Heaven and Those Who Have Gone Before Us

SPEAKER_00: Good morning, everyone. I don't know if you agree with me or not, but I find something missing at Trinity Church these days. The church isn't the same for me anymore, and maybe it isn't the same for some of you either. What's missing, for me at least, is the presence of some women who were instrumental in this church family. They were pivotal in the service to the church, and they brought love and joy and godliness to Trinity. Let me mention three of these women whose recent departure has made Trinity different for me. Ruby Garnett died on March 16, 2004. My wife Terry and I were living in California when this happened. But I've noticed that since I got back, Trinity isn't the same without Ruby. Then, on May 17th, Claire Gray died. She, too, was a faithful servant of this church for many years. Claire was short on stature, but she was very long on faith and friendliness. Both of these women were long in years when they died. They also were both widows. We expect old people to die, but that doesn't mean their deaths don't change a church. Then, just a few weeks ago, Sandra Dick died. This was different. Sandy was only 44, and her husband is a part of this church, and so is her boy Josh. I didn't know Sandy nearly as well as I knew Ruby and Claire, but as an elder, I know Sandy's death makes this church different. Now I teach at the University of Virginia. The prevailing mindset where I work is these people died, and that's the last of them. They're memories. Nothing more survives. But the Christian faith makes the claim that Ruby Garnett, Claire Gray, and Sandy Dick did not just go around once and are gone. The remarkable claim of the Christian faith is that these people are more alive today than they were before their deaths diminished the church family they left behind. Now you may have noticed that I didn't read the scripture for this sermon. I didn't forget, I decided to place the scripture reading inside the sermon. I'm not a regular preacher, so I can get away with this by claiming I don't know better. So we're going to have the scripture reading now. And if you have your Bibles with you, I invite you to turn to John 11, verses 1 through 7 and 17 through 44. And if you don't have your Bibles, I invite you to turn your attention to the wall as I read the passage. And incidentally, if the gospel according to John is new to you, that is, if you don't know your way around the Bible, I envy you in an odd kind of way. Because you get to hear this story afresh. And my request is that you would follow this story closely and think how just how remarkable it is. Imagine what it would have been like to see this event. Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary, and her sister Martha. This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. So the sisters sent word to Jesus, Lord, the one you love is sick. When he heard this, Jesus said, This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory, so that God's Son may be glorified through it. Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days. Then he said to his disciples, Let us go back to Judea. On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. Lord, Martha said to Jesus, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask. Jesus said to her, Your brother will rise again. Martha answered, I know he'll rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even though he dies. And whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? Yes, Lord, she told him. I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world. And after she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. The teacher is here, she said, and is asking for you. When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house comforting her noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her. Supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there. When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. Where have you laid him? he asked. Come and see, Lord, they replied. Jesus wept. Now let me take a time out just a moment at that verse 35. Jesus wept. It's the shortest verse in the Bible, so it's turned into kind of a trick verse. If you do Bible games, there's usually a question, what's the shortest verse in the Bible? And people who know the Bible say, oh, it's that verse in John 11 where Jesus wept. We have to guard against sticking that verse into a Bible game category. When the Bible said, Jesus wept, don't picture a man of European lineage like myself quietly saying to Claire Gray's children, Yes, we'll miss your mom. She was a wonderful woman, maybe with a tear running down my cheek. Jesus wept. Perhaps you've seen on TV how people in the Middle East weep. They wail, they cry out, they erupt with emotion. Jesus wept that way. Then the Jews said, after watching Jesus weep, see how he loved him. But some of them said, could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying? Jesus, once more, deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. Take away the stone, he said. But Lord, said Martha, the sister of the dead man, by this time there's a bad odor, for he's been there for four