Funeral Message for a Believer
____ was a grand lady(gentleman), and her(his) life was unusual in many respects. She(he) faced death in the same manner she(he) faced life. Both were challenges to be met head on. Death to the Christian is, in many ways, like GRADUATION DAY. Both involve years of preparation and training.
Psalms 90:10 The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
Yes, there is sorrow in both graduation and death. That sorrow comes from leaving either the halls of education or the realm of time. Both bring a separation from friends and the normal pattern of social experience.
Philippians 1:23 For I am hard pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.
Graduation and death can and should have joy and anticipation for what lies ahead.
2 Timothy 4:6 The time of my departure is at hand. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.
2 Corinthians 5:8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. 9 Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.
Many do not have this "Joy and Anticipation" because they have tried to make the "Training Grounds" their permanent dwelling place.
Matthew 6:19 "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 "but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
1 Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him."
____ now has a perfect body made by God, just for her(him). In her(his) New Body without pain - without infirmities - ____ has already looked into the face of Jesus. The GREATEST benefit of this "GRADUATION DAY", through death of the Believer, is that we will be like Christ.
1 John 3:1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
Genesis 5:21 Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah. 22 After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and begot sons and daughters. 23 So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. 24 And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. 25 Methuselah lived one hundred and eighty-seven years, and begot Lamech. 26 After he begot Lamech, Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-two years, and begot sons and daughters. 27 So all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years; and he died.
Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,
If we learn anything from history, it is that death is as certain as life, itself. The span of life, and the manner in which we live life have changed over the course of history. However with the passing of time, the essence of life, the basic needs of every living person and the fact that physical life will come to an end has not changed.
Jesus died at 33 years of age. Today, we would say He died a young man. However, He lived about six years beyond the average life span in the Roman Empire of his day. We live much longer nowadays, but the question remains: "What are we doing with those additional years?"
It makes no difference how old or young we may be.., we are all getting older at a very predictable rate of 24 hours each day. However, the exact moment we cease to age and step from time into eternity is not as predictable. Those of all ages die, both young and old. For some, death is a subject that cannot be faced with reality. Therefore, they move through life without any preparation for the one event that is sure to come.
____ not only faced the subject of death with reality, she(he) looked forward to it. No, she(he) did not look forward to death from a sadistic, morbid perspective. She(he) felt that she(he) had fulfilled her(his) purpose in life, …that of preparing for eternity… AND she(he) wanted to go home to be with her(his) God and Savior Jesus Christ.
The process of dying, whether brought on by heart failure, accident, cancer, age, etc. is not an enjoyable thought. However, for those who have accepted Christ as their Savior, that "act" of death.., the stepping from this life into eternity.., is one of joy, tranquility and eternal bliss.
God’s concept of the "act" (not the process) of death is recorded for us in....
Psalms 116:15 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints.
The Apostle Paul echoes God’s concept of the Believer’s death in....
Philippians 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 For I am hard pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. 24 Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you.
When expressing God’s concept of death, for those who have accepted Christ as Savior and are therefore saints, the psalmist is careful to tell us that the death of a person is precious in the sight of the Lord, ONLY if that person is a saint of God, or a Believer in Christ. You see, the death of the non-believer.., the one who has not accepted Christ as Savior.., is not precious in the sight of God. It is with thankful hearts that we can approach this time with the knowledge that ____ placed her(his) faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as her(his) personal Savior years ago.
We just read in the Psalm that in God’s opinion, the death of the righteous is precious to Him. Ezekiel, on the other hand, records the opinion of God concerning the death of one who has rejected Christ as their personal Savior.
Ezekiel 33:11 "Say to them: ’As I live,’ says the Lord God, ’I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’
There are a good reasons why the psalmist reports that God says, "precious is the death of His saints", but notice the stark contrast of God’s reaction to the death of one who has not accepted Christ as personal Savior (recorded in Ezekiel 33).., God said that He has "no pleasure in the death of the wicked".
God finds NO pleasure in the death of the unsaved person. However, the death of one of His saints is very precious. Remember, we are talking about the "act" of death not the "process" of dying.
