FUNERAL SERMON - 1 PETER 1:3-5

 FUNERAL SERMON - 1 PETER 1:3-5

We are here today to celebrate the life of Don Barnard, both the life he lived on earth and the eternal life he now enjoys in heaven. 

Don lived a good life on earth. He was a good husband, good father, good church member, and good friend. Don and Peggy were friends with my parents. When my father died, they were both very supportive of my mother and I appreciate that very much. 

When I was a young man, I saw him as a rock, one of those quiet but steady guys that did it all the right way. He was an inspiration. 

Don was a good Christian. I was so happy to see from Cheryl that he wrote: “I’m saved!” in his Bible, then listed 9 verses about salvation and assurance. I was glad to read through those verses, seeing that Don thought about his salvation and what it meant. And those verses were an encouragement to me as well. 

It is the last of those passages, 1 Peter1:3-5, I want to address with you today in the hope of reinforcing your own assurance of salvation and eternal life, as well as comfort in knowing that Don is in heaven and enjoying the benefits of being in the presence of the Lord and experiencing the communion of the saints of all ages. But I am going to add verse 6 to this sermon. 

[Read the passage - note from English Standard Version]

Peter begins the passage by praising God. That is what he means by saying “blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”. And Peter is specifically blessing God because he has saved us from sin and death and given us eternal life through Jesus Christ. 

Peter then goes on to tell us several things about our great salvation.

First, this salvation is from God. He has “caused us to be born again”. It is not a matter of our works. Peter said God saved us according to his great mercy. Mercy means not getting what you deserve. We, as sinners, deserve death and hell, as Romans 6:23 tells us. None of us has done anything on our own to get past that. 

But God is merciful, giving a living hope to those who, like Don, believe in his Son. This living hope is eternal life. 

Peter calls it our inheritance. In the Old Testament, inheritance was tied to a person’s allotment of property in the land of Israel. 

But, for the Christian, the definition is greatly expanded. It is a place in heaven now, then in the new heavens and earth after Jesus returns and all things are made new. Our life on earth may be full of suffering and trouble, but our living hope for our inheritance is undimmed because it is eternal. 

Second, our eternal life cannot be taken away. It is imperishable, which literally means enduring forever. In fact, it cannot even be diminished. It is undefiled. It cannot be made less pure or beautiful than it is now. 

 

Things on earth get defiled. Have you ever bought a container of your favorite berries and put them in your refrigerator, only to come back to eat them in  a couple of days only to find them molded?That ugly white mold growing on those formerly gorgeous berries? The berries have become defiled and you can no longer enjoy them. But our eternal life, our inheritance, is never defiled. 

Eternal life is also unfading. Its beauty and perfection never fades. When I was young, clothing would often fade when you washed it. I hated getting my favorite shirt out of the wash to see it was no longer the exact color it was when it was new. After the wash, it was a lesser, faded version of it. 

Well, the beauty of eternity will never fade. It will be as perfect and beautiful a thousand years from now as it is today. 

Third and finally, your eternal life cannot be taken away from you and you cannot lose it. The fact that it is “eternal” should tell us that. “Eternal” means lasting forever unchanged. 

And, Peter tells us that you cannot lose it because you are not the one who keeps it. If we were responsible for keeping our salvation, we would lose it because we sin. But, God keeps it in heaven for you. God guards you because of your faith so that you will experience his promised eternal life. 

How should this make you feel? Verse 6 tells us we rejoice in this knowledge of our eternal life. We rejoice even though we have trials. And we all have trials. Don experienced trials in the illnesses of his beloved wife. He experienced the physical diminishment of his own body. We will all have some trials. 

Yet, Peter tells us this is for a little while. From our viewpoint, trials often seem to last a long time. But, compared to eternity, they are a short while, a mere blip in the life we will live in Christ throughout eternity.

I am sure that, if Don could speak to us today from heaven, he would say don’t get lost in what is going on today, whether it is good or bad. Because it is nothing compared to the wonder and beauty of eternal life with God. 

We can see that Don had assurance of salvation and joy in it. I hope this is an encouragement to all who grieve his passing. And I pray that you all will have this same assurance and joy as you reflect on this passage.

Let me give you Romans 15:13 as a benediction and blessing. “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope”.