Swallowed Up In Victory
Sermon
Life Everlasting
The Essential Book of Funeral Resources
Object:
For a seventeen-year-old boy killed by a drunk driver
Swallowed Up In Victory
1 Corinthians 15:54-57; Psalm 29:11
Death is swallowed up in victory. For where now O death is your power to hurt us? Where now O grave is the victory you hoped to coil? All thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
-- 1 Corinthians 54b-55
In these terrible moments of tragedy that engulf a family, relatives, neighbors, and friends, several questions loom large before us. We have each asked them of ourselves. We have asked them together. Why Mike? Why so young? Why this way?
The answers to those ultimate questions we do not possess, nor can any fellow human being give them to us. From our human reason, we attempt to reach logical and rational conclusions, but to this tragedy of life's termination, logic and reason do not apply. We know this. We know this with a certainty. Yet, we still insist, in our own individual ways, on being logical.
We will not so find an answer to those questions we ask from our depths. Yet, we cannot dismiss our questioning, try as we will. Our questions are human, and we are human.
We will question, too, the justice meted out to a drunk driver. In frustration, we may quote the Old Testament which says, "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." In anger, we will forget that Jesus Christ added to that scripture, "but I say unto you, you shall love your neighbor as yourself."
Questions, questions, all kinds of questions. Our grief in this tragedy is deep from inside us where we really live. Our feelings and emotions are part of our humanness.
You each sit here, as I stand here, with your own set of questions. Questions for which none of us will find the answers.
However, we have an alternative to our questioning, our grief, our feelings of injustice and anger. It is God's alternative, and I would bring it to each of us here this afternoon.
We can live life now, and from this day forward, in a futile, endless, bitter grief -- a grief which questions, but will find no answers. Saint Paul put it pointedly, as he said, "Truly, if our hope in Christ were limited to this life only, we should, of all men, be most miserable." The other alternative; we can live life now, and from this day forward, in a redeeming grief. A grief that will again see the light of day, as it sees, as well, the light of eternal life.
Even in sorrow, we do have hope, and eternal hope is so clearly ours in Jesus Christ. This is what Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter are all about. He was born, he lived, he died, he rose, alive again! His empty tomb proclaimed that we are not empty. His ever-living presence within us can fill us with the very presence of God.
Mike is with God, through Christ, the one whom he claimed as his Savior. He has more life today than any of us here. The certainty of our faith tells us this, strengthens us, comforts us, and yes, redeems our grief.
"He who believes in me shall never die, but shall have everlasting life," said Christ. This assurance of our Lord is the beginning of our redeeming grief. We know where Mike is, and who he is with. Christ assures us, "He is with me. He is with me in my Father's house." With this assurance, our grief is redeemed, and we can continue to face life in this world with steady eyes. For even in this tragedy, there is the strength, the assurance, of life's destiny.
Don, Gerry, Diane, Jody, in your grief and loss, behind it all, underneath it all, in those empty places where you really live, Christ is present and ready to fill you with himself and with the presence of God. In loneliness, heartache, frustration, he says, "Cast your burdens upon me, for I care for you." God's Christ can redeem your grief, and give you God's peace that passes even our human understanding of it.
Death, even Mike's death, is swallowed up in victory through Christ. Mike lives! What a great comfort and strength it is to lean on the strong assurance of our Lord who said, "Because I live, you shall live also."
Life without such certain assurance of destiny would be a cruel joke placed by a capricious god. A god whom all of us would reject. But God does not laugh from his heaven at the hell of our heartache. He does not turn away from us, as we are so prone to turn away from him. Nor is he silent during the long night of our anguish of soul at the time of tragedy in the loss of a son, a brother, a friend. Nor does he leave us as empty, hollow, shells of misery in our grief. No. God will have none of that!
Listen to the words of the psalmist:
The Lord will give strength unto his people; the Lord will bless his people with peace.
-- Psalm 29:11
You are the people of God. His people. And he will fill you with his peace and presence. Thanks be to God for the victory, even over death, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Don, Gerry, Diane, and Jody, let us comfort one another with the hope, strength, and assurance of God's Word. Allow God's sent Son to redeem your grief. Mike is in God's good hands, in God's good house. Because Christ's victory is eternal, our separation from a loved one is not eternal, but temporary. Let us comfort one another with the victory Christ has accomplished for our lives and for our faith.
Mike has abundant life eternal. And even in our tears, we would say, "Thank you, God. Thank you very, very much." Amen.
