Two Perspectives on Death

Amen. We are grateful to God for another opportunity to gather in the midst of His Word. Our gatherings are defined by God and they are not all the same. Amen. Our gathering here today is not as it will be on tomorrow. Today we're here as has been stated for bitter sweet reasons. We are here because on the bitter end there's been a loss, there's been a loss of a face and a friend and a father and husband and brother and the Lord and I know we tried to grin and bear it but no one has ever had anything that they have loved and then lost it and not been pained by it. And that's intentional, God has ordered it as such but we're here also for the sweet part of it and the sweet part is that this is what has been lost is a brother in the Lord and being a brother in the Lord from His vantage point He has transitioned to another stage of His redeemed state. So for Him it is not a loss, it is gain so therefore we do stand and we offer our condolences once again to the entire downing family to all of those who are gathered, the bouquet of friends and family who are here it is an expression to what this brother was in the course of his life. I want to take just a few moments to consider two perspectives on death that are framed in Scripture. We'll look at two particular passages and they tell us something about death from two different vantage points even though it's speaking of the same reality on the same level. The first one is taken from Psalms 116 verse 15 and in this verse the writer says precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of one of His saints. The other passage that we'll be looking at that's from the vantage point of God here in Psalms 116 the other passage we'll look at is a statement extracted from Philippians chapter 1 verse 21 where the Apostle says for me to die is gain. There those are two dimensions of the same truth and part of the reason why there is a season of celebration because on the one hand we are told that the death of a saint is precious in the eyes of God. We are told from the mouth of a saint that for them to die is gain. So let's look at these two statements. The first one as we see in Psalms 116 this statement has it is brief, it is profound but it has a number of implications. The first implication that we get from the statement in Psalms 116 verse 15 is that God does not or God makes a distinction between men. God makes a distinction between men. All men are not the same because in this passage the distinction that God makes is between those who are saints and those who are not. He clearly says that the death of the saints, God precious in the sight of God, is the death of one of his saints indicating that everyone is not a saint. So God makes a distinction, a simple way to explain this distinction is a saint are those who have a right standing before God. That's important because sometimes people think that sainthood is earned. But sainthood is not earned. Being a saint means one has a right standing before God and since Paul, the Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, since he describes Christians in this way I think we can see a correlation between his description of a Christian and a saint. In 1 Corinthians 1 he says those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus and call to be saints. So therefore we can say that saints have a right standing before God because they are the recipients of his tender mercies and they have received his saving grace and they have been set apart in Jesus Christ. Saints are those who are in Christ. Saints are not those who are without crisis. Saints are not those who are without sin. Saints are not those who have earned anything. They have not reached a certain level. Saints are those who are recipients of God's grace because they are in Christ. So to be a saint is to be in Christ. I mean that's I think that's what the scripture says and those who are not in Christ, they are in their sin. They are rebellious. They are enemies of God and they are resistant to God's law. They know what his law says but they don't like it so they suppress it in unrighteousness and therefore they stand in the presence of God apart from Christ. So sainthood is one broad way of distinguishing humankind. We divide and subdivide the human race along a number of lines. We subdivide according to culture, according to ethnicity, according to nationality, according to skin, complexion, according to texture of hair, according to favorite sports team, according to the part of the country you live in, according to schools that we go to, according to similarities in last names, according to the sign of the zodiac in which you were born, God distinguishes men in one in two ways. Saints and those who ain't, that's the simple distinction. God sees men either in Christ and saints or out of Christ and ain't. What we see from this passage, that God not only makes a distinction between men, those who are saints and those who are not, we see from this passage that God also makes a distinction in death. God doesn't view all death the same. In fact it's kind of interesting because we measure men according to funerals, long funeralists, a statesman, a politician, a king, the body lying in states because they are dignitaries. In fact, who speaks at a funeral says much about the man. The ones that if so and so dies and you can get ahead of state to speak, that's because of the dignity of the person and so we measure oftentimes the value of the man by their funerals. Long funerals and people say well you know that's, you have to remember he was the president so of course it makes sense that he had a six hour funeral and sometimes we think that the plight of the