If A Person Dies, Will He or She Live Again?

On Friday, August 1, I held Bev Kenworthy’s funeral at Westwood. Many of you who are reading this know Bev as well or better and longer than I do. Bev is an extraordinary woman. She is one of those rare saints that if you are privileged to get to know will bless your life in the most amazing ways. Let me share with you in printed form some of the thoughts that I will share at her funeral.

She was already on the top side of 70 when I first met her in 1996. During all the time that I have known her and much if not all of the time that some of you have known her, her eyesight was failing. During those first years that I knew her, someone would print word sheets in large letters every week for her of the songs we sang in church that Sunday because whether we were using hymnbooks or projecting the words she could not read them. Yet she wanted to participate in the worship service.

Bev very seldom missed church, and she read her Bible and devotional books and prayed with diligence. When she could no longer read, she had the Bible and her devotions read to her. As her health began to fail, she could not get to church any longer, but as long as she was at home and able to do so, she would still get dressed for church and watch church on TV. She told me the last time I took communion to her that on those Sundays she would squeeze the juice out of grapes and use crackers to prepare communion for herself. She asked that day if that was okay.

When you live like that, you can face up to the question that Job asked: If a person dies, will he or she live again? That may be the oldest recorded question. If you fail to ask Job’s question, you miss one of the greatest blessings of life. Understanding the answer to that question will enable you to understand three great things that God wants us to understand.

Understand the Gospel. The Apostle Paul summarizes the Gospel as the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. The Gospel is the action God took through Jesus to restore us to the life he created us for that we lost when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden. Through Jesus’ death, the penalty for our sins has been paid. Through Jesus’ resurrection, death has been defeated, and we receive the gift of eternal life. So even, Job could say, “I know that my Redeemer lives…”

Understand Your Reward. After suffering a life of persecution for Christ, Paul was at the end of his life when he wrote 2 Timothy, and said, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” Therefore the Lord will give me the crown of righteousness. Bev had marked in one of her devotional books this statement: “Because Christ lives, death is not a tragedy but triumph.”

Understand Grief. We will still grieve Bev’s death; her family will grieve her death. We, however, do not grieve as the rest of the world does who have no hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13). We will experience, grief, pain, loss when a loved one dies, when a special person dies. But we grieve in hope and look forward to eternal life.