Bunbury
Wed pm
20/07/11
“Planning your departure”
Intro: *** A young man set out on the adventure of a lifetime & tragically became stranded & died in the harsh conditions of the Alaskan wilderness.
His adventure began in the spring of 1981, when he was flown into the desolate north country to photograph the natural beauty and mysteries of the tundra. He had photo equipment, 500 rolls of film, several firearms, and 1400 pounds of provisions. As the months passed, the entries in his diary, which at first detailed his wonder and fascination with the wildlife around him, turned into a pathetic record of a nightmare. In August he wrote, “I think I should have used more foresight about arranging my departure. I’ll soon find out.” He waited and waited, but no one came to his rescue. In November he died in a nameless valley, by a nameless lake, 225 miles northeast of Fairbanks. An investigation revealed that he had carefully mapped out his venture, but had made no provision to be flown out of the area.
The thought that we could end up in the same predicament as this young man probably seems remote to you right now.
After all he made a high risk journey into an unknown wilderness & left himself at the mercy of the elements.
But the truth we need to ponder is that although we may not be in a remote Alaskan wilderness we are nonetheless in the remote wilderness of another life.
Here is the big question to ponder – have you made plans for your departure?
Some of you are saying ….. departure? I’m just beginning life, I’m not even thinking about departing!!!
** Someone has rightly said “You can’t repent too soon, for you know not how soon it may be too late.”
Do you spend any time thinking about your exit from life?
Being forgiven & living every day in right r/s w/ Jesus is the only way you can be ready for your departure.
I want to minister a message I’ve called “Planning your departure”.
Text: Deuteronomy 32:29 (NKJV) 29 Oh, that they were wise, that they understood this, That they would consider their latter end!
# 1. Life is a high risk venture.
A. All you have to do to know this is true is look at the wreckage.
*** One day we were going up a mountain in Albuquerque NM on a chair lift. Half way up the 11,000ft Mountain we saw a few hundred feet below the leftovers of a plane. My pastor friend explained to me that the
wreckage I was looking at was the remains of a plane that had crashed into the side of the mountain simply killing everyone on board. For many years since the accident the wreckage had remained there scattered over the mountain side.
I remember that it was quite sobering seeing the twisted wreckage that hadn’t been retrieved, as I u/s, b/c of the difficulty of accessing it & bringing it all down.
It was a sobering sight b/c the wreckage represented lost lives!
a. Unfortunately all of life is full of wreckage!
i. Most of us see the wreckage of humanity every day ….. wrecked family members / relatives / workers / people we see all the time –wrecked b/c of a bad decision!
ii. The wreckage of the world is splashed across the media every day.
iii. We can’t even drive down the road these days w/o being reminded of this truth ….. crosses / memorials on the side of the roads of drunken / speeding / crazy drivers & their victims.
*** I remember the first night I got my driver’s licence. I remember going out to visit my uncle who was a football player for Perth, own his own panel beating business & just generally had some good sense. He said something to me as he was looking at my car that night …..
Nice car son! Just don’t forget how easy it is to do one stupid thing & find y/s lying on the road w/ your head a few feet away from your body!
What he was saying to me was simple – don’t b/co a statistic through crazy driving – don’t be a part of the wreckage!
b. We sometimes forget how easily we can come to the place of ruin.
i. The Bible is filled w/ the stories / accounts of human ruin.
i. There are two things all these wrecks had in common …… firstly the fact that they began the journey of life as men / women who knew / served & loved God!
ii. Even in the Bible we see the wreckage! Solomon / Absalom / Sampson / Judas & many others.
iii. The second thing they had in common was that they all lost sight of the fact that the destination of life’s journey – Is God!
