Pondering these verses, I thought, "Yes, there is something to celebrate at the passing of a Christian." There is something good about the death of a child of God. Indeed the scriptures say in Psalm 116:15: "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." We do not readily accept that .. for our perspective is indeed far different from God’s.

BUT, EVEN IN THE MIDST OF OUR SORROW AND GRIEF...AND YOUR SORROW AND GRIEF ARE REAL, THERE IS CAUSE FOR CELEBRATION.  THERE ARE REASONS TO REJOICE. What are those reasons?  Let’s look into our text. Eccl 7:1-4

The Bible has a lot to say about a good name. Prov. 22:1 says: "A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches; loving favor rather than silver and gold." The New Testament tells us that a church leader must have a good reputation. The early church was told to look out among themselves and find leaders of good repute. Once a name is soiled, no money can purchase its cleansing. Once a reputation is lost, no amount of riches can buy it again.

Jim had a good name. Wherever you mentioned his name folks had good things to say. He had a good name and it is worth more than rubies. I’m not saying He was perfect, you know I wouldn’t say that. But I am saying that we can celebrate the fact that this brother in Christ had a good name. Yes, we can celebrate a good name today... and here is something else:

2. We can celebrate The Day of Death. 1b

Celebrate the ‘day of death?’ You say, "How cynical can one be?" "How can that be something to celebrate?"

Here is how: Death is, for the blood-bought, born-again believer in Christ, a release of prison and an entrance into glory. I never attempt to preach someone into heaven and I don’t intend to be doing that now. God knows all hearts and we can’t. But here is the Bible truth about those in Christ:

2 Cor 5:1 Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

1 Cor 15:54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." 55 "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jim was imprisoned by a body, an earthly tabernacle in Bible terminology, that was worn out and holding him back. Holding him back from church meetings, back from service, back from doing for his family as He had so often done. That restriction has been lifted, he has been freed, emancipated from the bondage of physical infirmity.

A house of mourning is not a pretty picture, normally. But consider it this way: WHERE THERE IS MOURNING THERE WAS LOVE, JOY, AND DEEP RELATIONSHIPS. If there had not been these good and wholesome things, no one would be mourning! Mourning indicates loss, and loss means something GOOD WAS HERE! INDEED, SOMETHING GOOD WAS HERE! I see a family mourning because a loving husband and father served for 94 plus years. I see a family mourning because a devoted Christian servant was a spiritual leader by his actions for all those years. Let me contrast it with the infamous king of Judah, Jehoram. It says in 2 Chr 21:20

Jim did not die "with no one’s regret." In fact, we all regret this loss. It’s when one dies and there is no regret and there is no mourning that there is no reason to celebrate.  Today we can celebrate even as we mourn. Indeed, it is better to go to a house where the dead are loved and mourned than to go where feasting abounds and no regret is shown in the time of death. Celebrate a good name, celebrate the day of freedom from a body that imprisons, celebrate the mourning over a valuable loved one, and ....

The word says here that death is inevitable, unavoidable, and inescapable. The book of Hebrews says: "It is appointed unto man once to die, then the judgment." It’s coming folks, the time we all leave this planet. It is coming and we don’t know just when. Jim knew it and lived like he was bound for another world, "He lived like his treasure was laid up, somewhere beyond the blue. The angels beckoned him from heaven’s open door, and He couldn’t feel at home in this world anymore." He was a pilgrim just passing thru.

No gold bars in his suitcase for heaven, He sent them on ahead. What would you do with a suitcase of paving stones where the streets are paved with gold?

We can celebrate the lives of those who live in such a way as to prepare for dying. To conduct themselves in this world as if it meant all the world in the next world... AND IT TRULY DOES....

"Death is the destiny of every man and the living" ... that’s you and me... "should take this to heart."

Have you taken death to heart?

Have you faced your own mortality?

Have you prepared, thru Christ Jesus, for the world beyond this one? He is the only one who can get you ready. You really can’t prepare yourself without Him, but you can co-operate with Him and be ready. Jesus wants you to be ready and talked about on numerous occasions.

"Lay not treasures up for yourselves on earth....."

"He who confesses me before men ..."

"Unless ye all repent, ye..."

"He that believeth and is baptized..."

"Remain thou faithful unto death...."

All those are scriptures where Jesus taught us to be ready.  

And if we heed our Savior’s admonitions to be ready for life and for death, if we truly submit to Christ Jesus and make Him Lord of our lives, we can, like Jim, view our own death NOT as an end, but as a departure for a better harbor.