man and the life that a man lived is evidence, the quality of his life is matched by the quality of his funeral. I've been to graveside funerals. I've done funerals in fact, I did a funeral for a lady who was a big shot in Hollywood doing people's hair and makeup and so forth but she was a mean person and so they called me who didn't even know her and I preached her funeral in front of an empty chapel and people say well that's the quality of life she lived because it's seen in the funeral. That doesn't measure us by our funerals. No he doesn't measure us by funerals. I would imagine Jesus tells the story in Luke about two men that lived and two men that died Lazarus who was a beggar and the rich man. He doesn't tell us about the funerals but you can imagine what kind of funerals they had to be. Probably Lazarus was probably a graveside. They probably had to have personnel from the funeral home to be there because they probably couldn't locate any family members and the rich man, the rich man, the rich man dies in a lap of luxury. You can imagine all of the chariots that were in the procession. You can imagine that the building was filled and people would say that there was a good man and probably the long funeral and a whole list of people talking about how good he was. But God looks at death. He doesn't look at funerals. It doesn't say precious in the sight of the Lord is the funeral of one of his saints because Lazarus I would imagine didn't get much of a funeral but oh what a death. The rich man got all of the funeral but oh what a death. Lazarus woke up in the arms or the bosom of Abraham. The rich man woke up in the depths of hell. In the eyes of God, the smart funeral, the sight of God and the sight of God, he makes a distinction between men and he makes a distinction in how they die. God is the sovereign author of life. And God is the divine judge who appoints every man's time and place and way of death. But the scripture says he doesn't view all death the same. One death he views as being precious, it has value. There's excellence to it, there's a worthiness to it and there's a dignity that's associated with it. And he says the other one, he doesn't even talk about we, I guess he'll get to that later but here's what he wants saints to know that if you're a saint, you might, you will die. But you, I do, here's the way I see it, don't let what folks say about you at your funeral make you think it's all right, don't make you think, don't let, don't think that just because nobody shows up to your funeral that you're nothing. If you're a saint, nobody might show up to your funeral but amen, somebody who greets you on the other side because your death is precious to the one who holds life and death in his hands. Oh brothers and sisters, that's good news, it's good news, don't worry about it, it may be disease, it may be destruction of something that happened to you that you had no control over, it might be by gunshot, it could be by, by dying in an airplane, it doesn't matter how, if you're a saint, the death is precious to the Lord, it doesn't matter, I know people say well it's going to happen this way, I wouldn't want to go that way, all I want to know is if you're a saint, doesn't matter, it could be, it could be at sea, it could be in warfare, it might be violence through from the violent hands of another individual but if you die and you're a saint, it's precious, oh brothers and sisters God doesn't value a whole lot of stuff as precious, he values the blood of his son as precious and the death of his son as precious, is that a coincidence that God deems the blood of his son as precious and the souls of the ones whom his blood of the son is applied to is also precious but then there's that brings us to a third thing, that's a question, here's a question that has to be raised here, if the death of the saint is precious to the Lord, then here's the question why is the death of a saint precious to God, why is that I'm in there I'm sure others can give you 20 different reasons, I just want to give three possible reasons as to why the death of a saint is precious in the sight of the Lord, in the first place understand this that in life, in life the best of saints have their affection for and their devotion to God compromised, the best of saints doesn't matter who you are, if you are a saint, the best of saints at some point in their life, if not wrestling with it every day, their love for God is there, we know they love God but there is something that challenges that love, the best of saints, you are devoted to God, you are devoted to the things of God but there is something in this life that will challenge your devotion to God, it could be as trivial as a football game or it could be as significant as a loved one, something will cause you to struggle in your devotion to God, that's what Paul says in first Corinthians, he says that that's why he says there's an advantage to the unmarried believer, he says because those of us who are married are concerned about the things of the world, so in life our love for God is challenged, our devotion to God is sometimes compromised but brothers and sisters when saints die there's no more compromise, devotion to God is no longer challenged because where Clarency is he doesn't care about Superbowl, there's no question as to whether or not a late night phone call will interrupt him in his devotion, so the death of a saint is precious in the Lord because obstacles to our devotion and affection are removed, brothers and sisters I would suggest secondly that in life the best of saints wrestle with sin, God created us, he created us in his image so that we would be totally devoted to him and that our whole hearts would be lifted to him and in time and space it's compromised but God has also created us to reflect his holiness. Now here's what that means, it doesn't just mean that I don't do this and don't do that, no Jesus takes sin to a whole other level, he tells us that sin is not just what we do, it's what we think,

