Jump Start # 1883

Genesis 25:8 “Abraham breathed his last and died in a ripe old age, an old man and satisfied with life; and he was gathered to his people.”

This week we have focused upon the different expressions found in this powerful verse. There remains one more to look at. Abraham after he died was “gathered to his people.”

Gathered to his people is used later in the chapter to describe the death of Ishmael (25:17). That same phrase is used at the death of Isaac (Gen 35:29); Jacob (Gen 49:33) and, Aaron (Num 20:26). What does it mean to be “gathered to your people?”

For Abraham, he had left most of his people when God called him out of Ur. It doesn’t seem like Aaron and Abraham were buried in the same location, or cemetery as we might express it today. Probably, the expression is used to talk about the dead. Abraham was gathered among the dead. There is a time to be born and a time to die, as Ecclesiastes states it.

But I think there may be more to it than saying he was simply dead. When challenged by the Sadducees about the resurrection, Jesus said, “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. He is not the God of the dead but of the living” (Mt 22:32). Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—not only direct family descendants, and not only receivers of God’s promises, but these three were said to have been “gathered to their people.” The point Jesus was making was that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were alive. Not here. Not on earth. But their souls were alive. These Sadducees who did not believe in a resurrection were told about the I AM of God. God was still the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It wasn’t that He used to be. Or, He once was. I AM. Currently. Present tense. At death, they were gathered among their people. God was still their God and they were still alive.

Death isn’t the end of us. There is no “The End” to our story. We switch rooms. We are not bound by physical things such as a body and all the elements of this planet. We aren’t governed by time. We do not have to eat. We do not suffer from disease, weather or traffic. We no longer age. We are gathered to our people.

The Thessalonians were told by Paul, that when Christ returns, He will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus, Christians. The living will be caught up with them. These words were to comfort the those who had lost loved ones. They are not forgotten by God. They were not “gone.” It wasn’t “over” for them. They remain on. They live on. They are with the Lord. They have been gathered to the Lord. There is a comfort in knowing that. There is a comfort in realizing that the righteous have not been forsaken, forgotten or lost. There is comfort in realizing that all those years of walking with the Lord and all those years of worshipping God were not in vain. God knew. God had them. They were with God. They had been gathered to God.

Comfort one another with these words, that’s how this Thessalonian section ends. There is comfort in knowing that the righteous are gathered to the Lord. There is comfort in knowing that God will care for them. There is comfort in knowing that they are forever safe with the Lord. Safe in the arms of Jesus, great hymn and a comforting thought.

There is a purpose for all that we do. It’s more than to just live good lives. It’s more than just pleasing God. It ends with us being gathered to God forever.

Now, all of this brings two powerful thoughts to us:

First, knowing that we will be gathered to God someday, helps us keep our eyes on the Lord and it helps us from getting bogged down with the things that do not matter. Fussing about our President seems to be the new national sport. Folks can get so caught up in who said what and what does that mean, that we lose our focus. Just as a driver can be distracted, we can be distracted spiritually. We lose our focus. Our perspective changes. Our priorities get out of line. Facebook, as good as it is about connecting with people, can be the source of raising your blood pressure and getting you off your pace with God.

We will be gathered to God someday. Keep praying. Keep walking with the Lord. Keep your eyes open and on the horizon. Presidents come and go. And for that matter, countries come and go. Governments come and go. God remains the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. What matters is our faith. What matters is our character. What matters is the direction that we are traveling.

Second, we need to assure brethren and comfort them by using the word of God. “These words,” are what would comfort those sad Thessalonians. It wasn’t our words. It wasn’t some store bought devotional book. It was the “these words,” which were the words of God. Sure words. Absolute promises. These words have stood the test of time. These words have been proven true. It is these words that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob trusted and believed.

Want to help a grieving family? Sure make some food but don’t forget the spiritual food, these words. And, when it is our time to grieve and mourn, remember “these words.” There are a lot of things that are said at the funeral home that just aren’t so. People will say things without thinking. They feel compelled to say something. They want their words to make all the difference. Usually that backfires. Often they say things that do not help. If you must say something, use God’s words. “These words,” are what would comfort the heart of the Thessalonians.

Abraham was gathered to his people. Someday, you and I will be gathered to our people. If we are walking with the Lord, that gathering will be among the righteous. It is there that we will see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It is there that we will see that God has been good to us. It is there that we will see the glory of the Heavens and realize what a blessed people we are.

