Peter Barnes: Ecclesiasties 3:1-8; 1 Thessalonians 4:13; John 11:35 NO AUDIO
(5 August 2018)
SERMON NOTES : FACING GRIEF (Eccles.3:1-8; 1 Thess.4:13; John 11:35)
Ecclesiastes tells us that there is a time for everything (Eccles.3:1-8). A pamphlet from a funeral home stated: ‘To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.’ That leaves people more empty.
1. It is Christian to grieve
– we are not meant to be unnatural Stoics.
– 2 Chron.35:24-25 (for Josiah); Gen.23:1-2 (for Sarah).
– the death of Ezekiel’s wife is exceptional – Ezek.24:15-27.
– Phi.2:27; Acts 9:39; C. S. Lewis on Joy’s death: ‘Her absence is like the sky, spread over everything.’ In 1790 Mary (Polly) Newton died, and John wrote: ‘the world seemed to die with her’.
The Lord of glory wept – John 11:35.
2. Excessive grief is for those without hope
– Gen.37:34-35; 2 Sam.18:33-19:1-8; Leviticus 19:28. Derek Tidball thinks that this refers only to the worship of ancestors, but Gordon Wenham is correct in connecting it also to pagan mourning rites.
– 1 Thess.4:13. Sorrow is allowed; destructive expressions of it not so. James Packer on his father’s memorial service: ‘I can’t help thinking how proud and delighted he must be as he joins us in spirit today.’ That is fantasy. David has faith and reality in 2 Sam. 12:16, 18, 23.
3. A Christian grieves with real hope for fellow Christians and leaves others to God who does justly.
To those outside of Christ, the Judge of all the earth does justly.
– 1 John 3:2. J. C. Ryle: ‘Surely next to the thought of seeing Christ in heaven, there is no more blessed and happy thought than that of seeing one another.’ 1 Cor.15:57 and 1 Cor.15:58.