January 20, 2023 was the second to the last of the hardest days that I had to endure in recent history of my life (the last hardest day was to co-officiate my Grandpa’s funeral seven days later). The 20th was filled with saying my final goodbye to him before he passed about 45 minutes later, me changing the oil on my truck (that was when I received the call that he had passed was when I was draining the oil on the truck) in preparation for the upcoming trip to Missouri for the funeral, making numerous financial and work arrangements before we could leave, acquisition of as many photos as possible of my grandfather so my wife could prepare a photo presentation (to which I am grateful to her for), and having to make a number of phone calls to let family know that he had passed away. (I would also like to just briefly but out of sincere love and appreciation for all those who prayed for him during his final days as well as lifted my family in prayer during that time, to say thank you. Your prayers and love meant a lot for me. You know who you are.) And outside of doing this for work purposes where I have no choice but to do it, a few days later after getting the news, we drove all night to Missouri with the fear of black ice on the highways and “funeral adrenaline” keeping me awake as much as possible (I was so exhausted when we finally got to the motel in Chillicothe that that the following evening I was completely mentally gone when I went to sleep that I couldn’t even say anything that made sense). It was a painful drive and so very hard for me; but I had to be mission-minded to control my composure to be strong for family. Then the hardest day and then events of that day were after the funeral itself, specifically when they closed the coffin. I felt my heart hurt really bad when his head on the pillow was lowered and locks were secured. We, it was the pastor from the Baptist home, myself, and the two funeral-home people were the last to leave from the room with his casket as we ran the service. And then with the military honors he received at the cemetery, I almost came completely unglued then and struggled to almost squeak out final words the pastor asked me to say. And despite grief and pain in heart, a profound burden was on my heart: so that others may know Christ and that they can find purpose, that my grandpa did have something to say or contribute to all those who gathered. But I mentioned something during the service that when we emptied my Grandpa’s room at the nursing home, that out of everything he possessed for 92 years of his life was now reduced to a radio (it was a Christmas gift given to him by me so he could hear my sermons on CD, which we now have in our kitchen), a few clothes and toiletries, a couple of reachers (a handle with a trigger to help grab something from the floor or distance), a phone, and a couple of other things. Basically it was all reduced to a couple of boxes of things. 92 years of life, a marriage, five kids, military service, multiple farms, jobs he held were now reduced to two boxes of stuff. And it bothered me (to which I am grateful for what Pastor Moseley countered or continued after I had said something about the boxes). For all a person lives for, does for him/her family, and dies is reduced to a number of things to be divided or discarded.
While staying in the vein of burden of the gospel and our life’s purposes to be summarized in our final days, some words said in a song by Petra (Beyond Belief) that I played earlier this morning sparked my search for these words found in Romans 1:17 counter my final lament of the boxes. To keep things in context (I try my best to be a context preacher/teacher), Paul had a burden to arrive in Rome in person to personally imprint his life to the Believers there, and to make his own converts and disciples while there; as was hopefully the hope of my grandpa over his lifetime to pass on something to someone that would continue on. It was a fulfillment of Paul’s Calling given by Christ for him to reach out to the Gentiles with living hope. But what of that hope? It is a faith, not in ourselves or in the flesh/strength of others, but in God. Romans 1:17 is a flowing statement in a sea of conveyance for what Paul wanted to say with these words, “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith’” (emphasis added). When looking at the final words the just shall live by faith, it harkens Habakkuk 2:4 (but to keep it in context, let us look at Habakkuk 2:2-4) which says, “Then the LORD answered me and said: ‘Write the vision and make it plan on tablets, that he may run who reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by faith.’”
How do we live by faith? Hebrews 11:1-2 and 6 say, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony…But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Cynics view faith as wishful thinking; naïve believing for something no different than a child hoping for Santa to bring a special gift on Christmas. My dad used to crassly say, pray in one hand and poop in the other and see which one fills up first. And despite the word faith often referred to in the noun sense in the Bible, I often desire to refer to it in a verb or action sense; like faith is a vehicle moving in a forward direction carrying us forward to whatever and wherever the Lord desires or has for us. It is that faith that compels people who fall in love to marry one another. It is that faith that compels a man to leave all to go out as a pastor or missionary to declare His word, not ever knowing what the end results may be. It is faith that motivated Abraham and a host of others in the Bible. It is faith (and love) that propelled many a modern missionary such as William Carey, Hudson Taylor, Robert Jermaine Thomas, Daniel Nelson, and a huge list of others including my pastor Jim Pena and my good friends the Navas, the Harris, Felans, and others to step out because God directed their steps with a trust in God that He not only sent them, but will be with them. And a faith that there is something afar off; not just heaven, but that others can also discover their life and purpose in the plan of God through, first, salvation.
And it is by the faith to faith that Paul was propelled into Rome to fulfill his greatest and last goal. It is a vision, that the Lord spoke through Habakkuk that will be revealed at an appointed time. And despite Paul’s anxiousness, he had to wait for the fulfillment or as Habakkuk wrote that it will surely come but that we have to wait for it. Now some refer to this waiting as a waiter at a restaurant to serve and be busy. And there is application and merit. But sometimes that waiting truly means to stand still, to be idle, to hold position. And that waiting or standing still for many people is one of the hardest things to do. Why? Because we like to do things (unless we’re lazy, then that is a whole other matter). We like having our hand involved; it is our accomplishment after our endeavor. We may even pray but during that prayer we are planning and strategizing how we (not God) will get that done or fixed or accomplish something. And to have to not do a single thing except to wait for that “appointed time” to see the fulfillment or to step in drives us insane. And that is why/how we move faith to faith. That compelling faith is like getting refreshed or second wind, which brings in Psalm 84:5-7, “Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, whose heart is set on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a spring; the rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion.” It is in those dry, dire, desert, painful, or extremely difficult times where all we can do is just go from strength to strength or faith to faith.
And that is what helped Paul to find his strength to face whatever that day or that prison sentence provided. And it is what helped me nearly a year ago. It is that going faith to faith is all any one of us can do. That whatever and wherever we are finding ourselves in—heartache, confusion, pain, disillusionment, loss—that we can trust in God to take us, either walking beside us or Him to carry us, from faith to faith in His strength. And it is in that trust and renewed and renewing trust that we can continue and will continue on until—like the Jews for Zion—we are in Heaven to be with the Lord forever.
Please Jesus, give us Your strength to strength and sustaining faith to faith.