Sermon Redux – “Laying Down the Law” – Exodus 20:1-21 – Part 3 of How God Made a Way Out of This Mess

Exodus 20:1-21:

Then God spoke all these words, saying,

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of ^[a]slavery.

You shall have no other gods before Me.

“You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.

“You shall not murder.

“You shall not commit adultery.

“You shall not steal.

“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

All the people perceived the thunder and the lightning flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood at a distance. Then they said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, or we will die.” Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid; for God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin.” So the people stood at a distance, while Moses approached the thick cloud where God was.

I had several concerns going into this weeks sermon.  I had just gone through surgery the Monday before and I was still feeling the pull of stitches and I was wondering if I could project my voice adequately.  I also had several things on my mind about our council meeting after church so I was distracted a little.  Preaching is like that sometimes but once I got started the Holy Spirit has a way of taking over and making u for my weaknesses.

The next consideration of how God Made a Way Out of This Mess I the even of the Law being given to Moses.  It is once have discovered that this is all or nothing and that God has got our backs that we begin to understand that there are going to be rules as we march down the path.  The Law becomes these rules but often we consider the law wrongly much like children of Israel do in this story.  We fear instead of understanding the purpose and nature of the Law.

It is Christ and Paul in Romans that restate that the Law is actually based on love.  Love is the fulfilment of the Law and that is actually stated by the time we get to the generation that is going to take the Promise land in Deuteronomy.  Jesus quotes this idea in his teachings and Paul gives it full meaning in Romans 13:8-10.  The point is that the law is about establishing a covenant of dedicated and faithful love. This is why the law is not to be feared but understood and should give us great joy like it did for David in Psalm 119.

Once we come to this understanding we can look at the rules of the law not as a killjoy or bondage but as understandings that allow us to conceive of each command of scripture as a way to learn how to truly love God and love our neighbor as our self.  The Law is about understanding our covenant with God.  As long as we walk the way, we come to understand this and so our walk is bathed in love.  To love God requires obedience and obedience is the path to demonstrating our love for God and each other.

Sermon Redux – “Quit Your Whining, I’ve Got This!” – Exodus 14:1-31 – Part 2 of How God Made a Way Out of This Mess

Exodus 14:1-31:

Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Tell the sons of Israel to turn back and camp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; you shall camp in front of Baal-zephon, opposite it, by the sea. For Pharaoh will say of the sons of Israel, ‘They are wandering aimlessly in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’ Thus I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will chase after them; and I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” And they did so.

When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his servants had a change of heart toward the people, and they said, “What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?” So he made his chariot ready and took his people with him; and he took six hundred select chariots, and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he chased after the sons of Israel as the sons of Israel were going out boldly. Then the Egyptians chased after them with all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and they overtook them camping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.

As Pharaoh drew near, the sons of Israel looked, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they became very frightened; so the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord. Then they said to Moses, “Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

But Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent.”

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward. As for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land. As for Me, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them; and I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. Then the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord, when I am honored through Pharaoh, through his chariots and his horsemen.”

The angel of God, who had been going before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them. So it came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel; and there was the cloud along with the darkness, yet it gave light at night. Thus the one did not come near the other all night.

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord swept the sea back by a strong east wind all night and turned the sea into dry land, so the waters were divided. The sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on the dry land, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. Then the Egyptians took up the pursuit, and all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots and his horsemen went in after them into the midst of the sea. At the morning watch, the Lord looked down on the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud and brought the army of the Egyptians into confusion. He caused their chariot wheels to swerve, and He made them drive with difficulty; so the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from Israel, for the Lord is fighting for them against the Egyptians.”

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may come back over the Egyptians, over their chariots and their horsemen.” So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal state at daybreak, while the Egyptians were fleeing right into it; then the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen, even Pharaoh’s entire army that had gone into the sea after them; not even one of them remained. But the sons of Israel walked on dry land through the midst of the sea, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. When Israel saw the great power which the Lord had used against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in His servant Moses.

I suppose it is much more effective for a preacher when the message is as much for himself as his audience.  I have been thinking about this passage all week not just as sermon material but as a passage with personal application.  I was going to undergo surgery the next day when I preached this, so the message of trusting in God’s power to deliver on his promises was something I needed to hear as much as anyone else.

