Joy in Death?

Sometimes in life you can have a single moment, a single experience that changes your perspective on everything.

Like one moment, and your mind totally changes.

I don't know if you've ever had something like that happen to you.

I'll share one from my high school days, and full disclosure, I just want this to be known as a matter of record.

When I was 16 years old, I got onto a bus, and at the back of the bus was this girl with blue eyes.

I thought she was gorgeous.

Her name's Megan.

I very quickly approached her, flirted with her, and she very promptly shut me down in such a way that indicated, you have no chance with me, please don't talk to me again.

And so that happens to be my wife, Megan.

Um two years later, things changed.

But after I was summarily rejected by my wife, I moved on, as 16-year-old boys do.

And there was this other girl, and I I had a I developed a crush on her, and that lasted for a little over a year.

And it was like one of those, you know, typical high school crushes.

I thought she was great.

I did the high school guy thing.

I tried to play it cool, I tried to get noticed, but not in a way that seemed desperate.

Um, I befriended some of her friends so that I could get sort of the inside scoop.

One of her friends happens to be my wife, Megan.

Um, funny how that works.

It's actually how Megan and I got to know each other, but whatever.

But but this girl, like, I we had this sort of will they, won't they, at least in my mind, maybe not in hers, uh, for like over a year.

And part of that was because I felt like every once in a while she would flirt and she would give me these little hints that, like, hey, keep trying.

You know?

And so this went on for for a while.

It got to the point where early in my senior year, I was kind of at this like, this either needs to happen or not.

And so I just went for it and I asked her out to homecoming.

It was early in our my senior year.

I said, hey, homecoming's coming up in a couple weeks.

I'd like to take you.

And she said, yes.

And I was like, it's happening.

So later that day, I'm talking to my buddy, and I let him know, hey, yeah, I'm taking this girl to homecoming.

He goes, Oh, that's weird.

I'm taking her to homecoming.

Yeah, I had the same exact reaction internally that you just had, very externally.

I was like, really?

Well, that's weird, because not an hour ago I asked her, and she said yes, and I'm thinking back to how that seemed clear.

All right, so I went back to her.

You gotta understand I'd had a crush on this girl for over a year.

I mean, it was like I was dedicated.

And I said, Hey, weird thing.

You know, I don't know if you remember, like an hour, hour and a half ago, I asked you to homecoming, you were like, Yeah, let's do it.

Well, I was talking to my friend, and he said, He's going with you, that you said yes to him, and here's what she said.

She said, I know, I really can't decide.

She said, Can you two just figure it out?

And in that moment, in that exact moment, I went, have fun.

Like, you guys have a good time.

I'm out.

Like, and it was like a year of having a crush on someone, and that moment, can you two just figure it out?

I was like, I am out, I am done, I am so done.

And yeah, there you go.

It worked out, it was good.

Because, like, who does that?

Okay, but she was in high school too, so you gotta cut her slack, because like in high school, we all did things we're probably not super proud of.

But but it really did, in a moment, change everything.

And like the crush was gone.

I was I was not interested anymore.

I sort of found out later that I think she didn't really like me, but just liked the fact that I liked her, if that makes sense.

Because then Megan and I started dating several months later, and and we were pretty serious, and then she came to me after I started dating Megan and brought me a gift, which was just a picture of the two of us, which was weird.

Like, hey, I have I want this, I want you to have this.

It's like, what is this?

A picture of me and you.

I was like, Yeah, well, we're not a thing.

Well, I threw it in the trash.

Um, yeah.

So, it's all good.

It's all good, but it but again, I'm just trying to express one moment that one can you guys just figure it out, totally changed my mind.

And I went from being in my my thought, like I'm in love with this person, to like, I have no desire, done.

I'm glad that happened.

Sometimes one moment, one experience can change everything.

It can change your entire perspective.

And today we're gonna explore a perspective that the Apostle Paul, who wrote the book of Philippians that we've been studying together, and if you're new, I'll catch you up, don't worry about it.

We're gonna explore a perspective that the Apostle Paul has on death that is so unique, it is so different.

It's the kind of experience that you could have, it's kind of the perspective that you could only have if you have experienced something, if you've had some event happen in your life that completely changes the way you think.

It's not the kind of perspective that you would have just by reflecting and pondering and thinking.

It's it's bigger than that.

And I'm super excited to share this.

Now, for some context, we're in a series right now called Unbreakable Joy.

And what we're doing is we're studying the book of Philippians.

If you're not familiar, the New Testament, uh, the part of the Bible that starts talking about Jesus and then everything that happens after Jesus.

