Psalm 23 Funeral Sermon
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We have come to celebrate and remember the life of Brandy Burt.
True hope in grief cannot come, apart of the gospel.
Help them understand how you want them to respond to the gospel.
Exhort the mourners to grieve.
We have come to celebrate and remember the life of Brandy Burt.
Brandy was someone who enjoyed life.
She loved to have fun.
I was scrolling through her Facebook page and noticed this fun tradition of pie-ing someone in the face at the Waffle House. It could be said that you were not official until you got a pie in the face from Brandy.
Brandy was someone who was caring to a fault. She often times went above and beyond for people that she knew. And with Brandy, family didn’t stop with blood. She treated many as if they were family.
She made you feel important when she was around.
I want to share with you a passage of scripture that has been a source of comfort for many people.
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
Psalm 23:
There are two images that the Psalmist paints for us. The first image is that of a shepherd and his sheep.
Do you know the Good Shepherd?
Not sure what you know about sheep but let’s just say that without the shepherd there, the sheep would find themselves in desperate need of protection and provision. Sheep have many needs. Sheep have many wants. We are the sheep in this passage.
There are many times in our lives we wonder off and then question how we ended up in certain situations. We have many wants don’t we? We want happiness. We want to feel appreciated. We want hope. We want to know that our life matters. We have many wants, but the psalmist points us to the reality that all that we may want in life is found and satisfied in the Shepherd.
He lets me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside quiet waters.
He renews my life;
he leads me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even when I go through the darkest valley,
I fear no danger,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff—they comfort me.
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.
He restores my soul. As we sit in this room, and mourn but also celebrate the life of Brandy, our soul feels dead, it feels no joy or rest. What your feeling is expected.
Jesus himself experienced great sorrow at the loss of someone who was close to him.
, we are told that when Jesus heard the news about John, he got on a boat and went to head to a desolate place. You see, Jesus was grieving. He was heartbroken to hear what happened to John. And Jesus wanted to just spend some time alone, praying and thinking.
, tells us about how Jesus wept over the death of his friend Lazarus.
Death should cause us to mourn. While we may see this as a natural part of life, this was not how God designed this life to be. I will touch on that in a few minutes. Here I want us to see that the Shepherd is the source of strength and renewal for the sheep.
If you know the shepherd, renewal will come but don’t rush to try and find it. Let the shepherd guide you there and grieve in the meantime. If its ok for Jesus to grieve for the loss of those closest to him, it is ok for you to do the same.
Don’t try to ignore it or pretend it didn’t happen. It’s ok to miss her. But don’t forget all the great times you had together. Don’t forget the jokes, or the way she would make you feel when she was around you. Yes we are here to mourn but we are also here to celebrate the life of Brandy Burt. If you knew her, you are blessed for having that opportunity.
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.
"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."
- Psalms 23:4
You feel like right now you are walking through a valley of darkness. You feel like you can’t see a foot in front of your face.
Let me remind you that the shepherd is still with the sheep. While we are walking in this valley, God is still with you. He hasn’t left you to figure this out or find your way on your on. He is there, right beside you, guiding and leading step by step.
My question to you this evening is, do you know the shepherd?
I mentioned earlier that death was not apart of God’s plan. That’s because when God created this world, He created us to be with him. Death was not in the cards.
Sin, our sin separated from God and in that caused what God had made, fallen. Sin marred everything. We no longer desired God and our bodies started to break down.
This sin no matter how hard we try cannot be removed by any good we might do. It is like trying to spray perfume on a bag of trash and expecting it to remove the smell.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,"
- Romans 3:23
"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
- Romans 6:23"
We cannot remove this problem ourselves. We must let Jesus do it for us. He did it by dying on a cross and raising from the dead. He took our sickness and placed it upon himself so that we might live.
Scripture is clear if you want to know this Savior, to know this shepherd who must turn from living life for yourself and trust in Jesus as the Good Shepherd to lead you through life.
Will you do that today? Will you take the Shepherds hand and let him lead you through this valley of darkness so that you can say at the end of the psalm-
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.
"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever."
- Psalms 23:6