WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE DIE
1 Cor. 15:35-58
A troop of Boy Scouts was being used as "guinea pigs" in a test of emergency systems. A mock earthquake was staged, and the Scouts impersonated wounded persons who were to be picked up and cared for by the emergency units. One Scout was supposed to lie on the ground and await his rescuers, but the first-aid people got behind schedule, and the Scout lay "wounded" for several hours.
When the first-aid squad arrived where the casualty was supposed to be, they found nothing but a brief note: "Have bled to death and gone home..." What happens when we die? Do we go home, home to where? Where is home? Don’t think we want to wait around till we bleed to death to find out, do we?
Question that perhaps everyone will ask eventually. Increasingly in this post-modern age, people believe there is life after death. Movies like the popular Demi Moore flick “Ghost” or Robin Williams’ “What Dreams May Come?” all have brought to the fore new interest in the after-life. Recently a gangster rapper called Notorious Big who was killed in a drive by shooting even used this phrase “Life after Death” as the title of his latest and last CD. My advice is to avoid his work, full of wrong ideas about life. Do we really want to get our info on this issue from movies or a dead rapper? Whatever the angle is, all agree that death is real, but at one time, we seem to be shielded from it. It appears that since 9/11 we have become more aware of it. Daily we are fed news of more violence and death all around us in this world, now the war going on between Israelis and Palestinians takes up space on our news headlines on a daily basis. So what really happens when we die? It sure sounds like people are asking the question these days.
Faced with reality of death, many of us want some answers. Woody Allen said: “It’s not that I am afraid to die. I just don’t want to be there when it happens.” Death is not comfortable, brings little comfort, it jars us, it wakes us up to what’s real because death happens to everyone 100% of the time.
Raised in Buddhist home, re: death I was told about reincarnation. Question I have: Will I come back as a cockroach, butterfly, cow, or what? No one knows. Not sure. Just make sure you live a good life. Not much help, because I mess up quite a bit. It does not help. So it’s really quite hopeless and fatalistic. I will probably come back as shrimp or worst. Other beliefs too.
Islam proposes that we need scales of justice… do more good and evil and if good outweighs evil… you will be blessed in the afterlife… But who can tell, or how I can I ever be sure that I have racked up enough good points, and not just goof points? Come on, I need better answers that guesses about how good I need to be, cuz if I am honest enough, I know even my most selfless good deed is somehow tainted with sin and selfishness. For instance, if I did something nice, like buy my kids some of the latest toys on the market, at the back of my mind, I am saying “that’ll buy me a few minutes of peace and quiet.”
Then there are those who were revived from the dead, or what we call now the “near death experiences”. They speak of “out of body” experiences. Seeing their own bodies being worked on by doctors or seeing bits of heaven or hell or seeing tunnels, bright lights or angels. One Christian commentator wrote “The clinical evidence for life after death is subjective and arguable. It’s often hard to assess the significance of "out of the body experiences," … It’s difficult to know how to respond to those who speak of temporary near-death visions into heaven or hell. What we do know is that there are enough of these kinds of experiences to create a sizable library on the subject. Taken as a whole, this body of evidence shows that as people approach death, many sense they are coming not to the end of existence but to the beginning of another journey.” I think that this is right on.
Death is not the end of the story, but a new chapter of existence begins. That’s how the Bible explains. It is not left up to guess-work, of counting my good deeds and weighing it against the bad. Let’s read with me in the Bible in 1 Cor. 15:35-58 to get at some answers…
35But someone may ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?" 36How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. 39All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. 40There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. 41The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.
42So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
45If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being"[5] ; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. 48As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we[6] bear the likeness of the man from heaven.
50I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed-- 52in 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. 53For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."[7]
55"Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?"[8] 56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
1. Death and Resurrection. (v.35,36)
First it is important to realize that death does not come from God. In fact God senty Jesus to die in our place so we can have life (see 1 Cor. 15 1:-11). Sin earned for me death but God chose to forgive with Jesus’ sacrifice. The grace of of God in forgiving my sins resulted in resuurection life for you and me.
