Word of Salvation – Vol. 33 No. 38 – October 1988
God’s Solution To The Problem Of Our Death
Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp on Lord’s Day 22
Scripture Readings: John 11:1-27; 1Corinthians15:35-58
Singing: BoW.315 Alleluia, Alleluia! Give thanks
BoW.455 Abide with us our Saviour
BoW.447 Lead on O King eternal
BoW.117a From all who live beneath the skies
Introd: Someone once said that we live our lives in the shadow of death.
And that’s true isn’t it? Death is all around us every day.
The road toll! Death notices in the paper! Victims of violence in the evening news!
To say nothing of the hundreds of killings in movies and TV dramas.
At times we are reminded of death very forcefully when a loved one dies.
And some of us still feel that empty place – the loss of one who was dear to us.
We know it! Life hangs by a very slender thread that could be cut thru at any moment.
Life is surrounded by death at every turn. We are all terminal.
So it’s not surprising that we grasp at any straw to preserve life.
We hail every new breakthrough in medicine.
We hope that when our bodies fail science will have a cure.
Or that there will be a transplant… a kidney or heart from some deceased donor!
Of course we Christians rejoice too in the progress of science and medicine.
We thank God for respirators and pacemakers.
It’s great that there are machines to bombard and kill cancer cells.
It’s wonderful that we have open heart surgery and life-support systems.
However we as Christians also want to keep all those things in their proper perspective.
These are not things that destroy death and do away with it. They only postpone it for a time.
They put it off a little longer…! That inevitable moment still comes.
Kidney dialysis machines and blood transfusions….
they just help us by the grace of God…
to squeeze a few more years… a few more days out of life.
We need a better solution.
A] THE COMFORT OF GOD’S SOLUTION TO OUR PROBLEM.
1) Perhaps you find all this rather unpleasant to think about.
It may even be that you are afraid of death… terribly afraid of it.
And the thought that our best technology can only postpone it is cold comfort for you.
Well, let me assure you that this kind of fear is quite okay!
It’s not wrong for Christians to be afraid of death.
Death is something unnatural that God didn’t build into His original creation.
It is the result of our sin… an unnatural separation of what God made to belong together.
A tearing apart of body and soul. And of course death is frightening and horrible
It is not for nothing that the Bible calls death the last ENEMY.
And enemies always bring an element of fear.
What often adds to our fear is that we tend to absorb the world’s misleading views about death.
Many tell us that OUR death will be just like any other animal.
That when we breathe our last breath then it is all over – full stop, end of story!
Death is the end… no more life… no more existence in any shape or form.
And we don’t want to stop existing, do we? We want to live.
So we have our fears… and the world’s views add to our fears.
And in our fear we need comforting.
We need Jesus to come and say to us: Don’t be afraid! And that’s just what God does in the gospel.
2) The gospel reminds us that God has the solution to the problem of our death.
But it’s a solution that isn’t like that of doctors and scientists… a temporary postponement.
It is a real solution that truly comfort us in our fears.
Lord’s Day 22 speaks of this subject in terms of COMFORT.
Comfort… over against our very natural fear of death and dying.
The reason it can talk this way is because it applies the gospel to our dying.
The gospel message has something to say for that moment of our death.
For that moment when the blips on the heart monitor fade away.
And then the first thing it comforts us with is this:
That immediately… immediately after this life my soul will be taken up to Christ.
IOW: Death IS NOT the end. Life will go on after THIS life.
And then not even in some distant future either when Jesus returns, but immediately!
The very moment I breath my last breath is also the moment I meet my Saviour and Lord.
Just think of Stephen the martyr – as he was dying he saw Jesus.
And he cried out: “Lord Jesus receive my spirit.” And many Christians have said that.
We need to hold on to this teaching in a world overshadowed by death ?
It’s great that science has increased human life expectancy.
It’s wonderful that often when health fails surgery and medication give us a few more years.
But the gospel offers us much more: a stepping out of this life into the very presence of Jesus.
We see that in the words of Jesus to the dying “Today you will be with me in paradise!”
And we can take those words and apply them to ourselves.
That’s a much better prospect than even the postponement of death for another year or two.
Today there is a growing industry around the freezing of human bodies.
Some people now will their bodies to be kept in that state of “suspended animation”.