-- Charles L. Koester
(Reprinted from "Through The Valley Of The Shadow," CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio 45804, © 1976.)
Swallowed Up In Victory
1 Corinthians 15:54-57; Psalm 29:11
Death is swallowed up in victory. For where now O death is your power to hurt us? Where now O grave is the victory you hoped to coil? All thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
-- 1 Corinthians 54b-55
In these terrible moments of tragedy that engulf a family, relatives, neighbors, and friends, several questions loom large before us. We have each asked them of ourselves. We have asked them together. Why Mike? Why so young? Why this way?
The answers to those ultimate questions we do not possess, nor can any fellow human being give them to us. From our human reason, we attempt to reach logical and rational conclusions, but to this tragedy of life's termination, logic and reason do not apply. We know this. We know this with a certainty. Yet, we still insist, in our own individual ways, on being logical.
We will not so find an answer to those questions we ask from our depths. Yet, we cannot dismiss our questioning, try as we will. Our questions are human, and we are human.
We will question, too, the justice meted out to a drunk driver. In frustration, we may quote the Old Testament which says, "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." In anger, we will forget that Jesus Christ added to that scripture, "but I say unto you, you shall love your neighbor as yourself."
Questions, questions, all kinds of questions. Our grief in this tragedy is deep from inside us where we really live. Our feelings and emotions are part of our humanness.
You each sit here, as I stand here, with your own set of questions. Questions for which none of us will find the answers.
However, we have an alternative to our questioning, our grief, our feelings of injustice and anger. It is God's alternative, and I would bring it to each of us here this afternoon.
We can live life now, and from this day forward, in a futile, endless, bitter grief -- a grief which questions, but will find no answers. Saint Paul put it pointedly, as he said, "Truly, if our hope in Christ were limited to this life only, we should, of all men, be most miserable." The other alternative; we can live life now, and from this day forward, in a redeeming grief. A grief that will again see the light of day, as it sees, as well, the light of eternal life.
Even in sorrow, we do have hope, and eternal hope is so clearly ours in Jesus Christ. This is what Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter are all about. He was born, he lived, he died, he rose, alive again! His empty tomb proclaimed that we are not empty. His ever-living presence within us can fill us with the very presence of God.
Mike is with God, through Christ, the one whom he claimed as his Savior. He has more life today than any of us here. The certainty of our faith tells us this, strengthens us, comforts us, and yes, redeems our grief.
"He who believes in me shall never die, but shall have everlasting life," said Christ. This assurance of our Lord is the beginning of our redeeming grief. We know where Mike is, and who he is with. Christ assures us, "He is with me. He is with me in my Father's house." With this assurance, our grief is redeemed, and we can continue to face life in this world with steady eyes. For even in this tragedy, there is the strength, the assurance, of life's destiny.
Don, Gerry, Diane, Jody, in your grief and loss, behind it all, underneath it all, in those empty places where you really live, Christ is present and ready to fill you with himself and with the presence of God. In loneliness, heartache, frustration, he says, "Cast your burdens upon me, for I care for you." God's Christ can redeem your grief, and give you God's peace that passes even our human understanding of it.
Death, even Mike's death, is swallowed up in victory through Christ. Mike lives! What a great comfort and strength it is to lean on the strong assurance of our Lord who said, "Because I live, you shall live also."
Life without such certain assurance of destiny would be a cruel joke placed by a capricious god. A god whom all of us would reject. But God does not laugh from his heaven at the hell of our heartache. He does not turn away from us, as we are so prone to turn away from him. Nor is he silent during the long night of our anguish of soul at the time of tragedy in the loss of a son, a brother, a friend. Nor does he leave us as empty, hollow, shells of misery in our grief. No. God will have none of that!
Listen to the words of the psalmist:
The Lord will give strength unto his people; the Lord will bless his people with peace.
-- Psalm 29:11
You are the people of God. His people. And he will fill you with his peace and presence. Thanks be to God for the victory, even over death, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Don, Gerry, Diane, and Jody, let us comfort one another with the hope, strength, and assurance of God's Word. Allow God's sent Son to redeem your grief. Mike is in God's good hands, in God's good house. Because Christ's victory is eternal, our separation from a loved one is not eternal, but temporary. Let us comfort one another with the victory Christ has accomplished for our lives and for our faith.
Mike has abundant life eternal. And even in our tears, we would say, "Thank you, God. Thank you very, very much." Amen.
-- Charles L. Koester
(Reprinted from "Through The Valley Of The Shadow," CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio 45804, © 1976.)
