Sermon from Funeral

This is the written part of the sermon. My disclaimer is that I usually preach something that is different when I preach.

Job 19:23-27
“What You Can Know Today- That Your Redeemer Lives”

When you face a situation like this, a baby, at about 3 and a half months old, the question screams to be answered, “Why?” Why has this happened to me? Why this child? Why now? Why gentle little Samiyah? It makes no sense. The question why mocks us. Why God why did this happen? Why her?

Death is never easy, but when it is a person who has lived a full life and grown old, it makes more sense. When it is someone who was driving drunk, or served as a soldier, then it makes more sense. There is some reasons behind deaths like these.

But when we look at little Samiyah, we can't find a shread. And the question why seems to mock us.

1]: The question Why (23-24)
Job was a man in the Bible who had it all. He had a large family. He had wealth. He had many servants. And he enjoyed good health. But all that fell apart in a short amount of time. His world was turned upside down in a way like some of your worlds have been turned upside down. The book of Job records these events but also the human attempt to answer the question why. Job did not know why it was all happening to him. He knew God was good and loving. He knew that God was sovereign. But did not understand why this had happened. He and his friends looked to answer the question why, and their explanations fell flat. Chapter after chapter they go back and forth.

Here Job says in verses 23-24. When we don't have our why answered we want to to be written forever. We want it written in stone...why! We at least want our question and anguish to stay there. My cry will be heard forever. It will echo in eternity. It will not be silenced if it is written on stone. Many of us want to stay here, with this question. But if we stay here we will never live life again, we will never hope again, we will only be left with the question why that mocks us.

Trans]: Job does not stay there...

2]: The one who knows the Why (25)
He moves on to verse 25. I know that my redeemer lives! I know there is one who is my advocate, the one who sees my anguish. I know there is one, my redeemer. We are not just left with the question why, but can know that there is one who knows. God. The question remains and we don't have a answer but we are called to look to the one who knows all the whys. I know that my redeemer lives. Verse 26. I will have my answer from God. We don't see it, the anguish is there but we can know the one who knows. Verse 27. He yearns to see God, to understand why this has all happened to him.

Trans]: But it may not help, knowing that God knows.

3]: You can know that today your redeemer lives
In fact, when there is so tragic a death like this God can seem so distant and cold for some. It is important to know what God did to rescue us from our tragic existence. Because the one thing that we learn from a death like this is that something horrible is wrong with the world. Any death tells us this but especially a death like this. But God's answer to the world being such a place that it is, is not to stand far away. He comes in Jesus the redeemer, our advocate, to suffer as one of us. He draws near to us. He tastes the injustice and brokenness of this world. He dies on the cross for our sin to repair our relationship with him. The world as it is is messed up. And we are part of that messed up world. We have sinned, and yet if you have turned to him and confessed yes i know I've rebelled and I need the slate wiped clean and need a new start with him, that is what Jesus does for you, when you trust him. Jesus went to the cross so we would not be left in despair or with our whys but would find peace with God. Then you can truly say, “I know that my redeemer lives.” He saves me, and gives me the strength to endure a tragedy like this. And I find that comfort in the Gospel, that he gave himself up for me.

Conclusion]:
If you are in Christ and found peace at the foot of the cross, then this is true for you these verses. At the end of all things Revelation 21:1-5, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. He would was seated on the throne said, 'I am making everything new...'” If you are in Jesus, if he is your redeemer, if you say I know that my redeemer lives...then his promise to you is that one day the tears will be wiped away. Jesus went to the cross so that he would wipe away your tears. He went to the cross to end death or mourning. Don't you long for such a day? The day will come when the old order of things pass away and he makes everything new. He remains Just, he remains good, and if you can say, “I know my redeemer lives” he will wipe away your tears.