1.
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly
Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Amen. Dear family and friends of
Joyce. Today, we grieve with you over her death. Joyce will be deeply missed, but we know that
this day isn’t the end for her, but just the beginning of a new life that she
shares with her Savior Jesus in heaven!
And, yet today we’re all feeling a little, “heart trouble,” because right now we can’t speak with Joyce and
enjoy our time with her. And, heart trouble was what Joyce was going
through this last year as she was struggling with congestive heart failure. That’s why it’s fitting for us to hear Jesus’
words of comfort from John 14:1-6.
2.
Heart trouble was Jesus the Great Physician’s
diagnosis of what really ailed His sorrowing disciples. He had just told them
that He would soon leave them and that they couldn’t follow where He was going.
The thought of separation after many months of companionship, and especially
after this night of fellowship, was a source of grief and pain to them. Their
hearts were troubled. And so, in His wisdom and compassion, Jesus chose words
to soothe their sorrows and silence all their fears here in John chapter 14.
3.
Heart trouble! Who among God’s children hasn’t had his
share of heart troubles! Who among us hasn’t had his share of anxious, trying
hours; hours of sickness, maybe hours of death; sleepless nights; friendless,
lonely hours; moments when that lump within our throat began to swell and that
teardrop in our eye refused to be concealed; hours when our debts seemed
greater than our God, hours when our enemies seemed closer than our Savior;
days when our heart was troubled, and we cried to God for help.
4.
Amidst all of our heart trouble Jesus says,
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe
in God; believe also in me” (v 1). Jesus
used these words a few hours before his death to instruct his disciples in how
not to be troubled by death. He didn’t ask us to forgo sorrow. He didn’t ask
the impossible. Jesus was truly human, so he knows our emotions. He, of course,
was aware of the power of the resurrection, and he still shed tears at the
death of his friend Lazarus. But, he did urge his disciples not to be troubled.
How can that be? Why should we not be anxious, worried, when faced with death?
5.
What were the reasons Jesus gave the
disciples and us, for comfort at a moment like this? He gave three. Jesus said, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God”—God, who created
us and all that exists, who is the Almighty, who numbers the hairs of our
heads, who clothes the lilies of the field, who knows when a sparrow falls to
earth. He loves us more than all the things he created. He gave his only Son
into death for us. We can believe in God, who made and loved each one of us, to
be with us. He made and loved Joyce.
6.
“Believe also in
me,”
Jesus said. Remember when Jesus visited
the sisters of Lazarus. His calm assurance was “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he
die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never
die. Do you believe this?” (11:25–26).
7.
Watch as Jesus is
crucified, and hear him say, “ ‘It is
finished,’ and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit” (19:30). Believe that the death of Jesus paid for all sins of all
time. “But if we walk in the light, as he
is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus
his Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 Jn 1:7). Hear the Easter message of the angel: “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek
Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come,
see the place where he lay” (Mt 28:5–6).
8.
Joyce believed Christ
gave her
life, life to the full, in his resurrection from the dead. Joyce’s life was a witness to
that faith. Then Jesus said, “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it
were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?” (v
2). It’s foolish to think we fully
understand this picture, but we know this word of promise comes from the one
who is the way, the truth, and the life.
9.
We give thanks for Joyce’s earthly life and her Christian
witness. We rejoice in Joyce’s victory, the gift of eternal life, and the crown
of righteousness she
will wear for all eternity. “Henceforth
there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the
righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to
all who have loved his appearing” (2 Tim 4:8).
10.
That’s for us. Jesus said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to
observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the
end of the age” (Mt 28:19–20).
11.
Jesus promises that he will be with us to instruct us
in our living. He will be with us to do this for us: To strengthen our faith—so that we aren’t
troubled by things we can’t understand, but will trust in almighty God, who
made us his children through faith in Christ.
All sorrows, all heartaches, all disappointments, and all heart troubles
lose their bitterness in the sweetness of the Savior’s tender promise: “I will come again.” I will come again to
turn your sorrows into joy, your heartaches into gladness, and your griefs into
heavenly reunions in My Father’s house above.
12.
In the healing light of that heavenly assurance, Jesus
our Divine Physician has given us the cure for all our griefs and sorrows. He
whose love brought Him to Calvary’s cross to open the doors of His Father’s
house to a world that had rejected His every pleading—He will come again to
lead us, His children, across the threshold into the eternal mansions, prepared
by Him for all who love Him. “But to all
who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become
children of God” (Jn 1:12).
13.
To strengthen our hope. We, too, know the way,
as we continue to listen to his words of truth and life. He is the one who has us in his plan, in his
arms, in his love. “And I am sure of
this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the
day of Jesus Christ” (Phil 1:6).
14.
To strengthen our love—to care for one another
as Christ cares for us, to help us. “And
we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of
the world. . . . We love because he first loved us” (1 Jn 4:14, 19).
15.
This is how Jesus comforts us and all his children. “And this is the confidence that we have
toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us” (1
Jn 5:14). May we now, and at our last
hour, trust in the comfort Christ has promised! Amen.
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