The Crown of Life

 

“The Crown of Life”

Funeral Sermon for Ella “Faye” Fritsche

Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Emma, Missouri

Wednesday of Holy Week

April 13, 2022

Revelation 2:8-11

You can listen to this sermon here

Hymns: I Know that My Redeemer Lives

I Am the Bread of Life

Children of the Heavenly Father

Go My Children With My Blessing

“And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life.’

“‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.’”

 In the name of Jesus, the first and the last, who died and came to life for you, dear Judy, Kathi, along with your family and friends,

                   It doesn’t seem fair. After all, it wasn’t that long ago that your family was all gathered here in celebration of your mom’s retirement. It wasn’t long before one thing started piling up. We know Faye was looking forward to retirement, spending time with her children and grandchildren. This isn’t what you were hoping for.

                   None of this is hidden from the Lord Jesus Christ. When we think of someone we love dearly, it’s good for us to remember that Jesus loves them even more than we ever could. That is what this week above all other weeks show us. Here in this week when we remember Jesus’ suffering and death, we would miss the point entirely if we didn’t stop and remember that this was for us. Jesus died for Faye. Jesus rose from the dead for Faye. But it wasn’t just for Faye, it was also for you.              

                   Let’s look at the promises Jesus makes to us in our text today. In Revelation 2:8-11, Jesus is sending a message directly to Christians in Smyrna—a city in western Asia Minor. It is one of seven letters that Jesus delivers to seven churches. In these letters Jesus encourages each of these churches and us. Let’s take four things out of this letter for our encouragement and comfort today.

                   First, Jesus says, “I know your tribulation”. A good nurse knows what you are going through. That’s one reason that many of you loved Faye so much. She was able to emphasize with all the kids who came in to see her. After all, after twenty years as a school nurse, she had pretty much seen it all. You can’t surprise something who has been a nurse that long. Whether it’s fevers, puking, or someone feeling down, a good nurse doesn’t say, “Yuck! What’s that?” I’ve never seen that before. I don’t want to deal with that.”

                   You know, everything nurses have to deal with is a result of sin. That’s where sickness, injury, and heartache come from. God never intended for these things to be part of the world. We are the ones who have brough them in along with death because of our sin. We all sin and we will all die. We can say the same thing as the thief on the cross, “We are receiving the due reward of our deeds.” (Luke 23:41) We are here today because Faye was a sinner, so am I, and so are you.

                   But we have someone else who knows our tribulation. That is the Lord Jesus Himself. He knows our trouble. He knows it because He felt it Himself. We have a God who knows what it is like to hurt. We have a God who knows what it is like to carry the guilt of sin—not His own, but yours. We have a God who knows what it is like to die.

Jesus died for us and now look at how He uses that. When it comes to our trouble or our even our sin he doesn’t say, “Yuck! What’s that?” I’ve never seen that before. I don’t want to deal with that.” He doesn’t say, “Well, you think you’ve got it bad, why don’t you try hanging on a cross for six hours.” No! Jesus instead says,

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

                   This was a great comfort to Faye during her time in the hospital. She knew that Jesus was there for her. It wasn’t just that. Jesus knew her pain when her husband died leaving her and her girls. He was their through her kidney transplant and thanked God for Jan and her great gift to her. God never promises us that life in this world will be easy. But He does promise to be with us every step of the way.

                   Not only does Jesus know our tribulation, He is actually able to do something about it. Nothing happens outside of God’s control. This leads to our next point. Second, Jesus says, “Do not fear what you are about to suffer”

                   These Christians in Smyrna had the promise from Jesus himself that their tribulation would only last ten days. Jesus doesn’t ever tell us how long we will have to endure our trouble, but we can be sure that there will be an end. God draws the line for where floods should stop and how far waves should crash. He even has the devil on a chain. Evil can’t do anything without God’s permission.

                   God allow this so that He can take it and turn it into something good. There’s no greater example of this than Jesus’ own suffering and death. He is falsely accused, mocked, beaten, and whipped. Even though no one can find any charge that will stick to Him, the only innocent person the world has ever known was sentenced to death. His clothes were taken away from Him and He was nailed to a cross and left there to die. You will not find a greater evil than this.

                   And yet look at what God has done! It looked like evil had won and God raised Jesus from the dead. His body that was dead in the tomb came alive again on the third day. Jesus broke death’s power for all of us—including Faye. Jesus’ resurrection is the only reason we can say that “we know that for those who love God all things work together for good.” (Romans 8:28)

                   So what happened last Friday? God put an end to Faye’s suffering. Dear friends, as bad as the past months were for Faye, she never has to go through that again. Jesus’ promise to the thief dying next to Him came true for her, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43) She is with Jesus. She has joy that is full and compete. What Jesus promised her has come true.

“Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.” That’s our third word of comfort. The Christians Jesus spoke to here were going to go through very intense persecution. Some of the were going to be thrown into jail. They knew their life was in danger simply for confessing their faith in Christ. When we are confirmed, we make the commitment to do just that, to suffer everything, even death, rather than fall away from Jesus.

Now it’s one thing to think about being faithful under persecution. If someone held a gun to our head and said, “Deny Jesus or I’ll shoot you.” We trust that in that moment the Holy Spirit would give us the courage to be faithful unto death. That’s one thing. It’s another thing to be faithful unto death not just for one moment, but for the rest of your life. Both are impossible without the help of the Holy Spirit.

Although we don’t do this perfectly, there were moments where Faye and Gilbert made faithful decisions that are worth remembering. After Gilbert applied for disability, he and Faye had 13 cents to their name. When it was time for the offering on Sunday, they couldn’t put three pennies in the offering plate, so they put the dime in instead. The next day God provided their first check for Gilbert’s disability.

Kathi was in eighth grade when Gilbert died. They had already made the commitment to send her and to St. Paul High School. That meant it was up to Faye to get her and Judy through St. Paul. That meant a lot of hard work. She did it gladly. Look at how that decision has now affected generations of her family.

What we need to see from this is not what a great person Faye was. She certainly was a sinner like the rest of us. But what we should see how God uses the faithful decisions His people make to bless other around them—and to draw them closer to Christ and His word. With experiences like this of seeing God’s faithfulness firsthand, she endured the suffering that came to her over the course of the last three months.

                   As bad as it got, Faye did not give up. We said before that it doesn’t seem fair that all of this would happen to Faye. But God does something even better than the evil you have experienced. His gift of eternal life is completely undeserved, and He is happy to give it to all who trust in Him and don’t give up. The crown of life is completely a gift

                   As we heard Paul say in Romans 8, “In all things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” Jesus adds to this here, “The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.” That’s our final word of comfort from Jesus. See, Faye died with Jesus in the waters of Baptism. From then on she didn’t have to be afraid of death. In the waters of Baptism Faye received new life. Just like Jesus is risen from the dead, Faye will also rise again when Jesus returns for all of us. Later in Revelation 20:6 it says this, “Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! [That’s baptism!] Over such the second death [that’s eternal death] has no power.” God has made good on His promise to Faye. Everlasting life will not be taken away from her.

                   Jesus says, “He who has an ear, let him hear.” You have ears, so listen up! A lot of what I’ve told you today is based on conversations I had with Faye over the last four weeks of her life. These promises from Jesus Himself were comforting to her and she would want God the Holy Spirit to use these same promises to give you comfort as well.

                   May God do that for you as He has promised. Amen.

"Were They Worse Than You?"

You can also view this sermon here. 

There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Luke 13:1-5

In the Name of Jesus, who is always with you, dear fellow redeemed,

The examples Jesus gives today could just as easily be ripped from today's headlines. You've seen them, "Innocent bystander victim of drive-by shooting" "four killed in Japanese Earthquake". What do we do when we hear these headlines? Usually, we say “that’s too bad” and let our mind move on to the next story or scroll down the page. 

But what about when these things happen in our own families? An aunt has a case of breast cancer, but it was removed with minimal treatment, but her niece faces a much more serious battle with that horrible disease. Another man has cancer removed in only one surgery and does very well while his father-in-law struggles for a long time. “Why?” We ask. Did one person have more faith? Did one person do something horrible? We want to know why these things happen.

That is probably why these people come to Jesus and asked Him about these people from Galilee who were murdered by Pilate as they offered their sacrifices. Jesus was from Galilee, did He know any of these people? 

But listen to Jesus’ response to both of these. Do you think these people were any worse than anyone else? Do you think they were worse than you? He says this because this is our natural reaction. We figure that these bad things must happen as a punishment. How many times have we caught ourselves saying “what did I do to deserve this?” Then there are the voices from preachers on TV that say “If you only had enough faith you would be healed.” This only makes you question your faith and God's forgiveness if you aren’t healed already. Don't listen to lies like this. 

Jesus’ answer to these is completely different. Did this happen because these people were any worse than you? He says clearly “No”. Bad things do not happen because one person is worse than another or because one person has less faith than another. God is not rewarding or punishing people in this way. 

Jesus is doing something different. He wants us to see our own sin and repent. “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” He says. Here he’s not speaking of death in this body, but of being eternally lost in hell. 

What do events like cancer, war, earthquakes, and drive by shootings teach us? They remind us how fragile our life is. When we see them, we know that it just as well could have been us. This is what Moses teaches us in Psalm 90:12 “Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” Today could be the day that any one of us may stand before the Lord, so what then? 