God has pleasure when one of His saints comes home through the portal of death, and God has also made provision for Believers as they prepare for death and as they experience it.
2 Corinthians 5:1 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. 2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, 3 if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. 4 For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. 6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord.
Paul, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, gives us some insights into this mysterious transformation of a Believer from mortal life into endless life. To most, this "act" of moving from mortal life into endless life, is generally know by the term "death", which to some seems to mean "the end". To the Believer, the "act" of death is just the beginning of real life with no end.
As we look at this passage to find our comfort and hope, we must remember that this process, described by Paul, is referring only to the ones who have accepted Christ as Savior.
Because death is that unknown factor into which none of us have entered or experienced, Paul uses physical and time oriented illustrations, of which most are familiar, to direct our thinking to the unknown in this realm of the spiritual.
Paul uses different types of dwelling places to show the difference between mortal life in this present time, and eternal life beyond time. The earthly house or body in which we now dwell is likened to a tent or a temporary dwelling place. After physical death, ___’s "tent" was still visible, but ____ was no longer using her(his) tent. ____‘s earthly "tent" was battered by time and the rigors of living.
On the other hand, ____ and each Born Again Believer has a brand new body already in heaven. Paul says of this heavenly body, that it is like a sturdy building, a solid eternal structure in contrast to our temporary earthly tent.
____ stepped out of her(his) earthly "tent", with all its tears, hurts and problems into a heavenly building not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. In her(his) heavenly body, ____ is no longer struggling to walk or get around. In her(his) heavenly body, she(he) can see clearly, do things easily and is not limited by time or space.
____ can travel and is not restricted by flight schedules, AND in her(his) heavenly body, she(he) can stand face to face with Christ her(his) Savior!!!! A reality that she(he) longed to experience.
Our earthly "tent", in which we live this present life, is only temporary and does get beat around and damaged by the natural elements, on a daily basis. In this passage, Paul describes the results of this constant pounding of time and the elements as "groanings". The older our earthly tent becomes, the more it groans as a result of this pounding. The psalmist describes this aspect of life in…
Psalms 90:10 The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
____ made it well past that "70 year" mark, mentioned in the Psalm, but the last few years were filled with physical "groanings", AND she(he) was looking forward to the time when she(he) would receive her(his) new body. That new body will not be made from the natural elements through physical birth but will be an eternal body that is made by God.
____ slipped from this "earth-tent", racked by pain, into a body specially prepared, by God, just for her(him). In those almost 100(+/-) years of labor and sorrow that constituted ____’s earthly journey, she(he) didn’t just sit around waiting for death to come and take her(him) home to glory. ____ lived life with passion, determination and a desire that this sin scarred world be a better place because of the life she(he) lived.
Life is made up of memories. Some are very pleasant and some constitute, at best, "labor and sorrow". No matter how great or sorrowful those memories may be, eventually the passing of time, along with wear and tear will destroys this earthly tent in which we made those memories.
As a Believer in Christ, we step out of our tattered and worn tent into a building made, just for us, by God, Himself.
2 Corinthians 5:1 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. 2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, 3 if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. 4 For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. 6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord.
It is interesting to see God’s description of the "act" of death. God says that "mortality is swallowed up by life". This has reference to the "act of death", not the process of dying.
The human perspective of death is "life is swallowed up of mortality". In the earthly realm, this physical body began to die as soon as it was born. That is why we are called mortals.
However for the Christian, REAL life begins when mortal life ends. God has a life prepared for Believers. A life that is literally "out of this world"!! What God has prepared for those who love Him and have accepted His Son as their Savior is beyond any human description or our ability to imagine.
1 Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him."
I don’t know what a person does or sees the first few weeks they are in heaven, BUT whatever that may be, ____ is doing and seeing right now and is enjoying every moment of it, and is doing so hand-in-hand with the love of her(his) life, her husband(his wife) ____.
Because of these truths, we, as Christians, can be realistic about the fact of aging and death. God’s plan is pretty much the same for the "young" and the "old." God’s perspective is not limited to the physical. God sees people as eternal souls, as unique individuals. God also sees time as a preparation for eternity and death as our graduation from this time of preparation.
