Today we begin a three-part series on death and dying. I
begin this morning, and Lee will develop the theme further in parts two and
three. We conclude on the afternoon of November 22 with another “foodless
faspa”.
One might say that the purpose of Christian living – indeed,
of human living – is to learn how to die. Everyone who has gone before has
lived and died. All of us in our turn will complete our lives by dying. It is
the Christian belief that the hard passage of death, which is sometimes felt as
a curse, is in fact God’s great gift to us. Death is the door to eternity, with
the offer that eternity is filled with God, what one songwriter has called “the
land without tears”.
If this is the case, then in Paul’s words we “walk in the
resurrection”. We live the way God wants us to live now, because resurrection
life is already bubbling inside of us. We explore this foundational idea this
morning through two Scripture passages and ask what it means for the way that
we live.
Job 19
These verses from Job 19 are best known for the wonderful
aria in Handel’s Messiah, “I know that my Redeemer liveth” – just after the
Hallelujah chorus. They are interesting in that Job speaks them in the midst of
complaints. This chapter begins with the words, “How long will
you torment me and crush me with words?” Job is speaking here of his friends,
who are not helpful in their efforts to explain what is happening, but just
before the verses we read, he says, “Have pity on me, my friends, have pity,
for the hand of God has struck me.” Then Job turns and a song of unlikely
praise and hope breaks out: “For I
know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon
the earth; and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I
shall see God, whom I shall see on my side, and my eyes shall behold, and not
another.”
This
is an affirmation of pure hope, but it is a hope that proves to be true. Within
the Old Testament we find little about the afterlife; people did not think much
about what we call “eternity”. Even in Jesus’ own time, when the Pharisees had begun
to teach the reality of the resurrection, many still believed that after death
there was only “the grave”, Sheol, a place where the dead are … well, dead.
When faced with his own death, Job breaks out in assurance that somehow – even
if his troubles kill him – he will be alive with God. God is his Redeemer.
1 Corinthians 15
Paul spells out the foundation of that hope in 1 Corinthians
15. The first eleven verses of the chapter provide a summary of basic Christian
belief: Christ died for our sins; Christ was raised; Christ lives, and we can
know him. In much of our preaching and Bible study, we emphasize the teachings
and ministry of Jesus; Paul reminds us that his life and teaching rest on the
foundation of his death and resurrection. Christ died, and Christ was raised:
This is the beginning of our lives in Christ.
Verses 12 to 19 of our text make the point clearly. If there
is no such thing as resurrection (as the Sadducees claimed in Judaism), then
even Jesus was not raised. If Jesus has not been raised from the dead, our
preaching and faith are useless. Everything hangs on the death and resurrection
of Jesus. Without that, we are bound by the patterns and structures of sin, in
which we live our lives. Paul puts it this way: “If only for
this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.”
Verses 20 to 28 develop the point.
·
Christ has been raised from the dead
·
Everyone died in Adam’s sin; everyone rises in
Christ’s resurrection
·
Christ wins the victory [over sin and death]
first for himself, and then for all who belong to him
·
When Christ rules over every other authority and
power in the universe, he will hand his authority over to the Father.
·
The last “enemy” to be defeated is death
·
The final two verses are complicated. I read
them to mean: Christ’s final victory re-establishes perfect order in the world,
in which God the Father reigns through God the Son and all people take their
place in God’s “New Heaven and New Earth”.
Bringing the Scripture into our Conversation
What does all of this have to do with us today? I know a
Mennonite who is attending a Catholic Church. I asked him if he could become a
Catholic. He replied, “The trouble is I would have to affirm that I believe the
whole of the church’s doctrine, and I don’t think I can. As I Mennonite, I
promise to do something, and I can do that!” I would disagree with him:
Mennonites also “believe something”, but he is right that we emphasise
Christian living over Christian believing.
That being the case, what does it mean for our daily lives
to believe in the resurrection of Jesus? We will pursue this question more
deeply in the Going Deeper time, but I give one consequence of this belief for
us to consider.
