Pete’s Funeral

When I first came to Christ Covenant Church, Pete and his wife Sallie always made my family and I feel so welcome.

I remember Sally always called me boss, and Peter would always laugh.

Pete was a wonderful husband, and he served his wife up until the end of her life.

My grandfather passed away quite a few years back, and I will always remember him as one of the most kind and gentle men who loved the Lord and served his wife with passion.

And I never saw Pete without thinking how much he reminded me of him.

Now, getting to know Pete wasn’t easy.

The only reason for that is he would never talk about himself.

He was always asking about me and my family and showing care and concern for us.

It’s amazing to think that Pete was serving in the nursery just a few Sunday mornings ago.

He always liked serving with my daughter Kenzie, who he called his girlfriend and made sure he got a hug from every Sunday.

The last text I got from Pete said:

I left some tomatoes, peppers, and Zinnias on your porch for you and your family. Just a small thank you for the blessing you, your family, and Christ Covenant are to me. No one else needs to know. God gets the glory.

I’m hoping maybe under the circumstances, he would be okay with me sharing that with you.

Oh Pete Imke loved the Lord and He loved His church.

I have no doubt many of you are thinking back on good memories with Pete today.

I want to encourage you to allow yourself to feel the sadness and the loss, but also to celebrate Pete’s homegoing with joy in your heart and a desire to love and follow Jesus that much closer the way Pete would want you to.

Embrace the grace of God toward you in these coming days and rest in his good presence.

Take great joy in the fact that Pete is seeing Jesus face to face, and all who trust in Jesus can look forward to the day with confidence when you will do the same.

1 Peter 1:3–5 (ESV) 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

God’s Mercy Offers Us Hope Through Jesus’ Resurrection Life

God’s word makes crystal clear that all humanity was created by God and created for God.

You see, the God who created the universe exudes so much beauty, holiness, and glory, that he created humanity to bask in the glory of God and to reflect God’s greatness back to Him.

We were created by the very creator and life giver of all things to be in intimate relationship with the God of life.

Yet, as we all know, even if you are not sure that you believe in God today, something has gone horribly wrong.

We live in a world of humanity who is obviously not naturally communing intimately with a perfectly good God.

We live in a world where we all know that we are going to die, though we do not try to think about that too often.

God’s word is clear that we have all sinned and fallen far short of God’s glory.

If you question that claim: just consider what Jesus says is the greatest commandment, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love your neighbor more than yourself.

Have you always put your desire for God and His glory above all else and put your desire for others over your desire for yourself?

No. And none of us have.

And when you sin and rebel against your very Creator and Sustainer, it only makes sense that your sin will lead you to death.

We were created by God for life, yet we have all become familiar with a very naturally unnatural event like this one as we honor another who has died.

In understanding our separation from God due our sin, the marvel is not that we all now die.

The marvel is that we do not die immediately at the moment of our first sin.

In these verses, Peter worships God by pointing us to God’s great mercy.

You see, the best news in the universe is that while you were lost and dying in your sin, God showed the greatness of his mercy by sending His son Jesus.

And Jesus lived the life of perfect love toward God and others.

Then, Jesus was nailed to a cross to die in your place for your sin.

Three days later, Jesus rose to life defeating sin and death.

You see, in God’s great mercy, He took the punishment for your sin on himself to the point of death, and then he defeated your sin and death by His resurrection.

Our souls are dead in sin due to our separation from God, yet while we could do nothing to bring ourselves back to life,

Jesus did everything necessary through the cross and resurrection to offer you new life - spiritual life - eternal life.

God Offers Us An Eternal Inheritance

You see, because the God of heaven has done everything necessary for your salvation, in His great love and mercy, He has offered this eternal life inheritance to you.

And it is an inheritance that this world and sin can never touch.

The day Pete Imke placed his faith in Jesus Christ, his salvation was sealed in heaven.

And there was nothing he could do in this life and nothing that could be done to him to lose that inheritance.

Not even his death could snatch away his God given inheritance.

No, his death not only could not take away her eternal inheritance, it confirmed it for to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

It is an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading because it is kept in heaven for you.

There is nothing in this world that will not perish, defile, and fade, yet God’s love and mercy offers an eternal inheritance in heaven for those who know and love Him.

And the glorious reality is:

God’s Salvation Will Be Revealed Fully In The End

When you place your faith in Jesus Christ for salvation, your salvation is guarded by the very power of God until it is fully revealed in the end.

You see, if you are “In Christ” there is nothing that can separate you from the love of Christ.

The very power of your Creator and Sustainer is the power that keeps you united to Christ.

For Pete, nothing could separate him from the love of Christ.

Certainly not his physical death.

And yes, for now, we believe in faith with the eyes of our hearts that God is faithfully fulfilling his great promise to Pete, but it will not be that way forever.

God promises that in the end when Christ returns, God’s great salvation of His people will made clearly known to all.

I am 100% confident that Pete would want nothing more for you and for me then to trust his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for salvation.

As a member of this church, Pete shared that hope with all of us who gather to celebrate Jesus and scatter to live for Him.

And now Petes faith has been made sight.

The question becomes:

Have trusted in Jesus for your salvation?

Have you been born again by the Spirit of God?

I wonder if you have the hope of eternal life with God today?

If not, I wonder if God even now, is convicting you of your sinfulness and your separation from God.

If God is convincing you of your need for salvation, His word says everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

You don’t have to go out and prove yourself to God.

All you must do is agree with God about your sin, turn away from that life, and trust the work of Jesus in the cross and resurrection was done to save your soul.

Would you trust in Jesus now?

Pray.