Saved by Grace: A Funeral Sermon for Henry

Ephesians 2:8-10 Today we gather together to give thanks to God for the life of our friend and fellow Christian, Henry Hooper—a dearly loved husband and father and grandfather, friend and neighbor in this community for decades and member of this congregation.

            There is no shame or embarrassment in our grief and tears—even our Lord wept beside the graveside of his friend Lazarus.  But we do not grieve as those who have no hope because we know that Henry is glad to be at home with the Lord—glad to be back at Elvira’s side as they gather together before the throne of the Lamb in heaven, saved by God’s grace.

When we hear that word “saved” many Christians think of a particular moment when they decided to follow Jesus as their Lord.  Others think of the day that they were baptized and the saving benefits of Christ’s death and resurrection that became their own.

But the Bible writers use that word “saved” to describe ALL of God’s saving work on our behalf—stretching from eternity to eternity:  that God has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world—that he has sent his Son to live and die and rise again to bring us back to him—that the Holy Spirit has called us by the Gospel to faith in Jesus—and that he has promised to watch over us through the trials and difficulties of life and bring us safely home.  That is what it means to be saved—just exactly what God did in Henry’s life.

Last Sunday evening our Lord Jesus Christ called Henry to his eternal home where there is no more sorrow—no more suffering.  The pain and frailty of the last years of Henry’s life are over and now there is only peace and rest for him in the Lord’s presence until that great resurrection day when the Lord will raise Henry’s body from the grave, never to die again, glorified like Christ’s own resurrected body.

This is the faith that comforts us today—a faith fulfilled in Christ’s resurrection—a faith that God’s people have always had.  Even all the way back in Job’s day he would confess the resurrection faith that comforts us today:

I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth.  And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. 

That is the Good News for those of us who mourn Henry’s death—that is what we are talking about when we say that Henry was SAVED by God’s grace:  that Almighty God has done everything necessary to bring Henry safe and sound to his heavenly home, prepared especially for him by Jesus Christ who is the reason that we can count on having a gracious God in the first place.

You see, the Bible teaches that all of us by nature are objects of God’s wrath.  On account of the broken human condition- and on account of our own sins- we are born into this world alienated by God, sinful from the moment of our conception and struggling with sin throughout our lives.  That is who we are by nature—none of are immune. 

But even while we are still sinners, God loves us and he has sent his Son into the world to bring us back to himself.  Jesus’ holy life and his terrible death on the cross, and his glorious resurrection is the reason that we can count on having a God of grace who loves and saves us and gives us a life that death cannot destroy.

God’s gracious attitude towards Henry on account of Christ was not just shown in bringing Henry to faith—it was shown to him throughout his life.  God ordered his life so that he would be born to faithful Christian parents who loved him and saw that he was raised in the Church and baptized and taught the Word of God. 

God’s grace was shown in the way that he brought Elvira and Henry together all the way back in high school and gave them all those happy years together and the family that is seated here today. 

God’s grace was evident in how Henry was given meaningful work to do and friends and neighbors who loved him and cared about him.  Henry’s entire life was a testimony to the graciousness of our loving God and Henry responded to God’s grace and received it in faith.

The Bible says that we are saved by God’s grace through faith and this is not our own doing but is the gift of God, not a result of works so that no one can boast.  So it was it Henry’s life.  Henry was a man with a deep and abiding faith in Jesus Christ-- and even there that faith was the result of God’s gracious work on his behalf.

As a child Henry heard the Word of God in church and Sunday School and was baptized and the Holy Spirit did his work in Henry’s heart just as God promises—bringing him to faith in Jesus and keeping him in faith in Jesus until his life’s end. 

I had an opportunity to visit with Henry just a few days before he died and pray by his bedside.  Even in that late hour, when he was very sick indeed, Henry also offered up his own prayers to God, trusting that God would hear and answer his children when they pray.  Henry’s last thoughts on this earth were of the God who saved him by grace.

That kind of deep and abiding faith in Jesus was evident throughout Henry’s life.  He was a faithful Christian man.  For decades he attended Trinity Lutheran Church here in Kingsville and for the last five years attended here at St. Paul.  He actively supported God’s work in this place.  He was faithful in attending worship services and Sunday School and the men’s Bible study. 

Here in church each week he would acknowledge that he was a sinner and then hear that God had forgiven him in Jesus Christ.  He would confess his faith in the one true Triune God and he would receive Christ’s body and blood in Holy Communion. 

The work of the Holy Spirit brought him to faith as a boy- and kept him in faith as a man- until that moment last Sunday evening when he went home to be with the Lord.

Henry was a man who was thankful for God’s grace, faithful to the Word of God, willing to sacrifice what was comfortable and familiar to him for the sake of the truth and yet he knew about himself that his faith and salvation and obedience to Christ rested upon God’s grace, rather than his own strength, and this knowledge kept him humble—glad to give God the glory for the good in his life-- of which there was plenty.  The Bible says that:

We are [God’s] workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

            Last Monday morning when we learned that Henry had passed away, my wife texted me and told me how sorry she was to hear it—that he was such a fine Christian man—and he was! 

Sadly there are many people in our world who claim the name of Christian and yet the evidence of their faith is lacking and their lives are no different than those who have no faith at all!  That is not what God intends for his people.

That we are saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus MEANS that how we live our life will correspond to God’s grace and the faith in Jesus that we say that we have—not perfectly of course—but that we have a true and living faith means that the One who is our Savior will also be our Lord and we will order our lives by his word and will.

  The Bible says that God has saved us for a purpose:  that our lives would give glory to him and bear witness to the world around us in all that we say and do that God has saved us.  That’s the way it was in Henry’s life.

He gladly confessed that he was from beginning to end God’s workmanship—that who he was God’s doing ALONE!  But that same knowledge made him willing to do those good works that God had ordained for him to do—and so he did.

He was a willing worker in this congregation and a good neighbor and a kind father.  He served our nation and his fellow citizens in the Air Force.  He spent his work life serving farmers and ranchers in this area with his work in the USDA.

But especially he was a loving husband.  The last few years of their long marriage were often difficult for Henry and Elvira.  Elvira’s illness was a painful cross for them to bear.  But the love that Henry had for Elvira and the daily care and kindness that he extended to her was a blessing to see and an example for every husband on how he ought to treat his wife.

I know it was always in the back of his mind that what he hoped and prayed for was that his own health would remain strong enough to see her through to the end—and God answered those prayers and allowed Henry to finish his work as Elvira’s loving husband, seeing her safely home.

Now they are together again with all of their loved ones and friends and family members who have fought the good fight of faith and rest from their labors in the place that Jesus prepared for them.  Jesus tells us:

Let not your hearts be troubled.  Believe in God; believe also in my.  In my Father’s house are many rooms.  I go to prepare a place for you.

Henry knew that the way to his heavenly home was Jesus Christ who is the way and the truth and the life and so what Jesus especially wants us to believe this morning is that Henry is not just gone from us—Henry has gone home, saved by God’s grace—and trusting in Jesus we will one day join him and all the saints around the throne of the Lamb in his kingdom.  Amen.