“Q: What is your only comfort in life and in death?
A: That I am not my own but belong body and soul in life and in death to my faithful savior Jesus Christ.”
You didn’t choose to live. You were given life. You probably won’t choose to die. Death will happen to you.
You didn’t choose to live and you won’t choose to die and yet both of these are certainties for you. They are two of the few certainties you face. You can’t not face what tomorrow brings and you can’t avoid death.
That is true for everyone in this sanctuary. We all face life and death. That is true for everyone in this world. Right now, there is a boy asleep in India. He must face what tomorrow brings. He will also die one day. He has to deal with life and death just like you do.
All of us do. Only some of us do it with security. Sadly, there are very few people who face whatever life throws at them with security. There are very few people who face death with hope. Are you one of them?
If you belong to Jesus, you are. This church doesn’t exist so that we can feel good about being good. This church exists because the Spirit of God has given men, women, and children security in the face of life and death. This church exists because the Son of God lived and died so that we could belong to him in life and in death.
I wonder if you have that security. I wonder if you have given him your life. I wonder if you have comfort when you think about your death. When you belong to Jesus, you give him your life and your death; that is the claim of this sermon: when you belong to Jesus, you give him your life and your death.
We will see this in two points. First: I belong to Jesus in life. Second: I belong to Jesus in death. First, we will see from the Scriptures that disciples belong to Jesus in life. Second, we will see from the Scriptures that disciples belong to Jesus in death.
First: I belong to Jesus in life. Both the follower of Jesus and the man who could care less about Jesus must face the future. The follower of Jesus faces this future differently from the unbeliever. He faces it like David who wrote, “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He restores my soul. He guides me along the right paths for His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for You are with me.”
David knew that his life belonged to God. He knew that, in his best moments, he belonged to God. He knew that, in his most frightening moments, he belonged to God. He knew that, in his most guilty moments, he belonged to God.
That gave David security for the future. That gave him security in life. If he found himself in a green pasture, he knew that God brought him there. If he found himself in the darkest valley, he knew that God is with him. If you belong in life and death to Jesus, that security is yours too whether or not your life is as crazy as David’s.
If you don’t belong to Jesus, you don’t have that security. You have no one greater or more knowledgeable than you guiding your life. If you don’t belong to Jesus, God isn’t watching over your way. Take that as a warning sign. “The Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.” You want God watching over your way and he only watches over the way of those who belong to Jesus.
If you belong to Jesus, God is watching over your way. He has been watching over your way since before you existed. As Paul told the Ephesians, the Father, “chose us in [Jesus] before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight.” Before God said, “let there be light,” He chose you to belong to Him. You didn’t just happen to belong to Jesus. Jesus’ word to his original disciples is his word to disciples everywhere today, “you did not choose me; I chose you.” If your life belongs to Jesus, it is only because he chose you to belong. Your security doesn’t rest on your choice, although you did choose; it rests on his choice.
He chose you before you were born. That is a comfort if you lost a child who was never born. Since it is not your choice, but his choice that comes first, we can say something certain about children who die in the womb. I’m not just saying that because it sounds nice and the church should say nice things. I’m saying that because it’s true. The Canons of Dort are right. Please put it on the screen. “Since we must make judgments about God’s will from His word, which testifies that the children of believers are holy, not by nature but by virtue of the gracious covenant in which they together with their parents are included, godly parents ought not to doubt the election and salvation of their children whom God calls out of this life in infancy.”
If your life belongs to Jesus, your children belong to Jesus. That’s why we baptize them. You train your children to live for Jesus because they belong to him. You make God’s commandments your house commandments because you and your house belong to the Lord. Now, you don’t excuse your son’s sin because he belongs to the Lord. You confront your son’s sin because he belongs to the Lord. You confront your son’s sin because you both have the same master.
You tell your son he belongs to the Lord because he must own that for himself. That’s profession of faith. Part of profession of faith is saying, ‘my life is not my own but I belong body and soul, in life and in death, to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.’ Is your life or your own or does your life belong to Jesus? Does this church know that your life is not your own but that it belongs to Jesus?
Maybe you are wondering how you can know if your life belongs to Jesus. Here are three tests you can give yourself. First, what do you do with the commandments of Jesus? If your life is your own, then you will see his commandments as optional. You might even see commandment-keeping as Pharisaical. If your life is about you, you won’t see keeping Jesus’ commandments as an act of love, but that is most certainly what Jesus said it is. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Is your life about Jesus?
If belong to yourself, deep down you really don’t think Jesus has the right to give you commandments. You certainly won’t think he has the right to cast you off if you keep living for yourself, but that is most certainly what he says, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit.” That’s obedience couched in belonging. If your faith bears no fruit, you don’t belong. You will be cut off. Have you given Jesus your life, or have you just tried to give him your sin and live the way you want?
First, what do you do with the commandments of Jesus? Second, is your life about your or is it about Jesus? If your life is about you, that’s a sign that you still belong to you. If your life is about Jesus, that’s a sign that you belong to Jesus. If you belong to yourself, you will think of Jesus in terms of what he can add to your life. If you belong to Jesus, you will think about yourself in terms of what you can add to him.
