Jim Norris, funeral service

Intro

Well, I want to thank you to the Norris family for inviting me to come and speak. And we today have reflected on the life of our dear friend Jim. And today, I want to encourage us with these words from .

Now, I want to say a few words to the family before we get started. I want to let you all know as a family that we are proud of you. What you have just been through has been a long and hard fought battle. This disease and this trial is one of the most difficult things to deal with. And I want you tknow, we are proud of you. You have cared for Jim so well . And you can take a breath, and rest for a bit, because you have fought the good fight iwth him, and you have done a great job, and we are so thankful that you have given us such a wonderful picture of what it means to love each other wtih teh love that God gives, amen, amen.

Alright, in this passage, I think we can take away two big points.

Grief

First, I think we can see that it is okay to grieve. Even Christians grieve. Here Paul does not say it is wrong to grieve. When we come to a funeral, sometimes people are afraid to be sad, they’re afraid to be upset, they’re afraid to mourn. But it is okay to mourn, it is okay to grieve, it is okay to be sad. We just lost a friend, a father, a husband, a brother. Yes, Jim is with the Lord now, but we can weep because we miss him, and that’s okay. I know some of us are grieving because we feel like we didn’t get to say goodbye, or because we felt like we didn’t get to saoy what we needed to say, or we’re not ready, or it was hard to watch Jim go through all this. It is okay to grieve.

I

I think Jim grieved in his own way. About a year and a half ago, before he really started to get bad, he came up to me at church on a cold winter morning, and we were talking, and I asked him how he was doing with everything. And he said, “Well, this thing that has got me is very hard.” I think Jim himself was hurting from this, and I think it is okay for us to grieve and to weep.

One of my favorite stories about Jesus is about Jesus going to see his friend Lazarus. And Lazarus was very sick, and in fact, Lazarus died while they were on their way to see him. And in fact, Jesus told the disciples, he had allowed it to happen so that they would get to see his glory. So Jesus goes to the town, and he says, “take me to where they have laid.” And Jesus gets to the tomb, and he is there, and knowing that he is about to rise him from teh dead, teh gospel of John tell us that before he did anyting, “Jesus wept.” Dear friend, it is okay to weep and to grieve.

Hope of the Resurreciton

But, the toher thing that htis passage tells us is that we do not grieve as those who do not hope. Because we don’t just need to grievew, but we need to hope.

Look at what it says right there in vs. 14. It says that “since we believe that Jesus died and rose again,” Jesus really did die. He really did die on the cross. He really did suffer in the place of sinners. He really did perish in the place of sinners. But Jesus did not just die, he rose again. three days later, God “eastered” him. He took him out of the grave like you and I would take a cookie out of the cookie jar. He snatched him from the jaws of death. He porued new life into him like you would pour oil on a fire. He rose him from the dead.

And because he died and rose again, all those who ahve faith will themselves die and rise. That his past resurrection is the hope for our future resurrection. His new life is the hope for our new life. There will be a day when everyone who has put their faith in Jesus will raise again. And we can have hope in that.

One day, we will be with Jim. And our tears of joy today will turn to joys of laughter. We will laugh with him, and he will alugh with us. We’ll get to be with him. And the long goodbye that we had to say these last few hyears will seem like a short phone call that you make to your spouse on your way home from work. He won’t be in pain that day, his memories will be back, his body will be strong, and he will be new.

And on that day, Jim will tell us, “Do not look to the healed, look to the healer. Do not look to the forgiven, look to the forgiver, do not look to the one who is new, look to the one who makes all things new, do not look to hte saved, look at the Savior. DO not look at my body resurrected and free from pain, look to the one who brought me back from the grave.” Because the best thing about being with Jim again is that we’ll get to be in the presence of Jesus. And there will be no more tears, no more pain, and we will stand forever, and be with God and he will be with us. We will be his people and he will be our God and he will never abandon us or forsake us.

As we gather here to celebrate the life of our dear friend Jim, and we celebrate his life and legacy, I think I would be remiss if I didn’t say this hope could be yours. This great savior who will one day make us new, who will take away our filthy garments and give us pure linen robes can be yours. You can have him as your hope, your help, your salvation. You can even now, even where you sit, put your faith in Jesus, and Jim’s hope, can be yours. Let’s pray.