LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2023, Page 88

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

Christ, the Death of Death, Our Foe
1 THESSALONIANS 4:13–18

South Wisconsin District President Rev. Dr. John C. Wille,
delivered in his absence by South Wisconsin District Mission Executive Rev. Dr. Nathan Meador
68th Regular Convention of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod • August 2, 2023 • Faithful Departed
In the name of our Lord Jesus, who has destroyed death
and has brought life and immortality to light, dear fellow
Christians:
One of my dear friends, former president of the South
Wisconsin District Rev. Dr. Edwin Suelflow, would
remark: “Sterben ist kein Kinderspiel.” Death is no child’s
play.
In death, in the dying process, we come face to face with
our own mortality. In death, soul and body are separated.
Torn apart. The prophet describes death this way: “The
dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns
to God who gave it” (Eccl. 12:7).
Death is a harsh reality. Rev. Dr. Suelflow’s lifeless body
now rests in a grave next to his wife and a daughter just
outside of Adell, Wis.
Just like Dr. Suelflow, you are mortal. I am mortal. You
and I: “Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.”
Consider what that means.
Death is never a welcome visitor in any home, or in any
life. Our God created us to live eternally with Him; and yet
sin ruined that. Because of the curse of sin we will die just

as every generation before us has lived and died. “Earth to
earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.”
Stop by an old cemetery and you will see generations of
people who once lived, now resting quietly in the earth.
I grew up in Watertown, forty miles to the west. When I
go to visit my parents’ graves at the Lutheran Cemetery
there, I walk amongst the graves of many whom I knew
growing up. People of faith. Believers. My parents, my
grandparents and great grandparents, other relatives,
neighbors, and even children who seemingly died before
their time.
Walking there, it is not difficult to see their faces and not
difficult to remember their voices. Generations whose
lifeless bodies now rest in the grave. “Earth to earth, ashes
to ashes, dust to dust.”
Those generations are in the grave because of sin. You
know the words which the Lord God spoke to Adam and
Eve after they sinned: “For you are dust, and to dust you
shall return” (Gen. 3:19b). Adam and Eve brought the
cold, unsympathetic reality, the curse of death, upon
themselves, and upon every generation after them. That
includes those listed on the screen. Someday that will
include you and me. My grave awaits my arrival in that
cemetery with my ancestors, with those neighbors. That
day is approaching.
The Psalmist comments: “What man can live and never
see death? Who can deliver his soul from the power of
[the grave]?” (Psalm 89:48). Earth to earth, ashes to
ashes, dust to dust.
Such is the curse of the Law. But we are blessed because
there is a more powerful message, another reality, a
sweeter destination than the cold, harsh headstone that
records your first day and your last. Listen to St. Paul’s
powerful words:

Rev. Dr. Nathan Meador
88 | PROCEEDINGS OF THE 2023 (68TH) LCMS CONVENTION

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers,
about those who are asleep, that you may not
grieve as others do who have no hope. For since
we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so,
through Jesus, God will bring with him those who
have fallen asleep. … For the Lord himself will
descend from heaven with a cry of command,
with the voice of an archangel, and with the
Convention Sermons