What do You Want on Your Tombstone

Well, thank you, Mr. Richards, and good afternoon, everyone. I'm going to start my timer so I can ignore it. I'm kidding. I'll try to be done on time, I promise. But I do have a lot of time left. No, we're kidding. We'll make sure that we wrap it up on time here. But some of you may remember the commercials from the mid-1990s for Tombstone Pizza. You remember this? Jogging anybody's memory? The commercials from the 90s for Tombstone Pizza. I'll give you an example of one. They all consisted of a very similar and, frankly, pretty predictable formula. One such commercial involved a man who was standing before an old-time firing squad. He was blindfolded, his hands were bound, and the executioner approached the condemned man to ask him, I guess, the standard questions before the sentence was carried out. He begins by asking him if he has any last requests. The man looks at the executioner and he says, no. He asks him if he wants, or I'm sorry, he then asks him if he wants a blindfolded. So I guess he's not blindfolded at that point. He then asks him if he wanted a blindfold, and the man kind of defiantly responds back, no. And so the very last thing, he leans in close, and he quietly asks him, what do you want in your tombstone? And after a moment's thought, the man says, pepperoni and cheese, you know. And it was a commercial, and it's a clever ad campaign. It probably helped sell a ton of frozen pizzas over the years. The tombstones still around, you know, they still, their commercials are not anything like they were at that point in time. But I think in every situation, the prisoner was John Cleese, who some of you may know, comedian. But I think the prisoner was John Cleese in every single one of the commercials in a variety of different situations. But it sold a lot of frozen pizzas over the year, but that really wasn't the context of the original question. The original context of the question is, what do you want recorded as an epitaph on your gravestone? Now, it might be easy to choose your pizza toppings, but trying to sum up a person's life in a few short sentences is anything but easy. It's anything but easy. You know, an epitaph upon a tombstone is an attempt to put into words the life of the person who is interred in that spot. They've been around for thousands of years. You know, we have memorialized people in variety of cultures throughout the years. The Greeks, the Egyptians, other ancient cultures marked burial places of their dead and inscribed memorials on the stones, kind of marking their resting place. Interestingly, it doesn't appear to be a custom among the Hebrews until much later. Early on, buried in caves, you know, the cave of Machpahla, for example, but we don't read too much from a standpoint of inscriptions at that point in time, just that they were interred there, and that was something that people knew about. They did, however, later on begin to start that process as time went on. But today, we typically see headstones that have an individual's name on it, has maybe their birth date, the date of their death, and a short message or a picture of some kind that was either memorable to that person while they were alive or would be memorable to those who survived that person. Sometimes they're funny, such as Merv Griffin's gravestone, which reads, I will not be right back after this message. Others that you see, see, I told you I was sick.

Things like that sometimes are sad, and they make you think. One of them that I saw, I went through a whole bunch of online ones that people had taken pictures of, and one of the ones I came across just said how terrible it is to love something that death can touch. You know, and sometimes they make you think. They make you think. Maybe you've considered it, maybe you haven't, but what do you want on your tombstone? What do you want on your tombstone? We're not talking about pizza here. What do you want on your tombstone? And I know it's not necessarily something that we like to think about. It's a sobering thing to consider, and so we often don't think about it. But what sort of words would you want written about your life? What would you want written about your life? The kind of final summary or postscript, if you will, as to the time that you spent on this planet. I came across an article about a month or so ago that caught my attention and really got me thinking about this. Perhaps some of you may have seen it. The article discussed an obituary written for a man in Texas who had recently lost his battle with cancer. His daughter wrote the obituary, and what the article was most notable for was the obituary itself, which was ultimately removed from the funeral home website that it was posted on. It was taken down eventually. The traffic actually crashed the funeral home website. The amount of people that were looking it up because it got linked to online. It went viral, and everybody went to go read this thing where it was posted. I'd like to read some excerpts from it here today. I can't actually read all of it. I'll be honest. Some of the language it was used in it is not appropriate for a church setting, and I'm going to redact the individual's name simply because it's not important to what we're doing here today, and I don't want it to be considered slander. But it's kind of sobering to read the words that were recorded by this man's daughter. It says, blank, was born in Galveston, Texas on November 20, 1942, and passed away January 30, 2017, which was 29 years longer than expected and much longer than he deserved. He leaves behind two relieved children, a son, blank, and daughter blank, along with six grandchildren and countless other victims, including an ex-wife, relatives, friends, neighbors, doctors, nurses, and random strangers.

