The End of the World

welcome to the faith bridge sermon podcast be sure to keep watching immediately after the sermon for PostScript a weekly podcast with in-depth content and answers to your questions submitted during the sermon you can also find it on iTunes or at Faith Bridge org slash PostScript bin Stewart doesn't need much introduction here especially if you've been around for a while he started out in ministry here as our youth pastor 18 years ago and it's always a treat when he's back to preach God's Word to us he continues the series who started last week which is an awesome series and an awesome installment let's welcome bin as he comes to bring God's Word to us now hey good to see you guys if you have a Bible we are in 1st Thessalonians 4 I want to read a couple verses to you and then we'll jump in if you don't have a Bible there's people who are willing to give you one if you raise a hand or you can just listen along because I want to read to you first Thessalonians 4 will pray and jump in and man 18 years ago that is pretty crazy to think I started ministry as a baby but here we are unreal but awesome to be here I said it last week I'll say it again I love this church I love Kenmore line and love his leadership have learned so much from him and it's always a joy for my wife and I to be here and this is fun place to be Ken's gonna talk about sex I'm talking about the end of the world I mean come on this place is crazy so first s alone Ian's for beginning in verse 13 says this but we do not want you to be uninformed brothers about those who are asleep 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 fallen asleep for this we declare to you by a word from the Lord that we who were alive who are left until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who fall in asleep for the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command with the voice of an archangel with the sound of the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first then we who are alive who are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and we will always be with the Lord therefore encourage one another with these words let me pray for us well father I just want to pray that that last verse would come true that these words would encourage us they would sow courage into our hearts as we think about the end our end the impending death of those we love and and and the end of all things that this is all going to terminate at some point and so God as we talk about what is historically not the most upbeat of circumstances I pray God that we would talk about it in a way that your word commands us to in a way that fuses into our hearts courage and comfort and so I pray God we'd walk out of here with greater confidence and greater comfort as a result of contemplating the end of our days and Lord we ask for your grace and so I just want to invite you guys if you're willing to take a minute and you ask him say lord please teach me something from your word today and then if you would please pray for me that the Lord would use me and I'd be helpful to you well father we love you and we trust you use this time and we pray that in Jesus name Amen well I don't think there's many things in life worse than the 400-yard - we used to have to run him in high school and just frankly I don't even know why they call it a - because for me I can - for maybe a hundred yards but the rest of that 300 was more of just an exercise in survival it's just a horrible run and I remember when I was in football they would make us do him over and over again and was it was awful I remember for me like I would get to that last hundred yards and literally parts of my body would start shutting down like I couldn't feel my nose like my fingers would go numb it was like the little guys inside of me or like divert all power from the nose he needs him in the legs right just trying to keep me going do such an awful race and we would have to do it and the coaches would have us out there running over and over again until the point that we almost were breaking physically and we would be in that moment where you know you're leaning over and doing that thing where you're trying not to throw up but you're just spinning a lot you know I'm talking about where you're like and we're all doing it and the coaches would get us to that moment where we were about to break not just physically but emotionally we're like we can't handle another 400 you know and always in that moment our coach would stop us coach Davis and he would say Circle up man and he'd say man I know you're tired man I know this is rough up in there they start to talk about the difficulty we were in the midst of and acknowledged that it was difficult he said but man I want to tell you about something there's gonna be a moment we're gonna be out there on the field it'll be the fourth quarter the other team's gonna be tired and you're gonna have another gear and he started to talk about being in a football game and he would start talking about being in that moment where we were there at the end of the game the critical moments and we had something to offer in those critical moments and then he would go past it and talk about us crossing over the goal line winning that final touchdown winning the game seeing the clock ticked down and our score high feeling that victory of we all were a part of something together the sweetness of victory we'll enjoy as a team you know every coach is supposed to give speeches like that but with coach Davis I mean you could see it it was so vivid and as he described that glorious end something happened to us in the middle of that track that it's not that we stopped thinking about our pain but we started to realize this moment was leading us into that moment and in that moment I remember he would always get us to line up on the line and something crazy would happen we would all race up to the line and then he would yell go and we would scream he didn't tell us to do he would just say go like right and just run and usually get our fastest times which was crazy but it was this amazing phenomena that he would put us through on a regular basis a contemplation of the end completely altered the way we lived and so we've been in this series about death and let me tell you something you really want to kill a conversation bring up the subject of death I mean for me all week people like hey I heard you're preaching Houston what are you talking about in my death conversation over and then I'd be like how are you doing you know because there was nowhere else to take that when people don't like to talk about death people avoid the topic of death we don't want to think about it we don't wanna talk about it we don't want to contemplate it and yet it's coming for all of us the end is coming for each one of us and what you see in the Bible is a contemplation at the end need not be a source of despair actually it can become a source of hope and so as we began to talk about it many