Eulogy
A Sermon by Dr. Neil Chadwick
Most of the time we hear the word "eulogy", it is used in connection with a funeral. A relative, or prominent friend of the deceased gets up and says really nice things - the person in the room who most needs to hear these things, is most likely the only person who can't hear at all. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could learn to say good things to people when they are still able to hear them? Have you ever read the book "Chicken Soup for the Soul"? Here's a little story from that book as told by a famous columnist - it's called "Love And The Cabbie". He related that while in New York, he rode with a friend in a taxi. As they were getting out, his friend said to the driver, "Thank you for the ride. You did a superb job of driving." The taxi driver was stunned for a second. Then he said, "Are you a wise guy or something?" "No, my dear man, and I'm not putting you on. I admire the way you keep cool in heavy traffic." "Yeah," the driver said and drove off. When asked what that was all about, he said, "I am trying to bring love back to New York. I believe it's the only thing that can save the city." "But how can one man save New York?" he was asked. "It's not one man. I believe I have made that taxi driver's day. Suppose he has 20 fares. He's going to be nice to those 20 fares because someone was nice to him. Those fares in turn will be kinder to their employees or shopkeepers or waiters or even their own families. Eventually the goodwill could spread to at least 1,000 people. Now that isn't bad, is it?" "But you're depending on that taxi driver to pass your goodwill to others." "I'm not depending on it. I'm aware that the system isn't foolproof so I might deal with ten different people today. If out of ten I can make three happy, then eventually I can indirectly influence the attitudes of 3,000 more." "It sounds good on paper," the columnist commented, "but I'm not sure it works in practice." "Nothing is lost if it doesn't. It didn't take any of my time to tell that man he was doing a good job. He neither received a larger tip nor a smaller tip. If it fell on deaf ears, so what? Tomorrow there will be another taxi driver I can try to make happy." "You're some kind of a nut!" "That shows how cynical you have become. I have made a study of this. The thing that seems to be lacking, besides money of course, for our postal employees, is that no one tells people who work for the post office what a good job they're doing." "But they're not doing a good job." "They're not doing a good job because they feel no one cares if they do or not. Why shouldn't someone say a kind word to them?" The two men walked past a structure in the process of being built and passed five workmen eating their lunch. The friend stopped. "That's a magnificent job you men have done. It must be difficult and dangerous work." The workmen eyed him suspiciously. "When will it be finished?" "June," a man grunted. "Ah. That really is impressive. You must all be very proud." As they walked away he explained, "When those men digest my words, they will feel better for it. Somehow the city will benefit from their happiness." "But you can't do this all alone, you're just one man." "The most important thing is not to get discouraged. Making people in the city become kind again is not an easy job, but if I can enlist other people in my campaign. . ." "You just smiled and waved to a very plain-looking woman." "Yes, I know," he replied. "And if she's a schoolteacher, her class will be in for a fantastic day." Complementing people is to eulogize them. Don't you agree that it would be a good idea to do this while they are still alive? But the reason I've told you this is to help you understand what is the meaning of this word - to eulogize is to bless. It may come as a surprise to you that that's the very word used three times by Paul in Ephesians 1:3 - "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ." The word "eulogize" is used in the phrase, "Praise be to God", and again when Paul says that He has "blessed us" with spiritual "blessings". The point of the first phrase is simply that when we worship, we eulogize God. But why would we "eulogize "God? For one thing, simply because He has "eulogized" us. (We love Him because He first loved us.) Several reasons are listed in this passage - He has blessed us (3); chose us (4); predestinated us (5); given grace (6); redemption (7); lavished on us the riches of His grace (8); made known to us the mysteries (9). But I'd really like to focus on the first of these, "He has blessed us". Unfortunately, in American Christianity, we are too quick to interpret the "blessing" in one of two closely linked ways - happiness, and material prosperity. Think for a moment about happiness, one of the "inalienable rights" guaranteed by our national constitution. Well, actually it's the "pursuit of happiness" which is placed along side "life" and "liberty". Unfortunately, happiness is too often confused with pleasure - feeling good or comfortable, and material prosperity is thought to be the way we access that happiness. While we mouth the words, "money can't buy happiness", we act in such a way as to suggest that we foolishly deduce that riches bring happiness - money is the ticket to the "good life". The Scripture says, "Godliness