Jesus And The Resurrection: A Funeral Sermon

Because He preached unto them Jesus and the resurrection (Acts 17:18)

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When we come to death, we have to grope with its consequences. The philosophers at Athens had groped in the dark to try and find meaning in life. When we have to face death at this place, we are forced to deal with the ultimate topic of death. Normally, we try not to think about it. If we do think about it, we try to make light of it such as “All dogs go to heaven.” I am not here to try to answer questions like this. Others will deal with death by saying: “At least she is not suffering any more.” In Christians terms, this may or may not be so. Others hold to a vague concept of the afterlife in which everyone except perhaps the most evil people go to heaven. Others hold that heaven is an eternal pleasure palace. Others face death with terror. But what do we make of the reality. We see the body of someone we knew in a casket. We have many memories. These memories will outlive her. We will talk and reminisce. At times we will laugh, and at other times we will weep.

We set apart time at the visitation to share these stories of just how much she meant to us. We might even engage in some awkward humor. We will be able to share memories when we serve supper after the burial. There will even be some time during this service in which family members and friends will have time to share a memory or two. this is altogether appropriate, and I would encourage you to do so.

However, as a minister of the gospel, it is my obligation at these times to talk about Jesus and the resurrection. This is a funeral service and not just a remembrance of life. She would have wanted it this way. She was a Christian and wanted Christ to be shared to you on this occasion. This I am honored to do. If we do not talk about Jesus and the resurrection, we do not deal with the gnawing consequences of death which we all too easily paper over to avoid the deep thinking and the pain we feel. I want to offer a real hope to you all today.

First of all, we have to deal with the fact that there is a God, and that God has created all things. This is where Paul started with the philosophers of Athens. This God is Lord over all, and works all things out according to His own pleasure. This means that He has the right to hold us accountable and will hold us accountable for our actions. This would be very bad news for us, for even great men like Moses could not escape the penalty of death. As Malachi reminds us: “Who shall abide in the day of his coming, and who shall stand when he appeareth? (Malachi 3:2) The answer is that no one will be able to stand on his own merits. This would sound like very bad news indeed.

When we realize that Paul mentions the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead in conjunction with His right to judge the living and the dead, it is almost too much to bear, In fact, the Athenian philosophers cut Paul off at this point. They cut off Paul before he could bring out the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. I can only pray that you will not cut me off, for I bring you the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.

First, we need to be reminded that God is the only entity that has truly free will. This does not mean that we must choose Christ. But, instead, we should reflect that God is not under any compulsion to save anyone. He is free to create, and He is free to destroy. The good news is that God has made an offer to save us by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for us. We cannot choose unless a choice is offered first. So let us rejoice that God has chosen first.

Secondly, we must understand what free grace is all about. We tend to think that God’s grace is offered and we are free to accept this grace or not. The true understanding of free grace is that God is free to offer His grace to all, to none, or to some and not others. Grace is the free gift of God. therefore, we must be careful not to despise this grace which has eternal consequences. without God’s free grace offered in Jesus Christ, we would have neither choice nor hope. The God news is that Christ died for us. But we must believe in His Son. This is the hope I offer this morning to you all.