So at death their bodies are treated and preserved in steel canisters.
Until such time as science has a cure for their illness or can reverse the ageing process.
At that time they hope they can then resuscitated and cured.
There is something pathetic about that.
Our greatest comfort is not that technology can give us a few more years on planet earth.
No! Our comfort is this: death does not put an end to life but it ushers us into Jesus’ presence.
3) Of course this comfort can be yours only if you trust in Christ.
What Jesus says about being with Him in paradise…
He says to those who believe in Him as the giver of life. John 11 makes that very clear.
At the tomb of Lazarus Jesus said: “I am the resurrection and the life”.
But He immediately added: He who believes in me, though he die yet shall he live. (John 1125)
So the good news is that if you fear death, this great comfort can be yours.
Confess your sins to the Saviour and accept His forgiveness.
Believe in Jesus Christ and death can no longer put an end to your life.
That’s why Charles Wesley could once say to a friend:-
“When you read my death announcement in the paper – don’t believe it.”
“Because,” he said, “I live”.
And every believer can say that. That is our comfort over against the fear of death.
That’s also the encouraging message we can share with others.
All around us are people who are desperately afraid of dying.
They need comfort. And we have that comfort.
So let’s share this gospel secret with all those who fear death.
B] GOD’S SOLUTION IS NOT JUST A “SOUL” SOLUTION.
1) Some people reject this message of comfort because it seems unreal… unnatural.
Perhaps you find it rather vague to talk about “the soul going to be with Jesus.
A life without our bodies… we can’t even begin to imagine that.
A soul existence…? What will that be like? Existing somewhere like ghosts?
If that is what eternal life is… is that really so comforting?
Unfortunately the Christian church hasn’t always been helpful at this point.
We as Christians have often talked a great deal about our SOULS.
We have preached the salvation of our SOULS. It is SOULS that are saved.
And of course it is the SOUL that goes to heaven.
And the world has often said, “If that’s all you have to offer, count me out.”
But the Bible presents a much fuller picture of the gospel than that.
When Jesus came to save us it was to save the whole person.
Not just to save you as a soul… but you in the totality of your being… body and soul.
Scripture shows us this especially in its teaching of the resurrection of the body.
Our bodies will be raised!
In that grand finale of God’s work of salvation we will be raised… bodily!
Do you see that our ‘soul talk’ can sell the gospel short?
We emphasise the salvation of souls at the expense of the salvation of the body.
And then we minimise the comfort of the Scriptures.
Keep in mind that we are dealing with a part of the Apostles’ Creed.
That part where we confess: I believe…in the resurrection of the body.
That our souls go immediately into the presence of Jesus – that is certainly a comfort.
But there is more to it than that. There has to be!
Because God created a body and soul to belong together – inseparably.
And in the life that goes on after death it will once again be that way.
The life of the soul with Christ is an incomplete life.
Sure, it’s comforting and wonderful to be with Him… but it is incomplete.
2 The reality is that the gospel allows to look forward more than just our soul going to Christ.
Not only my soul… but even this my very flesh, raised by the power of Christ.
Body and soul reunited ! And then my body made like Christ’s glorious body !
Paul said that we will bear the likeness of the man from heaven. That is comfort indeed.
We need that comforting perspective in a world that is confused about the body.
OTOH we live in a world pre-occupied with the physical body.
You can get any number of magazines that major on suggestions for body beauty.
You know the kind of articles I’m talking about: “Ten ways to a more beautiful figure!”
There is a whole industry set up for body beautification. Cosmetics!
OTOH so many treat the human body with disdain… with little respect.
I think not only of abortion and the push for euthanasia.
I also think of those who neglect their bodies with substance abuse.
And there is that growing cult of body piercing.
In that sort of culture we need the teaching of Paul in 1Corinthians 15.
OTOH that we shouldn’t idolise our bodies.
The body is mortal and perishable.
Paul says that it is “sown in dishonour” – it dies and decays.
And we put it away in the earth.
OTOH we should respect our bodies.
Because that laying in the earth is really like the planting of a seed.
And so this very body will one day be raised up imperishable.
And arising in glory it will carry the likeness of Jesus.
3. Our catechism picks up on this teaching and stresses the importance of our bodies.
It says “…my very flesh…” or “…this my body…!”
We Christians do not confess faith in the immortality of the soul.
