The Danger of Partial Obedience–Sermon

The Danger of Partial Obedience 

A Sermon 

Preached on February 7, 2010, by 

The Rev. S. Randall Toms, Ph. D.,

 At St. Paul’s Reformed Episcopal Church, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 

For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and an holy, and observed him; and when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly. (Mark 6:20)

      It’s been a long time since I was addicted to watching soap operas.  In my teen-age years I was addicted to a couple of them.  Believe it or not, when I was in seminary, I watched one regularly during the lunch break between classes.  If you have ever watched the soaps, you know how complicated the relationships can become.  People get married, have children, then they get divorced and wind up marrying their brothers-in-law and their sisters-in-law, It gets very difficult to keep straight exactly what category of kinship they have with one another.  As complicated as our soaps may be, they are not more complicated than the relationships that existed in the family of Herod the Great.  Herod the Great was the ruler of Judea at the time that Jesus was born, the Herod who ordered the slaughter of the Innocents.  Herod had many different wives and many children by those different wives.  I won’t try to give you a complete genealogy of Herod’s descendants, but for the purposes of our text this morning, let me give you a brief history of the relationships that are relevant. Herod the Great had a son, Antipas, who is the Herod in our text who had John the Baptist executed.  Herod the Great had another son, Philip, who lived in Rome and was married to Herodias, the Herodias in our text for today.  Herodias was a granddaughter of Herod the  Great by one of his many other wives.  Herod Antipas went to Rome and convinced Herodias to leave her husband, Philip.  She did so, divorced him,  and married Herod Antipas.  So, Herodias is Herod Antipas’ sister-in-law and niece, and now, wife.    It is little wonder then that a prophet like John the Baptist would tell him that he has broken the law of God.  As is often the case, Herodias, the wife, is the one who really gets angry with John the Baptist.  I can just hear her saying, “Who is he to say that we shouldn’t be married?  Who is he who to think that he can rebuke a king and his wife.”

            But Herod’s relationship to John the Baptist was rather strange.  Though John the Baptist had rebuked him, Herod had a great deal of respect for John.  Herodias had tried to convince Herod  to kill John the Baptist, but Herod wouldn’t do it.  We are told that Herod feared John.    It’s an interesting thing how people feel about a real man of God.  They may not like him, they may not agree with what he says, but they respect him.  They are also a little afraid of him.  Sometimes, it’s a kind of superstitious fear.  It’s almost as though they consider it bad luck to do something bad to the preacher.    Herod probably had just enough of the fear of God in him to worry him that if he did something to John the Baptist, God might pour out his judgment on him.  It was difficult not to respect a man like John the Baptist.  Here was a man who had lived in the desert as a mark of his dedication and preparation for the service of God.  It was obvious that John was no hypocrite.  Verse 20 says that Herod knew that John was a just and holy man.  The word for just means “righteous.”   John was a man who kept the law of the Lord and walked in his way blameless.  He was a holy man, a saint, one whom God had set apart to fulfill the special task  of preparing the way of the Lord and to make his paths straight.    He was not like many of the other religious leaders that Herod knew and had on his payroll.    John was a true man of God and didn’t care if rebuking a king would cost him his life.  Such a man gains the respect even of those who disagree with him.  Herod feared him.  This passage also says that Herod observed him.  The word translated “observed” means either “to preserve,” or “to ponder.”  If we take the meaning to be “preserve,” it means that Herod protected John, though Herodias wanted him dead.  If it means “ponder,” we see that though Herod was not willing to be obedient to what John said, he did think a great deal about what John taught.

            As a matter of fact, the passage tells us that Herod heard John gladly.  I’ve known many men like Herod—men who had very little interest in living godly lives, agreed with very little I had to say, but for some reason loved to hear strong preaching; and the more I got worked up, the more I preached against sin, the better they liked it.  Herod must have been something like that.  He heard John gladly, even though John told him to his face he was an adulterer.  In some ways, Herod was like the stony ground hearer in our Gospel reading for this morning.  Jesus said that the stony ground hearer was one who heard the word and received it with “gladness” (Mark 4:16), but because the word does not take root in their lives, they fall away when times of tribulation or persecution come.  But perhaps Herod was more like the one who received the word among the thorns.  They are the ones who hear the word, but the cares of this world, and the lusts of other things choke the word, and they become unfruitful.   Or as Luke puts it, the cares and riches and pleasures of this life, choke the word (Luke 8:14).  That would describe Herod perfectly.   Herod is a great example of a man who was a hearer of the word, but not a doer of the word, though he “did many things.”

            It seems that Herod was willing to put some of John’s teaching into practice.  Perhaps Herod even repented of some of his sins.  But riches, pleasures, cares, and lusts kept him from making a thorough repentance.  He was willing to do many things, but he was not willing to give up his beloved Herodias.  Finally came the time when Herodias’ daughter, whom we know as  Salome, danced before him.  It is here that it was revealed that though Herod was willing to do many things in response to the teaching of John the Baptist,  he was still ruled by his lust, particularly his sexual lust.  After Salome danced, Herod promised to give her whatever she wished, up to half of his kingdom.  If that’s not a man ruled by his lust, I don’t know what is.  A man who will give up half of his kingdom to a girl because of a dance is a slave to his passions.  But we shouldn’t think it strange or unusual for a man to give up so much because of uncontrollable lust.   Haven’t we seen politicians, ministers, and family men give up half their kingdoms and more for much the same reason?  These were men who did many things, who in many other areas of their lives were very good men, fulfilling their responsibilities, and keeping some of God’s commandments, but there was one powerful lust that ruled their lives for which they were willing to sacrifice almost everything.  Herod is an example of an incomplete repentance—a man, in some ways, wanting to do what was right, but at the same time holding on to his most beloved sin.  Because of his unwillingness to obey God completely, we find him willing to kill the man of God, the man that he feared, the man that he knew was a righteous and holy man.  He was willing to kill him for the sake of a rash oath he had made to a woman.  No doubt, this sinful act resulted in an even further hardening of Herod’s heart, for we find that when Jesus Christ was brought before him, that Herod mocked the Son of God.  Herod, who had seen that John was a just and holy man, had now become so hardened that he could not recognize the same in our Lord Jesus Christ.  We are told that our Lord Jesus Christ did not say one single word to Herod, which may be the Scripture’s way of saying that Herod’s conscience had been seared with a hot iron, and it was useless to speak to him.  This is the kind of hardening that results when we are unwilling to let go of our dearest sins.

            Today is Sexagesima Sunday, approximately 60 days before Easter.    It is part of our pre-Lenten season where we begin to prepare our hearts for the season of Lent.  Our Church calendar had us read this story of Herod on the Tuesday before this Sunday.  Herod is a good example of the person who will start out to live a righteous life, but will ultimately give in to the pleasures of the world.  How different he is from the Apostle Paul.  In our Epistle Reading for today, we find the great apostle who describes his life as

…in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.  (II Cor. 11:23-26)

  Paul represents that soil that received the word of God and brought forth fruit.  Herod allowed what other people thought of him to rule his life, so much so that he was willing to kill John and support the decision to kill Jesus. Paul did not let beatings, prisons, and many other kinds of suffering deter him from following Christ, and as a result, he bore much fruit.  Herod allowed the lusts of his flesh to choke the word of God.  Paul was willing to turn his back on all the pleasures of this life if only he might serve Christ and spread his gospel. 

            During this season of Lent, like Herod, we will probably “do many things.”  We will realize that we are doing some things that we shouldn’t do, and we will repent.  But will we stop short?  Will we be willing to give up that Herodias in our life? Will we be willing to stand firm for righteousness and holiness even when the lusts of the flesh lure us away?  Alexander MacLaren described Herod in this way:

Herod was a weak-willed man, drawn by two stronger natures pulling in opposite directions.   So he alternated between lust and purity, between the foul kisses of the temptress at his side and the warnings of the prophet in his dungeon…  Thus he staggered along, with religion enough to spoil some of his sinful delights, but not enough to make him give them up….  We do not make up for such cowardly shrinking from doing right by pleasure in the divine word which we are not obeying.  Some of us think ourselves good Christians because we assent to truth, and even like to hear it, provided the speaker suit our tastes.  Glad hearing only aggravates the guilt of not doing.  It is useless to admire John if you keep Herodias. 

One of the reasons we fast during the season of Lent is to give us an example of how we need to be in control of our bodies, our appetites that may get out of hand, out of control, and dominate our lives.  Lent is a time to strengthen our resolve to overcome those things that lure us from giving Christ first place in our lives.  Lent is a time when can show that following Christ is more important to us than yielding to those pleasures which may not be in accordance with God’s will. 

     During Lent, we are often made painfully aware of these two strong natures pulling in opposite directions.  We find in ourselves a desire to obey God, and at the same time, the desire to follow our own desires.  Years ago I heard a preacher who said that most people have just enough religion to make them miserable.  They have just enough religion to let them know that what they are doing is wrong, but it doesn’t give them enough power to quit.    As we examine ourselves during the season of Lent, we often find ourselves miserable because we realize how weak we are when it comes to resisting sin.  But Lent is not profitable to us if it only makes us miserable.  We must come out of the Lenten season with the power of the resurrected Christ who rose from the dead to deliver us from both the guilt of sin and the power of sin.  If the season of Lent does not result in a resolve to truly repent, a resolve to give up even the most darling of our sins, if it does not result in sincere, agonizing prayer to be delivered from all our sins, then, like Herod, our “doing many things” will only result in making us more hardened in our hearts.  Nothing hardens us so much as being convicted for our sins, and then refusing to repent of those sins.  During this season of Lent, let Herod’s life and hardness of heart stand as a warning to us of the danger of hanging on to the things of this world.  Let us set the example of the Apostle Paul before us, who truly meant it when he said, “What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ” (Phil. 3:8, NIV).  When you see the things of this world, will you be like Herod, or like St. Paul?  Will the things of this world be everything, or will you, like St. Paul, see them as rubbish when compared to knowing Christ?  With these thoughts in mind, Dean Henry Alford’s prayer that I included in your order of service today is so appropriate.  Let this prayer be in our hearts constantly as we enter this season of the year:

O Thou Sower of the good seed in men’s hearts, grant to us that we may not receive it by the wayside, so as speedily to lose it:  nor in shallow soil, so as to hear with joy, but, having no root, in time of temptation to fall away:  nor among thorns, so that it is choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life.   But break Thou up our fallow soil, that we, receiving Thy seed into good and honest hearts, may keep it, and bring forth fruit unto life everlasting. Save us from a trifling spirit:  save us from sudden and passing excitement:  save us from an heart divided between the world and Thee.  Give us earnestness, strength of purpose, simplicity of faith, warmth of love, that we may inherit the blessing which Thou hast promised to them who are doers as well hearers of Thy word; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

The Pierced Soul–Sermon

The Pierced Soul

A Sermon 

Preached on January 31, 2010, by  

The Rev. S. Randall Toms, Ph. D., 

At St. Paul’s Reformed Episcopal Church, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 AND when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord; (as it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;) and to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtle-doves, or two young pigeons. And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him. And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; (yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity; and she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem. And when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth. And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.  ( Luke 2:22-40) 

     Today is Septuagesima, the third Sunday before Lent,  so we are now in the pre-Lenten season, a time when we need to begin preparing our hearts for that serious time of reflection and repentance, as well as meditation on the sufferings and death of our Lord Jesus Christ.  This Tuesday is also the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, or, as it is sometimes called, The Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  As we read the story of the presentation of Christ in the temple, the words that are spoken by Simeon help us to prepare our hearts for the season of Lent.

            According to Old Testament law, after a male child had been born,  the child had to be dedicated to the Lord,  and the mother had to be purified.  According to Exodus 13, the firstborn male child had to be redeemed by means of a sacrifice.  In Ex. 13:12-15, we read,

That thou shalt set apart unto the LORD all that openeth the matrix, and every firstling that cometh of a beast which thou hast; the males shall be the LORD’s.   And every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck: and all the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou redeem.   And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this? that thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand the LORD brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage:  And it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that the LORD slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of beast: therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all that openeth the matrix, being males; but all the firstborn of my children I redeem. 

