"Facing Our Fears: Disease and Death"
Sermon Transcript for August 17, 2003Scripture Reading: Job 19:25-27; Romans 8:37-39
By Rev. Mike Beck
We’ve been examining in our summer sermon series a number of areas where fear would seek to wreak havoc in our lives. We talked about fear of terrorism and war. This week when the power black out occurred in the East, most of us the first thing that popped into our mind was an act of terrorism. We would not have thought that twenty years ago. We talked about our fear of financial insecurity. We talked about our fear of being rejected and betrayed especially by those who are close to us. We talked about the fear of those things in our past that need to stay in the past for they have been covered by God’s Grace. But we fear they might be discovered which would cause persons to think worse of us. Last week we talked about the fear of failure and disgrace. I wonder how many great things never happen because people never try for the fear of failure? Abraham Lincoln failed and failed and failed again and history reports he was one of our greatest leaders.
Today we are looking at the fear of disease and death. And we’ve been discovering how, with God’s help, to stand tall against our fears. In the first message of this series, we were reminded trying to deny that fears do not exist, trying to run from them, is of no help. In terms of those things that cause us to be afraid, it is much more productive to get them out in the open, to lay them on the table where they can be dealt with. This quote came to mind this week. I don’t think it is original with me but it is sure filled with truth. “A fear confided is a fear divided.” In fact, why try to hide from other people that we are afraid? They probably know it anyway. And when we verbalize the fear to a trusted friend, just doing that helps the load seem lighter.
And probably in no area is that more true than today’s topic—the fear of disease and death. Let me share with you some of the most frightening words in our English language—heart attack; stroke; cancer; Alzheimer’s disease; for many older persons, they greatly fear the fall that leads to a broken hip which so often is the beginning of end; the word “nursing home”. I wonder if it’s fair for me to say, despite how marvelous and caring a facility that the Health Center is at the United Methodist Community, that for the many persons here at Grace who live at the United Methodist Community, one of their greatest fears is they may live too long and their final days are spent there. And I wonder how long a trip we can take if each of us were given a dollar for every time in our life that we have thought about our own death? Isn’t it true that that thought crosses our mind on a very regular basis? When will I die? How will I die? What’s that experience like?
Allow me this morning some “sanctified rambling” as we seek to discover Biblical perspectives about disease and death and in doing so to learn how to embrace fear with the peace and the security that God wants us to know in Christ. I’m going to begin with a truth that may seem at first odd as we think Biblically about disease and death. It’s this:
Disease reveals to us that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made”! You know, during all that time in our life when everything works right, we never give our bodies a passing thought till something goes wrong. And then, as we delve in to what is going wrong, which might be a miniscule part of our total body, we begin to realize the truth the Psalmist said when he said, “Oh, God, how fearfully and wonderfully we are made!” Dr. Mary Nan Mallory was a young physician in my previous church. I was talking with her one day about the illness that had come upon me and she said, “Mike, you’re starting to learn how the human body works, how muscles fire and don’t fire.” She said, “I said a long time ago in medical school, I do not believe how any doctor can not believe there is a God when you realize how intricately we are put together. There has to be some master design behind that.” But often times it’s when disease strikes that we realize that.
Disease reminds us how neglectful we are of giving thanks to God in days of good health: You may feel poor this morning in terms of material goods, the amount of money that you have in the bank, but for all of us who have our health, are we not incredibly rich if we know that blessing?
God wants us to care for our bodies and seek to prevent disease: The Bible teaches that as long as we have life it is through this body that we become the hands and feet of Christ. I Corinthians 6:19 says, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God?” A lady commented to me this week that the doctor had said to her, even though she is relatively young, that osteoporosis could be a problem for her. When she got that news she began an extensive exercise program. She said, “I’ve now become addicted to exercise.” But she is practicing good stewardship to do everything we can to care for our bodies. But friends, in this matter of stewardship, let me talk about the other side of the coin. If a loved one has lived 85 years, a good life, says to you and to the doctor, “I know you could do that but I don’t want you to for I’ve led the good life and I’m ready to meet my God”, don’t in selfishness put them down for that. For in the day in which we live in which so much can be done, we’re happy to look at medical care in a world with limited resources from a perspective of stewardship. And then these two statements:
Disease and death do not come from God and were not a part of God’s original design and Christians are not exempt from disease and death: You’ve heard me say it before, I mean it with all my heart. If God causes a person to have cancer, if God is responsible for children or loved ones in the prime of life being taken from us, if God is the author of those things, you will never see me in this pulpit again. I will spend my Sunday morning on the golf course if God is the author of disease and death. There is some very bad theology out there related to the topics we are dealing with today. Now there are some awfully good TV preachers. I watched a couple of them last night. But there are some of them, when I turn them on preaching the prosperity gospel that everybody is going to be healed in this life if two or three agree together in Jesus’ name and especially if you send them $50.00! And I literally want to barf. I want to say to some of these people, “Would you come with me as I make calls this week on some of the most saintly God-fearing people I know who haven’t been healed as we call healing in this life?” There is some horrible theology out there.
· The sovereignty of God, what God causes and what God allows, and the relationship to human freedom and genuine love are wrapped up in what we are talking about today.
· The fall of man. For you see, when we read that account in Genesis 1 and 2, disease and death were not a part of God’s original design, but sin entered the picture so all the rest of the middle of this book is God’s dealing with a broken world as a result of sin. But then in the last book of scripture, the Book of Revelation, we are clearly taught there will come a day that disease and death will no longer reign as God’s eternal kingdom is ushered in.
