Sermons

What’s on the other side? – Matthew 22:23-33

Intro: Every age is fascinated w/heaven.

• Every age, every culture, every religion has their version of heaven.
  • A vague question lingering inside the human psyche.
  • Wondering what life will be like on the other side.

 

• Culture fights w/death’s inevitable end.
  • Gained ground in terms of self-preservation.
    • Medical science, personal health adding years to life expectancy.
    • But, “life is still a vapor.”
      • Principled in three score and ten.
      • Roughly 70 plus borrowed time.

 

[Appl] Life can feel longer at times and shorter, nevertheless, everyone’s life is moving down the road at the same rate with the same terminus destination.

 

[Appl] If know medical doctor, deep in career, you sense they know something everyone else is suppressing: “People are here and then gone.”

 

[Appl] You who’ve lost immediate family members also know this to be true. Losing people in death, perhaps very much earlier than expected broaden and expand your awareness of what can and will happen, people you love will leave this life, proceeding to another.

 

[Illus] Whenever I drive in Virginia where I grew up, you see small southern churches with little grave plots outside the front or prominently displayed in the back where people from the church were buried.

 

[Illus] Like Arlington Cemetery, the ocean of white crosses; each one a reminder.  

[Illus] Smaller church cemeteries stand out bc/tradition has stopped over the last 100 years. I used to think they were buried there to remember people who were loved at the church (probably true). But I have come to understand, they were buried there as a reminder that death’s terminus is inevitable. Importance of church life.  

• Background of everyone’s mind: “What’s on the other side?”

[TRANS] Text pigeonholed @/marriage, answering marriage in afterlife; reoriented in heaven.

• The question behind question is reveals significance of this text.
  • Question, targeting X, to catch X up short in his teaching/credibility.
    • X’s teaching @/heaven and the law.
    • Either jives or contradicts.

 

• Not what marriage’s like but what Heaven is like!

[Context] Again, remember X in terms of timeline to the Cross.

• Wednesday evening pushing to Thursday.
  • Public ministry coming to close.
  • Contending for the faith to the last.

 

• Pelted w/theological questions and debates.
  • Fielding and taking challenges back to Scripture.
  • Everything brought back to Truth.

 

[Appl] Longer in life, the clearer the reality, contending for the faith, bringing people’s questions to bear w/Scripture, is what defines Xian’s life.

 

[Point] 36 hrs before X’s death, answering this question.

 

• X’s priority.
  • How X invests his life bc/X’s concern for people to be clear on heaven.
    • Clear on eternity.
    • Life’s terminus is not the end but beginning.
    • Believers always mindful in light of questions.

 

• [Appl] Bringing people from hopeless to hopeful @/heaven.

 

Prop: Trading a hopeless heaven for a hopeful heaven.  

Two versions of heaven

1. Unbiblical Heaven: without Resurrection (vv. 24-28)

 

1. A Supposition (v. 23)

[KEY] Sadducees were religious leaders on par w/Pharisees in terms of status and gravity, w/in religious echelon of Israel.

• But, w/one significant difference.
  • Sadducees do not believe in physical resurrection in heaven.
    • Sadducees would spiritualize OT passages @/physical life after death as non-physical.
      • Ethereal heaven w/o physical connection to self or anyone else.
      • Nirvana, gnostic duality.

 

• Heaven defined as unphysical or meta-physical.

 

• Motivated by the avoidance of accountability?
  • In physical life, “Eat, drink, and are merry, for tomorrow we die!”

Isaiah 22:13; Proverbs 23:35; Luke 12:19; 1 Corinthians 15:32

¹³  and behold, joy and gladness,

killing oxen and slaughtering sheep,

eating flesh and drinking wine.

^r“Let us eat and drink,

for tomorrow we die.”

³⁵  “They ^sstruck me,” you will say,¹ “but I was not hurt;

they beat me, but I did not feel it.

When shall I awake?

I ^tmust have another drink.”

¹⁹ And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up ^zfor many years; relax, ^aeat, drink, be merry.”’

³² What do I gain if, humanly speaking, ^wI fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, ^x“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”

 

 

• Life defining motto, living for physical satisfaction in the now.
  • At death, let go of everything here;
  • Slipping into a non-physical state w/ no consequences, physical or otherwise.

 

• “Physical world” now, has nothing to do with “spirit-world” later.

 

• Easy to see why the Sadducees version of religion was popular.

 

[Appl] Xian defines life in terms of being on true path where either progress on narrow road or slip off, falling into one of two ditches.

Either the ditch of Legalism

Or the ditch called License.

Counterpart to Sadducees were Pharisees.

Pharisees always calling people to fall inside the ditch of legalism, meant to bind someone inside of their shameful conscience. They tell people all they need to do is be good enough to escape.

