Genna Biermann funeral
Rom
8:31-39
1/20/23
Genna was simply a wonderful individual,
and that is why losing her is so sad for so many. She was a loving and faithful wife as she and
Dan shared life together. In a true a
case of opposites attract, their personalities complemented each other, and
they loved spending time together.
Genna was a dedicated mother and
grandmother. She was a blessing to both
her children and grandchildren. Her involvement
in their lives and the time they got to spend with her was something that
enriched all.
Genna was an outstanding teacher. Her
own love of learning never ended – in the summer she was always working on some
scientific project or opportunity for learning. This translated into the deep
interest she took in her students and the way she taught them. My own son will
be pursuing a career in science, and Genna played a very important role in
guiding him on that path.
More than anything, Genna Biermann was
a remarkable woman of faith. Genna joked
that Dan brought her into the Lutheran church kicking and screaming. But once
here she embraced the biblical teachings as her own, and was eager to talk
about them with anyone. Genna trusted in
the Lord and the Gospel absolutely. Her
witness to faith in Christ in the face of imminent death was moving. We should
all hope to have such deep and profound faith.
In one of my last visits with Genna,
she charged me with preaching the Gospel at her funeral. That I will certainly do. But as a Lutheran, Genna also knew the
importance of distinguishing Law and Gospel.
She knew that the Law prepares us for the Gospel. Sadly, this morning Genna herself is the
illustration of Law.
Genna Biermann has died. I do not understand
why she died so young. Only God knows
that. But I know why she died. She didn’t die because of the cancer that
spread through her body. That was just
the instrument that brought about death. Instead, she died because she was a sinner. Paul says in this same letter, “The wages of
sin is death.”
Genna was indeed a wonderful person.
But that doesn’t change the fact she was a sinner. Paul says in Romans: “For we have already
charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is
written: ‘None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned
aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.’” She did not fear, love, and trust in God
above all things. She did not love her
neighbor as herself in all ways at all times.
God is the holy God, and Jesus tells what is necessary to have
fellowship with him. He said, “You therefore must
be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Genna knew this was true. She confessed
her sin. She did every Sunday when she
attended the Divine Service. She confessed her sin one last time in the
Commendation of the Dying. Genna also
knew that it was true of you. That is
why she wanted the Gospel proclaimed at her funeral. She knew that on your own you are sinners who
will face God’s wrath and judgment. That can be the only outcome for you apart
from Christ.
Genna Biermann died because she was a
sinner. But she has not received
God’s judgment, and she never will.
Paul says in our text, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is
for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son
but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give
us all things?”
God did
not spare his Son. Instead, he sent his
Son into the world as he took on humanity and became man. True God and true man, Jesus was in this
world to die in Genna’s place – to die in your place. On the cross he received
God’s judgment against sin. He was the
sacrifice by which our sin was atoned for and forgiven.
In fact
Paul asks, “Who
shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.” God will not bring a charge against Genna,
because he did it against Christ in her place. Genna believed in Jesus Christ
the crucified Lord. And so Genna was justified by God’s grace – she was
declared by God to be righteous and innocent. The verdict of the Last Day has
already been spoken about Genna. Paul
says earlier in Romans, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Genna died at peace with God – her sins forgiven.
We are here today because of
death. But because Genna believed in
Christ and was baptized into his death, death does not get the final word. Paul says in our text, “Who is to condemn?
Christ Jesus is the one who died--more than that, who was raised--who is at the
right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.”
Jesus Christ died on the cross on Good
Friday. But on the third day, God raised him from the dead. Jesus passed through death in order to defeat
it for Genna – in order defeat it for you.
Because of the death and resurrection of Jesus, Genna lives now. Paul told the Philippians, “To live is
Christ, and to die is gain.” As the apostle contemplated his own death he said,
“My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.”
Genna has departed and she is now with
Christ. We will take her body and bury it in a cemetery. But because Jesus
Christ has risen from the dead, God is not done with her body. Just before our text Paul wrote, “For I
consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing
with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”
Then he explained what this glory will mean when he said, “And not only
the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the
Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as
sons, the redemption of our bodies.”
Resurrection – that is what awaits
Genna’s body. That is what awaits Genna. The Lord who has risen from the dead
will return in glory on the Last Day.
The apostle 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.”
This is
the love that God has shared with Genna.
It is the love that God has shared with you – the love that is
proclaimed to you this morning. Through baptism and faith this love from Christ
is yours. Paul says in our text, “Who
shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or
persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?” Not even the death of a beloved wife, mother,
grandmother, and friend can separate us from Christ’s love.
Like us all, Genna’s life was not without troubles. She faced challenges. But because Genna knew Jesus Christ the crucified and risen Lord she lived in the knowledge that victory was hers. She lived in the confidence given at the end of our text where Paul declares: “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,
nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation,
will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Genna is
held securely in God’s love today as she is with the Lord. She will share in that final victory when
Christ returns in glory and transforms her body to be like his. In life and in death, nothing can separate
her – and all those who believe in the crucified and risen Lord – from the love
of God which is in Christ Jesus.
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