GRANDMA SHIRLEY'S FUNERAL

INTRODUCTION

I had many conversations with my grandma over the 42 years of my life, but I really remember the details of any of them except one.

A couple of years ago I started traveling from Charleston to Raleigh for work. I would stop in and see Gma on the way up or on the way back.

It was in one of these times together that we had a conversation that has stuck with me.

I talked with Gma about the gospel about our sinfulness, God’s righteousness, and our need for a Savior - the Savior, Jesus Christ.

She assured me that day that she had trusted in Christ as her hope in life and in death. She knew that she could never please God with her life, but that he was pleased with her because of the perfect righteousness of Jesus.

Grandma looked to the Lord for salvation, but she also looked to him to sustain her daily.

Psalm 23

This was her favorite portion of Scripture.

This is probably one of the most well-known collection of verses in all the Bible. Next to John 3:16, these verses have been memorized and written about by many looking to understand the love of God.

It isn’t too odd that David uses the picture of a shepherd. That is a role he understood very well. David was summoned from the his shepherding duties to be anointed as king.

And, though this Psalm is often used at funerals to give comfort and hope, it is really meant to encourages us in our everyday lives.

“In the word shepherd, David uses the most comprehensive and intimate metaphor yet encountered in the Psalms, preferring usually the more distant ‘king’ or ‘deliverer’, or the impersonal ‘rock’, ‘shield’, etc.; whereas the shepherd lives with his flock and is everything to it: guide, physician and protector.”

The Lord is my shepherd… is something that Gma believed to be true.

Her life was not easy, it was not glamorous, but she trust that with God as her shepherd all of her wants were supplied in Christ.

This doesn’t mean that she had everything she needed, wanted, or wished for - but, this means that she had all that she eternally needed in the life, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus.

Because I was able to have that conversation with her on that day I too find comfort in the opening words of this Psalm. The Lord is my shepherd too - and “though we walk today through the valley of the shadow of death I fear no evil” on my grandmother’s behalf.

And, though I will miss Grandma, and though I grieve, I don’t do so without hope!

Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica and gave them direction about something that should differntiate Christians and non-Christians.

You see, ever person grieves the death of a loved one, but Xians do so with hope and non-Xians do so without hope.

As Xians the hope he have is that we will one day see this person again when Jesus returns.

Don’t miss where our hope lies - it is not in the person’s goodness, but in the promises of God.

You see, grandma was not good enough to please God. She was not righteous enough, holy enough, kind enough… but by believing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that God raised him from the dead as the only acceptable sacrifice for her sin, She was welcomed into the presence of the Lord b/c of his righteousness.

That is where my hope lies as I grieve for her.

Romans 8

My hope lies, even in my grief, in the fact that God has declared in his unchanging word that “there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ.”

Paul goes on to say that for those who are in Christ - who love God and are called according to his purpose, “all things are working together for good.”

You see, for grandma, and for those of you who are followers of Jesus, all things, even this, are working together for good.

You might be wondering how can this be good - how can my grief be hope-filled, how can death be okay?

The answer is found in what Paul says next in Romans 8 - death is the completion of salvatoin!

Romans 8:30 “those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

The work of salvation that God began in my Gma before the creation of time is now complete - she is glorified!

There is no more sickness, no more pain, no more medication, no more memory loss.

That is why we can have hope today. Grandma is no longer with us, but she is exactly where she was created to be - in the presence of her God.

Conclusion

I am not sure what Gma would say to you if she were her, but I do know that she would want you to have hope. Not just for her, but in your own life.

You see, we will all die one day. At that time, will the people left who have trusted in Christ and who love you have hope.

Hope that because your salvation was settled in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus they will be with you again.

Or will that have hopefulness that is only based on their estimation that you were good enough, kind enough, did enough helpful things? Friends that will never provide hope, and your works can never secure your salvation.

No, salvation has been secured for sinners who will believe upon Jesus, who will trust in his righteousness.

Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Though we grieve let us do so with hope and let us trust in Christ ourselves that we might have hope in life and in death!