A death well-lived

By DANIEL OVERDORF
Pastor

I think I've bitten off more than I can chew.

We spent the summer at Fayetteville Christian Church studying through Abraham's life. This week we complete the study by learning how Abraham remained faithful to God through the latter stages of his life, including when his wife died, and even when facing his own death.

I titled the message "A Death Well Lived." Catchy, don't you think?

Now comes the hard part actually preparing the sermon. Somehow I need to explain in a clear and interesting way how to remain faithful to God when you've come face to face with mortality. The old "three points and a poem" approach just doesn't seem adequate.

Maybe you've heard the saying, "I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day." It strikes me that, just in the last couple weeks, I've seen two sermons on this subject that were both far more powerful than anything I could preach.

Two weeks ago my wife and I visited family in West Virginia, and worshipped that Sunday with the church where I grew up. We sat next to Nellie Tolbert.

Life has dealt Nellie more than her share of struggles. Over the years she lost a daughter, granddaughter, and great-granddaughter to car accidents. Her daughter-in-law slumped over the dinner table a year ago, dead from a brain aneurysm. Her husband, Lewis, was unable to attend church the Sunday I sat with Nellie. Lewis had cancer, and had already outlived his doctor's prediction.

Yet Nellie greeted me with a warm smile. She hugged me and grinned ear to ear, asking how life had been treating me.

I watched her out of the corner of my eye while the congregation sang and worshipped. The smile never left her lips. She closed her eyes when the choir sang, "Through it all, through it all, I've learned to trust in Jesus, I've learned to trust in God." She looked as though Jesus Himself had wrapped His arms around her shoulders. She rested in His embrace.

Nellie buried her husband, Lewis, on Tuesday. I haven't talked to her since he passed away, but if I were to call I can guess what she'd say, "Through it all, through it all, I've learned to trust in Jesus, I've learned to trust in God."

The same day Nellie Tolbert buried her 85-year-old husband in West Virginia, Sandra Hammock buried her 24-year-old son, J.J. Landrum, in Fayetteville.

J.J. began having stomach problems a year ago. Tests revealed cancer. His intense battle for life ended last Saturday when J.J. went home to be with Jesus.

In the last couple months J.J. and I talked about spiritual matters. J.J. was a man of few words, but he wanted to be certain he was right with God. Three weeks ago he asked me to lead him through a brief ceremony in which he would rededicate his life to Jesus. I asked him to repeat a confession of his faiththe same confession he'd repeated years earlier, on the day he was baptized. He confessed his belief that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. He confessed that Jesus was his Lord, his Savior.

I've led countless others through the same confession. Yet as J.J. professed his belief, the words echoed with a depth I'd never encountered. He and I both knew that in all likelihood he'd soon be speaking the words not as a confession about Jesus, but as an expression of praise to Jesus. Not in the living room, in the Throne Room. Not to me, to Himthe Lord, the Savior, face to face.

How can we remain faithful, even in the face of death? Nellie Tolbert and J.J. Landrum demonstrated it far more effectively than I could ever preach it. "Through it all, through it all, I've learned to trust in Jesus, I've learned to trust in God."

Daniel Overdorf is the Sr. Minister of Fayetteville Christian Church, located at New Hope and Hickory Roads in Fayetteville. He may be heard each Sunday at 10:30 a.m. as a part of the church's weekly worship. Daniel may be contacted at the church office770-461-8763, or at fayettevillechristian@juno.com.