Howdy,
There is something about a simple graveside service on a Monday morning, in the shade. We were mighty blessed yesterday to lay the earthly remains of our dear sister in the ground in the Bethany ARP cemetery. It was a bit warm and muggy, but the Lord gave us a slight breeze as testimony to His presence. Friends and family were there gathered around as we recalled good things, gave thanks, and were prompted to consider afresh the beauty of the Christian life. It is a mercy that even in the midst of the difficulties of mourning when we hear those familiar passages read from 1 Corinthians 15, John 11, Psalm 23, and Isaiah 40 that they never become rote or forgettable. Particularly what Jesus says to Mary concerning His being the resurrection and the life point to something you cannot fake. His gift of Himself rose Lazarus from the dead, and that is what our sister knew and now knows with a kind of perfection that we, still bound to the fallenness of earth, will not fully grasp until we ourselves are there.
As an aside to this it was also a time for us to remember something of the simplicity of the gospel, and with a general understanding, the whole of the way in which believers are called to live. In the sermon on Sunday morning, I made mention of the fact that none of us are poor in the sense that is historically understood. We are all besought with clutter. Walking around the house seems to be a never-ending battle between the forces of stuff and the desire for it to be likewise clean. We sit among our mess and have a feeling that we don’t have what we need, that next click on Amazon will bring me whatever item that shall bring fulfilment. I’ll have the real answer for that whole in my heart. Israel was fond of gathering into their homes the various idols of the nations which surrounded them in the hopes that they might receive the blessings of having many options to choose from to hopefully find that one neat trick that finally provides what they think they need. But does it ever do any of that?
In evening service, we saw where all this seeking help from false idols ended up. In one of the obscenest passages to be found in the whole Bible, Judges 19, you have a Levite gain a concubine, allow her to be grossly used by the vilest of men, and then you cut her into pieces and mail her around the nation. When everyone does what is right in their own eyes everyone eventually loses their sight. God in His grace prevents us from feeling the totality of the evil that exists in our hearts. We are not as bad as we could be, and thank the Lord for that. However, what we see in the world around is, and at various times in history, is that after a generation of ignoring the goodness of God He will allow His providence to relieve His hand of mercy, and you can only imagine where things end up once things start to get truly wild. We hear often of how crazy things were out West in the nineteenth century. For those of a certain age consider what it would have been like without a Marshall Dillon, or a Wyatt Earp? That’s the type of world that we will have as long as our culture and world ignore the wisdom and goodness of God, and miss the simple pleasures and fullness of a life and soul bound together in the love of our wonderful Savior.
In closing, Here is where the uncomplicatedness of the gospel we mentioned at the beginning comes into play. What allows that bucolic scene that I painted to be so serene is that even in the midst of the reason for the day (death) we were gathered around a grave to witness the loveliness of the coming day of the Resurrection, wherein the light of the Gospel will be shown forth in all its power. Those words of 1 Corinthians 15 aforementioned testify that death and the grave have lost their power. They may contain the realities of Adam’s sin within them, but they cannot change the free gift of live granted to us by the covenantal assurances of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. As we go about things this week I want to encourage you to think about that oft stated truth, that we are to walk by faith and not by sight. The darkness of the tomb is where the light of the good news of salvation shines the brightest. May our time in its presence only serve to lift us up in hope and peace.
Blessings in Christ,
Rev. Benjamin Glaser
Pastor, Bethany ARP Church
