Funeral Sermon for Bob Ayres - 2 Corinthians 3:3

“A Living Letter from Christ”

Rev. Tim Black

ESV text

1. Introduction. We now have some time for you to share your memories of Bob. To begin this time, the family asked me to read Bob’s obituary, summarize how he died so Katherine doesn’t have to repeat the story to each one of you, and tell the story of how Bob became a faithful Christian.

   1. Read Obituary

      1. Robert “Bob” Lee Ayres, age 78, of Caney, KS died Thursday, November 24, 2011 at his daughter’s home in Caney.

      2. Robert “Bob” L. Ayres was born May 29, 1933 in Springfield, MO, adopted son of Fred and Willie (Holeman) Ayres. Bob grew up in Springfield, MO and graduated from the Springfield High School. Bob then attended and graduated from Missouri State with a Chemical Engineering Degree.

      3. On October 13, 1954 Bob entered the United States Navy and served during the Korean War as a Fleet Shore Distribution Officer on the USS Kermit Roosevelt until his honorable discharge on December 10, 1957.

      4. On January 17, 1953 Bob married Barbara Ann Fox in Arkansas. The couple made their home in Bartlesville, OK and Dewey, OK before moving to Caney, KS. Barbara preceded him in death in 1974.

      5. Bob worked at Phillips Petroleum for over 30 years in the Plastic Technical Center retiring in 1988. Bob was on the International Specifications Board of Plastic Pipe, he was a member of the Hydrostatic Stress Board / Plastic Pipe Institute and was a board member, he was a board member of The Associated Churches of Caney, and coordinated the Fellowship of Christian Athletes breakfast on Fridays at Caney Valley High School for all churches who participated.

      6. He was an elder at the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, and on the Home Missions Committee. He was also a member of the NRA and was a Precinct Committeeman for the Republican Party in Montgomery County.

   2. His Death

      1. This past Wednesday, Bob felt discomfort in his chest at 3 PM, took an aspirin at 4, amidst this suffering selflessly called Julie Robbins to see how Jaiden was recovering from the croup, then called Katherine at 4:30 because it felt like the heart attack he had 19 years ago. They went to the hospital in Coffeyville, and the hospital found there was no new damage to his heart, but he did have a spike of very high blood pressure. His blood pressure came back down, and when I talked with him Wednesday evening and Thursday morning, he felt fine.

      2. But as he was helping deep frying a turkey Thursday afternoon, he felt the pain again, went inside to rest in the room next to where others were preparing Thanksgiving dinner, and passed away from a heart attack before anyone knew he had one.

   3. His Testimony. In this summary of Bob’s life and death, I haven’t mentioned the most important part. The most important part of Bob’s life was that God saved Bob from his sins. Bob’s life is a testimony to God’s saving grace.

      1. When Bob started dating his future wife Barbara, she was a faithful Christian, but she perceived that he was not, so she said “I want to break up.” He wasn’t living like a Christian. He wasn’t putting God first. This made Bob take stock of his life, and he agreed. He began to take Christianity seriously. When they moved to Kansas City, Bob met Christians who knew the Bible better than he did, so he started studying the Bible to learn God’s word as he ought. When they moved to Bartlesville, Bob taught a Sunday School class at the United Presbyterian Church, he wanted to teach about sin and our need for a Savior, but the church didn’t want that kind of teaching. The family started avoiding church by going camping on weekends. Bob dropped out of church, and took his family with him. But God convicted him that he should lead his family in worshiping God, and he wasn’t doing it. In 1968 a newspaper article about the newly-formed Caney OPC piqued his interest, resulting in a visit from Caney’s pastor Bruce Brawdy and Sam Mariam. After their visit, Pastor Brawdy said “We’ll never see them again!” But God convicted Bob that the truth of the gospel of salvation from the guilt and power of sin through faith in Jesus Christ was proclaimed in this church, and that he must worship the God who saved him. The church had started in October of 1967, and Bob became a member on March 17, 1968, and an elder May 23, 1971.

      2. God turned a half-hearted man into the whole-hearted Christian you now know. This is just one part of Bob’s testimony to God’s saving grace.

      3. You know more of that testimony. I invite you now to come to the microphone and share memories you have of Bob, and I encourage you to give glory to God for what He did in Bob’s life.

      4. [Open mic time]

2. Body

   1. A Living Letter from Christ

      1. In 2 Cor. 3:3, the Apostle Paul says every Christian is a living letter from Christ. We are “living epistles.”

      2. Text

         1. And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

      3. Bob was a living letter from Christ. Bob’s life showed Christ gave him a new heart that was no longer hard toward God but loved God and wanted to serve Him. His life showed he thankful God forgave his sins. His life showed God gives power to obey God’s commands. Do you have a new heart? Are you reconciled to God? Or are you bound in the corruption, guilt, and power of your sin? God saved Bob, and now He gives you Bob’s life as proof He can save you. Bob was a living letter from Christ.

   2. Bob Loved His Savior Jesus Christ. One of the most important things to remember about him is that Bob loved his Savior Jesus Christ. Like any true believer, he loved John 3:16. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:16, 17).

