Ephesians 2 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
John 19 28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” 29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. Dear Friends in Christ, It’s been quite the race that the Rux family has been running in the last few years. And nobody runs their race quite like the Rux family! About a week before Jan passed away, on a Thursday afternoon, we gathered around her bedside and we prayed and we cried and we laughed, and then we did some more praying, crying, and laughing, not necessarily in that order, as is the custom of this family. We were pretty sure that day would be the finish line. The next day I stopped in and you had wheeled her out for a smoke, perhaps her last smoke? On Sunday morning, I texted Tara and asked her how her mom was doing, and she replied, “She is done with her wild side. She was down and sleeping all day yesterday…temp on and off…some confusion.” Fast forward to Wednesday morning, and surrounded by sons and daughters and husband and a pastor, not to mention angels and archangels and the full company of saints, she finished her race. This afternoon, we want to talk first of all about the race Jan Rux ran and finished in a little nursing home on the outskirts of Janesville, secondly about the race Jesus Christ ran and finished on a little hill outside of Jerusalem, and third about the race you are running and will finish only God knows when and where. First of all, we can say about Jan Rux as of this past Wednesday morning, “mission accomplished.” The Epistle Lesson chosen for today teaches us first that Jan was saved by the grace of God alone through faith alone. In the waters of Holy Baptism, the Triune God claimed her as child, and from that day forward, her Good Shepherd followed her around with goodness and mercy. In every one of her days, she sinned and fell short of the glory of God, as do we all, but every morning the mercies of her God were fresh like the morning dew. She had a hard time sitting still, oh my, did she have a hard time sitting still, but when she did, she knew that God was God and that He loved her. Her assignments in life were God-given, and as of this past Wednesday, they were completed. One of her main assignments in life was to be married to Loren Rux. There were good times and not so good times, there was thick and there was thin, there were waves of tears thoroughly mixed in with the kind of laughter that would make your stomach hurt. She had promised to love and to honor and to nourish and to cherish Loren, and so she did, for better and for worse, for richer and for poorer, in good health and in sickness. Throw in a bit of scolding, lots of cleaning up after, plenty of falling short, an abundance of forgiveness, and after all the dust had settled, mission was accomplished. Until death do us part, the two of you promised, and so it did. A second main assignment for Jan was to be mom, grandma, and soon to be great grandma. Again there were smooth sailing days and those where the winds blew and the waves dashed people to pieces. There were the best of days and there were the worst of days, and frequently they come one right after another. This family has a habit of talking sweet, talking smart, and talking straight, enough to make your head swim some days. But, if I can stay with the metaphor of swimming, all of it was done in the context of Baptismal waters. For this family, and for every one of our families, every day is not only a race to be run, but a battle to be fought. In our baptismal liturgy, congregations and parents and godparents swear to help these little ones spend their days renouncing the devil and all of his works and all of his ways. In the Rite of Confirmation, which we celebrated today here at Trinity, our confirmands wear their white robes and they swear to God and to anybody listening that they are now grasping their baptismal faith for themselves, they are vowing to fight their own battles with the help of God, they are promising to run their own races and to do battle against the devil and all of his nasty demons. (Footsteps story with twist ending) In Jan’s final weeks and months of life, her main assignment was to receive. It was to be taken care of by you rather than to be taking care of you. Now she pretty much went through that stage kicking and screaming, but I will tell you of at least once a month where she did sit still and receive. (Story of her confessing sins and receiving Holy Communion, and then washing my communion cups in thorough fashion.) It was when she ate and drank at her Lord’s Supper, that the Spirit of God was accomplishing His mission in her heart and mind. As often as she received the good gifts God was wanting to give her, that often what Christ finished at the cross was getting delivered right into her heart and soul and mind. At the cross, objectively speaking, Almighty God accomplished His mission. There on Calvary’s holy mountain the Son suffered everything his father asked him to suffer. He endured all that he was assigned to endure. Every last drop in the cup of a righteous God’s wrath towards sin he drank. Every bit of punishment that every sinner in every generation in every corner of the world should have received, he accepted. Every one of our sorrows he carried, every one of our infirmities he took up, every last one of our iniquities he let them lay on him, every debt that needed to be paid, he paid. And when he cried out in his closing breaths that it is finished, he meant what he said and said what he meant. With his wounds we are healed, at the moment of his death, our salvation is purchased, and by rising again from the dead on the third day, he lives to look you in the eyes today, and say, Because I live, so also will Jan Rux live! We believe that at the moment of death, her soul was carried by the angels into the very presence of Jesus Christ, and that on the last day this body which is now dust and ashes will be raised up to be reunited with her soul and live in a place which is far better than the grandest places we could live in here and now. Now that the story of Jan Rux here and now has been written, now that she has been saved by the grace of God through faith alone in Jesus Christ, now that her good works ordained by God for her do have been completed, your eyes may turn back towards your own stations in life. In closing, I say to you that your assignments are two fold. Your second most important assignment in these next chapters of life is to spend your days thanking and praising, serving and obeying. Thanking and praising, serving and obeying. Most of you don’t really have to wonder what your duties are every day when your jump out of bed, or maybe you sort of roll out of bed, and maybe a couple of you get kicked out of bed! If you’re married, your assignment is to stay married and not just to survive marriage, but for you husbands to lay down your lives with a sacrificial love, and for you wives to receive all of that love and give it right back to him in the form of respect. Perhaps you have children to bring up to know their Savior, or perhaps you’re a grandma or grandpa, or maybe you’re an employer or an employee, or maybe you have a broken hearted person in your life that needs to be befriended, or a lonely friend that needs you to spend some time, or maybe an aging parent that needs to be served…….your second most important assignment is simply to love as you have been loved, forgive as you have been forgiven, serve as you have been served first by Jesus Christ. Your #1 assignment, which you may be wondering about by now, is to receive all that your God wants to you to have. It’s that simple, what Jesus Christ finished at the cross, His great desire is for you to have the full benefit package in every one of your days. I’ve been reading some of your FB posts, and I know there are a few of you daughters and sons who are wondering how you’re going to get through this, you’re wondering who is going to be your refuge now that your mom is gone, you’re wondering who will be the glue that holds this family together. The answer, of course, is Jesus Christ. He is the glue that will hold your family together as well as the entire and worldwide family of God, the Holy Christian Church. He is the refuge upon which you may lean and the strength you may hold onto in every one of your days, especially the stormy ones. He is the one who has chosen you in baptism, he has redeemed you with his very blood, he has his race in perfect fashion, and invites you to follow him as closely as you possibly can. Your first assignment each day is to be loved by God, and secondly go looking for people to love. Your first assignment is to be forgiven by God, and secondly to go looking for someone to forgive. First assignment is to be comforted by your God, and secondly go looking for someone to comfort. First is to be taken care of by your Savior, and then go looking for someone to take care of. May God bless you, Loren and Lonna and Kiki and Tara and Jadi and Jake and Jordy and all you who called her mother in law or grandma or friend or day care lady or neighbor, may Jesus Christ and His angels watch over you that the wicked foe may have no power over you, may you do all the good works assigned by God for you to do, and may Jan Rux rest in peace, that she may rest from her labors, and her works do follow her. Amen.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Worship Sermons & LettersArchives
October 2022
|