Funeral Sermon For Frank Holley

Introduction

Today we're here to celebrate the home going of frank Holley. He was a man who profoundly desired to stay out of the limelight. And yet he deeply impacted so many people He wanted nothing more than to not be in front of people and yet he spent a lifetime as a teacher. Even though he had retired he still managed to teach up until the weekend he passed.

I had the privilege of getting to know Frank starting six years ago when a friend asked me to participate in a Bible study. Every week frank would come with his pink strawberry flavored milk and we got to study God's word together.

This continued for a number of years until I finally talked him into leading a Bible study because I mean come on he's a teacher. It only made sense for him to Lead the bible study. I may be a pastor but Frank is a teacher.

Stephanie shared how it was like to have a teacher dad….hed never just tell her the answer. He always want ed make her think and figure it out.

Once Frank's dad told him the closest you'll ever get to becoming a preacher is to take the PR of and add a T. Did you follow that preacher to teacher?

You know, despite Frank never becoming a preacher I know God worked through his life over a lifetime of teaching and more.

From college to middle school to high school he was passionate about helping others learn. When I met him he was teaching at McLain a second chance school for many. They went from there to Sarah Scott and then on to north high school where he finished up a period

I spent so many Thursday mornings hearing Frank talk about how much you wanted you guys to learn to understand and get these concepts.

I'll always remember years of Thursday mornings with frank asking question after question after question and then waiting for someone to respond. I knew he had repaired exhaustively to teach and yet he was far more concerned that I learned.

Maybe you knew Frank you knew how much his faith mattered to him. You knew how much his family mattered to him. You knew how much his Jay mattered to him. He loved to serve and be present for Jay. They built such a meaningful life together period.

I was told this last week that one of the favorite passages of frank was 1st Corinthians 13 and it's ending which reads so now faith hope and love abide but these three the greatest of these is love.

I want take you back to the beginning of this passage And talk about it to the lens of the life of Mr. Holley of Frank Holley

1 Corinthians 13 ESV

1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

I see so much of the life of Frank reflected in these verses.

1 Corinthians 13:1–2 ESV

1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

Mr Holley knew how ot speak eloquently and he understood mysteries and knowledge but he also understood the value of love. He cared deeply for his students and for his family and other loved ones.

1 Corinthians 13:7 ESV

7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Mr Holley bore many things over a lifetime including a variety of health problems but he chose to bear them with love.

1 Corinthians 13:8 ESV

8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

Everything ends. Prophecies come and go. Languages change. Knowledge passes away, is forgetten, or disproved.

But what doesn’t end?

Love. Love never ends.

But what is love?

Is it just a crush you feel or affection you have for another person? Is it just this soft feeling you have?

I would argue that love is actually more than just a feeling.

In Corinthians the passage continues.

1 Corinthians 13:11–12 ESV

11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

As children we have simple views of the world, of science, of relationships and more. But as you grow, you understand the world differently.

As you attend one of Frank’s classes you understand the world differently.

What is it that we can only see dimly now but later we will know and understand more fully?

Mr Holley’s favorite part of this chapter was the final verse here:

1 Corinthians 13:13 ESV

13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

What is it that remains after knowledge, prophecies, and many other things fade away?

Faith, hope, and love.

Faith is confidence in something we cannot see.

Hope is confident optimism in the future.

Love is what remains as the greatest of all theses.

People will forget your knowledge, your abilities and what you do. They won’t forget your love.

You will probably forget many of the things Mr Holley taught you (Much to his frustration…..sorry Frank)

But you will never forget how he treated you….with love.

As family, you will hold onto decades of memories, and moments…..through it all you will hold onto the man you loved and how he loved you.

Do you know the one positive part of a funeral?

Aside from family getting together or a meal afterwards.

It’s this

Ecclesiastes 7:2 ESV

2 It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart.

The gift of you being here today is the reminder that you are mortal. You will die someday. Take that to heart.

A good friend of mine served 3 tours in the army in the middle east. Each time he and the men under him rewrote their wills and letters to family if they died. He said this challenged each of them constantly to make sure they took care of things and it allowed them to live and serve more fully in the present.

Forgive others

Resolve fights with loved ones.

Invest in what and who is important today.

Don’t count too much on having a tomorrow.

And think long and hard about what comes after death.

Side note

Frank always would lecture me on Bible Study mornings. “I’m a guide on the side, not a sage on the stage!” Frank did not want to be the person in front telling you what to know or do….he wanted to walk alongside you helping you learn.

Frank would probably hate all the fuss today about him….

….but he loved teaching didn’t he…

…So Frank, we’re going to use this whole service today as an teaching opportunity to talk about the one topic you loved more than science…

You see the teaching opportunity today is this you're going to die. Someday your money achievements and physical strength won't matter anymore. Frank died a lot earlier than any of us wanted. You might live longer than you'd want or you 2 might be surprised how soon you pass.

Either way consider this what happens next? I want to talk to you about what happens next.

Romans 3:23 ESV

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 5:8 ESV

8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 6:23 ESV

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:1 ESV

1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Romans 10:9–10 ESV

9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

Ephesians 2:8–9 ESV

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

That’s the simple truth.

We live in a broken sinful world but God through Jesus provided a solution.

That’s the hope Frank lived with.

Would you like to experience that hope?

Pray with me.

Trusting Christ as your savior is as simple as praying this prayer.

Jesus, I know I’m a sinner.

I believe you died for my sins.

I ask you to be my savior today.

I ask you to forgive me for my sins.

I accept you as my Lord and Savior today.

From the moment I met Frank Holley I always thought of the closing scene of Mr Holland’s Opus.

He’s a high school music teacher who has just been forced to retire after a lifetime of teaching. They have a service to remember him and at the last moment the governor, a former student of his walks in and gives this speech.

Show this clip?

“I think that he's achieved a success far beyond riches and fame.

Look around you. There is not a life in this room that you have not touched,

and each of us is a better person because of you.

We are your symphony Mr. Holland.

We are the melodies and the notes of your opus.

We are the music of your life.”

Frank never wanted to be rich or famous as far as I know.

But he was sometimes frustrated by his students’ unwillingness to learn and grow.

If there is a gift you can live in his honor do this:

Seriously consider what I’ve said about salvation and Jesus.

Stay curious and committed to learning.

Pray with me: