John 14:1-7 Funeral Sermon
We gather here this afternoon in memory of our brother/sister in Christ, ____________________
We gather here to grieve and mourn our loss....
We gather to remember and reflect upon his/her life....
A life in which each of you were blessed to share....
We gather here to comfort and to console one another.....
But we also gather to celebrate the love of God in whom there is no death.
We gather here with teary eyes and saddened hearts.
Your spirits have been tragically broken by his/her death.
Loss and grief and sadness have overcome your emotions.
The sting of death is an all too present of a reality in our lives this day.
But into the pain of his/her death...into your emptiness and sadness and grief, bursts the eternal promises of God proclaiming victory over death and the promise of life everlasting.....
For by our Lord's death on the cross...death becomes, for __________and ALL the faithful, simply a doorway to eternal life with Jesus.
God has blessed each and every one of us with a very precious gift.
This gift has been entrusted into our care.
It is a gift that can be given by no other than God.
God bestows this gift very generously, without request, without restrictions.
However, far too often we take that gift for granted.
It is the gift of life itself of which I speak.
And God has very generously bestowed this gift upon___________.
Unfortunately, it is often times only when this gift is taken away or threatened with illness or injury that we pause to consider or marvel at this gift.
The psychotherapist Segmund Freud was the first to coin the term "Thanatos" to describe a condition that plagues humanity....and the writer of Ecclesiastes also touched on this theme....
They suggest that as humans we are the only species on the face of the earth that is cursed with the foreknowledge of our finiteness.... and that one day we will die. We all have knowledge of being creatures with a beginning and an end to our earthly lives.
And although we go to great lengths to avoid admitting it - we all know that we will someday die.
Yet, this is not the end for the faithful….I used to say that death is just a new beginning, yet it is so much more than merely a new beginning.
Death for the faithful is a life brought to completion and perfection in Jesus. __________ is now experiencing the fullness of his/her life in the presence of Jesus. Life as God intended it to be lived…..in His glory forever and ever.
The 14th chapter of the Gospel of John has its setting in the Upper Room, where the disciples have eaten the Passover meal with Jesus.
Jesus knew exactly what the next few hours and days would bring, so He prepared His disciples to face the future, without fear.
The words, “do not let your hearts be troubled…” were addressed by Jesus to all the disciples, but we can rightly include ourselves in His audience, and apply them to our own hearts and lives.
As Christians, we’re exposed to many adversities, troubles, and even sorrow and suffering sometimes on a daily basis.
What this passage teaches us is that while we cannot prevent the many adversities and losses of life, we are able to find the strength and the power with the help of the Lord to get us through them.
Jesus suggests to us that we “trust in God; and trust also in Christ.”
He was actually saying, “You have trusted God, now it’s time to trust in Me!”
One of the most amazing things that Jesus reveals to us is found in verse 2.
“In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you.”
This is one of the greatest truths found anywhere in the Bible, and it implies that God dwells somewhere in a permanent place.
The word “rooms” is actually translated “mansions” and the Greek says “In the house of the Father of me abodes many there are.”
What Jesus is teaching us is that in God’s house, which is heaven, there are many mansions to live.
To me, that gives me great comfort, that I can know for sure that Jesus has already prepared a mansion in heaven for me to live.
To know that when I die I’m going to my Father’s house gives me, and I pray it gives you great comfort.
My Father’s house is where I’m always accepted and loved.
My Father’s house is where I am not a guest, but where I’m a resident.
That’s home.
The second great truth we learn from this passage is that Jesus will come back.
Stop and think about that for a moment.
Jesus isn’t just going to show us the way, or write out some instructions for us about how we can get to heaven; but He’s going to come back and take us by the hand and personally lead us to our Father’s house.
The Apostle Paul expanded this truth when he wrote: “for the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first” (I Thess. 4:16).
_____________ died in the Lord, knowing Christ as his/her personal Lord and Savior, so that means when Christ comes again in that great Second Coming, ____________will have a head start on those who are living, because “the dead in Christ will rise first.”
Another great truth from this passage in John chapter 14 is that we will be with the Lord Jesus Christ forever.
To me, that must be what makes heaven so wonderful.
When our lives are focused upon Christ, we walk in glory with Him forever.
Oh, the death of a Christian is a wonderful thing! For death takes the Christian to a better place.
A person doesn’t go to heaven to find Christ, he or she goes to Christ to find heaven!
This passage of Scripture in the Gospel of John is the greatest promise of hope that Jesus ever made.
When our lives are focused upon Jesus, we walk hand-in-hand with Him in victory.
For Jesus takes care of your past.
He helps you with your present.
And He has already prepared for you the future.
Throughout his/her life... _____________was all about life.
And that was evident from all the stories the family shared with me. (Share remembrances that you might know or family members told to you so they wouldn’t want to get up and speak)
______took great pride in his/her family. He/she gave his/her unconditional love and devotion; always concerned for your well being.
As I came to know of_______, I understood him/her to be one of those people who truly accepted life as the gift and the treasure God meant it to be. That’s not to say he/she didn’t have issues to deal with, we all do, some greater than others, but, he/she was unselfish with his/her devotion to all of you.
• ________shared his/her life and love with each of you. And a whole host of others. That’s evident from those gathered here.
His/her presence among you will be truly missed.
Words never to be spoken again...
...only your memories to sustain you in this life.
But the sure and confident promise of God is that we will be reunited with those who have gone before us in faith.
And so we gather today by faith in joyful thanksgiving to God for the life of _________________________, our brother/sister in Christ.
And by faith, even in the midst of our own personal loss and profound sadness, we can celebrate with his/her that final victory that he/she has now won over death through Jesus Christ.
On ____________ - God gave _____________the gift of life....
On _____________ - God blessed ____________ with another gift of life....
And this life he/she now lives eternally in the presence of God....
and it is a life filled with indescribable joy.
For in death Christ Jesus offers us new life and light eternal.
Death is not the end, it is but a new beginning.
Death is never a pleasant time for us to face. But it does become bearable for us in the knowledge that we have been offered life everlasting by God himself...and the promise is sealed by the blood of his own Son, Jesus Christ. And therefore all things have been made new. May you find comfort, and peace and hope in the Lord Jesus Christ...in whom there is light and life eternal. Amen.
