Fear of Divine Judgment - How Jesus Overcomes Our Fear of Death

Many people assume that death is bound to be better than our suffering right now. How often have you heard somebody say, “Well, at least he’s not suffering anymore…”? Or “Now she’s at peace; she’s in a better place.”

If you’re in heaven, you are in better place where there is “joy unspeakable and full of glory.” Tears and suffering are over forever.  But according to Jesus, not everyone goes to heaven. Christ said, “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it (Matthew 7:13-14, NLT, my emphasis).
           

If you end up in hell, the suffering is infinitely worse than anything you might experience in this life. Christ described hell as a place where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched (Mark 9:48).

In three previous posts I’ve talked about the reasons why people may fear death. But this last one, fear of divine judgment, is the most important one. People should fear being punished for their sins.

No Fear in Death - by Christ's Death and Resurrection

Recently I read an article by a medical doctor who spoke transparently about his own fear of death. He developed a crippling anxiety which resulted in physical symptoms of various kinds. Eventually he was diagnosed with PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) - associated entirely with his fear of death.

Death comes to all of us. So what do we do about fearing the inevitable? Christianity’s answer comes through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery (Hebrews 2:14-15). We look to Christ to deliver us from the fear of death that makes slaves of us all.

How Christ Overcomes the Fear of Death (With Jesus on the Road to Samarra)

A merchant in Baghdad sent his servant to the market one day, but the servant soon returned, trembling with fear. “Master,” he said, “I met Death in the crowd, disguised as an old woman. She made a threatening gesture, and I ran. Please lend me your horse, and I will flee to Samarra to avoid my fate. Death won’t find me there.” The merchant lent him the horse, and the servant raced north, away from Baghdad. Then the merchant walked to the market, found the old woman, and demanded to know why she made the threatening gesture. Death replied, “I wasn’t threatening your servant but was only surprised to see him here. You see, I have an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.”*

Five Reasons We Fear Death, and How Jesus Gives Us Victory

John Donne famously wrote,

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so*

But, for many people, death might as well be proud. Because death does seem “mighty and dreadful.” People do fear death. They dread their own deaths and the inevitability of their loved ones’ deaths.

The Christian gospel addresses this basic fear.

God's Unseemly Behavior

Many people, even some who claim to believe in God, find what He does or what He permits, well, unseemly. Why would an all-powerful, infinitely benevolent God wipe people out in Old Testament times? Why does He let children die of cancer? Or anyone, for that matter? To ordain or even to permit this kind of suffering seems inappropriate - not right somehow.

A Life Fully Lived: For Shepard

How do you know when a life is complete and fully lived? I wrote about this question a while back in A Life Cut Short?, the story of a young police officer who was murdered last December.

So what makes a meaningful life? Some people live a long time, seemingly without purpose and without much positive impact. When is a life “fully lived?”

I have been thinking a lot about this because of a heroic little boy in our church who died on April 4 at the age of seven months. His name is Shepard Summerlin. He and his parents fought valiantly and faithfully, he was treated at a world-class hospital by wonderfully competent and caring doctors and nurses, but finally he passed away.

It was my privilege to preside at both his dedication to the Lord and at his funeral. On those occasions I tried to point out how Jesus loves little ones and how they are saved and taken to heaven, not because they are sinless, but because of Jesus’ atoning sacrifice. “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God "(Luke 18:16)

Get Busy Living Or Get Busy Dying

I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really. Get busy living or get busy dying.

Those words were spoken by the character of Andy Dufresne in the movie The Shawshank Redemption. Based on a Stephen King novella, Shawshank is a story of friendship and how people triumph over horrific and unfair circumstances.

What Andy meant, I suppose, is that regardless of how grim your circumstances, you need to decide to live - to somehow make the best of it and keep on keeping on.

I admire the sentiment, but according to the Bible you’re supposed to do both. Get busy dying AND get busy living. In that order. Because, like Jesus said, John 12:24, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

When I Come to Die - The Story of Two Women with Terminal Cancer

Brittany Maynard is a 29-year-old wife with terminal cancer. Her story has been all over the internet, including her own first-person account on the CNN website here. Brittany has a form of brain cancer that is particularly aggressive, and those who have it usually die within 6 months.

She and her husband moved from California to Oregon, a so-called “right to die” state, because she wants to end her life on her own terms. She plans to do so on November 1, and is spending her last days as an advocate for the right of all people to commit suicide when and how they wish.

Here’s one quote from the CNN article: "When my suffering becomes too great, I can say to all those I love, 'I love you; come be by my side, and come say goodbye as I pass into whatever's next.'"

Loss

Yesterday I read a novel and one of the characters, an elderly Holocaust survivor, told the story of his time in the Nazi death-camps. Like all good fiction, it was true. It made me cry. And so I wrote this.

Oh, loss. You hard and dull drag of a thing, you constant ache, you impairing crippling relentless howl.

I hate you.

I smell your smoking ovens, hear your cackling grave-watch, feel your creeping decay, see your black eye-sockets

Oh, loss.

You shyster, you faker, you shape-shifter, you fraud and counterfeit. Your dull drone drowns a song.

You sudden shimmering flashing horror show, you ugly painted harlot, you hammering knocking pretending stench.

Oh, loss.

I know you and dread you and try not to think of you and you won’t leave.

