UnfinishedBusiness

Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, is a tourist destination. The sculptor, a man named Gutzon Borglum, never finished his work. If you study the faces carefully, it’s clear that he spent more time on George Washington than he did on the other three presidents. That’s because he originally planned to extend the figures of each president down into the chest area.  But he never lived long enough to see his dream through to completion. His son continued his work for a few months after his death, but he ran out of money.Millions of tourists have visited since then, but Mount Rushmore for all its grandeur remains an unfinished work of art.

He was only 54 and in many ways, still rising in his profession. While vacationing in Arizona and Utah, he noticed a nagging pain in his chest. When he returned home, he had the doctors run some tests. The news was bad, as bad as it gets. Michael Landon had pancreatic cancer—inoperable and basically untreatable. His life was measured in days and weeks, not months and years. He died leaving behind a wife, 9 children and millions of fans. Unfinished business? Plenty. No one plans to die at age 54.

That may be our worst fear . . . that we will die before our time.   But it happens all the time.            We die too young . . . .             Or we die too soon . . .             Or we die with our work unfinished . . .             Or we die with our dreams unfulfilled.

Students who died at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Finishing! This is one of the hardest things for man to do. Man is a great starter--we are quick to embark upon things that need to be done but lack the strength many times to carry it through.

Our human tendency is to quit too soon, to stop before we cross the finish line. Our inability to finish what we start is seen in the smallest of things:A half-read book.Letters begun but never completed.A car up on blocks.The degree we never finished.The phone calls never returned.The to-do list that never gets done.

Or, it shows up in life’s most painful areas:

The bills never paid.Promises never kept.A broken relationship.An unevangelized world.

All of us go through life leaving behind a trail of unfinished projects and unfulfilled dreams.  Very few people can come to the end of life and say, “I finished exactly what I set out to do.”

Only one person in history never left behind any unfinished business. His name is Jesus Christ.  He is the only person who could come to the end of his life and say-with absolute and total truthfulness-"I have finished everything I set out to do.”

It was Friday in Jerusalem and a huge crowd has gathered at the place called Skull Hill. It was on the north side of the city, just outside the Damascus Gate, and located by the side of a well-traveled road.  The Romans liked to hold their crucifixions in public places. Killing people in public had a beneficial effect on the masses. 

The soldiers would lead the victim through as many streets as possible because a man in front of the victim carried a placard listing the crimes the victim was being crucified for. There were two reasons: It was a warning to everybody that crime doesn't pay. b) It could be possible for a new witness or for new evidence to be introduced into the case. Someone could stop the procession if they had legitimate, new evidence. The case could then be retried.

This particular crucifixion started at 9 a.m. For three hours everything proceeded normally.  Then at exactly 12 noon, the sky went black. Not overcast, but pitch black, so black that you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. For three hours darkness fell across the city of Jerusalem. There were screams, hideous cries, moans, and other unidentifiable sounds.

Then, just as suddenly as it started, the darkness lifted, disappeared, vanished, and sanity returned to the earth. One glance at the middle cross made it clear that this man Jesus would not last much longer.  He looked dead already. His body quivered uncontrollably, his chest heaving with every tortured breath. The soldiers knew from long experience that he wouldn’t make it to sundown. 

Can you imagine the cry from the cross? The sky is dark. The other two victims are moaning. The jeering mouths are silent. Perhaps there is thunder. Perhaps there is weeping. Perhaps there is silence. If you listened you could hear the death rattle in his throat. He had less than a minute to live. Then Jesus draws in a deep breath, pushes His feet down on that Roman nail, and cries, “It is finished!”

Just one word, … Tetelestai … “It is finished.” If you weren’t paying attention, you missed it in all the confusion. Then he breathed out another sentence. Then he was dead.

During our lifetime, we all have experiences with “It is finished. It is over and done with.”

For example, a teenage boy falls in love with a teenage girl and then is dumped.  She tells him, “It is finished, over and done with, we’re through.”

You receive our pink slip from Boeing and we know that we are to be fired, laid off, out of the job, dumped. The job is now finished, all over, over and done with.

Your basketball team lost in the NCAA tournament. The ride is finished, over and done, but it was great while it lasted.

The ski season is over; it is finished, over and done with, and it is time to put away the skis until next season. Or the boat. Or the fishing rod. Or the hunting rifles. Or the hiking boots. Or the gardening tools. Or whatever the hobby may be for its particular season: it is over and done with, finished.

