Joe Wood Memorial
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On a day like today we gather:
To remember Brother Wood and the lessons he taught us.
To comfort one another.
There is a family that is so thankful you attended today.
To Remember the Lord that Brother Wood served.
I’ll not forget the very moment I found out Joseph Wood had gone to heaven.
I was stunned and trying to grasp for reality. I wanted to wake up and it be a bad dream.
that Sundays text was Isaiah 25 which in part reads.
Isaiah 25.6-8
And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people
A feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees,
Of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.
And he will destroy in this mountain
The face of the covering cast over all people,
And the vail that is spread over all nations.
He will swallow up death in victory;
And the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces;
And the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth:
For the Lord hath spoken it.
Scripture Reading:
Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
Text: Ephesians 2:8-10
Text: Ephesians 2:8-10
One of my favorite things about Joe Wood is that he had a set of skills that he had practiced and applied. When he didn’t know how to do something he went and asked looked up in the school of YouTube. He was blown away by how much he could learn on that website.
One of my favorites is this summer when he showed up at the church with a 12-14 foot alligator for the Vacation Bible School game and the whole thing was done with a tree trunk and chain saw. “First one I’ve ever done he said.”
His boys and I stood there just blown away with what he had made.
Places around this church have Joe Wood’s fingerprints all over them.
Patching the parking lot and finding time to help his pastor. One whole room in my house was is sheet rocked today because Brother Wood knew that if he left it to me it wouldn’t be done before Jesus came back.
One thing can be said of Brother Wood and that is that he was a craftsman. But more than just wood and materials. I look today at a family that influenced and loved and nurtured at the hardworking knee of Jospeh Wood.
There is no doubt in the mind of his family that their dad and grandpa loved them.
He desired for his boys to love the Lord.
He desired for his family to participate in the life of the church
He desired for his family to love one another
He prayed for you
He loved you
He made a place for you in his life.
But I want this morning to tell you of the one who had made a Workmanship out of Joe.
In Ephesians 2: Paul describes us not as the workmen but as the workmanship. Those who like Joe Wood had trusted Jesus with their salvation are a workmanship. He is the piece upon which Jesus was continuing his work. Joe Wood is the person that one could step back and see… not one who had chosen to be a good person but one who is altogether a different person because of what Jesus was doing in him.
Ephesians 2 is describing the Work that God is doing to demonstrate his kindness to us. It is this kindness that Joe had laid hold of many years ago. And that same goodness was present throughout his daily life.
Ill. Jesus gave us the parable of the Good Samaritan. In this parable the Samaritan comes along a man in dire straits. He had been ravaged and left to die.
The Samaritan shows this man kindness he came to a man that was in danger of death. Without the intervention provided by the Kind Man he would be left to the destruction waiting for him.
As we know the story goes much differently. The life of the wounded man is spared, but not because of his own greatness or talents. Rather he was saved from certain death by the kindness of one who had every right to ignore him.
This is the Kindness described in vs. 8-10. The same kindness showed to you. You are lost on your way to Hell. Sent there as a punishment for your sin. God is a good judge and because of that death will be the judgment for sin. And it will be carried out thanks to his good ness, not despite it.
Trans: The Kindness of God is described three ways in this passage.
You see it is the kindness of God to make us his Work.
I. Joe Trusted in Christ’s Work of Salvation.
Exp: A. You see there is no Work for you and I to accomplish for Salvation. There is no work for one’s salvation. This was a theme that Bro. Wood constantly supported me in. He loved to hear the Gospel. That was a man that never outgrew the fact that Jesus would save a sinner. That Jesus would continue to show grace to sinners and that it pleased him to Save Joe.
I want you to rest assured today according to Scripture that Joe Wood is in heaven. He looked to the finished work of Calvary for his hope. He knew that Sinners cannot affect the grace of God. It had to be Jesus alone that brought about the gift of eternal life.
This free gift of eternal life Joe received not because he was smart or had skill but because he believed what God’s Word says.
Romans 3:24
Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
Illustration: We are his Trophy. We are the proof that Jesus does good work. So it was in the life of Joe Wood. Joe was a Trophy of God’s grace. If anyone here needs proof that God can take a selfish sinner and transform them to Love, peace, long suffering, and gentleness. You don’t need to go down the road you can look at the life of Joe Wood.
Joe is the workmanship that shows the good work that Jesus did on Calvary.
When our Savior bore our sin, he transformed sinners into the very children of God. This was Joes hope for each of his family that they would love the Savior that saved him from hell.
II. Joe Lived out the work that Jesus does in the Saved.
Exp: A. Joe was not only an indicator of God’s Handiwork. He was saved to participate in good works. We get ourselves all turned around on work don’t we. We see someone doing a good or religious work and we imagine they are trying to be good so God will love them. For Joe it was exactly the opposite. He didn’t love his wife dearly and his children faithfully so that he could earn the love of God.
That is the kind of Love he found in Jesus so loving his family was all the more possible because God had first loved him.
You see by Faith Joe had laid hold on the promise of Heaven.
Today you and I stand at a little window into eternal priorities and among the questions one should stand out. How how was Joe so certain of things he never saw before. He saw them through faith. By faith Joe understood that there is a life after this one that could be spent in heaven or in hell. And years ago Bro Wood decided it would be in heaven. And he wanted his boys and girls to make that same faithfilled discovery he did.
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.
But by faith he continued to follow Jesus. I love that Bro Wood didn’t see good work as something you did on certain church days. But he was constantly doing good work. He was constantly helping someone. Stopping something he wanted for himself so that he could do it for someone else. He would do projects for his wife with a joyful spirit. help his boys without a plan for payback. He just wanted to help others.
This was a character that I saw in Bro. Wood time and time again. Even more importantly this was characteristic that I didn’t see and others would have to tell me about. Because he practiced not letting the left hand know what the right one was doing. He didn’t need the praise of others he just took a lot of joy from serving others.
This work of Grace has a purpose in fact it was the way you were designed to live. We are designed to live a certain way we are designed to live in a lifestyle of Good works. I could go around this room and person after person could tell of a time when Joe Wood gave of himself. It was because of the Purpose that Jesus has given him.
Understand that the lost cannot begin “good works” because good works is set aside for those that are lead by the power of the Holy Spirit of Christ.
But we are all as an unclean thing,
And all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags;
And we all do fade as a leaf;
And our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
III. Joe Trusted in a Work that Jesus left us to do in Heaven.
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
Understand with me that Jesus teaches his disciples that
Heaven is a Real Place.
Heaven is a Permanent Place.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
Heaven is a Personal Place.
Heaven is a Holy Place.
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Heaven is a United Place
Who is there will make it heaven.
Who is there?
1. Jesus is there.
2. Our Heavenly Father is there.
3. Those who have died in the Lord before us.
4. Those who will die in the Lord after us.
Joe wood is there.
You will be there – if you made your reservation.
All of this was secured by one man His name is Jesus Christ.
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.