Sermon Tone Analysis

TEXT: 2 Corinthians 5:1-21

TOPIC: A Life Worth Living (Funeral Message for Linda Hubbard)

October 31, 1998, First Baptist Church of Icard

Rev. Bobby Earls

Linda gave to me an assignment.

An assignment I am more than happy to fulfill.

An assignment to preach the Gospel.

But before I fulfill that responsibility, allow me the privilege of sharing a pastoral perspective on the wonderful, remarkable, exhilarating life of Linda Margaret Wells Hubbard.

I must say, in the beginning, that no one person could ever hope to capture in words the life of someone who lived life so fully.

(I am thankful Linda did not ask me to describe the kind of person she was.

That would be an impossible task.

Each of us knew her and loved her for the person she was.)

I will never forget the day Linda and Milburn joined our church, February 2, 1992.

To say she came in with a bang would be an understatement.

While she and Milburn were discovering their way around the Sunday School classes, Linda slipped on our steps and tumbled down into the Bollinger Center occupied by a room full of men.

She made quiet an introduction that day.

Not everyone was aware as she limped down the aisle that Sunday that she had broken her foot.

I remember another time after that when Linda took another tumble right here in the sanctuary.

During a clown performance she missed a step and fell forward on knees and hands.

Her fall caused her hat and wig to pop off.

Linda simply picked them up, plopped them back on her head and without missing a beat said something like, “I thought I’d nearly lost my head on that one.”

(Come to think of it, if there were any flaws in Linda’s life it might just be that she was just a little on the clumsy side.)

We all know Linda had a wonderful sense of humor.

God had given her a never-ending zest for life, a positive upbeat attitude, and a joy unmatched by any other.

She and Milburn seemed to have a philosophy of life that included lots of laughter and an abundance of smiles.

In the past few days I heard someone comment how God must have needed Linda to make Heaven just a little brighter.

I have a feeling Heaven is a lot brighter.

Linda’s life was a life worth living.

She touched so many.

Our youth loved and appreciated Linda as their Sunday School teacher.

They may not remember the Scriptures she expounded but they’ll never forget the life she lived before them.

A life that never wavered, not for one minute, in the face of her adversity and sickness.

Our children could always count on Linda for a hug, or a smile or some good natured kidding.

She seemed to have special names for most of the little ones, “Precious,” “Little buddy,” and “Sweet thang” was a name she used for more than just the children.

Senior adults, singles, everyone loved Linda.

I don’t know anyone who didn’t like Linda.

I never heard anything negative ever said about Linda.

She was truly a remarkable woman.

She was a Proverbs 31 kind of woman.

Who can find a virtuous wife?

For her worth is far above rubies.

Now to my assignment.

If you brought your bibles today, please open them to 2 Corinthians 5. I’m going to read from the whole chapter.

I am reading from the New Living Translation.

I’m reading this text and this translation because I feel it captures well the concern on Linda’s heart for all her friends and family.

2 Corinthians 5:1-21

1 For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down—when we die and leave these bodies—we will have a home in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands.

2 We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long for the day when we will put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing.

3 For we will not be spirits without bodies, but we will put on new heavenly bodies.

4 Our dying bodies make us groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and have no bodies at all.

We want to slip into our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by everlasting life.

5 God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit.6

So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord.

7 That is why we live by believing and not by seeing.

8 Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord.

9 So our aim is to please him always, whether we are here in this body or away from this body.

10 For we must all stand before Christ to be judged.

We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in our bodies.11

It is because we know this solemn fear of the Lord that we work so hard to persuade others.

God knows we are sincere, and I hope you know this, too.

12 Are we trying to pat ourselves on the back again?

No, we are giving you a reason to be proud of us, so you can answer those who brag about having a spectacular ministry rather than having a sincere heart before God. 13 If it seems that we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God.

And if we are in our right minds, it is for your benefit.

14 Whatever we do, it is because Christ’s love controls us.

Since we believe that Christ died for everyone, we also believe that we have all died to the old life we used to live.

15 He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live to please themselves.

Instead, they will live to please Christ, who died and was raised for them.

16 So we have stopped evaluating others by what the world thinks about them.

Once I mistakenly thought of Christ that way, as though he were merely a human being.

How differently I think about him now! 17 What this means is that those who become Christians become new persons.

They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone.

A new life has begun!18

All this newness of life is from God, who brought us back to himself through what Christ did.

And God has given us the task of reconciling people to him.

19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them.

This is the wonderful message he has given us to tell others.

20 We are Christ’s ambassadors, and God is using us to speak to you.

We urge you, as though Christ himself were here pleading with you, “Be reconciled to God!” 21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

What was it that made Linda’s life a life worth living?

The answer is not difficult.

It was the presence of her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ living His life through her that made Linda’s life so special.

You know, when I thought about it, I don’t think I ever heard Linda’s story of salvation.

I don’t remember hearing her testimony.

Perhaps I did, but I don’t recall.

The fact is every day of life was a testimony for Linda.

The way she lived life, so full and free, was so loud that I didn’t need to hear a story of salvation.

She lived it daily.

Linda wants each of you have that life as well.

She told me there would be some here today who are not believers.

She had a burden for her friends who were not Christians.

To honor Linda’s life I preach this message.

But before I do, I want you to hear from Linda herself.

Linda recorded the message you are about to hear sometime before death.

Please listen and understand that you could be one of the persons she was so very concerned about.

(PLAY CASSETTE MESSAGE)

How can you live a life worth living?

1. BY UNDERSTANDING GOD LOVES YOU AND HAS A WONDERFUL PLAN AND PURPOSE FOR YOUR LIFE

John 3:16

John 10:10

You might ask “How can I experience this full and meaningful life?”