Though this is a dark hour, and the grief and pain we bear is quite real, the question that begs to be asked is not, “Why?” It is not, “Why her? Why now? ” or “How?”. Rather, in the midst of this tragedy, the question that begs to be asked is “How, now, might Christ be glorified?...How, now, might Christ be glorified?”
For you see, if we fail to ask that question and if we only introspectively focus upon our own grief and loss, though it be very real, then we have missed the point of her life and the Gospel purpose.
The cry of Natalie’s heart was the love of her Savior and the desire for others to share in that same love. Indeed as Pastor [ ] noted, if she were with sitting here with us now she would say, “What’s all the fuss about?” She would remind us that there is light to be shown, a message to proclaim, and kingdom work to be done. If we are able point people to Christ and his saving grace in the midst of our sorrow and proclaim his great salvation, that same salvation that wholly defined our Natalie, then her death is not in vain. If we, here and now, proclaim the glorious might and faithfulness of Jesus Christ, Natalie is truly celebrated.
I love the words of the Apostle Paul. Hear what he says in I Corinthians. This is a beautiful, in your face moment, where Paul shoots off these rhetorical questions in pure, beautiful defiance of the darkness of this world.
“O death, where is your sting?” Where? Ha! Again, “O grave, where is your victory?” It isn’t there. It can’t be found. It has failed! “For death is swallowed up in victory, through Christ.”
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Listen to that glorious truth: death, that last instrument that the Enemy had against us, that one facet that had even a smidgen of potential to separate us from God, that same God has stripped away any and all power the Enemy had. He has rendered him impotent, useless, pathetic. For you see the sting and pain and consequence of death has been swallowed up in the victorious resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Death no longer holds power over us. Oh, it may inconvenience us, shock us, cause us grief—but it is useless in an effort to overcome us. For you see, for the believer, for Natalie, all that death can do is speed up the process in which we reach Paradise. All it does is hurry as along out of this wretched world and into glory, into the Kingdom, to our eternal rest and reward with the Savior. All it does is quicken our reward and joy.
Paul says in Philippians, “For me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” The same is true for all believers and for our Natalie. If we live, Praise God! Christ is glorified in our life and in our service to Him and before the watching world. If we die, Praise God! We are going home to our Creator and Savior! You see, the enemy can’t win. Either way, if we live or die, because of Christ, we are victorious!
You see, it would be wrong of us to say we have lost Natalie. False. We have not lost her. Indeed how could anyone be considered “lost” when they are held direct in the palm of the Most High God? She has been bound and destined for eternity with Christ from the moment she came to saving faith in Christ Jesus. The Great King of the Universe has sealed his very name upon her, calling her daughter, Child of the Most High. Oh my friends, for those of us who are in Christ Jesus, she is not lost. We have simply lost contact with her, and only temporarily.
If Natalie were here among us now, you know as well as I what she would want to say to us all: the cry of her heart,"Trust in Christ.” For there is none other, in heaven or an earth, whereby we can be saved. For it is in Christ alone that her hope was found, and it was He and His will that she sought with all her might. She was His! And she begs you now, though being gone, she still speaks: Are you a child of King? Have you placed your trust in him alone for salvation and clung to him alone for righteousness and forgiveness of sins? You could give no greater gift to Nat than if you were to do that this very day. How now shall we glorify Christ and honor Natalie?
Indeed she did, and does, belong to the Father. And it is that same Father that wraps her in a love that cannot ever be broken. All whom the Father has given to the Son can never be lost and never slip out of his grasp. No, friends, whatever trials and despairs circumstance or the Enemy may hurl at us, there is nothing so powerful that it can remove us from the love of the Savior. Hear the glorious promise: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
…Death is swallowed up in victory. Sin loses. Natalie and Christ win.
Hear these words of an ancient hymn: “My flesh in hope shall rest, and for a season slumber. Till trump from east to west shall wake the dead in number. Had Christ that once was slain ne’er burst his three day prison, our faith would been in vain. But now has Christ arisen! Death’s flood has lost its chill, since Jesus crossed the river. Lover of souls from ill, my passing soul deliver. Had Christ that once was slain ne’er burst his three day prison, our faith would been in vain. But now has Christ arisen! ”
For now, her flesh rests, and slumbers in peace, even while her soul rejoices now, and yet looks forward to that Great and Awesome Day of the Lord: The Day of His Coming, when all the dead in Christ shall rise again in triumph, in resurrection body, and obtain their hope of glory. Christ is and was Natalie’s hope of glory, indeed her hope in everything! The question is, is He yours?
Oh, Natalie, you are loved. You are loved by the Almighty Father with a boundless love that can never be broken, and you are a diamond in his eye. You are loved by the countless friends and families gathered here who cry, not as those who mourn, but as those who have great hope. We miss you dearly…And, even now, as you look down upon us in greater health and vitality than which you’ve ever been, we know, we know, we shall see you again, oh so very soon.
Praise God! Praise God for the life he has given us in Natalie and the for joy she brought to all of us. Praise for the glory and joy she brought the Father while here on earth, and now forevermore. And Praise God for his promise of eternal life through Christ Jesus. Praise God for his saving Gospel, and for the life of Natalie Beardsley who made that Gospel truth so clear to all of us.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Too Good not to Re-post
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