Fearless #4 Fear of Life’s Final Moments
Did you know that there’s an application on Facebook that will tell you when your life will end? I have been informed that I will die on January 19, 2016 in a car accident. Apparently a gigantic cupcake falls on my car. What’s worse is it seemed like I’m still driving around in a compact car, may be an old escort!
Have you ever given much thought to your death?
- How it will happen? Disease or accident or something else
- What will happen? Quick, painful, see it coming or totally out of the blue
- When will it happen? Could it be soon or will it be a while? Will you outlive your friends?
- Where will it happen? Will you end up in a nursing home or will it be on a boat, a car? Will a giant muffin fall on your car?
And what about after you die? Have you given much thought about that? Will it be like the movie “ghost” where black demonic figure’s come from hell and drag you away kicking and screaming? Or will you arrive at some pearly gates and Peter is asking you how to spell chezslovakia?
I have been with many people facing death. I’ve been with people as they slipped into eternity. I’ve been with family’s struggling through the valley of the shadow of death.
Death is the strongest predator on the face of the earth – He relentlessly tracks down each victim, catching and wrestling them down to the grave!
Death is seen day and night going to and fro throughout the earth stalking his prey. He is seen lurking in the shadows, with the souls of men in his grasp. He is the terror of the night.
He plays no favorites and is not prejudiced: He leaps upon young and old; man, woman, and child alike. Red, yellow, black or white!
He is coming after us and we cannot stop him.
Death is like being a mouse stuck in a tank with a snake. The end is coming. We cannot avoid the inevitable, it will happen. That snake will eventually swallow us.
Aren’t you glad you came this morning? Do you feel like shouting?
Death leaves in his wake sorrow and pain and emptiness and grief and screaming and sobbing. He’s especially gleeful when his ugly activity is blamed on God. He laughs as we dress up death, but it still death. Death steals away life and love and is permanent.
The first funeral I ever went to was the first funeral I ever preached. I remember peeking into that room to see what a dead body look like. And even now I think, “just a couple of days ago this body was filled with life, that had was filled with knowledge, this person was loving and sharing in contributing, and now it’s over, all of that knowledge and love is stilled, gone, ceased, and over.”
Ecc. 9:5 For the living know that they will die,
but the dead know nothing;
they have no further reward,
and even the memory of them is forgotten.
6 Their love, their hate
and their jealousy have long since vanished;
never again will they have a part
in anything that happens under the sun.
Is that it? Does death always have the last word the final say?
We cannot escape death. I can’t believe how many times at funerals the people walk away in total denial that someday they will be the one in that coffin and we will be talking about their life, their relationships, their priorities.
One thing that I have definitely observed through the years when it comes to death is this simple formula…
The Closer to God people are…the better they handle death
The farther away from God people are…the harder they handle death
The more sure of heaven we are…the easier it is to handle death
The more unsure we are of heaven…the harder it is to handle death
There are lots of earthly traditions and teaching about what happens at death…here are a few…
Heaven: Eternity is spent in Heaven or Paradise with God, in a state that is beautiful beyond our ability to conceive. And some believe everybody will be there…
Hell: Eternity is spent in Hell with Satan and his demons. All are tormented and tortured, in isolation from God, without any hope of mercy or relief.
Annihilation: The body rots. One’s soul, spirit, memory, personality, awareness, body, and mind disappear and are no more. One atheist said he was going to the “great perhaps.”
Transmigration of the soul: Our soul and spirit are reborn into a human fetus or newborn child.
Reincarnation: Our soul and spirit are reborn into another living entity - not necessarily human.
Purgatory
We are in a series of messages called FEARLESS. Today we want to get FEARLESS about death. We want to get fearless about meeting up with this monster and defeating him.
But by the way, do you know why it is so important of the fearless? It’s because whatever we fear controls us. Listen to this:
Heb. 2:14 Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. 15 Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.
Here is a simple 3 point proposition that I bring before you today.