The Jews had to observe this custom to remember that when God delivered them from the bondage of Egyptian slavery, he killed the firstborn of all the Egyptians.  All the firstborn of Israel would have been killed, as well, if they had not sacrificed a lamb and put the blood of that lamb on their doorposts.  When the angel of death saw that blood, he passed over their houses and spared the firstborn.  Therefore, all the firstborn males of Israel, from that time forward, had to be redeemed by means of a sacrifice.

     Also, according to God’s law, after a child was born, the woman  was considered ceremonially unclean and could not join in worship with the people of God.  Leviticus 12 tells us what the woman must do in order to be purified:

 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a woman have conceived seed, and born a man child: then she shall be unclean seven days; according to the days of the separation for her infirmity shall she be unclean.  And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.  And she shall then continue in the blood of her purifying three and thirty days; she shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying be fulfilled. But if she bear a maid child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her separation: and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying threescore and six days.   And when the days of her purifying are fulfilled, for a son, or for a daughter, she shall bring a lamb of the first year for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon, or a turtledove, for a sin offering, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest:  Who shall offer it before the LORD, and make an atonement for her; and she shall be cleansed from the issue of her blood. This is the law for her that hath born a male or a female.  And if she be not able to bring a lamb, then she shall bring two turtles, or two young pigeons; the one for the burnt offering, and the other for a sin offering: and the priest shall make an atonement for her, and she shall be clean.   (Lev. 12: 1-8) 

 As you can see, a woman was considered to be ceremonially unclean for 40 days after the birth of her child.    Normally, a lamb was sacrificed as a burnt offering, and a pigeon was sacrificed as a sin offering.  But since Mary and Joseph were poor, they did not have to offer the lamb.  They could offer two pigeons instead.

     In our text for today,  Mary and Joseph have brought Christ to the temple in order that these sacrifices might be offered on behalf of Jesus and Mary.  When they come in to the temple, they are met by a godly man named Simeon.  Simeon is described as a righteous and devout man.  The Holy Spirit was upon him, and he had been waiting all his life to see the Messiah.  God had revealed to him that before he died he would see the Messiah.  When Mary and Joseph enter the temple with the child Jesus, God reveals to Simeon that this little baby is the one who would redeem Israel.  Simeon takes the child in his arms and gives thanks to God in the words that we have come to know as the “nunc dimittis,” which we sing near the end of our Evening Prayer service:  “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word:  For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,  Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;  A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel” (Luke 2:29-32).   Then , Simeon makes a prophecy and tells Mary, “Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed” (Luke 2:34-5).  I am sure that up until this moment, Mary’s heart had been filled with joy.  She has become a new mother.  Not only is she a mother, but she is the mother of the son of God.  She has heard the angel’s announcement that this child would be great, the Son of the Highest, and would inherit the throne of his father, David, and reign forever.  We don’t know how much Mary knew about how all of this would be accomplished, but we can probably assume that she, like most of the people of her day, did not know exactly how Jesus would redeem his people, and how he would come to his throne.  Perhaps she, like most of the Jews of that day, believed that the Messiah was going to be a great deliverer who would free them from Roman rule and set up his throne in Jerusalem.   

     But Simeon’s prophecy acquaints Mary with the truth that the life of this child was going to be difficult.    He tells her that this child would be the cause of the rise and fall of many.  He also tells her that he would be a sign that would be spoken against.  In other words, her son was going to be one who some people would oppose.    When her son is opposed, she would have the reaction of almost any mother: she would be very distressed by the opposition that her son would encounter.  It would hurt her deeply, so much so that the pain would be like a sword piercing through her soul.  The Greek language has different words for swords.  There was a word that was used to describe a small, short sword.  But then, there was a word that was used to describe a large, long, broadsword, which is the word that is used here.    Mary’s pain is going to be so deep that it will be like a broadsword piercing through her very soul.  At this time, Mary probably has no conception of what her son would face in the future, but Simeon has told her that she is going to be hurt deeply by what will happen to her son.

     The deep hurts she would experience would begin very soon.  Not long after these days, Herod will seek to kill the child.  An angel reveals to Joseph that the child is in danger, and they must flee to Egypt.  How deeply saddened Mary must have been!  Here she has the greatest treasure in the world in her possession, and yet powerful people are determined to kill him.  She must have always been looking over shoulder, listening to hear the latest word, wondering what hired assassin might be around the next corner seeking the life of her child.

      Then,  immediately after her son begins his public ministry, the opposition begins.  Though he heals the sick, raises the dead, and does many other wonderful miracles, many people, out of envy and jealousy oppose everything that he does.  Though he is the greatest teacher and preacher that the world has ever known, people want to cast him out of the synagogue, hurl him over cliffs, or stone him to death.  To see her son treated in such a fashion would cause any mother great pain.  Whenever my mother comes to hear me preach, she always sits on the first or second row.  She doesn’t do that because she wants to be close to me.  She does that so that she won’t see the reaction of other people to what I am saying.  Mothers are very proud and protective when it comes to how their sons are treated, and I am sure that Mary was no different.

      But of course, the hurt caused by these events  would not begin to compare with the pain in Mary’s soul when her son was arrested and crucified.  We don’t know how much of the passion Mary may have witnessed.    Did she see the arrest?  Did she see the soldiers beating him?  Did she witness the lies that were told about him at that mockery of a trial?    Did she see the scourging?  We know the women were following, so she may have seen a great deal.  She probably heard the crowd shouting over and over again, “Crucify him!  Crucify him!”  She probably heard the crowd express how they would rather see a murderer like Barabbas go free rather than her son.  She may have heard Pilate give the permission for them to take him away and be crucified.   She may have seen him walk the via dolorosa with the cross upon his back, for we are told, “And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him” (Matt. 23:27).   Many of the women saw the crucifixion of Jesus, for we are told, “There were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome; (Who also, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and ministered unto him;) and many other women which came up with him unto Jerusalem” (Mark 15:40-1).  Mary was there  at the place of the crucifixion for we are told,  

Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout.  They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did.  Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.   (John 19:23-25) 

She saw them drive the nails into the hands and feet of her son.   She saw the soldiers gambling for his clothing. She heard all the cruel words that that men said as he hung there between heaven and earth.    She heard his cries of thirst.  But even as he is there on the cross, he expresses his love for her, because he tells John to take her into his home and care for her.  Even his compassion for her while in his own death throes must have pierced her soul.  She heard his plaintive cry, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”  Then she saw the agony finally end as he commended his spirit to His father.  As she looked upon her son in those terrible hours of torture and pain, Simeon’s prophecy, “a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also” must have seemed like an understatement.  What grief could compare to the grief of a mother who saw her son treated in this fashion? 

     During this time of year, we go through the life, passion, and death of our Lord Jesus Christ.  As we do so, a sword should pierce our souls just as the soul of Mary was pierced.  During this season, our daily readings and our readings on the Lord’s Day will take us through those many times when he was spoken against, the many times that he was persecuted, the many times when men plotted against his life.  As we look at the purity and holiness of his life, as we look at all the good that he did, as we look at the wisdom of his teaching, and most of all, as we look at how his great love for sinners was rejected, our souls should be pierced.  As we look upon how the one who was so full of grace and mercy became the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, our souls should be pierced. 

     Our souls should be pierced whenever we consider that our world, especially in the United States, treats our Lord in much the same fashion as he was treated then.  Simeon said that Jesus would be spoken against, and he is still spoken against.  Though he proclaimed himself to be God in the flesh, so many people in our culture hate that truth, and even many who call themselves Christians, even Christian leaders speak against his divinity.  Our Lord taught that we must live in obedience to God’s commandments,  not only in an outward manner, but inwardly, in our hearts.    Yet, our Lord’s teaching concerning righteousness is spoken against.  The teaching of our Lord was that the only way we could be saved was through his death on the cross.  We cannot be saved by living a good and moral life.  We cannot be saved by living in obedience to the Ten Commandments.  We can only be saved placing in our faith and trust in his finished work on the cross.  Yet, this teaching that we can only be saved by the shed blood of Jesus Christ is spoken against.  Think of it!  He came into the world to die, but the very stated purpose for his coming into this world is spoken against.  Though he said that he came to seek and save that which was lost and give his life a ransom for many, his words and mission are spoken against.  Since we live in a country that is increasingly rejecting his teaching and the mission of his life and death,  our souls should be pierced, for it appears that he is being crucified afresh, even in the house of his friends.

      But most of all, our souls should be pierced when we gaze upon the cross and realize that it was our sins that placed him on that cross.  During this Lenten season of the year, we engage in a great deal of self-examination.  We examine ourselves in the light of the Ten Commandments and see how we have broken the law of God.  We look at our Lord’s teaching on the sermon on the mount and other places in Scripture and see all the ways in which we have failed to live up to God’s holy standard.  We take down our devotional books that describe for us how to examine ourselves during this time of year, and we see that, both inwardly and outwardly, we have broken God’s holy law.  Since we have broken God’s holy law, we deserve judgment and condemnation.   But our Lord Jesus Christ went to the cross take our judgment and condemnation away from us by suffering in our place.  During this Lenten season, when our sins are revealed to us in such a powerful way, our hearts should be pierced when we realize that those sins we committed made the cross necessary.  Our sins pierced the Son of God just as surely as the spear of the Roman soldier.  If we realize that our sins pierced him, then surely our souls should be pierced.  In Rev. 1:7 we read, “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.”  Of course, there were those such as the leaders of Rome and the Jewish religious leaders who were directly responsible for piercing him, but the truth is that we all pierced him.  When we realize that we pierced him, then we are pierced, and like the women gathered around the cross, we lament those sins that placed him on the cross.

     But though our souls will be pierced during this Lenten season, the great grief will be turned into joy.  Mary’s soul was pierced as she saw her son hanging on the cross, but three days later, her Son came forth from the tomb, victorious over sin and death.    Though our souls are pierced because we realize our sins placed him on the cross, we realize that the cross has taken away the wrath due to our sin.   On Tuesday, we celebrate the day that Mary and Joseph took Jesus to the temple to offer those sacrifices.  But what we are really celebrating is that Jesus took away the need for those sacrifices ever to be repeated.  He, once for all, became the burnt offering and the sin offering. He took the place of the lambs, the pigeons, and all the other animals that were sacrificed in order that people might be purified.    Jesus Christ, the first born of the father, gave himself  as our Passover lamb, and now his blood, sprinkled on the doorposts of our hearts saves us from the wrath of God.  As we come to celebrate the sacrament of Holy Communion, our souls are pierced because  we realize as we humbly kneel here that our sins made his death necessary; but we are comforted by feeding on his body and blood, for we know that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin, those sins that put him on the cross.  

     The collect for Tuesday’s celebration of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple says, “ALMIGHTY and everliving God, we humbly beseech thy Majesty, that, as thy only-begotten Son was this day presented in the temple in substance of our flesh, so we may be presented unto thee with pure and clean hearts, by the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”   As we look at our sins, our souls are pierced because we know that as long as our souls are in such a sinful condition we cannot be presented to the Father.  But Jesus came to the temple as an infant, the one who would fulfill at that the temple stood for, and all that took place in the temple.  During this Lenten season, let us remember that though Mary’s soul was pierced, and though our souls are pierced, we rejoice that because he was willing to suffer and die in our place, we can be presented before God in the temple, in the heavenly holy of holies itself, with pure and clean hearts.  Amen.

Increasing in Favor with God and Man–Sermon

Increasing in Favor with God and Man

A Sermon Preached by Rev. S. Randall Toms, Ph. D.

On January 10, 2010

At St. Paul’s Reformed Episcopal Church, Baton Rouge, LA 

 And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.   And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it.   But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day’s journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance.   And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him.   And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.   And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.   And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.   And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?   And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them.   And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.   And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man. (Luke 2:42-52) 

This week we have been celebrating Epiphany.  I remind you that the word for “epiphany” means “to appear,” or “to manifest.”  During this Epiphany season we celebrate the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.  When our Lord appeared, he manifested himself with many different characteristics and attributes.  But let us go back today to his childhood and let us look at how he appeared to others.  When he made himself known in the form of a child, how did he appear?

