Wally McGie Funeral
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Opener: II Corinthians 5:1-10
I. Our Bodies are Temporary.
For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.
Paul explains the body is simply a temporary dwelling place.
II. Our God is Good. (5-8)
Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
Paul tells of his eagerness to be with the Lord. God is Faithful to be there when we are absent from the body.
SONG:
I MUST TELL JESUS ALL OF MY TRIALS
I CANNOT BEAR MY BURDENS ALONE
IN MY DISTRESS HE KINDLY WILL HELP ME
HE EVER LOVES AND CARES FOR HIS OWN.
III. Our Lives can make a Difference.
Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
Though we may be eager to be with the Lord, we should live our lives to please God. Our lives have a purpose. These are not our purposes. They will be reflected upon by the one who trusted us with these lives.
Someone has well said,
In reality, no one can preach our funeral, we preach our own funerals while we live.
Welcome
Thank Friends on behalf
Obituary
Song - Just a Closer Walk
Scripture Reading
Memories from Congregation
Song - The Old Rugged Cross
Message
Benediction and Graveside invitation
Close - Vince Gill (Go Rest High on that Mountain)
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Scripture Reading:
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
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Thy Word Have I Hid in My Heart
Text: Psalm 119:9-12
There are two ways to state the ultimate goal of life, one positively and one negatively. Positively we could say: the ultimate goal of life is to glorify God by enjoying him forever. Or negatively, we could say: the ultimate goal of life is not to sin. They both mean the same thing because sinning is falling short of glorifying God by embracing other things as more enjoyable.
So if we could learn how to glorify God by enjoying him, we would know how not to sin. And if we could learn how not to sin, we would know how to glorify God by enjoying him.
Psalm 119:11 tells us one of the keys to not sinning. It says, speaking to God, “Thy word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against thee.” The way not to sin is to treasure the word of God in your heart. Which means that the way to succeed in the ultimate goal of life — to live for the glory of God by enjoying him forever — is to treasure the word of God in your heart.
So let’s focus for a moment on what this means. Take the three key phrases: (1) Thy word; (2) I have treasured; (3) in my heart.
‘Thy Word’
The word the psalmist has in mind is not a subjective impression that comes to his mind when he prays for God’s will to be revealed. It is the revelation of God in his written word, primarily the Torah, the books of Moses, but also the writings of the prophets whom God sent to Israel. You can see this in the way he piles up familiar words for God’s revealed written word in the context.
For example, verse 10b:
Psalm 119:10 (KJV 1900)
…”O let me not wander from thy commandments.”
Psalm 119:12 (KJV 1900)
…Teach me thy statutes.
Psalm 119:13 (KJV 1900)
With my lips have I declared
All the judgments of thy mouth.
Psalm 119:14 (KJV 1900)
I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies…
Psalm 119:15 (KJV 1900)
I will meditate in thy precepts,
And have respect unto thy ways.
These words — commandments, statutes, ordinances, testimonies, precepts — are all words that the Bible uses to refer to the written word of God, especially in the books of Moses, but by implication to all God’s revealed written work. Today we would say “Thy word” refers to the Bible in its entirety. So what the psalmist is referring to in verse 11 is not subjective impressions but objective teachings of God in Scripture.
I want you to understand that Wally McGie was not a perfect man. But he was a man that loved the Word of God.
Some of my earliest memories of Brother McGie were right here at SKBC. But back when I was a boy. I remember when I was a kid the families that were as faithful to the house of God as the pastor himself. You knew preacher was going to be there and you know the McGies are going to be there.
You also may not know that Brother Wally was a Nursery widower. Oh he had Mrs Della but he would be in his place under the preaching of God’s Word serving and helping. All the while giving Mrs McGie all the room she needed to minister to our children in the nursery program. I know many men who would be tempted to step back from the church if they don’t get to sit with their wife. NOt brother McGie.
He did the opposite. He went to more church. When I was in middle school I would travel to preachers meetings with my dad. And no matter where that meeting was there were the McGies. Brother McGie didn’t know that you get all the Bible you need in church on Sunday. He thought he needed more through the preaching of God’s Word.