days. Then Jesus said, Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God? So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me. When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, Lazarus, come out. The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, Take off the grave clothes and let him go. Now that was a long passage. Thanks for hanging in there with me. My generation, the baby boomers, began a number of trends. One of them was to take the subject of death and make it something like pornography used to be years ago. You just don't talk about death in polite company. It just isn't done. We can talk and talk about how we're looking forward to a particular vacation, looking forward to a particular academic accomplishment, a particular job or promotion, the birth of a child, but don't ask a baby boomer how they're thinking about their death. Sure, baby boomers have funerals, they still grieve when someone close to them dies, but there is very little talk about death. Except at the time of somebody else's death. After that, we pretty much clam up about it. The generation of students I teach today really is more open about talking about death than my generation, but I find that very few students know what to make of it. Those with no religious faith look upon death as something like a roulette wheel. Your number comes up, and you're gone. Sometimes this happens to someone their own age, not often, but sometimes. Some of the Christian students I encounter at UVA know what the Bible teaches about heaven, but they come very close to living like practical atheists. They live, and this will date me, like the old Schlitz beer commercial. You only go around once, so grab all the gusto you can. In their heads, they know the Christian truth, that those who put their faith in Jesus do go around twice and go to heaven. But many of them have not let their hearts be captured by the thought that they do not only go around once. And it will be much better the second time around. Many of us, no matter what our age, if we have a friend or a family member who dies and as a Christian, we'll be told, well, they're in a better place. Many of us believe that only at an abstract level. When someone says they're in a better place, I find myself thinking, okay, that's true, but I'm glad I'm still in this place. I think I like it better here, Lord, if you don't mind. I have listened to a lot of sermons that have three points. I don't have three points. I'm going to try and answer two questions, and let me tell you what they are. If I die and go to heaven, what is it going to be like? And number two, someone close to me died. Where do I turn for comfort? And how do I comfort others who are hurting as well? I hope to touch on a third question that most everyone asks at some point in their life. If there's a heaven, will I get to go there? So, question number one. What is heaven going to be like? A surprising number of people that I encounter have an image of heaven, and it is an image straight from a cartoon. Like this one. Or the next one. Now, these are not particularly hilarious New Yorker cartoons, but I put them up for the images, not the punchline. A lot of people, if they're honest, don't look forward to heaven because they think it will be boring. They think it will mean standing on a cloud with a harp and singing Amazing Grace a million times in a row. And I can see how one might think this way. This is not heaven, okay? Picturing heaven this way from one perspective is a joke. But from another perspective, it is a lie from the pit of Satan. The devil, whose main job it is to distort the truth, wants us to think heaven will be boring, dull, and uninteresting. Have you ever heard the spiritual called sit down servant? Do you know what this song is about? This is a spiritual about an American slave, a black person, who lived in bondage, who was owned on this earth by a human master. But this slave had placed his trust in Jesus. And he understood God's word teaches that in heaven there's going to be a great banquet. A phenomenal feast. And the Bible teaches that at this banquet, Jesus himself is going to serve those who followed him on earth. Now, this slave had never been invited to a banquet on earth. Ever. He may have served at banquets, but Luke 22, 30 teaches that in heaven there will be a banquet. And Jesus is going to serve those who followed him on earth. Imagine that. Well, this slave does imagine that. And he believes it too. And this slave realizes that when he gets to heaven and he is invited to this banquet, he'll be too excited to take a seat. And that's why the spiritual says, sit down, servant. And the song responds, I can't sit down. My soul's so happy, Lord, I can't sit down. If you think heaven will be boring, get rid of the cartoon image. Substitute for it the imagery of a banquet. Here's an artist's rendition of the heavenly banquet. Jesus has gone to heaven to prepare a place for his people. He could not be clearer on this. The Gospel of John reports: if this were not so, Jesus would have told us so. This place will be so phenomenal that the Bible does not have or give us the words to describe it fully. And so we have expressions like streets of gold and gates of pearl. When I was preparing this sermon, the words of an old Johnny Cash song entitled, No Tears in Heaven, came back to me. The closing line of the song is, No tears in heaven will be found. Now think of that. I don't know how big heaven will be, but if you went all over heaven asking the question, any tears here? Any tears over there? No tears in heaven will be found. One of my favorite hymns is by Thomas Moore. Come, ye disconsolate. This is a highbrow version of No Tears in Heaven. The last line of each stanza is very powerful. Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal. Think of the most painful thing you've ever been through. The greatest injustice you've ever endured. Whatever it is, whatever it was, earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal. Now, if you're a seeker attending Trinity Church this morning, please understand that Christians don't believe there are no tears in heaven because Johnny Cash sang a song with those words. Christians believe heaven functions this way because the Bible tells us so. If you don't like the idea of playing a harp standing on a cloud, don't worry. In heaven, Jesus will offer his people life to the fullest. No physical or emotional abuse, no theft, no racism, no jealousy or envy, no war, no divorce, no rape, no cheating. It will be everything positive, interesting, glorious, beautiful, satisfying. Now let me turn to the second question. A Christian, you know, dies. What do you do? First, I would commend to you the mysterious truth in Psalm 116, 15. Psalm 116, 15. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Before some of you were attending Trinity Church, my first wife died. Her death was the occasion for Trinity's first funeral as a congregation. A few days after her death, my older brother had Psalm 116, 15 put on a little marble plaque, and he gave it to me. I didn't understand the verse at the time, but God gave me the grace to believe it. I also would commend to you Paul's words in 1 Thessalonians 4, 13, for Christians left behind. Paul writes, we sorrow, but not as those who have no hope. Now this verse does double duty. If you're counseling someone who's lost a loved one who is a Christian, remind that person of this verse. The verse says, we sorrow. This verse legitimizes sorrow. It's as if St. Paul comes up to a grieving Christian who's lost a Christian friend or family member and says, it's okay to cry. It's okay to sob. Jesus wept. It's okay to encounter the pain of separation. But then in the same breath, Paul adds, remember that we don't sorrow as those who have no hope. We have what Christians call the blessed hope, the hope of the resurrection, the hope of heaven. Sandra Dick's body may be committed to the grave, but Jesus has said, as he did to Lazarus, unbind her, let her go. She belongs to me. John Stott once wrote that Christians probably shouldn't put R.I.P. on their tombstones. R.I.P expresses the wish or petition that may this dead person rest in peace. John Stott suggested that instead of R.I.P., Christians put CAD on their tombstones. Now, CAD would not stand for computer-aided design, it would stand for Christ Abolished Death. Many people think professors aren't practical, but let me be very practical here regarding helping someone who's lost a loved one. Here are three things you can do as part of the body of Christ. And in this first one, let me particularly address the men of my church family. Don't stay away from a grieving member of this church or your family or a friend's family because you don't know what to say. You don't have to be eloquent, and eloquence won't take away the pain anyway. You may simply say you're sorry. There was a student of mine, David Kimmel, now a beloved physician in North Carolina, who was a new Christian at the time, and he would come by UVA hospital when my first wife was very ill, and he would bring me a peanut butter sandwich, and he would sit with me for a while quietly. Very few words were exchanged, but I remember his ministry to this day. Number two, don't just say to the sorrowing person, if there's anything I can do, let me know. That's a good start. That's better than nothing. But consider being more specific. Do you need help with some particular task? Taking care of your pets? Can I help you write thank you notes? Do you need someone to watch your house? Are you okay contacting relatives? Can I run an errand for you? Mow a lawn, pick up laundry. Ask these questions a week or a month or two months after the funeral. I still remember the name of the student who went out and got a can opener for my house and then invited me to be with his family at Christmas time several weeks after my first wife's death. Number three, talk with the person about their loved one. I learned this in my relationship with my mother-in-law from my first marriage. She has two other children who love her. Let me be clear on that. But each one thinks that if they talk with their mom about her husband, who died, or her daughter who died, this will make their mom sad or upset her. It's a well-intentioned thought, perhaps, but it's dead wrong, no