sin is not just what we think but sin is attached to what we say, sin he says is not only that which we do and that which we don't do but it's what we ought to do and not do, it's the very affection of our heart to love God a little and not love him with our whole heart is sin. Oh brothers and sisters here's the problem, the best, I'm not talking about the lower rank of saints, I'm talking about the Apostle Paul, Paul says that he came to die for sinners of whom I am chief so here's the reality in this life as saints we wrestle with sin but when we are called away from this life the wrestling match is over, my God, sin hinders how I love my neighbor, sin hinders how I love my wife but oh when we are away from sin there's pure love, the death of a saint is precious in the eyes of God because they that saint no longer wrestles with sin and is therefore able to love God purely and never struggle with sin but here's the third reason, I'm just I'm just supposing here that there's another reason you see God not only created us to be devoted to him and God has not only created us to obey him and reflect his holiness but God created us to worship him, to praise him and to worship him, worship him not not questioning, not going into worship atmosphere and being critical of what somebody says or doesn't say, not not a worship that is determined and dictated by style, not a worship see nobody here's here's the best of our worship experiences down here, the best of our worship experiences don't always allow us to carry over with the afterglow of the benediction from the time we leave the building till we get to the parking lot because we will speak of God as being holy, loving and gracious and then as soon as someone strikes us the wrong way in the parking lot we just that's how our worship is, our worship will make us more mindful of what someone gives a did you see he didn't even raise his hand rather than being so focused on the object of our worship, I don't know if anybody said amen or not I did, a worship is corrupted but when a saint dies here comes someone else with undiluted, undiverted worship to the most high God you know what Claire is doing right now he's not worrying about whether or not the music sounded good he's in the presence of the one that redeemed him and the worship has never been better of one of his sights full in the eyes of God is not equal in the eyes of God but then brothers and sisters the Apostle Paul and the New Testament he gives us this little throwaway line he says that for me to die is gay I would suppose I would suggest that when we come to Christ there are three realms of our joy that we experience three realms first off we are told in the New Testament that we pass from death unto life so there's a joy in knowing the death that you have escaped Peter puts it this way we have been translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his life that's right now you that that's not in the Bible that's right now right now you have been translated from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his marvelous life right now you are a child of acceptance before the most high God right now if you are in Christ you are seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus right now the wrath of God has been removed from you and the eternal unbroken love of God is upon you right now you might not have joy because of your home situations but right now you're reconciled to God you might not have two pennies in the break but right now you are resting in the riches of his grace right now brothers and sisters but if you think right now is good wait till we get home and when we all get together oh what a joy it will be so the joy of being in Christ is good right now but wait till he gets back wait till he gets back we will have joy unspeakable oh that is good news isn't it but but here's the problem he hasn't come back yet so there's a third level there's there's a third level of joy that we experience in the Lord and that is when saints die before Jesus gets back so we become we we we know that we enjoy the the treasures of his light and fellowship right now we know that we have the joy of eternal fellowship in the in the morning when Jesus comes but right now when a saint dies he is removed from the pain of his existence in his thoughts in his flesh he is transferred there's something that takes place here's listen Paul says Paul says this he said he had a thorn in his flesh and the reason he had the thorn in the flesh is because he experienced a level of spiritual joy that no man should be able to experience and so God put a thorn in his flesh unless he become puffed up but all right now Paul says that for him to die is to attain to a level that's greater than the one that calls God to put a thorn in his flesh this is what I suggest where do we gain when we die where do we gain we we gain a better glimpse of the beauty of holiness when I when I was growing up I love baseball I see brother down he loved baseball as well and I used to love to go to doctor stadium go to baseball games in fact I joined the doctor Pepsi fan club in which you spent three dollars and they would send you six tickets to doctor baseball games and I'd take a friend sometimes and sometimes I'd go by myself on the bus downtown to go to doctor stadium and and here's the thing I love they they give you tickets but it was general