After six weeks in a training position, I became the marketing guy in charge of a line of off-the-shelf printed circuit boards, sold to machinery makers all across America. There were many new things I needed to learn – which board did what? Who bought the circuit boards? Why did people buy those boards? And for two years, I worked to increase the profitability and sales of this line.
Then, a new line of controllers was to be launched and everything about it was messed up. The marketing manager of the division asked me to join a team which was trying to turn around what looked to be a big failure. So I took everything I had about the line of circuit boards to my friend Scott’s office, and sat with him for two hours while I tried to bring him up to speed. Once again, I was moving on.
In our lives, we learn, we earn, we lead, we teach, and we move on. Transitions are a phase of life we all go through, and it is something most of us are not very good at.
Isaiah 25:1-9; Psalm 23; Philippians 4:1-9; Matthew 22:1-14
We don’t like changes in our lives. Most of us, given a choice, would like to stay at the same job, receive a 3% raise every year, get better and better at what we do. We want the same spouse, we want to stay healthy, we even want our children to stay the same age they are right now….if truth were to be told - unless they are teenagers. We mostly like our homes and our comforts in life.
Oh, there are minor changes we’d like. We might want a new car since the old one is falling apart. We might want a new couch because the one we have is a bit dull and has some spots on it. We’d like to find a new restaurant to visit this afternoon. We’d love to get a 10% raise! But, in general, we’re comfortable and we don’t like change.
And it is the same in our church lives. We want to sing the songs we know, in the style we know. Most of you are comfortable with our worship services, because you know what is coming. We are predictable, you see. We value predictability in our lives. And the older we get, the less we like change.
But change is happening. Change is always happening around us.
The kids grow older and one day there are grandchildren. Our dog dies and we need a new puppy – or not. Someone rams us in the trunk of our old car and we need a new one. We get called into Human Resources one day and are told we are getting a promotion – or are given a pink slip. We work hard all day and then when we sit down, we get a tremendous pain in our chest and the emergency squad runs us to the hospital where a stent is put into our heart and we realize that we have to substitute salad for steak and learn to walk instead of run. Change happens.
And one day we look in the newspaper and see that our high school classmates are at the funeral home, and we realize that half of them are gone. And we wonder when it will be us in the hearse. Change happens faster than we want. We have to move on.
Because change happens in the Universe, because God designed this world with change in it, a godly way of living understands change and moving on. But there are two ways of looking at life. There are two ways of living with change.
Imagine you are riding in the back seat of a hot sports car, and Matt Damon or some other action movie star or even his stunt double is driving. He decides to take you to Helvetia, up in the West Virginia mountains past Elkins, and he wants to set a new speed record for getting there. Naturally, the road is curvy, swinging back and forth as you go higher and higher up into the mountains.
Now there are two ways to look at this ride.
Most people will sit in the back, clutching tightly to the handholds as first you slid to the left and then slid back to the right, the screeching of tires scaring you to death as our driver takes us around those hairpin turns without guard rails. You may even close your eyes, but that makes you carsick, so you stare blindly at the back of the driver’s head, praying that you’ll get there in one piece, and thinking that you’d probably prefer to walk back down the mountain.
Or...you can jump into the front seat, looking to see what’s around each bend, looking at the wonderful mountain views as the leaves change from green in the lower elevations to beautiful fall colors as you move higher and then to long views when you reach the point where the trees have mostly shed their leaves. Your adrenaline rush from the trip gives you life and you are sorry, so sorry when you finally get there, but you’re ready for the next ride to come!
If we are honest, a lot about this depends upon whether or not we trust the driver, doesn’t it? Is the driver a professional stunt driver – or is the driver just a twenty-year-old kid that is pretending to be a stunt driver?
In our travels through life, we can either sit in the back seat and let God drive us in terror of the changes back and forth; or we can sit beside God, speaking with Him constantly as He drives us down the road, getting to know and trust Him better. We can watch Him as He carefully selects the gear changes He’ll make around the next curve – or we can cower in terror in the back seat hoping He knows what He’s doing.
