Untitled Sermon

Victory Over Death

There is a common theme that runs through both Paul’s and Jesus’ words.

In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, to sum it up in a sentence, he tells them to remain firm in their belief that they will have VICTORY over death.

In other words, fear not…what you were taught is TRUE. You will have victory over death in Jesus Christ…

And not in some sort of metaphorical way...

No…you will be RESURRECTED to bodily eternal life…in God’s Kingdom on Earth as it currently is in heaven.

In John’s Gospel, Jesus is telling his disciples to FEAR NOT, for He has power over death and will not abandon his own to death.

In other words…fear not, you will have victory over death in ME…Jesus Christ.

Yet, how do we get to this place of assurance...

Or how could even the disciples come to that place of assurance…given everything.

In fact, let’s take look at John’s Gospel:

In the Gospel reading, we find Jesus assuring his disciples that they should not be worried…

that their hearts should not be troubled.

But, let’s be honest, how could their hearts not be troubled.

I mean, like, Seriously!?!?

How could their hearts not be troubled when Jesus just told them that he was going to be handed over to the Romans and put to a humiliating death on the cross?

How could their hearts not be troubled when they’d been following him for three years,

after leaving their families and friends behind,

their hopes and dreams, their livelihoods,

their very futures behind with the hope that Jesus was the Messiah who would kick the Romans out of Israel?

How could their hearts not be troubled…

when everything they had done up to that fateful night seemed to be utterly and tragically in vain?

Yet, Jesus’ words echoed out into the silence…Let not your hearts be troubled…

With such confidence, Jesus utters words that seem to fly into the face of everything we know.

Yet, Jesus utters his words boldly…why?

Because Jesus knew that God was with him in his hour of darkness…and that God is with us in ours too.

The theme of our two readings today is also a theme throughout the entire Bible.

The one promise that God consistently gives us throughout the scriptures is this…

FEAR NOT for I am with you.

I will not abandon you, forsake you or fail you.

Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

Our God calls us to faith in Him…in Jesus Christ…

and it is that faith that provides the assurance we are being offered here in Scripture.

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And so on...

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‌But Name was more than the things I just listed.

S/he was a wo/man who knew who s/he was…and WHOSE s/he was.

S/he was a person of profound Christian faith…

S/he was a wo/man who LOVED her/his family more than life itself.

A person who prioritized them and loved them with every fiber of her/his being.

If there was one thing that I have learned about Name,

it was how much her/his family meant to her/him…

and how much s/he meant to her/his family.

So, here we find ourselves remembering the life of Name,

a wo/man whose life is a story that is interconnected with so many other stories..

Here we find ourselves remembering a life that was interconnected with, and touched, so many lives.

In the midst of the uncertainty of death, we have this hope…

GOD is greater than death…Amen?

In death there is an end; however,

In God, there is no end…for God is eternal.

Amid the uncertainty of life and death, we have THIS GREAT HOPE…

That God conquered death through our Lord Jesus Christ…

And that victory, in Jesus Christ, has been given to us…

Our Lord does not give, as the world does, only to take what was given away…

Rather, Jesus has given us eternal life and never-ending LOVE.

God loves Name so very much and, it is my strong conviction,

that Name is experiencing the fullness of that LOVE and that LIFE right now in the care and presence of God.

What’s more, GOD LOVES YOU TOO…and will not leave you alone, or abandoned…

But will fill your hearts with the assurance of the ETERNAL LIFE awaiting you if you but keep your eyes on God,

And your heart set on LOVE.

LOVE is God’s essence.

LOVE is where we find Name’s legacy,

and LOVE is the foundation you can build your legacy upon too…

So do not let your hearts be troubled…do not let them be afraid.

For GOD is with you,

and LOVE will guide you. Amen.