INTRO.- Preparation is important in all of life.
ILL.- Some guy wrote: “One morning I went out to start car to go to church. Flat tire. Lucky I had a spare. I changed tire quickly and was on my way. I didn’t think to drop spare off to be fixed. I thought, "I’ll get around to it." Within five days I went out to car to go to school. I had another flat. Only this time I had no spare tire! I had to roll it to nearest station and wait while it was fixed.”
He said, “When something breaks, fix it now. Don’t wait until you need it and then don’t have it!” Good advice.
Preparation makes a difference in all realms of life whether it’s work, school, play, recreation, etc.
ILL.- Two years before his death, Mike Hanzas, who lived alone, began to make preparation for his demise. He bought a plot in the cemetery. Weekly, he visited the site where his remains would be interred. He planted grass there and mowed it regularly. On Memorial Day, he placed flowers on the grave site, for he said, “I want to see flowers there now. I won’t be able to see them when I’m gone!” A while later Mike went into a funeral home. “I want to buy the casket which will be my new home,” he said. Whenever he passed the funeral home he would go in. Standing beside the casket he would say, “That’s where I’m going to live someday!”
One day Mike invited a nephew and the rest of his family to come to see him. After a hearty meal, Mike began to dispense some canned goods and personal effects among his visitors. Then he handed his nephew his will. As he did this, he dropped dead of heart failure! Someone wrote, “So far as we know, Mike Hanzas had made every provision for his body but none for his soul.”
Matthew 16:26 “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?”
This message is about preparation. The text speaks of the Lord’s coming but whether it’s His coming or our death, we must prepare to meet the Lord. While most people are only concerned about preparing for Christmas we should be concerned about preparing to meet the Lord!
There should be some obvious things we must do to prepare to meet the Lord, such as repent of our sins, confess Christ every chance, be baptized. And we must continue to walk with Him in life. If we walk with Him in life He will walk with us through the valley of the shadow of death. Our text looks at preparing to meet the Lord in a different way.
PROP.- How do you prepare for death or the Lord’s coming?
Paul tell us how to prepare.
1- Rejoice in the Lord
2- Be gentle toward all
3- Trust the Lord in prayer
I. REJOICE IN THE LORD
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
ILL.- I like the old story about Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. who was a member of the U.S. Supreme Court for 30 years. His mind, wit and work earned him the unofficial title of "the greatest justice since John Marshall." At one point in his life, Justice Holmes explained his choice of a career by saying: "I might have entered the ministry if certain clergymen I knew had not looked and acted so much like undertakers."
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
Don’t fear life. Find joy. Find your joy in the Lord, not in the things of this world.
The way to prepare for all of life and the Lord’s coming is to rejoice in Him! He is the author of joy in our lives. He came to give us the abundant life. (John 10:10) At least, a part of the abundant life is joy that comes from Him!
ILL.- When my daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren Hope, Caleb, and Hayden show up at our house, they crawl out of the van with all smiles. Caleb often says, “There is silly papa!”
That’s better than some other things he could say about me. But it’s a wonderful way to be greeted for me/for us. WE ARE GREETED WITH GREAT JOY!
This is the way it should be for us in all of life. When we rise in the morning we should greet the Lord and the world with joy because of Him, “Good morning, Lord!” I try to make that my practice every morning instead of groaning about my aching, hurting body!
“This is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24)
That same spirit of joy should be present every day of our lives even with our “ups and downs” or our “down” times, because we know what will happen in the end and that everything is going to come out in the wash! All of our troubles and difficulties didn’t come to stay, THEY CAME TO PASS!
Where do we get this joy for daily living and for the Lord’s coming?
Acts 13:52 “And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.” The more we are filled with the Holy Spirit, the more joy we’ll experience in life.
Acts 16:33-34 “At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole family.”
Romans 12:12 “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” Joy comes from our hope!
Romans 15:13 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
2 Corinthians 7:4 “I have great confidence in you; I take great pride in you. I am greatly encouraged; in all our troubles my joy knows no bounds.”
1 Peter 1:8 “Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy...” AMEN!
The way to prepare for the second coming of Christ or your death is in joy! Either way, we will live forever with Him! If that thought doesn’t light your fire, your wood is wet!
II. BE GENTLE TOWARD ALL
5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
ILL.- A gentle Quaker, hearing a strange noise in his house one night, got up and discovered a burglar busily at work. So he went and got his gun, then came back and stood quietly in the doorway. “Friend,” he said, “I would do thee no harm for the world, but thou standest where I am about to shoot.”