In times of change, it is vital to have stability in some parts of our lives. When the earthquake shakes us up, when the hurricane blows, when the flood comes rushing up, we have to have something solid to hold onto that we can trust. And that something solid is the unchanging God that is
a refuge for the needy in their distress,
a shelter from the storm
and a shade from the heat.
We need the good shepherd that leads us beside still waters and prepares the table for us in the presence of our enemies. We need our cup to be filled to running over.
We need to rejoice always in the Lord, even when our car is destroyed, our home is flooded, our favorite trees are blown down.
After Hurricane Katrina destroyed much of New Orleans in 2005, many families found themselves in shelters in Houston and Memphis. Churches moved in. Those churches helped with basic needs – and they connected people with homes and jobs. Many people suddenly found themselves with hope, with new and exciting lives, with God now involved, where before they were stuck in the hopelessness that was much of New Orleans. Just like when God rescued the Israelites from Egypt, God had rescued people from a hopeless existence in New Orleans. And so many chose never to return to New Orleans. God is in the eye of the Storm. Will you rejoice when God sends change your way?
Do you rejoice always? Particularly, do you rejoice when it is time to move on?
Once, I was laid off. God forced me to start my own company. Within five years, I was bringing home almost twice what I’d been making at the old company. God is good. God knows when we need to move on much better than we know.
And then, there is the moving on phase that we all encounter, that phase when we move on from this land of the dying to the land of the living. Will we enter His gates with Thanksgiving in our hearts, will we enter His land with praise? Or will we approach our last years on earth with fear?
Jesus told a parable about this. A man who represents God invited all the good people to join Him at a wedding banquet, a wedding feast. But they ignored Him because they were used to eating well, to feasting. They were comfortable.
So the man sent out his servants into the outlying areas of town to invite everyone else. Many showed up. But one man didn’t bother to get dressed up – he came as he was.
Now this part of the parable isn’t meant to say you need to get dressed up for church. But it is meant to say you need to respect the God who has invited you to His Son’s wedding feast.
There are many today who simply believe that since this life has been comfortable for them, the next life will also be comfortable for them. So they just ignore God’s call to them, God’s invitation to honor His Son, Jesus Christ.
And there are those who take God’s invitation to life very lightly. We accept the invitation and do not plan ahead and learning about the banquet, instead showing up to a formal dress occasion in jeans and a t-shirt. That is representative of those who accept Christ, but then ignore Him the rest of their lives. We should not take God’s invitation lightly.
But those who accept the invitation and will enjoy the banquet – those are them who dress their bodies in holiness, who study the words of Christ, who do what Christ asks of us – not perfectly – everyone has some lint and doghair on our tuxedos and gowns – but we make an effort.
Once again – this is not about how we dress in church. It is about making an effort to be presentable to our Lord, our King, our God, by being washed in baptism, by dressing ourselves in holiness and by studying what the Son has to teach us.
But besides properly dressing our soul for the wedding feast that is waiting for us when we move on, we need to consider that there are TWO great commandments – Love God and Love your neighbor as yourself. We cover the loving God when we prepare properly for the wedding feast. But to love our neighbors, there are some practical things we each need to do as we prepare to move on to the banquet.
First, we need to give our friends and family an opportunity to say goodbye. I have seen an increasing number of people who say, “No funeral. I don’t want you to have a funeral for me, I want to be put in a pine box, or I want to be cremated, but definitely no funeral.” And that is selfish.
You and I both know that this perishable body will one day be finished and our soul will be waiting for its new, imperishable resurrected body. You and I both know that “Grandpa” is tied to the soul, not the body that has worn out and no longer works. We both know that.
But your friends and family want to say goodbye. If you love them deeply, give them that chance. Cremation or burial – there is little said on this issue in the Bible, so it probably doesn’t matter – but those who will remain need the ceremony of coming together, of looking upon a body or a casket or an urn full of ashes, and saying to each other, “This person was important to me.” We need to talk, we need to remember, and yes, we need to cry on each others' shoulders.
And for those who are the family – remember that Grandfather was important to other people outside the family. When my father died last spring, it was interesting to see the people who came to pay their respects.
There were family members, but we are not a large family. All three sides of the family came – my dad’s side, my mother’s side, and those of us who are descended from them both. Our children and their spouses all came together for the very first time.
