feeding . . . gathering . . . carrying . . . leading . (Isaiah 40:11)
Dearest family,
One of the passages we looked at on Sunday, establishing the relationship between hope and our death, 1 Cor. 4:16-5:10, is regarded as one of the most difficult in the NT and arguably, more has been written about it and discussed than any other. That means that the best way to understand it is maybe not just by exposition but also by the example of believers who die. The truth of this passage though is the explanation of why their spirit just gets stronger and stronger, their peace gets more palpable, their assurance more confident, their joy more vibrant as they continue to mature in Christ. Regardless of any physical weakness, anything that could possibly waste away, inwardly, their life that was eternal, their life that was of the age to come, is going from strength to strength, being renewed day by day, just as the text says. While things from one point of view, the present, are in fact getting slowly worse, everything from the future point of view, is getting better. It is an amazingly brilliant paradox, a mystery of God’s ingenious grace. Things are falling apart, and as a result, everything that really matters is coming together. Time is running out but timelessness is kicking in. Health is deconstructing and a new body is being constructed. As Paul puts it, the old tent is falling down and a new building emerges. The process of losing an old personality is overtaken by the creation of a new person. Every sign of wear and tear becomes the forerunner of renewal and refurbishment. Preparing for the end turns out to be a preparation for the beginning.
In The Last Battle, the characters are all trying to describe the new Narnia, heaven no less, but in the end they sort of give up with the words of one of them: “If you ever get there, you will know what I mean!” It is then that we read this. “It was the Unicorn who summed up what everyone else was feeling. He stamped his right forehoof on the ground and neighed and then cried, ‘I have come home at last! I belong here! This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now… Come further up, come further in!” It is then that Aslan notices that Peter, Edmund and Lucy are not looking quite as happy as he meant them to be, and Lucy explains why: “We’re afraid of being sent away Aslan. You have sent us back to our own world so often.” “No fear of that,” said Aslan, and he explains that they really had died. “The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning.” Lewis concludes that though this was the end of the story “it was really the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures had only been the cover and the title page. Now at last they were beginning chapter one of the Great Story, which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”
You see, all that appears to be achieving nothing but gloom as the body fails, that seems like a law of diminishing returns, happens to be God’s accruing investment in the future. As we lose, God is achieving a weight of glory. What we in fact call “the end”, is so for a Christian only in this sense – it is the finishing touch on a new creation. Even the groaning that goes with the pain, and the burden-bearing that goes with the pressures, are transformed and transmuted and instead, become the groaning and burden-bearing that Paul talks about here, that wish and desire to be clothed with a heavenly dwelling. At the moment that we become homeless through our death, we are re-housed in the life to come. The moment we become naked in our death, we are clothed forever with his glory, resplendent as the sun, or as Lewis says, we become a creature of such brilliance and beauty that if we were to be seen someone would want to worship us. The assaults of present life, including the final assault of death, do not in fact tear anything down, but rather they are building something up – our assurance about the future no less. When our present is most threatened, the thrill of our future is most perceived. What at first appears as the worst adversity, turns out to be to our greatest advantage. If we think something is being dismantled, Paul says we are right, but we are wrong about what is being taken away. It is not life that is being taken away, but merely the scaffolding that has been around what God has been building that’s brand new. The image of death that is captured by the closing of a coffin box forever, could not be more misleading. It’s more about tak-ing the wrapping off the gift of his pleasures and treasures in us, forever. I see it more like an artist who whips off the blanket from the sculpture that he has been working on in secret. Where the world sees only loss, Paul puts it best for the Christian: “to die is gain!” What gain Paul?
To be with Christ forever (would those with Christ ask us questions about our present relationship with Him?)
To have my spirit made perfect (would they ask us questions about our distaste for sin now?)
To be home at last with the Lord (would they ask us questions about our present comforts and securities in this world?)
To have rest for my soul (would they ask us questions about our current stresses and driven-ness?)
To be delivered from pain and sickness and decay (would they ask us questions about our lusts for health and wealth?)
To always be in the presence of the Lord (would they ask us questions about our present communion?)
Paul comes to an amazing conclusion in 2 Cors.5:5 “God made us for this very purpose…” Isn’t that incredible? Wouldn’t you assume that death had just brought an end to the possible purposes of God? At the very moment of our death, when the world assumes that we have been unmade, when all our vocational purpose has come to an end, we have in fact just fully discovered the purpose and meaning for which we were made, serving God in his presence forevermore. Doesn’t scripture say that what God was after all along was to bring many sons and daughters to glory? Now you can understand why Paul says death is preferable. Not because there’s anything great about death, believe me. No, the thing is all about the glory that is achieved for the one who loves Jesus.
Listen to scripture once again. “We would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So make it your goal to please him, whether you are at home with him in the body or away from it like me. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him or her, for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” What advice would those who have gone before give to us today? I think they’d tell us to please Jesus in such a way that we can give a good account of our life when he evaluates it at the seat of inspection. I think they’d get straight to the urgent point and tell us to commit our life to Christ and to his work. I think they’d tell us to watch and pray as we’ve never done before. I think they’d take us to scripture, and remind us that the reality of adversity now is to prepare us for glory then; that we must resist sin and its effects on our life, especially the premature death that sin brings to mind and spirit, to personality and sexuality and spirituality, to relationships and callings, to marriages and vocations; that we must live our life in a state of readiness to meet Jesus – be ready and be right; that we should redeem the time and not shorten our life through waste or striving after wrong things; that we should remember our end and be always mindful of what it is we are tuning up for – the concert that is to come. I’m reminded of the dying words of Richard Baxter: “I’m almost well!”
All that I have suggested they would say to us is in agreement with what Paul has said to the Corinthians. As we have noted, the assurance of faith that we have about God’s promises for our eternal future is an amazing work of the Holy Spirit. As a result, we have enormous confident hope (twice he mentions confidence) and courage in the face of death.
Pastorally yours,
Stuart
http://www.christourshepherd.org/pastlet.htm (and follow links to download MP3 audio of sermon)