The apostle Paul belonged to Jesus and so his life was about Jesus. When Paul was in prison facing a possible death sentence for evangelizing, his primary thought was not about himself. He didn’t write, “I’ve served Jesus faithfully and this is what I get? Maybe I was better off as a Pharisee.” Paul’s life wasn’t about him. That’s why he wrote, “I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.”
Paul wasn’t concerned with having sufficient courage to die like a man. He was concerned with having sufficient courage to make Jesus look good whether he lived or died. He wasn’t obsessively focused on himself, ‘get me out of here, get me out of here, get me out of here.’ He was focused on Jesus. ‘If I live, I want to live for Jesus. If I die, I want to die for Jesus.’ Do you want to be that be focused on Jesus? Would you be happy to forget yourself because you are so focused on Jesus?
First, what do you do with the commandments of Jesus? Second, is your life about your or is it about Jesus? Third, do you know which would be worse? Which would be worse: being separated from Jesus or being paralyzed? Which would be worse: losing Jesus or losing your retirement account? Which would be worse: Jesus turning his back on you or your family turning their backs on you? Which would be worse?
If you belong to Jesus, you know that being paralyzed, losing your retirement account, and being shunned by your family are horrible. You also know that they aren’t the worst. You know that separation from Jesus is the worst. That’s why you love Romans 8. “What shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?... No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
If you don’t belong to Jesus, Romans 8 does nothing for you. The fact that nothing in this life can separate you from the love of Jesus does nothing for you because what you want in this life is more important to you than Jesus ever could be. Not being paralyzed is more important to you than Jesus. Having people like you is more important to you than Jesus.
Being paralyzed isn’t good and people hating you isn’t good, but the Christian knows that neither of these is hell. Being separated from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus is the annex of hell. If you don’t belong to Jesus, you cannot yet begin to understand hell in any meaningful way because it seems that you would rather have hell than be paralyzed. It seems that you would rather have hell than be hated. You would rather be separated from Jesus than be paralyzed. You would rather be separated from Jesus than be hated. That’s a sign that you don’t understand what it means to belong to Jesus because you don’t yet understand how horrible it is to be separated from him. You don’t understand how lost you are.
If that’s you, you have no security in life because the worst thing that you could imagine could happen to you today. You could be paralyzed today. Your family could hate you by the end of the week. You could be wiped out by the time the markets close tomorrow. You live a pretty insecure life.
If you belong to Jesus, the worst thing that you can imagine will never happen to you. The worst thing you can imagine is being separated from Jesus. You couldn’t bear to have him reject you. You couldn’t bear to have him condemn you. You couldn’t bear to have him turn his back on you. If you belong to him, that will never happen. That is the only security in life.
Belonging to Jesus is also the only security in death. That is our second point: I belong to Jesus in death.
If you were to die tonight, what would happen to you? That’s an evangelistic question: if you were to die tonight, what would happen to you? Muslims don’t know what would happen to them. They hope they have been faithful enough to merit heaven. You probably aren’t a Muslim, but you might have that same mindset. You might be hoping that you have been faithful enough to merit heaven.
If you died tonight and Jesus asked you why you should enter heaven, what would you say? Would you say, “I’m not my own but I belong body and soul, in life and in death to you”?
If you belong to Jesus, you can have complete security as to what will happen when you die. If that is obvious to you, be thankful. It’s obvious to you because God’s word has made it obvious. There are a lot of people and I would dare say some people in this sanctuary who have no assurance of salvation. They belong to Jesus, but they don’t have the confidence that is rightfully theirs. If that’s you, listen to Peter. “Therefore, my brothers, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
You can know that you will receive a rich welcome in Christ’s kingdom when you die. You can confirm today that you belong to Jesus. If you love Jesus but you have any reason for doubting what would happen to you if you died tonight, you need to listen. You can know what will happen. Peter says you can know by doing these things, “if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
What are these things that you must do to know you that belong to Jesus in death? What must you do to know that you will be welcomed into heaven? Peter tells you, “make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.”
Now, your goodness, knowledge, and self-control won’t save you when you die. Faith in Jesus saves you, but faith in Jesus bears fruit. It bears goodness like an orange tree bears oranges. It bears self-control like a pear tree bears pears. It bears love like an apple tree bears apples. How do you know if a tree is an apple tree? You check for apples? How do you know if a man has faith? He bears the fruit of faith.
If you are bearing the fruit of faith, you know that your faith is genuine and you know that if you died tonight, you would die belonging to Jesus. Jesus didn’t life, die, and resurrect so that you could hope that you might be saved. He’s a better savior than that. He lived, died, and resurrected so that you can have assurance that you belong to him in life and in death.
Jesus expected his original disciples to have that assurance. Before his own crucifixion he told them, “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” Jesus didn’t say that so Peter would wonder if he would be with Jesus in the new creation. He said that to give Peter assurance that he would be with Jesus in the new creation.
