Intro – 6 small groups, 3 Sunday School classes, and a ladies’ Bible study – all of them groups who took on the challenge to invest in eternity since January 15th. On top of that, there are dozens of individuals who have been investing in eternal things over these past 7 weeks. I counted over 50 individuals who were a part of 48 hours of prayer that began Friday morning! 48 hours of prayer!
Church, that’s something to celebrate!
We could have put our treasure into things that won’t last. We could have invested in just what we can see and touch, in the here and now. Instead, people laid up treasure in Heaven, where it can’t rot or rust or be stolen, and now their hearts are turned that way more than before too. That’s more than just pretty good! That’s an example of God’s people kicking the bucket of mediocre living on down the street – while we still have the time to do it!
As a result, more Jews in Israel are going to hear about the Messiah! A boy with Down’s Syndrome is going to sleep better at night, and his family is going to remember a church that cared about them. People in lonely places have received notes of encouragement and hope. Families in Mexico are strengthened. The children’s wing here will be a good place for kids to learn about Jesus. Hungry people are going to be fed. One family was secretly encouraged and upheld in prayer. People with mental disabilities, and those who are their caregivers, received unexpected visits and reassurance that they matter. Many of the Laguru people of Tanzania will get to hear God’s word. Carpenter’s Place was loaded up with necessary items to give to people in need. Children at Oblong Christian Children’s Home will receive items they need there just for their day-to-day living. People are going to be engaged in prayer more intently. IDES will be able to place into someone’s hands the tools to work for their livelihood.
All of that because God’s people determined to invest in what matters! We can make a list like that, but we can’t begin to measure the real value of what all of that will accomplish! Who knows how many of the people touched by those actions will now be closer to Jesus because of it, or will pass it along and help others be closer to Jesus because of it?
This is our last week of talking about your bucket list – things to get done while there’s still time. All along there has been another way to say it – things to get done before you kick the bucket – before you DIE. Solomon, later in his life, wrote in the book of Ecc…
Ecclesiastes 9:10 (NIV)
Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.
That’s what’s behind door #1! That’s where you’re going. I’ve checked! If you’re going to get any work done here, if you’re going to make a plan and implement it, if you’re going to get smart or wise about this life, you better have a plan to get it done, because you’re on limited time. This shouldn’t surprise you, or anyone else for that matter. People have been dying since Genesis 3 and I can say with a certain degree of confidence that you and I will too, unless the Lord comes first. Still there are people all over the place who live out their days as though they aren’t numbered and who act shocked when faced with death.
So, how’s your bucket list? This is the 7th and final week we’re going to focus on this. We started out with the foundation for all this, that what we’re talking about here is Investing in what matters, and how that ought to be at the heading of everyone’s bucket list. We looked at the need to Figure out what’s true in life, in a world that’s largely not even sure that’s possible anymore. We considered how life isn’t just about staying comfortable, in fact, how we need to Get uncomfortable at some point to really live life as God wants us to. Our student ministry shared about having awkward conversations and challenged us to follow them in Saying what needs to be said. We looked at Abraham as the poster boy for walking where you can’t see. After that, we took an honest look at the importance of relationships and getting right with the people in our lives we might have a problem with.
Today, there’s this rather obvious item to put on your bucket list. That’s because just making a bucket list is part of doing this very thing: Prepare to Die. If I had more than 9 minutes at this point, I’d show a clip from “The Princess Bride” where Inigo Montoya is practicing what he will say to the 6-fingered man when he finds him: “Hallo. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.” Inigo Montoya didn’t invent this idea. He just put it into a phrase lots of people remember. Prepare to die. I don’t apologize for taking us into it this morning. Thank me later! If we’ll do it, we won’t just die better for it. We’ll live better for it!
