A Beautiful Eulogy

If you have ever been to a funeral you are probably familiar with what a eulogy is. Basically it is a time when we reflect on a persons life, those who are alive give encouraging words of praise about one who has died. In the case of our text the ones giving the eulogy or praise are the one who once were dead but are now alive and the eulogy is given towards one who has never died but always lives namely God the Father.

We praise the Father because He has mercifully raised us up to a living hope through the Son.

The object of our Praise

A. He is God

It seems strange to us but

John 20:17 ESV

Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ”

Jesus in His humanity having voluntarily laid aside his rights as God submitted Himself to the Father. He prayed, submitted, worshipped, and honored the Father. Jesus even says that He can do nothing of His own initiative, that He does only what the Father wills.

He cried out at the cross, Eli, Eli, Lama sabachthana. My God, my God why have you forsaken me. If God was the God of our Lord Jesus Christ first, then he must be our also.

B. He is Father

Since his generation is and eternal generation, it excludes and notion of time. There never was a time when Jesus was not the unique one of a kind Son. This is significant to our passage because the word used here to be born again is the idea of regeneration or to be begotten or generated again, that is according to the Spirit.

Jesus being the instrument of our sonship was the first and unique Son. His Sonship is a rightful and worthy sonship. He always was and there never was a time when He was not, but our is one of adoption not of right but of mercy and of grace. His is first ours is because of and patterned by.

John 1:12 ESV

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

We became that is we went from being children of wrath to children of His mercy, we went from being enemies to being friends, darkness to light.

We believe in... one Lord Jesus Christ,       the only Son of God,       begotten from the Father before all ages,            God from God,            Light from Light,            true God from true God,       begotten, not made;       of the same essence as the Father.

The Content of our Praise

B. His Begetting

Ephesians 2:8–9 ESV

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

A. His Mercy

Psalm 40:2 “He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.”

There is a real connection between the mercy of God, Mercy and grace are very similar concepts, but they are not the same. They are sort of inverse of each other. Grace is God’s unmerited favor upon, that is giving us what we do not deserve, and mercy is to withhold what we do deserve. That is God showing pity on those who are miserable and in distress.

Out behind our house there is water, well sometimes at other times its just mud. The water comes in and out with the tide. A couple of times my self and the kids have been out fishing and didn’t pay attention to the tide. I remember one time it was late at night like 2 in the morning and we were out cat fishing and after about a couple of hours or so it dawned on me that I wasn't moving. I was in a Kayak, and I put my hand down to find that I was literally sitting in mud. It was horrible getting back. But when you step into the mud every step you sink almost up to your waste in mud. “I am pretty sure some one had lost a shoe or two that got stuck in that mud.”

The instrument of our Praise

Jesus’ resurrection is the pattern for ours.

Colossians 1:18 says that Jesus is the first born from the dead.

1 Corinthians 15:14 ESV

And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.

1 Corinthians 15:20 ESV

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

Some cruel man or woman once told a young and impressionable child that if he planted a penny in the ground that it would sprout into a money tree. This young gullible child did just so and watered it and cared for it eagerly waiting for spring to come and spout into the young money tree sapling . But it never did. He eventually made a full recovery after learning about the nature and truth of how plants grow.

But such is true for us that there is a faith that is dead. James tells us that faith without works is dead, it is the kind of faith that cannot save. There are different types of faith a faith that is living and produces fruit, that is a faith that is full of hope because the seed which is the seed of Christ by faith sprouts up because it is alive. But not every seed that is planted is alive, not every seed that is planted is going to spout and produce a crop.

Like a sword that brings forth justice, or the blow of a hammer that set the final nail in the coffin, Jesus bore the full onslaught of God’s wrath on our behalf. But not through Christ he has sheathed his sword on his side and thrown aside His hammer and He hold us by the hand like a loving father