We shall see the King someday—what a grand thought that will be! What a grand occasion that will be!

Roger

Jump Start # 1882

Genesis 25:8 “Abraham breathed his last and died in a ripe old age, an old man and satisfied with life; and he was gathered to his people.”

We are staying with this same verse this week. The death of Abraham brought Isaac and Ishmael together to bury the grand patriarch of faith. Today, we focus upon that little expression layered in this sentence, “satisfied with life.”

Satisfaction. Abraham was satisfied with life. What a great statement that is. I wonder how many could say that about their life. Many feel like their life has been hard. Some may believe that they were cheated in life. Some, get to a certain age and they believe they have earned the right to be grumpy and sour. Abraham was satisfied.

Not everything in Abraham’s life was easy, nor will it be in your life. He had to leave a home and surroundings that brought him wealth and comfort. God called him to go to a land he had never been to before. He journeyed by faith. That wasn’t easy. There were times when he feared for his life. He didn’t do everything exactly as he should have, yet, with all of that, he was satisfied with life.

We get satisfied when our team wins, our kids do well, and our bellies are full. We look at our investments and if we have saved diligently, that brings satisfaction. Being with family brings satisfaction. For others, it’s marching through their bucket list. It is going places, and doing things that they always have dreamed of. I talked to a college student the other day. He had just finished his Masters degree. I asked if a PhD was next. The answer was a quick “No.” The student was tired of being a student. He was satisfied with his level of education.

Abraham was satisfied. Other words that we could attach here would be content, happy, peaceful, settled, calm, reflective, joyous and thankful. That stream of words is often missing from our hearts. We are rushed so fast, and are so busy, that the words that define us are: stressed, stretched, tired, in a hurry, behind, pressured, frustrated, consumed, defeated, discouraged, and depressed. Abraham was satisfied. How could Abraham be satisfied and we are not? We have more stuff and more gadgets and more technology than ever before. What did he have that we don’t? Why was he satisfied and we are not?

Hebrews 11 shows us something behind the scenes that helps us to understand Abraham’s satisfaction. The text says, “By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise…for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” Satisfaction—not in stuff, but through faith. It is by faith that he journeyed. It was by faith that he was looking for something that God had established. It was by faith that he believed in the promises that God had spoken to him.

I have known modern Abraham’s. They are people of faith. They walk with the Lord and their heart is at peace. One guy in particular I met long ago. He is no longer on this side of life. He was a simple person. He and his wife worked and worshipped together. He seemed bigger than life to the young preacher that I was at that time. He could tell stories and knew people that kept me amazed for hours. His life was rather plain. His house was ordinary. He and his wife never had any children. The jobs he worked at were nothing special. He was old when I first met him. But I saw a kindness in his heart and a satisfaction that was like Abraham. I learned from him that one doesn’t have to travel long and far to be satisfied. If you can’t be satisfied at home, then you won’t be satisfied anywhere else. I also saw in him that filling your life with stuff doesn’t make you satisfied. Our times have really missed that lesson. Our closets are bulging. Our garages are packed. We must rent storage sheds to keep all the stuff that we have. We keep getting more and more and we are less and less satisfied than my old friend, from long ago.

How can we be satisfied in his fast paced, ‘gimme’ gimmie,’ times that we live in? Abraham’s satisfaction, as well as ours, comes by faith. Knowing that God has forgiven you and can use you in His kingdom brings a contentment and peace to your heart. Realizing that all the stuff that surrounds us will someday be junk and that we are not defined by these things or the labels of our clothes or the size of our house, but by the largeness of our hearts. Satisfaction comes from knowing that we walk with the Lord. It comes from understanding that we can please God. That God smiles when He looks at us. I have that with my grandchildren. No words have to be said. Our eyes connect, and we smile at each other. Satisfaction.

Satisfaction comes from knowing that God wants me to be with Him. It comes from knowing that even in my bumbling way, God has a place for me in both His kingdom and in His Heaven. True satisfaction must be spiritually based. If our contentment comes from living in a house that we love, what happens when that house must be sold or we are placed in assisted living? There goes your satisfaction. If it comes from having done everything I wanted to do in life, what happens when there are no more things on my list to do? What happens when age, or health keeps me for finishing my list? Where is my satisfaction then?

