Sermon Brief
Date Written: September 23, 2010
Date Preached: September 23, 2010
Sermon Details:
Sermon Series: Funeral Service for Mary Jo Frazier
Sermon Title: We grieve, but Our Grief has a Hope!
Sermon Text: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.
15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout , with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.
18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
Introduction:
Today we are all here hurting and mourning the loss of a wonderful person and loved member of her family. To her family, she was mawmaw… to others she was a wonderful lady who loved her sports and loved to play bridge and loved the Lord!
Today we come together to grieve the death of Mrs. Mary Jo Frazier. Today there is great pain in our midst. Today there is emotional suffering; physical anguish and our hearts are wounded to the point where we think that things will NEVER be good again.
It is always difficult to lose a loved one, but the manner of Mrs Mary JO’s death was a great shock to her family and the shock of losing a loved one is devastating on the heart and soul for all of us!
We are going to miss this wonderful lady… this special lady! I don’t know how many 84 yr old RABID LSU and Saint fans are out there… but Mrs Mary Jo was one of them! She loved her college football! And this past February when the Saints won it all she was floating on a cloud for days.
There are many things we will miss about her… I loved her sweet demeanor, and I love the fact that she was an avid golf fan! She was also an avid card player… playing bridge almost up to the day she died! I spoke to her children last night and I heard stories about them remembering being picked up off the couch and carried to the car after a marathon bridge card night at a friend’s house! She will be missed!
But as much as we will miss her, the reality is that death comes to ALL of us… it is a foe we all are going to have to face someday, and it is something all of us struggle with and will ultimately deal with…
And even though death brings about feelings of anger and frustration and a feeling of extreme unfairness… the simple fact remains that we will ALL come to the point where we face death!
When we do, we will come face to face with anger and depression. Our emotions will run roughshod over our minds… and it is always a difficult time when we finally come to the realization that death is a real and final thing we have to deal with!
And long after the funeral and all our family and friends have gone, we will have to face death alone… and for many of us in that moment there is great fear because we don’t know if we can do it! In that moment we will also face the most difficult grief we will ever have to deal with…
But this morning I want to share with you that even though it seems to us that death has won the victory here, I am here to tell you that this victory is merely temporary for death over Mrs Mary Jo…
Why can I say this? How can I know this? Well I can say this because I know that Mrs Mary Jo had accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior! How can I say this… well I know and Mrs Mary Jo Frazier knew that God has promised in His word, that those who die shall NOT be forsaken, but they shall be redeemed in glory… AMEN!
The Apostle Paul wrote that… “…for me to live is Christ but for me to die is gain…” He understood that our life here on this world was to be dedicated to Christ but that our life after this life was something that all believers should actually look forward to because it was something so much more than this life!
The Apostle Paul also wrote that when we die and are absent from our bodies… it is then that we are present with the Lord, what a wonderful promise! I know shortly after Mrs Mary Jo Frazier drew her final labored breath in this world… she was awakened into the paradise that Christ has promised to ALL who profess Him Lord and Savior!
Scripture tells us that she awoke into the presence of her Savior… I believe she awoke to Jesus and His loving embrace… She awoke to a new body and a new health that she has not known ever here in this world… she awoke to lungs that breath free and easy and never struggle! She awoke to the promise of God… Eternal life with God in heaven!
According to the Scripture… to God’s Holy Word, when we die, we do not enter into a ‘soul sleep’ waiting on the end of the world… waiting on Jesus to return! NO! The Bible tells us that when we die, we do not enter into a purgatory to await God’s final judgment on our lives… When we die… when we are absent from our bodies, we are present with our Lord!
The Bible is clear in its promise that for those who know Christ as Savior, we have a promise that we will be with Him... immediately after death… do you remember the thief on the Cross? Jesus said TODAY you will be with me in Paradise!
Mrs Mary Jo Frazier breathed her last and she departed this world, only to step into a glorious and wonderful paradise awaiting her because of her faith and trust in Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior.
So this morning I want to share with all of you here today… I want to share a message that I know Mrs Mary Jo would want you to hear… I want to share a message that comes straight from the pages of God’s Holy Word… part of this message is that even though believers grieve over the loss of our loved ones, our…
Grief, is a grief with hope…
A hope that we will SEE our loved one again… a hope in that death has not won the victory but God has conquered victorious over death and sin… and in Christ we ALL have the victory of Jesus at our disposal… in our lives!
I don’t want you to misunderstand me here today, the grief of a believer is very real, but that grief that the believer has is a very short-lived grief! Why? It is simply because we have the knowledge that our loved one is with Christ and is now no longer suffering the pain and difficulties they had in this world.
The Bible shares with us that in heaven there will be no pain, no suffering, no tears… that we would be changed and given a new and heavenly body, one free of any blemish and one free of any defect. It is an eternal body that will never be corrupted by the ravages of age, disease or trauma…
And in that new body we shall worship Christ for all eternity in a perfect place free from the evil influences and sin of this world and the Evil One…
Our grief is not like that of the non-believer. The non-believer has not accepted Christ and therefore is not sure about the after life and in fact the things of God are foolishness to him…
The non-believer does not accept death and in fact they strive against it and try to deny that death is real, and the grief can be overbearing and so powerful that depression and anger can rule and take over the heart… but as believers our grief is a grief with a hope…
In reality when we survey what our grief is… we can find that the grief of the believer is really a grief for those who are left, for those who remain, because we miss the loved one we have lost.
