Funeral Joseph Lanton 5/12/2003
by Rick Gillespie-Mobley
Brothers and sisters I submit to you tonight, that Joseph Lyle Lanton was specially created by God. God took a little piece of his father Curtis and a part of his mother Oritha and began knitting Joseph together in his mother, Oritha’s womb.
There was something God put inside of him, that a lot of us didn’t quite get. God said, “I’ve got to give him enough ingredients to give him a fiery passion, but I also want to make sure he’s a peacemaker. I want to give him a spirit so that others feel free to share their problems and concerns, but I want to make him strong enough to be frank and honest, I want him to be intelligent because I’ve got a job for him to do, but I want to make it so that he will have to study hard to keep his humble spirit. I want to make him free enough to be creative in life, but dependable enough to be counted upon when needed.
Joseph Lanton took God a little longer to create him, but when God did, what a blessing we received. Curtis, Paulette, Reginald and Anita’s lives would not quite be the same again. Joseph was one of God’s super-ordinary creations wrapped up in just an ordinary package. Joseph was not one to immediately stand out in a crowd, but if you ever got to spend time standing next to him, you knew there was something special about him.
We read Psalm 139 tonight because it was the passage Joseph chose to have read at his funeral. In that Psalm Joseph recognized that the same God who took such time and patience to create Him at birth, who later walked with him in life, would one day call him home. Joseph had a trust in God that God was in control because one of the verses says, “all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”
Joseph was blessed, because he recognized that death is a certain reality for all of us and it can hit us at any moment. That’s why he tried to reach many of you with the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Scriptures tell us that there is a way that seems right to a person, but at the end of it is death. If we are all living in order that we might some day die, then we should do a reality check to find out if we’re going to be prepared when we get to our final destination. It would be a tragedy to get to the end our lives only to find out we have lived our lives in vain.
If we’re living simply for status, money, degrees or fame, keep in mind none of these things go out with us when we leave this world. Our money will be left in the bank, our degrees will hang on a wall, our fame will be forgotten, and our status will not impress Jesus who is the king of kings and Lord of lords and Judge of everything.
If we live for these things our lives will have been lived in vain. Jesus made the statement once, “what profit will it be for a person, to gain everything this world his to offer and then die and lose his soul.” My friend are you living for things that are quickly passing away, or are you preparing for the life which is eternal.
The Apostle Paul was one of the writers of many of the books in the New Testatement, and he knew that his life was coming to an end even though he had been a faithful servant of Jesus Christ. .
When he looked backed over his life, he was pleased with what he had seen. He was able to declare in the last book that he wrote, " For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Paul could see that his living had not been lived in vain. Paul did not boast that he did things his way, but rather he had lived it God’s way.
Let’s look back at the life of Jospeh Lyle Lanton, the life of a man, who chose to put his hand, in the hands of God. As a little boy Joseph was the joy of his family. Even then there was an honesty streak running through his little body. It got on his brothers and sisters nerves, because when they did something, Joseph was going to tell the truth about who did it and how it happened.
Anita, Joseph’s older sister tried to take him aside and explain the different degrees of truth and that it was not always good to strive for the truth in its highest form. Joseph would not have any of it. He told the truth as he saw it. A truthful person lets you know when you stand.
As they grew up his brothers and sisters , recognized this quality in Joseph and realized it made him a great person to confide in and to share your problems with, because he knew how to keep a secret. Joseph probably knows more secrets than many of us, because he was a man of his word. Now I don’t want you to think that Joseph did not know how to sin as a kid because he did. Sometimes he did not do a very good job of hiding it.
There was a day in Joseph’s life in which he was longing for some peanut butter. His father said, “no you cannot have any of it.” Joseph struggled with the decision, but temptation got the best of him, and instead of getting a knife, he reached into the container and got him a handful of peanut butter. After filling his mouth, he had to come up with a way to clean his hands.
He tried friction with the house by walking around the house, leaving a trail of peanut butter evidence in his wake. Unfortunately for Joseph, his brother and father discovered the trail, followed it around the house and there was Joseph struggling to remove the evidence from his fingers. I can imagine Joseph thinking to himself, now would be a good time to be a lawyer, and so he became one just in case he found himself in this kind of situation again..
Joseph didn’t really like going outside and playing as a kid. He preferred watching TV and reading books. He appeared to be more mature than others his age. His brothers and friends gave him the nickname, Old Man Magoo.
Joseph had within him the spirit of being a peacemaker. His sister said, there was something about when he entered a room he brought with a sense of peace and his personality had a calming affect. He was the peacemaker in the family. Joseph had one of the largest and warmest smiles of any man I know. This quality made him easy to talk to. But every peacemaker is moved by a sense of Justice.
We sang Lift every voice and Sing, because it too was a song chosen by Joseph which reflects a very important part of his life. When the Black Power movement swept the nation, Joseph became a fiery disciple with encouragement from Charles who had gone to college at a Black college in the south. Joseph began preaching black liberation until his friends got sick and tired of listening to him. He felt Reggie and Eric just were not feeling him in the way they should in his message.
