Sermon Tone Analysis
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It has been said before that presence is the essence of parenting.
There is so much power in just being there.
When I think about grandma that is one of the things that I think of.
It’s really difficult to think about 402 W. Bland and not think about going to see grandma and grandpa.
They were there.
When you have grandsons who are collecting baseball cards what does it mean to “be there”?
It means that you start collecting baseball cards as well so you can trade with them.
What grandma collects baseball cards?
Ours did.
She was there.
Even a few years ago---long past the age when grandma’s are supposed to be getting on the floor—I remember her getting down on the floor with my kids—and her other great (or great-great) grandkids.
Why?
So she could be there.
She knew how to enter into your world.
And she knew how to beat you at Scrabble.
And when you had to do a big report for school you knew that grandma would be one to help, she’d take you to the library and help you on your project.
She was there.
And I remember the smell of Rich’s glazed donuts when you stayed over at her house.
And she wouldn’t only cook and make things like banana pudding she’d also referee the matches with her grandchildren arguing about who got more—and making sure to measure it out.
She was there for those silly arguments between kids and grandkids too.
These are some of my own memories.
You have your own.
But I can bet if you condense them down you’d likely agree.
Grandma was “there”.
She showed up.
She was present.
And she was lovingly present.
But today we grieve because she’s not present.
She is as the Scripture would say, “absent from the body”.
Today she is, as Scripture says, present with the Lord.
And so we grieve.
But we grieve with hope.
And we grieve with hope because we know that grandma’s ability to “be there” was just a reflection of what she had learned from Jesus all those many years of walking with him.
In fact, I remember that when she was at the height of her grief with grandpa.
When I was talking with her afterwards—those were words she shared.
She knew that she would miss grandpa but she knew that God would be there for her—that he would be present with her.
And so we can have that same comfort today.
Today we grieve but we also celebrate and have hope.
Grandma was a good woman but that is not where our hope lies this morning.
It is not found in her goodness.
It is found in the goodness of another.
It is found in the resurrection of Christ.
And so I want to briefly talk about that hope this morning.
In 1 Corinthians 15:12-19 we read of six things that would be true if Christ were not raised from the dead.
Listen for them as we read this text.
If the resurrection of Christ wasn’t true here is what would also not be true this morning.
1) Our preaching is in vain
2) Your faith is in vain
3) We are misrepresenting God, false witnesses.
Meaning that the Scriptures are not true.
4) We are still in our sin.
5) We are all people to be most pitied.
6) Those that have died have no hope
Let me briefly fill those out for us.
If Christ has not be resurrected from the grave then there is not hope on this day.
Yes, there would be memories.
Yes, in some way we would live on in the hearts of others.
Yes, the things that we have done would have made some sort of impact.
Grandma did quite a bit of ministry.
For several years she taught kids with special needs at church.
They became like her kids.
I remember that alongside the pictures of people in our family we would see pictures of some of the kids in her Sunday School class.
She loved those kids.
She took us to church when we came over as well.
And much of her ministry was with family.
She’d welcome in anyone who was connected with you and make them feel just as much a part of the family.
I remember one Christmas my wife’s brother came with us to the family Christmas party.
And he was absolutely shocked that he had gotten a present.
But that’s what grandma did.
She made you a part of her family.
That was her biggest ministry.
But you know what.
If there is no resurrection—that ministry was for nothing.
It didn’t have any lasting impact.
It was just a sweet little thing for us all to remember today.
But 150 years from now won’t really have significance.
Grandma also had faith in Christ.
She was motivated by faith and patterned her life after Christ.
But if there is no resurrection that faith was in vain.
And as Paul said even more strongly we all were part of misrepresenting God.
Not only that but we are still in our sin.
All have fallen short of the glory of God.
Yes, Grandma who was a sweet woman sinned just as you and I do.
There is none righteous, no not one.
If there is no resurrection the burden of our sin—and the burden of her sin—is still upon her.
And it is because of this that we could say with Paul that we are most to be pitied and we do not have hope.
This would not be a very good funeral sermon if we left it here would it?
It’d be depressing.
And rightly so.
Because we would only have our grief.
We wouldn’t have grief with hope.
We’d only have one story to tell.
But I stopped reading at verse 19 earlier…let’s pick up and read 1 Corinthians 15:20
Do you know what that means?
It means that because Christ HAS been raised from the dead we get to turn all those things we just said onto their head.
The ministry that Grandma did mattered.
She will be rewarded by her loving Father.
She will hear “well done good and faithful servant.”
Her faith was not in vain.
She will not be let down.
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