The New Testament's filled with lots of different types of documents.

Many of the documents in the New Testament are letters, letters written by leaders of the early church to people that were living in cities where churches had started.

One of those letters is Philippians, which was a letter written by the Apostle Paul, one of the earliest leaders in the church, to a group of people who lived in a city called Philippi.

Paul was very close with them.

He'd started the church in that community.

No one had heard about Jesus until Paul got there, and they were thriving and growing in many ways, and Paul left, and Paul finds himself years later in prison.

He's being persecuted for his faith, he's awaiting possible execution.

And so he writes to them because they've sent him gifts, they've sent him encouragement, they've even sent him a person to be there with him and to help him.

So Paul's writing back to them, and you would think that because he's in prison, he's being persecuted, he's been tortured, that this letter would be full of somber reflections, that this letter would just have this tone, almost like Paul is saying, Hey, I'm barely holding on here, please pray for me, please, please help me, because I'm struggling.

But that's not the tone at all.

If you read Philippians and you don't realize that Paul wrote it from prison in that kind of situation, you would think that he wrote this in the prime of his life when things were the best they had ever been.

Because it is filled with gratitude, it is filled with perspectives on joy that honestly to this day inspire us to live with that same kind of gratitude and joy.

It's it's like a blueprint for how to have real, true, unbreakable joy.

So we've been studying that for the last few weeks.

We're gonna keep going through Philippians this year as we just desire to have that kind of joy in our lives, a kind of joy that isn't tied to your circumstances.

It's not joy that just comes from life going well, it's joy that's deeper than that.

Now, last week we talked about the joy you can have amidst suffering, which is an interesting topic.

Paul was going through a lot and he writes about that.

And I've had some great conversations since then, and great conversation with a good friend of mine just a few days ago.

We had lunch and he was talking about different types of suffering and how does that work when God also promises to heal us and help us?

And so, what we're gonna do actually, I want to continue that conversation, but I don't have time for it now.

We're gonna record a podcast this week going a little bit deeper on that con that concept of suffering with God, but also asking God for help and relief, and how does all that go together?

So we'll record that and post it in the middle of the week.

But today we're moving on to the next thing Paul talks about, which is death.

Yay.

Um let me just read you what Paul wrote.

This is Philippians chapter 1, verses 20 through 26, and we'll reflect on it further.

Philippians 1:20–26

Paul said, For I fully expect and hope that I will never be ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ as I have been in the past.

And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die.

For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better.

If I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ.

So I really don't know which is better.

I'm torn between two desires.

I long to go be with Christ, which would be far better for me.

But for your sakes, it's better that I continue to live.

Knowing this, I am convinced that I will remain alive so I can continue to help all of you grow and experience the joy of your faith.

And when I come to you again, you'll have even more reason to take pride in Christ Jesus because what he is doing through me.

Okay.

I don't know what your perspective on death is.

Most people aren't big fans, I have found.

We start dealing with death at a very young age.

Sometimes we're thrust into that because of experiencing tragedy in our lives.

I know many of you have had tragic experiences with death at different points in your life.

I remember when my son Judah, who is now nine years old, when he was about four, I got to witness in real time him start to think about death in a meaningful way for the very first time.

We were driving in the car, it was me and Judah and my youngest son Eli, and Judah asked me a question.

I didn't know what he was talking about at first.

He said, Dad, what are those rocks with words on them?

And I had no idea.

I'm like, rocks with words?

What is he talking about?

And he's describing it to me, and I'm just blank.

And uh, and then we pass a cemetery and he goes, There, that.

And oh yeah, rocks, gravestones.

He's driving past those, has no idea what they are.

He's like, What are these rocks with words everywhere?

And so I explained to Judah as we drive the concept of a cemetery and how it works, and he just kind of nods his head.

And then he asks me, Well, why are there flowers on some of them?

I said, Oh, well, that's because people who are still alive and they they're close to that person, it was their their parent, the sibling, or a close friend, they will go sometimes and put flowers on the grave just as a way to remember them and to kind of process that.

And he went, okay.

And then after about 10 seconds of quiet, he just turned to his little brother Eli, who was like three at the time, he said, Eli, you're gonna have to be the one that puts flowers on my grave.

Right?

And Eli just went like that.

I got you, brother.

You know, because in my my son Judah's mind, he's like, okay, well, I'm the I'm the second to youngest, and so mom and dad, goners, by the time that happens.

Can't count on them for that, and even my older brother and sister, probably not.

And so this guy, he's the only one that'll be left.

And so here he is, five years old, I guess planning his funeral arrangements or something like that.

That's how it goes sometimes.