What Abraham experienced is what Paul knew as well in the N.T. Satisfaction, along with joy, are not based upon your circumstances, but rather your choices and especially your walk with the Lord. This is why Paul in a Roman prison could tell others who were free to rejoice in the Lord. He was. He wasn’t sour, miserable or feeling cheated in life. He had the Lord and the Lord had him. He knew where he was headed.

Satisfied. Content. Calm. At peace. Happy. The world is looking for that, but it’s looking in the wrong places. It’s not in your next vacation. It’s not in a new house. It’s not getting out of the city. It’s found in Jesus Christ. Remember the great shepherd Psalm? It begins, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want…” Content. Satisfied. Even sitting at the table across from my enemies. Even traveling down those long dark valleys of the shadow of death. I shall not want.

Jesus tells us in the sermon on the mount to be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect. If that means sinless, perfect, we don’t have a chance. We sin. We can’t do what Jesus wants us to. However, if that means, complete, whole, lacking nothing, I shall not want, then we can. Be satisfied. Be content.

We sing “This world is not my home,” but we can sure act like it is. We can be so wrapped up here that we forget about the “there.” We can get so caught up with the right and left of politics that we forget God has an up and a down.

Satisfied. Old Abraham was satisfied with life. Such a person is ready to go. Not to die, but to be with the Lord. I expect ole’ Abraham talked with a gleam in his eyes. Satisfied people tend to do that. They are thankful. They see the good side of things. They are upbeat, positive and encouraging. An afternoon with Abraham would do us all wonders. The things we could learn. Turn off the TV. Go sit on the back porch. Listen to the birds and the wind blowing through the trees. Count your blessings. That’s not the same as taking inventory of your stuff. Blessings. Heaven sent. Not counted in dollar bills. You have a good family? Are you part of a good church? God has touched your life, answered your prayers, forgiven your sins, and opened doors of opportunity for you? Have people made an impact and a difference in your life? Count those blessings. It makes you thankful. It stirs things around until you are satisfied in your heart. It tends to make you worry less and become less bothered.

Satisfied with life. You don’t have to be old to find that. You find it through faith.

Roger

Jump Start # 1881

Genesis 25:8 “Abraham breathed his last and died in a ripe old age, an old man and satisfied with life; and he was gathered to his people.”

We continue some thoughts from this interesting passage about the death of Abraham. I used this text the other day in a funeral. There are some lessons we can learn from this.

Abraham breathed his last. We don’t think much about breathing. Our only concern is if we have bad breath. The very first breath is important. Long ago, doctors used to give a slap on the rear end to get those new babies breathing. They don’t do that these days. For years my wife worked as a labor and delivery nurse. She was the nurse of choice for many Christian mothers. There were some babies that never breathed that first breath. That was a very sad occasion. I spoke at a ceremony to honor all those babies that never lived. It was a moving experience.

We take about 23,000 breaths a day. The more excited we are and the more we exert ourselves, the more we breathe. On average, a person breathes 8.4 million times a year. Abraham lived to be 175 years old. He took roughly 1.47 billion breaths. Then came that one day, when Abraham breathed his last. He breathed his last and he died.

You and I do not sit around counting our breaths in a day. Unless there is a problem and we go to a doctor about these things, we don’t worry if we got our 23,000 breaths in yesterday or not. We just breathe. It’s something we do without thinking.

But this passage reminds us that someday we will take that last breath. According to the stats, on average, 6,700 will take their last breath today. They will take their last breath, and like Abraham, they will die.

Death is a topic that most would rather not talk about and especially think about. Yet, we know, someday we will take that last breath. It is appointed unto man to die once, is what Hebrews tells us. Death scares us. Death is full of mystery. There are only a handful of people in the Bible that died and were resurrected. We sometimes get the impression that someone was raised just about every day. That didn’t happen. There weren’t that many. And of those that were raised, no one said what they saw or felt on the other side. The only window we have into the next world is the story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16. Don’t believe all those junk books on the market about people who died and came back. They are bogus and full of spiritual poison. Stick to what we know, the Bible.

Having said that, everyone that you and I know that died has remained dead. We don’t know anyone who died over the weekend and came back to work on Monday. Death, from where we are, seems permanent. The cemetery seems final. The empty chair in the house is a constant reminder that someone is no longer with us.

