I have preached right around 75 funerals these past 8 years that I’ve been Pastor here. I’ve been with several people as they went off into eternity. I have dealt with death. But these last two years or so has been kind of tough because I’ve dealt with DEATH in a different way. Did you know that PANDEMICS don’t INCREASE DEATH? No, it just speeds it up because we’re all gonna die. But these last two years I’ve dealt more with DEATH, that wasn’t expected. People who seemed healthy and strong one day are gone a week later. The way that this COVID is so RANDOM. Some older folks get a sneeze and cough, maybe run a little fever and then they’re ok. And then you have a young person and they get extremely sick. And Vise versa. Things just don’t make sense.
An old friend told me once he would rather preach funerals than weddings. Well, let me tell you something.....NOT ME!!!
It’s not that I really dislike preaching funerals, it really is a great opportunity to share with folks and try to help them through a really difficult time. Also, I count it an honor to get to bring a message of HOPE to some who may not normally attend church.
But the more I deal with DEATH the more I realize that life is really very FRAGILE. It can be taken away in a matter of a second. Here today...gone tomorrow. NONE OF US HAVE ANY GUARANTEE OF ANOTHER HEARTBEAT OR ANOTHER BREATH.
Here’s how fragile life really is. Do you know what animal is responsible for the deaths of more people than any other? Is it a snake, lion, tiger, dog or hyenna? No, it’s the MOSQUITO. 725,000 people per year die from diseases carried by the mosquito. THAT’S HOW FRAGILE OUR LIFE REALLY IS. A tiny creature that seems to be nothing but annoying kills more people every year than all the rest combined.
In this modern day we know about diseases that are VIRAL and others that are BACTERIAL. They crawl inside us and begin to do their damage. If our body isn’t strong enough to fight them off then they will eventually take over and destroy us. Tiny micro organisms that can bring us down. THAT is how fragile THIS LIFE really is. I want to take a few minutes this morning and look at a man named Job. He was a man who knew a lot about DEATH and HEARTACHE. So let’s take a minute and look the Book of Job Chapter 14, Verses 1-10.
“Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble.
2 He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
3 And doth thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and bringest me into judgment with thee?
4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.
5 Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;
6 Turn from him, that he may rest, till he shall accomplish, as an hireling, his day.
7 For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.
8 Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground;
9 Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant.
10 But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?”
Here in this chapter Job tells us some things about LIFE and DEATH. I’d like to take a few minutes this morning and take a look at how FRAGILE LIFE really is.
Brother ________ would you lead us in prayer.
I. The first thing Job tells us is...LIFE IS SHORT.
“Man that is born of a woman is of few days”
ILLUS: Jimmy Kimmel, is a Late Night comedian, and he was talking about the death of Don Rickles. This is what Jimmy Kimmel, the funny guy, said as he literally wept on National T.V.
“I know it’s crazy to say but he was way too young.”
Folks, Don Rickles was 90 years old.
HE WAS NOT TOO YOUNG TO DIE. BUT the fact of the matter is NO ONE is TOO YOUNG to DIE.
Death is NO RESPECTER of PERSONS.
“Man that is born of a woman is of few days.”
I don’t care if you’re 9 or 90, life is short.
I don’t know how many times I’ve heard people say, “The Older you get the Quicker Time Goes By.”. I used to not understand that but boy I sure do now. It is the truth. I’m only 55 and I can tell you it seems just like yesterday I was 25. Where has the time gone? Think about this, we’re closer to the year 2070 than we are back to 1970. I remember the 1970’s quite well.
You’d think as you grow older time would slow down. These bodies sure do don’t they? They don’t heal up as fast as they used to. These joints don’t bend like they used to. This hair falls out or turns grey. This skin gets brown spots on it. AND WE JUST SLOW DOWN!!!
So what should we do with these “few days” that we have?
Well the Apostle Paul tells the church at Ephesus what to do and by telling THEM ... he tells us. Ephesians 5:14-16.
“Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,
16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”
If you want to make good use of the “Few Days” that you have left ...
WAKE UP- RISE UP- STEP UP- and PAY UP
WAKE UP to the condition of your own soul and the soul of those around you.
So many people have themselves fooled. They think they are good enough. Smart enough. Rich enough to make it to Heaven. When all the while their days are growing shorter.
WAKE UP to the condition of the world. It’s getting more and more evil everyday. Jesus told us this in Matthew 24 and I think we can all look around and see it happening.
WAKE UP to the FACT that Jesus Christ is coming again. And listen, everyday is one day closer. I don’t think it’s gonna be long. It’s IMPENDING. It could happen ANYTIME!!!
THEN…RISE UP. Rise up from the dead. Everyone of us were dead in our trespasses and sins. We all must come to the point in our life where we realize the condition we’re in and let Jesus give us LIFE.
