The Comfort of the Father (Funeral Sermon)

WELCOME

OPENING PRAYER

INTRODUCTION

When we face deep loss, we reach for comfort.

This is the nature of grief.

There are moments and days in seasons of grief where we might sit in it a bit.

But at some point, we reach for comfort.

We turn to friends and family and we ask them for comfort.

We turn to familiar foods and seek comfort from them.

We turn to old pictures and memories and seek comfort from them.

We turn to hobbies and leisure and seek comfort from them.

And of course, if we are not careful, it can go terribly wrong if we reach for the wrong things.

This is how addictions often start.

People turn to the wrong things during the hard times.

Today--a day in which there has been a great loss--I want us to focus on reaching for the right things during the hard times.

For our purposes today, we will turn to 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 to see what and who we must reach for.

TEXT--these are the very words of God

2 Corinthians 1:3–4 ESV

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

From this passage, I want to give you two truths about the God of Scripture and argue that He must be the One that you reach for in your grief.

1. We must reach for God because His character proves Him to be worthy of our trust.

FATHER OF MERCY AND GOD OF COMFORT

The Apostle Paul begins the second letter we have that he wrote to the church at Corinth by giving praise to God.

After giving his customary greeting, Paul says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort...”

He is giving God praise and as he does it, his words tell us something about why God is worthy of our trust in difficult times.

He calls Him the Father of mercies and all comfort.

Mercy is kindness and compassion.

God has new mercies every morning as we are all blessed to not receive the wrath we deserve and we are blessed to receive what we need to face the day.

Comfort is assistance or support provided by something or someone external.

God provides comfort to us in a myriad of ways from His presence to His Word to making Himself available to us in prayer.

But what if someone were to question whether or not God is the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort?

What might you say to them to argue that He is truly worthy of praise?

What might you say to them to show that He is indeed a Father of mercy?

What might you say to them to demonstrate that He is the God of all comfort?

Well, you would likely bring up the One that Paul brings up in his initial statement of praise.

THE LORD JESUS CHRIST

The God who is worthy of praise is the God who is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He is a Father who gave a Son.

John 3:16 ESV

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

We do not just speculate whether or not God is merciful and comforting.

We have objective proof in His Son, Jesus.

Because what we have in Christ is the answer to problems and enemies and threats.

THE GOSPEL

GOD

Created us in His image, just as He created Adam and Eve in His image.

Gave Adam and Eve the entire Garden for their pleasure

Gave them commands to multiply and fill the earth and have dominion

If they obey His commands, they will surely live and have rest

But He also gave a command to not eat from one tree in the Garden or they would surely die.

MAN

Adam and Eve disobey God and they become separated from Him.

They have broken the Law of an eternal God and they deserve eternal death.

They need a Savior.

You and I are no different.

Because we are Adam’s children, we are born in sin, separated from God and enemies with God.

If you don’t believe that humans are sinners just look at the world around you

We have broken God’s law just like Adam and Eve.

He says that we should love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.

We have not done this.

He commands that we love our neighbors as ourselves.

We have fallen short.

And just as they deserved death, we deserve eternal death because we have broken the holy Law of an eternal God.

The Bible describes our separation from God in this way:

Ephesians 2:1–3 ESV

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 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— 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.

CHRIST

But God has done something.

Ephesians 2:4–5 ESV

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

God has made a way for people to be alive through His Son, Jesus Christ, because He is rich in love and great in mercy.

Jesus was born of a virgin--conceived of the Holy Spirit.

This means that He did not come from two human parents and did not have a sin nature like you and I.

Jesus lived a perfect life--never sinned in any way.

Jesus died an atoning death--took the punishment we deserve for our sin.

Jesus rose from the grave--defeating sin and Satan and death on our behalf.

Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father--and one day He will come again.

RESPONSE

But what will be our response to Jesus? This determines the eternal future of our souls.

If we repent of our sin (turn away) and put our faith in Christ’s work on the Cross and in Resurrecting from the grave, we will be saved from eternal death and we will be forgiven of our sin.