B. If you hope to traverse the landscape of life successfully it is going to take real wisdom.
a. A life lived right / successfully is the result of employing real wisdom.
i. The one thing that too many people fail to keep in sight is the fact that you only get to have one crack at life.
ii. If more people would remember this / be sobered by this there would be less wreckage around.
iii. Young people would act a lot more responsibly / carefully in choosing who to marry….. they’d u/s that the Bible says w/ good reason …
2 Corinthians 6:14 (NKJV) 14Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?
iv. More people would be a lot more cautious in the lifestyle they embraced.
v. If kids in school u/s that the brain they leave school w/ is the brain that is going to earn them a living they’d be a lot more diligent about the mission of learning!
*** Luke W***h was doing his homework under protest one day after school under the watchful eye of his mother. Hoping that he might have gotten out of this bondage of homework a lot easier than he was & thinking that his mother would be a lot more u/s about why he shouldn’t have to do his homework he made one final appeal to his mother’s good sense by saying “They just want you to go to school to learn!”
That’s right Luke! Life is about learning!
Vs 29 . 29 Oh, that they were wise, that they understood ……
vi. More than anything else in life we need the wisdom to be able to learn / adapt & change.
vii. The Bible says about all the things we ought to embrace / pursue / purchase / go after wisdom ought to be at the top of the list after salvation.
Proverbs 23:23 ( NKJV ) 23 Buy the truth, and do not sell it, Also wisdom and instruction and understanding.
# 2. Wisdom now & then.
A. We all need wisdom to take us beyond the current moment of life.
a. Everyone of us need wisdom to for the current moment in life.
i. Let’s face it the simple reason why do many of God’s people get th/s into trouble is b/c they simply don’t apply the wisdom of God to life’s needs.
ii. Real wisdom uses a long range view of life in making decisions.
iii. We often make decisions that seem wise at the time but w/ the passing of time prove to be disastrous!
*** Think about the young man in our opening story ….. it seemed he had made adequate provision w/ 500 rolls of film, several firearms & 1400 pounds of provisions! That’s a lot of hamburgers & beans!
It’s a pity though that his wisdom was long range enough to take in a return plane ticket home!
b. Think about Moses ….. the singer of our song …..Mr Meekness finally blowing a valve w/ God’s people – it seemed like a good thing to do at the time …..
Numbers 20:11 ( NKJV ) 11Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank.
i. But it was afterwards when he’d cooled down the reality of his ‘wisdom’ came home to him.
Numbers 20:12 ( NKJV ) 12Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”
ii. It was a costly mistake that eventually affected his departure …… God had intended him to lead Israel into the promised land.
c. Think about Aaron & the people of Israel having a wild orgy while Moses is up on Mount Sinai receiving the 10 commandments.
i. You know how people can be …… every now & then they flesh out!
ii. The carnality committee came to Acting Pastor Aaron & said …… Ps Moses doesn’t seem to be too concerned about us let’s take the pressure off a bit & flesh out!
iii. Seemed like a wise decision at the time but it didn’t take in a long term view of the consequences…… sin never does!
T.B.S. …. 1 Corinthians 10:8 ( NKJV ) 8Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell;
d. Think about Korah who had better insight into what God’s people needed than Moses.
i. It seemed like the wise thing to do at the time to rebel against the leader that God had chosen but it was when God’s opinion was asked that his wisdom seemed short sighted!
Numbers 16:32-33 ( NKJV ) 32and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the men with Korah, with all their goods. 33So they and all those with them went down alive into the pit; the earth closed over them, and they perished from among the assembly.
ii. Rebellion always seems like the wise thing to do at the moment ….. but it’s the long term outcome that reveals it for the folly it is.
B. Much of wisdom is about u/s the right decisions to make & the consequences.
a. Listen here to the lament of the text.
Vs 29. Oh, that they were wise, that they understood this, …….
i. Here Moses in his song is saying ….. what is needed here is not just wisdom for the moment but rather an u/s of where wisdom leads.
ii. Sometimes we completely misunderstand the outcome of wisdom!
iii. Sometimes the wisdom we need to apply right now is not going to make the road easier but infinitely more difficult!
iv. This is powerfully true when it comes to the wisdom of raising children / teenagers…… there’s a need for long range wisdom which often means short term unpopularity.