You would think by this point in human history that we would have all come to terms with death, that we'd all have a good grip on it, it wouldn't freak anybody out, because like everyone ever has died.

You'd think that we'd be like, yeah, I'm really cool with it.

Not true.

Not the case.

Death's hard.

When I became a pastor and was sort of thrust into this role and also excited about it at the same time, years ago, I thought about all the fun stuff.

I thought about like this.

I love, oh, I love to talk.

I don't know if you guys know me.

I spent most of my childhood being told by teachers, parents, basically all adults, to stop talking.

Please stop talking.

And then later in life, someone hands me a microphone?

Are you kidding me?

Like, it's a dream come true.

I love this.

I I love so much of what we get to do as a church.

What I didn't think about were uh funerals.

And I have done almost a hundred funerals, and I've done funerals for people who have lived a very long full life, and their death was, you know, inevitable and close, and everyone knew it, and they were prepared for it.

I've done funerals for young children, everything in between.

The very first funeral I ever did was for a gentleman in his 80s, and he had lived a very full life.

I mean, you make it to your mid-80s, you're thinking, yeah, that's good, I'll take that.

And I remember his family being so devastated, and one of his family members sharing with me in tears that it just wasn't his time.

That's the phrase that they used.

The second funeral I was involved in was a girl who was a high school senior who died.

It was the next one.

So I had a person in his mid-80s, number two, a 17-year-old girl.

And what blew me away, just sort of reflecting on it, was that the pain really wasn't any different between the two.

Even though one was more tragic from our perspective, there was just as much pain and struggle with the gentleman in his mid-80s and his family.

And I think that's because deep down inside, all of us know that death is wrong.

Like I said, we you think that by now every person on the planet would just be like, yeah, we're all gonna die.

It's great.

Fine.

I mean, come on, it's not a surprise, not a shock.

We'd all have peace with that, but we don't.

And I think part of that is actually ingrained deeply within us because we were not created to die.

If you read the story of Scripture, when God created us, we were not created.

Death was not part of the plan.

But we live in a broken, fallen world, and death is a consequence of that fallen world that we live in.

And I think something deep down inside of all of us knows that death is wrong.

That's why it doesn't really matter if someone passes away suddenly and tragically, or if someone passes away at a ripe age, but deep down inside all of us just kind of go, no.

No.

Death is not right.

And it's true, death is not right.

Death is an enemy, but it's an enemy that Jesus has defeated.

And there's a perspective on death that we can have that can change wildly if we can see death through the lens of Jesus.

And that's something that Paul experienced himself.

Paul had an encounter, he had an encounter with the risen Lord.

He had a moment where he spoke with the crucified and risen Jesus, and it changed Paul's life.

Everything was different after that moment.

Like I said at the beginning, sometimes one moment can change everything.

That changed Paul's life, and it definitely changed his perspective on death.

So let's explore this.

Paul said something really odd in that section of Philippians that we read earlier.

He said, I'm torn.

I'm torn.

I don't know which is better.

Death or life?

Ah, tough choice.

I want you to think for a moment.

When was the last time you were torn?

Like genuinely torn, going, I don't know which is better.

I don't know what to choose.

I was thinking about it myself.

It's like maybe you were at a restaurant recently and the waiter or waitress came by and it's time to pick, but you've got a few different items, and you're like, I don't know, ah, I don't know.

Which one do I want?

Like for me, anyone love Indian food at all?

Like I love Indian food.

Do you like spicy?

Like, who loves like almost torturing yourself level heat in food?

Yeah.

So when I go eat Indian food, which doesn't happen that often, but when I do, that's the choice I have.

Like, do I want, do I want to play it safe?

Because the flavor's great, and I won't have to pay for it later, but man, do I enjoy like the inferno that builds inside of you and you sweat and everyone asks if you're okay.

I like that experience.

And so I really enjoy it.

So I have this like, uh, what should I do?

And and every time, up to the moment that I am I'm having to tell the waiter what I want to order, I'm sitting there going, I'm torn.

Or maybe, you know, maybe you have a show that you love, and the new episode drops, and you have that moment where it's late, and it's like, should I go to sleep?

Which would be really good.

And I know I'm gonna be tired tomorrow, but man, that show just dropped.

Or it's, I don't know, a show you've seen a million times.

You want to watch it again anyway.

I don't know.

And you have that choice, right?

You're torn.

Should I go to bed?

I know that's the responsible thing, I know that's the thing that my body needs, but I don't really want to go to bed.

I I want to enjoy this, I want to be entertained, and you're torn.

We all have those experiences where we get torn between things.

