{"id":640,"date":"2020-11-15T21:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-11-16T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/?p=640"},"modified":"2021-01-07T19:33:51","modified_gmt":"2021-01-08T03:33:51","slug":"free-to-face-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/?p=640","title":{"rendered":"Free! – to Face Death"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

(based on 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I must confess I am somewhat puzzled by our current relationship with death. It would seem we\u2019re all over the place on our views of death. There is a strong demand in our country for the freedom to put children to death through abortion. Euthanasia and suicide appear to be increasingly acceptable options. Yet, a virus that kills only a minuscule percentage of the population has multitudes paralyzed with fear. I can\u2019t make sense of it. I don\u2019t know if we care too much about death, or not enough as a society. But, society\u2019s relationship with death is not what informs or influences our relationship with death – at least one would hope. For the freedom we have in Christ is a real thing, and it has a direct impact on how we as Christians approach and deal with death. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The freedom we have in Christ not only frees us from the fear of facing judgment on the Last Day; it also frees us to face something most of us are more than likely to experience before Jesus returns: death. The apostle Paul addresses the very subject of death in our verses this morning. He acknowledges that a lack of knowledge around death and what happens when we die is a legitimate cause for concern and even fear. Often fear flows from what is unknown, so Paul seeks to address that ignorance by educating us under the Holy Spirit\u2019s guidance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He introduced the subject matter with these words: \u201cBrothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed\u00a0about those who sleep in death,\u00a0so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope\u201d (v.14).<\/em><\/strong> Notice the connection between being uninformed, or ignorant, about death, or as Paul puts it in reference to Christians who have died, \u201cthose who sleep,\u201d<\/em><\/strong> and hopeless grieving. That is to say, those who are uninformed or ignorant about this matter of death are understandably left mourning inconsolably because they have no hope. So then, how do we ensure hope in the face of death? We make sure we\u2019re informed.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People speak in all kinds of ways about what happens when a person dies, as if this is some unknown area where one person\u2019s guess is as good as another\u2019s. But the Bible, while it doesn\u2019t come close to answering every single question we have surrounding death, is nonetheless clear on what happens when a person dies. Ecclesiastes 12:7 states, \u201cThe dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> Every human being has both a body and a soul, and at death, the two are separated. The body or its remains are placed into the ground, while the soul goes immediately to either heaven or hell. There is no purgatory or place of limbo where souls are placed \u201con hold\u201d until the Last Day. There will be no rapture or second chance for people to believe at another point in time, for the writer to the Hebrews established that \u201cpeople are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment\u201d (Hebrews 9:27).<\/em><\/strong> Then, as Paul describes in the last four verses of our text, Jesus will return on the Last Day. Every dead body, both believers and unbelievers, will be raised and rejoined together with its soul, and will then be permanently and publicly permitted to the final destination of either hell or heaven.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While many of us have questions about heaven and hell, many of which the Bible doesn\u2019t answer, again the Bible is clear enough in its descriptions about hell that we know it isn\u2019t something we\u2019d wish anyone to experience. The pictures of eternal agony and torment and suffering without any relief whatsoever rule out any foolish idea that maybe there are a few spots in hell that aren\u2019t so bad, as if court-side seats or VIP suites would somehow make it more bearable. While people make passing comments about experiencing hell on earth, such flippant descriptions only serve to seriously downplay the reality of real condemnation in hell. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heaven, on the other hand, only gets five-star ratings throughout the whole Bible. It is only ever described in desirable, favorable, blissfully blessed terms. All suffering and sorrow, all letdown and loss, all hardship, hurt, and heartache – all of it is filtered out of heaven so that all that remains is every day is the best day you could ever imagine. And while it will surely be a joyful reunion of the saints, including our loved ones, even those hoped-for reunions will be overshadowed by the beautiful reminder Paul provides: \u201cAnd so we will be with the Lord forever\u201d (1 Thes. 4:17b).<\/em><\/strong> We will no longer know Jesus just from hymns and songs, Bible verses, or artistic renditions, but in reality, face-to-face, in the flesh, in person, in his presence, forever. Any fear in the face of death fades even just by contemplating that magnificent reality of heaven: being with the Lord forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What makes the difference? What determines our final destination? We touched on it last Sunday, but have it again here today from Paul in verse 14. \u201cFor 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.