of you it stirred up those questions what is gonna happen to me when I die or you started thinking about loved ones where are they where is the loved one I've lost what's happening to them right now are they asleep are they awake are they conscious where are they what's happening with them the number one question we got after last week's sermon was where are they what's happening with my loved ones who are gone my brother and I were cleaning out my dad's house just a few days ago my dad passed away about three weeks ago and my brother drove up in the truck yesterday and was like well I got dad in the back of the truck he had gone by the funeral home my dad it asked to be cremated and he had his ashes in a box back there but he didn't say I've got his ashes in a box he's like dad's gonna back in the truck I'm like okay and some of you say is he or is he somewhere else or is our both true what what's happening and questions come up around it and here's the good news as these need not lead to despair but rather in verse 13 Paul the Apostle is talking to his people the Thessalonians and they have questions about death because I've lost some people and he tells them in verse 13 we don't want you to be uninformed brothers don't settle for ignorance don't settle to not think about it he says we don't want you to be ignorant brothers about those who are asleep that you may not grieve as others do have no hope he says I don't want you to be ignorant about it I want you to press in and know about this think about this why because there's a result that comes from it this information is going to change your affections it will change your emotions it will make you different than everyone else in your neighborhood because everyone else when they contemplate death they grieve but their grief is without hope but the Christian when we grieve our Grievous shot through with hope one of the main reasons Christianity grew so rapidly in the early days was because of the confidence Christians held as they faced their impending death it confused the ancient world to see such confidence and joy in the face of their end and it enthralled them and drew them what do you have we have hope which is not wishful thinking it's a confident expectation we know deaths not the end for us and so you go what's the difference what what contemplating the end gave the Christian hope is it the word asleep some people say that well you know because people that didn't know Jesus died but Christians just sleep that's what the word is but that's not really what Paul is getting at here because in the ancient world the word sleep was used as a kind of imagery for death by Christians non-christians all over the culture people talked about that it's not this idea of our loved ones are sleeping that would give us hope what's uniquely Christian is that the Christian had a version of it where we sleep and then wake up that's the part that was different because in the ancient world they would call death sleep but they said that sleep was the end théo krytus said hope is for the living the dead are without hope Catullus says the sun will set and rise again but when our brief life light sets there is one unending night to be slept through and so they grieved and said when night comes this sleep is all that's left the christian says no we sleep but we rise for the christian death is not the end what was our enemy last week now becomes our portal into more that the Christian sees life beyond the grave and you go how do they see that how would we have that hope is it just wishful thinking we hope that's true as Paul like we'll just believe it you know and then maybe you can fly you can fly you know is it like we just hope it's true that there's something beyond the grave well no Paul gives you the reason for our hope and verse 14 he says for since we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so through Jesus God will bring with him those who fall asleep why does the Christian have confidence that life comes after the grave because we've seen it it's interesting ricky gervais hsihu a great comedian came up with the TV show The Office is also an atheist in a Ricky Gervais came up with a movie years ago where he posited a world where there was no line everyone was completely honest and yet the movies called the invention of line because a guy finds he has the ability to lie and he invents lying and in the movie the great lie that launches a million lies is as he's next to the grave or excuse me the hospital bed of his grandmother she's afraid in the face of death and so he tells her there's life beyond the grave just to comfort a scared dying woman and that's the great lie that launches a million lies in this movie and then in the movie the invention of lying he just sort of mocks everybody who believes there's life beyond the grave because it's just you with your wishful thinking and he'd be right to mock us if all we had was wishful thinking right that's what Paul said last week right if there's no resurrection from the dead we are most to be pitied we are all wasting our time here and so this is not based on wishful thinking this is based on historical precedent why do we believe there's life beyond the grave because we saw it happen because our guy Jesus went to death he was killed he was buried and then he rose and he hung out with people ate fish talked to them he hung out with people and it radically changed the world and some skeptics will say well did he really wasn't this a story that was made up generations later now this letter first Thessalonians was written within a few years after Jesus hard to perpetuate a lie about beating death within the lifetime of the guy you're talking about right and one of the greatest conundrums for the skeptic about the resurrection of Jesus is the existence of us did you saw in the ancient world the Jewish people believe there was one God in heaven and that is it and if any human being ever suggested that they possessed godhood you were an enemy Caesar claimed to be filled with the divine spirit and he put his emblem before the Jewish temple the Jews revolted in Jerusalem and were ready to die to go to war against a man who dared to claim to be God and then a carpenter now out of Nazareth named Jesus claimed to be God how's he gonna do they're willing to fight Caesar claiming to be God and now a carpenter says oh I'm God everybody they're not gonna buy that till he died and didn't stay dead and they were like you know what I think he's got a point here and suddenly in history you have a group of people who were not expecting something like that willing to die for the god man Jesus Christ suddenly you saw a community of Jews ready to give their life for this man and the Christian Church was born and has spread throughout millennia the skeptic can't explain us the existence of a people who have hope even in the face of death why based on wishful thinking no on historical reality that changed life back then and has