How to Face Death With Confidence
Funeral Service
(2 Timothy 4:6-8)
We are gathered here this afternoon to celebrate the life of_____________. We also gather with the desire to comfort his family both by our words and by our presence. And finally we are here to hear what God has to say to us through his word about the realities of life, death and the eternal life possible through his son, Jesus Christ.
We are tempted to focus on the fact that _______ only lived __ years and that seems short. But how long you live is not as important as how you lived. And we are here to celebrate a life well lived!!!
You are here today because you life has in some way been touched by the life of __________. You are his family and his friends. I know that many of you, if you were given an opportunity this afternoon, could stand and share all the things that _________ meant to you and all the ways in which he touched your life. These memories are precious and will continue to live on in our hearts. Your presence here today is a testimony of how highly you thought of _________.
I want to assure that _______ has gone to a better place, a place where there is no pain and sickness. About this special place Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. (2) 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. (3) 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 14:1-3 NKJV) I believe with all of my heart that George is today enjoying all the benefits of that place, called Heaven. And I believe he would want me to tell you how you too can go there.
In our lives each of is in effect writing on the hearts of those we love what they will remember about us. As I reflected on what I wanted to share with you today, about the impact that ________ made in my life, some very clear images came to mind.
The first thing I think of when I think of ________ was his tremendous Courage. For years _______ has courageously fought the diseases that ravaged his body. I have often heard others say, “________ has one of the most positive attitudes that I have ever witnessed.” No matter how much pain he was in, I never heard him complain about anything. I think that we all realize today that it was best for _______ to leave behind this body of pain and suffering and find rest and peace in the presence of the Lord.
___________ was also a man of Enduring Faith. It was my privilege to serve with _______ over a number of years and I always found _______ to have a faith of quiet confidence. This kind of quiet faith is captured for us in the words of the Apostle Paul. In his second letter to Timothy, and as he faces his own imminent death he wrote, “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. (7) I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:(8) Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” (2 Tim. 4:6-8 KJV)
I believe that each of the ideas that Paul expressed in these verses are also true about ________.
Paul begins his thought by stating, “I am now ready.” Someday each of us will face our final hour and nothing will be more important then than the ability to say, “I am ready.” I know that _______ was ready, but are you? If this were your final hour on earth do you know where you would spend eternity?
Paul further says that he was “ready… to depart.” He uses a word that takes its meaning from the idea of a ship in the harbor and the time has come to cast off the lines and set sail for home. If Paul were writing today he would probably use airplanes to illustrate his meaning. It is as if Paul was saying, “It’s time to catch my plane. My flight has been called and it’s time for me to board!” Paul says that death for the Christian is like a departure. We are cutting loose from this life and setting sail for the next.
The word “depart” also pictures the taking down of a tent. There is an interesting parallel here for the word of God describes this body of ours as a tent. I think that every one understands that tents were never intended to be permanent dwelling place. “For we know that if our earthly house, this (tent) tabernacle, were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” (2 Corinthians 5:1 KJ21)
But how could Paul face his departure from this life with such confidence? I want to share with you some powerful reasons why he had this confidence, because these reasons also characterized ________ life.
First, he was able to face his departure from this life with confidence because he knew where he was headed. Paul knew without a shadow of a doubt where he was headed in eternity? ________ had that certainty. Do you? Paul says in his first letter to the Corinthians (5:6,8) “So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord...(8) We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.” (NKJV)
The Bible tells us that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. As with most things in life you can’t have it both ways. To be present with the Lord necessitates the giving up of this life.
Do you realize that the Bible says that you can know for sure where you are headed in eternity? In first 1 John 5:13 we read, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life…” Death does not have to be a leap into the darkness of the great unknown. The Bible tells us that by placing our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that we can be saved. In a scripture that almost everyone who has ever been to church has heard, John 3:16 we read, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
So if we place our faith and trust in Jesus Christ when the time of our departure comes we can face it with confidence knowing that we have been assured of a place in heaven.
Secondly, Paul is able to face his departure from this life with confidence because he knew he had successfully “finished his race” (v.7). The Bible often uses the image of a footrace to describe the Christian life. But this footrace is not just a hundred yard dash it is a marathon.
You are probably familiar with how the Apostle Paul started his race; that is how he became a Christian. The story is told in Acts 9 how Paul was on his way to Damascus with the intention of persecuting the Christians there when he was struck down by a blinding light and heard the voice of Jesus speaking. Paul became a Christian because of that experience. But you do not have to experience a blind light to be saved. For most us our conversion, is a lot less dramatic. Many years ago as a very young man ______ gave his life to Jesus and I can tell you with the utmost confidence that he has never wavered from that decision.
In a footrace a good start is essential, if the start is off the race will go badly. But as important as good start is; even more important is a strong finish. Paul faced his own departure with confidence because he not only started well but he had finished his race. _____________ served his Lord with his last ounces of strength, until the last day of his life.
Finally in verse eight Paul turns from reasons for his confidence in departure to tell us some things he anticipates about his arrival. Paul says, “I am ready to receive my reward.” When we head off on a trip by plane; we make sure we get on the plane, we endure the flight and at that end of the flight there is the arrival. Often the reason for the excitement associated with the trip is not the trip itself but because of who is waiting for us there. The same thing is true for the Christian… we face departure from this life with excitement… not because the departure is exciting… but because of what is waiting for us there.
I don’t mind plane rides for the most part… although they are not always the most enjoyable things in the world. I am willing to endure all the inconveniences associated with flying; the lines at the airport, all those compartments designed to be slightly smaller than your smallest piece of luggage, and even those little seats all crammed together in the plane. I don’t mind the inconveniences because it gets me to my destination. When the time of our departure comes it may not be delightful, it may include a hospital or a nursing home and illness and even incapacitation, but the goal will be worth it all.
There is an old hymn that we sometimes sing that summarizes what I am trying to say, entitled “It Will Be Worth it All.”
“It will be worth it all; when we see Jesus,
Life’s trial will seem so small, when we see him.
One glimpse of his dear face, all sorrow will erase. So bravely run the race, till we see Christ.”
I believe that _______ is enjoying the rewards of heaven today. But I would be remiss if I did not tell you how you can join him there. It really is not complicated at all. As I have already said the Bible tells us in (John 3:16), "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Jesus farther attests that he is not one of many ways to heaven but the only way when he says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6 NKJV). Jesus explained all of these things to a woman named Martha when her brother Lazaras died. Jesus said unto her," I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.” (John 11:25 NKJV) And then he asked her the most crucial question of all, “Do you believe this.”
You see heaven is attained by believing in the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross as a penalty for your sin and the acceptance of that sacrifice by repentance and faith. Have you ever accepted personally what Jesus did on the cross? Why not turn to God in repentance today and ask him to forgive and save you. There is nothing I know of that could honor _________ more.