But we do confess: “I believe in the resurrection of the body.”
Of course the HOW of all this is a great mystery.
OTOH it will be this very same body.
OTOH it will be new and like Christ’s glorious body.
That means that there will not be bodies there disfigured by cancer.
Abel won’t be there in the battered body in which he was beaten to death.
There every leper will be cleansed.
And every handicap permanently healed.
The same body and yet wonderfully new.
Paul struggles to put it all into words.
Okay it’s like a seed that is put in the earth.
But who of us really understands the mystery of the seed?
There in the ground it dies… and dying it arises to a new and glorious life.
But what grows is not essentially different from what was planted.
But who of us can fully grasp the mystery of it?
That is why it belongs to the things we believe. This is in our Creed. It’s ‘credo’ – I believe.
The important thing is not HOW it will happen.
The important thing is that it will happen. God has revealed it in His Word.
And so we confess together with all Christians everywhere:
I believe in the resurrection of the body!
C] GOD’S SOLUTION IS NOW AND FOREVER.
1. There is just one other objection that people often make to this teaching of Scripture.
They say: All this is very comforting for people facing death.
And it is an encouragement for those who are bereaved.
But it doesn’t offer much for those enjoying life to the full now.
So people have sometimes asked:
Isn’t Christianity really only offering “pie in the sky when we die by and by”?
Sure it is comforting… but lots of people aren’t really in need of that kind of comfort.
Not yet anyway!
So people seem to have this kind of understanding of the Christian faith:
At death the soul goes immediately to Jesus if one is a believer.
And the body of the believer will be made like Christ’s at the end of time.
And that is eternal life… that is everlasting life.
So eternal life is something we will have ONE DAY… but what about life her and now?
People who think that way haven’t understood something very basic.
They haven’t understood that eternal life isn’t something far off.
Something that begins when we die – or when Jesus returns.
2. If we talk that way we haven’t really understood the full outworking of the gospel.
Think of again of the words of Jesus at the tomb of Lazarus.
Especially where Jesus says: He who believes in me, though he die yet shall he live.
Think through the implication of those words.
If it is true that that those who believe in Jesus shall live even though they die…
then when does eternal life begin?
Only after death?
Isn’t Jesus suggesting that their life goes right on through death?
And doesn’t that mean that we have eternal life already now?
There is a verse in John 3 you might like to turn to, which makes very clear that this is the case.
Check it out – because too many Christians think eternal life begins after we die.
That verse in John 3 is important because it tells us when eternal life begins.
<<< Read John 3:36:>>>
Did you notice how it reads?
Does that verse say: He who believes in the Son WILL HAVE eternal life?
Does it say: He who believes in the Son has eternal life one day in the future ?
What does it say? It says, “HAS eternal life”. Not WILL HAVE… but HAS!
IOW – at the very moment that you believe in Jesus… as you put your trust in Him…
at that moment God gives you the new life in Christ… eternal life!
3. That’s why our catechism says: We experience the beginnings of eternal joy already now.
That, brothers and sisters, is not pie in the sky by and by.
That is pie on the plate here and now.
Because our belief about the eternal life is not just for when we die.
Eternal life means that we have already been transformed.
Sons and daughters of the Kingdom of God already in this life.
This is a more wonderful view of eternal life than just something for when Jesus comes.
It is the life of Jesus Christ in us already now.
And that life of Jesus is the power out of which we live and it is power in which we die.
And ultimately this is why death cannot touch us.
We still go through death but we go thru it as people who are IN CHRIST.
We go thru death but it cannot conquer us.
Because the Christ who lives in us has conquered death.
It’s a pity that so many today see Christianity only as something to comforts us when we face death.
You go to church to get some comfort when you get old and feeble.
Religion is a crutch to lean on when doctors can no longer postpone the inevitable.
No! The comfort of the Christian faith is the comfort of living already here and now a new kind of life.
That we begin to enjoy already here and now something of the glory of the world to come.
And then on top of that there is also the perfection of that in the life of the world to come.
Perfect happiness… unspoiled by sin… that still lies in the future in God’s new creation.
When we who believe in Jesus will enjoy perfect happiness.
such as no eye has seen, no ear has heard.
neither has it ever entered into man’s imagination.
a life of praise to God forever.
Amen!