Title: At home with Jesus forever!
Text: John 14:3 (English Standard Version)
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
Dear friends, family and loved ones of our beloved LeRoy.
I’m Pastor Russ Tkac, Pastor of Peace and I've been blessed to know LeRoy for going on 14 years and to celebrate his life with family and friends.
LeRoy unfortunately, over these last 4-5 years was confined to his bed and wheelchair for much of his time and though he was still mentally sound, or as mentally sound as any of us can be … he was gradually ebbing away. Especially the last few months, as he was in hospice care and as I visited with Doris and him, I could see a change in his health. I made a number of stops and talked with LeRoy on many occasions, but those of you who knew him would understand that though he was immobile … that did not keep him from going anywhere he wanted to go. LeRoy’s motorized wheelchair was his means of transportation. It was his road and his off-road vehicle. Rain or shine it went where he wanted to go … to the grief of family, friends and yes we at church.
In the Gospel text for today we read: (Jesus says)
1 "Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. (John 14:1-3)
So though we grieve and are sad at LeRoy’s passing we can have comfort as well. Jesus tells us that He has a place for us, and that included LeRoy, it has been prepared for him and because of LeRoy’s faith and trust in Jesus … he has now taken possession of it.
If you knew LeRoy … that was one of his gifts; to introduce everyone who he met to Jesus. He trusted Christ and supported the work of the church and as the church we brought Christ to Leroy when he could no longer get to Peace for regular worship. He told me also that his greatest hope was that all of you, his children and grandchildren, would know and trust Jesus too.
LeRoy loved his wife Doris, his family and cookies and sweets, but not necessarily in that order! I had the joy of visiting Leroy June 16 and he was in good spirits. “LeRoy, how you doing,” I asked? “Great, just great,” was his reply. Now, the previous visit he was not doing so well, so it was good to hear that he was sounding like his old self. Though he told me he was getting tired of fighting the illness and was looking forward to his heavenly home. And now he has gone to that heavenly home to be with Jesus.
Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" 6Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:5-6)
LeRoy knew the way. I visited with him at the hospital on a number of occasions at Canterbury during rehab and at the house as well … and home is where he wanted to be. It is hard to fight against the will of a determined man and LeRoy was that … and even though it caused us all concern, we all will probably fight that same fight when we get close to our time of departure for heaven too.
LeRoy’s hope was in the blessed hope of his Lord and savior Jesus Christ and the reunion he knew was waiting him in heaven. He was looking to be with Christ and today heaven is his home and his rolling chair is here because in heaven Leroy won’t need it. He has been redeemed at baptism … and Christ promises to make all things new.
He knew his sins were forgiven too on account of Jesus’ death on the cross. He knew that because Jesus rose from the dead, he would too. He knew Heaven was his home and that Jesus had prepared a place for him, so that even with the veil of death lurking at the door and waiting to cover him, He had the blessed hope of reunion forever with Jesus and with all dearly departed who have gone to their eternal rest in the Lord before him.
You too have this home waiting for you. The blessed Good News that Jesus died for your sins is the wonderful Gospel message you can trust. Jesus has forgiven your sin and by the power of the Holy Spirit, in you, has given you the faith to believe in His saving work and a place prepared for you, forgiven in Christ and forever with our Lord and savior Jesus, and that’s a Heaven and an eternity you can trust.
As we grieve today we remember …
LeRoy always came home. When he went to the hospital, rehab or ambulance rides … he always came home. But this time he didn’t. Christ called him to his heavenly home.
Sin, the corruption of this world and the work of the Devil were going to do everything possible to make sure that we who remain saw that death was not peaceful, restful or kind. It is the consequence of the fall of Adam and Eve into sin … the fall and sin we share.
But, you too can know that the path and rescue that our Lord and savior Jesus followed, to the cross for you, was not peaceful, restful or kind either. It was a death that shook the very foundation of this world as Satan fought in every way to keep Christ Jesus from standing in Leroy’s place and your place too.
It was LeRoy, you and me that the Devil wanted to see on that cross because it would have accomplished nothing … but your death … in a most horrible way. Sin would not have been paid for and you would have been destined to spend an eternity separated from God … a true meaning of Hell … forever.
But as Martin Luther reminds us:
“The Christian life does not consist of being but becoming, not of victory but of fight, not of righteousness but of justification, not of comprehending but of stretching forward, not of purity but of [being purified] purification.” – Luther WA 57
The death of sin - brings perfection in Christ.
In First Corinthians St. Paul writes:
54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
"Death is swallowed up in victory."
55 "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?"
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
(1 Cor. 15:54-58)
LeRoy received that victory in baptism marked as one redeemed by Christ the crucified and now has the fullness of that reality.
He was prepared, he was forgiven, and he will be … at home with Jesus forever because Christ has promised:
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
Praise be to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has prepared a place not only for Leroy … but for you and me as well. Your sins have been forgiven on account of Christ’s atoning sacrifice and you who trust in Christ, will be forever in the presence of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ forever as well.
May the Lord comfort you with this blessed good news now and forever!
Amen
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