This sermon is NOT an original, as I have borrowed from an outline I discovered in my studies...This was an actual funeral sermon but I have removed the name...
Date Written: November 1, 2006
Date Preached: November 2, 2006
Sermon Details:
Sermon Series: Funeral Service for ________________
Sermon Title: We Grieve, but it is Grief with a Hope!
Sermon Text: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep 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 not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout , with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
1 Thess 4:13-18 (NASB)
Introduction:
Today we are all here hurting and mourning the loss of a loved one. To her family, she was momma, or maw-maw… to me she was a wonderful lady who loved me in spite of my flaws and failures.
Today we come together to grieve the death of _____________________. Today there is great pain in our midst. Today there is emotional suffering; physical anguish and our hearts are wounded to the point where we think that it could NEVER be mended.
For many of us here this event comes as a shock and we just simply cannot believe what has happened and what is not happening. This was a death that came upon us so much quicker than we ever could have believed… it caught us all by surprise and left us all speechless and hurting.
For many of us here this may even seem like a bad dream and we are hoping that we are going to wake up soon and all will be like we would hope for it to be… but the reality of life is that death is something we struggle with and something we have to ultimately face up to and deal with…
Even though it brings feelings of anger and frustration and the extreme unfairness of it all, we still have to come to the point where we have to face death… even when we do not want to…
We face the anger, we come to the realization that it is real and then depression sets in and we have to deal with the depression of losing a loved one. Long after the funeral and all our family and friends have gone, we have to face death alone… and in that moment there is great fear because we don’t know if we can do it!
But this morning I want to share with you that even though death seems to have won the victory here, I am here to tell you that this victory is merely temporary for death over ______________, because we know that she had accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior and we know that God has promised that those who ‘go to sleep’ in Him shall NOT be forsaken, but they shall be redeemed in glory.
The Apostle Paul wrote that… “…for me to live is Christ but for me to die is gain…” He understood that our life here on this world was to be dedicated to Christ but that our life after this life was something that all believers should actually look forward to because it was something so much more than this life!
The Apostle Paul also wrote that when we die and are absent from our bodies that we are present with the Lord. When we die, we do not enter into a ‘soul sleep’ we do not enter into a purgatory to await God’s final judgment on our lives… for those who know Christ as Savior, we have a promise that we will be with Him.
So this morning I want to share with you that even though as believers we grieve over the loss of our loved ones, our…
1. Grief, is a grief with hope
The grief of the believer is real, but the grief of the believer is short because we have the knowledge that our loved one is with Christ and is now no longer suffering the pain and difficulties they had in this world.
The Bible shares with us that in heaven there will be no pain, no suffering, no tears… that we would be changed and given a new and heavenly body, one free of any blemish and one free of any defect. It is an eternal body that will never be corrupted by the ravages of age, disease or trauma…
And in that new body we shall worship Christ for all eternity in a perfect place free from the evil influences and sin of this world and the Evil One…
Our grief is not like that of the non-believer. The non-believer has not accepted Christ and therefore is not sure about the after life and in fact the things of God are foolishness to him…
The non-believer does not accept death and in fact they strive against it and try to deny that death is real, and the grief can be overbearing and so powerful that depression and anger can rule and take over the heart… but as believers our grief is a grief with a hope…
In reality when we survey what our grief is… we can find that the grief of the believer is really a grief for those who are left, for those who remain, because we miss the loved one we have lost.
We know that our lost loved one is in a better place, but we still grieve because we will no longer see them in this physical world, but must wait patiently to see them again in heaven…
Yes we grieve, but our grief is a grief that has a great deal of hope because of Christ Jesus. Our grief does not overwhelm us because Christ is our strength and Christ is our peace in these times of difficulty!
But not only is our grief a grief with hope, that hope is a specific hope…
2. Our Hope is in Jesus
There are many who ask us as believers how we can be so upbeat and seemingly peaceful in a time such as this, and we need to respond to them like this…
I have a hope and a promise that I will see my loved one again…
This hope is not in a book, although God has given me a book to read it in…
This hope is not in a singular promise from a book, although I can find this promise written in God’s Book…
No my hope is found not in something… but it is in SOMEONE! My hope is in the person of Jesus Christ!