   3. Bob Believed in God’s Sovereign Saving Grace

      1. Eph. 2:8-10 was very dear to Bob, because he knew he was a sinner, and so was saved not because Bob was good but because God is gracious. Those verses say, “8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Bob was quick to point out that though we are saved by God’s sovereign grace, and God’s grace is not a result of our works, yet good works must result from God’s grace. Bob committed himself to do the good works God prepared beforehand for him to do.

      2. Bob believed the Bible’s teaching that you cannot finally escape or defeat the sovereign power of God, but if you love and submit to Him through faith in Jesus Christ, by that same power God protects you amidst all evil. Psalm 139 was one of Bob’s favorites, which says “7 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! 9 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.” (Ps. 139:7-10) That psalm concludes, “23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Ps. 139:23, 24) Bob sought to humbly submit to God’s wisdom, judgment, and providence. Because he knew God is good, if you asked him “How are you doing?” he’d often say “If it got any better, I couldn’t stand it!”

   4. Bob Loved God’s Word, the Bible

      1. One scripture that got him through his wife’s death was Prov. 3:5-6, and I’m sure he would want to give it to you today as well. “5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

      2. Bob loved Phil. 1:6, “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Because God is good and gracious and trustworthy and saves by His sovereign power, and because God’s word is inspired, infallible, and inerrant, “useful for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness, that the man of God may be fully equipped for every good work,” Bob studied God’s word and put it into practice. Bob loved to study the sermons of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. He sought to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. In a special way, because Bob died when he was still living an active life, he got his wish. He served God to the end.

   5. Bob Loved the Church of Jesus Christ. At the center of that service was the church. The church was his life. Once he became an elder, he devoted himself to that work and never quit. He visited the members and visited the sick, he preached when his pastors were on vacation or the church was without a pastor, prepared sermons on the plane, led funerals, taught Sunday School, led prayer meetings, led the youth group, and dressed up in crazy outfits for VBS skits. He helped hand out Bibles at Baccalaureate, brought food to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, prayed with young people at See You At The Pole, and sat in the heat at summer youth rallies. He served in many ways in the presbytery, helping plant churches and rescue struggling ones. He administered the presbytery’s and the congregation’s diaconal funds to those in need. He served for many years on our denomination’s Committee on Home Missions and Church Extension, until the day he died. Bob’s life sang the hymn:

I love thy church, O God:

Her walls before thee stand,

Dear as the apple of thine eye,

And graven on thy hand.

For her my tears shall fall,

For her my prayers ascend;

To her my cares and toils be giv’n,

Till toils and cares shall end.

1. 6. Bob Loved His Family

      1. Katherine, you know well that Bob loved you. After Barbara passed away, Bob gave you both a father’s strength and a mother’s tender care. Because Bob roped Katherine into going globetrotting with him on his trips to plastic pipe meetings, and Katherine roped Bob into fixing things in her house, they got into all sorts of mischief together and called each other “Lucy and Ethel” (like the partners in crime in “I Love Lucy.”)

      2. He took his grandchildren camping, to Disney on Ice, and made a point to be specially involved in each one’s life. He judged Katrina’s forensics, went to all of Courtney’s games, helped Kyle with 4-H meetings, books, projects, and animals. He was at one of Brycen’s wrestling matches recently and was looking forward to seeing Brycen and Kamrey’s basketball games. Bob loved you his family because though he was adopted and didn’t grow up with his biological parents, his Savior Jesus Christ “turns the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers.” (Mal. 4:6; Luke 1:17)

      3. None of us expected Bob to pass away last week! “It is appointed unto man once to die, then comes the judgment.” (Heb. 9:27) Today is the day to be reconciled to God, to your church, to your family.

   7. Bob Was Generous with His Money

      1. Bob believed God’s word where it says in 1 Tim. 6:7, “We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.” So Bob was generous with his money, to his family, to his church, and others. You may have seen his hat that said “Dad’s Savings and Loan: Where my savings become your loan!” He liked to say he’d never seen a hearse with a U-Haul trailer behind it!

   8. Bob Loved Food

      1. Bob didn’t love his money more than he loved you. But he loved his food! If you missed a fellowship supper he’d rub it in saying “That was the best fellowship supper we ever had!”

   9. Bob Longed to See Jesus Face to Face

      1. But now Bob has something far better than his money and his food. A few months ago Bob taught us Ps. 73:25, 26, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

      2. Bob longed to see Jesus face to face. When Bob first began going to church, he didn’t sing, because he sang off-key. But then he learned God wants us to sing! “Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!” (Ps. 100:1) So he took courage and sang—still off-key(!)—to give praise to God. Bob loved to say when a baby is born, the baby cries and everyone else rejoices! But when a Christian dies, everyone else cries, yet the Christian rejoices. Today Bob is singing on-key, and he will sing on into eternity. That is why the family chose to close this service by singing together number 261, “What Wondrous Love Is This.” Let’s sing praise to our God who saves us from our sins through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, with hymn number 261.