Deal With The Death Issue 2

I’ve always told the humorous story of the man who decided he was going to kill himself. Well he decided he would end it by lying on the railway track and getting run over by the 12pm train. The one thing he knew is that, the train was always on time, so this was a sure way to die. At about 11:50am he got to the tracks and lay across the tracks facing upwards. The midday sun was unforgiving but it was no deterrent. At 12pm the train did not show up. By 12:10pm there was still no sight of the would be ‘killer train.’ Our suicidal fellow decided a few more minutes would be in order coz he really was set on checking out. However by 12:30pm there still was no train. In a huff the man got up and oblivious to his own words said “I could die of hunger waiting for this train.” With that he headed home to get some lunch. I’m sure you can see the irony.

Most of what we do in life is a circumnavigation of death. We would rather not face it although we know fully well that we will have to. We are consumed with preserving our lives and indeed we should, but the one truth is that we cannot escape it. Let me give you a different example. When you get into a job, the one thing you must deal with as you start is that one of two things will happen. Either you will be fired or you will resign. Few retire. In most cultures it is taboo to even speak of your own death or that of another. In Africa they say you don't talk about it because it might just happen. The fact is whether we talk about it or not, it's going to happen. In the first part of this bloggage (combination of blog and message), I told you my story of the coffin I used. It was kept in a basement storeroom and you can imagine the drama conjured up when we asked people to help us carry it to the stage for rehearsals. On many occasions the storeroom workers refused to touch it and walkways cleared in an instant when folk saw us coming up the pavement with it. The one man begged me earnestly not to get into the coffin as we rehearsed (excuse the pun), because he was afraid I was hastening my own death. “look at it this way,” I replied, “how often do you get to practice getting into a coffin, i ‘d better do it now when I can still get out myself coz a day is coming when I won’t be able to get out.” Of-course we laughed about it, but I bet it made him think why I was so blasé about death. I'm not just being morbid for the sake of it. Think with me for a bit, could it be that most of us are scared to live life to the fullest because we are scared of death?

When you 'Deal with the death issue' you come to terms with the fact that death is very much a part of life. It Is what gives value to life even though in itself it is not a desirable thing. To accomplish great things in life without inhibition, you must come to terms with ‘your’ own death issue. The way to overcome death is to understand that it is not chasing after you but that you are walking towards it. It is the culmination of life. You can tell when someone has dealt with the death issue. Martin Luther King had dealt with it so he was not afraid of living life to the best. Jesus Christ had to deal with the death issue before he gave up his own life. Therein lies the key to overcoming death. If you can give up your life you will not feel like there’s a constant threat of your life being taken from you. Jesus was not forced to die but he gave up his own life. You cannot take away something from me that I have already given up, it does not scare me anymore that I may loose it, coz I’ve already given it up. I know this sounds crazy but that’s just it. The apostle Paul said this in Phillipians 1v20-24 (NIV)

“I eagerly expect and hope that in no way will I be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know. I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.”

I love this guy, he’s crazy! Lol. It’s like he’s taunting death and saying ‘you don’t scare me one bit, in-fact I’m looking forward to you.’ I’m not suggesting that Jesus, the apostle Paul or Martin Luther King had a death wish and where somehow strangely attracted to the idea of death. There are those who have a death wish, but that’s different from what I’m talking about here. In many cases someone with a death wish has already lost the will to live and they just want to escape. What I am saying however, is that these guys had every reason to want to live, yet they where not intimidated by the threat of death. Starting today do not be intimidated by the threat of death, STAND YOUR GROUND and live everyday to the max.

Deal With The Death Issue 1

I've just been checking out the footage of Michel Jackson in rehearsal 36 hours before he died, and i must say it's heart rending (MJ is a childhood hero of mine, I even did a rendition of ‘Bad’ at my grade 6 end of year awards night, yup it was quite a sight, enough said). You can see how energetic and focused he is yet unbeknown to him the end was so near. What strikes me as chilling though, is that the title of his planned final tour 'This Is It," would turn out to be a sort of 'boomerang prophecy' concerning his own life. However, death is the inevitable event we must all learn to deal with early in life if we are going to make the most of this life.

What do i mean 'deal with the death issue?' I remember when i was a youth pastor, we came up with a powerful evangelism skit that portrayed the death of a young man. The end of the skit was a funeral scene that had all the props including a coffin that we bought from a local funeral palour (that's right we bought one). Inside the coffin was me, (yes i was in the coffin and no i was not scared). The skit ended with the agonising mother screaming over the coffin for her son to come back, and then in the middle of her emotional wail i would bust open the coffin and sit up like a zombie with a straight face and in absolute silence. My first comment after the whole auditorium had calmed down was, "The problem with death is....., you don't get to come back." Needless to say those where the easiest sermons i've ever preached. Folk poured to the altar without much persuasion (No i was not fired after that). Death is the one thing that scares most people. What are we so scared of? The strange thing is that we spend our lives in fear of death, yet it is the one certain thing in life. The Bible tells us this in Hebrews 9v27 (NIV) "Just as man is destined to die once and after that to face judgement..." Don’t let the fear of death push you out of your life, it’s like living all your life whilst on standby, like a DVD player or laptop on hibernate. Sometimes we put off the bungee jump, the swim in the ocean, sky jumping or a trip to the doctor because we are so scared that we might just die. It's as if death kills us before we die. Refuse to give up your life and STAND YOUR GROUND. I’m not done yet on this one, there’s a part 2