Friday, December 29, 2006

 

A Funeral sermon based on Ecclesiastes 3

Ecclesiastes 3 11
He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also put eternity in their hearts,
Pascal..a God shaped vacuum Augustine Thou hast made us for Thyself
1. The Contemplation of The Creation The extensiveness of the Universe.
Psalm 19: 1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky proclaims the work of His hands.
Romans 1: 18 For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, 19 since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. 20 From the creation of the world His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse. 21 For though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became nonsense, and their senseless minds were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools
Psalm 8:1 Lord, our Lord, how magnificent is Your name throughout the earth! You have covered the heavens with Your majesty.
2. The Admiration of The Architect To the Intensiveness of DNA
William Blake To see a world in a grain of sand, And a heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And Eternity in an hour.
To The Immensities of Life. Sand on a beach, the numberless masses, yet God knows me. Luk 12:6,7 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows. He loves me, He carries me
My life is but a weaving between my Lord and me. I cannot see the colors; He worketh steadily.Oft times he weaveth sorrow, and I in foolish pride Forget He sees the upper, and I the underside.Not till the looms are silent and the shuttles cease to fly Shall God unroll the canvas and explain the reason why The dark threads are as needful in the Weaver's skillful hand As the threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned.
3. The Longing For The Lover The Homing Instinct In Man
When Jesus likens Himself to ' Bread,' it is to remind us that He is to us an elemental, fundamental necessity. He is the simple, wholesome, normal satisfaction the human soul needs,
Our supreme need is of something or of someone, that can satisfy our deepest longings. Nature never creates instincts it cannot satisfy, and God never awakens spiritual aspirations in us that He cannot and will not fulfil. ' He satisfieth the desire of every living thing.' Carlyle once said to Professor Tyndall, 'There is something in man that your science cannot satisfy.' That 'something' is the hunger and thirst of the soul. Science is good; art is good; culture is good; money is good; health is good; but none of these, nor all of these can satisfy our deepest nature. ' Wlioso drinkcth of this water shall thirst again.' ' But he that cometh to Me shall never hunger, and he that believetli on Me shall never thirst.'
In every human heart there is a cry for God, a sigh for that which will satisfy. During a serious illness which Rudyard Kipling passed through some years ago, his nurse noticed at the critical period of his sickness that the great author's lips were moving. Bending over him, thinking that he wanted to say something, she heard him pray—
Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep,
And, if I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.
Realizing that he did not just then require her services, she apologized, saying, 'I beg your pardon, Mr. Kip­ling, I thought you wanted something.' 'So I do,' he faintly answered, 'I want my heavenly Father.' This is the need that Jesus supplies.
If I am hungry for love, a house will not satisfy my longing, however luxuriously it may be furnished. And, if my soul panteth for God as the hart panteth for the water brook, success in life will not satisfy me, whatever that success may be. ' Christ in you' is the only experience that can satisfy fully and permanently the hunger of the soul. The hymn writer has voiced the life history of millions, when he writes— I tried the broken cisterns. Lord, But, ah ! the waters failed, E'en as I stooped to drink they fled, And mocked me as I wailed.
art thou satisfied ? Shortly before Shelley the poet died, he had a curious dream. He dreamt he saw his spectral self coming towards his conscious self. As the gruesome figure drew near, it raised the hood from its head and inquired of him 'Art thou satisfied?' At some time or other that vision will come to us all, and ask, ' Art thou satisfied?' There are men and women here among us who have been highly and legitimately successful in their respective spheres of life—' Art thou satisfied?' There are others on whose life, habit has riveted itself, and held them in an awful bondage—. Art thou satisfied?' There are others, a great host, whose domestic conditions provide all the earthly love and comfort that heart could desire—but 'Art thou satisfied?'
Whether the conditions of our life are favourable or unfavourable, we shall all come at one time or other to feel as Kipling felt, 'I want my heavenly Father.' To such Jesus says, 'He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father,' and 'he that cometh to Me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst.'

"Life's greatest happiness is to be convinced we are loved." -- Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885), Les Miserables, 1862
John 10:10 A thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it in abundance.
"Do not fear death so much, but rather the inadequate life." -- Bertolt Brecht (1898 - 1956), The Mother, 1932 Days of our Lives, “MacDonald Carey, “Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives.”
Matt 11: 28 “Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 All of you, take up My yoke and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for yourselves. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”





<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?


Free Hit Counter