Life After...Suicide

Justice Commissioning

The power comes from the investment of people. Time, energy and financial investment is what keeps the work going. Understand that there is an obligation for the church to stand in the gap for the marginalized. Matthew 23:23 ““Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.”

Understand that showing up is a major part of the battle. The goal is 52/1, that the roughly over 100 people that attend worship regularly will attend the Nehemiah action. We want to say thank you for all of you who attended the Annual Assembly and we installed new leadership. Our very own WD Smith has been newly appointed as Co-President of BREAD. We need every one to answer the call of justice and support this effort! Let us gather around our leaders on the justice ministry and pray for them as they answer the call to fight and advocate for the oppressed, ignored and marginalized in our society!

Introduction

Self-reported suicide attempts for black adolescents rose by 73% between 1991 and 2017.

Black boys increasingly likely to attempt suicide, then Black girls who have more ideation then attempts.

Suicide is the 11th leading cause of death in the US

In 2021 men died by suicide 3.9 times higher than women.

On average, there are 132 suicides per day.

I remember getting the news that my fellow classmate had taken his life. A father of five, an acting career on the rise and previously a very good college athlete. Every time I talked to him there was a smile, based on his post on social media you would have thought he had a very wonderful life. These types of displays of happiness often times leave friends and family confused at the idea that someone would take their life. On the other had this is truth in the sense that sometimes a broken heart doesn’t show up on the outside.

A study from Lifeway Research found that 49% of pastors “rarely or never speak to their congregation about mental illness,” “76% of churchgoers say suicide is a problem that needs to be addressed in their community,” and nearly a third of church attendees have a friend or family member who died by suicide.

In 2013, world renown preacher, Rick Warren stood in the pulpit and delivered a sermon after his own son had taken his life. His quote was “Your illness is not your identity, your chemistry is not your character,” he told people struggling with mental illness. To their families, he said, “We are here for you, and we are in this together.” There is hope for the future: “God wants to take your greatest loss and turn it into your greatest life message.”

One may ask what do you do on the worst day of your life? It’s paramount that we choose joy. As a father one of my prayers is for the mental well-being of my children.

Psalm 34:18–19 “The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, And saves such as have a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the Lord delivers him out of them all.”

Taking one’s life is not foreign to scripture whatsoever, in 1 Kings chapter 19 we read about a prophet who wanted his life to end. 2 Samuel 17:23 “Now when Ahithophel saw that his advice was not followed, he saddled a donkey, and arose and went home to his house, to his city. Then he put his household in order, and hanged himself, and died; and he was buried in his father’s tomb.”

We even read about Judas, who felt so much sorrow in betraying Jesus that the bible says he hanged himself.

If you have considered or even attempted to complete suicide I want you to remember 4 things this morning.

Proximity - God is closer to you that you think

Salvation is available for the brokenhearted and the contrite in spirit

Righteousness can mean a life with affliction

God is Deliverer

Proximity

One of the issues that we face is the spacial relationship that we have with God. Often times we envision God as this almighty power that sits galaxies away in heaven. So we treat God as such, so loneliness and dark times seem too devastating to bear because we think God is so far away.

Understand that God is walking with you, Psalm 34:18 “The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, And saves such as have a contrite spirit.” The nearness of God is proximal as much as it is intimate. It means to have a state or condition of intimate association. Not only is God close physically, but he’s close mentally and emotionally even in your darkest of times. Understand the nature of this psalm, David is writing this while he’s on the run from Saul, finds himself in enemy territory and even has to act insane in effort to escape. What this tells me is that we are never beyond the reach of God’s safety, hope, grace or peace.

We might not be escaping a Saul right now but there’s something we are avoiding that might drive us to act out of character. The problem persist when we try to escape in unhealthy ways.

When we understand God’s closeness we also understand that we cannot do this alone. There is power in fellowship. Psalm 34:3 “Oh, magnify the Lord with me, And let us exalt His name together.” David understood the power of community Nonetheless he understand the manner of seeking God is a personal journey.

1 Peter 3:8–12 “Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. For “He who would love life And see good days, Let him refrain his tongue from evil, And his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good; Let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their prayers; But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.””

Family we have to remind one another how close God is to us. We also have to remain close to people because you never know what they are going through. Furthermore navigating the pain of losing someone to suicide is extremely challenging and we still have to recognize the will of God even in the most turbulent situations.

Salvation for the Contrite

God saves those who feel crushed. Have you ever felt crushed by life. Life has a extraordinary way of throwing destructive blows at us. It can put us in a place of feeling despondent. Understand that the nature of ideation is still a scheme of the enemy. His goal is the steal, kill and destroy! Let us understand that there is no need that God cannot fill!

You might feel broken right now but God has the glue to put us back together! Understand that life can become painful but death by suicide is not a deliverance. The earthly pain may stop due to a life ending but the emotional pain and mental anguish for family and friends will last for generations.

The idea of saving is to accept the help that God is giving in effort to stand victoriously and say if it had not been for God I would not be here.

Righteousness and Afflictions

Psalm 34:19 “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the Lord delivers him out of them all.”

The challenge in life is often times we are under the impression that if I live right problems should not persist or they should dissipate quickly.

Understand family that we are going to go through things, and some of those things will feel too challenging to handle! Nonetheless keep holding on! There’s always a way to bounce back by trusting God. Ending your life is never the answer. Someone might be thinking, but you don’t know what I’ve been through. You’re right, I don’t but I know a God that has a remedy for every problem.

God is a deliverer, God is a redeemer! He has the power to put people and resources in your path to put you on a journey of peace and restoration! Cling to Him! True deliverance is life and life abundantly even after God calls us home, Jesus died that we might live forever!

1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching Depression

A man and his wife who were on a long trip stopped at a full-service gas station. After the station attendant had washed their car’s windshield, the man in the car said to the station attendant, “It’s still dirty. Wash it again.”

So the station attendant complied. After washing it again, the man in the car angrily said, “It’s still dirty. Don’t you know how to wash a windshield?”

Just then the man’s wife reached over, removed her husband’s glasses from his face, and cleaned them with a tissue. Then he put them back on and behold—the windshield was clean!

Our mental attitude has a great deal to do with how we look at things. The whole world can appear pretty bleak if we have a depressed mental attitude. Yet how bright the world can appear if we have a joyful attitude of hope.

Sometimes our life isn’t as dirty as we think we just need to look at it through a different lens.