Funerals

We at Standing Stone Bible have experienced an unusual number of deaths in the past few weeks (only one attributed to COVID) and thus we have experienced more grief and loss than to what we are accustomed.  But our God has helped us through each passing; giving us strength, comfort and even joy in the midst of each valley.  Thank you, Lord!

It is curious to me that on November 7 in different years, we have had three special men step over into glory who were very much alike.  They were Lloyd Siert in 2013, Jim Wells in 2020 and Darrell Zimmerman in 2021.  Those three men were marked by a love for God, for their wife and family, for the Bible, for church – all ages, and for life.  Each attracted a crowd as their personalities were very attractive.  What a heritage and blessing we have just in those three – let alone all the others who worshiped with us and served alongside.

At Darrell’s funeral we walked through Psalm 16, which is a good look at salvation and the hope and help that brings to one who is saved.  I’ll talk of the first and last verses here:

Verses 1-2, Preserve me, O God, for in You I put my trust. O my soul, you have said to the Lord, “You are my Lord, my goodness is nothing apart from You.”

While these truths can be about on-going concerns and calls to God for safety and deliverance, they also speak about a person’s entrance into Christianity.  A person needs to grasp two key points here:  1. they are in trouble and 2. there is a God who can save.  Those two points are critical when crying out for help.  The person admits they are unable to save themselves and that God is able.  Their cry is a cry of trust – of belief that God can and will save.

Notice, the writer says that all his goodness is nothing which is precisely correct.  All a man’s good deeds, words, and living are corrupted by pride amidst other issues and thus have no value before God.  Also notice that this is a personal thing, for the writer says, “MY God.”  The writer is publicly declaring his trust in a personal God to save him as he is unable and unworthy.  Such are key points in true salvation.

The mindset of trust in a saving and personal God, essential to being brought into God’s family, should be the on-going mindset of someone truly saved:  a trust in and a calling on God for help in all of life.

Then Verse 11, You will show me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

All people ever conceived will have three phases of life.  The first is life on this planet groaning under the load of sin and its judgment of death.  That life is followed by a life separated from the body as described in Luke 16 where two men are seen after death as alive, yet in two starkly different environments.  Thirdly, all men will be raised from the dead and reunited with their spirit to live forever either in God’s glory or in a life void of God’s blessings.

This verse seems to note those three phases of human existence.

First, while alive in the first life it is critical to ask the Lord to show them their need and His answer that they might, by faith, find the path of life ahead into the next two life phases.

Then, for those saved, they exit their body to stand in the presence of God where there is full joy!

Lastly, again for those saved, their spirit will be reunited in their resurrected bodies made perfect and will spend eternity with God on earth in a place of sinlessness, empowerment, and glory – at His right hand as joint heirs with Jesus (Romans 8:17).

The three aforementioned men, while absent from their bodies, are alive in the fullness of joy awaiting their resurrected bodies and eternity with Jesus!