1 Cor. 3:11-17
For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.

For those of us who know Christ, the next time we see Mark, these words will have come to life for us in a whole new way.

I believe that we will be delighted together to see what the day will show because Mark did live the kind of life that could not be burned up by any fire. I’m not saying that everything he did was perfect, but rather that so many of the god-breathed things he did do are being uncovered to our eyes.

So much that Mark did and said and achieved in this life did not come from Mark alone but was a product of his conscious union with Jesus Christ. That is what it means to build with gold.

I believe that, looking back on his life in these past few days, many of us here have already begun to be surprised and delighted at all the gold we find in him, and saddened by the loss we feel because someone so special has been taken from our lives. But if you stop and wait on God, I think you will find that even though Mark is gone from us physically, the gold remains.

Truly God chose to manifest His life through this unique, quiet, funny, brave man, and that Life is always glorious, and is always with those of us who know Him.

Because he knew Jesus, Mark knew the real secret of living and building a blessed life.

He knew Jesus lived in and through him, and so he was and is still a temple of the Holy Spirit
And that means holy, alive, good with all the goodness of God himself.

To me this means that when Mark enjoyed the ocean
God was in Mark
Enjoying His own creation
Through the eyes and limbs
Of His man that He had made.

When Mark fell in love with Sarah,
God was in him
calling out her true beauty and life
by being with her in a special way
that no one else could know.

When Mark adored his daughter Cora
God was in him
Loving this little girl.

But for me and for you
Here is the real point today
And don’t miss this, especially if you don’t yet know Jesus as Mark did
He would want you to know this:

When Mark befriended you and me
When he smiled that Metherellian smile
Or told us a story, or made a dry joke
When he encouraged you when you needed it most
with that twinkle in his eye
When he believed in me
even though I thought that nobody would
Mark and Jesus together
Were inviting us
Into a divine relationship
A friendship so real
So dependable, so satisfying
That we could never pass it up.

I will miss him
But I have to say that now
As I look back on what he gave me
Through his friendship
That it was “more gold and gold”
And will never go away.

So for Mark’s sake now
For each of us
Let us not pass up
The friendship and comfort and freedom
that God is offering us
in the chance to know Jesus
Through Mark’s life.

Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners, [a]
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor _
and the day of vengeance of our God, _
to comfort all who mourn,
3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion— _
to bestow on them a crown of beauty _
instead of ashes, _
the oil of gladness _
instead of mourning, _
and a garment of praise _
instead of a spirit of despair. _
They will be called oaks of righteousness, _
a planting of the LORD _
for the display of his splendor.