Learning from Len

My wife Cindy and I were using the time travelling back and forward to Boston and by her dad Len’s bedside for talking about lots of things. He had had a severe stroke on Easter Monday and was later taken to hospital at Boston.
The Morning Worship of the previous day was still in our memories. We talked about how it had come about that I had ended up leading worship at my home church of Winterton (instead of Scotter, 17 miles away) because of the early morning snow of Easter Sunday.
I had preached on 1 Cor 15, especially ‘ If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people the most to be pitied. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead. 1 Corinthians 15:16-19’ and talked about the sure hope (certainty) that we have of the resurrection of the dead. I had included the following (in italics) in the message:

A dear friend had died. At the funeral service a signer
was present to help some deaf people understand. As the
meeting went on the speaker was frequently using the
word ‘hope’. The sign - it was observed - was crossed
fingers. However the speaker began to talk about
Christian hope - the certainty of life beyond the grave.
And as he did so a different sign was being introduced:
hands clasped together in rock-like certainty.
In the New Testament the word for hope means something that
is in the future which is certain. It is not, as in normal English
usage, something that might happen if we are fortunate. The
rock-like certainty of the New Testament use of the word is what
the signer was communicating at the service.
Peter, who saw the death and resurrection of Jesus, writes
with excitement as well as certainty about our hope.
Praise be to the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ! In
his great mercy he has given
us new birth into a living hope
through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead,
and into an inheritance that can
never perish, spoil or fade-kept
in heaven for you, who through
faith are shielded by God’s
power until the coming of the
salvation that is ready to be
revealed in the last time.
1 Peter 1:3-5
‘Praise’ is Peter’s word, because we have been born again into a living hope.
Unlike virtually everything in this life, what we have been given
in Christ is something that can never perish, spoil or fade. Our
hope is guaranteed on the basis of Christ’s resurrection from
the dead.
May the God of hope fill you with
all joy and peace as you trust in
him, so that you may overflow
with hope by the power of the
Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13
God is a God of hope. So it is possible to ‘overflow with hope’
says Paul in Romans 15. He gives hope. Christians need
not wallow in gloom or despair. The power of the Holy Spirit
within us is what enables us to exhibit hope. Death is the most
despairing of life’s events. Yet even here, or especially here, it is
possible to have hope for the future. Christians are people who
have a certain and a living hope.
That’s the difference.

I finished the Easter service by introducing one of my favourite hymns, ‘I know that my Redeemer Lives.’
I know that my Redeemer lives; What joy the blest assurance gives!He lives, He lives, who once was dead;He lives, my ever living Head.
He lives to bless me with His love, He lives to plead for me above.He lives my hungry soul to feed,He lives to help in time of need.
He lives triumphant from the grave, He lives eternally to save, He lives all glorious in the sky, He lives exalted there on high.
He lives to grant me rich supply, He lives to guide me with His eye, He lives to comfort me when faint, He lives to hear my soul’s complaint.
He lives to silence all my fears, He lives to wipe away my tears, He lives to calm my troubled heart, He lives all blessings to impart.
He lives, my kind, wise, heavenly Friend, He lives and loves me to the end; He lives, and while He lives, I’ll sing; He lives, my Prophet, Priest, and King.
He lives and grants me daily breath; He lives, and I shall conquer death: He lives my mansion to prepare; He lives to bring me safely there.
He lives, all glory to His Name! He lives, my Jesus, still the same. What joy the blest assurance gives, I know that my Redeemer lives!
I sensed the Spirit reminding me of the reason why I like the hymn, and I said to the congregation that there are two words in this hymn which are MOST important…’I know’.
It is not head knowledge, but heart certainty.
John Wesley had been in the Ministry for years before that day he refers to as his conversion, when he wrote in his journal:
‘I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death’.
That’s it. That's the difference…that assurance... not head knowledge, but heart certainty.
And as we journeyed early last week, we reflected on that.