The Lutheran Hour

"God’s Bucket List"

#80-17
Presented on The Lutheran Hour on December 30, 2012
Speaker: Rev. Ken Klaus
Copyright 2025 Lutheran Hour Ministries

Text: Isaiah 55:6-7

Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Today is unsure and tomorrow is uncertain. Still, when the risen Lord Jesus lives in your heart you can look at both and be at peace. As we approach this New Year, may we acknowledge the Lord Who is seeking us. While He still gives us time may we call upon Him and be embraced by the salvation which comes through the Savior. Dear Lord, grant this to us all. Amen.

If you are listening to this sermon on the 30th of December, it means one of two things. The first thing it might mean is that you are a survivor of the end of the world. That’s right, you are a survivor. According to the experts, the Mayan calendar was supposed to end on December 23, 2012 and the world was supposed to end at the same time. Indeed, only a few people were supposed to make it though that global catastrophe. And if you are hearing this sermon, you are one of those survivors. So, let’s be honest: if the world did end, those ancients were right and I, a spokesman for Jesus Christ, am wrong and you can disregard the rest of this message.

Of course, if you are listening to this message, it might mean something else, something quite different. It might mean that the Mayans, like many before them and many who will come after them, were wrong in their prediction of the world’s demise. So, which is it? Did the world end or did it not? Would you like to spend a few moments calling some friends and family to see if they’re still here? Would you like to stick your head out the window and, as loud as you can, yell, “Is there anybody else out there?” Now you can do those things or else you can play the odds and trust me when I say: “the world didn’t end”

The Mayans were wrong about the world’s termination, but they were right about you being a survivor. This week marks the end of 2012 and the birth of Anno Domini 2013, that’s the “year 2013 of our Lord.” Tomorrow night, as the clock strikes 12 midnight, you will be an individual who has managed to live long enough to ring out the old year and ring in the new. You are a survivor. Congratulations! Now I’m not saying you survived 2012 without a few scrapes and scars, nor do I think you managed to make it through without some bumps and bruises.

It’s a rare individual who can, for 365 days, manage to dodge all the pains and problems which a year can throw at them and it is impossible for me, on this side of the microphone to know what crosses you’ve had to carry. Was it an illness which knocked you to your knees, a malady which even now is wrestling you and your doctors for control of your future? Is it loneliness? Did you have to say a final earthly farewell to someone whom you loved? Did you say goodbye to some friend whom you trusted; some individual in whom you believed? Are you among the millions for whom 2013 meant financial hardship and adversity? Have you applied for a position only to be told that while you were one of the finalists, and had excellent qualifications, the job went to someone else? Are you one of the many who were told you need not trouble yourself and report to work next week? Do you find yourself continuously concerned about the younger generation or do your thoughts always seem to return to the older generation and their inability to meet the challenges which are sure to come in the New Year? Yes, there have been past troubles and there will be future tribulations, but you, my friends, have survived.

Which means, of course, that you, as a survivor, will be making some plans. Years ago we used to refer to these New Year’s plans as “resolutions.” Nowadays we don’t make resolutions, we put things on our bucket list. No matter how you look at it, no matter what you call it, there are things you want to do for or to yourself before you become… before you become… well, before you become a non-survivor.

Bucket list items can be practical things like, “I want to see Monument Valley” or “I want to learn how to write Chinese.” Bucket list items can be centered on self-improvement. For example, you might say, “I’m going to lose 10 pounds this year; I’m going to give up smoking; I’m going to go to church more often; I’m going to spend more time with the children; tell my spouse how much I love all they do.” There are bucket list items which take a person out of their comfort zone: “I want to bungee jump off a tall bridge; I want to go scuba diving with great white sharks; I want to ski a mountain which has never been skied.” Recent years have seen more and more people putting fun or silly things on their bucket list. You know, things like:
* Play hide and seek at a mall with 20 other adults.
* Get in a taxi and say to the driver, “Follow that car!” and see where it takes you.
* Pretend to be a department store greeter and offer to give everyone a hug saying, ‘We’ve missed you.”
* Here’s one: approach a stranger, ask him what year it is and when he (or she) says “2013”, breathe a sigh of relief and say, “Thank heaven, it worked.” Walk away punching the air and saying, “I can’t believe it. 2013, a time machine that works.”

