What Cancer Cannot Do
TCF Sermon
March 28, 2004
On Saturday March 13, when our dear sister Nancy Reed was first hospitalized, I was driving to the hospital to visit, and I considered that, if this was, indeed, nearing Nancy’s appointed time to go to be with the Lord, we could not, on the Sunday after her homegoing, have a sermon with “business as usual.”
We’re a family, and a small enough church, that we must mark this Sunday in some significant way. So, I began to think of how we could address what’s on all of our minds, in a way that would honor the Lord, honor Nancy’s memory, and provide encouragement for the whole church family.
And then I immediately remembered another Sunday at TCF. It was April 10, 1994.... just a few weeks shy of ten years ago today.
Just a few weeks before that date, all of us here at TCF had received word that one of our founding members, a longtime elder, and by that time, elder emeritus, Willard Hudson, yes, for those of you who never knew him, that’s Nette’s husband of more than 53 years - Willard had been diagnosed with cancer.
While we will often greet our missions speakers, or sometimes other guests, with applause when they get up to speak after an introduction, this is not something that ever happens with one of our own.
Well, that morning, TCFers stood and applauded Willard as he stood at the pulpit. It wasn’t the last message he’d preach at TCF, but it was the beginning of the last year of his life, because on March 10, 1995, nine years ago this month, Willard left this earthly life, to be in the presence of the Savior he loved and served.
That was the last time a member of TCF passed away, and this morning, as we mourn the passing of our dear sister Nancy, I thought it would be appropriate to remember some of the things that Willard said that day.
It’s appropriate because, as much as any message I’ve ever heard from this pulpit, and in 24 years, I’ve heard many that I could say this about, but that morning, Willard brought an inspiring word.
More than that, it was encouraging, especially in light of what we knew he was facing.
I’m praying that the same Holy Spirit that spoke through our brother Willard, on that April day almost ten years ago, will strengthen and encourage us this morning as we remember the things the Lord spoke to us.
Willard had come up with a list of 12 things, titled, What Cancer Cannot Do.
One of the things most people remember about Willard is that he had a great sense of humor. He proved it that day by joking about what most of us were in tears about.
play clip:
“for those of you who are wondering about this certain radiance about me, it’s not because of a spiritual encounter. It’s because I’ve had two weeks of radiation treatment. The glow is of the world. But it beats the chemotherapy because you lose your hair, and I wanted to keep my sideburns.”
Now, those of us who remember Willard don’t remember much hair on the top of his head to begin with, and we certainly don’t remember sideburns.
But in saying this, Willard gave us permission to maintain our sense of humor. Let me tell you, my church family, Hal has maintained his sense of humor throughout this ordeal. Willard went on to tell us that he’d found this list, and he read the things that he was given on his first visit to the oncologist.
The things he listed then are still true today. We’re going to take the next several minutes and look at this list, comment on some of these points, and trust God will speak to us through these ideas.
One thing he said was that cancer is so limited.
Now, we tend to think of cancer as this huge, insurmountable monster. In some ways, that’s very true. Many of us here have lost someone to this terrible disease. It’s a word that can strike fear into almost anyone. But with a Holy Spirit perspective, we can realize that this insurmountable monster, this incredibly difficult disease that mankind has been unable to conquer, is really very limited in what it can do to us as children of the living God.
Cancer cannot:
cripple love,
it cannot shatter hope,
it can’t corrode faith
It can’t eat away peace,
It can’t destroy confidence
It cannot kill friendship
it can’t shut out memories
it cannot silence courage
it cannot invade the soul
It can’t reduce eternal life
It cannot quench the spirit
and finally, it cannot lessen the power of the resurrection.
First, let’s take a moment to look at the truth, that cancer cannot cripple love.
First, there’s our love for one another, which cancer cannot cripple. Willard spoke of loving Nette more than ever. He said: “the love will be there whether she gets sick or not.” At that point, they’d been married 52 years.
He said, “when we stood before a preacher 52 years ago, we made a commitment.... the love endures... some people run off and leave when one of their mates gets sick.”
I must tell you that Hal was there with Nancy around the clock during her hospitalization. He was there to give her sips of water or juice, he was there to help her to the bathroom when she was still able to get out of bed. Cancer did not cripple Hal’s love for Nancy in any way.
Willard said: you will continue to live in the lives of those you have touched with love... nothing remains quite so permanently as the love that flows from you to another. God’s enormous love is yours to draw upon and share. Once you’re filled with this love, it begins to overflow...cancer cannot cripple love.
Then, of course, there’s God’s love for us.
Romans 8:35-39 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The apostle Paul here in vs 35 suggests seven things that might cripple love, or as he says, separate us from the love of Christ. But then says with absolute confidence, that nothing can separate us.... nothing can cripple the love that God has for us in Christ Jesus.
First, there’s trouble. Cancer could be classified as trouble. It can also be classified as hardship. He lists five more things, and then classifies them all together in verse 37, but notes that “in all these things...we are more than conquerors .”
