Funeral For A Stillborn Child
1. We have come together today to lay to rest in the earth the tiny body of the infant (name of the child).
a) Why are we here?
b) We have not come to remember that child we lay to rest.
c) Usually at funerals we remember the life of the deceased and recall how they
have touched us.
2. This child has faced death before the time of his birth.
a) We did not have the opportunity to witness the joy and privilege of knowing this gift from God.
b) We will never see him wrapped in his mother’s arms or playing catch with his father.
c) We will never see this child grow up.
3. Sadly, our world places little value upon children before they are born.
a) Our government has declared that before birth children have no rights, not even the right to life!
b) Daily, thousands of children lose their lives, not because of illness, but because their mothers deliberately remove their own children from their bodies.
c) Those defenseless children do not have the privilege of a funeral, a burial or a
grave, but are treated as garbage.
d) We come together to declare to the world that this child we bury today was a human being.
e) This child was wanted and loved.
4. The Bible calls those in the womb “children” (Genesis 25:22).
a) “Lo, children are a heritage of Jehovah; and the fruit of the womb is her reward”
(Psalms 127:3).
b) “For You have formed my inward parts; You have covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the
earth.” (Psalms 139:13–15).
5. If only there were more fathers, like (father’s name), who would recognize how precious a little boy is.
6. If only there were more mothers, like (mother’s name), who would desire children and understand that they are a gift from God.
7. We come together to comfort this child’s parents.
a) We cannot shed tears over a child we never had the chance to know.
b) But, we can shed tears with his parents.
c) We are to “weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15).
d) Let us comfort (mother’s name) and (father’s name), encourage them and pray for
them in their sorrow.
Wayne Greeson www.ExpositorySermonOutlines.com 1
8. What will we learn from the death of this child?
a) King David faced the tragic grief of having a newborn infant become very sick unto death.
b) “…David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. So the elders of his
house arose and went to him, to raise him up from the ground. But he would not, nor did he eat food with them” (2 Samuel 12:16–17).
c) After 7 days of tears, prayers and fasting, the child died.
d) When David found out that the child was dead “he arose from the ground, washed and anointed himself, and changed his clothes; and he went into the
house of the Lord and worshipped…” (2 Samuel 12:20).
e) His servants did not understand his sudden change at the death of the child. i) Before the child died, David had mourned.
ii) When the child died, David stopped mourning.
iii) David replied, “… he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.” (2 Samuel 12:23).
f) As David, we have no need to cry for this child.
g) David recognized those who die as children are without sin and their spirits return to the Father.
h) Likewise, we have no doubt about the destiny of this pure and innocent child whose body we bury today.
i) His body will be in the earth, but his spirit has returned to God who gave it!
9. We can be happy this child is now with God.
a) David believed his life before God was such that when he died, he would be where his child was.
b) The spirit of the child we are burying is with the Father. c) Do not let the death of this child be in vain.
d) Listen to his voice from beyond the grave: “Mommy, Daddy, Grandma,
Grandpa, please come where I am. I do so want to meet and talk with you.”
Wayne Greeson www.ExpositorySermonOutlines.com 2