The Death of a Christian

I have had many conversations with Christians about death and find that many are afraid of death.  This has always disturbed me, because from Scripture we know that death should not be a fear but rather a joy (1 Cor 9, 1 Thess 4:13-18).  Here is an excerpt from the book "The True Bounds of Christian Freedom" by Samuel Bolton.  If you have ever struggled with fear of death, I would encourage you to read the following.

The believer is freed from death as a curse.  The nature of death is taken away, and therefore the name is changed.  It is but called a sleep, and a sleep in Christ, and a gathering to our fathers, a change, a departing.  Death is the godly man's wish, the wicked man's fear...

There is another aspect to a believer's freedom from death - he will not die until the best time.  Indeed, none shall die until God's time.  What David said to his enemies, so may any man say: 'My times are in thy hand' (Ps 31.15).  But this is not always the best time: you may die with Belshazzar, carousing; with Ananias and Sapphira, lying; with the nobleman, unbelieving; with Julian, blaspheming.   But this is the privilege of saints, that they shall not die until the best time; not until when, if they were but rightly informed, they would desire to die.

Men cut down weeds at any time, but their corn they will not cut down till the best time.  'You are God's husbandry', says the apostle; you are His wheat, and when you are ripe, when you have done your work, then, and not till then, shall you be gathered into your Master's garner.

(added emphasis my own)

I would encourage you to specifically focus on the last line of the second paragraph.  At the moment of your death, if you were rightly informed at that moment as to the nature of things, you would actually DESIRE to die.  Why?  Because you would realize that for you to go on living would not bring God glory but would rather detract from who He is.  Do you understand this?  God is eternally and magnificently wise, and so He has planned just the right moment in time for your death, and your death will bring Him glory.  So, for you to not desire to die, for you to wish that you would not die, for you to fear death, is actually for you to not desire the glory of God.

May God be glorified both in our lives and in our deaths.  May we be assured that when we die it is the perfect time for our death.  May we even, when that moment comes, desire the death that is upon it, realizing that it has been planned before the foundation of the world for the greater glory of our Creator, Lord, and Savior.

To God be the glory forever, Amen.

The Purifying Effects of Our Hope in our Future Glory

You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise...when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.
Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation - but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it.  For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.  And by him we cry, "Abba,  Father."  Now if we are children, then we are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.  I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.  The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed....Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.  For in this hope we were saved  But hope that is seen is no hope at all.  Who hopes for what he already has?....But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope.  For in Christ Jesus neither [following the law] or [not following the law] has any value.  The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

Are you suffering?  Are you suffering the effects of sin either from within or without?  We see sin in our own hearts and lives and we feel the sin from those around us that hurt us or discourage us.  These verses from Galatians and Romans remind us that our current sufferings are only temporary, and are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.  Did you know that the glory of Christ will be revealed in you?  Does your heart and soul groan under the burden of sin?  Does your spirit groan within you, begging God to remove sin from your life and from your heart?  Be reminded and encouraged that by faith we eagerly await, through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope.  We will receive a future glory, we will be transformed into the image and conformed to the likeness of Christ.  Right now our chains are gone, but then our sin will be gone!!  Hallelujah, what a savior!  What a promise.  What a redemption.  We were bought from slavery, we were set free from death and the grasp of sin, and one day we will be brought into perfection.

So be encouraged, keep fighting sin because yours is the victory in Christ Jesus.  Walk in the Spirit, putting to death the misdeeds of the body.  Commune with God in prayer, eagerly expecting and awaiting the glory that is to be yours.  In the words of John "I write this to you so that you will not sin, but when you do sin we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense - Jesus Christ the Righteous One.  He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins...We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands."  And he goes on to say "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!...now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known.  But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.  Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure."

Second Week of Advent - Our Hope in the Fountain of Living Water

In our world it is difficult to understand the idea of thirst and the desire that one can have for water.  Water is such a basic human need that when it goes unfilled it is literally impossible to focus on anything else.  I don’t understand what it means to be thirsty, so thirsty that it consumes me.  So thirsty that I would give anything for a drink of water, that I can’t think of anything but water.  I feel so dry…dry…dry…  This consumes my thoughts and feelings and desires and everything that I am in this moment.  That is what it means to thirst.