Now, we’re not conquerors on our own. The truth is, apart from the love of God, cancer can do all these things. But with, and through, the love of Christ Jesus,
we are indeed not just conquerors, not just able to be victorious over all the other things Paul mentions, but we are “more than conquerors” - that is, more than victorious.
The Greek word here means: we keep on being conquerors, to a greater degree...or we “keep on winning a glorious victory.”
Jesus’ love for us enables us to triumphin spite of circumstances. Paul ends this passage with a declaration.
I am convinced, he wrote, or I am persuaded, that nothing can separate us from the love of God.
And then he lists ten things. I don’t think this list was meant to be an exhaustive list...but it really does cover a lot.
He hits the big ones first. Death and life. That’s what we need to remember this morning. Let’s remember the big things that cannot separate us from the love of God. This is not just true for Nancy, who I can imagine rejoicing in the presence of the Lord right now.
But it’s true for the Reed family, grieving, but not grieving as those who have no hope. It’s true for the rest of us, because we’ve lost a member of our family, too.
Our church family. And I don’t know about the rest of you, but my church family is precious, and as the Word of God clearly states, we rejoice with those who rejoice, and we weep with those who weep.
This morning we might weep, but we know that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ. Which is another way of saying what Willard said to us 9 years ago. Cancer cannot cripple love.... nothing can. His death and resurrection for us is proof of that.
Another thing on Willard’s list that morning was this: Cancer cannot corrode faith.
He mentioned that though there are certainly many verses on faith in the Word of God, the one that exemplified the kind of faith he had personally was
Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Willard, after some early doubts in life, became a man who believed in God’s existence, and also earnestly sought him. He noted that rewards come when you seek Him, rather than seeking something for yourself.
Sometimes our attitude is “listen, your servant speaks,” rather than “speak, your servant is listening.”
Willard, because of his age, his experience, his stature in the church, could sometimes get away with saying things that might have been more difficult to hear from some others.
Let me quote: (play clip)
“I want no one ever to say to me – if you had enough faith, you wouldn’t be sick. I never want anyone to put that condemnation on me, because God doesn’t. Tthat it’s my fault, because of a lack of faith that I’m sick. I remember a couple left TCF when someone died, they said it’s because we as a church didn’t have enough faith or it wouldn’t have happened. That’s such a shallow understanding of faith. Faith is not a quick fix faith. It is an abiding faith... faith that stands... that’s still there when you don’t get what you ask for... a faith that’s been tried and tested and proven to be steadfast.
There’s the scripture that says “when trouble comes welcome it like a friend.” That’s one scripture I’ve never been able to heartily apply to my life. When trouble comes, I don’t say come on in friend, I usually say, no not again. Or, why don’t you go over to Jim Grinnell’s house... he needs a little test. You’ve proven yourself to me, pick on one of the younger guys.
I don’t believe that God allowed this to happen to test me. This is still a sinful world. We were a “faith” church before it became a denomination. The faith taught here is a faith you can depend on whether you’re sick or well, that endures through good times or bad times, a faith that says to God I can trust you no matter what happens.”
Let me repeat some of these key points Willard made. That’s such a shallow understanding of what real, genuine, biblical faith is. Real faith is not a quick fix faith. It’s an abiding faith... faith that stands... that’s still there when you don’t get what you ask for...a faith that’s been tried and tested and proven to be steadfast....
He also said, I don’t believe that God allowed this to happen to test me... this is still a sinful world...sickness is not a sin, but it is an evil, and it comes as a result of our being here.
The kind of faith taught here at TCF is a faith you can depend on, whether you’re sick or well, that endures through good times or bad times, it’s a faith that says to God I can trust you no matter what happens.
And at that point in his sermon, Willard looked down at the front row, where brother Bill Sanders, TCF’s first pastor, sat and listened. Now before I tell you what he said, some explanation is in order. Bill Sanders was TCF’s first pastor when the church began in 1969. In 1977, Bill’s wife Marty died of cancer. A few years later, he remarried a wonderful woman, Ann. In Nov, 1994, the year Willard preached this message, Ann also died of cancer.
In addition to that, Bill had wrestled with the ravages of Parkinson’s disease, at that point, for about 14 years. So, when Willard looked down at Bill, and addressed him as “little brother,” as he was prone to do, and said that “the faith we taught at TCF is a faith that says to God, I can trust you no matter what happens...”
That’s a statement that carried some real weight with each of us in the pews that morning. We’d seen that faith stand through the toughest times, we’d seen Willard’s faith, we’d seen Bill’s faith, stand firm through the hottest fire. And Willard finished by saying, addressing Bill Sanders, and then the church,
“no matter what happens to you and me physically, the faith will hold, it won’t waver, and church, you can count on it.”
What a moment in TCF’s rich history.
Another thing cancer cannot do is eat away peace.
I’ve witnessed that in the time I’ve spent with the Reeds over the past few weeks. Nancy had been at peace since she was first diagnosed with cancer. Hal has been at peace ever since the doctors told him Nancy’s time was short.
That doesn’t mean there hasn’t been hurt, that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been emotional pain. But there was peace. There was peace in God’s presence.
