I know almost nothing about the game of golf. I do know that Michael Ellis was an avid golfer. Even there in the hospice it seemed to comfort him to watch golf on television. I’m not sure he appreciated it when I compared looking TV golf to watching the grass grow. He laughed, but I’m not sure he appreciated that comment.
I know very little about the game of golf. I do know that you must avoid sand traps and water and rough patches, and that if your ball lands in one of those, it’s going to be hard work to get it out.
I know only a few names of famous golfers. I do know names like Tiger Woods and Ernie Els. I have read about Annika Sorenstam and Michelle Wie. I know that golf is where my doctor is if I need her on Thursdays, and I know that golf is what some of my fellow pastors expect me to do, along with them, when I retire. I have news for them! Not going to happen. I don’t need that kind of frustration; I’ve had enough of that just pastoring a church!
I know very little about golf, but one thing I do know, and that is that it’s all in the stance, the stance and the swing. How you flex your knees, how you address the ball, how you follow through on your swing. I know very little about the game, but this much I do understand – that if you approach it hesitantly, you will never win. If you are tentative in your stance, your score will be very poor. But if you take a definite stance; if you are confident; if you hit the ball cleanly and squarely; if you follow through definitely, you have a good chance to succeed. The key thing is to be definite in the way you approach the game.
Over several visits with Mike, I picked up a word from him. I heard a word that told me something about him. I heard him use the word “definitely”. “Definitely”. Once he was thirsty, and said he needed some water. Then he said it again, “I definitely need some water.” And when we gave him the water, his response was, “I definitely needed that, definitely, definitely.” It felt as though the idea of approaching things definitely was important to Mike.
And then another time, when this preacher had read too many Scriptures and had posed too many questions, Mike was candid enough to say, “I need a break. I definitely need a break from this. It’s good, pastor, but I definitely need a break.” I understood.
These things gave me a clue to Mike and to his spiritual needs. I found them interpreted by the apostle Peter in the Book of Acts. In the middle of Peter’s first great sermon following the resurrection of the Lord, he cries out to the people of Jerusalem:
“You that are Israelites, listen to what I have to say. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through Him among you, as you yourselves know – this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law. But God raised Him up, having freed Him from death, because it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.”
The definite plan ... of God. Definitely. We saw Michael grow from tentative to definite, from hesitant to confident, from unsure to sure. Michael grew from duffer to champion. Definitely.
I
In Michael’s life God did some definite things. God provided some definite signs and wonders. Just as Peter said that Jesus was affirmed by God with signs and wonders, so also I believe that Michael was brought from hesitant to confident, from tentative to definite, by our the work of God.
Michael professed faith in Christ early on, as many of us do. I have no doubt of his genuine faith in those early years. But again, as many of us do, Michael put the practice of his faith on hold, in order to pursue other things – his business, his work, his family, his sports interests, and yes, maybe also his golf. You will understand, I’m sure, that I am by no means being critical. I am not discounting anything, if I say that for some while Michael’s approach to his faith was hesitant and tentative. It was not definite.
Several years ago I went to see Michael and talked with him about Christ, about making a firm commitment. Michael said that he was a believer, and, yes, at some time soon he would make that into a definite commitment. But I didn’t see Mike come forward, I didn’t see him express that commitment. It was not yet definite.
Later, on other occasions, like young Michael’s birth, a proud grandfather said that he had not forgotten and that, yes, he would be making his commitment definite. But it still didn’t happen.
Brothers and sisters, do you know that God pursues us? Are you aware that His love will not let us go? The next time I saw Michael it was in a hospital room a few months ago. This time it was not I who brought up commitment to Christ. This time it was Michael, saying that he remembered what he had promised, that he wanted to make it definite. He wanted Jesus Christ as his savior. As we prayed together that day, I felt something new was happening. I sensed that we were at a different level, at a level of commitment that I can only describe as definite.
God did some definite things in Michael’s life over these last months. God led Mike to a new understanding of his family. I heard him speak about Karen with such warmth and appreciation. I heard him talk about Michelle with energy and passion. Michelle, I thought one day, as I visited him at Woodside, he was going to jump right out of that bed when I told him I knew you were coming. And as for little Michael – this child, who looks so much like his “papa”, was the apple of his eye. God did something definite in Michael’s life during this illness.