This past week, I spent a few days with my mom, Joyce Nichols, who’s 90 years old. She’s under hospice care. That means she’s not going to the hospital. She’s at her house, living there with a heart problem that can’t be corrected. It will continue to get worse. She’ll receive minimal treatment, and we’ll try to make her remaining life as comfortable as possible. And you know what? Mom’s OK. To use her words, she’s there waiting to die. She can check off of her bucket list, “Be a faithful and supportive wife to a preacher,” “Raise 6 kids to love the Lord,” and she can also check off “Prepare to die.”
I’ve been around death – enough to see that there are a lot of different ways people deal with it.
Some people try to ignore it. They act like it didn’t happen to their best friend. They act like it doesn’t worry them. They’re always changing the subject away from the Grim Reaper. Maybe, if you ignore it, it will go away. But it doesn’t!
Some people approach death by running from it. They get preoccupied with doing whatever they can to forestall the inevitable. So, they work hard to hide that they’re aging. They get the very best and latest in medical help. They study up on how to squeeze a couple more years into their lifespan. And they spend a lot of time worrying over anything that could possibly end their life.
Some people try to undo death. They’re the people for whom the grief process is a never-ending loop. There’s no resolution, because they just won’t accept that the person they love is dead. Some even attempt to communicate with “people on the other side” because they just won’t accept the way that death limits and separates us.
These are all approaches to death where people just haven’t prepared for it. But for people who are followers of Jesus, it’s different.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
We face death differently
Paul told these Christians that our grief isn’t like the rest of people – people without hope. He doesn’t suggest that we don’t grieve. It’s just different for people who are prepared for it. For one thing, we’re…
Well-informed about what’s going on
This part of I Thes. doesn’t explain every detail for us, but it sure does spell out what we can expect when Jesus comes again. If we’re still alive when that happens, we’ll have to wait a moment. There’s going to be a loud shout, and a trumpet call. (So much for a secret rapture!) And those who have died in Jesus will be the first to leave! And sometime, right after that, we’re next – caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air!
One reason we face death differently is because God has told us what to expect.
Convinced that we’ll live again
We also expect to live again! It isn’t just some lame attempt to help people feel better when we talk about being together one day in Heaven!
In my office is my old license plate from MO. It reads “Juda G8.” That was meant to start conversations. That’s because in Revelation 21, the New Jerusalem, the capital city of Heaven, is described as having 12 gates, each named after one of the tribes of Israel. My family is going to rendezvous at the gate labeled “Judah.” That plan has served as a reminder through the years when we say goodbye to each other – we’ll see you at the Judah Gate.
Another reason we face death differently is because we live as people who are…
Eager to receive our reward
2 Timothy 4:6-8
As Paul thought about his coming execution, he had a great expectation of receiving an award. It’s the reward given not just to Apostles, but to all who have longed for the Lord’s appearing. Is that you? We face death differently when we consider that the Lord has something for us – something we can’t have in this life. Paul describes it as a crown of righteousness.
I have to say, I’m ready for that! I’m ready for every temptation of this world to be over with! I’m ready for everything about me that I don’t like, and you don’t like either, to be done!
One last reason we look at all this differently is that we’re…
Prepared (by Jesus)
Jesus gave us words of encouragement surrounding the time of death. He spoke of Heaven, and returning to take us to be with Him, and of the fact that He isn’t abandoning us.
Jesus Himself surrounds us through all of it.
You see…
For a believer, this is prepare to live
As Martha grieved over the death of her brother, Jesus reassured her that he would live again. She knew that would happen at the end of times, at the Resurrection. And Jesus told her,
John 11:25-26
"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
Everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. How is that even possibly true? I’ve known lots of people who lived and believed in Jesus, and I was at their funerals!
But I think the point of this is pretty simple: life, real life that will never end, begins when we accept Jesus. When you make the decision to follow Him and are saved by Him, your eternal life begins. In some sense, when you become a follower of Jesus, you’ve already begun to live forever, and that life, that is real life, won’t end.
That’s how you prepare to die. In fact, that’s the only way you can prepare to die.
Wouldn’t it be great to be ready? You’ll have an opportunity to make that choice in just a few minutes.