At a young age, blank quickly became a model example of bad parenting combined with mental illness and a complete commitment to drinking drugs, womanizing, and being generally offensive. Blank enlisted to serve in the Navy, but not so much in a brave and patriotic way, but more as a part of a plea deal to escape sentencing on criminal charges.

Blank was surprisingly intelligent. However, he lacked ambition and motivation to do anything more than being reckless and wasteful, squandering the family's savings and fantasizing about get-rich quick schemes. Blank's hobbies included being abusive to his family and fishing, which he was less skilled with than the previously mentioned.

Blank's life served no other obvious purpose. He did not contribute to society or service community. He possessed no redeeming qualities besides quick-witted sarcasm, which was amusing during his sober days. With Blank's passing, he will be missed only for what he never did, being a loving husband, father, and good friend. No services will be held. There will be no prayers for eternal peace and no apologies to the family that he tortured. Blank's passing proves that evil does in fact die and hopefully marks a time of healing and safety for all.

Now, the pain and the anger that is written in this obituary is palpable. It's very raw, even after all of these years. It seems very apparent from what was written that there were significant issues within the family, you know, going all around throughout the years, and you can sense to a degree a relief from those who survived this particular man that the abuse itself was now over. When his daughter was asked why she wrote the obituary and the way that she did and didn't leave the past in the past, didn't try to at least honor his memory, she responded, I told the truth. I'm not sorry for telling the truth, and I'm not sorry for standing up for myself. For someone who knew him and the family members that knew him and to see something on there that was a complete lie would have been an insult to everyone that he had done bad things to.

As you imagine, the obituary shocked a number of people, primarily because this kind of level of vitriol just is not seen in these sorts of writings. Most often when you read a person's obituary, it's a short summary of their lives. Honestly, it's in many ways a highlight reel of someone's life. The uncomfortable parts are often swept under a rug and remembered only by those who experienced them. What this woman did was different. She laid bare his shortcomings for the world to see. What would it be like if our obituaries did the same? What would it be like if our obituaries did the same? If they didn't gloss over the shortcomings and memorialize the sterilized parts of our lives, but instead put those shortcomings in stone for the world to see. He was angry all the time. She was greedy.

He was not a loving father. She was. He was. You know, obviously, none of us want to be remembered for our shortcomings. We don't want to be memorialized on the things that we struggle with and are working on in this Christian life. But if we were to boil down our life into a short phrase or a statement that would last beyond our mortal coil, as they say, what would we want it to be?

What would we want to be remembered for? What would you want others to say about your life? What sort of legacy would you want to leave behind? What would you want on your tombstone? In 1888, Dr. Alfred Nobel found himself in this very place asking this very question. Some of you may be familiar with this story already. If you're not, I'll share it with you briefly. His brother Ludwig had recently passed away, and as Alfred sat reading the paper, he turned the page and was surprised to find his own obituary. They had mistakenly misunderstood that it was Ludwig who had died, not Alfred, and they'd written an obituary about Dr. Alfred Nobel in place of his brother. And so he had an opportunity that not many other people do. He had a chance to read what other people said about him while he was still alive. It's kind of an interesting opportunity. The obituary began with the following words, the merchant of death is dead. Shocked, he continued to read, Dr. Alfred Nobel, who became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before, died yesterday. Many of you may know this. For those that don't, Alfred Nobel's big fortune was made through the invention of dynamite.