We all live on the basis of what we believe is most
important in life or fundamentally true. One of the best ways to find out what
a person really believe is true is to consider what that person actually does. If
someone says, “I believe that we should love everyone and help anybody who is
in need when they are in need”, but we observe that person acting in a hateful
way, exercising a destructive power over the person in need, then we can
conclude that their real belief is
something different. By their actions, they have proclaimed, “I believe in
using power to benefit myself before anyone else.”
What does a life lived in the truth of
the resurrection look like – both the resurrection of Jesus and our own death
and resurrection? In Romans 6, Paul writes:
What then are we to say? Should we
continue in sin in order that grace may abound? 2 By no means!
How can we who died to sin go on living in it? 3 Do you not
know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into
his death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism
into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of
the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
We walk in newness of
life. We walk in the resurrection. We have “died to sin”, and we live in his
resurrection. Let me list some possible ways that we can “walk in the
resurrection”.
·
People in our world live fearfully. We are
taking measures to deal with the threat offered by Covid-19, including holding
our Going Deeper class as a Zoom session this afternoon, instead of meeting in
the sanctuary. We take proper precautions, but we know that God is “King of the
universe”. A Zulu song we used to sing in Zimbabwe says, “Even though we walk
in danger and evil on this earth, we are going to Heaven.” We do not need to be
paralyzed by fear, whatever we face.
·
Unfettered individualism is a strong value for
most people in Canada. Although we value our individual freedom and the
equality that God has placed within us, we do not insist on our absolute right
to do whatever we want to do. We recognize that we live in mutual submission as
brothers and sisters, children of God. We do not rule over each other, but we
do care deeply for each other.
·
Most people in North America believe in what
peace teachers call “the myth of redemptive violence”. When one is attacked,
the idea goes, a righteous person may respond with violence. It is wrong, they
say, to attack other people first, but, like Popeye defending Olive Oyl, the
good guy is justified in demolishing the bad guy. We follow the teachings of
Jesus. As we “walk in the resurrection”, we recognize that we do not fear what
may happen to us if we pursue peace. We can live for peace in everything that
we do – in our families and in our jobs and in our nation and in our
relationships. Another Zulu hymn says, “Peace in this world of sin: the blood
of Jesus pours out peace.” Amen! As we sang earlier, “We are people of God’s
peace as a new creation.” We live for peace and remember the peace of God on
this Peace Sunday in Canada.
·
Many people are willing to cheat on a deal if it
gives them an advantage, or to cut corners on a job if they can get away with
it, or take something that they want without paying if no one is looking. We
follow the teachings of Jesus. Our “yes” is yes, and our “no” is no. We do what
is right when people are watching and when they are not. We walk in the
resurrection.
In short, we live by the standards and
values of God’s Reign, even while we are in this life. If the resurrection is
real, if we have died to sin and live “in newness of life”, we look different
than people around us. We act the way Jesus teaches us to act, filled with his
Spirit.
The Personal Side
As I work on this sermon, I have been
diagnosed with unstable angina. I feel the precariousness of human physical
life. How does this message about the resurrection and life after death speak
to me in my human frailty? I speak cautiously now. It is easy to say that God
comforts us in our weakness. It is harder to face that weakness squarely.
Note how Job speaks. “My heart faints
within me.” I know what he means! Note how Paul speaks. “The last enemy to be
destroyed is death.” The problems and troubles of this world are real. Jesus
warned his disciples just before his crucifixion, “I have said this to you, so
that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take
courage; I have conquered the world!” Jesus was speaking especially about the
persecution that they would face as his followers, but the truth applies more
broadly.
I have referred several times to Zulu
hymns. African hymnody often picks up the theme of the trouble we face in this
world – “this world of trouble”, “this world of sin”, and so on. They have it
right: Life is hard, and death is harder. Death would make us fear and turn
against God if it could. Then we read the whole verse and we see, “in me you
may have peace.” We hear Jesus, “take courage; I have conquered the world!”
