What Faith is All About (2)
Notes
Transcript
Joan Marie Jones, age 83, of Kettering passed away at the Laurel’s of Kettering on Friday July 12.
She was a graduate of Belmont High School, class of 1959, and then attended Miami-Jacob’s Business School before being employed at General Motors Patent Division in Dayton, ending in 1962.
She was a member of the Cornerstone Church of Christ in Centerville.
Joan loved collecting “Gone With The Wind” and “Coca-Cola” memorabilia items and amassed an extensive collection.
She was a beloved wife, mother and grandmother who found joy in doting over her daughter and grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her parents Ray and Mary Ellen Bookwalter.
She is survived by her husband, Keith, her brother, Tom (Melody) Bookwalter, daughter Susan (Russ) Bergman and three grandchildren, Alexander Bergman, Grant (Kimberly) Bergman, and Nicholas (Marissa) Bergman.
Opening Remarks
Opening Remarks
On behalf of the Jones family we would like to thank you for coming today. I know how much Keith appreciates your presence.
What brings us together today is the most solemn kind of circumstance, and one that is common in this world of sickness, sorrow, and death.
Today we have come together to weep with those who weep, and to express our love and appreciation for the Jones family and their friends.
Prayer: Boyd Hastings
Prayer: Boyd Hastings
Two Hymns: Russ Robins
Two Hymns: Russ Robins
Today, We Have Gathered to Remember Joan Jones
Today, We Have Gathered to Remember Joan Jones
What a blessing it was to know Joan.
Faithful Christian for almost 50 years … baptized when Jerry Parks was here.
Keith and I were reflecting yesterday on her kind heart - and her care for others.
He mentioned how she always wanted to be at church - and spoke to him often about her worry for those here who struggled.
62 years of commitment in marriage.
She was a dedicated mother who loved Susan and her family so much.
Keith mentioned how much she doted on her grandsons.
She loved them unconditionally.
Days Like Today are What our Faith is All About
Days Like Today are What our Faith is All About
Days like today are where our faith gets very real … because it brings home the very obvious reality that it is only by faith that we walk and in grace that we stand.
We have faith in:
A power that transcends this world.
A loving God who keeps every promise.
The work of a Savior who lovingly and willingly sacrificed Himself in our place so we can die in hope.
The Word of God that tells us that by His own resurrection, Jesus has taken away the sting and victory of death.
The strongest of assurances from the Apostles. It is Paul who declared.
11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then he who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through his Spirit who lives in you.
Later Paul says:
55 Where, death, is your victory? Where, death, is your sting?
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!
Think about how Paul concludes his thoughts in this chapter:
58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
God’s Greatest Desire
God’s Greatest Desire
Every human must answer these questions. Every worldview forces us to ask:
Where did I come from?
Why am I here?
Where am I going?
Christianity answers all three succinctly.
Where did we come from? 1 Corinthians 8.6 says all things come from Him.
Why are we here? Colossians 1.16 says we have been created for Him. We are here for His glory, Matthew 5.14.
Where are we going? Romans 11.36 says we are going to Him. This is our ultimate destination, the final goal of your existence is God.
This is God’s greatest desire … and it’s why He sent His Son.
1 John 4.9-10 says Jesus bore the wrath in our place so we can experience eternal life.
9 God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his one and only Son into the world so that we might live through him.
10 Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Just as surely as God is the origin of your story, He is the destination of your story. To Him are all things, Paul says in Romans 11.36. The end of the story for the child of God is God.
Think about the Biblical images about heaven. It’s not all about “mansions” and “streets of gold.”
It goes much, much deeper than that. In heaven we will be reunited with God.
Revelation 21.3: God himself will be with them as their God.
Revelation 21.4: God will wipe away every tear … the former things have passed away.
Revelation 7.17
17 For the Lamb who is at the center of the throne will shepherd them; he will guide them to springs of the waters of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
Revelation 21.6-7 - I will be his God and he will be my son.
Revelation 22.4 - we will see His face.
The longing of God’s heart is ....to be with us … in complete union unhindered by the flesh and sin.
14 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates.
This is the message of Scripture
This is the message of Scripture
It’s why when we read of passages referring to the death of a Christian, it is never defined as the end … rather it is defined as a release.
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live.
26 Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
10 This has now been made evident through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who has abolished death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
It’s not only Scripture communicating this to us … I believe reason plays a role as well.
Humans have been created with a desire for truth, a yearning for goodness, and its products of justice and compassion.
We have a longing for beauty.
And what is the true source of these things? Only in the One who is Truth, Goodness, and Beauty.
The answer is not found in human knowledge … science … philosophy … religion.
The answer is not found in God’s creation … but in God Himself.
And I think this is why we see the restless longing of those who do not seek God and continually face frustration and disillusionment.
As Isaiah said, Isaiah 55.2: they labor for that which does not satisfy.
Some will spend the majority of their life laboring for something that fulfills them.
In Ecclesiastes 2.1-11 - Solomon recounts his life and the vanity of self-indulgence.
2.11 - his conclusion of it all: all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.
This is why he says …
13 When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is this: fear God and keep his commands, because this is for all humanity.
14 For God will bring every act to judgment, including every hidden thing, whether good or evil.
There Has to be More
There Has to be More
If Joan could speak to us today, she would definitely testify to that.
She would tell you not to neglect that which is really important … that is, a relationship with the Savior.
When it comes down to that, it is all that matters.
The need for Christ is real, because the reality of death is real. It has been appointed for all men to die once, then the judgment.
So when death strikes close to us, we see how much we really do need Jesus.
We need him to save us from our sinfulness.
We need him to lead us safely through life.
We need him to give us strength and comfort.
We absolutely need Him when we must walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
It is only through Jesus that we wlll be victors over death.
It is the hope that Joan died with.
Let us give thanks for the life she lived.
Russ Robins Song
Russ Robins Song
George Wacks Prayer
George Wacks Prayer