produced a family that spans across the globe now our hope lies in the resurrection of that man he beat death and if he died and rose then it says those who are in Jesus that have put their faith in Him we go with him if he goes down we go down and when he rises we rise too we have knit ourselves together with him and he said well how can we be sure that okay Jesus beat death but how do we know he's not gonna bail how do we know he's not gonna get to heaven be like anyways see you guys later and take off like how do we know he's actually gonna come get us or that our loved ones have a future when he says in verse 15 for this we declared to you by a word from the Lord that we who are alive who are left until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who fallen asleep he says we have confidence why because Jesus told us it's gonna play out like this you go where did Jesus tell us that Matthew chapter 24 Matthew 24 Jesus is talking about how bad things are gonna get he talks about his own impending death the disciples are pretty bummed about all that and Jesus starts telling that's not the end of all things he says in verse 30 of Matthew 24 you will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call they will gather his elect from the four winds from one end of the heavens to the other he says there's going to come a moment where Jesus comes back to get us he died he rose and he says I am coming soon and we trust him because before he died he told us many times I'm gonna die and not stay dead you know that's hard to believe and then he did it and he was like I'm coming back to get you and we said you know I'm gonna trust you with that I really am did you seem like you know what you're doing so they said we have a word from the Lord if he beat death in rose he's taking us with him not only us but even those who've passed away right and so he says it in verse 16 for the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command the voice of the Archangel with the sound of the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first now there's an issue we need to address in this text if you've been following along maybe this is a little confusing to you because you know this is talking about how Jesus will descend and then the dead will ride first we won't have precedence they will go before us you what moment is he talking about here and what you have to realize is Paul when he's writing these letters like this letter to the Thessalonians he's answering a question of theirs and so the natural thing to ask was what was the question Paul's answering and I would posit to you what this text is not answering is the question what happens to you when you die that's not the question Paul's answering to the Thessalonians because if that was the question they asked what happens to you at the moment of death where do you go where is my mom where is my dad if that's your question Paul would have answered that question differently he said well how do you know that because he did answer it differently you see it in 2nd Corinthians 5 he says we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord Paul talks about this moment of dying and he says there's a part of me that when I die is separated from my body and he says it's at home with the Lord and he talks about those like they are simultaneous things to be departing from my body is to be at home with my lord he said it in Philippians 1 in Philippians 1 he was in prison he thought they might kill him and so he starts this with odd contemplation of whether or not he wants to die he says for me to live is Christ to die would be gain which I shall choose I cannot tell I'm hard pressed between the two and then he says my desire is to depart and be with Christ for that is better and Paul's assumption when he wrote to the Philippians was at the moment I died I'm with Christ and that would be better so in the instant of death I separate from the body and I'm at home with the Lord I depart and I'm with him you see Jesus talked about it in Luke 16 Jesus tells the story of Lazarus and Lazarus dies and as Jesus tells the story Lazarus dies and his spirit is instantly transported into a place where he is interacting with the people who died in faith from generations before and they're talking about human history that's still playing out in front of them so they're not in some soul sleep waiting until the last day they are conscious aware conversating even as history rolls on you see in Luke 23 Jesus when he's on the cross the thief says remember me when you enter his kingdom and Jesus doesn't say you know someday we'll sort all this out Jesus says today you'll be with me in paradise we're both gonna die on these pieces of wood and today you and I will both be in paradise you see it in Hebrews chapter 12 as he's describing what Heaven's like he says you come to Mount Zion the city of the Living God the heavenly Jerusalem to innumerable angels and festal gathering to the Assembly of the firstborn who were enrolled in heaven and to God the judge of all and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect as he's describing heaven he says God's gonna be there angels are there and then the righteous those who've been made right by God through faith in Jesus the righteous have now been made perfect so if you and I were to go up to heaven right now you'd see him there right they'd be there that's what he's talking about here you see it in Revelation 6:9 as John is talking about what he sees in heaven he says I saw under the altar souls of those who had been slain for the word of God he had seen martyrs he says they begin to talk to God this is where it gets a little crazy it says and they asked God how long before you will judge and avenge our blood and they were given a white robe and told to rest a little longer okay so here's where it gets weird you go if the goal is to be separate from our body and to float up and be with heaven and with God why are these people who have done it dissatisfied it's a weird image I don't know what you picture in heaven if we're all happy we're all hanging out in this picture of heaven revelation the martyrs are unsatisfied they begin to petition God and say how long until you avenge us they say there's some justice that wasn't done when are you gonna make things right there in heaven and not satisfied that's a strange thought and you go what's going on with that and what's interesting is what happens in that moment Jesus doesn't tell him dude relax you're in heaven kick back with your buddies this cool man he doesn't say that what does it say it says he told him to rest for just a little while longer what does that mean it means that disembodied soul hood is not the end goal that they've been separated from their bodies they're up there with him but they're longing for something else and God tells him just hold on it's coming see your goal and my goal is not to just get out of this earth get out of our body and get up to heaven that's