WORDS AT A BURIAL
J. Mitchell
I have read these verses, dear brethren, because they speak of a brother as a “fellow-partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and patience, in Jesus”. If there was one feature that was outstanding in our brother whom we have gathered here to bury, it was that of a brother; not only a brother in the way of sympathy among his brethren, but a brother who was prepared to take upon himself, feelingly, his full share of the burdens of the testimony. That, I believe, is in mind in this scripture, a brother who was a “fellow-partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and patience, in Jesus”.
Our brother was prepared to take his full share in this city in which we are—his full share of the burdens and the sorrows of the testimony in a day when many have turned aside, and when Pauline light, and the great result of Pauline ministry, have been given up. But there are those who are prepared to go on and, as fellow workers, to continue in the truth, in the testimony, at the high level upon which the Spirit of God would have it maintained in this closing day. I am sure we would all bear witness, dear brethren, that our brother has been one such.
The Spirit of God would use this occasion, as we are here at this burial, that we all may be stimulated, as persons who take our full share, as the word says, “Take thy share in suffering as a good soldier of Jesus Christ”, 2 Timothy 2: 3.
The days in which we are have seen so many turning away from the truth, and the particular character of the testimony in such days calls for suffering and for the feature of a soldier. The days call for the feature of patience, of being a fellow-partaker in the tribulation and in the kingdom. The opportunity is open (may the Spirit of God use this opportunity, dear brethren) for persons in this place to come forward to take their share in the burdens of the testimony for the Lord’s sake, at the close of the day.
John hears a voice behind him and he turns to see. It is a sorrowful thing to lose a brother at any time, but think of what it is in this place to lose one who took his full share in the burdens of the locality, and in the burdens of the testimony. Such a loss might well be overwhelming.
John says here, “I fell at his feet as dead; and he laid his right hand upon me”. I believe that the meaning of laying His right hand upon John was that there should be power in John to continue, despite all the history, and the way the Lord was moving. We are to see what He has in mind, that there may be power for continuance.
Therefore, dear brethren, this is not the end. It is the end in one sense—we are about to bury our brother—but it is not the end. It is intended to create a beginning in every one of us freshly to commit ourselves, with fresh resolve, to the testimony right on to the close of the day, no matter what sacrifice may be called for.
May we therefore be stimulated, dear brethren, in this service which is ours, to go on, no matter what the day may hold for us, and whatever the suffering may be. Let us remember the short period of the testimony of our brother—how much he has been marked by continuance and faithfulness, and by committal to carrying his full share in the testimony. May that be the portion of each one of us, until the end, for the Lord’s glory.
C. R. Byng
The Spirit of God would give us a fresh and living impression, beloved brethren, at this time of sorrow, that Jesus does all things well. He always does all things well. As we say that, we say it with confidence. The persons who said it in the scripture we have read said it from observation— we say it thankfully from experience, that Jesus does all things well.
Our beloved brother has continued in the truth. He stood the test of 1970, and stood in the truth. He stood the test of 1972, and again stood in the truth. He faced the test of these recent days and weeks and months with all their weakness and sufferings. In all these tests he has witnessed by his spirit of thankfulness throughout that he knew that Jesus “does all things well”.
The Lord, with His own gracious touch, would give our beloved sister a fresh sense this very day that Jesus does all things well. Let us all have full confidence in Christ—“He does all things well”. There may be tests ahead for our beloved sister and her two daughters, but let them be strengthened in faith for each day and, whatever the tests, see that Jesus is still doing all things well.
Then, as the Lord thinks of the service of God and of the testimony, He is not unmindful as to how matters may proceed in this place. Let us be sure that, in the ways of God, the morning always follows the evening. If there be an evening of sorrow, of testing and of exercise, the Lord will enlarge on the joy and peace that always follow as far as the people of God are concerned. Undoubtedly we will all have been pleading with God as to how matters are going to proceed in this place. I think the answer is that, “He makes both the deaf to hear, and the speechless to speak”.
O, beloved, may the reality of this night of sorrow, of bereavement and pressure, make way for every one of us to receive some fresh touch of the Lord Jesus Himself; that we may hear some fresh word from Christ that will liberate us from everything that is holding us in our hearts, and cause us to speak in the service of God, and to speak in the testimony, until the Lord comes.
Out of this very evening may we be in full confidence that the morning is about to come, yea, maybe from this very day the morning is dawning when God will move in His mighty power and bring others into the service of God and into the testimony of God, and, through it all, bring the comfort of the Spirit to all the brethren, with the sense that God is having His own way.
Let us be steadied in the assurance and full unshakable confidence that, whatever outward circumstances may come, Jesus does all things well, for His name’s sake.
(Words given on the occasion of the burial of our beloved brother Mr. Ernest Jenner, Bromley. Notes of the first word are not available).
14 February 1975