admission general admission now doctor said he mostly has good seats there's only a few new nosebleed sections but they have good seats but it wasn't box seats and so we sometimes I I'd go into the stadium and I I could see the game had no problem seeing the game but as the game went on the the seats began to thin out the audience began to thin out and so when I learned how to do you can get away with this as a 12 year old and I realized that some grown folk were doing it too we would start easing down we'd start in the general admission and then ease our way down to club level and and you know what it wasn't that it was a different game but it sure did look different it it wasn't like I wasn't on the field yet but it looked different when you're looking at them face to face and when you can almost see the sweat come off of their brow then when you they looking like ants with numbers on their back when you're up up high here's what happens to the saint that dies that holiness looks good when he calls us unto salvation but it looks better when you're not entangled by the flesh we gain saints when we die we gain a better glimpse of the beauty of holiness you thought God was good in your lifetime and you'll hear people say this he called he brought me out of this and that lit and we and that's good God does bring us from this trial to that trial and we'll say the Lord was good because he lifted me off of a sick bed but that's because we have a limited view of his view when we die and we're not encumbered by those experiences we'll see that there's a beauty in the presence of God there's an excellence in his glory that makes you being lifted off of a sick bed it looks like a pile of beans he is beautiful in his essence and we can't see his essence more clearly until we die and so the saints gain a different perspective on the beauty of holiness and on the beauty of the glory of God and I think there's one more thing that Paul was anticipating that he'd be able to gain when he died he would be able to gain not only a new perspective on holiness and the beauty of God himself but when we die we are now finally able to worship God fully now don't let me you know here's a beauty of each stage each stage each realm in which we enjoy the benefits of being saint it gets better and it shrouds out the other in other words Paul had to have a thorn put in his flesh even though he was only at the first level of being a saint which is being a saint in the presence of sin but the second level or the last level is being a saint in a new body that is not corrupted by sin but the second level which is what we are experiencing what brother Downing has experienced is being a saint without the body that hinders you from enjoying God but it's not with the body that can't be destroyed by hands so when it says that to be absent from the body which is still in the earth and is to be present with the Lord is not the same experience that will have when he returns because now Clarence is kind of undressed he's not fully dressed no his bodies feel here but his his soul is in the presence of God and so the final celebration everybody gets to be dressed everybody is dressed with bodies that can't be corrupted and bodies that don't die so what happens well in the interim right now all he has is covering him is the righteousness of God the only thing that covers him the only thing that gives him distinctness is the righteousness of God so he's covered and waiting to be covered but while he's waiting he is intoxicated in the presence of the God that he sees he sees a joy that is just it's incomparable to anything that he's ever experienced right now brother Downing can say with from a different perspective holy holy holy holy holy holy it's one thing to sing it in sin it's another thing to sing it in the presence of God without sin holy holy holy holy the whole earth is full of his glory the whole earth reflection radiates his glory God it's good to be here it's good it was good to walk with you those many years but he's so is good to be here it's good to sing praises in your presence when there's nothing talking at me it's good precious in the sight of God is the death of all of his saints and you know what it's game it's game there's no loss it's game to die in Christ is game game I get more more this love or more of a sense of his holiness when I'm not entangled with the things that bind me down the death of one of his saints is precious to God but that's right oh it's game there is nothing better there is nothing to compare it to than to wake up in the arms of the saviour let this be our joy let this be our confidence let this be our hope let's pray gracious eyes God our Father we are here because you have let us once again through the difficult terrain of the valley of death but oh God you're with us we know that he whom you have called it's precious to you he was precious in life now he's precious to you in his death we do pray that you would bring comfort and consolation to this grieving family their grief is not of weakness their grief is out of love and we pray that you would give them the comfort of knowing that even their loss anticipates a greater joy we pray for family members and friends who are present who may not know what it means to be a saint whose hearts have been hardened to the gospel that you have granted we pray that this funeral will be a reminder to them that they too have such a date and we pray that between now and then that you would set them apart in Jesus Christ we do pray now on the balance of this service and our time together that all that we say and all that we do would be to your glory and to your honor and it is in Christ's name that we pray amen