Our God saves.

 

Funeral sermon for Lael Bahn, September 28, 2020

Grace to you and abiding peace from God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

For our words of comfort this afternoon, we read in the name of our dear Savior, Jesus Christ, the words of His Father, our Almighty God, given to us through His prophet, Isaiah:

Isaiah 45:15-19  ¹⁵ Indeed, you are a God who hides himself.  You are the God of Israel, the Savior.  ¹⁶ They will be ashamed.  All of them will also be disgraced.  Together they will walk in humiliation—those experts at crafting images.  ¹⁷ Israel will be saved by the Lord with everlasting salvation.  You will not be ashamed or disgraced for all eternity.  ¹⁸ This is what the Lord says.  He created the heavens, He is God!  He formed the earth and made it.  Yes, he established it!  He did not create it to remain empty.  He formed it to be inhabited.  I am the Lord, and there is no other.  ¹⁹ I did not speak in secret, or from someplace in a land of darkness.  I did not say to the descendants of Jacob, “Seek me in the midst of chaos.”  I, the Lord, am speaking in righteousness.  I am declaring what is right. (EHV)

Prayer: O Lord, we are gathered in sorrow, yet not as those who have no hope.  We thank You for all the blessings bestowed upon our brother, now fallen asleep, and for all the blessings given through him.  But most of all, we thank You for making him Your own dear child by faith in Christ Jesus.  Give us all the faith that trusts in Jesus always.  We ask this all in Christ’s holy name.  Amen.

Our God saves.

Dear LuAnn, Liesl, Damon, extended family, and friends gathered in Lael’s memory,

            As a faithful Christian who had attended countless church services and played for more funerals than I would care to guess, Lael left specific instructions about what he wanted me to talk about at his funeral, and he didn’t want me talking too much about him.  Lael understood that most of you knew him better than I ever would.  He also knew that his accomplishments on earth, while many, wouldn’t earn him a place in heaven, so Lael instructed me to talk about the One who loved him above any human love, God the Father who created him, God the Son who redeemed him, and God the Holy Spirit who sanctified him.  The Triune God gave Lael everlasting life because Our God saves.

In essence, Lael wanted me to tell you about his truest Friend.  Now, many of you might think of a friend as someone you have fun with, but a true friend will give you the shirt off his back.  Our God does better than that.  Isaiah said, “This is what the Lord says.  He created the heavens, He is God!  He formed the earth and made it.  Yes, he established it!  He did not create it to remain empty.  He formed it to be inhabited.”  God the Father made this world as a place where we could live, move, and have our being, and He gave Lael a place in it.  He gave Lael life and knit Lael together in such a way that he had a talent and love for music which God then moved Lael to develop so that he could beautify the lives and worship of those around him.  God built Lael with skills, compassion, and a love for helping children who needed extra care and guidance in their journey to adulthood.

In the beginning, God gave Adam a suitable partner. (Genesis 2:20)  The word used there means someone who is ideally and obviously a good fit.  God the Father gave Lael a suitable partner who would be his loving companion, travelling partner, support, and caregiver, and through LuAnn God gave Lael a daughter in Liesl with whom he could pour out his love and demonstrate his care for someone most precious to him.

Now, the sceptic might scoff at the idea that God did any of this, but that’s because we often think too small.  The Almighty Creator doesn’t make Himself visible to the world.  He is beyond the world yet encompassing the whole universe, and because we all have been corrupted with sin, God told Moses, “You cannot see my face, for no human may see me and live.” (Exodus 33:20)  Thus in His love, God protects us from destruction by hiding Himself until our corruption is taken away.

Many a friend has proven to be a fair-weather friend, not willing to stick around when we hurt them.  Lael wanted me to tell you about God the Son, who not only promises, “Surely I am with you always until the end of the age,” (Matthew 28:20) but God the Son came into this world expressly to take to Himself all the hurt we have ever caused anyone, even His Father in heaven.