And even though we do grieve for our loved ones, this grief is tempered by that eternal hope that we have in the person of Jesus Christ and the promise that He made to those who believe and trust in Him. He said in John 14:1-3…
1 "Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 "In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3 "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 (NASB)
Christ has promised that after this life, we are going to be with Him… and He is going to come and get us and take us there to be with Him.
And is want all of you here today to understand that is just what happened a few days ago…
Jesus made a special trip down to [city, state] and He came and got _________________________ and He fulfilled His promise to her that where He was… there she would be also..
When we know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we have a hope for the next life because of WHO He is and because of WHAT He has done for us…
So when we look at death, we can see that the believer DOES grieve but they do not grieve as the non-believer and that is because they have a hope… not in something, but in SOMEONE… our hope is in the resurrected Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
Our grief is different because of the hope Christ brings into our lives and because of this hope…
3. Our view of death is different
Because of the hope we have in Christ our outlook on death has changed. Death is no longer the big bully we fear and run from…
Death is no longer the great equalizer and something to be feared!
For the believer who has accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, death is merely a doorway into the next life where Christ has promised a place for all who believe in Him and accept Him as Savior…
For the believer death does not bring sorrow, but rejoicing and anticipation. We do not long for death, but we do not fear it either! Like I mentioned earlier, that the Apostle Paul wrote, “…for me to live is Christ but for me to die is gain…”
As believers our lives here on this earth are to be focused on Jesus and doing His will and being the person HE has called us to be… and in that we do not seek out death… we do not long for death to come…
But when death comes knocking at our door, we do not fear it because death to the believer is a positive experience… it is one that leads us into the arms of our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ…
Death is what reunites us with our loved ones who have gone on before us…
__________________knew that she had plenty of family waiting on her and she did not fear death! She knew her time was soon to come, but we never know the day or the hour, and she was ready.
She was not seeking to die, but she knew that when she did, it would not be a terrible thing, but a time of rejoicing for her and a time of reuniting with loved ones for her…
Yes as believers we grieve the death of our loved ones, but our grief is not like that of the non-believers because we have a hope in the person of Jesus Christ who has promised us a place in heaven… and because of that promise and hope in Christ our view of death is much different than that of the world…
Conclusion:
This morning we have come together to grieve the death of a dear loved one, but I know ______________ and she would NOT have wanted me to stand before you today without sharing this one thing about her Savior!
Today there are many of you who are here that may not know about this hope and peace that I have spoken about and it is because you do not know Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord!
This morning you may be thinking that what I am saying is a bunch of foolishness, but my friends I tell you that Jesus Christ is the answer for the grief in your heart today…
Jesus Christ is the answer for the hole in your life that you can never seem to fill… you may have tried drugs, sex, alcohol, a career, a family, or many other things… but you are never filled!
I am telling you that Christ is the ONLY person who can fill that void in your life. I call on you today to come to Christ and lean on Him and ask Him to forgive your sin and save your soul…
Don’t come to Christ because you think He will make your life perfect and trouble free… that does not happen. We live in a broken and sinful world and the rain falls on the just and the unjust alike…
Don’t come to Jesus thinking that all your problems will simply vanish, because that is NOT why we come to Christ! Come to Christ to have your sins forgiven and that you would be saved from the wrath to come and have a place reserved in heaven with Him!
_________________ is there now, Jesus has taken her to her mansion just over the hilltop… She is now fellowshipping with her loved ones, the believers of old, and they are all worshipping at the feet of Jesus.
As the song I sang says… Beulah land, I’m longing FOR you… we all long to stand on that golden shore and be with Jesus, but we are called by God to carry on until He calls us home.
So today I want us to celebrate in the home-going of a believer… __________________________is now in her eternal home with God… don’t you want to be with her someday! If you know Jesus Christ, you can… but if you reject Him today… you may never ever get a chance to accept Him… don’t delay, give your heart to Jesus today!
[Pray here]
