Funeral Sermon for Lois Kellerman

John 6:27-40

October 21, 2018

Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID

Peace and rest.  She now rests from her labors.

Peace. You have peace and hope in the midst of your mourning. That is good.  Death is bad. Christ has overcome death and so shall Lois. So shall you. And that is good.

Scandalous.  She married Merv before he was finished at the seminary.  Back in those days that was a no-no.  She lived a scandalous life as well, which is to say, she lived her life under the cross of Jesus. Her life revolved around 2 things: God and family, both biological and of faith. She labored long and hard next to her husband, with her children, with her friends.  How much food did she make for her family over the years? How much food did she make for church potlucks, dinners, get togethers? She labored for the food that did not perish, the Bread of God who came down from heaven and gives life to the world.

Jesus fulfilled the will of His father in regards to Lois.  He fed and nourished her along the way. There were some good times, and some difficult time.  And through it all He did not lose her. He preserved her in the true faith to life everlasting.

Lois wouldn’t want today to be about her but rather about what God has done for her in Christ, and what God has done for you.  Jesus explains this in John 6, This is the work of God, that you believe in Him who he has sent.  This work cannot be commanded, but is given and received in faith. In faith, in the possession of Him who is sent, Lois believes and lives. Much more important than the works of Lois, which were many and good by faith, is the work of God. God worked through her, granting her faith in Christ, but also a faith in Christ that is lived out in love toward others.

So we mourn not as others do who have no hope.  Even in death she bears witness to the hope she has in Christ. Not past tense, as in had, but present tense. We know that our Redeemer lives and the at that souls of the righteous, the souls of those declared righteous by faith alone in Christ alone, they are in the hand of God. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.

Let us fight the good fight of faith, the faith that lays a hold of the promises of God in Christ Jesus that in Him we have eternal life, in Him we are made new, in Him we are destined to be raised on the Last Day.  May we be ready, just as Lois was, for the final summons as the Lord called her to Himself. Let us rest in this time of mourning, surrounded by loved ones, rest in the peace of God that passes all understanding.

I look at your family and I can’t help but think of how many funerals you all have been too, participated in, preached for, helped with.  How many times have you spoken words of comfort to those who mourn so that they do not mourn as those without the hope of the resurrected Christ.  There’s nothing I can add to what you have preached. There are no new or more profound words I can say to make your sorrow lessen or the coming days and weeks and years be any different. So I’m not going to try.  All that I am going to do is leave you with the only words that truly matter, the only words that make an everlasting difference, and the only words that Lois would want you to hear: the words of Jesus, “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him would have eternal life, and I will raise Him up on the last day.”