“The Reality of Death”
Last Monday was Memorial Day the day we pay tribute to those men and women who gave their lives in service of our country. On that same day this church lost a long time member and a wonderful caring woman in Jerry Kelly. Also passing in to eternity this week was former Governor Casey. With the reality of death all around us the Lord has laid it on my heart this morning to address – The reality of Death. My deepest hope and prayer is that this will not be seen as a dark, morbid message, but instead that it would be a message of comfort, encouragement or maybe even led to the salvation of one among us.
We often speak the axiom - There are only two things certain in life, death and taxes. But in reality this is a falsehood. With the right deductions and a good accountant millionaires have managed to avoid paying any taxes at all. In contrast everyone, millionaires and paupers, will face the ultimate certainty: death. Death is the one thing all of humanity has in common. One out of one people die. We find that death is also without prejudice; it comes to each and every individual on its own terms.
I think it’s interesting that over the last one hundred years the outlook on death has changed in our country. I believe this can be seen in a small way by our view of cemeteries. I mentioned last Sunday that in the 1800’s families used to go the cemetery to have picnics. This was a way of remembering their loved ones, of having their loved one present. Today it seems the only time people visit cemeteries is for a burial service. Can you imagine our thoughts if we saw someone having a picnic in a cemetery, most of us would likely cringe in disgust.
Another shift in our view of death can be seen in the fact that 80% of people die in hospitals or convalescent homes instead of their home. It used to be that families and friends would gather around the bed of a dying loved one, this seems to be a thing of the past. Unfortunately today we hide the reality of death away in institutions – death has become a sterile and lonely business. We try to put death as far from us as we can. But the further it is from our midst the less of a reality it is, until ultimately we find a loved one of ours has been taken.
I believe when we remove death from our midst, we begin to remove God from our midst. Remember it is God who gives and takes life. What happens is that in place of God we put such things as modern medicine and medical teams and techniques. But death is a part of life and we must We begin to ask ourselves the question - What do we need to know, to understand and accept about the reality of death in our lives?
First it is important to realize that death does not come from God. 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 2:1617) God told Adam the only thing he was not to do was to eat from this tree, but if he did, he would die. Adam was just like you and I, he had to touch and taste, the untouchable. How many of you when you see a sign, “Wet Paint” has to touch it. Adam chose to eat and Romans 5:12 tells us the result of his partaking. “... sin entered the world through one man, Adam, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.” Folks, Adam represented all of humanity and when he took and ate, God’s perfect creation became saturated with sin and it is because of sin we die. God is not the cause of death, man is.
This means when we lose a loved one we cannot blame God for that lose. The Scriptures tell us that God is love (1 John 4:8). The love that God is leads Him to express Himself in terms of endearment toward His creatures, you and I. It is God’s desire to actively manifest this endearment and affection towards His creatures in acts of loving care and selfsacrifice. The greatest act of God’s self-sacrifice was that He “... gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
The death of a loved one should not lead us away from God, but it should cause us to draw nearer to Him. But, part of the problem is that we are a dependent people. Man so often claims to be independent, yet the reality of life is that we are a dependent people. When we are born we depend upon our parents, if we become sick we are dependent upon doctors and medication, we are dependent upon our government to keep us safe through our military, and as we grow older we become more and more dependent upon our children. Whether you accept it or not in the deepest part of our being we are a dependent people.
Now being dependent is not such a bad thing, but where you focus your dependency is critical. If you chose to be dependent on person, a husband or wife, it can lead to slavery. Now I am not saying we should all strive for independence in our marriages, but what I’d like you to realize is where our first dependence should rest. If you become reliant on a spouse or any person you will look to them for your satisfaction, fulfillment or well-being. You will look to them in your time of need and desperation. But if you chose first to be dependent on God it leads to freedom. When we know that God holds us safely - whatever happens - we don’t have to fear anything or anyone but we can walk through life with great confidence.
If our dependence is upon God when we lose a loved one we will be able realize the truth of Deuteronomy 33:27. “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.” Yes, with death comes sorrow and pain, but God will and can hold you up through your struggle. His arms will not weaken and they are the arms that will hold through eternity.
Death does not come from God, it’s a result of man’s own choosing. It is a certainty in all of our lives. But there is a choice you must make - where will you place your dependency? On God or man, this choice can make the difference between comfort and aid or agony and loss when death comes to a loved one.
The second understanding we must hold onto is that death is an enemy. 1 Corinthians 15:25-26 tells us, “For He must reign until He has put all his enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” We are in a battle with an enemy called death. But why is death our enemy? It is because it destroys life, it takes life away, whereas God is the Creator and Author of life. In God’s original creation there was no sin nor pain, disease or death, remember man chose to sin.