One of the great mysteries of our faith is how our Lord Jesus Christ could be both fully God and fully man.  We confess in our Nicene Creed that we believe that Jesus Christ is very God of very God, being of one substance with the Father.  At this time of year when we think of the birth and childhood of our Lord, that mystery comes to the forefront of our minds.  How could that little baby lying in a manger in Bethlehem be the eternal God?  How could the twelve year old child that we just read about be of one substance with the Father?  When we read this description of him, it doesn’t seem as though he is being described at the eternal deity:  “Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.”  If he is God, how could he increase in wisdom?  If he is God, then he has all the perfect wisdom of the omniscient God?  If he is God, how can he grow in favor with God?  When we read such descriptions of our Lord Jesus Christ, we must remember that he was fully man, and as a man, he increased in wisdom the same way that any other person would increase in wisdom.  He had to read the Scriptures, study hard, and listen to the lessons that his mother and father taught him.  We often think that God could have chosen just any parents for our Lord Jesus Christ, and it wouldn’t have made any difference.  I don’t believe that for a moment.  There was a reason that God chose Mary and Joseph to be the parents of his son.  God knew that they were righteous and that they would be the kind of parents who would enable Jesus to increase in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.  God said of Abraham, “For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment” (Gen. 18:19).  If God knew that Abraham would be a godly parent, he certainly knew that Mary and Joseph would command his  son and teach him to keep the way of the Lord.  Thus, we find in this passage that our Lord was subject to Mary and Joseph.  He was submissive to them, for they were teaching him the ways of the Lord in order that he might increase in wisdom.  This truth does not detract from his deity.  Rather, it points out to us his humanity.  A very similar expression was used of John the Baptist in Luke 1:80, “And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel.”  Jesus was just as human, just as much man, as John the Baptist, and like John the Baptist, had to grow physically, emotionally, and intellectually.  As a matter of fact, this description of John is almost the same description of the child Jesus in Luke 2:40:  “And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom:  and the grace of God was upon him.”  Luke 2:25 is almost word for word a quotation of I Samuel 2:26, where Samuel’s childhood is described in this way:  “And the child Samuel grew on, and was in favour both with the Lord, and also with men.”  It is obvious that Jesus is being compared to Samuel, a child who grew up before the Lord, and like Samuel was in favour with God and men.  Just as he grew physically, as any man would have to grow, he had to develop mentally by diligent application, study, and meditation.    We are told that as he did so, he increased in favor with God and man, so much so, that at his baptism, the heavens open and we hear the voice of his Father saying, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”  The Father looked back over the course of the life of his son, the way he had been living for the past 30 years, seeing how he had applied himself to study, love, good works, submission to parental authority, and he was well pleased. 

            Nevertheless, this phrase, that Jesus increased in favor with God and man is a rather puzzling one.  How can one increase in favor with God?  If Jesus could increase in favor with God, is it possible that we can increase in favor with God?  When the Scripture says that Jesus increased in favor with God, does that mean that there were stages in Jesus’ life where God was displeased and that he gradually gained God’s approval.  Of course not!nn Jesus was without sin and was always the beloved son of his father in whom he was well pleased.  This phrase means that as the Father watched his Son grow and mature, he was pleased with every step of his development and progress.  The word that is translated here as “increase” mean “to advance,” or “to make progress.”  We know what this is like in our dealings with our own children.  When a child is in the first grade and he learns that 4 + 4=8, we don’t stand there and say, “Well, I’m not pleased because you aren’t able to do multi-dimensional calculus.”  No, we are pleased with all the progress they make at each step along the way, and our delight increases day by day, not that we have been finding fault before, but rather because each attainment of grace and knowledge along the way fills us more and more with pleasure.   The word that is translated here as “favor” is the word that is most often translated as “grace.”  In contexts such as these, it means “that which causes joy, pleasure, or delight.”  To increase in favor means to increase in those characteristics that evoke  feelings of pleasure, delight, and joy.  When we read that Jesus increased in favor with God, it merely means that he increasingly matured and developed those characteristics that are pleasing to behold.   In that same way, we can increase in favor with God.  That statement may seem like a contradiction to the teaching about God’s grace.  After all, grace is God’s unmerited favor.  Since we did nothing to gain God’s favor, how can we increase in the favor of God?  We can increase in favor with God in same way that Jesus did.  We can grow and mature in the Christian faith, and as we do so, God takes pleasure in every step of our progress along the way.  Peter ends his second epistle by saying, “But grow in the grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (II Cor. 3:18).  Just as our Lord grew in grace and knowledge, we are called upon to grow in grace and knowledge, and when we do so, God is well pleased.    Paul told the Colossians, “For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Col. 1:9-10). 

            Just as Jesus increased in favor with  God, he grew in his social skills.  Because of the way our Lord’s life ended, I think that sometimes we beleive that Jesus was always in conflict with everyone.  We think that he must have always been in arguments with people and that people were always persecuting him.  But Jesus is not always portrayed as someone who inspired anger and persecution.  In our text for today we seen the learned men of the age being mesmerized by the intellectual and spiritual brilliance of this child.  Then, during the course of his ministry, we find these descriptions of Jesus that the common people heard him gladly.  Tax collectors and sinner gathered around him.  Now, he wouldn’t back down  when the truth was involved.  He wouldn’t hesitate to condemn that which was sinful, and that trait angered many people.  We often get the impression that is the duty of the Christian to be as obnoxious as possible, especially with the people of the world.   Sometimes, Christianity attracts proud haughty people because they think that Christianity gives them a good excuse to be arrogant and spiteful, ready to corner those who provoke us.  We always have the porcupine quills stuck out ready to launch an attack.  C. S. Lewis once wrote:  “I think we must fully face the fact that when Christianity does not make a man very much better, it makes him very much worse…Conversion may make of one who was, if no better, no worse than an animal, something like a devil.”   Unfortunately, I find that to be the case most of the time.  Christianity does not make people better—it makes them worse, and here is one of the ways it makes them worse.  They have the mistaken impression that being a Christian gives them a license to rude, hateful, unforgiving, and caustic.  But that is not the approach of the Christian at all.  As Paul says, “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men” (Romans 12:18).  Paul even said that one of the qualifications for a bishop was that he have a good report from those who are without (I Tim. 3:7).  In other words, even people outside the Church should have a good opinion of the man of God.  Believe it or not, is possible for Christians to be respected by people in the world.  This word for “favor” is the same word used to describe Joseph in Acts 7:10:  “And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.”   It is no sin if pagans respect you.

The Church itself, like Christ, should grow in favor with God and man.  We see the Church described in that way in the book of Acts.  Notice how the Church is described in Acts 2:46-47—“And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,  Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.”    Notice how the Church had favor with all the people, not just those inside the Church.  Of course, the religious authorities in Jerusalem did persecute them, but by and large, the people looked upon the Church favorably.  In Acts 5:12-13, we read, “And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch.   And of the rest durst no man join himself to them: but the people magnified them.”  Yes, those in power and authority were jealous and wanted to stop this fledgling movement, but, on the whole, the people praised them for all the good that they were doing.  Luke loves to make these kinds of summary statements both in his gospel and the book of Acts.    Just as he like to describe how Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man, he likes to describe the Church as growing numerically, and in favor with God and man.  Since the Church is the body of Christ here on earth, we shouldn’t be surprised to find that it grows just as our Lord Jesus Christ grew.  Certainly, our stand on certain issues makes us unpopular with some people .  But let it be the stand that we take, not the way we take that stand that causes the opposition. This word for “favor” is used in Col. 4:6, where Paul writes, “Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.”  One of the ways we offend people and turn people off is by the way we talk.  Sometimes it is not so much what we say that offends others—it is the way we say it.  Therefore, our speech should be with grace, spoken in a way that causes joy or delight.   We must never give the impression of being haughty, arrogant, proud.  We must never have the holier-than-thou attitude that gives people the impression that we believe that we are so superior to them.  We must never give people the impression that we think that we are too holy to associate with certain people because of their lifestyles or their views on social, political, and moral issues that we find objectionable.  Like Jesus, we must be separate from sinners, but at the same time, the friends of sinners. 

In order to be the friend of sinners, we need a good set of social skills, and we need to be taught those skills, learn those skills, and teach those skills to our children.   In other words, there is nothing wrong with learning how to win friends and influence people.    The problem is that sometimes, we make winning friends the goal of our lives rather than living a righteous and holy life.  Actually, the correct approach is to live a life of obedience to God, and the by-product of that kind of life will be to grow in favor with men.    Just by living in obedience to the Ten Commandments is a good way of growing in favor with men.  If we love our neighbors as ourselves by doing them no physical harm, by refraining from committing adultery, by refusing to steal his goods, by speaking no evil about him, by not coveting what is his, then we have a  good start in growing in favor with men.  Then, think of how our Lord taught us to live.    He taught us that we should be meek, merciful, forgiving, charitable, generous,  and peacemakers.  Such people have a tendency to grow in favor with man.  We are told that the fruit of the spirit is longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, and self-control.    People who display those characteristics usually grow in favor with men. Our Lord taught us to be kind, and above all, he taught us to love as he loved us.    Though there are people in the world who are so evil that they actually hate these attributes, these characteristics generally have a tendency to cause us to grow in favor in with others. 

We need to rediscover the old attribute of being a Christian gentleman, a Christian lady–someone who is cultured, refined, dignified, disciplined, marked by self-control over their behavior, conduct, speech; men and women who can be civil even when they are attacked or disagreed with.  I would put in that category such men as G. K. Chesterton, who was very dogmatic in his Christian beliefs, but he maintained very warm friendships with men like George Bernard Shaw and H. G. Wells.  As you know, both George Bernard Shaw and H. G. Wells were stern critics of the Church and Christianity, yet Chesterton knew how to be friends with such people.  He found favor in the eyes of men even like Shaw and Wells who disagreed with him about his most cherished beliefs.   Chesterton is a good example of a man who knew how to grow in favor with God and man.  Sometimes we look upon Jesus only as a person who attracted the hatred of the world.  We also need to remember him as the one who grew in favor with God and man.

            This passage should also be a challenge to parents to bring their children up in a well-rounded manner.    Jesus grew up in a home where he was encouraged to grow physically, mentally, spiritually, and socially.   He increased in stature.  Although Jesus  wasn’t enrolled in a weightlifting program or the Little League, we have to remember that he did grow up the son of a carpenter.  He was no doubt a very robust, healthy man.  I grew up around men who were carpenters, roofer, and mechanics.  I always observed how strong they were, and how the muscles in their arms bulged.  Take a look at some of the men who roof houses and you get an idea I think of how Jesus may have looked physically.  Very often, we want our children to grow spiritually or intellectually, and we think that physical activity is unimportant.  Teddy Roosevelt’s father taught him that taking care of the body was of primary importance because the mental pursuits would suffer without a healthy body.  Jesus was strong both in body and spirit, and Christian parents do well to teach their children to be physically fit. 

Jesus, of course, was obviously taught the Scriptures and taken to the synagogue regularly.  He was the kind of boy who, though physically active, paid attention to his parents, his teachers, his rabbi, and had the wisdom to know how to put it all together.  His parables illustrate how he could take the ordinary events of every day life–farming, cleaning a house, building a house,–and draw spiritual lessons from them.  That is the mark of wisdom.  There is a scene in the film Jesus of Nazareth where Joseph is showing his children how to measure things, and he reminds them of how God’s law is our rule to keep us straight.  I have no doubt that Joseph probably did teach Jesus how to draw spiritual analogies from the everyday world and that Jesus’ ability to do so was developed by a mother and father who taught him how to do that. 

Jesus knew how to deal with people.  When you go through the gospels you see the wisdom of Jesus and the friendliness of Jesus.  He was a friend of tax collectors and sinners, the people that the religious leaders would have nothing to do with.  Though Jesus knew the Scriptures and had great wisdom, he was not an ivory tower theologian who didn’t know how to get along with people.   It has often been said that Jesus was the most popular dinner guest in Judea.  Have you ever noticed how often his teaching is over a meal where he has been invited to attend?  Sinners invited him to dinner, and even Pharisees who disagreed with him invited him for meals.  There is no doubt that Jesus had great social skills that endeared him to many people.  These skills were developed in him at home by his parents, because we are told here that he grows up in favor with God and man.  The Christian should learn to grow in favor with God and man, teach these skills to others, especially our children.

