A Desire to Depart
We should desire to depart to be with the Lord, as it is better to be with Him than to stay in the flesh.
David Wilkerson emphasizes that our mortal bodies are merely temporary shells that house the eternal life given to us by God. He explains that this eternal life grows within us, and when it reaches maturity, our physical bodies must be shed to embrace a new, glorious existence. Wilkerson encourages Christians to overcome the fear of death, as Paul did, recognizing that to die is to gain a greater life with the Lord. He urges believers to shift their focus from earthly ties to the anticipation of the heavenly city prepared for those who die in faith. Ultimately, he calls for a deeper desire to depart and be with the Lord, celebrating the victory of those who have passed on in Christ.
Text
These mortal bodies of ours are but mere shells and the life is not in the shell. It is a temporary confine that enshrouds an ever-growing, ever-maturing life force and acts as a transient guardian of the life inside. The shell is synthetic in comparison to the eternal life it clothes.
Every true Christian has been imbued with eternal life. It is planted as a seed in our mortal bodies that is constantly maturing and it must eventually break free out of the shell to become a new form of life. This glorious life of God in us exerts pressure on the shell, and, at the very moment resurrection life is mature, the shell breaks. The artificial bounds are broken, and like a newborn chick, the soul is freed from its prison. Praise the Lord!
As a child of God, at the precise moment our Lord decides our shell has fulfilled its function, we must abandon our old body. Paul said, "To die is gain!" (Philippians 1:21). That kind of talk is absolutely foreign to our modern, spiritual vocabulary. We have become such life worshipers that we have very little desire to depart to be with the Lord. But was Paul morbid? Did he have an unhealthy fixation on death or show a lack of respect for the life God had blessed him with? Absolutely not! Paul lived life to the fullest but he had overcome the fear of the "sting of death" and could say, "It is better to die and be with the Lord than to stay in the flesh."
Those who die in the Lord are the winners and we who remain are the losers. I encourage you to refocus your attention on the glorious city that God has prepared for those who die in the faith (see Hebrews 11:16). Ask him to cut you loose from the ties of this world so that you might look forward with precious anticipation to being in his presence -- whenever that may be.
Sermon Outline
- The Temporary Nature of Our Bodies
- The Growth of Eternal Life
- The Desire to Depart
- The Winners and Losers
- Those who die in the Lord are the winners
- Those who remain are the losers
Key Quotes
“To die is gain!” — David Wilkerson
“The shell is synthetic in comparison to the eternal life it clothes.” — David Wilkerson
“That kind of talk is absolutely foreign to our modern, spiritual vocabulary.” — David Wilkerson
Application Points
- We should refocus our attention on the glorious city that God has prepared for those who die in the faith.
- We should ask God to cut us loose from the ties of this world and look forward with precious anticipation to being in His presence.
- We should overcome our fear of death and see it as a gain to be with the Lord.