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Should We Attend Funerals?

Updated to Fit TOA Feb 16, 2012

Hi K____,

Let me introduce myself. My name is Rob Jones and I am a friend of Mike's who shares the same mind of Christ and comes with the same doctrine of Jesus Christ. Mike and I work very closely together, and sometimes, when things fall behind, he'll ask me if I can help him out by answering some of his many emails. Right now is one of those times that Mike is swamped, and it's why he asked me to respond to your email below.

First and foremost, I want you to know that it's OK to go to the funeral of your grandmother when the time comes. The point that Christ is making in Luke 9, like all of Christ's points, has nothing to do with the physical. Remember Christ says that His words are spirit.

Joh 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

All that exists in the Bible is to be understood spiritually, not physically. But often, we come to see the spiritual, after first understanding the physical.

Rom 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
1Co 15:46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

The point that Christ is emphasizing deals with the 'spiritually' dead:

Luk 9:59 And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.
Luk 9:60 Jesus said unto him, Let the [spiritually] dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.
Luk 9:61 And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house.
Luk 9:62 And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

And who are the spiritually dead? All of us are 'spiritually' dead until we are truly converted and thus born again.

Joh 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Joh 3:4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
Joh 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Joh 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Joh 3:7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
Joh 3:8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

Even Christ, just like each of us, had to be born into a "body of death". Yes, Christ was emptied of all of His glory, made a man, conceived in sin, so that he could be born into 'the body of this death'.

Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Php 2:7 But made himself of no reputation [Gk. 'Kenoo' meaning to empty, abase, or neutralize], and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
1Ti 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
Psalms 51:5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Christ was made just like each of us. And why did it have to be this way?

Col 1:22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:
Heb 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

That's right...'so that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death'. But the emptying of Christ's glory was only temporary.

Joh 17:4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
Joh 17:5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

The point that Christ is emphasizing here is twofold. First, He is showing us the magnitude of what we must give up or lose in order to be one of His disciples.

Luk 14:26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
Luk 14:27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

Mat 10:37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

We must truly 'lose our life' before we can ever 'find our life'. Look at this example in Mark 10:17-22.

Mar 10:17 And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?
Mar 10:18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.
Mar 10:19 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.
Mar 10:20 And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth.
Mar 10:21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.
Mar 10:22 And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.

Yes, we must all first 'knowest the commandments' or come through the law, but then to 'follow' Him, we must 'sell whatsoever thou hast' in order to have 'treasure in heaven'. In other words, we must 'lose our life' by dying to all that is of the flesh, all that is not spiritual so that we can then be able to 'take up the cross and follow' Christ.

Jer 18:4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
Joh 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

Being unwilling to die to our flesh and carnality will keep us from finding our life, or in other words, from ever knowing God and Christ. We must shed ourselves of all flesh, including the very flesh of Jesus Christ.

Joh 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
Rom 8:8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
1Co 1:29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.
Joh 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
Heb 10:20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
2Co 5:16 Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.

Christ calls on us to die spiritually to the flesh, to take up our cross, to not look back, and to press on toward the mark.

Php 3:13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
Php 3:14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

And why are we not to look back? Why are we not 'fit for the kingdom of God' if we 'look back' after 'having put our hand to the plough'?

2Pe 2:20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
2Pe 2:21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
Heb 10:26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
Heb 10:27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.

But as I mentioned earlier there is also a second point worth highlighting. And that point is Christ showing us that our concern, the concern of His elect, is to be primarily unto the household of faith, unto edification, for the calling out and molding of His elect.

Gal 6:10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.
Rom 14:19 Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.
1Th 5:11 Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.
1Co 14:3 But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.
2Co 10:8 For though I should boast somewhat more of our authority, which the Lord hath given us for edification, and not for your destruction, I should not be ashamed:
2Co 13:10 Therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness, according to the power which the Lord hath given me to edification, and not to destruction.

I hope that this response helps you to see the truth behind what Christ meant when he said, 'Let the dead bury their dead'. I will pray that Christ will give you the eyes to see and ears to hear His word.

Rob