David Schultz Funeral
3/21/07
That last song we just heard is called, “Wish You Were Here.” I believe that is Dave’s desire for each of us today. He wishes we were where he is right now. This past Thursday when I stopped by to see Dave, he had just taken a turn toward his home in heaven. The excellent nurses at Evenglow and the hospice team were serving him so faithfully and tenderly. We decided to put one of his cassettes on and these words filled the room…
In a little while,
We’ll be with the father;
Cant you see him smile?
In a little while,
We’ll be home forever,
In a while....
Were just here to learn to love him;
Well be home in just a little while.
Welcome
On behalf of the entire family of Dave Schultz, I want to thank you for coming. My name is Brian. I’m one of the pastors here at Pontiac Bible Church.
Psalm 34:17-18: “The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” I pray that we will sense the Lord’s closeness today as we grieve the home-going of Dave.
But I also want you to know that our grieving, though real and raw, is filled with holy hope. We don’t despair because those of us who know Jesus will see him again…in a little while we’ll be home forever. Paul wrote these words to those who were stunned by the death of their loved ones in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18: “Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. 14 We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage each other with these words.” I trust that these words bring you encouragement today
Friends, on the basis of David’s belief in the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Savior, he left this world last Friday morning and is now in a place that is more real than what we experience here. 2 Timothy 4:6-8: “For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day-and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”
And so we’ve come to:
• Celebrate Dave’s life
• Worship the One who gave him life
Prayer
Scripture Reading
One of the passages of Scripture that I read to Dave early on that Friday morning was Psalm 23. Betty Schultz is going to read that right now.
Special Music: “Amazing Grace” (Danny)
Eulogy
Read Obituary
Donna
Jessie
Natalie
Dan
Darla
Diane
I loved watching the expression of love between Dave and Jane. Jane, you were such a faithful wife! Your tender and compassionate care for Dave did not go unnoticed. The way you caressed him and comforted him and cared for him was amazing. You were a model for young married people of what it means to keep your vow to “love, honor and cherish in sickness and in health…” Jane, you said that Dave always made you smile. I want you to know that you made him smile, too! And when you think of him now, you can still smile because he’s in the arms of the Savior.
In talking with the family, three key qualities stand out.
1. Dave was a man who loved to learn.
- Liked to go to school and work
- Loved to figure out how things worked – inquisitive
- Very organized; catalogued everything
- Built a robot
- Read owner’s manuals – favorite was the Bible
2. Dave was a man of honor.
- Would do anything for anyone without asking for anything in return
- Did what he said he would do – kept his commitments
- Gave generously (tithing). Illus. When he received a check one time, Jane told me that he said, “Janie, we have to go right to the church so I can give God His part.”
3. Dave was a man of faith.
- Never questioned God
- Never got angry at God
- Listened to tapes of the Bible
- Vibrant faith
- Favorite response: “I just want to go to heaven!” He would say this all the time.
Message
When our youngest daughter was about a year old we went camping with my parents. The older girls slept in a motor home with them while Beth and I slept in a tent with Megan. It started raining hard, the thunder was deafening and the lightning scared all of us. Megan had a rough time staying asleep and did a lot of crying. In order to keep the campground from waking up, I put her in the van and just drove around for most of the night. Apparently we weren’t quiet enough because the next day my mom offered to put us up in a motel – I still don’t know if that was so she could get some sleep or because she felt bad for us. We were glad to have a dry room.
While it’s fun to camp once in a while, tents are meant to be temporary. They wear out, they leak, and they don’t last very long. Did you know that the Bible refers to our bodies as tents? Listen to these words from 2 Corinthians 5:1, 4: Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands…For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened…” The apostle Peter referred to his body as a tent as well (2 Peter 1:13).
People in the Old Testament knew what it meant to live in a tent. Abraham was a nomad who wandered from place to place in search of water and grass for his livestock. The Israelites lived in tents for 40 years as they traveled through the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land.
