Nicholas "Nick" Petz Funeral Sermon - Psalm 23, John 14 / May 26th, 2021 / Precious Cargo

Text: John 14/Psalm 23
Theme: Precious Cargo
___________________________
Intr – For many years in his life Nick was a truck driver. Among many others beautiful gifts he received from God for his life walk – his family, his parents, his grandchildren, to name a few – he received that professional occupation to provide for his family, and to have delight in it.

        What it is that a truck driver has to do? Many things, we would say, but here is a summary:

“Truck Drivers usually work for transportation companies specialized in carrying goods instead of people. They do as their title suggests, they operate heavy trucks in order to transport goods from one location to another.[1]”

“Truck Driver Job Responsibilities: Drive and operate trucks./ Follow instructions; locate and read location and road maps.  / Pre-inspect truck. / Pick up goods and materials, verify loads for accuracy, and deliver them as instructed./Load and unload cargo.”[2]

I know it may vary, but this might apply in most cases. Now the thing that I highlight here is that, even though there are many job duties and responsibilities, the main thing of the truck driver work – the cargo he transports – is not his property. “to transport goods from one location to another.” He does everything: loads the cargo, check everything, drives safely, unloads it, but the main thing actually dos not belong to Him. He has to be a good steward of something - the cargo – that is not his, but to him was entrusted.

This is how life can be summed up. God entrusts us with many things that do not belong to us, but we do our best under His strengthening and love to drive safe and be careful about. Health, family, friends, relationships, work, time… Even more important than that, we receive precious spiritual gifts that are not ours, but we treasure and carry on in life doing the best use of them we can.

        For example: Baptism. In his Baptism Nick’s guilt of original sin was driven away from his life, and his heart was loaded with God’s gifts; a precious cargo of forgiveness and life. Every time a baby is baptized, that’s what happens. They receive faith as a gift to take very good care of as our life mileage mount up. We become part of the family of God. In Nick’s case btw, our records show he was baptized the very next day after he was born! Something I never saw before - and a reason to give thanks to God!

        Holy Communion - another precious gift. As he came constantly to the altar Nick received that precious cargo for all Christian’s hearts: Jesus’ blood and body, with the bread and wine, which bring with them strengthening, assuredness and peace.

        The list of God’s gifts to Nick, and to all through faith in Christ is large and beautiful, which the Bible calls also fruits of the Spirit. We could add: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” [3]

In John 14 we learn we have a have a way. Jesus. As we cover the road ahead in life, carrying the precious gifs Gods has entrusted us with, we know we are steering straight to the perfect final destination, where we will unload all sin, sorrow and grief, and we will be loaded with a new, perfect body, to drive into eternal life. Every truck driver knows the importance of taking the right way, the right road, in order to arrive to the right destination. In faith we know the importance of being in Christ – The Way, the Truth and the Life. He took all the terrible load of our sin and nailed them to his Cross, giving us the gift of Life.

        Also, in Psalm 23 we hear about the paths of righteousness in which the Lord guides us. That applies also for the times we feel alone, in sorrow, grief and pain, perhaps thinking our path is leading us nowhere. He comes to bring us back to the way, trading our disorientation by the guidance of His Word. Even when we drive through the valley of the shadow of death, we won’t fear, for He is there driving for us. We know that He has defeated death, and life is the final Word. A life that will know no end.

As we wrestle now with sorrow and grief, we can always remember that our Father never leaves us alone. He is there for us, and even will carry us in His arms when needed, for He is specialized in carrying people, instead of goods.

 Cc – Dear friends, as Laurie, Tracy and Cindy shared with me earlier this week, Nick always talked about the future, “what can we do next year?”, things like that. Our Father also likes to talk about the future. He points us to that last day, when He will reunite us with our loved ones who went ahead of us in Christ in Heaven. Then, all the wrestling with sin, sorrow and pain will cease. And we will start to roll on the Endless Miles Road. We will live forever.

___________________________

[1] https://neuvoo.ca/neuvooPedia/en/truck-driver/
[2] https://hiring.monster.com/employer-resources/job-description-templates/truck-driver-job-description-sample/
[3] Galatians 5