Funeral for
Young Lady
“Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; (14) whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
James 4:13-14 (NKJV)
Life is filled with many unexplainable things. Perhaps we are never more aware of that fact than when we are faced with death. We view death as a curse, even as an enemy. Death always seems to catch us unprepared. Today is such an occasion. When someone dies at such a young age, so unexpectedly, we are faced with some troublesome questions and feelings. Grief tends to make us turn inward with questions.
We ask the question, “How did they die?” While such thoughts are natural they prove themselves not particularly helpful. How a person died is not nearly as important as how they lived.
We ask ourselves and others, “Why has this happened?” Yet it is obvious that no one can give a satisfactory answer, because no one knows. When death comes it shatters our plans and it causes us pain. But whatever you are feeling today let me encourage you to take it to God. God is big enough handle your pain and even your anger. The only things that God can’t help us with are those things that we refuse to take to him.
We also hear statements like, “What a tragedy!” But while death is troublesome it need not be a tragedy. Death is inevitable for all of us but tragedy only for the unprepared. The truth is that each of us in turn will meet death. We are not give a choice about whether to meet death, or even when we will meet death, only how we will meet death. Faith in God is how we can make sure that our death is a triumph not a tragedy.
A poem I read expresses this idea better than I could, and so I would like to share it with you.
When Sorrow Comes
When sorrow comes, as come it must. In God man must put his trust,
There is no power in mortal speech, the anguish of our souls to reach,
No voice, however, sweet and low, can comfort or ease the blow.
We cannot from our fellowman take strength that will sustain us then,
With all that kindly hands will do, and all that love would offer too
We must believe throughout the test that God has willed it for our best.
We who would be his friends prove dumb, words from our lips but feebly come:
We feel, as we extend our hands, that one power only understands,
and truly knows the reason why so beautiful a soul must die.
We realize how helpless then are all the gifts of mortal man,
No words which we have the power to say can take the sting of grief away,
The power which marks the sparrow’s fall must comfort and sustain us all.
When sorrow comes, as come it must, in God a man must place his trust,
With all the wealth, which he may own, he cannot meet the test alone,
And only he may stand serene who has a faith on which to lean.[Edgar Guest. One place it can be found is Sofine’s Edgar Guest Collection - www.sofinesjoyfulmoments.com/quotes/edguest.htm]
I want to talk with you this afternoon about three great truths.
I. CONFUSION OVER THE MYSTERIES OF
LIFE
A. We Accept the Mysteries of Life Around us.
1. How does a battleship made of steel float?
2. How does an airplane weighing 20 tons fly?
3. How can a computer calculate a sum in seconds
that I cannot calculate at all?
4. How can words travel through fiber optics.
5. How can pictures beamed from satellites be reassembled in my TV? Those are all things that you probably cannot explain any better than I can but we accept them.
B. We Avoid the Mysteries of the Spiritual Realm
While we accept the things we cannot understand in the physical world around us, we are often deeply disturbed and distressed by the things we cannot understand about spiritual things. There are many things that cannot be understood about life? Why is one person taken and another left? Why is a good person taken and a rascal allowed to continue to live? Why does one person live to be 95 and another die at 23. These are questions that I cannot answer. But when there are no answers it is a time for faith. There are things we cannot understand but we can trust God when we do not understand. Where there is confusion over the Mysteries of Life there must be a
II. COMMITMENT TO THE WORD OF LIFE
You may be saying, “I think it would great to have this ‘faith’ that you are talking about but, Where do we go to find the information to attain this kind of faith relationship with God.”
The Bible is now and has always been the only true source of information on how to attain a relationship with God. We find in God’s word the assurance that we need in order to trust in Him.
A. GOD’S WORD REVEALS THAT HE LOVES YOU.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
B. GOD LOVES US IN SPITE OF WHAT WE HAVE DONE
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 (NKJV)
C. GOD IS WILLING TO ACCEPT US JUST AS WE ARE.
I don’t know what you may have done in you life, it really doesn’t matter, God is still willing to accept you as his child.
It is only a commitment to the word of life that can bring us;
III. COMFORT FROM THE LORD OF LIFE
I cannot bring XXXXX back to you but I can show you how to get to where she is. Because she had a clear testimony of being saved we know that today she is in Heaven with Jesus, so I want to tell you how to get to Heaven. God issues to everyone the same invitation, “whosoever will let him come.” God promises that those that come to him will be received, “…him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out.” (John 6:37). God’s Invitation to you today is two-fold.
A. COME TO HIM FOR SALVATION
The Bible explains to us that Jesus is not just a way to heaven he is the only way to heaven. “Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6) Paul also tells the same things, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
In order to be saved we must (1) recognize that we are lost, and (2) we must turn to him in repentance and faith. Repentance of our sins is to agree with God about our sins, that his judgment of our sins is just. And we must have faith that Jesus is who he says he is. You must believe that Jesus died for your sins and that he rose from the grave victorious over death. The Bible says, “… if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9 (NKJV)
B. COME TO HIM FOR COMFORT
The Bible calls him the “the God of all comfort; … Who comfort those who are in any trouble,…” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4) 1 Peter 5:7 (The Living Bible) says, “Let him have all your worries and cares, for he is always thinking of you and watching everything that concerns you.”
If you have a relationship with Christ then death is a triumph not a tragedy. Although we cannot bring XXXXXX back you have the assuranced that you know where she is.
I am going to invite you to do business with God. If you know that you are not saved there is no better way time thatn right now and nothing would honor XXXXXX’s memory more than you being saved today. Would you pray with me?
