Jump Start # 2681

Hebrews 2:15 “and might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.”

The fear of death—boy, that’s powerful, real and crippling for many folks. People don’t like to talk about death. People don’t want to talk about funeral plans, where to be buried and such things. Nope. Bring this topic up at a party, and you’ll clear the house and most won’t come back again. We avoid this topic until it’s forced upon us. But all around us, every day, we are reminded of death. The news. Social media. And those dreaded late night phone calls, telling us of someone’s passing.

I know of three families right now who are awaiting the death angel to come to a loved one. It’s just a matter of time, and it won’t be long.

Why is it that we are afraid of death? Here are some thoughts.

First, death is so final. It’s going through a door, but that door only swings one way. No one comes back. Every funeral that we have been to, that person has remained dead. No one can really tell us what it’s like. It is not like being at an amusement park and waiting in line, you see folks who just got off a ride. You look at the expressions on their faces. You hear them describe what they went through. That prepares you for what you are about to experience. Death isn’t like that. We are not meeting people who just went through it. It’s a one way road and that is scary. What’s on the other side? Will it hurt? What if I’m not ready? Lots and lots of questions that lead to fear and uneasiness.

Second, to our passage, until Jesus, death seemed to be the greatest victory Satan had. Jesus was the first to conquer death. He overcame death. He was resurrected never to die again. All others before that were resurrected, died again. Lazarus, the Lord’s friend, died again. The widow’s son, raised by Jesus, died again. Jairus’ little daughter, raised from the dead, died again. They all died again, until Jesus. And, because of Jesus, we too will be raised one day never to die again. That is our hope. That is our belief. We will be raised to live eternally with the Lord. In Heaven there is no death. Death and hades are thrown into the lake of fire.

Third, until Jesus, forgiveness wasn’t really possible. The O.T. way was a system of perfection and obedience. And, with death always in the air, what if I haven’t been right? What if I haven’t done enough? What if I haven’t been good enough? And the answer to all of those is simple, you haven’t. You are not walking up to Heaven on your own. If you were, you have no hope and no chance. It’s the grace of God that will save you. The blood of Jesus cleanses us from our sins. That changed everything. That made it possible for us to be righteous, holy and justified. Death was so fearful because after death stood Hell. There was no escaping that. But now, through Jesus, and because of Jesus, we can be forgiven. The concept of death now changes for the believer. Death is seen simply as a doorway, much like birth. Birth took us from the womb into here. Death takes us from here to there. And, there is where God is. So, death is merely a door. It’s a door that swings one way, but it’s just a door. Don’t get so fixated on the door. Don’t think about the door. It’s what’s on the other side that truly matters. Death gets us from here to there and there is where we want to be. On the other side, all the troubles of this life won’t find a place. There, on the other side, we will be with the righteous and our Lord. Jesus makes all of this possible.

Finally, what’s it like to die? Medically, we can learn about the shutting down of the organs until the heart stops. But, that’s not the answer we are looking for. What’s it like to die? Jesus told of angels gathering Lazarus and taking him to Abraham’s bosom. I believe that still happens. Does a person see the angels before they go? I don’t know.

I heard long ago a story of a boy who was dying from cancer. He asked his mother what was going to happen. She said, “Do you remember when you will little, and you’d fall asleep in front of the TV. Your father came and carried you up to your bed. When you woke up you wondered how you got there. You’ll close your eyes here and open them on the other side. Your Father in Heaven will send His angels and they will carry you to the other side. You’ll open your eyes and everything will be fine.”

When Jesus bent down and touched the hand of Jairus’ daughter who had died, He told her to arise. She opened her eyes. I expect the first person she saw was Jesus looking at her. I like to think when we close our eyes here, we will open them and see the face of Jesus.

I can’t tell you what it is like to die. But I can tell you, God will take care of you. He always does and He always has. It will be ok. Don’t dread, worry nor be fearful of this. Keep walking until it’s time for God to carry you home.

Roger

Jump Start # 2073

Hebrews 2:15 “and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.”

Things change when one becomes a Christian. It’s much more than simply being good and going to worship on Sunday. Those are some obvious changes. But one of the greatest changes is how one thinks and how one sees things.

Our verse is just one of many examples of this in the N.T. Before Jesus came, Satan had a grip on mankind. His ultimate victory was death. Everyone died. Everyone who died stayed dead. There was no getting around it. Great kings, noble warriors, prophets, patriarchs, heroes, they all died. Abraham died. Noah died. Daniel died. Even, Jesus’ cousin, John, died. They all died. And it seemed that Satan had the last word. A dark cloud hung over humanity. You will die and that’s it. Job asked, “If a man dies, does he live again?” There was no definitive answer from Heaven to his question. Not then. Centuries later, Solomon said that the soul goes to God at death. But even at that, that dark cloud of death hung over the world.

