From One Home to Another (3)

Home: A safe, and loving place

It’s clear from my conversations with Bev and Chris over the past couple of weeks, that they grew up in a safe and loving home, due in no small part to their Mum, Brenda.

At no matter what age, Bev and Chris have always known that Mum and Dad’s home was somewhere they could experience love, encouragement, support, and safety.

Many of us will have similar experiences of our home.

The familiar exterior of whatever house home was.

The evocative smell of home when you open the front door, whether that’s Mum’s cooking, the family pet, a particular fragrance used to keep the smell fresh.

The familiarity of the furniture and fittings.

You can’t quite explain it, but it’s home.

And when you walk through the door, you know you’ve come home.

Whether you were coming through the front door after a long day at school.

Or perhaps - and I’m not sure if Bev or Chris ever did this - you can ask them later! - coming in from clubbing in your teenage years.

Or later in the life - as both you and Chris have done over the past few years as you looked after both Brian and Brenda, and then solely Brenda in the more recent past.

I am sure that each time you walked through the door, you felt, perhaps sub-consciously, this is home.

Heaven: A safe, and loving eternal home

As you recall those feelings of home for yourselves this afternoon, imagine how much they must be intensified for Brenda as she walks through the gates of her eternal home in heaven.

Because that’s the promise we’ve just read from John 14.

Jesus promised his followers - like Brenda - that he would provide them with a safe and loving eternal home.

John 14:2–3 NLT

There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.

J says he is going home to his Father’s home to prepare home for followers/us.

A home with God.

Forever.

Abiding/Remaining/Spending Time

Brenda loved being at home .

She loved spending time with her family.

Just being with them.

Greek word for “room” = gives us this sense.

Related to another Greek word = abide/remain.

Promise = death will not interrupt the intimacy we can enjoy with him now.

We can abide/remain with God in this life.

If we do so, then Jesus will come and get us so that we can continue to abide/remain in his safe and loving home with him for eternity.

You Can Believe the Promise

We can choose to believe that promise for Brenda and for ourselves this afternoon.

John 14:1 NLT

“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me.

The Resurrection Guarantees the Promise

Promise is guaranteed.

Can be sure J will keep his promise.

How?

The empty garden tomb in Jerusalem.

If Jesus’s grave is empty, then his promise isn’t.

Death need not be feared.

We can die with faith in J’s promise.

We can allow resurrection to sink into our hearts.

We Will See Brenda Again

Brenda has gone away.

But you will see her again:

John 14:3 NLT

When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.

Even as we meet to celebrate Brenda’s life this afternoon and to mourn her passing, we can accept J words: “Don’t let your hearts be troubled”.

We can imagine Brenda today, entering into her home in heaven, closing the door on the outside world, sensing and resting in the cosiness of her new home, slipping off her shoes and slipping her feet into her comfortable slippers, and sitting down with her heavenly Father. Free from pain. Free from frustration. Free from confusion. Free and finally home.

In the safest and most loving home of all.

May God bless you all.