In a previous Associated Content article I gave some examples I used in funeral sermons. In that article I noted that I use examples to get the audience’s attention and, if I add something, push back what I’m trying to do.
Here are some of the larger examples I have used in funeral sermons. I have no faith in them; I was simply lucky enough to come across it in my lesson.
Peter Marshall and Our New Bodies The devastation of things in the death of many is the disfigurement of the body by the way to death. Regarding this, I like to use 2 Cor. IV, 16-18, as one of the passages I read part of the funeral. service:
Therefore we do not lose heart. Although we fear without, yet within we are renewed day by day. For our light and momentary tribulations are for us an eternal glory, which far outweighs all. for that which is seen, and that which is not seen, is that which is seen.
In the eyes of faith there is something working in each one of us that is hidden from the eyes, a spiritual renewal. More than that, not only spiritual renewal there, but also the promise of a new body preceded us, according to 1 Cor. 15 in his sermon: “Death come down,” Peter Marshall, who served as pastor. New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Munich, D.C., and also United-states-air-force”>Unit. location of the transformation of bodies;
“That we may pass behind the curtain and live again, live … and it will not be as now, not with the body like this.
No wrinkles on the forehead, eyes shining brightly;
Not a twisted spine or a crippled arm;
Not having an amputated leg or an injured heart;
Be not drunk as the fires of hell;
He does not fear the inexhaustible flood of his mind;
Twister, powerful-beens;
I did not eat heartily with bitter memories
Or broken glasses filled with broken dreams.
No, it is not with these that we make an entrance into the other land.
We do not rise from the dying mud;
More than once mortals are clothed in perishable flesh;
but in the splendid mercy of God.
(See report below)
The sermon continues Dr. Marshall with a poem about James Weldon Johnson, “Descend Death,” a poem from which. It has a sermon title.
Supplications of Charlemagne. In the previous article about examples of funeral speeches, I shared one about Muhammed Ali. Max Lucado used it in his book, The Applause of Heaven (see reference below), and followed it up with an illustration of Charlemagne, the Roman emperor. Legend has it that Charlemagne asked to be buried sitting on his throne. He wanted a crown on his head and a scepter in his hand. A royal cape would be draped around his shoulders, a book open on his lap.
That was A.D. 834 200 years later, another emperor decided to see if Charlemagne’s demands were fulfilled. He had an open grave. The body was found in the position which Charlemagne had demanded. Now the young man’s crown was pierced by moths on the promontory, and the body was rotten. The open book was still there, the Bible which Charlemagne had requested, and he pointed with his finger to Matthew.
The application of that enlightenment and place seems clear, especially the modern obsession with wealth and power and fame.
Christ satisfies our thirst In most funeral sermons, I include a segment on the salvation that Christ offers. In Lucado’s book, mentioned in the previous section, the author writes about the incident that took place in 1988 when a devastating earthquake struck Soviet Armenia. Fifty-five thousand people perished.
Among the survivors were Susanna Petroysan and her four-year-old daughter Gayaney. They were captured within eight days of the massacre. Little Gayaney is soon thirsty. Her mother felt through the darkness and found the ampoule jammed, which she gave to her daughter. he set out on the second day. His daughter was still thirsty. Finally, Susan remembered a television program where an explorer in the arctic cut his hand and his partner drank the blood.
Susan found a piece of glass, stuck it on her finger and drank Gayaney’s blood. Susanna did not know how many times she stuck to herself. All she knows is that if Gayaney didn’t have blood, she would die.
I think the application is clear: through the blood of Jesus we have been saved as sinners, and salvation is still available.
D. L. Moody in the charms of heaven I don’t know where I got this enlightenment, but it speaks to me of the need in life to give at least some thought to heaven.
The great evangelist D. L. Moody once spoke of a certain man, who said, when he was young, he thought of heaven as a large, splendid city, filled with great halls, domes, and towers, and inhabited by myriads of angels whom he had made. not to know But then his brother died. After this he thought of heaven as a great shining city filled with walls and towers and unknown angels, but now he knew even with one little man. When the other brother died, he knew there were two. As time went on, the acquaintances died. In his days one of his sons went with the Lord; then another boy and still another. Having learned the truth, he seldom thought of walls and towers. He thought about their inhabitants, he knew, and his interest in the sky was increasing. At the end of life so many of his acquaintances went to heaven that one day he would be seen. that he knew more in heaven than on earth. And of course he fixed his thoughts more and more on that distant place.
When I ministered to people with serious illnesses, or even those who were tired of the daily routine of life, I noticed that there was a desire to move what the Lord had prepared for them. Recently the other day at a Bible-study session, a lady in her 90s was saying that she “can’t wait to go to heaven”. She is still alive, an actress, but she wants to move on to the next stage in her life’s journey.
C. St. Lewis and the Importance of All Persons. Pastor, I know easily that I have begun to think that I am a very nice and serious person, who is looked up to by many. Add comments after a sermon or a well-delayed wedding or funeral that one person is called the glorification of worms. Most of us know how far fall falls short of our standards, let alone God’s standards, so we can generally resist temptations for the glorification of himself.
But Louis C. S. wants us to see ourselves as more than just common people. In fact, in the speech “The Weight of Glory” he asserts that “there is no vulgarity”. He goes on to say that “I have never spoken to a mere mortal man.”
“Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations – they are mortal, and their life is the life of a gnat to us. But there are immortals with whom to joke, to contract, to marry, to be, an immortal feat, the horrors and splendors of eternity. The next most holy sacrament, your next most holy object is the sense offered to you
For the family, which wonders if someone has been seriously loved, these are words of emphasis, which affirm the importance of persons created in the image of God (Gen. 1, 27).
I have two suggestions for pastors who want to find good illustrations of the sermons: 1. Read widely, and watch and listen to other people. You will quickly find everything you need to add flavor to your presentations.
Sources:
Catherine Marshall, A Man of Peter (Leipzig: McGraw-Hill, 1951), 262.
Max Lucado, The Applause of Heaven (Dallas, TX: Verbum Publishing, 1990), 153.
Ibid, 91-93.
C. S. Lewis, On the Weight of Glory and Other Addresses (Leipzig: Macmillan Publishing, 1980), 19.
