Ready to Die, Die well
“it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honoured in my body, whether by life or by death.” (Phil 1:20)
Introduction
A traditional goal of pastoral care has been to help people “die well”. In our prosperous modern times this grace has been largely neglected. However the Lord has been speaking to me personally about “dying well”, speaking with clarity that has much broader implications than my own relational circle. I trust you will see that this teaching isn’t pessimistic but genuinely Christ-centred. Christians alone can discuss dying with liberty, for in going to Calvary Jesus has set apart/sanctified to the Father (John 17:19) all the horrors surrounding demise in a fallen age. More than this, through Jesus’ victorious death we can discern illimitable good through the traumas of our time.
Context
After hearing some further news about “the virus” the other day I was awake at 3 a.m. meditating about my future. As I quietly turned things over in my mind, I couldn’t think of any godly reason why I must survive this pandemic. The Spirit was not telling me that I should strive to live for my wife, children, grandchildren or ministry. Of course, I have no desire to leave loved ones soon, but there is something greater than my desires. The following scriptures came to mind as I was praying.
Live and Die for Jesus
“For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. 8 For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.” (Rom 14:7-8). “it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.” (Phil 1:20)
The only valid reason I can have for outliving the current plague is that this is the sovereign will of God for his glory. Believers need accept they have no sovereignty over the time of their death, whether by natural causes or the latest infection. Whilst I cannot initiate the time of my demise, I can be ready for it, whether it comes very soon or much later. If the Church is to get spiritually ahead of this pandemic and its demonic power to incite panic, we must be ready to lose anything/everything for Christ and his kingdom. Then we will join in the laughter of heaven over the worst the enemies of the cross can do; “he who sits in the heaven laughs” (Ps. 2:4 cf. Eph 2:6).
Deprived
One of the gifts COVID19 brings is something well known to Christians in poverty and those afflicted by persecution. Accepting God’s will in suffering unites us with the highest expression of the mind of Christ. ““Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”” (Mark 14:36). This is the secret of incredible intimacy. If we really want to be like Christ we must agree with the Father when he wills to take good things from us (Deut 32:39; 1 Sam 2:6). It was remarkably said of the Hebrew Christians, “you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one” (Heb 10:34). The gospel is powerful enough to empower us to gladly accept the loss of anything in this life. I must accept before God that anyone might be sovereignly willed for infection and death. This of course doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be praying for protection for myself or others. But it does mean I must accept my personal desires aren’t the highest authority. In the mercy of the Lord none of this is happening in a vacuum.
Goodness Me
For some time, I have been having unexpected experiences of the sheer unadulterated indescribable goodness of God and his will. I can only imagine it was something like this that enabled Jesus to “Yes” to his “Abba, Father” in Gethsemane. Nothing less than an encounter with the infinite inviolable goodness of God could have been adequate to uphold him in the hour of dereliction (Mark 15:34). In some way, my experiences of divine goodness seem to have been a preparation for a willingness to say goodbye to all things, before circumstances beyond my control force such a surrender. Through this lens we must view today’s crises.
Status Quo
Whilst the Spirit is trying to bring the Bride into her Master’s rest (Heb 3-4), few church leaders seem willing to let go once and for all of their busy programme-driven agendas. With almost unbelievable witlessness many seem to think the best we can hope for is for a quick end to the pandemic and a speedy return to the status quo. A return to “normal” isn’t what the Holy Spirit is looking for. The prayerless undiscipled Laodicean Church we have known for many decades isn’t the divine norm (Rev 3:14-21). The sentiment in the following quote about the apostle Paul sums up the type of Christian our Lord is looking for. “He had no ambitions and so he had nothing to be jealous about. He had no reputation and so had nothing to fight about. He had no possessions and therefore nothing to worry about. He had no rights so therefore he could not suffer wrong. He was already broken so no one could break him. He was dead so none could kill him. He was less than the least of the least so who could humble him? He had suffered the loss of all things so who could defraud him?” (Ravenhill).
Conclusion
In the coming months we will likely hear of people known to us, including believers, who have died of disease. It is imperative that our prayers precede this. In ourselves it is not natural to welcome death, but for those in Christ there is no longer any “in ourselves” (Gal 2:20). Amidst the noise of our time it is possible to know the will of God with clarity through a prayer that knows no limits. The prayer described in this teaching. May such prayer be our present “acceptable worship” before the “consuming fire” of the Lord (Heb 12:28-29).