The Living Dead

We've all heard people say, "Well, he or she is in heaven now" after the death of a loved one. But are they? Are they really? How does anyone really know?

Let's start with some basic truths from the Bible.

"To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord." - 2 Corinthians 5:8

That's a good truth. An important thing to remember though is that The Lord is God. God is omnipresent. God is everywhere.

Here is some more evidence that God is everywhere.

"If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there." - Psalm 139:8

For a little more insight into where we go after we die, read the parable of the rich and poor man that Jesus told His disciples.

The Rich Man and Lazarus

Remember, this is a parable, but we can see that the two men are clearly in two different places after they died. One was in torment. The other was with Abraham, a man who was considered righteous in God's eyes.

Abraham and Lazarus were 'above' and the rich man was below. None could cross to the other side. This is known as a place called Sheol - "the place of the dead." The living dead.

There are two parts in Sheol - Abraham's bosom (where the righteous go to wait for Jesus) and the more general Sheol (where the unrighteous go to await judgement). ALL are waiting on Jesus. And although Sheol is an Old Testament word, the concept makes a New Testament appearance in the parable we just read in Luke, told to us by Jesus Himself.

So, when we die, do we immediately go to 'heaven'? The Bible would seem to indicate that we do not. No one says this any better than Jesus Himself.

"NO ONE has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven." - John 3:13

It doesn't get much clearer than that!

We are made righteous by the shed blood of Jesus, our Savior. ALL who believe in Him will be saved. And we can have great confidence that, when we die, we will be standing there with Abraham, Lazarus - and with Jesus - the Lord of us all.

Jesus ascended into heaven 40 days after He was resurrected, according to the scriptures. As He was ascending, two angels told His disciples that He would return one day "in like manner." Are you ready for His return?

"And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, 'Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.'" - Luke 24:10-11

"And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that where I am you also may be." - John 14:3

Prayer

Do you think God ever gets tired of hearing our prayers? If He were like us, then yes . . . absolutely. We humans bore so easily. I, for one, am grateful that God is not like us. My prayer is that we might strive to become more like Him instead.

The Bible says that God's Holy Spirit takes our prayers and makes then presentable to The Lord. That's good, especially in the case of MY pitiful prayers.

Usually I run through a laundry list of things and people I am praying for. That's not the best type of praying. There have been times however, when my prayers have been deep and passionate, sometimes to the point of tears. Those are good prayers I think.

I need to praise God more in my prayers. It's good to pray about God's character because it reminds us just how big and amazing He is. It humbles us in our prayers. Another good thing. If we can approach God humbly in our prayers instead of just laying out our to-do list for God to take care of, well, I'm just thinking more of our prayers would be answered.

A few weeks ago at work I offered to pray for someone who had just lost a friend. I put myself in this person's shoes and imagined what it would be like if I lost my best friend. The tears came easily.

I'm no different than the next guy. Probably worse than most when it comes to praying. I need to forget all that and just pray - honestly, openly and hopefully.

It says in James that the prayers of a righteous man are effective.

"16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." - James 5:16

I rad that and think, "I haven't got a shot of getting my prayers answered. I'm certainly not a righteous man. Abraham was a righteous man. I'm just Bob. I'm not righteous. But . . .

Jesus is righteous. And that is the key!

I believe that Jesus died for my sins. I believe He died and then rose from the dead. I believe Jesus is the Son of God, fully God, fully man. And I believe God's Holy Spirit lives within me. I believe that! And if you do too, guess what? We are made righteous in God's eyes, through His Son, Jesus.

If we are righteous in God's eyes, how can our prayers not be heard? How can our prayers not "availeth much"?

If is an honor to come before God in prayer and bring the lives of those we love with us. When we lift up our friends in prayer, in the name of Jesus, how can that not be a wonderful thing?

Let us be on our knees in prayer. Let us bring those we love into the throne room, boldly. And let us pray.

"1 Lord, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy; in your faithfulness and righteousness come to my relief. 2 Do not bring your servant into judgment, for no one living is righteous before you. 3 The enemy pursues me, he crushes me to the ground; he makes me dwell in the darkness like those long dead. 4 So my spirit grows faint within me; my heart within me is dismayed. 5 I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done. 6 I spread out my hands to you; I thirst for you like a parched land." - Psalm 143:1-6

The Prayer - Celine Dion & Andrea Bocelli

Listen To What He Says

I was in a Bible study once where our assignment was to read a passage of scripture over and over again, refining it each time. Whittling it down to see if we could discern the basic message God wanted us to hear.

