************ Sermon on Heidelberg Catechism Q & A 42-43 ************
Doctrine: why we have to die
By: Rev. Adrian Dieleman
This sermon was preached on May 6, 2001
Q & A 42-43
Romans 6:1-14
"Why We Have to Die"
Introduction
In past generations many lives were taken by the great epidemics that used to sweep across whole continents. Death in infancy and early childhood was frequent and few were the families who did not lose a member.
Topic: Death
Subtopic:
Index: 2158-2162
Date: 5/2001.101
Title:
In the year A.D. 541 the ruler, Justinian I, had plans to expand the Byzantine Empire and to engage in a massive building program of cathedrals, universities, roads, and coliseums. Instead, during the next 8 years his empire barely managed to hold its own against pagan hordes; furthermore, instead of a massive building program, all that Justinian managed was the maintenance and reconstruction of existing roads and buildings. The reason for this set-back? An outbreak of bubonic plague which killed 1/3 - 1/2 of the people of Constantinople.
Or, consider the Black Death that decimated the European population from A.D. 1347-1351. Fully 1/3 -- at least 25,000,000 -- of the people died.
Mary Mallon, more popularly known as Typhoid Mary, was a typhoid carrier who earned her living as a cook in New York City from 1908-1915. Working under assumed names she moved from one household to another causing at lease 10 outbreaks of typhoid fever. For seven years the people of New York City lived in fear of this woman before the authorities finally caught her.
Modern medicine has vastly changed this. Widespread vaccinations have practically eliminated many illnesses, at least in the industrialized countries of our world. The use of antibiotics has contributed to an ever decreasing number of fatalities in infectious diseases. Better child care and education has greatly reduced the mortality rate among children. Because of new miracle drugs, doctors believe that NOT even AIDS is necessarily fatal anymore. Advancements in medical technology and new surgical methods has drastically reduced the death rate among the elderly; in fact, a news report this past week identified the over 100-year-old group as the fasting growing segment of our population today.
Let me ask you, has all this given us better ways and means to prepare ourselves and our families for death? That's what one may expect; yet, the reality is far removed from this. The more advancements we make in disease control and in medical techniques to prolong life, the more we seem to fear and deny the reality of death.
I We Still Have to Die - Q & A 42
A SINCE CHRIST HAS DIED FOR US, WHY DO WE STILL HAVE TO DIE?, asks the Catechism. The unbeliever might think this question strange. "Isn't death part of the very fabric of life?" he or she may wonder. "So don't we all have to die?"
The believer has an immensely different perspective on death. The believer knows that death is not part of the fabric of life: the believer knows that "in the beginning" (Gen 1:1) there was no death for humans, and that there will be no death again at the end. The believer also knows that death is punishment for sin. And the believer further knows that Jesus bore our punishment when He died.
B This does or should raise a question in our minds, the same question asked by the Catechism: if Christ died for us, why must we still die; or to put it another way, how come we are not brought to heaven in God's chariot the way Elijah was (2 Kings 2)?
It is clear from Scripture that Christ's death is payment for sin; our death, however, is not. And, to mistakenly say that our death is payment for sin is to deny the doctrine of salvation only by grace through faith; to say that our death is payment for sin is to imply that we can somehow save ourselves.
C The question still demands to be answered, though: SINCE CHRIST HAS DIED FOR US, WHY DO WE STILL HAVE TO DIE? The Catechism's answer:
Our death does not pay the debt of our sins.
Rather, it puts an end to our sinning
and is our entrance into eternal life.
Strictly speaking, the Catechism does not really answer its own question here. Instead, the Catechism redefines death: it tells us that death is not really dying; it tell us that we pass on instead of dying; it tells us that death is a door-way to eternal living. In other words, we die in order to live – forever. For the believer, death is not to be seen as punishment but as a door-way, an entrance-way, a gate-way, into eternal life.
Topic: Death
Subtopic: Of The Righteous
Index:
Date:
Title: All I Need To Know
In his book "The Best is Yet to Be", Henry Durbanville told the story of a man who lay dying and was fearful, even though he was a born-again Christian. He expressed his feelings to his Christian doctor. The physician was silent, not knowing what to say. Just then a whining and scratching was heard at the door. When the doctor opened it, in bounded his big, beautiful dog, who often went with him as he made house calls. The dog was glad to see his master. Sensing an opportunity to comfort his troubled patient, the doctor said, "My dog has never been in your room before, and he didn't know what it was like in here. But he knew I was here, and that was enough. In the same way, I'm looking forward to heaven. I don't know much about it, but I know my Savior is there. And that's all I need to know!"
When we pass through the door of death we see the Savior.
"Our death ... is our entrance into eternal life." In this light think of Paul's words to the church at Philippi. Paul writes:
(Phil 1:21-23) For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. (22) If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! (23) I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far ...
Paul writes this way because he knows death is his entrance into eternal life.
