Pastor David gave this sermon at the GYC Youth Conference in 2012. It’s a reflection on how priorities seem to emerge when we take into account the brevity of life. 

<p>Pastor David gave this sermon at the GYC Youth Conference in 2012. It’s a reflection on how priorities seem to emerge when we take into account the brevity of life. </p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Hillside O’Malley SDA Church

David Shin

If I Had a Thousand Lives to Live

This evening I'd like to invite you to turn with me in your Bibles to Psalms chapter 90 verses 10 through 12.

The book of Psalms chapter 90 verses 10 through 12.

Revolutions, even though they are corporate events, always begin with individual change.

God always changes the world by changing me.

Revolutions, even though they are mass scale, always begin with an individual conversion.

A conversion is a reorganization of the thoughts and priorities of the hearts.

It's a radical experience, and As Pastor Wes Peppers mentioned this morning, it begins the process with repentance.

The book of Acts is no exception, and this evening I'd like for us to reflect on some scriptures that show us that there are certain times in our human experience when even unconverted individuals recognize heaven's values.

The Bible tells us what is important, what we should live for, but there are certain innate experiences that help us to recognize what is ultimately important in life.

In Psalms 90 verses 10 through 12, it's a reflection by the psalmist and he says, the days of our lives are 70 years.

And if by reason of strength they are 80 years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow, for it is soon cut off and we fly away.

Who knows the power of your anger, for as in the fear of you so is your wrath, so teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of understanding." The Bible tells us that life is short.

And he says here, even back in the days of the psalmist, he says they are 70 years, and if by reason of strength they are 80 years.

The Bible is telling us that it is good for us to recognize our mortality, that we do not live forever.

So the psalmist goes on and says, so teach us to number our days.

We need to count, to calculate, to recognize that life is short and this helps us to gain a heart of understanding.

And so this morning, with your permission, I'd like to have us meditate for a little bit about the brevity of life.

It says to number our days, so I want to take this literally.

Let's say that you live to 70, I pray that you live longer if the Lord doesn't come, amen?

But just for the sake of illustration, let's use the psalmist's example and say you live to 70 years of age.

That comes to, if you multiply 365 by 70, 25, 550 days.

If you are 20 years of age, you have 18, 250 days left.

If you are 35, and you paid the penalty for being over 35, you have 12, 775 days left.

James says in James chapter 4 verse 14, "'Whereas you know not what shall be tomorrow, for what is your life?

It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

I remember my grandmother telling me in 1 of those moments that I had that I treasure, she was sitting down with me at the table in my home And she said, David, I want to tell you a reflection of my life.

She told me how she escaped from North Korea, went to Japan as a missionary, came to America, worked her fingers to the bone to provide an education for her family.

Finally, she said she got to the point in her life where she could breathe a sigh of relief and then she looked in the mirror and she was over 70 years of age.

And it's in this moment that the Bible tells us, reflecting upon our own mortality, that it shows us something about values.

It said for the average American who leaves college at 22 and lives to be 70, so average college student graduates 22, you live to be 70, it's 48 years from 22 to 70.

The adult lifespan can be broken down into a few key activities.

16 years, if you were to compress that time, that's 16 years nonstop without taking breaks for eating, sleeping, or vacationing.

The next biggest drain on your time, they say, on average, it's media.

They said you could spend up to 8 years watching television on the internet or other sources.

2 years commuting for the average American.

And when you subtract all these things, 16 years working, 15 years sleeping, 4 years eating, 8 years in media, 2 years commuting.

You have less than 4 years to do what you actually like.

Time with a spouse or loved 1, time with the children and grandchildren, outings and vacations, it comes down to 1 twelfth of your life.

And tragically, most of that time will be postponed to a period called retirement, when many people no longer enjoy the health needed to live life to the fullest.

It is a vapor that lives and appears for a time and vanishes away.

Psalms 39 verse 5 says, indeed you have made my days as hand breaths, and my age is as nothing before you.

Certainly every man at his best state is but a vapor.

Psalms 103, 15 and 16, For as a man his days are like grass, as a flower of the field so he flourishes.

For as the wind passes over it and it is gone, and it remembers it no more." Billy Graham, that American evangelist, said, the greatest surprise to me is the brevity of life.

Life is short, so the obvious question is, how should I spend it?

If you only have a few moments to actually do, to actually be, to actually prioritize what should I do, how should I spend my life, how should I spend my time.

Ecclesiastes 7 verse 2, that great experiential chapter from the wisest man that ever lived, in a personal reflection upon life, says these words, Ecclesiastes chapter 7 verse 2.

He says, better to go to the house of what?

He says, better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting, for that is the end of all men and the living will take it to heart." Solomon is saying that it's better to go to a funeral than to a wedding.

If I had my choice, I would rather go to a wedding.

Solomon is not saying that we should go to funerals because he's a melancholy individual.

He is saying that funerals, places of mourning, help the living to recognize their mortality.

And it's in this event that priorities and values are recognized.

Several years ago, I had the privilege of going to Africa on a mission trip.

And I noticed immediately that economic poverty does not equate spiritual lethargy.

People would stop me in the jungle and say, do you have any literature?

And it was an experience where I saw souls come to Christ, we had a wonderful time.

There was an element of discomfort, though, and it seems like even in the States, whenever I'm in a place that is more tropical, I don't know if it's because I'm Asian or because of my blood, but it seems like I can be in a place and no 1 else is getting bit by mosquitoes, but they're just swarming all around me.

I had multiple welts all over my body, but I said, hey, this is for missions, this is for the Lord.

And I came back to the States, it was around December, went to my parents' home, it was around Christmas break, And I started getting flu-like symptoms.

And this was a little bit different, I would wake up in the middle of the night, chills.

Have to change all my clothes and a lot of other things happening which I won't go into detail.

It was absolute misery and 1 day, 2 days, 3 days, 4 days, 5 days, 6 days go by, and finally in the middle of the night, I feel this incredible impression, David, you need to go to the hospital, this is not normal.

I'm a typical male, I do not like hospitals.

I can't remember the last time I've gone to the doctor for a checkup, my wife keeps reminding me I should go.

And that night, I crawled upstairs, I said, mom, dad, something's wrong, we need to go to the hospital." They bundled me up, took me off to the hospital.

The doctor on call that night had been to Africa.

He took 1 look at me and he said, David, I don't even need to see the blood test.

You're 6 days into this, I think you have malaria." He educated me very quickly about what malaria was, a mosquito comes and bites you and he takes your blood but leaves a gift.

And that parasite incubates in your liver and then in a few days or a few weeks it comes out and this parasite goes into your red blood cell, starts multiplying, and then when it reaches a certain capacity, it bursts.

Then they go out to another red blood cell and it keeps going, that's why you get fever and flu-like symptoms.

And The type of malaria I had, I found out later, was called falciparum.

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If I Had a Thousand Lives to Live

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