"Present Hope & Future Glory"

A Funeral Sermon for Susan Gayle Sanders Dishman Given by Rev. David Clelland on August 1, 2003

Susan Gayle Sanders married John Dishman on July 10, 1965 and on the same day of the same year Gayle Paton married Dave Clelland. In 1989 when the Dishmans joined Town North we learned that about each other. And every year since then the four of us celebrated God's goodness to us together. This year was the only exception. We grieve with you and we along with you thirst for the ministry of comfort and joy from the Word of God by the Spirit of God. Susan and John and I shared the comfort of the following passage several times in the last couple months. Let me read it for you.

Romans 8:18-39 18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that {20,21 Or subjected it in hope. 21 For} the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. 26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will. 28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, {28 Some manuscripts And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God} who {28 Or works together with those who love him to bring about what is good-- with those who} have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. 31 What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all-- how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died-- more than that, who was raised to life-- is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." {36 Psalm 44:22} 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, {38 Or nor heavenly rulers} neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Introduction: The pain and suffering of cancer seem so hard and difficult that it is hard to imagine anything that could make them relatively trivial. Our author Paul was a man well aquainted with great suffering. He said there is and it is future glory. Our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory to be revealed in us. Future glory of the hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ can do that. And today for Susan the trial of cancer has become trivial as she has entered into the glory of her Lord. We here are comforted by that reality and wait in faith for the day when our present suffering will be lost in the light of glory. Susan's present suffering is over and her future glory has begun!

In Susan's time of suffering and in our present suffering God has given us the firstfruits of the Spirit and a hope that we wait for patiently. More than that He has given us the Spirit who intercedes for us. This reality was evident in Susan's life. It was especially so in these last days of her suffering. Several times in family devotions she would literally come out of a fog and offer beautiful, appropriate and moving prayers. Nothing less than the firstfruits on display for her loved ones to see. At the same time God had given her a firm hope of her future glory, unseen but certain. No doubt her sufferings were real but there is no doubt that the glory she now enjoys has rendered them trivial. No doubt we mourn but we mourn in hope and with hope. Susan's present suffering is over and her future glory has begun!

A gene study showed that Susan was predisposed to this illness. It was her heavenly Father who knit her together in her mother's womb. Had some thing gone wrong there? Was God not loving and sovereign for a moment. No, not at all and Susan believed that with all her heart. Ten years ago when Susan's mother Helen was battling cancer Susan and John took her in. Susan faithfully cared for her in her present suffering. In those months of present suffering we saw the grace of God in the Gospel of Christ transform her. And Susan was comforted in her mother's present suffering by the hope of future glory she had finally and fully embraced by faith. Today they are together. For this reason and many others it was easy to see why Rom. 8:28 was her favorite verse. In her present suffering she was convinced that God was working for her good. Sight sought to contradict this but her robust and steadfast faith would not be moved from this truth. She fought the good fight well because she knew who was fighting for her. As she battled her present sufferings she knew her future hope was planned and secure. She knew that her God who foreknew her, and called her, and justified her had done all this so that she would be glorified. For her and for us God is at work in all our present sufferings for our future glory.

Some things like cancer and the suffering that it brings seems so overwhelming that we tremble at the thought that we might have to go through it. Death however it comes, threatens to overwhelm us, and it would if someone greater were not on our side. In her present suffering Susan knew that God was for her and so no matter what was against her she would come out a winner, even more than a conqueror. Susan's present suffering is over and her future glory has begun.

She knew that the anchor of her future hope was at the Father's right hand praying for her-Jesus Christ her Lord and Savior. The Father gave the Son to redeem us from the curse of sin and not just to save us from something but for something. The future hope for all that are in Christ Jesus is certain because God having given Christ must also along with him give us all things. Can present sufferings separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord? Was Susan unloved because she suffered as she did? Are we unloved when we suffer, even in our grief today? No more than Christ was unloved by the Father when he suffered on the cross. The unbreakable bond of the love of God for his people was forged and tempered on Christ's cross at Calvary. For those who are in Christ Jesus there is no present suffering in this entire creation that can separate us from God's love and keep us from future glory.

(2 Cor 12:9 NIV) But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. Those of us who have watched Susan in her present sufferings have seen the power of God made perfect in weakness. How else can we explain such a glorious testimony to the grace of God in present sufferings. And now that same power was made perfect in the moment of her greatest weakness-death. For in it that sufficient grace brought present sufferings to an end once for all and ushered in future glory that will have no end. Susan's present sufferings are over and her future glory has begun.

John and Shari, David, Mark and Peter, Dan, Megan and Jamie and Elizabeth, Angie and Kathy and to all who knew and loved Susan because God's Word is truth itself find comfort and joy in the reality that Susan's present sufferings are over and her future glory has begun.

Thanks be to God who is for us and has made us more than conquerors.