Jonathan Stitzel Memorial Service

Order of Service

Video – Above All

Welcome and Greeting

Song – I’ll Fly Away

Scripture/Gospel

Song – Yet Not I but Through Christ In Me

Eulogies

Michael

Song – Living Hope

Sermon – Michael Stitzel

Video – There is One Gospel

Invitation to Join for Lunch in Fellowship Hall

Video – Above All

Welcome and Greeting

Today is about worship.

Worship of OUR God.

It is about the gospel.

Today is about hope, about joy, about peace.

Today is about the great worth of our God.

Introduce myself and thank people for coming, in person and virtual.

Pray (Maybe ask Uncle Norm if he wants to)

Song – I’ll Fly Away

Scripture Reading

Romans 1:16-17.

Romans 1:16–17 ESV

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

These verses stand as a living testimony of my father’s great passion: THE GOSPEL of Jesus Christ.

When my father is thought of, I believe that resounding cry will be that he loved God, loved the gospel, loved his family, and loved people.

Combined with these words of scripture, a poem comes to mind. A poem, that for any who knew my father for any length of time, may have heard him read it.

My Friend

My friend, I stand in judgment now,

And feel that you are to blame somehow.

On Earth I walked with you day by day,

And never did you point the way.

You knew the Lord in truth and glory,

But never did you tell the story.

My knowledge then was very dim;

You could have led me safe to Him.

Though we lived together here on Earth,

You never told me of the second birth.

And now I stand this day condemned,

Because you failed to mention Him.

You taught me many things, that true;

I called you “Friend” and trusted you.

But I learn now that It’s too late,

And you could have kept me from this fate.

We walked by day and talked by night,

And yet you showed me not the light.

You let me live, and love, and die,

You knew I’d never live on high.

Yes, I called you “friend” in life,

And trusted you through joy and strife.

And, yet, on coming to this dreadful end,

I cannot, now, call you “my friend.”

He often spoke of the time he failed to share the gospel when he felt the Spirit’s prompting. After that moment, he sought his hardest to take every opportunity he was given to share the gospel.

Even in the hospital, he took every opportunity to speak to his nurses, doctors, and staff about his love of the gospel.

One of his greatest complaints at Select Specialty, (aside from the food), was that the staff there was not nearly as conversational and he was not able to share with them as readily and easily as the staff at Chester County.

Why?

Why do these verses and this poem resonate with my father?

Why was the gospel so central for him?

Because the gospel is our only hope. The gospel is our only joy. The gospel is our only peace.

There is no greater truth, no greater narrative than the gospel…..

Who else could come up with a plan like this…

God created the world – Revelation 4:11.

Revelation 4:11 ESV

11 “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”

Given the choice, we chose to rebel against this creator God – Romans 3:10-12; Isaiah 53:6.

Romans 3:10–12 ESV

10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

Isaiah 53:6 ESV

6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

God, in his perfect justice and holiness, has to punish said rebellion – Heb 9:27

Hebrews 9:27 ESV

27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,

BUT in His great mercy, grace, and love, God found a way to satisfy his holy and just wrath WITHOUT exacting the price from us. He sent a substitute in His son. 1 Peter 3:18; Isaiah 53:6.

1 Peter 3:18 ESV

18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,

Isaiah 53:6 ESV

6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

What’s more, he brought him back from the dead and made him ruler of all – 1 Peter 1:3.

1 Peter 1:3 ESV

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

He then invites us to be restored to right relationship with God if we but REPENT and BELIEVE, accepting Jesus’ death as payment for OUR sin. John 3:36.

John 3:36 ESV

36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

This message, this truth NEVER gets old.

This message was the passion of my father’s life.

And so, we begin our worship of God and our remembrance of his life with this great truth!

AND an invitation…

If you have never repented from your sin and put your faith in Jesus Christ, there is no better time, no better remembrance of my father, no better worship of our God than to make that decision today.

And because of the gospel, our sorrow, and suffering is temporary.

Because of the gospel, our hope is assured and joy untouchable.