RISE UP to the JOB God has for each one of us.
RISE UP and be about your FATHER’S BUSINESS.
RISE UP and get to work.
And STEP UP- Walk circumspectly. That word means to be Watchful, Cautious, Look around. BE SMART. NOT FOOLISH. Use good judgment. I’ll tell you. The devil is out there watching. He is ready at a moments notice to lead YOU astray. He is ready at any time to move in and destroy your life. BE CAUTIOUS. BE WISE.
And then PAY UP- Redeeming the time. REDEEM means to gain or regain possession of (something) in exchange for PAYMENT. PAY UP. Make good use of the time that we have been given.
Do you know what the MOST VALUABLE POSSESSION is that you can give someone? YOUR TIME. You are allotted a certain amount. None of us knows how much we have. So when you give someone your TIME you’re giving them something you can’t get anymore of. You can make more money to give away. You can buy more gifts. But TIME IS VALUABLE. REDEEM IT. PAY UP Use it WISELY.
ILLUS: Diamond Rio years ago released a song called “One More Day.” What would you do if you realized you only had ONE MORE DAY to spend with your loved ones. ONE MORE DAY to witness for Christ. ONE MORE DAY to teach your children what’s really important in life. I guarantee you wouldn’t spend it watching T.V. You wouldn’t spend it looking at your phone or working extra hours of overtime. YOU WOULD USE THAT LIMITED TIME WISELY. Now I’ve got news for you. You may only have ONE MORE DAY. One thing is for sure, you only have a certain amount of time. USE IT WISELY BECAUSE…….LIFE IS SHORT!!!
So ..... WAKE UP- RISE UP- STEP UP- and PAY UP.
II. “Man that is born of a woman is of few days and ………… full of trouble.”
FULL OF TROUBLE Like I said earlier, I’m bringing this out because this PANDEMIC has showed me how FRAGILE this LIFE REALLY IS.
This life can be really SAD. Oh we have the good times. We have the joy of the Lord but don’t get too comfortable because it’s pretty SAD at times.
Can I be honest and open with you for a minute. If I didn’t believe in God. If I didn’t believe in a Heaven and a Hell. If I didn’t believe that God was in control. It could be overwhelming. I see why people take their own life. Sometimes things get to be too much and there seems to be no relief in sight.
As Job sets there, his children are ALL DEAD.
His wife has told him to curse God and die.
He has absolutely ZERO support from her.
He has lost all of his wealth. Nothing is stable.
His so-called friends tell him how wicked he is and how that God is punishing him.
Now his health is gone and he sets there in total misery with BOILS from the TOP of his head to the BOTTOM of his feet.
And he says this…. “Life is only a few days long and those few days are nothing but MISERY.” This is not some fairy tale, parable or a fable. This was a reality for Job. Life was really hard.
Paul puts it this way in 1 Corinthians 15.
“If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.”
You might say,
“How can God allow these terrible things to happen?”
“Why do BAD things happen to GOOD people.”
“I’ve heard people curse God over childhood cancer.”
BUT LISTEN FOLKS, THIS IS NOT OUR HOME.
Life down here is short but we have all of eternity ahead of us.
In Hebrews 11, the FAITH chapter, it talks about many of the great men of the Old Testament and in verses 13-16 it says this about them.
“These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.
15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.
16 But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.”
Do you see what it says there in Verse 13. They confessed what? That this world was all there is, so you better make the best of it? Forget tomorrow live it up today?
NO…They confessed that this life is only temporary!!! They were strangers, pilgrims traveling through this land heading for an eternal home.
Too many times us Christians live like this is all there is. NO!!!! We’ve got Heaven ahead. We have a home whose builder and maker is God. WE OUGHT TO LIVE LIKE IT!!!!
This world is only a few days long and those few days are full of trouble.
Job goes on to give us some illustrations of mankind.
A. In Verse 2, A FLOWER that is beautiful and then it’s cut down and is soon wilted.
A SHADOW that is there one instant and is gone the next.
A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF MANKIND.
B. In Verse 3, Job speaks about how we are NOTHING compared to God.
Psalms 8:4 “What is man, that thou art mindful of him?”
So many today think they are equal with God. People today become more and more intelligent to the point that they feel they are a god.
C. In Verse 4, He tells us we are all born sinners. “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.” Job is in despair that maybe God demands something of him that he just cannot do.
If God demands perfection before He will give Job some RELIEF then Job REALIZES that he’s in BIG TROUBLE. He just can’t do it.
Listen, there is NO WAY I can be RIGHTEOUS on my own. And you know what, you can’t either. If it was up to us to make ourselves FIT FOR HEAVEN we’d never make it.
D. Then in Verse 5, he goes on to tell us who has given us our days. Who has set our bounds. There is NO ONE who can go past the exact second God has already set. He KNEW the day you will DIE before you were even born. He knows the very second you will take your last breath.
