1. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly
Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Dear family and friends of Roger.
May Jesus our Good Shepherd carry you in His loving arms and give you
His comfort and consolation as you mourn the death of your beloved Roger. May you know for certain that this Jesus has
offered to you and to Roger the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation by, “Carrying our sin & sorrow to the
cross.”
2. Roger will be deeply missed by his family and
friends. Over the last 7 years I’ve
gotten to know Roger as his pastor, visiting him in his home, at the nursing
home, and the hospital. Christ our Good
Shepherd doesn’t forget about His sheep and I was privileged as Roger’s pastor
to care for his soul through God’s means of grace. The family has many fond memories of Roger. They remember how he loved to go to
basketball games and to watch the St. Louis Cardinals play. And, Roger loved to spend time with his
family and friends. Who can forget how
he liked to go to Addieville to a restaurant called, “Eagle’s Nest,” to get their onion blooms. And, Roger worked hard to provide for his
family as well, he spent 30 years at the GM car making plant to be able to put
food on his family’s table and provide a roof over their heads. In fact, there are a few memories that the
family has of Roger’s time working at GM.
One story is that Roger would often be tired when he got off work at the
GM Plant. One night after he finished
work he was waiting for a train to pass and he fell asleep at the wheel. When he finally woke up, all of the cars had
been passing around him, while he was parked in the road near the train tracks. Also, Roger would often carpool to the GM
Plant. Early in his time working at GM
there was a joke about his buddies who would carpool with him. All of the wives of the men in the carpool
were having babies close to one another, within a matter of days. In fact, I believe that all the wives were in
the hospital at the same time delivering their children. They formed a little
Baldwin community in the hospital. But,
many who knew Roger can tell us today that old age was getting hard on Roger,
especially these past few years. That’s
why God the Father sent His Son Jesus to carry our sin and sorrow to the cross
for us and for Roger.
3. Isaiah the prophet says in Isaiah 53, “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried
our sorrows,” (Isaiah 53:4). Jesus,
the innocent Lamb of God is led off to be slaughtered. Jesus, the Holy and Righteous One is take
away to be crushed, afflicted, and wounded for the sake of the forgiveness of your
sins. Isaiah says that Jesus is
oppressed, judged, and cut off from the land of the living. Jesus, the Lamb of God, goes forth to be
slaughtered. He goes alone to the cross
for the forgiveness of your sins and the sins of Roger.
4. Isaiah reminds us that Jesus has carried our sin and
sorrow to the cross. Christians know
that when we’re confronted with struggles, sickness, and sorrow we have a sure
source of comfort, strength, and hope in Jesus our Lord. When we live by faith
in Jesus, we know that He will lead us through all the valleys of life, until
that blessed day comes when his angels will welcome us to our eternal home in
heaven. When Roger was going through all
of his health problems, where could he and his family turn to for peace and
comfort? Well, the words of our Lord
Jesus here in Matthew 11:28-30 speak to the problems that Roger faced. Our Lord Jesus says, “28Come to me, all who labor and
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you,
and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest
for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
5. Finding rest in Jesus doesn’t mean He will remove and
shield us from all pain and sorrow, or lift each heavy agony of life. That’s not His promise. The promise of our Lord Jesus is that He’ll
be with us in our pain and suffering. Christ
will lighten every heavy load. At the
end of each day we have the comfort as we place ourselves in His care. Rest in Jesus means that we as Christians
have certainty and reconciliation. In
Christ we have sure forgiveness of our sins.
Through His cross we are reconciled with God our Heavenly Father. God’s wrath toward our sin is removed. Through Roger’s baptism into Christ this
promise was given to him as well, as the Apostle Paul reminds us in Romans
chapter 6.
6. And in order to truly give us rest, Isaiah says that Jesus
our Savior goes uncomplaining forth. He
was born into our world, an innocent baby laid in a manger. Jesus is born to be sacrificed by wicked men. He was born to carry our sin and sorrow to
the cross. There was no guilt found in
Him and no sin was discovered. But,
Jesus went forth to die so that all might be saved by believing in Him as their
Lord and Savior. Surely He has borne our
sins and carried our sorrows, but we esteemed Him not. We all like sheep have gone astray. We turned our face from Jesus, for His
appearance was more than we could bear.
His face on the cross was marred beyond human likeness, and we couldn’t
look at Him. We couldn’t look at Him,
because our sin and shame hung heavy upon our Savior Jesus—who could bear that
sight?
7. [Jesus] was
pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was
the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed.”
(Isaiah 53:5) In Holy Baptism Jesus
sprinkled Roger with His holy blood and cleansed him from all his
unrighteousness. For out of Jesus’ side
John says flowed the blood and water that washes away all of our sins. (1 John
5:6). Jesus poured out His grace upon
Roger and you and has given you His peace.
He has carried our sins to the cross, washed them away with holy blood,
and cleansed us with His perfect sacrifice.
Jesus, the Innocent One, became our substitute for our guilt and sin so
that we may be healed.
8. Jesus our Savior was lifted high on the cross for
Roger, for you, and for me. This was all
to win for you the forgiveness of your sins and eternal life. To take us from this valley of sorrow and
death to Himself in Heaven in paradise.
Jesus has redeemed us and Roger as He entered into the tomb. He has saved us from death as He rose from
the grave. Jesus has been exalted and
sits at the right hand of God the Father.
For He has now gone into heaven to prepare a place for us, just as He
has done for Roger (John 14). Jesus has
proclaimed you, Roger, and me innocent, pure, and holy because of His
sacrificial death on the cross for us.
Surely, he has carried your sin and sorrow to the cross and by His
wounds you are healed. Amen.
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