Robert Smith Funeral Service April 20, 2016

Death has a tendency to make us nervous.  However, it’s natural that we would feel this way.  Death feels so wrong.  Death doesn’t seem like it belongs among the many beautiful things in life.  I suppose it feels right for the wicked, evil people in this world, but not the good and the innocent; those who did nothing to deserve death.  They were innocent victims of life’s greatest tragedy.

The tragedy is that almost every life has ended in death.  In the Bible there were a few who were spared (Enoch and Elijah), but for the rest of humanity, we either go quickly, or slowly and painfully, to the grave.  The same curse is upon all of humanity.  We are actually held hostage by death.  After all, which one of us can make death our slave?  Who among us can cast death into the sea?  We are slaves to death, held hostage against our will.  Life seems to be a struggle almost from our beginning.  And although we work with all our might to hold it back, death one day claims us all.  We become just another victim with no means of escape … unless, of course, we believe in the promise of God.

According to Jesus, we are held hostage by death.  Reading from Isaiah, He says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.  He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord” (Luke 4:18-19).  The “captives” are those held hostage by sin and death.  Jesus was sent to set us free.  He says that, “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28), meaning that many were held hostage, but that He would sacrifice Himself so hostages might be set free.  Jesus came to set us free from slavery.  He gave up His life so we might find life.  He forfeited His own life to break the shackles of death.

This is the Good News preached by the followers of Christ.  This is the Good News proclaimed by the Church today.  Death need not hold you captive.  You do not need to remain in bondage.  Believe in the promise of God – that in Jesus you have everlasting life – and you are set free from death’s grasp.  It has no claim over your life.  “Even though your body may die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God” (Romans 8:10).

This is the promise of God.  He who believes in God and in the Son has passed from death into life (John 5:24).  For those who believe, days like this become a victory, not a defeat.  Death does not win when a believer dies physically because Jesus has set them free.  Bob is experiencing a victory today.  Death did not win; death was defeated in Bob’s life the day he accepted Jesus as Savior and Lord.  “What we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later” (Romans 8:18).

Even in suffering and death – even when death seems so wrong – “We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. ²⁹ For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. ³⁰ And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.

³¹ What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? ³² Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? ³³ Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. ³⁴ Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.

³⁵ Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? ³⁶ (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) ³⁷ No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

³⁸ And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. ³⁹ No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:28-39).

In this life, believers in Jesus “wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children” (Romans 8:23).  Bob, on the other hand, is experiencing what God has promised – his reward for a life lived in faith.

All of this Good News still does not take away the reality of death.  Days like this remind all of us that our time on earth is short.  One day, death will be a reality we must face.  It may come slow and painful, or it may come quickly, but it will come.  The question remains whether death for you will be a tragedy or a victory.  It all depends on what you chose to do with God’s promise of Good News.  It all hinges on what you chose to do with Jesus’ offer.  You can remain a slave to death for the rest of your life, or you can accept Jesus as your savior and find that you are free.  Bob made the choice long before he faced physical death.  I only hope that you would make the same choice before it is too late.