A Funeral Sermon

Job asked the question, "If a man die shall he live again?" One question more than all others, from thoughtful minds implores reply. It is as breathed from star and pall, what fate awaits us when we die? Men have always sought an answer to this question.

1. Science says, man may live again, for we see the caterpillar die, but the butterfly bursts forth into life. The grain dies, but the stalk of new life grows. It could be that man will live again.

2. Philosophy answers, man wants to live again. He has dreams and desires that can never be fulfilled in this brief life. Like an eagle in the egg has a built in desire and capacity to soar to the heights, so man wants to soar far beyond what this life allows. Possibly death frees us from this mere egg stage of life to soar to greater heights. Man wants to live again.

3. Conscience says, man ought to live again. There are so many wrongs and injustices in this life. Life is not fair, and there ought to be another life where the record can be set straight. Man ought to live again.

Science, philosophy, and conscience all agree that it could be, and should be, that man lives again, but all they can say for sure is, maybe. Only Jesus Christ answers the question with a clear and definite yes.

When missionaries came to England in the 6th century, the king was not sure they should be allowed to preach, so he called a council of the Lords and Nobles. As they met around a table in the Castle, a swallow flew threw a window and out another. One of the Nobles stood and referring to that bird said, "Such is the spirit of man. It comes out of darkness and disappears again into the night. If these men can tell us from whence it comes and to where it goes, let them be heard." All agreed, and they were permitted to preach, and the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ penetrated their darkness, and no longer did they need to live in the fear of death, for through Christ they found assurance of eternal life.

They found the kind of assurance that made D. L. Moody, the great preacher, say, "One day you will read in the paper that D. L. Moody is dead. Do not believe it, for at that moment I will be more alive than ever. I was born of the flesh in 1837, and born of the spirit in 1856. That which was born of the flesh will die, but that which was born of the spirit will live forever." This is the kind of atmosphere that should characterize a Christian funeral, for as far as the departed one is concerned, death is but the docking of the ship of life on the shore of eternity after a long voyage across the sea of time. Those left behind may feel the sorrow of parting, but the one on the ship knows only the excitement of a great new adventure, for as Paul says, "To depart and be with Christ is far better."

The one who has departed is in the hands of the Captain of our salvation. Death is no longer a problem for the departed believer, for they have ceased to die. It is the living who are dying. It is the living who must still face this final foe, and, therefore, it is the living who need the comfort that only Christ can give. We need, for example,

I. THE COMFORT OF HIS PRESENCE.

Jesus said to His own, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." He said so often to His disciples, "Fear not for I am with you." And He continues to say this to us, and so in Christ we can say, Yea, thought I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me." The Christian need not fear death like Shakespeare's Claudia who said, "Death is such a fearful thing, do die and go we know not where." The Christian does know where, for as Paul says, "To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord." The promise of being in His perpetual presence is the greatest comfort of the Christian.

The dying thief on the cross, who turned to Jesus and said remember me heard Jesus say to him, "This day you shall be with me in paradise." That dying thief did not know anything about the nature of life after death. He had no theological education. All he knew was that he would be with Jesus. He could say with the poet,

My knowledge of that life is small,