2 Timothy 4:1-8

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

Truths and Trends about the End of Life

Truth: God is glorified in old age
Trend: Our culture worships youth

Proverbs 16:31

Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained in a righteous life.

Truth: God calls His people to care for the elderly
Trend: Many people abandon the elderly

Leviticus 19:32

“You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.”

1 Timothy 5:1-4

Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity. Honor widows who are truly widows. But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household and to make some return to their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God.

Truth: God has a purpose for every life
Trend: Tragically, many seek to speed up inevitable death

1 Timothy 6:13

He gives life to all things …

James 4:15

Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

Job 14:5

Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass

“Nor shall any man’s entreaty prevail upon me to administer poison to anyone. Neither will I counsel any man to do so. Moreover, I will give no sort of medicine to any pregnant woman with a view to destroy the child.” (Hippocratic Oath)

Philippians 1:19-21

I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

Truth: Dignity of human life is tied to the image of God
Trend: Our value is based on what we contribute

Genesis 1:26-27

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him …

James 3:8-9

but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.

Hebrews 9:27-28

And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.