not how the Bible presents our end you see it in 2nd Corinthians 5 where Paul is talking about his body and he says for we know that in this tent that is our earthly home is destroyed we have a building from God a house made without hands eternal in the heavens for in this tent we groan longing to put on or heavenly dwelling if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked for while we're still in this tent we groan being burdened so he's talking about physical life he says in the physical world we groan this world is broken and some of you know what that's like Paul says we're facing death every day in this physical tent we groan because life gets hard men thought about it the other day plane right over here I'm like I gotta roll up this you know jacket and put it behind my back because my lower back gets all tricky on these planes right and uh and then I was like man I was talking to Fran I'm like I can't keep looking at you here cuz it's bolting discs of my neck so you keep talking and I'm just gonna face forward because it hurts too much to look at you on the side but you're gonna have to talk loud because I don't hear so good anymore and I start saying uh stupid I'm like listen to me I'm a tall man like I've been talking to guys lately about all my different physical ailments like you know what you need to start doing visually and you start taking this you need to think about they circulate I'm like dude that's like 47 pills there's like oh my god like I remember the old people that do that like every morning they have their little thing in their open well it's Monday here's my 47 bills no I was like why is that happy I'm like I'm that guy I've become that guy no and you guys getting old besides I mean you're did you grown you're like really this is the bestest style man I'm on the downhill slide that's no fun right in this tent we groan but Paul says what's the end goal we just want to get out of this thing we take this earth to suit off and get out of here right is that what he says no what does he say when he reads it says in this tent we groan longing to put on our heavenly dwelling if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked what is he talking about what does that even mean while we're in this tent we groan being burdened we all get that not that we would be unclothed but we'd be further clothed so that what is mortal may be swallowed up in life what Paul is saying is the final goal for us is not disembodied soul hood he calls that naked he says it's not bad up there there with God they're happy but it's not the end the end is not the taking off of the earthly it's the redemption of even the physical world that's the hope you see it in Romans chapter 8 it says for creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God for the creation was subject to Philippi not willingly but because of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God for we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now and not only creation but we ourselves are the first fruit of the Spirit groan inwardly as we await the eager adoption as sons the redemption of our bodies what's got garland will you see in Genesis 1 and 2 God doesn't just create the immaterial world God's not just creating like wispy clouds and such God likes dirt God makes the physical world and seven times it says it's good that dirts good that trees good food's good that bodies good God likes the physical world and in Genesis 3 when we sin we introduce death into it he says man even creation was subject to futility creation groans right along with us the creation doesn't grown to be burned up that's a weird thing to long for creation doesn't want to just be destroyed it says creations longing along with us what for the redemption of our bodies because at the very end of things it's not just that everything physicals burned up and we go up to float around in the clouds what do we even pray for in the Lord's Prayer Lord your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven the longing of heaven and the longing of Earth and the longing of us is not just disembodied soul hood it's the redemption of everything so is my dad's soul in heaven yes does that box contain my dad in a sense yeah and what we wait for is the final day when God redeems all of it new body and new soul new heavens and new earth that's the hope of Jena of Revelation is heaven comes down in Revelation the final words you get from Jesus you want to know what the final red letters are in your Bible you gotta go all the way to the end of Revelation and he says see I am coming soon and then we pray come Lord Jesus we don't pray get me out of here we pray come come redeem all of this come let your grace flow as far as the curse is found and the end of Revelation we don't all go up heaven comes down and so you see as Paul is contemplating his impending death in 2nd Timothy 4 he says there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge will award to me on that day and not only to me but all who love his appearing he says the great hope of the New Testament is his appearing his arrival when Jesus wrens the heavens and comes down and redeems not just our souls but all of this that's the great hope of heaven and earth the redemption of everything so back to the Thessalonians question you go Ben that was a long side to get to there what was their question in the Bible the great hope of the Christian is to see their king and to see their king make this world right again Paul calls us those who love his appearing which just stop on that for a second Oh does that describe you if I put that on a resume tell me a little about yourself well I got an education here and you know I've do these kind of things and I'm great at Excel and Word documents and I long for his appearing read the New Testament and I promise you that comes up on almost every page that we are the people who want to see our King come and have sure kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven we're called the ones who love his appearing right and so what was happening to the Thessalonians they thought he was coming quick and so they were like we're longing for his appearing our King is coming Jesus gonna rend the heavens and come down we're gonna get to be with our king we're getting to celebrate him and then all of a sudden like bill died they're like ah and then sue died and they're like ah we're waiting for the moment he comes down and there's a celebration when he makes things right what just are they gonna be there cuz we're talking about this moment that's amazing we want them to be a part of this moment where we see our king that's the thing we're waiting for and what Paul tells them to comfort each other with is the reality that the Lord Himself will descend from heaven when the cry of command the voice of the Archangel and the sound of the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first that comfort Paul gives the Thessalonians is your dead will be there