Friends, tents are meant to be used when you’re on a journey. The bodies that we’ve been given are meant to be temporary. Dave certainly understood this as he made six trips to Mayo and six other trips to the University of Chicago. His body was ultimately destroyed but he lives on in a new body because now he has made a trip to heaven. His tent here was ripped and torn but now he is in his eternal home in heaven, a building from God. No more hospitals or hospice or cemeteries or sin or evil or fear or tears. Dave has been liberated from his body and is now free from pain and restriction. Hymn writer Fanny Crosby said, “Don’t pity me for my blindness, for the first face I ever see will be the face of my Lord Jesus.”
In John 14, Jesus said: “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” We have been made on purpose for a PERSON and for a PLACE.
C.S. Lewis: “I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and help others to do the same.”
Psalm 39:4-7: “Show me, O LORD, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man’s life is but a breath. Selah Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro: He bustles about, but only in vain; he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it. But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you.”
In other words, too many of us major in the momentary and minor in the momentous. Dave had it figured out. He was a man who learned, he was a man of honor, and he was a man of faith who put his hope in His heavenly Father.
The great question to ponder at a funeral is this: “Was he ready to die?” Friends, Dave was ready to die. In fact, I don’t know of anyone more ready! He lived well and he died well. Any life that leaves us unprepared for the next life is a foolish life. Matthew Henry said, “It ought to be the business of every day to prepare for our last day.” C.T. Studd said, “Only one life, ‘twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.”
A couple weeks ago, a pastor named John Piper preached the funeral sermon for his own father. The cool thing about this is that the sermon he preached was a sermon his dad had preached many years earlier. If Dave could preach a sermon right now, I think he would summarize it with three words: SAVED, SAFE and SATISFIED.
1. Saved. Acts 16:31: “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.” Dave asked me to make sure that each of you knows this truth. He didn’t want me to pressure you but he wanted you to hear that the only way to be ready to die is by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you ready?
2. Safe. When you put your faith and trust in Christ you will be safe. Forever. God preserves those who profess His name. Listen to these words of comfort from Revelation 7:15-17: “Therefore, ‘they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
3. Satisfied. Dave struggled but he was satisfied with his Savior. Psalm 90:14: “Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.” That’s why he listened to the Bible on cassette all time. That’s why he could smile in the midst of his sorrow. He knew where his real home was. When his tent was torn, he kept his focus on his eternal home.
Just remember, my friend, who Jesus is. He is God. When you fully trust Him you have all that God is and all that God has. You cannot be otherwise than satisfied with the perfect fullness of Christ. Because he is God, He is all you need and more. There is no corner of your life He cannot fill, no problem He cannot solve and no need He cannot supply. . . .Yes, my friend, in Christ we are saved, safe, and satisfied. He is a perfect, a complete, Savior. And I must add, He is the ONLY Savior. Trusting Christ spells JOY. Failure to trust him spells JUDGMENT. Now is the time to accept him. “Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your heart.” (A Good Time and How to Have It, pp. 48-49)
Jane called me this past weekend and shared something really meaningful. Dave’s son Eric and she were talking about the significance of the date on which David died: 3-16. She then told me that Dave’s middle name is John, which led them to John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
David died on a Friday. Jesus died on a Friday. And then Jesus was raised to new life on Sunday – the day we know as Easter Sunday. David died on Friday morning at 5:30 and was raised to new life on Friday morning at 5:30 because Jesus was raised to new life. Jesus was raised bodily to demonstrate His power over death, so that at the moment of our deaths, we will receive new bodies as well. It’s Friday, but Sunday’s coming!
Did you hear the story this week about the passenger on an airplane who was sitting in coach class and died? In order to help the family in their grief, the flight attendants brought the body up to First Class for the rest of the flight. Friends, Dave has been taken up to First Class because of his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. His flight from his home here to his heavenly home was quick and filled with joy!
David loved to read and when his eyes started going bad, he donated a lot of books. A lot of the books in our church library are from him, including the “Left Behind” series. If Dave were here today, he would tell you that he doesn’t want any of you left behind. You too can be where he is if you will but believe and receive. John 1:12: “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”
The central business of this life is to prepare for the next. Are you ready? Will you be left behind? Where will you go when your tent is taken down? Here’s the gospel in an easy-to-remember format: SIN-SAVIOR-SURRENDER. Allow the words of this closing song to express your desire to surrender everything to Jesus, just like Dave did.
Closing Song: “I Surrender All”
