Our Family on the Other Side
"Our Family On The Other Side" Brian Loveless Sermon on June 11, 2017 at Calvary Baptist Church, Grand Prairie, Texas. Part 3 of the series "Family Matters"
One of the tough things that's happened in
these last few weeks, I know so many of you are aware of and it came as such a
punch to the heart for so many of us, and that was the news about Austynne
Roberts. James and Cindy Roberts, and their
family, from the time I came to Calvary they were an integral part of this this
church body. They were busy and everything,
they’d grown up here, very connected to our lives and to our families, and when
I got here their daughter Austynne was seven years old. We just saw Austynne grow up through youth camps,
through the youth department over across the street. Teenagers, she sat right down where you're
sitting, week after week. I had the privilege
of seeing something as a relatively young pastor that's new to me, and that is watching
somebody come all the way up and see them coming into their own as a young
woman. Austynne and her family moved to
the Aledo, Willow Park area some years ago.
They joined the Church of a great friend of mine, Clark Bosher, and he's
a product of Calvary as well. We've
still kept in contact, they'd still come back [here] and our people go over
there for different events. This last
week we got word that Austynne, at 21 years of age, had been in an auto
accident that took her life. I think I've gotten to the point I'm accustomed to
brutality. I think if you've been a
pastor any time at all you better get accustomed to the hardest things in life
because you're going to see them constantly. Maybe part of it was that I was
laid up, part of it was that I was home, but a lot of it is I knew that girl! She was just coming into her own. But it hit
me really, really hard and I think it did a lot of you too.
The last time I was with you, on Mother's Day,
we were starting a brand new series simply entitled Family Matters. I appreciate James our young pastor, our
youth pastor, who's really developing and all these things, he preached for us. My friend Joshua Reese came and preached for
us and they've been in the vain of family. We've been talking about raising
kids, and talking about making marriage work. It's not easy but it can be good. We've been talking about what it is when you have
your parents who raised you, now starting to be faced with a lot of changes in
their life and difficulties physically and emotionally, and how you kind of
relate to that. All those things were things we either tackled or intended to
tackle. I'm telling you, laid up there
at home the thought occurred to me that there's a topic we don't address that
often that has everything to do with family.
What about our Christian family members that have
already gone? There are a lot of you in this room that have family that have already
gone. For some of you it's a mate, for some of you it's a child or a grandchild,
for all of us it's somebody that we love, somebody in our circle who's already gone
home. So as we're beginning to wrap up
the series on the family it's been weighing on my heart to answer this question:
what has become of them? We can't see
them anymore, we wish we could. We can't talk to them anymore; we'd give almost
anything if we could. What is their
current state? I want to entitle our time together this morning Our Family on
the Other Side.
Before we get to our text: 2nd
Corinthians 5 is absolutely gorgeous. It's going to fill in a lot of gaps for
us. Before we get to that 1st Corinthians 2:9 tells us this
9 But as it is written, Eye [has]
not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things
which God hath prepared for them that love him.
10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit:
Now I want to note before we even get into
our text what this is saying. I believe this text refers to far more than eternity;
far more than just the afterlife, but it certainly includes that. Here's what its
saying - your physical five senses, what you see, what you taste, what you
touch, what you hear, what you smell, will be of zero help to you in
understanding the afterlife. Those five
senses can get you pretty far down here, and I'm telling you when you lose one
of those senses you understand that especially, but they won't help you at all
in understanding what comes after the pulse stops beating, the lungs stop
breathing. All you'll see is a casket, all you'll hear is the cry and laments
of family members, all you'll feel is the agony of separation. So the text tells us upfront, your physical
senses aren't going to help you understand what happens after life is over.
I believe it's also saying very plainly the
culture is going to be a very little help to you in explaining the afterlife. The
stuff that other people can come up with, and they show it in their movies, and
they put it in their comics, and you see it on sitcoms, and people write books
about it; very little, zero might I say, help in helping us understand about
what comes after you die. But listen to this,
1st Corinthians 2:9 Eye [has] not seen, nor ear
heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath
prepared for them that love him.
10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his [Holy] Spirit:
In other words the Holy Spirit of God wants
to show us, tell us, narrate for us, some things that come after you die. Well how is He going to do that? I've never
had the Holy Spirit like come down and “Brian, let me give you some information...”
Let's look at our text 2 Corinthians 5:1.
If you're with me this morning say “Amen” (you hadn't heard that in a
while).
