Honor by Serving
Sermon
Day Full Of Grace
Twenty-Five Funeral Messages
Death of a grateful person
Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. Our duty today is to look upon the completed life of ___________ and say: "Blessed."
Some of you have already said it out loud, in words that mean the same thing. You said it when we agreed with one another that she went the way she wanted to go, very quickly, apparently without any pain. You said it, too, when you took care of her these last few years and months, when broken bones threatened her stay at home. She appreciated your kindness. You made it possible for her to live where she loved to live.
She bragged about you. Every time it was the same story. She related kindness after kindness about you. She told about the meals that were brought to her, about the grass that was cut, about the phone calls made on her behalf, and about the visits. You people here today became for her a great joy, and that's the same as saying "Blessed." "Blessed" is ______, who has died in the Lord."
With someone as verbal about kindness as ____________ has been about you, passing all manner of compliments, there's no telling what she'll tell the Lord about you! I wouldn't worry. She's the kind of person we need to send "on ahead." Even as she's blessed, because she's died in the Lord, she's been a blessing to us, and we will miss her.
We may be tempted to think that now there is "nothing else we can do for ___________." We often make that mistake as we stand as witnesses at the graves of those we've loved. We think that the work is over; the ministry complete; the job done.
There is a way left to honor the dead. After his death, mind you, "after" his death, Jesus got around to saying a few things. He's the only one who's had that privilege, of course, so it is very important we note what he said. After his death, he said this: "Go, make disciples of all nations, baptize them, teach them all that I've commanded you." That doesn't sound like dead man's talk!
After Jesus was crucified, dead, and buried, he said to Peter: "Peter, do you love me?" And when Peter said, "yes," our Lord put him to work, saying, "Feed my sheep, my lambs, my sheep." That doesn't sound like dead man's talk! "Feed" is for life; food is for living.
Dead man's talk is talk about being done; done with the work, done with the job, done with honoring the blessed, the beloved. Dead man's talk is our talk about there being no way left to honor our Lord, or ___________, or anyone else we've loved on earth and lost (for a while) to death.
Dead man's talk cannot bear to hear what you will hear now, the one way left to honor the dead: We honor the dead by serving the living. We honor the dead by serving the living Lor4. That's what Jesus said when he told his disciples, his bereaved disciples on the seashore: "Do not be amazed. Yes, I'm alive again. Here, let me eat some fish with you. Now, Go! Baptize! Teach! Feed! In other words, get the Word out. Honor me by work. Honor me by service, and by believing that the last death is the only death that matters. These 'inbetween deaths' are not the last death. The last death is the death of death."
"And I heard a voice from heaven saying, Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord henceforth." "Blessed indeed," says the Spirit, "that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them."
Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. Our duty today is to look upon the completed life of ___________ and say: "Blessed."
Some of you have already said it out loud, in words that mean the same thing. You said it when we agreed with one another that she went the way she wanted to go, very quickly, apparently without any pain. You said it, too, when you took care of her these last few years and months, when broken bones threatened her stay at home. She appreciated your kindness. You made it possible for her to live where she loved to live.
She bragged about you. Every time it was the same story. She related kindness after kindness about you. She told about the meals that were brought to her, about the grass that was cut, about the phone calls made on her behalf, and about the visits. You people here today became for her a great joy, and that's the same as saying "Blessed." "Blessed" is ______, who has died in the Lord."
With someone as verbal about kindness as ____________ has been about you, passing all manner of compliments, there's no telling what she'll tell the Lord about you! I wouldn't worry. She's the kind of person we need to send "on ahead." Even as she's blessed, because she's died in the Lord, she's been a blessing to us, and we will miss her.
We may be tempted to think that now there is "nothing else we can do for ___________." We often make that mistake as we stand as witnesses at the graves of those we've loved. We think that the work is over; the ministry complete; the job done.
There is a way left to honor the dead. After his death, mind you, "after" his death, Jesus got around to saying a few things. He's the only one who's had that privilege, of course, so it is very important we note what he said. After his death, he said this: "Go, make disciples of all nations, baptize them, teach them all that I've commanded you." That doesn't sound like dead man's talk!
After Jesus was crucified, dead, and buried, he said to Peter: "Peter, do you love me?" And when Peter said, "yes," our Lord put him to work, saying, "Feed my sheep, my lambs, my sheep." That doesn't sound like dead man's talk! "Feed" is for life; food is for living.
Dead man's talk is talk about being done; done with the work, done with the job, done with honoring the blessed, the beloved. Dead man's talk is our talk about there being no way left to honor our Lord, or ___________, or anyone else we've loved on earth and lost (for a while) to death.
Dead man's talk cannot bear to hear what you will hear now, the one way left to honor the dead: We honor the dead by serving the living. We honor the dead by serving the living Lor4. That's what Jesus said when he told his disciples, his bereaved disciples on the seashore: "Do not be amazed. Yes, I'm alive again. Here, let me eat some fish with you. Now, Go! Baptize! Teach! Feed! In other words, get the Word out. Honor me by work. Honor me by service, and by believing that the last death is the only death that matters. These 'inbetween deaths' are not the last death. The last death is the death of death."
"And I heard a voice from heaven saying, Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord henceforth." "Blessed indeed," says the Spirit, "that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them."