The imagery of thirsting after Jesus as for a fountain of water has been lost on us.  Thirsting for water?  Why?  If I’m thirsty for water then I just go to the spigot and get a drink.  And so with Jesus, when he says that he is the fountain of living water, when he says that he who is thirsty should come and I will give to him to drink, we imagine him to be something like a spigot.

When we thirst we come and turn the spigot on, and when we don’t we leave it behind.  And if we turn the spigot and nothing comes out we just go to another source to fulfill our desires.  So we fill ourselves with the soda of this world and the milk of the earth, rather than waiting on the fountain of living water.

As we light this second advent candle and think of the hope that we have in Christ, let us be reminded of Him as the fountain of living water, the one who gives freely to all who thirst after him, and let us wait on the Lord in eager expectation of the salvation that is ours.  Let us echo with the prophet when he says “as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.”

Let us be reminded of our hope, and wait expectantly for the one who will quench every thirst.  Let us not be so consumed with the now that we fill ourselves with the soda of this world that will not satisfy, but instead let us look forward to the blessed hope that has been revealed in the face of Jesus Christ, waiting to be filled with the fullness of Him who is that which we truly thirst after.  May we allow ourselves to be thirsty for the Way, and the Truth, and the Life rather than being so quickly satisfied with that which will only make our stomachs sick.

Thoughts on Hope in Light of the Gospel

(Facebook Note - November 2, 2009)

I wrote this up for a friend recently and then decided to share it with everyone.

So, you mentioned feeling hopeless. I realized last Spring that that's what I was feeling, and then I stumbled across 1 Peter 1:13 which says, "Set your hope FULLY on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed."

I want to tell you an amazing message. We have messed up in every way. We continue to mess up every day. Even our good works are as filthy rags in the sight of God (Isaiah 64:6). The good we ought to do we do not do (Rom 7). We deserve the wrath of God. And there is NOTHING that we can do to change that. NOTHING. (John 15:1-8) We can do all we want and not get one bit closer to God. So God, in his infinite mercy, made himself sin for us so that in HIM we might become righteous (2 Corinthians 5:21). God chose to crush himself for our sake (Isaiah 53:10). He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness (1 Peter 2:24) So that we might be reconciled to God (2 Cor 5:15) So that we might behold God and know Him (2 Corinthians 3:18). And now there is no condemnation. There is no need to carry guilt or the burden of sin in our lives (Rom 8; Matthew 11:28-30)

So, God chose to make himself an offering in our place. There was/is nothing that we can or could ever do to be worthy. But now we can approach with confidence because of what He did. What a Savior. What a God.

Ok, now, you may be saying, "Yeah, I already know all of that. That's the gospel and I'm a Christian. I believed that long ago and was washed clean. And what does all of that have to do with hope?" Well, what people often don't realize is that the gospel message applies to all areas of our life. We should never let the message of the cross move far from the forefront of our mind. We should live every situation out in consideration of how the cross applies to it (there are a number of scriptures I could point out that enumerate this point, but I want to get to my point.) So anyways, I thought it might be helpful for you to spend some time meditating on the gospel. Thinking over what a savior we have.

And this is our hope. Our hope is in God. Our hope is in Christ. Our hope is in the grace that he has given us through Christ. We can know that he is serious about this because he CRUSHED HIMSELF for our sake, so how much more will he provide for our every day living. So what is left for us to do but to trust in Him. Now, I know that all of this is much easier said than done, and I have many days that this is not what my life looks like, but I strive to be more impacted by the message that Christ died in my place. To be more effected by the truth that I can do NOTHING (John 15:5). To be more humbled by the fact that any fruit that I see in my life has nothing to do with me but everything to do with Him. (Colossians 1:9-10) These things all just leave me searching out His word to know Him more and understand what he desires, and to spend time in prayer recognizing that I can do nothing apart from him. And living my life as a living sacrifice (Heb 12:1-2; 2 Corinthians 5:15) And that is our hope. Read 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 Our hope is that we have been reconciled to God and can live in light of that.