Ken Schmidt's Memourial Service

The Legacy of a Godly Man

Introduction: The Death of Jacob

In our text we witness the physical death of one of the famous saints in the history of God’s people. This comes after a long speech where he blesses the next generation and even spiritually adopts Joseph’s sons to give them a bigger inheritance. With precise spiritual insight he blesses some of his sons and announces consequences for sin on others. After this prophetic moment, Jacob pulls his feet up to lie back down on his bed and we are told he “breathed his last and was gathered to his people.”

Weeping, but not without hope

The response from Joseph is natural and relatable. The three action of falling on his father’s face, weeping over him, and kissing him all highlight the great emotional pain he experiences. In the latter part of the book of Genesis, Joseph is a living picture of what genuine and unhindered faith in God looks like, and yet his rock-solid faith does not stop him from weeping. Being a man with a heavenly vision did not stop him from weeping like any other man in this difficult time. As we continue through Scripture, we see men of faith are also men who weep. David wept at the death of his treasonous son, Jeremiah wept at the destruction of Jerusalem, and Jesus wept at the death of Lazerus minutes before raising him from the dead. Knowing that God is soverign over life and death, knowing that God will raise the saints in the last day, knowing that we all must face death ourselves in a very short time, godly peaple weep in the face of death.

However, godly people do not weep without hope. Jesus wept knowing that he would raise Lazerus. Mary and Martha wept knowing that he would be raised in the day of resurrection. Joseph wept knowing that the legacy of Jacob would come to fruition according to God’s great plan. For Christians, there is hope that turns our weeping into a strange mix of saddness and joy. Pulling a thorn from your skin is painful and at the same time relieving, and so is grief over the death of a saint. Such a death is painful when it happens, and that pain remains sore for a long time to come. But with that pain comes the relief that the difficulties of this life are over for them, and their true life in the close presence of Jesus Christ in a redeemed state is a joyful thought.

The truth for our beloved Ken is that he has not truly died. He, like the daughter of Jirus, is not dead but asleep, and his spirit is with the Lord. He has life, although today we are reminded that in his body the curse of death still existed.

This is a victory for those in Christ. In fulfilment of the OT prophets, Christ had come as a human being to live among human beings, God became man. He came to a world cursed by our sin and instead of riding above that curse he let himself feel it. He felt hunger and fatigue and grief and fear and every other kind of human difficulty and suffering, but without sin. Death is a curse that we earn from our crimes against the creator of life, and Jesus death ultimately showed him taking on the curse for us. For Ken, believing this truth and trusting in Christ as both his saviour from sin and the Lord of his life, he continued to carry the curse around in his body, but not in his soul.

Psalm 73:26 ESV

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Rejoicing in a Christian Legacy

As Ken’s body got older and weaker, his spirit was growing stronger in the Spirit, rejecting sin and the flesh and embracing Christ. He made war on his old self and surrendered himself to him who gave him new life.

When I got the call that Ken had passed, it really was a surprise for me. Immediately I thought about the last time I spoke with him. He talked to me about the tree that he and Mary have in their yard. I meant to visit again but was sucked into other duties and things that kept me busy, never thinking that my chances were so limited. And although Ken did not know the day or the hour, he was prepared to be free from the curse, to shed this old mortal body of sin and embrace a new existance bought on the cross by the death of his Saviour. Because Ken was prepared, his last day was actually one of his best, although I know the day after was even better!

Ken leaves for us a legacy of Christian faith. He has crossed the final boundary between this world and the world to come, he has passed from death to life in every way, he has run the race and kept the faith. There is much encouragement to take from this season of our loss, as well as a serious warning.

The warning is for those who are not in Christ or who perhaps have been caught backsliding in the faith. It is the warning Christ gave in the parable of the faithful and unfaithful servant in Matthew 24:44. Will the Lord find you a faithful servant like our brother here at the end of your days, when he returns unexpectedly to repay each one according to what they have done? Only those coveredi n the blood of Christ and his righteousness will have his favour. Ken is not in heaven because of the life he lived, but because of the death Christ died and the life he lives through Ken and through all believers.

And that is the encouragement for believers. In the coffin we see the body of a man who successfully reached the goal, obtained the prize, and has heard the most beautiful words from the one who makes them beautiful, “well done, good and faithful servant.” For those of us who are distraught, who are having difficulty in our Christian walk, who maybe are tempted to leave that walk altogether, of for those who are not walking with the Lord and wonder if it is too late or if its really worth it, we have an example of God’s faithfulness to bring those who trust him to the end. There is a promise that we can trust because he who made it is faithful.

In Christ’s death we have life, and so we may rejoice in the midst our grief today. Because of the death and resurrection of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ, we have life and victory over death. Ken experienced that victory progress in him from the day he first believed until today when his faith has become sight. May we fix our eyes on that truth and be reminded of it and encouraged by it, even as we try to cope with this difficult loss.