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For Yours is the Kingdom
Today, there are two different words I want to talk to you about. The first word is eulogy.
Today, there are two different words I want to talk to you about. The first word is eulogy. Eulogy means a good word. And so often you hear the term eulogy or a eulogy is used at the death of a loved one. At a funeral. People look at a eulogy and say it was a successful eulogy if it made us laugh and smile and maybe cry a little bit. In the minds of the hearers the eulogy helps bring that person back to life, if only for just a few short moments. In the end, though, a eulogy is much like the makeup that covers the body of our loved one. It has an impression of giving life, but it really doesn’t have the power to change the fact that that person is dead.
The second word I want to look at is doxology. Whereas a eulogy is a good word about the person, a doxology is a word of praise directed towards God in heaven. The Lord’s Prayer actually ends with a doxology, for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen, we say. A doxology is a word of praise directed towards God in heaven. And what’s so neat about doxologies is that if we look at the lives of our loved ones who have died in Jesus, each one of them has a doxology that they’ve left behind. Each one of them has lived a life of witness, a life of praise to God for everything God has done for them.
My question for us today is to ask: what do I plan on leaving behind? A eulogy or a doxology? I find so often in my life, I’m worried and stressed about the good word that other people will say about me. I’m worried about my reputation, how long my reputation lasts, what my kids think about me, what my family thinks about me and my friends think about me. And how that desire to have a good word, can drive us. But just think how long does that good word last? How long does a memory of a person last after they’ve actually gone into heaven? Not long. One day I’ll just be a picture, if that on the wall. No one will know much about me or my life.
The real question is what word does God have to say over me? See, when God looks at us, He doesn’t just brush over the bad things and try to hide it with a cheap, thin layer of makeup. God sees right to the core of what I am. And though the other people in my life don’t always see the sins in my heart or what goes on in my heart and mind, God does. He sees underneath this makeup facade I wear to the world and he sees I am a rotten corpse underneath.
But the most important thing that God does is that what God does for you and me is He speaks that good word over us. The good word God speaks over you and me is the word live. God brings us to life. He speaks us to life with this powerful, forgiving word. When God justifies the sinner, he resurrects us from the inside out. He gives you and me eternal life through Jesus. And because of that, our whole lives is a doxology of praise to God. Our life is a doxology of praise, for thine is the kingdom, a kingdom of people that have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus, His Son. Thine is the power, the resurrecting power that brought Jesus to life easter morning is the same power that God uses to bring us to life, not just spiritually, but one day when he raises our bodies from the ground. Thine is the glory. To you alone God be credit. And that’s going to be the hymn of praise we sing with all the saints in heaven for all eternity. For yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