Sadducees represented other ditch, w/”get out of jail free card called license.”

Imagine everything presented in the Law has no real teeth.

 

Moral, behavioral betterment presented from the Bible, making the Law a self-help book.

 

Social-Gospel

 

• Liberal-woke church movement, who’s challenging Jesus.  

 

 

1. A Scenario (vv. 24-28)

[KEY] Sadducees’ intent not to get answer from X on intriguing question.

• Attempt to leave X speechless.
  • w/no real answer, whatsoever.
  • to stump X.
    • Title, “Teacher” was failed attempt at flattery.
    • Appealing to X to rely on his credibility.

 

• All true, but they did not endorse X’s authority.

 

• Second, appeal to Moses.
  • BTW, Moses Author of the Pentateuch.
    • Reference like this one irrefutably affirms Moses’ authorship.
    • Jesus did not say otherwise.

[KEY] Reference to law of levirate marriage.

• (cf. Deut. 25:5-10; v. 9 refusal, and bereft woman “shall spit in his face”).

 

• Ensured woman taken care of in case of an unforeseen death of a spouse.
  • Her lineage/name would go on!
  • Insurance policy and as odd as this may sound, issue one of desperation.

[Illus] Most in modern times believe expenses will be covered but when you add taking care of children, when a husband and father dies, the money and resources will quickly run dry if a widow who is a mother is not taken care of by an outside source.

[Illus] In the NT under 1 Timothy 5:8, the immediate family is commissioned to meet this with resources. When no resources, then the church must step in.

[Illus] Recently came aware of a someone who’s friend and colleague in the same line of work suddenly died, leaving a wife with several young children. This man, assessed the family’s situation and kept a promise to ensure he would play the role of executor, making sure his family would have means to survive.

 

Man, who died was a business owner but had not planned for assets to be distributed in a way that would help his wife immediately. So, this executor stepped in a took over his business to float it while a new plan could be devised and administered.

Not quite a levirate marriage, but I think you see the point, that “desperate times call for desperate measures.”

• Sadducees’ scenario is such that there are no “children” meaning adult children who can take care of their mom, or the family business, trade.
  • So, brother (presumably single) is required to step into the role as a proxy husband.
  • Real covenant marriage because there is the real need/intent to procreate “offspring” to raise and carry on the family name and business etc.

 

• Verse 25 leads this scenario to the absurdity of nonsense.
  • Again, this does not really play as a marriage passage and that because each time this supposed woman gets married to the next brother, no children are procreated,

 

• And each husband comes to have an unexpected and unceremonious death, down to brother/husband number 7.

 

• So, seven brothers, six who were single, all marrying this woman, with seven unforeseen deaths, before they could conceive, or none being able to conceive.

[KEY] Verse 27, and after all seven men die, one after the other, and none impregnating this woman, “the woman died” (v. 27).

• Verse 28 likewise builds out the ridiculousness, where Sadducees ask their question, presuming there is a “resurrection” which they emphatically reject.

 

• Presuming a ridiculous set of life circumstances, let’s now suppose out loud that there is a resurrection, where people in heaven are physical and recognizable:

 

• “Who’s going to be married to whom?”

 

• “Certainly, this law applies in heaven right, Jesus?”
  • Who’s she married to, “For they all had her?” (v. 28).
  • They were all married to her,
    • Are they now not married in heaven?
    • Physical place, right?

 

• Presumption is X either says, “all of them” or “none of them.”
  • Either way, X will contradict his teaching on the resurrection.
    • Discrediting him in terms his teaching of the Law.
    • Sadducees answer would be “none of them” because they would not see heaven as concrete and physical as taught by X’s the theology of resurrection.
      • Think “Lazarus” (“I am the resurrection and the life” cf. John 11:25).

 

• Sadducees assume physical heaven, means physically kept marriages.
  • No category for physical heaven
  • Where there’s “no marriage in heaven.”

 

• Not genuinely know each other in heaven.

 

• Confronting X w/vision of an unbiblical heaven, what X sidesteps in verse 29.

 

1. A Sidestep (v. 29)

[KEY] Jesus’ response is a complete changeup to the angle, Sadducees were taking.

• Sadducees trying to paint Jesus into a corner.
  • Believing in a physical resurrection presents a real marriage problem if someone remarried.
    • X sidesteps trap, by addressing the deeper issue beneath the issue.
      • They did not “know…the Scripture” and the second which is connected to the first is, “…nor the power of God” (v. 29).

 

• Why were they “wrong” αὐτοῖς· πλανᾶσθε (Mat 22:29 BGT).
  • You are like a wandering planet.
    • Spinning out in your thinking.
    • Because you are not dialed into the meaning of Scripture.