I suppose we could give the children of Israel some slack if they had never seen God deliver them before.  However He had just done so with a mighty hand from the land of Egypt in the first place with multiple miracles to boot.  In the end, they were faced with a choice to trust God to deliver them to of their mess or not.  They chose not but God delivered them anyway probably for the sake of Moses.  Their murmurs were silenced once they saw the one thing that had not been touched by the plagues completely destroyed – Pharaoh and his army.

The lesson we learn from Abraham is that following God is all or nothing, the lesson we learn from the parting of the Red Sea is that in following God he may lead us into situations that look bleak to us but we must trust that He has our back.  This was something I had to relearn this week and now a day after surgery I am glad I learned it.  So far not only did the surgery go well, but I have already had a easy recovery.  I have little pain and I haven’t had any pain killers for 12 hours.  I  haven’t needed them.  Now, that could change but so far I have much to be thankful to God for and so I give him the glory.

The lessons of accepting that the way out this mess is all or nothing and the way requires that we trust God completely must be learned before we take out first step on the path to salvation and out of the mess.  We have to quit our whining and understand that God has got this.

Sermon Redux – “This Test is Not Graded on a Curve” – Genesis 22:1-18 – Part 1 of How God Made a Way Out of This Mess

Genesis 22:1-18:

Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.” So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance. Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.” Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.

Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son. Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, “In the mount of the Lord it will be provided.”

Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, and said, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

It had been more than a month since I had last been in the pulpit so when I started this sermon and series of messages it involved a lot of recap.  That said the basic issue is that it takes about 11 chapters of the Bible for humanity to get firmly in a mess they cannot get out of on their own and it will take the rest of the bible to show us how God made a way for us to get out.  The history of the bible is the history of the God-Man interaction to get us back to the place we were at the beginning but things are changed in some ways that innocence cannot truly be recovered.  The issue is getting back to a place where mankind can walk in each other’s presence once again.  It starts with a guy named Abraham.

I have moved forward in the story of Abraham to near the end.  Abraham up to this point has been far from perfect as he has failed God on a couple of occasions but his main claim to fame has never been his perfection but his faith despite imperfection both in his knowledge of God and his actions.  His faith in God is probably the most tested of all when he reaches the point that God asks him to sacrifice his son.

As an open theist, I believe the test is completely legitimate from both Abraham’s and God’s perspective.  God openly says when Abraham finishes the test successfully – “Now I know that you fear God”.  This indicates that before he did not know this.  God knew Abraham could pass this test or fail it but which choice he would actually make was completely up to Abraham and thus unknowable to anyone until it was actually made.  He rejoices when Abraham succeeds and the test has great value because of this.  It illustrates a couple of points for us.

1. God does not grade our faith on a curve.  We either have it or we do not.  This is why Jesus can say faith the size of a mustard seed is enough to move mountains.  Either we believe certain thing about our relationship or we don’t.
2. Our relationship with God is also not graded on a curve.  We are either faithful or we are not.  God expects complete faithfulness including giving up our own spouses, children, lives and everything else should he ask.  There is no such thing as being 80% or 60% faithful.  I mean what spouse would accept on their wedding day – “I will be faithful only to you 80% of the time.”

These are lessons that we must learn if we are to start the path God has created to get out of this mess.

Blessings and Cheers!!!

Sermon Redux? – Sermon Series Planning

Ah.  The last Sunday without me in a pulpit anywhere has come and gone.  I must say it has been a relaxing period for me but as I said last week I have missed preaching.  The thing is that most of what I do preaching wise is in the context of a series and there are many good reasons for that.

1. It keeps me from getting in a rut when it comes to a topic.
2. It forces me to examine and present a topic completely.
3. Along with that it allows more opportunity to explore a topic with the congregation than a single sermon on something would normally allow.

Those aside the real reason sermon series planning is important to me is that w=once you have done it saves a tremendous amount of time on figuring out what you’re going to preach on and you can give more effort to presentation and making sure you are spiritually ready to preach.

Upcoming, I have a series that is basically a mirror image of the one I just finished with.  I spent nine weeks basically describing how we got ourselves into this mess and now the next series is about how God got us out.  Each sermon shows a counter by God to each aspect of humanity that gets us in trouble.  Once God starts initiating a long term solution, the game changes.

