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For a working man who died from diabetes

By The Sweat Of His Brow

Genesis 3:19

(Because of his diabetes, the man would sweat profusely with any exertion.)

In the third chapter of the book of Genesis, God speaks these words to Adam, "By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food" (Genesis 3:19 NIV). That is how Roger ate. Roger earned his food by the sweat of his brow, by the hard labor of his hands.

"By the sweat of your brow," that is how Roger provided for his wife and for their children. By the sweat of his brow, Roger provided a roof over their heads, food on the table, and educations for them of which he had a right to be proud.

The "sweat of your brow" living about which God spoke to Adam was a life that Roger knew very well. It was also a life Roger lived very well. Roger the carpenter and contractor built homes, built places of business, built places of worship. It was all "sweat of his brow" work. Even in the middle of winter when the door of some car wash was caved in by a car sliding on the ice, even in that freezing cold, it was by the sweat of his brow that Roger made his repairs. Roger built things well. Roger repaired things well, with strength in his big workingman's body, and with skill in his capable, working man's hands.

The Lord God said to Adam, "By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food." We have made these words into part of what we call, "Adam's Curse," God's punishment. But Roger would not have understood them that way. They were no curse to him. Roger was blessed by God with a body strong enough to take on huge tasks, and accomplish them. Roger was blessed by God with a skill that could build almost anything, and fix almost anything, except his stove.

Blessed with such strength and such skill, Roger did not consider the sweat of his brow to be a curse from God. Instead, Roger offered the sweat of his brow as a gift to God, a gift to his wife and family, a gift to his church, and to his community. This morning we do not agonize over how hard poor Roger had to work and sweat all his life. This morning we celebrate how hard big, strong, skillful Roger worked and sweated all his life. Look at what that sweat of Roger's brow accomplished. Look at his family. Look at his community. Look at all the evidence of the goodness Roger has brought to us by the sweat of his brow. All of it is Roger's sweaty-brow gift to God, and to us.

It is a gift Roger continued to give even in his retirement. In the garden, Roger tilled God's soil in carrying out Adam's appointed task. In the kitchen, Roger cooked and canned. More and more those things became for him "sweat of his brow" labor, as hard as hoisting any timbers for a home. By the sweat of his brow, Roger continued to live as God's faithful son, doing his best, giving his all.

In these last few months, we have seen Roger sweating just to walk from the car to his chair in the house. Even there Roger was glad to sweat, for the sweat of his brow was life to him. By the sweat of his brow he ate. By the sweat of his brow he lived. All of it was sweat and work worth honoring and worth celebrating.

"By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food." Those words of God describe the life Roger lived for all these 73 years, but they were not the only words God spoken to Roger. "I love you," God said to Roger when Roger was baptized, "I love you. Through my Son's cross I have forgiven all your sins. You are mine forever. I will be with you always."

Last Friday morning this is what Jesus said to Roger, "Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (Matthew 25:34). Those words were "sweat of the brow" words, too. By the sweat of Jesus' brow, by the work of Jesus' life and death, Roger's salvation, and ours, has been accomplished. By the sweat of his brow, offered as his gift to his Father in heaven, and given as his gift to us, Jesus earned for us the bread of life. It is by the sweat of Jesus' brow that we eat and live forever.

"Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." With these words Jesus wiped away the sweat from Roger's brow, took his hand, and led Roger into heaven.

So much goodness, so much goodness today for us to celebrate. By the sweat of Roger's brow all of us have been blessed. By the sweat of Jesus' brow all of us, the whole world of us, including Roger, have been saved.

Amen.