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Sermon 98
Receiving the Crown
of Life
The Funeral Sermon
for Chuck Prescott
(1925–2019)
July 13, 2019
John 3:16 is probably
the best known Bible verse of all – “For God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not
perish but have eternal life.”
This verse is
known for its love, and rightly so – For God so loved the world that
he gave his only Son. How good and true that word is about love –
and it has been so for generations of believers! But there’s more to
that verse than this word about love. There’s also – And will not
perish but have everlasting life if you believe. Now that’s a little
darker. Perish isn’t as sweet a word as love is. But still they go
together – the sweet along with the bitter. You can’t just read – For
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son – and then mumble
through the rest of it! No, the bitter ending of John 3:16 is also
important to the overall verse. You can’t chop the end off!
What we
have here, then, is Luther’s duplex verbum – or the “double word”
(Luther’s Works 3:242). Duplex verbum is Latin for the
double word – the sweet and the bitter together. Yes, Luther loved the
Latin language (“Preface to the Complete Edition of Luther’s Latin
Writings” (1545), LW 34:327–38) even though he is mostly
remembered for being one of the greatest champions ever of the German
language (“I Was Born for My Germans,” pp. 222–29 in Heinz Schilling, Martin
Luther: Rebel in an Age of Upheaval, trans. Rona Johnston, 2017).
Latin, he still believed, was the “backing stone” to the “hewn facings”
of any sturdy building (LW 46:231).
So how do they go
together – this love and perishing? Well, John 11 helps us out. There we
learn about Jesus being the resurrection and the life – and that though
we die yet shall we live (John 11:25). So eternal life, when granted to
believers, doesn’t circumvent death. It just surpasses it once it
happens. So even though Chuck died a while back, he’s now alive again
(John 14:19). And he’s actually more than alive – he’s blessed with his
new life in heaven. John 5 teaches us about that. Christ’s raises all
and rules over all in the end – bringing forth both those “who have done
good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the
resurrection of judgment” (John 5:29). Thanks be to God that through
faith in Jesus, Chuck has been saved from this judgment and the wrath of
God (John 3:36). He has received that blessed life instead – which is
proclaimed to us all in that first option.
What an amazing
message! And Chuck believed it – that’s why he has not perished but has
eternal life! So while we’re sad, Chuck isn’t. I have friends who say
they wouldn’t want to live forever in heaven because it would be so
boring – the same thing over and over again. But they haven’t heard the
full Bible story, have they? The life awaiting us in heaven is anything
but boring. It’s, in fact, glorious! All bad things are gone – no
sickness or death, no evil or corruption. All tears are wiped away
(Revelation 21:4). That keeps everything perpetually interesting! That’s
what Chuck has. And in that last glorious book of the New Testament –
the Revelation of Saint John the Divine – we’re told that those who have
this glorious life are given the “crown of life” (Revelation 2:10)!
Won’t that be something!
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Now Chuck never told
me to be like him. In fact, if he heard me considering this he would
laugh! But who couldn’t admire him? Those 93 years of belief – starting
in its incipient form right after he was baptized in 1925! (Luther’s
Works 76:257–66). Would that I carry my faith forward from infancy
to old age as well. Not everyone does, you know. That’s because the
baptized can squander their baptism! Luther even thought that many were
baptized in vain (LW 29:132, 57:27 – and 7:132, 27:85)! But not
Chuck. Magnificent! He miraculously held onto his baptism for 93 years.
And then there are those 72 years of marriage to his beloved, Doris! And
theirs was no ordinary marriage at all – for they were always batting
around the tough issues of the day, and still stayed together as a
loving couple. Add to this Chuck’s 71 years as a beloved father,
grandfather, and great-grandfather. Pretty impressive! His family relied
on him – and he delivered over and over again. And how about those 65
years here – as a loyal member of this church! You don’t see that often
– people putting so much of their money and effort into their faith –
both in the good times and the bad. And then, as one untimely born (1
Corinthians 15:8), Chuck was my friend for 40 years. Through all of the
ups and downs of my ministry, he supported me with sage advice – never
failing to extend to me the hand of friendship – just as the Bible says
true friends are, being “born for adversity” (Proverbs 17:17). That was
Chuck – no fair-weather friend (Alexander Pope, 1730) in any way
whatsoever!
So be like
Chuck? I should say so – for who couldn’t admire this loyalty and
steadfastness (1 Corinthians 15:58)? So on this day when we pay our last
respects to this child of God, let us not only admire Chuck Prescott,
but also give thanks to God, that through his faith in the only begotten
Son of God, he now has his great reward, his crown of life – eternal
blessedness in heaven forever. Amen.
(printed
as preached but with some changes)