Faith in Christ and knowledge of His eternal program can help us accept the balding of our heads, hardening of our arteries, cancer, etc., because Christ is able to give us power, at any age, to make the best of our God-given resources, for that age.
Life does not begin at 40. Nor does life begin at 65.
Life BEGINS when we enter into an eternal relationship with the living Lord Jesus Christ, as our Savior. With Christ, we can face the "labor and sorrows" of life.., AND we can face death with courage and hope.
In the 17th chapter of John’s gospel, Jesus tells us that He has power to give Eternal Life. Then, He makes a statement that we need to hear and understand today…
John 17:3 "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
Christ said, "And this is Eternal Life ...." When we accept Christ as our personal Savior, we have Eternal Life. Not something in the far distance future, not "pie in the sky by and by"! "This IS Eternal Life". We can have that Eternal Life RIGHT NOW!!! Yes, we will have an endless life in the future, but to know Christ, to trust Christ, to serve Christ is Eternal Life, RIGHT NOW!!!! That’s in the present tense.
To live as a man or a woman in Christ is to have Eternal Life right here, right now! When we have this Eternal Life. We have the kind and quality of life that makes the transition from our earthly life into our new and glorious endless life with our risen Lord a mere change of scenes -- FOR THE BETTER !!!
Earlier we read that Methuselah lived "nine hundred sixty-nine years; and he died." A life long on quantity, but nothing is said about the quality of that life.
Jesus lived 33 years, and He died. However, the quality of Christ’s life changed the flow of nature from …"life is swallowed up of mortality": To… "mortality is swallowed up of life"!!!! Christ didn’t stay in the grave, He rose in newness of life. The quality of Christ’s life even remade history. Now, the calendar years are counted from His birth.
It was through His life and death that God was able to make Eternal Life available to all, and the possession of all who all will receive His Son as their Savior. BECAUSE of these facts, we can have comfort in times like these.
Paul expresses this comfort in.....
1 Thessalonians 4:13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.
God is not suggesting that there should be no sorrow at the death of a loved one. However, He is saying that our sorrow should not be of the same quality as those who are outside of Christ, for they have no hope of having Eternal Life, either now or after death.
Our sorrow is primarily for our own loss, and at the same time we must rejoice in the immeasurable gain that ____ has already received and will continue to receive for all eternity. We sorrow with the blessed reality and hope that, as Believers, we will be together again.
Paul goes on in this passage to say....
1 Thessalonians 4:13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. 15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
Our comfort becomes a personal reality when we, in Christ likeness, comfort others out of own experience.
There is no greater sorrow than to be totally possessed with our own fortunes or misfortunes. A small child lost from his mother demonstrates the essence of panic and sorrow, BOTH for the child and mother. However, there is no greater human comfort than when the loving arms of the mother encircle that child and he relaxes in her grasp.
It is not the location that changes panic and sorrow into comfort and joy. Comfort does not come to such a child because of where the child is, or what the child owns, or his great education, etc. Comfort comes because of who the child is with. Today, ____ is with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, in the presence of God the Father.
As family and friends, we certainly should accept the sympathy of others, BUT we must not rely on others for our lasting comfort. Real and lasting comfort can only come from and through God, Himself.
2 Corinthians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
I would not wish for us that God would remove the "void" in our lives. To remove that void, God would have to remove almost 100(+/-) years of living.
Instead, I pray that we will allow God to fill that "void" with His special presence and fellowship.
May we always live in the reality of the blessed hope of all Believers. That "hope" being that Christ is coming back, and He will bring with Him all those who have died in Christ.., and so we will ever be with the Lord.
1 Thessalonians 4:13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.
Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,
Psalms 116:15 Precious in the sight of the LORD Is the death of His saints.
Hebrews 11:4 By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.
I Thessalonians 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. 15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
© Clyde White, Austin TX, 2006
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(Scripture Text NKJ unless stated)
(Many illustrations from sermoncentral.com)
