Sunday Sermons
This Land of Choice
This Land of Choice
“For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished. Nevermore will they have a share in anything done under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 9:5-6).
Do the above passages teach that all existence ends at death or that the dead are unconscious? Certainly not, for numerous other passages picture those who have died as alive and quite aware (Luke 16:24). What the passages does teach is quite life-changing, for it is a reminder that to seize the day and make every moment count, for death will completely discontinue all interaction with this world. Our memory here is eventually forgotten. No more rewards here on the earth can be gained. Our knowledge of what is going on in this world ends. And why are those who belong to Christ at peace with this? Because their hearts were never that entwined with the affairs of this life to begin with, they primarily lived a life with not for physical rewards, but an eternal reward in mind, from Savior that never forgets their labors of love.
Love, Hatred and Envy
Needless to say, this life on earth has both immense blessings and exhausting challenges. There are people to love, yet there are likewise things that can frustrate, confuse or dishearten us. We might even end up envying the wrong people. Jacob described his earthly existence as having been “Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life” (Genesis 47:9). In the book of Revelation, the writer John spoke of the ending of the painful elements of this earthly existence for the faithful, “And God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4).
Yes this earthly existence always involves worries and cares, huge responsibilities, costly and scary commitments, much accountability, uncomfortable conversations, strained relationships, the painful ending of friendships, family strife, struggling to make ends meet from month to month, all sorts of health related issues and, worse of all, witnessing the tragic spiritual shipwreck of some loved ones, including family members (1 Timothy 1:19). Paul is forthright when he, through inspiration, describes his Christian life as being one of one hardship after another (2 Corinthians 11:23-27), and then added to all that, the weight of constant concern for the spiritual lives and growth of various Christians and the congregations they composed (11:28-29).
Doing a Little Time Travel
In Rod Serling’s “Walking Distance” (1959), a tired business executive named Martin Sloan pulls into a service station near his old hometown, walks to it, and discovers it is 1934. He heads to the park carousel to tell a little boy named Sloan to enjoy his childhood while it lasts, but the encounter scares the boy. His own father, a man of his age, entreats him to go back where he belongs. Martin walks back to the car and to 1959. The episode ends with the voice-over, “Martin Sloan, age 36, vice president in charge of media. Successful in most things but not in the one effort that all men try at some time in their lives… trying to go home again”.
“I returned to my hometown this summer to visit my sole remaining aunt, as I did not want to be shouting the gospel into a comatose ear on sudden notice. She had a photo (also salvaged from a graven-image-disdaining mother) and I became immediately obsessed. There was my great-grandmother, austere and flanked by nine grand-children; I spotted my father, well-scrubbed in a Sunday shirt, tie, sweater, and Mona Lisa smile. The others are all poker-faced boys (except beaming Rita, whom I heard smiled all her life). Napoleon in the upper left-hand corner will die in WWII. Just in front of him, Raymond will survive 23 bombing raids over Germany only to be felled by polio at home in 1953. Bob will wreck his family with philandering. There they stand, not knowing what’s coming, not yet having made bad choices, or perhaps in the course of forming them even as the shutter clicks. One wants to issue warnings: Don’t be stiff-necked. Don’t lust for money. Mind your own cistern.” (Summer Time Travel, Andree Seu Peterson, World Magazine).
This Land of Glorious Choice
Just before I sat down to type out this sermon, I had a conversation with a worker at a coffee shop. She didn’t like her job and was tempted to just walk out and quit. She said, “Ever feel that you were a prisoner in your own life?” Are we prisoners? Is life just going to turn out a certain way no matter what we do or don’t do? Are we just helpless pawns in a big game that doesn’t even care about us? Are we just the chips at some big poker table – with all the winnings going to someone else? Absolutely not. The Bible repeatedly has told every generation that no one is “stuck”, and that wonderful change, both real and radical, is only one personal choice away from any and every person:
- “If you do well, will you not be accepted?” (Genesis 4:7).
- “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil…” (Deuteronomy 30:15).
- “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…” (Joshua 24:15).
- “My son, hear the instruction of your father, and do not forsake the law of your mother…” (Proverbs 1:8).
- “Does not wisdom cry out… She cries out by the gates, at the entry of the city, at the entrance of the doors: to you, O men, I call…” (Proverbs 8:1-4).
- “Enter by the narrow gate…” (Matthew 7:13).
- “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden…” (Matthew 11:28).
- “Behold, I stand at the door and knock…” (Revelation 3:20).
- “And the Spirit and the bride say ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely…” (Revelation 22:17).
Need Motivation?
The Bible teaches us that death ends all opportunity for change (Hebrews 9:27). At death the story is finished – whether truly finished or not. The rough draft goes to print with all the errors, bad story lines or horrible ending in it. The story of our lives is printed and we are not allowed to do any editing. But take heart! “But you and I are not dead, but alive! Here, among the living, is the land of choice, sweet choice, thrilling choice. If we are on a bad course, we may turn from it and get right with God before we even finish reading this column of print. Ebenezer, waking from time travel, found it so, and he rejoiced: ‘Yes! And the bedpost was his own. The bed was his own, the room was his own. Best and happiest of all, the Time before him was his own, to make amends” (Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol) (Peterson). Let's live with this kind of clarity!
If You Came Back
Imagine that ten or twenty years have passed, and you are for a very brief time allowed to go back in time to this day in the late summer of 2015. What would you say to yourself this morning? What admonition, encouragement, or rebuke would give to yourself?
Sin and Rebellion – Never in That Speech
If I went back to the late summer of 1979, the last thing I would say to myself is “Stay in sin; continue to live for yourself”. Why is self-destruction, philandering, dishonesty, and self-indulgence never the "message from the future" in such scenarios? Two reasons: 1. Because sins ruins lives and 2. Hindsight is 20/20 vision. Would our future selves not encourage our present selves to: Hear His voice – and act upon it with diligence (Hebrews 3:7-8), to protect our hearts (Proverbs 4:23), to draw near to God, to remain faithful, to teach our children well, and to share the gospel with all that we love before we have to "shout into a comatose ear?
Before You Stop Reading?
You may have questioned the above writers comment that one could change their life before finishing her column. Yet she is closer to the truth than we might want to admit. Look back on your own life. Over the years I have changed for the better or the worse over one "ordinary" weekend. Has that happened to you? All it takes is one decision and you can be a different person tomorrow than you are today. Make that choice you will eventually wish you had made. Be what God has been wanting you to be.
Mark Dunagan | mdunagan@frontier.net
Beaverton Church of Christ | 503-644-9017
www.beavertonchurchofchrist.net
