Family and friends of Tammy:
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen!
[Intro]
Tammy certainly had a tough life, but through it all the Triune God – the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – was always at her side as He provided all her needs. Despite health issues, God led her to accomplish so many milestones, including getting to her son’s wedding and being able to meet her grandchildren. Her family – and especially her grandchildren – meant the world to her as she would never miss the opportunity to call, text, or Facebook message members of her family.
Outside her family, she
also liked to “take it easy” listening to music, especially the bands Eagles
and Bon Jovi. She also enjoyed collecting spoons and magnets and she
enjoyed the delicacy of burnt hot dogs.
For us here this day, we are experiencing mourning. Death is our enemy. Humanity was not created by God to die. But due to our first parents – Adam and Eve – we all die, because the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23a). And so, we mourn. But mourning is a good and godly work, since Jesus wept at the death of His friend Lazarus.
We mourn because of the reality of death. We mourn because we were never intended to die and should live forever. But Christians do not mourn as those of the unbelieving world who have no hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13). Christians mourn, but our mourning is mixed with hope. Our tears are mixed with faith. Our sadness is mixed with joy, since despite the wages of sin being death, “the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23b).
[With Wings Like Eagles]
[Ref] And
He will raise you up on eagles’ wings,
Bear you on the breath of dawn,
Make you to shine like the sun,
And hold you in the palm of His hand.
Text: © OCP Publications. Used by permission: LSB Hymn License no. 110002938
This refrain comes from Isaiah 40:27-31, which certainly gave the Israelites comfort as they would be led away into exile by the Babylonians. So, in the midst of their coming tears and heartache, God wanted them to remember that He was still in control and that He continued to love them.
Two questions appear in this Isaiah text: “Have you not known? Have you not heard?” (Isaiah 40:28a). These questions direct us back to what God reveals about Himself in the Scriptures. You see, we discover who God is only in what He has revealed to us in His Word. There, in the Holy Bible, God reveals Himself as “the LORD,” the God of free and faithful grace.
Following those questions, “Have you not known? Have you not heard?” God Himself gives us four important truths about Himself:
- First, He is “the Creator of the ends of the
earth” (Isaiah 40:28c). He has unlimited power and uses that power for
the benefit of His creatures. He gave us – and every other creature – life
and provided a beautiful world in which to live.
- Second, “He does not faint or grow weary”
(Isaiah 40:28d). His power was not exhausted by creation nor does He grow tired
with the continuous care of the world He called into existence.
- Third, “His understanding is unsearchable”
(Isaiah 40:28e). He is beyond human ability to grasp and understand. He is
holy. Humans know there is a god; the psalmist says, “The fool says in
his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Psalm 53:1). But the full truth about
God lies beyond our empirical investigation. God must reveal Himself if we are
to know anything about Him beyond the fact that He exists and He is great. This,
God reveals to us in the Scriptures.
- Fourth, God “gives power to the faint” (Isaiah 40:29a). God gives strength to the weary and the weak. He turns Himself toward His creatures. He gives blessings to them out of pure love for them.
God is all powerful. But humans are much different. We are creatures, not the Creator, so “even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted” (Isaiah 40:30). We do grow weary and weak. We certainly can understand some things, but we must learn. Without the Lord, the best humans can do is only stumble and fall. But to such limited creatures as we are, God promises to give strength. The question then is how? How shall the Lord renew our strength?
“They who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength” (Isaiah 40:31a). You see, faith in the LORD brings this strength!
When we rely on human strength, we will stumble. But when we trust in the LORD for strength, He gives it! Not only will those who cling to Jesus Christ receive strength; they will renew their strength. All believers in Christ will arise from the ashes of grief and suffering to run and walk again.
By faith in Christ, we “shall mount up with wings like eagles” (Isaiah 40:31b). You see, Christians are pictured as eagles soaring in the blue sky. Eagles ride air currents as they stretch out their wings and soar. For us, God promises to be the wind beneath the wings of His people. This is such wonderful comfort for all who hope in the LORD! The entire life of God’s people – their walking, running, and soaring – is filled with the boundless and tireless strength of God. Even in death, they mount on eagles’ wings and soar to God in heaven, where God gives them joy forever.
Christ’s faithfulness to us provides our only hope for life – since He is the Way, and the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6). Jesus never said, “I lead to life,” as one of His apostles could preach; but “I am the Life.” Jesus is the one and only source of blessed existence and life for us. In our sin is death, the separation from God the Father. Left to ourselves, we would remain in this separation forever, dead beyond hope. But in the Person of Jesus, God the Father sent us “the Life.” Through Himself, Jesus abolished the separation through His suffering and death for our sins and once more unites us with God the Father. This union kindles life in us! This union gives us eternal life!
Through Christ alone, we have life as we “mount up with wings like eagles” (Isaiah 40:31b), as we run and are not weary, as we walk and not faint (Isaiah 40:31c-d).
The eagles’ effortless and jubilant flight is that of Christians who have been freed from the power of sin, death, and Satan and strengthened to let their lights shine before all people. By clinging to Christ, we fly like eagles as we are held squarely in the palm of Christ’s hand, the very hands on which they themselves are engraved with the marks of the nails from the cross that through His atoning death and bodily resurrection, all who trust in Him have life! Amen.
The peace of God which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +
Tamara "Tammy" Nomeland Obituary: https://hantge.com/obituaries/tamara-tammy-b-nomeland/
No comments:
Post a Comment