He was ready to set the country on fire to make things rights. He could have led the Black Revolution if there had been one. It grieved his heart greatly to see Charles and others waning in their faith in the movement. You see Charles had been a freshman and sophomore when he got Joseph all fired up, but when Charles became a senior, he knew he had to find a job and that’s where his energies went. But thank God, Joseph was able to calm down and took up the books rather than the gun to fight injustice.
But Joseph never gave up his pride in his cultural heritage. He took the time to explain to his son, Akil the history of African Americans through the centuries. Akil’s testimony of his father is that , “my dad, was my Malcom X and Dr. King to me.”
Family was important to Joseph. He loved his parents, his brothers and sisters and his son. Joseph made it part of his calling to be there for his mother in whatever way he could. Her testimony is that Joseph was a giver and she appreciated how he gave of himself and his time to help her.
Joseph had a love for his son Akil that every father should have for his child. Joseph considered the birth of his son as one of the greatest moments and achievements of his life. It was not always easy being a single parent, but he rose up to the challenge. Joseph did not mind letting you know it was a challenge. Akil had him down at the school a little more often than he wanted to be there and it was not to pick up any awards. On more than one occasion in his moments of frustration, he would say, “come get this child, because I’m about to go to jail even though I love this boy.” Akil always remember your father was so proud of you and he prayed for you to the end of his life. He’s left you a legacy, a name, and a life that you can be proud of. Know that your father was an outstanding man.
Somewhere in the late 90’s Joseph began to sense there was something more in life than what he had known. He began to sense the call of God in his life. The word of God began penetrating his heart with such verses as in Revelations 3:20 in which Jesus says, Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
Joseph became interested in what God is doing in the world and he felt challenged by the words of Jesus when Jesus looked out on a group of people and said, in Matthew 16:24, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
Joseph responded to Christ’s challenge and came into the life of the church full of zeal and compassion. He wanted God to use him to make a difference in the lives of people for the kingdom of God. You see when you love people, you try to offer them your very best. The best that Joseph could offer, was the life and love he had found in Jesus Christ.
When asked what were his greatest moments and achievements in life his life, Joseph wrote, “the acceptance of God in my life, the birth of my son, and my son and my day of joint baptism.” These are the words of a man who had his priorities together in life.
The biblical character that reminds me the most of Joseph was a young man who started his ministry about the same age as Joseph started his and who died at about the same age as Joseph died. That character was Jesus’s cousin, John the Baptist.
John had been sent by God to tell the people, get ready to meet God because Jesus is coming. The time is short. And John’s ministry was spent on trying to get people to see the need for God in their lives. When people wanted to tell John how great he was, John would say, “no don’t look at me, look and follow Jesus.”
Joseph carried the same humility and message as part of his ministry. Joseph was president of our men’s association, but he did not want us to refer to him as president. He’d say no, we’re in this thing together, don’t go calling me president God is the one in charge. He had that sense of urgency about ministry during the last couple of years.
When you drive through our community, you may see young men standing on the corners and hope you don’t have to run into them. But not Joseph. He had a compassion for the youth of our community. Joseph saw young brothers on the corners, that needed to know, there was another way of living in Christ. Joseph organized us as men, to go out on Friday nights armed with prayer and with bible tracts to try and win some of these young men for Christ, because he saw the potential for what God wanted to do in and through them.
Joseph had a heart for our youth in the church. He would tell us as pastors, “I’m here, use me as you see fit.” He gave of himself on Wednesday nights to teach our junior and senior high students what it is to try to live for God and how God can make a difference in your life. He gave of himself on some Sunday mornings in youth worship teaching our elementary students the word of God.
He wanted our youth to be prepared for life and to have God at the center of it. Joseph shared our vision as a church to build our New Life Center so that we can impact even more young people for God. Here was a brother who was willing not only to talk the talk, but to walk the walk as he made it his business to make time to make a difference.
We have a Men’s class that meets the 3rd Saturday of each month called Men Who Excel. The class is dedicated to helping men be better Christian men, husbands and fathers. We are real in the session with the temptations and challenges we fight as men. Joseph and I have both teach the class.
We talk about putting up barriers in our lives to keep all areas in our lives right before God. I told Joseph, you know when we move “I have a queen size bed you might want to buy.” Joseph said, “Oh no, no you don’t. The last thing I need is a temptation to bring some date home. Let me keep my single bed where I know won’t but one person fit it and that’s me.”
We encourage our members to apply the message of Christ to their lives when they are at work or school. Joseph went to interview for a job and the committee asked him a question about what he would do. They gave him a scenario in which their board would want him to do something that Joseph knew was not ethical to do.
He came right out and told the committee”, if that’s what the board wants to do, then they do not want for me for this job.” The committee later told him, the only reason he got the job was because of the answer he gave.
