"Be Ready," A Study on Preparation

This past week was one that was especially difficult for many people because of the pain and loss brought on by the sudden death of loved ones. I am taking this week to address the issue of "being ready" for the Lord's call. Death never announces when it will come. It can come suddenly, at any moment. It can come after a long, drawn out illness. Even with an illness, we never know when death shall take hold. Many a family has sat at the bedside of a loved one for days, weeks and even months, knowing the end shall come but not knowing when it will happen. We think it will be today and it isn't. We think this breath will be the last but it is followed by another. Yet at the same time, there is the person who is in the middle of every day actions who dies suddenly in an accident, from a heart attack or from some unknown event that takes their life. So what do we do?

We turn our attention to what we do as we live each day.

Mark 13:32 But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

1. Jesus is here talking about the return of the Son of Man on the Last Day. We do not know when that will take place. At the same time, we can apply this to the day of death. We do not know when that day will take place. What concerns do this raise for you? Why does not knowing cause you such concern?




Mark 13:33 Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. 34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. 35 Therefore stay awake - for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning - 36 lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.


2. When you read this section, what do you think about? Do you think about the Last Day? Or do you think about the moment when each one of us will die?





3. What does it mean to "be on guard" or "keep awake"?





4. We are talking about living in the faith each day. What do you find the hardest thing about living in that faith?




1 Corinthians 16:13 Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.

5. Here Paul is giving guidance to us as to how we should go about our lives. What does Paul say that we should stand firm in? Why does he not just say "stand firm"?




Philippians 1:27 Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel.

Philippians 4:1 Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord, my beloved.

6. Notice what Paul is saying to do: stand firm in the gospel, in the Lord, in the One that saves. He says to live the life of the Christian but that is not what saves us. Only faith saves. Now, here is where it gets to be a challenge. If you die while at work, will you be saved? If you die in a car accident, will you be saved? If you die at home, sleeping, will you be saved? If you die while you are doing something wrong, will you be saved? If you die from having drunk to much or misused a drug, will you be saved? If you die while eating, will you be saved?





7. Having said all this, the question remains, "How are you ready for that moment?" How do you answer that question?




Philippians 1:21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, this means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall chose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard pressed between the two.

8. I bring this to you as we close as a way of showing the challenge of the Christian life. We live in the tension between the "here and now" and the "there and then." We live here and now in faith. We live each day, doing the daily things: work, play, mundane things, wonderful and unusual things. As we do those, we live in faith. Yet, we know that at any moment, death can come. The call from the Lord may happen. We are ready as we live in Christ each day.


9. Are you ready? If you were to die today, are you ready?





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1A. This is a very personal issue. One person is greatly concerned over the fact that they don't know when the end will come. Another finds it great comfort in not knowing. There is no right or wrong with this issue. Often we are most concerned about this because we are not in control. We like to be in control of what happens to our lives. When things are out of our control, when we cannot plan for what is going to happen, that causes us to become upset. Control - we want it and yet, when it comes to the moment of death, we have no real control.

2A. Jesus is not just talking about the day when He will come again on the clouds, with the trumpet call, with the voice of the archangel. He is also talking to us about being ready for the day when the call comes to each one personally, the day when we face death. We don't like to talk about death. It scares us. It overwhelms us. It is the most "unknown" of all things. We cannot control it or predict it. Here, Jesus is talking to us about both the Last Day and our last day (when we die).

3A. "To be on guard" and "keep awake" or meaning the same thing. What Jesus is saying to us is that in all that we do, we are to remain in faith. To "remain in faith" means that your faith in Jesus Christ is a part of who you are each day. It does NOT mean that you need to be in church all the time nor does it mean that you need to be reading the Bible all the time. It means that the faith implanted in your through the waters of Baptism, nourished through Word and Sacrament, is in your heart and guides your life.

4A. Often times, the hardest thing about living in the faith is that we try to prove that we are Christian. We make the "being ready" about how good we act or what sinful things we avoid. At that moment, what we are doing is placing the burden on our actions. The problem with that is that our actions are never good enough. We can never be sure that we have done enough good or avoided enough sin to be ready. At that moment, we are making our salvation based upon our works or to put it another way, based upon the Law. The issue with that is that the Law never saves. It only condemns. We are not ready by doing good or avoiding evil. We are ready ONLY as we are in the grace and mercy of God, living in the Gospel based entirely upon our Savior Jesus Christ, His life, death and resurrection. "Being ready" is not a work that we do, but that which the Holy Spirit does with in us.

5A. We stand firm in the faith. This means that we stand in Christ, not in ourselves. It is only faith in Jesus Christ that saves, not the actions which we do as Christians. Yes, those actions are important to do. (as James points out in James 2:18  But someone will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from works, and I will show you my faith by my works. We will get to this later as we continue our study of James.) We stand in Christ. We rely upon Christ. We trust in Christ. We believe in Christ. It is all about Christ, the salvation He brings to us. We stand firm in Christ, in faith not in ourselves.

6A. The answer to this is not found in that which you are doing - be it good or bad. The answer is found in the question, "Do you believe in Jesus as your Savior?" Only faith in Christ saves, not the actions we are doing at the moment of death. "Being ready" means that we are living in faith in all that we do, period. Faith in Christ saves. 

7A. I am ready through faith in Jesus Christ. I do not make faith a work. It is a gift given to me by the Holy Spirit. Each day I believe in Jesus. Through faith in Christ I am ready for the moment of my death. 

9A. In this question, I am not asking if you want to die right now. I am asking if you believe in Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Through faith in Christ, empowered by the Spirit, you are ready.