Funeral: Part 2

We lost a family member recently, and yesterday I shared a devotion I received on the day of the funeral. Today, I would like to share the sermon the pastor gave.

Before I do, however, I need to give you a little history of the family member. Bob was in the Marines before and during the Korean War. He was present at the atomic testing at the Bikini Atoll.

As significant as that experience was, I didn’t find out about it until many years after we met. Like all of us, he had a family, his job and his faith. As he got older, both he and we started recognizing his service and it became a prominent aspect of his personality.

During the funeral service, Pastor Mike, an older man, began his sermon by saying that the core ethos of the Marines is “earned, not given.” In fact, recruits can’t refer to themselves as Marines until after they successfully complete the final 54-hour training event called “The Crucible.” It was cute to see this older man scoot across the floor to point out things on Bob’s uniform and other items of his that were on display. He went on to explain other aspects of Bob’s life he had worked for throughout his lifetime, such as a loving family and a home.

Then Pastor Mike pivoted. He explained the one thing Bob was given that was not earned.  That, of course, was his salvation in Jesus Christ. He said that not only was his salvation given, but that it could never be earned.

“But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.” - Romans 3:21-25 ESV

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” - Ephesians 2:4-10

I recently saw a quote from R.C. Sproul where he was asked why God didn’t eliminate all evil. He replied that if God did, we’d all be dead. Take time to praise God for his mercy and realize that your salvation is given, not earned.