SermonStudio

Death after a short illness

Is this a good day? It doesn't feel like it, does it? We gather to give thanks to God for ___________, and to commit her into his care.

Is this a good day? For us, it is not an easy one. We have to let go of someone beautiful. We have to put our faith to work. We have to hear and cling to this promise of God: "We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him."

___________ loved him. As much as ___________ loved us, she loved God more. She believed God's word. She read it, studied it and held it dear. She said, "The book of Revelation almost makes you want to die."

Yet, we know, don't we, that she didn't want to die. She wanted time to be with you, knowing that eternity was long enough to spend with God. Yet she was willing and able to do what few of us are able to do. She was able to be ready to say "yes" to the call of God, whenever it might come. It was not a fatalism. Rather, it was an obedience to the will and call of God.

Did you catch the words from the text she knew so well? They said not only that God works for good in everything with those who love him, but also this: "with those who love him who are called according to his purpose."

For God's purposes, ___________ has been called to a new home. Like a child stepping on to a school bus for the first time; like a student packing up clothes and belongings to begin college; like a couple standing bafore the altar taking vows, so ___________ is moving on according to God's purpose, according to God's time, and according to God's call.

This move is, of course, the hardest of all moves. It appears as though we take nothing with us; no things, no company, no special trinkets. It is the move that takes the most faith. We have to believe that God will have everything we need. We must believe that there are purposes beyond what we see day by day upon this earth. We must believe that there will be people there who need us, love us and wait for us. We must believe in the God who has always been and will always be. We must have faith made true by historical fact and the personal example of Jesus Christ. After all, God did let his only Son die so that we might know that some things are worse than death. God was faithful. Christ was raised up, just as God promised.

If ___________ could speak now, what would she say? If she is watching this moment, what does she see and feel? Is it not something like happiness? Does she not know how much love we have for her, and would she not rejoice in it? Does she not know our grief, though heavy, is a mere feather compared to the deep joy coming?

For many years I believed that God probably shielded the eyes of those he took from the grief shared by those who are left. Now I'm not so sure. With the Lord of eternity standing alongside one who has passed through death, what need is there to protect an eternal living being from the few short years of our separation? Who is to see anything but beauty in a loveproduced grief that knows that the day is coming when all sorrow shall be turned into joy? Who is to worry about
_____, who already knows far more than you, me, or the wisest theologian about what is next? And why would _____ worry about us? She knows our love. God makes it possible for life and love to last forever.

All things, even this day, work for good with those who love him and are called according to his purpose. _____ believed it. She believed in God. That's why this is a good day; the best of days, for ____________. If it is a good day for her, ought we not, in love, rejoice? Ought we not, in love, believe, that the strife is over and the battle is won? This day is good for us, too, for all things, even hard things (like this day's work), work together for good with those who love God.