A.  Our society has confused what is most important in this world.

1.  How tragic it is that a teacher (one who shapes and moulds young minds) makes $30,000 a year and someone playing professional baseball makes $2,500,000 a year, and up. (I do love baseball and the sports, but that is ridiculous!)

2.  How tragic it is that the average American wedding these days cost over $10,000, and yet the divorce rate is astronomically high. (Shouldn’t people place more focus on the marriage itself and making it work, and not the pomp and circumstance of the ceremony? I love a pretty wedding as much as the next person, but what is most important?)

3.  You see how backwards things have gotten?

4.  We Christians aren’t immune to this inverted thinking, are we?

B.  Let’s take a moment and look at some things that does really matter and let’s be sure that we are doing the things that really matters.

A.  A few weeks ago I spoke of Enoch and Noah, walking with God and that too should be our desire.

B.  Enoch walked with God. The Bible does not have a tremendous amount to say about him, but boy, the verses that he is in tell us how he walked with God.

1.  In Genesis chapter 5:21-24 - And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: and Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: and all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: and Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.”

C.  Noah also walked with God and did his commandments. There is so much more about Noah in the Bible, but we will just look at a few of the statements, and if you will take the time to study the passages that we will not look at today you will get a full comprehension of the faithfulness of this man.

1.  Genesis 6:9 - “These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, and perfect in his generations: Noah walked with God.”

2.  Noah did what was right in spite of the fact that everyone else on earth was actively living in sin.

a.  Imagine every accountable person on this planet, except for Noah and his family, was wicked. How good are we at overcoming this negative example we see every day and live for Jesus in spite of it all?

3.  Noah obeyed God even when he commandments were inconvenient.

a.  He spent years building a massive boat. This had to consume his time and energy, and yet he obeyed without argument or complaining.

b.  How good are we at obeying those commands of God that we find unpleasant or inconvenient?

D.  Noah blessed others by his righteous life. Consider that if Noah had not obeyed God, you and I would not be here. In fact, no one would be here.

1.  All of mankind, since the flood, owe their very existence, to the obedience of Noah.

2.  How good are we at living so that others receive a blessing from our life?

A.  It won’t matter what brand of shoes or clothes that we put on every day, but it will matter whether or not we have put on the Lord Jesus Christ in Baptism.

1.  Galatians 3:26-28 - “For ye are all sons of God, through faith, in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ. There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither bond nor free, there can be no male and female; for ye all are one man in Christ Jesus.”

2.  Romans 6:3-7

B.  It won’t matter whether we’re rich or poor, whether we’re black, yellow, or white, but it will matter whether we have the won the crown of life.

1.  Matthew 25:31-46

2.  II Timothy 4:6-8

C.  It won’t matter whether or not you were the valedictorian of your class, but it will matter if we know the Lord Jesus Christ.

1.  John 17:3 - “And this is life eternal, that they should know thee the only true God, and him whom thou didst send, even Jesus Christ.”

2.  Do we know the Lord? -- Are we committed to him as our Savior? You do know that he is the Savior of the world.

D.  It won’t matter whether your friends are the most popular people in town, but it will matter if your friends help you or hinder you on your way to heaven.

1.  I Corinthians 15:33 - “Be not deceived: Evil companionships corrupt good morals.”

E.  It won’t matter if you are considered a popular person in town, but it will matter if the Lord owns you as his child before the throne on Judgment Day.

1.  Romans 14:10 - “But thou, why dost thou judge thy brother? Or thou again, why dost thou set at nought thy brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of God.”

2.  II Corinthians 5:10 - “For we must all be made manifest before the judgment-seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”

F.  It won’t matter if you worked at home or in a job somewhere, but it will matter if you wore the spiritual armor to help you overcome Satan and his devices.

1.  Ephesians 6:10-18

A.  May the Lord help us to remember what matters and what doesn’t matter. May we keep in perspective those things that matter eternally and those things that matter here and now. May we never place the temporary above the permanent.

B.  May the Lord help us to follow his word and to be the persons that are truly obedient spiritually.

C.  May we strive every day to live in such a way that it may be also said of us that we “walked with God.”