A funeral is exactly the place for a doctrinal sermon. A chance to not just be preaching to the choir. A place to talk of the law and share the gospel. The format is determined by the denomination. In some the service is about the dead person. In others the service is about God and his plan for salvation. The sermon at my uncles funeral started with” Floyd was never known to darken the door of a church, and we have no reason to assume he is in heaven today.” We, the family, picked the church and the pastor and approved of that heartbreaking sermon. We could have had a eulogy at the funeral home but chose this on purpose. At least two people heard the gospel and were converted that I know of. My dad one of the two.
If that’s what the family wants, that’s ok, I guess.
Not to my taste, but that’s my problem. Preachers who insist on dragging it in when the family doesn’t want it are very much in the wrong, IMO.
Too bad that sermon wasn't based on the story of the rich man and the beggar. In that story, the man who was 'comforted on earth' was being tormented, and the man who was 'tormented on earth' was being comforted. In that story the rich man never asked to exit the torment - he knew that he was where he deserved to be. All he ask was that someone tell his family that they don't want to go where he had gone.
God alone knows the heart, and this story communicates well what the thoughts of a man 'in torment' wants to say.