What about Bob? (2 Corinthians 5:1-15)

Heaven is Real

We’ve always been fascinated with stories of the afterlife. The most popular Christmas story of all-time outside of the birth of Jesus in the Bible involves ghosts.. A Christmas Carol. In 2010, there was a best-selling book, The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven, telling the story of a 6-year-old boy who died and went to heaven and then came back… and the book was full of remarkable details about what heaven is like. Except it was all made up. Five years later the publisher pulled the book off of the market because the boy admitted he made it all up. One of the reasons why the public was so quick to believe the boy to begin with is because we are so fascinated with stories of the afterlife, we’re not really interested in what the Bible says about the afterlife.

Another boy with another book, Heaven is for real, sold millions. But the problem with that book is that so many of the details in the book directly contradict what the Bible says about heaven. In the end, whatever the Bible says about heaven is what is true.

In fact, a lot of what we believe about the afterlife is shaped and formed and influenced by pagan ancestor worship, the kind that we would find in Africa or Japan. Our views of heaven are also heavily influenced by a lot of songs from the 19th and 20th centuries that were good for catchy tunes, but not very good at reflecting what the Bible says about heaven. And again, all this happens because we’re not all that interested in allowing the Bible to tell us what is true or untrue about the afterlife.

I thought it would be good for us to take some time this morning to consider what the Bible says about heaven, especially in these weeks after Bob’s passing. What about Bob? Where’s Bob? What happened to Bob when he passed?

The early church had similar questions. One church, in particular, had a lot of questions. In our New Testament, we have two letters from the great missionary Paul to a congregation in a city named Corinth. These church members had so many questions, Paul spends a significant amount of time in both letters regarding what happens to us when we die. And so we’re going to look briefly at what Paul says. We’re not going to answer all of the questions… there are way too many. But we will entertain a few…

Paul says here that we have an earthly tent and in that tent we groan:

2 Corinthians 5:4 “Indeed, we groan while we are in this tent, burdened as we are...”

We groan. We are burdened. We suffer in our earthly bodies. It wasn’t all this way. This story starts way back in the garden. Adam and Eve were created and placed in a perfect garden where they had perfect friendship with God. But they rebelled and the moment they rebelled, these bodies began to decay and die. We all are in a constant state of dying. It doesn’t seem like it when you are two or three or 15 years old with your whole life in front of you, but we’re all on this journey toward the after life.

But then Paul says… to be away from this tent is to be with Jesus:

2 Corinthians 5:8 “We are confident, and we would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.”

To leave this body, to die… is to be with Jesus. No matter what else we might say about death and dying and heaven… to die is to be with Jesus. Straight up. All of the questions, all of the myths, all of the legends… everything you’ve ever heard about dying.. when we have breathed our last, no matter how it happens, no matter what we are doing… we could be in the middle of great sin… to die is to be with Jesus. That is his promise to Bob. That is His promise to you.

This isn’t all there is to say about heaven… we’ll get to that in a second… but I can’t stress this enough. Death is not normal. Death is the result of sin. Death is a curse that has been passed down from Adam and Eve to everyone who has ever lived. But because Jesus died and Jesus rose from the dead, Jesus defeated death. To die is to be with Jesus. Where is Bob? What about Bob? Bob is with Jesus.

That’s not all. Bob is with Jesus. But Bob is also waiting for the resurrection. In His first letter to this very same church with all sorts of questions about what happens when we die, Paul says this:

1 Corinthians 15:52–53 “The dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed. For this corruptible body must be clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body must be clothed with immortality.”

Paul is describing the final resurrection at the end of all time. At some point in the future, the cemeteries will be empty. The dead will be raised. We will be changed… both the living and the dead. We will get new bodies that never die. Never suffer. Never have disease. Never have anything broken. No more cavity fillings. No more plastic joints. Clothed with immortality. Bodies that are just like Jesus’ resurrected body. That is the final resurrection. That is what Bob waits for. That is our final hope. Our ultimate hope is the final resurrection in a new heavens and new earth… forever.

Mythbusting Heaven

That brings us to the first myth.

Heaven isn’t the final stop.

Heaven is temporary. The verse we just read might be the most understated verse in our Bibles.

1 Corinthians 15:52–53 “The dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed. For this corruptible body must be clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body must be clothed with immortality.”

That is not describing “heaven”. That is describing the final resurrection in the new heavens and new earth. We’ve had years and years and years, and even centuries of being told that heaven is the final destination and it’s not, really. The typical Christian funeral is all about heaven. Where Bob is right now is “heaven”. Being with Jesus is “heaven”. But “heaven” isn’t the last stop. “Heaven” is temporary. “Heaven” is simply where the saints are until they get their new bodies at the final resurrection. We were created to be with Jesus in the garden… and the garden is our final destination… the New Heavens and New Earth described in Revelation 21 and 22 where it describes the merging of heaven and earth together.

Heaven is great. Heaven is no more tears. No more pain. Always with Jesus. But saints in heaven are still waiting for their resurrected bodies. Saints in heaven are not complete. There is still more to come.

That leads to the next myth.

The body is not our shell

How many times have we heard someone standing at the casket of a loved one saying… that’s not really Johnny, that’s just his shell. Johnny is with Jesus. That’s only partly right. Johnny is with Jesus. But the body is also truly Johnny. We will do anything to keep from thinking negatively at death. Jesus wept at Lazarus tomb because death is awful. Death is sad. Death is not the way it was supposed to be. And that body, when we go to be with Jesus, is us experiencing the awfulness of death. And it’s decay. God created us as soul AND body, not just soul. So both are true at the same time… Johnny is with Jesus. Johnny is in a cemetery. Johnny is waiting for the final resurrection, when he will be reunited with his body, only this time, there’s no pain, no suffering, no sickness or disease.