So Death is a result of man’s own choosing. The Scripture plainly tells us, “And the LORD God commanded the man, ... ‘you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.’”(Gen 2:16?17) ). It is our decision to live life apart from God that set death into motion.
Also, No pt discussing this, if there is no resurrection, if I Cor. 15 is nothing but pure fabrication of hallucinatory fables thought up by the first followers of Christ . Death comes< we all die< end of story… Pts. To Easter story. Death comes but death is conquered. Jesus tasted death on the cross and rose from the dead. Last Sunday talked about it. If it is not true - Pointless, believed in vain, foolish, fruitless to think about the topic, waste of time. Go home! But since there is life after death… Then we have hope for what happens when we die! Hence, we Must not divorce passage from the rest of 1 Cor. 15. Hence any Christian discussion on what happens when we die hinges upon the Easter event.
2. A glorious new body: What kind body does the resurrected body have? Kind of absurd question, cuz there is no way of explaining it, there’s no parallel, no picture of it. That’s why Paul responded the way he did to the question put to him.
However we get some clues from nature… Think apple seed (v.37-38).
What u sow can’t come to life unless it dies! Apple seed – not pretty- small - cracks open – grows Apple tree – no longer look the same as it was as a seed, a new body, a tree, genuine, glorious – real. But it got to die first, in the ground. To become a glorious tree. Tree - essentially same stuff from the seed but different! Thus, this is how we too will be made fit for heaven’s splendor through God’s power of resurrection based on the Easter event!
Through God’s power He will take what was essentially us changed what was sown in dishonour, in weakness, perishable and then “raised in glory in power imperishable,” based on the easter event.
Jesus death, resurrected a new body, essentially the same, but different, new glorious
a) Body with flesh and bones (Lk.24:39)
b) Walk through doors (Jn.20:19, 26)
c) Hold food eat fish (Lk.23:42,43)
d) Appear and disappear (Lk.24:31)
e) Cook breakfast (Jn.21:9-13)
f) New body travel long distance – beam up to heaven (Ac.1:9)
g) Recognizable as distinct persons but may not be immediately recognized (Lk.24:15)
v. 49And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.
Hence, we look like Jesus, retaining our identity, retaining essentially who we are and then becoming perfect like Jesus. Gonna do same things Jesus did, awesome eh? Enjoy that supremely! In Luke 9 we get further confirmation where Peter and two others recognized two distinct personalities from Israel’s past,
Two men, Moses and Elijah,
31 appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem.
32 Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him.
33 As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, "Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters--one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah."
3. Change (v.50-53):
The body as we have it cannot get into heaven. It is like clothing. The person in side the clothing lives on, but the clothing or our body gets left behind, subject to decay. Need to get new clothes. There Jesus steps in, new set of clothes – death not final, death swallowed up in victory of Easter event. NEW SET OF CLOTHES God goes shopping for us. As mentioned earlier, death’s origin is our sin (our decision to make life work apart from God who sustains life)– but God’s will to take away the penalty of death and give us life. He has the power to transform us. The Easter event did that - Transformation: We can be changed. This is where we get clues of what happens when we die.
50I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
55"Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?"[8] 56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
So who’s got the last laugh, the last word, on death?
4. The Victory (v.54-58).
That means we’ve got solid reason to live for Jesus (v.58).
Several hundred years before the birth of Jesus, a crucial battle occurred
between the Greeks and the Persians upon the plains of Marathon. The battle
raged for hours. In many respects it was a fight to the finish. Finally the
numerically inferior Greeks, the underdogs, managed a tremendous tactical
win, but there was a problem. Soon the Senate, many miles away in Athens,
was to vote and would most certainly ratify a treaty of appeasement. In
desperation they sent a runner in full battle gear to go the twenty-seven
miles to tell of the news. By the time the young boy got to Athens he had
run a Marathon. It is said he was totally spent, that he literally ran
himself to death. In his exhaustion he was able to utter only one word to
the Athenians: "Victory."