2 Corinthians 5
5 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle [that’s our body] were dissolved [or died], we have a building of God, an house not
made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
2 For in this [this present body] we groan,
earnestly desiring to be clothed upon [or further clothed] with our house which is from heaven:
3 If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked [we don’t want to die and
that’s it, we long for something more].
4 For we that are in this tabernacle [this body] do groan [there’s that word again], being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed [not just die], but clothed upon, that mortality might be
swallowed up of [or by] life.
5 Now he that hath wrought us [or designed us] for [that very same or] the
selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest [you’ve
heard of “earnest money”, right? The
down payment, the promise] of the Spirit.
6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home
in the body, we are absent from the Lord:
7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body,
and to be present with the Lord.
Okay, he says again you're not going to
figure out what's happened to your loved ones on the other side that have
already passed away by looking for it physically. All you're going to see is
death, but we don't walk by sight, Christians. We walk by faith! God says the
Holy Spirit is going to show you what's coming, by faith, to which we say again,
“Lord that's awesome. I got people over there.” Some of you have more people
over there now than you have here. “I
want you to show me this by faith Lord, but how does that work?” My friends there is a scripture I've come
back to again and again. It's so simple, but if we forget it, we forget it to
our detriment.
Romans 10:17
17 So then faith cometh by
hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
God says I know you've lost people. I know
you got family that your hearts still attached to, and they knew my Son Jesus
Christ, and they died. But I don't want you to sorrow like other people sorrow.
I know you're sad, I know you're hurt, but don't sorrow like a lost world! Don't
sorrow because of what you see, and hear, and feel; go to this book and find
out what's really going on! Find out what
comes after they breathe that last breath. Find out what happened after their
neurons stopped firing, and their lungs stopped breathing. God says I have some
stuff to share with you, and he shares that in 2 Corinthians 5.
By the way I believe it is because we have so
often looked to the physical instead of the spiritual, we've so often looked to
the culture instead of the book, that we have such a distorted view of heaven,
most of us. We've seen too many movies; we've
heard too many jokes about St. Peter greeting you at the gate. It's all about harps and halos, and it's all about
angels earning their wings. I can't
tell you how many people that are Christians, you've talked to me about, “well
I'm glad my loved one is now my guardian angel in heaven with their wings.” My friend, your loved one never became an
angel. Your loved one is made in the image of Almighty God, they're not angels,
and they are something that will be even more glorious!
By the way, all that business about St. Peter
at the gate is based on the belief that Peter was the first pope. That’s a Catholic belief. But the Bible says
nothing about that! All that about halos, and wings, and clouds,
and boredom has nothing to do with [the bible]. So today we go to [the bible]
to see what the Bible says about our family on the other side. I want to give you three things, does that surprise
you? I had somebody Facebook me while I was home, they said Pastor Reese preached
a message just like another preacher I love, three points; it was so good.
Three thoughts this morning from our text, there
could be a lot more, but for time’s sake three things about our born-again
loved ones.
Number
One: They Are Very Much Alive.
They are very much alive. Look
at verse 6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home
in the body, we are absent from the Lord:
7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
8 We are confident [there’s that word again], I say, and willing rather to be absent
from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
The Bible makes it crystal clear over,
and over, and over again that a person’s soul lives on when their body stops
living. I hear people talk about the whole idea of annihilation, even religious
people, when you die that's it. If you believe that, throw [the bible] in the dumpster
because I'm telling you from Genesis to Revelation it says you don’t. When the body dies, the soul lives on. What's
the soul? Your mind, your will, your emotions,
your personality; the thing beyond the physical that makes you distinctly you.
That's your soul. God says when your
body dies, that lives on. Let me give you some scripture in Ecclesiastes 7, Then shall
the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God
who gave it.
Luke 23:42, remember Jesus was being crucified
and there were thieves on either side of him and the one said 42 Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. [He was thinking maybe one day
at the resurrection; that was a common belief.
I’m going to die, I’m going to be unconscious, my soul is going to
sleep, but maybe one day you’ll remember me]
43 And
Jesus said unto him, Verily [Truly]
I say unto [you], Today shalt thou be
with me in paradise.
Maybe a day later that guy died. He suffocated hanging on that cross, he couldn't draw a
breath, he'd lost so much blood. He died
but Jesus said no, the day before he was with me in paradise. What did he mean? Not his body, but his soul!
A few moments later Jesus, the Bible says cried with a loud voice he said “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having
said thus, he gave up the ghost” The soul! Now they took his dead body down and it was
absolutely dead they pierced his heart! The pericardial sac was pierced, blood
and water came out; he was dead! The body was dead but his soul very much alive
had gone to be with the father. Our text makes it crystal clear, a person's
soul lives on after death, but let me tell you something else, our text makes
it crystal clear that a Christian soul immediately
goes to be with Christ. Immediately!