they'll actually be the first in line that it's interesting the great hope of the new testament was for all of us be together with him as he redeems the world that's the hope it makes me think of Lord of the Rings which I don't know if you've watched or not it's been a while but there's a moment at the end of Lord of the Rings were the one true king who had lived in obscurity is now riding forth in victory to finally defeat evil and unite the earth and as the King rides out in victory people from the four corners of the earth come to meet him to ride out with the king and as they're preparing for that moment far off in the West a little Hobbit is told you can't go to the battle because you're too small you know it's like one of those carnival rides like sorry you got to be as tall as this hand you can't go to the battle at the end of all things with your one true king and in that moment he doesn't go well you know what he gonna do I'm sure all right he doesn't do that the thought of his king riding out in victory and his friends being there the thought of not being a part of that is unconscionable to him he's like no I'm gonna be there and I'll either ride a horse there or I'm gonna sneak into your knapsack but either way I'm getting there because that's the moment all of history's been waiting for and the Thessalonians are like we're gonna see our king we want all our friends there and Paul's comfort to them as saying you will be we will be they'll be there before you and we'll all get to see our King right in and glory and we'll get to see him come out and then we who are alive who are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we will always be with the Lord I love this because Paul grabs some imagery they'd all know and the Greek word that he's grabbing the imagery of the appearing is the word parousia means he's here para alongside Lucia us the house he's with us the longing of the New Testament the parousia when when the king comes and it's a word they would all know because that's the word you would use when a dignitary arrived in a city so Caesar you can read ancient documents where Cesar decides to stop by and visit a town Caesar who ruled the Roman Empire if you were part of the town and found out Caesar was coming you wouldn't go tell him I said hi when you found out the king of the known world was coming they would send a messenger to let you know and you got busy you scrubbed every wall he straightened up he scrubbed all the children you put them in their best clothes you would go out to the main road into your city and if there were any potholes in a low place you would fill up if there were any bumps in the road any high place you would make load if the road have gotten crooked you make it straight for the arrival of your king and then on the day Caesar was arriving you wouldn't all just sit in your houses and go well someone let me know when he gets here you would do what you do when an honored guest comes to your home what happens at your home when you're in the kitchen getting ready because you got a dinner party coming and some distinguished guests rings the doorbell do you go come on it's outside no what do you do you go okay honey they're here no they're here okay you get the front door and you open the door hey right and that's the whole thing right because you want to welcome them in to your home you belong here and so in the ancient world they wouldn't just sit in their houses when the king came what would they do they would leave the city and they would line the main road to the city and as they stood along that road on the side waiting for their king they would cheers their king came and then they would lead him into the city they would do what what they did to Jesus when he rode into Jerusalem you remember when he came into Jerusalem the city was waiting for him along the road and they laid palm branches and said Hosanna blessed is he who comes the name of the Lord and what happened as you rode that donkey into Jerusalem they celebrated him from the sides of the road and they fell in behind him and followed their conquering king what's interesting is that's the exact same wording Paul uses here he says we will ride out to meet him and we will come with him down what's interesting is he uses the word caught up it's where we get the the Latin word from which we get the English word rapture so this is the passage of the Bible that talks about the rapture which you go wait where's the Dragons and where's the pre-trib poster it's not in here so it's not really Paul's concern what's happening in here is what when the Lord comes we will rise to meet him we'll go out to see our king and we'll lead him right back down to take over and that's the hope of the Christian now some people go when we rise to meet him is there a seven-year gap and then we come back with him or do we rise and go back down immediately I'm not gonna get into that with you okay cuz we got like two minutes left right but the fact of the matter is the great hope of the Bible it's not just that we get to be with him when we die although that's a glorious comfort for us but it's also the fact that then he comes and makes all things right that grace flows as far as the curse is found that we get to see our King come and we get to unite with our team and we all get to experience the victory of watching our King ride in and take over all of this and when you understand that that when this game is over we can't lose let me promise you something that's gonna change the way you play the game now so when I was in college I remember we a group of us were part of this men's organization and we joined a paintball tournament that this sorority had put on and all these different fraternities and men groups were were in this paintball tournament playing against each other shooting each other with paintballs to see who would win and so we were in the tournament bunch of young guys were like sophomores and we got in this tournament and we won the first round and as we were progressing in the rounds we saw some guys that went out and bought like really expensive high caliber guns were like oh geez come on man you know I mean like you're buying your way to the top it's tacky and so you know we were contemplating who our next enemy was gonna be and we went and looked at the bracket to see who was gonna get to the final slot and I remember we were facing off in the championship round with guys that were part of this same organization we were but they were all seniors and we're like well that's weird this is gonna be awkward and so I remember we went to talk to them and they came up to us and they were like hey guys here's the deal we all got girlfriends so uh we don't want to be here anymore this is getting late so we're gonna go play the game but no matter what happens out there y'all are advancing to the championship we're like what and they're like you heard us right we don't want to be here anymore real life like so regardless