RICHARD TINKER |
Introduction
I am honored to be here and to speak at Dale’s service. He has spoken so much into my life that changed me and my direction in life. I’m sure most of you here agree with me—the words of life from the Word of God that Dale relentlessly taught and wrote about have been a door for us into truth and eternal life with Jesus.
One of my life’s regrets happened in the mid 1980’s. I was married to my first wife, and we were both devout Seventh-day Adventists. One day, a box came in the mail from Dale and Carolyn Ratzlaff—I had never received a package from them before. You see, my mom’s side of the family are Ratzlaff’s. Dale is one of my mom’s first cousins, so I had known about Dale all my life.
But back to the box. I opened it and found paper-clipped sheets of written copy about the Sabbath. The sheets had many Bible verses and commentary. I was upset and afraid. In fact, I couldn’t bring myself to read it, and promptly threw it in the trash.
That was my first introduction to Dale’s extensive study of the Sabbath and the New Covenant which later became the book that we now know as Sabbath in Christ. I so regret throwing that box away. But God’s plans for me were not derailed. I heard from Dale later that he and Carolyn had been praying for me for years, and today I am here because God finishes the work He begins!
Where Is Dale?
We are here together remembering our dear Dale who is now in heaven with our Lord Jesus. The Bible calls that place “home”. Dale told Carolyn to ask me to speak of heaven, so I looked at many passages that mention heaven. There’s the heavens, which are above our heads. There’s the starry expanse of heaven, and there’s the Kingdom of Heaven so often spoken of by the Lord Jesus. And then there’s Home, which is where Jesus is and where Dale has gone. Let’s look at 2 Corinthians 5:1–8.
For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this [house] we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord—for we walk by faith, not by sight—we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:1–8 NASB95).
Let’s look at this passage. What is the tent which is also described as clothing?
It’s our physical body—the part of us that we can see and touch and feel.
What is our condition without our body?
We are naked.
But then this verse goes on to state that we, the saved, will have this mortal tent swallowed up by life! And to prove this fact, God gave us the Holy Spirit as a promise, and therefore we are of good courage.
Our condition is stated simply: when in the body, we are absent from the Lord, and when we are absent from the body, we are at home with the Lord. And just to remove any fear about leaving our bodies behind in death, Paul states that he would prefer to be absent from the body and at home with the Lord.
These words are really simply stated and understandable by even children. Words, though, sometimes go against our beliefs.
But Dale, right now, would want you to know the truth about his present state—he is with his Lord!
What Was Dale’s Favorite Scripture?
How many of you have heard Dale preach Philippians 3:7–9? They are such powerful words. Here it is again:
But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from [the] Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which [comes] from God on the basis of faith (Philippians 3:7–9 NASB95).
Dale was a hard-working man. He spent his life going from hauling hay to teaching Bible to teenagers, from preaching at Adventist churches to building houses, creating businesses, and planting huge gardens—an activity shared with many of the Ratzlaff clan.
I know these Ratzlaff traits because my grandpa Ratzlaff always had a huge garden, and when he was in his 90’s he planted a pear tree, looking forward to a harvest someday in the future! Furthermore, Dale’s cousins Ken and David had an apple orchard in Sebastopol, and lots of Adventists in Northern California enjoyed the frozen cider that they produced and sold.
Dale founded a book publishing company and a ministry, Life Assurance Ministries, which continues today. But Dale would say that all of it—all of these accomplishments—are counted as loss for the sake of Christ, because of, as Paul says, the surpassing value of knowing the Lord, Christ Jesus.
Dale suffered loss—great loss—by following Jesus: loss of his PhD at Andrews University, loss of his career as a pastor in Adventism, and monetary loss as he and his family had to pivot towards a new future. But Dale counted all that loss as rubbish because of the Christ he gained, being found in Him. It is a wonderful place to be—to be found in Jesus!
But the heart of the matter is the last part of this text—where Paul will drive home his point. We lose everything for Christ, and then we receive righteousness which comes from God by faith in Christ. But notice where it doesn’t come from: righteousness is not our own, derived from the Law.
