Pt. 3 - Bucket Lists
I. Introduction
It hit national consciousness in 2007 through the tale of two men, played by Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freemen, who both discovered they had a limited time left to live. The idea of a bucket list may not have been birthed by the movie but it was certainly highlighted! So, since we have been wrestling with the idea of what we would do if we discovered we only had one month to live I want us to stop for just a moment and I want each of you to fill in the three blanks in your bulletin. If you knew you only had 30 days left what 3 things would you want to accomplish? What 3 things are your highest and loftiest goals that if money couldn’t stop you and all limitations were removed you would do that would make you feel like you had really lived? Now lean over and show your neighbor your top item.
The concept of a bucket list can be helpful because it forces you to live with the end in mind. I think the reason the movie struck such a nerve is because it chronicled the lives of two men who were forced to face their end. What I want to challenge today is whether your list is really a reflection of what is most important in life. I think the best way to accomplish that is to examine a bucket list that can be found in Scripture. Crafted by a man who is now face to face with his own end it gives us a very clear picture of what may just be the template of a godly bucket list.
Paul is once again in prison in Rome. Time is about to run out. One month to live is not a sermon series for Paul it is a reality. He is about to be martyred . . . decapitated by the Roman Emperor Nero. So with his last few days clearly in front of him he puts pen to paper to his spiritual son, Timothy, and in so doing sums up what really mattered when the end was so close at hand.
2 Timothy 4:6-7(MEV)
For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, and I have kept the faith.
When it came down to it there were only three things that really mattered to Paul.
The fight.
Paul states I have fought the good fight! I can’t say I know exactly what he was thinking but I think perhaps he is saying that when he reviewed life what matters was that he gave his best every day. He didn’t take a day off or let down his guard in his attempt to live and use every day to accomplish God’s purpose for his life. It is interesting that he called it a fight. He would testify that it wasn’t easy. It was a battle. I think we fail to live at Paul’s standards sometimes because we fail to view our journey like Paul did. He recognized that we live life behind enemy lines. In review of his life he states I fought faithfully day after day. I stayed in the fight. I stayed alert, on guard, diligent and determined. He is saying, “I never quit!” “I never threw in the towel!” I fought every moment every day. I was a warrior in a war.
This steadfastness was important to Paul. It was on his bucket list. That he would remain faithful to his commitment was a big deal to Paul. Maybe he could have said I kept my word, I kept my vow, I kept my promise. My word mattered.
Can you review your life and say you have stayed in the fight? Have you faithfully warred for the important? Or have you warred for things that don’t really matter? Have you let your guard down? Loafed? Become distracted? Paul said he fought THE fight. The right fight. The one that mattered. What kind of fight are you fighting? Is it worth your life? Does it matter? Is it THE fight?
The finish.
Paul then states that as he reviews his life he achieved another item on the bucket list . . . He finished the race. Similar but speaks to idea of completion. I finished what I started. It was important to Paul that he finish! He didn’t want to be known as someone who started something and didn’t complete it.
In 1 Kings one of the Kings of Israel responds to a warrior by saying “One who puts on armor should not boast like the one who takes it off.” He is saying, don’t boast when you start the fight but rather when you are able to return home and are able to take the armor off because that will mean that you have finished well. The king knew that so many people start but never finish!
Paul evaluates his life and says I finished. I completed. I broke the tape. I may not have been the fastest or even the first but I was a finisher.
As you examine your life are you a starter but not a finisher? Do you promise but never fulfill? Do you start working on the relationship but never follow through? Do you make goals but never take the steps required to achieve them? Resolutions but no resolve. Paul shows us that when the clock is ticking down it will matter to us that we can look back and conclude I completed some things. I followed through. I didn’t leave strings untied.
Paul also says he finished his course! It was his course. Not someone else's course. No comparison. No complaining. This is the my assigned race. I won't waste time wanting or wishing for someone else's course!
The faith.
Paul finishes reviewing his bucket list and says I kept the faith. When it came down to the last moments of his life he believed his faith was important. He held onto his faith.
Man if Paul had to go through what I have gone through he would have taken that off his list.
Remember Paul didn’t hold onto his faith without his faith being challenged! This is the man that was given 39 stripes by the Jews five different times. He was beaten with rods 3 times. Stoned once. Shipwrecked. Bitten by a snake. He faced prolonged hunger and thirst. And yet through it all he states I kept the faith. He comes to the end and concludes that the challenge to his faith only deepened his faith.
When you review what you have endured can you say the same? When your time comes to a close will you be able to state I kept the faith? Did the challenge you faced cause you to curl up and quit? Or will you be able to say what I went through was painful and brutal but through it all I didn’t give up on Jesus! I didn’t give up on trusting God. I didn’t take matters into my own hands. I relied on Him!
I want you to look back at the three things you wrote down on your bucket list. I want you to reflect for a few moments on what Paul’s list contained fight, finish and faith. Maybe visiting that site, eating that dish, seeing that place doesn’t seem to matter so much when you hear what mattered to a man that is about to die. How does your bucket list match up to Paul’s list? Maybe your list needs to be adjusted. Maybe the things on your list aren’t as life worthy as you thought. Maybe the things on your list need to be changed! If you live with the end in mind what really matters? What is it that you want and need to accomplish so that on your last day you can say I fought, I finished, I kept the faith? What matters? Who matters? Why even consider that now? Because we have to wrestle with the question of not only what matters but also with the fact that the when matters!