            In the old Jimmy Stewart film, Harvey, Stewart, playing Elwood P. Dowd says, “Years ago my mother used to say to me, she’d say, ‘In this world, Elwood, you must be’ – she always called me Elwood – ‘In this world, Elwood, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant.’ Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. You may quote me.”  Like Elwood Dowd, I also vote for “pleasant.”  But our Lord Jesus was both wise and pleasant.  It is no sin if people like you.  As a matter of fact, when our Lord appeared in this world, he grew in favor with God and man.  Amen.

Fear and Missed Opportunities–Sermon

Fear and Missed Opportunities:

A Sermon for the New Year 

A Sermon Preached by Rev. S. Randall Toms, Ph. D.

On January 3, 2010

At St. Paul’s Reformed Episcopal Church, Baton Rouge, LA 

He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.  (Eccl. 11:4)

The year 2009 has come and gone.  I suppose we always have mixed emotions at this time of year. It is a time of regret because as we look back over the past year, we wish that we had done many things that we failed to do.  We think back on some of the New Year’s resolutions that we made at this time last year and realize that we broke them within days or weeks of having made them.  Then, there are those regrets we experience because we did so many things in 2009 that  we wish we had not done.   We have sinned against the Lord in so many ways. We have hurt people, said things we shouldn’t have said, and caused pain and unhappiness even in those we love most.   As we examine ourselves at this time of year, I am sure that each of us can look back upon the past year with some regret.  In the words of our confession of sin, we can look back over 2009 and say, “We have left undone those things which we ought to have done;  and we have done those things which we ought not to have done.”

But there is something about the approach of a new year which also fills us with hope. There is something about the beginning of new year that leads us to say,“I can make a fresh start. No matter what may have been true of me in the past, this year it will be different.” We begin to make resolutions, and we start the year with a strong determination to do those things in 2010 which ought to be done.

Yet, we know that there will be many things that prevent us from doing what we know should be done.  Some of us have particular kinds of personalities that prevent us from carrying out our plans.  Some of us procrastinate—we put things off until we even forget we  were so determined to do them.  Some of us get depressed and discouraged and finally throw up our hands in despair and say, “What’s the use.”  The wise man in our text before us this morning describes another kind of person who fails to get much done.  In the King James it reads, “He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.”   I am sure that this verse was a well-known proverb  in Solomon’s day.   You have probably said the same thing from time to time, you just didn’t put it in exactly these words.  What Solomon has in mind is this:  There is a farmer and the time has come to plant his crop, to sow his seed. He says, “I had better plant my crop.” But then he looks outside and sees the wind blowing, and he says to himself,  “Oh, that wind coming up like that might mean the rain is on its way.  I had better not try to plant that crop today.”  Or, perhaps it is the time of year for harvesting the crop.  The farmer makes up his mind that this is the day to bring the crop in; but just as he walks outside, he looks up, and there are some clouds.  He says to himself, “Well, I had better not try to pick those crops. Those clouds look like a storm may come.”  For fear of a possible storm, he never harvests the crop.

I think you can see the obvious meaning of the proverb. If you keep putting things off because of the prospect of some future trouble, you will never do anything.  Today’s English Version translates this verse, “If you wait until the wind and the weather are just right, you will never plant anything and never harvest anything.”  Solomon is not saying that you should disregard the wind and the clouds entirely. If the sky is covered with black clouds,  lightning flashing everywhere, and it’s certain that this approaching storm will prevent you from sowing or reaping, or perhaps even destroy the work you put into the sowing or reaping, then obviously, it is not the time——you should wait.   But Solomon is warning us that many people let the possibility of future trouble prevent them from doing those things which ought to be done. If we stand back and magnify every little difficulty, imagine the worst that could happen, just because there is the possibility of trouble ahead, we will never accomplish anything. This fear of the possibility of future difficulties will paralyze you and prevent you from doing those things which are good and necessary.

We must realize that no matter what good work we begin to do, there is always the possibility of future problems and obstacles.  No matter what area of life you look at, there is always the possibility of crises ahead.  Many people won’t take a job or a promotion to a new job because of the possibility of future trouble. I remember once when I was out it the work-a-day world that I had an opportunity for a promotion to a job I really wanted. But many people began to come to me and say, “I wouldn’t take it if I were you.  It’s a boring job.  You won’t like your supervisor.  You won’t like the people you will have to work with every day.”  I listened to all that negative advice and turned down the job because of the possibility of future problems.   Later on, that opportunity came again.  This time, I wouldn’t be persuaded by the people around me, and I took that job.  All of those terrible things that people said might happen to me never did.   But I had let the possibility of those troubles deter me from taking that job.  Many people live their whole lives not taking advantage of opportunities because of the possibility of trouble ahead.  They are afraid to take a job or start a business, because the economic prognosticators have told them of trouble down the road.   In our own current financial climate, it is possible to imagine all kinds of terrible scenarios in the next few years.  Some people allow the fear of that possible trouble to prevent them from accomplishing anything. But as I say, there is the possibility of future  trials and tribulations no matter what you do, even when the prospects for the future look brightest.  Even if it looked as though the prospects for the future seemed to offer no hindrances or obstacles, there is always the possibility for disaster, accidents, and unforeseen problems.

            People can let the fear of the future prevent them from doing things that may actually be the path to much happiness.  Some people are afraid to get married because of the possibility of future trouble.  A young, single man  gets up one day, picks up the newspaper, and reads the latest statistics that over half of all marriages now end in divorce. He reads how many people engage in extramarital affairs. He looks around and sees in many marriages nothing but fighting, bickering, and all of the pressures and trials that married life can bring. After surveying the current status of marriage in this country, he may conclude, “Oh no, not me. I’m not going to get married because I don’t want to wind up in a divorce court. I don’t want to ruin a good relationship by getting married. All married people do is fight, and that might be the way my marriage would end.”  Such a person  allows the possibility of trouble to prevent him from  marrying.

The very act of following Jesus Christ is also one of those areas where many people give up before they get started, simply because of the possibility of future trials.  When people first begin to consider whether or not to follow Christ, he doesn’t tell them that there is a possibility of future trouble if they follow him. He guarantees them that there will be trouble in the future.  He doesn’t conceal this hard truth from would-be disciples.  Jesus said in Luke 12:51-53, “ Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division:   For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three.   The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.”  In John 15:19 he said, “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.”  If you want all people to love you and speak well of you, don’t become a disciple of Christ.  Your future will be filled with people hating you because of your stand for Christ and his truth.

 No matter what you are planning to do in the future,  I assure you, that if you think long and hard enough about it,  you will think of something that could go wrong.  There will always be an ominous wind beginning to blow. There will be threatening clouds lurking on the horizon. But there are many reasons why we must not allow the prospect of trouble to stop us from boldly taking advantage of future opportunities.

First,  many times the trouble we fear never comes.  Our Lord told us not be anxious about tomorrow. One day’s trouble, this day’s trouble is sufficient for one day without imagining all of the trouble which may come upon us in the future.

Second, fearing possible trouble in the future will cause us to become idle.   As a matter of fact, many of our so–called “fears of the future” are nothing but excuses for laziness and idleness. We are too lazy to do what we know we should, but we disguise our laziness under the cover of being practical.  Perhaps the farmer in our text is just a lazy farmer looking for an excuse. 

I remember that there  was once a group of men who worked in the area where I grew up. They worked outside where you could see them. Sometimes you would pass where they were supposed to be working, and they wouldn’t be there. My dad had a saying about these men:  “If one drop of rain hits them, that’s the Lord’s fault. If two drops of rain hit them, that’s their own fault.” They certainly weren’t going to stay around and see if the rain might stop. They were gone at the first sight of rain.   Many men can relate to that attitude.   The weatherman can say there is 90% chance of rain, black clouds filling the sky, but we will try to get in a few w holes of golf. However, if we see a distant thunderhead on some far horizon, that is good enough reason to put off mowing the yard for one more day. Whether or not it is a real fear of the future or just a convenient excuse, the result is the same—idleness.  And the work which  should have been done is left undone.

Third, we should not allow the prospect of trouble to stop us from taking advantage of opportunities because of all the joy we will miss if we allow the possibility of trouble to keep us from sowing and reaping.

For example, most of the prophets of doom will be telling people that right now would be one of the worst times to try any type of business venture. But I will guarantee you that someone with zeal, thought, and imagination will disregard those forecasts and make a fortune during this time of economic instability, while others will be paralyzed by this fear.  Others will sow and reap while others will regret that they didn’t sow.  Joy awaits those who will sow and reap even though there is a possibility of trouble or disaster.

What if every woman decided that she should would have no children because the prospect of future trouble loomed before her. Just think of everything that a woman must endure to bring a child into this world:  the morning sickness, the backaches, cramps, and fatigue. Then, there’s the birth process itself.   When a woman decides that she wants a baby, she is exposing herself to future trouble, more in some cases than others. What wouldd make a woman go through all trouble to have a baby?   Our Lord Jesus Himself tells us why a woman will endure such discomfort and anguish.   In John 16:21 he said, “A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.”  Yes, there is sorrow and anguish connected with childbirth, and the woman knows that is what she will face when her hour has come, but she is willing to endure it  because the joy of bringing that child into the world is far greater than the sorrow and anguish which preceded it. If women weren’t willing to face future sorrow and anguish, they would miss the joy of holding that little child in their arms and knowing the love that only a mother can know. How foolish it would be to give up this joy because there was future trouble involved.

The same is true of the difficulties involved in the Christian life.  Some of you remember that in Pilgrim’s Progress, Pliable is not sure that he wants to begin this journey to the Celestial City because he has heard about all the hardships that one encounters on the way.    But Christian tells Pliable,

 There is an endless kingdom to be inhabited, and everlasting life to be given us, that we may inhabit that kingdom forever. There are crowns of glory to be given us, and garments that will make us shine like the sun in the firmament of heaven. There shall be no more crying, nor sorrow: for He that is owner of the place will wipe all tears from our eyes. There we shall be with seraphims and cherubims, creatures that will dazzle your eyes to look on them. There also you shall meet with thousands and ten thousands that have gone before us to that place; none of them but loving and holy; everyone walking in the sight of God, and standing in his presence with acceptance forever. In a word, there we shall see the elders with their golden crowns, there we shall see the holy virgins with their golden harps, there we shall see men that by the world were cut in pieces, burnt in flames, eaten of beasts, drowned in the seas, for the love that they bear to the Lord of the place, all well, and clothed with immortality as a garment.

Yes, there is a prospect of future trouble, but who in his right mind would let that stand in his way of possessing the place that Christian describes.  When Moses was leading the children of Israel, he had many difficulties, but he kept his eye on the prize at the end of the journey:   “By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;  Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward” (Heb. 12:24-26).   Even our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to endure all the pain and agony he suffered because of the reward that awaited him:   “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2).  In Pilgrim’s Progress, when the world tries to discourage Christian from beginning his journey to the Celestial City, he sticks his fingers in his ears and cries, “Eternal life, eternal life!” Yes, there are dark clouds on the horizon, but what are those troubles compared to the joy which is set before us. As Matthew Henry said,

The discouragements we meet with in these duties are but as winds and clouds, which do us no harm, and which those that put on a little courage and resolution will despise and easily break through. Those that will be deterred and driven off by small and seeming difficulties from great and real duties will never bring anything to pass in religion, for there will always arise some wind, some cloud or other, at least in our imagination to discourage us. Winds and clouds are in God’s hands, are designed to try us, and our Christianity obliges us to endure hardness.

To the Christian, I might also ask, “How many times have we been disobedient to the commands of our Lord because we saw trouble ahead?”   Haven’t we argued with God’s leading and dealing with us because of the prospect of future trouble?  But some disregard all of these worries about future trouble and obey God, because of the promise of Holy Scripture, “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.   He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him” (Ps.  126:5-6).   

