Judy Stengrim Funeral Sermon

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

And now, here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg.

The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke, chapter 23, verses 33 -46. When they came to the place that is called the Skull, there they crucified Jesus, and the criminals, one on His right and one on His left.

Jesus said, Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. And they cast lots to divide His garments. And the people stood by, watching. But the rulers scoffed at Him, saying, He saved others. Let Him save Himself, if He is the Christ of God and His chosen one.

The soldiers also mocked Him, coming up and offering Him sour wine and saying, If you're the King of the Jews, save yourself. There was an inscription over Him. This is the King of the Jews. One of the criminals who were hanged railed at Jesus saying, Are you not the Christ?

Save yourself and us. But the other rebuked Him saying, Do you not fear God? Since you are under the same sentence of condemnation. And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward for our deeds.

But this man has done nothing wrong. And he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus said to him, Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise. And it was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun's light failed, and the curtain of the temple was torn in two.

Jesus called out with a loud voice, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. And having said this, He breathed His last. In the name of Jesus, Amen. Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.

Judy Stengrim’s Death and the Promise of Paradise

Words spoken 2 ,000 years ago. Today we are here to lay to rest our sister in Jesus Christ, Judy Stangroom. But you see, we're all late to the party. On Saturday morning, Judy went to be with Jesus. Remember, Jesus said to that dying man on the cross, that dying thief on the cross, Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.

In fact, the last words that were spoken to Judy by her daughter Carol were the assuring words that she would be in paradise.

With Jesus.

And you told her the truth.

I've been around death long enough to know that everyone talks about the dead by saying, oh, he or she is in a better place. That's not always true. But these words oftentimes sound like comforting platitudes.

But in the case of Judy Stangroom, these are not platitudes. She truly is in a better place. A place where she desires for you to join her. Listen carefully to what I'm saying. She wants you to join her on that day when you breathe your last breath, or when Jesus returns in glory to judge the living and the dead, whichever comes first.

Grace Alone, Not Human Worthiness

Now, some of you may be tempted to look at Judy's life and think that you're not good enough to join Judy in Christ's heavenly kingdom. And if you think that, you're right. But I want to let you in on a little secret.

A truth that might seem disrespectful, but isn't. Judy wasn't good enough to join Jesus either. I'm not good enough. You're not good enough. No one is good enough to join Jesus in His heavenly kingdom.

Jesus instead made Judy worthy as a gift which He gave to her by grace alone, through faith alone. And Jesus is here today promising you heaven as well as a gift. So with that, let us return to our texts to see how that is possible.

Christ Crucified for Our Salvation

Our Gospel text picks up in the drama on Golgotha, on the day that Jesus is crucified. It says, When they came to the place that is called the Skull, they crucified Jesus.

What a shameful death.

God Himself in human flesh, having nails driven through His hands and His feet, His back scourged by the Romans' whips, and crucified between criminals. This is no place for God to be. One criminal was on His right, the other on His left.

Sounds like the setup for a really bad joke. But Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. That day they crucified God. That day they killed God. And they did not know what they were doing.

They cast lots to divide His garments, which was prophesied in Psalm 22. The people stood by watching, and the rulers scoffed at Him, saying, Well, He saved others. Let Him save Himself, if He is the Christ of God and His Chosen One.

The soldiers also mocked Him. Mocked God. Coming up and offering Him sour wine, saying, Well, if you're the King of the Jews, save yourself. There was also an inscription over Him. This is the King of the Jews.

But you see, Jesus wasn't about saving Himself on that day. He was about saving you,.

And saving me.

That's why He was there. One of the criminals who were hanged, railed at Jesus, saying, Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us. But the other rebuked Him, saying, Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?

You're about to meet God, and there He is, right next to you. On the cross, right next to you. Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? What a strange thing to say about God.

Jesus, God in human flesh, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, condemned, condemned to die. The criminal rightly says, We indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward for our deeds.

