Timothy Meddings Funeral
April 29, 1994
Prayer: Our Father and our God, we come to you today as needy people. Our hearts have been made very tender this week as a precious child of yours has left us and entered your presence.
Teach us once again that “Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of His saints.” Help us to say with Job, “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Dear Savior and Master, who yourself did weep beside the grave of one you loved and who are touched with the feeling of our infirmities, fulfill your promise that you will not leave your people comfortless but will come to them. Grant that we might grasp the full impact of your words, “I am the resurrection and the life.”
We invite you to be present in our midst with great power and glory. We desire that this service be not only a fitting memorial to Timothy Alan Meddings, but even more that it would bring honor and glory and praise to You, whom we loved and trusted in life and in death.
Meet our needs this hour, we pray. In Jesus name, Amen.
Welcome: We are gathered together this afternoon in loving memory of Timothy Alan Meddings, beloved son, brother, grandchild, and friend. The Meddings family would like for me to express their heartfelt gratitude to the thousands of friends who have supported them through these many months of trial. They have been overwhelmed by the Christian love and compassion, by the number of churches which have prayed regularly for them, by the hundreds who have sustained them with visits, with food, with words of comfort, and most of all, by just being there.
Words are inadequate to express the love and gratitude they feel also toward the medical staffs of Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital and Barnes Hospital, some of whom are present today for this service. The care was always professional and competent, but in addition was offered with deep sensitivity and compassion. We also express our sincere thanks to the staff and members of the First Baptist Church of Ellisville for allowing us the use of this beautiful facility at a very busy time of the year.
It is so good to have Pastor Mike Minter, who was Timmy’s pastor when the Meddings lived in Virginia, here to be with the family for these days, and to share a very vital part in this memorial service.
The greatest comfort that comes to a believer at a time like this is that which comes from the very words of God as found in the Scriptures. Jesus said,
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. There are many rooms in my Father’s house; otherwise I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way—and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:1-6)
Then from the words of the Apostle Paul,
“Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who sleep, or to grieve like the rest who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who sleep in him. According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.” (1 Thess 4:
Personal remarks: Pastor Mike Minter
Message: During the months that Timmy was in the hospital his parents spent many long hours reading and quoting the Scriptures to him. We want to read some of those passages today because they share significant truths about his struggle and the beautiful trust he had in the Lord.
Each time Timmy would be taken into surgery or some other difficult procedure Sharry would read to him from Psalm 91: “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.”
Timmy found satisfaction in the truth of Phil. 1:12, where Paul, facing tragedy in his own life, said, “Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the Gospel.” A little later in the same chapter are these words: “For I know that this shall turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I shall not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ shall even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Timmy believed that.
Several weeks ago, when Timmy went into a coma, the family found special strength from Psalm 42:
“As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for Thee, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” These things I remember, and I pour out my soul within me.
Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise HIm, the help of my countenance, and my God.”
Bill had the privilege of sharing many hours with Timmy alone, and one of the passages they talked about was Proverbs 3:1-12, a passage of great import for every young man here today:
“My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments; for length of days and years of life, and peace they will add to you. Do not let kindness and truth leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. So you will find favor and good repute in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your body, and refreshment to your bones. Honor the Lord from your wealth, and from the first of all your produce; so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine. My son, do not reject the discipline of the Lord, or loathe His reproof, for whom the Lord loves He reproves, even as a father the son in whom he delights.”
One of Timmy’s favorite passages, which he not only quoted but sang was Psalm 25:1,2: “Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me.”
I want to close with the passage that earned Timmy the name “Golden Boy” from his parents:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.”
Prayer: Our heavenly Father, we get great comfort from Your Word today. It is living water indeed for our dry and thirsty souls. We approach Your throne of grace in sorrow but not in anger; in grief but not in hopelessness. We ask for a special measure of your strength and comfort in the lives of this dear family. Cause them to feel your presence surrounding them and sustaining them. Minister to all of us, we pray, and may this time of sorrow cause us to cast ourselves upon you and draw us closer to You. We pray in the precious name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.