Preaching Them Into Heaven

Perhaps you have been at the funeral service for an avowed, unabashed pagan who is then preached deep into heaven by a fervent clergymen. Such services must be repulsive, it seems to me, to all religious people of any stripe. Here is an individual who had nothing to do with religion, did not care for worship services of any kind, and did his best to live in opposition to even the most basic understanding of the principles of Christianity. Yet now we are told that he or she is blessed with all the rewards of heaven because as a child they went to church every now and then? Who can believe it? Surely the New Testament does not teach such a perverse doctrine (see Galatians 5:4; John 15:10).

Equally troubling to me, however, is the idea that we cannot make any positive assertions about the eternal fate of genuine and sincere Christians. I have heard this idea expressed after the funeral of wonderful, faithful saints. The preacher remarks that while we are not the judge of this life we believe this one has gone on to a better place with God. Afterwards someone may comment that the preacher was "preaching him into heaven" or "no man knows the heart of another - only God can judge." The general idea is we must not state in any way that we believe that the dead person has gone to heaven because we simply do not know every detail of his or her life.

While acknowledging that humans are not the final judge of anyone's eternal destiny, and conceding that we can be fooled by how someone lives, I am bothered greatly by this line of thinking. First, it seems to rest on a very faulty view of assurance. The New Testament speaks very confidently of the Christian's assurance. John says we can know that we are saved: "And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things." (1 John 3:19-20). Too many seem to believe that their hope of heaven rests on their ability to do everything just right, to "cross every 't' and dot every 'i.'" Since we know we cannot do that we are utterly robbed of any assurance. But in the New Testament forgiveness and grace are the basis of assurance (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 8:34; Ephesians 1:7). Some seem sure that if we say this it will give license to sin but nothing could be further from the truth. For the child of God the mercy and grace He extends is motivation to try even harder to please the Father. However, those efforts are made without the paranoia of thinking that failure is spiritually fatal. That is what forgiveness is for, and since none of us can ever hope to always do right, forgiveness becomes the grounds of our assurance (1 John 1:7,9). Thus, at a funeral, if the brother or sister before us was forgiven, they are assured of heaven.

Beyond even these considerations, it seems to me that the idea that we can say no real word of comfort at a time of death is not biblical. Paul talks about comforting each other. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ" (2 Cor 1:3-5). What comfort is he talking about? This is not the comfort of looking at a good life and saying "he was a good husband" or "she was a fine woman." That is worldly comfort and does not come from the Father. This is the comfort that comes because we have hope that we will see this person again. So Paul states in 2 Corinthians 5:1-4: "For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life." Paul is not shy about saying "we have (not hope we have, kind of think we might have, or maybe have) a building from God." Notice that the Spirit is a guarantee of this (verse 5) and so we are "always confident." Lest someone try to duck the force of 2 Corinthians 5 by saying that Paul was an apostle who could know his eternal fate by inspiration remember that these verses were written to the Corinthian church. Those believers are included in the many uses of the term "we" in 2 Corinthians 5. This is not just for apostles. This is for every Christian who "walks by faith and not by sight" (verse 7).

A look at 1 Thessalonians 4 also sheds much light on this matter. Paul assures the Thessalonians that those Christians who had died would not miss the second coming and glory of heaven. He tells them "even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus" (4:14). So there are brethren who "sleep in Jesus" and the Thessalonians could know who those people were. Indeed, Paul prefaces the section by stating "But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope" (4:13). There is a hopelessness that comes with death that Christians do not share precisely because they are not people of "no hope." This was to be called to the attention of those who had lost loved ones "in the Lord." In great contrast to those today who argue for funeral services that never offer real hope Paul commands these brethren to comfort each other with genuine hope. Is it wrong to do so today?

No, we cannot know everything about a person's life. But Jesus told us that we can know false teachers and false disciples by their fruit (Matthew 7:20). Likewise, we can know, as best as is humanly possible, true disciples by their fruit. Paul certainly thought the Thessalonians could do that, and so we can as well. When such a saint passes from this life we do only what the apostle has commanded when we speak confidently of the hope Christians have, the hope we have of seeing this disciple again, and the assurance that we share together so that we need not sorrow as those in the world do. That is very much what Christianity is all about. Let us not deny one another the sweet "blessed assurance" that faithful Christian living and grace coupled together bring to us. "Therefore comfort one another with these words" (1 Thessalonians 5:18).