Herb Rowold funeral
1
Cor 15:50-57
11/16/19
The last time I spoke to Herb Rowold
was at the elders’ meeting on Tuesday last week. He was seated at his usual place, at the end
of the conference table – the same place he sat every time during the thirteen
years that I have been pastor here at Good Shepherd.
The possibility that I would never
speak to him again didn’t even cross my mind that night. On Sunday last week at church he had just
described to my wife Amy how thankful he was that he was not having any real
side effects from the treatment he was receiving. Given what he had been through, I thought he
looked quite good, and all of the conversation was looking forward towards his
ongoing treatment.
As it turned out, in the last week
of his life, Herb attended the Divine Service at Good Shepherd on Sunday and
the elders’ meeting on Tuesday. There
could not have been a more appropriate way for Herb to spend his last week,
because Jesus Christ and his saving work through the Means of Grace in the
midst of this Lutheran congregation was the center his life.
Herb became a child of God as he
received Holy Baptism at St. John’s Lutheran in Red Bud. Raised in the faith at St. John’s, he learned
the teaching of the Evangelical Lutheran Church from the Small Catechism, and the confession that he made on the day of his
Confirmation was the confession that he continued to live his entire life.
His career with Kroger brought him
to the Marion area in the early 1980’s, and he became involved with the effort
to establish a Lutheran congregation here.
You won’t find Herb’s name on the plaque that lists the charter members
of Good Shepherd, but that is only because his transfer from St. John’s did not
arrive in time. Herb was here from the
beginning.
And now we are here because for
Herb, the end has arrived. From our
point of view, it makes no sense. Herb
was too young to die. There was still so much living to be done. Having enjoyed sports in the lives of
Matthew, Katheryn and Michelle, there were six grandchildren to watch as they
grew up. The dear friendship with Julia
had set the stage for even more blessings. We ask why the Lord saw fit to take
Herb to himself, when there was still so much living to be done.
However, there is no doubt about why he died. And I’m not talking about
multiple myeloma, or kidney or heart problems.
Herb died because he was a sinner. Paul told the Romans that “the wages
of sin is death.” Like you and I, Herb was conceived and born as a fallen
descendant of Adam. He sinned in thought, word and deed. He didn’t fear, love
and trust in God above all things. He
did not love his neighbor as himself.
I am not speaking out of turn when I
say this. Herb himself confessed this publically every Sunday at the beginning
of the Divine Service. He confessed his
sin, but he did so as he asked for forgiveness – the forgiveness won by Jesus
Christ.
In our text from 1 Corinthians
chapter 15, Paul is addressing yet another problem that had arisen in the
congregation at Corinth. Some in their
midst were denying the resurrection of body.
They seemed to think that they had it made spiritually – they had it all
and certainly did not need a resurrection of the body.
Paul’s response was to take them
back to the Gospel he had delivered to them – the same one that had been delivered
to him. He wrote, “For I delivered
to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for
our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that
he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.”
Paul
wants us to know that “Christ died for our sins in accordance with
the Scriptures.” In saying that Christ
“died for our sins,” Paul quotes the teaching of the apostolic Church. The Church confessed that Jesus Christ was
the Suffering Servant of Isaiah chapter 53. He was the One about whom Isaiah
had written: “But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed
for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us
peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have
gone astray; we have turned--every one--to his own way; and the LORD has
laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
God the Father laid Herb’s sin upon
Jesus as he hung on the cross. He laid
your sin upon him. Jesus Christ bore the
sin of all and received God’s judgment against sin as he suffered and died.
Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures.
Jesus died and was buried. But on the third day - on Easter - God raised
him from the dead. As Paul says in this chapter, “But in
fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those
who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has
come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so
also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ
the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.”
Through
his sin, Adam brought sin and death. This is why Herb died. Unless Jesus returns first, that is why you
and I will die. But Jesus Christ was the
second Adam who came to undo all that Adam had done. By his death on the cross he received the
judgment against sin. And then in his resurrection he defeated death.
This
is the victory in which Herb and all the saints share. However, notice that Paul adds, “But each in
his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who
belong to Christ.” Jesus Christ’s
resurrection is the beginning of our resurrection. It is a resurrection that Herb and all
Christians will receive on the Last Day when Christ returns in glory.
We
know that Herb will share in Christ’s resurrection because he was
baptized. In Romans chapter 6 Paul says,
“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into
Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore
with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised
from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness
of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like
his, we shall certainly be united with
him in a resurrection like his.”
Through
baptism Herb shared in Jesus’ saving death.
His sins were forgiven. His sins
were washed away and he became a saint.
For this reason we know that he is with the Lord now. He is with Christ and no longer faces the
struggle against sin and illness.
After
this service we will take Herb’s body back to Red Bud, IL and bury him
there. In our text Paul says, “I
tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom
of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.” Jesus Chris is the first fruits of the
resurrection. Flesh and blood – fallen,
perishable bodies – cannot inherit the eternal kingdom of God.
What Herb needs – what we need – is
what Jesus Christ already possesses. Paul
told the Philippians, “we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly
body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him
even to subject all things to himself.”
We
need the change that the Lord Jesus will bring about when he returns in
glory. Paul says, “Behold! I tell you a
mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.
For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable,
and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the
imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.”
We will bury
Herb’s body. But Christ is not done with
it. We know this because Jesus rose
from the dead. We know this because Herb
was baptized into Jesus’ death. The Lord Jesus will change it to be
imperishable and immortal.
Paul goes on to
say, “When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on
immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is
swallowed up in victory.’ ‘O death, where is your victory? O death, where
is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is
the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our
Lord Jesus Christ.”
The victory
already is Herb’s now. He is a saint
with the Lord – a forgiven sinner because of Jesus’ death and resurrection –
and nothing can change that. But the final victory is also not yet his. That is why we will make the trip to a
cemetery. However, because Herb was
baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection, there is no doubt about what
will happen to Herb – about what will happen to us. The risen and exalted Lord
will return in glory on the Last Day and raise up Herb’s body. He will transform it to be like his own, and
Herb and all the saints will live with Christ in the new creation. And so we
say with Paul, “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ.”
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