Funeral Sermon - Our Need for Reconciliation

DEATH CAUSES PEOPLE TO ASK QUESTIONS about life.

Especially when death claims someone so full of joy and love for the Lord as Janice was.

We ask questions like

“Why are we here?”

“How do we make sense of such a short life?”

It all seems to make no sense.

But the Lord Jesus Christ answers this question in Matthew 22:34-40.

Matthew 22:34–40 ESV

34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Why Are We Here?

So why are we here?

Quite simply, we are here to love God.

We’re designed to love God with such intensity that it spills over over into love for our neighbors.

Today, it is often said, “In order to truly love others, you must learn to love yourself.”

However, Jesus taught something radically different. He taught and lived a life that opposed every shade of self-centeredness, self-esteem, and self-love.

He said in effect, “In order to truly love others, you must love God supremely.”

According to the Bible, love is a response. We cannot love God until we have first responded to his love.

First John 4:19 reads,

“We love because he first loved us.”

How, then, do we respond to the love of God?

In John’s gospel, we read,

“God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Faith is the appropriate response to God’s love. Faith receives and accepts the love of God offered in Jesus Christ.

Why did God send Christ?

To meet man’s greatest need.

Man’s greatest need is not to achieve world peace, to promote better health care, or to save the environment.

Man’s greatest need is to be reconciled to God, to have that broken relationship with God restored.

The Need for Reconciliation

God and man enjoyed a naturally close relationship in the beginning, but something ruined it. Man chose to violate the direct command of God. Consequently, the relationship was broken.

And Adam, the first man, was our representative.

When he sinned, we sinned. When he was driven out of God’s presence, we were driven out of God’s presence.

The apostle Paul writes in Romans 3:23, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

In Romans 5:12, we read,

12 just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, so death spread to all men because all sinned—

Man has an enormous problem:

God is holy, but we are sinful.

God is righteous, but we are guilty.

Being holy, God cannot tolerate sin. Therefore, one of us must change.

God is God. He will not change.

And Sinful man cannot become good enough or do enough good things to earn God’s favor.

In Isaiah 64:6, the prophet writes, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.”

While we run from God though, God runs toward us. He is the hound of heaven who chases down sinful man.

Religion is man reaching up to God; biblical Christianity is God reaching down to man.

If we cannot earn God’s favor through church, baptism, charity, confirmation, or any other religious work, how, then, can we be reconciled to God?

God’s word gives the answer in Ephesians 2:8 – 9, as Paul writes,

“It is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Just as Adam was our representative through whom we inherited sin, so God provided another representative through whom we may inherit salvation and eternal life.

This second Adam is Jesus Christ. He perfectly obeys where the first Adam failed. Acting in our place, his obedient life and sacrificial death restore us to a right relationship with God.

Jesus restores us to God by doing three things:

1. Jesus is our substitute.

The apostle Peter writes in 1 Peter 3:18, “Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.”

Jesus took our place on the cross, enduring the penalty that we deserved.

2. Jesus is our sacrifice of atonement.

A “sacrifice of atonement” refers to the satisfaction of the demands of a righteous God, which is what Jesus did on the cross.

The apostle Paul writes these words in Romans 3:23 – 25:

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood — to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness.

Just as Adam and Eve were driven out of God’s presence, so Christ was separated from his Father as a result of our sin.

Near the end of three hours of darkness on the cross, during which the Father turned his back on his Son because of our sin, Jesus cried out, “It is finished” (John 19:30). The purpose for which he came to earth is accomplished.

He pays our sin debt in full. He satisfies the demands of God’s justice so we can be restored to God.

3. Jesus is our Redeemer.

To “redeem” means to “buy back.” This is what Jesus did when he died. He offered his lifeblood as the purchase price of our redemption.

In Ephesians 1:7 we read,

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.”

Redemption transfers us.

We are no longer outsiders, separated from God. Rather, Christ purchases us so that we are now citizens of God’s kingdom.

God himself has provided the way to be reconciled to him, but reconciliation isn’t automatic.

Rather, God’s word insists we must receive Christ’s reconciling work by faith.

John 3:36 makes it clear that

“whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.”

This is difficult for us to accept.

Our nature wants to earn everything we receive or we refuse to see our need of it in the first place.

God must bring us to the end of ourselves. We must see how helpless we really are.

