How Will Your Epitaph Read

Do not be afraid when a man gets rich,

when the wealth of his house increases.

For when he dies, he will take nothing at all;

his wealth will not follow him down.

Though he praises himself during his lifetime—

and people praise you when you do well for yourself—

he will go to the generation of his fathers;

they will never see the light.

A man with valuable possessions

but without understanding

is like the animals that perish.[1]

Epitaphs certainly can prove that mankind has a sense of humour. At least that is the case for those merry souls dying in the United States and Canada. Here are some final statements inscribed on tombstones that cannot help but bring a smile to our faces. Lester Moore, a Wells Fargo station agent in Tombstone, Arizona, was shot and killed during a robbery. His grave marker, located in Boothill Cemetery, reads:

Here lies Lester Moore,

Four slugs from a forty-four.

No Les,

No Moore.

In Ruidoso, New Mexico, the gravestone of John Yeast states:

Here lies John Yeast,

Pardon me for not rising.

In Uniontown, Pennsylvania, a tombstone is inscribed with the following statement:

Here lies the body of Jonathan Blake,

Stepped on the gas instead of the brake.

Perhaps one more memorial statement is appropriate for opening our study today. I confess that it is a favourite of mine. A headstone in Thurmont, Maryland, reads simply:

Here lies an atheist,

All dressed up and,

No place to go.

Each of us faces the prospect of having an epitaph inscribed on a piece of granite. How will your epitaph read? How will you be remembered? If the Master delays His return, each of us listening to this message will taste death. Barring the Master’s return as He has promised, death is the destiny of each of us. The only monuments that we will leave with lasting value are the memories of those who have known us and the impact of our lives on others. The memory of who we actually were, the memory resulting from the impact of our character will have greater endurance than all our possessions.

The forty-ninth Psalm focuses on death. The Psalmist reminds readers that God alone is capable of providing a ransom for the soul of an individual. He forces us, in the tenth verse, to consider the common fate of all mankind. The wise man, the foolish, and the stupid alike die. Wealth and great assets are meaningless once death comes. Arriving at the final strophe, the Psalmist leaves us with valuable insight. That portion of this excellent Psalm is the focus of our attention in this hour.

Nearly all commentators divide this Psalm into five parts. The first four verses form an introduction. Verses five through nine speak of the foolishness of trusting riches. Verses ten through twelve remind us of the inevitability of death. Verses 13 through 15 provide a contrast between those who trust riches and those who trust God. The final strophe, which serves as our text, is an appeal to be wise concerning wealth.

A Situation that is Foreign to Most of Us — This is a sobering Psalm that might well be addressed to modern Canadians. Clearly, the Psalmist is cautioning against depending upon wealth and position to influence God. Christians should be respectful of all people, but we should respect all mankind, and not only the powerful and the well to do who are traversing this dying world. This is the teaching of James. My brothers, hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ without showing favouritism [James 2:1].

We are a wealthy people. Perhaps we doubt that assessment, but we are wealthy. Most of us have so many labour-saving devices that we cannot find the time to do all that we are expected to do. I invest more hours in front of the monitor doing research and preparing sermons than did any preacher of past decades. I seriously doubt that I have more insight than did a Spurgeon or a Criswell, and I know I have less power with God. Modern Canadians have so many opportunities for recreation that we exhaust ourselves attempting to be refreshed. We have almost universally bought into the modern myth that wealth is equated with power, and we almost unconsciously absorb that myth.

We are counted among the privileged few of the world. Our needs are amply supplied, though our wants continually grow. It is doubtful that any of us have ever known what it is to be hungry, to have no place to call home, to struggle to cover our nakedness. Though there are scam artists who make the circuits of churches in their efforts to separate the people of God from their few moneys, for the most part people who truly have needs will find assistance; and especially is this true if they are willing to labour at some job, even though the work may be considered menial.

The death of an infant in Canada is so rare that it is counted the exception, unlike some African nations where a child is 30 times more likely to die before age five. Almost four in ten children in southern Africa die within the first 28 days following birth. We know no such conditions in Canada; even here in the north, health care is available, our water is clean, we have adequate housing and we are clothed for the weather.

The Psalmist begins by speaking of opposition from the wealthy. He is speaking of spiritual abuse at the hands of the rich and famous. When I read verses five and six, I must ask myself, what do I actually know of abuse by the wealthy and the powerful? What do I truly know concerning spiritual opposition? How do I suffer spiritually? The Psalmist speaks of a situation unknown to most of us, though that could soon change.