I mean, who gets torn between life and death?

That's what Paul's describing.

He's like, oh gosh, I just don't know which is better.

Like he's in a restaurant telling, can you tell me, waitress, can you come back in a couple of minutes?

I'm still trying to decide.

Should I live or should I die?

It's a tough one.

That's what Paul is sharing.

It's crazy, right?

He actually says, Man, it's tough because if I die, that would be so good for me.

That would be so much better for me personally if I died.

That's what Paul says.

He actually uses a phrase, and I touched on this a little bit last week at the end, but want to go into more detail today.

He said, I long to go and to be with Christ.

I long to go.

No one prior to Paul that we at least know of in history used that word to describe death.

We can take that for granted because of the time in which we live.

We have all kinds of phrases for death, like passing on or moving on.

That is not the way the ancient world talked about death.

The actual Greek word that Paul uses, I'm gonna bring it up on the screen right now, it's analysi.

Okay?

And this is the word he uses for death.

I long to go.

It is the exact same word that sailors would use when they would pull up an anchor and set sail on a journey.

It's the exact same word that people used when they would break up a campsite to go to their permanent home.

Like to go, to depart.

But it's like to go to a place you want to go to.

Not like I have to go to work, not that.

Like I get to go home.

That.

Or things are rough at home.

It's like I get to go to work.

I have to go home.

And it depends on how your week's going.

But it's that kind of departure.

Like I long to do this.

I'm excited about this.

No one talked about death like this in the ancient world.

No one looked forward to death.

In fact, if we even go back to the Old Testament, we see very different perspectives on death in the Old Testament.

There was a man named Hezekiah.

Hezekiah was one of the kings of Judah.

And if you know the history of the kings, some of those kings were good.

Some of those kings were awful.

And it pretty much just kind of flip-flops.

It's like this king came along, he was pretty good.

This king came along, he was the worst.

Like that's basically the way the kings go.

Hezekiah was one of the good ones.

Honestly, one of the best kings that either Israel or later Judah ever experienced.

He brought reform.

He he actually helped lead his people through an assault by another nation.

And they were able to withstand that, to sustain that through Hezekiah's leadership.

He's a great king.

But he fell ill, and he was at the point of death.

And we actually read about this in 2 Kings chapter 20.

2 Kings 20 · chapter mention

It says, About that time Hezekiah became deathly ill, and the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amos, went to him to visit.

And he gave the king this message.

This is what the Lord says.

Imagine this.

Set your affairs in orders, for you're gonna die.

You will not recover from this illness.

When Hezekiah heard this, he turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, Remember, O Lord, I've always been faithful to you and have served you single-mindedly, always doing what pleases you.

And then he broke down and whipped bitterly and wept bitterly.

But he doesn't say, Ah, sweet, I'm so excited to go and be with the Lord.

He weeps.

He actually writes, we have this later on in Isaiah's writings, Isaiah chapter 38.

Isaiah 38 · chapter mention

We have an excerpt of Hezekiah's writings.

It says that he writes, In the prime of my life must I now enter the place of the dead.

Am I to be robbed of the rest of my years?

Never again will I see the Lord God while still in the land of the living.

Never again will I see my friends or be with those who live in this world.

My life has been blown away like a shepherd's tent in a storm.

It's been cut short, as when a weaver cuts cloth from a loom.

Suddenly my life was over.

I waited patiently all night, but was torn apart, though by lions, and suddenly my life was over.

Delirious, I chattered like a swallow or a crane, and then I moaned like a morning dove.

My eyes grew tired of looking to heaven for help.

I'm in trouble, Lord help me.

That does not seem like someone who is at peace, who's torn.

I don't know which is better.

That reads like someone who believes that it would be far better to remain living, that death is not something to look forward to.

And Hezekiah was a godly man.

What about Job?

Job is a man who experienced a lot of tragedy.

He experienced the loss of many of his loved ones, as I'm sure many of us in this room have.

He didn't like death very much.

And Job writes this in Job chapter 14, verses 1 and 2, he says, How frail is humanity, how short is life, and how full of trouble.

Job 14:1

We blossom like a flower, then we wither like a passing shadow, we quickly disappear.

And he goes on later in verse 7 to say, even a tree has more hope.

Think about that.

He says, Trees have it better than us.

If it's cut down, it will sprout again and grow new branches.

And though its roots have grown old in the earth and its stump decays, at the scent of water it will bud and sprout again like a new seedling.

But when people die, their strength is gone, they breathe their last, and then where are they?

As water evaporates from a lake and a river disappears in drought, people are writ laid to rest and do not rise again.

