Judy Jeffery Memorial

Intro

Welcome, my name is Ezra, and I’m one of the pastors here at Scholls… It’s my honor to welcome you to Judy Jeffery’s Celebration of Life

For those new to our building => restrooms, exits

Note: we’re here to remember Judy as a daughter of God

To “rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep” (Rom. 12:15)

Because we know that death is an intruder to the original design of creation, we don’t have to pretend that everything is OK—we have permission from God to grieve

Because we know that Christ has defeated death, we don’t have to grieve without hope: if you belong to Christ, you know where Judy is—with him in glory. And so we also have cause to rejoice through our tears!

Prayer

Message

I haven’t been part of this congregation long, but fortunately I had the opportunity to meet Judy a couple of times before she passed. The second time, a few days before she passed, Fay and Jeff and I were there with Harry and Judy, read a psalm, and then asked if there was anything she would like us to sing. She requested Amazing Grace. I’m not sure why, but we kind of stopped after the second verse. Then Judy started to say something, and we realized it was the first few words of the last verse. So we picked up the last verse and sang that for her also.

I think I will always remember that. Amazing Grace doesn’t have three verses. It has 4, 5, or 6—depending on the hymnal. Shame on us for quitting in the middle of the song, I suppose… but Judy didn’t just want us to keep singing. She wanted the last verse:

When we’ve been there 10,000 years

Bright shining as the sun

We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise

Then when we first begun

It’s talking about the coming New Creation. The world is broken now, and full of death. But it seemed to me that Judy was casting her mind forward to that New Creation, to the promised day when God will reverse the curse and make all things new, and death itself will be no more. She waits for that day now, in the presence of Jesus.

I remember once watching a video of that brilliant New Atheist thinker, Richard Dawkins. A man asked him (something like), “How can you, as an Atheist, argue against the Holocaust?” Now, the logical implication of Atheism is that we are all mere stardust, evolved by chance into meaningless animals who experience a delusion known as consciousness—really nothing more than a series of chemical reactions in the brain. In such a view of things, the Holocaust was neither right nor wrong. It simply was.

Yet, when questioned, Dawkins could not bring himself to say that. He could not bring himself to accept the logical conclusion of his own thinking. It seemed as though something within him refused to embrace violence, evil, and systematic death as normal—though he could give no rational reason for his rejection. And I don’t know, but it may be that something somewhere within him still knew the truth: evil is truly evil, and death is not how it was meant to be.

But as it turns out, these two things—death and evil—are tightly connected. Paul wrote:

Romans 5:12 “…sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin…”

That is: when the first man, Adam, turned away from God, he committed high treason against his Maker. Tempted by the serpent, he turned his back on God. The consequence was death. And so, sin and death have been the fatal disease of all humanity ever since. Yet in the very same hour that God pronounced the sentence of death for our sin, he also gave a promise that sin and death would some day be overturned through a New and Better Adam.

Finally, this New Adam came—Jesus.

And this New Adam was tempted to sin just like the first Adam, in a garden. Tempted to turn against the Father, refuse the Father’s will. But unlike the first Adam, he never yielded. He remained faithful to the Father, all the way to the end. Not a single sin-stain on his soul. Thus, he earned a righteousness that he now freely gives to all who trust in him.

And then, he gave himself up to be crucified. In this, he carried the curse of death in place of his people. But this was more than mere physical death. Paul also wrote:

Galatians 3:13 “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—”

So, what does that mean?

Jesus hung on a tree—that is, on a cross—as he died. But this was not merely the method by which he was executed. It was also a symbol to tell us that he died accursed—he died under the full weight of the divine curse that should have been ours by rights, because of our sin against God. So then, at his death, Jesus did not merely endure the anger of his murderers, but the full weight of the divine curse against sin, in our place. A terrifying and righteous curse that should have been leveled against us, not him.

Why does this matter?

Because, “dying, he reversed the curse” for all who trust in him. All who turn from sin and trust in him receive now only blessing from the Father.

But, he did not remain dead. Listen to what John recorded about Jesus, when he was lead out to his death:

John 19:17 “he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha.”

Think of the image John has set up for us here: a large wooden stake (the cross) driven into ‘The Place of a Skull’. What does that have to do with anything? In biblical imagery, the skull represents the Serpent (Satan) and his kingdom of sin and death. So then, in the very act of dying, Jesus was crushing the serpent’s head! That is God’s faithful lovingkindness—he delivered on his original promise to Adam and Eve to reverse the Serpent’s work. When we deserved death and hell, he sent his Son to defeat death on our behalf.

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father There is no shadow of turning with Thee Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be

Now think: Jesus had lived in perfect righteousness, paid for sin, reversed the curse, crushed the Serpent. All the causes of death, defeated. What happened next was shocking—but logical: how was death going to hold on to him after all that? And so he rose from the grave, and ascended to the right hand of the Father.

This story that I’ve just told you is the history of redemption, known as the ‘good news’ or the ‘gospel’. It is the cornerstone of truth on which Judy built her life, and it is the power of God for salvation, for all who turn to Christ. It is the saving message which Judy and Harry have given so much energy to spread to the neighborhood and the nations. Friend, if you have not believed, if Judy were here, she would urge you: turn from sin, and trust in Jesus for salvation.

And the history of redemption is not over: Jesus will return. And when he returns, he will complete what he began:

First, he will complete the Serpent’s defeat, which began at the cross. Friend, there is no neutrality here. However respectable you are on the outside, you either belong to Jesus or to the Serpent. Jesus will destroy the Serpent on that final day of judgement, and all of his with him. He will come as a conquering king, and nothing will stand against him. But today he offers you mercy, forgiveness, and cleansing, and to bring you spotless into the unspeakable wonder of God’s own presence.

Second, Jesus will make all creation new—death and sorrow will be no more, and all who have trusted in Christ will worship God in boundless joy forever. Judy waits for this now, resting in the presence of Jesus.

Her example—the mercy shown to her by God, and the life of faith she lived—beckons you, brothers and sisters, to rejoice through your tears, and to rest your souls more fully on the promises of our faithful and compassionate God. And Jesus, her King of Love, who gave his life to save his enemies, beckons you, unbelieving friend, to turn from self and sin to the salvation he accomplished at the cross.

Closing Prayer

Reality for Judy:

Numbers 6:24–26 ESV

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

Now, as we conclude the service, I invite you to contemplate the life of Judy in the death of Christ. Just in your heart, or maybe in conversation with someone else as you stay for lunch. But before that, in you sorrow and your joy, hear this benediction, which is for all who belong to Christ:

Numbers 6:24–26 ESV

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

Short prayer.

Friends, on behalf of Judy’s family and congregation, thank you so much for coming and helping us remember Judy. We would like to warmly encourage you to stick around and enjoy lunch in Judy’s honor—a chance to eat, share, comfort, and celebrate. But to do this, we’re going to need to transition the sanctuary into a dining space with tables and chairs. To help us out, I have two requests:

All able bodied guys help us to move the tables and chairs and set them up…

Everyone else,

you can hang out in the sanctuary in here or the foyer…

just give us some room as we set up the tables and chairs…

i’ll shortly announce that the food is ready and it’s time to dig in…

Prayer for Food