Men and women who had worked with my father came, men who had served in the army with him or met him in the reserves came. Men and women who had served in volunteer positions with him came. Some deeply missed him. Many of them, I knew only as names remembered from my childhood. Some, I had never even heard of.
Men and women came who were friends or colleagues of my mother came to speak with her. My friends came to see me. Saundra’s friends came for her. Most barely knew my dad, but they came for us.
It takes some time, and it costs some money, but the one who moves on needs to give all those people who knew you during your life the chance to speak together and know that they were not alone in being your friend. And those who are left behind and have to arrange things need to recognize that though your grief is strong, you may be surprised to find that there are others you did not know or barely knew who loved the person you loved, perhaps almost as deeply. Have a funeral or memorial service.
When I moved from one job to another, I always tried to help the ones who would follow me at my old job. And we need to do the same as we plan to move onto the next life. We need to help those who follow us as we move on.
This is the land of the dying; We move onto the land of the living.
For example, I know that many of you have life insurance through your work, but do you have a policy that you can keep even if your company goes out of business or you are laid off? A small policy to cover those final expenses will help your friends and relatives a lot. And if you have given regularly to the church, another life insurance policy can be arranged so that you can support the ministries of the church after you have moved on.
Do you have a will, both the traditional one and a living will? A simple will, which any lawyer can create for you, can save a huge family fight in the months and years after you are gone. Those among us who assemble oil leases can testify of the properties which have been divided and subdivided into a hundred pieces because someone who died 90 years ago would not make a will, and the families fought for generations over the land. Make a will.
And the living will. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve stood in the ICU and helped the family decide when to turn off the respirator. It makes all the difference when all of your close family knows what you want done. Have the talk, and have the talk with all your loved ones. Better yet, write it down.
And tell your family of your love for Christ and that you have put your entire faith in God’s hands. Tell them if you’ve been baptized. It is amazing to me the number of children who are committed Christians who don’t know if their parents are saved. Speak to your children and grandchildren openly about your faith. Tell them exactly what you believe so they won’t worry about your soul.
And finally, consider what your funeral service will say to all those family and friends who come to listen. It is your last chance to tell them what is important in this life. It is your last chance to have the pastor give them advice. For example, Paul wrote in our Philippians passage:
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Do you believe this? Do you want your children and grandchildren to know this? Let them know that you want this scripture read at your funeral.
A key way you can make your statement is to arrange to have your funeral at this church or a sister church. It is how you tell people what was important to you. You know, I’ve heard of people having their ashes spread over a particular mountain or beach or body of water. I’ve heard of people having their ashes launched into space. I’ve even heard of people having their funerals at Cancun. But nothing makes a statement like a church funeral. It is your last opportunity to tell your friends and family, “God is important. Follow Christ so we can be together again one day!”
You know, sometimes when we move on, it is with careful planning. We find a new job, we negotiate the salary and benefits, we may even find a new home. We carefully give our two weeks notice and we phrase everything so that our friends we are moving on from know how to find us and keep in touch.
But other times, the Human Resources guy says, “Step into my office” and the next thing you know, you’ve been given ten minutes to clean out your desk. You are moving on, but you don’t have time to plan anything.
And so it is with moving on to the land of the living.
Sometimes God lets us know with plenty of notice that our body is wearing out. First, the hair goes grey, then the knees don’t work so well. We find ourselves out of breath, and the doctor tells us we have diabetes. Then we get a diagnosis and the doctor tells us that we have a year, more or less. And so we can make some plans. We have a chance to tell our loved ones goodbye and tell them how to be with us in the land of the living to come.
But other times, everything is going fine and we step in front of a bus and the next thing we know….well, that is the question. What is next?
None of us can take tomorrow for granted. None of us can count on making it home today.
Like many people, I was into stockpiling. I used to stockpile raw materials for projects I’d get to “someday”. You know those stockpiles – men have their lumber and metal piles, women have their fabric and pattern boxes. And there are those people who stockpile by having “bucket lists”, a list of adventures they’ll take, maybe one a year, things they want to say they’ve done once in this life. But not me.