Our church faces the question of whether we will embrace future opportunities or allow the fear of possible trouble to discourage us from attempting anything.  God is going to present us with many challenges in the days ahead.   As we look at these challenges, one of the temptations will be to stop going forward and say, “Yes, it would be good to do those things, but what if something goes wrong?”   Let us not let the fear of something going wrong in the future prevent us from doing what God has led us to do.   If we let our fears of the future hinder us, there are so many things that we would miss.  I think back on the time when we started this church.  Whenever you think of starting a new work like this, you can imagine all sorts of things that can go wrong.  Churches split all of the time.  People leave for no good reason.  Whenever I thought of starting this congregation I thought I knew every reason a person could  have for leaving a church, but since being here I have become acquainted with new reasons that people have.  Then you have to consider that it’s a possibility that a conservative, liturgical church will never grow.  Doctrinally conservative churches grow.  Liberal liturgical churches grow.  But doctrinally conservative, liturgical churches? Well, that’s another matter.  If we look at a small congregation such as ours, we are faced with the possibility that if we lose just a few families, we can’t make it financially.  If we had let the possibility of trouble stop us, we would have never begun this work.  What would have happened if we had let those fears of future problems stop us from organizing this church?  We would have missed all of the spiritual joys we have had in the past seven years:  the fellowship of godly people; the prayer times we have had together; the joy of children and babies who have become members of Christ; the joy of worshiping in the way that we believe God has ordained.   We would have missed all of those things if we had let the wind and the clouds discourage us. As we go into the future, let us be willing to make the same bold moves, not letting the fear of what could happen hold us back from doing the will of God.

As we look back over the past year, let me ask you, “What could you have done in 2009 that you did not do because the clouds and wind–because the prospect of trouble ahead held you back. What is the Lord leading you to do, but you are afraid because of possibility that danger or turmoil may be awaiting you if you do so?”  If  you allow the fear of possible trouble to control you, you will come to the end of your life full of regret. 2009, 2008, 2007, and all the years before are gone.   You will never have them again, and some of you let them slip away, not doing what God has commanded because you were afraid of future trouble.

The danger that this farmer faced in our text was that he would keep putting off sowing and reaping until the right time for sowing and reaping had passed away.  Some of you are making the same mistake. You are letting the time of sowing and reaping pass because you are afraid of what might happen in the future.   The time will come when it is too late to sow or reap, too late to obey God, and too late to accept the challenge he has given us. What has the Lord commanded you to do, but you are holding back for fear of what might happen? 

 Here is at least one resolution to add to that list of New Year’s resolutions:  “In 2010, by God’s grace and help, I will not allow the possibility of future trouble to keep me from doing what He has commanded me to do.”

Let us repent for the opportunities we missed in 2009, and let us resolve that in 2010 we will not allow the wind to keep us from sowing, or the clouds to keep us from reaping.  Amen.

Go Tell It on the Mountain–Sermon

Go Tell It on the Mountain

A Sermon Preached by Rev. S. Randall Toms, Ph. D.

On December 25, 2009

At St. Paul’s Reformed Episcopal Church, Baton Rouge, LA 

O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!  Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.   He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. (Isa. 40:9-11)

            I have always wanted to spend Christmas in the mountains.  I may not ever get to do so.  It seems that I will always spend Christmas in the swamps with Papa Noel, watching the bayou version of The Nutcracker.  I know that some of you in this congregation have had the privilege of spending the Christmas season in Colorado, or other mountainous areas, surrounded by snow-covered, majestic peaks.  I have seen films of people skiing down the slopes on Christmas Eve with lamps in their hands, winding a path through the blue, evening snow.    I think many of us would like to spend Christmas in the mountains just so that we could be surrounded by such beauty.

            But in the ancient world, there was another reason to go to the high mountain.  A mountain was a place where you could see for long distances.  A mountain was a place from which you could proclaim a message and know that your voice would be heard by many people.  As we come to the close of our study of Isaiah 40 during this holy season of the year, we have seen that God has promised that he is going to deliver his people from captivity.  God had left his people to their own devices, withdrawn his blessings from them, and allowed them be carried away into captivity.  But now he is about to return to his people and deliver them.    He has told his people to prepare a highway for him to return, a highway of repentance from sin so that he might return to them without being hindered by any obstacles.  Now, the time has finally arrived when he is going to return, so he tells his people,  “ O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!”  Just as it was the responsibility of Zion, Jerusalem, to get up into the high mountain and proclaim the Lord’s coming, it is now the responsibility of the Church, the new Zion, the new Jerusalem, to proclaim that Christ has come.

            We must get up into the high mountain in order to proclaim the birth of Christ, because a mountain is a conspicuous place.  Not only should we be in a conspicuous place, but we must lift up our voices.  In other words, we should do everything we can to make sure that we are heard.  I like what E. J. Young says in his commentary on Isaiah:  “The Church is not to keep this message to herself but is to present it to Judah’s cities with a holy boldness.  She is not to pose as a seeker after truth, unsure of her message, but to declare in clear, firm, and positive voice that her message is true.  She must be vigorously and militantly evangelistic.  Hesitation, timorousness, and trembling are out of place” (38).    We often hear people in our generation say that they don’t mind Christians being religious as long as we keep our religion to ourselves.  But the Church cannot keep this message to herself and still be the church.  The message of Jesus Christ is, by its very nature, evangelistic.  If the Church is not evangelistic, it ceases to be the Church, for the gospel is  “good news.”  What do you do with good news?  Do you keep it to yourself, or joyfully proclaim it?  The Church is compelled to get up on the high mountain because she has the most joyful news that the world has ever heard—the news that Christ has come to save us from our sins and give us eternal life.

            This passage even tells us something of the good news that we must proclaim.  We are to say, “Behold your God!”  That God that the Church must tell the world to look at is Jesus Christ, for Jesus Christ is God.  The message of the deity of Christ is the message we boldly proclaim at this Christmas season of the year.  Jesus was not merely a good teacher.  Jesus was not merely a man who allowed himself to be used by God in a way that no other person had.  Jesus was not a tragic figure who was killed because he preached a message of love and liberation.  Jesus Christ is the eternal God, the second personal of the eternal Holy Trinity.    We recite Matthew 1:22-23 so often at this time of year:  “Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”   Since we believe in the deity of Jesus Christ, we get up into the high mountain, and we say with a loud, confident, assertive voice, “Behold your God– Jesus Christ.” 

Then there follows a description of this God revealed in Jesus:  “Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.”  In other words, Jesus comes to rule as sovereign Lord and king.  Our Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled the prophecy of Micah 5:2:  “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”  It had been prophesied by the prophet Micah that a ruler would be born in Bethlehem, and he would not be just any ruler.  He would be the one who had existed from all eternity past.  When the angel announced to Mary that she would have a son, the angel said, “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:  And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end” (Luke 2:32-3).  That baby who was born over 2000 years ago was a born a king.  Then, after his glorious life, death, burial, resurrection and ascension, he has been exalted to the heights of heaven.  As St. Paul put it, “And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.  Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;  And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:8-11). This is the Christian message to the entire world.  We go up to the high mountain to proclaim:  “Whether you realize it or not, believe it or not, Jesus Christ is God, and it is your duty to bow before him and give him your supreme allegiance as the Sovereign Lord of the Universe.”

            But our Lord Jesus is more than a mighty ruler, for in verse 11 we see a further description of him.  He is a shepherd who tends his flock, feeds them, and carries lambs in his arms.  Though he is the mighty ruler of the universe who rules with a rod of iron, yet, at the same time he is a gentle shepherd who keeps his flock safe and secure.  You remember how our Lord Jesus loved to portray himself as the good shepherd.  He said, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep” (John 10:11).  Though our Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal king of the universe, he chose to come into the world and give his life for the sheep.  He went to the cross to pay the price for our redemption.    Now that he has made us members of his own flock, he promises to take care of us.  Notice how it says that he will gather the lambs with his arm.  That arm that was just described as a strong arm that can rule and reign is also a gentle arm that carries lambs.  The lambs, of course, are the weakest and most defenseless members of the flock, but our Lord promises that he will take care of them.  We are told that he will carry them in his bosom.  I like the way the NIV translates that verse:  “he carries them close to his heart.”  The next time you are in any kind of danger or difficulty, always picture yourself as one of his lambs that he is carrying close to his heart.  He hasn’t forgotten you, and the tender love that he has for you hasn’t changed though you may be going through some of the most difficult moments of your life.  Such a description of our Lord is worth getting up on the high mountain to proclaim:  “Look at your God.  He will always be your shepherd.  He will be like the good shepherd of the 23^rd Psalm, leading you beside the still waters, restoring your soul when you are down and discouraged, and blessing you so much that you will say your cup is overflowing.    He will never leave you nor forsake you.  He will carry you close to his heart and protect you all the days of your life.”  Why should we be timid or shy when we have such good news to proclaim?  Let us go up into the high mountain and make this good news known.

            In a very similar passage in Isaiah 52, we read,  “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the LORD shall bring again Zion.   Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the LORD hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem. The LORD hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God (Isaiah 52:7-10).  This passage brings out the same truths that we have been studying for the last few weeks in Isaiah 40, doesn’t it?  Isaiah 40 starts out, “Comfort ye, my people.”  In Isaiah 52 we see that the Lord has comforted his people.  In Isaiah 40 we see the strong arm of the Lord, and here in Isaiah 52 we see how the Lord has made bare his holy arm.  He has used his power and might to redeem his people.  Then we are promised that all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God, just as we studied last Sunday in Isaiah 40.    What are we to do with such good news?  Isaiah 52 also speaks of delivering the message from the high mountains:  “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of them bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation.”  Proclaiming this good news is our duty and our privilege.  Even the feet of those who bring the good news of Jesus Christ are beautiful.  For what better purpose could we use our feet than in getting on the high mountain to proclaim to the world the peace, the salvation, and the comfort, that comes through knowing Jesus Christ.    As you know, the apostle Paul used these words in Romans 10, when he said, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.   How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?  And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!” (Romans 10:13-15).  We have a wonderful message:  “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”  But no one will call upon the name of the Lord if they haven’t heard about him, and they can’t hear about him unless  someone gets up on the high mountain  and says, “Behold your God!”

            Nobody knows exactly when the old spiritual “Go Tell It on the Mountain” was written, although it seems to have been a song that was sung by African- American slaves.   It looks as though it was being sung by 1865, but it finally found its way into a published piece in 1907.    Though many different groups have used “Go Tell It on the Mountain” for various purposes, we usually hear it at this time of year as a celebration of the Christmas season, because the traditional lyrics center around the nativity:

While shepherds kept their watching
O’er silent flocks by night,
Behold, throughout the heavens
There shone a holy light

The shepherds feared and trembled,
When lo! above the earth,
Rang out the angels chorus
That hailed our Savior’s birth.

Down in a lowly manger
The humble Christ was born
And God sent us salvation
That blessed Christmas morn.

Go, tell it on the mountain,
Over the hills and everywhere
Go, tell it on the mountain,
That Jesus Christ is born.

After the shepherds visited the Christ child, we are told, “And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child” (Luke 2:17).   May that be the impulse of our hearts, as well.  Let us get up into the high mountain, and lift up our voices and boldly proclaim, “Jesus Christ is born.  Behold your God!”  Amen.

Advent and Glory–Sermon

Advent and Glory

A Sermon Preached by Rev. S. Randall Toms

On December 20, 2009

At St. Paul’s Reformed Episcopal Church, Baton Rouge, LA

 

Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.   Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.   The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.  (Isaiah 40:1-5) 

The great theme of the Bible is the glory of God. From the beginning of Holy Scripture to the end, we see that God’ s purpose in everything that he has done was to reveal his glory. When we speak of the “glory of God” we mean the outshining of all his attributes. The attributes of God include such things as love, mercy, justice, power, wisdom, and faithfulness. When God reveals these attributes to us, they shine forth with an overwhelming beauty, so that we can say his love is glorious love; his power is glorious power. When we see the glory of his attributes revealed, the natural response is worship and adoration.

There are many ways in which we can see the glory of God. For example, we see the glory of God in creation. The Psalmist said, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork” (Ps. 19:1).   Every time we look up into a night sky and see the moon and stars, every time we read an article in a scientific journal about the millions and billions of stars, planets, and galaxies, we see the glory of God’s infinite power and wisdom. Even the study of astronomy itself leads us to join with the elders before the throne of God in Rev. 4:11 and say, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”

We also see God’s glory revealed in the mighty acts he performed. When we read of the great miracles performed in Holy Scripture, we can see that they were designed to reveal the glory of God. Even the miracles that our Lord Jesus performed were done so that we might behold his glory and the glory of the Father. You remember that when Jesus received word that his friend, Lazarus,  was sick, our Lord said, “ This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby” (John 11:4). The sickness of Lazarus had a purpose. After Lazarus dies, Jesus is going to reveal the glory of his power, even over death, by raising Lazarus from the dead. When Jesus gives the command to roll away the stone from sepulcher, he still detects a little doubt in Martha, and he says to her, “Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?” When we believe God, when we have faith in his word, when we have that faith that God can move mountains, we have the privilege of seeing the glory of God revealed.

