TEXT: Hebrews 4:15-16

SUBJECT: Gabe's Funeral

Last Tuesday night, about nine o'clock, Gabe Leonard left this world "safe in the arms of Jesus". Please don't take this poetically, but as a literal fact. For Gabe believed in Christ and is, therefore, "absent from the body [and] present with the Lord". This--St. Paul says--"is far better".

We're here today and heartbroken. But Gabe is not! He has gone

"To the altar of God,

To God, [his] exceeding joy".

While we cry over the loss, Gabe "rejoices with a joy unspeakable and full of glory". While we stoop over in grief, our young friend "dances before the Lord with all his might".

These are not fairy tales to amuse children and comfort old ladies. They are faithful and true. God promises eternal life to everyone who believes. And "in Jesus Christ, all the promises of God are yea and amen".

Oh, how "Blessed are the dead...who die in the LORD". God has "wiped away [Gabe's] every tear". For him, there is "No more death, sorrow, crying or pain. For [Gabe] the former things are passed away".

"May [we] die the death of the righteous

And our end be like his".

Nothing I say will increase Gabe's joy in the least. Today, his "cup runneth over".

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But I must say something to you. To his family; to his church; to his friends.

The death of a loved one is a painful experience. The sorrows are greatly increased when the loved one is so young. "In Rama, there was a voice heard, lamentation and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children because they are not" (Matthew 2:18). Today Gabe's parents cry; we join them in their grief. Warren and Edna, please accept our sympathy, and know our prayers are with you.

Human sympathy is a good thing. Divine compassion is better. In Jesus Christ, the two are perfectly joined. Who is Christ? The Apostles know: He is "Emmanuel--God with us". He is "The Word Made Flesh".

The Early Church sang,

"Great is the mystery of godliness!

God was manifest in the flesh".

Later, the Church confessed its faith in "Jesus Christ our Lord [as]

"Very God of very God;

Very man of very man".

Our Lord was often "moved with compassion" at the suffering of others. At the tomb of Lazarus we wept with such feeling that others exclaimed "Behold how He loved him!" His love was not put-on, but real, deep, and lasting. "Jesus, having loved His own who were in the world, loved them to the end".

The compassion he felt--and showed--was human, fully human. But it was more than that. It was also Divine. For in Jesus Christ, God entered the human race to "Bear our griefs and carry our sorrows" (Isaiah 53:4).

For us, pain is not optional. "Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward". But for God, pain is a choice. He could have skipped it altogether. But He chose otherwise. "In all our affliction He [chose to be] afflicted". Why? Because of His great love for us.

"No greater love has any man than this,

that he would lay down his life for his friend".

What a mystery! Our God is human. And, therefore, He knows the range of human feeling. From the fullness of joy to the emptiness of death.

He has been to a funeral. And knows how we feel.

But this is not all. Our Man is Divine! Therefore, He can do something about our pain. What is it? He doesn't wave a magic wand and make our pain go away. Would you want Him to? The loss you feel today is the result of your love. If Christ took away your pain, He would also take away your love. And that is worse than pain.

No, what He does is uphold us in our loss. "Cast your burden on the Lord and He shall sustain you" (Psalm 55:22). In our weakness, His "power is made perfect" (II Corinthians 12:9). In our despair, His "hope does not disappoint" (Romans 5:5). In our emptiness, we "receive His fullness" (John 1:16).

So, what do we do?

We "Come boldly to the throne of grace". Why? "To obtain mercy and to receive grace in time of need". Will we get what we need? Yes we will, for the God we approach isn't cold, detached, and distant. He is the God "tempted in all points as we are. And, therefore, able to help those who are tempted" (Hebrews 2:8).

God bless the Leonard family. God bless us all, for Christ's sake. Amen.