Today we come to church with the sound of the He is risen still
resonating in our ears. We have been to the empty tomb. We have heard the
glad news of resurrection. And now it is time for the church to send a
message back to the world. What should that message be? May I suggest that
it could be a single word: Victory.
Unfortunately, that single truth is not so self-evident to many people today
even as it was not initially to the first century disciples. We fall short
of victorious living. We must learn anew to live out the reality of the
resurrection.
Live with abandonment, let go of earthly entanglements and work hard for God because there will be eternal reaping of the rewards for the labor we do now in Him. Practically, serve well today, and win big tomorrow! The question we need to ask is, “Why does God want to save any human being?” Would it not be much easier just to let us all go to hell? Have you ever thought about how long suffering God is. How He puts up with all that we do, say and think. How do we react when our children, our friends or our employees go against us? Some of us have longer fuses than others, but none of us have the long-suffering attitude that our God has. Since Adam and Eve the Lord has put up with sinful humanity. But not only that God has given to us the most precious gift we could ever ask for. The gift of eternal life of being in His presence for all eternity through Jesus Christ.
What happen when we die?
Farmer Joe decided his injuries from the accident were serious enough to take the trucking company (responsible for the accident) to court. In court, the trucking company’s fancy lawyer was questioning farmer Joe. "Didn’t you say, at the scene of the accident, ’I’m fine’?," questioned the lawyer.
Farmer Joe responded, "Well I’ll tell you what happened. I had just loaded my favorite mule Bessie into the..."
"I didn’t ask for any details," the lawyer interrupted, "just answer the question. Did you not say, at the scene of the accident, ’I’m fine’!"
Farmer Joe said, "Well I had just got Bessie into the trailer and I was driving down the road..."
The lawyer interrupted again and said, "Judge, I am trying to establish the fact that, at the scene of the accident, this man told the Highway Patrolman on the scene that he was just fine. Now several weeks after the accident he is trying to sue my client. I believe he is a fraud. Please tell him to simply answer the question."
By this time the Judge was fairly interested in Farmer Joe’s answer and said to the lawyer, "I’d like to hear what he has to say about his favorite mule Bessie."
Joe thanked the Judge and proceeded, "Well as I was saying, I had just loaded Bessie, my favorite mule, into the trailer and was driving her down the highway when this huge semi-truck and trailer ran the stop sign and smacked my truck right in the side. I was thrown into one ditch and Bessie was thrown into the other. I was hurting real bad and didn’t want to move. However, I could hear ole Bessie moaning and groaning. I knew she was in terrible shape just by her groans. Shortly after the accident a Highway Patrolman came on the scene. He could hear Bessie moaning and groaning so he went over to her. After he looked at her he took out his gun and shot her between the eyes. Then the Patrolman came across the road with his gun in his hand and looked at me. He said, "Your mule was in such bad shape I had to shoot her. How are you feeling?"
It was then that I said, "I’m fine."
Today, no need to say or lie “I’m fine”. We are not fine. And we need not be afraid of the patrolmans of this world who point the gun at us… they tell us we are bad news, or bad shape that’s why you are of no value. But God tells us differently, we are to him of infinite value, focus of his love, worthy to be bought with the price of his bloody sacrifice. But we have been touched by death, because of sin. We will not get what Jesus can give us, His life, His new resurrection body, if we say we ‘re fine. We put ourselves in danger of eternal separation from God if we’re fine but today we can cry out to God “we are not fine” we will have victory over death. Pass over death and gain his victory, his promise of new body, …
All we got to do is trust the message of Jesus. Not on blind faith. It’s no leap in the dark. Only someone who come back from the other side, who did not die again can be qualified to tells us what happens when we die. On the evidence given by Jesus resurrection, we have a reasonable faith because it is based on a reliable and verifiable historical event - Christ’s life, death and resurrection. Therefore, we will emerge victorious over death. Death will be swallowed by victory, the victory of power of Christ’s resurrection. There will be a change, change that will make us look like Jesus, yet retaining our core identity of who we are, and it’s because of historical event, that cannot be refuted that we stake our lives on, the death and resurrection of Jesus our Savior and Lord. That is why the Bible so strongly affirms the person of Jesus…
John 14:6 “…No one comes to the Father but through Me.”
