About Those Who Are Asleep
Click here to listen to this sermon. “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! We Americans don’t deal well with death. When death occurs, as it inevitably will, it is minimized as much as possible. Sometimes, this takes place as a simple, private gravesite affair. The more popular method in our culture, however, is a funeral service that doesn’t talk about death. Not quite knowing what to do with death other than run away from it, our society has turned to services that feature more comedy and light-heartedness than reverence and hope. The purpose of such services is, supposedly, to “celebrate life” and to “let the healing begin.” As eulogies recall what the p...