mgpcpastor's blog

I feel that I should start putting some of these on the blog.
Bringing fresh messages to funerals is something of a challenge, particularly if, like me, you’re ministering in a compact community like a provincial town. Chances are you’re surfing the internet while preparing a message looking for a fresh idea. Hope this helps.
These are really the key notes in the message, not a manuscript.
I seldom speak for anything more than 5-10 minutes.
The funeral today was for a lady who had been a lifelong follower of Jesus and had died in her nineties.

I was asked to read John 14:1-5. I actually read verses 1-6:
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God;believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Then I read Philippians 1:18-26:
“Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.”

The essence of the message then was to contrast these two testimonies.
Paul had received a great blessing, salvation through the work of the Lord Jesus. Because of that salvation he had a calling to carry out, a life of service and submission to those around him, that they might understand the Gospel through his word and deeds.
When it was finally time for Paul to go it would mean that his work was concluded. Just as a long enjoyable vacation will see us anticipating home when we near its conclusion, so Paul longs for the joy of being in the presence of God at the end of his earthly sojourn.
He had been blessed, and while he remained he helped others to know that same blessing.
Jesus, on the other hand, had to leave. Whereas Paul needed to stay in order that others might know God’s blessing, Jesus needed to go in order to be the blessing that God’s people would receive. Notice His Words, ‘I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself’. His going to the cross, His death, achieved our atonement and enabled us, through repentance and faith, to enter God’s family. If He had stayed you and I would have no hope of salvation.
This is the huge difference between Paul and Jesus. Paul tells us about salvation. Jesus is salvation.
The life of the woman whose funeral we celebrated today mirrored Paul’s experience. She brought joy to many, serving them in the Lord (and being served by others). At the end she wanted to leave. Her works were not the ground of her acceptance, they were the fruit of someone who had been accepted. If we would emulate her life we need to first emulate her trust in the Lord Jesus. She trusted Him as the Saviour who had died for her sins and was raised for her new life.
That was why Jesus left. Not because His work was done, but because His work on our behalf required Him to offer up His life in our place, that we might know the love of God and His welcome for us in the age to come.