Maintaining Courage When Facing Death

(If you have found this sermon helpful, please visit us at www.HeritageRestorationProject.org or www.ChristianWisdom.info)

What is it that frightens us most about death? Is it worrying that we will desperately miss the person who leaves us behind, or that the person we leave behind will desperately miss us? Are we afraid that we will not be able to get along without the person we love? In many cases, yes, I'm sure. In other cases we may have important unfinished business with another person, a score to settle, an issue to resolve, a relationship to be repaired, work to finish, and we fear that we will not have enough time to accomplish these things. Maybe we still haven't asked for forgiveness from someone we have wronged, or told someone who needs to hear from us that they are forgiven. Or, maybe we are afraid of death because we are sinners and not prepared to meet our Maker. Death seems so final, the end of the road, the end of possibilities, the end of opportunities, the end of healing, the end of building, the end of springtime and renewal. There are many reasons why we may fear death.

If you fear death for any reason, God has a message for you that He wishes for you to hear and understand.

Listen to God speaking to us through the Apostle Paul: “So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, ‘death is swallowed up in victory’. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”(1Corinthians 15:54-55)

Christians believe in eternal life. The nature of the resurrected “body” of the believer is, however, still a mystery. In 1 Corinthians 15:35-36, the Apostle Paul acknowledges the questions, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” Paul then falls back on the metaphorical illustration used by Jesus in his teaching, namely, a seed when planted must first die before the new plant emerges (see John 12:24-25). Metaphors such as this are an important part of our Christian epistemology… as I have stated elsewhere, indeed Jesus Christ himself is God’s chief metaphor (see John 14:9).

Metaphors use the known, that which can be apprehended through the five physical senses, to point to a concept that can only be known metaphorically. Both Jesus and Paul communicate to us using metaphorical language. Sometimes this is sufficient to allay the fear. At other times we are left wanting. Somehow, through the inner light of the Holy Spirit, we gain an assurance that what lies ahead is not to be feared. Mysteries remain, and the Apostle Paul himself does not skirt this issue. He acknowledges that there are aspects of the resurrection that must remain a mystery for now. In 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 Paul writes: “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—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.”

And here is where trust comes into play, even when we are perplexed and afraid. John records in John 6:60-69 that when Jesus asked His disciples to accept something He had said, many of them walked away. “This is a hard saying”, they said; “who can understand it?”(John 6:60b). And many left the fellowship because they were perplexed and afraid. “Then Jesus said to the twelve, ‘Do you also want to go away?’ But Simon Peter answered Him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God’” (John 6:67-69). When you are perplexed and afraid, remember that the promises of the Lord will sustain you for he has given us the words of eternal life.

Listen again to these words the book of Revelation. In Revelation chapter 21:4 we read: “God will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, for the former things have passed away.”

I think it is important for us to realize that even when it appears to us that the time has come when we can no longer do anything about the circumstances of our life, Jesus can still do something. Death may rob us of many joys and opportunities, opportunities to encourage and support a loved one, opportunities to finish our work, opportunities to see our family grow, opportunities to learn more about the Lord, opportunities to reconcile with those we have wronged, opportunities to forgive those who have wronged us. The undeniable fact is that death may prevent us from doing things, and because of that be the reason of great fear, but death is not all powerful. Restoration of that which has been lost can, through Jesus, be accomplished, both for the one who has died and gone to be with the Lord and for those who are left behind. How might this come about? It will come about in due season through the workings of God. Be calm. Stand firm. Do not be afraid (see Exodus 14:13). It may take a life-time to work through, but this I know, “every tear will be wiped away.”