The Last Enemy

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Study Notes

A Culture in Denial

• Death is natural
  Tuesdays with Morrie:Death is as natural as life. The fact that we make such a big hullabaloo over it is all because we don't see ourselves as part of nature. We think because we're human we're something above nature. We're not. Everything that gets born, dies."
• We live on in the memories of our loved ones
  Tuesdays with Morrie:"As long as we can love each other, and remember the feeling of love we had, we can die without ever really going away. All the love you created is still there. All the memories are still there. You live on — in the hearts of everyone you have touched and nurtured while you were here ... Death ends a life, not a relationship."
• Death gives meaning to life
• Death makes room for others
  Steve Jobs:"Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away."
• Death maximizes our human potential
  Elisabeth Kübler-Ross:"When people die, they very simply shed their body, much as a butterfly comes out of its cocoon."

We must be honest

• Death is our enemy
  • First enemy (Genesis 2:17; 3:19)
  • Last enemy (1 Corinthians 15:26; Revelation 20:14)
  • Enemy in the middle (Psalm 90)
• Death comes from sin
  1 Corinthians 15:56 — "the sting of death is sin"

We have hope

• Jesus has defeated sin and death
  • Only the God/Man could pay our debt
  • Jesus bore our sin and guilt on the cross (2 Corinthians 5:21)
  • The resurrection release Jesus from our sin and guilt (1 Corinthians 15:17)
  • It's physical — new bodies on the new earth
• We may join his victory
  • Rest
  • Repent

How do I do this?

• Lament
  • John 11:35 — "Jesus wept."
  • We grieve, but not as those who have no hope. We hope, but not as those who do not grieve.
• Live
  • Steve Jobs:"Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."
  • 1 Corinthians 15:58 — only the resurrection can motivate us to cash out.
• Let go