The next nine weeks will be expressing that idea in a series of messages that is designed to uplift and give glory to God’s salvation.  It should be an interesting time and that will take me to the end of the summer.

I am looking forward to being back in the saddle but I might find myself interrupted by surgery with this hernia thing but hopefully it will not interfere too much and I can get back to the part of ministry that I enjoy the most.

Blessings and Cheers!!!

Sermon Redux? – Simple Thoughts on Preaching

I of course have not been preaching this month as I have a substitute.  Heck, I haven’t even darkened the door of a church except to deal with the things concerning my son’s wedding which amounted to a couple of hours and that was that.  I was too busy enjoying the ceremony to really think church.  That said, the only thing I have truly missed since day one of this sabbatical is preaching.  There is something about it that is truly the icing on the cake of ministry.  Not preaching though has allowed me to think about it a little and come to some observations.

1. The feeling one gets about effectiveness is immaterial compared to actual effectiveness.  I have lost track of the times I thought a sermon was flat but people would tell me it really touched them and the other way around.  This leads to:
2. The level of effectiveness of a sermon greatly depends not on the skill of the preacher but on 1) The fact that the Word of God has its own power 2) The Holy Spirit’s power to change hearts and 3) the response of the hearers to the first two.
3. That last one is ultimately the trump card of whether a person will be changed by the Word and the Spirit.  If the Word and the Holy Spirit are there, the atmosphere can change a person, it is all a question of the hearer being willing to truly listen and change.

Yeah, that’s it.  I know people have written books on preaching but when it really comes down to it a preacher who humbles himself, preaches the Word and lets the Holy Spirit do His job is in the right place and all that remains is the humility and willingness to change of the hearer. The rest is just details that can improve things but in the end I have seen the simplest messages do more work than the most homoletically correct ones.

Blessings and Cheers!!!

Sermon Redux – “What did You Say?” – Genesis 11:1-9 – Part 9 of How We Got Into This Mess

Genesis 11:1-9:

Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words. It came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.” And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. They said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” The Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. The Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them. Come, let Us go down and there and confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth.

The incident of the Tower of Babel is a kind a fitting end to this series of messages because it contains the basic choice that has colored all of the incidents in this series – the pride of mankind verses the commands and directives of God.  In the end we get into this mess because of mankind’s continual problem of deciding against what God directs.  The Tower of Babel is no different as we remember that the constant command to both Adam and Noah was to spread out, fill the earth and subdue it.  The people after the flood do the exact opposite and instead stay together as one nation and culture.

The question from God;’s perspective seem to be one of prevention as before mankind turned all of its attention to evil and while they don’t seem to be evil like they were before, they are so united that even God admits that nothing is impossible for them.  God realizes the danger and decides on a decision that involves changing man’s knowledge f language so that there become many languages instead of just one and this mankind cannot work together anymore but their freewill is not violated.

The ultimate thing mankind was looking for was security and unity but to achieve that they had to ignore God’s command to fill the earth.  Once again God finds himself reacting to the decisions of mankind by changing their situation so they are compelled to make the right decisions but at a cost – namely there will not be strife, wars and power games into the future.

For us, we need to that our own personal messes are caused by the same pride that we think we know better than God.  The thing is even now we can see the love and grace of God which in the end is the only things that get us out of this mess.  Ultimately, we must look to God to help us get out of the hole we dig for ourselves for not listening to Him in the first place.

Sermon Redux – “Hi, I’m Noah” – Genesis 9:18-29 – Part 8 of How We Got Into This Mess

Genesis 9:18-29:

Now the sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem and Ham and Japheth; and Ham was the father of Canaan. These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated.

Then Noah began farming and planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were turned away, so that they did not see their father’s nakedness. When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him. So he said,

“Cursed be Canaan;
A servant of servants
He shall be to his brothers.”

He also said,

“Blessed be the Lord,
The God of Shem;
And let Canaan be his servant.
“May God enlarge Japheth,
And let him dwell in the tents of Shem;
And let Canaan be his servant.”

Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood. So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years, and he died.