Until the heavens are no more, they will not wake up or be roused from their sleep.

That's a very different perspective on death than Paul's.

And Job, if you're not familiar, was described as the godliest man on the planet.

There was not a single person on the planet that God was more pleased in than Job, and that was his perspective on death.

Now, real quick aside, sometimes people who are critical of Scripture will look at things like this and see and say, see, the Bible has all these contradictions.

Because you got it saying things like that about death, and then you have Paul's, and those two things don't make sense.

But when people have that criticism, they they very much miss the point.

There's a concept called progressive revelation.

What it means is that God, throughout the entire story of the Bible, is bit by bit progressively revealing more of Himself to people, making Himself more clearly understood.

Just like when we raise children, we share some things with them when they're young, and as they get older, we share more and more and more and more.

God is doing that through Scripture, and we have the beauty of Scripture, we get to see that process of God revealing a little bit more, a little bit more.

But it's clear that at these points in the Old Testament, the people that God was closest to, they did not have a perspective on death, anything like Paul's.

They're saying, I might as well be a tree.

That would be better for me.

It's a waste.

If I die, it's a waste.

And then you get to Paul and he says, Man, I'm torn.

I don't know which is better.

Should I live?

Should I die?

What changed that?

And we all know the answer.

It's kind of that token church answer.

When in doubt, just say Jesus.

But it's true.

You know, Job wrote something really interesting here.

He says when people are laid to rest, they do not rise again.

And from his perspective, that was true.

In fact, that was true from everyone's perspective until Jesus.

You see, like I said earlier, Paul encountered the risen Lord.

We read about it in Acts chapter 9.

Acts 9 · chapter mention

In that time, Paul went by a different name.

He went by the name of Saul.

It says, Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord's followers.

Saul was leading the charge of persecution against the church before he encountered Jesus.

And so he went to the high priest and he requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the way that he found there.

That means the followers of Jesus.

And he wanted to bring them, both men and women, back to Jerusalem in chains.

As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him.

He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

Who are you, Lord?

Saul asked.

And the voice replied, I am Jesus, the one you're persecuting.

Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.

So Paul, back in that day, Saul was seeking to put Jesus' followers in chains to persecute them.

And then he encounters the risen Lord, and years later, he's the one in chains.

Because he passionately follows Jesus and will not be deterred in sharing the good news about Jesus and in chains in prison.

He's writing, Man, I love Jesus, and I'm not sure which is better for me, to live or to die.

See, when you encounter the one who has defeated death, it has a tendency to change the way you think and change the way you see everything in life.

Paul had an experience with the risen Jesus.

And it it changed his name, it changed his mission.

He went from being on a mission to stop the church to being on a mission to take the church to places it had never been before.

It changed his perspective on what matters in life.

He says, to live is Christ.

What's the point of life?

Jesus.

To know Jesus, to be close to Jesus, to grow closer to Jesus, to better understand Jesus.

He says, for me, life is just about Jesus, and dying is even better, because then I get to talk to him again face to face.

Paul's perspective on death changed completely because Paul saw death through the lens of the risen Jesus.

It changed him.

And the challenge that we have is to do the same.

And it's it's it's it's so much bigger than just going, hey, when I die, I get to go to heaven.

Yay.

It's more than just life insurance.

Like if you actually believe, if you truly believe that there is a life inside of you, because we're told in scripture that when we give our lives to Jesus, the Holy Spirit resides in us, the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead.

When you believe that there's a life inside of you that death can't stop, should that change not only the way you you think about death, but should that also change the way you live life?

I was thinking about, okay, what does what does this mean?

What does this really mean for us?

It means that we have life that is never ending.

Jesus said in John chapter 10, verse 10, that the thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy, but I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.

John 10:10

That you can have a full life.

The life that Jesus gives us, the life that he offers us, it is a life that death can't defeat, and it's a life that nothing prior to death can defeat.

It's abundant life.

Abundant and eternal life.

Basically, what it means is this is that when you live knowing Jesus, there's always more.

There's always more.

There's always more.

And so when you face death, when you think about something as heavy as that, you go, you know what?

That's not the end.

There's more.

That's what Paul's saying.

He's like, if I live, it's it's awesome.

Jesus and being with people, but if I die, more.

It's an upgrade.

I get to be with Jesus, I get to be with him in a more abundant way.

But it means on this side of death that there's always more.

If that's our perspective, that I have this abundant life and eternal life, that death itself could not stop, and that life is within me, that should change the way I live every day of my life.

Because there's always more.

