1.
Grace,
mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. Amen. At a time of grieving like this, those who
are here present, and I on behalf of Calvary Lutheran Church in Waupaca, offer
to you, Bill’s family, and all who were closest to him our deepest sympathy.
May our dear Lord, who knows your needs, comfort you and give you strength and
faith to uphold one another. Today I
would like us to focus on one of the texts that Bill chose for his funeral from
1 Cor. 15:20-22 where the Apostle Paul writes, “20But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the
firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21For as by a man came
death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22For as
in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.”
2.
Whenever
people gather for a Christian funeral, there are two basic reasons for the
worship service: first, to demonstrate by our presence the respect we have for
the deceased, a life given as a trust from God; and second, to contemplate the
meaning of our relationship to God and to other people for time and eternity. There’s no more meaningful concept for human
beings to contemplate than the grace of God. It emphasizes that God is not only
great but also good. Our life on earth is uncertain. We see the grace of God,
not only in how he sustains us by every breath we draw, but also in the
knowledge that we are in his hands and accountable to him.
3.
The
grace of God is always undeserved love and care. As a family, you have
experienced the grace of God in many ways, not least of all in one another. But
God’s grace is evident most clearly in how God has restored our relationship to
himself through his Son Jesus, a relationship that was broken by human sin.
4.
We know
that grace clearly in the Bible verse so often repeated by Christians, Jn 3:16.
In that verse, which many of you have committed to memory, we read, “For God so loved the world, that he gave
his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal
life.”
5.
And this
verse from John 3:16 shows us how we as Christians can handle the fact that we
will all die because of our sins. The Bible
also reminds us from Romans 6:23, “23For
the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ
Jesus our Lord.” We know that through our faith in Jesus, just
as Bill believed, we will be with the Lord in paradise. But, some people believe we can overcome this
reality of death through other means outside of faith in Jesus Christ as our
Lord and Savior. They may believe that
the medical advancements of today postpone death—but every medical doctor
admits that 100 percent of their patients eventually die. Others believe life
is a matter of sheer will. Still others ignore the possibility of death or
shrug their shoulders and say, “It’s
fate.” No human answer is satisfactory.
6.
In our
text St. Paul wrote to the Corinthian Christians, who grew up disbelieving in
the physical resurrection of the dead. For them, death was the final statement
in any person’s life. Paul responded with the Good News of the Gospel. First,
that God’s Son took the sins of the world upon himself and died to pay that
terrible debt. But death wasn’t the last word in Jesus’ life. Second, God
raised Jesus from the dead as acknowledgment of his Son’s payment. Because
Jesus was raised, his death for our sins was accepted. Jesus was raised for our
justification, that is, we are made right with God through Jesus’ payment.
7.
Paul
isn’t proclaiming myths or fables, but truth. Our faith, which hears these
words and accepts them, isn’t useless; it holds solid comfort. We’re not still
in our sins, stuck in the dead-end direction of damnation. Those who die in the
hope of their Lord are not lost. They live in him.
8.
Christianity
isn’t some gimmick to get us through this present life. It’s not some ethical
system to help us deal with present realities. Christianity is the confession
of the crucified and risen Lord, who brings life from death.
9.
As
Bill’s Pastor these last 3 ½ years I can tell you that he clung to the promises
found in God’s Word. Through my monthly
meetings with Bill and his wife Doris at Park Vista I heard them both confess
their sins to me each month and receive from Jesus the forgiveness of their
sins while also partaking of the Lord’s Supper. It was God’s Word that called
Bill to receive the gift of life in the promises of his Baptism. He confirmed
his belief in Christ as a young man. He bore witness to his faith in Christ by
worshiping the Lord, whether he was in Marinette or Waupaca, or in Montana. He
heard and responded to the promise our Lord made in his Last Supper, “Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of
sins.” Jesus was the living bread in Bill’s life, and in Jesus Bill knew he
had eternal life (Jn 6:51). God worked grace in Bill’s life through the Word,
and by the power of the Holy Spirit Bill received the gift of life in Jesus’
name. Bill believed his sins were fully paid for on the cross and that his dear
Lord Jesus won for him eternal life by grace through faith. This was Bill’s
witness, what he believed. And this was his hope he shared with his family and
friends.
10.
How do
we feel? Are we sad? Yes. Do we feel an emptiness where Bill touched our lives?
Yes. Do we feel hopeless? No! In Jesus’ words we find hope and life; which fill
us with assurance from the one who rose from the dead and is the author of hope
for us.
11.
Our
resurrected Lord, the Lord of life, the one who conquered death for us, said, “Be faithful, even to the point of death,
and I will give you the crown of life” (Rev 2:10). There’s nothing more
comforting for those who are sad and miss a loved one than to find strength in
these words. Our hope is in the Lord, and our comfort is to know that those who
are faithful in Jesus will live together and rejoice together for eternal life.
When we come to worship and join in the service with our hymns of praise and
come to the Communion table to receive Christ’s body and blood, we join with
all of heaven in the joy of the resurrection. We’re never nearer to those “whom glory shine” than when we are with our Lord in worship
partaking in the Lord’s Supper. We recall the stirring words of victory in the
Communion liturgy, “With angels and
archangels and with all the company of heaven we laud and magnify your glorious
name, evermore praising you and saying…”
12.
We’re
here because Bill has been called home to heavenly rest, and we need to receive
the hopeful words our dear Lord gives us. May his words of life, given through
his death and resurrection, be our source of comfort and assurance. Amen.
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