Now I have no vested interest in the things you have on your bucket list. If you want to jump the Snake River Canyon like Evel Knievel, go for it. If you want to go through Navy Seal training, I won’t stand in your way. No, I don’t care about the things which are on your list. I’m more concerned about what’s not on the lists of you survivors. You see, my friends, you have survived 2012… but how about 2013… or 2014… 2015… 2050… 2100? The truth is this there will be a calendar year which will come and you will not be there to greet it; a New Year will arrive and you will not have survived to see it.

Do you hear that rhythmic sound. Yes, it’s rhythmic and it can also be annoying. Still, I am playing that sound for a purpose. According to the best figures I can find, approximately 155,000 people in this world die every day. Breaking that down, that’s about 6,500 individuals every hour, or 107 per minute. Each click that you hear represents the death of some individual. Some of those folks have been with us only for a few moments while others have checked off numerous decades. All of these people had parents and most were blessed to have a mother and father who were willing to make sacrifices for their newborn; who saw in this infant potential, possibilities, hope; someone who would remember them when they were gone.

Schooling? Some were educated, others were not. Love? Some were loved, others found only loneliness; and a few were almost incapable of loving anyone. Wealth? Many lived in poverty and for them a full belly and abundant pure water was only a dream. In contrast there were a few individuals wealthy enough that their wish almost immediately became a reality. Some never had a day of illness; others never saw a day of health. Some found fulfillment and happiness while others felt themselves to be losers and for them loneliness was a constant companion.

City dweller, farmer, herders, wanderers. People of peace and people trained in war. People who made others glad when they entered a room and those who made others glad when they left. People who laughed and people who cried. With each click a soul leaves us and is moved from the rank of survivor to non-survivor. Will they have a warning or will the coming of death be swift and without having given proper notice? I don’t know nor does anyone else. Will they be mourned? Will they be missed? All that can be said is they were alive and then they weren’t. Once they were survivors, but now….. Oh, one thing I failed to mention: the day will come when one of those clicks will be yours.

I’m pretty sure that’s not on your bucket list. That’s because, although it doesn’t make any sense, most of us like to believe that somehow, in some mysterious way, death is going to pass us by. That he will take a look at us and say, ‘Oh, he’s got too many things on his plate for me to bother him.” Or “I just can’t bear to take someone this nice, this good, this loved, this needed.” The sad and sorry reality is death comes. It comes to you, to me, to everybody.

Depressing, isn’t it? It’s certainly a depressing, discouraging way to enter the New Year. If it’s any consolation, I agree with you. And so does the Lord. Which is why, I would encourage you to take a look at the Lord’s bucket list. Yes, the Triune God has a bucket list. Of course that which is on His bucket list isn’t for Him. When You are immortal, all-powerful, and can do anything You want, You don’t need to have a bucket list for Yourself. No, that which is on the Lord’s bucket list is for us.

To find that item which the Lord thinks should be on your bucket list you must go to the Old Testament prophet Isaiah. In the 55th chapter of his book, by the Holy Spirit’s direction, he wrote, “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”

“Seek the Lord while He may be found, call on Him while He is near.” That’s what we’ve been talking about. Today you are a survivor. Today the Lord wants to save you; indeed, God would have all men to be saved. To that end He sent His Son into this world to take our place under the law. All the Commandments we have broken, Jesus kept. The Savior resisted the temptations which Satan had successfully used to seduce us. From the beginning of His life in Bethlehem to His cruel crucifixion on Calvary, Jesus put Himself in our stead. That also meant that He suffered the death which our sins called for. Voluntarily, willingly Jesus allowed Himself to be arrested, unfairly tried and crucified. To that cross He took our sins and on that cross He paid the price to save us. Three days later when Jesus rose from the dead, His victory was validated as was the Lord’s offer of forgiveness and salvation to all who would be led to faith in the Redeemer. It is an offer which is extended to us so that death might be changed.

