Living the Dash, James 3:13-18
Introduction (Series)
Today we begin a 6 part journey based off of Kerry & Chris Shook’s book entitled “One Month to Live.” The book and this sermon series ask the question, “What if you knew for sure that you have just 30 days left to live? How would live out that one month? What things would you do? What would matter enough to focus on and what would suddenly become unimportant? What would consume those 30 days and what would be discarded?
The part of this that is a challenge for us is that the next month is not just an academic exercise in seeing what clutter we would remove in our life and what meaningful things we would focus on: I want to challenge you to, for the next 30 days and beyond, adopt a one month to live outlook on life.
If I had one month to live, surely it might open my eyes up to seeing my blessings as blessings, rather than bearing them like burdens. Perhaps I would make the phone call that I had put off for so many years. Perhaps I would ask forgiveness for a wrong that I had committed. In my personal life and in the pastoral ministry I have seen people call others to their bedside as they neared the end of this life.
One instance comes to mind when the person dying called in many that they had wronged in this life. The dying person made tremendous confessions, ask forgiveness, and attempted to right many wrongs. This may sound noble, but is it? Is it noble to live for years with bitterness, regret, disappointment, pain, sin, and then, when it is in fact the most convenient, unload those burdens upon those who will be left behind as we pass into the next life? Is it noble to make it right when there shall be no responsibility or burden of living rightly after that?
At the end of our lives we often see things with increased clarity. I am convinced that it is because at the end all of our false pretense is stripped away. Now we have nothing to shield us from being honest with self, with others, or with God.
For the next month I want to invite you to commit within yourself to living life as though it were your last. Deeply invest into the material from these sermons, which will be based largely on the “One Month to Live” book. If you are following along with a book on your own or in a small group, do the same.
We have an opportunity in front of us to grow deeply as individuals and widely as a church. Join me in this journey. The sermons will be intentionally concise and intensely focused on one central idea. I will be preparing these sermons in a significantly different fashion than I normally do; these being topical sermons and less exegetical. (Biblical principles for application more than Bible exposition)
My deepest desire is the Holy Spirit will use these sermons, your reading, and the small groups of the Church to affect spiritual growth in all of us.
Introduction (Sermon)
We don’t know what tomorrow will bring. Quoting Alan Sachs, the author writes “Death is more universal than life. Everyone dies but not everyone lives.” Harold Kushner once wrote, “I am convinced that it is not the fear of death, of our lives ending, that haunts our sleep so much as the fear … that as far as the world is concerned, we might as well never have lived.”
Indeed, our time on this earth is limited. No matter how uncomfortable it is for you or I, there is one universal principal in this life; it will end for us all. The question is not “how do I avoid death.”
Rather, it is “how do I avoid not having lived.” The reality of our own mortality, though, should not paralyze us but fuel us. Why is life short? It is short so that it has immediate meaning. My life and yours is happening right now, this second!
Transition
For a good amount of my life I lived as though my life had not yet started. When I was a child I remember thinking how great it would be when I got bigger.
When I got bigger I remember thinking how wonderful it would be when I could get out on my own and make my life what I wanted it to be.
As a young adult I remember thinking how great my life would be when I graduated college and accomplished my dreams. Then one day it occurred to me that I was always looking off to the future and not really living for today.
It occurred to me that my life is happening right now, not some day!
Exposition
Perhaps the same may be true of some whom in their later years, dwell excessively on the past. Dreaming is important but forgetting to live now places the future before the present. Remembering the beauty of yesterday is of great value but living in the past robs us of the present. Life is happening right now.
How we will live fuels today and what happened in the past instructs the present. Life though is today’s activity. In the book Chris Shook tells of his own fascination with old gravestones, their dates and inscriptions.
I have a similar fascination. I don’t have a morbid fixation on cemeteries but they are compelling and interesting places to me.
When I was in recruiting school for the National Guard, (just after leaving the Marine Corps I spent two years in the Minnesota Army National Guard), in Little Rock Arkansas in 2003, I spent many of my weekends during the 3 month training driving around the state of Arkansas following a map of Civil War sites.
Chief among these sites were the battle fields and cemeteries. In many cases, they were one and the same. I remember looking at the grave sites wondering what kind of people these were. What was their life like?
On a gravestone there are typically two dates and dash in between. Sometimes there is a passage of Scripture or a few words about the person: great mother, friend to mankind, and so on. These words seldom truly encapsulate even a portion of the life that the person lived.
However, the two dates a dash make a stark point. Our lives, all that we are, all that do, all that makes up our existence, are what we did in the dash. So and so was born on such and such a date lived life in the dash and then died on such and such a date. Dear friends, we are presently, each one of us, living in the dash.
We don’t get to choose the length of the dash, only the breadth and value of the life we live in it. How are we presently using our dash? Are we in a mad dash to pack in as much as possible into our dash? Are we dashing to live, speedily pursuing things that don’t matter and won’t last?
“Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (Psalms 90:12 NIV) God has called us to live fully in the recognition that our days are limited so that we will recognize the value of this moment, this moment, and now this moment. Life is short that in its brevity there will be meaning!
Our time is as limited as it is in the hands of the sovereign God of creation. He does, though, give us the choice about how we will use the time we are given.
God determines the length of our dash, we determine its breadth.
For some, upon hearing that they only have 30 days to live, they don’t have to change much and perhaps nothing at all. There are those who are confident that they have, in fact, not been wasting their dash.
For these people the news of 30 days to live is shocking, painful, and while they mourn for the hurt of those they leave behind, they rest assured that they have been living each day as the great gift of God that it is.
If you are one of these people that is great! If you are not, the next 30 days or so is about becoming one of these people. In the grand scheme of things even the longest life of 100 years is relatively short.
“Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” (James 4:13-14 NIV)
But don’t view the brevity of life as a means of discouragement. Accept what is and learn to know what it means. God made life short so that it would matter.
“For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (II Timothy 4:6-7 NIV)
We won’t use our dash perfectly, no matter how intention we are, but if we are not intentional about how we use it, we won’t even experience a portion of the victory in this life that is available to us in Christ.
Conclusion
For the next 30 days or so, through this sermon series, through the book study, and the small groups, I want to invite you to be honest with yourself. No change was ever produced in the heart which did not at the very least, deal with itself honestly.
So many people want to put their past behind them without every placing in view in front of them. Far too often we want change but we are not willing to be honest about the things that we need to change. Victory never comes cheaply.
If we knew that we only had 30 days to live we would likely right wrongs, we would love those we have neglected forgive those for whom we harbor bitterness, and we would see our lives in radically different terms.
But why wait until then to get it right? The two great errors with regard to this, I would suggest, is that there are those who say I am too young to care, I’ll get it right later. Then there are those who say, I am too old too care, it’s too late or I already got it wrong or at least, as right as I’m gonna get it.
Hear the command of the Lord: "In your anger do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need. Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:26-32 NIV)
Older Christian, there is no expiration date on the command of God. Younger Christian, we are not promised tomorrow. Join me, will you, make the next 30 days count in a way that has lasting impact on the rest of our dash. Amen.