with contentment is great gain" - but let's be honest, that statement is in direct opposition to the American philosophy of consumerism - more goods, more entertainment - that's the path to the full life. However, our text very clearly identifies the blessing as "spiritual". What is this supposed to mean? To be a "spiritual blessing" is to be anything but material; you can't count it, can't contain it, can't take it to the bank, can't perceive it with senses or left-brained logic - it's spiritual. You noticed the word "heaven" in this verse. Some people will quickly conclude that this "spiritual blessing" is something we must wait for - it's what we get when we get to heaven. "When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be." I've been noticing for many years that most churches hardly ever sing songs about heaven any more. Perhaps we've become so well off we've become comfortable with what we have on earth and no longer long for heaven. Nearly 20 years ago my family bought the little simulated log cabin where we now spend most of our vacations. We bought it from a woman by the name of Ruth Stewart - she and her husband had built that cabin, doing all of the labor themselves. Five years before we met Ruth, her husband had died of heart failure, and Ruth couldn't bring herself to visit this cabin in the woods until the day we went with her to see if we would be interested in buying it from her. Because no one had been there for 5 years, the cabin had been totally vandalized, it was a sad day for Ruth Stewart. But I remember one thing she said to us as we stood on the screened in porch. "My husband loved it here. He used to always say, 'This is as close to heaven I'll ever get.'" Ruth was a believer, and I'm sure she knew better than that. But I'm afraid that many people have accepted the idea that the pleasures of this life are good enough. Let's promise each other right here and now that we will never settle for this, we will continue to march toward the heavenly City of God. However, the verse isn't talking about something that will happen in the future. Rather, it clearly states that God "has blessed us" - it's been done already. Christ is in heaven, and if we are in Christ, we are blessed in Christ. Remember Jesus said, "Abide in me and I in you" This phrase "in Christ" has mystified the mystics. It simply means that if we believe in Christ, we become so identified with Him that all the spiritual blessings He has received are now accrued to us. We have not yet been physically transported to heaven, but we can have "Heaven in our Hearts". Let me give you a possible parallel. Four months from now I will travel by plane to the country of India. For 18 days I will walk on dusty streets past one room huts with clean muddy floors and at best a candle or oil lantern for light, roads which run along side filthy rivers where buffalo and clothes are washed in the same stream where men will pause to urinate, and along side open fields where men will squat by day and women at night to relieve themselves of human waste. I will once again step gingerly over the sleeping homeless and feel the tug on my sleeve as the little girl runs along side calling out to me saying, "Uncle, Uncle, One Rupee, Uncle." But while I walk among them, and even as my heart will nearly break as I witness the abject poverty, I will know that I am not one of them. I'm just passing through - I will have a short term visa in my pocket, along with a passport and a plane ticket home. While I will care deeply for the people I am with, I will know that for me it's just temporary. I will become weary, my voice may fail and my body muster all its strength to fight off infections and sickness, but I will know that I'm just passing through. In my heart I will know that I am an American, I belong to another place. And that's the way it is with the Christian - although we walk in this world, we are not of this world. While we journey toward heaven, we have heaven in our hearts. We are loved, we are encouraged, we are affirmed; there's a song that keeps singing, there's a hope that keeps ringing. Because we are "in Christ", nothing can destroy the inner peace, joy and love that we receive from Him. As you know, we've had some trouble with our water system. In the process of trying to understand what is the problem, I learned that we have what is called a flowing well. There is pressure from below which is constantly pushing water upward so that the well is constantly flowing. Out of the side of the well pipe there was a smaller pipe which allowed excess water to flow off on to the ground, but over a period of time the earth built up around that pipe and contamination was introduced into the system. We immediately changed the small pipe so that it wouldn't be touching the ground, and we've been trying to introduce a cleansing agent into the well so that it can flow through out the entire church plumbing system. The Spirit of Christ in us is, as Jesus said, like a flowing well. But great care must be taken so that the contamination of this world isn't introduced into the system. If it does, the water will no longer be available to quench thirst and give life, but will bring sickness and death.  - - Return to Top of this Page  - Email a Link to this Page
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