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Let’s start out in prayer this morning:
Father God, Lord Jesus, thank you that you are God and you are Savior. You are Lord of all and Creator of everything seen and unseen – You spoke everything into existence according to your will for your purposes! We thank you for the time we are able to spend with our loved ones, to learn from them, to grow up with them, to share words with them, to hold, kiss, and hug. To see them in times of sorrow, and pain, and illness, and in times of great joy and celebration. The moments we spend with loved ones are precious and we should take every advantage of the time You allow us to have here on this earth. We ask You, Holy Spirit, to guide and prepare our hearts and minds, and to bring comfort to the hurting – whatever the hurt. We ask that you cover us with your presence, in your love – the love that can only come from You…because You are love and Lord Jesus showed us Love in His life, death, and resurrection for the forgiveness of sin. And this is something we believe and confess. We pray this in the mighty and precious name of Jesus, Amen!
We all have families. Brothers, sisters, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, in-laws, sons, daughters, wife, husband. These are the people that have some sort of close common ancestry. The ones of similar blood, biology, DNA. These are the ones that we can generally be real with…. we tend to speak to family members differently than we do strangers…. we might be more direct and share things we would not share to outsiders.
We all have friends…these are our camping buddies – the ones outside of our immediate family that might see our messed-up bed hair while grabbing a cup of coffee one morning after a long night of sitting around the camp fire telling stories…. the ones that know stories about you that your own family wouldn’t know…. they would be there for you in your time of need, help you out…. then tell everyone how great they were for helping you out and you hear about it for the rest of your life. The ones that make you eat things you thought were something else causing you to lose your cookies when you found out….and they laugh and laugh and laugh and tell everyone about the time they got you to eat x, y, or z. You know those friends…right?
Most of us had or have co-workers. These are the people we see anywhere from 4 to 12 hours a day 5 to 6 days a week…. likely more hours than you see your own family…the ones living in your own home. You likely have some sort of relationship with your coworkers, but that relationship rarely extends beyond the office or factory doors. You may share some things going on in your life though the level of your sharing is at surface level - never going above and beyond. But …. you have an established relationship that can be built upon.
And then we have the acquaintances …. these are the folks we’re aware of, we’ve met before, the distant relative we see at family gatherings, the ones we see at funerals, the friends of a family member, friends of friends ….and sadly, some of the folks we see at church on Sunday mornings. Generally, we’ve had some sort of conversation with these folks… hopefully some sort of 2-way communication has taken place….it’s not like they’ve never heard your voice and you’ve never heard their voice.
Each of us have 3, 4, or 5 levels of relationship with people outside ourselves. We all know of someone that is not a Christian; someone that does not know Jesus as Lord and Savior. Would you agree with those statements? In agreeing with those statements, we have plenty of people that we can share our faith, share the gospel of Christ Jesus, and invite to meet with us in relationship, in our homes, in our life groups, in our Sunday morning worship. If you cannot agree with those statements…..you are invited to live in obedience to the commands of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ – to love Him, love others, and make disciples ( and 28:19-20). If we truly love Him we’ll serve Him, tell others about what He did for us on the Cross, and we’ll do what He says to do. Not because of some rules or to benefit ourselves - but because we love Him. If we truly love others, we will serve them and tell them about Jesus and what He did for them on the Cross so that they can be saved and spend eternity with Him in heaven where He is - instead of the default location of darkness, fire, gnashing of teeth, never ending agony, and eternal separation from God. If we love others, we want them to know all about God and His ways – to know His word – to know His commands – to know His love and His plan for us. If we love Him and others
we cannot stand idly by and watch people perish without trying to share the only thing that can save them …. sharing the gospel message and the object of our faith – Jesus Christ!
Before we go any further…. I want to thank you for the out pouring of support and prayers …. all your social media postings … the out pouring of love for Caroline and our family due to the passing of Caroline’s mother, Wendy. Your thoughts and prayers were comforting – they were a source of strength. Even if you really didn’t pray and just posted something on Facebook or sent something through Messenger or text saying you were – it was enough, it really was enough - and it was a blessing to our family. We really appreciate all of it and all of you! It’s awesome knowing our church family prays for you and genuinely cares for you. And that is what a church family is supposed to be – so thank you!