God uses disasters, tragedy, and sickness to show us the law in a very real way. Death is coming for us all because we all sin. When we experience even the worst the world has to throw at us with faith, we humble ourselves, we repent. We turn from our sin. If God uses a disaster or tragedy to turn us from our sin and draw us to Himself, then He has already made something good happen out of something bad. 

That’s what we all should do every day. But what do we do if we are the ones who are suffering? We all know people right now who are between a rock and a hard place, have pain in their body, or are wondering where God is all this. If you haven't been there before you can be sure that someday you will be. 

We should remember we won’t find the proof of God's love in how we feel or what happens to us from day to day. Consider two verses from Romans chapter 5. “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (That's verse 1) We have peace with God through Jesus. God isn’t angry at us anymore. On the cross Jesus took all of God’s anger. He was punished for our sins. Therefore, there is no more punishment or condemnation for us who believe in Jesus as our Savior. 

If we want to see what God thinks of us, we don’t look at our own life or the world around us. We know that many faithful people suffer horribly, and many evil people succeed. So worldly success, wealth, and even health are not the ways God demonstrates His love. “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” That’s Romans 5:8. If you want proof of what God thinks of you, don’t look at how you feel, how much money you have in the bank, or your health. Look to Jesus’ cross. See Him pour out His life in love for you. Look at Jesus’ empty tomb. See that death and sin are defeated there.  

If that’s the proof that God loves us, then why does He allow these things to happen? Is it His will for people to be sick, hurting, and die? Has He lost control over the world or has Satan thwarted His good design? Is He unable to make His will happen? Maybe He doesn’t care at all. 

No, if that’s what we’re thinking, then we’re asking the wrong question. Here’s the question we should be asking. Listen to what it says in Romans 11:33-35 

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?”

God doesn’t owe us an explanation for anything He does. It’s like God says to Job at the end, it’s basically, “I’m God, you’re not. Who do you think you are to even ask?” Job does what Jesus says to do, repent in dust and ashes. If we go digging in the depths of God’s will, we may not like what we find. Indeed, we may not even be able to understand it any more than your cat can comprehend calculus.  

So notice what Jesus does here. Jesus is taking us from the mystery of God’s will and its relation to evil to the promises of God’s Word. It is better for us to seek His promises in His Word than to speculate about His hidden will. There in God’s Word, we do see the big picture of God's will is clearly revealed.

We know God's will is clearly revealed in the Ten Commandments, which we have not kept. So we hear again God’s will for all clearly in the Old Testament reading from Ezekiel 33:11 

“As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?”

All are sinners, but God doesn’t want any sinner to die in their sin. He wants people to turn away from sin and turn towards Him. We have this promise attached to that. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) This is part of God’s will too. We in learn in 1 Timothy 2:4 that God “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” Yes, it is God’s will to save you! 

We also learn from the parable that Jesus teaches about the fig tree that doesn’t produce, that it is God’s will for us to produce fruit in keeping with repentance. This is why the Holy Spirit works to produce love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control in us. When we show these fruits to the world, we can be sure we are doing God’s will. Of course, God’s commands to make disciples by baptism and teaching are also part of His will, so is coming to the Lord’s Supper and receiving the forgiveness God offers for you there. 

God’s will is for us to repent, receive forgiveness in Christ, through baptism and the Lord’s Supper, to read His Word and let that guide our lives. Those things have happened for you, so yes, God’s will is being done in your life. Those are the big clear parts of God’s will that we know. This is already being done in your life now. Even at the end of your life, God’s will will still be done. Psalm 116:15 says “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.” In Christ, death doesn't get the last word. Jesus does, and He's already been through death and will bring us to life on the other side. We know His promise that He will transform our lowly bodies to be like His glorious body when Jesus comes again. That is His will.

If we trust God with these big, revealed parts of His will, then can’t we trust God with the smaller, personal, but hidden parts of His will? God’s Word promises “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32)

So, what should you say to someone who is going through something horrible? "God has a plan for you" is certainly true. But for me, it begs the question of God’s hidden will. "God has a plan for you" is not completely good news, or at least we should say it is not the Gospel. God’s will for you does include your death with faith, and there may be a good deal of suffering along the way. Consider saying something like this, "God will be with you no matter what happens, and nothing happens outside of His control." 

            Over the last two years we’ve faced the pestilence of COVID and now we’re staring down the prospect of another world war. This has caused some to wonder which of the four horsemen of the apocalypse we’ll meet this week. When we see these awful things take place, we repent, receive forgiveness, and then rest in God’s love for us which is stronger than death. May God give you peace as you do it. Amen.