My Father’s Funeral (James Cline May)
Sunday, November 6, 2005 – 2:30 PM
Today I want to say to all of you who have been so kind during these past few months and days, “Thank you for being there to support us through some trying times. Thank you for your prayers, visits, sympathy and caring. And, I want to say, from all the family, thank you so very much for coming out to help us celebrate the life of my Father. All of you have been a wonderful source of strength and a great help for us all through Dad’s long months of illness, and these final hours as we prepare to lay his body to rest. We thank you, we love you and we appreciate you more than we could ever say.
Today I have a duty, as the Pastor for my Mother and Father for the past several years. It’s duty that shared by any other Pastor when a member of the church is in need. But, for me, it is so more than just a duty that I must perform - it is my greatest honor and privilege to have the opportunity to stand here today and be the minister who can speak to you concerning my own Father’s life and his passage from this mortal realm to the eternal glory that he now is experiencing.
I am so thankful for the Christian heritage that has been passed along to our family.
From my earliest years, I have a few memories of the old Brush Arbor near my Grandfather’s home, where I heard gospel music and preaching more than once. I didn’t grasp the meaning of it all then, but the sights and sounds made their impression and started me on my journey toward Jesus. Thank you Dad, thank you Mom, for starting your family on that journey that led us to know the Lord Jesus Christ.
I can remember the days that came a few years later, when we would sit on simple wooden plank pews, those pews rested on the rough surfaced concrete floor of the little church that my Grandfather, with the help of many others including my Dad, built near where that brush arbor had stood. How many times I went to that church I really don’t know, but I will never forget how hard it was to sleep on hard concrete floors and wooden slat pews during the service. I think they may have made it that way just so people couldn’t sleep during church.
I can remember the days at Galvez Pentecostal Church when we would all go to Sunday School. I told Sis. Annie Alford just last night of my memories of the penny marches that we used to have to help support the church. Of course all I thought of then was that it was fun to walk in front of everybody and drop my pennies. That’s where I believe that I began to learn of the privilege of being able to give to the Work of the Lord.
I can remember the time, at the age of 12 when I received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, and began my service to God in earnest. From that day to this, through all the twists and turns; through all of the faults, failures and successes in life; my own journey toward Heaven continues.
Thanks to the Christian Heritage that was passed down by my Dad and Mom, I can stand here to today, on Dad’s behalf and tell all of you about the life of my Dad and about the Jesus that he loves so much.
If there can be such a thing as defining a life, I think that Dad’s life would defined with three terms: “Quiet strength, practical love and a peaceful heart.” He was soft-spoken, but firm in his beliefs and unbending in his convictions. He was a man who spoke few words unless he felt he had something constructive to say, and when he did speak out, what he had to say was something worth hearing. Though he was a man of fewer words than others - what he did, and how he lived spoke volumes.
He was always ready to give a helping hand, and he loved going to the house of God. I can remember as a kid, that every preacher who came through town with car troubles would find a helping hand in Dad. In fact, I’ve never known a time when he wasn’t willing to help anyone that he could.
Most people, and maybe even some of you, did not know the sense of humor that he had, but there were times when that sense of humor would shine.
He told me of one experience when he was a boy cutting wood for the stove and fireplace. Ants had gotten into the sandwiches that he had brought for lunch. When he saw the ants he told them, “You have 10 seconds to get off or be eaten.” He counted to 10, brushed off the ants that he could, then ate the sandwiches; ants and all, because they were not going to get his lunch.
In these later years, Dad did his best to maintain his sense of humor even in the midst of suffering and pain. I remember just a few months ago, we had taken him to the doctor for a checkup. When the doctor walked in and asked how he felt, Dad said dryly, “With both hands, how am I supposed to feel?”
That sense of humor never left him but helped to see him through the long, miserable days when he could do nothing else but lie upon his bed. Through it all, he would crack a joke every once in a while and make us all laugh and break the somber mood. That’s the heart of a man who is at peace with God.
The bible teaches us that everyone who accepts the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior and then surrenders their lives to Him are called “saints”. The Apostle Paul used that term quite often in his writings of the New Testament to all of the churches that he founded in his missionary journeys. I know that Dad was counted as a dear saint of God. It could be seen in his way of life and in the love that he had for other people.
For a long time Dad fought the battles of life. Through several strokes and injuries, he kept on fighting, working, putting forth every effort to beat his sicknesses, and he would never give up. Just a few weeks ago, when most of us had given up hope, he would still say, “I want to get out of this bed, get into my chair and go to church.” If he hadn’t been in so much pain, I believe he might have actually made it. But a few days ago, we noticed a change and understood that he had made that last turn, that last bend in the road and his sights were set on a better place. His eyes were on that city that Abraham saw.
Here’s what the Book of Hebrews says about Abraham. Hebrews 11:8-10, "By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God."
