Death Is In God’s Plan – Sadness And Death Sermon Series Part 1 of 2

Hello, and welcome to Social Media Ministries. My name is Spencer Coffman. Thank you so much for being with us today. I hope you are subscribed wherever you’re listening or watching and that you follow us and also use those share icons to share these sermons on your social media so we can reach more people with the Gospel of Christ.

Today we are starting a two-part sermon series about sadness and death. Today, we’re kicking it off about death is in God’s plan. You say, “Wait a minute, it’s God’s plan for people to die?” Yes, it is God’s plan for people to die.

It’s God’s plan for people to be born. It’s God’s plan for them to live a life, worthy of the calling that He has placed on them, and then when it is time, it’s God’s plan for them to die.

And you say, “Well that, that doesn’t seem right. That seems like — why would God want people to die? Why would He make us in order for us to die? Why would He? Why would He give us a decaying body?”

Well, He didn’t. God gave us a temporary body to live in while we are here on a mission to accomplish His will, and the soul [Spirit] that He has placed within that body is our true essence — that is our being. That is eternal. This is a temporary assignment.

It’s like if you get a car to drive. That car is your shell, your casing, to get where you’re going, to serve its purpose, and when the car no longer serves its purpose, it’s cast aside for a new one.

That could seem harsh. If you relate that to our body. When our body is no longer serving the purpose for which God created it, it is cast aside and God will send someone else, but we see that in the Bible in the Old Testament.

God would put rulers and kings in charge and as soon as those those kings would become wicked and disobey God, He would strike them down. He would have them be overthrown or have them go into captivity to put someone else in place, but it seems like they continually did that which is true, but the point is you need to be accomplishing God’s will.

You need to be accomplishing God’s plan for your life. But death, specifically, is a natural occurrence in life. It’s going to happen. We’re going to die unless God comes back and takes us into Heaven. We have to die in order to get there. Death is a natural part of life.

Let’s go to 1 Corinthians 15:22. “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.” What does that mean “In Adam”? Adam, the name, yes, Adam, or mankind, all die. Just like how when the fall of mankind, when they sinned against God, just as in that fall, we will all die.

As in Christ, all will be made alive. If we believe in Christ, we will have eternal life. Let’s go to Ecclesiastes — Old Testament book written by Solomon. Great book. Great wise person. Wise man.

Ecclesiastes 12:7, “And the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.” Our bodies are made from what? And you say, “Flesh, bones” — yes, but what? Dust, minerals, elements — just like how God made Adam.

He gathered up the dust from the ground and He molded him and breathed life into him. What did He breathe into him? He breathed into him a spirit. Exactly how Jesus in the New Testament breathed upon His disciples and gave them His Holy Spirit.

So as in man, as in Adam, all will die. The dust will return to the ground from which it came. The spirit inside of us will return to God, the one who gave it to us. Believe in Jesus and you will be saved. So as a Christian, death is spiritually one of the greatest things that can happen to you.

When a Christian dies, they go to Heaven to be with God. We have a card right here. It’s a sermon series called “Heaven, Hell And Purgatory.” Check that out. It’s a great series that will explain all of that about Heaven, Hell, Purgatory, whether they exist, what they are, how to get there, how to avoid them — that kind of thing. So watch that. It’s a great sermon.

But as Christians, when we die, we go to Heaven. What an excellent thing. Isn’t that what God wants for us, is to be with Him? Let’s go to Psalms. Psalms 116 Verse 15. Psalms 116:15 “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints” —okay wait a minute.

So who are the saints? Well, the saints are people who die preaching and proclaiming the good news. If you are put to death for your beliefs in Christ, you can be considered a saint. You are one of these saints, precious is the death of those saints.

Now wait a minute. Wouldn’t God rather have those saints here on Earth proclaiming the good news? Yes, He would but when they die, they are dying in an act of love, an act of sacrifice, an act of obedience, and what do we know that God desires? Obedience. Remember what Samuel told Saul? Obedience is better than sacrifice.

These saints are dying in an act of obedience. They are being faithful and obedient to God even unto death. How precious is that? God is seeing that. They are dying in an act of love. What does Jesus say that the best thing is?

To die for one’s friend or one’s brother or sister in Christ. These people are dying in an act of love for Jesus. How precious is that in the eyes of God? God wants us to be with Him in Heaven. In order to go there, you have to die first. Accept it.

It’s like that song, “Everybody wants to go to Heaven but nobody wants to die.” Well, guess what? I can’t wait. Now you might say, “Be careful. You’ll get your wish.” You might, but if you are living your purpose, doing what God wants you to do here on Earth, He is going to bless you with a long life, health and nourishment to your bones. Read Proverbs. Read the Bible.

If you do what God wants you to be doing, He will keep you on Earth. On mission. But the second you stray from that purpose, things may start to go wrong. God wants you to be here bringing more people into the body of Christ but it’s also precious to Him when you die doing the work He made you to do.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-14, “Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep or grieve like the rest of men who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.”

What is this saying? Paul can be very confusing sometimes. Basically, he’s saying, “Hey, we don’t want you to be ignorant about the people who have fallen asleep” — meaning died — “we don’t want you to be ignorant about this. They’re not just dying, they’re not just, just going into the Earth and nothing happens. Don’t be ignorant. There is an afterlife.”

Paul is saying, “Don’t be ignorant,” or, “Don’t grieve and be sorrowful like the rest of the people out there. They have no hope. That’s why they’re so distraught over death but for us, the Body of Christ, the believers, the brothers and sisters, we believe that God will bring those who have died into Heaven with Jesus.”

Now notice Paul isn’t saying, “Hey we know that God will bring everyone.” He’s saying, “No, hey, we believe in Jesus and so we know that we have a place with Him after we die but for those who don’t believe, they have no hope.” That’s why they are distraught. We need to be different. Set apart. Children of the light.

We have to be different and so when death happens for Christians, for people who believe — believe in Jesus — yes it can be a sad and painful thing, but we need to remember what the ultimate plan and goal is.

We need to remember to rejoice because they have finally gone home to Heaven. So your purpose, your mission, is to get more people into the Body of Christ and give them that hope and you need to be leading by example.

I know that could be hard but nobody said following Jesus was going to be easy. Let’s go to Romans 14 Verse 8. Romans 14:8, “If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.”

That’s what your goal is. When you’re living, you belong to God. You need to do what God wants. When you die, you go to be with the Lord. You have to accept that the death of you, or the death of a loved one, is part of God’s plan.

If they’re Christians, He’s giving them their final earthly calling. He’s calling them home, ridding them of the sins of the Earth and of the pain and suffering and turmoil that occurs here because guess what? A lot happens here that isn’t good.

Why would you want to stay? Well, we don’t. We want to stay to do God’s work but ultimately, we want to be in Heaven. Matthew 5:4, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the Earth.” That’s 5:5, we want Matthew 5:4: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

These are the Beatitudes. Jesus is going through them. He’s telling people that those who mourn, those who are sad, those people who are grieving, they will be comforted. He will comfort you. So go out there, live your earthly calling.

This world is tough. This world has all kinds of pain and suffering and someday when we die as Christians, we will go to Heaven. There will be no more suffering, no more pain.

Let’s go to Revelations 21:4. “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

God is telling you, “Hey, when we have this new world, there will be no more of that stuff in the old world. No more death, crying, mourning, sadness, pain” — He will wipe every tear. Think of everything you learn. Death is a great experience for Christians because guess what?

We die. We go to Heaven. We have our new body. We live with Christ. Yes, it’s very hard for those who are left behind, when you lose someone close to you, it’s a very difficult thing. Sometimes we don’t understand, especially if you lose a child. You say, “Why? Why would that happen? Why would they not have a chance?”

The thing to remember is it’s not for us to ask why. We just need to be grateful for either the time we had or for the joy that we had. Sometimes, there can be a pregnancy and it might go however long, some people even go full term and then their babies are born and they die.

Now of course, there are millions of babies being aborted which is just a gross evil, but for those of us, the believers in Christ, we may have miscarriages in our lives or our families or there may be children who die at young ages, whether they’re under 10 or maybe in their teens or even 20s, 30s.

Parents lose children to death all the time and that can be very very difficult because as parents, you want to die before your children. Or spouse — as husbands, you want to die before your — after your wife. You want to outlive your wife and provide for her the whole time.

Now yes, of course, women can provide too but we’re talking about a dynamic here, a godly structure — of, we want to be there for other people as Jesus is here for us. And so death is hard when you lose people who it seems like it’s before their appointed time.

Well, guess what? Just remember that all things happen in God’s time and so, if, if someone dies in your life and you think that you just can’t understand it, you have to trust that God knows what He’s doing.

Do you know better than God? You don’t. We don’t, and so although it can be very hard and difficult and painful to understand, we need to trust God. He knows what He’s doing. Believe that. Rely on Him.

He’ll get you through and you can learn from that experience and teach others. Think of everything you learn when someone dies. The experience and the knowledge that you gain, whether it was from some kind of sickness or ailment or illness, you now know all of that. You could maybe help others also rejoice.

They’re going to Heaven, remember? Remember that’s the goal here. So instead of becoming bitter or angry. Rejoice. Your loved one is finally going to be with the Lord. That is their final earthly calling. This is why we are here. We need to remember this.

So it’s very important that we continue to sow seeds of hope and not doubt in other people, and when someone dies, I know it could be very, very painful and very hard, but try your best to be the light.

To be that one person who doesn’t seem like they are just completely beaten down by death, by the death of a loved one, and then people will be like, “What is wrong with you? Why don’t you seem as sad as the rest of us?”

And you can say, “Because I have hope. I know that my loved one is now with Jesus. They died and went to Heaven and someday, I get to go there too, whenever God calls me home, but my loved one just had their final earthly calling.

They were called home to be with Jesus. Yes, it’s horrible that I’m now without them, but I can’t be that selfish that I would want them to stay here longer. I need to let them go and I need to trust God’s plan for the rest of us here on Earth and for that person.