Oh, loss, loss, loss.

You dead and dying creeping crying decaying braying plaguing pretender.

Jesus will undo you, Jesus will erase you, Jesus will make me forget you forever and ever.

Have your fun now. Your time’s coming.

Oh, cross, cross, cross, where my Savior lost and lost and lost and sent time spinning and evil running and life coursing and coming.

Oh, grave where is your sting?

Falling Asleep in Jesus - from our Pyro friends

I have so far not posted from other blogs, but this is too good to pass up. The PyroManiacs have a weekly Spurgeon excerpt, and this one is great. And visit PyroManiacs by clicking here. 

Your weekly dose of Spurgeon

The PyroManiacs devote some space each weekend to highlights from the lifetime of works from the Prince of Preachers, Charles Haddon Spurgeon.  The following excerpt is from The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, volume 46, sermon number 2,659, "Fallen Asleep."

“For a Christian to die, is, according to Scripture, an act of the most natural kind, for it is but to fall asleep.”

The more you think this matter over, the more clearly will it appear to you that there cannot be any pain in death; all pain must be connected with life, it is the living who suffer. In death, we forget all pain. That gentle touch, that divine love-pat that, shall end all pain and sorrow, is, the thing which men usually call death, but which the apostle rightly calls sleep. There is nothing to be dreaded in it; it may be altogether unattended with pain; I believe that, full often, it is so. To fall asleep is a very natural act, and so it is for us to die. A little child has been playing in the field gathering buttercups and daisies all day long; but, at last, tired right out, he drops asleep upon his mother’s lap; what could he do better? So, though we may be unwilling to die, the time will come when we shall have finished our life,—work or play, whichever you may please to call it,—and we shall fall asleep upon the bosom of our God; what better thing could we do? There is a dear old friend of mine, now in heaven; and, when he came to this house, one Sabbath-day, I said to him, “Our old friend So-and-so has gone home.”

The one to whom I spoke was an old man himself, one of our most gracious elders, and he looked at me in a most significant way, and his eyes twinkled as he said, “He could not do better, dear Pastor; he could not do better; and you and I will do the same thing one of these days. We also shall go home!” Our aged friend, as I told you, has himself gone home since that time, and now I may say of him, “He could not have done better.” Why! that is where good children always go at night,—home. If they ran away, where would they go? When our night comes, beloved children of God, you and I also must go home; do we feel at all afraid of such a prospect? If so, surely our love to our Heavenly Father, and to our Elder Brother, and to our home above, must be growing somewhat cold.

What Did He Teach?

In my last post I wrote about Christ as Master Teacher. But what did He teach?

Over and over the Gospels answer that question with verses like this: And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. Mark 8:31. (See also Mark 9:31; Mt. 16:21; Lk. 9:22)

But why did this require "teaching?" Wasn’t it simply the declaration of an upcoming event? Granted, the most important, life-altering, history-making event ever. But why was the Savior “teaching” this? Doesn’t “teaching” imply a process of instruction, and not a simple announcement?

Why would the fact of His upcoming death and resurrection be the subject of ongoing instruction?

Answer: because Jesus’ substitutionary death and resurrection is the heart of our faith. Some Christians think of Jesus’ death on the cross as the A-B-C’s of our faith, the elementary, beginning part. But Jesus taught this because it is the beginning, middle, and end of everything.

We never outgrow the cross. The gospel relates to everything about our life and our destiny, our families and our careers, our relationships and our character. Far from an elementary lesson, the cross is the Master Class.

In heaven the cross continues to be the central topic of wonder and praise. The numberless chorus of angels worship Christ for this very reason: Worthy are you…for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. Revelation 5:9

I admire Jesus as the Master Teacher, and as I read and study and try to obey, His teachings continue to point me back to the cross and the empty tomb.

The Death of Two Warriors: Andrew Breitbart and Lowell Oldenburg

Andrew Breitbart

This week two warriors died, both passionate advocates for causes greater than themselves. Many people know about Andrew Breitbart, who was a fearless activist for conservative political causes. He was a commentator for the Washington Times, an author, and ran Breitbart.com, along with five other conservative websites.

Breitbart died in Los Angeles early Thursday, March 1. He was only 43. You can read more about him here.

Lowell Oldenburg

Three days earlier, on February 27, Lowell Oldenburg died in Turlock, California. He was a Christian missionary to college students for 35 years. He loved the Bible, and memorized huge sections of it. A gifted evangelist, he had a gentle and engaging style that made him a friend to people of all ages. He was 71. You can read about him here.

I admired them both. In many ways they were cut from the same cloth. Neither man cared much about how the world perceived them. They were both sold out to the greater mission they served.

Even as a relatively young man, Andrew Breitbart made an impact on the political climate of our country. Lowell Oldenburg lived a longer life, and left this world with much less fanfare. But without any doubt his legacy is eternal.  

God’s measurement of greatness is very different than ours. While I don’t know anything about Mr. Breitbart’s spiritual life, Lowell's was the most obvious thing about him. “Lowell helped me fall in love with Jesus through the Bible and I will forever be grateful to him,” said one of the online tributes to him.

None of us knows how much time we have left this side of the veil. While I look up to both men, Lowell makes me want to live for Jesus. Christ said, For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it.For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? (Mark 8:35-37).

What will they be saying about you at your funeral?