Death from the perspective of God and how Christians view it is so much different than how the world sees it. The world runs from death. Christians welcome it. The world uses expressions such as “gone,” “finished,” “tragedy.” The Biblical expressions surrounding the death of a righteous person are, “Gain,” “Blessed,” “Precious,” and, “Hope.” These different perspectives are built upon whether one believes in God and has faith in the Lord and has followed and obeyed Him. Without God, death is a terrifying thing. Without God there is no hope. The Bible is not just for those who want to be good and believe in God. The message of the Bible is true for all. If I refuse to believe the Bible, I will still die. I will still face God. And I will be punished with an eternity without God.

Abraham breathed his last and died. His journey on earth was finished. The same will happen to us. From this we learn:

• Make the most of each day. It could be your last. Make a difference. Do your best.
• Don’t put things off. Don’t put off things because they are hard. Don’t put things off because they are unpleasant. Always stuffing things into tomorrow will may work for a while, but someday there won’t be a tomorrow. We will breathe our last.
• Build a close relationship with the Lord. Pray often. Read His word. Shine your light. This will not only bring the best out of you and build a wonderful character, but when it’s time for your last breath, you will be ready. You will have walked with the Lord and now you will be ready to be with Him forever.
• Those that know us the best, will remember us long after our last breath. What we leave are footprints, a legacy. Our family will know what was important to us.

Those that know the Bible, understand that with the name of Abraham, follows Isaac and Jacob. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They received the promises of God. They built that spiritual family. Down the line came David, the great king of Israel and man of God. A little later came Hezekiah, another faithful king of God’s people. His grandson, Josiah, the great reformer, helped the people of God get back to where they needed to be. Down the line a little more came one from Heaven, Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world.

Legacy. Footprints for others to follow. These are the things that we build each day.

One day we will breathe our last. It will be sad for our families, but what a glorious day it will be for us when we leave this world to be with the Lord. No more temptation. No more pills to take. No more doors to lock and alarms to set. No more lights to turn on. No more bad news. No more tears. No more death. No more heartache. We will be with the Lord.

I said at the cemetery the other day, that you and I are always having to go somewhere next. We go to work, but after work we have to go somewhere. We go to worship. After worship we have to go somewhere. We are always having to go somewhere. There is always a NEXT place that we have to go to. After this, I need to go here. For the righteous who die, there is no other place to go. They are with the Lord. Sure, there is the final judgment and the separation between from those going to Heaven and those who are cast into Hell, but we really have no other pressing engagements. We have finished. We have completed. We are where we need to be. There is no other place to be. There is no other place that we must hurry off to. We, indeed, have finally arrived. Safe in the arms of Jesus.

Abraham breathed his last and died. He is named in Hebrews 11 as one who gained approval by God. You will see Abraham on the other side. How will you know him? How will you tell the difference between Abraham and Moses? Will we have divine name tags? Don’t fret about those things. God will take care of it. Abraham breathed his last and died, but that wasn’t the end of Abraham. We’ll look into that later this week, if we still have breath.

My wife just left for work. She walks past my office as I type. She has a little saying every day, “I’ll see you in a little bit.” The “little bit” will be hours from now. She and I will spend the day working in different places. But in the big picture, “it’s just a little bit.”

You and I will breathe our last. We will die. It’s ok. We’ll see each other in a “little bit.”

Roger

Jump Start # 1880

Genesis 25:8 “Abraham breathed his last and died in a ripe old age, an old man and satisfied with life; and he was gathered to his people.”

Yesterday morning I preached the funeral for a lady who was 96 years old. I used this text about Abraham’s death to talk about her. I want to share some thoughts that might be helpful for all of us.

All of us have seen changes in our lifetime. The older a person is the greater those changes have been. Sitting on a shelf in my home office is an old candlestick phone. It once actually worked. It’s heavy and kids love to look at it and play with it. It doesn’t have a rotary dial as later models did. With this one, you had to click the handle to get the operator who would connect you. I believe the phone dates about 1910. And then there is my smart phone in which I can take pictures, get directions from Google maps, play games, listen to music, check the weather, send emails, and oh, yes, make a phone call. It’s light weight and fits in my pocket. A lot of changes between those two phones.

