I once was attending a grave side service in a country cemetery
near a church in rural Braxton County, WV.
There in the middle of the cemetery filled with head stones was a huge
black stone. It towered above all
the rest. Curiosity got the best
of me and I asked one of the local folks about the huge black stone.
The lady remarked that the man underneath that stone wanted to be
remembered above all of the rest in that cemetery, so he had made arrangements
before his death to have the huge stone placed over his grave.
Now, I remember that story and I remember that huge stone in the grave
yard, but I am sorry I can’t tell you the name of that man.
I have gone to the local town cemetery and made some notes of the
graves I found there. Here are
some of the epitaphs I found in Huse memorial cemetery.
“At Rest.” “Now I
lay me down to sleep.” “Asleep
in Jesus.” From the grave of
Morris Harvey: “I would not
live always. I ask not to
stay.” From a husband and wife
grave: “An honest man’s the
noblest work of God. Having
finished life’s duty she now sweetly rests.”
One more epitaph for the road: From a marker covering the grave of one
who died in 1897 in another cemetery:
“Kind friends, beware as
you pass by, As you are now once was I.
As I am now you must be,
“Prepare therefore to follow me.”
I wonder is there anything we can do to be remembered for all eternity
or are we doomed to be forgotten shortly after the dirt has settled on our
grave? How are we remembered?
How will we be remembered? Do
you want to be remembered? How
can you be continually remembered?
As the tree falls there it lays.
Here is a quote from a man of God named Ode Coombs from Sutton, who
spoke these words on the day of his Graduation/death.
“No man can preach another man’s funeral.
We all preach our own funerals by the life that we live and the things
we do. We will be remember by the
things we say, or the things that we don’t do or say.” We can be
remembered for all eternity. How?
Scripture Text:
Mark 14:1 (KJS) After two days was [the feast of] the passover, and
of unleavened bread: and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they
might take him by craft, and put [him] to death. 2 But they said, Not on the
feast [day], lest there be an uproar of the people. 3 And being in Bethany
in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman
having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she
brake the box, and poured [it] on his head. {spikenard: or, pure nard, or,
liquid nard} 4 And there were some that had indignation within themselves,
and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made? 5 For it might have been
sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And
they murmured against her. 6 And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye
her? she hath wrought a good work on me. 7 For ye have the poor with you
always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not
always. 8 She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my
body to the burying. 9 Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall
be preached throughout the whole world, [this] also that she hath done shall
be spoken of for a memorial of her. 10 And Judas Iscariot, one of the
twelve, went unto the chief priests, to betray him unto them. 11 And when
they heard [it], they were glad, and promised to give him money. And he
sought how he might conveniently betray him.
How can we build an everlasting memorial?
You can be remembered for all time.
A.
Get together with Jesus: Get cleansed like Simon the leper. Have a dinner for Jesus.
Simon the once leprous man held a dinner for Jesus.
Once He has cleansed you then you can invite him to have a dinner.
You will be remembered as someone who invited Jesus into your life,
your home, your work, and your church. Remember
He stands outside the door and knocks. Rev.
3:20. Will we let him in as Simon
the leper did that day? Will we be remembered as someone who let the Lord in
to feast with us at the table? The
choice is yours. Will you
get together with the eternal man? He
never preached a funeral, but resurrections were his specialty.
One day as I was about to preach a funeral I
was approached by a woman who asked me to preach her sister "into
heaven". I tried to show
her that all that I could do is preach Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection,
and soon coming. No one can preach you into heaven.
No matter how hard we try we all have to face the inevitable fact
that our lives are the final word in the matter of our memorial and our
eternal destination. No matter
how many poems or words are placed on our tombstones or said at our funeral
it will never change the life that has been lived either for or against
Jesus. Jesus is the deciding
factor of the memorial that we are building for ourselves.
B.
Give your all to Jesus. Give of yourself. Your
3 T’s. This is all you have to
the Lord. This is a sweet
smelling sacrifice to the Lord. Mary
gave all she had when she anointed the Lord there that day. From what the Disciples said we know that what she gave was
equivalent to more than a year’s wages.
This was a costly sacrifice. I
never forget what Gerald Jackson always said when it came to giving.
You can’t out give the Lord. Why
do we seek to keep that which one-day we will lose?
Give it to Jesus and you will be blessed many times over.
Give the Lord the best that you have and you will be given from his
riches in heaven. Who can out
give the Lord? The Lord says in Mal, 3:8 (NIV)
"Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, `How do we rob
you?' "In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse--the whole nation
of you--because you are robbing me. Bring
the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test
me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw
open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not
have room enough for it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and
the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit," says the LORD
Almighty. "Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be
a delightful land," says the LORD Almighty.
C.
Take care of Jesus. And
he will take care of you. Do what
you can for the Lord? Yes, but
how? Take care of those who God
has brought into your life then you have taken care of the Lord.
You will be remembered as someone who made a difference in the life of
others, because of your love for the Lord Jesus.
You will make an eternal difference in the life of others.
Have you fixed Jesus a dinner or anointed someone with the oil of the
love of God? Then you have
anointed them with the Spirit of God.
Don’t listen to those who try to stop you.
“Kind friends, beware as
you pass by, As you are now once was I.
As I am now you must be,
“Prepare therefore to follow me.” How will you be remembered?
Will you prepare to be remembered for all eternity?