Billy
Graham’s ‘remembrance service’ was a little over a week ago now (I don’t care
for the word ‘funeral’). I confess I was
moved to tears several times as I viewed it on You Tube. For one
reason, it was a beautiful service. For
another reason, I know what it feels like for a family to have to go to such a
bittersweet event; I have walked that path and it is not easy.
I
could go on and on about this service. I
could mention the beautiful music (Michael W. Smith and Bill Gaither both sang);
I could bring up the touching comments from his children (Billy would have been
proud at how powerfully his son, Franklin, declared the gospel); I could
mention this and several other things.
But I want to underscore two things in particular.
#1:
Billy had specifically chosen that Ephesians 2:4-9 be read at his service. The verses leading up to verse 4 essentially
state that at one time we were living our lives in rebellion and disobedience to
God, and we didn’t know or even care.
Verse 4: “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love with which
He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with
Christ.” As a pastor once put it, the
only reason we are in right relationship with God is because He illuminated our
spiritual eyes. Verse 8 and 9 reads: “For
by grace you have been saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is
the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”
It’s
so powerful that Dr. Graham chose this section of Scripture for his service. As he himself once said in a sermon at one of
his crusades, “If my salvation depended on one percent of my works, I’d be
scared to death. I wouldn’t want to
leave this building for fear that I’d be in an automobile crash and die. My salvation does not depend on even one
percent of what I do or am; it depends entirely on the work of Jesus Christ at
the cross, and the fact that I’ve received Him as my Lord and my Savior.” This doesn’t mean that works aren’t important;
works are crucial (see Ephesians 2:10). Dr.
Graham went on to make that abundantly clear in the message I’ve cited from. But we can’t get confused on the sequence, or
we will be miserable trying in vain to procure salvation by good works, which
can’t be done.
The
second thing I want to underscore in the service was arguably the highlight of
the whole event for me. One of Billy’s
daughters, Ruth, shared a powerful story.
She began by stating that everybody seemed to have a Billy Graham story,
and she had one of her own that she had shared many times, but thought it was
worth repeating because it spoke to, in her words, “the essence of who my
father was, and is.” She said her
twenty-one year marriage ended in divorce.
She was so devastated by this development that, in her pain, she chose
to do things that she shouldn’t have done.
She was soon introduced to a widower in a church. They had a worldview courtship. Her children didn’t like the man; and her
parents warned her to slow things down.
But she didn’t listen. She married
this man and she knew within twenty-four hours that she had made a terrible
mistake. After just five weeks, she left
him.
After
all this unfolded, she decided to go to her parent’s house. As she drove, her mind was plagued with what they
might say. She had been so foolish in
her choices. She says, “As I approached,
my father was waiting for me. As I got
out of the car, he wrapped his arms around me and said, 'Welcome home!' There was no shame, no blame, no condemnation;
just unconditional love. My father was
not God, but he showed me what God was like that day. When we come to God with our sin, our
brokenness, our failure, our pain, and our hurt, God says, ‘Welcome home!’ And that invitation is for you.”
To conclude,
in the days after Dr. Graham passed away, someone said the greatest way you could
honor Billy Graham is to give your life to the God he proclaimed for so many
decades. No matter who you are, or what
you have done, God loves you and wants to have a friendship and fellowship with
you. If you’ve never received Jesus Christ
as your Savior and Lord, do it today. If
you’ve strayed away, stop running and come home. The Lord will embrace you with open arms.
Kevin
No comments:
Post a Comment