Moreover, I am unacquainted with suffering. I cannot spiritualise this Psalm enough to make it apply directly to myself, though I have known some deprived people. On one occasion, I invited two post-doctoral fellows to share Thanksgiving dinner. They were from Taiwan, studying in the school where I was completing my doctoral studies. Lynda had provided a simple meal that day, though it was sufficient to feed us all.

There was no turkey; we did not have enough money for that. We had a small canned ham instead. There were plenty of vegetables, and there were some cold cuts available. There was a fine dessert, and juice, tea or and coffee to drink.

As my guests surveyed our meagre table that year, one said, with tears in his eyes, “How wealthy you are! We had so little when I was a child. I saved every rice sack, because I never knew when I would need the cloth to cover my nakedness.” That comment certainly placed my situation into a global perspective. I’ve never eaten a Thanksgiving meal since that time without thinking of that comment.

I was privileged to minister to a black church in Dallas; it was a rich experience. I received the honorific title of the “Apostle to the Blacks” from one beloved pastor. I recall with deep humility the prayer of one elderly deacon as he approached the altar to give thanks for the privilege of giving one Sunday morning.

“Massa’ Jesus,” spoke that humble man. “Thank you for lettin’ me worship. Didn’t have no breakfast this mo’ning, but I did feed on the Word today. Don’t have no new shoes to wear, but I got two strong legs to carry me.” As he prayed, I was deeply humbled as I considered my own privileged position. When he had finished praying, the worshippers rejoiced as they brought their gifts, ushered row-by-row to the front of the auditorium to place their gifts in the offering plate situated in front of the pulpit. That deacon’s humility and his joy, and the evident joy of the people at having something to share, stand out in my memory to this day. But I knew that I was not deprived.

A Condition that is Common to All of Us — Nevertheless, the Psalmist puts his finger on the pulse of a modern idolatry that has infected much of Christendom. Despite knowing intuitively that wealth tends to arrogance, we nevertheless admire the wealthy. Why else do the tabloids feature stories about the rich and famous? Why else are news reports often filled with accounts detailing which Hollywood harlot married which Hollywood rake? We believe there is something special about such public figures that live life on their own selfish terms; in our hearts, we wish we could live that same way.

We become positively sudorific if think we imagine that the famous of this world might take notice of us. The mere acknowledgement by a politician, the casual glance of a star or a starlet is diaphoretic for most of us. My eldest daughter was rushing to catch a bus in downtown Vancouver on one occasion when rounding the corner she collided with a man. He caught her before she fell and asked if she wanted his autograph.

“Well, no,” responded Susan incredulously. “Do you want mine?”

When he had walked on, several people standing nearby gazed starry eyed in the direction of his travel. “Do you know who that was?” one woman gushed.

“No,” responded Susan.

“That was Bryan Adams. He touched you,” the young woman sighed.

Though we are impoverished through their financial demands, we still flock to every store opening that features an arthritic has-been hockey player. Though we are morally impoverished through watching their tawdry cinematic escapades, nevertheless, we cannot wait until another movie featuring our favourite actress or actor is released. We watch each political drama unfold as though it will actually matter one hundred years from now, and when the politicians return to their ridings, we hang on their every word as though they knew what they were talking about. We are infected with an abhorrent condition that contaminates us utterly—we are infatuated with power and with wealth.

Those who will be elders and deacons among the people of God seem more frequently chosen because of their social standing or because of their earthly holdings than because of their righteous walk, or even because of their boldness in Christ. Therefore, a kind of moral sludge oozes even within the precincts of God’s churches. Desperately needed are plainspoken men and women who fear sin and honour God.

Peter Cartwright was a Methodist preacher on the American frontier. He disdained the tendency, evident even then, for preachers to be obsequious in the presence of the famous and the powerful. The Methodist Conference of 1818 was held in Nashville, and Cartwright was appointed to preach in a local Methodist church.