He discovered a safe and a stable way to harness the explosive power of nitroglycerin. Nitroglycerin is super explosive, but you can't transport it because as it shakes around and as it bumps things, it reacts and the explosion occurs. So what he figured out was you take and mix it with diatomaceous earth and sodium bicarbonate, and it stabilizes it. You can pack it in boxes, you can ship it, you can use it in a variety of places for different things. Patenting that discovery made him a very wealthy man. Dynamite allowed massive building and infrastructure projects to be done. You know, the big New Deal programs of the 1930s, many of those were accomplished through the use of dynamite to move rock and to move dirt and other things in large quantities. But as often happens with human invention, it wasn't long before people figured out a way to use it to best inflict harm on other people. You know, Alfred was actually appalled at the use of dynamite to kill other people in wartime and whatever else. He was also appalled at how his life was perceived, but again he had an opportunity that not many people have. He had a chance to see how he was going to be remembered. He had a chance to see what his legacy would be. And as of that moment, Alfred set aside the majority of his extensive fortune and established something else, which you probably all have heard of, the Nobel Prize. The Nobel Prize is presented for outstanding achievements in literature, peace, economics, science, medicine, and they were created as a result of what Alfred Nobel read in that paper that day when he read his obituary. He wanted to be remembered for something more. He wanted to be remembered for something beneficial to mankind. What if we had the same opportunity? What if we had a chance to examine ourselves, to reflect upon how we are seen by others? A chance to change our trajectory and ultimately influence the outcome. Well, brethren, the reality is that we do. Each and every day we do. Title for this message today is, What do you want on your tombstone? What do you want on your tombstone? Let's start today by turning over to Ecclesiastes 9. We mentioned quite a bit from Ecclesiastes today in the announcements, taking a look at all those different phrases. There's a lot of wisdom contained within this particular book. Let's go to Ecclesiastes 9, and we'll start there.

Ecclesiastes 9. We'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 1. And we see Solomon circle back here on a theme that he began to address really in the midpoint of verse 8. So kind of the midpoint of verse 8, we see him begin to circle back on this concept that he then outlines in verse 9. Ecclesiastes 9 and verse 1, verse 3 Solomon discusses this concept of death coming to all.

And so one might conclude because of this fact that, it doesn't really matter what you do in this life. It doesn't matter, right? Because everybody's gonna die. Good, wicked, evil, whatever. It doesn't matter. Well, why should we be concerned about living well? Why should we be concerned about what others think about us? After all, all men die. But he also says in verse 4 that to him who is joined to the living, there is hope that a living dog is better than a dead lion because even the least who is still alive still has hope where he who has died at that moment has none. The living have the ability to change their life. They have the ability to contemplate their mortality and they have the ability to course correct. The dead don't have that same luxury to continue to course correct, to continue to examine. In fact, the gentleman in the obituary that we opened with no longer had that luxury. If you'd like to turn over to the final couple of passages in the book of Ecclesiastes, we'll see what all this contemplation that Solomon has throughout this book is building towards. Go to Ecclesiastes 12.

Ecclesiastes 12, and we'll pick it up in verse 11. Ecclesiastes 12, verse 11. As he reflects back on wisdom that he's gained over his lifetime, as he reflects back on the writing of these things in this particular book, Ecclesiastes 12, verse 11, says, the words of the wise are like goads, not goats, but goads. Goads is in jab, jab, jab, right? So the words of the wise are like goads, and the words of scholars are like well-driven nails given by one shepherd. Further, my son be admonished by these, of making many books there is no end, and much study is wearisome to the flesh. Verse 13, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. The conclusion of all of this. All these things that I've been contemplating over the entirety of the last book, the whole thing, as I've thought about death and life and what's the point and why are we here, and all these things, it all boils down to this. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God. Keep his commandments, for this is man's all. This is the purpose for why we are here. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil. So the ultimate conclusion is not that, well, you can do whatever you want because, you know, everybody dies. The conclusion of the matter is, fear God and keep his commandments. Live your life well. The actions of our life will be judged. Every secret thing, whether good or evil. And the words of the wise, the things that are contained in the book before us, in this Bible that God has given to us, they're goads.

