Are you Ready??
There was a man went in for physical and got a call from the doctor a couple of days later. The Doctor said that he had bad and worse news. "Give me the bad" the man asked. "Your tests showed that you had 48 hours to live." replied the doctor. "That’s the bad news! That’s the worst thing I have ever heard! How can there be worse news that that?" The man asked. The doctor paused for a moment then replied, "Well, I’ve been trying to call you for 2 days now.”
Poor guy – nothing could prepare you for that sort of news. How would you react if you were told you had just days, weeks or even a couple of months to live. Would you be ready to die?
2 weeks ago, I was in Brisbane for 4 days attending some bible college lectures. It was being held at Gateway Baptist church and we were into day 2 of lectures. Our lecturer was Tim Hanna, the senior pastor at Gateway. Well about 11o’clock, our lectures were interrupted by their office secretary with a message. One of the young ladies at the church had just died. She was in her mid 20’s and had been married for less than a year. She was supposed to have come to church that morning to be involved in an outreach program to less well off ladies in their community, but she didn’t answer the door when her friends called for her. Strangely, she wasn’t at the church either and so her friends went back and managed to break into her house – only to find her dead in the bath tub. She was an epileptic and had a fit while having a bath – she’d drowned. Last Tuesday morning, a young lady, with her whole life ahead of her, so it seemed, passed from this life to the next. What a shock – to her husband, her parents, her friends, her church, us – who didn’t even know her. No one knew that Monday was going to be her last day alive on this earth. I wonder whether she was ready to die?
It might sound like a strange question, but let’s face it, one day each of us is going to die. There is absolutely nothing surer – each one of us will at some time breathe our last breathe. For many people, that is scary, but for the Christian, it should not be scary at all.
A little boy was once seen taking a short cut across a cemetery lot just about dark. He was later asked, aren’t you afraid. He answered, "No, I only cut through here to get home." Death or the grave is only a shortcut home. For a Christian, going to heaven is going home, it should not hold any fear, but it does – so often it does. And definitely, for those that don’t know Christ, there is a lot of fear.
Why is that? Why do people fear dying? What is it that we are scared of?
I want to suggest that one of the reasons people are scared of dying is because they are not ready for death. We are simply not prepared. Tonight I want to talk a bit about what it means to be ready for death – because, it could come any time for any one of us and we all need to be ready.
Let’s Pray
Jesus talked a lot about death. He also talked a lot about his second coming and he often didn’t differentiate between them. You see, Jesus’ second coming is that time when he returns to earth to take all those who believe in him to heaven. It is the end of a Christian’s life on this earth. Do you see now how it is like death? It is an event which marks the transition from Earth to eternity.
Tonight, I want to focus on one parable Jesus told which spoke of death and our need to be ready for either death or his second coming. We’re going to read from Luke 12:13
13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
14 Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” 15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
Someone had a problem he wanted Jesus to solve it. It was common practice for people to bring their problems to rabbis/teachers for help. He apparently had a brother who had an inheritance and he wanted part of the pie. Now we don’t know whether it was a justifiable grievance or not – maybe this poor guy deserved some of the inheritance and was being cheated out of what was rightfully his. We don’t know - but we know that Jesus wanted no part of it. He said
vs 14 “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?”
Fairly blunt, don’t you think. Then he turns to the crowd - vs 15“Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions”.
Wake up, says Jesus. You are alive for a short short time and all you are worried about is possessions!!!! Get a grip on life - and death. Jesus then went on to tell the story of someone who seemed to have it all together …
16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
What a dilemma – this guy had too much grain to store in his barns. You can almost hear his complaint can’t you. Oh bother - I’ve got so much produce, what am I going to do now. Now this guy was rich. He owned large tracts of land. The word for ground here often referred to a whole region or a country. Here was a wealthy land owner with enough land to produce a bumper crop. But note, that there is no thought of thanks to God in his words. I mean – he took all the credit himself. It was his land, his effort and his crop. In considering his goods, he forgot about God– the one who gives to each of us generously - what a fool. Are you forgetting the giver in your life? One day, when you die or when Jesus returns, you will meet him – are you ready to meet the giver of all good things? … Jesus continues
18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.
This guy had plenty of options, he could have given the excess away to the poor. He could have sold it and given the money to God. But no, he wants to keep it all for himself and so he demolished his existing barns and built even bigger barns to store it in. He is not one to share what he has been given. In planning for himself, he forgot his relationships. We all have regrets in life when it comes to other people. Maybe we haven’t spent enough time with people who really mattered. Maybe we have left relationships broken when they could and should have been fixed. So often, our relationships break down when we think only of ourselves. We neglect others and ignore their needs when we think only of ourselves. One day, when we die, it will be too late to repair these relationships. And the most important relationship we have is our relationship with God. Do you have a relationship with him tonight? Are you ready to die or do some of your relationships need some work?
19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’
Wouldn’t it be nice to retire – to have enough money to last you for the rest of your life. Well his dream was to retire. Resting, relaxing, enjoying life, having fun - it was his to enjoy. All the luxuries of life were at his disposal. But in providing for his body, he forgot his soul. Our body will decay in the grave when we die, but our soul will live on for eternity. The rich fool lived for the here and now and spoilt his physical body. Jesus goes on …
20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
21 “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”
The rich man had everything this life could offer, but before he could use it he died and he left it all behind. He could not take one cent of his savings, one grain of his produce or one suit from his wardrobe. All of it was left behind to rot with that body he’d been spoiling. Though he was spoiling his physical body, he forgot about the eternal part of his being – his soul. He left God out of the picture. In life he was a fool, In death he was unprepared. He wasn’t preparing for the future. He was just enjoying the present. I want to ask the same questions of you tonight? Have you thought about your death? It may not happen for 30, 50 or even 70 years – but I don’t know and neither do you. When it does happen, will your soul be ready to meet your maker? We can’t take anything with us through death. So why do we spend so much time working? So much time saving? So much time maintaining those possessions we own? One day (and it may be tomorrow), we are going to leave them all behind. Are you ready for that?
