HOW WILL YOU DIE?

Here is a simple fact of life. Each of us has an appointment with death. No one can escape it because everyone eventually dies.

We all have an important decision to make before the day we die. You see we all get to choose how we will die.

Perhaps you are thinking that the way we die is out of our control. I mean who would want to choose to die of lung cancer and struggle to breathe? Who would choose to die through a tragic accident? If I get to choose the way I die then I want to avoid the hospital all together. For me I just want to go to sleep and not wake up. No suffering. No pain. When it is time for my life to be over then just let it end. That’s the way we would all want to die right?

Well you are right none of us can choose the way we die—that is the manner or means of our death. But we can all choose how we die—that is the eternal condition of our soul. You see when we think about death this way, then there are only two ways to die. We choose whether we will die in our sins, or forgiven and free from our sins.

• For unless you believe that I AM who I claim to be, you will die in your sins.
  John 8:24 NLT

Jesus made some bold claims that upset many of the Jews. He claimed God as His Father. He further said that those who did not recognize Him did not know God because if they had really known God then they would know that He was who He claimed to be. Then Jesus told them that the time was coming when He would leave, but they would be unable to find Him because they would die in their sins. Their only hope of finding Him, and in turn knowing God, would be to believe that He is God’s Son, the savior of the world.

I find what happened next very interesting.

• Even as he spoke, many put their faith in him.
  John 8:30 NIV

John does not record that Jesus performed any miracles on this particular day. Jesus just simple spoke the truth—God’s Word. Faith comes by the hearing the word of God. Jesus pointed to the final moments that each one listening to Him must one day face. What would happen when they died? Those who rejected Him would die in their sins. Ah but those who made the choice to believe in Jesus would be set free from their sins. So what do you think? How do you want to die?

SIBLING RIVALRIES

As the oldest of four siblings, I’ve had some first hand experience with the rivalries of growing up in the same home. As the father of five, I’ve also witnessed these brother and sisterly competitions. I know both how trivial these rivalries can be, and also the pain that they can cause. For some the commandment to “love thy neighbor” is easy—unless the “neighbor” lives under the same roof.

Jesus had his own share of sibling rivalries to deal with. The bible does not tell us a lot about Jesus and his siblings. One can only speculate as to what it must have been like to grow up in Mary and Joseph’s home. How much did these parents share with their children about the miraculous birth of their older brother? Did they ever talk about the visit of shepherds or the magi? Did Jesus’ siblings know how his life was threatened as a child, of their father’s dreams and the flight into Egypt?

As Jesus grew up we know that He became aware of His divine nature. His understanding of the scriptures marveled those at the temple as Jesus stayed behind to be about “His Father’s business.” Did Jesus’ family ever talk together about this visit to Jerusalem? Or did His siblings tease Jesus for trying to be a big shot? Was Jesus despised as Joseph was with his coat of many colors? What other family memories might they have shared growing up with Jesus?

While much remains a mystery, what we do know underscores the reality that even Jesus had to deal with sibling rivalries. As Jesus began His public ministry, teaching about the kingdom of God and performing miracles, those closest to Him were baffled by what they saw and heard. Could the brother they had grown up with really be the Messiah?

• For even his own brothers did not believe in him.
  John 7:5 NIV

If I were Jesus, I think that I would have turned these brothers into bugs or struck them with lightning. Of all people they should know better. They grew up with Jesus! How could they doubt Jesus, even challenge Him?

Sometimes we find ourselves facing the ridicule and rejection of our families for our faith in Christ. Parents can teach their children the truths of scripture and be involved in the ministries of a local church, yet their children choose not to believe. Let’s find hope in the life of Jesus and His siblings. While they were slow to believe, after the resurrection they too put their faith in Jesus. God will continue to work patiently in the lives of our family members to bring them to salvation. What do you think?

WORK TO BE DONE

Imagine you go to work today and tell your boss, “Hey I’ve got a great idea how I can do my job better.” You explain your idea to the boss, but then he shakes his head and tells you that what you have suggested has been tried before and is not acceptable. You are to do your job as you have been trained. Now if you are like me you may have heard what your boss said, but not really listened. You return to your work and decide that you can do the work better your way. After all, what does your boss know anyway sitting up there in his office? You are the one down where all the work is done. Isn’t getting the job done what is really important?

I can imagine several possible scenarios of how things might end up at work when you and I decide to do the job our way and ignore our boss’ instructions. We might be satisfied with our efforts; the work is easier our way. Over time we might even save the company some money by cutting some corners. Until . . . well you can fill in the blanks. The end of the story can’t be good. All of our work was unacceptable.

• 28 Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"
  29 Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."
  John 6:28-29 NIV

It sounds too easy doesn’t it? The work that pleases God is to believe in Jesus. In a word, ours is a work of faith. Is it any wonder that without faith it is impossible to please God? (See Hebrews 11:6)

We are saved by grace, through the work of faith and not good works. Yet how often do we try to earn our salvation? We strive to satisfy God through the things we do rather than with simple childlike faith. In the same way an acorn holds within it a mighty forest, so too our faith holds all the works that are acceptable to God. (See Ephesians 2:8-10)

Faith acknowledges God and depends upon Him. The man who trusts in his good works seeks salvation independently of God. Only through the work of faith do we submit to God and the work Christ has done for us. Therefore the work of faith gives honor and glory to Jesus as it is only through Him that we are saved. This is God’s way, not man’s. Let’s commit to doing the work that God requires—a work of faith. What do you think?

UNDEATH

Please forgive this crude illustration right from the start, but it illustrates the point. My computer was dying, so I killed it. Ah but then I brought it back from the dead and restored it. I had a picture of the kind of life I wanted it to live (computer geeks would call this the recovery partition and a full back up). Needless to say after hours of work yesterday my computer is alive and well today. Who would have thought that I have the power of undeath in my hands?

Actually God would. Ponder with me.

• "But you haven't seen the half of it yet, for in the same way that the Father raises the dead and creates life, so does the Son. The Son gives life to anyone he chooses.
  John 5:20-21 MsgB

Jesus had miraculously healed a cripple on the Sabbath, for which the religious leaders were giving Him a hard time. Such miracles were only the beginning. Like the Father, Jesus would soon bring life to the dead too. Now this meant more than just the resuscitation of life to a corpse like Jesus would do with Lazarus in John 11. God is not God of the dead but the living! (See Mark 12:18-27) Like the Father Jesus had come to bring life to the spirit and soul of a man—to give eternal life.

You and I have received His miracle of life through faith in Christ. God now wants to use us as His hands of life to touch those we know that they too might also have life in His Name. Life always multiplies. The Father raises the dead. Jesus does the same. Now the power of undeath is in our hands. The apostle Paul puts it this way.

• 15 Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing. 16 To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume. And who is adequate for such a task as this?
  2 Corinthians 2:15- 16 NLT

Apart from Christ we are dead and smell like the grave. But we have been saturated with His life. Our hands have been washed and have the smell of undeath.

Some may resist our touch—it offends them. But like my computer Christ has given us a picture of what their lives can become. We’ve been given the ministry of recovery and if we stick at it long enough even the deadest of sinners can be made new through the hands of undeath (see 2 Corinthians 5:17-20). What do you think?