The Resurection and The Life

INTRODUCTION:

On behalf of Nancy, Rylan and Landon and the rest of the family, I would just like to thank you all the love and support that you have given them during this difficult time. Thank you for coming today as we celebrate and remember Kim’s life.

Kim was full of life, she was kind, sincere, and affectionate. She was a woman with many gifts and talents. She was a loving daughter, mother, sister, and friend. She had an infectious smile and was gracious too everyone she met. she will be greatly missed.

Kim had a typical Midwest upbringing. Born in St. Louis, MO on May 24, 1967. She grew up living in Moline, IL and Omaha, NE. She eventually made her way to Sioux falls, graduating from Augustana University in 1998 with a BA of Business Administration. Following graduation, she married Randal with whom she became a mother to two wonderful boys, Rylan and Landon. Kim loved her family and friends. She enjoyed spending time with her boys and enjoyed watching them play basketball. Kim loved spending time with her mother Nancy traveling to Omaha and The Cities to shop, catch a show or eating at her favorite restaurants. One thing I found out is that Kim and I shared the same love of coffee. Nancy would tell me that she and Kim and the Boys would have visited almost all the coffee shops in Sioux Falls on many occasions. Kim will be missed, however for us who have faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we know that death is not final, the is hope of Eternal Life with our Heavenly Father who loves us beyond comprehension.

In the Bible in the eleventh chapter of John, there is an account of Jesus experiencing the death of one of His closest friends on this earth, Lazarus. Jesus, Himself, knows what it feels like to lose someone close to him. In that same account Jesus Weeps. He knows that he has the power to raise Lazarus from the dead, but he knows that he is going to pass away again. Jesus knew that through His perfect life, His death and Resurrection there is the hope of eternal life with Him where there is no pain, no suffering, and no death. Would you please join me as I read our Scripture text for today found in John 11:21-27

READ JOHN 11:21-27

I. HOPELESSNESS OF DEATH

One thing that I love about Scripture is that it is honest. There are passages in Scripture that do not sugar coat the truth and say what we all want to say. In verse 21 of our text today we see Martha give such an example. “Lord if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Martha speaks the truth that she is feeling in her sorrow and grief. This is the same conversation that I have had with many people experiencing sickness and facing death. If God loves me, why won’t he heal me? If you are there, God, why am I suffering? God if you were there why did my mom, grandma, wife, have to die? The truth is there is no hope in death. In life, death is as final as it gets. It is something that we are all going to have to experience one day, it is the great equalizer.

The truth that we read in Scripture is that death was never a part of God original plan for us. God has loved us since the beginning. His plan was to create human beings in His image to be His ambassadors, His co-creators, to rule and reign over His creation. But the hope of that plan was shattered when sin and death entered the world through deception resulting in the fall. God knew that the only way to fix this situation was for Him to do it Himself and that is why Jesus Christ came into this world, to save humanity from the consequence of separation from God for eternity. Jesus Christ offers hope through His resurrection from the dead. In the same way Christ conquered the finality of death, so do we, as we put our faith in Him.

II. HOPE IN THE RESURRECTION

Jesus says to Martha that her brother will rise again and Martha, demonstrates her faith in Christ, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Martha has hope in the resurrection. She trusted in the fact that God promised that He would fix the problem of sin and death through faith in the promised Messiah. Jesus is essentially doing what I often do with people when they are facing death. Jesus is asking Martha what do you believe happens after we die? The hope that we have as Christians for eternal life is not based on how good of human beings we can be. Our hope is in the fact that Jesus Christ was a perfect, sinless, human being who died the death that we all deserve to appease a wrathful God, that we, human beings, were responsible for. Martha declares to Christ that she believes in God’s perfect plan to save the World and Jesus reveals to her the same truth that every Christian believes. “Jesus said ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

I had this conversation with Kim. It was the day that she received really bad news about the cancer a couple of weeks ago. I asked her if she had confidence in where she would spend eternity. “She said I hope so, I mean I have been a good person, but I don’t really know.” I told her that I could tell her good news that she would and could know with a guaranteed promise from God that loves her more than anyone else has loved her on this earth. I asked her if she believed that she was a sinner. She confessed that she was. She did not try to make excuses for her sin or why she did it she just admitted it that she was guilty. I asked her if she believed that Jesus died for the sins, and she said she did. I was able to share with Kim the good news that I was able to declare to her the good news that her sins have been forgiven and she received communion. I declared to her the gospel promise the apostle Paul wrote in Romans 10:9, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

III. HOPE IN THE PROMISE ETERNAL LIFE

The Hope we have a Christians is that there is life beyond the brokenness of this world and the brokenness in us. In verse 27 we see that Martha receives this hope at her brother Lazarus’ funeral. She says, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ the son of God, who is coming into the world.” The other joy I was able to share with the family was on the day that Kim passed, Nancy expressed her relief that Kim received Christ as her Lord and Savior before she became unconscious. Nancy turned to Landon and Rylan and asked them if they believed in Christ as their Lord and Savior. Landon immediately said that he did and was resting in Christ, however Rylan was not quite sure. I was able to walk Rylan through the same process of receiving God’s grace as I did with his mom. Rylan confessed Christ as his Lord and Savior a few hours before Kim passed.

When someone passes who is a Christian, we call it a celebration of life. Celebrating the life, they had on earth but also the celebration that we will see our loved ones again in Glory. It is an iron clad promise that God continually repeats over and over in Scripture, “I will be with you in every aspect of this life, and I will be with you eternally in the life to come.” For the Christian we do not say “good-bye”, we say “I’ll see you later.”

The truth is none of us deserve God’s Grace. There is not one person here today that is any better or worse than anyone else. Romans 3:23 says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” There is no number of good deeds or righteous living that is going to make up for the sin that is inside all of us. This is what it means that God pours out His grace upon us. God pursues us with His love and mercy, and He wants us to spend eternity with Him. No one can earn God’s favor, and no one deserves it, He offers it to us as a gift. We can either reject it or accept it.

The Bible says that one day we are all going to have to stand before God’s throne of judgement. We are going to have to account for everything in our life, what we have said, what we have done with the resources and talents that God has given us. The question that I want you to consider is, do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God? Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Faith in Jesus Christ is the way of salvation and there is nothing we can do in our life to add to it or take away from it.

CONCLUSION

My prayer is that everyone, here today, would know that hope of eternity through faith in Christ. In Christ, there is nothing that you could ever do that would make God love you any more or any less than He does right now. Romans 5:8, says “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” The truth is in Christ, there is nothing you need to fear. Kim has finished her race in this life and is rejoicing with her heavenly Father in everlasting glory. She is living in the reality of Revelation 21:4-5, “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. And He who sits on the throne said, behold, I am making all things new.” What a glorious day when our faith shall be sight and we will join all of those who placed their faith in Christ for salvation for eternity.