Cartwright tells what happened as he stood to preach. “I … read my text: ‘What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and lose his own soul?’ After reading my text I paused. At that moment I saw General Jackson walking up the aisle; he came to the middle post, and very gracefully leaned against it, and stood, as there were no vacant seats. Just then I felt someone pull my coat in the stand, and turning my head, [the host] preacher whispering a little loud, said: ‘General Jackson has come in; General Jackson has come in.’ I felt a flash of indignation run all over me like an electric shock, and facing about to my congregation, and purposely speaking out audibly, I said, ‘Who is General Jackson? If he don't get his soul converted, God will damn him as quick as he would a guinea stealing [negro]!’”

The following day, another preacher apologised for Peter's bluntness. Jackson retorted that Christ's ministers ought to love everybody and fear no mortal man, adding that he wished he had a few thousand officers like Peter.[2]

Among the comments Spurgeon provides in his excellent study of the Psalms, are these that concentrate our focus on the failure of wealth at death. “He has but a leasehold of his acres, and death ends his tenure. Through the river of death man must pass naked. Not a rag of all his raiment, not a coin of all his treasure, not a jot of all his honour, can the dying worldling carry with him.”

If his words concerning possessions were pointed, how much more pointed are his observations of the uselessness of position at death. “As he goes down, down, down for ever, none of his honours or possessions will follow him. Patents of nobility are invalid in the sepulchre. His worship, his honour, his lordship, and his grace, will alike find their titles ridiculous in the tomb. Hell knows no aristocracy. Your dainty and delicate sinners shall find that eternal burnings have no respect for their affectations and refinements.”[3]

I have observed in my years of service before the Lord a disturbing trend among those who stand before His people to declare eternal truths. I note that pastors are urged to defer to the wealthy and pressed to give consideration to the powerful. “Flatter them,” we are told. “Show them consideration according to their social standing.” This is advice that I have been unable to follow throughout the years of my pilgrimage.

On one occasion, a denominational leader sought to assess my willingness to serve a church noted for its wealthy membership. The man approaching me decided quickly that he had spoken in an unguarded moment, for as soon as he inquired about my willingness to serve in that particular church, he stopped, and then he said, “Never mind. It would never work. You do not respect money.”

I suppose this is true. As the academic dean of a black college informed me during a discussion on one occasion, “If you don’t never got it, you don’t never miss it.” I’ve never had it.

I have observed that position and wealth often count more for advancement within and among the churches than does godliness. Credentials and connections are more highly valued than is character in searching out pastoral leadership. Whenever a church seeks pastoral leadership, it is far more likely that they will review what schools the candidate has attended instead of reviewing whether that one wins souls and lives a godly life. It is far more likely that the congregation will be more impressed by who the candidate knows than they will be by what those outside the Faith think of his character.

In a broad, general sense, I note that preachers, indeed, the entire Christian public, flock to listen to the famous and the powerful address the saints. It matters little if the address proves vapid and banal; the great one is nevertheless adulated. However, the humble saint who labours quietly, honouring God in relative obscurity, is despised.

I recall an occasion when I had invited a humble man to address the student body at a Christian college I served. That humble man was responsible at that time for personally planting seventy-five churches in existence at that time. If one counted all the daughter churches and granddaughter churches together with those he personally planted, the number of churches in existence through his influence was more than 125.

Those students were used to hearing the famous and the notable speak, and when that humble man stood, they observed that he was rudely dress. He appeared uncertain as he approached the pulpit—he had never stood before so many people in his life. When he began to speak—haltingly, tentatively—he simply related the spiritual need of vast regions of the nation. He told of multiplied small communities where the Gospel was no longer preached, and he made a plea for some who heard him to weigh the call of God to serve in a place where the great crowds would never know of their existence.

I sat in the audience, and I heard the mutterings of many of the students as they questioned why such a “nobody” would be invited to speak. Then, the Dean of Students stood to dismiss the students. Before dismissing them, he said he saw Christ in that humble man. He said, “We have been honoured, and Christ has been glorified. This man loves Christ deeply, and he loves sinners for whom Christ died. You feel as you listen to him that if you poked him, love would pour out everywhere you poked him.”

Those students received more from that humble man than they ever realised. They had witnessed someone who had a message born out of life and born out of walking with the Master, and not a sterile account dug from the depths of some dusty tome.

We need to apply the teaching of the Wise Man to our lives.

The fear of man is a snare,

but the one who trusts in the Lord is protected.

Many seek a ruler’s favour,

but a man receives justice from the Lord.

