Date: 4/13/2010
Author: Devin
Title: Sure Thing
April 14, 2010
The Bible presents death as separation: physical death is the separation of the soul from the body, and spiritual death is the separation of the soul from God. Death is the result of sin. “For the wages of sin is death,” Romans 6:23a. The whole world is subject to death, because all have sinned. “By one man sin entered the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). In Genesis 2:17, the Lord warned Adam that the penalty for disobedience would be death—“you will surely die.” When Adam disobeyed, he experienced immediate spiritual death, which caused him to hide “from Lord God among the trees of the garden” (Genesis 3:8). Later, Adam experienced physical death (Genesis 5:5). On the cross, Jesus also experienced physical death (Matthew 27:50). The difference is that Adam died because he was a sinner, and Jesus, who had never sinned, chose to die as a substitute for sinners (Hebrews 2:9). Jesus then showed His power over death and sin by rising from the dead on the third day (Matthew 28; Revelation 1:18). Because of Christ, death is a defeated foe. “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” (1 Corinthians 15:55; Hosea 13:14).
For the unsaved, death brings to an end the chance to accept God’s gracious offer of salvation. “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). For the saved, death ushers us into the presence of Christ: “To be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:23). So real is the promise of the believer’s resurrection that the physical death of a Christian is called “sleep” (1 Corinthians 15:51; 1 Thessalonians 5:10). We look forward to that time when “there shall be no more death” (Revelation 21:4).
Like it or not, it is just a firm fact in the realm of mankind. If there are no other guarantees in life that can be counted on, this is one of them ..... death is an appointment we shall all keep. Regardless of who we are, who our mommas and daddy's were, how much money we have or how good of health we seem to be in, if the Lord tarries, we will all at some point traverse the “Valley of the Shadow of Death”. We are used to almost everything having an expiration date. Milk eventually goes sour, chips eventually go stale, shoes eventually get holes, cars eventually rust and break down, and on and on and on. And, though we may not like those facts, we accept them. We realize there will come a time in the life of a carton of milk when it will become a solid and quite yucky. We understand that the vehicle we currently drive will probably someday find its way to a compactor somewhere and be flattened like a pancake. And so it is in the life of cars and milk and mankind. Sooner or later, we all expire.
Recently, our little community has had its fair share of reminders of the brevity of life. The last few weeks, McDonald funeral home has been a high traffic area. Just yesterday, we learned of the untimely passing of Dr. Bobby Morrison. Dr. Bobby was one of those guys who you could honestly say you had never, ever, heard a cross word about. A long-time, faithful member of the Centerville Church of Christ, an avid golfer and Tennessee Volunteer fan, Dr. Bobby was as good as they came. He was the ultimate professional in his chosen field of dentistry and was as kind-hearted, soft spoken and gentle as any man you would ever meet. The death of Dr. Morrison is just yet another sobering reminder to us all that God is no respecter of persons. I'm sure Bobby had a number of appointments with patients on Monday, April 12 that he intended to keep. Unknown to him though, was the fact that God had penciled him in an appointment to come home. He just might be sharpening his pencil for one of us next. Are you ready for that appointment? Remember ..... this is one scheduled visit you won't be able to cancel.
Go the extra mile - Devin