He says, A good tree does not produce bad fruit, nor does a bad tree produce good fruit. He's he goes on to say, good people bring good things out of the good. Listen, this is important, that they store in their hearts. But evil people bring evil things out of the evil that they stored in their hearts. And man, I tell you what, one of the most important things for a counselor is this next phrase in this verse. He says, the mouth speaks the things that are in the heart. I mean, in in plain language, I mean, easily said, you can't fake your fruit forever. If you've ever listened to my podcast, you've heard me say before, time brings all things to light. Give it enough time, and you will see the true colors of a person. You can only manage your image for so long. You can say the right things, you can show up at the right places, you can even post the right content, but eventually, under some kind of pressure, under some sort of stress, life has a way of squeezing you, and then the real you actually comes out. I mean, think of it kind of like this, like a like a toothpaste. You can dress it up in a nice package, you can call it whatever you want on the label, but when you squeeze it, what's inside of that tube comes out every single time. And Jesus, I don't think, is trying to shame anyone. I think he's really giving an invitation because if you and I don't like what comes out when life squeezes us, I'm telling you, the answer isn't better behavior management. It's not. The answer is a changed heart. And this is what I think. If you want to live the good life, the thing that Jesus is saying is examine your heart. Who are you really? Because when you really live, if you have nothing to hide, you hide nothing. And when the real you begins to grow and improve, it's not the riches or the money or how you look or who you're married to or the house you. It is you improving, and then you, I don't care where you are, you will begin to live a much better and happier life. So then we come to the part of the Sermon on the Mount that I think really deserves the most time. Because Jesus says something here that I think should cause every one of us to stop and ponder. Luke 646, he says, I mean, this is this is heavy. Why do you call me Lord Lord, but you don't do operative word, do what I say. I mean, why do you call him Lord but you don't do what I say? So he's not asking us to uh really reject him, because I don't think we're really doing that. He's asking people who claim to trust him, who call, who say that he's Lord. He's asking those people, are you that person? He says, if you're gonna call me Lord, then make me Lord. And I think those two things are completely different. Saying Jesus is Lord, but making him Lord over your life, those are two completely different things. And then he closes with the story. He he gives two a story of two different kinds of people, two builders, same storm. One man dug deep, he built on the rock, the rock is Jesus, and when the flood came, the storm came, the house held its position. But the other man built on the surface, no foundation, built on sand, and when the flood came, it completely collapsed. Luke 647, he says, Everyone who comes to me and listens to my words and obeys them, operative word, obey, he is like a man building a house who dug deep and laid the foundation on rock. And I don't have to tell you, because you've you've probably lived enough life to know that the storm is coming for all of us. And the only question for all of us is what are we standing on when the storm comes? So here's what I want to talk to you about kind of directly on this. I want to ask you a question. What would happen to you the moment after you die? I mean, what I mean, you just took your last breath. Your heart stopped beating, and there you are, dead. What happens next? What happens the very second after your heart beats for the last time, after you take that last breath? You are somewhere in that moment. And I don't care how much good living you've done, how much good advice you and I followed, how many good intentions, that is reality. And here's what the Bible, I think, is very honest about. Every one of us has sinned. Every one of us has chosen our own way over God's way, whether it's small, whether it's big, whether it's our entire life. Romans 3 23, if you've ever been to church, you've heard this a million times. If you haven't, here it is. Everyone, doesn't say somebody, most people, everyone, has sinned and fallen short of God's glorious standard. Apostle Paul said that to the Romans. That's really not condemnation. Again, that's kind of a diagnosis. You cannot treat something that you've never honestly named. And here's where I think everything has is on the linchpin of the entire story. God didn't look at the broken, self-destructing human race and then just walk away. He didn't write us off. What he did, because it's Easter time, it's probably a good time to mention this, he sent his son right into the mess. It was planned before creation. God knew Adam and Eve were going to sin, and God and Jesus Christ had a plan of redemption. And Jesus Jesus, now I know it all sounds kind of religious, but I'm gonna say it anyway. He lived every word of the Sermon on the Mount that he preached that day. He loved his enemies, he forgave people who betrayed him. Even on the cross, he said, Father, forgive them. And he gave without anyone ever giving back. And then he went to the cross. Not because he had to, because he chose to. He took the full weight of every sin, yours, mine, everyone who has ever lived, and he paid a debt with his own life, with his own sacrifice, with his own blood. That's why we take communion. Remember the blood. Remember the flesh that was beaten for your and my sin. And I know that sounds so churchy, but it is how you actually become new. Everyone has heard John 3 16. God really did love the world so much that he gave his one and only Son. And whoever, that includes you and me. That includes a killer. That includes a person who's molested. That includes anyone who's done any sin. And whoever believes in him, they will not be lost, but they will have eternal life. And when your heart stops beating, you will transition. Your body dies, but you don't. You will transition into eternity. And will it be eternity in heaven or will it be eternity in hell? And the word eternal, I mean it it is, it's doing all the heavy lifting in that sentence. And it just isn't about living better now, it's about what happens the moment after you die. Jesus said it very clearly in John 14, 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life. The only way, listen, the only way to the Father is through me. We have to declare him as the Lord of our life. That's when you see people getting baptized, they say, Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. So I want to kind of close this down and talk to two different kinds of people. If you've never surrendered your life to Jesus, here's what I want you to know. And all this in Luke 6 teaches this. Your relationships now will be healthier. Now, while you're still living, your life will be better. Your conscience will be cleaner. Your mental health will be stronger. And the people around you will