Following On

For the next three weeks, I want to preach the sermon pastors do not preach at a funeral. 

At almost every funeral the pastor will read from Revelation 21:4 which says, ‘The Lord will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”  It’s so encouraging to discover that death and pain will be remembered only as part of that sad once upon a time that has now forever faded into the light of God’s eternal day.  The songwriter said it like this, “there is coming a day when no heartaches shall come, no more clouds in the sky, no more tears to dim the eye; all is peace forever more on that happy golden shore, what a day, glorious day that will be!”

But did you know that it cost Jesus everything in order to provide that blessing to us?   In Colossians 1:12 the Apostle Paul writes, “Let us give thanks to God the Father who has enabled us to share in the inheritance of the people of light.  For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves.” 

Once we were trapped in the domain of darkness.  When the Bible speaks of darkness it means a darkness of the soul which traps us into addictive, self-destructive behaviors that spiral ever downward into a pit of depression and self-loathing.  But although we have been part of that darkness, we can now be rescued by believing Jesus, the Son of God.

But the only way Jesus could rescue us from that darkness was by taking the darkness and punishment into himself.  In Romans 5:8 Paul writes, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  And In 2 Corinthians 8:9 Paul says that, “Although he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor, so that we through his poverty might become rich.”

My funeral message is this, “It cost Jesus everything to open the door of heaven for us.” But because he died in our place, we now have the opportunity to live eternally with him.  All it takes is to pray this prayer, “Lord, I am sorry for my sin.  Please forgive me.  Help me to live for you, Amen.”  If you prayed that prayer then you have just passed from death into life everlasting.