There was nothing good to say about death. There was nothing nice about death. There was a fear of death as our passage mentions. But with the resurrection of Jesus, all that changed. It was more than Up from the grave He arose. He burst open that locked door of Satan. He was raised never to die again.

It was Jesus who said that all who are in the tombs shall come forth
It was Jesus who promised eternal life to those who believe
It was Jesus who said do not fear the one who can kill the body and do no more
It was Paul who mocked, ‘O’ death where is your victory? O’ death, where is your sting?’
It was Paul who proclaimed that death is a gain
It was John who wrote in Revelation, blessed are those who die in the Lord
It was the Thessalonians who were told that there is a hope in death

Through Christ and because of Christ, the dark cloud of death is gone. Among believers, death is no longer feared. Among believers, it’s welcomed. It’s seen as a way to be with the Lord. It’s viewed as not being over, but a doorway that takes us to the Lord. Everything we have hoped for and longed after is there with the Lord. Peace from the problems that plague us here. Through with temptations and sin. No more pills. No more traffic. No more bad news. No more stress and trouble from those who do not love the Lord. No more nights. No more feeling bad. No more wrong. When a Christian nears the end of his life, the medical community will want to continue to offer surgeries, treatments and all kinds of pills to keep us alive. The Christian, knowing that death is coming, may pass on all those. Surrounded with his family, he way want to just go on and be with the Lord. The world doesn’t understand that.

This is more than an article about death. It shows us that in Christ, we see things differently than the world does. It shows us that we see things differently than what even we used to see things. Christ has changed us from the inside out.

Death isn’t the only topic that our thinking has changed. Consider some others:

Success: once that was defined by the square footage of your house, the brand of car you drove and how fat your 401 was. Success, still defined by the world, is measured by numbers and especially money. The more you have, the more successful you are. Expensive, showy, and making others envious is the mark of a well made man. That’s how the world sees it. Christ changes that. Success with the Lord is walking with Him. Some of the greatest successes in the Bible were common servants, former lepers, those who were once demon possessed but they walked with the Lord. Poor Lazarus, so helpless and sick that he was laid at the rich man’s gates. When he died, the angels came. His death would only make the papers because he died outside someone’s gates. Homeless. Helpless. Yet, to God, Lazarus was more successful than the rich man ever was. It’s not the brands you wear on the outside, it’s the faith and love that you carry on the inside. Christ changes our thinking. Is wearing nice labels wrong? Not if you can afford them. Not if you continue to help others and be generous as God is. But if those brands make me think I’m better than others or they define who I am, then yes, they are wrong. Because brands do not impress God.

Love: Biblically, love is a choice we make that is not based upon what the other person does. Love is not a reaction. Love is the foundation of the golden rule. Love is what motivates us to pray and even do what we can for our enemies. This concept of love is not known to the world. We see this lack of love by the very folks who are screaming for tolerance. They want acceptance and demand to be accepted, while at the same time using profane words towards those who are different than they are. It’s easy to get caught up in that stuff and it’s easy to love only those who love you. Christ changes how we love because He first loved us while we were yet sinners.

When one becomes a Christian, his thinking is rewired. He sees things differently. No longer is he plagued with fear, as the world is. Worry doesn’t dominate his heart and steal his sleep at night. He doesn’t judge others as he once did. He doesn’t think of self first. His outlook, his heart, his thinking changes.

It’s this part of Christianity that the world doesn’t get. It’s not the doctrine. It’s not the commitments. It’s seeing things so differently. It’s not lusting after power and things. It’s not being enamored with who is kissing who in Hollywood. It’s not having any interest in things that have no value or purpose. Sitting around and rehashing last night’s TV show isn’t important to the child of God. The world can’t understand that. The fashion industry, the movie world, sports, the music industry—they have become idols to a world without Christ. The child of God may notice these things, but his life isn’t set to those things.

I remember seeing on TV a long time ago, people wailing when Elvis died. One pitiful girl summed it so well when she bawled, “My life is over. I can’t live without Elvis.” Really? Fast forward to the death of many media icons. It’s the same reaction. The world surrounds these things. Not the Christian. He may enjoy the music but life is much more than those icons.

Christ changes our thinking. We see things from Heaven’s perspective. This “God view” of things shapes us and moves us to what really matters. How does one get this type of Heavenly Vision? It comes by faith. It comes from spending time with the Bible open. It comes through worship. It comes from listening more to what God says than what the world says.

