230106 Funeral Sermon for Larry Lillibridge, January 6, 2023

 Audio recording

Sermon manuscript:

It is customary for the family to provide input as to the
hymns and Scripture readings that are used during the funeral service. So it is
also today. The hymns were chosen by the family. The readings, also, were from
their input, especially the second reading from Ephesians about marriage. That
was because Larry and Jeanette were married for 57 years. The Gospel reading,
John 3:36, was chosen because Lance saw this reference on a billboard when he
learned that his father had died.

I’m grateful for the input. These are all fine selections,
teaching us much. And that, I believe, is one of the most important
opportunities that a funeral is to provide. We can learn from God’s Word stuff
that will help us poor sinners escape God’s judgement by believing in Jesus.
But I’ve had to put a lot of thought into what I should say this morning.
Sometimes we pastors have to work harder at some sermons compared to other
sermons, and this is a sermon that I’ve thought a lot about.

I’d like to speak with you especially about one thing that
has been on my mind. I really wanted to do justice to what is said in John
3:35-36: “The Father loves the Son and has put everything into his hands.
The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who rejects the
Son will not see life; instead the wrath of God remains on him.” Those are
very strong words, full of truth. They are blunt words, you might even say: “The
one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who rejects the Son
will not see life; instead the wrath of God remains on him.”

So what are we to make of these words? And what are we to
make of these words even when it comes to Larry? Larry grew up Catholic, but
then he wasn’t a church-goer for almost all of his adult life. Forgive me for
being a little blunt, but that wasn’t right. It’s not hard for a person to say that he or she believes in Jesus,
but I’m not sure I know what that means if that person at the same time doesn’t
ever want to hear what Jesus has said, doesn’t want to gather with fellow
believers, and doesn’t want to receive the Lord’s Supper. A disciple, a
follower of Jesus, receives Jesus’s words and puts his or her trust in him.

But about a year and a half ago things changed in this
regard with Larry. I won’t go into all the details about how it all came about,
but Larry and Jeanette agreed to receive Catechism instruction from me. We
spent many hours together. We thoroughly went through the Ten Commandments, the
Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and the sacraments. These are the essential teachings
of Christianity. At the end of the instruction Larry was free to continue on as
he had before. Nobody forced Larry to do anything. But he voluntarily and
solemnly declared that he believed.  What
the Catechism teaches is true, he solemnly said. He became a member of this
congregation. From that point on he regularly confessed his sins, was absolved,
and received the Lord’s Supper. He received the Lord’s Supper, in fact, just
about a week before he died.

Now what is important about everything that I have just said
is not that he has accomplished something. What’s important is not even him
becoming a member of this congregation. What was important behind all of that
activity was that God’s truth from the Scriptures was being delivered to Larry.
God, in his providence, caused this truth of the Scriptures to be taught to
him. I was just but one instrument that God used for that process. And God gave
Larry the gift of faith to make this truth his own.

And what is the content of this truth? You heard the heart
of that truth in our Gospel reading: “The Father loves the Son and has put
everything into his hands. The one who believes in the Son has eternal life,
but the one who rejects the Son will not see life; instead the wrath of God
remains on him.” Or, there is an excellent description of God’s truth a
little bit earlier in John chapter 3: “God loved the world in this way 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 that the world might be saved through him.”

Knowing that God has wrath, that is, anger, because of our
sins is not something that is commonly known and commonly believed. You have to
be taught that. And understanding the love that God has for sinners so that we
do not perish eternally as we deserve is especially not common. In fact none of
us, including myself, truly understand that love of God. Only now is Larry
gaining a fuller understanding of that love. He understands the love of God now
better than any of us because he now sees God, and sin and doubt no longer
stand in the way.

Now maybe everything I’ve said so far might strike some of
you as strange, as not really being Larry. You didn’t know Larry as a
church-goer. Isn’t this pastor blathering on about his own stuff, and not
giving a fitting tribute to Larry? Just this last week, for example, I heard
from a former co-worker that Larry was a very good electrician. Shouldn’t we be
saying more about that kind of stuff?

I can understand someone thinking that I’m not really
getting at who Larry is, but let me perhaps give you another way of thinking
about it. Do any of us really know one another? We know ourselves somewhat, but
that’s not really what other people know. We show a certain side of ourselves
to others, but we all know that there are things about ourselves that nobody
else knows. Nobody else, that is, beside God. God, in fact, knows each of us
better than we know ourselves.

God knowing us better than we know ourselves can actually be
a very frightening thought. There are things that we have done that nobody else
knows about. We’d be deeply ashamed if anybody else found out. All the while,
of course, God knows full well what we’ve done. What does God think about us, knowing
all this?

But listen to what the angel said on Christmas night. I
talked to Larry about this the last time I saw him, just a day after Christmas.
Jesus was just born and the angel came to announce that fact to the shepherds.
When the shepherds saw they angel they were terrified. But the angel said, “Do
not be afraid, for I bring you glad tidings of great joy which shall be for all
people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is
Christ the Lord.”

Do not be afraid. A Savior has been born for you. God knows
us better than we know ourselves. Nothing is secret to him. And yet God has a
strange love for us sinners. The glad tidings of great joy which is for all
people is that Jesus is the Savior of sinners. Jesus took on himself our sins,
suffering and dying in our place, being crushed by the wrath of God for the
sins that we have committed. In this way reconciliation has taken place between
us sinners and God. Therefore, even though we are sinners, when we believe in
Jesus, we may even enjoy the thought of God knowing everything about us. Yes,
God knows our sins, but for those who believe and are baptized, the wrath of
God is not upon them. Those sins have been forgiven.

All the relationships that you all have had with Larry are important
and good. They are gifts from our generous God. But Larry’s relationship with
God is even more important, just as your relationship with God is the most
important. The truth of God that Larry heard, received, and confessed as his
own is also available to you. Imagine God knowing everything about you,
absolutely everything—more than anyone can possibly know about you including
yourself—and yet God receiving you and welcoming you when you repent and
believe in Jesus. And this is not just something that must be left to the
imagination. It is the truth. Jesus has made it so by his death and his
resurrection.

There is no higher, better, or profounder thing that I can
say about Larry than that God has taken Larry to himself in peace. Larry is
someone for whom Christ died, and Christ has died for all of you as well. He
did this to set you free from death and hell. And so we will commit Larry’s
body to the ground today in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection of
that body on the last day. God’s goodness and mercy has overflowed to Larry,
and the way that Larry received that goodness and mercy is through the
truthfulness of God’s Word in his Scriptures and Sacraments. May you also
receive that truth so that you may be reunited with Larry, and, even more importantly,
that you may see God.