The Rev. Paul J Cain
Romans 1:17, Ephesians 2:8-10
A Lutheran
Funeral Sermon for Duane Terry + 9 September 2017
Saturday of Pentecost XIV, 15 September 2017
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Sheridan, WY
In the Name of Jesus Amen.
“You
know, you’re really a Lutheran.” That is exactly what two close family members
told Duane Terry. So he called us up. And according to him, after hearing
answers to his questions, they were right. In recent months I visited him at
home. He came to church on Sundays. I answered his questions. And now he is at
rest and at peace in Christ Jesus. This afternoon you have heard Scripture that
he heard here, at home, and on his last day on earth.
There
is a common theme throughout today’s memorial service: grace—amazing and ours
in Christ alone. Ephesians 2:8-10 explains: 8For by grace you have
been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of
God, 9not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10For
we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God
prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Faith
is a gift from God. Salvation is not a result of works. These are truths echoed
throughout Scripture. We aren’t saved because of our works, we do not deserve
forgiveness, and we could never earn heaven by being “good enough.” Instead,
God loves us, forgives us, and saves us not because of who we are or what we
do, but because of the work of Jesus. We are declared righteous by God Himself
because of the work of Christ as our substitute. By faith, we receive those
gifts, His righteousness. That is the good news of the Gospel.
Duane’s
questions began with the differences between his background and a Lutheran
confession of the Christian faith. We did this with respect, honestly, and in
light of what God’s Word says, our primary text.
Luther’s
Small Catechism, a teaching tool used
across denominational lines for five centuries, focused us on the Six Chief
Parts of the teachings of Holy Scripture: the Ten Commandments, the Apostles’
Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, Confession and the
Office of the Keys, and the Sacrament of the Altar.
He
didn’t have to learn a different numbering system for the Commandments. He
learned the Law shows us our sin and the Gospel shows us our Savior. Our time
with the Creed focused on the work of Christ for Him, the Gospel, in
anticipation of heaven and the resurrection of the dead. He knew the Our Father
and prayed it often, especially while looking at the crucifix across from his
recliner. Lutherans use those, too. We are included as children of Our Heavenly
Father because Jesus said so! Luther’s teaching on confession was comforting to
Duane because the Bible teaches that Jesus make complete satisfaction for sin,
that it is impossible to remember to confess every sin, and that making
confession mandatory turns the Gospel of Christ into a new human law. We were
about to review Baptism and Communion as his health suddenly declined, yet
based on his early questions, he was also comforted that he had been baptized
in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and that
Lutherans confess that the Lord’s Supper is the true body and blood of our Lord
Jesus Christ under the bread and wine given for the forgiveness of sins. At the
time of his passing, we had yet to talk about the duties Scripture lays out for
different vocations, and more questions. We did discuss daily prayer and how
Lutherans may make the sign of the cross. +
Why
have Scripture alone as our authority for faith and life? Individual Christian
leaders and church conventions contradict one another and sometimes go against
Scripture. Humans are sinful and institutions are often not trustworthy. Our
emotions are an unreliable barometer of spiritual truth. Popular opinions
change frequently. Culture always demands changes of Christians and never will
be satisfied. Experience varies from person to person and people can disappoint
you. The truth of Scripture is always reliable and is worth wrestling with, as
Duane did.
Luther did,
too. He was struggling with a phrase from Romans 1:17: "In it the righteousness
of God is revealed." He felt that it stood in his way because he had been
taught, like many Christians of his day and ours, that it referred to a
philosophical understanding, where God is righteous and punishes the
unrighteous sinner.
Luther
wrote, “Though I lived as a monk without reproach, I felt that I was a sinner
before God with an extremely disturbed conscience.” He was angry at a God who
crushed sinners because of both original sin and breaking the Ten Commandments.
Luther understood “gospel” at that time as God “threatening us with his
righteousness and wrath.”
“At last,” he says, “by the mercy of God,
meditating day and night, I gave heed to the context of the words, namely, ‘In
it the righteousness of God is revealed, as it is written, “He who through faith
is righteous shall live.”’” There he began to understand that the righteousness
of God is righteousness from God as a gift, that by which the righteous lives
by another gift of God, by faith. He continues, “And this is the meaning: the
righteousness of God is revealed by the gospel, namely, the passive
righteousness with which [our] merciful God justifies us by faith, as it is
written, ‘He who through faith is righteous shall live.’ Here I felt that I was
altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates. There
a totally other face of the entire Scripture showed itself to me. Thereupon I
ran through the Scripture from memory. I also found in other terms an analogy,
as, the work of God, that is what God does in us, the power of God, with which
he makes us wise, the strength of God, the salvation of God, the glory of God.”
Luther's Works Volume 34, Career of
the Reformer IV (St. Louis, Concordia Publishing House, 1960), p. 336-337. In
summary, “of God” means “from God” and for our benefit.
On one
of our visits after Duane had been here for church several times (and even had
a Small Catechism of his own in book
form), he held up his smart phone and said, “I found an app of the Small Catechism. Is this an ok
translation?” Indeed it was. And we both smiled.
Lutherans
are Christians who confess the truths of Holy Scripture about all matters of
faith and life. We see Scripture as the only true authority because it alone is
God’s Word. We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone as
taught in Scripture alone. And all this is to God’s glory alone. Our
righteousness comes from God in Christ! By faith, Duane Raymond Terry confessed
Christ. In God’s mercy and grace, he is covered by the blood of Christ. Now,
with him, we await the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. Amen.
In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
