How Do I Serve Dying Unbelievers?

[Music] today's question is a follow-up it comes from a listener named michelle in wisconsin hello pastor john thank you for addressing a wide range of topics on this podcast she writes your recent episodes uh apj 1605 was of particular interest to me how can i serve the dying that's back on march 26th i am a hospital nurse and served as an oncology nurse for three years in which i care for many people in their final days and hours i no longer work in oncology but do occasionally see patients who are near the end of life in episode 1605 you assume the dying were believers and talked about the fight of faith but in my experience very few dying patients are clearly believers in that light i battled intense anxiety knowing that i was likely the last christian they would ever come into contact with on this side of eternity hours or minutes from an eternal hell this raised all sorts of questions for me do i share the gospel even if the patient is unconscious do i offend family members in their saddest moments how do i care for a lost person on the brink of hell especially when their abilities to understand the gospel and respond in faith may be limited and when the timing will likely feel inappropriate to the family what would you say in this situation the answer to this question is going to depend in great measure on three things one the confidence one has in the truth of the bible's teaching about hell to the love that one feels for a dying person that is the longing one has for the eternal joy of the dying person and three the courage one has to act for the good of the perishing against the wishes of those who do not believe the gospel or to put it another way people avoid sharing the gospel with dying people for one or more of three reasons one they just don't believe in hell it's not real to them it's not fearful what's real is the person lying there on the bed and the possibility that the person might experience some distress if you speak about christ and sin and judgment and they feel that the avoidance of that distress is a loving act because that distress is more real to them and more harmful than the prospect of hell or second they avoid speaking because while they may believe in hell they just don't feel any compelling affection for the dying person or any intense longing that the dying person would be rescued or that he would have everlasting joy in the presence of christ the desire just doesn't become operative or third they don't share the gospel because they believe that their superiors in the medical profession or the relatives of the dying person have the greatest authority in determining whether you share the gospel and that god's call on you to share the gospel takes second place to that human authority now there are situations where we are not obliged jesus said do not give dogs what is holy and do not throw your pearls before pigs lest they trample them under foot and turn and attack you matthew 7 6 i think jesus gave an example of this in matthew 21 when he asked the chief priests and elders whether the baptism of john was from heaven or from man and they huddled up you remember and said well if we say from man the crowd might stone us but if we say from god he'll say well then why didn't you believe on him so let's say we don't know and jesus said well i'm not going to answer you either in other words i don't deal with people who are so insidious in their manipulation of truth in other words there is a kind of attitude that is so deeply devious and hostile to the gospel that there are times you don't speak the gospel to certain people another thing jesus said was matthew 10 14 if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that town in other words a group of people can show themselves so resistant that you stop speaking to them and move on so there are situations in which you do not share the gospel but i don't know of any situation or any teaching in the bible which would say that the reason we don't share the gospel is because some human authority says not to instead what we see is that when authorities did tell christians not to speak what the christians said was acts 4 20 whether it is right in the sight of god to listen to you rather than to god you must judge for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard in other words god's call to glorify christ and to love people by speaking the only news in the world that can save them that call takes precedence over the prohibitions of all human authority so there may be times when it is fitting not to share the gospel but the reason will not be that human authority has forbidden it and i think that applies to government authorities religious authorities professional authorities military authorities hospital authorities and family authorities now what about the person himself that you would like to speak the gospel to in general i think if a person is cogent it is fitting to ask their permission to speak to them about something very precious to you and something important for them namely jesus christ and god's offer of forgiveness of sins through him i think if a person says sitting across from you at a restaurant or lying in a hospital bed i don't want to hear about that then you are not obliged to force it onto them nobody is saved by coercion and if a person turns away the gospel that you are freely and lovingly ready to offer coercive efforts to make them hear probably contradict the very nature of the good news as freely believed now does that mean that a person who is dying and incapable of speaking for all you know they may not be perceiving what you're saying should not hear the gospel from you i don't think so if the man who had been beaten on the side of the road when the good samaritan came along was unconscious i don't think the good samaritan was obliged to wait until he gained consciousness to ask permission to care for his wounds and take him for medical treatment so i think it would be a beautiful gift to quietly and calmly and lovingly speak words of hope into the ear of a person who is unable to respond i think this calls for a great deal of wisdom gospel sensitivity as to what you would say for example i would say something like this hello john this is mary i'm one of your nurses i want to do everything i can to make you comfortable and to meet your needs i don't even know if you can hear me or communicate with me i want you to know that you are loved i love you and god loved you by sending his son jesus christ into the world to bear the sins of everyone who trusts him jesus is a great savior even now he is a great friend he is very merciful very patient very gracious he has forgiven all my sins and i am so thankful and he wants you to know that he is ready to forgive all your sins no matter what they were or how many there were all you have to do is cast yourself on the mercy of christ fall into the arms of christ and trust him as a precious savior so i'm going to pray for you john father in heaven thank you for your love thank you for the amazing grace that saves sinners like me and john when we simply trust in our precious savior jesus christ i pray that you would make yourself real for john as he lies here in jesus name amen and if you ask me what to do if a loved one says don't talk to my father about jesus i would say i don't believe that a human command takes precedence over the command of love very bold and also quite practical thank you pastor john and michelle thank you for the outstanding follow-up question if you have a follow-up question to something you've heard on this podcast ask pastor john you can do that via email ask pastorjohn desiringgod.org that's our email address ask pastorjohn desiringgod.org and you will know if we got it if you receive an auto reply immediately in response if you want to search our growing archive of episodes you can do that online at desiringguide.org forward slash ask pastor john that's desiring god.org forward slash ask pastor john well what does it mean to be loved infinitely that's the answer we're after next time and to get the answer we must first understand that god for a time passed over sin he simply passed over it he didn't bring final judgment on sinners in real time he would deal with sin finally but only later in the cross and as we reckon with this truth we will come face to face with what it means to be loved infinitely that's up next time i'm your host tony ranki we'll see you back here on wednesday thanks for listening we'll see you then you

Channel: Desiring God

Views: 52,596

Keywords: Desiring God, John Piper, God, Jesus Christ, Christianity, Christian Hedonism, Serve, Dying, Unbeliever, Death, Life, Judgment, Hell, Heaven, Gospel, Witness, Hope, Despair, Eternal, Soul, Salvation, Minister

Id: Ho0nAwhkZlM

Length: 11min 59sec (719 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 07 2021