A good friend will stand with you in times of trouble.  Our truest Friend not only stands with us, but He stood in our place to bear the curse of sin so that we might be freed from sin and death.  Jesus told His friends, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)

The Bible says, “The wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23)  The evidence for that is right here in front of us this afternoon.  Even the good man isn’t holy enough to avoid death.  However, God’s Son, Jesus, was not willing to let our deaths be permanent.  Because the law demands death for sinners, and eternal separation from our holy Creator, God the Father sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice that redeemed us from that awful fate.  Living His whole life in perfect obedience and submission to the Father’s will, Jesus then gave His life on a cross so that after this physical death, Lael and all others who trust in Christ Jesus, will live in the glory of heaven forever.  You see, “God made Him, who did not know sin, to become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

In our corruption, we could not be in God’s presence, but God the Son came into the world to change all that with His holy life and sacrificial death, and because of the redemption price Jesus paid on our behalf, St. Paul wrote triumphantly about Judgment Day:

The trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.  For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality.  But once this perishable body has put on imperishability, and this mortal body has put on immortality, then what is written will be fulfilled: Death is swallowed up in victory.  Death, where is your sting?  Grave, where is your victory?  The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! (1 Corinthians 15:53-57)

Some friends are yes-men, willing to tell you whatever they think you want to hear.  A true Friend tells you as it is, even when it hurts.  In order that we might see what we look like to God, and so that we might know about Jesus and the sacrifice He made to save us, the Father and the Son together sent God the Holy Spirit to bring the Word of God to the world and use it to sanctify those who hear it.  Through the work of the Holy Spirit, Our God saves.

Through Isaiah, God says, “I am the Lord, and there is no other.  I did not speak in secret, or from someplace in a land of darkness.  I did not say to the descendants of Jacob, ‘Seek me in the midst of chaos.’  I, the Lord, am speaking in righteousness.  I am declaring what is right.”  By the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, God brought to light our need for a Savior with the law.  The law shows our sinfulness before God in such a way that no one can pretend to be holy.  “I take no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies,” declares the Lord God.  “So repent and live!” (Ezekiel 18:32).

The law, however, can do nothing to save us, therefore God the Holy Spirit didn’t stop with just the law.  Isaiah declared, “You are the God of Israel, the Savior.  They will be ashamed.  All of them will also be disgraced.  Together they will walk in humiliation—those experts at crafting images.  Israel will be saved by the Lord with everlasting salvation.”  Anyone who does not trust in Jesus for forgiveness and salvation worships an idol that cannot save from the wrath of God.  Even the atheist who claims there is no god is bowing down to the idol in his mirror.

God the Holy Spirit loves us enough to tell us the truth.  He gave us the law to convict us, and He shares the love of God in Christ through the Gospel so that we might be made holy to live forever.  Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, St. Paul wrote, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” (Romans 1:16)

Though “the sinful mind is hostile to God,” (Romans 8:7) God the Holy Spirit works to change that and to save us through the power of His Gospel.  Through the Spirit, God promises, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit inside you.  I will remove the heart of stone from your body and give you a heart of flesh.  I will put my Spirit within you…You will be my people, and I will be your God.  I will save you from all your impurity.” (Ezekiel 36:27-29)

Dear friends, your dear brother, father, husband, and friend wanted you all to hear again about his truest Friend who had worked in Lael the sure and certain hope of life everlasting through Jesus.  Confident in the grace of God and the forgiveness that was his in Jesus, Lael could face his physical troubles, even death, knowing that this isn’t the end, but his best days lie ahead in the heavenly home Jesus has prepared for Him.

The Triune God is your truest Friend, as well, whether you believe in Him or not, because God the Father gave you life and everything you need for body and life.  God the Son gave Himself into torment and a bloody death to cover your sins and redeem your soul from death and destruction, and God the Holy Spirit gives His holy Word to bring to you the Good News of all that God has done for you since time began and how He has done everything needed to make you right with Him and righteous in His judgment.  Turn to your dearest Friend and live.  Trust the God who gave Himself for you, because Our God saves.  Amen.

The peace of God, established and won for you and for all by the sacrifice of God’s own precious Son, be with you always to the very end of the age.  Amen.