Jesus thinks differently about life and death.

The way he thinks about these heavy subjects is different than the way we think about them.

Life and death are such delicate topics – Heavy and emotional and sensitive and fragile and weighty topics.

This week our church had a 44 year old man pass away unexpectedly. His family is devastated. Our church family is heartbroken. We are all grieving.

Death has a powerful way of impacting us. Death will get you feeling things you have never felt before. Death will get you thinking about things that you have tried not to think about. And death will force you to deal with things that you have been putting off dealing with.

As we look to Jesus during this sadness, we see that He thinks differently than we do about life and death.

Death, as we often view it, is not that bad to Jesus.

In John 11, He intentionally takes his time in not getting to ill Lazarus. And then after he arrives and finds Lazarus has already died, Jesus says “whoever believes in me, even though he dies, he lives.” It seems to Jesus that Lazarus’s death isn’t that bad of a thing.

Along that same thought, Philippians 1 says “to die is gain” and also Psalm 116 says “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.”

Jesus thinks differently about death. For His followers, death isn’t bad.

Also Life, as we often view it, is not that good to Jesus.

Don’t get me wrong, Jesus loves life. He is life. He is the life-giver. Matter of fact, He gives the most life – the abundant life. But what actually is life, and the key to life, and the satisfaction of life is just different to Him.

Jesus knows that it isn’t stuff that makes life thrilling. Not money or attention or status or sex or success or anything like that. None of that stuff is the key to life. None of that stuff satisfies people. Jesus himself is the key to life. Jesus himself gives life and satisfies the heart and soul.

John 1 says “in Him was life.” In John 11, He says the believer that dies actually lives. In John 10, He says he came to give life – abundant life. John 3:36 says “whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life.”

Jesus thinks differently about life. For His followers, life as the world sees it isn’t that good. Empty things aren’t the good life. What gives life meaning is Jesus. What makes life good is Jesus.

Life is hard. And as this emotional life keeps forcing us to think about life and death, may we learn from Jesus. May we look to Jesus for how to think about life and death.

Jesus thinks differently about life and death, and we should too!

It was the spring of 2003 and I had just graduated from college a few months earlier. Along with several college buddies, we loaded up in a van and made the long road trip from the Carolinas to Texas so that we could attend Passion’s big OneDay event.

Apart from the scary thunderstorms, Shane & Shane’s music, and John Piper’s message, there isn’t a lot I remember from that 3 day experience in the open fields of Texas. But one very clear memory is the watchtower in the center from which the Bible was read out loud non-stop. College students read continuously from the Word of God over the loud speaker. It had a significant impact on my young 23 year old self then, and it continues to be a life-shaping memory in my life now.

Fast-forward 20 years later to today, and I still find myself thinking deeply about the public reading of Scripture.

All throughout history the public reading of Scripture has been practiced and valued by God’s people. We see this throughout the Bible – in the Old Testament and the New Testament.

Moses on Mount Sinai. Ezra in Jerusalem after the walls are re-built. In the Gospels, Jesus reads from the Prophets. In the book of Acts, Paul and his companions read in the synagogues. In the book of Revelation, we read this “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it”. (Rev. 1:3)

And then we have in 1st Timothy 4, Paul’s encouragement to Timothy to “devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture.”

All throughout history and all throughout the Bible, we see the Word of God being read publicly.

So where has that gone?

Even in churches now, so little Bible is read.

When was the last time you heard an entire chapter of Scripture read out loud? When was the last time you heard a large chunk of Scripture read? When was the last time you focused in just to listen to longer portions of Scripture being read out loud?

What a massive swing and a miss it is for ministers to be leading church services without the public reading of Scripture.

What an added blessing it would be to all worship services if the public reading of good-size-portions of Scripture were included. May we honor God and His Word in this way. May we obey the Bible in this way. May we be faithful to follow the Scriptures in this way. May we lead our churches in this way.

The Word of God is true and it is alive! May we value it. In our churches and in our teaching settings, may we value the Word of God. And may our valuing of the Word of God be evident and obvious by our public readings!