Karen and I have talked about how God will bring something positive out of Michael’s death. I do not know what that may be. I am not able to predict. But I believe that God is at work to get our attention. I believe that God is at work to provide medical science with new knowledge. I believe that God is at work to refine the skills of those who work at the hospice. And I know that God has touched the hearts of this congregation, as just one month ago we received Michael into full fellowship and then brought the rite of baptism to his bedside. I say I do not know all that God was doing in Michael’s life of what God will do out of Michael’s death, but this much I know definitely. God is at work in all things for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. And so, despite our sorrow at Mike’s passing, we can await the joy that will definitely come, when God works out His purposes. God has done definite things in Michael’s life and will do definite things out of Michael’s death.
II
For, you see, what you and I must understand – and Michael understood it – is that our God has a definite plan for our salvation. God has not left us to wander alone, but has provided for us a clear and definite way to return home. Just as when Michael would start out on the golf course, driving and putting from pin to pin and hole to hole, he did not have to wonder about where to go next, because it was all laid out by the course designer, so also our God has laid out His plan of salvation. It is precise, clear-cut, definite.
But it does involve death. The plan of salvation involves the death of Jesus. Oh, this mystery is beyond our capacity to explain. It is more than we can interpret. But it is the plan of God to bring us home. That’s what Peter says in this passage – Jesus, according to the definite plan of God, was handed over to sinful men and put to death. How can this be? Who would sacrifice someone He loved for others?
God would. God did. God gave up the One He loved because of His great love for us. He allowed the One on whom all His affections were set to be given over to the cruelty of the crowd and the shame of execution. Our God understands how you feel today. Our God understands that you feel keenly this loss. He too has experienced loss.
Why did God let Michael die in his 50th year, so far short of what he might have become? I have no reply for that, except to remind you that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. God Himself experienced this shattering thing, this affront, this cruelty. God knows. God is with you in this loss.
But in death is our salvation. In death is our redemption. In Jesus Christ and His cross there is a call that summons us home. In Jesus Christ and His cross there is an announcement that pain and suffering, disease and death, are part of our human battle, but we are not alone. God is with us. God suffers with us. Maybe you will allow me to put it this way: in Jesus Christ and His cross there is a leader board at the PGA Open, and it definitely reports that however this world is playing, the Lord our God is always one stroke ahead. He is always at the top of the leader board, no matter how much it costs Him. Our God has a definite plan for our salvation. It includes the death of Jesus. That means that He understands what death is all about. He has been there. And He cares. He definitely cares.
III
Because of all of that, Michael Wayne Ellis today is definitely with the Lord. Michael is among those who definitely receive the resurrection and the life to come. Nothing rings more clear, nothing is more definite in the Scriptures than this. Listen to Peter again:
God raised Him up, having freed Him from death, because it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.
It was impossible, it was definitely impossible, for Christ to be held in the power of death. Dead He was, for a while. But it was impossible that He should succumb for long, and so He arose! He arose! He arose a victor from the dark domain, and He lives forever with His saints to reign! This is our one great hope. No, I will say more. This is our one great assurance, that definitely Christ is risen, and so definitely He will bring with Him into everlasting life those who trust Him. This is not guesswork, this is not speculation. Michael, this is not even finessing the lay of the putting green! This is a “gimmie”! This is definite!
Michael died on Maundy Thursday, right in the middle of the passion season. He is now to be buried just after Easter, when the world rings with the message of the risen Christ! How profound, because you and I are privileged to have known someone who grew from hesitation to confidence, who moved from maybe to definitely! He now knows for himself great victory! Michael is experiencing first-hand: Jesus Christ alive. Death has no more dominion over him. It is impossible for death to hold him in its power. Trust Christ for your salvation, and you will no longer live in fear of death.
Michael fought. Michael held on to life as strongly and as definitely, as anyone I have ever seen. He wanted so much to get on his feet and, among other things, walk down this aisle to affirm his faith. He want to make a definite witness. And so he fought to stay alive. Several times we thought he was gone, but he held on. We should not have been surprised, however. We should not have been surprised, for champions do not give up. Champions do not yield without a struggle. So I must tell you that he has not given up; he has won it all. Mike has not yielded anything; he has taken it all.
Michael now has a firm grip on eternity. He has planted his feet squarely on God’s green pastures. He has flexed his knees at that place where every knee bows and every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord. To his prized collection of thirty golf shirts he has added a new one, for they have washed their garments in the blood of the Lamb. And best of all – finest of all – though we will place his body in this green earth, on a day that is by no means good golf weather, what eye has not seen nor has ear heard, God has prepared for Him. In what finally matters, my friend Michael, you have definitely scored a hole in one. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of us all, who is above all, and through all, and in all. Definitely.