I don't have to live life with this scarcity mentality where I'm always trying to like ration out my energy and my time and my generosity and my love, because you know, we're often taught by the world you better hold on to what you have because it may not last very long.

And we know this because how many of you, when you're experiencing really good things in life, some thought enters your mind like it's probably all about to fall apart.

Ever had that thought?

Things are going really well, and you're like, what's about to happen?

Because something about life teaches us that you should expect bad.

But here, Paul is in prison.

That's about as bad as it can get, being in a Roman prison.

Paul's in prison, and he's like, Man, either I'm gonna be let out or I'm gonna die.

It's such a different perspective.

Paul did not have a scarcity mentality.

He didn't believe that life was some short-lived, desperate, fickle thing, and he better hold on to it as long as he could.

No, Paul saw his life as abundant and big, bigger than death itself.

Because of what Jesus, well, really because of who Jesus is and what he's done for us.

What if we lived like that?

What if we lived with that kind of passion and that kind of zeal where we just said, I believe that no matter what, no matter what, big or small, challenge, diagnosis, death itself, I no matter what, there is always more.

And I live my life like there's always more.

It changes the way you approach everything in life.

I'm gonna give you an interesting story, at least interesting to me, so humor me for a second, because this is something that happened last night.

And you talk about moments that just sort of make you go, whoa, okay, that's cool.

Um for Christmas this last year, we were I don't know how many of y'all have like multiple children?

Just a quick show of hands.

How many of you okay?

All right.

Christmas is tough when you have multiple kids.

Like when I had one child, Christmas was so easy.

We just got that one kid, whatever they wanted.

And then when you have four kids, you're like, well, let's figure out how to sort of disappoint all of them.

Um because we just can't afford to just get right.

I'm teasing.

I don't I don't have a scarcity mentality, but do have a bank account, and that's different.

Um but this last year we just decided, okay, what if instead of stuff, because we just felt like we've kind of done all that and they don't want stuff, what if we did experiences?

And so we got my my daughter, uh, she got two weeks ago to go to uh professional ballet.

She is passionate about ballet, she loves to dance, and she got to go and was front row at a ballet with her mom and her grandma and not her dad, which was awesome.

Um, I like I like when she dances in ballet.

If she's dancing on a stage, I'm like, this is the greatest thing in the world.

If it's anyone other than her, I'm like because I just don't get it.

It's amazing.

I just don't understand, I don't get it.

Okay.

I'm not that sophisticated.

So for uh Judah and Eli, my youngest two, we got them tickets to something in July.

If you guys have boys, you may know who this is, Dude Perfect.

You guys know Dude Perfect, the YouTube channel where they do all kinds of crazy.

They're gonna go see Dude Perfect live, they're excited.

But for Judah and for Liam, we we did something, Judah got it, I guess, double.

Um, we got them tickets to see the Atlanta Hawks play the Golden State Warriors, which was which was last night.

And what you have to understand about my boys is that if they could trade me in for Stephen Curry as their father, they would do it in a heartbeat.

Would you rather have your father or say Stephen Curry?

Steph.

No, I'm teasing.

I hope not, but probably.

My oldest has grown up, I mean, just Stephen Curry, it's like Jesus, Stephen Curry, you know, it's like that.

Dad.

Um so we we got him tickets to the Warriors game, and really excited with a really close set of friends, and one of my son Judah's best friends, and and we were all gonna go together, and actually it was it was that guy's idea.

He called me up and he's like, hey, the Warriors are playing.

What what do you think?

And I was like, Oh my gosh, that would be amazing.

So we worked it all out in Christmas and boom.

I got the tickets.

Uh just so happened that Steph got hurt the game before, so he wasn't there last night.

I know.

But we went.

And I'm so glad we did because we had this incredible moment.

So, if you're a Hawks fan, first of all, apologies.

It's been hard.

It's been a hard few decades.

Uh it's been tough.

But, you know, it's also there's bright spots, we're not, we're not bad.

That's always we're not bad.

And there's a player for the Hawks named Trey Young, and Trey Young is he's the guy.

He's been the guy for the Hawks for the last several years.

He was he's the guy, he's the star.

And so since Steph wasn't gonna be there, we're like, you know what, we're going all in on Trey.

We got there early to watch everybody warm up, and and we had this goal.

We're gonna get an autograph.

We're gonna get an autograph from Trey Young.

They brought their favorite Trey Young basketball cards with them, and that was the goal.

We're gonna get Trey Young and check this out.

I'm gonna show you a picture.

This was posted on the official Hawks.

This is so cool.

This was posted last night on the official Hawk social media.

That is Trey Young, and that hand that you see holding uh something down that's being signed, that's my son Liam.

