Life Assurance: The High Cost/ The Premium Series

Life Assurance

The High Cost—the Premium

You never know what will happen next. Since our lives are full of the unexpected, one of the keys to a successful and fulfilling life is being as prepared as possible. Most of our vehicles come with a spare tire—just in case. We try to sock away money in savings—just in case. When the weather forecasters call for snow, we stock up on food and other supplies—just in case.

One of the ways that we deal with these “just in case” possibilities is buying insurance. We buy auto insurance to cover us in case we’re in a wreck. If you’re a homeowner, you probably have some kind of insurance for your house in case it’s damaged by a storm or fire. If you can afford it—because it sure is expensive—you might have health insurance in case you get sick, develop a disease, or have a medical emergency. A lot of you have some kind of life insurance policy, to help your family financially in case you die.

Actually, repeated studies have proven that 100% of people eventually die. Death is not the most popular subject. It’s common at a party or at the office to hear people ask, “So how’re your kids doing?” “Did your wife get that promotion?” Or, “Where are you taking the family on vacation?” But it’s kind of rare to hear people saying, “So, how do you want to die? What do you think will happen after you take your last breath?” If you try this tactic, you might notice a decrease in the number of party invitations that end up in your mailbox, and the number of people wanting to have lunch with you will probably hit a sharp decline.

Thinking about our own death is not a favorite pastime, and yet death is inevitable. It’s not a “just in case” situation—it will happen. It’s been said that the only two things in life that are certain are death and taxes. By tomorrow evening most of us will have sent in our tax returns for the year; but how many of us are prepared for the other inevitability? Insurance prepares us for things that might happen; are we prepared for what we can be sure will happen?

SonRise Church’s commercial that is currently airing addresses this question. We’re going to toss this issue around for the next three weeks in a series called “Life Assurance.” To start it off, let’s watch the commercial together now. As we do so, I want to ask you: Is this commercial about you?

[Commercial]

Well, are you this man? When it comes to spiritual matters, insurance is helpless. But rather than insurance, we can have assurance. Assurance is having the confidence of knowing where you’ll spend eternity. It’s knowing that you have life with God forever and ever. Jesus said in John 10:28-29, talking about His people: “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from Me, for My Father has given them to Me, and He is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand.” Catch that? “No one.” This raises a lot of “what if” questions, which Pastor Daryl will address in next week’s worship gathering.

Now insurance is outrageously expensive—so expensive, in fact, that many people cannot afford it. Every kind of insurance has a premium—the cost to open and maintain a policy. But assurance—having the confidence of knowing where we’ll spend eternity—is even more expensive. If it’s so costly, how can anyone afford it? That’s what we’re going to discover together this morning.

[Offering, music, prayer, video clip]

So what do you think is going to happen to you when you die? (Not even “if,” but “when.”) Notice that the man conducting the interview asked what these people thought would happen. Some said they knew where they were going after death, some could only guess, others said they had no idea. What about you?

There’s a difference between thinking and knowing. The truth is that we can know what will happen to us when we die. God does not leave us to guess, wonder, or even just hope. We can know for sure. We can have assurance.

What people think is important and we should value one another’s views, but have you noticed that people’s preferences and opinions don’t affect what is actually real? A couple months ago, I truly thought that the Seattle Seahawks would beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XL. It didn’t matter. In reality, the Steelers won, regardless of what I thought or preferred. In 2004, millions of people predicted George Bush would win the presidential election. Millions of others thought John Kerry would win. In the end, it didn’t matter what people thought or predicted. All that mattered was what actually happened.