My interpretation of this passage is far different from most because I don’t see Noah’s kids particularly Ham as the problem but rather I see Noah as the person who is in need of correction.  I suppose we should expect that after doing this great thing for God he decides in boredom to plant a vineyard.  It is Noah that makes the grapes into wine. Noah is the one who gets drunk and strips his clothes and yet we are led to believe Ham and more specifically Canaan is to be cursed because Ham walks in on his father laying naked in his tent.  It is in my mind that Noah should be saying: “Hi, I’m Noah and I am an alcoholic” and exercising a little humility.

Noah is not the good character in story.  He gets drunk, gets naked and then when he is discovered he curses his grandson who had nothing to do with anything and that probably the result of a hangover. Noah is the one to blame for this but he is trying to blame others for seeing him.  It should be noted that this curse does not really play out and like Jacob’s cursing of Simeon and Levi seems to actually be null and void as soon as it is uttered..  It should be noted the Bible in this story records the events but no moral judgment is given by God.

Noah forgot that his walk with God remained.  It is a great temptation in many cases to do great things for God and then think you can do no wrong.  In boredom, arrogance, etc. we can feel we can never fall from God’s favor or that God will overlook our stupidity because he owes us one.  Such is not the case, because god still expects us each day to live for him.

Sermon Redux – “Unicorns and Rainbows” – Genesis 8:1-9:17 – Part 7 of How We Got Into This Mess

Genesis 8:1-9:17:

But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark; and God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided. Also the fountains of the deep and the floodgates of the sky were closed, and the rain from the sky was restrained; and the water receded steadily from the earth, and at the end of one hundred and fifty days the water decreased. In the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat. The water decreased steadily until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains became visible.

Then it came about at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made; and he sent out a raven, and it flew here and there until the water was dried up from the earth. Then he sent out a dove from him, to see if the water was abated from the face of the land; but the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, so she returned to him into the ark, for the water was on the surface of all the earth. Then he put out his hand and took her, and brought her into the ark to himself. So he waited yet another seven days; and again he sent out the dove from the ark. The dove came to him toward evening, and behold, in her beak was a freshly picked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the water was abated from the earth. Then he waited yet another seven days, and sent out the dove; but she did not return to him again.

Now it came about in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first of the month, the water was dried up from the earth. Then Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the surface of the ground was dried up. In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry. Then God spoke to Noah, saying, “Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by their families from the ark.

Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. The Lord smelled the soothing aroma; and the Lord said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.

“While the earth remains,
Seed time and harvest,
And cold and heat,
And summer and winter,
And day and night
Shall not cease.”

And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. The fear of you and the terror of you will be on every beast of the earth and on every bird of the sky; with everything that creeps on the ground, and all the fish of the sea, into your hand they are given. Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you, as I gave the green plant. Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. Surely I will require your lifeblood; from every beast I will require it. And from every man,from every man’s brother I will require the life of man.

“Whoever sheds man’s blood,
By man his blood shall be shed,
For in the image of God
He made man.
“As for you, be fruitful and multiply;
Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it.”

Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, “Now behold, I Myself do establish My covenant with you, and with your descendants after you; and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth. I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth.” God said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations; I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud, and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

The aftermath of the flood is one of those things that we must address because it is not just a covenant with the faithful that ends the story but the covenant is with all of humanity regardless of faith.  God will never flood the earth again and destroy all life – period.  It is a moment where people come through and find themselves the only survivors of a world destroyed and there must have been both joy and sadness.

The issue presented by Noah is one of faith.  His belief in God was not vindicated until this moment.  It is only when Noah steps off the ark that he is fully justified in his belief in God before others.  His only proper response is to thank God.  This is the simple understanding that without god he would have died and the whole of the human race would have ended.  It is a fearful thing for us humans when God becomes the only answer.

That said, I wonder if we recognize that in those moments we find ourselves in such moments that we seem to gravitate toward the idea of being magically rescued.  We are looking for unicorns instead rainbows.  Rainbows can only be seen when we go through something, not when we are just rescued.  One if fictional the other the reminder of a covenant made with humanity.  In truth one is not real on the other very real.  Which do you believe in?