No matter who we are or where we are, we must demonstrate gentleness toward others. Of course, I realize it’s not always easy to demonstrate gentleness to others. When you have a grouchy, growly boss or fellow worker it’s hard to be nice to him.
ILL.- When I worked for Safeyway back in the 1960‘s I got into several arguments with a Mormon boy who worked there. As I look back I realize now that I was splitting hairs on some issues that didn’t amount to much and also I was not being a good witness for Christ. I thought I was, but in reality, I wasn’t, because I came on too strong with my beliefs. I got mad at him and he got mad at me.
I don’t know if that taught me a lesson back then but it does now. The way to make friends and influence people is not by being stubbornly obnoxious about what you believe, but by showing kindness and gentleness. And that’s also the way we prepare to meet the Lord either in death or at His coming! The Lord wants us to treat people kindly, gently and even those whom we might consider to be our opponents!
Ephesians 4:2 “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”
Titus 3:1-2 “Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and always to be gentle toward everyone.”
1 Peter 3:15 “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”
Even in our witnessing for Christ and especially, in our witnessing we must be kind and gentle with people. Being hard, harsh or know-it-all just turns people off to Christ and Christianity. Kindness, gentleness and love does the most good in converting people to Christ.
What if you were reading the “riot act” to someone when Christ came back? How would that look to the Lord? Of course, how would it look to Him right now?
ILL.- Scottish pastor, Henry Drummond, wrote: "God, the Eternal God, is Love. Covet therefore that everlasting gift, that one thing which it is certain is going to stand, that one coinage which will be current in the universe when all other coinages of all the nations of the world shall be useless and unhonored."
Covet love and a part of that love is gentleness.
III. TRUST THE LORD IN PRAYER
6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Do not be anxious. Who, me? Yes, and we all get anxious or concerned or worried about something. I think it’s a part of our sin nature to be anxious about things and people in life.
ILL.- For several years a woman had been having trouble getting to sleep at night because she feared burglars. One night her husband heard a noise in the house, so he went downstairs to investigate. When he got there, he did find a burglar. "Good evening," said the man of the house. "I am pleased to see you. Come upstairs and meet my wife. She has been waiting 10 years to meet you."
We all worry or get anxious about something: burglars, work, kids, money, our health, etc.
ILL.- Someone said: Worry is like a rocking chair, it give you something to do but it doesn’t get you anywhere.
ILL.- Dr. Charles Mayo said, “Worry affects the circulation, the heart, the glands, the whole nervous system, and profoundly affects the health. I have never known a man who died from overwork, but many who died from doubt.”
ILL.- Someone said, “Blessed is the man who is too busy to worry in the day time and too sleepy to worry at night.” Amen!
Work is a good cure for worry. In fact, work is a good cure for most evils and worry is one of them.
ILL.- Another said, “For peace of mind, resign as general manager of the universe.” Amen!
Some people think they have to solve every problem that comes along. We’re in sales, not management. We need to learn to let God handle the universe and most other things as well.
ILL.- Someone said, “Every evening I turn worries over to God. He’s going to be up all night anyway.”
Psalm 37:1-4 “Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither,like green plants they will soon die away. Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
Psalm 121:1-4 “I lift up my eyes to the hills— where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed,he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.”
Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”
We need to learn to trust God more than we do. And how do we trust Him? What is the evidence that we trust Him? We talk to Him. We turn everything over to Him.
CONCLUSION---------------
ILL.- A king sent for his jester one day, and presented him with a stick. He said, “Take this stick and keep it until you find a bigger fool than yourself.”
Lying on his deathbed, the king again sent for his jester.
“I am going away,” the king said.
“Where?” asked the jester.
“To another world,” (meaning death) replied the king.
“What provision has your majesty made for this journey and for living in the world where you are going?” the jester asked. “None,” was his answer.
The jester handed the king the stick.
“Take it,” he said. “I have found a bigger fool than myself, for I only trifle with the things of this world while you have trifled with the things of eternity.”
Many people trifle with or perhaps play with that which will affect them eternally. They play at their religion or Christianity instead of taking it seriously.
We all need to realize how short life is and prepare for the end whether it’s death or the Lord’s return. And we prepare for the end and for the next life by knowing the Lord and walking with Him. DO YOU KNOW HIM? And, are you walking with Him every day?
Steve Shepherd, Jonesboro Christian Church, AR
jonesborochristianchurch@suddenlink.net