Though God reveals his glory in creation and in mighty miracles, the greatest display of the glory of God was in sending Jesus Christ into this world to save us from our sins. As great as the glory of God revealed in creation might be, as great as the glory of God revealed in his mighty works might have been in doing things like parting the Read Sea, healing the sick, and raising the dead, all of these manifestations of his glory pale in comparison to the glory revealed in God becoming man, the Word being made flesh, the glory  of God revealed in Jesus Christ.

            As we have studied Isaiah 40 during this Advent season, we have seen that this prophecy was ultimately fulfilled when Christ came into the world. Handel chose this passage to begin his great Messiah, because he realized, as all Christians have, that it was in the coming of Christ that the glory of God would be revealed. 

            Since it is with the coming of Christ that we see the most dazzling display of the glory of God, it is not surprising that even his birth was attended with glory.  In Luke 2 we read those well-known words, “And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.  And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them:  and they were sore afraid.  And the angel said unto them, Fear not:  for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:8-10).  The glory of the Lord shining brightly at the announcement of the birth of the son of God was appropriate since the glory of God is being revealed in an incomparable manner in the birth of this child.  Remember how St. John put it, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).  As the disciples followed our Lord Jesus Christ, heard his teachings, saw his miracles, experienced his sacrificial love, they were beholding the glory of God.  But that privilege of seeing the glory of God in Jesus Christ was not reserved for the apostles alone.  We also behold that glory in the word of God and through the preaching of the word.  St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (II Cor. 4:6).  Before we came to know Christ, we were in darkness, the darkness of sin and a purposeless, meaningless life. But in the midst of that darkness, God was pleased to reveal Christ to us, and the darkness of sin and the meaninglessness of life was dispelled as we saw the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.  When we heard the good news that God had sent us a savior, that God came in the person of Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins, we realized that there could be no greater display of his glory. 

The very reason he saved us from our sins was to reveal the glory of his grace.  St. Paul wrote to the Ephesians:  “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:   According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved” (Eph. 1:3-6).  He chose us, predestined us to adoption, died for us, and blessed us with all spiritual blessings so that he might reveal the glory of his grace.  The glory of his grace, the glory of his love for undeserving sinners keeps us bowing before him in worship both now and throughout all eternity.  Isaiah prophesied, “And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,” and that glory was revealed in the coming of Christ.

            Then, the second part of this prophecy says that “all flesh shall see it together.”  Since the coming of Christ, the gospel of our Lord Jesus has been spreading around the world, and more and more people are seeing the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.  In the last chapter of Isaiah, we find a prophecy about how this gospel would be spread around the world, and how God’s glory would be revealed:  

For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.   And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles.  And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the LORD out of all nations upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the LORD, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the LORD.   And I will also take of them for priests and for Levites, saith the LORD.   For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain.   And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.  (Isa. 66:18-23). 

This is a prophecy concerning that time when the Gentiles would become a part of the people of God.  There was a time when God revealed himself primarily to the Jews, but the day would come when all people, Jew and Gentile, would come to worship God and behold his glory.  God would make even non-Jews priests to serve before God.  All peoples would become worshipers of the true and living God, because they will see the glory of God revealed in Jesus Christ.  We are worshiping here today because this prophecy has been fulfilled.  Isaiah describes how this prophecy will be fulfilled in worship. 

Whether we realize it or not, the great desire of the human heart is to see the glory of God.  You remember how much Moses wanted to see the glory of the Lord, but the Lord told him that he could not see him and live, so he hid him in the cleft of rock and gave him a glimpse of his glory.  But we have had a greater sight of the glory of God than even Moses had.  We have seen the full revelation of God in Jesus Christ.  Each Sunday we come to this place to behold that glory anew and afresh.  Beholding the glory of the Lord is the greatest privilege and the most wonderful experience of human life.  We see this expressed so often in the Psalms.  For example, in Ps. 63:1-2, we read, “O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.”  We come to this sanctuary to see the power and glory of God revealed.  We emphasize the form of worship contained in our liturgy, because we believe it is the  most conducive to seeing the glory of the Lord.   We want our children to worship in this way, because it is our great desire that our children would see the glory of the Lord, be captivated by his beauty, and love him with all their hearts.  As the Psalmist said, “Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children.   And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it” (Ps. 90:16-7).  We bring our children here, because here we believe that the glory of God is displayed here in a unique and special way.  In the Word and Sacraments, we behold his glory, not in some kind of mystical, emotional trance, but in the simple acts of reading Scripture, the preaching of God’s word, and partaking of his body and blood in the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.  If you do not see the glory of God here, then there must be some sin in your life which is preventing you from doing so.  If that is the case, then the first thing you need to do is repent, and the glory of God will be revealed to you.  A few weeks ago, we saw that Isaiah’s imagery of leveling mountains, raising valleys, making crooked places straight, and rough places plain are used to describe repentance. Repent of your sins, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed.  You will see the glory of his love, the glory of his forgiveness and mercy, all revealed here in his Word and Sacrament.

            But beholding the glory of the Lord is not only a wonderful experience—it is also an enormous responsibility.  If you behold the glory of the Lord here each Sunday, you should live as those who have beheld that glory.  We have seen the glory of God, just as Israel of old saw it in Egypt and in the wilderness; yet, look what happened to the people of Israel.  In Numbers 14:21-23 we read, “But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD.   Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;  Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it.”  Israel, in the wilderness, saw the glory of God, but that sight of the glory of God did not change them.  The writer to the Hebrews uses the experience of the children of Israel as a warning to us.  He writes:   “For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward;  How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;  God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?” (Heb. 2:2-4).    Israel saw the glory of God, but we have seen that glory revealed in a greater way, for we have seen it revealed in Christ.  Therefore, to be disobedient to God is a far more heinous sin for us than  it was for them.    To behold the glory of the Lord is not just an ecstatic experience that we have in a worship service.  Beholding the glory of the Lord must be a life-changing experience.  Let us be transformed by beholding the glory of the Lord!  St. Paul wrote in II Cor. 3:18, “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

            We must go on beholding the glory of the Lord now, and we have the promise that we will be able to enjoy beholding the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven without the limitations we have now.  In his high priestly prayer for his people, our Lord prayed, “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24).    He saved us in order that we might behold his glory for all eternity. 

            One of the greatest mysteries of all is that not only will we behold his glory, but he is also going to allow us to share his glory so that his glory will be revealed in us.  The very glory of God will radiate from us throughout all eternity.  As the glory of God shined forth in creation and in the person of Christ, it will shine forth in us.  The apostle Paul put it this way:  “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).  Isaiah said that the glory of the Lord shall be revealed.  One of the ways it is going to be revealed is in the glorious transformation of his people in their final salvation and glorifiecation. 

            In Handel’s Messiah, after the tenor sings “Comfort Ye, Comfort Ye, My People,” and “Every Valley Shall Be Exalted,” Handel allows the chorus to come in and sing, surely one of the most beautiful choruses ever written, “And the Glory of the Lord Shall Be Revealed.”  Reviewing a recent performance of this chorus, one music critic wrote, “The music almost glows.”  Let the words of Isaiah’s  prophecy glow in your hearts  with glory.   Look in the pages of Scripture.  Behold our Lord Jesus Christ in this Holy Sacrament,  and see how this prophecy has been fulfilled in the advent of Jesus Christ. Amen.

A Christmas Carol–Movie Review

God Bless It!:

A Review of Disney’s A Christmas Carol

By S. Randall Toms, Ph.D. 

Since its publication in 1843, there have been over 20 film adaptations of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, plus countless plays and television dramas based on this classic work.   From a silent version in 1901 to director Robert Zemeckis’ (Back to the Future, Forrest Gump)  most recent 3D version starring Jim Carrey, people have debated about which is the best film adaptation.  Some people are still devoted to the  famous 1951 version with Alistair Sim, while others enjoy Albert Finney, George C. Scott, or Patrick Stewart in the role of Ebenezer Scrooge.  Only time will tell whether Zemeckis’ version will become a Christmas classic as some of the earlier adaptations, or if people will feel it can only be appreciated by wearing 3D glasses while watching it on the big screen.   Cinematography’s use of computer technology for 3D effects continues to amaze audiences.  When the snow falls during the opening scenes, it seems as though you could reach out and catch the falling snowflakes.  The movie was made using an animation  process called “performance capture” in which the movements, but not the appearance of the actors is recorded and then transferred to computers to utilize 3D animation techniques where the likenesses of the actors are transposed to the models.  Zemeckis also used this technique in Polar Express (2004) and Beowulf (2007).  While the 3D human beings look almost real, there still seems to be certain “coldness” about the figures, especially in the eyes, that somehow prohibits our complete identification and immersion with the characters.  While we are impressed with the technical imagery of the film, this version may not grip our hearts and stir our emotions as much as some earlier adaptations.  Don’t get me wrong, I still cried when Tiny Tim said, “God bless us everyone,” but I don’t know if my tears were caused by this particular rendition of the story, or the ghost of Christmas Carol’s past.  I’m fighting back the tears even as I type Tim’s famous words.  After writing his classic, Dickens was often asked to read it publicly.  On one occasion, Dickens described the effect of his reading:

“They took it so tremendously last night that I had to stop every five minutes.  One poor young girl in mourning burst out into a passion of grief about Tiny Tim, and was taken out.” 

We might not be able to understand in our high-tech days that even a reading could move someone to tears, but such is the power of this great classic.

It may be that the failure of Zemeckis’ feature  to move us as much as some earlier versions is due to our focus being on the animation technique rather than the story itself.  Certainly, Zemeckis’ adaptation stays very close to Dickens, the dialogue being lifted almost word for word from the pages of the novella.  When I saw that Jim Carrey had been cast in the role of Scrooge, I was worried that we might see Scrooge as Ace Ventura.  In his role as The Riddler in Batman Forever, after he delivers one piece of dialogue, he asks if that was too “over the top.”  I would have to say that Carrey’s performance as Scrooge was almost understated.  There are only a few scenes that remind us that Jim Carrey is playing this role.  As a matter of fact, I can say that at points I wish Carrey had been a little more lively and emotional.

Though this version has some shortcomings, it is still a faithful adaptation of Dickens’ work and has the power to “do us good.”  A Christmas Carol, like the Christmas season itself, has the power to transform us in the way that Ebenezer Scrooge was changed from a “squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner” (4), to a generous, warm-hearted celebrator of yuletide.  Scrooge’s nephew, Fred, explains the blessings of this special time of year: 

There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say…, Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round—apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that—as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless  it!”(7) 

Very often at this time of year, we complain about the Christmas season.  We grumble about the commercialization of Christmas.  We whine about the traffic and the crowds at the malls.  With the pressure of buying gifts and the ceaseless round of parties and school activities, it is easy to become an Ebenezer Scrooge and say, “Bah humbug,” whenever anybody mentions Christmas.  As Scrooge expressed his objections to Fred, we want to say:

Merry Christmas! Out upon merry Christmas! What’s Christmas time to you but a time for paying bills without money; a time for finding yourself a year older, and not an hour richer; a time for balancing your books and having every item in ‘em through a round dozen of months presented dead against you? If I could work my will,…every idiot who goes about with ‘ Merry Christmas’ on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart. He should!” (6)

Later on Scrooge complains that he had never derived any benefit from Christmas:  “What was Merry Christmas to Scrooge? Out upon merry Christmas! What good had it ever done to him?” (28).  As the story unfolds, we find that Christmas had never done Scrooge any good because he had never been open to all of the lessons that Christmas has to teach us.  Some people have complained that A Christmas Carol, for all its emphasis on Christmas, is rather Christless, noting that Dickens himself was not a particularly religious man.  But Scrooge’s nephew has already pointed out the obvious blessings associated with Christmas, noting that the origin of the holiday should be venerated.  Fred then goes on to delineate the benefits that have accrued to society and people that are derived from that initial blessing, just as even non-believers in America today should realize the blessings that have come to them as a result of living in a culture that was influenced by the coming of Christ.  The ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future arrive on this Christmas Eve night to show Scrooge all the things there are to be learned by a proper view of the Christmas season.  In the same manner, Dickens’ Christmas Carol comes to us as a staple tradition of the Christmas season in order to “do us good.” 