Y'all, I have been there so many times
holding the believers hand when they breathe that last breath. I've been there
so many times when they turned off that machine and we just waited, and sometimes
it took a long time, sometimes it was real quick. I've been there with a lot of you, when you
were grieving, grieving, grieving the loss of your loved one. You were there
with them when they breathed that last breath. I want to tell you something for
those born again loved ones, the moment they were absent from the body, the
Bible says they were present with the Lord. The Bible says, there's only one of
two states for a Christian you're either here or you're there. You say “well
what about purgatory? What about a holding place for the soul until your sins
can be properly dealt with and then you can be worthy of heaven?” Can I only
tell you friend, if you're a Christian there's nothing more that needs to be
purged because Jesus purged your sins on the cross - one time - forever! The
doctrine of purgatory isn't even based on the Bible, it's nowhere in there; it’s
based on the Apocrypha. It's based on
church history. It’s never in Scripture. You’re either here as a Christian or
you're immediately with Christ. What
about soul sleep? I have a Seventh - day
Adventist friend and they talk about the fact that your soul is sort of dormant, unconscious in your body, until one day the
resurrection happens and you get woke back up. Can I only tell you again you
have to colossally misinterpret Scripture to come up with a belief that the
soul does anything but go to be with Jesus immediately when you die.
John 11:23 Lazarus had died and his sisters
were grieving. Martha said to Jesus Lord
I know if you'd have been here he wouldn't have died and Jesus said your
brother's going to rise again. Martha said to him I know he'll rise again at
the resurrection, at the last day. I mean he's dead he's unconscious now, but one
day he'll come back to life. Jesus said I am the resurrection and the life he
that believes in me though we were dead yet shall he live, but He goes further
whosoever lives and believes in Me shall never die! And then He asked her do you believe this? What was he saying, your soul never dies, and
it doesn't sleep. If you have a Christian loved one they were here one moment
and the moment they passed they were with God.
But there's something else in
this text.
Chapter 5, verse 1
5 For we know that if our earthly house
of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made
with hands, eternal in the heavens.
Here's the thing, the Bible doesn't just promise
life after death for a believer. It promises life after life-after-death. In
other words, your soul never dies. Jesus says I'm going to put your body back together
and glorify it and make it what it was always intended to be and I'm going to
give it back to you at the resurrection.
One day every Christian will receive a glorified body that is infinitely
superior to the body they possess in this life.
The scripture makes it plain. By
the way, some smart believer is asking right now “okay my loved one’s passed
away but the trumpet hadn't sounded, there hasn't been a rapture yet, there
hasn't been a resurrection, yet are they just a disembodied soul?” I believe the Bible has a lot to say about a
temporary body that we receive in the meanwhile until Jesus takes that old body
and puts it back together and reshapes it and gives you a brand new glorified
one. Do you realize in Lazarus and the
rich man it talked about his finger, it talked about his tongue? In Revelation
chapter 6 the Saints that were awaiting the resurrection the Bible says they
wore robes that means there must have been a body. Some of you are zoning out a
little bit let me help you.
My son Vance, my 10 year old, has been after
me for a while now “Daddy lists let's camp. Let’s get the old tent out and
let's camp. Let’s just do it right there in the backyard,” we got that patch of
ground okay and here's the thing I've been making some excuses. I want to be
with him I want to spend time with him but it's always, “Son it's real cold out
there right now if we're going to freeze to death” or lately it's like “ Son
it’s getting pretty hot man there's a lot of mosquitoes out there.” I'll be honest with you the reality is
sleeping in the tent past the age of 40 is like a pretty difficult proposition.
Have you slept in a tent like on the ground after the age of 40? Don't you wake
up like “my back hurts!” Right? You’re like “I got a sore throat.” “I think I got lice!” I
don't know what happened but like overnight my body breaks completely down. I mean
and usually let's be honest when you're camping out back it's like somewhere
around 3:00 in the morning you wake up and you're like “why? why am I'm on this
pad? I got like a king-size bed in there!
Ten paces away there's a pillow top waiting on me! I got a big-screen TV!”
Right? “a Xbox! It's right there!”
Right? Here's the thing, the Bible says
that we that are in these Tabernacles groan for our house that is from above.