They're intended to provoke us. They're intended to prod us. You know, goads are not used to lead sheep. You know, sheep kind of follow the voice of their shepherd, right? Goads are used for animals that don't like to do what you want them to do. You give them a little jab now and again and say, come on, let's go, let's go, let's go! Okay? That's what these words are like to us. At times, they can provoke us. They can prod us and they can help us to move forward. You know, Solomon recognized there was a coming judgment that God would bring every work, every action, and every activity into judgment. And so when he references this idea, back that we mentioned in Achilles the Aesch 9, of the living having hope that the dead don't have, the living do have a greater hope than those who die. They have the opportunity to course correct. They can examine their lives. They can look at where they are. They can read their obituary before it gets written, so to speak, and make changes as need be. One of the biggest course corrections made in our life is the repentance of our sins and the acceptance of Jesus Christ as our personal Savior that we make during baptism. That's a huge course correction. The idea that here I am living this life and now I'm going to commit instead to living this life. The importance of that course correction can't be understated. Let's go over to 1 Corinthians. Let's go to 1 Corinthians.

And we'll see an example of the change that resulted in the conversion of the people in the church in Corinth. And as we well know, Corinth was not a church that was without issues. You know, the church in Corinth had some major, major, major issues that Paul… 1 Corinthians 5 is not a gentle rebuke. 1 Corinthians 5 is a well-crafted rebuke for a group of individuals who were living very contrary, or at least a few individuals who were living very contrary, to what they knew to be true. But the chapter before the one we're going to look at is that scathing indictment. But we're going to pick it up in chapter 6… I apologize… admonishing them over taking their brother to court as we get into chapter 6. So if we go to 1 Corinthians 6, we'll pick it up in verse 9. I want to illustrate the kind of change that occurs in the conversion process. The kind of change that occurs in the conversion process. So 1 Corinthians 6, and we'll pick it up in verse 9. And this is written again to the church in Corinth. 1 Corinthians 6 and verse 9 says, Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?

Do not be deceived, neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor homosexuals, sodomites, thieves, covetous, nor drunkards, nor avilers, nor extortioners, will inherit the kingdom of God. Then verse 11, he kind of adds to that admonishment just a little bit, making the point that, and as such were some of you in reference to the individuals in the church in Corinth. As such were some of you. Some of you found yourself in this place among these sins prior to your conversion process, prior to you becoming a part of the body of Christ.

Some of you were like these. But verse 11 continues, But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. It tells them very specifically, as such, were some of you. But because of the baptism that they had undertaken, because of the sacrifice on their behalf, they were now washed, they were now sanctified and justified in the name of Jesus Christ and the Spirit of God. And we recognize, you know, baptism is the beginning of a process. It is a lifelong process, pruning bits and pieces off as life continues. It's not a one and done. It's not a, I'm good. I said what I needed to say, I agreed. I did my thing. No, this is an entire life of course corrections and changes and analyzing our lives and saying, boy, that's really not in accordance with God's Word. That's got to go. That's got to change. That's got to change. That's got to go.

You know, we have a lifetime of course corrections to even approach the standard that was provided for us. You know what Jesus Christ has shown us in this life? The way to live. Let's go over just a few pages forward to the book of 2 Corinthians. We'll see his description in the second letter to the Church of Corinth. He kind of expounds on this concept of conversion and this concept of faith in chapter 5 of 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians 5, we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 17.

2 Corinthians 5 and verse 17. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 17 reads, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, meaning they have made that commitment at baptism, the Holy Spirit of God resides in them, if anyone is in Christ, he, or we can imply she, it's in italics there, they are a new creation. Old things have passed away, and behold, all things have become new. A new creation. No, this is not the same person with a little bit of the rough edges kind of sanded off. This is a new creation. This isn't a renovation. This isn't, you know, putting some new siding on the house, changing the windows, and slapping some paint on it, but at its core, it's the same house. This is a demolition. We're taking this thing apart, and we are re-pouring a foundation of Jesus Christ in the Word of God, and then we are building the house on top of that, as it mentions in the book of Matthew. The symbolism of the waters of baptism is a death of the old man. That's a symbolism of death. Theoretically, that old man's not supposed to be just popping back up all the time. We know that it does at times. We symbolically have to renew that covenant of baptism at Passover every year, and we're symbolically always putting ourselves back into that grave at times. But we're not just renovating the old man. This isn't knocking a couple of rough edges off and smoothing out some dents. All things are to become new. That means a new life, the actions of that life. That means new thought processes. That means a new person. Paul continues in verse 18, if you skip down just a little bit, 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 18, says, now all things are of God who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and He is committed to us, the Word of reconciliation. You know, sacrifice of Jesus Christ enables us to be reconciled to God. His blood forgives our sin, and only God can reconcile us to Himself. We can't, on our own, cross that gulf that's created due to our sin. God sent His Son to die for us that we might be reconciled to Him. And as such, we've been given a ministry, or service, as the word often is translated, a service of reconciliation. The responsibility, if you will, to reconcile others to God through Christ and to the Kingdom of God. In fact, He goes on and states in verse 20, 2 Corinthians 5, verse 20, Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us, through the actions of our life, we are ambassadors to the world around us, that God is pleading to all of those people who interact with us on a daily basis through our life.

We implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God, be reconciled to God, for He made Him who knew no sin to be sinned for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

It would require me to become new as crucial, because we are ambassadors for God, representatives for Him on foreign soil, so to speak. Our Kingdom is not of this world, and as such we are here as ambassadors for our Heavenly Father to preach the gospel of the Kingdom of God. Brethren, if the gospel message is lost in our actions, in our example, brethren, we've failed at the task we've been given. If that message is somehow lost through our actions, or through our words, or through what we say to others, we failed in the task that we've been given. Interestingly, if you look at the word ambassador, I like word studies. They're interesting to me. If you look at the word ambassador as it's translated, if you have a strong, you can utilize it, or anything that's key to strong, the word is G4243, which is presbuo, and it translates as senior, or by implication, someone who is acting as a representative. That specific use of that word, 4243, is used two times. It's used two times only by the apostle Paul, once here in 2 Corinthians 5, and once in the book of Ephesians. Now, where it gets really interesting is that the word comes from the root or base word presbuteros, which is 4245, which in the word is translated to Scripture as elder, or in kind of in a general sense, someone who is older, referring to someone who is a senior, older, or someone who is perhaps chosen as a leader. When Revelation refers to the 24 elders that surround the throne of God upon the 24 thrones, it's referring to the 24 presbuteros. It's referring to the 24 presbuteros. When Paul instructed Titus to appoint elders in every city, the word is presbuteros. It's elders, in a general sense, leaders, people of spiritual maturity. So we are to be as ambassadors, we're to be representatives, to be leaders in a general sense to the world around us, setting an example by our conduct of whom we serve. That example should shine out like the brightest light in the darkness of this world around us. As many of you know, as you continue to watch the news and other things, the world's getting darker and darker. And as such, when you see someone who lives in God's way, it's noticeable. It's very noticeable. And people see it. And that's important. So go ahead and turn over to Titus 1. Titus 1, we mentioned that in the book of Titus, it was told to Titus to appoint presbuteros, in this case elders, throughout Crete. Again, those of spiritual maturity. Titus 1, we'll pick up the account in verse 5 of Titus 1.

Titus 1, pardon me, Titus 1 in verse 5, says, For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking and appoint elders, in this case presbuteros, those of spiritual maturity, in every city as I commanded you. Verse 6, If a man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of dissipation or insubordination, for a bishop, and this is a different word this time, bishop, must be blameless, as a steward of God, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, verse 8, but hospitable, a lover of what is good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled, holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and to convict those who contradict.

These are the characteristics that are outlined by Paul to Titus as those who are to be chosen as seniors, to be chosen as leaders, or as we might by extension, because of the same root word, ambassadors, people who are to be chosen as ambassadors. We represent him in our daily lives.

And if we are a professing Christian, we are a follower of God, brethren, our example is being watched unbelievably closely. The people in the world around us are just waiting for someone who professes to be a Christian to slip up. Because then they can point and they can say, ha! See? I told you! Just another hypocrite like the rest of them. That's what they're waiting to say.

And as such, it means that we have to be so careful with our actions, not just so that individuals can't point fingers at us, but because ultimately that's our responsibility as Christians. We represent, as ambassadors, we represent God. We do not represent the United States State Department. We represent God. We don't represent man's politics. We don't represent any particular candidate, man's government, man's ideologies. Where they may line up, fantastic. Where they line up, wonderful. Great. But the reality is, in our American two-party system, they simply don't, in most cases, line up. Instead, we have to be ensuring that we represent God in everything that we do.

