(This funeral message was built around Paul Harvey’s homespun homily on farmers entitled “God Made A Farmer” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRDaPEaDJ7E. The funeral home played Paul’s Harvey’s speech just before the message)
God made a farmer. In Genesis 2:8 & 15 we read that “… God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, … and there he put the man whom he had formed. … and God put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.”
God Made A Farmer. In fact, the very first man that was ever created… was a farmer. Paul Harvey said it this way: On the 8th day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, "I need a caretaker" So God Made A Farmer.
Paul Harvey had a way with words. He spoke of farmers as men who got up early and worked all day. They planted crops, bailed hay, wrestled with machinery, milked cows, cleared out stones and weeds and whatever else from the fields. And worked hard at raising crops and kids.
And (Harvey noted) if such a man was fortunate, he had neighbors who respected him and counted on him and he had a family who loved him… and knew HE loved them. And that was Gary…
He was hard working farmer a man who did much of what Paul Harvey described. On top of that, he worked 2 jobs, so he could supply for your needs. And he had blessings in life that many men fail to attain. His neighbors liked him and respected him - he knew just about every farmer in the area, and most people knew who he was. In fact, when some members of the church heard that he had died, they asked if he was the man who’d been the Fire Chief in Clymers. They knew him. And they respected him.
But more importantly, he had a family who knew he loved them. You learned your work ethic from him. You honored him by how you’ve lived your lives. And… there’s no question you loved him.
God made a farmer. God made the first farmer in Adam (pause) and people who are smart enough to know it – they know that farmers are the backbone of society. Someone put it this way: “Once in a while you need a doctor, or a lawyer, or a policeman. But every day, 3 times a day, you need a farmer.” So God made a farmer…
But even more than that - God WAS a farmer. Jesus told a couple of parables that painted God as the ultimate farmer. In one of His parables Jesus said: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field” and its obvious the farmer there was God.
And then there was the time the Apostle Paul wrote about farming: “Someone will ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come? You foolish person (don’t you understand anything about farming???)! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
Listen! 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. 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 grave, 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.”
My point is this: God made a farmer… because God IS a farmer. And he spoke of farmers, not only because they are the backbone of society, but also because what you DO as a farmer speaks of the hope of the resurrection.
ILLUS: When I was 5 years old my grandfather passed away. He had been a farmer all of his life. My mom told me that I was the apple of his eye, and my eyes lit up every time he was in the room. As a 5 year old, his death was hard to understand.
In those days, funerals were different than they are now. There weren’t a lot of funeral homes at the time, and most visitations were held in the home of the deceased. Friends and family would go into the living room and pay their respects at the casket and then retire to the kitchen for food. And the funeral message was given in the living room.
When the body was taken to the cemetery, things were different there as well. The grave was a 6 foot hole in the ground that you could look directly down into. When we came to the grave, I looked down into that hole. And I looked up at my mother, and then back down into the grave. I looked back to my mother and she told me I asked “How’s grandpa ever going to get out of there?”
I don’t remember what she said exactly, but I know she explained the truth of Resurrection to me. What she told me was essentially the basics of farming. What is placed in the ground will change and rise from the ground.
That’s what baptism conveys to us. We die to our sin, are buried in a watery grave and rise to be an entirely new person. And that act of accepting God’s forgiveness in our lives is a picture of what will happen after Jesus returns. You see, God didn’t design us to be buried and languish in the grave. For us, the grave is not a tomb of no return, it’s a door to a final resurrection where we’ll meet with Jesus. And that’s our hope!!!
Let us pray.
(At the gravesite we were met by about 60 or 70 firefighters along with several trucks from various fire departments within a 20 mile radius. They had come to honor the fire chief that had meant so much to them and went through a special ceremony at the end of the message at the gravesite. Much of my message at the gravesite was targeted toward the firefighters as much as it was toward the family).
I’m honored to be here with so many from the fire departments from around the area. And I’m touched by your actions today and your respect for your fallen comrade.
Gary’s wife shared a story with me yesterday that told of the day Gary had tried to get cat down out of a tree. The cat wasn’t cooperating and climbed higher and higher into the tree. So Gary, being the fire chief of Clymers, went and commandeered the new fire truck they owned and drove it to the tree… and proceeded to blast the cat from the tree with water from the fire hose. From that day on, the cat became Gary’s best friend. And Gary didn’t even like cats.
Many funerals include words from the 23rd Psalm, and it speaks of a God who is far gentler with us than Gary was with that cat. David spoke of God as being a shepherd. The sheep weren’t dead, and they weren’t sick. They were a healthy and safe flock because God was their shepherd. And that is how God views us.
“The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever.”
Let us pray.