That’s Me

An elderly gentleman, perhaps your father, gets deathly sick and dies before you get to the hospital. You walk in the room and someone says, “It is all over. It is finished. Dad died.”

It can happen when a husband and wife aren’t getting along very well and the love between them gradually dies. Either the husband or the wife will say to the other, “It is over, done with, finished. We have to get a divorce.”

But,  “It is finished” can also mean--It is accomplished, fulfilled, completed! This calls for a victory celebration, high fiving all the people around.

The artist, Rembrandt, steps back from the canvas, looks at his work, puts down his paint brush for the last time and says, “It is finished! It is perfect. The job is done. There is nothing I can do to improve it.”

The artist, Michelangelo, stands back from his stone sculpture, the marble figure of young King David, and looks at his marble statue with his brilliant eye for detail. There is nothing more that he can do. He puts his mallet down, his chisels, his fine polishing stone and says, “It is done. I have finished it. There is nothing more I can do.”

It is with this mood of victory and exclamation that we hear these words from the lips of Jesus, “It is finished!!! It is accomplished!!! I have done the job that God gave me to do. God’s will has been accomplished in and through my life.”

“There is a great difference between your religion and mine,” said a Christian to his neighbor. “Indeed!” was the reply. “What is that?” “It is this: Yours has only two letters in it, while mine has four.” “What do you mean?” said he. “Well, yours has ‘DO.’ Mine has ‘DONE.’”

Jesus didn’t quit. But don’t think for one minute that he wasn’t tempted to.

What is your response to that statement?

Do you think Jesus seriously considered not dying on the cross? What do you think would have been the strongest temptation for not going through with it?

In the following passages, what could have tempted Jesus to give up: Mark 10:32-45; Mark 14:32-42; Mark 9:33-41?

What did Jesus do to gain the strength to continue? What are our greatest sources of strength when we are tempted to give up?

When Jesus cried out, “It is finished,” was that wishful thinking or a statement of fact? If the latter, how could he be so sure that his work was indeed finished and that he had completed all that he came to do?

All the Old Testament prophecies were fulfilled:

He had been given vinegar to drink (Ps. 69:21), He had been sold for 30 pieces of silver (Zech. 11:12), His hands and feet had been pierced (Ps. 22:16), His garments had been divided (Ps. 22:18), His side was pierced (Zech. 12:10). 

There are many other prophesies surrounding his death. All those had been or very soon would be fulfilled. 

Jesus’ bucket list was empty.

The history-long plan of redeeming man was finished. The message of God to man was finished. The works done by Jesusas a man on earth were finished. The task of selecting and training ambassadors was finished. The job was finished. The sacrifice had been made. The sting of death had been removed. It was over.

What are some of the “Plan B” methods of salvation that people use to add to the work of Christ on the cross. What happens when we add anything to the value of Christ’s death as a means of salvation?

It would be an insult, meaning that either we didn’t take Him at his word, or the price He paid was not enough. Either you accept the fact that Jesus paid it all or you try to pay yourself. But who could ever pay for even one sin? How much does a sin cost? In the end your only choice is to trust that Jesus has indeed paid in full for your salvation or you reject what Christ did when he died on the cross. There is no third option.

One day, a poor boy who was selling goods from door to door to pay his way through school, found he had only one thin dime left, and he was hungry.

He decided he would ask for a meal at the next house. However, he lost his nerve when a lovely young woman opened the door. Instead of a meal he asked for a drink of water.

She thought he looked hungry so she brought him a large glass of milk. He drank it so slowly, and then asked, How much do I owe you?”

You don't owe me anything," she replied. "Mother has taught us never to accept pay for a kindness.“

He said, "Then I thank you from my heart."         

As Howard Kelly left that house, he not only felt stronger physically, but his faith in God and man was strong also. He had been ready to give up and quit.

Many years later that same young woman became critically ill. The local doctors were baffled. They finally sent her to The big city, where they called in specialists to study her rare disease.

Dr. Howard Kelly was called in for the consultation. When he heard the name of the town she came from, a strange light filled his eyes.Immediately he rose and went down the hall of the hospital to her room. Dressed in his doctor's gown he went in to see her. He recognized her at once.

He went back to the consultation room determined to do his best to save her life. From that day he gave special attention to her case. After a long struggle, the battle was won.

Dr. Kelly requested the business office to pass the final bill to him for approval. He looked at it, then wrote something on the edge and the bill was sent to her room.

She feared to open it, for she was sure it would take the rest of her life to pay for it all. Finally she looked, and something caught her attention on the side of the bill. She read these words: "Paid in full with one glass of milk. (Signed) Dr. Howard Kelly."