Death may be God’s enemy, but in the resurrection, Jesus brings us the death of
death. We are enabled to walk in the resurrection, knowing that even death
cannot finish us.
This is a great truth, and this is a hard
truth. Death teaches us to rely on God. As someone said in our Going Deeper
Time a few weeks ago, death forces us to rely on God. We cannot overcome death,
but we can rest in God, who has conquered death. This is the reason that Paul
says (1
Thessalonians 4: 13f): “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and
sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who
have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so,
through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died.” We grieve at
death, but we know that Jesus rose from the dead and will bring us also with
him at the end of time. We will rise with Jesus and live forever with Jesus.
Conclusion
This then is the hope of Christian living
– that we live and die in Christ, so that we do not need to fear death. We can
live in this life the way God wants us to, and when the end comes, we can die
in Christ – and live forever.
I think of the words of another great
hymn, “Abide with me”. This was written by a pastor who was near the end of his
life. It is essentially his last words to his congregation.
- Abide with me; fast falls the eventide; The darkness deepens; Lord,
with me abide;
When other helpers fail and comforts flee, Help of the helpless, oh, abide
with me. - Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day; Earth’s joys grow
dim, its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see—O Thou who changest not, abide with
me. - I need Thy presence every passing hour; What but Thy grace can foil
the tempter’s pow’r?
Who, like Thyself, my guide and stay can be? Through cloud and sunshine,
Lord, abide with me. - I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless; Ills have no weight, and
tears no bitterness;
Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory? I triumph still, if
Thou abide with me. - Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes; Shine through the gloom
and point me to the skies;
Heav’n’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee; In life, in death,
O Lord, abide with me.
Steinbach Mennonite
Church
8 November 2020
Going Deeper Questions:
·
What does the resurrection of Jesus mean to you?
Why is it important?
·
Mennonites have emphasised the importance of how
we live, not just of what we believe. What difference does the resurrection of
Jesus make in the way that we actually live day to day?
·
How do you feel about the fact that each of us
will die? Paul calls death the last enemy to be defeated. If death is God’s
enemy, how can we welcome death as a friend?
·
What are your favourite Scriptures that speak
about death and dying?
Texts:
Job 19: 23-29
23 “O that my words were written down! O that
they were inscribed in a book! 24 O that with an iron
pen and with lead they were engraved on a rock forever!
25 For I know that my Redeemer lives, and
that at the last he will stand upon the earth; 26 and
after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God, 27 whom
I shall see on my side, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
My heart faints within
me! 28 If you say, ‘How we will persecute him!’ and,
‘The root of the matter is found in him’; 29 be afraid
of the sword, for wrath brings the punishment of the sword, so that you may
know there is a judgment.”
1 Corinthians 15: 12-28
12 Now if
Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is
no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no
resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; 14 and
if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your
faith has been in vain. 15 We are even found to be
misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he raised Christ—whom he
did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For
if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. 17 If
Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your
sins. 18 Then those also who have died in
Christ have perished. 19 If for this life only we
have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
20 But in
fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have
died. 21 For since death came through a human
being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; 22 for
as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. 23 But
each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who
belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when
he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler
and every authority and power. 25 For he must reign
until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The
last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For
“God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says,
“All things are put in subjection,” it is plain that this does not include the
one who put all things in subjection under him. 28 When
all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to
the one who put all things in subjection under him, so that God may be all in
all.
The Land Without Tears (Ralph Carmichael)
Thru the night of regret and
sorrow flow my shameless tears
Lost from sight was that glad
tomorrow, naught but wasted years.
In my weakness I knelt to pray
In his kindness I heard him say:
“I’ll take you safely across the
way, across the way
Into the Land without tears.
Without tears. Into a land without tears.”
Now I know he’ll walk beside me
thru the darkest night,
As go, he’ll be there to guide me
in the path that’s right.
When I come to the close of day,
when he speaks I will hear him say,
“I’ll take you safely across the
way, across the way
Into the Land without tears. Without tears. Into
a land without tears.”