1. JESUS LIFTED THE CURTAIN ON THE MYSTERY OF DEATH WHEN HE DEMONSTRATED HIS RESURRECTION POWER FOR OTHERS.
Up until the time that Jesus came death had been covered by a curtain that no one had ever been able to look behind. But now Jesus begins to lift that curtain and take away the mystery that surrounded death.
In John 11 we have a typical family mourning over the death of their brother Lazarus. There’s lots of crying, there some anger because they believe that Jesus could’ve healed him, and there’s lots of confusion. When Jesus arrives on the scene and sees his good friends mourning, this little conversation takes place:
John 11:21 "Lord," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask."
23Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."
24Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."
25Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
27"Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world."
The curtain begins to lift. It’s almost as if Jesus is telling this family, “I got this one, this isn’t so scary, death is no problem for me.”
Look at those words; I am the resurrection and the life. Jesus claims that death does not have the final say anymore. Jesus claims that he is the resurrection. He claims that there is a life beyond the beating heart.
And then look at these audacious words: he who believes in me will live, even though he dies… Jesus is claiming that death is a doorway for the one who believes. That he will live on, he will transfer residences, he will keep going in a different place. He lifts the curtain so that we will not fear death.
And then look at even more audacious words: whoever lives and believes in me will never die! He has now said it three times in a sentence – that we cannot be killed, that we cannot die, that we will go on living, that we will not experience death, annihilation, hopelessness, nothingness.
In fact we will continue to live…we will still have personal knowledge, and personal love, and memories, and feelings, only perfected.
Martha didn’t have a clue as to what Jesus was saying but she knew one thing; that Jesus was saying it, it was true. She couldn’t wrap her mind around this concept of living even though you were dying that she could wrap her mind around the fact that Jesus was the Christ.
… And that should bring us comfort. I don’t think we’re going to fully understand this concept of death and resurrection but I do think we can fully understand and believe in Jesus Christ who is the master of this concept.
And by the way, Jesus proved he knew what he was doing by calling Lazarus out of the grave four days after his death. And Lazarus came walking out because Jesus was the master of death. He is the life.
2. JESUS LIFTED THE CURTAIN ON THE MYSTERY OF DEATH WHEN HE HIMSELF WAS DEAD AND CAME BACK TO LIFE.
In the book of revelation john had a stunning encounter with Christ when he saw him in his Glory. But Jesus, in reviving john from a fainting spell, spoke these words to John…
Rev. 1:17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as if I were dead. But he laid his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave.
It’s almost like Jesus was saying, “been there and done that! Anybody else have this on their resume? Has anybody else been dead but rose up out of the grave never to die again? Anybody here take on death and the grave, anybody else here been put in a casket for three days and then busted out of it, anybody here die and three days later got up from the dead because death couldn’t hold him?
So important is the resurrection of Jesus that Paul says this:
1 Cor. 15:13 For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. 15 And we apostles would all be lying about God—for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. 16 And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. 18 In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! 19 And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.
20 But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.
Basically he saying that Jesus is the first of many who will take on death and defeat it. But he’s also saying that if Jesus wasn’t resurrected from the dead then life is meaningless and death is the end. If tyhere is nothing after death he says that our faith is ridiculous, we are to be pitied, we are liars and we should all bust out of here today and live any way we want because death is the end.
But what Jesus really did was allow death to squash his body only to be raised from the dead by the power of God and never be subject to death again. And invites us on that journey with him. Later in 1 Cor. 15 he invites us to have a new body in death, a new home and a new reality.
3. JESUS LIFTED THE CURTAIN ON THE MYSTERY OF DEATH WHEN HE BLATANTLY SAID HE WILL BE AT YOUR DEATH TO BEAT DEATH.
Listen to the most read Bible passage at funerals:
John 14:1 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2In 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. 3And 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. 4You know the way to the place where I am going."
Who else could say this? Who else could carry this out?
