Bailey Coughlin Memorial
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I have been at many funerals where the pastor said that this is not a day of sadness over death but celebration over life
They can usually get away with that because the memorial is for an elderly person who lived a full life
But I am here to tell you the truth that we cannot avoid
While this is a day we celebrate life
This is also a tragedy and there is no getting around it.
On Friday, April 21st Bailey Coughlin died at the age of 22
Just a quarter into her life, her life ended
A woman who was good at making you laugh and smile with her unique sense of humor will only be able to do so in memory now
A woman who could fill your heart with delight with her musical abilities will no longer exercise such a gift.
A woman, made in the image of God for a purpose to image the glory of her creator has tasted the bitter fruit of death at 22
An unhelpful reaction we can have at a time like this is
to downplay the tragedy as much as possible
and to stifle the God-given emotion of sadness and tears that God has given you to respond to such a situation
Be sad
Shed copious tears
Mark how many times you see in the book of Psalms (a book of prayers and songs of worship) tears and sadness
You won’t get very far into it until you come across
1 Give ear to my words, O Lord; consider my groaning. 2 Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you do I pray.
I’m not here to tell you lies and try to downplay the sadness
Instead, I am here to be real with it
But also to tell you the truth as to where God has told you to take such sadness
Such sadness can produce tears of hope if you rely upon God
4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
There is a way for you to grieve right now as one who has hope in what God is ultimately doing
But to have such hope you need to turn away from your own thinking and understanding, and submit to his truth
I beg that you might do just that as I spend the next few minutes declaring to you God’s truth and what he calls on you to do in light of it.
Sadness is appropriate here because
Death is Our Enemy
26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
Death is an intrusion to creation
In the beginning, when God made all things good, death did not exist
Part of God’s good creation did not entail having to say goodbye to loved ones
So the feeling you get in your stomach when you consider physical death is normal since it was not always a part of the human experience
It is a cursed intruder
God threatened death since the beginning as the curse he would place on us if our father Adam sinned (disobeyed God)
Just like how you can be free in our society as long as you don’t break the laws. But if you disobey, then you will find yourself confined in prison
God told Adam that there is life for obedience to him, but death for disobedience
But the death promised for disobedience was not just physical death, but spiritual death
Your Creator created you for one main purpose, that you would glorify him (show everyone who he is by your obedience to him) and enjoy him forever
The thing that stops this purpose from happening is your sin or disobedience to God
And when sin stops you from glorifying God and enjoying him, the bible calls this death
Spiritual death now
(Which) Leads to physical death later
Paul says death is our enemy, both spiritual and physical
And he says that the sting of death is sin
The poison of death is sin
The thing that brings death is sin
So the point I want you to see is that your sin against your holy Creator drives your spiritual death, and it leads to your physical death
So the truth to why death is so sad
Is because death points to a spiritual death that began in the first human
And continues today through sin
What is spiritual death?
Do you ever wonder why life seems empty and vain
That though something you do might dull that feeling, it eventually always comes back like a lucid nightmare
When you were a youth you tried to answer that nagging feeling of emptiness and vanity with friends and good times
Some people never get out of this mindset and it leads to a life of drugs and alcohol
Although the high promises so much, it never delivers ultimately
Which only makes that nagging feeling of emptiness more pronounce
Or perhaps you got out of the youthful party scene, and try to answer that empty feeling with a career
As you gain your promotions and prestige it can numb the feeling, but you cannot deny that as you have your quieter moments like trying to get to sleep, or laying in bed with a sickness, you cannot escape this underlining feeling of emptiness despite the success
Or perhaps you have tried to dull the feeling of emptiness and vanity by having children and a family
Once more there are periods where you seem to feel more fulfilled but ultimately you can’t help but find yourself with an underlining feeling of emptiness and vanity
God understands the condition of your soul
Although you are confused by it, God is not
And he tells you why
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
Your emptiness, is driven by a death that is the result of living a life of disobedience to God
God’s wrath is placed on all who live a life rejecting him
And the fruit of this is spiritual death is finalized in physical death as it brings us to the hell of eternal death
Death is the enemy
It is sad, it is a great burden
It is the bitter fruit we receive for our disobedience to our Creator who is all good
But I am here to say, despite how sad this moment is as we consider physical death
And despite how depressing it is as we consider our own spiritual death
Our God in his kindness has offered a way out
A way of abundant life both now and forever
24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
Truly, Truly
The emphasis is in a world of lies and falsehood, what’s being said here is truth
I say to you
This is Jesus Christ
Truly God, truly man born of a virgin through God the Spirit
The God who imposed the curse of spiritual and physical death because of your sin
Took on true flesh and has told you truth
Whoever hears my word, and believes him who sent me
Whoever hears God’s word, and believes God’s word
He does not come into judgement, but has passed from death to life
We experience death both spiritually and physically because of the judgement of God against our sin
And Jesus, the God man, says you can go from death to life if you believe upon him
The reason why he has such power to bring you from death to life is because he took upon himself both physical and spiritual death on the cross
God placed the curse of death because of sin on Jesus
The sins of those who would believe upon Jesus was placed upon Jesus when he hung on the cross
And he suffered the punishment they deserved even unto death
And before he died he said it is finished!
Meaning the wrath of God was satisfied in his suffering on the cross
So that those who believe upon this Jesus can be forgiven of their sins since it was placed on him on the cross
And no longer receive God's wrath and judgement, but his grace and peace
Since Jesus rose again from the dead three days later, he has the power to give you spiritual life now, and physical life when he comes again
You can go from death to life
Belief that you need to have to be saved is not you saying a prayer and continuing on with your life as before
If I were to tell you that your normal drive to work will lead to a cliff and will kill you Monday morning
But a longer away around will get you there safely
You will show your belief in my words by taking the longer way
Your actions after you heard my words will show if you believe me or not
Your life, after you claim belief will show whether or not you have true belief
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
If you have true belief you will see how your sin is the sting of death
That it offends a holy God, who judges sinners with death
And you will see that in love he has offered Jesus Christ his son
Who took sin upon himself in death
And raised to life three days later
So by believing upon him you can walk in newness of life now
That means obeying him and turning from your sin
With the hope that one day, he will return and will banish death
To those who truly believe they will receive eternal life
To those who refuse Christ will receive eternal death in hell
Are you tired…loaded with a heavy weight of grief and sorrow
Do you feel the weight of your spiritual death?
I call on you to turn away from the sins that promises life but only brings death
And believe upon Jesus and his work of salvation