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It always humbles me to know that the earliest of Paul’s letters deals with the ministry.


At one point in his letter to the Thessalonians, Paul tells the people, on behalf of himself, Silas and Timothy, '... you are our glory and our joy.'


I think that’s an important thing to remember today as we come to bury one who was himself a minister.


The power of Paul’s ministry came from two things — first of all, the risen Christ and then the people Paul served.


'For we know, brethren beloved by God, that God has chosen you ...', the great apostle says.


It’s not that there aren’t problems at Thessalonica, and, in fact, the letter goes on to deal with many of the problems, but through the work of Paul and others the people had turned 'to God from idols' and so chosen to 'serve a living and true God.'


What better credentials could Paul have taken with him as he too came to face the living God?


That’s the first thing I guess I’d want to say today. In a strange sort of way, we can take hope in our own grief. If **’s ministry had not been so effective, we’d not have so much to grieve about.


It’s not that he was the perfect minister, of course. None of us are, and none of us can be. But in his ministry, not just to the congregations he served, but to his friends and family, too, he surely felt the kind of love that Paul expressed in the first words after his greeting to the church at Thessalonica: 'We give thanks to God always for you all, constantly mentioning you in our prayers ...'


There is real hope in the ministry ** had to you and many others.


But even more than that, there is real hope in the gospel that he brought.


'Preserve me, O God, for in thee I take refuge,' the psalmist prayed in a prayer I think * could well have prayed. 'I say to the Lord, ‘Thou art my Lord; I have no good apart from thee.’ '


What words of faith! And in a way, the psalmist’s faith is even more amazing because he couldn’t know of Jesus Christ. 'Thou dost show me the path of life,' the psalmist says; 'in thy presence there is fullness of joy, in thy right hand are pleasures for evermore.'


For evermore! God is faithful, and because God is faithful, the psalmist will survive his present grief and go on to enjoy life again.


Paul talks of the Thessalonians and their 'steadfastness' in our Lord Jesus Christ. It is their steadfastness in the Lord — Israel’s title for the God of all the ages — that brings hope. And now, Paul tells them, the name Lord applies to Jesus. What hope there is in the gospel that * preached.


'For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received,' Paul tells the Corinthians, and then he goes on to tell them what ** has so often said to you: Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, he was buried, he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and he appeared to Cephas and then to the 12.


Jesus Christ, the one whom Paul calls Lord, the same name which the nation Israel called the living God ... Jesus Christ is our hope and salvation. Because he has been raised from the dead by God, 'the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep,' we, too, can have the hope — no more than hope, the sure and certain promise — that we’ll be raised in him.


What a message!


'For we know, brethren beloved by God, that God has chosen you ...' the great apostle says.


Called of God, that’s what * was, and that’s what we are. God chose *, and God has chosen us to live in faith. God chose * and God has chosen us to live and preach the same gospel that Paul preached. God chose *, and God has chosen us, to be God’s resurrection people.


I don’t want you to misunderstand me. I don’t want you to hear me saying you shouldn’t grieve. Of course you should. That’s part of what living in the resurrection means.


And most of all, I want to take time today to say something special to *’s family. * was something even more important than a minister. He was a husband, a father, a grandfather, a good friend.


As a family you have shared love and disappointment, joy and grief, happiness and regret, in a way which none of us can fully share or even fully understand.


What can I say to you? I can say what I think * would say. He’d say, 'I love you, and I want you to remember that love never ends.' Love never ends — that’s what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13.


Then I think he’d add: Feel fully. Grieve fully. And always cling to the hope we have of resurrection through the Savior.


'So it is with the resurrection of the dead,' Paul told the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 15:42ff). 'What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power ...'


It was no small gospel that * lived and preached. And it is no small gospel, no small Jesus, to which we look for hope and for the assurance of God’s love as it is seen in God’s greatest miracle, the resurrection.

Let Us Pray


Almighty God, we thank you for the gospel which * preached and for the hope it brings today.


In the midst of our own grief, we hold *’s family up to you. Walk with them, as we know you do, and call us to walk beside them, too.


We thank you, Lord, for the heart of the gospel, for the message that Christ died for us that we might be saved and forever live in love and joy with you.


As we leave this place, help us live each day as * did, in the promise of Christ’s love and resurrection. Amen.



*Person’s first name
**Person’s full name