Break it down…
Fathers house, rooms, prepare a place for you… now we begin to glimpse what is beyond the curtain of death… A place, home, preparation for your arrival, a place with you in mind, your father’s house, the father you adore and love follow, we call this heaven. The Bible describes this place as more brilliant then your wildest thoughts. The Bible describes it as a place where every wound on this planet brought about by sin be erased. The Bible describes it is a place where everything is new every day.
… And it’s our home. This world is not our home. How many of us have longed for a little home cooking from time to time?
It’s described not as an afterlife but as a better life. Jesus elevates the funeral to the level of a wedding because to the Jewish people this is wedding language – this language about preparing a place, that is what a groom does for a bride.
And here’s the amazing part; death begins to be defanged when Jesus says, “I will come back and take you to be with me…” What is death? It is Jesus coming back and taking you with him. It is Jesus arriving the very moment of your last heartbeat and picking you up and taking you to a new home. It is Jesus himself guiding you to your new destination and not leaving you alone. It is Jesus himself removing all the fear of death and all the mystery by being your comfort and your guide.
He takes you through the veil. He takes you through the curtain. He doesn’t expect you to make that trip by yourself. I’ve heard it said that when Jesus comes for you it can be compared to when you were a little kid and you fell asleep in the car but you woke up in your own room. You don’t know how you got there but there was a parent who scooped you up and their arms and transported you to your own bed and you weren’t even aware what was happening. Jesus will scoop you up in his arms and take you, safely, to the other side.
But notice verse 14- Jesus asks us to trust him. He’s the one who knows the way. He’s the one who owns the only key. And so he tells his disciples not to get excited, not to be troubled, not to be frightened, not to be clinging to medical technology that is giving them one more heart beat, but Jesus asks for us to trust him, he tells us right there in this passage that he’s not lying, he would never lie.
By the way, some of you have trusted him to take you through this curtain of death, if you can trust them there you can trust everything else about him and you can trust everything else that he says.
So, do you know what Paul says about all of this when he reflects on it?
1 Cor. 15:54 “Death is swallowed up in victory.
55 O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
56 For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. 57 But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Death, I’m not afraid of you!
Death, you lost your hold on me!
Death, I got you figured out!
Death, I can face off with you!
Death, you are a doorway to my destination!
Death, you’re a street to my savior
Death, you’re a road to my reward
Death, you’re my highway to heaven
Death, you’re my boulevard to blessing
Death, you’re my gateway to glory
Death, you’re my pathway to perfection
Death, you’re my journey to Jesus!
Death, you’re a path to paradise and an avenue to alleluia
You don’t have power over me! I have beaten you! Jesus lifted the veil and so we don’t have to live for this planet anymore. We don’t have to pretend like this is all that we have. We don’t have to fear death.
listen… everybody here will spend somewhere forever.
APPLICATION…
1. We can be at peace as we bless those will take that journey.
I remember the day that I was called back to the nursing home because my dad had another one of those strokes. I knew then that the next couple of days would be his final journey because the decision had already been made against life sustaining measures.
I’ve seen quite a few people on that journey. I’ve seen quite a few family’s struggle over the decisions to take measures that would send their loved ones on that journey. But if Jesus is who we say was, and if what he says is true, then this is a journey that we need not fear to send them on.
2. We can be at peace when we are about to take that journey.
I know that I’m a mouse in a snake cage. I know that it’s just a matter of time before the snake sees me as a delicious dinner and strikes. But I’m at peace about that time and that place when will happen to me. I Trust him. I Trust Jesus. I have learned to depend on what he says as reality and as truth. I’m ready for that day.
3. We must get prepared today to take that journey.
The intensity of celebration at your funeral, the intensity of rejoicing at church funeral will be determined by the intensity you live your faith in Jesus Christ.
Unfortunately the opposite is true as well.
What you make it easy for us to rejoice over your life? Why not do what needs to be done today to leave no doubt to anyone where you stood with Jesus Christ? And if you say,” later”, then you have misjudged and you have some crazy belief about who God your father really is. Because if you really knew him and understood him, you’d be running to him and not avoiding him.