Many people as they face an enemy tremble in fear. It could be said that the enemy of death is the most feared enemy of all. Even the Psalmist cried out “My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death assail me. Fear and trembling have beset me; horror has overwhelmed me” (Ps 55:45). Fear is the normal human response to the unknown. And death, the experience of death, is the ultimate unknown. Think about this, “How many people you know have experienced death and came back to talk about it?”
But we do not have to remain in fear if we open our hearts to God. We must reach beyond our fears, beyond our understanding to the One who loves us with a love that was there before we were born and will be there after we die. We must be able to rest in the fact of Romans 8:38-39. “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.” Once we come to this deep inner knowledge - a knowledge more of the heart than the mind - we will realize that we are born out of love and will die in love and that ever part of our being is rooted in the love of God.
Death is the enemy we all face, but God in Christ Jesus is the Victor. We who are in Christ Jesus, who have place our trust, our faith in Him can confidently and assuredly cry out the words of the Apostle Paul. “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Cor 15:55-57). Amen and hallelujah to Jesus Christ our Savior.
The third understanding we must grasp is that death is not an ending. Many people in our world follow the thinking of the Greek philosopher Epicurus. Listen to his words: “Death, feared as the most awful of evils, is really nothing. For so long as we are, death has not come, and when it has come we are not.” Basically this view maintains you are and then you are not. The Bible refutes this claim. Hebrews 9:27 tells us “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment...” We must come to the realize that death is a separation and that it leads to judgment.
This separation is two-fold. It is physical and spiritual. Because of sin our physical bodies waste away and ultimately perish, thus we are separated from our physical body. Spiritually we are separated from God because He can have no part of us because we are sinners. It is easy for every one on this earth to accept the physical aspect of death because they see their loved one is no longer with them. But it is the spiritual aspect that so many people reject.
They yell out, “How can a loving God let so many die and go to hell?” But we must remember it was man who chose to sin and separate himself from God. This was not what God wanted. God on the sixth day of creation looked at His perfect work and proclaimed it was very good (Gen 1:31). This was with man in the picture.
The question we should ask is, “Why does God want to save any human being?” 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.
We are told in the Scriptures, “God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us ..., we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life!”(Rom 5:8,10) We can avoid eternal separation or death from God by trusting or placing our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. If you have not done this and you walk out of this sanctuary and have an accident in which you physical life is taken, your eternal destination is hell. If it would do any good I would get down on my knees and plead with each one of you to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior if you haven’t already. Do it today, no one knows the time of his or her earthly departure.
Death is really an entrance into a new life. We must understand that death is not an ending, but instead it is a beginning of that new life. It is either a beginning into a new life in eternal torment with a residency in hell or the beginning of a new life in eternal rejoicing with a residency in heaven.
Getting a perspective on death is getting the right perspective on life. It is opening one’s self up to another dimension: the spiritual. Coming to grips with death means coming to grips with God and life. We are limited by our concepts of time and space; we must reach beyond to an eternal point of view. Your reaction to death will be conditioned by your reaction to God. Those who are afraid of God are often most fearful of death. Those who know God well, seem to welcome the opportunity of being with Him. The dimension that transforms death is - knowing God.
Billy Graham’s father-in-law, Dr. L. Nelson Bell, once said, “Only those who are prepared to die are really prepared to live.” Are you living in Christ? Are you dependent on Him? Have you given your fears to the One who loved you before you were born? Is your eternal destination with or without God?
A story is told about twins talking to each other in the womb. The sister said to the brother, “I believe there is life after birth.” Her brother protested strongly, “No, no, this is all there is. This is a dark and cozy place, and we have nothing else to do but cling to the cord that feeds us.” The little girl insisted, “There must be something else, a place with light where there is freedom to move.” Still she could not convince her twin brother.
After some silence, the sister said hesitantly, “I have something else to say, and I’m afraid you won’t believe that either, but I think there is a mother.” Her brother became furious. “A mother! What are you talking about? I’ve never seen a mother, and neither have you. Who put that idea in your head? As I told you, this place is all we have. Why do you always want more? This is not such a bad place. We have all we need, so let’s be content.”
The sister was overwhelmed by her brother’s response and for a while didn’t dare say anything more. But she couldn’t let go of her thoughts, and since she had only her twin brother to speak to, she finally said, “Don’t you feel these squeezes every once and a while? They’re quite unpleasant and sometimes even painful.” “Yes, what’s so special about that?” “Well,” the sister said, “I think that these squeezes are there to get us ready for another place, much more beautiful than this, where we will see our mother face-to-face. Don’t you think that’s exciting?”
The brother didn’t answer. He was fed up with the foolish talk of his sister and felt that the best thing would be simply to ignore her and hope she would leave him alone.
One of these twins looked beyond their time and space. We can live as if this life were all we had, as if death were absurd and we had better not talk about it; or we can choose to claim our divine childhood and trust that death is a painful but blessed passage that will bring us face-to-face with our God.
Please pray with me.