If we neglect God’s loving provision for our salvation, then we will face eternal death.

There is no other pathway to life.

MERCY AND COMFORT FOUND IN THE SON-GIVING FATHER

But the fact that there is a pathway to life in a Son who was given by a Father, tells us that what Paul says is true.

God is the Father of mercies.

His mercy is clearly seen in the gift of His Son to save sinners who have rejected Him, broken His laws and made an enemy of Him.

God is the God of all comfort.

His comfort is seen in giving His Son to save sinners, rescue them from their greatest enemies--sin, Satan and death--and provide them with eternal hope.

And in presenting the Lord as worthy of praise in this way, he has also presented Him to us as a God who is worthy to reach for in times of distress.

After all, when we reach for something, we want to make sure it will support our weight.

If we are hurting, we will want to make sure that it will keep us from getting hurt even further.

If we are going to grab a railing, we want to make sure it isn’t going to rip out of the wall.

When we are in grief, it is no different.

We want to know that the thing we are reach for in order find comfort is actually going to bring comfort.

You can be sure that God is a Father who can bear your weight.

You can be sure that if you come to His Son, Jesus Christ, in faith, you will find all the mercy and comfort that your soul is in need of.

When we are in grief because we have lost one that we loved so dearly, reach for His Word and you will find comfort.

When we are in grief because the planning is over and we are left with the aftermath of loss, reach for Him in prayer and you will find mercy.

When we are in grief and basic things seem hard, reach for His church and find the mercy and comfort of the people of God who will love you and pray for you.

COMFORTED IN ORDER TO COMFORT OTHERS

Now--with all of that stated, I want to give you a second reason as to why you must reach for God in your grief:

2. We must reach for God because He will make us a blessing to others who need comfort.

COMFORTED SO THAT WE CAN COMFORT

2 Corinthians 1:4 ESV

who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

One of the biggest ways that I have been comforted in my life during hard times is by people that God has put around me.

My wife

My co-pastors

My church members

My parents

My in-laws

And so often what happens in those interactions that produce comfort in me is that the person in front of me is saying, “I’ve been there.”

And they will share what they learned from God when they went through a hard time and that lesson they learned is now helping me.

So the comfort they received, they are now giving.

That is exactly what Paul is speaking about in 2 Corinthians 1:4.

LESSER OPTIONS

The reality is that there are all sorts of ways to deal with mourning and loss today.

There are all sorts of ways to deal with facing up to our own mortality--which is what a funeral forces us to do.

Many people will be overwhelmed with grief and they will:

Binge TV shows they have seen a million times

They will eat a load of unhealthy “comfort” food

They might turn to substances that can deaden the feelings

But none of those things will give you the sort of testimony that Paul is speaking about in v. 4.

None of those things will give you the sort of purpose that Paul is talking about in v. 4.

Don’t settle for the lesser options. Reach for God in your grief.

From Him you won’t just get comfort.

You will receive comfort and you will grow spiritually and you will have hope in the darkness.

And then, when you meet someone else in the darkness, you are able to share that hope with them.

You are able to comfort them with the same Gospel and the same Bible that God comforted you with.

Resist the temptation to numb yourself.

Resist the temptation to grit your teeth through the misery.

Resist the temptation to even act like death is natural--because it isn’t.

It is not a part of God’s design for His world.

Instead, reach for God.

Reach for His Son.

Reach for the mercy and comfort that is found in the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He will comfort you in your affliction.

And He will use you to comfort someone else on their day of grief.

CONCLUSION

This is what God offers to all of us today.

Not merely to grieve.

But to grieve and be comforted by a God who has shown us that He can be trusted.

And grieve knowing that our mourning is not without purpose.

He will use our affliction so that we may comfort others.

Reach for Him and join with Paul in praise.

Blessed be God--the Father of mercies and the God of aFill-in ll comfort.

CLOSING INSTRUCTIONS