Proverbs 23:12-14 ( NKJV ) 12 Apply your heart to instruction, And your ears to words of knowledge. 13 Do not withhold correction from a child, For if you beat him with a rod, he will not die. 14 You shall beat him with a rod, And deliver his soul from hell.
v. The wisdom of getting out of debt b/4 you give to God might seem like wisdom right now but it’s not long term wisdom!
Malachi 3:9 ( NKJV ) 9 You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation.
b. Real wisdom u/s when to pull the right levers in life & what the consequences will be!
*** When we lived in Kalgoorlie the Airforce used to fly into Kalgoorlie to do touchdown & takeoff practice landings. One day we saw a couple of RAAF Macchi trainers practicing & we decided to drive out by the airport so the boys could get a closer look. As we pulled up in the car park we could see the two jets, which had now landed & parked by the fence of the terminal building. We got out, went over to the fence & looked at the planes which the pilots were now standing by. They walked over to the fence, chatted for a moment & then asked if the boys wanted to sit in the cockpit. You can guess what the answer was! As they were climbing into the aircraft the pilots explained that there were some levers in the aircraft that were marked w/ yellow & black diagonal striping. Don’t touch them, they told the boys b/c they will eject the cockpit seat!
i. Wisdom is the right use of the levers of life ….. knowing when to pull them & knowing when to leave them alone …..
ii. But equally impt wisdom is know what pulling those levers will mean for our lives in the long term!
iii. You need to journey through life w/ a clear u/s what it is going to mean to your ultimate departure as you use the levers of life.
Ecclesiastes 3:1 ( NKJV ) 1 To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven:
# 3. Planning your departure.
A. The truth is that most people prepare to stay when they should be preparing to depart.
a. Think about it! Most of our mental capacity in life is given over the task of staying / continuing / expanding / going on.
i. We read about the foolish farmer in the parable of Jesus but how much alike are we to him?
Luke 12:21 ( NKJV ) 20But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ 21“So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
ii. James tells us that life is like a vapour ….. very short lived & ends in a moment.
James 4:13-16 ( NKJV ) 13Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; 14whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. 15Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” 16But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
Psalms 144:4 (NKJV) 4Man is like a breath; His days are like a passing shadow.
iii. The Bible is filled w/ many warnings & cautions about life …… things we need to be aware of.
iv. Our text is another one of those warning signs ……
b. Here is the true wisdom of life given to us in this warning ….
Vs 29. ……That they would consider their latter end!
*** Australia’s super annuation assets in April 2006 prior to the GFC were approaching $850 billion. It seems as though most Australians are diligently preparing for the latter years of their lives but judging by the decline in church attendances they aren’t preparing for their departure!
i. One fact about life is that – you’re never going to get out of it alive!
ii. Based on this fact … the greatest wisdom we can apply to life is preparation for our departure!
B. Make sure you don’t miss the flight!
*** I’ve only ever missed a couple of flights in about 22 years of travel. One when a pastor didn’t pick me up on time for my flight. We got to the airport early enough to catch the flight but too late to check in my bags!
The other time was when I was sent an itinerary & completely misread it! I noticed that the flight time was 12:05am ….. just after midnight, no problem! But what I got confused was the date b/c I got there 24 hours too late! I arrived to an airport that was nearly empty … hmmm must be a near empty flight I thought. Then it dawned on me as I looked at the itinerary – I was a day late! Ouch!!! $500 later I corrected the problem.
a. Here’s the point – you can mess up life if you don’t live w/ the latter end of life in view.
Vs 29. ……That they would consider their latter end!
(TMSG) 29If they had any sense at all, …; they would see what’s coming down the road.
i. Paul a man who lived w/ the latter end of life always in view was able to say ….
2 Timothy 4:6-8 ( NKJV ) 6For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. 7I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.