Because of the gospel, our peace is undisturbed.

It is in Christ that we have hope and that we endure.

Song – Yet Not I but Through Christ In Me

Eulogy

How do you condense a person’s life into but a few words or moments?

You don’t.

I guess that would be impossible. And if you could, well…it is not much of a life.

As I reflect upon my father and his life and legacy though, several things stand out.

His love for God

His love for the Word

His love for the church

His love for his wife

His love for his family

And his love for the world

I suppose I did not always see it. For many a year, I was angry and bitter at my father, courtesy of seeing the discrepancy between his public ministry life and his private personal one. A chasm that I fear my children too often see in me.

As a child, I failed to reconcile this chasm. I permitted my father’s fleshly moments to negatively impact me.

I am thankful for the grace, early in my life (college) to allow forgiveness and purge me of such venom.

My father and I were never close through all the years of growing up, college, and even early ministry. Don’t get me wrong, we were not estranged or anything. We just were very different. My father, the hunter, outdoorsman, handy man, mechanic, and all around redneck hillbilly. Me, the sensitive, musical, artistic type. We lived in vastly different worlds. We failed to connect on many many levels. I often longed for the Hollywood father/son relationship; one that was not in the cards for me.

These past two years finally gave me what 38 years of life prior had not given me. The combined passion of our God, His word, His Church, and the gospel, combined with the close proximity now, bound us in a way that not even the prior ten years of pastoral ministry had. The more recent love of firearms and our trips the shooting range increased the common ground and gave us a meeting place.

It was shocking to me the day that my father called ME for spiritual counsel.

It was shocking to me the day that my purchase of a firearm inspired my father to buy the same one.

Sadly, the true depth of how much we had grown together and the true depth of how much I valued this, was lost on me….until it was gone.

I rejoice with my father. He is home. A place he LONGED for so deeply…a place I LONG for deeply….to be with my Savior and my God. He is there.

My father’s life left an indelible mark. Thinking upon my father’s life, his love for God, for the Word, for the church, his wife and kids, and the world remain etched deeply on me. I will share more of that in a few moments.

This note, written to my mother in the front of a bible he gifted her, summarizes well the love and legacy of my father.

My loving wife,

Because of the Lord who dominates your life, you’ve the most fantastic companion a man could ask for. I thank God for you daily and ask Him continually to never permit me to take advantage or to take you for granted. I can’t think of a better gift to give to a godly wife than the Word of God which you have studied so diligently than you’ve worn your present one out.

May God continue to be first place in your life as you continue to read and study God’s word.

Yours because of our Savior, I love you.

Jon

His love for the gospel, for God cannot be mistaken or missed.

It was this love for the gospel that made my father who was he. His tender love and care for my mother in these past years, battling dementia, has exposed just how deeply the gospel is rooted into his heart and being. My mind contrasts that, at times, with the many martial disagreements my childhood brain retains. And in that comparison, I see the growth and change my father continued to grow in. Yeah, the memories of the chasm between what my father preached and his own failure to live it at times remain, but they have overwritten by new memories of how my father continued to change and grow and pursue Christ with his whole heart.

My father loved many things…things we will laugh and reminisce about in the days ahead. But one thing stands FAR above them all….His love for God.

Despite my father’s many faults…of which he had many (as do I), his love for God was unmistakeable.

Despite my father’s flawed and feeble efforts at times, his love for God and for people was unmistakable.

Truth is….I plainly see what my immature youth could not…my father’s sins and failures do not erase his love for God, they enhanced it.

The more my father knew his flaws, the more he saw his guilt, the more his love for God grew….a God who gave us something as glorious as the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This is his legacy.

This is his testimony.

And I am eternally grateful for it.

Song – Living Hope

Message

Mark 12:30-31 is another one of those things indelibly etched on my mind when I think of dad. I heard him preach, teach, counsel, and speak to it so often.

Aside from the gospel message, already shared, this is the text that most readily speaks to his life and I believe is a fitting address for his memorial service and our worship service to God.