Let's go on Titus 2. Flip over. Actually, not too far. Just right across that page there to Titus 2. Titus 2 and verse 1, we'll continue here. Titus 2 and verse 1, says, But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine, and that point, exhorting Timothy, that the older men, older men, and that word is presbutace, same root word, same root word, presbutace, older men, aged men, be sober, be reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, and in patience. Verse 3, the older woman, or aged women, or in this case presbutice, presbutice, same root word.

And so we're, again, senior, someone who is in general a leader, a pillar of a congregation, you might say, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things, that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, to be chaste, to be homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.

Likewise, exhort the young men to be sober-minded, in all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works, in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to save you, kind of like we just mentioned, the idea of somebody looking at our actions and then being able to point fingers. Paul's telling Titus to admonish the people of the congregation not to ever give that opportunity, not to ever give that opportunity to ensure that we have sound speech that could not be condemned.

Verse 9, exhort bondservants, obedient to their own masters, to be well pleasing in all things, not answering back, not pilfering, but showing all good fidelity that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. He goes on in verse 11, for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people, zealous for good works.

You know, to become an ambassador in the United States, there's an extensive training that occurs. They don't just randomly grab people and turn them loose into foreign countries as a representative of the U.S. without training. This did not happen. And in this situation, you know, Paul's very much telling Timothy, look, the people in the church in Crete here where you've been sent, you need to be admonishing them. This is the training. This is the training.

Sound speech, good works, integrity, reverence, incorruptibility. These are the things that the people need to be trained in. These are the things that the people need to be living and doing in their lives. So, Paul tells Timothy, a servant of the Lord later on in in Timothy, he tells Timothy that a servant of the Lord shouldn't be quarrelsome. They should be patient. They should be gentle. God admonishes them to be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, and in purity.

As leaders chosen by God to be ambassadors on this earth to bring to others the gospel of the kingdom of God, there's an expectation placed on our conduct as well, a standard to which we must work towards. We actually see this example, Revelation 20. If you turn over there, please, Revelation 20. We see a passage that illustrates the coming time of judgment that Solomon referenced in Ecclesiastes 12, that there would be a time when people's actions and words would be judged.

Revelation 20. And we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 4 for the context here. Revelation 20 and verse 4.

Revelation 20 and verse 4 says, And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus, and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived, and they reigned with Christ for a thousand years. Verse 5, But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection, that statement there, referencing what is mentioned in verse 4, those who were living with Jesus Christ for 1000 years.

Verse 6, Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. To those who have the opportunity to live and to reign with Christ for the thousand years of the millennium. It says, Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. First Corinthians 15 adds some additional information. We won't turn there, but it adds some additional information. You can jot that down. That reference, First Corinthians 15, mentions that when it comes to these resurrections, there's an order to this. There's an order to this process. It says that Christ first, Christ first, which has happened, Christ first. Then after that, those who are Christ at his coming. And it tells us that not all will sleep, but that all will ultimately be changed. In fact, actually, let's go ahead and turn there. I've got time. I'm not bothering to look at the clock.

Just kidding. All right, First Corinthians 15. Let's go there and take a look real quick. First Corinthians 15. Leave a bookmark. You've already turned. I'm sorry. So you can leave a bookmark in Revelation 20. We're going to come back there. See? Mrs. Walker waited. That was good. Now she can come right back to it. I always forget to warn people. I'm sorry. All right, so First Corinthians 15. And let's go ahead and take a look at verse 20. Let's start kind of in verse 20. First Corinthians 15 verse 20 says, But now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. He's become the firstfruits, those the beginning part of the harvest, so to speak, of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. Verse 23, But each one in his own order. So all who have died, each one in their own order. Christ the firstfruit, step one, afterward those who are Christ's at his coming. Then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when he puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all enemies under his feet. Let's go ahead and turn over to First Thessalonians 4. We'll add just a little more context here before we go back to Revelation. First Thessalonians 4. And verse 16 again adds a little bit more context to this. We'll start with verse 15 for the added bonus. First Corinthians 4 verse 15, For this we say to you by the word of the Lord that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means proceed those who are asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. In verse 18 it says, comfort one another, therefore comfort one another with these words, with that hope that we have of what is coming and what we understand to be the end of things. So we can see that some are brought up at the beginning of the millennium when Christ returns, living and reigning with Christ for a thousand years. We also see in verse 5 in a parenthetical statement that the rest of the dead, implying those who were not Christs at his coming, did not live until the thousand years were finished. Let's go back to Revelation 20. Revelation 20, where I forgot to tell you to put a bookmark in place. I'll own that one. That is my bad. Revelation 20.