            A Christmas Carol does us good by frightening us.  While some of the earlier adaptations might be more moving, especially in its depiction of the Cratchit family, Zemeckis’ version is easily the scariest of the film versions.  The 3D animation techniques coupled with the dark, somber tone of almost the entire film, sets us up to be terrified.  A Christmas Carol should have a nightmarish quality, and the wonders of computed generated imagery and 3D animation are able to generate this effect in a way that was never possible in earlier adaptations.  We must remember that A Christmas Carol is a ghost story, and as such, meant to scare us.  Think twice about letting very young children see the Zemeckis film, because in many respects it is a horror film.  The images are intended to frighten us, in a good way, by showing us the consequences, both temporal and eternal, of our selfishness and greed.  The film does an amazing job of transforming Scrooge’s door knocker into the face of old Jacob Marley.  Marley’s ghost is sent to arouse Scrooge out of his miser’s complacency.  No doubt, if Zemeckis’ vision of Marley’s ghost had been sent to me, I would have been a terrified penitent.  But Scrooge is terrified not merely because he has seen ghosts.  He is alarmed by the sight of what his life has been and how it will end.  Marley’s ghost is a warning to Scrooge that the fate of the two men will be the same if Scrooge persists in his present course.  Marley says,  “I wear the chain I forged in life…I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it. Is its pattern strange to you?” (18).   Of course, Scrooge recognizes the pattern because he is also making a chain of the same one by his own avarice.  If he continues to live in this manner, like Marley, he will be doomed to wander sadly throughout all eternity for no “space of regret can make amends for one life’s opportunities misused” (19).  Then, Scrooge is frightened by the picture of the future, as he sees that after his death people will mock his memory, and then forget him.  Trading love and friendship for gold results in the terrifying experience of loneliness and eternal regret.  If being terrified by ghosts results in causing us to evaluate the results of our own materialistic idolatry, then Christmas ghosts are a blessing.

            A Christmas Carol can do us good by inspiring us to be charitable.  The primary thrust of Dickens’ novella was to generate compassion for the poor.  Scrooge is a greedy man who hoards all of his money and refuses to give to the poor.  Again, the ghosts show him images that not only frighten him, but also melt the iciness of his cold heart.  Marley’s ghost laments,

My spirit never walked beyond our countinghouse—mark me!—in life my spirit never roved beyond the narrow limits of our money-changing hole… Why did I walk through crowds of fellow-beings with my eyes turned down, and never raise them to that blessed Star which led the Wise Men to a poor abode? Were there no poor homes to which its light would have conducted me? (19, 20). 

 The Ghost of Christmas Present warns Scrooge that if men such as himself continue to neglect the poor, the results could be catastrophic.  When the spirit pulls backs his skirts and reveals the two children at his feet, the boy named Ignorance and the girl named Want, they are depicted in horrifying terms:

They were a boy and girl. Yellow, meagre, ragged, scowling, wolfish, but prostrate, too, in their humility. Where graceful youth should have filled their features out, and touched them with its freshest tints, a stale and shrivelled hand, like that of age, had pinched, and twisted them, and pulled them into shreds. Where angels might have sat enthroned, devils lurked, and glared out menacing. No change, no degradation, no perversion of humanity, in any grade, through all the mysteries of wonderful creation, has monsters half so horrible and dread. (65)

Again, this is one place where Zemeckis’ version excels the others in portraying the horrifying look of these children, for the 3D techniques have the ability to portray these children as starving monsters who may be capable of doing anything if  they reach adulthood.

            Dickens also has a scathing rebuke for religious leaders who use Scripture and the doctrines of the Church as justifications for the neglect and oppression of the poor.  When Scrooge suggests that the Ghost of Christmas Present is responsible for the repression of the poor through Victorian sabbath laws, the spirit replies:

There are some upon this earth of yours…who lay claim to know us, and who do their deeds of passion, pride, ill-will, hatred, envy, bigotry, and selfishness in our name, who are as strange to us and all our kith and kin as if they had never lived. Remember that, and charge their doings on themselves, not us. (48) 

In other words, churches are often the perpetrators of man-made laws that are entirely out of accord with the spirit of the Gospel which places human need above religious ritual.

            Then, Scrooge is confronted with the prospect that Tiny Tim, the young son of Bob Cratchit will probably die before the next Christmas.  The novella hints that Tiny Tim will die as a result of Cratchit family’s poverty. At the end of the novel, we learn that Tiny Tim did not die, so it seems that Scrooge’s generosity, perhaps in getting Tiny Tim needed medical care or improvement in the living conditions of the Cratchit family resulted in saving Tiny Tim’s life.

            The visits of the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future, show Scrooge the horrible effects of miserliness and the blessings of generosity.  Miserliness cost Scrooge the love of a wonderful woman.  As they part ways, she says, “Another idol has displaced me…A golden one” (36).   We learn that Scrooge had no room for a relationship with a woman  because he feared poverty more than he valued love.  But he learns that nothing can comfort us like the warmth of family and friends.  He also learns that the people who are most generous with their money and their affections are happiest and loved in return.  Old Fezziwig, the Cratchit family, and his nephew, Fred, though they may not have Scrooge’s fortune, are far wealthier than he is in terms of comfort and joy.  Like Scrooge, we need to be confronted with the ways in which we have given up emotional wellbeing, love, and companionship, not only out of covetousness for gold, but covetousness for pleasures, power, fame and many other “idols.”  Sometimes, only deep regrets about the past, the loneliness of the present, and vision of the emptiness of the future can cause us to cast those idols away.

        Then, A Christmas Carol can do us good by showing us that it is not too late to change.  As Scrooge is confronted with the Ghost of Christmas Future, he asks the question, “Are these the shadows of the things that Will be, or are they shadows of the things that May be, only?” (80).  In other words, Scrooge wonders if everything has been predestined, and if there is any way to escape the future as it has been revealed.  In an effort to answer his own question, Scrooge pleads with the spirit,  “Men’s courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if persevered in, they must lead,…But if the courses be departed from, the ends will change. Say it is thus with what you show me!” (80).  The comfort offered in A Christmas Carol is that we can change the future if we change the present.  If we learn the Christmas lessons concerning love, generosity, and compassion, then future Christmases can be filled with warmth, light, and companionship.  Scrooge makes the commitment to the Ghost of Christmas Future, “I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach” (81).   Scrooge was as good as his word, so that the narrator can close the story by saying, “…and it was always said of him that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One” (88).  A Christmas Carol does us good if we learn from it how to observe the Christmas season in the right spirit.  The tale brings our own versions of these ghosts in the form of conscience.  As we contemplate the Christmases lost, and the Christmases we may yet lose, we are compelled to change before it is too late.

            As the Ghost of Christmas Present is taking Scrooge around the city, they see some people who are starting to argue, just as we often begin to quarrel with one another due to the stress of the Christmas season.  But they decide that they shouldn’t quibble about such things since it is Christmas.  Dickens writes:  “For they said, it was a shame to quarrel upon Christmas Day. And so it was! God love it, so it was!” (47).  The American novelist, James Lane Allen (1849-1925)  said in 1914 that A Christmas Carol was the greatest English short story: 

I can also count in its behalf more elements of greatness, welded into a great, beautiful lasting effect upon the imagination, than in any other great story known to me.  It is not true gold, but it is immortal alloy.  Having made my decision, that afterthought comes to me that my choice unwittingly has fallen upon what is beyond doubt the most widely read and loved short story in the English language:  humanity’s verdict.  (122)

A Christmas Carol is part of our cultural heritage and Christmas tradition.  166 years after its publication, we are still fascinated by the story.  We modernize it, paraphrase it, recast it,  and modify it, but the words and images, like the ghosts of the story, continue to haunt us, and hopefully, transform us, just as they did Ebenezer Scrooge.  When I think of Dickens’ classic tale, I say, “God bless it,” “God love it,” and “God bless Us, Every One!” 

Works Cited 

Dickens, Charles.  A Christmas Carol.  1843.  New York:  Bantam Books, 1966.

Allen, James Lane.  “Humanity’s Verdict.”  A Christmas Carol.    New York:  Bantam Books, 1966, p. 122

2012–Movie Review

 

New Arks of Salvation:

A Review of 2012

By S. Randall Toms, Ph.D. 

            The director of 2012, Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, The Day after Tomorrow), said in a in an interview with David Jenkins, “I always wanted to do a biblical flood movie…”   While 2012 depicts a worldwide flood and mankind being saved by arks, there are not many other similarities to the Genesis account of Noah, though the main character’s little boy is actually named “Noah.”  2012 alludes to the Genesis account of the flood, legends about the lost continent of Atlantis, current fears that the Mayan calendar predicts the end of the world in 2012, and various scientific, apocalyptic scenarios.  While the Genesis account of the flood describes it as a judgment of God because “the imagination of man’s heart was only evil continually” (Gen. 6:5), the destruction of the world as we know it in 2012, has nothing to with divine wrath. 

When I first heard of the movie 2012, I thought there might be a great deal of information about the Mayan calendar, which supposedly comes to an end that year.  Actually, the Mayan calendar is only mentioned in passing during this film.  If there is any connection between these disasters and the Mayan calendar, the movie doesn’t portray it as much more than a coincidence.  Though Biblical prophecies are also mentioned briefly in the film, there does not appear to be any connection between the catastrophes depicted and Biblical prophecies, though the Woody Harrelson character makes a wild, strained link between the Mayan calendar and the views of some Christian groups about the Rapture.  The film does not depict these calamities as any kind of divine judgment.   Though the tagline for the film is “We were warned,” perhaps a reference to the Mayan calendar, these ancient prophecies receive short shrift in the film.   Also, thankfully, the film does not blame exploitation of the environment.  In so many films that we have seen recently,  including Emmerich’s The Day after Tomorrow, human beings are blamed for global warming, pollution, and other environmental problems that cause the destruction of the planet.  In this film, the disasters are caused by a solar flare, something beyond human control or causation.  This is not a film about ancient prophecies, divine judgment, or human  neglect of the environment.  It is a disaster movie, with a few social, political, moral, and religious allusions.  With the help of computer generated imagery, Emmerich is able to take the great disaster films of the 70s and  80s, such as Earthquake, Airport, The Towering Inferno, and The Poseidon Adventure, and combine them for mass destruction on  a global scale. 

The primary reason to see 2012 is not for its discussion of ancient prophecies or how it deals with moral dilemmas, but rather to see the way modern movie-making technology can depict the spectacular nature of the end of the world.  I have read that the production cost of this film was over $200 million, and though some scenes are unrealistic and cheesy,  if you would like to get an idea of what California would look like after the San Andreas fault finally causes “the big one,” and the state falls into the ocean, 2012 is the movie for you.  When I attended this film, I was a little late, and there was a large crowd.  I had to sit near the front row, almost having to tilt my head backward to see the screen.  As it turned out, I couldn’t have had a better seat.  It felt like the world was falling in on top of me.  This is definitely one of those films that will not have anywhere close to the same effect if you wait to see it on DVD.   