In this time of Covid so many people have QUIT LIVING. I’m not talking about those who have passed away. I’m talking about those whose heart is beating, Oh they breathe and eat, but they have let FEAR DOMINATE their ives. Listen, we need to use the KNOWLEDGE and WISDOM God has given us. There is no reason to take unnecessary RISKS. There’s no use of being FOOLISH. But there has to be a time when you put your TRUST in GOD and HIS PROTECTION, and then you go on LIVING.
Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:7,
“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
In Matthew 6:25 Jesus tells us,
“Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?”
E. In Verse 6, you can almost hear the weariness in Job’s voice. “Turn from him, that he may rest, till he shall accomplish, as an hireling, his day.”
“God, could you just leave me alone until my time here is finished?”
“Could you just let me complete my work day as a paid hand?”
It’s seems to be a cry for mercy. A cry out to God to just let him die and be done with it. Job a man who had faced the very worst that life had to give. Losing everything that meant something to him. He’s tired, weary, in horrific pain and there is no one to comfort him. And that leads me to my last point.
III. Let’s read verses 7-10.
“For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.
8 Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground;
9 Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant.
10 But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?”
There is hope for a tree. I’ve cut down a trees in the past and I didn’t stay on top of it. Do you know what I have now?
A stump with a bunch of 6 foot tall sprouts coming out of it. If you really want to get rid of a tree you have to cut it down and get the root out of the ground. Ou ROOT is our SOUL. It CANNOT be killed.
But our PHYSICAL BODIES are NOT like that. Once a person is DEAD there is NO HOPE for a physical life again. The body immediately begins to decay and break down.
You could replace the blood.
Put in a new heart.
A new liver.
New kidneys.
New lungs.
It will do NO GOOD because the PHYSICAL BODY is DEAD.
Verse 10 ends with this question, “man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?”
Well Job has answered this question already. He has told us that our body decays.
Solomon in his great wisdom also tells us about this body but he doesn’t stop there. He tells us what happens to our Spirit.
Ecclesiastes 12:7 “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.”
There is no question today what happens to these bodies after we die. Job has told us. Science tells us. Our own human eyes tell us. But now Solomon tells us what happens to our Spirit. IT RETURNS TO GOD WHO GAVE IT.
2 Corinthians 5:8-11
“We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
9 Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
11 Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.”
So we will all return to God.
We will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
ILLUS: I was at the Tulsa County Courthouse a few years ago. I went to one of the courtrooms on the fifth floor. I THOUGHT that was where I was supposed to be. A person I had prayed with in jail was going to go before the judge. The doors opened and I walked in with a group of people and set down. It was a packed courtroom. But ... it was the wrong courtroom. It was a MURDER TRIAL. The person had given me the wrong courtroom. THIS PASTORING JOB GETS ME INTO A LOT OF TROUBLE SOMETIMES.
Anyway, I couldn’t leave so I set through the opening statements by the prosecutor and the defense attorney. I heard the horribly sad story of a young man who got mixed up with the wrong people. His father was there. I set there and listened to the terrible details of how his son died. So sad.
But a man setting just a few feet from me was the accused and he was being tried for the murder. He set there before the JUDGMENT SEAT. I looked at him. He didn’t look especially mean or threatening. If you passed him on the street you wouldn’t think anything about him.
After being admonished by the judge to stay away from the jurors he let us bystanders go and I got out of there. I heard later that he was found guilty of First Degree Murder and sentenced to Life in Prison.
I thought about how scary that would be to set before that judgment seat. Knowing that your life rested in the hands of the judge and the jury.
Someday, each one of us will be put up on trial. “yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?” FOLKS, Where is he? Where is his Spirit? It lies in the hands of God!!! And there in the hands of God it will be judged.
So what is the criteria that God will judge us by. Verse 10 tells us, “that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”
The things we have done, the decisions we have made on this earth, in this body, will decide where we will spend eternity.
So have you done GOOD or BAD things? I can tell you the answer for everyone of us. Yes we have done both.
I have done some good things … you have to.
I have done some bad things … you have to.
So will the good outweigh the bad? No
Romans 3:10 “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:”
Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”
Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death.”
We’re just as guilty as that guy setting in that courtroom. Maybe not of Murder but we’re still GUILTY. We deserve to be punished but here’s the good part. Jesus took our place. “For the wages of sin is death BUT the gift of God is eternal life.”
“yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?” Well his body is deteriorating but his soul is in the hands of God. Where he will spend eternity, is up to him. Heaven or Hell. Accept the gift or reject the gift.
Life is short. Here today and gone tomorrow.
Life is full of trouble. It’s a sad place to be.
But there is hope through Jesus Christ.
“yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?” Where will you be a thousand years from now? THE CHOICE IS UP TO YOU. Let’s Pray
