At home in the mansions of peace.

 

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

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

For our words of comfort this morning, we read Jesus’ words recorded by St. John in his Gospel,

John 14:1-7, 27  “Do not let your heart be troubled.  Believe in God; believe also in me.  In my Father’s house are many mansions.  If it were not so, I would have told you.  I am going to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to be with me, so that you may also be where I am.  You know where I am going, and you know the way.”  “Lord, we don’t know where you are going,” Thomas replied, “so how can we know the way?”  Jesus said to him, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life.  No one comes to the Father, except through me.  If you know me, you would also know my Father.  From now on you do know him and have seen him. … “Peace I leave with you.  My peace I give to you.  Not as the world gives do I give to you.  Do not let your heart be troubled, and do not let it be afraid.” (EHV)

Dear friends of Del Geihl, and especially you, Nellie, your family, and Del’s nieces and nephews,

            This morning, as we mourn the passing of our loved one, we each face the reality of our own mortality.  Whenever we must experience the death of a loved one, we can be wondering, “Why?”  Why did it go so quickly?  Why did this person I love have to die?  The blunt answer is sin. 

Now, that may sound shocking to some.  How dare I call this good man, this loving husband, dedicated worker, patriot, and volunteer, this committed Christian and faithful friend, a sinner?  Yet, we have the evidence right in front of us that Del was a sinner, because the Bible says, “The wages of sin is death,” (Romans 6:23) and Del’s remains are here before us and soon to be placed in a grave in our cemetery.  For you and me, every death is a reminder that we, who also are sinners, will someday be laid down in the dust of death and face the divine and righteous Judge of all things. 

As offensive as it may be to hear that Del and all of us here are sinners, we must remember that Jesus was also speaking to sinners, but sinners who believed in Him as their Savior.  Of course, when Jesus spoke the words of our text, His disciples didn’t yet fully understand what that meant.  Jesus had just explained that He would soon die a cruel death at the hands of His enemies, and His disciples were shocked and offended.  Yet, Jesus’ death was by no means the end of His life, nor is this the end of Del’s life, for he is At home in the mansions of peace.

To His shocked and fearful disciples, Jesus offered true comfort as He said, “Do not let your heart be troubled.  Believe in God; believe also in me.  In my Father’s house are many mansions.  If it were not so, I would have told you.  I am going to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to be with me, so that you may also be where I am.”  Why is this such great comfort?  Because ever since sin entered the world, God has had a plan in motion to save us who were cursed by sin.  In His plan of rescue, God sent His own dear Son to live a holy life for us, and He gave His Son into that painful, cruel death on the cross to pay for our debt of guilt for all our sins.  The Holy Spirit through St. Paul explains that “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)

What that means for us when we mourn the passing of a dear Christian is that we do not mourn as those who have no hope.  This past Tuesday, Del was called out of this world to stand before Jesus as the Judge of the world, but because Del believed in Jesus and everything Jesus has done for him, Del had nothing to fear.  As he stood before God, Jesus was there with him to testify that “Del is counted holy because I lived for him, died for him, and rose again to give him new life.  I have redeemed this man to be in My house forever.”  Jesus was there to welcome Del home as a true child of God, washed clean and adopted through the water and Word of Baptism into the Kingdom of heaven and the family of our Creator. 

Today, we have the same comfort Jesus was offering to His disciples—that their true, everlasting home is not here on earth but in heaven where there is never again any suffering, illness, pain, war, or death.  Del is now rejoicing with his fellow saints in heaven who believed in Jesus as their Savior and were counted righteous on account of their faith in Jesus.

Many of you may know that Del built a home here in Cottonwood for himself and Kate, and he loved that house.  When he and Nellie married, Del was so excited to have the opportunity to buy that home back, and he and Nellie also shared the joy of living in a home that Del built.  Yet, they knew it was only temporary.  Del knew that, so at the same time, he was also looking forward to the mansions our Savior has built for His followers in heaven, where there is nothing to threaten the glory and joy that Del now enjoys At home in the mansions of peace.

As much as Del liked to talk about the floods and tornadoes he survived, imagine his joy in celebrating that no trouble will ever again threaten him.  He never again has to march off to a foreign war.  Never again will the vagaries of this life cause him pain.  Never again will he be separated from his God who loved him enough to live and die and rise again so that Del and you and I may rejoice forever in the glory of our God.

Shortly after Jesus spoke these words, His enemies were celebrating what they thought was a victory over Jesus as they put His crucified and pierced body in a stone tomb.  Yet, that was not the end.  Because Jesus wanted to end suffering and death, He rose from that grave in triumph over the devil and over all the sin, temptations, and pain the devil has caused throughout history.  Our Savior testified before the world that “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:16-17)  God sent His own beloved Son to give us a peace that will never end.  Not a peace like an armistice that might be declared between two warring sides that still don’t trust each other, and could break it at any time, but rather, a peace between God and His people, a peace that never ends, because it was earned by God’s Son to give permanent harmony between our faithful, unchanging God and the people who trust in Him, a fellowship of love that lasts forever.

Jesus promised this to all of us who follow Him by faith.  As He taught His disciples of the salvation He was winning for the world by His life and death, Jesus promised, “Peace I leave with you.  My peace I give to you.  Not as the world gives do I give to you.  Do not let your heart be troubled, and do not let it be afraid.”  Jesus gives us true peace that can never be taken away, because Jesus paid the full redemption price for the reconciliation between God and mankind.

Dear friends, trusting in Jesus, we have nothing to fear.  We have the sure and certain hope that all the sins of the world have been paid for, and God remembers them no more, just as He has promised.  We also have the sure and certain hope that on the last day, our Lord will return and raise from the dead all those who have been called out of this world before that great and glorious day.  We have Jesus’ assurance that we will see Del again, not with a body troubled by the curse of sin but with his body and soul renewed to live forever with all who walk with Jesus by faith.

I am sure you can all imagine how excited Del must have been when he returned home after his tour of duty in the Korean War, and we know how excited Del was to move into his new home with Kate, and then many years later to walk into that home again with Nellie, his beloved wife and friend.  So, imagine how joyful it is now that Del has been welcomed into the rest and peace of the mansions of heaven to be surrounded by those he loved while alive here on earth, and the many faithful Christians he honored with his service in the honor guard through the years.  His remains now rest for a time until the Lord Jesus returns to raise up all from the dead and to reunite both body and soul to be with Him in joy and peace forevermore.  Then, Del and all who believe in Jesus will be forevermore At home in the mansions of peace.  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.