Richard Schumacher Funeral
May 28, 2011 (died May 21)
Note: Richard Schumacher was a leading layman, and eventually a valued staff member, at First Evangelical Free Church in St. Louis. Though I had been gone from the church for seven years when he passed away, I was invited to bring the message at his funeral and was delighted to do so.
Message: It is an enormous privilege for me to participate with these other friends of Richard in this memorial service today. I loved Richard Schumacher, and Pam, and I have known Alex, Lydia, and Eliot most of their lives. When this family first came to First Free, we were a relatively small congregation meeting in the gym at Westminster. I soon learned that Richard and Pam had a great heart for the nations. In fact, they are the only people I’ve ever heard of who spent their honeymoon on a mission to Africa. Before long Richard was our Mission Commission Chairman. Eventually he became our missions pastor.
This week I was looking back through some files. I discovered that in January of 1991–just a little over 20 years ago–I launched a new sermon series from the book of James. In the very first sermon, entitled When Troubles Pile Up, I made the following observation:
You know, most Christians can handle an occasional disappointment or trial without serious difficulty–many with a smile on their face. It’s when one trial comes hard on the heels of another that our faith often begins to shake, and we inevitably begin to ask, “Why me, Lord?” 1990 was a tough year for some in our church. I’d like to use as an illustration the Richard Schumacher family. For many months now our church family has prayed regularly for Elliot, the nearly year-old son of Richard and Pam. Elliot has a severe immune deficiency and circulatory problems that has sent him to the hospital dozens of times this year. He rarely sleeps more than two hours at a time, so his parents almost never get sufficient rest.
On top of that Pam’s cousin Collette, to whom she is very close, is suffering from incurable cancer. These burdens alone at times have seemed overwhelming. But for the past six weeks Richard has been sick with a variety of symptoms. The week before Christmas the doctor ordered him to get a cat scan, fearing possible recurrence of Hodgkins disease, a cancer of the blood from which Richard has been in remission for three years. Before the cat scan could be done, however, a blood clot developed in his arm, and Richard spent the weekend before Christmas, including most of Christmas day in the hospital. Released for a few days, he returned a week ago yesterday with a blood clot in the lung, pleurisy, and anemia. He’s been in the hospital now for the past eight days.
When troubles like this pile up many of us begin asking, “Where is God? What does he want from me? How am I supposed to cope?”
Little did we know at the time that the trials facing the Schumacher family would not end there. Not even close! The very next summer Richard spent three months in a coma and much of the following year recuperating from his second bout with Hodgkins. Collette died later that year. Eliot is now 21 and living on his own, but he still struggles with major health issues. And, of course, Richard is now gone from us, having fought a long and heroic third battle with Hodgkins.
I am so proud that Richard never gave up. In fact, he actually doubled down. Between his second and third bouts with cancer he retired from the corporate world, where he was very successful, went to seminary, and began a new career. The last time I stood in this pulpit was to speak at his ordination service. What a privilege that was!
I thought long and hard about what to say for Richard’s memorial service, because I know he would not want some trite funeral homily but rather some robust theology. I thought about the topic of God’s heart for the nations because missions was a driving force in Richard’s life. I thought about servant leadership, because he was such an example of a servant disciple. But ultimately I felt compelled to address the issue of suffering.
I personally don’t have any close friend who suffered more than Richard. The other day Pam added up the time he spent in the hospital–it was probably over three years during his adult life! Whenever a really good person suffers inordinately, it raises inevitable questions in the minds of thinking people, even committed Christians. Why, we ask, should a good man have to suffer that much?
In 2 Cor. 4 the Apostle Paul talks about his own suffering and impending death. He speaks of his body as a jar of clay broken with suffering. He is hardpressed on every side, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down. But he is not without hope. In fact, he states that he is “hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted but not abandoned; struck down but not destroyed.” I agree with J. Philip Arthur’s words:
“Taken together, these four images tell us that Paul was a hard-headed realist with no romantic illusions about his service for God. Far from depicting himself as a spiritual superhero blazing a trail of success like a comet across the first-century sky, Paul portrayed himself as a groggy fighter reeling from a succession of near-lethal blows, surprised to find himself still on his feet and sure that if he was still standing, it was only by the grace of God.”
I suspect that’s how Richard felt for much of his adult life, particularly these past eight months. I want us to try to grasp the fact that Richard’s suffering was not wasted, nor was it a sign of God’s disfavor. On the contrary, if the life of Jesus and the life of Paul are any measure (and I think they are), Richard’s suffering may actually be a sign that he was one of God’s choice servants.
