Today could very well be the last day of your life. The reality is that there will be one today that will be your last. It is this unexpectedness of death that should encourage us to take a second look, to reconsider our pleasant denial, to admit that, yes, death might visit us as early as this week.
Jesus tells a story that illustrates this in Luke 12:15-21:“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.’ And he told them this parable: ‘The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.' 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. 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.’ 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?’ This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”
General William Nelson, a Union general in the Civil War, was consumed with the hostilities in Kentucky when a brawl ended in his being shot in the chest. He had faced many battles, but the fatal blow came while he was relaxing with his men. As such, he was caught fully unprepared. As men ran up the stairs to help, the general had just one request: "Send for a clergyman; I wish to be baptized."He never made time as an adolescent or a young man and he was too busy as a general, with too many pressing concerns. In half a second, the general's priorities had been turned upside down. The war raged on, but suddenly his interest had been captivated by another world. Who cared about the war now? And it was too late to bother with a doctor. Get me a clergyman! With only minutes left before he died, the one thing he cared about was preparing for eternity. He wanted to be baptized. Thirty minutes later he was dead.
How was this general served by the remembrance of death? Hardly at all, because he remembered it too late.To help us avoid such a gross oversight, Jonathan Edwards at the age of nineteen wrote 70 resolutions, several of which dealt with remembering his death.
#7 Resolved, never to do anything which I would be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life.
#9 Resolved, To think much, on all occasions, of my own dying, and of the common circumstances which attend death.
#17 Resolved, that I will live so, as I shall wish I had done when I come to die.
#19 Resolved, Never to do anything which I would be afraid to do, if I expected it would not be above an hour before I should hear the last trump.
An entry in his diary reads: Monday, Feb 24, 1724. Let everything have the value now which it will have on a sick bed; and frequently, in my pursuits, of whatever kind, let this question come into my mind, How shall I value this on my deathbed? “ Jonathan Edwards lived with an awareness of his death.
What ways will I wish that I had taken when I am leave this world?When we find out we have only thirty minutes left to live, as General Nelson did, we can't do much more than prepare our own souls. Even worse, the moment of death could prove that our whole life has been a lie. The thought of death came too late for the fool and the general. Will it come too late for us?
When confronted with the reality of death, it is amazing how we begin to see what is really important in life. That is why young people give little thought to the significance of their lives, while the elderly think about it all the time. In the face of the end of life, questions about its significance loom large. There comes a time when we stop denying our death and start numbering our days. Do you?
No wonder the Apostle Paul’s great passion was “That in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:20-22)We exist to make Jesus Christ appear to the world as He really is in our lives and in our deaths: glorious, great, and magnificent. That is why Paul said his aim was that in life or death that Christ be magnified. But how can death be a glory? How can we not say that all of these short lives were not wasted? Because death is a threat only to the degree it frustrates ones main goals. Death is to be feared if it threatens to rob you of what you treasure or value the most. Paul saw death not as a threat to his goals, but as an occasion for the fulfillment of his goals.
Life and death outside of God’s world seem like complete opposites at war with one another. But for the Christian-there is great harmony because God’s passion and purpose is fulfilled in both-Christ being magnified in our bodies both in living and in dying. Jesus spoke to the Apostle Peter about this subject after He rose from the dead. Jesus said,“Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish." This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, "Follow Me." (John 21:18-19)
Jesus told Peter that he would die in His service. Tradition says that Peter was crucified upside down in Rome during one of Nero's persecutions in the mid-sixties. Jesus was telling Peter the implications of what it would mean for Peter to cherish Christ and follow Him in this life. For Peter it would inevitably lead to suffering and martyrdom. Yet Jesus spoke of Peter’s death in the most precious of terms. John adds this explanation: “This He (Jesus) spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God.” Jesus had decreed that Peter would glorify God in his dying. Jesus seems to say that He considers all our deaths as appointed for the glory of God. The difference is: with what kind of death will we glorify God?
Paul burned with a holy passion to magnify Christ not only in life, but in death.This is why I speak of how God's grace produces a peculiar death for the Christian. A peculiar death is a death that makes visible the surpassing value of Christ and the magnitude of His exceeding worth.
Let's listen carefully to the Apostle Paul. Christ has called us to live for His glory and to die for His glory because to live is Christ and to die is gain. “My expectation and hope is that Christ will be exalted in my body…by death… for to me death is gain” (Philippians 1:20-21). Do you believe that death is gain? Where is the value of Christ in death? How does death help you to make much of Christ? Won't that rob you of the very life that can magnify Him? Death is a threat to the degree that it frustrates your main goals. Death is fearful to the degree that it threatens to rob you of what you treasure most. But Paul stored for himself treasures in heaven; he treasured Christ most, and his goal was to magnify Christ. And he saw death not as a frustration of that goal but as an occasion for its fulfillment.
Life and death! They seem like complete opposites-at great enmity with each other. But for Paul-and for all who share his faith-there is a unity, because the same great passion is fulfilled in both-namely, that Christ be magnified in our bodies whether by life or by death.But how are we to magnify Christ in death? Or to put it another way: How can we die so that in our dying the surpassing value of Christ, the magnitude of His worth, becomes visible? Paul's answer here in Philippians 1 is found first in the connection between verse 20 and verse 21. These verses are connected by the word "for" or "because." Boil it down to the words about death: "My eager expectation is that Christ be honored in my body by death, for to me to die is gain." Gain! Gain! This is the goal of life and suffering.
In other words, if you experience death as gain, you magnify Christ in death.How is dying gain? Why is that? Verse 23 shows why dying is gain for Paul: “My desire is to depart [that is, to die] and be with Christ, for that is far better.” Far better is not a platitude. Paul saw death far better because it would bring the deepest and most lasting satisfaction to his life, namely, being with Christ in glory. “We are always of good courage because we KNOW that to be absent in the body is to be at home with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8).
Do you love Jesus that much? Do you love Him so much that you believe that losing everything, even your life, is gain? That is what death does: It takes us into more intimacy with Christ. We depart, and we are with Christ, and that, Paul says, is gain. No wonder why the Psalmist writes in Psalm 116:15, “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints”. And when you experience death this way, Paul says, you exalt Christ. Experiencing Christ as gain in your dying glorifies Christ. It is "far better" than living here. Really? Better than all the friends at school? Better than failing in love? Better than hugging your children? Better than professional success? Better than retirement and grandchildren? Better than your dream house and dream trip. Yes. A thousand times better. Death gain? What a colossal understatement. We only scratch the surface of wonder. There is more, so much more! That’s what everyone who has ever suffered loss for the cause of Christ believed and what every martyr believed:CHRIST IS WORTH MORE THAN LIFE!
To be continued...
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