Beulah Zomer-Funeral
Notes
Transcript
though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 12:6-10
Beulah Zomer Funeral Message
We are going to focus on the message of verses 9 and 10.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, I shared this last night, but I’ll say it again, one of the things I learned about Beulah is that she did not complain very much. Even if she felt some pain or had some trouble, she usually would not tell me. Her reasoning was more or less, that’s just how things are—someone has it worse. Someone has bigger, and in her opinion, more urgent problems.
She did not complain very much, but neither did she boast. She was a humble lady. If things were good, God was blessing her. If there were problems, she believed God was using those situations to draw her nearer to him. Along those lines, she was a woman of prayer. She believed there was power in bringing our cares before the Lord, and trusting him to watch over us. I know that is one of the characteristics that many of us will dearly miss.
Even in these last months and years, Beulah knew that God was with her. And for her, that helped shape her perspective on life, and to know and trust what God desired. I don’t want to exalt Beulah more than she would want, but in thinking about what we have seen in her life, it’s appropriate to remember that this came about through the maturing of her faith. God had led her to this point. There were experiences by which she grew up in the Lord. So, what we see in the end is often not where someone was in their beginning.
With that in mind, I want to put the question before us, have you ever felt like you are not enough? Most of us know that feeling to some degree. When we are kids, whether it’s a friendly pick-up game or getting on a school or town sports’ team, we can experience it then. Some of us know that we are not as good as other people, and even at our practiced best, still will not be. We just are not the star athlete that always gets picked first. The same could be said about school work—critical reading, math problems, learning dates and facts, taking tests and writing essays, there are some people who just get it, it comes natural, and others who often or always struggle.
As we grow up we can apply these feelings of inadequacy to relationships with a guy or girl that catches our eye. We couldn’t possibly get them, we think—they are out of our league. Maybe there is a job we would like to have, or that we are involved in, and we can do alright with most of the tasks we are required to do, but we know we are not great. Because we have done certain things, we believe or experience that those who know about them will not accept us. We look at other people, and assume they have it figured out, they will always be successful. We look at the joy that others have in their marriage or with their family or their looks or attitude, and it seems like they just have it—they have it together.
If we are honest with ourselves, we can all think of something—maybe we have dealt with long ago or still struggle with it. That thing, that part of our lives, or our character that just feels not enough. And when we acknowledge this, it’s not often the case that we just let that go—no, it eats us up. Our inadequacies, our weaknesses, our struggles are allowed to define our value. We begin to think, “If I cannot be a certain way or do a certain thing, then who am I? If I cannot match up to others, then I must not be as valuable.” We end up thinking and living in such a way that there is no joy to be found.
This is the road that the devil so often leads people down, the path of questioning their identity. He does that by tricking us into thinking that who we are, and who we are supposed to be, is all about us. In recognizing our weaknesses and failures, we will see that we are not enough. And in many ways, he’s right, we’re not enough.
But this is where the gospel comes in. Where understanding who God is, and what Jesus avails himself to us for. Christianity and the gospel are not just facts and stories to have memorized like we do in preparing for an exam. But this faith, this comfort, this hope, that we have heard throughout the service is meant to transform who we are.
In verse 9, Paul shared words that the Lord spoke to him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” That word “sufficient” means enough, able to satisfy. When we look at the brokenness of our lives, that includes our sin, our guilt, our shame, our failures—what Christ has done and offers to us is able to make us enough. He is the remedy for our diseases as we heard in Psalm 103. He is the bread of life which we can eat and not hunger, and the fountain of living water according to John 6 and 7. He nourishes and fills, and is able to give abundantly because he lived the perfect life, and in his death, took all of our sin and misery.
If our beginning point on the road of faith or a point that we come to and maybe even return to is that we feel like we are not enough, then may we know that Jesus Christ has made us enough. That does not guarantee us perfection and success in ways that trumps everyone else. But the good news does mean that with Christ our identity is such that God is glorified through us.
We may have our struggles and problems in this life, and yet God may show his power through them. What initially caused Paul to struggle in his life, now he would boast about so that Christ’s power would be all the more. He would willingly endure hard times, because when he was at his weakest, then he was strong. He knew that God was with him, that God would not leave him, that God would not forsake him.
The Spirit offers us the same hope today—that he will not leave us. Beulah was who she was, who God had enabled her to be, shaped her to be, through the maturing of her faith. Through many years, she had walked with the Lord, spent time in prayer with the Lord, and trusted him. If you have turned to Jesus or want to do that, to put your faith in him, and ask him to take away your sins, know that he has forgiven you. His grace is sufficient. Know that he has made you enough in the eyes of God, and that you are no longer just you, but you in Christ. His power is made perfect in weakness. As a brother or sister of our risen and reigning Lord, live this life with hope and joy, because of what he has done for us. Amen.