Job 14:1-17 1 Peter 5:1-4 Matthew 10:32
“Man who is born of a woman
is few of days and full of trouble.
2 He comes out like a flower and withers;
he flees like a shadow and continues not.
3 And do you open your eyes on such a one
and bring me into judgment with you?
4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?
There is not one.
5 Since his days are determined,
and the number of his months is with you,
and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass,
6 look away from him and leave him alone,[a]
that he may enjoy, like a hired hand, his day.
is few of days and full of trouble.
2 He comes out like a flower and withers;
he flees like a shadow and continues not.
3 And do you open your eyes on such a one
and bring me into judgment with you?
4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?
There is not one.
5 Since his days are determined,
and the number of his months is with you,
and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass,
6 look away from him and leave him alone,[a]
that he may enjoy, like a hired hand, his day.
7 “For
there is hope for a tree,
if it be cut down, that it will sprout again,
and that its shoots will not cease.
8 Though its root grow old in the earth,
and its stump die in the soil,
9 yet at the scent of water it will bud
and put out branches like a young plant.
10 But a man dies and is laid low;
man breathes his last, and where is he?
11 As waters fail from a lake
and a river wastes away and dries up,
12 so a man lies down and rises not again;
till the heavens are no more he will not awake
or be roused out of his sleep.
13 Oh that you would hide me in Sheol,
that you would conceal me until your wrath be past,
that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
14 If a man dies, shall he live again?
All the days of my service I would wait,
till my renewal should come.
15 You would call, and I would answer you;
you would long for the work of your hands.
16 For then you would number my steps;
you would not keep watch over my sin;
17 my transgression would be sealed up in a bag,
and you would cover over my iniquity.
if it be cut down, that it will sprout again,
and that its shoots will not cease.
8 Though its root grow old in the earth,
and its stump die in the soil,
9 yet at the scent of water it will bud
and put out branches like a young plant.
10 But a man dies and is laid low;
man breathes his last, and where is he?
11 As waters fail from a lake
and a river wastes away and dries up,
12 so a man lies down and rises not again;
till the heavens are no more he will not awake
or be roused out of his sleep.
13 Oh that you would hide me in Sheol,
that you would conceal me until your wrath be past,
that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
14 If a man dies, shall he live again?
All the days of my service I would wait,
till my renewal should come.
15 You would call, and I would answer you;
you would long for the work of your hands.
16 For then you would number my steps;
you would not keep watch over my sin;
17 my transgression would be sealed up in a bag,
and you would cover over my iniquity.
So I exhort the elders among
you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as
well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: 2 shepherd
the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion,
but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; 3 not domineering
over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. 4 And
when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive
the unfading crown of glory.
So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will
acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven,
Grace, mercy and
peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Our text today is Pastor Jording’s confirmation verse just read, “everyone
who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is
in heaven.” Thus far our text.
Dear friends in
Christ, especially Lucia, Dacia, and Timothy, friends and family of Pastor
Jording. Pastor Jording spent his life
giving. He gave love to his wife and
kids. He gave honorary doctorates to
many of the pastors here from the fictitious “University of Southern North Dakota.” For 40 plus years, he gave the Word of God to
about a dozen congregations. He
baptized, confirmed, and married many of you who are here. He preached over 2,400 sermons. He visited the sick. He cared for the poor. His life was a life of confessing who Christ
is, of giving the gifts of Jesus to people, and of serving him in all his
stations of life.
This man spent his
life faithfully confessing and proclaiming and giving the gifts of God, and
yet, this man, as his life was coming to its end, as he body was getting
weaker, and his pain getting greater, confessed to me – “You can’t out give
God.” You see, Pastor Jording understood, that even
as great a giver as he was, he didn’t give enough. As much as he cared for you, he still fell
short. As good of a pastor as he was, he
still had his weaknesses and shortcomings.
Despite all the wonderful things that Pastor Howard Jording did in his
life, he knew it was nothing compared to the gift that Jesus gave –
forgiveness, life and salvation. A gift
freely given to you, to me, and yes even to Pastor Jording in his life.
And it is a gift
that we desperately need. Left to our
own devices, this world is more than we can bear. As our Old Testament lesson says, “Man who
is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble.” We struggle through days of hurt, pain and
mourning. Our sin is ever before
us. Yes, even a faithful pastor like
Pastor Jording was guilty of sin. He sinned
in his thoughts, words, and deeds, just as you dear friends in Christ
have. He fell short of the glory of God,
just as you do every day. He was a poor
miserable sinner, just like you and me, although he also confessed to me that
he never liked that saying, because he said, and I quote, “I am not a poor sinner,
I’m actually very good at being a sinner.”
Pastor Jording
knew this from his own life, just as you too know your own sin. He knew where he fell short. He knew where he failed. He had seen the pain and sorrows of this
world, he had lost his loved ones to death.
Sin permeated his life, and he was the first to admit it.
And it’s that sin
that brings us together here today. The
wages of that sin is death. That sin
infects each one of us. It destroys our
relationships. It causes weakness and
pain in our lives. It kills our loved
ones, even as it awaits its turn to take us to death as well. It’s sin, a calamity too big for us to deal
with on our own, to steep a price to pay, too ugly to conceal that we deal
with. And we know it sting today
especially, as we gather to mourn and hurt. We’ve watched as Pastor’s own health
deteriorated. We’ve watched as he became
weaker. We’ve watched as he’s finally
left this world of suffering. We’ve lost
a friend, a colleague, a father and husband.
And it hurts to stay and mourn.
But that’s why God’s
gift is so wonderful. That’s what makes
his work so amazing. His gift is rescue
from this world of sin and death. His
gift is the promise of everlasting life.
His gift, the gift we can never out give, is the gift of Christ. Christ was sent to our world to suffer in our
place, to die for us, and to become sin for us, so that we might inherit all of
God’s good gifts. Jesus became obedient
to death, even death on a cross. He did
this for you. He did this for me. He did this for Pastor Jording.
This gift of
forgiveness came to Pastor Jording the same way it did to you, through
baptismal waters. His sinful nature
drowned, and a man clothed in Christ’s righteousness was born. He was saved, not by righteous things he had
done, but by a washing of rebirth and renewal.
Having been justified by Grace, Howard Jording became an heir of
everlasting life.
You see dear
friends, I can tell you today, exactly where Pastor Jording is, not because of
how many of you he baptized, not because of how many sermons he preached, but
rather because of the gift God gave him in the bloody, gruesome death of
Jesus. Because Christ died, Howard
Jording lives. Because the Lamb of God
took away the sins of the world, Howard Jording inherited heaven. It was a gift that could never be out-given,
or out done.
And so because he
was saved, Pastor Jording fulfilled his confirmation verse. Trusting in Christ’s mercy, he acknowledged
Christ before men. For 20 years here in
this pulpit, he proclaimed the promise he had received – Jesus crucified to
take away the sins of the world. He
shepherded the flock that Christ had given to his care, not under compulsion,
but willingly, not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering
over those in his charge, but being examples to the flock. Why? Because of what the gift he had already been
given. And now for Pastor Howard John
Jording, the chief shepherd has appeared, and he has received the crown of
glory.
Dear friends,
Pastor Jording was right. You can’t out
give God. For God gives you all. He gives you life. He justifies you by the blood of his
Son. He sanctifies you and keeps you in
the true faith with his gifts. He gives
you Jesus, the best gift of all. For 40
plus years, and even up until this last week, Pastor Jording joyfully
acknowledged this before you. And I tell
you the truth, today, he is acknowledged before God in heaven. Today, Pastor Jording is at peace, in the
nail scarred arms of Jesus – forever. Amen.
