“Someday you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it. I shall be more alive than I am now. I will just have changed my address. I will have gone into the presence of God.”- Billy Graham
I woke to the news of the passing of Rev. Billy Graham. Like most Americans, I’ve known of Rev. Graham for most of my life. I’ve seen his classic crusades on television, watched him rub shoulders on TV with U.S. presidents and even visited his library in Charlotte with my family while we were passing through. No, I never once talked to him nor did I listen to him preach the gospel in person but to me he was, “Billy”, this country’s preacher. My first instinct upon hearing the news was to be sad. I guess that’s the way we are all wired. Someone dies; we are supposed to be sad.
You will be bombarded with information and reflections in the coming days on the life of Billy Graham. As you watch the news, surf the web or visit social media, he will be everywhere. Some of it true, some of it not. I’m not writing this as an addition to those things or as a eulogy for a faithful preacher of the Word, but as a reminder of how we are to think like followers of Jesus, even as we think about Billy Graham’s death.
1) Billy Graham is not getting what he deserves…
Not at all! We often think that when a Christian dies he or she finally gets what he has worked so hard for but that’s not the case, ever! You see, when a believer dies we get what we could never work for. As a matter of fact we get what Jesus lived, worked and died to accomplish for us! Billy Graham never worked for his salvation but from his salvation. Listen as Paul makes this clear in his letter to the Ephesians;
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:8-10
2) We have not lost Billy Graham
I lose my car keys, my wallet and my watch often. When I lose them I have no idea where they are. Don't think that way about the death of a believer.
Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 2 Corinthians 5:8
Though Billy Graham is not on this earth any longer, he is far from being lost. As a matter of fact, we can know with surety exactly where he is, with our Lord.
3) God is still in control
God used Billy Graham in ways that the world had never seen. Television, Evangelistic crusades in stadiums and popularity exceeding any other preacher in history. We must not forget that Billy was a part of the plan of God. As easy as it is to sit the Rev. Graham upon a pedestal, Billy was nothing more than conduit used by the Sovereign God of all.
At times of death and grief it is so easy to let our thinking become lazy and rely on our intuition rather than the Bible.
John records Jesus talking to his disciples in the upper room and in this loving conversation between friends, we get a clue as to how we are to think biblically about Christians, great or small, in life or in death;
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. John 15:16
Before we “ring our hands” and start to worry about what is going to happen after the death of “America’s Preacher,” lets again anchor our hearts and minds in the scripture;
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
“For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counselor?”
“Or who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?”
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. Romans 11:33-36
In closing I thank God for Billy Graham’s life, faithfulness, example and ministry. I also pray that the death of Billy Graham will be an opportunity for us to not only train our minds to think Biblically but also a chance to share the same good news that Billy proclaimed to millions. As people discuss Billy’s death, we will be afforded the perfect opportunity to tell of One who died but now lives. One who defeated death and who sits on the throne today!
As a church, let us remember the Graham family as we pray and remember this; Today we do not mourn the death of Billy but Rejoice for the life of Christ!
Soli Deo Gloria
Pastor Chris
P.S.
Years ago I was deeply impacted by a sermon by Rev. Graham titled “The Brevity of Time”. God used that sermon in my life in a big way. I’ve included the sermon in its entirety below.