This past week has been challenging and eye opening. I have seen the depravity of mankind and I’ve seen the love mankind is capable of showing at times. I watched and heard nasty arguments over who gets what from my mother-in-law, how Wendy’s belongings and money would be divided up. The old hurts and unresolved arguments from the past were mentioned in the overly hurtful discussions. I have witnessed hurt, pain, insecurity, depression, lying, broken hearts, judgmental attitudes, darkness, yelling, hate, harmful words, greed, emptiness, disrespect, and everything else you can think of when people act out as they are trying to deal with the loss of a loved one. I also witnessed strength, dignity, joy, happiness, relief, wisdom, service to others, kindness, respect, and love. Also witnessed bouts of sadness and crying …. trying to find the answers to why Wendy died when she died … did she automatically go to heaven… is she there with her mother Nellie … Did Nellie come to earth and take Wendy with her ... will Wendy be happy with the cloths they put on her for the casket, will she be happy with the funeral service, will Wendy come back and haunt them …. Would she be happy with the casket or the urn? And the list goes on.
I can tell you that Caroline struggled for a few days with extreme sadness because she was there when her mom took her last breath – at the same time Caroline was almost completely worn out from caring for her mother night and day with very little sleep from the time she arrived until her mother’s death. Caroline played out the scenes over and over of her mother’s last breath. She talked about how she tried closing her mother’s mouth as she laid in the bed but was unable to. She relived closing her mother’s eyes and how easily they stayed closed. Caroline commented on how her mother seemed to be just lying there resting and didn’t seemed bothered by that until her sister pulled the sheet over her mom’s head – then it just made it all the more real. She relived the several hours her mom laid in that bed before the coroner arrived. She recited the sounds and smells and events. Caroline never struggled - though - with the question of whether or not her mother was in heaven. She found comfort knowing her mom was with Jesus.
Caroline’s family have a different view of life and death. One said, not knowing why they believe this, that Wendy was in heaven with her mom looking down on all of us because everybody goes to heaven…..unless you are a really bad person, a killer, or similar person… One said that Wendy’s mom Nellie came down and took her to heaven on the day she did so their dates of death would be the same; you see … Wendy died exactly 10 years to the day of Nellie, her mother. Another said that Wendy held on and gave up on the anniversary date of Nellie’s death. Someone made a comment that if we didn’t do things for the funeral in the right way, Wendy was going to come back and straighten them out. Everyone - except for 3 of us - were scared to sleep in Wendy’s house because she might mess with them while they slept. A whole host of other things came up or were said along those lines as well. They believe the person or a dead relative can control when the person dies. You can clearly see the way people can find it easy to believe in made up things…untrue things….so called “spiritual things” – but are not open to listening to what God says about what happens at the moment of death or even what He says about Himself – or that He is even in control or allows those things to happen. They are not aware at the point of bodily death – the person is immediately either in heaven with Jesus or in hell - forever.
Jesus gives us a glimpse of this truth in . This is Jesus while on the Cross next to the thieves, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” The Apostle Paul gives the same indication on 2 occasions:
The first is from , “But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.” The second is from , “Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord--for we walk by faith, not by sight--we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.” From these 3 parts of scripture we get the indication the movement from the earth at the point of death is immediate.
So….Caroline’s family asked me to do the funeral service, which took place this past Thursday, but they were not interested in hearing anything “religious”. One of Caroline’s siblings said they used to attend a church when they were younger but moved away from it as they grew older and does not believe in any religion. They further stated the last time they went to a funeral, the pastor barely spoke about the person, giving their take on religion instead… feeling like it was being driven down their throats or forced upon them. The other sibling didn’t want to hear any religion as well – stating it should all be about their mom. I said they didn’t have to worry because I am not religious …. Religions tend to be some man-made, made up stuff with a bunch of rules. I further stated I had faith in God – the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - so they did not have to worry about a bunch of religion being stuff down their throats. I also let them know that people of faith listen to what people without faith have to say whether they agree or not…they do it out of respect and love, and no one is being forced to agree no matter who is talking – the individual makes the decision to agree or not agree. We should just listen to each other out of respect and love.