Yes, the Lord wants to save your soul and take frightening, fearful death and transform it. When an individual has faith in Jesus Christ, death no longer is a one-way ticket to hell. Because Jesus has risen from the dead, death has been made into a beautiful gateway into heaven and eternal happiness. When sins are forgiven, the conscience is made clean and our days are lived with confidence that Christ is with us today and every day. Because of the Redeemer the terror of death is taken away for us and for those who are left behind there is the knowledge that there will be a heavenly reunion which will never end.

Salvation through the Savior. That’s what’s the Lord wants every person to put on their bucket list. From His point of view it is a no-brainer. It is His plan and His Son Who made the sacrifice which saves. From God’s perspective, believing on Jesus is a request that is not only reasonable it is right. Sadly, there are many people who don’t want to find the Lord or the have the Lord find them. They are self-assured, self-actualized, self-confident, and self-contained. They want to keep control of their day-to-day decisions; they want their fate to remain in their own hands. They are reluctant to turn any aspect of their lives over to the Lord or to anyone else for that matter. When God says, “the wicked should forsake his ways and the unrighteous his way of thinking,” modern man finds that interfering and intrusive on God’s part.

Personally I have no problem with that as long as, and this is important, I have no problem with that as long as you are in control of your life. So let me ask a few questions to see if you are in control:
1. Are you sure, I don’t mean “Do you think”, I mean are you SURE you will wake up tomorrow? If the best, honest answer you can give is, “Probably”, then you aren’t in control.
2. Where in your body will cancer someday develop? What will eventually end your life? If you don’t know, you aren’t in control.
3. Will you and your car be in an accident today? How severe will that accident be? What broken bones, if any, what internal injuries will you incur? How long will you be hospitalized? If you aren’t in control of other drivers, then you aren’t in control of your life.
4. When you breathe your last, are you headed heavenward or hellward? Is that a word? Probably not. Is it heaven or hell for you? If you’re not sure, if you’re not able to move yourself from one to another, you need the Savior because you aren’t in control.

God has always known you would need a Savior and that is why He sent His Son. As Isaiah wrote, the Lord will have compassion on people and He will, because of Jesus, pardon us of our sins. Sending Jesus was His way of making sure that you, the Survivor of 2012, really did survive. It was His way of making sure that when you start this New Year, you can do so with confidence and peace.

A good many years ago, my first in the ministry, it was my practice to visit my congregation’s shut-ins on a monthly basis. I remember the day I called upon a sweet, albeit cantankerous, 92-year-old lady. As I left, I shouted over my soldier, “See you next month.” With a voice far larger than her old body, she shouted, “Young man, come back here.” When I returned, she said, “Young sir… I have a bit of advice for you. You never say, ‘See you next week to a 92-year-old lady.’ You don’t know how long I’ve got… or how long you’ve got. The best you can say is, “See you next month, Lord willing.”

Will I talk to you again next New Year’s Eve? Who can say? I can say, “I’ll talk to you next year, Lord willing.” That is in the Lord’s hands. He will do what is right and best for His people. I pray you are one of them. If you are not, don’t let next year begin as this one has ended… By the Holy Spirit be brought to faith. To that end, we extend this invitation, please let us tell you of the Savior. Call us at The Lutheran Hour. Amen.

LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for December 30, 2012
Topic: God Should End Starvation

ANNOUNCER: God could end starvation. So why doesn’t He? Pastor Ken Klaus responds to a listener’s challenge. I’m Mark Eischer.

KLAUS: Hi, Mark. Once again, we’re tackling some supposedly “unanswerable” questions.

ANNOUNCER: That’s right. This one takes issue with God’s omnipotence, His mercy, and His sense of fairness.

KLAUS: Where do we start?

