Lila Porter Memorial

Lila’ Funeral

[Introduction] On behalf of the family of Lila Porter, I thank you for being here today to celebrate his life. For some people death can be a dismal occasion full of regret and remorse. But death can also be a joyous occasion as we come to commemorate a life well lived. Some of you knew Lila as a mother, a sister in the Lord, some of you knew her as a friend. Amanda knew him as a husband. I knew him as a man devoted to the Lord with all his heart. And I think this was evident in the way he lived his life. His life was full of service, compassion, love, and adventure.

[Illustration]If you’ve ever been camping, you know that it can be fun for a while, but after a long enough time, we remember that the tent is not our home. The tent was not his home. You see, a tent is a temporary place that we call home for a few days. It’s not meant to house us forever. Our current bodies are a lot like the tent that Lila would camp in. It provides us the shelter we need during a specific period of time we are here on earth, but when that time is over, the tent is torn down and we go home. In the same way, we live in these frail bodies for a little while. Sometimes we get attached to them and we don’t want to leave and we certainly don’t want other people to leave. But God has something much better for us. He has the home that we were created to enjoy. God must remove the tent in order to give us our real home. And 93 years was long enough for Lila.

I believe that God’s Word confirms this. While we may still be hurting, the passage in Scripture we are going to look at today will give us hope to get us through this difficult time. While we may continue to grieve the fact that we miss our brother, we can be comforted by the fact that Lila has found his true home.

Please turn with me in your Bibles to .

16 Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. 17 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, 18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, 3 inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. 4 For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. 5 Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. 6 Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord-- 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight-- 8 we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

Paul writes these words to the Corinthian church as a way of encouraging them through some pretty difficult times. These are people who have accepted Jesus as their savior, but may be questioning what they were saved from. They are seeing people they love pass into death and they are feeling confused. Their bodies are failing as a result of persecution, disease, and old age. These words from Paul are to encourage the people that they need to keep focus on what is really important. Paul’s words to them are equally applicable to us today. Even today, it’s very easy to focus on what we see and despair. We see a man in a casket: a man who is no longer with us. It’s hard to see anything beyond this present situation. But for several reasons, we need not lose heart.

[Main Point #1] We need not lose heart because these failing bodies are only meant to be temporary.

We all know that it is easy to get caught up in the things of this world. When we do this we lose focus on what really matters. These bodies are fragile. As we grow old, we begin to look older because these bodies fail with age. A sudden change in weather can more easily be detected in our joints and bones. We can’t be as active as we were when we were younger. But the Bible promises that the affliction of our bodies by nature and time is only temporary.

[Illustration] For much of his life, Lila was an active person. In his younger days, he ran marathons and played pickup football any chance he could get. But as he grew older, his body could no longer handle that sort of physical activity. We all know that time is not a friend to our bodies. But as a result of what Jesus did on the cross, we have confidence that our spirit will continue to live after these bodies fail. Up until the day he died, his spirit was active within him. That’s the part that will carry over into the next life. And Lila made sure that his spirit was firm in the Lord.

[Application] This does not mean that we shouldn’t care about this body while we’re in it. Yes it is temporary. But we don’t know how long we’re going to need it. Only God has decided that. But as your body ages and begins not to work as well as it once did, don’t lose heart. Remember that while this body will pass away, if you have accepted Jesus as your savior, the spirit will live on.

[Transition] But how can we be sure that Lila’ spirit will live on even after his body failed?

[Main Point #2] We need not lose heart because Lila has the promise of life beyond this temporary death.

You may be asking, “can we really be sure?” This very question may be a source of uncertainty and fear for many of you. But you shouldn’t fear. You see, at the age of 10, Lila made a decision that no matter what else happened in his life, he would trust his life to Jesus Christ. This doesn’t mean that his life would be perfect and he would never faces struggles, but it was a simple decision based on simple faith. As a result of that decision verse 3:5 tells us that he received the Holy Spirit as a downpayment of his future eternal life. The balance is payable on our physical death. But the Holy Spirit gives life to our dead spirits. As Lila grew older, that simple faith began to grow and the Holy Spirit worked through him more powerfully. To those who knew him best, I believe that his life serves as a fitting testimony to his daily devotion to Jesus.

[Application] But we’re not just talking about Lila. All of us who have made that same decision to trust our lives to Jesus have that same pledge and that same promise of life beyond physical death. For us, death is not the end. For us, we will see Lila again. We will be reunited and death will never again separate us.

[Transition] Many times we comfort one another with the phrase “Lila is in a better place.” But what does that really mean? This is another reason we need not lose heart.

[Main Point #3] We need not lose heart because while we can see Lila’s lifeless body lying here, we know that his spirit is now present with the Lord.

Vs. 3:6-8 teaches us that while we pitch our tents in these earthly bodies, we are absent from our home with the Lord. For this reason, Paul tells us that this body is not the ideal situation for us to be in. It’s not bad, it’s just not the best. In fact, we read that while we are in this body, our spirit is longing to be with the Lord. So the statement that Lila is “in a better place” is true because Lila is finally home. God will one day give him a new body that will never feel the effects of time. But until that day, he will be present with the Lord.

[Illustration] Many of us know the feeling of being homesick. Being away from home for a long time produces a sense of sadness because we long to be back in the place we belong. It’s not because we necessarily hate the place where we are. God created this world and everything in it and when it was finished, He called it good. But when sin entered into the world, we were separated from God. Because of this, our spirits are homesick. They are longing, within us, to be in the place they belong. Even those people, who don’t know Jesus, still have that longing for something more beyond this life. Jesus is the only person who can satisfy that longing.

[Conclusion] I know that all of you really miss Lila right now. Many of you take great comfort in knowing you will see him again. Others of you are not so sure. But I’m here to tell you, if you do not know Jesus Christ as your personal savior, and you pass away tomorrow, you will never see Lila again. That’s because Lila is with the Father. Jesus said that the only way for us to get to God is through Him.

It seems fitting that since Jesus was the focal point of Lila’ life, that He would also be the focal point in His death. As we come here to celebrate Lila’ life, it is impossible to do so without celebrating Jesus as well. If you don’t know Jesus and you are sitting there wondering if any of this is true, I encourage you make that next step.

[Lead in a prayer of salvation]

If you made that decision to follow Jesus, you can be comforted that you will see Lila again; you can have hope in the midst of your failing body of the failing bodies of those you love; you can be confident in receiving life beyond this present existence; and you can be confident that after your body fails and you pass into death, that you will finally be home with the Lord.