I well remember as a child hearing my father say, with all sincerity, as he was dispensing some painful discipline, “I’m only doing this because I love you.” I guess I should have been pleased that he loved me more than all my siblings, but I actually had serious doubts about his integrity. However, once I survived adolescence I understood, and I slowly began to see it his way. He hurt me because he loved me.
Friends, all of us know how hard it is to turn our thoughts to God when everything is going well with us. The Schumachers have not had that problem. There’s a curious passage in Ecclesiastes 7 that many interpreters have tried to explain away, but I think we should probably accept it at face value.
It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting,
for death is the destiny of everyone;
the living should take this to heart.
Well, friends, we’re at a house of mourning this afternoon (not one of uncontrollable grief, certainly, but we are mourning a great loss, for sure). And Solomon says it is better for us to be here than at a wedding. Sober reflection, personal evaluation, and practical application of the Scriptures are all far more likely at a memorial service. When we are celebrating and feasting, it is difficult to think clearly about life and about God. In that sense mourning is better. Jesus said something similar in the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are they that mourn.” (Matt. 5:4). There is a maturing of our faith that is possible in affliction and sorrow that frankly cannot be attained any other way.
I return to 2 Cor 4. There is a reason Paul does not view his own suffering and inevitable death as an unmitigated tragedy. It is that he has confidence his deteriorating earth suit will be resurrected and reach its full potential as a creation of God. Listen to verse 14: “We know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself.” If Jesus was raised from the dead, and He was, then Paul was absolutely confident that he, too, would be raised. Richard had the same confidence. He had no fear of death, no dread of the unknown, just a settled confidence in the Lord.
But the resurrection is yet in the future. What about between now and then? What about the suffering Paul was undergoing? What about the suffering Richard endured, and now his family still endures? How are they supposed to cope? Well, perseverance is possible when a person has an eternal perspective. Listen as I continue reading in verse 16:
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
This short paragraph offers four amazing contrasts.
1. Outward/inward. “Outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.” Is that true of you? I know the first part is, i.e., I know you are wasting away outwardly. So am I. But sadly, the second part is not always obvious. Some Christians seem to get harder and more bitter as they suffer or as they grow older. But I also know many who become, as the hymn says, “Sweeter as the Years Go By.”
For months Richard Schumacher has experienced slow physical deterioration. At times there were hopeful signs, but too often a step forward was followed by two steps back. But he never got bitter or complained about his lot in life. I’ve known him for 25 years, and the fruit of the Spirit has always been evident and growing in his life. He was wasting away outwardly but being renewed inwardly.
2. Light/weighty. “Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” There’s only one way in which Paul’s or Richard’s incredibly difficult trials and troubles could be viewed as either light or momentary, and that’s by way of contrast with something else. Paul puts all his physical suffering and mental anguish on one side of a scale. Then on the other side he stacks up the eternal glory that is being accumulated through that suffering. No comparison! the scales tip dramatically in favor of the eternal benefits.
I’m not suggesting for a moment that all suffering earns eternal rewards. When we suffer because of our sin, there is no glory in that (1 Peter 2:20). But when we endure life’s normal trials with a humble, grateful, God-honoring attitude, as Paul did and as Richard did, I believe eternal glory is being accumulated. John Piper writes of Paul, “When he is hurting, he fixes his eyes not on how heavy the hurt is, but on how heavy the glory will be because of the hurt.”[i]
3. Seen/unseen. “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen.” We naturally prefer the seen. In fact, we have a well-known proverb we often quote: “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” But Paul says that when it comes to spiritual issues, the world we cannot see is just as real and infinitely more important as the world we inhabit at present.
4. Temporary/eternal. “What is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” Stop and think about that for a moment. Everything we can see (other than people)–our homes, our furniture, our businesses, our cars, our libraries, our family picture albums, our toys–it’s all temporary. Someday it’s all going to be left behind, and eventually it’s all going up in smoke. But the spiritual realities are lasting and eternal–love, worship, faithful ministry, lives touched, kindnesses done, generosity expressed. The Apostle John put it this way: “The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever” (1 John 2:17).
In the next paragraph Paul elaborates further on the topic of the resurrection, pressing home that knowledge of God’s plan for our future helps us face death without fear. I am reading now from chapter 5:1-5:
“Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed (and it will be!), we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”
Here he shares three great truths about the future that we can sink our teeth into.
1. The next body is permanent. Our present body is temporary, but it will be replaced with one that lasts forever. Paul was a tentmaker, so he speaks of our present body as an earthly tent, just as a few verses earlier he had spoken of it as a clay pot. A tent is a very apt illustration. Tents are by their very nature temporary housing. After a while the stakes begin to loosen, the poles begin to bend, the canvas sags in various spots, the cold penetrates, and it is not very comfortable.[ii] Sound familiar?