But this man has done nothing. Nothing wrong. How is it possible that we murdered.

The only innocent man.

Who ever lived among us? He did nothing wrong.

And yet he's there, hanging on the cross,.

Bleeding and dying as a condemned man. How is this possible? Well, Isaiah tells us, Isaiah 53.

He says this,.

Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, like a root out of dry ground. He had no form of majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows.

And acquainted with grief.

And as one from whom men hid their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

And here's the important part. But he, Jesus, was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. And upon him was the chastisement or the punishment that brought us peace.

Peace with whom?

Peace with God. Peace with each other. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and by his wounds we're healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord, Yahweh, has laid on Jesus the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed. He was afflicted. Yet he opened not his mouth, and like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shears is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away.

As for his generation who considered that he was cut off from the land of the living and stricken for the transgression of my people, and they made his grave with the wicked and with the rich man in his death, although he had done no violence.

There was no deceit in his mouth, yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put him to grief. When a soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring. He shall prolong his days.

The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand, and out of the anguish.

Of his soul.

He shall see and be satisfied. By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul unto death and was numbered with the transgressors.

Yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors. How is it possible that God is condemned to bleed and die on a tree?

It's real simple.

He took your condemnation.

Upon himself.

So that you wouldn't have to be condemned before God. And you see, like I said, Judy was not good enough to make it into heaven. Instead, Jesus bore Judy's sins, took them upon himself while he was being crucified, and he bore your sins.

And he bore mine,.

Which begs the question, why? Why would God do such a thing? Well, because of God's great love for Judy and for you. John 3 says this, As Moses lift up the serpent.

In the wilderness,.

So must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him might have eternal life. This is not granted for people who are good, because there are none good among us. This is only granted for sinners.

Why? Because God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes, not works, believes in him would not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son.

Into the world.

To condemn the world,.

But in order that the world.

Might be saved through him. Whoever believes in Jesus is not condemned. Whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. Judy believed in Jesus.

She is not condemned. She is safely with Jesus now. And Judy, despite all of her suffering, never abandoned her faith in the One who bled and died for her, and the One who bled and died for you also. On many of my trips to the hospital.

To visit Judy,.

I arrived,.

I'm sorry,.

On one of my trips to the hospital.

To visit Judy,.

I arrived a few minutes after the doctors had told her that her situation was dire, that she needed a heart valve surgery in order to live, but that the heart valve surgery would most likely kill her.

She'd come to the end of the road.

It was just a matter of time. Judy was upset.

And she told me that she did not want to die. Who of us does?

But her desire to not die was not one that was selfish. She wasn't afraid to die. It wasn't because she was fearing it. Instead, it was because what she wanted to do, the things she wanted to do were not for herself, but for those whom she loved.

In fact, her words were an echo of the Apostle Paul's words in Philippians. Let me read what Paul says. I will not at all be ashamed, but with full courage, now as always, Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.

For me to live is Christ. To die is gain. If I live in the flesh, well, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which shall I choose? I cannot tell. I'm hard-pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.

But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Judy really desired to stay in her body because she felt that it was necessary for the work that she still.

Wanted to accomplish.

She wanted to be here for all of her family and the ones she loved and the people she served.

In this community.

And the fact that you're here today shows that this is a woman of faith.

Who bore fruit.

In keeping with good works, and each and every one of you were touched by what she did. Judy, Carol, and I prayed that morning. We prayed that Jesus would heal her. And we prayed that Jesus would let her stay to serve those whom she loved.

But also in that prayer, we acknowledged that Jesus is the Lord. He's the Lord of life. And we trusted Him even if He decided that it was time for Judy to depart and to be with Him. But I will never forget Judy's words.

Pastor, I don't want to die. But you see, Judy was baptized. That's why she has the pall over her casket. She was baptized. On that day, she died. The day that Judy was baptized was the day she died.

Scripture says,.