· The whole business of miracles which God still does and how prayer works is all wrapped up in these issues today.
All of which bring us back to the mystery of our faith. When you talk about the sovereignty of God, do you know how much I grasp that topic? About that much! It lies in the realm of mystery, but at the same time, as there is the mystery of our faith over here, there is the simplicity of our faith. Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so. And can I say that the complex issues wrapped up in this message today make me proud of our Wesleyan tradition of which United Methodists are a part which I think have more honest, thoughtful answers to these deep issues of life than some of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Which leads us to this point:
Our strength when confronted with disease, and our assurance of ultimate victory over death, is found in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ: Our first passage of Scripture this morning was from the Old Testament book of Job that has so much to teach us about these issues. If you remember, Job was a God-fearing man who lived a life without reproach. He had been blessed of God in many ways. But then, in a short period of time, Satan was allowed to take from Job all of his children. His material possessions were stripped away from him. His health was ransacked. And this story, some of the oldest literature of all of Scripture, instructs us regarding the source of human suffering. One of the best books in my library is out of print now. It’s a book by Paul Powell called, When the Hurst Won’t Go Away. And one of the chapters in his book in which he addresses the source of human suffering is entitled, “The Case of Mistaken Identity”. Job’s friends were convinced that his problems were due to his sin. And it is true that sometimes our sin can result in illness. But Job searches his heart and he knew the mystery of his affliction wasn’t found in the simple answer that he had sinned.
And Job also teaches us about the anguish which illness and disease bring about. Persons often like to talk about the fact that Job never cursed God. That’s true! But when you read the story, he came awfully close. For friends, when disease and tragedy strike, know and find comfort in the fact that we are human The pain we are dealing with is so great that there will be tines that in that moment God seems very far away, that our faith seems fragile, and we feel like we are holding on for dear life. But hear again Jobs remarkable statement of faith in the midst of suffering and unanswered questions when he says, “I know that my redeemer lives and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh, I will see him. I myself will see him with my own eyes--I and not another. How my heart yearns within me.” Now friends, what makes that statement all the more incredible is this, in the inspiration of Scripture, God for a moment gives an insight that doesn’t register on human consciousness. Job is the oldest leader, probably in the Bible. In most of the Old Testament there is no understanding of heaven. When you die you went to a shadowy existence where you were gathered up with your loved ones. So when Job says, “I will see it with my own eyes. I and not another”, it’s a moment of insight in to what will be made known in Jesus Christ.
For the completeness of our hope in disease and death is found in the life and death and bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. That’s what Paul was talking about in Romans 8. These will be great versus, Amy, for you to claim this week when they open up your chest cavity and go in there and put in a valve. “Who can separate us from the love of Christ. No in all things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, angels or demons, the present or the future, or any powers, neither life nor death or anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Persons who haven’t entered in to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ have everything to fear in terms of disease and death, for they face it alone without the hope Christ came to bring. Without Christ, when the rear door of the hearse swings open, and friends, unless you are living when Christ comes again, it will swing open one day for you and for me. But I love these words from Paul Powell’s book that I mentioned earlier, “In Christ, death has been translated from an ending into a beginning…from a period into a comma…from a conclusion into an introduction…from a final destination into a rest stop along the way.” It is natural to fear disease and death. What a mystery death is! We wonder how we will react when we “walk through that valley of the shadow of death” that David speaks of in Psalm 23. My guess is that most of you are like me. When we pick up the morning paper, our eyes go first where? To the obituaries! Isn’t that true? And, friends, some day your name, some day my name will be there. But D.L. Moody, the great evangelist, this is a famous quote of his. He says, “If someone should read that Dwight Moody is dead, don’t believe a word of it. He has just gone up higher, that is all.”
And how much strength and courage we can draw from the lives of other persons of faith as they face disease and death. Marsha Frosch, who was exactly my age, she thought the cancer treatments were effective. She goes to a doctor’s appointment and he says to her, “Marsha, cancer is in your liver, it’s in your bones.” And Marsha said, “How much time do I have?” And he said, “Baring a miracle, three months at most.” Do you know where the first place was she came? Here to pray. But man did I learn from Marsha what faith means. My phone rings the next morning. It’s Marsha. Do you know what she wants to know? “Give me John Winteregg’s phone number for I made a commitment to the “Imagine Grace” campaign. I have a mutual fund and I want the beneficiary changed to the church’s name so that I know my commitment and my investment in the future is secure.” And I balled. The morning after the toughest news maybe a person could get, and what is she thinking about? --her commitment to Imagine Grace!
I want to leave you with these thoughts. If you are blessed with life and good health today, fall on your knees and give thanks to God. Make sure you’re spiritually ready for your hour of trial will come and for that day which you’ll breathe your last breath on earth. If it were this afternoon, are you ready? If you are dealing with disease or tragedy today, if you sense that death will knock on your door before long, stand tall with these words from II Corinthian’s 4. Claim them; read them with me now.
“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; struck down, but not destroyed. Therefore, we do not lose heart. Tough outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
Let us pray, “Eternal God, we acknowledge our human fear of disease and death. When illness and pain come, help us to turn to You for help, for peace, for strength. In the midst of our trials, may we draw closer to You as our spirit is being refined by your grace in the midst of the trial. And may we know and claim the reality that You so loved the world that You gave Your only Son, that if I believe in Him, I will not perish, but have the gift of eternal life. It is in his name we have gathered, and reflected, and prayed. Amen”
E-mail Comments to: Reverend Dan Sinkhorn