what happens out there no matter how bad it gets you can't lose and some of you might think well would that make you not even want to play would that make you go why do we even play let's just do it that's not what happens when you realize you're in the middle of a game or no matter what happens you can't lose what happens you don't duck behind a tree you don't play the game conservative you play like you're in a freakin John Woo movie I mean you just go running and like leap out each other diving over barricades tackling guys like I got right I mean you go crazy you play the game the way it's meant to be played was reckless abandon why because I can play free because I know I can't lose and when the Christian understands we win Jesus was the first fruits of what to come he died and rose so when we die we rise and then when this earth is over it will rise and become something new no matter what happens and when the diagnosis comes in you still can't lose when you get that phone call you still don't lose and so that does something in us and it affects the way we play the game John Wesley founder of Methodism when the greatest evangelist of all time John Wesley was a minister in the early days of America got on a boat to ride over from England to minister to America the only problem was he was not a Christian tough to be a good pastor when you're not actually a Christian and his ministry was terrible but as he was riding over he was the chaplain of the ship and a storm hit the ship and it was bad enough storm they all thought they were gonna die so all the people on the boat just freaked out that kind of lost their minds and their chaplain the spiritual leader got it right there in with him John wasn't he just completely became an emotional and everybody freaked out except the Moravians and the Moravians held hands together and began to sing hymns and they were peaceful and calm and they survived the storm and John Wesley saw what happened to him when he faced his own death how terrified he was and he saw they had a comfort and a confidence that I don't have and so he came to them and said I gotta know how you did that and they said do you know that you'll be with your savior when you go and he said I hope so I think so he said that's not good enough Christ died and rose and when you put your faith in that you go with him and we know deaths not the end for us and so it allowed them to be calm even in the face of death that's how the early Christianity spread our calm and comfort in the face of death when plagues broke out in ancient cities people would break out abandon their wives children friends because they were running from the stench of death the Christian would stay because they didn't fear death and they would take care of abandoned babies young old their enemies even Emperor's that wanted to extinguish Christianity would marvel saying they care not only for their own sick but ours as well and the name of Jesus was honored in the culture and the Roman culture changed because Christians didn't fear death because no matter what happens we win and let me tell you something the Roman Empire was much tougher on the people of Jesus than the world is on us right now and the Christians changed the culture because they didn't fear death and that radically empowered them to consider confidently comfort those around them when you understand where the world is going it'll change who you are now and if the people of Jesus will do where this passage ends encourage each other with words if we can breathe this courage into one another we can change a culture we can change the world because we know where the world is going and no matter how bad it gets we win and my hope is you know the king who has purchased our rescue let me pray for us well father I want to thank you that we're not people trying to accrue good works with the hopes that it'll balance out and you'll like us that is a self-absorbed way to see things and it's not the message of the Bible the message of the Bible is the whole world is broken our bodies are broken and our souls are broken and Jesus Christ so loved us that he came and entered that brokenness with us he took on our sin took on our infirmities took on our death and then he beat it and he beat the greatest of all enemies the great taker of life death and he made death our enemy now a doorway into life that whoever puts their faith in Jesus Christ the victor over death has victory and so lord I pray for any in this place it hasn't put their faith in Christ that even now they could know if I died in him I rise with him and at the end of the day it's all about him I pray we would link ourselves to the son and when we know that his victory is our victory I pray God that would shoot our hearts through with confidence that as we face the financial crisis the physical crisis the social crisis we say this is bad but no matter what happens I win and that stabilizes me and it encourages me to serve and to love and to sing even in that hardest places may we live with the radical confidence afforded to the people who know the victory of their risen King make us different for the sake of the culture fill our hearts with hope thank you God for the victory of our King Jesus Christ we love you and we pray this in His name you know welcome to postscript here we hope to answer your questions and help you dig deeper into the messages and sermons at Faith bridge by talking with the teacher of the day hello and welcome to PostScript my name is Adam McIntyre and I am joined today by Ben Stewart who just finished part two of his series on death Ben thank you so much for being here with us today yeah we man we've got a ton of questions to get there so okay I'm just gonna dive right in okay so first question is about Lazarus you referenced Lazarus in your sermon and reference how he was in a state of consciousness after death he was aware of things and so this question what this person wants to know where was he exactly was he in a ghostly state and was he able to see and hear everything that's going on which leads into a second question can our loved ones who are in heaven now see what's going on in earth yeah well I would say there's two Lazarus as mentioned in the Bible there's the one Jesus raised from the dead we mentioned that history last week and then this last verse I mentioned is in Luke 16 it's a parable Jesus tells about a poor man named Lazarus who dies at the doorstep of a rich man and then the rich man also died and in as Jesus unpacks the story Lazarus goes to a place in the afterlife where he sees Abraham from the Old Testament and converses with him and so he's aware comfortable he doesn't really describe that space but so I he's not a ghost you know running around in his old house you know he's up with these people and then the rich man is in Hades is what Jesus says he's in a place of torment instantly they're both there and a great chasm separates the two jesus says so they're both in these