 

• Deeper diagnosis is that they were void of the “power of God” δύναμιν τοῦ θεοῦ· (Mat 22:29 BGT) (v. 29).
  • This “power” is synonymous to Spirit of God.
  • Left to yourself, w/o Holy Spirit.
    • All have is One of two religious’ paths (two ditches).
    • Legalism or license.
      • God’s Word is a list of hard rules that you are obligated to obey to save you.
      • Or, esoteric book of philosophy with no accountability at all.

 

[Appl] Holy Spirit is the only One who makes the Word of God a love letter to your heart.

 

Most meaningful relationship, walk, journey in life as God’s child, relating to him as a loving Father.

 

God neither wants to bind you up in shame, nor leave you to yourself in obscurity. He’s there and knowable, through the “power of God.”

[Point] “What is heaven really like, only seen through the power of the Spirit.”

 

2. Biblical Heaven: with Resurrection (vv. 30-33)

 

1. re-Directing (v. 30)

[KEY] Before explaining the concept of “resurrection” Jesus makes is clear, there’s no such thing as marriage in heaven.

• Maybe for someone, this might sound like good news, and for most bad news.
  • Neither sentiment should be considered.
  • Marriage on earth is a picture of something greater.
    • Marriage is a picture of heaven; not HEAVEN.
      • X and the church.
      • Union btwn/two people who understand this, are healthiest marriages.

 

• Once someone surrenders everything to X, your number one union is “Always” Christ.
  • Christ is only one who knows all of you, and loves all of you, unconditionally.

[Appl] Decision you make in terms of marriage (or being single) always comes down to who you worship.

If worship your spouse, hoping he or she will complete you, you will be disappointed.

If you worship a false ideal (worshiping self), believing someone else would truly your answer life fulfillment, then again, you’re left empty.

• So many either worship their spouse or self and both are wrong.

[Appl] Value supremely, “yes!” Total commitment, “yes!” Sacrifice, “yes!”

Understanding, “yes!” Deference, “yes!” Love, “yes!” All the above, “yes!’

 

But never as the meaning of your life.

 

Christ is all! Bc/He alone is worthy of all our worship.

 

So, “…in the resurrection” this mindset is completely uncaged, and will become attractive to you, because there (heaven) it will be achievable.

 

[Illus] John Piper who called marriage Momentary (This Momentary Marriage) and I believe that’s right.

 

[Question] “What will this look like?”

• Interactions people have with angels in Bible give us a clue.
  • Angels often humanlike in appearance (recognizable, named, interactive with other humans, speaking understandable language; not so with seraphim, cherubim, and four living creatures) and yet wholly given to worship and mission.

 

• Here I think Jesus’ point is simple, to say, angels are single unmarried, beings.
  • How it is for them.
  • How it will be for us.

[TRANS] Comparing people to angels could leave you thinking heaven is Sadducee-like, meaning esoteric. Or, mystical.

• What most people truly believe heaven is like.
  • Hopeless heaven, where we need Hopeful heaven.
  • Next few verses are what make heaven hopeful.

 

 

1. Defending (vv. 31-32)

[KEY] Jesus wants to be clear, correcting w/X’s picture of the resurrection.

• Marriage is now rendered unnecessary.
• While at same time, the saints who are “dead” are still who they were and as real as ever.

 

[Question] “How do we know people are still the same people, once they are dead here and alive somewhere else?”

• Answer is God’s Word. “…have you not read what was said to you by God” (v. 31).

 

• BTW, this phrase is unusually profound for the way God speaks to a believer who’s paying attention.
  • You read God’s Word, and by reading,
  • God is saying things that matter, directly to your soul.

 

• Understand this as a follow up to Jesus’ indictment for why the Sadducees were “wrong” (v. 29).
  • Wrong bc/did not “know the Scriptures nor the power of God” (v. 29).
    • Interpreting God’s Word w/o Spirit.
    • Using esoteric, gnostic, mystical grid.

 

• These Bible scholars (Sadducees) had read this Scripture, but not by “power” or Spirit; not w/faith.

 

• X goes right to the heart of what Moses said quoting Exodus 3: “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (v. 32).

^ESV  Exodus 3:1-6 Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

² And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.

³ And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.”

⁴ When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”

⁵ Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”

⁶ And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. (Exo 3:1-6 ESV)

 

• If your heaven is mystical Nirvana, then you will only read this as history.
• When patriarchs were alive in the past.

 

• Jesus makes the real point God is making; that He transcends the past, present, and future.
  • God called himself, “I am” or Yahweh, meaning he deliberately established his eternal nature.
  • God is “I am” meaning self-existence.

 

• God outside of time has welcomed these named individuals inside of timeless heaven.
  • God is saying, these individuals, you recognize by name are right here with me.
  • They’re not still dead, on earth, they are alive with me!

 

• “He is not God of the dead, but of the living” (v. 32).

