+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
[The apostle Paul writes:] 18bI will rejoice, 19for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this [imprisonment] will turn out for my deliverance, 20as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. 21For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. 24But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. 25Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, 26so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again. (Philippians 1:18b-26 ESV)
Dear Ann, Sammy, Rebecca, Steven, and other family and friends of Gerald and his family,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
As some of you know, I am the Rev. Dr. Jayson Galler, pastor of Pilgrim Lutheran Church in Kilgore, where I am a fellow Rotarian and friend of Gerald’s son Sammy. Through our relationship, I came to have the privilege of meeting Gerald last year shortly after he had his stroke, when he was still in the hospital in Dallas. And, for nearly every week for the six months that followed I had the privilege of ministering to Gerald as he lived out his Christian faith in the wake of that stroke. (Surely a fruit of Gerald’s faith in God was Gerald’s accepting such ministry from a Longhorn.)
On more than one of those visits, I shared with Gerald St. Paul’s Divinely‑inspired words to the Philippians that I read moments ago. For, like St. Paul, Gerald was hard-pressed between his personal desire to depart and be with Christ and God’s apparent will for Gerald to remain in the flesh and continue with us. Such a struggle of faith I know well myself, at times wavering more in one direction than the other, so much so that I even have picked these verses as the text to be preached at my funeral. As we now briefly consider these words, we find them speaking of our “Rejoicing at the gain of death”.
St. Paul’s letter to all the saints in Christ Jesus who were at Philippi, with their overseers and deacons (Philippians 1:1), is usually thought to have been written during St. Paul’s first imprisonment in Rome. In the verses we heard, St. Paul spoke confidently that his imprisonment would turn out for his deliverance, one way or another, either by his release from prison or by his death. And, St. Paul knew that, either way, Christ would be honored in his body. St. Paul personally desired to depart and be with Christ, which is far better, but he also recognized that there were good reasons for him to remain in the flesh, namely for the Philppians’ progress and joy in the faith.
Gerald also had good reasons to remain in the flesh and continue with us. Gerald loved Ann, his wife of 65 years, whom he always described as “wonderful”, and he suffered when they were parted for a time in separate facilities across the street from one another in Longview. Gerald was proud of his children and their spouses and their children, Gerald’s grandchildren; for example, even though Gerald could not attend, he nevertheless was proud of Barrett’s recent graduation from Texas A-and-M and his new job in banking, both continuing important family traditions.
Gerald also knew that departing and being with Christ was far better, especially insofar as departing and being with Christ would deliver his soul from its imprisonment in a body that just would not do what Gerald wanted it to do anymore. Gerald and I discussed how such a desire to depart could at times be at least a temptation to a lack of faith in God, Who provides grace to bear every affliction that He in His wisdom permits. And, Gerald and I discussed how such a desire could at times be at least a temptation to devalue the life God gives, regardless of its “quality” as we perceive it. God alone knows whether or not Gerald ever gave in to such temptations, although Gerald’s lifeless remains before us are evidence that at least by nature Gerald was a sinner just like each one of us.
Apart from repentance and faith in Jesus Christ each one of us deserves not only death here in time but also torment in hell for eternity. Such are the consequences of our sinful natures and our actual sins. But, God calls and enables us to turn in sorrow from our sin, to trust Him to forgive our sin, and to want to do better than to keep on sinning. When we so repent and believe, then God forgives our sin for the sake of His Son, Jesus Christ.
Jesus’s death on the cross in order to offer redemption to all people gives every life at least potential value, regardless of its “quality” as we perceive it. Repentant believers are forgiven by grace through faith in Jesus, and so they are of infinite value to God and to their fellow believers! What God accomplishes in each person who believes (and so who ultimately is redeemed) is the real reason for joy, especially at the death of God’s sinner-saints in this world. As Gerald knew and confessed in my presence on more than one occasion, the real meaning and joy of our lives, alive or dead in this world, is in Christ. So, we can say Gerald was forgiven and is with the Lord.
God offers the forgiveness of sins to repentant believers in the water of Holy Baptism, in individual Holy Absolution, and with bread that is Christ’s Body and wine that is Christ’s Blood in the Sacrament of the Altar. So “surpassingly rich in His grace” is our God! (See Smalcald Articles III:iv.) God’s Word, especially in its sacramental forms, applies the Gospel to repentant believers individually, assuring each that he or she has been chosen by God for eternal life.
St. Paul wrote to the Philippians about not telling which (departing or remaining) he would choose, and, of course, St. Paul did not choose but left to God to decide whether St. Paul should live or die in this world. Neither did Gerald make such a choice; he likewise left to God the timing of his deliverance from this evil world, for which deliverance he and I prayed together so often, as in the Lord’s Prayer. Such is part of our living out the Christian faith in our lives. God permits us to suffer to conform us to the cross‑shaped image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn of many brothers and sisters (Romans 8:28-29). As such, we rejoice in the Lord always and in everything (Philippians 4:4, 6), even in the deaths of loved ones in this world. Such deaths may mean added suffering for us here and now, but, far more importantly, the loved ones are delivered and with the Lord!
St. Paul’s first imprisonment in Rome, during which I have said he wrote to the Philippians, is usually thought to have ended with his release from prison and his continued service as an apostle before being imprisoned again in Rome and eventually martyred there. St. Paul’s continued service, he wrote the Philippians, was for their progress and joy in the faith. St. Paul rejoiced, the Philippians rejoiced, and so do we rejoice. As much as we rejoice over Gerald’s service to others through his Ag extension and banking work, his volunteering in the community and at his church, we rejoice more at “the gain of death”: what Jesus’s death has gained for all who believe, including Gerald, and for what Gerald’s death has gained for him. For a time he is away from the body and with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:6, 8), but, as God enables us to follow Gerald in faith and life, we know that, on the Last Day, with the resurrection of the body, we will see him again and talk to him again in the Lord’s Presence for eternity.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +