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In the name of Jesus. Amen.
The Rev. Dr. Douglas Rutt writes: “They say that if you really want to know what a preacher is all about, or what is at the heart and center of his teaching, or if you really want to know what a church believes, teaches, and confesses, attend a funeral service at that church. Watch what happens at that funeral. Look at what the pastor does and listen to what he says. A funeral tells you so much because it’s in the funeral service that the ultimate questions of life and death and salvation and eternal destiny and God are addressed. As someone once said, a funeral service is about ‘bottom-line issues.’”[1]
That’s an interesting statement because when you attend a funeral you may indeed learn (either by content or its absence) about any number of the following: 1) the basis of hope; 2) the means of overcoming doubt; 3) the meaning of life and death; 4) whether in Christ one can express joy and sorrow at the same time; 5) the certainty of one’s eternal destiny; 6) if salvation is based on one’s good works and good life or solely on the work of God in Christ. At a funeral you can derive all kinds of information depending on what the preacher and the church really believes, teaches, and confesses.
The Western Church has celebrated the Feast of All Saints’ since the early seventh century. All Saints’ Day is a commemoration of those who have lived exemplary lives of faith—some in spite of hardship and persecution. According to AC XXI.1 “saints should be kept in remembrance so that our faith may be strengthened when we see what grace they received and how they were sustained by faith. Moreover, their good works are to be an example for us, each of us in his own calling.” God’s Word defines saints as those who have been made righteous and holy by Christ. That’s important because we believe, teach, and confess that sainthood cannot be based on anything else.
Today the church gives thanks to God for those who have been given the victory of the faith, who now rest from their labors, and are included in that great scene described by St. John in the first reading. As we think about those saints, we also recall that funeral subjects like the issues of life and death and salvation and eternity are relevant for us on this side of the grave. Based on the Epistle from the First Letter of St. John we consider the theme “Seeing God as He Really Is.”
The divinely-inspired St. John writes that we are the children of God and “The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know [God]”. The world does not recognize a child of God because it does not know the love of God. Much of our world does not comprehend itself as sinful and hell-bound therefore it also does not really have any need to consider God’s love. The concept of repentance and faith is either foreign to or flat-out rejected by most of our culture.
And to some degree I believe that we also sinfully struggle with these concepts. If you have come to grips with your own sinfulness and your tendencies to give in to temptation, then how is it possible that God would consider you holy, blameless and pure? Why would God declare us righteous for Christ’s sake … a righteousness that is ours only on the basis of faith?
In addition, by virtue of being the children of God we are to live our lives as the purified and holy people that Christ has made us to be (v 3). But we Christians are called “hypocrites” because we call ourselves “children of God” while sin is still evident in our lives. St. John writes: “when he appears we shall be like him” and that’s good because now we know we are not like Him as we should.
The world’s rejection of repentance and faith is sin. Equally sinful are our doubting or questioning God’s declaration of our new status by His mercy and grace. And because of these and other actual sins and our sinful nature we deserve both physical death and eternal torment in hell.
But God shows us what kind of love he has for us. He wants us as his children for eternity, and does not want us to perish eternally, so He calls us to repent. And when we do repent it is because God Himself who enables us to do so. The Holy Spirit leads us to have sorrow for our transgressions against the Lord of Heaven and earth … and to believe “that sin has been forgiven and grace has been obtained through Christ” (AC XII.3-6) … and with that faith we desire to do better than to keep on sinning.
When we repent then God forgives us of our sinful nature and all our actual sins. He forgives us for Jesus’ sake. Christ carried all of our sin and the sin of all humankind in His body at the cross. There, Jesus is your substitute … the innocent for the guilty. He suffered and died in your place to pay the penalty for your sins. And that, together with his resurrection from the dead not only insures victory over sin, Satan and death, but forgiveness, life and salvation are now available through faith in Him.
When I was a sophomore in High School, I had an English teacher that constantly called me John. When I would correct her, she would sigh and recite Shakespeare: “That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet.” The class would laugh, and few of my classmates started calling me “Rose” (which I thought was funny, not mean).
Shakespeare’s line is from Romeo and Juliet and reminds us that what you call something usually doesn’t change what it actually is. You can call a rose a goatweed, and the scent will still be delightfully fragrant; because it’s still a rose. And of course, it is also true that it will still have thorns.
That’s the way it is when we name things. But not with God because His Word is powerful. When he renames someone or something it really does make it into something else. There was significance in God changing names in the Bible: Abram to Abraham, Sarai to Sarah, Jacob to Israel, Simon son of John to Cephas (Peter) … these name changes corresponded to God’s calling them to new responsibilities in His kingdom.
God also calls us to new responsibilities in His kingdom. And so today we hear St John say “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God” … And he adds, “and so we are” (1 John 3:1).
We know our thoughts, words, and deeds are not a fragrant aroma. We know we have thorns called sin. But when God calls us his children we are. What God calls us … that is what we are!
When St John writes “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared” (v 2), he reminds us of the “now” and “not yet” nature of our new relationship with God. We are God’s children now but there is more to come, which we have not seen. But “we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” (v2b).
Our text concludes: “And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure (v 3).” Any purity we have is based solely on Jesus’ righteousness. Earlier in St. John’s first epistle he writes: “the blood of Jesus his Son [which] cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). Yet we continue to sin in this life, so Jesus provides the means to strengthen faith through His Word in all it’s forms. His Holy Word is read, and spoken, and expounded, and prayed in the Divine Service. His Word connected to water in Holy Baptism brings us into the kingdom of God and creates faith. His Word of Holy Absolution comforts us and releases us from despair. His Word together with bread and wine nourishes us with the true body and the true blood of Christ given and shed for us.
Because we have been made pure by faith in Christ, we are free from sin—not just the effects of sin, but the power of sin. We are also free to serve him and free to do truly good works.
I’ve been to numerous funerals after which I left disheartened and troubled that the preacher and church didn’t seem to really understand the Gospel … and I was particularly distressed when it was an LCMS pastor.
The true Gospel proclaims the death of Christ in our place and the resurrection of Christ for our victory. This alone is the rock-solid truth on which our hope for our departed loved ones is built—and this is the rock-solid truth upon which we build our lives in the here and now seeing God as he really is.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
[1]Concordia Pulpit Resources, Volume 21, Part 4; © 2011 Concordia Publishing House