We know that our lost loved one is in a better place, but we still grieve because we will no longer see them in this physical world, but must wait patiently to see them again in heaven…
Yes we grieve, but our grief is a grief that has a great deal of hope because of Christ Jesus. Our grief does not overwhelm us because Christ is our strength and Christ is our peace in these times of difficulty!
But not only is our grief a grief with hope, that hope is a specific hope…
Our Grief is found SPECIFICALLY in Christ Jesus:
There are many who ask us as believers how we can be so peaceful in a time such as this, and we need to respond to them like this…
My peace comes through a hope and a promise I have in Christ… a promise that I will see my loved one again…
This hope is not in a book, although God has given me a book to read it in…
This hope is not in a singular promise from a book, although I can find this promise written in God’s Book…
No my hope is found not in something… but it is in SOMEONE! My hope is in the person of Jesus Christ!
And even though we do grieve for our loved ones, this grief is tempered by that eternal hope that we have in the person of Jesus Christ and the promise that He made to those who believe and trust in Him. He said in John 14:1-3…
1 "Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 "In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3 "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.
John 14:1-3 (NASB)
Christ has promised that after this life, we are going to be with Him… and He is going to come and get us and take us there to be with Him.
And is want all of you here today to understand that is just what happened a few days ago… Jesus made a special trip down to New Orleans, LA and He came and gather to Him, His precious servant Mrs. Mary Jo Frazier and He fulfilled His promise to her that where He was… there she would be also..
When we know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we have a hope for the next life because of WHO He is and because of WHAT He has done
So when we look at death, we can see that the believer DOES grieve but they do not grieve as the non-believer and that is because they have a hope… not in something, but in SOMEONE… our hope is in the resurrected Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
Our grief is different because of the hope Christ brings into our lives and because of this hope…
Our View of Death is Different:
Because of the hope we have in Christ our outlook on death has changed. Death is no longer the big bully we fear and run from…
Death is no longer the great equalizer and something to be feared!
For the believer who has accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, death is merely a doorway into the next life where Christ has promised a place for all who believe in Him and accept Him as Savior… for the believer death does bring sorrow, but it also brings with it a rejoicing and anticipation of our eternal home in Heaven!
As believers we do NOT long for or seek after death! BUT, neither do we fear it either! Like I mentioned earlier, that the Apostle Paul wrote, “…for [the Christian] to live is Christ but for [the Christian] to die is gain…”
As believers our lives here in this world are focused on Jesus and doing His will and being the person HE has called us to be… we do not seek out death… we do not long for death to come…
But when death cold hand comes knocking at our door, we do not fear it because death to the believer is a positive experience… it is one that leads us into the arms of our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ…
Death is what reunites us with our loved ones who have gone on before us… Mrs Mary Jo knew that she had plenty of family waiting on her and she did not fear death!
It was NOT her wish to die, but she knew that when she did come face to face with death that it would not be a terrible thing for her… but as a believer she understood that it was really going to be a time of rejoicing for her and a time of reuniting with loved ones for her…
Yes we DO grieve the death of our loved ones, but our grief is NOT a grief like that of the non-believer! This is because we have our hope firmly planted in the person of Jesus Christ who has promised us the forgiveness of our sin and an eternal place in heaven thru His salvation! And it is because of that promise and hope in Christ our view of death is much different than that of the world…
Conclusion:
This morning we have come together to grieve the death of a dear loved one, but I know Mrs Mary Jo and she would NOT have wanted me to stand before you today without sharing this one thing about her Savior!
Today there are many of you who are here that may not know about this hope and peace that I have spoken about and it is because you do not know Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord!
This morning you may be thinking that what I am saying is a bunch of foolishness, but my friends I tell you that Jesus Christ is the answer for your life today…
Jesus Christ is the answer that fills the hole in your life, that hole that you can never seem to fill… you may have tried to fill it with other things such as, drugs, sex, alcohol, a career, a family, or many other things… but you are never filled! You are left empty…
What I am telling you this morning is that Jesus Christ is the ONLY person who can fill that void in your life. This morning I want to call on you today to come to Christ and lean on Him and ask Him to forgive your sin and save your soul…
Don’t come to Christ because you think He will make your life perfect and trouble free… that does not happen. We live in a broken and sinful world and the rain falls on the just and the unjust alike…
Don’t come to Jesus thinking that all your problems will simply vanish, because that is NOT why we come to Christ! Come to Christ to have your sins forgiven and that you would be saved from the wrath to come and have a place reserved in heaven with Him!
Mrs. Mary Jo is there now, Jesus has taken her to her mansion just over the hilltop… She is now fellowshipping with her loved ones, the believers of old, and they are all worshipping at the feet of Jesus.
So today I want us to celebrate in the home-going of a believer… Mrs Mary Jo Frazier is now in her eternal home with God… don’t you want to be with her someday! If you know Jesus Christ, you can… but if you reject Him today… you may never ever get a chance to accept Him… don’t delay, give your heart to Jesus today!
