Dying Is Better Than Living Series

Title: Dying is better than living

Text: Philippians 1:21-23

“For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 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! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far.”

1.Paul’s Sermon title: “I wish I was dead.”

2.Your crazy to… wish you were dead

3.Paul knew some things about death we need to hear today

Unless Jesus comes back first we are all going to die…

Our youngest daughter Leisha who is 6 thinks I’m really old and has said to me more than once

“I’m going to miss you Dad”

1.We don’t like to talk about dying

2.When Jesus talked about his own death…

3.Peter rebuked him…

4.Some of you might be rebuking me right now!

It’s good from time to time to look into God’s word to see what is says about dying

Summarize: For the believer: Dying is never portrayed as a bad thing

Paul said;

“To die is gain”

“To depart and be with Christ is better by far”

In other words dying is better than living

Question: What do we gain when we die?

Why is dying better than living?

I want us to consider this morning 4 things that we gain when we die?

1, We gain a better home

“In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

John 14:2-4

1. The Bible calls this better home: HEAVEN

A. Definition of Heaven; Heaven is God’s dwelling place

Jesus called heaven “My father’s house.”

B. We don’t know everything there is to know about heaven but what we do know is pretty exciting.

1.In heaven there will be no more sorrow, tears, pain, or death (Rev. 21:4)

2.In heaven there will be no more night (Rev. 21:23-25)

3.In heaven there will be no more evil (Rev. 21:27)

4.In heaven there will be no more curse (Rev. 22:3)

The Best Thing about heaven is…

5.In heaven we will be with God for ever and ever (Rev. 21:3)

“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.”

Challenge:

We read in John 14:2 that Jesus said “I am going there to prepare a place for you”

Right now Jesus is preparing a room for us to live in up in heaven.

What if Jesus gave us the same size room in heaven as we gave him on earth!

(Jesus might say: I’m going to stick you in the closet because that’s where you stuck me)

If Jesus is preparing a room for us in heaven it is only fair that we preparing a room for him to live in here on earth?

That’s how we can apply what Paul meant when he said “To live is Christ and to die is gain.”

To live is to … make room in my life for Jesus

Did not Jesus say to Zacchaeus…?

“Zacchaeus, come down immediately, I must stay at your house today.”

What did Zacchaeus do?

“So he came down at once and welcomed Jesus gladly.”

He made room for Jesus and he did so immediately and gladly!

Have we room for Jesus in our lives?

Or maybe we made room for Jesus but over the years the room got taken over by other things

Sometimes it can happen unintentionally

Sometimes it can happen intentional

The important thing is to recognize it happened and to rectify the situation.

Recap: Paul said “Dying is better than living because we gain a better home

#2 Paul says “dying is better than living because …

2. We gain a better Body

The Bible calls this better body our Resurrection body

Paul tells us about this Resurrection body in 1 Corinthians 15:35-58

The Corinthian church had asked Paul 2 questions

How are the dead raised?

With what kind of body will they come?

Here was Paul’s answer

1.We don’t receive our resurrection body until after we die

“What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.” (v36)

2.Our resurrection body will be imperishable

“The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable” (v42)

3.Our resurrection body will be a spiritual body

“It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.” (v44)