But when the tent is destroyed it’s going to be replaced with a house. The nature of that house is eternal, its location is heaven, and it is not built with human hands (the implication being that it is a divine production). No wonder he’s looking forward to the next body! John MacArthur speaks truthfully when he says,
For all, death comes like an utterly unsympathetic landlord waving an eviction notice. But that eviction merely releases believers from a wretched earthly neighborhood to an infinitely grand and glorious dwelling in a heavenly neighborhood.
2. The next life is far superior. Paul mentions one thing that characterizes this life, and that is groaning. It isn’t constant, but it is inevitable, and there are many things that produce it. We groan because of pain, because of broken relationships, because of dashed hopes and dreams, because of the incredible amount of evil all around us. We groan when people act irresponsibly and harm themselves and others around them, when people call good evil and evil good, when innocent children are abused and aborted.
But there is still another cause of groaning, and this is a deep inner desire for the resurrection body God has promised. Anyone whose earth suit is wearing out, anyone who has endured long-term suffering, can empathize. The more we suffer and the closer we get to death, the more we long for that body as described in 1 Cor. 15:42-44:
The body that is sown (buried) is perishable, it is raised imperishable;
it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory;
it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;
it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual (supernatural) body.
Paul is groaning for the day when God will give him a new body, in which he will still be able, even in heaven, to serve God and enjoy His marvelous creation.[iii]
By the way, Paul indicates in Romans 8 that we are not alone in our groaning; the physical world around us groans too.
“We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” (Romans 8:22, 23)
I personally think the earthquakes and tsunamis and tornadoes that we have seen so much of recently are evidence of this cosmic groaning. And just as the groaning of believers ends when they receive their resurrection bodies, so the physical universe “will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.” (Romans 8:21)
When will this happen? When Jesus comes! Ironically, Richard died on the day Jesus was supposed to return, according to the esoteric calculations of certain Bible students who could have saved themselves all kinds of trouble if they had simply paid attention to what is clear, rather than what was hidden, in the Bible–that no one knows the day or the hour. Jesus came for Richard on May 21 (you might call it a partial rapture!), but someday He is going to return bodily to redeem this whole universe. Believe me, the next life is far superior.
3. The next home is with the Lord. Verses 6-8: “Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. (We live by faith, not by sight). We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” Paul doesn’t worry himself here about where heaven is, nor with its topography, nor with its physical features. It’s enough for him that heaven is “home with the Lord.” Paul wanted to be where Jesus is. So did Richard. And that’s where he is.
How then should we live? If we really believe that Jesus is coming again, if we believe that God is going to provide a resurrection body for us, and if we really desire to be at home with the Lord, how should that affect our daily living now? Paul gives his answer in verses 9 and 10: Our goal is to please Him, for judgment is coming. (5:9-10)
So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
I have met few people more consumed with pleasing the Lord than Richard Schumacher. That should be our full-time occupation. Why? Well, there are many reasons, but the one Paul mentions here is that judgment is coming. He is speaking of the judgment of believers, but there is also a judgment for unbelievers. When we stand before God, we will have to give an account for what we have done. A lot of people seem to think they can argue before that court that their good deeds outweighed their bad, or that they did their best, or that they performed the right rituals. Well, someone has said that the one serves as his own attorney has a fool for a client. I think that’s especially true when we stand at God’s bar of justice.
But at Calvary we view a sight never seen before or since in human history. The Judge of the Courtroom, knowing that the defendants before Him are all guilty, refuses to pronounce them guilty but instead steps down from the bench and surrenders Himself to pay the penalty of the defendant’s crimes. Since the crimes were worthy of capital punishment, He surrenders to the death of a common criminal. And because the crimes have been paid for, He offers a verdict of “not guilty” to anyone willing to come over to His side.
Friends, it doesn’t get any better than that! Richard Schumacher accepted the Attorney God offered him, Jesus Christ the righteous one. Won’t you accept Him, too?
Prayer: Our Father and our God, we come to you today as needy people. Our hearts are tender as we are reminded once again that “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” We seek the comfort of your Holy Spirit and the fellowship of brothers and sisters in Christ.
Thank you, Lord, for precious memories of our friend Richard Schumacher. Thank you for the powerful way he touched so many of our lives. I pray for Pam, Alex, Lydia, Eliot, and for all the family and friends that are gathered here today, that you will give them the strength to move on.
Most of all we thank You for sending Your dear Son to be our Savior. In the strong name of Jesus, amen.
[i] John Piper, Future Grace: The Purifying Power of Living by Faith in Future Grace, 360.
[ii] Ray C. Stedman, Expository Studies in 2 Corinthians: Power out of Weakness, 93.
[iii] William Barclay, The Letters to the Corinthians, 204-5.