Funeral Sermon

Funeral Service for

Elisabeth Thompson

(Mother-Grandmother)

Corinthian Baptist Church

March 5, 2005

We come here today not to mourn death, but to celebrate a life. Elisabeth’s life here on earth is over but, her life in heaven with her beloved Savior Jesus Christ has just begun. We rejoice because she gave us so much during her life with us - and we praise God that her life of no pain, no concerns, no doubts, and no lack of understanding has begun with our God in her new home.

Everyone who is born into this world will also have to leave it and for most people their deepest instincts and convictions tell them that there is something beyond the grave.

For each of us a time is coming when we will step from this lifetime into eternity, today we come because our mother, grandmother, great grandmother, family member and friend took that step.

So many times in the last few days my mind has recalled what was so special about sister Thompson. When my brother and I were young we could not wait until Sunday, not because we could not wait to get to Church, but we could not wait to get to grandmother’s house because she always fixed breakfast for my grandfather and Bob Evans had nothing on her.

Any given morning you could find her sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee and the daily cross word puzzle, during the summer you would find her sitting near a TV or radio eating Planter’s Peanuts and listening to the Cincinnati Reds, but one thing you would never hear from her was a cross word about anyone no matter what they did.

Her theme was when repeating something you heard “Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary”? Grandmother was one of the Godliest women I have ever seen in my life. Church was not just a place to go on Sunday; it was a place to meet God and to find your place in Him.

She loved her husband, her family, her friends, her Church and most of all her God.

Even as time began to catch up with her and slow her step down, my grandmother never lost her kind and loving heart. Many people throughout her life called her Tiny, but to our family she was and always will be a giant to us.

It is at times such as this that we feel that no one else has ever experienced the pain and loneliness that we feel. That no one understands what we are going through. Although it is true that no one knows exactly how we feel, others have experienced the devastation of the loss of a loved one.

The experience of one such person is recorded in the Bible in the book of Job. Job had it all, he had ten children, fields of livestock, an abundance of land, a houseful of servants, and a substantial stack of cash. And then, without warning, like an avalanche, adversity struck. He lost his livestock, crops, land, servants, and if you can believe it, all ten of his children.

Soon thereafter he lost the last human vestige of hope, his health. He had experienced his own sea of pain and he could therefore write from experience of his own intense inner suffering.

But in the midst of his pain he made a profound statement of faith and hope recorded in Chapter 19, verses 25 through 27. I would like to share that with you now.

Job writes, “For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at latter day upon the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God, Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!”

Notice with me Job’s Certainty. Like Job even in our pain there are some things that we can “know” that is be certain about.

Twice in this passage Job states there are some things that he “knows” (vv. 25, 26) with certainty.

First, Job states that he knows that there is a Redeemer. In verse 25 “I know that my Redeemer lives….” Job states that he is “my” redeemer; he had a personal relationship with the Redeemer.

This is a personal statement, of personal conviction, not hearsay, not speculation, but truth uttered from a heart of assurance and firm conviction.

What is a redeemer? “One who repurchases” and “One who delivers from bondage by paying a ransom”. Now listen... Job could have said, “I know that my Savior lives”. He would have been accurate. He could have said, “I know that my Champion lives”.

He would have been accurate. He could have said, “I know that my Advocate lives”. He would have been accurate. But he didn’t use any of those terms or any other. He said, “Redeemer”. That means that Job knew he needed to be purchased back.