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The funeral was held on June 18th and so the opening illustration was especially appropriate.
On June the 18th, 1915, 175 years ago to this day, the combined forces of Austria, Russia, Great Britain and Prussia, under the leadership of the British general Arthur Wellesly Wellington, engaged the powerful army of the French Empire, under Napoleon Bonaparte, near a Belgium town named Waterloo. By a pre--arranged agreement, the British army, at the end of that day, was to signal back to the coast the result of the outcome of that battle through a code of smoke signals. The message would then be communicated across the English Channel and hand--delivered to the King of England in the city of London.
On the evening of June 18th, at the conclusion of that fierce battle, in which more than 25,000 men lost their lives, the English communication experts on the coast awaited the smoke signal declaring either the victory or the defeat of their army. And, soon, their waiting came to an end.
Over the top of a distant hillside, they were able to make out the distinctive smoke signal message from Waterloo and they began to translate it. The first word was unmistakenly the code for ''Wellington.'' The second, following soon after, was the signal for the word 'defeated.'' When those two words were received, a sudden shift occurred in the wind and

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the sky quickly filled with dark, low clouds. Now it would be impossible to receive any more smoke signal messages. But it seemed that they had received all that they needed. Their message unmistakenly read: ''Wellington defeated.'' And so, with great sorrow, they turned and they communicated that fact across the English Channel and the message was delivered to the King in London.
That night, all of England was heartbroken to receive the news that their general, Arthur Wellesly Wellington, and his forces had been defeated by the French emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte - for it now seemed as if there would be no way in which to stop the expansion of Napoleon's power.
That next morning, again the British agents on the coast searched the skies for more smoke signals from Waterloo and again they received a message. It began with the same word: ''Wellington.'' The next word was also the same: 'defeated.'' But this time, with a clear blue sky overhead, there came a third word. To complete the sentence came the code for the name ''Napoleon.'' You see, the correct message, all along, had read: ''Wellington defeated Napoleon.'' And, unfortunately, they had only been getting a part of the truth!
If I may suggest something to you on this date, 175 years later - I happen to think that often when we face the reality and the experience of death we may be something like those British agents along the coast of the English Channel. We may, unfortunately, only be getting a part of the message and a portion of the truth. But, let me tell you what I mean.
I imagine that when many people heard or read about the death of ____________ all that they thought about was that his life had come to an end. No longer would he be a respected business leader of our community. No longer would he be here for his business associates or for his employees or, most importantly, for his wife and his daughters and his son and his grandchildren and his great--grandchildren and his brothers and his sister and his friends. No, now he was gone and the message that seems to be communicated is that: ''__________ has been defeated!'' - defeated by his age and by his ''miner's

asthma'' and by his pneumonia and by his cancer, defeated, in fact, by death itself.
You know though, as I think about it, perhaps it is not unusual for people to think in that way. I would even imagine, that that was the way many, many people thought way back in the city of Jerusalem on a Friday and a Saturday during the celebration of Passover. They had seen a man by the name of Jesus Christ die a cruel death on a cross on a hillside called Calvary and undoubtedly they thought that the message that was being communicated was that Jesus had been defeated. But, you know, as well as I do, that that is only a part of the story. You know, as well as I do, that following that Friday and that Saturday came a Sunday that has forever since been known of as Easter. And, you know, again as well as I do, that Jesus Christ burst forth from the tomb and put aside the chains of death. We know that the message of the cross is not completed until a final word is added. The message is not: ''Jesus was defeated.'' No, rather the message is: ''Jesus has defeated death!''
Well, I am here this day to tell you that that is also the conclusion of the message that we should see in the death of ____________. The message of this day and of this hour is not that ____________ has been defeated. No, the message rather is that ____________, because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done and given to him as a gift, has also defeated death. ____________, your husband and father and grandfather and brother and friend, has defeated death!
Paul, in our second lesson, told us that there is nothing that can separate us from God's love. Now that also includes death. You see, death cannot separate us from God, for death has been defeated. And, one day, we will all, every single one of us, learn the truth of that victory firsthand, as has
____________.
No, this death is not the end. No, in a way, in fact, it is only the beginning - the beginning of eternal life and God's victory over death for ____________ and for you and for me.