The text today is from the Gospel according to Matthew, the 25th chapter:
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Thus far the text.
Dear Karen, Dennis, Daniel, MaryBeth, Holly, and my dear friends in Christ,
Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. With these wonderful words, Jesus tells us, and we are reminded today, that Dennis didn’t need to be a good man to inherit the kingdom of God, but that it was given to him before ever he was born. Yet, Dennis is one of the best men that I had the pleasure of knowing. He was kind and caring. He was talkative and teasing. He gave to others as they had need. He gave some of the best hugs. Dennis is a good man.
And I say is, because, yes, Dennis is dead, but he lives on now, even as he awaits Christ’s return to this earth where Christ will raise him and all who believe in Jesus in to eternal life. Dennis is not with us here and now, but he awaits with all those who have served the Lord that great and final day. Dennis isn’t gone, he’s not obliterated, he’s not been wiped out; he lives and he will live again. After all, our God is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living, and Dennis is included in that.
There will come a day, and we pray for it even now, that Jesus returns to this earth to set up His kingdom forever in this place. Here, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord, and we shall live together with Him forever. This is our confession, and this is our hope, the same hope that we have had since the day that Adam and Eve fell from grace and into sin. Our first parents’ sin plunged all of humanity, and Dennis, into sin. Creation has been groaning since that day, awaiting the day when the Lord will remake all things, making all things new. And that day is coming. We await the day when we see our Jesus return bodily to this earth with all His angels.
There, we are called before His throne, and He will judge all His people. To those who believe in Him, He tells them that they are now to enter into His kingdom, His rest. To those who refuse to believe, He gives them what they have asked for, to be judged along with the devil and his angels, the demons. You can either desire to work for your salvation and be damned, or to depend on Christ’s work for your salvation and be saved.
Dennis worked in Christ’s salvation. Think of all the time he gave to people, the love he shared with others, the joy that was always evident on his face. Dennis was a blessing, a gift give to us from God Himself, that he might share the love of God with all he encountered. He didn’t just do this because he was that kind of guy, but he did it because he truly had love for all of God’s creation, all of God’s people. Between his family, his church, his time on the force, his volunteerism, and even his love for reffing, Dennis just gave to people. We were the hungry and he fed us. We were the thirsty and he gave us drink. We were naked and he clothed us. We were the sick and imprisoned and he visited us. But, for all these good deeds, Dennis is still dead.
The fact that Dennis was a sinner lays before us this day. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ, that even though we die, yet shall we live. If Dennis had done all that work in his life without faith, as good as he was, he still would be here today, but without hope. We would have no hope to see him again; he would have had no hope to ever live. But, Dennis has a greater Savior than death, He has a greater advocate with the Father. Dennis has his Jesus, and this Jesus has welcomed him into His kingdom to await with all the saints who have gone before for the resurrection of the dead.
What that day will truly look like, we only have small pictures and glimpses through the Scriptures. But we know it will be beautiful. It will be glorious. And on that day, Jesus will call Dennis out from the grave and will make his body to be like His own, perfected, whole, without sin, and thus, Dennis, and all who believe, will live in an eternal kingdom without end. This is our hope. This is what we hold on to. Without that hope, we would be lost. We would be terrified. But, because the one who prophesied that He would raise Himself after three days did just that, we can trust when he promises that those who believe in Him will enter eternal life. We can trust our Jesus, and we should, that we will be together with Dennis forever in faith.
This was his hope. The last words that Dennis ever sang, even from that obscenely large-print book he’d bring to church every week were these words we sang in our first hymn:
What joy to know, when life is past,Dennis longed for the returning of Jesus, and he wants us to as well. Dennis is one step closer than the rest of us to that day, but it is coming. And we look forward to that day when we are brought to our Jesus, and to Dennis, too.
The Lord we love is first and last,
The end and the beginning!
He will one day, oh, glorious grace,
Transport us to that happy place
Beyond all tears and sinning!
Amen! Amen!
Come, Lord Jesus!
Crown of gladness!
We are yearning
For the day of Your returning!
Your husband, your father, is now at rest in the arms of his Savior. He doesn’t need our good deeds, he doesn’t need our prayers. The people around us do, just as Dennis served them in this life. But, his time here is now done. And where Jesus is, Dennis is safely there, awaiting the day when he will return to this earth with his Lord and be made whole once again, body and soul. There is no greater thing than this: that, because of his faith, your father will rise again, with you, because of your faith, unto life everlasting in Christ. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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