Sometimes my job as Teacher gives me more wiggle room than that of a Preacher.
Preachers have to toe the line to the congregations that employ them. They are expected to say the things that are usually said within that Church, and to avoid the unfamiliar homilies from other places. Visiting the sick in the hospital is usually one of the top tasks expected of all preachers, and how well they comfort the sick, the dying and the mourners defines not only how popular they are among their Congregation, but also how long they will keep their job.
My boss is Jesus Christ. As long as I’m telling it the way His Word expresses, I’m okay. I don’t have to leave feel good messages, or words of comfort, or even be nice if the situation and my King does not demand it.
The good news is most of the time I am nice, especially to the sick, the dying and the mourners. Today, however, I am not going to be. Heathens, Wicked, Righteous, Saints, People of the World, People of the Kingdom, People of the Law, People of Servitude…It is assured that everyone is going to suffer in this life and everyone is going to die!
The LORD God has willed that death come to sin. Since all people have sin, and the power of sin does not lose it’s hold over a person until death (or Baptism of Christ), you can be very certain that death will come to every person alive, regardless of how “nice” and “perfect” they are.
Whether that death takes place in the natural way of the ceasing of life with a burial in the grave until resurrected on Judgment Day, or within the Baptismal Waters of Jesus Christ and resurrected immediately upon bodily death of the Kingdom of Heaven…EVERYONE DIES!
Before death, you can also be assured that suffering will happen to each of us! Our worst sufferings may happen when we are young and developing, or middle age and struggling, or old age and remembering! It doesn’t matter when because it is gonna come! It doesn’t matter whether you are destined for great things, whether you are faithful and righteous, whether you are “good people” or whether you are wicked, it is going to happen!
Sometimes the LORD God chooses the course of troubles that come to people, and sometimes He turns His back and allows troubles to come. Sometimes He leads people into hard times to harden them into Righteous responders, and sometimes he leads people into soft places so they can recover.
If you read His Holy Word of God, then you can understand His Ways. If you do not have a relationship with Him, you will never understand His Spirit, His Nature nor His Will.
If you have chosen to live a life of the world, bereft of the LORD GOD’s Things, then do not come to me seeking compassion for your sickness and approaching death unless you want to learn of Him and the salvation of Jesus Christ through faith of His Resurrection and promised redemption of your sins.
I don’t care whether you are angry at God for letting your perfect and good life be tainted with a little struggle and a little sadness. I know that many live their lives in a perfect and good way, come from “good stock” and firmly believe that their goodness will prevent them from having bad things come to them. Bullpucky!
And then when death comes and the “good” worldly person becomes the “saint” in legend, and people speak of the deceased being in Heaven, an angel at peace, I usually hold my tongue, when I think of the times that dead person rejected Jesus Christ, mocked the Holy Spirit, and cursed God.
The Truth is this: the LORD God gives every living person a chance to come toward Him at some point in life. If those opportunities are rejected, then so be it. If you are of the world, and proud that you can be a “good” person without God, that is fine with me; embrace your choice and go to your grave with pride that you lived the life and chose the death you wanted. Don’t come to me at the end and be angry at God and asking why.
If you reject Him and His Things in your worldly and good life, then He will not be helping you to understand the things happening to you in your suffering and death! Just in defining your life as “good” and your rewards “deserving” separates you from all of us past sinners who absolutely need the salvation of Jesus Christ and His promised redemption to squeeze into Heaven, and one day help establish the New Earth.
Imperfect and sinful people are offered a choice to live an eternal life guided by God, and overcome death through their faith in Jesus Christ. Worldly people choose their life of perfection and goodness that one day leads to them rotting in their graves until they are resurrected at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
If you are old enough, and wise enough to make the choice of your way of life, then make it, and quit whining to me about the loneliness and pain that will come to you on your deathbed if you choose to go your own way with the world and without God.