be glad that you actually exist. But don't stop there. Don't reduce Jesus Christ to some kind of life coach with just great material. He is the answer to the one question that good living cannot answer. What happens to you when you die when all of this is over? And I want to, the other group of people I want to talk to, if you call yourself a follower of Jesus, I want to ask you what he asked you. Why do you call me Lord and not do what I say? I mean, how serious do we really take that? Because here's what I've noticed about my own life. A lot of us love the idea of Jesus being the Savior, the one who forgives our sins and cleans up our past and gives us the promises of heaven. And that I think that's just fantastic and real, and I'm deeply grateful for that. I really am. But a savior, listen, a savior you receive, but a Lord you follow. And there's a difference between accepting Jesus as Savior and genuinely submitting to Him as Lord. And that difference, I think, doesn't just show up when you go to church on Sunday. It's the Monday through Saturday of how you think, how you desire, how you live, your private decisions, the living the secrecy when you're just you and God. How are you? What do you do and how do you live when no one is listening listening or watching? So think about someone that you love deeply, a mentor, a parent, someone you believe in, like nobody else. And when they ask you to do something, typically you would not drag your feet. And you're not looking for some way to work around it. You just do it because you respect them. They're your mentor. And that is what it looks like to make Jesus Christ your Lord, not out of obligation, but out of devotion. We follow his teaching because it just flat out works and it honors God. So how does the Sermon on the Mount redefine the good life? Because you're healed from the inside out. You become more solid, you have more weight when the storm comes. And it does make life better emotionally. Listen, you can, and you already know this, but I'm gonna say it anyway. You can have all the money, all the fame, you've seen all the celebrities, you know, erode from the inside and die of depression and all kinds of things. But they were, it was a mental health issue. And when your heart becomes healed and whole, you become whole. And then that's when life improves. That's when obeying and following Jesus Christ as Lord totally changes everything. So let me bring this home. What Jesus taught on this hillside is some of the best wisdom ever spoken. He's telling us to be humble and to be honest and to love the hard people, to deal with what's on the inside, to stop judging and build on something that actually holds together. And then he says, follow it, and your life will be better for it. But don't stop there, because one day, and none of us knows what that day is, this life ends. You are not getting out of here alive. And for the next very next moment after you die, your existence, the rest of eternity, it will, listen, it will be spent somewhere. So the Sermon on the Mount, it is a wonderful way to live now. But Jesus didn't come just to show us how to live. He came to deal with what happens when we die. So don't let that moment of death catch you unprepared. Deal with it now. So here's the simple, simple question. Have you surrendered to him? And not just accept his forgiveness and then move on, but have you actually made him Lord of your life? Have you given him everything, the whole thing, the pride, the control, the sin that you keep getting back into, or whatever bad habit that you just can't overcome? Because the future that you've been holding on to, it's not anything that you can fix. Only the Holy Spirit can fix the very thing that just keeps coming back and haunting you. When you admit it, when you become honest, when you, and those are those are words for surrender, you are no longer weak in that area. You become just the surrendering it makes you strong. And it is how you finish this life well. I hate to keep always going back to that. So I hope you might you should pull out and read the actual Sermon on the Mount, start to finish. It's not that hard. I mean, it's in Matthew, it's in Luke. Read it and see how you're doing. But again, don't just look at it as a better way to live. You need to ask yourself, why am I doing these things? Why? Is it just a life coaching time? Or is Jesus Christ, are you doing it because he's the Lord of your life? And are you doing it because you want to honor God? And are you doing it so that you can love others as much as you love yourself? Because you know how much you love yourself. So, with all of that said, let me pray for us. God, we just have to be honest with you because I think that what you're really asking us to do is just follow you and call and you be our God and Jesus be our Lord. I personally have called you Lord, but if I'm really honest with myself, there are times that I live as if He's not my Lord. And I just don't want that gap in my life ever. So because the this is the truth, and because life is going to end, in the next moment after it does, I want to be standing where I chose. I don't want to be somewhere that I've drifted into. And I just don't want a Savior who has cleaned up my life while I'm living. I want a Lord who is shaping my present and holding my future. I want to follow you, not out of fear, not out of habit, and definitely not just out of obligation, but because I genuinely love you. Because of what you did for me on the cross, it counted for me personally, and it is who you are. So today I choose to surrender over and over again, not just the easy stuff, but the parts that even I've held back, the things that just keep coming back. And for whoever's praying with me, it could be pride or control or secret sin, but whatever you keep returning to, maybe it's the relationships that you've forgotten that need to be rekindled, but it's the future that I've been holding on to too tightly. I want to surrender and give it to you. I want you to be Lord over all parts of my life, all of the rooms, everything. And not just because I think I've figured it out now, but because I trust you more than I trust myself. And because I'm more grateful than I even have words for. You loved me enough to give me everything. You have forgiven my sin and given me eternity. You have helped me build my house on the rock. So help me love like you and help me finish this life well, but only in a way that reflects who you truly, truly are. And I pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, as I say in many podcasts, don't just listen to this and say that was pretty good. If you read the Sermon of the Mount and you ask yourself, Am I actually living this way? And you're not, you're not living the good life. You're just doing what everybody else is doing, trying to look good, get strong, be beautiful, have a lot of money. That's not life. Life is calling Jesus Christ as your Lord and truly changing how you think and how your heart feels. And then the rest of it, it starts becoming more enjoyable. I promise. I just promise. So have a beautiful day. If this has helped you, pass my podcast on to someone else. And until I talk to you next time, have a beautiful day.