Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven, But Nobody Wants to Die

Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven, But Nobody Wants to Die

There’s an old song that says “Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die,” and nowhere is that more true than in our own culture. We don’t even talk about death; when someone we like dies, we say they “passed away” or “went to be with Jesus,” or for someone else, well, they might have “kicked the bucket” or they might be “pushing up daisies.”

Death seems to be the one big enemy, the one that we will all succumb to at some point or another. Sometimes we ignore the fact that every day of life is another day closer to death, but it is inevitable. We are not immortal.

In Romans 8:13, the phrase that the NIV translates “the sinful nature” is in Greek “the flesh.” The mortal life, the flesh, is bound for death.

Though that is bad news, it’s not new; it’s almost as old as the earth itself. When Adam and Eve sinned against God in the Garden of Eden, the punishment was death, and we’ve lived in death’s shadow ever since. And so when Paul writes to the church in Rome, saying, “If you live according to the flesh, you will die,” he does not bring new news. Likewise, Paul tells the church in Corinth: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. (1 Corinthians 15:50)

So the eternal question is how can we defeat death?

The Egyptians tried by mummification and by burying their dead with supplies for the journey. Hindus believe that to defeat death, one must live a series of perfect lives until one day they stop the cycle of reincarnation by achieving perfection. Our culture tries to defeat death by advances in medical science.

Though every culture seems to try, there is only one way to defeat death: Death.

Now you’re probably thinking, “Oh, great, I got up and made it to church only to be told that the only way to defeat death is to die. What a waste of a Sunday!” If that’s what you’re thinking, I applaud your honesty, and I ask you to hang in there.

The first part of Romans 8:13 says: For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die. In fact, you are already dead. Ephesians 2:1-2 describes the sinful state like this: As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.

Perhaps one reason we don’t like to think about death is that it describes the state in which we live when we live according to this world. There’s a quote from the movie the Sixth Sense where the little boy remarked, “I see dead people… walking around like regular people. They don’t see each other. They only see what they want to see. They don’t know they’re dead.” That’s a pretty accurate depiction of the way most people live. To the untrained eye, they look alive, going about daily duties, families, work, school, even church; they don’t even know they’re dead.

So, I read the first part of Romans 8:13, but the rest of the verse is important, as it brings the good news. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit are sons of God. (Romans 8:13)

Death is the way to life, because without death, we cannot experience resurrection. I am not simply talking about our physical death; this is a spiritual concept. Beyond being one of two Sacraments that the UMC observes, baptism is a powerful image of death, burial, and resurrection, being dead in sin, buried under the water, and resurrected to live anew.

And it was Jesus who said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.” (Luke 9:23-24)

Losing your life for Jesus is the path to real life, because this is the pathway to being filled with the Holy Spirit. On our own, we are filled with the sinful nature, and when we are filled with the sinful nature, we are unable to be filled with anything else.

Have you ever seen a hermit crab? As it grows, it outgrows its shell, so it looks for a larger shell to live in. If there is already someone living in the new shell, the hermit crab will bypass it. Though in no way am I trying to equate the Holy Spirit to a hermit crab, it is true that the Holy Spirit will no more enter into a life already inhabited by the sin nature than a hermit crab will enter an occupied shell.

To be filled with the Holy Spirit, you have to die to self; you have to empty yourself. This is the same process Jesus went through in coming to earth. Philippians 2:5-8 tells us that Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!

That’s the hard part. The easy part is to ask.

Jesus posed this scenario to his disciples in Luke 11:11-13: “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Are there any parents here who will give their child a snake or a scorpion if your child asks for something to eat? Even parents, living in the sin nature, give good gifts to their children. How much more will our perfect Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit?!

In a different context, James admonishes, “You do not have, because you do not ask God.” This is true of receiving the Holy Spirit! Have you asked God to fill you with the Holy Spirit?

I want to stress to you that this is not just a doctrine, but an experience. In his journal, John Wesley writes the following: In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. I love John Wesley’s honesty – maybe it’s because he never meant for his journal to be published, but sometimes it’s hard to even be that honest in a journal written for oneself. He didn’t want to go to this group meeting. Can we be honest – was there anyone who didn’t want to come here today? The material doesn’t sound all that exciting: Martin Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. But part of obedience to God is going where you don’t want to go, however unwillingly you go, because God has something for you in the experience. Listen to the rest of the journal entry:

About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.

John Wesley affirms that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is an experience. What kind of experience is it? Some feel their heart strangely warmed. Some do not. Some spontaneously speak in tongues. Others don’t. But the “strange warming” was not all that Wesley described. He also described a full trust in Christ for salvation. He didn’t just know that Jesus was enough, but he knew that he knew.

Salvation was something that had bothered John Wesley – up to this point, he consistently wondered if he was really saved. During a storm at sea after a botched mission trip, he feared for his life, which to him was a sure sign that he wasn’t even saved. But now he knows that he knows that Jesus had taken away his sins and saved him. He has an assurance. Why? Because the Holy Spirit is filling him, witnessing to his spirit.

I want to stress that being filled with the Holy Spirit is also accompanied by repentance, turning 180* away from your sinful behavior and going in the opposite direction. In Robert Boyd Munger’s pamphlet My Heart – Christ’s Home, he describes it this way:

I said to myself, “I have been trying to keep this heart of mine clean and available for Christ, but it is hard work. I start on one room and no sooner have I cleaned it than I discover another room is dirty. I begin on the second room and the first one is already dusty again. I’m getting tired of trying to maintain a clean heart and an obedient life. I am just not up to it!”

Suddenly I asked, “Lord is there a possibility that you would be willing to manage the whole house and operate it for me…? Could I give to you the responsibility of keeping my heart what it ought to be and myself doing what I ought to be doing?”

I could see his face light up as he replied, “I’d love to! This is exactly what I came to do. You can’t live out the Christian life in your own strength. That is impossible. Let me do it for you and through you. That’s the only way it will really work. But,” he added slowly, “I am here as your guest. I have no authority to take charge since this property is not mine.”

In a flash it all became clear. Excitedly I exclaimed, “Lord, you have been my guest and I have been trying to play the host. From now on you are going to be the owner and master of the house. I’m going to be the servant!”

Is the Holy Spirit a guest in your house, or does he own it? Today is the day to sign over the deed to the Spirit. If you are tired of the struggle that you continue to lose, if you’re tired of cleaning one part of your life, only to find another one dirty, if you’re tired of walking around dead, it’s time to kill the old life and let God raise you in resurrection.