In times like these the first question we often ask is “Why?” And that’s a legitimate question that we’re going to answer here today. But first, let’s deal with what some people believe are the reasons why we are here today.
During times like these, I’ve heard ministers say “God needed another flower for his garden in heaven.” They say these things when they’re trying to make sense of a death that doesn’t make sense. They use such imagery as a way of providing comfort to those who are hurting, who are questioning. But if we’re honest, telling us that God needed another flower in heaven doesn’t provide much comfort at all.
First John 1:5 says “God is light and in him is no darkness at all.”
The word “no” is the strongest word that God could have chosen to describe what is not in him. You will never, ever find darkness in God or in the way He deals with His children. Never, ever. Family, I want you to let that sink in.
If there is absolutely no darkness in God or in the way He treats us, how could He let a baby die so that He could have another flower in heaven? He didn’t. He has never done that and He never will.
Listen to me family, I don’t care what preacher so and so says or what elder so and so says. If they are saying things like this, then they are saying the wrong things. They may be good and caring people who mean well, but they are painting a picture of God that is terribly wrong.
Claretha, no amount of imagery is going to lessen the pain. No amount of imagery is going to make you feel better about losing Gaven.
Claretha, don’t forget that your mom and dad, your sisters, and your brother are hurting too. I’m sure they are struggling to find the right words to say. And that’s okay. This will be a time of struggle for you and your family. Be patient. The words will come.
Claretha, Aunt Doris and I and your grandmother – we know the hurt and the loss you are feeling. Aunt Doris and I walked this path two years ago. I’m not going to lie to you – it was heard. Your grandmother has walked this path three times and she is a testimony to you, as she was to us, that you will get through this. It will take time but you get through this.
So, today is about letting you know that you have a family who have walked this path before and who understand the hurt and the loss that you are feeling. And we are here for you. You are not alone in this.
Claretha, listen to me. I know your heart is aching. I know your heart is full of sadness right now. But I want you to know something: God’s heart is aching and full of sadness too, even more than yours. You are His daughter and He loves you. It breaks His heart to see you going through this. He would love nothing more than to have you crawl into His arms so that He can tell you, “Baby girl, it’s going to be all right. I’m here for you. I’ll always be here for you.”
I’ve also heard people say “We don’t always know why but we know that God is good.” A different way that they sometimes say this is “It was God’s will.” It sounds good doesn’t it? It sounds like what you would expect Christians to say, doesn’t it?
Christians who truly know their Heavenly Father would say, “Yes, God is good. Amen! Hallelujah!” But they wouldn’t say “But I just don’t understand why this happened.” The Bible tells us why death happens.
When I hear people say things like this, I know they don’t know or truly understand God’s will for their lives. They believe things just happen and that’s the way it is. It reminds me of something I used to hear all the time – “God works in mysterious ways.” Trust me when I tell you: God’s ways can be known.
When I was a child, I knew the will of my mom and dad.
? You will go to church every Sunday and you will behave once you get there. That was the will of my mom and dad.
? You will clean up your room. That was the will of my mom and dad.
? You will not sit in the living room where all the furniture is covered with plastic. That was the will of my mom and dad.
? You will clean your plate before you leave the table. That was the will of my mom and dad.
I can know the will of my Heavenly Father just like I knew the will of my mom and dad. I only have to look in THE book. The Bible contains God’s will.
The Bible says in John 10:10 that Jesus came to give us life and that life would include all of God’s promises to us.
The Bible says in Psalm 91 that when we truly love God and trust Him in everything, when we cry to Him, He will hear us and answer us. And not only that, the Psalmist says that God’s desire for us is to satisfy us with LONG LIFE. If God wants to satisfy us with long life then when a life is cut short, we have to know that it was not God’s doing. God gives life. That is His will!
Do you know why we are so full of sadness when someone dies? It’s because death was never part of God’s original plan for us. Inside of us are spirits that are eternal and death is a foreign concept to a being that’s eternal. That’s why we cry. That’s why we mourn. Our Heavenly Father designed us to live.
Family, we are not here today because God took a life. We are here today because God received a life that went home too soon. I want you to understand this.
And Claretha, I want you to understand something too. We are also not here because God is punishing you for something you did or didn’t do. He’s your Father and He doesn’t do things like that.
The Bible says in Psalms 103 “He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.”
In John 9 there’s a story about a man being born blind. The disciples asked Jesus was the man born blind because he sinned in his mother’s womb or was he born blind because his parent sinned? Jesus’s answer to the disciples was simple: “Neither has this man sinned, nor his parents.”
Claretha, if you have been thinking or feeling that maybe, just maybe you did something wrong, let Jesus’s words settle the issue for you. Let his words comfort you. God loves you Claretha, more than you’ll ever know or understand.
Now, let’s answer the question, “Why did Gaven die?”
We have to go back to Genesis to answer that question. When God first made man, He made him to be exactly like himself. He was perfect. The only difference between God and man – man had a beginning and God did not.
Remember the instructions that God gave to Adam in Genesis 2? “You can eat of every tree in the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat of that tree you will die.”
When Adam and Eve ate of the tree in Genesis 3, they died spiritually but their bodies continued to live. The Bible says Adam lived to bd 930 years old. When Adam ate of the tree, he changed everything about the world that God had created.
Romans 5:12 tells us that because Adam disobeyed God’s instructions, sin entered into the world and sin brought with it a companion, death. And that’s why everyone who is born will die.
First Corinthians 15:21 says we have death in this world because of man – Adam – not God. This chapter also says in verse 22 because of Adam all will die.
When Adam sinned, he corrupted everything that God had created including the human body. He corrupted the DNA of every cell the human body would ever produce from then on. That’s why you have children who are born with Down’s syndrome or with limbs missing or with deformities.
Adam’s sin back in Genesis 3 did this – not the sins of the parents and certainly not God in whole there is no darkness at all.
Claretha, your baby’s death was the result of the sin that Adam released into the world and the damage it did to the genetic structure of man. All of us are simply born into a sin-sick world that is a far cry from what God originally intended for us
I want to leave you with this message today. God loves you and He loves Gavin. I use the present tense because Gavin is alive in the Father’s presence. It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if he hasn’t already seen his Aunt Ruby, Aunt Debra, Uncle Junior, his grandfather and his cousin Candace just to name a few.
There’s a verse in an old song that says “This world is not my home. I’m just passing through.” Once you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you become a child of God whose final destination is heaven. You are a “traveler” who is passing through and taking in the sites before going home.
Claretha, Gavin didn’t get to pass through this world and see the sites. But he saw the most important site any baby would want to see – the face of a loving mother. Claretha, Gavin saw you and I’m sure that of all the sites in this world, your face was the only one that mattered to him.
(Led everyone in the prayer of salvation)
For everyone here who has accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, you will see Gavin when you get to glory – that is a guarantee. Remember the scripture passage from I Thessalonians 4? It says that when we have hope – when we know that this life is not all there is – we will not live in sorrow. (I’m paraphrasing) It also says that when all is said and done, the family of God will be united forever and ever. And each of us are to comfort each other with these words.
Family, today we’re not saying goodbye to Gavin. We’re saying “Gavin, we will see you later.”