That’s the call that Dad received. He was getting ready to leave this earthly realm to receive an inheritance. He didn’t understand it all – but he knew it was there, and though he couldn’t see his destination with the natural eye, he saw it with the eyes of the Spirit. By faith Dad walked in this world, being a stranger and a pilgrim, living in a house of flesh along with all the rest of us.
Many of us in this room right now are heirs of the same promise, and we were walking right along with him for a time.
But Dad’s journey was finally coming to an end and he was seeing that city more clearly now. As he drew nearer to the end, he saw that city whose builder and maker is God, and that’s where he wanted to go. He was tired from the journey and ready to go home.
The bible says in Psalms 116:15 that, "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints." The great love of God for His children finally brings us each to the point in life where God says, “you’ve been gone long enough. Now it’s time to come home.”
Last Friday morning, while we all stood around his bed and prayed, Dad stepped through those gates and took hold of Jesus’ hand and today, I know that he is living in glory. He’s alive and well, able to do all of those things that he could not do for so long. He has been released from the bonds of mortal flesh and now he is free to enjoy life forever more, never again to experience pain, sadness, sickness or death. We are excited for him. Though we shall miss him for a while, we are also confident in this one thing – We shall all see him again someday. We long to be where Dad is, but we do not want him to come to where we are.
I know that today, I can say that Dad would agree with the Apostle Paul in saying as he did in 2 Timothy 4:7-8, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: 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."
Dad’s life on this earthly realm was a life spent in serving His Lord, and now the life that enjoys will last for eternity, for it comes from the only true source of life, our Father in Heaven.
As we come today to look upon this tabernacle of flesh, where once lived the spirit and soul of my Dad, let us not look with sorrow or sadness, but with joy. Dad is no longer there. He left this body, imperfect, frail and dying, to take on a new body of power, glory and perfection. He is not lying here, locked in this form in a casket, but he is alive in the arms of Jesus.
We all have so many good memories of Dad that we will never forget. The good times will wipe away the memories of the past few years of suffering and pain, and the good times will remind us of the life that was Dad’s and help us to keep him alive in our hearts. He will ever be with us, in our hearts and minds, until the day we meet again.
But Dad would not want me to only celebrate his life today, or to talk only about him.. He loved Jesus, he loved the Word of God and he loved to hear it preached under the anointing power of the Holy Spirit. What he would want me to do is give God glory, and tell people about Jesus.
I want to let each of you know today that someday all of us must go down this same path that Dad has walked. One day each of us will face that river of death, and we must go over to the other side.
The only real question is this, “What will you find on the other side?” How you live your life now, and what decision you will make concerning Jesus and the blood that he shed upon the cross for your salvation, will determine what you find in that day.
If you fight the good fight of faith, run the race as God directs, and finish the course of God’s calling upon your life, by surrendering your heart to Christ, and then serving him with all your heart for as long as you have breath, then you will also receive that crown of righteousness and eternal life. You will be where Dad has already gone. Oh what a glorious day that will be!
But sadly, there are many who will not see that day as a day of victory, power and glory. They will see the crossing of the river of death as only the first terrifying step into an eternity filled with suffering and shame. What a terrible thing that will be to suffer through this life, only to leave this life without Jesus in your heart, and then enter into a far worst place, never to be free from pain - forever!
Again, quoting his letters to the Church at Corinth in 2 Corinthians 5:8 Paul says, "We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." Then, in Philippians 1:21 Paul says, "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."
Those are wonderful words and great promises to all men whose confidence and trust in placed in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Though we may know and experience a little of the suffering and the death of this mortal body that Jesus also suffered; if we place our soul in His care, then we shall also experience the power of His resurrection to eternal life and a glorified body made alive by the Spirit og God.
Dad placed his confidence in Jesus, believed God’s Word, and today he is reaping the benefits of a life committed to serving the Lord.
Will that be your epitaph as well? Will you find the day of your death as a day of victory?
The only way that can be is for you to live for Jesus, and to accept him as your Lord and Savior! There is no other way.
Take this time to examine yourself. Look at the passing this saint of God and ask yourself, “What if I were there, in that casket; what words could be said for me; would the minister be able to truthfully say that I had gone to Heaven to be with the Lord, or would he be force to skirt the issue or lie to my family just to keep from hurting them even more?”
Surely Dad is in Heaven right now – but we all will follow him soon. He loved all of you. Mom, I know he would say, “Thank you for all the many days of hard work. No one could have done any more.” I know that Dad would want to express his love to you in every way he could. But though he loved you, and all of us so greatly – he loved Jesus most of all. He still loves you and he will be waiting on the other side for all of us to come where he is.
That’s where I want to be. I hope that’s where you want to be too. Look at your own life and ask, “Where will I be when I cross that river of death?”
If you don’t know Jesus as your Lord and Savior right now, and you can’t, with absolute certainty say that you will be Heaven, you can be sure. You can have that same calm assurance, like Dad had.
I hope and pray that all of us who are left behind will accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, and commit our lives to Him, so that we too will be ready when our time comes to leave this world.
Let us pray.
