Funeral Service for
Elisabeth Thompson
(Mother-Grandmother)
Corinthian Baptist Church
March 5, 2005
We come here today not to mourn death, but to celebrate a life. Elisabeth’s life here on earth is over but, her life in heaven with her beloved Savior Jesus Christ has just begun. We rejoice because she gave us so much during her life with us - and we praise God that her life of no pain, no concerns, no doubts, and no lack of understanding has begun with our God in her new home.
Everyone who is born into this world will also have to leave it and for most people their deepest instincts and convictions tell them that there is something beyond the grave.
For each of us a time is coming when we will step from this lifetime into eternity, today we come because our mother, grandmother, great grandmother, family member and friend took that step.
So many times in the last few days my mind has recalled what was so special about sister Thompson. When my brother and I were young we could not wait until Sunday, not because we could not wait to get to Church, but we could not wait to get to grandmother’s house because she always fixed breakfast for my grandfather and Bob Evans had nothing on her.
Any given morning you could find her sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee and the daily cross word puzzle, during the summer you would find her sitting near a TV or radio eating Planter’s Peanuts and listening to the Cincinnati Reds, but one thing you would never hear from her was a cross word about anyone no matter what they did.
Her theme was when repeating something you heard “Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary”? Grandmother was one of the Godliest women I have ever seen in my life. Church was not just a place to go on Sunday; it was a place to meet God and to find your place in Him.
She loved her husband, her family, her friends, her Church and most of all her God.
Even as time began to catch up with her and slow her step down, my grandmother never lost her kind and loving heart. Many people throughout her life called her Tiny, but to our family she was and always will be a giant to us.
It is at times such as this that we feel that no one else has ever experienced the pain and loneliness that we feel. That no one understands what we are going through. Although it is true that no one knows exactly how we feel, others have experienced the devastation of the loss of a loved one.
The experience of one such person is recorded in the Bible in the book of Job. Job had it all, he had ten children, fields of livestock, an abundance of land, a houseful of servants, and a substantial stack of cash. And then, without warning, like an avalanche, adversity struck. He lost his livestock, crops, land, servants, and if you can believe it, all ten of his children.
Soon thereafter he lost the last human vestige of hope, his health. He had experienced his own sea of pain and he could therefore write from experience of his own intense inner suffering.
But in the midst of his pain he made a profound statement of faith and hope recorded in Chapter 19, verses 25 through 27. I would like to share that with you now.
Job writes, “For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at latter day upon the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God, Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!”
Notice with me Job’s Certainty. Like Job even in our pain there are some things that we can “know” that is be certain about.
Twice in this passage Job states there are some things that he “knows” (vv. 25, 26) with certainty.
First, Job states that he knows that there is a Redeemer. In verse 25 “I know that my Redeemer lives….” Job states that he is “my” redeemer; he had a personal relationship with the Redeemer.
This is a personal statement, of personal conviction, not hearsay, not speculation, but truth uttered from a heart of assurance and firm conviction.
What is a redeemer? “One who repurchases” and “One who delivers from bondage by paying a ransom”. Now listen... Job could have said, “I know that my Savior lives”. He would have been accurate. He could have said, “I know that my Champion lives”.
He would have been accurate. He could have said, “I know that my Advocate lives”. He would have been accurate. But he didn’t use any of those terms or any other. He said, “Redeemer”. That means that Job knew he needed to be purchased back.
He knew that he ultimately belonged to God, but that sin had interrupted that relationship. He had the confidence in God and His goodness and faithfulness to say, “I know that my Redeemer lives.…” The One who buys me back. Grandmother had this kind of a personal relationship; she could say with confidence, “I know my redeemer lives.”
I believe that if she could speak to you today, she would tell you that there is nothing more important than having a personal relationship with the Savior.
Jesus is the redeemer that Job spoke of. Christ is our Redeemer, who has repurchased us. He has delivered us from bondage of sin by paying the ransom with His own sinless blood. Job went on to say, “I know that my redeemer lives.”
The second thing that Job is certain of is that this body is not permanent. Job says, “And after my skin has been destroyed.”
The Apostle Paul many hundreds of years later explained it this way, “For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven… So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 5:1-2,6).
The third thing that Job was certain was that death is not the end. Job states that even after his body has been destroyed, that he will continue to exist. Job is certain that even after death it will not be the end of his existence.
He knew that one day he would be clothed with a new body. The Apostle Paul speaks of this when he wrote, “For we know that when this earthly tent we live is taken down – when we die and leave these bodies – we will have a home in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands.” (NLT)
Beyond his certainty Job also expressed his confidence that he would see God. Job says, “…I shall see God, (27) whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.”
The Apostle John writes, (1 John 3:2), “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”
Job is certain that this experience is personal and very real. What formerly sister Thompson believed by faith, she now sees by sight. She no longer resides in a body racked with pain, a body that locks within it the memories of loved ones that can not be released, but is in his presence at this very moment.
Job’s joyful exclamation. … My eyes shall behold (him)… How my heart yearns within me!” Job makes an exclamation of intense desire for this can be literally translated, “I am overwhelmed with the thought.”
I believe that sister Thompson could say as the Apostle Paul did, “We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 5:8).
It would be extremely selfish today to bring her back; even if we could, she is where her life of faith has prepared her to be. I cannot bring her back, but I believe she would want you to know that you too can have the joy that Job describes and I know she also possesses.
This joy is found in having a person relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus said (John 11:25-26), “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die…”
It is hard to rejoice now, but we should rejoice in our souls that she is in the presence of God.
We should rejoice that she now knows God perfectly, to behold the glory of His presence and to thank Him for saving her and bringing her safely home.
This is something we should all remember as we look to the days ahead. The grief we feel and all the emotions that go with that grief should draw us closer to Christ.
God knows about every breath we take, every pain we endure, and every groan we utter.
I can rejoice today because grandmother always sang a song “I’m working on a building” and one day she was asked why she didn’t stop singing that song and she stated she was not finished working on her building.
On Sunday, her building was finished, she saw a bright light and the Bible says that there is no need light in heaven because Jesus in all of His radiance shall light up heaven, I believe it was God ushering her into the building she had been working on.
As we say today, rest grandmother you fought a good fight, you finished your course, you have kept the faith. Now receive your reward, we will miss and we love you, but we know God loves you more.
