Dick Randall Memorial Sermon
Beloved
family and dear friends – grace and peace to you from God our Father and Jesus
Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.
Oh, the
wonderful cross, the wonderful cross. It
is no wonder that many think us Christians to be weirdos.
How
wonder can an instrument of death be. Is
it wonderful is it to have large nails driven into your hands and feet? Is it fabulous
to be stripped of all your clothing and left hanging under a burning sun or
freezing cold? Is it marvelous to be the object of jeering and mocking people,
come to watch you suffer and die?
No, in
that sense, there is nothing wonderful about the cross. Being crucified was a horrific way to die.
But
listen to how the apostle Peter spoke of the cross during his great sermon on
Pentecost: (Jesus) was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and
foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put Him to death by
nailing Him to the cross.
Here
Peter is telling the crowd that Jesus’ death did not happen by accident. It did not come about because of the Jewish
religious leaders planned it or Pontius Pilate approved it.
It was
God’s plan that Jesus suffer death on the cross. Not because God the Father hated God the
Son. It was because the Father loved
you.
And
Jesus loved you too. The apostle Paul
explained it to the Philippians like this: (Jesus) made Himself nothing, taking
the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He
humbled Himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!
Now, if
Jesus had died for nothing, if there was no purpose or reason for such terrible
suffering, we could not say one wonderful thing about the cross.
But
look at what the death of Jesus accomplished:
Romans 5:8 – But God demonstrates His own
love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
1 Peter 1:18-19 – For you know that you
were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold…but with precious
blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.
John 3:16 – For God so loved the world
that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not
perish but have everlasting life.
It
is not the cross that is wonderful. It
is the One who died on the cross that makes the cross wonderful.
The
death of Jesus assures us that the punishment for our sins, which we should
have been made to pay, was instead paid for by Jesus at the cross. Having removed the sin that would have separated
us from God forever, our way to heaven is free and clear through faith in
Jesus. Jesus’ death and the blessings it
brings – forgiveness, peace with God, eternal salvation - are priceless
and given to us as a free gift.
That is
why we can sing, “The Wonderful Cross.”
And it was Dick Randell that helped me sing with all the joy my heart
could muster.
Now, I
am not certain but I think that Dick might have owned every tool known to
man. And he knew how to use those
tools. There was not anything he could
not build. There was not anything he could
not fix.
If you
were to look in our music room, you would see the beautiful closets Dick constructed
for our choir robes and banners. If you
have ever been in our fellowship hall you would find the first altar our church
used. The one we presently use is a result
of Dick’s craftsmanship.
I will always
remember Dick for the wonderful crosses he made. I am certain that more than one of you here
today have at least one cross that Dick made for you. But there is no cross more majestic or
meaningful to me and to those who worship at Life in Christ than the cross that
is hanging over my right shoulder.
Dick
volunteered to make this cross, the Life in Christ cross as we call it. From time-to-time people on the Building Committee
saw the cross in progress and told me, “It really is going to be special.”
I finally
saw the cross Dick brought it here to be hung on the wall. He and some guys managed to set the cross on
the front of our lift. Then, ever so
slowly, Dick maneuvered the lift onto a ramp and into the altar area.
A metal
hanger had been placed on the back wall and a notch was cut out on the back of
the cross. Slowly, Dick brought the
cross forward until it was resting against the wall. Then he slowly lowered the cross until hanger
and notch came together – a perfect fit!
Sherri
was here with me and we both had tears in our eyes. Our new church had a beautiful new cross, the
Life in Christ cross, built by our carpenter, Dick Randall.
Some of
you might know that there are Christians who are embarrassed by the cross. Some pastors and church leaders will not have
a cross in their sanctuary. They say that
the cross is offensive and a turn off to someone new to the Christian
faith. They reason, “Why scare someone
off with something that is a symbol of pain and death?”
The cross
of Christ figures greatly in our hymnody, especially during the Lenten season. We sing, “Lamb of God, pure and holy, Who on
the cross didst suffer.” Or, “When I
survey the wondrous cross, On which the Prince of Glory died.”
Those
hymns, and many others, remind us of the price the Master Carpenter, the Lord
Jesus Christ, paid so that we might be free of sin and have eternal life.
Dick
Randall loved his Savior. It was pure
joy to be in this house of worship, among God’s people, enjoying hymns of
praise and thanksgiving. Dick recognized
his sin and so he confessed that sin in worship. And he was comforted by God’s Word of
forgiveness and absolution. Dick was nourished
every time he came to the altar to receive the body and blood of the Lord for
the forgiveness of sins.
And the
Savior loved Dick and you and me and the whole world. That is why Jesus humbled Himself and left
the glories of heaven. It is why He
allowed evil people to scourge and beat Him to within an inch of His life. It is why Jesus joyfully carried out His
Father’s plan of salvation so that we would not perish but have everlasting
life.
Dick
impressed me so much with his courage during illness and suffering. He was determined to press on with life
despite dealing with cancer and dialysis and other ailments. His positive attitude and the Lord’s blessing
kept Dick going when lesser men would have given up.
Now,
Dick is with Jesus. As Jesus rose from
the dead on Easter Sunday, so Dick and all the saints will one day rise from
their graves, with a new glorified body and a new expectation. Eternity with Jesus! And knowing Dick, while
he waits for the earth shatter, awe inspiring return to the Lord, he is
probably looking around for something to build or repair. The thing is that heaven is not a place for
work but for rest. It is to rest in the
arms of Jesus until the Last Day, Resurrection Day.
And
that’s good news. You will see Dick again. You will touch him and talk with him and be
filled with a joy that you have never felt before. And you will do that while gathered around
the throne of the Master Carpenter, who took a simple piece of wood and made it
a Wonderful Cross for you and me. Amen.
