Since a family member of someone in our church has recently died, I have been thinking about the reality of death and how Christians may be comforted especially in the death of other clear believers. This contemplation reminded me of one of my favorite quotes on death. It is from Loraine Boettner’s book, Immortality (p. 30): “I am standing upon the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength, and I stand and watch her until at length she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and the sky come down to meet each other. Then someone at my side says, ‘There, she is gone.’ Gone where? Gone from my sight, that is all. She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side, and just as able to bear her load of living weights to its place of destination. Her diminished size is in me, not in her; and just at the moment when someone at my side says, ‘There, she is gone,’ on that distant shore there are other eyes watching for her coming and other voices ready to take up the glad shout, ‘Here she comes’--and such is dying.” How comforting this truth is to Christians who grieve the death of other believers! As Jesus said to the converted thief on the cross, “Assuredly, I say to you, today, you will be with Me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). As the beggar Lazarus was carried by angels to Abraham’s bosom, so too all believers will be escorted by angels to Glory (Luke 16:22). To know that your loved one, who is trusting in Christ, is not gone, only gone before you in order to be with the Lord and with the rest of your departed brethren—you shortly to join with him or her—what a tremendous comfort to those who grieve over the departed presence of their loved ones! As the Hymn “Ten Thousand Times Ten Thousand” by Henry Alford goes, “O then what raptured greetings on Canaan’s happy shore; what knitting severed friendships up where partings are no more! Then eyes with joy shall sparkle, that brimmed with tears of late; orphans no longer fatherless, nor widows desolate.”

How important it is, then, to know you trust the Lord Jesus for salvation and will be there among the rest of God’s family! How important it is for your family members and loved ones to know where you stand with the Lord so that they can be certain of where you have gone after death!

 

Why is corporate worship so important? There are many reasons. However, consider the reason William Gurnall notes: “A father is glad to see any one of his children, and makes him welcome when he visits him, but much more when they come together: the greatest feast is when they all meet at his house. The public praises of the church are the em­blem of heaven itself, where all the angels and saints make but one consort.” (William Gurnall, The Christian in Complete Armour, vol. 2, pp. 394-395)

Except on Sundays, it is my habit to walk about two miles every day for exercise. One of my nearby neighbors owns a fine piece of wooded property, and he has graciously allowed me to roam there at will for this purpose. I have found, over the years, that there is always something interesting happening in that part of God’s creation.

For instance, among my favorite things to monitor during these daily walks is the diversity of trees and their changing conditions over the course of the seasons. The American Persimmon (not to be confused with the Asian variety whose fruit is sometimes available in the grocery store) is well-represented in this area; in fact, a nice specimen stands just a few paces from the edge of my neighbor’s yard. Since persimmons are dioecious*, I had often wondered whether this particular tree was a male or a female. Having never seen it bear fruit, I’d always assumed that it was male. Sure enough, this past spring, I happened to notice that the ground beneath the tree was littered with many tiny, pale yellowish-green flowers – that sight confirmed it to be male.

The natural science explanation for this identification is: each spring, the wind carries pollen from the flowers that the male persimmon trees produce to any female persimmon trees that are in the area. (In fact, there is a female tree about 300 feet away from whose branches I’ve enjoyed many delicious fruits on my walks on mid-October mornings.) After the male’s flowers are exhausted of their pollen, they drop to the ground, gradually decaying and returning their nutrients to the soil under the very same tree from whence they came.

That spring day I stood for a while gazing up at the tree and then down at the spent flowers surrounding the trunk. From my human perspective, it was a poignant thing to observe. This male tree’s only purpose was to produce pollen. For most of the year, it will stand quiet and immobile until another spring arrives; a new crop of male flowers will develop, the pollen will be released, the blossoms will die and fall to the ground – a cycle that will repeat itself for decades. In addition, the tree’s roots will keep it anchored in one spot until the end of its life. It will never “know” or even “see” the female trees that it pollinates.

This brief experience gave me a more focused understanding of the role which God has given to me as a male, gratefully created in His image, and as a husband. Unlike a male persimmon tree, I was not created simply to participate in the reproduction of the species. I was created to know my wife and to love her in a particular way – as Ephesians 5:25 states: “…as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it.” Unlike a male persimmon tree, I was not created to be silent and inert. I was created to be an active leader, the head of my household (I Corinthians 11:3; I Timothy 3:4.)  The male persimmon tree – even as faithfully as he performs his assignment – was created for a very limited function in this world. I was created to carry out a far greater responsibility in the lives of others: to love and provide for – with humility and dependence on the Lord -- those in my care.

As I finished my walk and returned home, my prayer was: May I and all other married Christian men be granted  the grace, guidance, and ability to live out the glorious purpose in our marriages for which we were particularly created by You, our wise Creator God – to lead, protect, and serve our families as the Lord Jesus Christ does His Bride, the Church.

David Megahan, Ruling Elder

* dioecious: plant species which have distinct male and female organisms

In 2 Kings 5:7, when Naaman came to the king of Israel to be healed of his leprosy, the king responds by tearing his clothes and saying: "Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends a man to me to heal him of leprosy?" Leprosy was incurable, according to the known means of man. It was understood that only God could cure leprosy. In Matthew 8:3 that is exactly what our Lord Jesus did! For, our Lord Jesus is God! And we, leprous sinners, must have nobody less than Jesus to save us also from our sins!

The Apostle Paul said, "I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus  Christ and Him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:2). J.C. Ryle, writes: "A  minister who is really doing us good will make us think more of Jesus every year  we live" (Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, vol. 2, p. 96). By God's grace, this will be the ministry of Redeemer. Pray for this and hold your  minister to this account!