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Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14).

This passage is a standard at Christian funerals. As I am sure we have said before here, it helps Christians to grieve well. I\u2019ve noticed that many people are not sure what happens when someone dies and so they do not know how to respond to the death of a loved one.

No one has every told me that they believe we simply cease to exist. Most people believe that something of us continues after death but have only the vaguest idea of what that might mean. Its easy to live with a vague understanding of death until death affects one personally. Then, it really does matter what we believe about what is beyond death.

To lose a loved one is a deep emotional shock. And it can be a struggle is to bring our faith and emotions together. For the early Christians it also created spiritual questions. They had come to believe in Jesus Christ who rose from the dead. Death was defeated, it had lost its sting. Is that not what we celebrated just this weekend? If death was defeated why were Christians dying? They believed that Jesus would return in their lifetime, not that Christians would die. So, what was going on?

This question was creating fears in the church. One answer was that those who died were not Christians at all. Their faith had never been real and now they were lost. This caused those still living to wonder if they truly believed. Another common option was that those who had died had a weak faith. This too caused anxious questions, \u201cIs my faith strong enough?\u201d Or maybe death had not been defeated?

That is one set of questions. But there was another. The second was that Christ had returned and all those who were still living had missed it, as in the Left Behind series. Christians who put any stock in the Biblical accuracy of that series ought to study this passage. The idea that they had missed Christ was an horrifying thought.

Ignorance leads to fear, and so Paul wants to assure that the Christians have the facts right. His most basic teaching is this: those who have died and those who are still alive are all in the hands of Jesus. To all this fear and anxiety, Paul says, \u2018Don\u2019t worry, those who have died are still in Christ\u2019s hands. We are all safe.

Our hope is grounded in Christ\u2019s victory over death through His resurrection. There is life after physical death. Paul uses the word \u2018sleep\u2019 to refer to death. It suggests something that is temporary. He, of course, borrows this from Jesus, who used that language about his friend Lazarus.

Being asleep involves future awakening. The point of sleeping is to wake up fresh and renewed. Those who die in Christ go to be with him. They are not separated from him. Jesus\u2019 resurrection means that Christians who have died will be raised too \u2013 these two belong together. Jesus\u2019 resurrection and ours, go hand in hand.

Death still separates, but not forever. When Jesus returns, he will bring with him all believers have already died. Its right for Christians to grieve when death comes. But we grieve with hope.