Do you know why? Because to Brother Wally this is God’s WOrd. It wasn’t some old book that is outdated. He wanted to hear it again and again. Good preaching, talented preaching, beginner preaching seasoned preaching. To Brother McGie what mattered was if it wad BIble Preaching. He loved the BIble.
Brother McGie understood that the only hope we have of having victory over sin is found in God’s Word. And he never lost his love for it.
‘In Mine Heart’
Next take the phrase “in my heart.” The point here is mainly to say: inside of me, not just on a book outside of me. The words of God are not just kept in writing for the psalmist to consult outside of himself. They are kept for his consulting inside of him — in his heart.
The heart in the Old Testament is a place of both thinking and feeling ; So these words of God are being treasured in a place where they can be thought about and felt.
And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
But the hypocrites in heart heap up wrath:
They cry not when he bindeth them.
When you would visit Brother McGie you would find a bible on his night stand. This was because the bible wasn’t a religious book but a personal book. The Bible wasn’t about the church stuff it was about he life he lived out in the World.
I want you to know this morning that God’s Word is no longer in his heart. I mean by this that He doesn’t have to put his HOPE in Scripture for his Faith has been made sight.
He is living the promises today that he has hoped in all these years. There will be some that have a loose relationship with the promises of God’s Word. Not brother McGie.
Sin tried to destroy Brother McGies life just as it wants to do in every life. But there was a weapon that Brother McGie had. The message of Scripture we call the Gospel.
We are sinners
God’s Grace is the only hope we have over sin.
Grace is extended to all that place their trust in the finished work of Christ.
Wally didn’t put his trust in the hours spent in the preaching
Wally didn’t put his trust in the time at the church or reading the Word. It was in the Savior that he called on many years ago.
Grace was in Jesus Christ. This is where he found his hope.
‘Have I Hid’
The reason we know that the word of God is in the heart is that the Hebrew word “I have hid” (tsaphan), in its more than thirty uses in the Old Testament, almost always means “hide” or “store.” It only secondarily comes to mean “to treasure” since hiding was what you did with your treasures in the days before there were banks (see Job 23:12; Proverbs 2:1).
The psalmist says, “Thy word I have treasured in my heart,” he does not just mean that the act of valuing happens in his heart, but that the word is being hidden and stored up there as something valuable — like a treasure.
So the teaching in this verse is that one way to keep from sinning — one way to attain the ultimate reason for being, to live for the glory of God by enjoying him forever — is to store up the word of God in our hearts as something very precious. When we have the word of God stored or hidden in our hearts, and treasure it like gold and silver, that word will function to keep us from sin.
Two Things that Keep Us from Sinning
It’s not just one thing, but two things that keep us from sinning and move us to glorify and enjoy God. It is not just having the word stored. Nor is it is just valuing the word. It is both. Both are crucial. We value the word and therefore we have it stored in our hearts. And the two together give us the power to stand against the temptations to sin. It is a (1) superior treasure, (2) present and active, that conquers sin.
Illustrate with the Blood…
Several years ago I asked brother McGie what he had been up to that week. His reply was soft and drawn out as he would do. He said well I went and gave blood. I thought this was an issue of small talk with Brother McGie. This is not the case. He went on to tell me that one of the things he was ought to do with his week is to swing by the blood bank and give his full amount of blood. To this day I don’t know what drove him to literally pour his blood out for his community but just know that somewhere in his possessions was a pin issued to him by the blood back that marked the day he crossed the 8gallon mark. He told me about it and when I was astonished he wore it the next week.
Brother McGie didn’t try to give his blood a way all at once for that would do no one any good. Rather he gave it a little at a time knowing that when it came time to use it it would be ready and available.
So it is with the author…
DALETH.
My soul cleaveth unto the dust:
Quicken thou me according to thy word.
We will always be inclined toward sin (dust). But God’s word brings life.
More importantly it gives the message that brings life (quickens)
The soul clings to the dust from which it comes…
But the Bible brings life.
The body is inclined to destruciton but the Bible points us to the life found in Christ.