The Good Fight
Sermon
About A Loving God
'I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith ...' I’ve heard those words from Second Timothy read at a lot of funerals, but there’s one thing that’s not often said about them. They’re more a credit to God than they are to Paul.
I’ve said it in funeral sermons again and again, but I need to repeat it. A central tenet of our faith is that we can’t save ourselves. No matter what we do, no matter how good we are, no matter how willingly we suffer or how well we do it, we can’t earn, or even more than that, deserve, God’s love.
God chose to love us even before we knew of his existence, even before we were born or were a gleam in our parents’ eyes, and that’s one reason Paul’s words are more a credit to God than they are to Paul.
'Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descended from David, as I preached in my gospel ...,' the great apostle wrote.
The credit, even for Paul’s will to suffer for the church he loves, is to go to God, Paul says.
And I guess that’s one reason I chose these words today.
The real issue isn’t how we suffer, it’s for whom we suffer. All kinds of people have died all kinds of agonizing deaths, but faithful people, people who have spent their lives in God and Jesus, somehow turn even their suffering into a testimony to the love and faithfulness of God.
'To thee, O Lord, I lift up my soul,' the psalmist says in Psalm 25. 'O my God, in thee I trust, let me not be put to shame ...' That’s a psalm of David, as the Scripture tells us, the same David Paul cites in Second Timothy.
'Be mindful of thy mercy, O Lord,' the psalmist says, 'and of thy steadfast love, for they have been from of old.'
And then he adds, 'Remember not the sins of my youth, or my transgressions; according to thy steadfast love remember me, for thy goodness’ sake, O Lord!'
It’s God’s goodness, not ours which saves.
God is faithful, and no matter what we have to face, we can put our trust in him.
'Hear, O Israel,' the Hebrew Shema says: 'The Lord our God is one Lord, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.'
Those words of Moses are the central tenet of the Hebrew faith. In later times, those words were written on scrolls and tied to the wrists and foreheads of the ones who came to pray.
They were literally placed in doorposts and taught to children. And they were at the heart of the faith of Paul and Jesus.
God is God. That’s what the Scripture says. And no matter what we have to face, it’s God who saves.
'My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me,' Jesus told the people.
And so, as we come to commit our friend to God, we come to commit one who suffered in faith, one who would call us to do the same.
It’s not that death is easy, even for someone as faithful as *. Nor is it that his death is easy for those of us who love him.
In fact, in some ways it’s harder. In some ways Timothy is surely grieved because he’ll be going on alone now. He’ll be struggling without the one who taught him, the one he loves.
No, it’s not that death is easy. It is instead that * was a witness, even in the way he faced his death, and even more than that, his death is not the end.
That’s the most important thing I have to say. 'Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,' the great apostle says.
Even his suffering is a testimony to that. He can suffer well, because he knows there is to be another time, because he knows, as Jesus did and David did, that God is faithful.
Because he lived in faith, and because his faith was in the one true living God, Paul can now look toward a crown of righteousness 'which,' as he says, 'the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.'
Take hope in that! Take hope, not just for *, but for all of us who live in God and Jesus.
Let Us Pray
Almighty God, thank God that you are God! Because of your faithfulness, ** could live, die, and now can live again in you, and so can we.
Help us to learn from the courage of our friend in his last hours, and help us to have the same kind of faith and hope in you.
In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
*Person’s first name
**Person’s full name
I’ve said it in funeral sermons again and again, but I need to repeat it. A central tenet of our faith is that we can’t save ourselves. No matter what we do, no matter how good we are, no matter how willingly we suffer or how well we do it, we can’t earn, or even more than that, deserve, God’s love.
God chose to love us even before we knew of his existence, even before we were born or were a gleam in our parents’ eyes, and that’s one reason Paul’s words are more a credit to God than they are to Paul.
'Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descended from David, as I preached in my gospel ...,' the great apostle wrote.
The credit, even for Paul’s will to suffer for the church he loves, is to go to God, Paul says.
And I guess that’s one reason I chose these words today.
The real issue isn’t how we suffer, it’s for whom we suffer. All kinds of people have died all kinds of agonizing deaths, but faithful people, people who have spent their lives in God and Jesus, somehow turn even their suffering into a testimony to the love and faithfulness of God.
'To thee, O Lord, I lift up my soul,' the psalmist says in Psalm 25. 'O my God, in thee I trust, let me not be put to shame ...' That’s a psalm of David, as the Scripture tells us, the same David Paul cites in Second Timothy.
'Be mindful of thy mercy, O Lord,' the psalmist says, 'and of thy steadfast love, for they have been from of old.'
And then he adds, 'Remember not the sins of my youth, or my transgressions; according to thy steadfast love remember me, for thy goodness’ sake, O Lord!'
It’s God’s goodness, not ours which saves.
God is faithful, and no matter what we have to face, we can put our trust in him.
'Hear, O Israel,' the Hebrew Shema says: 'The Lord our God is one Lord, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.'
Those words of Moses are the central tenet of the Hebrew faith. In later times, those words were written on scrolls and tied to the wrists and foreheads of the ones who came to pray.
They were literally placed in doorposts and taught to children. And they were at the heart of the faith of Paul and Jesus.
God is God. That’s what the Scripture says. And no matter what we have to face, it’s God who saves.
'My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me,' Jesus told the people.
And so, as we come to commit our friend to God, we come to commit one who suffered in faith, one who would call us to do the same.
It’s not that death is easy, even for someone as faithful as *. Nor is it that his death is easy for those of us who love him.
In fact, in some ways it’s harder. In some ways Timothy is surely grieved because he’ll be going on alone now. He’ll be struggling without the one who taught him, the one he loves.
No, it’s not that death is easy. It is instead that * was a witness, even in the way he faced his death, and even more than that, his death is not the end.
That’s the most important thing I have to say. 'Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,' the great apostle says.
Even his suffering is a testimony to that. He can suffer well, because he knows there is to be another time, because he knows, as Jesus did and David did, that God is faithful.
Because he lived in faith, and because his faith was in the one true living God, Paul can now look toward a crown of righteousness 'which,' as he says, 'the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.'
Take hope in that! Take hope, not just for *, but for all of us who live in God and Jesus.
Let Us Pray
Almighty God, thank God that you are God! Because of your faithfulness, ** could live, die, and now can live again in you, and so can we.
Help us to learn from the courage of our friend in his last hours, and help us to have the same kind of faith and hope in you.
In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
*Person’s first name
**Person’s full name
