Death is Not a Loss to the Christian But a Profit.

 

By Nick Bibile

 

Ro 14:7 For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.

 8 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.

 9 For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.

 


Everything belongs to God.

 

Verse 7) This verse tells you the difference between a Christian and a non Christian.  The unbelievers are seeking them self.  Always thinking of self. Lusting after the things of the world.  On the other hand the Christian knows that he was dead in sins on the way to hell and it was the Lord who purchased them by his blood, and have given eternal life. We do not belong to ourselves but belong to the Lord.

 

We belong to God.

1Co 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

 

The entire earth belongs to God.

Ps 24:1 The earth is the LORD'S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.

 

Ps 50:10 For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.

 11 I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.

 12 If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.

 

Hag 2:8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the LORD of hosts.

 

The unbelievers are not regenerated and do not know the Lord.  They will ask like Pharoah. “Who is the Lord?” But to us as Christians we know that our self is crucified and we do not live to ourselves, as we do not belong to ourselves, we belong to the Lord.

 

Verse 8)If we belong to the Lord, we are living unto God and die unto God.

The believers live by faith in the Lord and not by sight or according to our feelings, when you say they live by faith, it means according to the revealed will of God, that is the word of God.  We live His honor and glory and not to us.  So let us not argue and fight over petty things as food and certain days, but we need to see that as Christians we are bought with a price and brought from near and far lands with different culture, languages and backgrounds.  It is a mixture of people and there is a tendency in our flesh for all the people to be like me, and to judge them all according to our standards, we need to be careful as not to major in the minors.  We are living not to please ourselves or men but to please God.  Death to the Christian is to leave our sorrows and labor and to enter into the presence of God.  

    

Apostle Paul said, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Php 1:21)

For the unbeliever death is a loss. But to the Christian death is gain. The early Christians did not celebrate B’days, and did not celebrate the birth of the Lord, but the death of the Lord and his resurrection.  John Calvin said, “the grave is the exit to heaven.”

 

If we see a funeral, or go to a cemetery and see the graves we clearly see death is for all and one day we will end up with the others in the grave.  It vanishes as soon as we turn our back and go back to our daily work, it came there only for a moment when we saw a funeral or when we saw the graves.  We need to meditate on heavenly things. If heaven is our country, what can the earth be but a place of exile? The departure of this world to the Christian is to enter into true eternal life.

 

Our focus should be on learning sound doctrine then working in evangelism. We all should partake in evangelism. Look at the early church.  After the resurrection of Christ they had one focus, to teach and to evangelize.  If we do not become busy in witnessing and in evangelism we will have a lot of things other things what the devil would like for us to do. He will try to divide the body with his strategies. Once we have made up our mind like Nehemiah, as Nehemiah had a project to do, building the walls, even when the enemy comes with very logical explanations to distract Nehemiah and for him to get down from the wall, we should say like Nehemiah, “I have a great work to do and I am not coming down.” All your labor for the Lord will remain, but all your labor for yourself will burn. Death is gain for the Christian, it is not a loss but a profit. But for the unbeliever he can gain or profit everything on this world but will lose eternal life and death is a loss.

 

Re 14:13  And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.

 

Verse 9)  In the death and the resurrection of Christ, he destroyed the works of the devil, and for the Christian death is not a loss but victory through Christ as he redeemed us from sin and delivered us from this evil world, all the other religious leaders are dead, but the grave of Christ is empty as Christ is in heaven seated at the right hand of the Father.  Our God is the Creator God and he is alive.

 

Mt 22:32 I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

 

He is the Lord both the dead and the living. He has the keys of Hell and death.  We owe all to Christ, when we were enemies of God, it was Christ who came as the mediator and it was Christ who paid the penalty of our sins, and it was Christ who imputed his righteousness to us and it was Christ who reconciled us back to the Father.  

 

Php 3:7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.

 Php 3:8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

 

We served idols before and now we are serving the living God.  We were prideful before, but now we are clothed with humility.  We were trusting in our own righteousness before, like Adam and Eve we tried to cover our nakedness with our good works and believed that our good works will take us to heaven.  But now we are dressed in the wedding garment of our redeemers righteousness and we realize that grace and strength comes from him. Now we can live Him, and on Him, and by Him and with Him. He is our all in all. We were lost and found, dead and live again.

 

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