And verse 5, but the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. Once that millennium is over with, once that millennium has occurred, then there will be a general resurrection, or what we sometimes call the second resurrection, of those who did not know Christ at this time, did not understand, did not have the opportunity to understand, maybe lived prior to Christ's existence or prior to Christ's ministry, I should say, on this earth, and didn't have an opportunity to necessarily hear the gospel, didn't have an opportunity to understand. But if we skip down a few pages, or a few passages, I'm sorry, to verse 12, verse 12 of Revelation 20, we pick up the rest of the process of the rest of the dead after the thousand years of the millennium. After the earth gives up its dead, after the sea gives up its dead, all those who have ever lived have their opportunity to understand God and His way of life. Ezekiel references this physical resurrection in Ezekiel 37, that the sinew and the muscle and the skin came back on the bone, that the breath was placed in them and they lived again. This is a physical resurrection at this point back to life. Revelation 20 and verse 11 says, Then I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged according to their works, according to the actions of their life, according to how they lived by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one according to his works. They were judged according to their works, according to the actions that sprung from their belief. Books were opened, scriptures were opened, their lives were compared, record of their life from the book of life compared to the standard provided in Scripture.

Those who were not found written in the book of life, it says later in this account, were cast into the lake of fire. What about those who know Christ now, who understand the truth and understand his teachings? The Apostle Peter records a passage in his epistle which should give all of us pause. Let's go back to 1 Peter 4. 1 Peter 4, and we'll pick it up in verse 17. 1 Peter 4 and verse 17. It's one of those passages in Scriptures that for those of us that understand what we understand, this should give us pause. This should definitely give us pause. 1 Peter 4 and verse 17 says, For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God, and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? You know, what's getting at, what's going to happen to those that don't obey? But then the first part of this statement is that the judgment is now, that our lives now are being looked at, our actions now are being looked at, to see if they are in accordance with what we read in Scripture. The judgment has begun at the house of God with those who understand, who know what Christ expects of them, looking to see whether the actions, whether the works, back up their faith and belief. It says in Scripture every action, every word will be put under judgment, which means if we don't get it right in this life, if we don't get it right in this life, you know, we find ourselves in a very difficult place.

We need to ensure that we are living by the standard that we've been provided. We see the example of Jesus Christ as that standard. Are we growing towards it? Year by year, are we pruning off the pieces that don't match up? And are we getting to the point where we are growing closer and closer? If your obituary was written today, would you be content with where you are?

Should you be content with where you are? You know, the power of our example to others can't be understated. If you'd go over to Proverbs 13—it's one of our last passages here today—Proverbs 13 and verse 22 as we start to kind of wind things down, Proverbs 13 and verse 22. We put on a financial piece university class in the Salem area, so we hosted—some of you are familiar with that. It's Dave Ramsey's financial class, and we put a class together in Salem, had a bunch of the folks in the church go through it. We all went through it. We finished it up. It's done. But this is one of those passages that in that particular course and in that curriculum, Dave Ramsey comes back to over and over and over and over again is Proverbs 13 verse 22. And now he's looking at it—Dave Ramsey's looking at it from a primarily financial perspective. But I want us to think about it from a spiritual standpoint. Think about it from a spiritual standpoint. Proverbs 13 verse 22, a good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous. Now, yes, it is a financial principle. Absolutely it is. But spiritually, it's true as well. It's spiritually true also. We leave an inheritance to our children and to their children by our spiritual example. If we have a solid relationship with God, there's a passing on of that to our children. That calling is ultimately their own. They make their own decisions. Not saying that we, you know, end up making that decision for them. They make their own decisions. But spiritually, the chances are far better for our children and our grandchildren to stick with it if our example is solid than if it's not.