[Proverbs 29:25, 26]

According to Solomon, God gives wealth—we do not through our own strength obtain what we hold [see Ecclesiastes 5:19; 6:2]. Likewise, position and status are not the result of our own strength, but rather this is the result of God’s goodness and mercy toward us [see Psalm 75:6, 7]. Though possessions, position, and power are from God, they nevertheless impose responsibility upon the one who has received these gifts.

Since God gives wealth and since position is through His divine permission, we do well to realise that all that we hold is held as a stewardship. Solomon, a man who was accustomed to wealth and power, wrote: there is nothing better for man than to eat, drink, and to enjoy his work. I have seen that even this is from God’s hand. For who can eat and who can enjoy life apart from Him? For to the man who is pleasing in His sight, He gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy, but to the sinner He gives the task of gathering and accumulating in order to give to the one who is pleasing in God’s sight. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind [Ecclesiastes 2:24-26].

What God gives has been given for our enjoyment, but we are also responsible to administer His grace in all its forms with wisdom. Whatever our standing in life, we must give an answer to God who gives richly. If the moneys I administer are used solely for my benefit, however noble the justification I advance for consuming what I hold on my own desires, I must recognise that my enjoyment is limited to time, and not for eternity. If I will honour God, I must be responsible in administering wealth and power.

God gives you wealth, and all you possess is given for your enjoyment. However, if you squander what you possess solely on your own pleasure, you have misunderstood both the joy that comes from honouring God and you have missed the deep satisfaction that comes from voluntarily using your goods and your influence to glorify Him. Perhaps you will recall a parable Jesus told concerning a wealthy man.

He told them a parable: “A rich man’s land was very productive. He thought to himself, ‘What should I do, since I don’t have anywhere to store my crops? I will do this,’ he said. ‘I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and store all my grain and my goods there. Then I’ll say to myself, “You have many goods stored up for many years. Take it easy; eat, drink, and enjoy yourself.”’

“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is demanded of you. And the things you have prepared—whose will they be?’

“That’s how it is with the one who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God” [Luke 12:16-21].

Our riches are destined for dust. The streets of glory are paved with gold—it is just paving material. The walls of the eternal city are diamond—as valuable as river rock in this world. The things that we call precious now have no value in eternity. In a very real sense, we accumulate garbage here. Though one man’s garbage heap is larger than another man’s pile of garbage, it is garbage nevertheless. We are foolish if we account one man better than another because his pile of garbage is greater than another’s.

Among the professed people of God, even within this congregation, some do not believe that the manner in which they handle wealth matters in the sight of God. Such people console themselves by saying that they “must” provide for their own comfort, they “must” provide for the future, or they “must” do this or do that with their holdings. Yet, many of these same individuals have never relieved the poverty of a single needy person, and they give a pittance in support of the church that nourishes them. They are so focused on the immediate that they do not believe in the eternal. They have become practical atheists, though they are regular in attendance at worship services and though they are counted as belonging to Christ. God calls such people fools.

Do we believe Jesus? He instructs us, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also [Matthew 6:19-21]. Your treasury is revealed through where your mind turns when it is free to go where it will. Where you invest your moneys and your influence demonstrates what you truly value.

I am not urging you to neglect obligations, but I am cautioning you that if your sole focus in on this life, to remember that you must leave it all behind. I am not admonishing you to neglect your family, nor even to incur great debt, but I am warning you that to live without understanding that this moment called life is transient is foolish. What a powerful concluding statement does the Psalmist give us!

A man with valuable possessions

but without understanding

is like the animals that perish.

It is not assets that are condemned, but it is our attitude toward assets that is under scrutiny. Riches are not condemned, but our attitude toward riches brings divine censure. Wealth tends to blind us to our absolute dependence upon God, and hence the rich and the powerful are tempted to become like unthinking beasts with respect to God.

Though in this world, the rich command respect, in death they become like all others. Whether a rock star, or a homeless woman, each alike rots equally fast in the grave. The grave imposes true democracy; all alike are reduced to a common condition. Charles Spurgeon, the British Baptist divine, pointedly comments, “Where the former generations lie, the present shall also slumber. The sires beckon to their sons to come to the land of forgetfulness. Mortal fathers beget not immortal children.”[4]

A Warning that is Urged upon Each of Us — Life is brief, death is coming. I have but a brief moment called “now” to prepare for eternity. The rabbim were wont to say that this life is the anteroom to eternity. They were encouraging people to prepare for the certainty of death. When death calls, if the final statement is descriptive of my condition, I will have lost everything. In the English Standard Version, the twentieth verse reads, Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish.[5]

Throughout the Word of God are statements urging us to fear God. Among those statements is one penned by Solomon. Solomon authored the dark review of human life without God that we know as Ecclesiastes. As he draws that book to a conclusion, in Ecclesiastes 12:13, 14 is found this excellent advice for each individual facing the future. When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is: fear God and keep His commands, because this is for all humanity. For God will bring every act to judgment, including every hidden thing, whether good or evil.