I don’t know better than God and so if that person died, I have to trust that that’s what God’s plan is and He will use that for the good of those who love Him because evil can take people away”

Murder is not God’s plan, but someone could be murdered evil took them out of this world but God, God can use that for the good of those who love Him. Let’s look at a couple more verses.

2 Corinthians 5:8, “We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and home with the Lord.” What does this mean? It means that right now, I want to be in Heaven.

Are you kidding me? Look at the world today. We have war, conflict, strife, political problems, famine, poverty, disease, human trafficking is at an all-time high, slavering is at an all-time high, and you say, “No there were more slaves in the Old Testament.”

No there weren’t. There are more slaves now than probably combined in the history of the world. There’s more sex trafficking now than ever before. There are more missing children. There’s more poverty now.

It’s, it’s, it’s horrible. There’s genocide in all kinds of countries, slaughter of innocents all over the place. We are aborting more babies now every year than Pharaoh or the old Herod, the then, the massacres of the innocents — we are just doing it now.

Because it’s so horrible of course, I don’t want to be here in this world, but guess what? We are called to be lights in the darkness and so as Paul says, we are confident that we would prefer to be with the Lord but for now, we are to be here.

Let’s go to Philippians. Philippians 1:21-22. We’re going to read all the way to 24. Philippians 1:21-24, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain…” I’m saying that, so is Paul, but for me, that’s what it is to die is gain.

“If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me…” cause if I live and I do 52 sermons a year and I live for 10 more years, what’s that? 10 times 52 — 520 sermons, 20 more years — double it — 30, keep going. Keep going. If I live for 20 more years, that’s a thousand sermons. If I live for 40 more years — 2,000 sermons. Keep doing it.

For of course — “To die would be gain but if I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me, yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.”

Paul’s saying he would rather die. It’s better for him to die and go be home, in Heaven, with Christ, but it is better for all of those around him that he stays because it means fruitful labor that he will be building the Kingdom of God here on Earth as it is in Heaven.

Can you say the same about your life? That’s my prayer for you, that you will be able to say that, of course, to die would be gain for you to go to Heaven, but if you stay here, are you making fruit?

What is a fruit? A fruit tree grows and then the tree is growing fruit for others. The tree is not eating its own fruit. Paul is not eating his own fruit. To stay, it means fruitful labor.

Me, what am I doing? I’m creating all of this content for who? Am I watching all this and then all the time and listening to my own podcasts to get the views up or something or to benefit from it?

No. I mean yeah, I might hear it occasionally but actually, I can honestly say that in all the sermons I’ve done, I’ve never actually sat down and listened or watched them in place of going to another church sermon.

Yes, I’ve heard them or listened to them because we’re doing transcriptions and things like that, but I’m still seeking out the fruit of others to feed me. That’s what you need to be doing too.

You’re seeking fruit from Social Media Ministries to help you be nourished spiritually, then you need to use that as like Miracle Grow for the tree of you. And go produce fruit for other people, and if you continue on living here in the body, it will mean many many years of fruitful labor that others will be blessed by. That’s the goal: to bless others.

We are blessed by God to be a blessing to others. So if this sermon, or if Social Media Ministries’ sermons, or some other place is blessing you, then bless others by sharing with them.

Whether you share the sermons with them, or links, or emails, or whether you donate your time or money or whatever it is. You need to be making fruit for others because that’s what God wants you to do. So seek out unbelievers.

Remember death for us is gain because we will go to be with Christ but for the unbelievers who have no hope, you need to seek them out and give them hope. Leave them to Christ. Remember what Romans says.

Romans 6:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” — is Romans 3:23, We’ve got the sermon on that but then Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.”

So get out there and share that with others. Share that eternal life with them so that they can have hope and then for them too to die will be gain. They will not go on mourning and wallowing because they know that when they die, they will be with God in Heaven. It will be gain for them, and inspire them to create fruit here on Earth as well.

Let’s pray. Lord, thank you so much for this. I know that death can be a hard thing for people here on Earth because we simply just don’t understand. So Lord, I ask that you would bestow upon us that understanding.

Give us the ability to trust you more. Lord, I pray that, that this message would resonate with people, that they would know like, “Okay when someone dies, I need to trust God because I don’t know better than you.”

And so, the death is part of your plan and that they will know that by wanting them here, it is kind of selfish because they’re going to Heaven and Lord, that when an unbeliever dies that that would really stir them up.

That they would just never want to see that happen again and that you would inspire them to go and preach the Good News and make disciples of all nations and bring people to Christ, giving them hope so that they too can have that joy in death.

Cause though there may be tears at night, joy comes in the morning when we know we’ve risen. We’ve woken up in Christ and we have a new day to go and reach the lost and give them hope, hope as well.

Lord I pray that you would inspire them to go be a light in the darkness, that they would make disciples of all nations, that they would go forth preaching your Word to every single person they encounter each and every day for the rest of their lives. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Come back next week. We’ll have the conclusion of this series. We’re going to be talking about the sadness and grief in death and after death so I hope that you have a great week. God bless.