Okay?

Yeah, so that's cool.

And then there's there's another hand behind it holding, you can tell it's a card.

That's my son Judah.

And as soon as so that got captured by the Hawks and posted on social media.

So that is Trey Young signing a rookie card uh for my son Liam.

And then right after that, he turned and he signed my son Judah's card as well.

But my son Judah had his best friend with him, and and he didn't get his card signed.

I know.

So as soon as this happened, you know, it's like my oldest is like, got it.

My youngest is like, or Judah rather, my the my youngest that was with me, was like, oh, this is awesome.

And then there's there's Judah, Judah's buddy Amos, and he took it like a champ.

We're like, Amos, it didn't get signed, and he went, oh, without hesitation.

In the blink of an eye, I watched my oldest son just go, Amos, here.

And he just gave, yeah, he gave that to Amos.

Okay?

And so here's here's Judah and Amos next to each other, each holding their signed Stephen Curry cards right there.

Amos is part of our church as well.

He's amazing, and he and Judah are such good friends.

And so, yeah, they both had their their Tray Young rookie cards, hand autographed.

That's actually really cool.

But man, for me as a dad, watching my oldest son just no no wrestling, no hesitation, just go here.

I'm so impressed.

But what's really cool about that is I know where that comes from in him.

I've seen it in the last year or two.

We've had a lot of decisions that we've had to make in life, and big decisions about where he's going to school and all kinds of things.

And a few months ago, we were talking about this decision that we were making, and it was a big one.

It had meant changing schools and doing a lot.

And it also had implications for okay, what's this gonna be like three, four years down the road?

And I'm trying to think about that.

As a dad, you know, sometimes you're trying to overplan and figure it all out.

And and Liam just said this to me as we were going through this with his school a couple of months ago.

He said, Dad, that's four years from now.

I'm not gonna worry about it.

Because I know that God has something four years from now that we probably couldn't even think of.

And I'm sitting there as the pastor, like, good point.

Because I'm doing all this love, what if that happens?

Well, what if this happens?

And what if this goes wrong?

What if that doesn't work out?

Because where you're at, you know, we know it, it's it's it's known, we understand it.

If we make this jump and go to this place, what if this?

What if that?

And he goes, Dad, I'm not worried about it, because that's four years down the road, God's got it.

You see, Liam understands, even at a young age, that with God there's always an answer.

There's always more.

That's why he was so quick to give away that card, because he's not, he doesn't have this scarcity mentality, like, I'll never get anything this valuable again.

It's easy for him to be generous.

Because he has a father that buys him everything he needs.

No.

Um.

Hey, but we all do too.

Uh it's easy for him to be generous.

No, because he actually trusts and believes that this won't be the last awesome experience.

This won't be the last time I receive a really cool blessing.

I can turn and give that to someone else because I know there's more.

Because I know that God always provides more, and he'll do something years from now that I probably couldn't even imagine.

And so I can let this go because there's more.

You see, if you believe in your heart that with God there's always more, there's always an abundance, that not even death can stop what God does.

If you believe that, then you get to live this life that is so it's so open to receive, but also open to give.

Where you just sort of get to be a conduit between God and everyone else, where you let God work through you, and then you work into other people's lives, and you go back to God, and and he blesses you and gives you what you need, and you go give it away because you just don't have this scarcity, everything is finite, and I better hang on to every little thing that I get every day, every month.

You don't live in fear, you don't live with anxiety because you're like, God's got it.

I can trust him.

For me to live is Christ, and even if I die, it's gain.

There's always more with God, so you live life passionately and generously, and it's a beautiful thing.

You know, Paul and worship team, you guys can make your way out.

I will try to land the plane.

Paul understood that.

He's like, look, my life is in God's hands.

And so if I get out of here, awesome.

I can't wait to see you guys again.

That's what Paul's saying to the church in Philippi.

But if I don't get out of here and if I die, awesome.

Because I get to go be with the Lord.

And no matter what, it's good.

I'm not worried about death, I'm not afraid of death because I believe that death is not the end.

It's not.

Paul would later go on to write, Oh death, where is your victory?

Oh death, where is your sting?

That death lost.

It lost.

When Jesus rose, death lost.

Death didn't go away, but it lost.

And if we have the same perspective that Paul has, it'll lose in us.

And that's why the author of Hebrews, we don't exactly know who it was, in chapter 2, verse 14 says, Because God's children are human beings made of flesh and blood, the Son also became flesh and blood.

For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil who had past tense the power of death.

Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.

Hezekiah was a slave to the fear of death, even though he was a godly man.

