Wednesday, April 13, 2022

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.