Now… one little tidbit I won’t spend time on… it is quite possible, that because eternity is outside of the time we know, that Johnny is already enjoying the New Heavens and New Earth.. and if that’s the case, Bob is already somewhere serving up a new game of table tennis.

There are a couple of other myths, though, that are part of our culture we should address because I hear these all of the time. And this is where i realize there are landmines everywhere when I say this..

Remember… to be absent from the body is to be present with Jesus.

There is no in-between being absent from the body and present with Jesus

The Bible is quite clear on this. When you die you go to be with Jesus. Period. When the Bible speaks of death and heaven, there’s no in-between, there’s no interim. That means two things. The first:

There is no purgatory

The Bible has no record of purgatory. When you die, you’re with Jesus. Period. You don’t pass go. You don’t collect two hundred dollars. You’re with Jesus in heaven. Purgatory presumes that there is still something left to do for your salvation. Jesus said on the cross… it is finished. There’s nothing for us to do. There was nothing for us ever to do. We don’t earn salvation now. We don’t earn salvation then. It’s always free… it’s always grace. To be absent from the body is to be present with Jesus.

Secondly,

People don’t become ghosts when they die

Moaning Myrtle is total fiction. When you die, you go straight to be with Jesus. To be away from the body, is to be present with Jesus. Period. It’s funny how we keep coming back to that. But this idea that some people, for whatever reason, spend time as ghosts doing this and that for a variety of reasons is total fiction. I’m not going to spend any time talking about just what apparitions may or may not be… they do exist. But they are not people who have died. The people as ghosts idea is one more place where pagan superstitions have had an impact on the way we think about death, but it’s a total denial of what the Bible has to say about life after death.

And one final myth for today… there are a few others, but we’ll leave them for another time...

People are not downgraded to angels when they die

This is one I hear or see just about every week. “Heaven gained another angel”. Or “Johnny got his wings”. Angels are created beings just like humans and animals. This would be like saying Johnny became a rabbit this week. But the Bible is clear that human beings are God’s highest and best creation. Jesus became a human being, not an angel. Jesus died for human beings. Jesus became one with human beings. To be an angel is to not have any of that. People who talk about humans becoming angels fundamentally misunderstand what it means to be human… the highest of the created order.

But I get why this is the case. Not only is the idea of us becoming angels tied to pagan superstition, but it also reflects an idea that heaven isn’t something to look forward to. A lot of portrayals of heaven are not accurate and are totally boring. Another myth is that we float on clouds playing harps, a myth that has been around for hundreds of years. Who thinks that’s fun? Nobody does. Another one is that we stand around the throne singing for millions of years. The eternal church service. Not a lot of excitement there and there’s nothing in the Bible to suggest that either. Gary Larsen had this comic that expresses how a lot of people view heaven:

(Cartoon)

So yes, the idea of being an angel… yeah… a lot more exciting than floating on a cloud playing a harp.

But that’s not our destiny. You know what our destiny is?

Our destiny is to be with Jesus and for Jesus to be with us.

Our destiny is a world much like this one, one where we enjoy a lot of what we enjoy now… except… no pain, no suffering, no disease. Here’s how the Bible describes life beyond heaven after the final resurrection:

Revelation 21:1–4 “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more...

We’ve already been given a glimpse of what live in the New Heavens and New earth will be like. Remember Adam and Eve in the original garden. This was what they had. This is what they lost. And now here it is for forever. God with his people, and people with their God. There’s so much more to say here, but our ultimate destiny is to be with Jesus and enjoy life in the full presence of Jesus, probably doing a lot of the same things we do now, only in the presence of Jesus, without sin and suffering and sickness. Always daytime, Never tired. Always feeling rested even if we’re doing some work. Enjoying life to the fullest. Always feeling and experiencing the love of Jesus for us.

Here’s how Randy Alcorn describes it in his book on Heaven:

God’s promise to those who belong to Jesus: “A resurrected life in a resurrected body, with the resurrected Christ on a resurrected Earth.” - Randy Alcorn (Heaven)

What he is describing is how the Bible describes the New Heavens and New Earth after the final resurrection. So what about Bob? Bob is enjoying Jesus. Bob has no pain. Bob has no sorrow. Bob has no disease. Bob, like us, awaits the final resurrection when we get our bodies and enjoy the full benefits of the salvation Jesus bought for us at the cross.

One final word about our text this morning… note this:

2 Corinthians 5:8 In fact, we are confident, and we would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

You see the word there? Home. Bob is home. Wherever Jesus is, there is home. To be away from the body is to be at home with Jesus. All the love, all the security, all the happiness, all the strength, all the peace that is provided in a home… that’s where we are headed. We’re headed home. Death is nasty, death is awful, death is not the way it was supposed to be… death doesn’t have the last word. Jesus does. And Jesus promises on the other side of death is home.

Let’s Pray.

The Table

Heaven meets earth here at This Table. You want to know what heaven is like? Our gathering this morning is an outpost of heaven. Heaven is here. This is home. All that we look forward to is right here in this meal. Being with Jesus. Being nourished. Being fed. Being content. Being at peace. Being at home. Jesus gives us all that in this meal.

Benediction