states one in comfort one in great discomfort and that's the basis of Jesus story is this guy wants a chance to to leave go warn other people and Jesus whole story is you die once and then there's judgment now it's part of a story so can you take every part of it and say that's exactly how it will play out it's hard to know if Jesus was just trying to make the point you only die once or if each part of that is this is exactly how it plays out I think it's probably wise or fair to say he's probably presenting things accurately as they are then there is a place they go and as you look at Paul you go that places not just with Abraham it's with God I mean right and it's in the presence of God that's where Lazarus is so he's not floating around the earth it's different than being in a fully physical form but what does that look like a mean bottle doesn't fully unpack that can they see what's transpiring on earth it's not clear in that passage they're aware of history as it rolls on because the the rich man is asking about can I go see my brothers can I do whatever and God tells him no but so is there a level of awareness you can't say that definitively sure I guess so I would kind of maybe lean towards I guess so based on Revelation there's even in heaven there's a consciousness of what's happening other places but I don't know if I can be definitive on it sure and I think with the subject of death we're gonna have to get comfortable with there being a certain amount of mystery yeah we can't we can't know everything there's aspects God really wants to hammer and the biggest one is what have you done with the Lord Jesus Christ because at the end of the day is all about him and even in this passage it's those who die in Christ will rise with Christ and our great hope is seeing Christ I mean so all of it is about Christ and so if these are good questions but it's important to not lose sight of the main thing absolutely and so another person wrote in and they wrote about the Hebrew concept of Sheol the grave yeah and they wanted to know how does a Christian someone who's in Christ deal with this ancient Hebrew concept of Sheol yeah I mean I would say revelation like revealing understanding of how the universe works rolled out over time and so I don't think there there was mystery in the Old Testament of what exactly is happening after death and so a belief in something positive happening begins to you begin to see it in David I don't think I'm gonna be abandoned to decay you know right when I son dies I think I'm gonna go be where he is and and then you even see in Jesus day when he's alive they're even talking about the resurrection at the last day and so this was in Hebrew thought but there was ambiguity for them about what happens beyond the grave yeah and so it's not inconsistent with the New Testament but it's dimly-lit in the old right and the wattage turns up in the new that we we see and know more about it right it would be a really short answer to that question no that's good they just that just wasn't something that they were concerned as much with it is yeah yep yep so another person one two had a question about cremation you mentioned your father was cremated and cremation has been on the rise and they want to know is it biblically acceptable to be cremated is that okay yeah John Piper did a longer like article and video on this and I thought was good the short view which which is the same as my own is if you're getting cremated because of the cost that's the sort of a bummer I mean historically Christians have been buried because of the imagery in the Bible of being going to sleep and then your body rising and and resurrected and so that's where historically Christians have wanted to do that and but is it wrong to be cremated there's nothing that says that it's it cremation is not a historically Christian idea but it's not like and then you'll be in trouble if you do it like it's it's okay it's not ultimately determinative what happens when you die what's determinate if what have you done with Jesus so you know so my dad wanted to be cremated so I I said I want to respect that that's why we did that but it wasn't you know I probably would if it was left at a zero I probably would've buried him but sure but I don't think you've sinned either way no I think people worry sometimes with the idea of resurrection of the body with creation that we we might mess that up in some kind of way but a guy can redeem and restore anything and everything so I don't think that should be a stumbling block and it will I mean people decay compose their bodies so this recomposition whatever's gonna happen at the end is pretty radical moment and and gods okay with a lot of mystery around it yeah absolutely and so here's another question that I think a lot of people whether they admit it out loud they they wonder about this what does the Bible say about our animals are going to heaven dogs yes cats no I mean in the eternal state and revelation we have a meal we eat food and there's animals involved in that too so is there an animal presence yeah I mean so does that mean your dog will be there with you I don't know I mean historically people would say no because animals don't have souls but that's because they were trying to say the uniqueness of human is our presence of souls but that I don't think that's necessary to understand what image of God means so does your dog have an immaterial being sure the Bible is not particularly concerned with that but you know so they eat fish and it's not like don't do it you know like Jesus had fish was fine so the short answer is I would guess though sure but I don't know for sure because that's not the Bible's main concern right again another mystery that you just have to be okay with not knowing yeah absolutely yeah okay and so the subject of the rapture and of second coming tribulation all that fun stuff that we had quite a few questions come in yeah you just wanna go through it yeah unfortunately I don't think we have time for that but I would like for you to address maybe some helpful resources that you could point people to that could help them understand this topic a little more yeah so I mean the passage we read first Thessalonians is where you get the word rapture he's caught up in the air with him and so and then Jesus you know in his discourses towards the end of his life talked about a time of Great Tribulation and so people wonder rapture do we exit and then there's a season of Great Tribulation and then God comes and restores the earth or do we have a great season of tribulation then we rise and meet him and come down amélie or is there some other vert there's a couple other versions and people debate it and and it's it is maybe broader than the scope we want to get into here there's some great books and I don't have the name of them right now but they're typically called like four views three views things like that so there's like four views on the millennium and I believe three