In Luke we’re told that after Jesus rose from the dead, He led (His disciples) out (of the city) as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. And we’re told “IT CAME TO PASS, that as He blessed them, He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God.” Luke 24:50-53
Notice that phrase: “It came to pass.” It came to pass that Jesus blessed his disciples. That term – “It came to pass” - was one of Shelby’s favorite sayings.
Sometimes that saying “It came to pass” could be applied to the good things in her life. It came to pass that she met a man named Doug and they fell in love and got married. It came to pass that they had 2 sons – Derek and Michael, and some of their best times were when they’d spent time together as a family. They’d often go up north around Christmas to Cadillac, MI with other friends in the city and rent one half of one of the motels up there and they’d go snowmobiling. It was a time they remembered for years afterward.
And it came to pass that one day she and her friends met a preacher at the Church of Christ here in Logansport, and they fell in love with Jesus - and Shelby and Doug were baptized into Christ. And it came to pass that Jesus blessed them.
So sometimes, the saying “It came to pass” can be applied to good things of life. But there were also times when Shelby applied it to the difficulties of life. “It came to PASS” meant that “it didn’t come to STAY.” No matter what difficulties she might face… it would pass. And that was how Shelby looked at life. There was always hope that hardships wouldn’t last.
As Psalm 30:5 tells us: “Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.”
One of my favorite passages in the NT Philippians 4: 4-7– says “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which PASSES all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
In other words, if we rely on God, we’ll have a peace that passes all understanding. I don’t know how it works… but it works. And that passage summed up the way Shelby lived her life. That’s why (as Doug told me) Shelby never had a bad thing to say about anyone. How could she do that? How could she avoid saying BAD things about people who probably deserved having bad things said about them? Well (in Shelby’s mind) there was always hope that THIS too would pass. That person might just change. So, she put her trust in God… and prayed for that change.
There was one more thought that occurred to me as I prepared this message. In Shelby’s obituary there was this phrase: It said that Shelby “passed away Sunday evening.” As it is with all people – it came to pass that Shelby passed away. She died! But even death hadn’t come to stay… it came to pass.
ILLUS: When I was 5 years old, my granddad died. He was my favorite person in all the world, and (my mom told me) I was his favorite as well. But now… he’d died. I was only 5 years old, and I didn’t understand much about death, except that – now, Granddad was gone and he wasn’t coming back. Back then, funerals were a lot different than they are today, and one of those differences was that, when you went to the cemetery you could look right down into that 6-foot-deep grave. And mom told me that, when we went to the grave site, I looked down into that grave – and I looked back at mom. And I looked down into the grave and looked back at he again… and I asked “How’s grandpa ever going to get out of that grave?” Well… how was he going to get out of that grave? And how is Shelby going to get out of her grave? Well… the answer is Jesus.
Jesus said: “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And 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 14:2-3
There are people who believe they will get to heaven because they’ve done enough good to earn a place there. But the Bible tells us that even our most righteous deeds are like filthy garments in God’s presence. Our SELF – righteousness just isn’t good enough. We’ve all sinned and fall short. We don’t get into heaven because we’ve passed the test.
We’ll only get to go to heaven because we follow Jesus there. If we follow Jesus, we’ll follow Him where He goes. And thus, Jesus said He went to prepare a place for us. We’ll to a place we belong… because we belong to Him. That’s why Shelby’s obituary focused on the fact that “She loved her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
For the Christian - death is different. Paul once spoke of how Christians should think about those who’d died “You should not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.”
And Paul says it this way – “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." "Where, O grave, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”
For the Christian death WILL come to PASS… but it won’t come to STAY. Because when Jesus comes again we will rise from the grave to meet Him in the air and we will live with Jesus for eternity. And we will see Shelby again. That TOO will come to pass.