If you are a believer, the minute you leave this body, you're going home. And the body is put to sleep. As my Catechism students surely remember, that is the way the early Christians spoke of those who died. In fact, they called the place of burial, the graveyard, the koimeterion, and that really means a rest house for strangers. It was the word for the inn that was closed to Mary and Joseph. Such places were all through the Roman Empire, and we get from it our word cemetery today. A cemetery is a resting place, a sleeping place. What do we call sleeping places today? We call them motels and hotels. You don't weep, do you, when your loved one calls and says, "We're going to spend a week at the Hilton in San Francisco or LA or New York?" We congratulate them and think it's wonderful.
The Catechism also tells us that death is God's final remedy for sin and evil in the lives of His children. "Death," says the Catechism, "puts an end to our sinning." Every day of our walk with God on this earth the Spirit of Christ teaches us not to sin but to love and obey. Yet we do not get beyond the taint of sin until the day God pulls us to Himself through the door of death. Then our struggle with sin is finally over and the process of our sanctification complete.
D With this in mind I think we all realize that there is nothing to be afraid of in death.
Our death does not pay the debt of our sins.
Rather, it puts an end to our sinning
and is our entrance into eternal life.
Paul tells us that Christ has removed the "sting of death" (1 Cor 15:55,56).
Topic: Easter
Subtopic: Taken Sting of Death
Index: 1092
Date: 4/1992.101
Title: I've Taken Your Sting
A little boy and his father were driving down a country road on a beautiful spring afternoon. Suddenly out of nowhere a bumblebee flew in the car window. Since the little boy was deathly allergic to bee stings, he became petrified. But the father quickly reached out, grabbed the bee, squeezed it in his hand, and then released it. But as soon as he let it go, the young son became frantic again as it buzzed by him. His father saw his panic-stricken face. Once again the father reached out his hand, but this time he pointed to his hand. There still stuck in his skin was the stinger of the bee. "Do you see this?" he asked. "You don't need to be afraid anymore. I've taken the sting for you."
Christ has taken the sting of death. This means that for the believer death is harmless, like a bee without a stinger. Because of Christ, death is nothing to fear: it is God's way of bringing His children home and putting an end to sin in their life. Because Jesus died for me, dying is easy.
It needs to be mentioned that death is nothing to fear only for those who are Christ-believers; death is nothing to fear only for those who are God's children; death is gain only for those whose living is Christ (cf Phil 1:21).
II Dying in the Lord - Q & A 43
A Q & A 42 explains to us why we still have to die even though Christ has already died for us. Q & A 43 tells us that those who are Christians have already died. They have died with Christ.
Through Christ's death
our old selves are crucified, put to death, and
buried with him,
so that the evil desires of the flesh
may no longer rule us,
but that instead we may dedicate ourselves
as an offering of gratitude to him.
The Catechism, based upon Scripture, wants us all to realize that the death of Jesus is not just a death for others but also a death of others. Christ died for us, that is, He died in our place as a payment for our sins; but we also died with Him and in Him, that is, in some mysterious way we were united to Him in His death. As Paul puts it in his second letter to the church at Corinth: "We are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died" (2 Cor 5:14).
Christ is seen here as our representative. What He did, we did. In Him we paid for our sins. Through Him we overcame death, and by His Spirit we now live a different kind of life than those who live "according to the flesh."
The question we all must now ask ourselves is, Am I included in the death of Christ? Was I there when our Lord was crucified? If you can not answer "yes" then you remain in your sins and have not overcome death.
B
Through Christ's death
our old selves are crucified, put to death, and buried with him ...
When exactly does or did this happen? When is it that I died with Christ? When is it that I become dead to sin?
One may give three answers to this question. The first is, I died on Golgotha when Jesus died. When Romans says "we died with Christ" (Rom 6:8), it means that we died, really died, on Calvary in and with the person of Christ, because we were most definitely included in and with Him.
The second answer one might give to the question When is it that I died with Christ? is I died in my baptism. This answer is also correct. We "died to sin," says Romans, when "we were baptized into Christ Jesus" (Rom 6:2,3). Our baptism is not only a sign of Jesus' death for us, but it also seals or guarantees to us that we died with Christ.
The third answer one might give to the question When is it that I died with Christ? is I died when I was converted. This answer is also correct. It is true that when we were converted we "crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires" (Gal 5:24).
The truth of the matter is, all three answers are correct, and none of the three should be stated without the others. We did die with Christ on Golgotha. His death is guaranteed as ours when we were baptized. And we personally taste this death (and the new life!) only when we are converted.
Conclusion
The statistics on death are impressive – 100% of all the people who have ever lived have also died (with the exception of Enoch and Elijah). So the Catechism reminds us that someday in the future we will die.
The Catechism also reminds us that those who are Christians have already died – they have died with Christ.
What's the connection between the two? Well, if you are one of those who have died with Christ then you are one of those who have no need to fear the death of your body. Those who have died in the past have no need to fear the death of the future. Because, don't forget, Christ has taken the sting of death for them.