Acts 4:12 “There is no other name… whereby we must be saved.”
Romans 9:10-11 “…if you confess Jesus… you shall be saved.”
What’s your motivation for life?
As Christians today, we remember and are affirmed that death is nothing but a new start for a better existence. An existence where we can enjoy love, eating, drinking, renew relationships, recognize people, be with God, looking something like Jesus… becoming as we were designed to be, fully enjoying all that God gives. The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. Enjoy forever, sounds good eh? Motivates us to live wisely, cuz we gonna enjoy greatly.
Today as u listen, you maybe like one of *two* people on a malfunctioning airplane with only one parachute. What would you motivate you to react?
Pessimist: you refuse the parachute because you might die on the jump anyway.
Optimist: you refuse the parachute because people have survived crashes just like this before.
Procrastinator: you play a game of Monopoly for the parachute.
Philosopher: you ask how they know the parachute actually exists.
Psychoanalysis: you ask them what the shape of a parachute reminds them of.
Art: you hang the parachute on the wall and sign it.
Environmentalist: you refuse to use the parachute unless it is biodegradable.
Surgeon General: you issue a warning that skydiving can be hazardous to your health.
Association of Tobacco Growers: you explain very patiently that despite a number of remarkable coincidences, studies have shown that jumping out of a plane is NOT harmful to your health.
No matter, how u hear this message, we all will face death 100% of the time. No one escapes it. Except Jesus… will u now embrace Him to lead you through the portals of death when you do face it, if you are a pessimist, you are tempted to dismiss Jesus, but I want to invite you not to refuse Jesus. For you death means the end, destruction of self-consciousness, well, the resurrection of Jesus points to after life, death does not end there. If u are optimist, you think you may survive death, but without Jesus there is no way u can be sure. Jesus says “I am the Way the truth the life, no one comes to the Father but through me” Trust not in other ways, when there is a clear way.
Procrastinator, don’t delay, who knows what will happen tomorrow. Can you or I tell the future? Even our most skilled meteorologist can’t accurately predict the weather. Past week was supposed to rain, but it did not. Edmonton was –19 degrees this past week in April, who could have predicted that last April?
Philosopher, Does God exist? Resurrection of Jesus points the way!
Psychoanalyst, what does the shape of the cross remind you, symbol of sins forgiven!
Artist, don’t let the beauty of the story blow you away and just hang it up for show, sign your name on the canvas of Jesus, for it was He who will make you the most perfect in the image of God, who could take the ugly side of you and blow it all away.
Environmentalist, you know now Jesus is not biodegradable… He did not decay in a grave. He’s for real! He did not degrade with time, in fact more and more people are transformed each day by this message and by experiencing Him spiritually, which is a testament to the staying power of Christ.
You may a surgeon general, but is faith toxic? New studies has shown that faith plays a part in healthy living. Faith is not hazardous to your health.
A few years ago, four-year-old Conor Clapton fell to his death in New York City. After the tragedy his father, rock guitarist Eric Clapton, said, "I
turned to stone. Then I went off the edge of the world for a while." In time, Clapton put his tortured feelings in a song:
Time can bring you down,
time can bend your knees.
Time can break your heart,
have you begging please.
Beyond the door
there’s peace I’m sure,
And I know there’ll be
no more tears in heaven.
(Song: "Tears in Heaven," by Eric Clapton and Will Jennings)
Today we can put our hopes beyond the door, where there
is peace, where there is a loving God, where there is Jesus, where when we die we find bliss. It is not time that heals, but God who heals. Prepare now, don’t go off the edge now... What motivates your life now? Make your decision clear today to God, use that bright colored slip in bulletin, indicate today your choice. Rejoice with hope today in Christ!
