April 8, 2018 – “30 Days to Live: Living Today” by Rev. Cody Sandahl
Lay Reader = Psalm 39
1I said, “I will guard my ways that I may not sin with my tongue; I will keep a muzzle on my mouth as long as the wicked are in my presence.” 2I was silent and still; I held my peace to no avail; my distress grew worse, 3my heart became hot within me. While I mused, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue: 4“Lord, let me know my end, and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is. 5You have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing in your sight. Surely everyone stands as a mere breath. Selah
6Surely everyone goes about like a shadow. Surely for nothing they are in turmoil; they heap up, and do not know who will gather. 7“And now, O Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in you. 8Deliver me from all my transgressions. Do not make me the scorn of the fool. 9I am silent; I do not open my mouth, for it is you who have done it. 10Remove your stroke from me; I am worn down by the blows of your hand. 11“You chastise mortals in punishment for sin, consuming like a moth what is dear to them; surely everyone is a mere breath. Selah
12“Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear to my cry; do not hold your peace at my tears. For I am your passing guest, an alien, like all my forebears. 13Turn your gaze away from me, that I may smile again, before I depart and am no more.”
Introduction
We are still in our series looking at how we can live today as if we only had thirty days to live. On Easter we asked what we would wish we had said or done if we were fading on the operating table, and what’s stopping us from doing that right now anyway. I know all of you ran out to check deathclock.com to see your projected death day.
This week we are looking at the suddenness and shortness of our lives. The psalm we heard earlier said our lives are fleeting. That are days are but a few handbreadths.
Our second text today is from the letter of James. Many of the early churches were filled primarily with very poor people, though there were usually a few patrons – usually widows who had access to some wealth. But James is writing to a church that had quite a few successful merchants among their ranks. His worry is that they have received the blessed good news of Easter into their hearts, but they haven’t figured out that it should change how they live. One of the most famous lines in James is “faith without works is dead.”
Here, James addresses these well-to-do merchants who were very proud of what they had accomplished and very ambitious about what they were going to do in the future.
James 4:13-17
13Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.”14Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.15Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.” 16As it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.17Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin.
But a Wisp
About six weeks ago, my two-year-old son Caleb, great scientist that he is, made an amazing discovery. We were walking into a doctor appointment, and Caleb exclaimed, “Dada! You…you’re blowing smoke!” Mind…blown!
So I taught him how to go “HAAAH” and blow out enough warm, moist air to see the “smoke.” But much to his chagrin, the smoke kept vanishing! And Dada had to keep taking breaths to blow more smoke. How rude!
But the worst part of all? That was when we came back out of the appointment, and it was about 15 degrees warmer by then. No smoke at all! The universe clearly didn’t understand the needs of a toddler!
When James writes, “you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes,” picture your misty breath – your “smoke” in Calebese – visible on a cold day. That’s the image James has in mind. No matter how hard you try to keep it coming, no matter how hard you try to keep it visible, it vanishes. As a side note, I wonder if people who can breathe and blow at the same time like Kenny G can keep the mist going all morning. Inquiring minds want to know! Someone contact Kenny G!
James is making two points here. First, he’s reminding us that our lives are short. God has numbered our days, the psalm said, and it’s not that big of a number. But James’ second point is that we don’t know that number. We could vanish like our misty breath on a cold day. Anything could happen.
Starting
Have you ever had one of those, “that could have been really bad” moments? I’ve had quite a few narrow escapes, but one jumps to mind today. Our house in Bethlehem, PA, had two gargantuan trees – one in front and one in back. And every fall, I got to have a renewed appreciation for why we call that season “fall.” My yard and house (and especially gutters) would be ensconced in a couple of feet of multi-colored leaves.
So up the ladder I went, grumbling about the stupid leaves, and those stupid trees, and secretly wishing a large wind would come through and blow it into the neighbor’s yard – don’t tell them, by the way. And as I reached for the gutter, the brick patio beneath me suddenly started rushing toward my face.
Or, more properly, my ladder fell out from beneath me and I was suddenly hurtling toward the bring patio. I managed to ride the ladder down, and I landed on my feet, straddling the ladder. I destroyed our rose trellis, knocked out the cable TV wires, destroyed the bush beneath me, and ruined the fencing we used to keep the dog out of the little garden area. But I escaped with just a bruise on my head and a renewed appreciation for having a clean, level area for the ladder to sit on.
