Not Lost

We are not made to be separated

When I first came to Maidenhead, Pam would sometimes tell me how much she still missed David, who had been Promoted to Glory a few years before.

She didn’t like being separated from him.

After she became ill, whenever I visited her in hospital, at home, and then at Larchfield, she would always tell me how much she missed being here, amongst her corps family, and of her determination to get back.

She didn’t like being separated from her corps family.

We don’t like separation.

Why?

Because human beings are created for connection.

We are made to be in relationship with each other.

That’s why, as we meet to say our final goodbyes to Pam, and to celebrate her life, we are sad.

We are sad because we are separated from her.

But death is doubly difficult for us to bear, because not only are we, as human beings, created for connection with each other, we are created for connection with God, our Creator.

And death has the potential to eternally separate us from God and from each other.

Nothing Will Ever Separate You from God

It is the light of this fear that the Apostle Paul brings us those astonishing words of encouragement we heard earlier from Romans 8.

One writer suggests that Paul “lets it all out”:

If he were sitting at the keyboard of a great organ, all the stops would be completely out—fortissimo (R. Kent Hughes).

And this is what he declares, in the first person, for added emotional emphasis:

Romans 8:38–39 NLT

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

If you are in relationship with God, if you have connected yourself to him, like Pam did, then the Bible promises that nothing will ever be able to separate you from the love of God. Nothing.

But how can Paul be so convinced of this?

After all, he suffered plenty in his life to give him cause to wonder if he was separated from God’s love.

And here we are this afternoon, separated from Pam - our mum, our sister, our comrade and friend.

It seems as if she no longer lives.

No longer will we be able to talk with her.

No longer will Pam be able to enjoy the fun and the laughter she had with her friends and family.

Pam is gone – taken by death, it seems.

And yet.

And yet, Pam knew that God loved her.

And she knew that nothing – not old age, not ill health, not dementia, and not death – could separate her from God’s love.

Until a few weeks ago, it was a promise she simply held on to.

Now that promise is a reality for Pam.

Not Lost

Many things in this world – including failing health – may seek to separate us from the love of God, but they cannot.

Nothing can separate us from the love of God.

Nothing – not even death itself.

Why?

Because life is not so much about our search for God, as God’s search for us.

You may have heard Jesus’ stories over the years about the lost sheep, the lost coin and even the prodigal son.

In all of those cases, the character that represents God – the shepherd, the woman and the father – all go searching for that which was lost.

Even the father of the prodigal son, who had decided to return home, ran to his son as soon as he saw him coming in the distance.

God relentlessly searched for Pam throughout her life.

And praise God; she found him many years ago and held on tightly to him throughout his life.

Right to the end, Pam knew God loved her.

That God, who made heaven and earth, had hold of her.

Pam knew that love that calls across the darkness, that reaches into the depths of human despair and embraces those who live in the shadow of death.

The peace that was evident in her room the last time I visited her is testimony to that.

Pam knew the love that looks at the present with clear faith and at the future with sure hope.

It’s a love that declares to the world that God is God, that Jesus is Lord and that in him love has won the victory over death itself.

The life of Jesus shows us how the things that might destroy us have in fact become the very things that save us.

Jesus’ cross – an instrument of torture – became an instrument of triumph.

His cross of shame became a sign of salvation.

The empty tomb – that slab of cold emptiness – became in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the light-filled, animated place of new life.

Nothing can separate us from the love of God!

God’s love surrounds us

This afternoon, in spite of our grief, God’s love surrounds us.

It will accompany you as you leave this place and eventually return to your daily lives and routines.

God promises to hold on to you and never let go.

He promises to encourage you through family and friends.

He promises to be with you and provide you with strength, comfort and hope, day-by-day.

Surrounded by God’s love you can look forward to the future.

No matter what tomorrow brings, God’s love will be there to lean on, rest in and build upon.

Nothing can separate you from it.

If you feel lost today, then reach out and find God’s love.

There is no greater joy than the assurance of safety in his love.

You don’t have to find the way home yourself.

It isn’t up to you to keep hold of God.

If you are lost, then there is a way home, and he is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

If you are his, then he will never let you go, and nothing can separate you from him.

Faith in Jesus means he is holding on to you, now and forever, just as he holds on to Pam.

And nothing can ever change that.

Nothing.

God bless you.