Consider This
Introduction
Why do we do this? It is certainly not exclusive to our American culture. Funeral services will take place all over the world today… hundreds upon thousands of them. A thread of similarity will run through each one. Among the many things we do at funerals, perhaps the most important of them is CONSIDERING. Webster says that when we consider someone we think about (them) seriously; take (them) into account – bear (them) in mind; regard (them) highly, esteem(them); look at (them) thoughtfully; think (about them) carefully, reflect (on them). Doesn’t that accurately describe why we are here? This afternoon I would like us to briefly CONSIDER three things. The first of them is perhaps the most obvious…
I. Consider the Deceased
A. Tenderhearted
B. Others’ needs
C. Nature - hiking
D. Salvation - February 22, 1988
II. Consider Yourself
· Matthew 6:25-33
For this reason I say to you, do not be anxious for your life, as to what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor for your body, as to what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body than clothing? Look at (consider) the birds of the air, that they do not sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single cubit to his life’s span? And why are you anxious about clothing? Observe (consider) how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory did not clothe himself like one of these. But if God so arrays the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more do so for you, O men of little faith? Do not be anxious then, saying, What shall we eat? Or What shall we drink? Or With what shall we clothe ourselves? For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.
· James 4:13-15
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow, we shall go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and also do this or that.”
· Proverbs 27:1
Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.
III. Consider Christ
· Hebrews 3:1; 12:3
… consider Jesus… consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart.
· 2 Corinthians 1:5
For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.
· John 14:1-6
Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. 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. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way where I am going. Thomas said to Him, Lord, we do not know where you are going, how do we know the way?” Jesus said unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.
· Lamentations 3:22-24
The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I have hope in Him.
· Romans 5:8, 1
…God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
It Is Well With My Soul
GRAVESIDE
Spurgeon said, "When a mortal man speaks anything of that eternal blessedness of the saints in glory, he is like a blind man discoursing about the light which he has never seen, and so cannot distinctly speak anything concerning it. He also said that, "In a way it is akin to a man writing a travel guide for a land he has never visited or seen. It is to attempt to describe the indescribable with words which cannot come close to expressing the glory of heaven." 1 Corinthians 2:9 says … eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
2 Corinthians 5:1-8
For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven; inasmuch as we, having put it on, shall not be found naked. For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed, in order that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord – for we walk by faith, not by sight – we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.
