Monday, November 4, 2013

“Our Lord’s Steadfast Love” (Isaiah 54:10) Verna Bingham’s funeral sermon 11/1/13



1.        Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  At a time of grieving like this, those who are present, and I, on behalf of this congregation, offer your family and all who were closest to Verna my deepest sympathy.  May our Lord who knows your needs, comfort and give you strength to uphold one another.  Today we’re going to look at Verna’s confirmation verse that she received here at St. John Lutheran Church in Baldwin on April 10th, 1938 which is from Isaiah 54:10.  Isaiah 54:10 says, “For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you.”  The message is entitled, “Our Lord’s Steadfast Love,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2.        Verna’s parents, Otto & Martha, wanted Verna to receive the steadfast love of the Lord and so before Verna was even a week old they rushed her into the arms of her Savior. They knew that Verna had been born into the sadness of sin, and they wished for her to have the forgiveness of sins and the eternal joys of heaven. The Savior reached out and received that little baby, took her into his arms, marked her with the holy cross, and branded Verna from that moment as one of his own. A sheep of his own fold. A sinner of his own redeeming. And so before even a week old by the power of Holy Baptism, Verna was brought into the family of God.
3.        In my many wonderful chances to meet with Verna at her home, in the hospital, and in the nursing home I came to know that she had a wonderful relationship with Jesus as her Lord and Savior.  She knew that she was a sinner in need of God’s grace and mercy that could only be given to her through Jesus.  That’s why she looked forward to hearing God’s Word proclaimed to her and receiving our Lord’s body and blood in the Lord’s Supper given and shed for her for the forgiveness of her sins, as she did this past Sunday in the hospital, the day before our Heavenly Father called her home to heaven.
4.        Verna was a gentle soul who I will deeply miss.  She was a very kind hearted individual.  I remember Verna telling me in one of the first times that she and I met in my homebound visits with her that she had babysat a lot of kids in her day.  And many of those children that Verna babysat and invested her time with deeply loved her and respected her.  So much so, that they often didn’t want to leave Verna’s house after she had been watching them.  As many of you know Verna had a lot of ups and downs over the last few years, with her hip being replaced, and with problems with her heart.  But, through it all Verna showed us great courage and what it means for a Christian to grow in the faith of our Lord Jesus, to continue to persevere, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him enduring the cross scorning the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.  (Hebrews 12)  Verna truly missed her son-in-law Denny and her husband Albert.  But, now she is with them in heaven and enjoying that reunion with them that will have no end.  And, we who are still here on earth look forward to that day we will be with Verna again too in heaven through faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 
5.        This leads us to Verna’s confirmation verse from Isaiah 54:10.  Let me read it in context to you from Isaiah 54:6-10, 6For the Lord has called you like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth when she is cast off, says your God. 7For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you. 8In overflowing anger for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,” says the Lord, your Redeemer. 9“This is like the days of Noah to me: as I swore that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you, and will not rebuke you. 10For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you.”
6.        Here in Isaiah 54 the Lord retraced the history of the Old Testament people, using the metaphor of the unfaithful wife and the faithful husband.  It’s a metaphor that God uses through both the Old and New Testaments, such as in the book of Hosea or in Ephesians 5.  How interesting that God summed up all the Old Testament history with this short passage.  Here we learn that the LORD had married his people centuries earlier.  We could consider the promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob the engagement.  When the people had grown in strength and number, God married himself to them.  He brought them out of Egypt and made them His own.  He gave them and their children and a land flowing with milk and honey.  Israel was the love of God’s life, as any young, beautiful wife would be the love of a husband’s life.  But over the centuries, Israel had proven to be an unfaithful wife. 
7.        They had committed spiritual adultery by worshiping other gods.  God warned his adulterous wife of the consequences of her unfaithfulness.  Finally, as a faithful husband, God left his unfaithful wife.  That’s why Isaiah says, “For a brief moment I abandoned you.”  Here Isaiah’s prophecy foretold what would happen to Israel because of their idolatry.  God allowed the other nations of the earth to conquer them and take them away from their homeland, holding them captive.  God’s action was just.  He had faithfully loved Israel as his wife and cared for her, but she turned away from him and spurned his love.  Because of this he sent her away into exile. 
8.        All of this appeared as the past in the prophet’s eye, even though some of it was still to come when Isaiah wrote these words.  As perfect and just God’s action against His people were, an even stronger emotion motivated him.  God acted with compassion.  His love is deeper than any of us have a right to hope.  What greater love can there be than God sending His one and only Son Jesus Christ to this earth to redeem all of us, including unfaithful Israel, from sin, death and the devil.  He did this not when his people were faithful to him, but when they were rebellious and unfaithful.  Note how here in Isaiah 54 that the affliction of God’s people is brief.  But, the love of God is eternal.  This is what the Apostle Paul means when he says in Romans 5:8-10, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! 10 For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!”  
9.        God reminded his people that his love is not only deep, wide, high and long.  It’s also permanent.  In order to emphasize his point, God recalled the oath he took after the flood.  When Noah and his family came out of the ark, God said that he would never again destroy the earth as he had done in Genesis chapters 8-9.  This ancient promise echoes in the one that God makes here in Isaiah 54:9 where he says, “as I swore that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you, and will not rebuke you.”  The oath of God makes it so.  Nothing can change such a promise of God.  Because of the work of His Son Jesus, God has promised to watch over his people.  He has done so for Verna as well.  All things will work out for those who love God.
10.    But, the Lord isn’t finished describing his love and compassion toward his people here in Isaiah 54.  The most permanent things we know on earth are mountains. They remain from generation to generation.  Mt. Everest may have had a different name today than it did in the days of Isaiah, but it has remained the same mountain down to our own age.  Even if such a mountain, or any mountain, could be shake and removed.  God’s love can’t be shaken.  It’s a permanent love.  A love that He has towards all of us.  A love that He had toward Verna now that He has given her a mansion in heaven through His Son Jesus Christ.  From God’s love flows our comfort, peace and confidence, no matter what the future of may hold for us.

11.    When God made a covenant with Noah after the flood, he placed the rainbow in the clouds as a sign of the covenant of peace he promised to Noah and all his descendants.  Isaiah prophesied a covenant of a far greater peace than that of a rainbow.  The sign of that covenant is the work of the Servant described in Isaiah 53.  In New Testament terms, the sign of that covenant is the suffering and death of Jesus Christ.  Because of the Lord Jesus, we have peace with God.  The peace Jesus has established between God and the sinner remains sure and certain.  God won’t change His mind.  Those who trust in God, as Verna did, and what He has done to redeem humanity are covered in the covenant of peace.  Nothing in all eternity will change that covenant, because nothing can change the deep compassion God has for his people.  Thanks be to God all believers of all time are included in this promise through God’s Son Jesus who died on the cross for our sins.  You, Verna, and I are included in this promise of eternal life and the forgiveness of sins.  Thanks be to God that we have all of this and that He has given us the victory over death itself through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.

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