Fame and Death

Both Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett departed from this life on Thursday, June 25. Both were superstars in their own ways, and both of their stormy lives have been receiving major media attention the last few days. I’ve noticed a couple ironies amidst the whirr of all this coverage.

First of all, it’s obvious that famous people get the limelight not only in life but also death, whereas the other 99+% of humanity comes and goes from this world in relative obscurity. The media didn’t pick up on the parting of Mary Binnig, Joe Dent, or Henry Wright (other than to print their death notices in the obituary section of the Philadelphia Inquirer on 6/26/09), nor did it make much of the hundreds who’ve died in Somalia in the recent months’ unrest or of fatalities from cholera in Zimbabwe. Fame grabs our attention, pushing the unknown aside—we’re not interested in them. And yet, all people, deep down, are equally made in the image of God (Gen 1:27). All people alike are formed by God (Ps 139:13-15) with the capacity to know him and revel in his radiance forever. Jesus specialized in loving the unlovely, the outcast (e.g., Luke 5:27-32; 7:36-50; 15:1-2).

Dostoyevsky’s famous novel, Crime and Punishment, tells the chilling tale of an experiment in murder. Raskolnikov brutally kills two women—people he sees as “no account” figures, “useless” lives. But he cannot escape the reality that a life is a life and that human existence has meaning and dignity quite apart from one’s stature in society. The image of God in every person cannot be shrugged off. Eventually he can’t keep from confessing to his crimes, so heavy on his heart is the destruction of these “nobodies.”

Secondly, the way our popular culture processes death involves a couple irrational and contradictory notions. On the one hand, it’s assumed that anybody’s loved one who dies is now “up there looking down on us.” This was Jermaine Jackson’s assump­tion when he announced his bro­ther’s death. Sad stories on ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” are similar—lost loved ones are always “with us” and “watch­ing us,” etc. On the other hand, in ordinary days it’s almost never taken seriously that there is a life to come that’s real and important and grand, and that this present existence is but a prelude to eternal exper­ience either in the presence of God (basking in the wonder of his glory) or in the absence of God (suffering the just punishment of unforgiven sin). It’s as if the life to come can be entirely ignored while we’re healthy and strong, and then conveniently brought out in the moment of grief— though always, of course, assuming a positive outcome.

We need to help each other avoid these errors by doing two things: keep the reality of heaven and hell in view at all times (don’t let these looming eternal facts slip off your mind’s radar screen), and take Jesus seriously that, apart from trusting in him (John 3:16; 14:6; etc.), people follow their hearts down the road to destruction (Matt 7:13-14). In other words: live now in light of eternity, and live now in a way that accepts and acts upon the sobering reality of hell.

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Look Up!

We’re all painfully aware that the mood of our day is downcast. We’ve been shaken by the collapse of trusted financial institutions and Fortune 500 corpor­ations. Slip-sliding global markets have sent us scurrying home to stuff the few dollars we have left into the mattress. And job security is a thing of the past. This propels us into a panic and guard-the-fort mode—and followers of Christ are not immune to this temptation.

And that’s exactly why we need the Lord’s gracious help to look up—look up from our dismal doubts and worst case scenarios, and look into his radiant face. Here’s the bottom line: in hard times, God is NOT honored when we sink into fear, circle the wagons, and ignore his powerful presence. Look up: “Lift up your eyes!”

“I lift up my eyes to you, to you whose throne is in heaven” (Ps 123:1). “Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing” (Isa 40:26). “Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, ‘Behold your God!’” (Isa 40:9).

So times are tough—that’s true, humanly speaking. And you need help? So do I. We all need help to avoid falling into the swamp of self-preservation; we all need help to look up and rivet our heart’s attention on the all-sufficient, all-satisfying Lord: “I lift up my eyes to the hills—where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth” (Ps 121:1-2). “One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple” (Ps 27:4).