You know what tabernacle means? Tent. You and I for 21, 40, 60, 90 years we have
these tents pitched for us. We're living in them, we love in them, we travel in
them, we know beauty and pain, we know glory and agony in them, but God is
saying a couple of paces away I got a
house waiting on you. It's so much better than your tent! And every joy you've ever known as good as it
was, it's just a foretaste of what I have waiting on you when I put that body
back together and give you a glorified form. The first thing is please, please
believe it about our born-again loved ones they are very much alive. They are
conscious today. They know they're in the presence of God. They know that
they're alive. They remember! People
asked, “Do they remember?” I believe they absolutely remember you and life. Here's
the second thing, they not only are very much alive, and they are still
themselves.
Number
Two: They Are Still Themselves.
You know what I mean? I think a lot of us had the fear like, “well
the Bible says we won't be male or female, and the Bible says we won't be
married, and I don't think we will remember, because how could you be happy if
you remember the things on earth? So I'm
going to be there, look nothing like I look, not remember any of my relationships,
and basically stroke a harp and on a cloud for eternity and I don't remember
anything about my former life. And that's supposed to be good why?” That's the stuff people don't say in polite
church circles but it's what a lot of us have thought. That's a distorted view of heaven.
Here's the thing, if you read this book about
eternity you begin to understand that in heaven nothing good about your present
life will be diminished. It will only be enhanced. Charles Stanley once said
that sin is not a thing; it's a lack of a thing. Sin is corrosive. Sin eats
away. So I want you to think of this, science tells us we only use a very small
percentage of our brain in this life. I don't know this, it's a theory, perhaps
that's because of the fall in Genesis chapter 3; because sin eats away at perfection.
Think of a pie and sin takes 3/4 of the pie and leaves you with a sliver, so
the best joy you've ever known on earth, the happiest most peaceful memory you
have, the greatest love you've ever shared, the beauty of seeing your babies
born, the best things you've had in life were just a piece of the pie, and in
heaven my friends we receive the whole pie!
By the way I think there's a lot of error people
say “well we won't be male or female in heaven” where does the Bible say that?
It says we won't be given in marriage, it doesn't say we won't maintain our
gender identity. You say “well it won't be the same if I'm not married to my
mate in heaven” but who's to say? We will have a love for everybody that
transcends anything we knew on planet Earth.
Friends it's not a diminishing.
And by the way I want to put this right, in heaven the Bible says your
mind will be the same mind you had down here, only sharper! Your soul will be
the same soul only now completely pure! Your skills will be the same skills but
now unhindered in their expression.
And by the way, we're going to work in
eternity we're going to travel this universe and eternity doing labor for God,
but we'll never get tired, and it'll be a labor that we desire with all our
hearts! God will change you in heaven,
yes he will, but he will never obliterate you, or replace you, you are you in eternity!
But a better you than you can possibly imagine. Scripture indicates a considerable amount of
continuity between our present earthly bodies and our future resurrection
bodies. Whenever the disciples saw Jesus, after He rose from the dead in a
glorified body, they recognized Him as Jesus. Sometimes it took a little time
because I believe He was the youngest, most vibrant version of Himself. He
hadn't been beaten up for 33 years in the body, and so there was that moment,
but they still knew it was Jesus. On the Mount of Transfiguration they knew
that was Elijah, they knew that was Moses. How did they know? Did Moses have like a gold chain
that said “Moses” around his neck? No. Was there a sign like, “Hey you’re in the
presence of Moses.” No. There was something about that glorified body that made
who you really are so plain to people it couldn't be mistaken. You’re going to
be you in eternity but a better you than you can imagine! And that means that
husband that's gone home, that wife that’s gone home, they are still them! That child that's gone on, they’re still them.
1 Corinthians 15:49 49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the
image of the heavenly.
Matthew 13:43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of
their Father.
In short our bodies will be like
Jesus’ glorified body. The Bible (Philippians 3:21) 20 For
our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the
Lord Jesus Christ:
21 Who
shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious
body,
Almost very message I've done on heaven in
the last few years has included this quote because I'm telling you I never read
it without the hairs going up on my neck. Randy Alcorn uses scripture, after
scripture, after scripture, after scripture to back this up in our resurrected
state we'll have real, substantial, and spiritual bodies that will have
physical substance. You're not going to be a ghost. We'll be capable of talking,
walking, touching, and being touched. Christ’s resurrection body could appear
suddenly, apparently coming through a locked door, and disappeared just as
quickly. Christ ascended into heaven in His new body this suggests we may be
able to fly and transcend the present laws of physics. Christ ate food in His
resurrection body both He and we will eat and drink in heaven. Every reference
to sitting at a table and having a banquet in heaven should forever free from
the myth of floating around like ghosts. Get ready for some great food. Though
we'll eat and drink there will be no hunger or thirst in heaven at least none
that remains unsatisfied. Our heavenly bodies apparently won't need what is now
essential—food, drink, oxygen, covering, etc.—but we'll be fully capable of enjoying
them.
