What Are You Going To Do When The Lights Go Out?

(1 Cor 15:13 NIV) If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.

(1 Cor 15:14 NIV) And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.

(1 Cor 15:15 NIV) More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised.

(1 Cor 15:16 NIV) For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.

(1 Cor 15:17 NIV) And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.

(1 Cor 15:18 NIV) Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.

(1 Cor 15:19 NIV) If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.

(1 Cor 15:20 NIV) But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

A movie depicts an eight-year-old boy who is haunted by a dark secret: He is visited by ghosts. This boy is terrified by threatening visitations from those with unresolved problems who appear from the shadows. He is too young to understand his purpose and too terrified to tell anyone about his torment, except a child psychologist.

Another movie goes back to 1719 BC where

the resurrected mummy of an Egyptian high priest Imhotep goes around killing people so that he can once again have a complete body in order to resurrect his lover from the dead.

We could go on and list all the movies which were produced in the last few years and have dealt with spiritual themes of death and ghosts and resurrections.

People in general have a natural curiosity regarding death and dying and this interest naturally comes out in our literature, our movies and the like. A well-known lament says, “The only things in life that are inevitable are death and taxes.” This inborn curiosity towards death comes as a result of being subject to the commonly held perception that all of us are going to shake hands with death one day. Hebrews 9:27 says that “it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment…”

The purpose for this message is to bring to your consideration the question, “What are you going to do when the lights go out?” In other words, are you ready for death when it comes? Are you ready to die? Are you prepared to meet your Maker? The television series Cops has for its theme, “Bad boys, what are you going to do when they come for you?” For the balance of this message I want you to consider the question, “What are you going to do when death comes for you?”

No one likes to talk about death. No one likes to prepare for death. I still don’t like getting calls from people who are trying to sell me cemetery plots even though Debbie and I bought and paid for ours more than more than a decade ago.

The question we will consider today is, “What Are You Going To Do When the Lights Go Out?” What are you going to do when you close your eyes for the last time and the ultimate question gets answered, “What happens to you after you die?”

Some people resolve to put this question out of their minds until they are forced to deal with it. However, some never get around to preparing for death. For some death comes as a surprise and it is too late for last minute preparations. No one is never ready for death; but it is one thing to be ready and another thing to be prepared.

This week the Columbine High School tragedy was reflected upon. I wonder whether those students and the teacher who were murdered were prepared. They may not have been ready for death but were they prepared for death?

I can’t help but wonder,

if the police officer whose squad car was rammed by the suspect he was pursuing was prepared.

Were the 130 passengers who died on the Philippine airliner prepared?

On Easter Sunday many come to church expecting to hear a message on life. After all, Easter occurs during the time of the year when the flowers are blooming and the color is returning to our lawns and the leaves are returning to the trees. The smell of life is in the air, not death.

People who have spent all winter in the seclusion of their homes are now coming out. The sound of lawn mowers and weed whackers can be heard. People are out playing their music while they wash their cars. Children are roller skating and riding their bikes again. There is laughter in the air!