I spent the next several days listening to their wants and desires for the funeral message. I also helped guide them as they worked through thoughts on God and faith, and the various things that needed to be done before the funeral.
One of the things I shared with the family to encourage them was this: Wendy spent over 20 years with incurable illnesses…. over 10 of them to be exact……the doctors could only treat her symptoms but could not heal her. The treatments they provided prolonged her life. Even after she was ill, she was still able to line dance, and make curtains, and travel, and move to Texas, and move back to England again. She was able to see her kids get married and become parents…. she was able to see 5 grandkids be born and 2 sweet girls be added to the family. She was able to see 2 great-grandkids be born with one on the way. She was able to hold them and love on them. Though the last few years were really rough…she could find comfort in knowing her kids could take care of her – to meet her needs. They met her needs sacrificially …. they learned what it was like to give of themselves for the benefit of another. They demonstrated love in tough times. I know Wendy loved and appreciated everything they did for her. I know it was tough to be witness to everything that happened to their mum due to her illnesses…but encouraged them to be thankful for the time they had. Either good or bad, be thankful for the time….the precious, precious time.
Caroline knew her mother was with Jesus because of what Jesus did on the Cross and Wendy stated she believed. A few years ago, I had the awesome privilege of sharing the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus with Wendy and Wendy believed and was saved.
The Apostle Paul stated in “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,” says “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” We read in “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Further in “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
And from “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Wendy believed all of it! I shared and encouraged Wendy’s family and friends with these words during the service: Through Scripture we learn that you are saved from the penalty you deserve for everything you have ever done or will do in your life that is against God. You are saved from eternal life separated from God in the awful fire and darkness to eternal life with God in heaven….all because Jesus went to the cross and died for you…He took the penalty we all deserve onto Himself so we would not have to pay the penalty…..he wiped away the penalty for sin forever – if you believe.….He did it because He loves you…..God loves you and all you have to do is believe…there are no religious tests….none at all…..there is nothing you can do to work your way to heaven when all is said and done on this planet…… when your time here comes to an end…. That’s it…..there are no second chances…..going to heaven is not automatic……just being good and doing good things does not get you to heaven…….all you have to do is say with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart He was raised from the dead….that is it….God’s free gift of grace to you….it’s free…..and my mother-in-law Wendy did just that and that is why we know without a shadow of a doubt she is looking at Jesus face-to-face….she is with Him for all of eternity in heaven. That is something to be grateful for….that is automatic…..Wendy confessed and believed and so can you. God has called you to know Him and it’s a choice you can make today….right at this very moment….because you have no idea when He’s going to allow your life to end – He could do it now and that would be it…..no second chances once it’s over….. It is your choice. No one can force you…I can’t force you …. you have to choose to confess and believe. Jesus did everything for you for so can be with Him forever…And that is Good News! Amen!
After I said all these things to encourage them…..I stopped and thought about all those I mentioned at the very beginning….the family, friends, coworkers and acquaintances …. Those who do not know our savior … why do we wait until funerals, near death experiences, major illnesses and alike before we share Jesus - and why do we wait to invite people to our homes, and small groups and Sunday worship services? Why do we wait to invite people to church? Why do we hold back from telling people about our Savior? …. The One who died for them… What are we scared of? Are we scared we’ll lose friends, fall out with family, alienate coworkers?
There are people all over this city…all over the area that do not know Jesus. and we come across these people every single day……and we know people in our families, our friends, our coworkers that do not know Jesus… and most of these folks don’t know Jesus because we…the church…professing Christians from all over the world… do not share the Gospel – the Good News – the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ - our faith - with those we know, and love, and work with…those with whom we have a relationship….we also don’t share our Jesus story...how we came to know Jesus as Lord and Savior…our story that is our story…a story no one can refute, or change, or modify…..because it’s our story….a story we have experienced and lived….no one can change your story…..no one can change the Good News Story of Jesus…and we need to tell those stories to everyone we claim to know and love…….Share your Story….Share Jesus to the glory of God for the glory of God….Please start inviting people to your homes, to your life groups, to LifeSpring Church! Don’t wait and wish you had done it when they were alive …. Do it now! Please don’t wait! Amen!