Seeing things differently…and because of that, death is no longer feared.

Roger

Jump Start # 1623

Hebrews 2:15 “and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.”

  Yesterday in our Jump Start, we took a look at hatred. There are feelings and emotions that are can define us. Joy, happiness, contentment, thankfulness are core attitudes and emotions of those that walk with Christ. However, we so often are plagued with the negative emotions and feelings and those can control us and even defeat us. Hatred is one of those.

Another is fear. Fear is strong and can change our behavior. There are things people fear because of what others have said or their own personal experiences. Some fear flying. Some fear going to the dentist. The list of phobias is long. Others fear things that are not so obvious, such as fear of running out of money, or fear of growing old. Our passage today mentions the fear of death. That is a big one for many people.

We don’t normally sit around with a group of friends and talk about death. That subject doesn’t bring laughter and joy to us. It’s a serious discussion and one that most would like to avoid. Things associated with death are often considered creepy. I know nurses that hated going to the hospital’s morgue room. Funeral homes can seem creepy. Every thing around this topic of death, can seem eerie, dark and something most folks just don’t talk about. The “out of sight, out of mind” syndrome seems to work well with the subject of death. But the news media and the desire to know things has brought the subject of death into our homes on a regular basis. A mass shooting in Orlando. Killings in Paris. Plane crashes. Drug overdoses. We are reminded constantly and daily that death is always around. It is always around.

The fear of death therefore is something that affects the thinking and even the faith of a person. Without Christ, without a solid faith in the Lord, the fear of death is haunting. What happens when a person dies? Do we live on? Where do we go? What is it like? Why do we have to die? Can we live forever here? These type of questions fill the shelves of many bookstores.

Our verse today reminds us that through Christ, the fear of death has been removed. He has freed us from that fear. Christ became flesh and blood and journeyed through death so that He could conquer Satan. The devil’s greatest tool is death. No one could get around death. The great kings of history, with all of their wealth and armies, every one of them, eventually died. The Caesars. The Herods. The Pharaohs. They all died. Men who amassed great wealth, like the rich man in Luke 16, all died. That is one hold over us that Satan had. No one escaped the prison of death. Everyone died. It seemed like Satan won. It seemed like Satan was the supreme ruler. Even God’s greatest died. Abraham, Noah, Moses, David, Joseph—all of them died. Satan conquered. That is, until Jesus came. He too died. But “up from the grave He arose.” He lived. He lives on and on. Satan can not re-kill Jesus. Death has no power over the resurrected. The gates of Hades shall not prevail over God’s kingdom. Fear not, Jesus said, the one who can kill the body and do no more. Fear, rather, the one who can kill the body and the soul.

Because of Jesus, we understand that death is nothing more than a doorway into the next world. Just as birth was a doorway into this world, so death is the doorway into the next world. The door flings open and we enter through faith into the marvelous arms of the Savior. His home becomes our home. Together, with the righteous of all time. Freed from the things that limit us here, such as time, age, the need for food, medicine and rest. Freed from temptation and the sorrows of guilt and shame that come with sin. Freed from Satan and his evil ways. Freed from having to labor and toil in a world that is broken. Freed from those that want to harm you. Freed from disappointments and failures. Free at last.

The fear of death is removed because of the resurrection of Jesus. Death isn’t something that the child of God gets fixated about. Death doesn’t define us. Death doesn’t shape us. It’s a moment. It’s something that on the other side we won’t think much about. It’s just a passage way, a door, to be with God.

This understand and this faith in the Lord is why so many of the early disciples faced terrible torture and death with optimism and faith. They knew. It wasn’t the end. It wasn’t the worst thing that could happen. It lasts a few moments and then that door opens widely to a wonderful world of paradise.

It seems therefore, that the child of God ought to be able to talk about death openly and freely. There is nothing to fear. It seems therefore that with great understanding and hope that the child of God longs for the time that he can pass through that door and be with the Lord. Paul viewed it as a “gain,” or an advantage. He told the Corinthians that we prefer to be absent from the body and to be home with the Lord.  In our vernacular today, “We’re out of here.”

Fear—don’t let it cripple you or define you. Pray to the Lord. Stand upon your faith that is founded in the Scriptures. Don’t listen to all the hype and phony stories of people who died and came back. Don’t put your stock in the testimonies of men, but rather in the truthfulness of God’s word.

When there is a thunderstorm late in the night a child may wake up scared. He races to his parents bed and there, sleeping between them is safe. The thunderstorm continues on, but the fear is no longer there. This is what our faith will do. This is how we conquer fear. We race to our Savior.

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.

Roger