1 Corinthians 15:22 “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.”
Two things in this verse:
· First, as sons and daughters of Adam, we are reminded that we all die. We hardly need reminding of this, do we. We are destined to live 3 score and 10, as Psalm
90 puts it, only to return to the dust from which we came, as it says in Genesis
3.
· Secondly, this passage tells us that for all who are “in Christ,” (St Paul’s favorite phrase) we are all made alive. What does St. Paul mean? He goes on to tell
us. He says that “in Christ,” the perishable (that is, we mortal humans), put
on the imperishable (immortality). Paul tells us,
for those who are in a saving relationship with Christ, death no longer has its
sting; that is, the curse of Genesis 3 (which is the story of humankind’s
rebellion against God) is broken and replaced with the eternal blessing of
fellowship with God forever.
This is
amazingly good news to a world that is perishing, and it is well hidden from
many but revealed to all who are in Christ.
This "Good News" is not only revealed to us who are in a relationship with Christ but also actualized
and made possible through our relationship with Christ.
This service
this afternoon celebrates this great Truth in the context of the life of our
dear Marylin. Of course, we grieve her loss to us and
will miss her. To all the family,
know that those of us gathered here grieve with you, but we also celebrate with
you. God has gathered Mimi to Himself
forever. Using the beautiful words from
the Old Testament prophet Isaiah from whom we just read, Christ brings to us “the oil of gladness instead of mourning, a garment of praise instead of
a faint spirit.” God has done this for
Marylin; God has done this for us.
So, we celebrate:
We celebrate Marylin; we celebrate God who gave Marylin life and gave
her to us; we celebrate
that God has now granted Marylin an eternal place at His great banquet table in
Heaven, the marriage feast of the Lamb to His bride, the Church; and finally, we
celebrate the great reality that, through Marylin’s relationship with God in
Christ, death does not have the last word in Marylin’s life, God does.
Our relationship with God, therefore, is very important, life and death important. In God’s grand scheme of things, all relationships are important. At times like this, we should think about our relationships, such as the relationship we had with Marylin and our ongoing relationships with each other. Most of all, we should think about our relationship with God.
Some think that
Christianity, particularly when viewed from the outside, is about following
rules when it is really about relationships. Breaking God’s rules can be
forgiven, and God is quick to do that, but relationships, especially our relationship with God, can
either be made or lost forever. It is
true that we Christians seek to follow God’s rules and the boundaries He has
placed around our lives, but we do so simply because it is an expression of our relationship with Him. Relationships not rules are what we find at the
heart of Christianity.
From God's
perspective, to be in a relationship with Him is the reason He created us. Christ came to be our way back to a relationship
with the Father unfettered by our sin and rebellion. Jesus
says in John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes
to the Father except through me."
Through Jesus, Heaven’s gates are opened wide to a forever and perfected
love-relationship with God. On this side
of the grave, we struggle to understand what such a forever relationship with
God looks like, but Marylin knows what it looks like; she is now liveing it.
If we are paying attention, God’s purposes for our lives should become clear in times like today, and it involves our relationship with Him and with each other. The full, unfettered, and forever relationship with God we call Heaven. The full, unfettered, and forever relationship with one another we call the Communion of Saints in Heaven. Through Christ, we will someday take our place in Heaven alongside Marylin and all the saints. “Thanks be to God!”
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