pun intended. This is the biggest mistake many Americans make about death. My mother-in-law enjoys hearing people talk about her husband and her daughter. She had many wonderful times with them and misses them. So if you have a parent who lost a child or a spouse recently, I would suggest you write down the date of that death. And for the next five years, intentionally do something to comfort that person on that anniversary, or on the birthday of the deceased, or at a holiday time when that person will be especially missed. Remember the event with flowers or with a card or with a phone call. And if you're thinking, five years, won't they be over it by then? Probably not. Won't that be reopening old wounds? No. You will help the healing of those wounds. You don't have to be very talented or gifted to minister to others or yourself when someone close to you dies. You just need to break out of the culture that shrinks from doing this. Okay, that's the sermon that I intended to preach. Let me raise one more question, kind of in passing. Does everybody go to heaven when they die? That's a pretty important question. Certainly, eclipses where should we go to eat after church today? There's a theory. Theological doctrine called universalism, which teaches that everyone gets to go to heaven. You can worship at churches in this town that believe in universalism. It's a very comforting doctrine to some people. Many educated people who never worship God find the doctrine of universalism very appealing because it implies everyone goes to heaven, whether you love God and live under his lordship or not. Jesus regularly taught about heaven as a place where the righteous would be with God. And he regularly taught about hell as eternal separation from God. And Jesus never suggested heaven and hell were one and the same, and that heaven was real and hell, oh, he was just kidding about hell. The elders of this church believe that the Westminster Confession is a good summary of what is true about God and what is true about us. Here's what the Westminster Confession says about the afterlife. The bodies of men after death return to dust, but their souls, having an immortal subsistence, immediately return to God. The souls of the righteous, being then made perfect in holiness, are received into the highest heavens, where they behold the face of God in light and glory, and the souls of the wicked are cast into hell. If you're in this audience and you're a seeker and you've not yet put your trust in Jesus, did you know that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead because of people like you? He raised Lazarus from the dead with people like you in mind. Remember back in verse 42 of the scripture we read, Jesus said, He did this so that people standing by, that's you today, might know that God sent Jesus to be Lord and Savior. Because you, talented and good-looking though you may be, aren't able to get right with God on your own. You're not righteous. None of us is. That's why we need a savior. A good number of you, I suspect, know Don Baker, an elder in this church. You might not know Don Baker's favorite hymn. It's one we're going to sing shortly, when the role is called up yonder. Now you have to understand something about Don Baker. For him, a role being called is not like it is for me as a teacher calling role at the beginning of a class. Don fought in World War II on the Western Front. He can recall when his unit would regroup at the end of a day of fierce fighting, and his commanding officer called a roll. And it was a moving occasion because there regularly were soldiers who were killed or wounded that day and they would not answer the role. Don Baker has a vibrant and transparent faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Don has faith that when the role is called in heaven, his name will be called out. Because Don put his trust in the salvation Jesus Christ offers. Now, if you've ever met Don, even just said hello, how are you to him, you might imagine that when the role is called out with his name, if you were to ask him how he is, he will say, thriving. But heaven will offer a whole new dimension of thriving. One of the most famous poems in the English language is John Dunn's, For Whom the Bell Tolls. For those of us who are followers of Jesus, the bell does not just toll for Ruby Garnett and Claire Gray. And Sandy Dick. It tolls for us. We need to live in the light of the fact that we're going to die. And that's okay. The Apostle Paul says that for Christians to live is Christ and to die is gain. And so for my friends at Trinity Presbyterian Church, for whom this church isn't what it used to be, comfort yourself with these words. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. We sorrow, but those, but not as those who have no hope. Let us pray. Father, as uh Greg Thompson recently reminded us from this pulpit, help us to be people who live into our mortality. As part of what it means to be the people of God. I thank you that in your mysterious and gracious providence, that the death of your saints, while painful to us, is precious to you. And thank you that we can sorrow, but not as those who have no hope.