Act 1: Death is not our friend
Act 2: Death is
not the end.
Act 1: Death is not our friend. God
warned Adam before he sinned against God “…but of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely
die." (Gen 2:17) And after Adam & Eve ate of that very tree,
God said, “…for you are dust, and
to dust you shall return."(Gen 3:19) Death is
the resulting curse of human selfishness and sin. The Bible says: “The sting of death is
sin.” (1Cor 15:56) Sometimes, “We call death sweet names [but] only
as the lesser of evils…”[i]
Even when we look at death as a door to a better
existence we are not stating the whole story. “We are kidding ourselves when we
romanticize death as the climax of a life well lived. It is an enemy. It
cuts us off from all the wonderful pleasures of this world.” [ii]
Death cuts us off from more time with the ones we love. We need to truly
feel the enmity of death in this moment. We need to gaze into the grave and
know this same end awaits each of us w/out exception. And then I would pray
the experience changes us. Like George Baily who looked at his brother’s
tomb stone and learned to appreciate his “wonderful life.” Like Ebenezer
Scrooge who was made to peer into his own future grave and learned the Joy of loving,
giving, & living again. Please don’t be numb to the grace God has afforded
you today to consider these things. Let this day impact you & change you.
Let this day cause you to love life.
Act 2: Death is not the end. Indeed, death is not our friend, but death is not the end. Everyone
will exist forever after death. We were created to love life because we were
created in God’s image – and God loves life and lives forever. Jesus
said, “Whoever believes in the Son [Jesus] has
eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath
of God remains on him.”(John 3:36) And Jesus prayed to the Father, “This
is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom
you have sent.” (John 17:3) Eternal
life is not merely the extension of this life with its mixture of pain and
pleasure. No, eternal life, the life that Dad is experiencing this very moment
in God’s presence, is the best possible outcome of this present life. Eternal
life is supreme and ever-increasing happiness where all sin and all sadness
will be gone. This is what Dad is experiencing right now. All the residue of
his sinful & fallen nature has been entirely removed. All that is good
& righteous is all that gloriously remains. And the same life awaits all of
us who hope in Christ. All that will bring true and lasting happiness will be
preserved and purified and intensified for everyone found in Christ, and it
will have no end. *Even the bodies and hearts and minds of believers will be changed
by the resurrection, so that we will be capable of dimensions of happiness that
were inconceivable to us in this life. The Apostle Paul wrote: “No eye
has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined what God has prepared
for those who love him.” (1Cor. 2:9). It is true every moment of life,
now and always: for those who trust Christ, the best life is the life that is
yet to come. When you put your trust in Jesus as the Savior who forgives your
sins, you became destined to see the all-satisfying glory of God one day. Death
is the enemy, but Jesus in his resurrection conquered death & in Him we
have nothing to fear "O death, where is your victory? O death, where
is your sting?" The
sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1Cor 15:55-57) Death is not our friend, but death is not the end.
And, so we committed the body of Richard David
Aown to the ground, in the hope of the
future resurrection when Jesus returns. On that Glorious day, Dad’s body will
be made new and rise from this very spot and will be rejoined with his spirit
in the New Earth and the New Heaven where he will dwell in everlasting joy and
glory and love in the presence of his Savior. And I fully expect that when it
is our turn Dad will be there to greet us and show us around. May God in his
grace teach us to live without Dad, but not without his memory, and not without
a renewed love for life in the Lord, and a renewed hope for the glorious future
that awaits all of us who are in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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