Les Groeneweg
Notes
Transcript
For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.
Scripture: 2 Timothy 4:6-8
Les Groeneweg Funeral Message
Brothers and sisters in Christ, I believe that all of us here this morning would say that Les gave his all in most parts of his life. Whether before or during his battle with cancer—fighting against that. When we look at his work ethic as Pastor Gary mentioned last night, in the past he ground feed in the middle of the night, and he had continued working right up until his last hospital stay. It’s true of how he played, how he hunted and fished and spent time around friends and family. As Tim said, it’s true of how he loved—in the course of his life, he came to give his all.
I think this probably increased in the last three years since the diagnosis. Les took stock of what was most important and most worthwhile to him. You, his family, were high on that list. Again, this doesn’t mean he was perfect. At times he would share how him over-working would likely bring a scolding from Barb, and you were right to do that, it was necessary. He poured himself out though. He lived to get the most out of every day. He wanted to be around for as many moments, as many important events as he possibly could. Les cared deeply about people. There’s a lot of praiseworthy qualities and things that could be said about Les, but I want us to have these in mind because this is how we are called to live.
Thinking back to our passage, we have Paul. He was an apostle, a minister, a missionary of the gospel in the early church; he wrote those words we read. Timothy was a younger missionary minister who he had worked with and was a mentor to. In the church, we have this tendency to lift certain people up, and Paul is one of those people, but he was still human. At this point, he knew the end of his life was coming, likely being cut short as a martyr.
So he was telling Timothy all sorts of instruction about practices in the church, but how does he want to end? “I am already being poured out like a drink offering…I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” In terms that might make sense to us here—“Don’t worry about me, I have done and done well what I have needed to do.” We can look back at somewhat like Paul, much like we do Les, and wonder how he accomplished so much, how could he keep going? The truth is that in doing the right things, he had the right motivation.
His motivation was that this all was a “drink offering,” it was a sacrifice to God. That’s what our lives are to be. Our work and labor isn’t just for what we can produce, or to say we worked more and harder hours than someone else. No, it’s to be dedicated to God. We are to be motivated in whatever we do that God has enabled us to carry out the tasks of our lives. That can be in ministry or in construction or farming or selling insurance. God gifts us to do those things, and he is to be praised through us. This is why we do what we do in our lives.
The second piece we turn our attention to in this passage is the hope we have. Les fought for so many minutes and hours and days. He was supported in that by so many of you here in your prayers and encouragement. He didn’t want to be told, “No.” He didn’t want to hear there were no options. When I went to visit after he had gotten back from Mayo, there was a nurse visiting with him and Barb, and he was noticeably tired. But he told me, “There’s always tomorrow.”
Yet as I have said and you’ve heard, Les knew that there is hope beyond this life. Paul writes, “Now,” having done everything he could and expected on earth, “Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day.” Paul looked forward to receiving that crown, but where did it come from? Because he ministered so well? Because he was so good at his job? Because he was a perfect man without sin?
No, none of those things. Paul, and Les, and every believer receives a crown not because of anything we have done, but because of Jesus. The psalms tell us that no one does good, and at another time in his ministry, Paul builds on that “There is no one righteous, not even one.” We all sin, we all fall short of pleasing God, of getting a ticket to paradise. None of us deserves a crown here on earth, let alone in the kingdom of God.
And yet, Paul says, there is a righteousness from God made known through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. Through this gift of faith, going all-in on Jesus and his offering for us, we are justified freely by his grace. You and I are freed from what our sins cause us to deserve, a punishment, an eternal punishment. The death that Jesus died on this earth, despite having never sinned or committed any crimes, our sins were upon him, that we would receive eternal peace.
Through his faith, Les has received a crown. Maybe God has made it in the form of a baseball cap for him. But that crown shows that Jesus has made him righteous, he has made him whole. Not only is the cancer gone, but his sin is gone too.
But the passage didn’t stop there. Paul keeps on preaching, “and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” If you are sitting here today, and you know Jesus, and you have asked him to forgive you and to live with you, then you also have this hope. Paul was sure of what was to come, not a doubt in his mind—and we can have that too. Whether we are young or middle-aged or well-advanced in years, whether we are healthy as can be or battling a sickness of our own. We must fix our eyes on Jesus, in whom we long for salvation.
Maybe you are here though hearing this message and the other Scriptures that have been read, and you wouldn’t consider yourself a person of faith. But you are wondering how there can be such hope, such peace, such comfort in a time of loss. The only answer is that we have this future to look forward to, and there’s time for you too right now. Each of us has the opportunity to come to Christ, to put our faith in him, to yearn for his coming again that brings an end to all the pains and horrors of this world.
A life lived well, lived all-in, as Les did, was not just for his sake. He didn’t enjoy things simply so that he had fun. Someone who can say, “the time has come…I have fought…I have finished…I have kept the faith,” points to something and someone so much greater. That’s Jesus, who loves and is able to save all who come to him. I invite you as we are going to listen to a song with that message in just a few moments, to answer this call, to join us in waiting for the appearance of Jesus that will be fulfilled in eternal life. Amen.