The Lord, recorded in Matthew’s Gospel, instructs those who are His disciples, don’t fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell [Matthew 10:28]. When giving a summary of instruction in righteous living for all Christians, the Apostle Peter includes that warning in 1 Peter 2:17. Honour everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the Emperor. A warning delivered by a holy angel during the final phase of judgement during the Great Tribulation will be declared for all mankind to hear. Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come. Worship the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water [Revelation 14:7].

What I fear becomes evident through where I invest what has been entrusted to me. If I fear man, I invest against the day that man fails. If I fear insignificance, I try to make myself significant. If I fear God, that holy fear will be seen in the investment of my time, my talents, my earthly possessions in His cause. Too often, we invest more in the comfort of our own house than in making the House of God attractive, more on our hobbies than on evangelism, more on personal beauty than on adorning the teaching about Christ. I am not the arbiter of your investment, but I am a voice reminding you of responsibility to God.

What do you trust? Your own strength? Your standing in the community? Whom do you adore? Are you obsequious toward man that must die? Are you more concerned with how mankind sees you than you are with how God views you? What is truly valuable in your estimate? Is the commendation of God more important to you than are a few pieces of paper called stocks and bonds?

If I will be wise, I will find my significance in God and not in what I possess. I will find my significance in serving God, and not in the estimate of others. In this Psalm, Verses seven through nine place matters in perspective and serve to caution us before we reach the end of days.

Truly no man can ransom another,

or give to God the price of his life,

for the ransom of their life is costly

and can never suffice,

that he should live on forever

and never see the pit.

Who can pay the purchase price for my soul? Who can redeem my life? There are insufficient moneys to set me free from condemnation and to assure me of life. However, what no man can do, God has already done. What no man can provide, God has already provided. Life, the forgiveness of sin, freedom from all condemnation before God, liberty to enter into His presence—all alike is offered through the merits of Christ the Lord. Listen to the Word of God.

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved… For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” [Romans 10:9, 10, 13].

Should an individual die without ever exercising faith toward God, that individual has no one to blame but himself. The warnings of the Word of God, the pleadings of the people of God, the opposition of our conscience, all alike are warning signs from a gracious God who seeks to turn us from our own deadly pursuits.

Throughout this Psalm, the psalmist has forced the reader to consider the true and eternal measure of life. What really matters in life? What is the true measure of greatness? The Psalm calls us to Formulate a Proper View of Wealth and Power. Wealth and power are transient. They are given for a brief period, and they are not an end in themselves, but they are entrusted to us to be used for our good and for God’s glory.

Then, the Psalm counsels us to See Wealth and Power as Divine Stewardship. Each of us shall give an answer to God. What shall we say concerning the goods we have handled? Will the latest toy we just had to have matter in eternity? Will the newest model of automobile actually make a difference in our service to God? Will my advancement at work, though it comes at the expense of service to Christ and to His church, really count in eternity?

Finally, the Psalm cautions us to Understand that Life is Preparation for Death. Are you ready for the inevitable? Have you made preparation for eternity? Are you saved? The plea of this preacher is that each one listening to this message today discovers the life that is freely offered in Christ Jesus as Lord. Be saved today.

How will your epitaph read? Will it speak of your wealth—wealth that will only mean that you enabled the government to waste yet more moneys and that others will enjoy all that you left everything behind? Or will your epitaph speak of lives changed and God’s glory? The decision is yours. Choose wisely. Choose today. Amen.

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[1] Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from The Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Holman CSB® and HCSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

[2] One account can be found at http://chi.gospelcom.net/DAILYF/2002/09/daily-09-25-2002.shtml, accessed 28 July 2005

[3] C. H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Volume 1b, Psalms 27-57 (Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI nd) 373

[4] Spurgeon, op. cit., 374