Living With Hope

How are we any different than the world when it comes to death and dying?  

So many followers of Jesus still value this life over the eternal, immortal life offered by God in Christ.

"For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord-- for we walk by faith, not by sight-- we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord."   2 Corinthians 5:1-8

As Christians we have been given this instruction and this promise

The Bible teaches

....that this life, this body is just a tent, a temporary domicile.  No matter how many rooms or furniture or fixtures we add, our tents are designed to be torn down and replaced with the permanent.  

The Bible teaches

....that we have waiting for us a new body without defect, where we will no longer experience pain or sorrow.

The Bible teaches

....that we groan and long to be clothed with our immortal bodies

The Bible teaches

....that remaining here is separation from our Lord and that we remain here sacrificially to bear fruit from love in the lives of those who God brings to us. 

Jesus tells us that we have our priorities reversed when we value this life more than eternal life with Him

If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for My sake, you will save it.

Matthew 16:25

Our attitude is upside down when we fear death for ourselves and our loved ones rather than see it as graduation.  

Paul said to the church at Ephesus while he was on his way to Jerusalem and eventually to Rome where he will be executed: 

 "Why all this weeping? You are breaking my heart! I am ready not only to be jailed at Jerusalem but even to die for the sake of the Lord Jesus." 

Acts 21:13

Then he writes to Timothy, his beloved son in the faith, 

"As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. And now the prize awaits me--the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of His return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to His appearing."

2 Timothy 4:6-8

  

Who can deny that this life carries with it both joy and pain?  I have known this pain personally with the deaths of my father and my brother and soon for my mother.   The pain of loss and even guilt of survivors, while profound, can distort the truth about death even for those who trust in Jesus. 

We corrupt our faith in Jesus when we value this life more than the life that is to come.  Worse, when we seek to hold on to our loved ones in this life though they may be suffering with bodies that are breaking down and barely useful to them, we are not walking by faith in the promise of the new body they will receive and the joy that they will know in the hands of our loving Father.  

We have a promise from God that we will be with Him for eternity.  He sent His Son Jesus to confirm that promise.  We have hope.  Our attitude toward death should not be the same as those in the world who have no hope.  We are graduating.  Many of our loved ones have graduated before us.  My father was the class of 1963.  My brother the class of 1993.  They are already experiencing the unspeakable joy of knowing the glory of God.  We may not know what class we will graduate with but we should celebrate those who have graduated before us who already know the love of the Father and the Lord Jesus up close and personal and look forward to joining them ourselves.  We walk by faith not by sight, not by death.  

Receiving or Reproducing?

'Imagine being in Sudan.  You walk into a Thatched hut with a small group of Sudanese church leaders, and you sit down to teach them God's Wrod. As soon as you start, you lose eye contact with all of them. No one is looking at you, and you hardly see their eyes the rest of the time.   The reason is because they're  writing down every word you say.  They come up to you afterward and say, "Teacher, we are going to take everything we have learned from God's Wrod, translate it into our languages, and teach it in our tribes." They were not listening to receive but to reproduce. '  David Platt, "Radical".

These are people, in Sudan, who take Jesus' words to "make disciples of all nations" very seriously.  As we sit and listen to teaching from the pastors of our churches today, will he or she see your eyes or will you be diligently writing down the message so that you can share it with others?  Will you be receiving the message only to forget it soon after you leave or will you be recording it to reproduce your learning in others helping them to grow in discipleship with Jesus?  

The Enemy of Eternal Life

When reading the story of the good Samaritan, we often forget why Jesus told that story.  He was answering the question, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?".

Luke 10:25-29  One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking Him this question: "Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?"  Jesus replied, "What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?"  The man answered, "'You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.' And, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"  "Right!" Jesus told him. "Do this and you will live!"  The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

Jesus has told us that the second greatest commandment is to love our neighbor as ourselves. Then He proceeds to answer the question "Who is my neighbor?".

Luke 10:31-33  "And by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.  32  "Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.  33  "But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion,

Jesus doesn't tell us the motivations of the two religious leaders who crossed the street to avoid getting involved.  Jesus' story leaves us one conclusion: any motivation to cross the street and not get involved does not qualify as loving our neighbor as ourselves.  

Jesus answers the question, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" by reminding us that inheriting eternal life is requires us to go all in with God.  We must Love God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind.  That is not just the "feel good" love of the heart as we find in many modern stories, the kind that often changes over time as that love is challenged by reality.  This is an all encompassing love surpassing the love for parents, husbands and wives, children, adventure, or safety.   Yes, you read that right. More than your children.  More than your spouse.  More than your Mom and Dad. More than your job.  Heart, soul, mind and strength.    

Matthew 10:37  "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.

In America and much of the modern world, we are rich. The poorest people in the US are still richer than most of the poor in the countries of the developing world.  And Jesus tells us that "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!" Matthew 19:24.  Why does He say this?  Is it because rich people, even the poor rich people of the modern world, accumulate possessions?  Is it because somehow rich people are mean or greedy?  Or is it because rich people, even poor rich people, fill their time with self interested pursuits so that they are not available for God?  If our schedules are full what happens when our neighbor needs us?  What happens when God calls us to serve others?  Do we have to consult our calendars?  Do we cross the street all the while focused on our smart phones? Are we talking on the phone arranging our children's next soccer practice or recital?

Matthew 7:21  "Not everyone who calls out to Me, 'Lord! Lord!' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of My Father in heaven will enter.

We have made a practice in our lives of ignoring many parts of Jesus' teaching based on the idea that we have "faith" and that "faith" saves us.  If we don't do all the rest of His teachings somehow that will be Ok because we have faith.  But have we been sold a "bill of goods" that will not hold up when we need it.  Jesus also taught us that only those who do with the will of the Father will have eternal life.   So somehow we have been walking around believing that simply agreeing with the facts that Jesus is God, that He died to pay the price for our sins is enough and now we rich people can go about our busy schedules on the other side of the street from our neighbor.  

Faith is the enemy of eternal life.  The kind of faith that does not get involved.  The kind of faith that allows loving family, friends and lifestyle more than God. The kind of faith that is nothing more than a head nod that Jesus is Lord, like we have joined His team and wear His jersey but don't show up for practice and don't take the field.  That kind of faith is the enemy of eternal life.  No one who has that kind of faith will inherit eternal life.    

"Only those who actually do the will of My father in heaven will enter".  - Jesus