Funeral sermon for 19 year old who committed suicide
How Heavy Is A Heart?
Proverbs 12:25
Heaviness in the heart of a man maketh it stop, but a good word maketh it glad.”
So often with grayness of spirit and darkness of soul I have walked the way of death to arrive at this painful place and moment of mourning and said, “it is with heaviness of heart that we gather here.” But this time, that phrase snapped out: how heavy is a heart? How much, and who weighs?
I. It is weighed the most appropriately when it is bound in the bundle of life with God!
- Abigail told David this in I. Sam 25:29, your “soul is bound in the bundle of life with the Lord thy God…” so are we all, so was/is (name of deceased)
- No we are not the result of a cataclysmic collision of chromosomes, merely molecules in motion. Jeremiah 1:5 – “before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born, I set you apart.” As so all, as so (name of deceased) (Deceased) was hand-made by God. The Lord was the only one who truly knew him.
- Your very heart is bound in the bundle of life with God and from that throbbing beat flows all the physical and emotional elements of our existence. Proverbs 4:23 “keep the heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” Don’t let our heart lead your head down the wrong road.
- The Infinite has wrapped Himself up together inside the finite, on purpose, with purpose, for a purpose.
- But with the ultimate ecstasy of living with the awareness that we are created in the image of God also comes the ultimate ego chill that we are the only being in existence that lives with the constant awareness that we must and will die.
- So, how heavy is a heart? What is your true net worth? As it is useless to sew with a needle and no thread, so is life without salvation.
How do I get bound up in a bundle with Him? (Plan of salvation)
II. It is weighed with the most agonywhen it bleeds the blood of pain.
- The heart (all hearts) get caught up in the cogs of sorrow and separation.
- We stand today face to face with the frozen grin of death
- Standing here facing the single event of human experience which seems to call for the most drastic and decisive action and yet we feel paralyzed, helpless, useless, numb.
- The icicle of death stabs our own heart and the blood of pain stains our soul with shades of sorrow.
- But before you allow the chill of sorrow to freeze out the heat of life, let me tell you the eyes that cannot weep are the saddest eyes of all. Like David said in Psalms 55:4, “my heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death assail me.” But also, Psalms 23;4, “yea, though I walk through the valley…”
III. It is weighed with the most anticipation when it breaths the breath of hope!
- “A good word maketh glad.” There are lines of light from the Lord!
- As the artist who changes house on the cold frozen scene of landscape to one of hope by paint with a light in the window, so by His resurrection He has struck a spark of light from the flintstone of the tombstone.
- The rider of the pale horse met more than his match when he faced the rider on the white horse, and Jesus offers hope.
- Cape of Storms – tip of South American is the Cape of Good Hope. daGama (the explorer), was looking beyond.
- If all my ships go out to sea and never one comes home to me; if I must watch day after day by empty water cold and gray, then I shall fashion one ship more from a bit of driftwood on the shore, I’ll build that ship with toil and pain, and send it out to sea again!
IV. The heart is weighed with the most accuracy when it beats in the balance of God!
- Proverbs 21:2 “…the Lord weighs the heart…”
- I’m glad God alone has the authority to weigh the human heart, because He is the only one who has all the information. He makes no mistake! God holds the heart of (deceased) in His hands.
Weighed with no error, misunderstanding, miscalculation, absolute accuracy – beats in the balance of God. We leave him committed there, and God is love.