Mom’s Funeral

(This is the written notes for the final portion of my mother’s funeral. If you know me, I added along the way but this was my message. Her present pastor did a great job of the earlier portions)

Before we leave here today I must talk to you all very seriously.

The majority of people do not understand death from a theological or doctrinal position. Most of you wonder, “What happens to a person at death?” I’d like to use this opportunity to explain death and eternal life to you through the Scriptures. I’ve made the explanation as short as possible.

2 Corinthians 5:1-10

For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down—when we die and leave these bodies—we will have a home in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. 2 We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long for the day when we will put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. 3 For we will not be spirits without bodies, but we will put on new heavenly bodies. 4 Our dying bodies make us groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and have no bodies at all. We want to slip into our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by everlasting life. 5 God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit.

6 So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. 7 That is why we live by believing and not by seeing. 8 Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord. 9 So our aim is to please him always, whether we are here in this body or away from this body. 10 For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in our bodies.

My mother is not in this casket.

The body she wore while on earth is in this casket.

Now, according to Scripture her body had to die because she’s a part of the human race.

1 Corinthians 15:21-22

21 So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, Adam, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man, Christ. 22 Everyone dies because all of us are related to Adam, the first man. But all who are related to Christ, the other man, will be given new life.

My mother’s soul; her mind, will, emotions, personality and memories have left her body. She no longer lives in this earthly container.

But we were created to be eternal creatures. So, once the body dies the person returns to the Lord.

Now, according to Scripture, unless the Lord returns we will all face this destiny. We will all have to face a date with death.

Hebrews 9:27 says, “And just as it is destined that each person dies only once and after that comes judgment.”

According to Scripture in 2 Corinthians 5:10, “For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in our bodies.”

According to Ephesians 2:1-3 “Once you were dead, doomed forever because of your many sins. 2 You used to live just like the rest of the world, full of sin, obeying Satan, the mighty prince of the power of the air. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. 3 All of us used to live that way, following the passions and desires of our evil nature. We were born with an evil nature, and we were under God’s anger just like everyone else.”

Romans 3:23 tells us, “For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”

If this were the whole story, my mother would not be in a very good state at the present time.

See, she, just like you and me, was a sinner. She was not perfect. She was not basically good. None of us are. Paul wrote in Romans 3:10-12, 10 As the Scriptures say, “No one is good—not even one. 11 No one has real understanding; no one is seeking God. 12 All have turned away from God; all have gone wrong. No one does good, not even one.”

I hope you’re getting the point here. If left to ourselves we have no hope of heaven. But, now, the word “but” is a great Scriptural word.

Ephesians 2:4-9, “But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so very much, 5 that even while we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s special favor that you have been saved!) 6 For he raised us from the dead along with Christ, and we are seated with him in the heavenly realms—all because we are one with Christ Jesus. 7 And so God can always point to us as examples of the incredible wealth of his favor and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us through Christ Jesus.

8 God saved you by his special favor when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.”

Here is the loophole in the Scripture. We all deserve to die and be separated from God due to our sin for all eternity.

“But”, according to John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

The key to the loophole is belief in Jesus for the forgiveness of sin.

So, as the Scripture says in John 3:18, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

Following this line of reasoning we see that God does not judge us upon how good or bad we were in our bodies. He Judges us based upon what we believe about His Son Jesus Christ. Belief in Jesus plays out in what we do in our bodies. Once we see our sin and come to Christ for forgiveness our lives will be changed.

See, Hebrews 9:22 says, “Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.”

The only blood that God will accept for the forgiveness of your sin is the blood of Jesus shed for us on the cross.

John 14:6, “Jesus told him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.’”

How do we know this is all true?

The resurrection of Jesus!

I want you to think for a moment. If Jesus had lied to us about anything death would have had a hold on Him.

Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death.”

If death would have had a hold on Jesus there would not have been a resurrection. The resurrection proves that everything Jesus said was true.

So we can rest with assurance that those who believe in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins will be saved from eternal death and be given this new eternal life.

The human being is not judged on the scale of good and bad. If so, we would all fail. God judges us on the scale of belief in His Son.

John 3:18, Jesus spoke these words, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

My mother is in heaven today because she believed in what Jesus did for her at the cross.

I pray that you will accept the free offer of eternal life in Christ also.