Funerals remind us of the fact that we are dependent on God for our every breath, whether we acknowledge that truth or not.

When you die and stand before your holy Creator, there will only be one issue. It is not which church you belonged to, or whether or not you were baptized or confirmed in your church, or whether you gave money to charity. The one issue will be this: “What did you do with Jesus Christ?”

How, then, will you respond to God’s love as demonstrated by his Son Jesus Christ?

In Psalm 39 : 4 , we read ,

“ Show me , LORD , my life’s end and the number of my days ; let me know how fleeting my life is . ”

These words remind us that life on this earth is temporary and uncertain . It has been said that everything in life is uncertain except death . James , the brother of Jesus , reminds us of this when he writes ,

“ You do not even know what will happen tomorrow . What is your life ? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes ” ( James 4 : 14 ).

At times like these , when life’s activities seem to come to a sudden halt, God would be pleased to see us pause and examine the state of our own souls.

This solemn occasion reminds us of the uncertainty of life. Any of us may be called next. The question we must all ask ourselves is this : “Am I prepared?”

Peter Marshall , a Scottish-American preacher and chaplain of the United States Senate in the first half of the twentieth century , once told the following story :

An old legend tells of a merchant in Baghdad who one day sent his servant to the market . Before very long the servant came back , white and trembling , and in great agitation said to his master : “Down in the market place I was jostled by a woman in the crowd , and when I turned around I saw it was Death that jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening gesture. Master, please lend me your horse, for I must hasten away to avoid her. I will ride to Samarra and there I will hide, and Death will not find me.”

The merchant lent him his horse and the servant galloped away in great haste. Later the merchant went down to the market place and saw Death standing in the crowd. He went over to her and asked, “Why did you frighten my servant this morning? Why did you make a threatening gesture?”

“That was not a threatening gesture,” Death said. “It was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Baghdad, for I have an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.”

Each of us has an appointment in Samarra . But that is cause for rejoicing — not for fear , provided we have put our trust in him who alone holds the keys of life and death.

Janice did so, and she would hope that each and every one of you here would do the same so that one day you may join her in her worship of her Creator and Redeemer.

Because we will all one day meet Him face to face.

Each of us has an appointment with God.

In Hebrews 9 : 27 , we are told that

“people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment .”

None of us know the day that has been appointed for us to die. The time to examine our own hearts is today.

The Holy Spirit is saying to us,

“Today , if you hear his voice , do not harden your hearts ” ( Hebrews 3 : 7 – 8 ).

Every time we ignore or turn away from the truth of God’s word, we harden our hearts. Today, God is graciously warning us that to do so is to take one more step toward our hearts being hardened forever.

God wants reconciliation, not separation.

He made us to enjoy fellowship with him.

He has graciously given his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, as his gift.

I encourage you to come to God through him . In John 14 : 6 , Jesus says ,

“I am the way and the truth and the life . No one comes to the Father except through me .”

There is no other way to God, and as the author of Hebrews wrote:

“How shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation ? ” ( Hebrews 2 : 3 ) .

Tautges, Paul. Comfort the Grieving: Ministering God's Grace in Times of Loss (Practical Shepherding Series) (pp. 87-88). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

Committal Prayer

Heavenly Father,

We thank you this day for Jesus, for his precious gift of eternal life, and for the comfort of the Holy Spirit.

In the midst of our natural sorrow, we thank you for your supernatural grace.

In facing death, we thank you for the promise of life everlasting.

And in the face of separation, we thank you for the assurance of eternal reunion.

We thank you for Janice’s life here on this earth, and we recognize that the body before is not Janice, but is the house, the tabernacle, in which (s)he lived.

We acknowledge that Janice is with you now, rejoicing in your presence and enjoying the blessings of heaven.

So Father, we now commit the body of Janice Striker to this earth, and we rejoice that her spirit is with you even now.

We look forward to that day, when we can all rejoice together, and we thank you that we are not without hope or comfort at this time.

We thank you for making your presence very real to each family member, and that you will especially strengthen and sustain them in the days, weeks, and months to come.

In Jesus Name, Amen.

Janice, you have completed your race.

Matthew 25:21 (ESV)

21 ‘Well done, good and faithful servant... Enter into the joy of your master.’

Psalm 23 (ESV)

A Psalm of David.

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.

3 He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me;

your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,

and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

John 14:1–6 ESV

1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.