One of the most fun parts of Dale’s autobiography recorded in his book Truth Led Me Out is his account of when he was finally fired from his employment as a pastor in the Central California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. He went home and got the lawn mower out, and as he went back and forth across the lawn, he would jump in the air exclaiming, “I’m free, I’m free!”
Dale knew then what he helped so many of us to learn: our freedom and righteousness is received by faith in our Lord Jesus, not by working the works of the Law.
How Can We Go To Heaven?
We have discovered where Dale is now—he is home—in heaven with Jesus. As Paul stated,
“…we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.”
…so now we need to find out how Dale got to heaven. Let’s read the central passage stating the Gospel in the Bible: 1 Corinthians 15:1–4:
Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, – 1 Corinthians 15:1–4 NASB95
This is the Gospel, the good news, which Paul is here restating to the brothers at the church in Corinth. It is the same gospel that Paul preached to them before, and it is the gospel in which these believers were standing, and also by which they were saved. Importantly, Paul didn’t invent this gospel; it is the very same gospel that he received from the Lord Jesus. It is simple, and it is revealed in the Bible:
- Christ died
- Christ was buried
- Christ was raised on the third day
—All according to the Scriptures!
And the Scriptures reveal the significance of these three things that Jesus did—the three messages of the Gospel.
- Christ died—He died because we were dead in our sins, and He took the wrath that we deserved. That righteousness that comes only by faith is accounted to us because of Jesus’ death.
- Christ was buried—some have said that Jesus didn’t really die. But to prove that He really died, a Roman solder stabbed Him through, and blood and water poured out of the wound. And they buried Him because He had been proven dead.
- Christ was raised on the third day—Jesus had told His disciples that he would be killed and He would be raised on the third day. Hosea prophesied that, “on the third day, [the Lord] will raise us up, that we may live before Him.”
Dale loved the book of Romans; in fact, some of you may have read his collection of Bible studies through Romans which he published both in Proclamation! online magazine and as a book entitled Romans Alive.
Back in the days when Dale taught Bible at Monterey Bay Academy in Central California, Dale led his students through the first eight chapters of Romans. As he prepared his lesson plans, the new covenant truths Paul explains in those chapters began to open Dale’s eyes.
The beauty of the simple gospel emerged from Romans like the pearl of great price which Jesus talked about, the pearl that was worth everything to the one who found it. Because Dale loved Romans so much, I will read a passage from Romans 5 which explains who we are and what Jesus did for us:
Paul says in Romans 5:10—21:
For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. … 17 For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. 18 So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. 19 For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. 20 The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 5:10–21 NASB95).
So now we have found out where Dale is, and we have heard the gospel message. We have heard some of Dale’s favorite passages that explain what God has done for us in Jesus—that He took what we earned on Himself so that we can become sons and daughters of God.
That’s how Dale got to heaven. He trusted Jesus with his sin and believed that Jesus paid for it with His life. Even more, he received eternal life by the power of Jesus’ own resurrection life! Now we are going to read a precious passage that was given to us by God for our encouragement.
Comforting Words
The following verses from 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 are printed on the back of your handout. They are specifically given to us for our encouragement about those who are asleep, for that’s how the Bible describes the death of the saved. The body is dead, but it’s not over!
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of [the] archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words (1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 NASB95).
Here Paul does not want us to be uninformed about those who have died, SO THAT YOU WILL NOT GRIEVE AS DO THE REST WHO HAVE NO HOPE. That’s what makes this memorial service for Dale Ratzlaff different from many other services—we have hope, and our hope is not that kind that says, “I hope so.”
No! We have secure hope that is anchored in the finished work of Jesus on the cross, and the seal of the Holy Spirit given to every one who has put their full weight on Jesus’s payment for all our sins, past, present, and future. We are not saved by our works. We are not lost by our works.
Make sure that you are going to join Dale Ratzlaff someday at home with Jesus by confessing your sin and trusting the Savior,
…so that you may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of your own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith. †
- Dale Ratzlaff’s Memorial Homily - March 7, 2024
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