Thursday, October 12, 2006
Funeral of George Burkert
Funeral Service - George Burkert
December 16, 1929 – October 9, 2006
October 12, 2006
Order of Service
Prelude
Opening Scripture and Prayer Rev. D. Marion Clark
Scripture Dr. Philip G. Ryken
Psalm 49:1-20
Revelation 5:1-14
Prayer
Hymn #92 A Mighty Fortress
Tribute Mr. R. Clive Stockdale
Scripture M Clark
1 Peter 1:17-21
1 Timothy 2:1-6
Homily "A Reconciled Account" M Clark
Prayer M Clark
Hymn #401 All Praise to Thee
Benediction
Postlude
Pianist: Paul Jones
Homily
I am told that George liked trains (he had a model train set) and to garden and to collect stamps. I know that George liked to find mistakes, whether it be in the church bulletin or other publication or in the church financial records.
I suppose it would be more accurate to say that George liked to see accounts presented in good order. The trouble with mistakes is that they present inaccuracies. They cover up the truth. Mistakes can be the result of sloppy work or of dishonest work. Either way, there is no excuse for not correcting them nor for improving ways to cut down on making them. Of course, what George really wanted was there to be no mistakes. He wanted clean records that revealed the way the financial picture really stood.
When I came across Psalm 49, it struck me as fitting George’s matter-of-fact outlook in life. We are all going to die regardless our status in life. Whatever wealth one may attain, whatever reputation he may earn, whether a person be wise or a fool, he is destined for the grave. No ransom can be put up to save one from such a destination.
I can see George nodding his head in agreement with his deadpan expression. That’s the way it is. That’s laying forth the facts clearly to be seen. But I can also picture him with his finger pointing to verse 15 and saying, “Look here. Read this: ‘But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me.’”
Knowing George, he would have pointed to that verse with confidence. Why would he do that considering his realistic approach to life? Like a true Philadelphian, he never expressed confidence in any of the sports teams winning a championship; why express confidence in his own ransom when he knew his own accounts were riddled with mistakes?
George sat under the preaching at Tenth for 21 years. He knew the Romans 3 verses: “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin…. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
But then he would say, “Now wait just a minute; you didn’t tell the whole story, read on.” “And are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.”
That term redemption contains the concept of ransom. Dr. Boice, whose teaching George sat under for 15 years says, “Spiritually, the idea is that, though we have fallen into desperate slavery through sin and are held as by a cruel tyrant, Christ has nevertheless purchased our freedom from sin by his own blood. He paid the price to free us.” It is this act of ransom which George received by faith.
He understood the value of the currency used to ransom him, that it could indeed pay his debt and put his account in order. In this he placed his hope as expressed in the 1 Peter passage we read:
...knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for your sake, 21who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
George was a numbers man. He didn’t deal in gray areas. Numbers are either right or wrong. And so again, he understood the verse we read in 1 Timothy 2: “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all.” There is not more than one God; there are not several mediators for us to choose for ourselves. George agreed with the apostle Peter who said: “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) than that of Jesus Christ.
As you know, George was an accountant. It was his job to reconcile accounts. And so surely he appreciated what the apostle Paul had to say in Romans 5:
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
We know that George appeared before his Maker with his accounts reconciled by his Savior. Perhaps even now he is standing before the heavenly throne singing, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!"
December 16, 1929 – October 9, 2006
October 12, 2006
Order of Service
Prelude
Opening Scripture and Prayer Rev. D. Marion Clark
Scripture Dr. Philip G. Ryken
Psalm 49:1-20
Revelation 5:1-14
Prayer
Hymn #92 A Mighty Fortress
Tribute Mr. R. Clive Stockdale
Scripture M Clark
1 Peter 1:17-21
1 Timothy 2:1-6
Homily "A Reconciled Account" M Clark
Prayer M Clark
Hymn #401 All Praise to Thee
Benediction
Postlude
Pianist: Paul Jones
Homily
I am told that George liked trains (he had a model train set) and to garden and to collect stamps. I know that George liked to find mistakes, whether it be in the church bulletin or other publication or in the church financial records.
I suppose it would be more accurate to say that George liked to see accounts presented in good order. The trouble with mistakes is that they present inaccuracies. They cover up the truth. Mistakes can be the result of sloppy work or of dishonest work. Either way, there is no excuse for not correcting them nor for improving ways to cut down on making them. Of course, what George really wanted was there to be no mistakes. He wanted clean records that revealed the way the financial picture really stood.
When I came across Psalm 49, it struck me as fitting George’s matter-of-fact outlook in life. We are all going to die regardless our status in life. Whatever wealth one may attain, whatever reputation he may earn, whether a person be wise or a fool, he is destined for the grave. No ransom can be put up to save one from such a destination.
I can see George nodding his head in agreement with his deadpan expression. That’s the way it is. That’s laying forth the facts clearly to be seen. But I can also picture him with his finger pointing to verse 15 and saying, “Look here. Read this: ‘But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me.’”
Knowing George, he would have pointed to that verse with confidence. Why would he do that considering his realistic approach to life? Like a true Philadelphian, he never expressed confidence in any of the sports teams winning a championship; why express confidence in his own ransom when he knew his own accounts were riddled with mistakes?
George sat under the preaching at Tenth for 21 years. He knew the Romans 3 verses: “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin…. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
But then he would say, “Now wait just a minute; you didn’t tell the whole story, read on.” “And are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.”
That term redemption contains the concept of ransom. Dr. Boice, whose teaching George sat under for 15 years says, “Spiritually, the idea is that, though we have fallen into desperate slavery through sin and are held as by a cruel tyrant, Christ has nevertheless purchased our freedom from sin by his own blood. He paid the price to free us.” It is this act of ransom which George received by faith.
He understood the value of the currency used to ransom him, that it could indeed pay his debt and put his account in order. In this he placed his hope as expressed in the 1 Peter passage we read:
...knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for your sake, 21who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
George was a numbers man. He didn’t deal in gray areas. Numbers are either right or wrong. And so again, he understood the verse we read in 1 Timothy 2: “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all.” There is not more than one God; there are not several mediators for us to choose for ourselves. George agreed with the apostle Peter who said: “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) than that of Jesus Christ.
As you know, George was an accountant. It was his job to reconcile accounts. And so surely he appreciated what the apostle Paul had to say in Romans 5:
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
We know that George appeared before his Maker with his accounts reconciled by his Savior. Perhaps even now he is standing before the heavenly throne singing, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!"