But that could have gone very badly. Another guy had fallen on a ladder just two weeks before that and broke his back. Anything can happen.
Given that anything can happen…given that we don’t know how many days God has given us…what are you putting off? Where are you waiting until you get around to it? And how would you feel if you never actually got the chance?
Maybe that’s visiting a relative. Maybe that’s telling someone you love them – or that you forgive them. Maybe that’s something creative like a project or a book. What are you putting off?
Knowing how unpredictable our lives are, Proverbs 6:4 says, “Don’t put it off; do it now! Don’t rest until you do.” Or as William Wordsworth said, “To begin, begin.”
Finishing
Now, for me, beginning something is never a problem. I can lay claim to at least one thing I have in common with Leonardo da Vinci. One writer categorized him as a “creative polygamist” – constantly inventing new ideas but rarely committing to them long enough to complete them. For example, we can account for about 2100 paintings from a single decade of Van Gogh’s work. Leonardo only has about 30 finished works on record. One of them – The Adoration of the Magi – sure looks like he never finished it, but it’s still so amazing it will overshadow almost anything else in a museum display. But his journals are filled with hundreds and hundreds of ideas, concepts, halting starts that never saw a finish.
For comparison, some of you know I started programming computers when I was in second grade so I could make video games. I have almost everything still saved to this day. I did a quick count, and I found 163 personal computer projects I had started over the years. Six of them were ever finished.
I used to tell my family about all the ideas I had for books, and I would always preface it by saying, “I had another idea for a book I’ll never write.” I went through my records this week and found 27 books I had started writing. And until two years ago, none of them were completed.
What changed? Two years ago I just decided I was going to finish one, no matter what. Even if it was terrible. Even if no one cared. At least I would have something done! Now I have two – the Ephesians Bible study and my children’s book on rocket ships.
What’s my point? Maybe you need to take Proverbs 6 to heart – “Don’t put if off; do it now! Don’t rest until you do.” Maybe you need encouragement to start something.
Or maybe you’re like me and Leonardo da Vinci. Maybe you need to hear from Paul in Acts 20 – “my only aim is to FINISH the race and COMPLETE the task the Lord Jesus has given me.” Maybe you need encouragement to finish something.
Whether you need to start something or finish something, remember that James says our lives are but wisps. We are “smoke” on a cold day. God has numbered our days, but we don’t know the number. How would you feel if you never got the chance to start…or finish…the task Jesus has for you?
God’s Will + Hard Work
Now, that doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy. A lot of times God gives us tasks that are very difficult or require a lot of effort and discipline to complete. You have to decide if you are willing to put in the kind of effort that God is asking from you.
Maybe you’ve heard the story of a man who was very, very ill. He and his wife went to see the doctor and he did a series of tests. The doctor asked the wife to step outside the room so he could speak to her alone. He said to her, “Your husband has a very serious disease, but it is treatable. But you’ll have to really take care of him. Cook him 3 meals a day; prepare them just as he likes them; give him everything he asks for every day for the next 6 months and he’ll be just fine.”
The wife nodded and returned to the room. She went to her husband’s side, took his hand in hers, and informed him of the doctor’s prognosis: “The doctor said you’re not going to make it.”
The task God has for you to start…or finish…may not be easy. It may require a lot of work. But if the Lord wills it, it will be worth it.
But James cautions us against getting too proud of our hard work. Let’s rewind to that ladder I rode down to the ground. Is the take-away from that story that I have amazing cat-like reflexes? Or is the take-away from that story that I was blessed and God saved me from getting hurt? If you were at the dinner table with me at the Good Friday potluck and saw me knock over one cup of water on my family, and then another cup of water on Pastor Tu’s family, you probably wouldn’t answer “cat-like reflexes.”
James tells this church of merchants to beware of thinking your life is your own and God is just an afterthought. He tells this church of merchants to beware of boasting about how you have been a self-made person, forgetting the role God played in blessing you. And he tells this church of merchants to beware of knowing the right thing to do but failing to do it.
And instead of those three things to avoid, James tells this church of merchants to seek the Lord’s will fervently, and then do it. Let God be in control of your life. Let God get the credit. Let God be glorified as you do the right thing. That’s what it looks like to live today.
So what has the Holy Spirit given you to start…or finish? And how would you feel if you never got the chance to do it. Proverbs 6:4, “Don’t put it off; do it now! Don’t rest until you do.” Amen.
