Hope in More Than This Life

Introduction

I got to know Sandy early on in my ministry here at Holy Cross. My family stayed with her when we came to CS. Picture of playing golf.

But I hadn’t met Rodger yet. I heard a lot about him from Sandy but didn’t know him.

It has been a privilege to get to know him better over the years here at Holy Cross. I’m especially grateful for having served with him on our BoD. Rodger didn’t speak a lot, but when he did, the board members listened.

Stating the obvious, Rodger was an intelligent man.

I bring this up because his struggle with Parkinson's disease and his strike seems so cruel.

I’ve chosen for our brief meditation to day a text Rodger I’m sure was familiar with, from 1 Corinthians 15:19,20. “If in Christ we have hoped in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

Hope is an important part of life.

Note that Paul didn’t say that we shouldn’t have hope in this life.

I know you prayed for Rodger, and I’m sure that Rodger prayed about his situation.

Prayer is an act of hope, hope that God will act in this life.

At times he does. That’s what grace is all about. It is the surprise of God to act when he doesn’t need to.

At times he doesn’t act in the way that we want him to act. King David experienced this fact when he fasted and prayed that his child born to Bathsheba would live, but seven days after his birth he died.

We will always stand facing this mystery of God, however, there was hope that God would act.

Yet Paul reminds us that our hope is not just in this life. Rodger’s hope was rooted in Jesus resurrection.

Hope is Grounded in Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.

Jesus is called the firstfruits of those who die in the faith.

As a result, we look at death differently than other people. Paul consistently referred to those who had died in Christ as asleep.

Not an attempt to downplay the significance of death and the power that it has to radically change your life like Rodger’s death has done.

Saying that Rodger is asleep in the Lord is a way of Paul pointing to the resurrection.

It’s a way of saying that he is with Jesus now

It’s a way of saying that Rodger will rise from the dead and death will be swallowed up in victory.

Rodger will continue to sing to you the power of Jesus’ resurrection.

Rodger’s death will take you back to Good Friday and the reality that Rodger stood under the cross and that God’s mercy flowed for him.

Death cannot destroy the faith by which he lived his life. Your memories of Rodger will sing the power of his faith.

Conclusion

Jesus’ resurrection give you the power to grieve because your hope is not just rooted in today, but in the reality of the resurrection of the dead.