For a Lutheran man from a Baptist family...
Funeral Sermon for Robert Arnold
A Dashboard Hula Dancer with a Tissue on Top
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ!
One of Bobby’s favorite lines in God’s entire Bible is Galatians 3:27. Listen
again to what God says in Galatians 3:27.
All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
Dear Christian friends,
Most all of you probably know that Bob is a Lutheran. Bob has been a member of
Grace Lutheran Church in Versailles, and one of my dear Christians, for most of
his married life. What you may not know is that we Lutherans are
head-over-heels in love with God’s gift and miracle of Baptism. We are simply
gaga for Baptism!
We Lutherans are not like many other Christians in this way. Many other
Christians think of Baptism, not as what God does for you, but rather, what you
must do for God. They think of Baptism as the way they get to show God that
they are willing to follow Him and trust in Him and commit their lives to Him.
We Lutherans simply do not think that way. We are hung up on certain Bible
verses that explain Baptism as being God’s gift and miracle to us. For example,
• Titus 3:5 is a favorite verse among us, because this verse describes
Baptism as “the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.”
• We continually repeat to ourselves and to our children those amazing
and comforting Words that God wrote so clearly in 1 Peter 3:21, “Baptism… now
saves you. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
• Then we turn in our Bibles and we read in Acts 2:38, where God says
that Baptism is “for the forgiveness of your sins.” When we read those Words
from God, that Baptism is “for the forgiveness of your sins,” we Lutherans like
to ask ourselves, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Luke 5:22). Then we
smile with joy as we think our way through to the answer: No one can forgive
sins but God alone. Yet God so clearly says in His Bible that Baptism is for
the forgiveness of your sins. That can only mean that Baptism is something that
God Himself does for us! Baptism is God’s act of forgiveness, God’s gift, God’s
miracle, God’s doing unto us.
While we Lutherans have been sitting in our church pews, combing our way
through these Bible verses where God speaks about His gift and miracle of
Baptism, Bobby Arnold has been sitting right there in the pew with the rest of
us! Bobby Arnold has shared—and he still shares—our joy and our amazement and
our thankfulness to God for His wonderful gifts!
Hardly any Bible verse gave Bobby Arnold greater joy than these Words, written
by God: “All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with
Christ” (Galatians 3:27). One day during our Adult Sunday School—Bobby sitting
right there in the front pew—I drew a picture to explain what it means that
Baptism clothes you in Christ, or wraps you up in Christ Jesus. I drew a little
stick man on the board, and then I drew a blanket that went from the bottom of
the man’s feet, up over the top of his head, and then back down to his feet
again, totally covering him. Then I wrote the name “Jesus” on the blanket.
Using this image of a person totally covered with a blanket named Jesus, I
explained to Bobby and to the others in the class that this is what God does
for you when He baptizes. The divine miracle of Baptism so totally covers your
sins and hides them under Jesus, that God the Father no longer can see them.
Baptism so completely wraps you in the death and resurrection of Jesus (Romans
6:3-4), that your own resurrection from the dead is just as sure and certain as
Jesus’ resurrection on Easter Morning. “All of you who were baptized into
Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (Galatians 3:27). That means, when
God the Father looks at you, He sees the image of His Son—perfect, flawless,
eternal, entirely holy and fully righteous in every way.
I illustrated Baptism for Bob by drawing a stick man under a blanket, and Bob
fell so dearly in love with that picture that he never forgot it. In fact, he
frequently talked about it. Many times during our church life together, even
when we were discussing different topics, Bob would frequently remind me of
that stick man under a blanket. Whatever the topic, Bob would immediately draw
the connection to God’s miracle of Baptism. Bob would say, “That’s like the man
under the blanket, right pastor?” Right, Bob!
This next part sounds silly, I know. I still want to tell you about it. This
Baptismal image, this picture of a man under a blanket, so grabbed Bobby’s
imagination that he and I began talking about what we each could do to have
this image with us every day—Bob in his truck and me in my office. Because Bob
was always behind the wheel of a truck—and here is the silly part—we decided
upon a dashboard hula dancer. Not just any dashboard hula dancer, but a
dashboard hula dancer with a tissue on top; a dashboard hula dancer covered
from head to toe in a white, spotless paper blanket. Right there on the spot,
Bob and I made a deal: while out on the road he would find us two dashboard
hula dancers and I would buy them for the both of us.
Bob never brought me my hula dancer. We frequently reminded each other of this
silly idea, but it never finally happened. You can bet that I am going to take
that up with Bobby someday. God’s gift and miracle of Baptism makes me certain
beyond all question that I will see that guy again. “All of you who were
baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (Galatians 3:27).
Christ Jesus is alive, living in the eternal power of His resurrection from the
dead. Because Jesus is alive—and because Bobby’s Baptism means that Bobby is
wearing Jesus like a blanket—we know that Bobby is alive, too. We also know
that Bobby will get his body back in the resurrection on the Last Day. It will
certainly be a much better body than the one he left here, but Bobby will
indeed get his body back just as sure as Jesus bodily rose from the dead. You
also will rise from the dead when Jesus returns. You also will get your body
back. So will I, and when I
do, I aim to get that hula dancer, too.
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