Some of you are children and grandchildren of individuals who set good, solid spiritual examples in your lives. However, the Bible also states that the sins of the Father are passed on to subsequent generations. Now, that doesn't mean the child is to be put to death for the sins of the Father. You know, that doesn't mean that they necessarily pay for the sins of the Father in that way.

But what it seems to indicate is that things like abuse, alcoholism, depression, other negative impacts within a family unit tend to run generationally. They tend to move from generation to generation to generation. So the contrary, then, is also true. Not setting a good example can leave an inheritance to the children's children, only a negative inheritance to the children's children spiritually. You know, the man that we saw in the obituary that we began with today left an inheritance to his children.

It was not a good inheritance. But he left an inheritance to his children. They left him a great deal of emotional baggage that had to be processed. And from the sounds of the obituary, it had not been. It sounds like it had not been processed through and had not been taken care of. Definitely some very raw feelings that had not yet been fully processed. Unfortunately, that gentleman will forever be remembered as a man with incredible failings, a man who didn't care for his family or his children, a person who was abusive, angry, had no redeeming qualities.

I have to think that if he had a chance to see that obituary before he died, if he had a chance to see what other people saw him as while he still had time to change, that he would have tried. Now, maybe not. I don't know the guy. Maybe not. But I have to think that he would have tried. And ultimately, he'll have his opportunity, just like everybody else, to do what's right, to know what's right, and have that chance to choose just like everyone else whether he'll be a part of God's kingdom or not.

What would you like to be remembered for? What would you like your legacy to be? If someone were to have to sum up your life in a short summary of all of your years, what do you hope is recorded? I'll share mine with you today. It's kind of personal, but I'll share mine with you today. And I am encouraging you—it's not homework, but I mean, okay, it's sort of homework—I'm encouraging you to do the same. Sit down and consider your own. What would you want it to be? What would you want it to say?

What would you want to be remembered for? What would you want your legacy to be? Mine is very simple and it's very short. I want mine to simply say, husband, father, servant of God. Because, frankly, the reality is, if I do those three things well, I can call it a life. I can call it a life and be content. If I can do those three things well. There's a scene that closes the movie Saving Private Ryan.

I apologize. I'm going to spoil it for you if you haven't seen it. They save him. Okay, so in case you just—sorry, I just ruined the ending of the movie for you—but they do save him. As a much older man, he's standing before the gravestone of his commanding officer on the mission to bring him home, a guy by the name of Captain John Miller. And Captain Miller and a number of the other men on the mission to save him give the ultimate sacrifice.

A number of the men that went on this mission to bring him home die in the process. They don't make it back. And at the very end, he has a chance to talk to Captain Miller before he dies. And Captain Miller implores Ryan to live his life well. To live his life well. And in the scene that closes the film—it's a very powerful scene—Ryan is standing before Miller's gravestone in Arlington.

You know, you've got all those—the sea of crosses and stars of David and all these other things out there where all these—pardon me—all these men are buried. And he's standing there, saluting the grave with tears in his eyes. And his wife comes to stand next to him, and he turns to her with his tears in his eyes, and he says, tell me that I've lived a good life.

Tell me that I'm a good man. And he implored his wife. He implored his family as they gathered around him, essentially to tell him that the sacrifice of those men to bring him home was worth it. That the death of those five or six or seven people to bring him home was worth it. That he had lived a life worthy of their death.

Brethren, we have been bought with an incredible price. We have been bought, we have been redeemed, we have been purchased with an incredible price. Are we living our lives with a recognition of the magnitude of that sacrifice? Are we living a life in accordance with the magnitude of that sacrifice?

If you were to take a stark and honest look at your life right now, what would your obituary read?

Would read what you wanted it to? What legacy will we leave? How will we be remembered? And brethren, what do you want on your tombstone?