1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
“Concerning those who have Died”
By: Ken Sauer, Pastor of East Ridge United Methodist Church, Chattanooga, TN
A sick man turned to his doctor, as he was preparing to leave the examination room and said, “Doctor, I am afraid to die. Tell me what lies on the other side.”
Very quietly, the doctor said, “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know? You, a Christian man, do not know what is on the other side?”
As the doctor was holding the handle of the door; on the other side came a sound of scratching and whining.
When he opened the door, a dog sprang into the room and leaped onto him with an eager show of gladness.
Turning to the patient, the doctor said, “Did you notice my dog? He’s never been in this room before. He didn’t know what was inside. He knew nothing except that his master was here, and when the door opened, he sprang in without fear. I know little of what is on the other side of death, but I do know one thing. I know my Master is there, and that is enough.”
Is that enough for you?
In our Scripture passage for this morning Paul tells us that we must not grieve as others do who have no hope.
This does not mean; we don’t mourn!!!
My goodness, we live most of our lives along side a spouse or a sister or brother…
…and suddenly, they are gone!!!
It rips us to the core.
If a child passes away, it is even more horrific and devastating!!!
I shudder to even entertain the thought of what I would go through if something were to happen to Mary Ellen.
Most certainly, I would give my life for hers without thought!
This life is filled with tears, and many things which happen…well, they are nearly unbearable.
And often we are left with the wailing question of “Why?”
The horrendous devastation in Haiti.
Can you imagine being in the shoes of a person who has lost their entire family, along with their home—literally everything!!!?
Or what about the surviving family members who lost someone on September 11th.
We cry out in desperation: “Why?”
Is there any hope?
Is life just a cruel joke where we are the punch-lines?
In the Greek and Roman world…
…confronted by death, the world stood around in despair.
People met death with fear and bleak hopelessness.
A Greek poet wrote, “There is hope for those who are alive, but those who have died are without hope.”
On many a tombstone was written, “I was not; I became; I am not.”
How depressing!!!
And what about the folks who live in our day and time, but do not know of a Loving God or do not believe?
No wonder there are so many suicides.
No wonder there are so many blank stares!
Or worse still, what about persons who are so steeped in sin, so filled with guilt and remorse that they live with a shocking fear of death which nearly paralyzes them?
Paul reminds us in Romans Chapter 3 Verse 23, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Which, in a sense, is a big relief because we are all in the same boat!
No one is any better than anyone else.
We all deal with similar fears, temptations, sins…
None of us have it “all together…”
But, but, Paul goes on in Romans 5:8 to say, “God demonstrates [God’s] own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
And that includes you, me and everyone else in this world!!!
There is no one whom God does not love with the same, unconditional love!!!
I remember a time when I had forgotten this most important fact.
I was in college, and I felt that my life was “missing the mark.”
Riddled with an inability to forgive myself and faced with a skewed understanding of God I felt utterly lost!
One day I was walking across campus, feeling very low when I happened to wander into the campus record store.
Coming from the speakers in the store was Billy Joel singing his hit song, “I love you just the way you are.”
At that moment, I stopped and listened…
…and a sense of Revelation ran across my entire self.
It was as if God were speaking those words to me.
“Ken, I created you because I love you.”
“Ken, I knew you before you were formed in the womb.”
“Ken, I know you better than you even know yourself.”
“And Ken, you know what? I love you just the way you are!!!”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself. I died for you.
You are mine!
Do you have a long way to go?
Are there things that need improving?
Sure.
Don’t worry, I am more than able to take care of those things.”
“I love you just the way you are!”
What a reason to live!
What a reason to hope!!!
You and I are in a relationship which nothing can break, a relationship that overcomes death!
In Philippians 1:21 Paul writes, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
In life and in death Christians are in Christ—and that is a union which nothing can break!!!
There are probably very few of us here this morning who have not lost someone near and dear.
And oftentimes, we may have the urge to speak to them again…
…to share with them a joy or just plain bare our souls.
We can still do this!
In the early Church, there was a kind of understanding that some of us “modern-day” Christians have lost.
Whether we are living on this earth or whether we have gone to be with Christ—we are all in Christ!
We are all a part of the Kingdom of God together!
When our loved ones were here with us physically; we prayed for them and they for us.
Why should this stop, just because we can no longer see them with our eyes or hear them with our ears?
The early Christians would continue to pray for the Saints that had preceded them in death, and they had no doubt that those Saints were with God, and continued to pray for them as well.
We can still pray for, and talk to our lost brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers…children and friends.
For they are more alive now than ever before!!!
And we are all members of the same family…the same Body, if you will!
The writer of the Book of Hebrews reminds us that we are “surrounded by…a great cloud of witnesses,” the saints who have gone before us in the faith.
What an awesome privilege!
What an awesome faith!
Those who have passed on ahead of us, still surround us…cheering us on, praying for us, and waiting in eager expectation with us for that Great Day when “the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, and with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God…and we will be caught up together…in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.”
So when we feel like that man who told his doctor, “I am afraid to die, what is on the other side,” let us remember the dog who came rushing through the door, without fear--even though he’d never been in that room before, simply because he knew that his master, who loved him and would always protect him and would never hurt him was there!
In the mean time, those of us who are still here have a great and mighty job to do!!!
We are called to spread this good news to every corner of the globe!!!
To those who look at death with fear and a bleak and grim resignation we are to share the good news—Christ is alive, and therefore, those who believe in Him shall never die!
This is our Living Hope!
And it comes free of charge from the Hand of the One Who is Grace!!!
Of course, people can be told that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world…
…people can be told that Jesus is their personal Savior…
…but we must all make our own commitments to Christ and claim for ourselves Christ’s saving Love.
We each, must experience for ourselves, confidence in God’s saving grace in Jesus Christ.
Because a personal relationship with Christ is…just that, a relationship!!!
We can say the Apostles’ Creed over and over again until we’re blue in the face…
…it becomes a Living Hope when we are enabled to authentically exclaim: “Wow! What I’ve been hearing or saying all these years really is true!
And it’s true for me!
Praise God!”
To those who feel unloved or unloveable, we are to love and accept them—“just the way they are”—and thus help enable them to experience the Love of God which surpasses all understanding.
We are to forgive, just as we have been forgiven!
We are to help one another along the Way!!!
To those who are living without hope, and to those of us who mourn we are to be reminded of the Words of Paul, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?...
…No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Nearly all of us have lost someone dear.
To that grim reality, the Gospel of Jesus Christ says, “Do not grieve like those who have no hope!”
For the brother, the sister, the son, the daughter, the father, the mother who has passed from this life…the weight of this world has been lifted; the veil has been ripped apart!!!
They are now before the throne of God and serve God in God’s temple.
Never again will they hunger;
Never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat.
For the Lamb at the center of the throne is their Shepherd, and He leads them to springs of Living Water.
And God has wiped away every tear from their eyes.
Is there any better reason to live?
Is there any better reason to share the Good News!!!
For when we all get to heaven what a day of rejoicing that will be!!!
Let us now—sing and shout the victory!!!
Thanks be to God.
Amen.