There was peace in God’s sovereignty. There was peace in God’s plans and purposes, whatever those might be.
Willard noted that when he was first told of his diagnosis of cancer, he had great peace. He recognized something very important. He said, if anything can shatter your peace, it’s the doctor. But he also recognized that the doctor wasn’t his source of peace, and wasn’t supposed to be.
Listen to the words of Jesus Himself in John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
Medical science can’t bring peace. The hospital can’t bring peace. Willard said that peace was found in meditation on scripture, rather than medication.
Meditation rather than medication.
He got his peace, Nette got her peace, Hal got his peace, Nancy got her peace, and we obtain our peace, directly from the master. Nothing in the world can give this kind of peace. You cannot work it up. You cannot pull it out of the air. You can only get it from the source of peace, the one who is the Prince of Peace.
Philip. 4:6-7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Cancer cannot lessen the power of the resurrection...
1 Cor. 15:42-44 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
Willard told us that he didn’t know what this spiritual body’s going to look like, but he hoped that the Lord would make us appear as we looked during the best years of our life. He said he would like for he and Nette to be 20... that’d be heaven to him. “I don’t know how God will accomplish this, but it will be the greatest family reunion we’ve ever known.”
John 11:25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;
Romans 6:4-5 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection,
1 Cor. 6:14 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.
Cancer cannot silence courage
Courage: quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty without fear.
When we think of courage, we often think of war or battlefields. Willard said that his grandson Ashley asked about the war. Willard was a veteran of WWII. “Grandpa, were you ever afraid?”
Willard told him that yes - every time I got into a landing craft headed toward a beach, he was afraid. He said, “We were scared because we were 20 yrs old and were afraid of dying...” But the year before Willard brought this message, he came closer to death when he had a heart attack, than he ever did when he was in the war.
But then, after his heart attack, he wasn’t afraid of dying. This sting of death is not there anymore. The fear is not there. That’s because he knew the one who had conquered death, and had nothing to fear.
Cancer cannot shatter hope
Willard remembered that everything that was written in the past was written to teach us and give us hope.
Romans 15:4 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
Jim Garrett brought a great message on hope a few weeks ago, and the biblical understanding of this marvelous word.
So I’d encourage you to get it if you want to take a more in-depth look at hope.
But one definition of hope that Willard mentioned is that “what is desired is also possible...” Then he said that all healing is divine. Every doctor, whether he knows it or not, acts as God’s healing agent. A man is immortal until God is through with him.
Romans 5:2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
1 Cor. 15:19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.
If this life is all there is, we’re really hopeless.
1 Thes. 4:13 Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.
We have that sure and certain hope that Jim Garrett spoke of just a few weeks ago. And it’s not the wishing kind of hope. It’s a sure thing, it’s certain.
Cancer cannot quench God’s spirit or our spirit...
It can touch the body but cannot touch our spirit or God’s spirit. We must not think of physical healing as the only sign of God’s grace. God reveals himself through the spirit just as powerfully as he reveals himself through the body.
Cancer cannot reduce eternal life
Did you ever think about this? Eternal life... it doesn’t begin at death.
It began the moment we received the free gift of salvation from Jesus, when we accepted Christ. When we were born again. Willard said that morning,
“cancer can’t kill me because I’m going to live forever....”
He pointed at himself and said, this body isn’t the real me. There was a picture on the mantle of the Hudson home of Willard at age 20. He said that if you were to see that picture anywhere but in his home, you’d have no idea it was him. You wouldn’t recognize him. But the same soul that was in that 20 yr old was in him that morning he spoke to us. “This is just an earthsuit,” he said.
In noting that, Willard said, “I’d like to get some of the wrinkles ironed out of it but I can’t. Some day I’ll just take it off and the real me will go.”
Romans 8:16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
1 Cor. 15:54-58 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." 55"Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" 56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
Two weeks ago yesterday, when Nancy was first hospitalized, I went up to the hospital. The Troutmans were there, too, and we prayed with Nancy and the family.
After we left, I walked out with the Troutmans, and Beth said:
“the things that were true about God last August, before Nancy got sick, are still true today.”
Isn’t that good news?
Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Deut. 32:4 He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just.
A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.
Psalm 33:4 For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does.
Psalm 100:5 For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.
Lament. 3:21-24 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
22Because of the LORD’S great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
23They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."
Let me end by quoting the estimable Cameron Reed. This is something he said to his dad just a few days before Nancy went home to be with the Lord. Hearing this encouraged me. It helped me know that this family will be OK. It helped me to know that we’re going to be OK. It helped me to know that another thing cancer cannot do is destroy the faith of a family who serves the Lord.
Cameron put his arm around his dad’s shoulder as they stood by the hospital bed, and said, “it’s OK, dad, We’re not built for time, we’re built for eternity.”
Cameron, that’s a sermon in a sentence. I don’t know if he read that somewhere or what, but it was surely appropriate for the moment, and fitting for this morning.
We’re not built for time, we’re built for eternity.
It occurs to me that cancer is built for time, and it couldn’t follow Nancy into eternal life. That’s another thing cancer cannot do.
Amen? Pray.....