The text I chose was Jesus at the wedding in Cana. Let's read it together.

"On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. 3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

6 Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. 9 When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” 11 This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him." - John 2:1-11

The things that popped out at me from this text are these:

"On the third day . . ." - Jesus in the New Testament and God in the Old Testament did many things on "the third day," most notably of which was when Jesus was raised from the dead. And speaking or miracles . . .

"My hour has not yet come." - Jesus was speaking of His crucifixion and overcoming death - the REAL miracle! Not this silly water-into-wine stuff.

The part of this text that really spoke to me though was not actually spoken by Jesus. It was said by his mother, Mary.

“Do whatever he tells you.”

Yes, Jesus performed a miracle that day. Yes, it was a foreshadowing of when Jesus' blood would be poured out for the master of the feast. But what really caught my att3ention that particular day was "Do whatever He says."

If you follow the commands of Jesus we will demonstrate our love for Him. We might have particular ideas and thoughts of our own, but if they do not match those of our Savior, they are simply not worth our time. If we follow the commands of Jesus He will work yet another miracle . . in us! Jesus can take a lowly sin-filled human being and turn that person into a holy and righteous individual. We become sinless in the eyes of God simply by our faith in His Son. Have YOU been turned into wine yet?

To close, I found this piece of Old Testament scripture in my reading the other day. Interesting foretaste of things to come.

"20 “Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. 21 Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him.

22 “But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries." - Exodus 23:20-22
Our God - Chris Tomlin

Righteous

There are very few movies that my wife and I will watch over and over and over again. One of those movies is U.S. Marshals, staring Tommy Lee Jones, Wesley Snipes and Robert Downey Jr. And it doesn't matter if we come in half way through it. We will sit right down and watch it until it's done.

In the movie Mr. Snipes plays a former Special Ops soldier and now U.S. special agent named Mark Sheridan. Sheridan was falsely accused of murdering two fellow agents. Of course, he was innocent, trying to prove that innocence throughout the movie, all while being chased by U.S. Marshall Tommy Lee Jones. During the films final scene, agent Sheridan, having been proved innocent, is surrounded by a group of reporters on the courthouse steps. One of the reporters asks, "Mr, Sheridan, how does it feel to be in from the cold?"

Sheridan replies, "Righteous. Very righteous."

Do you know what it means to be righteous? Merriam-Webster describes the word righteous as "acting in accord with divine or moral law : free from guilt or sin." In the case of Mr. Sheridan, he was returned to a right standing with the agency he worked for. Rather that being on the outside, he was once again on the IN side. He thought of himself as being "righteous." But was he? Really? And what does being righteous in today's world really mean anyway?

Abraham (formerly Abram) was seen in God's eyes as being righteous . . . because of his faith. That begs the question, how are WE doing? 

"After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” 2 But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” 4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” 5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness." - Genesis 15:1-6

If Abraham was considered righteous, how are WE doing? Are we seen as righteous in God's eyes? How many of us are good enough and have a faith like Abrams? Check out this from the book of Ecclesiastes 7, quoted by Paul in Romans, to find out.

“None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. 13 Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. 14 Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. 15 Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 in their paths are ruin and misery, 17 and the way of peace they have not known. 18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.” - Romans 3:11-18

Uh oh.

So how can we ever have any hope of getting into heaven if none of us is good enough to make the cut? Still got your Bible handy? Keep reading in Romans. You won't have to read far before you hear the good news.

"21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it - 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." - Romans 3:21-26

We become righteous in God's eyes through our faith in Jesus! To become righteous in God's eyes we must realize we are sinners and repent of our sins. We must receive the gift of salvation through our faith in Jesus as Lord, and we must receive His Holy Spirit who will give us the power to change our lives. It's not us, it's Him. Make that change today.

So this week when somebody asks you, "How are you feeling today?" You can smile at them and say, "I feel righteous. Very righteous."

We sang a song by Matt Maher in church yesterday. In it there is a line that perfectly describes our situation as an unrighteous people. It goes . . .

"My one defense, my righteousness. Oh God, how I need you!" - Matt Maher

We have absolutely no defense apart from Christ. When we stand before God one day He will look at us and judge us for what we have done. Most will be judged unworthy. And so would we who place our faith in Jesus. However we will be see as righteous in God's eyes because of our faith in His righteous Son, Jesus. That is why the song says, "My one defense, my righteousness. Oh God, how I need you!"

Lord, I Need You by Matt Maher

A Superseding Righteousness - A sermon by Matt Chandler