views on the rapture and the reason why I'd recommend those books is because the way the editors did it is they got a solid bonafide scholar that truly believes each view to speak his view and then each other writer gets to speak their view right and then they each get a few pages to comment on the other person's view and so these are great books to read for views of the rapture let's review some millennial those sorts of things because you'll get to see people presenting the view they actually believe right and all of them interacting with everyone else's idea and then you can make up your mind which one you think is the most faithful to the text that's what was helpful to me so I could recommend you books that present what I believe but I think if you read these you'll get a suspense of everybody and then hopefully arrive where I have right that's helpful yeah yeah they get a bunch of different perspectives so you're not just being indoctrinated with one view good that's helpful and so another question that came up they talked about how in the in scripture says and Jesus will come like a thief in the night we never know when and in the Bible it seems like they were ready for him then like they thought it could be tomorrow they could be right then like the end times they were talking about was right then but it's been 2,000 years and still nothing and so his question was how do we will people be saying the same things that we're saying now in another 2,000 years like well basically he says the more time that pass will it be harder to stand firm that he is indeed coming or will we start to lose hope yes some people may lose it I mean the Bible even talks about that some people's love will grow cold some people will say well each day he rolls on like the next but the Bible is not all that concerned about that too I mean Jesus when he talked about days will get difficult and he's talking about earthquakes wars all this stuff you typically hear about in the end times and girls this is just the beginning of birth pangs yeah so he's like all that stuff you see is signed to the end he goes oh that's like barely the beginning of the end right and you know what does that mean and at the end of the day what it means things things are gonna get worse before they get better but the timing Jesus was real clear I'm not gonna tell you and you don't know it so a nooner says he knows doesn't always talk about and so there was a sense of expectation but there wasn't disappointment like when Paul realized you know when he wrote the Thessalonians he was like we who are alive will be caught up he kind of thought he'd be in that but towards the end of his life he says I'm about to depart and be with Christ and that's better sure so he wasn't real shaken by that and second Peter 3 you know Peter mentions that he'll come like a thief in the night passage but if you look just a few verses above that's where Peter says he's not slow as some count slowness a day for the Lord is like a thousand years but he is patient with us wanting everyone to come to repentance and so Peters argument was when people say oh he's slow because none of this is really real or God's not really gonna do it Peter was like no he's being patient because if you don't know Christ you want the clock to keep running right because that gives you more of a chance right and so his patience is based on his grace not slowness not anything else it's kindness right and so when we see a slowness we're supposed to see opportunity right absolutely it reminds me of the Israelites when waiting for their Messiah they went hundreds and hundreds of years without hearing a word you know prophets know nothing radio silence from God and then Jesus showed up and you know check out the course of human history I mean Noah's dad thought he had the guy dude you're not even we're not that deep into this book bro you know so yeah absolutely we have precedent so final question in your sermon you mentioned how an arguments that you said skeptics cannot explain the community of believers that we have now as a result of the resurrection of Jesus this person says what about a person that could counter that argument and say that there's communities of believers that exist in other religions as well like Christianity isn't necessarily unique in that yeah and maybe I didn't explain it very clearly because I felt like I was going fast through that but my point in that was what is unique about Christianity is our basis our foundation is not the teachings of our leader right you know it's not it's not a pathway to get to heaven it's not a set of of pillars that we must uphold our basis was from last week a historical event the death of Jesus and the physical resurrection of Jesus so you know we can debate the veracity of a list of teachings but a historical event either happened or didn't right you know so that's where your like for community of people in those same days to say no that event happened and I'm willing to die for that that's different than saying I really believe these teachings right you know so that's where the Christian is unique is we're not saying we really believe the teachings of Jesus we think to really upbeat and helpful we go no we really believe he died and beat death and and so our hope of dying and beating death is built on that historical fact not just the words of Jesus and that's where we're unique and different so that's how I'd respond to that I'm going yeah there's a lot of belief systems that have large communities that believe them right where we're different is that community started instantly it grew rapidly and it was built on an event that was provable or disprovable in that moment that this guy's no longer in that grave right and that's why we're unique right that's why you reference Paul he brought his lair within a lifetime of so many eyewitnesses who knew Jesus talked to him live life with them and it would've been so easy if you'd have written those letters as a scam or a lie for people who like men I know that's not true this is complete fault I mean he said it lastly in the passage last week he's a goat said go talk to him right you know exactly he's like many of whom are still alive he's saying like you can go talk to these guys actually you know Paul said it when he was on trial he said this has not been done in a corner right he said this happened in front all you guys right and so it's an event and that's different absolutely well Ben thank you so much Shirley for being here with us and thank you all for tuning in we will see you all next week thanks for joining us for PostScript help us keep the podcast interactive by submitting your questions during the morning services learn more at faiths fridge door / PostScript

Channel: Faithbridge

Views: 5,061

Rating: 4.8933334 out of 5

Keywords: faithbridge, ben stuart, life after death, eternity

Id: aWwKgewDEhY

Length: 58min 51sec (3531 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 23 2016