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Making Sense of "Church"

What is the church? Just a group of people with a common interest (like a book club or bowling team or community service agency)? The Bible’s answer is emphatic: NO. As the body of Christ, the church is a living, supernatural spiritual organism—and there is nothing else like it in the entire universe. The church is a colony of heaven; it’s a fellowship of travelers on their way home. The church is the very fullness of Christ (Eph 1:22-23), exhibit “A” of God’s wisdom to angels and demons (3:10-11), the theater of his glory (3:20-21), and the beloved, radiant bride of Christ (5:25-27).

Such a stunning, lofty vision of God’s church, however, often doesn’t make it all the way from words we acknowledge to truth that soars in our hearts. Instead, we find ourselves vulnerable to a thousand pressures to devalue and “horizontalize” the church, and so we lose sight of the mind-boggling reality of the body of Christ (it’s as though a veil falls over our eyes…) and we shape our lifestyles that make the church “just one more thing to do.” Please pray with me for deliverance from this God-dishonoring, joy-draining practice!

When we stand in awe of what the Lord has done and is doing in his church, we’ll find ourselves joyfully giving the body life and mission of GBC a strong priority. I appreciate Paul Tripp’s recent comments on what hinders the cultivat­ing of community in the American church. Here are some excerpts (from a blog post at the Desiring God site):

“…we’ve bought an unbiblical definition of the good life of success. Our kids have to be skilled at three sports and play four musical instru­ments, and our house has to be lavish by whatever standard. And all of that stuff is eating time, eating energy, eating money. And it doesn't promote community.” … “I’ve talked to a lot of families who literally think it’s a victory to have 3 or 4 meals all together with one another in a week, because they’re so busy. Well, if in that family unit they’re not experiencing community, there’s no hope of them experiencing it outside of that family unit.” … “We have families that will show up at our church on Sunday morning with the boys dressed in their little league outfits, and I know what's going to happen. They're going to leave the service early. Now what a value message to that little boy! Do I think little league is bad? I don't think it’s bad at all. I think it's great. But they’re telling him what's important as they do that.” … “You can’t fit God’s dream (if I can use that language) for his church inside the American dream and have it work. It’s a radically different lifestyle. It just won’t squeeze into the available spaces of time and energy that’s left over.”

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Picturing Heaven

How do you envision the life to come? Revelation 21-22 paints a picture of the glorious new heavens and new earth: the ultimate wedding celebration (21:2, 9); no more tears or grief or pain (21:4); we drink at the fountain of life (21:6); the New Jerusalem is radiant, massive, gleaming—and in that world there’s no night: the glory of God is its light (21:23-25).

As the Apostle John scrambles for images and metaphors to help us imagine what he saw in the definitive revelation of what’s to come (1:11, 19), it begins to dawn on us—if we’ll just be quiet and sit still and take it in—that the future world for all who eagerly await Jesus’ return (Heb 9:28) will be awesome beyond belief!

Romans 8:18 makes a similar point but from a different angle: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth com paring with the glory that will be revealed in us.” Today’s trials, even Paul’s manifold, gut-wrenching afflictions (see 2 Cor 11:23-29), are minimal-miniscule-inconsequential when compared to the glories of heaven. This is not to minimize the real pain of suffering—not at all. Rather, it’s to underscore how mind-boggling and category-demolishing are the wonders of the life to come.

Let this sink in. Think of our world’s most grave tribulations—as in Hebrews 11:35-38 (torture, scourging, stoning, being sawn in two). Think of AIDS and cholera and earthquakes and suicide bombings and serial murders… Let the sorrow and horror of these things wash over you like a great wave: yes, they’re wretched beyond words. But then remember that the degree of heaven’s splendor makes the degree of misery in such suffering seem like nothing. Do the math: if being sawn in two scores -10 on a scale of 1 to 10, heaven scores +1,000,000. That’s why Paul can call his mountain of trials a “slight momentary affliction” (2 Cor 4:17).

Are you facing pain, are your loved ones suffering? Let today’s adversity catapult your imagination God-ward—let it help you envision the joy awaiting all who love Jesus. Because today’s misery is not even worth comparing to the glories of heaven!

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