I’ve stopped stockpiling. For it was just last week when I was 23 years old and driving to Johnson City, TN in an ice storm for my first real job. Time has passed very quickly. It was only ten years ago I began to move into ministry. The bucket list fantasy is for people who don’t believe there is another life. Bucket lists and stockpiles are for people who have no eternal future – and no present purpose.
In this life, I realize that I don’t have so long to make a difference. Eternity is coming, and with it is retirement in a new, eternal life. In THIS life, I plan to take as many of you and our mutual friends with me to the life to come, knowing God through Jesus Christ.
This is the land of the dying; we move on to the land of the living.
It is in that eternal land of the living that I can take time to climb Mt Everest, to drive in an Indy 500 race car, to Scuba dive in Tahiti. In this land of the dying, I want to find people and patch them up for the land of the living, to slap a bandage of belief in the divinity of Jesus Christ, to wash their wounds, physical and spiritual and emotional with the water of baptism, to sit down and talk with them about how two-way prayer with the Holy Spirit and the Word of God will fix every hurt possible in this dying land and give them the ticket home to the land of the living.
I want to sell tickets to the wedding banquet of Christ. Will you help me?
Are you ready to buy a ticket? Have you already bought your ticket? Are you ready to accept that nothing we can do will help us move on to the land of the living, but instead we must do everything we can do to help others move onto the land of the living by connecting people with the love of God through Christ, by baptizing new believers, by teaching them to read the Word of God and listen to the Holy Spirit, so they will be strong members of the Kingdom of God.
Are you ready to move on if God decides it’s time? Do you believe that Jesus is capable of saving you, that Jesus loves you enough to save you, and that He died on the cross to save you? Are you ready to be baptized, doing something a little bit uncomfortable to show you really meant it when you said you believe that Jesus is the divine Son of God? Are you ready to declare this to everyone here? Is everything well with your soul? Are you and God fine?
There is not much time left. You can pray kneeling or you can pray standing. Ask God to forgive you of everything you’ve done wrong and be cleaned. Ask God to direct your life. Ask God to accept you before it is time to move on.
I’ve stopped stockpiling. For it was just last week when I was 23 years old and driving to Johnson City, TN in an ice storm for my first real job. Time has passed very quickly. It was only ten years ago I began to move into ministry. The bucket list fantasy is for people who don’t believe there is another life. Bucket lists and stockpiles are for people who have no eternal future – and no present purpose.
In this life, I realize that I don’t have so long to make a difference. Eternity is coming, and with it is retirement in a new, eternal life. In THIS life, I plan to take as many of you and our mutual friends with me to the life to come, knowing God through Jesus Christ.
This is the land of the dying; we move on to the land of the living.
It is in that eternal land of the living that I can take time to climb Mt Everest, to drive in an Indy 500 race car, to Scuba dive in Tahiti. In this land of the dying, I want to find people and patch them up for the land of the living, to slap a bandage of belief in the divinity of Jesus Christ, to wash their wounds, physical and spiritual and emotional with the water of baptism, to sit down and talk with them about how two-way prayer with the Holy Spirit and the Word of God will fix every hurt possible in this dying land and give them the ticket home to the land of the living.
I want to sell tickets to the wedding banquet of Christ. Will you help me?
Are you ready to buy a ticket? Have you already bought your ticket? Are you ready to accept that nothing we can do will help us move on to the land of the living, but instead we must do everything we can do to help others move onto the land of the living by connecting people with the love of God through Christ, by baptizing new believers, by teaching them to read the Word of God and listen to the Holy Spirit, so they will be strong members of the Kingdom of God.
Are you ready to move on if God decides it’s time? Do you believe that Jesus is capable of saving you, that Jesus loves you enough to save you, and that He died on the cross to save you? Are you ready to be baptized, doing something a little bit uncomfortable to show you really meant it when you said you believe that Jesus is the divine Son of God? Are you ready to declare this to everyone here? Is everything well with your soul? Are you and God fine?
There is not much time left. You can pray kneeling or you can pray standing. Ask God to forgive you of everything you’ve done wrong and be cleaned. Ask God to direct your life. Ask God to accept you before it is time to move on.
Amen
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