CHRISTIAN CONFIDENCE

Psalms 23; I Thess. 4:13-18; John 14:1-7

We have found our way to this place today for a particular reason. We have come because we respected and honored our friend now departed as a neighbor, or member of the intimate family. We are grateful for him, and our lives are richer for his stay among us. We pay tribute to him and to what he meant to us all. It was good that he moved among us.  Our personal lives are richer for the years that he was here. We are met both in sadness at the sudden loss we have suffered and in confidence and faith that all will eventually be well. We have come to this place because we are trustful. We would become the partakers of a victorious Christian faith. 

The thing that happened is hard to understand, as is much of that which befalls us in life. But we are reminded today of him who said, “Let not your hearts be troubled…Ye believe in God; believe also in me,” and who died a young man just like many of us. Yet we know from Him that faith and not despair will make possible the facing and the bearing of this loss. His spirit alone will give to those who need it the promised self-control and inner victory.

Jesus did not think that sickness and death represents the will of God. He thought of them to be the reverse of the will of God. In fact they are the very things he came to overcome. Consider the following verses:

   “The Lord’s loved ones are precious to him; it grieves him when they die.” (Ps. 116:15)

    “Jesus wept” at the death of Lazarus. (John 11:35)            

    “I am come that you might have life and have it more abundantly.   (John 10:10)

        What then can we say at the early death of our brother Orlando?

1. We can say that God is as grieved as we are, that he is sharing in our sorrow and grief, that he is afflicted in all our afflictions, that his heart is going to meet our hearts.
2. We can say that God has it in his power to make it up to those who are taken too soon away and to those to whom sorrow and suffering have tragically come. There is life to come, and in that life God is seeing it that life cut off too soon is getting its chance to blossom and flourish and the life involved in tragedy is finding its compensation.
3. We can say that Christianity has never pretended to explain sorrow and suffering. It may often be that in any tragedy there is traceable an element of human fault, human mistake, human sin. In any disaster the reason may well be in human error.
4. We can say that what Christianity does triumphantly offer, is the power to face tragedy, to bear it, to come through on our feet, and even to transform it so that the tragedy becomes a crown.

We do not plan our lives. Their course is almost always different from that which we intend. But we are trustful that there is a plan for us all and good reasons for what happen, unknown perhaps to us but known to God.

You see, although our brother Orland’s  death may immediately mean his physical absence and separation, in a larger sense, it strengthen the meaning of human relationship- that is our attachment to him and all those we are most concerned about. That is why every death, no matter how tragic or shameful leaves certain legacies and lessons in life-some messages the living are privilege to receive. Death speaks its own language and no audience can ever be addressed by it except the living.

History remembers Alexander, the son of Philip of Macedon, as Alexander the Great, for becoming the youngest conqueror of the world, in-spite of the fact that he only lived 33 years, a victim of Malaria.    

We must also l remember that Jesus died a tragic death too. To his disciples they did not expect it, nor have any hint that it will happen so soon, and so young at the age of 33 years old. His death has a purpose and a message for all. He died for our salvation, not his. He died that all who may believe will have life and have it more abundantly. Could it be, too, that the legacy of our brother’s sudden death is a message for us all who are here today? Some of you are entertaining the thought that his sudden death may not have given him time to reflect life and his faith in God?

If this is so, then what may appear as his human weakness is the strength of his message! Faith in God is an utmost importance in our life. Abiding in Jesus is a priority we should put high in our list every day. When we are able to do this by God’s grace, then we can say with St. Paul “For I can do all things with the help of Christ who gives me the strength I need.” (Phil. 4:13). The best preparation then is to be found faithful to God in all circumstances. As one writer said, “Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people.” In such a case, let us not put our life eternal to chances.  Faith in Jesus and walking with him daily is the best kind of preparation that we may have when our time to respond to God’s call is up.  If you listen to this message, and heed his call then you have honored him. Pay tribute to your brother, son and your relatives by allowing the truth of his message to propel you to fly higher than eagles, to propel you to make something beautiful out of the fragments of your broken hearts. By this brother Orland would have given meaning to his sudden death, for your sake, and for our sake.

But while we bid farewell to our brother in his onward journey to God’s eternal presence, life must go on with those who are left behind. This means that no matter how great is our duty to our beloved dead, we too have a duty to the living. Sorrow therefore should not overwhelm us and or imprison us to bitterness and inactivity.

As we participate in this funeral of brother Orland, let us face it with faith and hope in the words and promises of Jesus, our Savor and Lord, saying

“Blessed are the dead who from now on die in the Lord. Yes, they will rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them” Rev. 14:13

 “I am the resurrection and the life, Those who believes in me, even though they die, will. live”  (John 11:25)

This statement of our Lord tells us that this funeral is not final. It is the beginning of a better life.

Let us also nurture this faith and hope that when our turn will come, we can say, “I am going ahead and when I will reached the beautiful place prepared by Jesus for all those who believes, I will be meeting my loves ones and o course, Jesus himself, my Savior and my God.  

Now, therefore, God’s challenge for those who are left behind is set in the words of St. Paul when he said: 

“Let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us and forgetting the things that is past, but reaching forth unto the things which are before us and keep on striving to win the prize which is the crown of righteousness prepared for us. (Heb. 12:1-2)

Let us keep this challenge in mind and heart in the confidence that we and those we love are always in the Father’s loving keeping, thus we can face and overcome this loss. May the trustfulness that resound through the words of the ancient scriptures rise anew in our hearts that our doubts may give way to faith and we become assured that death has given way to life and everlasting joy, to brother Orland and to all of those who believe. Amen.