"Set Your House In Order"

Title: “Set Your House In Order”

Text: 2 Kings 20.1

We are gathered here today as family and friends to honor the life and legacy of __________ . I had the honor of spending some time getting to know __________ in these latter years of his/her life, as he/she suffered with the all too common disease of Alzheimer’s. The person I came to know as __________ was a sweet, gentle, humble and kind person.

From what __________ tells me I would have loved to have known __________ in his/her younger days. _________ said that we would have gotten along well, because ____________ liked to cook and I love to eat. From the witness of _____________’s family and friends, those who knew ____________ best, I have learned that ____________ was a devote Christian who loved the Lord and his/her family very much.

While on this day we may grieve because of __________’s absence form among us, we can find comfort in knowing that because of __________’s relationship with the Lord Jesus, he/she is now and forever more in His presence. We can find comfort in this, not because I said so, but because God says in His Word, “to be absent form the body is to be present with the Lord.” We can also find comfort in knowing that his/her mind, which was once clouded by Alzheimer’s, is now as sharp as a tack, because he/she “knows even as he/she is known.”

_____________ has gone the way we all must go if the Lord tarries in His coming. It is at times like these that we are reminded of the brevity of life even for those who live 85 years. In fact one thing is for certain-life is a vapor, it is here in a moment and gone in the next. Unless the lord comes back in our life time we will all walk through the doorway of death.

For some it will come as it did for ___________, as a thief in the night. For others it will come with some fore warning. In fact one such person who had such fore warning was King Hezekiah. In 2 Kings 20.1 we read that “In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death, and Isaiah the prophet, the Son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, ‘Thus says the Lord: ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die, and not live.’’”

We may not have such a direct word from the Lord in the matter of our departing, but each of us in a way has already been warned by God when He said, “it is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgement.” So, my friend as God’s Word teaches, whether 8 or 85, whether sudden or drawn out, death is certain if the Lord tarries. In light of that I would say to you today what the Lord said to Hezekiah, “set your house in order,” because life is to short not too. I would suggest that you set your house in order in two areas - physically and spiritually.

First, by physically I mean your relationships with others. Inevitably many come to such a ceremony as we have today with regrets. They regret that they were not able to say a proper good by. They regret that they did not spend as much time as they could and should have with their loved one. They regret that their relationship was not what it could or should have been. In fact you may be here today with such regrets. If left unattended these regrets can drag you into despair.

If you are here that way today I know ___________ would forgive your. If he/she were here in this moment he/she would say that you can not change the past but you can do something about the present. I challenge you today to size the opportunity to set your physical house in order by mending and strengthening your relationships with the loved ones you have around you today.

Life is to short not too. That’s what ___________ would want for his/her family. So, make sure you honor ____________ by loving one another as _____________ loved you.

Secondly, I believe if _________ were here in this moment he/she would plead with each one of you to get your spiritual houses in order. That’s what ____________ did. ____________ accepted Jesus Christ as his/her lord and Savior and Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to live within ____________ and set his/her spiritual house in order.

For some at this service today your spiritual house is in disarray. In fact some at this service today are lost and undone without Jesus Christ. Please do not leave here that way today. Follow ____________’s example and accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior and let Him set your spiritual house in order making you fit for His Kingdom like He did for _______________.