A Funeral Sermon
I. Paul’s command to us.
a. Flee from evil things
i. Avoid the base things in life
ii. Avoid love of money
1. it leads to foolish and harmful desires
2. it leads to ruin
b. pursue righteousness
i. That is, conformity with God’s ways, and opposition to sin
ii. Righteousness is a gift from Jesus
1. Rom 5:17 “For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.”
iii. makes us truly alive
1. Gal 3:21 “Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.”
2. we move towards zoe life
c. pursue godliness
i. A life which is morally good
ii. A holy, good life
iii. Follows the great commandment
1. Mt 22:37-38 “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.
iv. knows and shows love
1. 1 John 4:7-8, 12-16 “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
d. pursue faith
i. Mt 8:7-10 “And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.
ii. Charles Spurgeon once said about faith,”
1. Look at the faith of the master mainer! He looses his cable, he streams away from the land. For days, weeks, even months, he sees neither sail nor shore, yet on the goes day and night without fear, till one morning he finds himself exactly opposite the desired haven toward which he has been steering.
How has he found his way over the trackless deep? He has trusted his compass, his nautical almanac, hjis glasses, and the heavenly bodies; and obeying their guidance, without sighting land, he has steered so accurately that he has not changed a point to enter port.
It is a wonderful thing… It is glorious to be so far out on the ocean of Divine love, believing in God, and steering for Heaven straight away, by the direction of the Word of God.
e. pursue love
i. Biblical love, God’s love, Agape love
1. 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.
ii. love gives what we need, not what we want
iii. we must love for the right reasons
1. Oswald Chambers confessed, “If I work for God because I know it brings me the good opinion of those whose good opinion I wish to have, I am a Pharisee. If I love Jesus Christ, I will serve humanity, though men and women treat me like a doormat.”...
iv. we must love by action
1. C. S. Lewis once said: "it is easier to be enthusiastic about humanity with a capital "H" than it is to love individual men and women, especially those who are uninteresting, … exasperating, depraved, or otherwise unattractive. Loving everybody in general may be an excuse for loving nobody in particular."...
v. like the Good Samaritan
f. pursue perseverance
i. like suffering through my message
ii. like Job, we can’t give up when set back
iii. “keep on keeping on!”
iv. Col. Tex Turner, “You may not like it, but ya gotta love it!”
g. pursue gentleness
i. A fruit of the spirit
ii. One of the Blessed qualities from the Sermon on the Mount
iii. Not being easily provoked
iv. An attitude of “I’m important, but your more important.”
Conclusion: After this we are told to ‘fight the good fight”, to compete in the virtuous contest. We are to take hold of that which God offers us, eternal life. We are called to it, and at our Baptism, we confess it. If we live our life right, we confess it daily in our deeds, as well as our words. As St Francis said, “Preach the Gospel always, if necessary, use words.”
As I read this scripture, and meditated upon the words, the meanings and the theme, I had an insight. God spoke to me about the meaning of righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. God told me how to fully understand these things. How did God do it? He brought back to my mind our dearly departed.
He was a man who had 30 hour days. How else could he have done so much, for so many, and still sleep? He could make you laugh, like when he thanked God for the Yankee’s playoff loss during the offertory prayer. He commanded respect too. Back in September, he added a second prayer to our service. After church, I heard to deacons talking. The first said, “what did you think about his additional prayer?” The other replied, “Hey, if he says we need to pray again, by golly, we NEED to pray again!”
I’m not suggesting that we all try to be like him. Far from that. he wouldn’t like that, and neither would God. But, I am suggesting that we all try to be like the man that he tried to be like, the Living Son of God, Jesus our Lord.
That, I believe, would make both him and God smile.
