What does First B Jackson teach about fear of death?
Drawn from the messages where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At First B Jackson, the teaching on the fear of death starts with a single phrase from Paul and treats it as a real question, not a comfortable slogan. When Pastor Mark preached through Philippians 1, he spent serious time on the words 'to live is Christ, and to die is gain,' and he was careful to say what the phrase is not: it is not despair, and it is not performance. Paul had been beaten, shipwrecked, and imprisoned, and he still wrote 'as always, so now also.' The statement is a declaration about where a life is anchored, and Pastor Mark grounded it in Galatians 2, where Paul writes that it is no longer he who lives but Christ who lives in him. The fear of death, on this reading, loosens its grip when death no longer has the final word over a person whose life belongs to Christ.
Pastor Carl, preaching through 2 Corinthians 5, pressed the same territory from a different direction. Paul's image of the body as a tent, a temporary and shabby dwelling, was deliberate, and the groaning that comes with living in it is not a failure of faith. It is the honest response of someone who knows something better is coming. The Holy Spirit is described in that passage as a down payment on what is ahead, and that guarantee is what gives Paul the confidence to say he is unafraid of either living or dying. Because neither outcome threatens him, he is free to make it his aim to please God in both states.
Both messages make the same underlying point: the fear of death is not argued away but displaced. It is displaced by a confidence in who Jesus is and what the resurrection settled. Pastor Mark put the question directly to his congregation, asking them to fill in the blank honestly: 'For to me, to live is _____, and to die is _____.' The implied answer is that everything depends on what actually holds the center of a person's life. Where Christ holds that place, death changes its character entirely.
Taught from Philippians 1:21 · Philippians 1:19 · Philippians 1:20 · 2 Corinthians 5:1-11 · Galatians 2:20
The passage taught · 1 Corinthians 11:23-25
23 For I received from the Lord that which also I delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread.
24 When he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “Take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in memory of me.”
25 In the same way he also took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink, in memory of me.”
World English Bible
The messages that teach on it
- November 19, 2017 To Live Is Christ, To Die Is Gain A sermon on Philippians 1:18-26 asking one honest question: if you filled in the blank, "for me, to live is ___," what would your answer be?
- September 20, 2015 We Walk by Faith and Not by Sight Paul shows in 2 Corinthians 5 why Christians can face suffering without fear: a guaranteed heavenly home, a resurrected body, and a Savior worth living and dying for.
Mentioned along the way
- July 12, 2026 For Me to Live Is Christ A study of Philippians 1:12-26 exploring how Paul found purpose in prison, preached the gospel despite rivals, and chose others over himself.
- October 30, 2024 Women's Bible Study - October 30th, 2024 - Living in the Power of the Resurrection Deborah closes the Root It series at First Baptist Jackson by examining the resurrection, the power Christ offers believers today, and the hope of heaven.
- August 4, 2024 Normal But Not Natural Brad Yates of First Baptist Jackson explores why Christians suffer, what Scripture says about it, and why God's presence makes suffering bearable.
- March 31, 2024 He Is Risen: The Map to Get You Home Brad Yates preaches on 1 Corinthians 15 at Easter, making the case that the resurrection of Jesus is the foundation of Christian faith and the source of real, unshakable hope.
- October 11, 2023 Women's Bible Study - October 11th, 2023 A Wyoming pastor teaches why Israel matters to Christians, what the Bible says about the remnant, and what the story of Esther means for believers today.
- March 8, 2015 Be Steadfast, Be Immovable Paul works through 1 Corinthians 15 to show what resurrection bodies will be like, why death has lost its sting, and what that means for how we live now.
- December 21, 2014 Christ Really Is That Awesome Hebrews 1 and 2 show why Christ alone is worth celebrating: Creator, sustainer, high priest, and the only one who could taste death so we would not have to.