Joseph came to church faithfully to learn. Joseph was a true student of the word of God. He was never to be busy to be in Bible Study and worship.He carried our sermons around in his head. One day he told me, “Pastor Rick you were with me the other day at work.” I said “what do you mean.” He said, last week at work I got so upset with dealing with those people, that I was ready to stand up at the next chance I got, and tell them I don’t have to put with this I quit.”
He said, just as I was about to do it, I heard you from your sermon on anger just as clear as day say, “Don’t you quit your job until you have another job to go to, because you will still have bills to pay.” He said, all of a sudden I got calm again and sat back in my seat.
Joseph was an incredible servant of Jesus Christ. He took our Men’s Organization and made it one of the most effective groups in the church. He brought our young men and our older men together. That’s why you saw all the ages in the choir. Whenever we presented a proposal to him for something we wanted the Men to do, his reaction was the same, “let’s do it.” Out of his desire to reach men, he contacted every man who visited our church to personally thank them for coming and to invite them to come back. He simply had an incredible vision for God. Everybody should die with a vision of doing something for God.
Joseph died with at least three visions related to the Kingdom of God. He wanted to see us make our vision for the New Life Center a reality because he knew it would change lives. He had a vision, as stated in his last letter to the men, to created a new group called The Glenville New Life Stallions which was to be a drill team for our boys ages 6 to 12. He had a vision to eventually leave the practice of law and go to seminary to become a pastor. He and I discussed it a couple of times.
Joseph has been one of the most effective servants of Christ I’ve known as he diligently prepared others to meet God. And yet we find ourselves here tonight with him in the presence God and we are left in a state of shock. How can one who had so much to offer and so much to give be taken away at such an early age as 33 years old? Pastor Toby and I do not feel as though we lost a man, we feel as though we lost five men all at once.
And then God reminds us that He had another son who died at 33, and His name was Jesus. It’s not about how long we live, but rather how well. I do not understand the ways of God, in determining the length of our years or the number of our days. We like to think the good will live a long life and the rest will have short lives. But God never said that’s the way it’s going to be.
God said something far more encouraging and filled with hope. It says in Psalm 116:15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. God knows something about death and its purposes that we do not. Joseph was one of the saints of God. God said his death was precious in His sight. God knows that Joseph’s death was not in vain, and that last Wednesday something precious happened on the West side of Cleveland.
We may want an answer from God, and that’s okay. Maybe it will lead us to acknowledge who God is and what God is expecting of us. Joseph knew God created him, God walked with him, and God called him to a place prepared for him.
Joseph made John 3 :16 personal. For Joseph It read like this, John 3:16-17 "For God so loved Joseph Lyle Lanton that he gave his one and only Son, that if Joseph believed in Christ, Joseph would not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn Joseph, but to save the Joseph through Christ.
Joseph made it personal. How do you respond to this good news of the gospel? It’s good news, only because there is some bad news because of the wrong all of us have done. That passage actually says "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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
Do you realize God loves us all, but death will be the final separator between those who are living for Christ and those who are not. It’s not matter of who was good and who was bad. We all were bad, and God wants to give us all the same chance he gave to Joseph . If we do not know Christ, we are condemned to eternal death.
We all have the rest of our lives left to choose whether or not to leave our predicament and accept what God eagerly wants to give to us. When some people find out they don’t have much time left they die and become bitter, angry and withdrawn. Joseph had a sense that God was calling him home as you can see in the journal he wrote. There’s no sense of bitterness or anger toward God. His closing journal represents he just wanted to be here for his son as he grew up.
But God had other plans. Sometimes we don’t understand. But somehow Joseph did and like Paul he could declare the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 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.
If Joseph could say one parting word to us. I believe he would say, if not sing, " As I look back over my life, and I think things over, I can truly say, that I’ve been blessed. I’ve got a testimony. Sisters and brothers, I say to you today, Joseph Lyle Lanton has a testimony and he is prepared to hear our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ declare, "Well done you good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of my kingdom which has been prepared for you since the creation of the world.
Jesus has gone forth to prepare a place for each of us. But like Joseph, we must make a choice. None of us know the day nor the hour when we shall leave this world. A week ago, none of us would have expected to be in this sanctuary tonight. Christ has died on our behalf that we might have life. It’s as simple as confessing our sins, our yielding our lives to him. For in the end, the only decision that will matter is what did we do with Christ. For only what’s done for Christ will last.
To those who do not know Jesus Christ, Joseph Lyle Lanton will only be a memory. It will be a great memory, but still just a memory. For those who do know Christ, Joseph is waiting to meet us. For the word of God clearly states, " Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men and women who have no hope. 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.
According to the Lord’s own words, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left at the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down form 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.
After that, we who are still alive and are left, will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words. Our God is faithful.
I want you to think about the life Joseph lived and whether or not you want to join him one day in heaven as Mike sings the song, just give me Jesus. You don’t want to live this life or leave this world without Jesus.