What are your priorities in life? Are you consumed by getting a good job, buying a nice house or a fast car? Can you take with you any of the things you are pursuing in this life? If the answer is no, then we are no wiser than this rich fool who
considered his goods, but forgot about God
planned for himself, but forgot his relationships
provided for his body, but forgot his soul
was a fool in life and unprepared in death
Are you prepared for death? Jesus advice to those standing around him was to be ready. To die well, you need to be prepared. How? Well it’s easy –
Don’t forget God,
Don’t forget about your relationships and
Don’t forget your soul.
Unlike the rich fool, if we are going to be wise in this life, We need to be prepared for death because we don’t know when it will come.
Once there was a young girl who had just got her driver’s licence and was quickly popping down the grocery store for her mum. She hadn’t been driving long and didn’t have much experience behind the wheel. It was a wet day and as she came to the intersection that turned towards her house there was some wet leaves that had blown out into the road. She skidded on the wet leaves and slid into a tree. She was thrown into the steering wheel with her chest and her head went through the wind shield. The car door opened and she fell out on the ground.
Her mother was in the front garden and saw the entire thing. She ran down the street frantically, fell down beside the wreck and pulled her daughter’s bleeding face up into her hand. As she looked down into her daughter’s face, little girl looked up at her mother and said, "Mum, I’m going to die. Mum, I’m going to die." Her mother responded, "No you’re not honey! You’re not going to die! Everything is going to be alright, just stay calm."
A neighbour ran out and the mother yelled, "Call an ambulance." The neighbour ran back in and called for help. The daughter said again , "Mum, I going to die." The mother again replied by saying, "No you’re not honey." The girl kept saying she was going to die and her Mother tried to reassure her.
What that young teenage girl said haunts me. The little girl looked up at her mother and said, "Mum, you taught me how to dress. Mum, you taught me how to put on my makeup. Mum, you even taught me how to dance. But Mum, you never taught me how to die!" And she died in her mother’s arms.
She’s right isn’t she – we don’t like to talk about death much. We don’t train people how to be comfortable with death. Do you know how to die tonight? If it came tomorrow, where would you go?
This coming week, the youth group are going to be running a simulation game. It will require people to wear an article of red to symbolise the fact that they are ready for death or ready for Jesus’ return. What a great idea to get prepared. But wouldn’t it be a shame if all we did was talk about it and play simulation games, yet were not really prepared.
Tonight we’ve heard the story of a rich man who didn’t know how to die - He forgot about God, he forgot about his relationships and he forgot about his soul. I want us to learn tonight how to die well. If we take Jesus’ advice, we can be sure that our death won’t be a scary thing. It’s easy – it’s the opposite of what the rich man did. 1) Remember God now before it’s too late – develop a relationship with Him, get to know him accept the forgiveness that he offers through his son Jesus Christ. 2) Maintain your relationships with others – don’t let petty squabbles get in the way of your relationships. Young people, that includes your parents … – you don’t want to die with regrets. 3) Remember that you have a soul that will live on past the grave so think about spoiling it, not just your physical body. Don’t just work to store up money and possessions on this earth, ensure that your soul will be comfortable with God in heaven after you die.
Are you ready? - We’re going to hear a song now about a girl who lived, but is now gone. It’s a sad song, because she wasn’t ready to go – she didn’t know Jesus as her Lord and Saviour. It serves as a reminder to us all that while there is life there is opportunity to make the right decisions. Listen carefully to the words because this song also tells how what those right decisions are.
Song – Gone, Clair Hazard
Don’t try to make it on your own – make sure that you are ready for death whenever it comes. I am aware that tonight there may be some people who don’t know whether they are ready to die. I want to give people the opportunity to start to prepare tonight. I am going to ask soon that you bow your heads and if you know that you need to do something to prepare for your death tonight, I want you to raise your hand so I can see so I can pray for you. This is between you and God – no one else will be looking. You may want to confess that you have forgotten about God, and need to make things right with him in your relationship. Maybe you don’t have a relationship with God yet, but you want one. Maybe you have a relationship that needs some repairing or maybe you are guilty of spoiling your body with earthy wealth, but ignoring your soul. Let’s bow our heads and close our eyes. Use this time in the quiet to pray to him and listen to him to find out what he wants to do. Ask yourself the question honestly, am I ready to die tonight. If God is prompting you to do something, raise your hand. There is nothing magical in raising your hand, but it will be a decision point that you can look back on and say, I decided to do something then.
Lord, death is something that most of us avoid. We don’t like talking about it personally and we don’t like contemplating our own deaths. But death doesn’t have to hold any fear for us, we know that. We thank you that we can be assured of life after death with you in heaven if we just trust in you. Lord we don’t want to be like that rich fool who forgot about you, forgot about the important relationships in his life and did nothing to prepare for his soul’s life in eternity. We want to be ready for death when ever that might come for us now. Lord there are some tonight that have indicated that they want to start along that road of preparation. You know where they are at Lord. For some, it is giving their lives to you as Lord and king. For others, it is mending broken relationships. For others, it is freeing themselves from possessions and ambition that would enslave us. Lord, help them now to be determined in their resolve to act – to prepare for their eternal future. Give them the courage to seek out someone to confide in this evening about their decision so that they can be held accountable. Give us peace we pray Lord, to face death in a quiet assurance that it is just a short cut home. And this we pray, in your son’s name. Amen.