 

[Appl] A fair question should be raised regarding the state of these men, named and listed, are they now resurrected?

Though true the resurrection state is still future (cf. 1 Cor. 15 “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, we shall all be changed”), there is no soul sleep.

^ESV  1 Corinthians 15:52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. (1Co 15:52 ESV)

The sense of Jesus’ point is that these Patriarchs are named, known, and as alive now as God is! But, in what sense are alive if still awaiting resurrection?

I think we should understand that we do not fully know (cf. Dt. 29:29). At the same time, we are given enough from the whole counsel of God to know that “to be absent from the body, is to be present with the Lord.”

• Paul told the Philippian believers that it would be “better to depart, and to live is X and to die is gain.”

We are too long to see Jesus, face to face in immediate sense.

 

Paul told the Thessalonians that when Jesus’ returns, “the dead in Christ will raise first” meaning people who are (now) not here but there are accounted for and poised for this final transformation.

 

Remember the story of the rich man and Lazarus (not Mary’s brother), who was brought to Abraham’s bosom? Both were cognizant of each other, one presently blessed in Heaven, while the other presently suffered in Hell.

Neither were final states, but both were alive in their respective situations. Sadly, for the rich man, there is no purgatory, only one state moving towards a great white throne judgment where each is fit with a resurrection, eternal body.

One for blessing, the other for torment.

[Ilus] After Jesus was raised, he was relating to his beloved disciples, eating, talking, displaying a physical is a foreshadowing of what to expect, even somewhat in the immediate.

[Illus] Likewise, when Christ was transfigured, both Moses and Elijah were both named and identifiable.

Each person operating within a pre-resurrected state. The resurrection is used as a qualifying marker of heaven. God is alive and we too will be alive together and this is our hope, the hope of heaven.

[Point] Frankly, esoteric heaven, matrix heaven, gnostic heaven, sleepy heaven, is one of the most unappetizing lies about our future, because we cannot relate anything we love about here, with there.

[Question] Have you ever had a nightmare, where you are mostly asleep but somewhat awake?

Almost like being frozen, unable to move, and unable to fully shake yourself conscious? This is a horrible state to find yourself in, where this form of paralysis is both terrifying and lonely. Comatose.

This is no heaven for me.

For the introverted person, creation is recreated in physical perfection to feed the soul.

For the extravert, the fellowship with others is fully opportune and endless.

[Illus] Heaven, by design is meant to engage body and soul, inner and outer man to what is beyond our current human capacities.

1 John 1:1-4 is where John wrote of the physical contact he made with Christ, and how our Christian fellowship is centered on Christ. John’s summary of that heaven on earth experience is for a Christian’s joy to be made complete.        

^ESV  1 John 1:1-4 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life–

² the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us–

³ that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.

⁴ And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

                        (1Jo 1:1-4 ESV)

 

1. Dawning (v. 33)

[KEY] Matthew doesn’t specifically say that the Sadducees were “astonished” (because they weren’t) but that those listening in were.

• The “crowd heard it [and] they were astonished at his teaching” (v. 33).
  • Jesus explained heaven filled w/hope and did so when his own death was eminent.

[Question] “Do you know you are going to die?”  “Have you faced it?” “Knowing with each passing day, that death is one step closer?” “Have you found a way to be joyful about that?”

• Begins w/a heaven that’s hopeful.
  • Just as sure as God is alive,
  • So is everyone you love who has died knowing Christ.

 

• Reunion is coming for Christians.

Conclusion: This week Pete and I flew down to the National ACBC conference.

One of the by-products was seeing many people I have known since I was my oldest son’s age, nearly 30 years ago. I ran into several who are parents of kids that are down there at TMU, who were there with me (and Judy) back then.

Looking into the eyes of these peers, you remember what we used to look like, though time has put on its touches. As we hear each others’ voices and recall past events or pranks, we summon back the past in a way that’s kind of unparalleled.

What mattered from the past, were trajectory setting conversations or significant bible study groups, and relationships. And we are now standing at a real pivotal point looking into an unpromised future. 25 or 30 more years?

While there, one of my former student leaders approached me, he’s been through several rounds of chemotherapy for cancer treatment and was literally “let out” for a limited period to connect at TMU.

All pretense is shed, his wife looking sad and hopeful and loving. We went over to the soccer game, again seeing more old friends and one more time he called out and said, “Hey Jeff, give me three more minutes.” Not sure why he said that, since there was at least 8 more minutes left in the game.

[Point] Life is short, James says, “Life is a vapor that appears for a little while and vanishes away” (James 4:14).

That time with friends, looking back, seems to be a version of how we should look forward to hopeful heaven, soul-filling heaven, laughing heaven, joyful heaven, satisfying heaven. X and people we love: Fellowship.

[Question] “Do you want to go there?”

Eternity begins today.