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This morning we’re in Week 6 of Death and the Life after that.  We’re just about at the end of our series, and so it’s a good time to ask the question “does the Christian view of death and the afterlife make any difference to how we live today?”  Or is it just pie in the sky when you die?  Obviously, if the Christian view is correct, then it makes all the difference in the world whether or not you know Jesus Christ, for that will determine your eternal destiny.  But perhaps you haven’t considered what other implications the Christian view has for the day-to-day life. 

Before I begin, let me give a quick recap of where we’ve been.  We began by looking at the Christian view of death, which can be summed up in three statements.  The first is that death is an enemy.  It was not in God’s original plan, and is a terrible thing.  But secondly, death has been defeated by Jesus Christ.  As he told Mary & Martha at the tomb of Lazarus, “he who believes in me will never die.”  Therefore, thirdly, death is like falling asleep and waking up in eternity for those who are in Christ Jesus.

As for the Christian view of life after death, the Bible is concerned with more than just the fate of the individual.  The bigger question is, “What is God’s plan with the whole world, and how do we fit into it?”  God’s plan, we found out, is to renew, recreate, redeem, and resurrect everything; to destroy death and decay and all that is evil and to dwell with us forever on a renewed heaven and earth.  It is more than just heaven and hell; that is only the first stage. Heaven, paradise, is not the final destination, but the place of rest for the believer as they await the resurrection of the body, while Hell is the eternal torment of the individual who did not know God.  But the final stage is God dwelling with the redeemed on a renewed heaven and earth.  More than being reunited with relatives, or the absence of pain and suffering, heaven is about being with God forever.  And how you respond to that fact reveals a lot about your faith and whether or not you really know God.