Graveside Service - Elijah Waters

Order of Service

Welcome and Opening Prayer

Eulogy

Scripture Reading: Lamentations 3:17-25

Hymn: Amazing Grace

Words of Committal

Prayer

Hymn: Doxology

Benediction

Welcome and Opening Prayer

We are gathered to:

Remember Elijah.

Celebrate his life

Recognize the grace and wisdom of God in even the most heartbreaking of situations.

But most of all, we are here to say goodbye and lay him to rest in hope of the Resurrection.

Let’s pray.

Prayer

Thanks for Elijah’s life.

For giving Devin and Leanne the time they had with him to love him, pray with him and show him the love of Christ.

We thank you for the hope that he is with you and that Devin and Leanne will one day see him again.

Comfort and peace for the family

God’s glory in this time.

Eulogy

What can you say at the grave of a child?

There are no words that can make any of it better.

It is some of the greatest pain anyone can ever know in this life.

And I think its normal when faced with this much pain and grief, to ask why?

Why did God let this happen? What is God doing?

Isn’t He good? Isn’t He kind?

How do grieve in the face of this with all of these questions swirling in our heads?

Job

There was once a man in the Bible named Job.

Job was a great man. Blameless and upright. One who feared God and turned away from evil (Job 1:1).

And he had great wealth. He had 7 sons and 3 daughters.

7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and the Bible says very many servants.

One day Satan came to God from going to and fro about the earth prowling like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.

And God asked if He had considered Job?

Satan said of course Job praised God, but it wasn’t for no reason.

Look how much God had given him.

But if God took away everything Job had, Job would curse Him to His face.

So the Lord said to Satan “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” And Satan went out from the presence of the Lord (Job 1:12).

And in a day everything Job had was lost.

One servant came and said, His livestock, His servants, even Job’s very children were taken from him, and Job was left with nothing.

After this Job mourned but He never stopped praising the Lord.

He said Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong (Job 1:21-22).

But Satan didn’t stop there.

He attached Job’s health. He covered him with sores. All of Job’s life was misery and pain.

And if that weren’t enough, Job’s three friends thought his sin had brought all this on himself, and his wife even told Him to curse God and die (Job 2:9).

Job longed for an answer (Job 10:2). Why had all this happened? What was God doing?

It looked like God was crushing him and he had no hope.

And God came and answered Job in the whirlwind and said.

Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me (Job 38:2-3).

And God proceeded to question Job.

Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation or measured and set its cornerstone?

Where were you when I spoke and the darkness burst forth with light and the world came into being?

Who shut in the oceans? who marked off the limits of its tides?

Where were you when I raised the mountains high and laid the valleys low?

Who is the One that sends rain to water the earth and give food to every living thing?

Who hunts the prey for young lions?

Where does light dwell and where is the place of darkness?

Who is the One who governs the whole world according to the counsel of His will?

And Job answered and said: I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ That’s what God asked. Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.”

For most of my life, I did not know what to do with the book of Job.

Job was upright and blameless. And when He lost everything He asked why?

And the way the Lord responded to Him seemed almost mean...

But that’s not what’s happening at all.

We don’t have to know why because we know God.

He is perfectly wise. Infinitely good.

He is a Good Father and is Sovereign over all things.

Everything He does is right, and nothing happens that is outside of His control, and perfectly serving His sovereign purpose, even when we don’t understand it.

This is a great comfort to God’s people, even when nothing makes sense.

Because we don’t have to know why. We know God is good. That He loves us in Christ.

He does not desire to crush us, hurt us, or kill us.

But He is working all things together for His own glory even if we don’t see exactly how that is.

This saves us from the anxiety of having to know why and let’s us rest in the grace and goodness of God.

As Charles Spurgeon said There is no attribute more comforting to His children than that of God’s Sovereignty. Under the most adverse circumstances, in the most severe trials, they believe that Sovereignty has ordained their afflictions, that Sovereignty overrules them, and that Sovereignty will sanctify them all (Daniel, The History and Theology of Calvinism, 191).

We might not ever know why God allowed this to happen, but we do know that God is good.

He’s in control.

And He’s perfectly wise in all that He does. And that’s enough.

Conclusion

Elijah lived a short life, but all he ever knew was the love of his mom and dad.

And now, as sad as we are, he is with the Lord. No more pain. No more tears. No more death.

He has traded all of those things for joy forevermore.

We remember what Jesus said.

Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God (Luke 18:16).

As we bury Eli and lay him to rest, we grieve. And we mourn. But not as those without hope.

We grieve knowing that sweet boy is with the Lord, freed from all sin and death and the brokenness of this world.

And one day all of us who believe in Christ will see him again.

We will see our dear brother and son on the other side of glory, and in that sweet reunion we will celebrate the Lord and all of His grace for forgiving our sin and bringing us out of death and into eternal life.

Let’s Pray

Praise for who God is

Prayer for faith

Prayers for comfort

Scripture Reading

Lamentations 3:17-25 My soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; so I say, “My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the Lord.” Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.

Hymn: Amazing Grace

Words of Committal

This day we recognize that it has pleased Almighty God in His infinite wisdom and mercy to take to Himself the soul of our dearly beloved who has departed from this world to join the saints and the angels in Heaven to worship in the presence of the glory of God.

We, therefore, commit his body to the ground; earth to earth, and dust to dust; in the sure and certain hope that he will rise again to everlasting life through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

What is sown, today, perishable, will be raised imperishable. What is sown in weakness, will be raised in power. What is sown in dishonor, will be raised in glory on the Day Christ returns to judge the living and the dead and make all things new. Where the former things will pass away, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, and we will dwell with God in heavenly glory and worship Christ with all the Saints forever and ever and ever. Amen.

Prayer

Heavenly Father,

We turn to you when faced with great doubt and uncertainty.

God we know you are all-wise and infinitely good.

That no evil, pain, or sorrow comes to us without first passing through your hand.

But Lord, these are the days we need faith.

Lord, we trust that you are the one who determines life and death. That you determine the times and places which men live (Acts 17:26) and you are the One who numbers all of our days.

God we trust that you work all things according to the counsel of your will (Ephesians 1:11), and not even one sparrow falls to the ground apart from your sovereign will.

God we might not understand, but we do trust. We trust that you are a good Father. And we adore your name even when our praise mingles with our tears.

And though we mourn the loss of our loved one, we give thanks that we do not mourn as those who have no hope.

God we thank you for the comfort that Elijah is with you. No more pain, no more death, no more tears, but only the fullness of joy forever more.

Lord God we pray for comfort for the family. For Devin, Leanne, Emerson, and Ellie. God you are the God of all comfort and your word says you are near to the broken-hearted.

Heavenly Father be near to them, and comfort them with peace that surpasses all understanding. Give them faith to trust in you.

To hold firm to Christ who was sorrowful to death (Mt. 26:38) and yet said “Not my will, but your will be done.”

God we don’t always understand your will, but faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things unseen.

Lord you give and take away. Give us the faith to say Blessed be the name of the LORD (Job 1:21).

Doxology

Final Instructions

Meal at Friendship Baptist Fellowship Hall - For Family Only

Benediction

1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.