“Fear Not! For I Will Never Leave Thee” Hebrews 13:5
Roy Falkenheim’s funeral
sermon by Rev. John M. Taggatz preached at Roy’s Funeral on Feb. 14th,
2013 at St. John Lutheran Church Baldwin, IL
1. Grace, mercy and peace to
you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Dear
family and friends of Roy. On behalf of
the congregation here at St. John we offer to you our deepest sympathy. Today we’re going to look at Roy’s
confirmation verse that he received on the day that he confirmed his faith in
Jesus Christ his Savior on April 11th,
1937 here at St. John Baldwin. It’s from Hebrews 13:5, which says, “5 Let your
conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye
have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” The message is entitled, “Fear Not! For I Will Never Leave Thee.” Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2. Roy was deeply loved by many
friends, family members, and members of this congregation here at St. John
Baldwin. He will be greatly missed. But, he wouldn’t want us to think that his
death is the end for him. For Jesus
promises us who believe in Him as our Lord and Savior in John 14:1-6, “Let not your heart be
troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my
Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I
go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a
place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am,
there ye may be also. 4 And whither I go ye know, and the way
ye know. 5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither
thou goest; and how can we know the way? 6 Jesus saith unto
him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but
by me.” This moment of sorrow,
suffering and pain for us as we mourn over Roy’s death will pass for we know
that since we too believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior we will see our beloved
Roy again in the gates of paradise. Roy
would want us to know that His Lord and Savior Jesus has prepared a mansion for
him in heaven and through Jesus’ death on the cross for your sins, He’s
prepared one for you as well, if you believe in Him as your Savior.
3. Roy was ready to help those who were in need. Earlier in his life he was often the first
responder to auto accidents at the highway overpass near his home. He will be
remembered for his over 50 years of being a dairy farmer and he also worked as a
security guard at Sparta Printing Company and Peabody Coal. Roy was also a 1950 graduate from the
University of Illinois. We also thank
him for his service to our country as a WW II veteran.
4. But, the one thing that Roy would want to be
remembered the most for is his deep love and trust in Jesus Christ as his Lord
and Savior. For the past 5 ½ years I’ve
had the privilege as Roy’s pastor to deliver to him and his wife Laverne the
saving means of God’s grace through Christ’s Word and Sacrament. I know Laverne & Roy looked forward to
receiving the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation that Jesus freely gives
to those who receive His Word and His body and blood in faith. Roy held fast to the promises of God given to
him in his baptism, remembering that he was washed and cleansed of his sins and
made a child of God when he was baptized on March 18th, 1923
at Schulein in the home of his parents with Rev. Justus Lohrmann officiating.
5. On the day of Roy’s confirmation he received this text
of Scripture from Hebrews 13:5 from his Pastor Justus Lohrmann. Hebrews 13:5 says, “5 Let your
conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye
have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Here the author of Hebrews tells us to “Keep our lives free from the love of money.”
From warning against immorality earlier in Hebrews 13, he turns to the love of
money. Quite naturally so, for Scripture often links these two together (1
Corinthians 5:11; Ephesians 5:3). A covetous person pays little attention to
anyone else’s well-being as he selfishly pursues his own aims. Christians are
to keep their lives free from such love of money. Those whose greedy hearts
reach more for gold than for God, would do well to remember Paul’s warning in 1
Timothy 6:10: “Some people, eager for
money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” After all, Job reminds us that naked we
came into this world and naked we will leave, blessed be the name of the
Lord. No one ever sees a U-Haul following
behind a hearse. Only our Christian
faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior will lead us into the riches that
come from God that will last in the paradise of Heaven.
6. The antidote is to “be content” with what we
have. Christians believe that God knows what’s best for them. Whatever we have,
we regard as having come from God. And there we stop! To go beyond invites
either sinful worry or ungodly greed. In a world that revolves around the
possessions you have and the position you hold, it’s not easy to practice
contentment. It’s not easy to join Paul in the words of Philippians 4:11: “I have learned to be content whatever the
circumstances.”
7. The great dividing line between Christianity and
other religions is the teaching of salvation by grace alone through faith on
account of Christ. Other religions give
credit to sinful man with some ability to gain favor with God and being saved. Only Christianity gives all glory to God by
teaching that sinful humanity is saved by the free grace of God. When this doctrine of free grace lives in our
hearts, it keeps us strong so that we’re not, “Led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the
heart to be strengthened by grace,” (Hebrews 13:9).
8. As sinners we understand that the wages of sin is
death as Paul tells us in Romans 6:23.
We aren’t just sinners because we sin, no, we sin because we are sinners
who are conceived in sin in our mother’s womb.
We can’t say that we have kept the requirements of God’s holy law. Roy knew this for this is what he was taught
in confirmation class. We know that the
heart produces evil thoughts—not love, but hate; not hospitality, but cold
indifference; not sympathy, but cruel condemnation; not purity, but
immorality. The law is kept only by
faith in and through the perfect obedience of our Savior Jesus Christ.
9. For Martin Luther, the doctrine of salvation by
grace was the touchstone of the Christian faith. By it all other teachings could be measured. Today, many claiming to know the way of
salvation based primarily on what we as human beings can do to earn our
salvation are many. Their message is
centered on the third use of the Law, which is a guide for daily living. It seems that proclaiming salvation only by
God’s grace is humiliating because it leaves human merit out of the picture. But, we may measure the teachings of all
theologians by this—that God has revealed Himself as a gracious God in Jesus
Christ, who has won for us and our beloved Roy, freedom from sin and the gift
of eternal life if we believe in Christ.
10. Roy’s confirmation verse from Hebrews 13:5 tells
us that as Christians we are to be content with the blessings God has given to
us. Our hearts cling to Christ, whose
blood alone purifies us from all sin.
Jesus promises to supply us with all our needs of body and soul. This is the secret of contentment. It’s to remember our God’s promise, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake
you.” Never will Jesus leave us.
Never will He abandon us. Always He goes with us. Always Jesus is our eternal
Resource. What more could we ever want? Constant mindfulness of God’s fatherly
presence and of his never-failing promises is the key to contentment. When God speaks, we as Christians respond. With
confident courage we declare on the basis of Psalm 118:6, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”
Content with God’s perfect provision, covered with God’s perfect protection, we
as Christians walk toward heaven’s shores unafraid. And, this my friends is what we need to hear
today as we mourn Roy’s death. As
Christians we can know that with God on our side we have a majority of one,
regardless what foes or fears we face, even death itself. Praise God the Father that He’s given us the
victory over sin, death, and the power of the devil through our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ! Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment