John 14:1-6; 1 John 3:1-2; Job 19:21-27
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Gordon was born at the tail end of the Great Depression in Detroit. The Depression taught those who lived through it an important lesson: The truly valuable things in life are faith, family, and hard work. Gordon learned that lesson well. Gordon attended Immanuel Lutheran Church in Dearborn with his family where he was both baptized and confirmed. After high school Gordon entered the Air Force where he served six years before being honorably discharged, a portion of that time he spent in Japan. When he returned home Gordon when to work on farms near Elkader, at City Laundering in Oelwein, and finally with John Deere for twenty-four years before he retired. On September 25, 1966, Gordon married the love of his life Jolantha right here at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Readlyn and a few years later they purchased an acreage here and built their home in which they raised their family. They worshipped here at St. Paul. They raised their sons Tom and Steve here. And Gordon worked hard and long to support his family. That was what was important to Gordon: Faith, family, and hard work.
Gordon did have hobbies. He enjoyed woodworking, especially working with the scroll saw. Gordon had a great imagination and was skillful at crafting intricate, detailed woodwork, particularly crosses. He also enjoyed collecting die-cast tractors and farm implements, and he enjoyed the comradery of other tractor enthusiasts in the Two Cylinder Club. Gordon and Jolantha tended a large garden together, and the occasional road trip to Wisconsin or Detroit sufficed for a vacation. Gordon had a good sense of humor and was a bit of a tease. He liked to give people a hard time, particularly the nurses who cared for him the past few years. It was all in good fun.
2020 was a memorable year for all of us, and not in a good way, but that year Gordon suffered a stroke that affected the entire left side of his body. Nonetheless, Gordon kept a stiff upper lip and a positive attitude throughout it all, and he fought his way back. But then a blood clot cost him his leg last year, and the same thing cost him his other leg just a few weeks ago which culminated with the loss of his life last Thursday. Now, it would be easy to imagine that Gordon would be depressed or bitter, angry, and resentful given his situation, but that was not the case at all. Gordon continued to trust in the Lord, stay positive, and he even continued to give the nurses a hard time.
Faith, family, and hard work. That’s what Gordon believed in, just like Job. Let me refresh your memory on the patriarch Job. Job was a hard-working, successful farmer. He loved his family, and he trusted in the LORD. Faith, family, and hard work. God had blessed Job and counted his faith as righteousness. Nevertheless, the LORD permitted Satan to afflict Job in order to test him, because the LORD believed in Job, that he would remain faithful even if his blessings were stripped away. So, Job lost his livestock and his wealth, and then he lost his family, and finally he lost his own health. Still, Job would not curse God, but he continued to believe that the LORD was good and to trust in Him. Though he was a hair’s breadth from death, Job confessed his faith in a Redeemer whom he believed already lived and who would raise his flesh and blood body from death to new and everlasting life. “I know that my Redeemer lives,” Job confessed, “and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.” What’s even more amazing is that Job made that confession of his Redeemer something like two thousand years before the birth of Jesus. Similarly, when Gordon’s health was failing and the temptation was surely there to despair, bitterness, anger, and resentment, like Job, Gordon remained faithful and continued to trust in His LORD and Redeemer. Faith.
On February 16, 1936, Gordon was baptized and was born again a child of God. In addition to his parents and siblings, Gordon received a new family of faith as innumerable as the stars in the heavens. Throughout his long life, Gordon was a child of God and an heir with Jesus of everlasting life, having a home in God’s kingdom, and all the blessings of being a child of God. Still, though he was God’s child already through baptism and faith, Gordon looked forward to what he will be, to what we will all be, when Christ returns in glory on the Last Day. As St. John has put it, “Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” Family.
Steve once asked his father why he worked so hard. Gordon simply replied, “To support the family.” Truly, what else is there to work for that truly matters? All material, earthly things – wealth and possessions – even life itself, inevitably withers and fades. We came into this world with nothing, and in the same way we leave it. There is no U-Haul behind the hearse. Nevertheless, you do have possessions that will last forever, kept for you in heaven. Our Lord Jesus was sent by His Father from heaven to become a man. We just celebrated that historical moment on December 25 at Christmas. Having fulfilled all His Father required of Him under the Law, Jesus suffered and died for Gordon, for you, and for all humankind, the wages we earned and merited for our sin, and He gave us in exchange His holiness, righteousness, and life that cannot die. And then He returned to His Father in heaven to prepare a place in His Father’s house for Gordon, for you, and for all who will believe on Him. "Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In 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? 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.” It was Jesus’ work, his vocation, to fulfill His Father’s Law and suffer and die for Gordon, for you, and for all humankind, and He did it willingly out of love for His Father and for you whom His Father loves so dearly. Hard work for the sake of His family.
Dear Jolantha, Tom and Steve, family and friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, do not let your hearts be troubled. Our Lord Jesus prepared a place in His Father’s house for Gordon, and he is there now with Him. Though we grieve, we do not grieve as those who have no hope. Our Redeemer Jesus lives, and those who trust in Him live also, now, and forever. Take heart dear Christians, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Blessed are those who die in the Lord. Trust in Him and follow in His way. Jesus is the way, the truth, and life; no one comes to the Father except through Him. And all who believe on Him are already His children, and what we will be has not been revealed, but we will be like Him when He comes again in glory.
In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.
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