But he didn't think about death through the perspective of Jesus.

Paul did, and Paul was not a slave to the fear of death.

When you live your life focused on Jesus, believing truly that he is risen alive, when you experience him especially, you have an encounter with Jesus.

And it doesn't have to be light shining on a road.

It can be just prayer and a knowledge in your heart, a feeling that is undeniable that he's with you.

But when you experience Jesus and you live your life in light of that, you live with abundance, not scarcity.

You live with great expectation for whatever might come.

Not with dread for what might happen, what bad things might happen.

You trust that God has it, that he has it today, that he'll have it tomorrow, that four or five years from now, that decades from now, he'll have it then.

And you just trust that God's got it, and with God, there's always more.

It's abundant life.

It's life that nothing, not even death, can change.

And we need that.

And more importantly, we have that.

If you've given your life to Jesus, that's your life.

You have abundant life.

You don't have to be afraid, you don't have to worry.

No matter what happens, it's all good.

If you haven't given your life to Jesus, you should do that.

Seriously, you need him.

Because this world, it can't offer you that.

This world offer the world gives you a lot of things to worry about.

Right?

I mean, just cough and type in your symptoms.

You know, I'm getting old enough now that uh, like I'm old enough now that I make noises whenever I sit down or stand up.

I don't know when that happened.

How many of you are with me in that?

Yeah, I don't know.

I just found myself down the other day.

I just sat and was like, I was like, why'd I do that?

Getting old.

And when you get old, things start to hurt, and then what you naturally do when things start to hurt is you search online.

I have a pain in my lower back, and it's like, oh wow.

I could have either slept wrong or I'm dying.

But to die is gain.

Right?

I have to remember that.

Not to, and like, Lord, I'm even asking you, like, help me remember that because sometimes I freak out and panic over stupid stuff or big stuff.

I want to be like Paul.

I want to be able to say that to live as Christ and to die as gain, no matter what happens, it's good.

I want to live abundantly, not fearfully.

I want to live generously, not holding on to every little thing because I'm worried it might be the last.

I want to have that abundant life, and Jesus offers us that.

And if you don't know Jesus, he's the only one who can offer you that.

This world will not give it to you, it can't.

But Jesus can, and so trust him.

Give your life to him, surrender your life to him.

He's alive.

He's defeated death and he's defeated it for you.

We're gonna finish by taking Lord's Supper.

Um, and uh, if you're new, by the way, and you miss this, there's these tables right when you walk in.

But sometimes when you walk in the room, it's like dark up there, and it's easy to walk past these tables, but they have little cups with bread and juice, and this is for everybody.

And so feel free to get up and grab one if you want, no pressure.

But we take this little meal at the end of every gathering, sometimes at other times too, but usually here at the end.

And it's remember what Jesus has done for us.

The bread represents his body, the juice represents his blood.

We've already sung about this this morning, we reflected on this, and and here we are talking about being freed from the fear of death, having an entirely different perspective.

And honestly, what we celebrate here, this was a huge part of why we have that confidence, why we can be that assured.

Because Jesus died.

He died, he died for real, he experienced the pain, all the emotion of death itself.

But then he rose again, and he forever changed that narrative.

Now, someone like Job couldn't write.

When people die, they don't get back up.

One time they did.

Jesus changed it forever.

And so, with that in mind, let's take this bread.

Let's thank Jesus for it.

Father, we thank you for sending your son to die as a sacrifice for us.

And Jesus, we thank you for giving yourself up for us, for living a real life and dying a real death.

You didn't skip that part.

You give us hope.

Because you made a lot of promises, Jesus.

You said that you've come to give us abundant life.

You actually said to one of your followers that anyone who puts their faith in you will not perish, will not die truly, but will have everlasting life.

And if you hadn't died, if you hadn't risen from the dead, those would just be words.

Those would just be nice thoughts.

But because you did, because you went through the cross and got back up again, we have hope.

We do not live as slaves to the fear of dying anymore.

Thank you, Jesus.

Let's take the bread.

And the juice.

Lord, we thank you for this juice.

This is your blood that's poured out, shed for us on our behalf, to cleanse us, to pay the price for our sins.

We thank you for that, Jesus.

And through this, Lord, we we thank you for the life that you give us now.

And Holy Spirit, we ask that you fill us with confidence in that life, that we trust and remember, because you promise to remind us of things, Lord.

Spirit, we ask that you remind us of that power that's within each of us.

And just like Jesus experienced death and rose again, so will we.

So help us have hope that to live is Christ and to die is again.

We thank you, Lord.

Let's take the juice.