Funeral Sermon

I. Honoring of the loved one

It is not without difficulty that we meet here today. To lose someone we love is a pain that is hard to cope with. The time we have is a short time here on this earth and each person’s life is so precious. If it were not, we would not meet as we do to honor the one who has passed away. __________ who passed away is someone we dearly love, and that many of us have cherished many memories with. It is right that we grieve and be sad as this is a person who God created to be with us for a short time.

What words can be said that will bring comfort? Is there a person in the Bible who also suffered and died? Who understands our sufferings better than God himself? To remember Jesus is to remember his death. Yet his death was not hopeless, but instead filled with joyous expectation.

Only one verse will I share with you today from the apostle Paul

Philippians 1:21 ESV

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

I want to start with the last part of what this says. Seeing as we have just lost a loved one, we should seek to understand what Paul means by saying to “die is gain.” How can this be? We have just lost someone, how can anything be gained? Have we not lost someone dear to us?

For us, it may be a loss, but for those who die as a person trusting in Christ, there is a gain. For the sufferings found in this world are no more for them. Truly, many people fear death above anything else. And this is right for we know that our world as we know it will suddenly transform before us. However, there is no fear for those who are found to know Jesus. To die is a gain for them. For they will go and depart to be with Christ.

You see Paul lived in Christ. His every working moment was spent honoring Christ through his actions. And he knew that even when he was gone, the work would have to continue. People’s lives would continue on. But Paul seems to be longing for something more than what this world has to offer. He debates between living and dying saying,

Philippians 1:23 ESV

I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.

It is far better than this world to be with Christ and live with him forever than to continue in this world. Faithfully, Paul lived his life here on earth worshiping his Creator. Yet, in heaven, faith becomes sight! Longing for that day, Paul declares that is far better to die.

Now to those who have this hope in Christ, it is far better to go and live with Christ. Our hearts may enjoy this world for a time, but suffering is always around the corner. Whether it be someone passing away, or an illness that has come upon you or someone you know, or a tragic accident, the world we know is not a peaceful place.

Yet it was not created to be that way, for when God created the world he created the world it in a way where man would live forever. This is how the natural world should have proceeded, but instead because of man’s sinfulness, death entered the picture. Paul says again

1 Corinthians 15:56 ESV

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

But because God loved us, he also entered the picture in the person of Jesus. And now we can declare with the Bible

1 Corinthians 15:55 ESV

“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”

Death may seem to win in this world, but truly those who die in Jesus are raised to a new life. Those who believe in him are immediately carried to his side where there is no more fear, no more tears, no more suffering, no more darkness, no more coldness, no more sick, no more calamity, no more destruction, no more aging, no more worry, no more anxiety, no more fear. The mortality has fallen away and immortality has come. The greatest gift that has ever been given is handed to you upon death in Jesus’ name, that great gift is the gift of eternal life.

Eternity. How to picture eternity? Eternity is outside of time, it has no dimensional understanding that we can figure out here in this world. Everyone here in this room has a clock, a timer that will one day run out. While that clock is running we are left with the trials of this world and must face fears each and everyday.

Yet, there is hope for all of us. As Paul says,

Philippians 1:21 ESV

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

To live is Christ, which means the time that we have on this earth can be spent honoring the one who gave us the greatest gift of eternal life. The original created order of things without death can be possible again. God is one day going to do away with death for good as it says in,

Rev

Revelation 20:14 ESV

Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.

There is a great hope for us! We can turn and live in Christ now, taking part in the promises that are to come. For death is not a loss for us, but a gain unto eternal life.

As we bow our heads and offer up praise to God for giving us this loved one, let us also thank him for giving us our every moment. No moment is guaranteed for any of us; each day we have is a blessing given by God. I pray that as we remember this that we seek Christ in our suffering and call on him who is the only one who is able to rescue us from our deathly conditions. Let us seek him who is able to restore all things and remember the great gift of eternal life that he gives to those who believe and trust in his name.