Grieve with Hope

I have so appreciated hearing stories of Shellee over the last week or so, and hearing about her hobbies, and passions.

Hearing about her friendships and her work at EMC

listening to testimony after testimony of friends and family who praised her for her gentle spirit and Servants Heart.

Servants Heart, gentle spirit

And Shellee was always

As I visited with Shellee in the hospital a few days before she fell asleep and the Lord took her home, she made it abundantly clear, that the cancer inside of her was going to be used to bring glory to God.

Shellee had a settled hope in the work of Christ that allowed her to face death with boldness.

For many people a sickness like cancer would make people question God - are you really a good God? do you really care? And for some, are you even real?

Her faith in Christ, which was instilled in her as a young girl by two godly parents, showed itself to be unshaken as she moved from this life to the next.

But not for Shellee, Shellee saw her sickness not as a curse, but as tool in the hands

This sort of faith does not just happen, but it is a faith rooted in the word of God.

Shellee was a student of God’s word.

She knew the promises of God

She knew the power of the gospel

And she trusted in the sovereignty of God.

The passage I’d like us to look at this morning is found in

The Apostle Paul is writing to this church to encourage them in the gospel and in this part of the letter more particularly he wants encourage those who are grieving the loss of loved ones.

1 Thessalonians 4:13 ESV

13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.

Writing letters is a great way of communication.

This young church in Thessalonica, a first century Roman city, is grieving and trying to understand the death of loved ones.

the grief they are experiencing is real

The questions they have are nagging

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And the sorrow they are experiencing can be related to by many of us in this room. For death and grief walk hand in hand.

Though there are many emotion that affect the soul, grief is perhaps the most cruel of all.

the grief of death is a feeling that often leaves us looking for answers.

The grief of death can make us feel lost as if in a dark forest without a guide.

And left unanchored, as the sparks fly upward so grief tends toward despair

Though grief is real, though the pain of death is beyond words, we need not grieve for Shellee with a grief of despair.

Rather, our grief is different, we grieve with hearts that are full not of despair but of hope.

And Paul wanted to comfort these early Christians with the same truth in 13

1 Thessalonians 4:13 ESV

13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.

Paul wants these young Christians to grieve, yet to grieve as those who have hope.

For those who do not have hope grief leads to despair.

You see, Hope and despair are fundamentally opposed to each other.

Hope see purpose in death, its not meaningless.

While despair only sees chaos and pain

Hope can be held on to in the midst of grief

while despair is a free fall away from peace and comfort

How are we to grieve with hope?

Does that mean we keep our emotions hidden?

This cannot be the meaning, for Jesus grieved and wept over the death of his good friend Lazarus.

Hope does not keep us from feeling the pain of losing someone we love, but rather it points that pain in the right direction.

Does grieving with hope mean we pretend to be happy even though we are suffering a deep lose?

Hope does not ask us to pretend to be happy, but rather it meets us in our sorrow and promises that joy will follow the pain.

So How are we to grieve with hope?

We cling to the one

We clings to the One who has conquered death by raising from the dead.

You see, we can have hope while grieving Shellee’s death because Shellee was a redeemed daughter of God.

Shellee’s life was marked by the hope Paul tells us to have while grieving her death.

Shellee loved the Lord her God.

She was a women of faith

And her faith was not just faith, but it was faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ the son of God.

It was a faith that upon that cross Jesus atoned for her sins, and in his resurrection he raised her to new life.

Friends, this is the hope Shellee had throughout her life, and this is the hope she voiced until her final breath.

Her hope was not in doctors, it was not in medication, it was not to have a healthy body again. Her hope was in the risen savior, Jesus Christ.

I love what Paul says in this verse in

And this is the hope that marked both Shellee’s life and her death.

“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep”

Why does Paul speak of the dead as those who are asleep?

In fact, this is very common all throughout the NT, when believers in Christ die they are often referred to as asleep.

why is that?

If we were without hope we would not call someone who is dead asleep, we would just call them dead - there gone.

But as people with hope, death no longer has victory. The sting of death has been removed.

Paul calls the dead asleep because they will one day be woken up!

And on that glorious day hope will be realized, hope will no longer be hope, but a reality.

Shellee will be raised with Christ, she will be woken up and her body will be redeemed from the sickness of this life, and it will be renewed in the glory of Christ.

And for those of you who have share this same hope secured for us in the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ will see Shellee again in new heavens and the new earth.

This is how we grieve with hope

Shellee made it very clear that her prayer was that through her death those who do not have this hope, or have turned their backs on this hope would no longer grieve with despair, but turn to the living hope that is Jesus Christ.

in fact this is what Paul goes on to say in in 1 Thess 4

And this is the hope that marked both Shellee’s life and her death.

Friends, Shellee’s life was a testimony to the grace of God, and her prayer was that her death would be a testimony to the hope of God.

Shellee’s faith in Christ was evident the last week of her life

If you have never tasted this hope, if you have never experienced the grace that comes from a relationship with Jesus Christ Come talk to me, talk to the Page family.

We would love to share with you the hope we have and why we do not grieve like those who have no hope.

1 Peter 1:3–5 ESV

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

1 peter 1 3-5

We do not grieve as others do who have no hope

How do you grieve with hope?

How do you grieve with hope?