Preaching for a Funeral

The recent death of my own father necessitated that I think about presenting the gospel at funerals, says BEN SHANNON.  I found the short chapter by Simon Manchester in “How to Speak at Special Events” invaluable in shaping my thinking.  Here is a brief summary of his thoughts:
It is a rare opportunity that so many non-Christians enter a Church, so the opportunity must be used “carefully and helpfully” (p.105).
“I heard someone say once that no-one but Jesus knows how to get a funeral right.  I’m sure this is true.” (p.106).

‘We don’t pretend here that good people go to heaven.  Jesus came for sinners so we are not playing a game here that ‘X’ was really a good person – he probably wasn’t.  The question for him (and for you one day) is “Are you forgiven?”’ (p.110)  It’s important to encourage the family to not paint the deceased as perfect – this makes the gospel redundant and so difficult to preach.

The funeral sermon is “not a time for pious clichés or professional sentimentality.” (p.110)

Explain what you’re doing at the beginning of the talk.  We are offering solid and firm information from the Bible, not just an opinion.

John 11 – Why is verse 25 more important than verse 43?  “The words to Martha are for all people and offering a resurrection” (not just resuscitation). (p.111)

1 Corinthians 15 – The context is Christians who were “losing their future by various preoccupations with the here and now” (p.111)

It’s hard to know whether someone was converted at the last minute.  The hope of conversion should neither be overplayed nor forgotten.  Nevertheless, the focus must be on the response of us, those who are still living.

The whole experience has left me thinking about how to speak at funerals.  I’d like to offer some of my own thoughts, questions and observations:

A funeral happens quickly and isn’t “planned”.  It may well require significant changes to the schedule of the pastor.  It may be only a couple of days between when the date for the funeral is set and held.  It is worth doing some thinking beforehand.

Even if the deceased was and their family are Christians who want the gospel to be proclaimed at the funeral, many of those who attend the funeral will not agree with the gospel.  Many non-Christians will attend to honour the life of the deceased. While it’s fine to offend with the gospel, it needs to be done in a way that doesn’t obliterate their desire to honour the life of the deceased.  This is a fine line.This type of talk is probably going to be slightly shorter than most.You want to get the gospel out. However, a thinly veiled presentation of “Two Ways To Live” can sound quite heartless. I think there needs to be sufficient time on acknowledging grief and sadness.