ANNOUNCER: First, a little background. According to the most recent estimates, 925 million people in the world are undernourished. That’s more than all the people in the U.S., Canada, and the European Union, combined. 925 million, one in seven people in the world are either not getting enough to eat or not enough of the right stuff to eat.

KLAUS: Got it.

ANNOUNCER: So, here’s the unanswerable question: “Why does God give a raise to a relatively affluent person in North America, but He doesn’t answer the prayers of those in the rest of the world who are hungry? How is this fair?”

KLAUS: Rather strange pairing in those two… God giving raises to working people so they can buy bigger houses, but seemingly letting other people starve. Ascribing some rather unfair characteristics to God.

ANNOUNCER: Let’s look at those scenarios one at a time.

KLAUS: Okay. To the best of my knowledge, the Lord has not been involved in any form of collective bargaining. As a God Who is fair and just, He would want employers to pay their workers a fair wage.

ANNOUNCER: And, flip that coin over, have workers give their bosses a fair day’s work in exchange for the wages they receive. Anything else?

KLAUS: No, I don’t think so. I think we can move on to what I see as the question’s main objection.

ANNOUNCER: Right. You mean God’s apparent unfairness toward people who are starving all over the world?

KLAUS: Yes, that part. As far as I am able to tell, in one sense, the Lord has answered the prayers asking Him to stop starvation around the world.

ANNOUNCER: Well, that’s an interesting response because people are still starving. So, how do you explain that?

KLAUS: I can. First, we have to ask, is there enough food being produced in the world to feed the populace of the world?

ANNOUNCER: From what I’ve read, yes there is. The problem, though, is that some places have more food than they can use, other places have much less than they need.

KLAUS: Exactly. So, God has heard our prayers and He has responded. He has, through science and education, provided for the development of different grains and other crops which grow faster and stronger, resist disease and drought, and produce higher yields. Producing a quantity of food requires the proper balance of sun, rain, and temperature; God is pretty much in control there. We can plant, weed, and fertilize, but without that God-given blessing of the earth there is no crop, or there’s only a limited crop. You have to thank God for the harvest.

ANNOUNCER: Okay. I see what you’re saying here. But then, when it comes to the distribution of all this food…

KLAUS: Aw, distribution of the harvest is something God has given us to do. God has given us plentiful harvests to defeat hunger. He has not, however, sent His angels to earth, getting behind the wheels of giant cargo ships and 18-wheeler trucks to get the food where it needs to go.

ANNOUNCER: So, if I were to summarize so far, God has been pretty good at taking care of His end of the deal, but it’s people who have not followed through.

KLAUS: I like your thinking. The food is there, the distribution is not. Now I may send many tons of food to starving nations, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s going to arrive where it’s supposed to go. You’ve got greedy warlords, thieves, corrupt government officials who all take their cut and pretty soon there’s not much left for the people who really need it.

ANNOUNCER: It’s a sad thing when God somehow always gets the blame for our human sinfulness.

KLAUS: It’s sort of like a country which plants tens of thousands of land mines and then complains God has not given them fields for farming.

ANNOUNCER: I think it’s also important, as we close today, to remember that God works through means and He often accomplishes His miracles through the efforts of His people and organizations; we could mention here LCMS World Relief and Human Care. And when you look at things that way, you and I can be part of the answer of how God is answering prayers. Thank you, Pastor Klaus. This has been a presentation of Lutheran Hour Ministries.

Music Selections for this program:

“A Mighty Fortress” arranged by Chris Bergmann. Used by permission.

“Day by Day” by Martin How. From Hope by the Concordia Seminary Chorus (© 2006 Concordia Seminary Chorus) GIA Publications, Inc.

“Lord, Support Us All Day Long” From The Concordia Organist (© 2009 Concordia Publishing House)

“American Hymnsong Suite” by Dwayne S. Milburn. From With Heart and Voice by the Concordia University Wind Symphony (© 2011 Concordia University-Chicago) Neil A. Kjos Music Company