For people in their 90’s, they have seen the disappearance of outhouses and hand pumps to draw water. They have witnessed electricity, air conditioning, microwave, dishwashers, TV, power lawn mowers and dozens and dozens of things that this generation takes for granted. Cars today are made by robots. Soon, we are told, cars will drive themselves. It’s hard to even dream what changes will be coming in the next generation. Will there even be phones?

But with all the changes, some things never change.

1. The need for family never changes. There is nothing that can replace mom, dad and the kids. It is sad to see a family of four out to eat and everyone is looking at the screen of their phones. Talk to each other. Nothing will replace that. Nothing beats family time. Worship together. Eat together. Be together. Share stories. Laugh together. No matter what the generation and no matter what technology we have before us, nothing is better than family time. Some of our fondest memories come from our time with the family. Don’t get too busy that you can read a book to a little one. Don’t believe that buying things can replace the joy of your presence. I’ve seen this with our grandkids. Sure they like toys but fill up the ole’ bucket with water and give them an empty cup and they are thrilled for hours, just playing, as long as you are with them. The need for family never changes.

2. The hours in a day never changes. I thought about this at that funeral yesterday. With all the changes that were witnessed in that 96 year old’s life, the number of hours in a day remains the same. She witnessed 18 different Presidents take office. Yet none of those Presidents could make a day longer than what it was from the beginning. All the engineers and scientists that brought all these changes, even putting a man on the moon and bringing him back, they couldn’t stretch a day any longer than what God had made it. Our day is the same length as it was for Abraham Lincoln as it was for the patriarch Abraham. The sun still rises and sets just the same as it did when God first set things in order. All of this reminds us that we only have so much time. I don’t have more time than you do. You don’t have more time that I do. We have the same. We can waste time. We can burn time. But we can’t borrow or make time. The busy person has exactly the same amount of time as the bored person. We can cook faster, clean better, communicate at lightning speed, and do more than folks did in the 1920’s, but, we still have the exact amount of time. Hebrews reminds us that “it is appointed unto man to die once…” And as our verse reminds us, Abraham breathed his last and died. Some day we will take our last breath. Our journey here will be finished. Saying, “I wish I had more time,” isn’t going to happen. You have the same amount of time in a day as everyone else. Maybe we could be more efficient with our time. Maybe we could be more organized. Maybe we waste time watching too much TV. But some things have never changed, time is one of them.

3. The need for Jesus hasn’t changed. We are a pretty smart generation. There was a time, not long ago, when very few went to college. Not today. It’s just the opposite. Very few do not go to college today. We know more about other places. Our news is immediate, from around the world. Yet, with all of this, we have not out grown Jesus. We have not gotten to the point where we have out smarted Jesus. We still need the Lord. Our lives are miserable without Him. We need Him to develop the right character in our hearts. We need Him to forgive us from our sins. Yes, we still sin. That hasn’t changed. We haven’t, on our own, “evolved” away from sin. Society hasn’t gotten better. We still deal with crime. Drugs are rampant. Every night the news tells us of murders. There is not a person who does not know someone who has been divorced. The brokenness of the home. Moderns would have you believe that we don’t need Jesus. That we can get along without all that religious stuff. What they say and what we see simply does not match. Our times are a mess. We need Jesus. We have always needed Jesus. We will always need Jesus. Our hope is not in the White House, the Court House, or, even our house. Our only hope is in Jesus Christ. Lives that will bow to Him. Lives that will conform to Him. Lives that will be changed by Him.

Look what happened in corrupt Corinth. Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, homosexuals, thieves, drunks, swindlers, covetous were changed. They were washed, justified and sanctified by the blood of Jesus. They did this without an AA. They did this without “Exit counseling.” They did this through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They changed. Moderns tell us that much of this is diseases or the way a person is born and there is no changing. The Corinthians did. They didn’t change definitions of marriage. They didn’t redefine what male and female meant. They didn’t view drunkenness like cancer. They saw these things as sins. They stopped the sins. They became Christians. They worshipped, obeyed and followed Jesus. Their lives had purpose. They learned to see beyond themselves and serve others. They had a real hope in their lives. They developed godly and righteous character. They changed. They became.

Our times will tell us that we don’t need that. We just need to accept people as they are. Broken and miserable will remain broken and miserable. The suicide rate among transvestites is 40%. That’s off the charts for the national average. Something is not right. Trying to make the abnormal normal won’t help matters. We need Jesus.

We will always need Jesus.

As much as life changes, some things never do.

Roger