“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
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.’”
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.
