The Promised Land
Sermon
Life Everlasting
The Essential Book of Funeral Resources
Object:
For a Christian who has suffered in faith
The Promised Land
Psalm 86:1-13; Exodus 13:3a; 14:21-22; 15:1-2; Luke 9:28-36; 1 Peter 1:3-9
Some people suffer more effectively than others. That may be an odd thing to say, but as a minister, I know it's true. For some people, the smallest little thing becomes a suffering, while others suffer terribly, perhaps not in silence, but in love.
What do you say about one who suffered well? When you know it's not God's will for anyone to suffer, what do you say?
Maybe you just express your faith. And maybe you just point to __________, to the way she suffered, and then try to share the faith you think she had.
I think we shared a common faith in what I'd call "a saving God."
Did you hear the power of the prayer the psalmist prayed? "Thou art my God, be gracious to me, O Lord," the psalmist prayed.
He'd already talked about his problems. He'd asked God to incline his ear because, as he put it, "I am poor and needy."
But he prayed in faith, knowing God is God, and God's the one who saves. "I give thanks to thee, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify thy name for ever," the psalmist says, and he says it in his pain before God's saving act for him has happened.
That's the kind of person __________ was. She could pray in faith, knowing God would save her, even in the depth of her own suffering.
And that's the kind of faith we all need. We need to face our suffering and not to deny it. "In the day of my trouble I call on thee ..." the psalmist says.
He could say it because he knew God saves. If you listened to the passages from Exodus, you heard the story of God's greatest saving act before Christ came. "... [F]or by strength of hand the Lord brought you from this place," the scripture says.
The psalmist knows God saves because he knows God saved his people and then brought them to the promised land. It's no accident that when Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus in his full glory, they spoke of his death, called in the gospel his "departure."
The word, "departure," is the Greek word, exodos, which reminds us that God's purpose, even in the death of Jesus, is to bring him and us into the promised land.
At the transfiguration, that purpose hasn't been fulfilled yet. The transfigured Jesus may give some idea of the glory yet to come, but when Peter suggests they pitch their tents and stay, there comes a voice from heaven that says, "It's not quite over. There hasn't been a death and so there can't be an exodus. This is my Son, the one I have chosen. Listen to him!"
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!" Peter writes in his first letter. "By his great mercy, we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead...."
Peter mentions the transfiguration in his second letter, and in mentioning it, he mentions his own impending death using the same Greek word -- exodos.
God's purpose from the beginning of the Bible has been to bring us to the promised land. That purpose is foreshadowed in God's greatest act in the Old Testament, the exodus, and then made clear in Jesus.
Rejoice in the promise of salvation, Peter says, "though now, for a little while you may have to suffer various trials...." Those trials simply test your faith, the great apostle says.
So there's the answer. How could the psalmist and how could __________ pray, even in their suffering? How could they hold fast to God's saving power?
It's never easy, but it's possible when you know about the exodus, not just from Egypt, but from death to life in Jesus.
Let us pray. Almighty and saving God, we thank you for the promise of the scripture and for the hope we find in the transfigured Jesus. Help us cling to that hope. Help us thank you for the memories we have of __________ and for the hope she had in you. And most of all, Lord, no matter what happens, help us live each day, as Peter told us to live, in the hope of resurrection through the Savior. Amen.
(Reprinted from "About A Loving God," CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio 45804, © 1991.)
The Promised Land
Psalm 86:1-13; Exodus 13:3a; 14:21-22; 15:1-2; Luke 9:28-36; 1 Peter 1:3-9
Some people suffer more effectively than others. That may be an odd thing to say, but as a minister, I know it's true. For some people, the smallest little thing becomes a suffering, while others suffer terribly, perhaps not in silence, but in love.
What do you say about one who suffered well? When you know it's not God's will for anyone to suffer, what do you say?
Maybe you just express your faith. And maybe you just point to __________, to the way she suffered, and then try to share the faith you think she had.
I think we shared a common faith in what I'd call "a saving God."
Did you hear the power of the prayer the psalmist prayed? "Thou art my God, be gracious to me, O Lord," the psalmist prayed.
He'd already talked about his problems. He'd asked God to incline his ear because, as he put it, "I am poor and needy."
But he prayed in faith, knowing God is God, and God's the one who saves. "I give thanks to thee, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify thy name for ever," the psalmist says, and he says it in his pain before God's saving act for him has happened.
That's the kind of person __________ was. She could pray in faith, knowing God would save her, even in the depth of her own suffering.
And that's the kind of faith we all need. We need to face our suffering and not to deny it. "In the day of my trouble I call on thee ..." the psalmist says.
He could say it because he knew God saves. If you listened to the passages from Exodus, you heard the story of God's greatest saving act before Christ came. "... [F]or by strength of hand the Lord brought you from this place," the scripture says.
The psalmist knows God saves because he knows God saved his people and then brought them to the promised land. It's no accident that when Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus in his full glory, they spoke of his death, called in the gospel his "departure."
The word, "departure," is the Greek word, exodos, which reminds us that God's purpose, even in the death of Jesus, is to bring him and us into the promised land.
At the transfiguration, that purpose hasn't been fulfilled yet. The transfigured Jesus may give some idea of the glory yet to come, but when Peter suggests they pitch their tents and stay, there comes a voice from heaven that says, "It's not quite over. There hasn't been a death and so there can't be an exodus. This is my Son, the one I have chosen. Listen to him!"
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!" Peter writes in his first letter. "By his great mercy, we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead...."
Peter mentions the transfiguration in his second letter, and in mentioning it, he mentions his own impending death using the same Greek word -- exodos.
God's purpose from the beginning of the Bible has been to bring us to the promised land. That purpose is foreshadowed in God's greatest act in the Old Testament, the exodus, and then made clear in Jesus.
Rejoice in the promise of salvation, Peter says, "though now, for a little while you may have to suffer various trials...." Those trials simply test your faith, the great apostle says.
So there's the answer. How could the psalmist and how could __________ pray, even in their suffering? How could they hold fast to God's saving power?
It's never easy, but it's possible when you know about the exodus, not just from Egypt, but from death to life in Jesus.
Let us pray. Almighty and saving God, we thank you for the promise of the scripture and for the hope we find in the transfigured Jesus. Help us cling to that hope. Help us thank you for the memories we have of __________ and for the hope she had in you. And most of all, Lord, no matter what happens, help us live each day, as Peter told us to live, in the hope of resurrection through the Savior. Amen.
(Reprinted from "About A Loving God," CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio 45804, © 1991.)
