Death Because of Lifestyle Choices

Death Because of Lifestyle Choices

We are in this series on the most difficult sermons you’ll ever have to preach.  The first post in the series is here.  In this post we are going to consider a death because of lifestyle choices and what it means to preach at the funeral.

A Tragic Death

I was in my first church, in my mid-twenties, and with little experience.  I had only been in ministry for months, not years.   So the call I got was one that was challenging for me.  The daughter of one of the people in my church had died.  What was tragic about her death was that the cause of death was smoke inhalation.  She fell asleep smoking in a motel room, and it was the smoke of the ensuing fire that killed her.  That was tragic enough, I guess.  However, the tragedy was intensified by the fact that she had been meeting a young man in that hotel room for a tryst.   What Scripture do you use?  What do you say when there are concerns about whether this troubled, yet beloved daughter is in heaven?

When there is a death because of lifestyle choices you will be challenged, and it will be one of those most difficult sermons that you prepare.  The lifestyle choice might be smoking and the ensuing lung cancer.  It might be alcoholism.  It might be drug use.  What do you say at such a time?

The Approach

Bryan Chapell, in the book, “The Most Difficult Sermons…” chose Isaiah 6 when preaching about a friend who died of lung cancer.  There he pictured God on his throne, Isaiah falling on his face as he encounters the glory of God, but then is cleansed of sin by an angel who is sent with a burning coal to touch his lips.

I chose a different path.  I chose to focus on verses from the book of Job.  Toward the end of that challenging book, Job demands that God appear before him and tell him why there is all the tragedy in his life.  In short order, he lost his wealth and then his children.

God does appear, but doesn’t tell him the “why” of his suffering.  Rather, he takes him on a nature tour.  In the process, God asks him a series of questions, things like, “Can you cause the sun to rise?”  “Can you cause snow to fall?”  “Can you command a thunderstorm?”

The message to Job is simply this:  I am far greater than you are.  What makes you think that you are knowledgeable enough to question me?

I then pointed out that though we would like to know “why”, God rarely tells us the why of a tragedy like this.  What he does is give us an opportunity to trust what he is doing, even though we can’t come up with a good reason.  The reality is that we live in a world that has been twisted by sin, and this leaves us sometimes broken by grief.

Offering Hope

I then reminded the gathered group of the truth of Scripture that salvation is by grace alone, not by the perfection of our life.   There is an old quote attributed to Martin Luther:

“I expect three surprises when I get to heaven.” So Martin Luther, the German Reformer who turned the world upside down in the sixteenth century by his rediscovery of justification by faith alone, is often quoted as saying. First, there will be people in heaven he did not expect to be there. Second, there will be people not present in heaven he was certain would be there. Third is the greatest surprise of all—that he is there himself!

So we have to live with this great uncertainty, trusting a God who provides grace even for sinners like us.

Conclusion

These kinds of situations a challenging, to be sure.  Death because of lifestyle choices will always create uncertainty in the minds and hearts of the people gathered.  Give them some hope.  Give them gospel.  Invite people there who are friends of the departed one into a living relationship with the Jesus who died for all our failures.