Our Highest Priority

Read Mark 12:30

Mark 12:30 (ESV): 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

What is love?

C.S. Lewis – Love is unselfishly choosing for another’s highest good.

Loving God means then that...

We are to unselfishly choose for God’s highest good.

We are to unselfishly choose for God’s highest good with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Heart

Psalm 37:4

Psalm 37:4 ESV

4 Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

What would be a synonym for heart?

Passion, desire, motivation

What does it mean to love God with all your heart?

To make him and his will, his desire the object of our greatest desire/affection.

How do we love God with all our desires?

Proverbs 4:23.

Proverbs 4:23 ESV

23 Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

We guard them and make sure that nothing is more desirable, more valuable, more important to us than God.

In all our desires, we unselfishly choose for God’s highest good.

Soul

What is the soul?

The immaterial part of man (vs the physical body) that is the essence of who we are.

The soul is eternal

The body is physical and temporal but the soul is eternal.

How do we love God with all our soul?

Colossians 3:1–2.

Colossians 3:1–2 ESV

1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

We surrender all of our desires, intentions, purposes, and goals to His.

By directing all of our intent/purpose/goals towards God and His will, his desires.

God’s desires BECOME OUR desires.

God’s will becomes our will

God’s purpose becomes our purpose.

In all our intentions, desires, goals, we unselfishly choose for God’s highest good.

Mind

How do we love God with all our minds?

Philippians 4:8–9.

Philippians 4:8–9 ESV

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Romans 12:2.

Romans 12:2 ESV

2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

We think only that which is right, true, righteous, holy, and good.

We train our minds to think right thoughts.

2 Corinthians 10:5 – We take captive our thoughts to make them obey Christ.

2 Corinthians 10:5 ESV

5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,

We renew our minds putting out bad thoughts and choosing to dwell in right thoughts.

In all our thoughts we unselfishly choose for God’s highest good.

Strength

How do we love God with all our strength?

1 Corinthians 10:31.

1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV

31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

What does it mean to glorify?

Worship, praise, adore, honor, magnify, etc.

How do we love God with all our strength?

Obey.

Serve

Submit

In all our actions, we make God the object of our devotion.

In all our actions, we unselfishly choose for God’s highest good.

From his own words, his own devotional….

God created man to worship Him. Since sin entered the world, man now has a choice of whom he will worship. Psalm 96; Genesis 3; Ecclesiastes 12:12-13. Christ Himself taught us that our highest priority for our existence is to love God. Mark 12:30. We are to love the Lord with ALL our HEART.

A simple word that helps me understand its application is “motivation.” I must constantly ask myself what is the motive behind my decisions? Each decision will glorify God when I choose to obey Him. Then I am to love the Lord with ALL my “SOUL.” My soul is the eternal part of me. When I am choosing to live for the future, eternal life versus living just for my temporary life here, I will live life with the expectation of living with God forever in a sin-free environment.

Depending on what motives I am choosing to let govern my choices. and depending on what values of eternity or earthly, my motives and values will shape my choices. These will shape how I love the Lord with my thought processes, thus loving the Lord with ALL my “MIND.” God’s Word is very clear in teaching me how I must choose the thoughts I let enter my mind.

When I am choosing to love the Lord with Godly motives, values, and thinking, it will be much easier to love the Lord with ALL my “Strength”, or in every action I choose to do. This is all accomplished by acknowledging our sin condition and by confessing it to Him. I John 1:9. After confessing to God, we must repent of our sins, Matthew 3:2. We, then, must meditate on His written Word every day and night Psalm 1:1-2.

Aside for the gospel and the call to embrace the gospel, this is the second greatest admonishment I can leave you with today…it is the admonishment I father himself would leave you, were he here to do so himself.

Repent….believe.

Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.

Ecclesiastes 12:13–14 ESV

The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

The end of the matter; all has been heard…repent, believe, fear God, love God.

This is the legacy and call of my father’s life

A life rooted and grounded in the gospel of Jesus.

Video – There is One Gospel

Invitation to Join for Lunch in Fellowship Hall