I’m going to something today that I NEVER do. I’m going to modify a passage of Scripture, and I’m hoping God will forgive me for that because this rendering fits my message this morning.
“An excellent (Mother) who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. She does good, and not harm, all the days of her life. She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands... She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens… With the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard. She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong... Her lamp does not go out at night.
She puts her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle. She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy. She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household are clothed in scarlet. She makes bed coverings for herself; her clothing is fine linen and purple...
Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.” (Proverbs 31:10-31)
OPEN: I have only one grandchild – Benjamin. He’s 2 ½ years old and he and his parents live with me right now. At his age, Christmas has a special meaning for him. We’ve put up the Christmas tree in the front room and sometimes he’ll stand in front of it and stare at the lights for 5 or 10 minutes. He never seems to grow tired of it, and at this rate the tree will probably still up through the middle of July. Every once in awhile Benjamin will come over to me at my computer and say “c‘here” and when your grandson says “c’here” you “c’here.” Then he’ll lead me into the front room and have me sit in the rocking chair while he sits across from me on the sofa with the Christmas tree between us. Then he’ll order me – “SING!” and I’ll sing all kinds of Christmas carols. Benjamin just loves Christmas.
And some of the family told me that was just like Sarah - she loved Christmas. Sarah’s daughter Denise told me her mother “always had to have a LARGE TREE, and she decorated with colored lights. She was particular in how it was decorated so needless to say, we didn't help a lot. But that was ok, our tree was always beautiful. And the outside was decorated as well. I can never remember a Christmas that was ever less than perfect.”
And then there was the music. She’d put Jimmy Dean’s Christmas album on 1st thing in morning and turn it up WAY LOUD so that everyone upstairs could hear and know – it was time for Christmas. And why was Christmas so important to Sarah? My guess it was because Christmas was all about family, she wanted the best for her family. You were the center of her life, and with 9 kids 21 grandchildren 21 great grandchildren and 1 great-great grandchild - it WAS all about family. And you ALL KNEW she loved you and she would do anything for you.
One of the granddaughters told me that at holidays, the whole family got together sat down at the dinner table to eat one of Sarah’s dinners. She said there was enough food to feed a 3rd world country, but she couldn’t remember a time when Sarah sat down to eat the meal with them. Her grandmother was always scurrying about serving the food and making sure everyone had enough.
Sarah loved you, and she tried to keep you safe and give you wisdom that would protect you. Denise shared that her mother would tell her things like “You have to be careful who you hang around with, because if they are doing wrong things and you are with them then people will assume you are too! Birds of a feather flock together.” And “Be thankful for what you have whether you think it to be little or much. And “Be kind to the people, especially those w/ limited abilities. They can’t control how things are.
Sarah preached values to her children. But Sarah also practiced what she preached. Denise told me that “some folks said SHE GAVE TOO MUCH of herself away sometimes.” And that’s alright, because that’s the kind of thing that Jesus admires. Jesus said: whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. (Matthew 7:12). And Jesus also said "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and the greatest commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 22:37-40)
I read in the Bible that God loves people who do good things, and Sarah was a woman who deeply wanted to do good things. But apparently, for the longest time she wasn’t a Christian. A couple of the family members told that she didn’t make that decision until later in life. Why she waited so long is hard to say, but that decision (to belong to Christ) would have been the MOST IMPORTANT her life.
You see, the Bible teaches us that NONE of us deserves heaven. Romans tells us “We’ve all sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” In other words… it doesn’t matter how nice you are (and Sarah was as nice as they come), no matter how many good things you do in your life, you can’t be good enough to be good enough to get into heaven. You can’t earn it, you can’t buy it and you’ll never deserve it. That means you’ll never deserve it, and I will never deserve heaven… and that means that even Sarah will not deserve heaven. The only hope we have is in Jesus. Jesus, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
But its hard for people to wrap their minds around that. When we attend funerals, we’ll often hear things like “If anyone should get into heaven Joe should… because he was such a good person.” And that makes sense to us, because if we go to store and find something we like, if we’re going to take it home with us, we expect PAY for it. And so people struggle with the idea that being nice isn’t good enough. They think they have to PAY for salvation! And that’s not going to happen. You can’t pay for salvation because it’s already been paid for by the blood of Christ on the cross.
ILLUS: One day, at a funeral, I suddenly realized how to explain this truth. I call it my ROOT and FRUIT illustration. You see, at most funerals you’ll see all kinds of flowers that people have bought to show their love and respect for the family and the dearly departed. Most of the times you’ll see bouquets of cut flowers because cut flowers can be mixed and matched to make beautiful arrangements. Other times they’ll buy planters – and the planters are still eye-catching as the bouquets. But they buy most attractive flowers or planters that they can find. If you will, they buy the flowers because of their “fruit.”
Now, let’s say after the funeral that the family tells me I can take any flower or planter home that I like. So I take home a bouquet of cut flowers, put them in a vase, water them and place them in the window. After a month or so, what are those flowers going to look like? They’ll be dead.
By contrast, if I take a planter home and water it and put it in the sun and take of it properly, what will that plant look like in a month? Well, it should grow and be even more filled with life.
What’s the difference? Why would the cut flowers die and the planter be alive? It’s because the planter has roots, and the cut flowers don’t. It’s the root, not the fruit, that gives life.
In the same way, it’s the ROOT we have in Jesus that gives us life, not the FRUIT of our good deeds. It’s not OUR AMAZING GOODNESS that will get us into heaven, it’s HIS AMAZING GRACE.
Sarah loved to sing, so I’m going to ask you to stand and sing that song (Amazing Grace) this morning:
“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me, I once was lost but now I'm found was blind but now I see.
"When we've been there ten thousand years bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing God's praise than when we first begun.”
So, we can’t earn a place in heaven. It’s only because of GOD’S AMAZING Grace that we have hope. It’s only because of the blood of Jesus that we’ve been offered something we don’t deserve.
A little earlier I mentioned that YOU mattered to Sarah. She built her life around you. I want you to imagine what it would be like if she could come here today and talk with you. You see, she has passed over to the other side, and she’s seen things we’ve never seen. She’s seen the glories and beauty of heaven, and she’s seen the horrors of hell… and I’m pretty sure she knows where you’re going. So if she were here today what would she tell you?
I suspect that if she knew you were going to heaven, she’d sit right down beside you and describe in ways that would rival John’s description in Revelation. And she’d urge you continue to strive to be God’s child so that you will share in that glorious place.
But if she knew you weren’t going to heaven, she’d get down on her knees and plead with you. She’d make it clear what was at stake and how much it would break your heart if you were to miss eternity with God.
Now, one last thought. A few years ago, I saw something in a Bible passage I’d never considered before. Romans 6 tells us that when we became Christians, we became DEAD to our sin. What do you do with dead bodies? You bury them! And so Romans 6 says that in baptism we are “buried with Christ” and our sins are all washed away.
BUT THEN IT SAYS: we rise up from that watery grave to “walk in newness of life.” I’d never thought about this before, but baptism not only tells us our sins are washed away in baptism, but that – as we rise up out of the waters of baptism, so also we will rise up from the grave when Jesus returns. It’s a promise of our future resurrection! When Jesus returns there isn’t a grave or tomb or vault that will hold us down. We WILL rise from the dead.
One of my favorite passages of Scripture is from I Corinthians 15: “Listen! (pause) I tell you a mystery. (pause) 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.’ ‘Where O death, is your victory? Where O grave, 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.” (I Corinthians 15:51-57)
You see, without Jesus, the grave is a locked door. But with Jesus, that door is just a passageway into an eternity with Him. The question today is – which choice will you make.