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> It\u2019s that simple. There need be no uncertainty in the face of death if we can affirm our confidence in this simple statement of Paul. We believe that Jesus died and rose again. Period. And, that means we believe we\u2019re going where Jesus goes, because his death and resurrection have already punched our ticket.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That means we\u2019re going where six of our church family members have already arrived this year. Each of them believed that Jesus died and rose again, and so God brought each of them to be with Jesus to their final destination of heaven. While gathering restrictions this year did not permit us to hold services for each of these sainted brothers and sisters, nevertheless, no restrictions can ever rob us of the comfort we have in knowing they are with the Lord forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And someday, we will be, too. For we, too, \u201cbelieve that Jesus died and rose again\u201d (v.17b). <\/em><\/strong>If Jesus did, and if we believe it, then we\u2019re free. We\u2019re free from the fear of death. So much fear, after all, is based on the unknown. But when we take whatever is unknown and make it known, fear dissipates. When we don\u2019t have to wonder what happens when a person dies, when we don\u2019t have to worry about where we\u2019re going or how we can be sure of it, we\u2019re free to face death. It holds no terror over us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it does more than that, actually. It isn\u2019t about simply making something we all face less scary; it\u2019s about putting what we\u2019re all facing right now in the proper perspective. When we have the peace of knowing that death means being with the Lord forever, then we can take in stride everything this year has thrown at us. While we\u2019re all mentally and emotionally worn out from hearing the same nauseating news over and over and over again, we can temper it with the triumph that is in store for us in heaven. Ah, but friends, if Sunday morning is the only time each week when we think thoughts of Jesus, our salvation, and our place with him forever, but the rest of the week let the news and headlines tickle our ears, are we making the most of every opportunity for the gospel to keep us uplifted and inspired? Are we giving it a fair chance to counter the chaos of our culture right now? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Paul wrapped up these verses the same way he did the verses we heard last Sunday, do you think he had in mind just occasionally? Did he just mean once in a great while? Or does his last verse, \u201ctherefore encourage one another with these words\u201d (v.18)<\/strong><\/em> sound like something we ought to implement as often as necessary? I don\u2019t know about you, but I have not yet had anyone turn down any extra encouragement these days. And I myself appreciate it when you all encourage me. Could we do more of that, especially with an eye toward eternity? Friends, listen to me: this. will. pass. But even better than that, we don\u2019t have to just \u201cget through this\u201d; we actually have something better in store!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With that in mind, and perhaps as a way to keep the encouragement of this Saints Triumphant Sunday before us, here<\/a> is a planning guide for you. It\u2019s a guide to help you plan your funeral. It doesn\u2019t cover every detail, but does allow for giving consideration to appropriate or favorite Scripture sections or hymns that you would like to have played at your funeral. I invite you to grab one, take some time to think through it, and when you finish it, return a copy to your church and keep one for yourself. Now this might sound like a weird thing to do, but if we\u2019re truly free to face death – and we are – then aren\u2019t we also free to plan for it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the many added blessings of this kind of planning? It is a blessing to a congregation. When we think through and plan for such things because of the confidence we have \u201cthat Jesus died and rose again\u201d (v.17b), <\/em><\/strong>we can bless Christ\u2019s church long after we leave earth and are with the Lord forever. That is exactly what one of this year\u2019s sainted members did when planning to leave 25% of their estate to support the continued proclamation of Jesus\u2019 death and resurrection. Is that not encouraging?!? That member, blessed by the message of Jesus for so many years here, planned to ensure that same blessing would continue for others after departing for home in heaven. Friends, when we are free to face death, that is the kind of impact we can make! So no, we \u201cdo not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope\u201d (v.14), <\/em><\/strong>for we know \u201cwe will be with the Lord forever\u201d (v.17b).<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(based on 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) I must confess I am somewhat puzzled by our current relationship with death. It would seem we\u2019re all over the place on our views of death. There is a strong demand in our country for the freedom to put children to death through abortion. Euthanasia and suicide appear to be… Continue reading Free! – to Face Death<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[72,65],"tags":[6,69,73,5,36],"class_list":["post-640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-free-series","category-sermons","tag-death","tag-free","tag-heaven","tag-jesus","tag-sermon"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p842FN-ak","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=640"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":667,"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640\/revisions\/667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}