June 10, 2010

  • The hope of Christians when death occurs

    I wrote this up to be what I share at George Slawson's funeral. But, I doubt if there will be time for the entire sermon.

    Know that we in Christ will ALL live with the Lord forever

     

    For a Christian,  physical death is part of the process towards the day we will be with the Lord forever.  We , therefore, can face death filled with hope for the time to come. It is not an ending, but a new beginning. 

    For an unbeliever, all good times come to an end so it makes sense why they would say, “Eat , drink , and be merry for tomorrow we die.  For them death  is “the end”.

    For Christians , death does not hold the same grief as it does for an unbeliever: We have hope in the Lord. He says we will live even if we die. And, one day He is coming back  and we will be with Him forever.
    1 Thess 4:13 Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.

     14 We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.

    15 According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.

    16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

     17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage each other with these words. NIV

    Job 19:25 "But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and that he will stand upon the earth at last. 26 And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God! 27 I will see him for myself. Yes, I will see him with my own eyes. I am overwhelmed at the thought! NLT

     

    To be with the Lord is to be in joy!

    Ps 16: 11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.KJV

    Everyone will come out of their grave one day; however only the Christians will arise into eternal life

    (Jesus is speaking in this verse) John 5:28 "Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out — those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.NIV

     

    The apostle Paul said that to die is gain…that dying is better than life here on earth because departing from this earth means to be with Christ.

    Phil 1: 21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; 24 but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.

     

    All those who have invited the Spirit of the Lord to live in them will rise again one day

    Rom 8:11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.KJV

     

    1 Cor 6:14 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.

     

    2 Cor 4:14 because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence.NIV

     

    In eternity we will have a glorified body:

    We await with eagerness  the resurrection and the glorified bodies He will give us     Phil 3: 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. NIV

     

    1 Cor 15:50 I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."   55 "Where, O death, is your victory?

    Where, O death, is your sting?"   NIV

     

    2 Cor 5:1:For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down — when we die and leave these bodies — we will have a home in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. 2 We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long for the day when we will put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. 3 For we will not be spirits without bodies, but we will put on new heavenly bodies. 4 Our dying bodies make us groan and sigh, but it's not that we want to die and have no bodies at all. We want to slip into our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by everlasting life. 5 God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit.

    6 So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. 7 That is why we live by believing and not by seeing. 8 Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord. 9 So our aim is to please him always, whether we are here in this body or away from this body. 10 For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in our bodies.NLT

     

    In Christ , we have victory over death

    John 11:25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? KJV

     

     

    Those who live for self, those who walk in impurity will have eternal destruction; we who eagerly away Him will have an eternal body like Christ.

    Phil 3:17 Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example. 18 For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their future is eternal destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and all they think about is this life here on earth. 20 But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. 21 He will take these weak mortal bodies of ours and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same mighty power that he will use to conquer everything, everywhere. NLT

     

    I think of the story Uncle Charlie of  Children’s Bible Hour told me :

    A dying mom was putting her 2 boys to bed.  To one she said, “Good night – see you in the morning” to the other she simply said, “Good bye”

    That son asked her why she said “Good bye” to him and not to his brother. The mom said it was because  his brother was a Christian, but he was not. She said his brother and her would one day see one another; but , it was “good bye “ for him because she would never see him again. He was an unbeliever.

     

    Believers die;however, we have hope that God has given us eternal life. This life comes into us when we accept the Holy Spirit of the Lord.