If you grew up in a theological system with no assurance of what will happen to you after you die, please come to talk with me. You aren’t enjoying what Jesus came to give. If you belong to Jesus, you can know that you will belong to him in death. That should change the way you think of death. You should think of death like the apostle Paul who said, “for me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
Paul didn’t say that because he hated life. Paul didn’t say that because he had nothing left to live for. Paul didn’t say that because everyone knew he would be better off dead. Paul seems like a joyful man. He wasn’t urging what he didn’t do when he said, “rejoice in the Lord always, I will say it again, rejoice.” Paul wasn’t weighing death which is kind of bad against life which looked even worse when he said, “to die is gain.” Paul thought life was good; he just thought what came after death was better.
If you belong to Jesus, you live in hope that what comes after death is better than whatever you enjoy today. I imagine that many of us have days when we feel ready to die. The sorrows and trials of this life have piled up and we can certainly say that to die is gain. Imagine your best day. You can make it look like whatever you want. If you belong to Jesus, death would be gain on that day too.
It is rather remarkable that God felt no need to prohibit us Christians from longing for death. It is certainly gain and we do love gain. It is better than our worst days and it is better than our best days. God Himself calls our deaths precious; “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His faithful servants.”
Death is certainly gain but that shouldn’t make you morbid. God felt no need to prohibit you from longing for death because even though death leads to gain, it is still a profound wrong and everyone knows it. Jesus wept at the tomb of his friend Lazarus even though he knew he would resurrect him minutes later. Paul, who said death was gain, also called it an enemy.
Death is inarguably wrong. God didn’t need to explain its wrongness to Adam when He said, “you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” God didn’t need to tell Adam why death was to be avoided. Adam knew that it was an enemy.
Death was Jesus’ enemy. Death would be gain for him, but Jesus didn’t long for death. In fact, he asked, “Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.”
Jesus did die. Why? Why did Jesus need to die? I know why you must die. “The wages of sin are death.” You must die because you like Adam have sinned. Why did Jesus need to die? He died so that you could belong to him when you die. Paul put it this way, “If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.”
Jesus died so that you could belong to him when you die. Since Jesus died, when you die, you follow him. He suffered death and it wasn’t the end of him. Since you belong to him, it won’t be the end of you.
I have no idea what your death will look like. I have no idea what my death will look like. I do know what Jesus death looked like. It was gruesome. It was repugnant. It wasn’t final. After death came life. Since I belong to Jesus even if my death is gruesome, even if my death is repugnant, it won’t be final. After death comes life. As Paul told the Corinthians, “Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” If you belong to him in death, you will belong to him after death.
What is remarkable about the Christ’s resurrection is that it is a verifiable demonstration of the afterlife. People have always had theories about what happens after we die, but they have all been unverifiable. Plato had his views. Buddha had his views, but that’s all they were; they were views.
In the resurrection of Jesus, we see verification of Jesus’ view of the afterlife. He rose again. This is no fable. This is no artful work of fiction. This is history. There was a man named Jesus who was from Nazareth. The gospels are reliable records of his teachings and the events of his life. His followers, normal people like you and I, wrote these records. They were willing to suffer and die for what they said about him. Peter wasn’t willing to die for what he said so that you might think well of him anymore than you are willing to die so that someday hundreds of years from now someone might think well of you. He was willing to die for what he said because what he said was true. He wouldn’t say that Jesus didn’t resurrect because Jesus did resurrect.
The good news is that you can know that you will live again. If you belong to Jesus in this life, you will belong to him in death, and if you belong to him in death you will belong to him after death.
You will face life. You will face death. You can avoid neither. You can either belong to Jesus in both or you can live with no reason for security in either. God didn’t send His Son to leave humanity without security. He sent His Son so that you might live even though you die. He sent His Son so that you could have assurance in life and in death. Amen.
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Scriptures for HC Q&A 1, week 5 – I belong in life and in death
Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 1, “What is your only comfort in life and in death? That I am not my own but belong body and soul, in life and in death, to my faithful savior Jesus Christ.”
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Psalm 23:1-3, “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He restores my soul. He guides me along the right paths for His name’s sake.”
Psalm 1:6, “The Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.”
Ephesians 1:4, “He chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight.”
John 15:16, “you did not choose me, but I chose you.”
John 14:15, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”
John 15:1, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit.”
Philippians 1:20, “I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.”
Romans 8:35-39, “What shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?... No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
2 Peter 1:10-11, “Therefore, my brothers, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
2 Peter 1:5-7, “make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.”
John 14:2-4, “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”
Philippians 1:21, “for me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
Psalm 116:15, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His faithful servants.”
Romans 14:8-9, “If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.”
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Canons of Dort – First Main Point of Doctrine, Article 17
“Since we must make judgments about God’s will from His word, which testifies that the children of believers are holy, not by nature but by virtue of the gracious covenant in which they together with their parents are included, godly parents ought not to doubt the election and salvation of their children whom God calls out of this life in infancy.”