Sermon Redux – “Captain Obvious Says: That’s a Lot of Water” – Genesis 7:1-24 – Part 6 of How We Got Into This Mess

Genesis 7:1-24:

Then the Lord said to Noah, “Enter the ark, you and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this time. You shall take with you of every clean animal by sevens, a male and his female; and of the animals that are not clean two, a male and his female; also of the birds of the sky, by sevens, male and female, to keep offspring alive on the face of all the earth. For after seven more days, I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights; and I will blot out from the face of the land every living thing that I have made.” Noah did according to all that the Lord had commanded him.

Now Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of water came upon the earth. Then Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him entered the ark because of the water of the flood. Of clean animals and animals that are not clean and birds and everything that creeps on the ground, there went into the ark to Noah by twos, male and female, as God had commanded Noah. It came about after the seven days, that the water of the flood came upon the earth. In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened.The rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights.

On the very same day Noah and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark, they and every beast after its kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, all sorts of birds. So they went into the ark to Noah, by twos of all flesh in which was the breath of life. Those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God had commanded him; and the Lord closed it behind him.

Then the flood came upon the earth for forty days, and the water increased and lifted up the ark, so that it rose above the earth. The water prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. The water prevailed more and more upon the earth, so that all the high mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered. The water prevailed fifteen cubits higher,and the mountains were covered. All flesh that moved on the earth perished, birds and cattle and beasts and every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind; of all that was on the dry land, all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, died. Thus He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted out from the earth; and only Noah was left, together with those that were with him in the ark. The water prevailed upon the earth one hundred and fifty days.

The title reflects many of the sermons I hear on the flood of Noah.  Yes, that is a lot of water.  Yes, that is a lot of animals.  Yes, that is a big boat.  The real question though is what is the moral of the story.  All the factual elements are something you use to distract young kids in Sunday School from the fact that a whole lot of women. men and children died and their bodies were floating in the water all around the ark for how long?

I am not trying to be morbid when I point this out but the moral is that we can as a human race get so bad that God will kill us all.  God does not do this in anger either – he does it in grief.  His wrath is not about anger but about sorrow.  God watches as Noah builds and ark for over one hundred years and still not a single person repent.  This grieves God and we need to consider the rain and water God’s tears.

While we cannot understand how an entire populations of the planet would take this course, our concern is to be like Noah.  How can we be the only person who is righteous even if no one else is?  How can we be obedient in the context of complete disobedience.  This is the nature of our walk with Christ to assess how we can be righteous not pass judgement.  God is, as illustrated by this story, fully capable of doing that by himself.

Sermon Redux – “The World Is Going to Hell in a Hand Basket – Genesis 6:1-22 – Part 5 of How We Got Into This Mess

Genesis 6:1-22:

Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.

Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. The Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God. Noah ^[became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.

Then God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth. Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and shall cover it inside and out with pitch. This is how you shall make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. You shall make a window for the ark, and finish it to a cubit from the top; and set the door of the ark in the side of it; you shall make it with lower, second, and third decks. Behold, I, even I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall perish. But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. Of the birds after their kind, and of the animals after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive.  As for you, take for yourself some of all food which is edible, and gather it to yourself; and it shall be for food for you and for them.”  Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did.

As the story of early humanity unfolds, it comes to a certain point where Adam no longer lives and the first person who is mentioned in chapter 5 who is born in the line of Seth after his death is Noah.  Noah’s time on earth is not a good one.  His world has literally gone to hell in a hand basket which is a turn of phrase that has the connotation of skipping along merrily into hell.  Everyone’s mind thinks of evil and only evil all the time.

In Matthew Jesus speaks of this time as one where everyone was simply going about their business until the flood destroyed them.  They lived in evil and had embraced it to the point it was normal in every way.  It makes me wonder if the flood that will come will be the thing that cause such a remembrance in the human race that we never truly get this bad again, well at least till the very end in some people’s view of Biblical future.

It is striking time, to be in a world where God looks at all the possibilities of the future and cannot see a single possibility where there is the possibility of redemption.  Save one. Only if Noah builds and ark will the world be spared a complete loss of human life.  Noah lives in a world gone to hell but does God’s will anyway.  His righteousness is what saves humanity even though it did not deserve saving.

The lesson here is one of perseverance of spirit.  Of living in a world gone to hell in a hand basket and yet remaining true to God.  It is a lesson we all need to learn because we live in a world that is not that far gone at least yet.