Psalm 96:1-5 "Sing unto the LORD a new song; sing unto the LORD, all the earth! Sing unto the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the LORD made the heavens."
As part of her funeral message, Betty asked for us to sing a couple of hymns and, because those songs apparently meant so much to her, I thought it would nice to build the message around those songs.
Join with me as we sing the first of these 2 songs:
“Jesus, Jesus, Jesus; there’s just something about that name. Master, Savior, Jesus, like the fragrance after the rain. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus; let all heaven and earth proclaim. Kings and kingdoms will all pass away, but there’s something about that name.”
Jesus… there’s just something about that name. But why? Why is there something about that name? When the angel appeared to Joseph (Mary’s husband to be), he said this: “You shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21
The name Jesus literally means “Rescuer” or “Savior.” But why was that important? Notice, He was to be called Jesus… because… he would save us from our sins. The reason that was going to be important was because, as we were we had no chance of getting into heaven. Scripture explains that ALL OF US have sinned and fall short of glory of God. In fact, the book of Ephesians even says that (without Jesus) we would ALL be children of wrath. Our sins would literally cut us off from God.
Now, a lot of people think: “Well, yeah. I’ve messed up in my life. But if I could just do enough good stuff to pay off all my bad stuff, all my sins would be covered (“paid off”) and then God would love me and everything would be OK.
But that’s not the way it works. n fact, lots of people instinctively know that. If you asked them if they were going to go to heaven they’d say “I hope so!” Now, why would they say “I hope so?” Because they’re not sure! They’re not sure they’ve done enough to be accepted.
In fact, the fact of the matter is - none of us have done enough. None of us are good enough, to be good enough, to get into heaven - no preacher/ no elder/ no religious leader. No one is righteous enough to impress God. Without Jesus… we’d all go to hell!
Now, Biblically, I KNOW this. But it’s kind of hard to explain it to others. But then, one day – at a funeral - it suddenly made sense to me.
ILLUS: 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.
God loves good deeds, but they won’t buy you a place in heaven. The fruit doesn’t give life… it’s the root we find in Jesus.
One last thought – Hebrews tells us that one of the reasons Jesus came was to conquer death so we wouldn’t need to be afraid of death. People fear death… even kids
ILLUS: A few weeks back I was teaching an elementary age class about Jesus healing the daughter of a prominent leader in the synagogue. As I taught the story I got to the part where Jesus and the father of the child were confronted by a servant who told the man not to bother the teacher any more… his little girl was dead. AND I STOPPED. You could see the shock in the eyes of the class. This wasn’t the way this story was supposed to turn out. Jesus was supposed to arrive in time and heal the child… but now she was dead. That wasn’t right. I continued on with the story of how Jesus arrived at the home and raised the little girl to back to life. But then I asked the kids in the class if they feared death. And all they nodded “yes.” Even children fear death. That’s what Jesus came to overcome.
ILLUS: I was 5 years old when my grandfather died. My mom told me that when we went to the cemetery I looked down into the grave (you could do that back then) … then I looked up at her. Then I looked into the grave and back to here again. And I asked “How’s grandpa ever going to get out of there?” And my mother, who was a Godly Christian, began to explain that because of Jesus, the grave wouldn’t hold grandpa.
In rising from the dead, Jesus showed His power over death. That’s why Romans 6:2-7 says “We died to sin… Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? When we become Christians, WE DIE. And what do you do with dead things? Romans continues: “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. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin.”
That’s why Jesus came - to free us from sin and to conquer the power of death. That’s why His name is wonderful. That’s why He was named Jesus. Thus, it’s not our amazing goodness that will get us into heaven, it’s HIS AMAZING GRACE.
Join with me as we sing the 2nd song Betty asked for:
“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. Twas grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed. Through many dangers, toils and snares have already come. Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far and grace will lead me home. 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.”
