“What A Price!!! (1 Corinthians 6:20)

S-1202 8/14/10 10SAP/3C Hymns: (O) #537; #744; S#461; (C) #878 (All from LSB)

Texts: Psalm 46, 23; Acts 4:1-12; John 10:11-18

Theme: “What A Price!!! (1 Corinthians 6:20)

Question: What did it cost God to save you?

Armour, SD SOLI DEO GLORIA celebration of New Life of Donald Ray Peiman

Faithful followers of the Savior, Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed! Alleuia. The text for the celebration of the new life for our departed brother is his confirmation text from Paul’s letter to the Church of Corinth: “For you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” (1 Cor. 6:20).

IN NOMINE IESU,

Family and friends, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has gathered us by His Holy Spirit to celebrate the life of our dear departed brother Don and to receive from that same God the precious comfort that comes in His Holy Word. Our Lord’s precious Word brings us to the talk of cost. We know about cost don’t we?

Let me ask you. What would happen if you visited a car dealership and drove away with a car without paying? More than likely you would head to jail for grand theft. While there is no crime to shopping, have you priced a car lately?

Let me ask you a second question. Have you tried to buy a car/truck lately? If you have you know that the coast for new vehicles is very pricy. Most people can’t afford to buy a new vehicle, so they resort to making payments. It is interesting to note that the advertisement industry today, don’t sell you cars, but sell you payment plans. For only $340.00 a month you can own this 2010 Dodge Truck.

Today, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul tells us of the cost that was paid for the unbeliever. Listen again to the text please: “For you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. Notice what Paul states here, “YOU WERE BOUGHT with a price.

Have you ever considered the price paid for the soul of Donald and all believers? Consider this event. Jesus is walking on the streets of Jerusalem. On His journey He encounters Satan standing guard over a prison-cell filled with unbelievers. They have no hope of escape—they have no hope period. Jesus looks at the cell and asks, “What’s to become of these?” Satan answers with far too much glee, “The Law condemned them to death. The Law has them prisoners. There is no escape. They will spend eternity with me in torment! They will suffer with me forever in the fiery hell!” It is then that Jesus looks heavenward. “Father,” He prays. “What would the price be to set them free?” The Father’s voice answers, “There is only one price, My Son. Your life for theirs!” Without hesitation, Jesus replies, “It is done! My Life for theirs, Father!”

And so it was that Jesus paid for the soul of Donald our departed brother. Not with gold or silver, but as Peter reminds us; with His holy innocent blood on the cross of Calvary (1Peter 1:19) and as the author to the Hebrews teaches: “Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame” (Hebrews 12:2).

When Donald’s father picked this text for his son’s confirmation text, he knew the meaning of the word “BOUGHT with a price.” The Greek word used is in the aorist, passive, indicative. To you it means nothing, but to Paul and every other preacher it means that the payment paid was not an installment plan—so much every month, but one time payment—a full payment for the souls of all of humanity.

And that payment was costly. For 6 hours Jesus hung on the cross. For 6 hours He tasted hell. For 6 hours He suffered the wrath of God. For 6 hours blood dripped from His aching body. For 6 hours His tongue stuck to the roof of His mouth. For 6 hours His lips cracked under the Palestinian sun. For 6 hours He paid the full payment for Donald, you and me so that we may never taste hell or suffer under the torture of our arch enemy Satan.

Paul brings comfort to all of us who trust by the Spirit’s power in the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That we, too, have been bought with a price—the price paid on Calvary’s cross to free sinners from the shackles and prison of Satan. Donald too, was bought with a price and what a price it was.

That is the first part of the text, but the second part is just as important. Paul tells us to honor God with our body.

This Donald did. Not because he was so good. Not to earn salvation. Not because he lived the perfect life. You know, and I know that he was a sinner in need of God’s redeeming grace. His adopted Father, Pastor Peiman understood that very well so that on January 4, 1936; he took him in his arms and with simple water and Word baptized him in the Name of the Triune God—Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. That was the beginning of honoring God with His life.

Under the watchful eyes of his father, Don was instructed in the faith and on April 29, 1945 he confessed the faith as he stepped to the Altar to receive Christ’s body and blood for the forgiveness of his sins and the strengthening of his faith. As he became a young man, he met a young lady that would become his wife—Virginia Knodel who would help him to continue to honor God in his life.

These two became parochial school teachers. By the grace of God, they were blessed with two sons—Gregory and James who they brought to the Lord’s house, to baptize them and continued to bring them to Church so that the next generation would honor God as well. PAUSE.

Throughout his earthly life Don honored God as much as humanly possible. In the few times I visited with him when they returned to SD, I learned and saw his love for God, devotion to his family and to the Church family.

I remember vividly the call I got shortly after his mother-in-law Lea passed away. “Pastor, my wife and I would like to do something in honor of my mother-in-law. What memorials can we give to the church that might help the church continue doing its ministry—of spreading the Gospel?” At the time of the call, we were preparing to replace the pews. I informed him of our plans. And he said, “We will give enough money to purchase one pew!”

This man honored God with his life, not so that he may win God’s approval, but rather to bring glory to the God who paid for his life with His innocent, holy, precious blood. Donald understood the gift of salvation. Donald in his own hand writing chose some verses to be used for his funeral. From the book of Acts: “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). And from 1 John: “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). PAUSE.

Dear friends, we heard the words of Paul this day. But better than that, we have the life of Don as a testimony of that word. In it you are exhorted to live a life worthy of the name you bear—Christians! The price paid for us leads us by the Spirit’s power to actions that befit it. Remember, Donald and YOU are free. What a price has been paid! AMEN

Now the peace…

SOLI DEO GLORIA