Tears of joy flooded her eyes as her she prayed:"Thank You, God, that Your love has spread broad through human hearts and hands."

Hospital Bill

In our lives we are tempted to quit so many times, but we need to finish well, just as Christ did.

Consider your own dreams and goals. How much “unfinished business” is left in your life at this point? How confident are you that you will be able to finish everything by the time you die? As Christians,how faithful are we in completing the tasks God hasassigned us to do?

God’s will is never done and God’s will is always done. It is never done in that after we have done all we can do, there is much more that needs to be done. That is true whether you live 20 years or 90 years.

Slavery

Hunger

Homelessness

It is always done because God gives each of us a small part of the big job. We do our part and then someone else comes and continues where we left off. We need to do all you can, while you can, where you can.

If we all do this, there’s no limit to what God could achieve here on earth thru us…God left us here for a reason…there’s unfinished business to do!

Alila stood on the beach holding her tiny infant son close to her heart. Tears welled in her eyes as she began slowly walking toward the river's edge. She stepped into the water, silently making her way out until she was waist deep, the water gently lapping at the sleeping baby's feet. She stood there for a long time holding the child tightly as she stared out across the river. Then all of a sudden in one quick movement she threw the six month old baby to his watery death. A native missionary came upon Alila that day kneeling in the sand crying uncontrollably and beating her breast. With compassion he knelt down next to her and asked her what was wrong.

Through her sobs she told him, "The problems in my home are too many and my sins are heavy on my heart, so I offered the best I have to the goddess Ganges, my first born son." The missionary’s heart ached for the desperate woman. As she wept he gently began to tell her about the love of Jesus and that through Him her sins could be forgiven. She looked at him strangely. "I Have never heard that before,”she replied through her tears. "Why couldn't you have come thirty minutes earlier? If you did, my child would not have had to die."

Each year millions of people come to the holy Indian city of Hardwar to bathe in the River Ganges. These multitudes come believing this Hindu ritual will wash their sins away. For many people like Alila, missionaries are arriving too late, simply because there aren't enough of these faithful brothers and sisters on the mission field.   

Mother Teresa is credited with saying, “God didn’t call us to be successful” in our endeavors, “just faithful.”

Can we be successful without being faithful? Can we be faithful without being successful?

What do the following passages teach about faithfulness: Matthew 24:12-13; Romans 2:6-7; Hebrews 12:1-3?

How would you answer someone who says, “I don’t see how the death of one man 2000 years ago can pay for my sins, much less the sins of the whole world?”

Tetelestai is in the perfect tense in Greek. That’s significant because the perfect tense speaks of an action which has been completed in the past with results continuing into the present, “This happened and it is still in effect today.” When Jesus cried out “It is finished,” he meant “It was finished in the past, and it is still finished in the present, and it will continue to be finished in the future.”

Are you close to quitting? Don’t give up! Are you discouraged as a parent? Hang in there! Are you weary with doing well? Do just a little more! Are you pessimistic about your job? Roll up your sleeves and go at it again. Tired of believing? Hold on with a little more tenacity. Are you at the end of your rope? Tie a knot in it. No communication in your marriage? Give it one more shot. Can’t resist temptation, Accept God’s forgiveness and go one more round. Is your day framed with sorrow and disappointment? Are your tomorrows turning into never? Is hope a forgotten word?

Gal 6:9-10  May we never tire of doing what is good and right before our Lord because in His season we shall bring in a great harvest if we can just persist.  So seize any opportunity the Lord gives you to do good things and be a blessing to everyone, especially those within our faithful family.

A man walked by some kids were playing ball in a sandlot. As he strolled along the third base line, he called to the fielder, "Say, what's the score?”He yelled to back, "There's no one out, the bases full, They're winning forty-two to nothing!""You're getting beat, aren't you my friend?" And then in no time flat he answered, "No, sir, not as yet! Our side hasn't been up to bat!"

The kid knew something some of us could learn. It ain't over 'til it's over. That's just as true in life as it is in baseball. Giving up before the last strike, letting up before the finish line, quitting before the final buzzer--that's no way to play a game or live a life. It ain't over until it's over.

Yesterday is gone, tomorrow may never come, all we have is today. Let us continue to love and serve until“It is finished.”

It is Finished—Michael Gibney

Tetelestai—Ray Pritchard

Making a Bucket List—Jerry Trauger

Unfinished Business—Ray Pritchard