Do you not know that you who have been baptized have been baptized into Christ's death and raised in His resurrection? You see, Judy died at the baptismal font when the pastor.

Poured the water over her head.

And said, I baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. It just took a while for her body to catch up to the death certificate that was her baptism. She was baptized and raised with Christ in the waters of her baptism.

She had faith in Jesus. And the same Jesus who bled and died for Judy also bled and died for you and also for me. And this same Jesus says this in John 11, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.

And everyone who lives and believes in me get this,.

Will never die. Do you believe this?

Your eyes deceive you.

There's a casket here.

She's dead, but Jesus says she never died. And so on that day when Judy said to me, Pastor, I don't want to die.

She didn't.

Because Jesus said she didn't.

That doesn't mean.

There's not a funeral today.

That doesn't mean.

There's not a body.

But in the truest sense.

Of the word,.

She never died because she's in Christ. And Christ has already died and risen again. He has conquered death. And those of you who believe, you too are in Christ, the one who has conquered death, and you too will never die.

So the criminal said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And he said, truly I say to you today, you will be with me in Paradise. On Saturday morning, Judy Stangroom joined Jesus in Paradise, and all because of what Jesus did for her.

Christ’s Grief, the Torn Curtain, and the Hope of Paradise

Now back on Good Friday, our text says, it was now about the 6th hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the 9th hour, and the sun's light failed. God knows what it means to grieve. He knows exactly.

What it means to grieve.

God the Father watched on while his son died. God knows what it means to suffer.

He has joined us.

In our suffering. He is not a God.

Who is far off.

He is a God who has been among us and experienced the grief of death. And God grieved so badly that not even the sun could bear its light. And all of this was for you, for me, for Judy. The curtain of the temple was torn in two, and Jesus called out with a loud voice, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.

And having said this, he breathed his last. Jesus breathed his last breath.

For Judy.

Jesus breathed his last breath for you. Those who believe in Judy, in Jesus, will join Judy and Jesus in paradise on the day when their eyes close here on this earth and then open in eternity. And what a blessed day that will be.

Hymn of the Saints and the Final Call to Faith

If it's not too sentimental, I would like to close.

With a hymn.

For all the saints who from their labors rest, who thee by faith before the world confessed, thy name, O Jesus, be forever blessed.

Alleluia. Alleluia.

Thou wast their rock, their fortress, and their might. Thou, Lord, their captain in the well-fought fight. Thou in the darkness drear, their only one true light. O may thy soldiers, faithful, true, and bold, fight as the saints who nobly fought of old and win with them the victor's crown of gold.

O blessed communion, fellowship divine, we feebly struggle, they in glory shine. Yet all are one in thee, for all are thine. And when the fight is fierce, the warfare long, steals on the ear the distant triumph song, and hearts are brave again and arms are strong.

Alleluia. Alleluia.

The golden evening brightens in the west. Soon, soon to faithful warrior cometh rest. Sweet is the calm of paradise, the blessed.

Alleluia. Alleluia.

But lo, there breaks a yet more glorious day, the saints' triumphant rise.

In bright array.

The King of Glory passes on his way.

O Alleluia. Alleluia.

From earth's wide bounds, from ocean's farthest coast, through gates of pearl stream in the countless hosts, singing to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

Alleluia. Alleluia.

Do you believe?

Do you believe that Christ bled and died for you?

Do you believe that you're.

Not worthy of heaven, but that Christ has secured it all?

If you believe, then you will live. If you believe,.

You will join Jesus and Judy on that great day when Christ returns in glory to judge the living and the dead. In the name of Jesus,.

Amen.

1 -590 -470th Avenue NW Oslo, MN 56744. And again, that address is Kungsvinger Lutheran Church 15950 470th Avenue NW Oslo, MN 56744. We thank you for your support. All of our teaching messages may be freely distributed as long as you do not edit or change the content of the message.

And again, thank you for listening.