Let me tell you something else about our
loved ones Hebrews 12:18 and 22-23 after my own dad passed away, this insight
was given to me that blessed my heart and I hope it'll bless yours. Paul said 18 For ye are
not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor
unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, In other words he’s using
the analogy of when the Ten Commandments was given the people were so in awe at
the glory of God, burning fire, and smoke, and trumpets, and voices, they were
mortified to be in his presence. He said that that's not what you're
experiencing you're come to Mount Zion and under the City of the ... I’m messing
this whole thing up let me go back up. I've only got one eye y'all only got one
eye. I'm going blame everything on that
by the way. Jenny's like “you didn't take the trash out,” I’m like “honey I got
one eye.” *laughs* you think I'm joking?
18 For ye
are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire,
nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, 2 But ye are come unto mount
Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an
innumerable company of angels,
23 To
the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven,
and to God the Judge of all, [That's
what's going on around us right now y’all in heaven] and
to the spirits of just men made perfect,
You know a lot of the struggle of this life, Christian
is our sanctification. I'm still so banged up, and I still struggle with
temptation, I still struggle with my mouth, and struggle with getting angry, and
bitter, and writing my own story about what people think and what they said, right? I know that's just me y'all might not have
any of those problems, but you probably do. Our sanctification, He's transforming
us into the image of Jesus, but it's slow-going. You know the Bible says the moment you
breathe that last breath your sanctification fast-forwards completely and you
are perfected. No more struggle with sin,
no more struggle with temptation, no more God I'm seeking you but I can't find
you. No He's right there and you can see
Him! By the way no more cancer, no more suicide, no more car accidents, no more
war, no more violence, no more confusion, no more hatred... what God designed
this to be He hasn't given up on it! The Missio Dei, the mission of God, is He's
bringing it all back! And your born-again loved one that has passed on, my
friend is in the presence of the perfect God and their sanctification is complete! One last thing, then we're gonna be done. Our loved ones that have gone on before if they
know Christ are very much alive, they are still themselves, and they are truly
home.
Number
Three: They Are Truly Home.
I want you to notice verse 8 in our King
James 8 We are confident, I say,
and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with
the Lord.
If you're reading another translation this
morning it probably says “home” with the Lord because the Greek word there is “indemas”
meaning to be present, to be to be home, is to be among one's own people and in
one's own land. You’re either present in
this body or you're home. What does home
mean to you? I'll tell you after two weeks in Uganda, seeing a lot of suffering,
and a lot of hunger, and a lot of trouble, about two days before I got back my
heart was longing for home. Not just a house, I love my house. You google “home”
it'll just pull up all this real estate stuff but home is something more isn't
it? Home is familiarity. It’s the place where you can take your shoes and socks
off and be comfortable. Home is where
the people you love are, home is where you have meals with them, you laugh with
them and you hurt with them. You suffer
with them but you rejoice with them. That's home. Here's the thing you guys, God
tells us every taste of home you've ever had on planet earth is but, what does
the old song say? “A foretaste of glory divine.” Just the sound of a song you've never heard.
Just the taste of bread you've never really sampled. Just a smell of a flower
you've never seen in life.
Some of you, in the great spiritual
moments of your life, when you felt the presence of the Holy Spirit, it was
like nothing in your life! You thought “If
I could just live there...” That's home!
I want to put our picture back up of Austynne.
Twenty one years old. You know why that's so hard? Because in the flower of her youth we saw her
go away, but that's not how God saw it. I don't know if this is original, people
think it is, but a 19th century American clergyman named Henry van
Dyck wrote this and I'll conclude with it:
"I
am standing upon the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the
morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and
strength. I stand and watch her until at length she hangs like a speck of white
cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.
Then
some one at my side says: 'There, she is gone!
'Gone
where?'
Gone
from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as
she was when she left my side and she is just as able to bear her load of living
freight to her destined port.
Her
diminished size is in me, not in her. And just at the moment when some one at
my side says: 'There, she is gone!' there are other eyes watching her coming,
and other voices ready to take up the glad shout: 'Here she comes!'
She gets to grow up in glory because a few
days ago Jesus Christ said here she comes! So many of you listening to me, He didn't
have me preach this for no reason. You got people that know Christ and they're
on the other side. And it hurts, and it should. You had to say goodbye, but I
want you to know for them, if we could see what they're enjoying right now, we wouldn't
have them back.