As the film unfolds, we find that scientists and the leaders of governments know that the world is about to end because of a solar flare that has caused the earth’s core to overheat, which will result in a massive shifting of the earth’s surface, producing enormous tidal waves that will cover the entire globe.  When geologist Adrian Hemsley (Chiwetel  Ejiofor)  learns from a fellow scientist in India of the destructive solar flare and the neutrinos that increase the temperature of the earth’s core, he alerts White House Chief of Staff Carl Anheuser (Oliver Platt) of the impending disaster.  After the President of the United States  (Danny Glover) is informed of the situation, politicians and scientists, fearing that the people of the earth would descend into anarchy if they become aware the world is going to come to an end in a few years, decide not to tell the people at large. People like Jackson Curtis, (John Cusack) are normal people, continuing to live without any knowledge of their apocalyptic future.   Curtis, much like the Tom Cruise character in the War of the Worlds, is a divorced man separated from his children, who goes to pick them up for a wonderful weekend in Yellowstone National Park.   Fortunately, Yellowstone has become a place of interest since the future destruction of the world will feel its first effects in this National Park which is basically a  volcano waiting to explode.  While in Yellowstone,  Curtis runs into Charlie Frost, played by Woody Harrelson who gives the best performance in the film.  Frost is  a kind of counter cultural hippie/conspiracy theorist  who is waiting for the apocalypse and knows that it is going to occur soon.  Frost tells Curtis that world governments are preparing spaceships to carry select individuals away from the planet before the end.  Actually, we learn later that the leaders have decided to prepare “arks,” far more sophisticated, of course, than Noah’s ark of gopher wood.  These leaders have selected people who will continue the human race once the waters have subsided.  How do the nations of the world decide who will survive and who will perish?   Governmental leaders, scientists, and of course, rich people who put up the money to build the arks are chosen to perpetuate the human race after the massive flood.  The rest of the film deals primarily with Curtis’ attempts outrun one disaster after another to save his family by getting them to one of the arks. 

            Though Jackson Curtis is one of the common people not chosen to board an ark, he is a science fiction writer who has penned a novel, Farewell Atlantis.   The film credits state that 2012 was partially inspired by  Graham Hancock’s 1995 book Fingerprints of the God’s.  Hancock’s book was influenced by Ignatius Donnely’s 1882 work, Atlantis:  The Antedeluvian World.    Both Hancock and Donnely posit that there was an ancient civilization, Atlantis, that was destroyed, but before its destruction, it  passed on some of its cultural and scientific knowledge.  In 2012, our modern Atlantis, with all its superior technological and scientific knowledge is about to be destroyed again.  But this new Atlantis is going to be able to survive.  In many recent movies, the apocalypse is brought about by the arrogance of science, or the unintended consequences of scientific achievement.  In this film, science and rich people are saviors of Atlantis.   The old saviors, governments and religions, especially, are incapable of helping to avert  the approaching cataclysm. 

As we watch the worldwide devastation of the planet, it is interesting to see what buildings, monuments, and artworks are focused on as they are destroyed.    Emmerich’s choice of particular objects to show being demolished was not random.  When explaining why he seems to enjoy destroying certain landmarks in his films, he replied, “Landmarks are always symbols, just symbols. … They stand for something.”    In 2012, the U. S. Bank building in Los Angeles is  demolished, indicating that banking and the world of finance cannot save us, although rich people did provide the funding for the arks.  The White House is destroyed as the USS John F. Kennedy  naval carrier crashes into it, implying that governments cannot save us, especially those who fail to live up to the ideals of the Kennedys.  For some reason, Emmerich seems to enjoy destroying the White House.  Remember Independence Day?    (The symbolism of such cinematic destructions is not lost on film-going audiences.  I remember when I first saw Independence Day that the theater erupted into cheers and applause when the aliens decimated the White House).  Las Vegas  is destroyed  indicating that escapist entertainment, obviously, can’t save us.   The Washington Monument topples, signifying that the principles of the Founding Fathers are powerless in the face of natural disasters. 

2012 seems to make it very plain that  gods, religion, especially Christianity, cannot avert the coming disaster. The Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro falls from the top  of the Corcovado mountain, suggesting that Christ cannot save us from this apocalypse.  Does the destruction of certain religious symbols have some significance for Emmerich?  When he was asked  by Patrick Lee why he chose to show the Redeemer statue tumbling from its great height, he replied, “Because I’m against organized religion.”  One of the movie posters is entirely this scene of the Redeemer statue falling to its destruction.   In the Sistine chapel, a fracture occurs between the finger of God and the finger of Adam, hinting that God cannot save his creation.   Just as the President of the United States is about to read the 23^rd Psalm to give some kind of comfort to a world that is perishing, the transmission of his broadcast is cut off, implying that the people no longer have a divine shepherd who is capable of leading them to green pastures.   People are praying at the Vatican, but in the middle of their supplications, St. Peter’s crumbles and falls upon the people pleading for mercy, intimating that prayer can’t save us.   In the interview with David Jenkins, Emmerich said, “We decided that what people do in a crisis is that they start praying. Even the most religion-hating person would get down on their knees and ask God for salvation. Yes, it’s good to be spiritual, but praying in the face of disaster will not stop the disaster. Fate, luck and coincidence might help you survive, but not prayer.”  That explanation seems a little disingenuous since the film has made it clear that no one can survive except those who get on the arks.  What was left for them to do other than pray? Though Christianity doesn’t seem to offer much hope as an instrument of survival, Buddhism comes off pretty well.   Jackson and his family are ultimately led to the arks by a Tibetan monk.  

If  governments, gods,  and religions can’t save us in the time of ultimate disaster, what can?  The film appears to posit three saviors:  money, science, , and human kindness.  Without billionaires, the arks could not have been built.  Adrian  Helmsley, the geologist, has faith in Nature itself.  In a rather oddly Darwinian statement about who will survive, Adrian says, “I believe nature will choose for itself, from itself.”  Actually, it seems that the rich and powerful have chosen who will survive, unless we conclude that in a social Darwinist universe, wealth and power are Nature’s way of deciding the survival of the fittest.  But Adrian is not content to allow only the rich and powerful to survive.  He fights for the rights of the common folk, especially some of the poor people who assembled the arks .    He asks the leaders to approve a decision to let the people on board,  revealing his deep concerning for people by saying, “The moment we stop fighting for each other is the moment we lose our humanity.”    As a result of Adrian’s pleas, the leaders of the word gathered on the arks, decide to open the gates to admit as many people as possible.  In the end, human kindness saves the survivors from having made a decision to begin a new civilization with blood on their hands. 

 Though the President was prevented from reading the 23^rd Psalm, 2012 permits the reading of an excerpt from Jackson Curtis’ book, Farewell Atlantis.  Hope is not gained  from the words of one of the old books of Holy Scripture, but rather from a work of science fiction.  At the end of the film, Africa becomes visible, which has shifted in its geographic location.    The arks head for the Cape of Good Hope to begin a new world.  Now that the old governments, businesses, institutions, and religions have been washed away, there is “good hope” for the future:  money, science, and  human kindness have prevailed.

Another  recent “ark” movie, Evan Almighty, also emphasizes the power of human kindness to change the world.  Toward the end of the film, God (Morgan Freeman), tells Evan’s wife that the story of the flood in the book of Genesis was not about the wrath of God.  Talking about the story of Noah’s flood, God says, “I love that story, Noah and the Ark. You know, a lot of people miss the point of that story. They think it’s about God’s wrath and anger. They love it when God gets angry….  I think it’s a love story about believing in each other. You know, the animals showed up in pairs. They stood by each other, side by side, just like Noah and his family. Everybody entered the ark side by side.”  At the end of the film, after Evan has saved some people and a host of animals, God tells Evan that he changed the world.  God writes the letters “a-r-k” in the dust and explains that “ark” is an acronym for “Acts of Random Kindness.”  In other words, the ark that will save human beings is human kindness.

The question that remains, of course, is whether people can really save themselves by human kindness.    Is  human kindness  really powerful enough to overcome human selfishness?    Though Adrian Helmsley in 2012 and Evan Baxter in Evan Almighty have saved some people, we know that there are still powerful people left in the world, in both films, who are far from displaying human kindness.  Even the flood of Genesis did not cure the evil that resides in the human heart.  If the simple command, “Be kind to one another,” were sufficient, humanity would be at peace by now.  All the great philosophers and teachers, even Jesus Christ himself, advocated kindness.    After Noah’s ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat, after Evan Almighty’s ark comes to rest at the steps of the Capitol, and after 2012’s arks come to rest on the shores of Africa, it is still true concerning man  that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart is only evil continually.   One of my seminary professors was fond of saying  that before the Flood man had a dry evil imagination; after the Flood he had a wet evil imagination.  Floods and arks don’t change the fact that although human beings are capable of acts of random kindness,  the history of mankind has been more about sustained acts of cruelty.  A “good hope” for the future does not rest in the people who get off the ark.   Not long after Noah and his family leave the ark, we see people committing the same acts of cruelty and injustice.   For a more realistic look at how people would behave in a post apocalyptic world, see the film version of Cormac McCarthy’s novel, The Road.  2012 seems to have bright hopes for the future of a world without God and the principles and institutions that have been based upon the word of God.  In McCarthy’s The Road, you find an accurate picture of a godless world and the anarchy and barbarism that ensues when people have thrown off the morality of the past.   When people begin to leave the arks of 2012, do we have any reason to believe that they will use their money and science any differently than they have been used by generations of human beings before them?

 Works Cited

Jenkins, David.  “Roland Emmerich’s Guide to Disaster Movies.”   Time Out.  14 December 2009.

            http://www.timeout.com/film/features/show-feature/9039/roland-emmerichs-guide-to-disaster-movies.html

Lee, Patrick.  “What Even Roland Emmerich Won’t Destroy.”  Sci Fi Wire.  02 November 09.   14

            December 09.  http://scifiwire.com/2009/11/5-best-things-2012s-direc.php

Advent and the Word of God–Sermon

Advent and the Word of God

A Sermon Preached by Rev. S. Randall Toms, Ph.D.

On December 13, 2009

At St. Paul’s Reformed Episcopal Church, Baton Rouge, LA

 

The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:  The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever. (Isa. 40:6-8) 

When I surrendered to preach the gospel at the age of 14,  I was very excited.  I had visions and dreams in my head of preaching powerful sermons to great crowds, and the people would be moved by the words I would say.    I had been listening to good preaching all of my life, and I thought that I would be able to preach such sermons.  But whenever I sat down with my Bible, a pen, and a piece of paper, I found that it was not so easy to prepare a good sermon.    When I thought of the congregation I was about to preach to, it became even more difficult.  If I was preaching in my home church, what would I have to say to them?  If I was preaching in a rescue mission, what was the appropriate theme?  If I was preaching in a nursing home, what could I possibly have to say to them?  Every minister must look to heaven and ask, “What shall I say?”

            In our text for today, the word of the Lord comes to the prophet and says, “Cry,” or “Proclaim a message,” and the prophet replies, “What shall I cry?”  “What will be the message that I should deliver to these people of Israel who are so saddened by their years of oppression in captivity?”  Then the voice says, “This is the message you should deliver:  All flesh is grass.’”  As we began our study of Isaiah 40, we saw that the prophet is told to comfort the people; but this particular message does not appear to be very comforting.  “All flesh is grass.”  While these words may not seem to offer much comfort, I hope to show you that they are some of the most comforting words in Scripture.

            Whether or not we like these words, they express a truth that is emphasized again and again in Holy Scripture.  The Psalmist said, “Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up.   In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.   For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled” (Ps. 90:5-7).  In Psalm 103: 13-16, we read, “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.  For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.   As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.   For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.”  These verses show us that our lives are short.  Even if we should live to be a hundred years old, compared to the vast span of history, compared to the eternal years of God, our lives are as short as that of grass.  When we see this word “grass,” we shouldn’t think of the kind of grass we have in our yards, such as St. Augustine, Centipede, or Bermuda, which might have a relatively long life.  The kind of grass that the Psalmists and Isaiah have in mind is the kind that grew in Palestine which might last only days or a few weeks.  It grew up quickly, and then, just as quickly, it was gone, destroyed by the heat of the sun or a dry wind.  Just like that kind of grass, we have a short life, and then we are gone. 

At the end of every year, we often look back and think of all the famous people who have died in the past 12 months.  We are reminded that no matter who we are, how famous, how rich, or how powerful, we are still grass.  This year we saw the deaths of Karl Malden,  Michael Jackson, Ted Kennedy, Patrick Swayze, Walter Cronkite, Steve McNair,  Farrah Fawcett, Ed McMahon, Ricardo Montalban,  Les Paul, and just this week, Gene Barry (Bat Masterson).  In that list, we have actors, musicians, politicians, athletes, and newsmen, but no matter what they were, in the end, it is still true: “all flesh is grass.”  The interesting thing is that these people were famous to many of us, but as I read those names, some of our teenagers didn’t recognize the names, and never will.  All flesh is grass.  As we think about all the mighty kings, dictators, artist, musicians, and writers who have ever lived, a few are remembered for a while; but then, like all before them, they are gone and forgotten.  All flesh is grass.

            Our lives don’t last long, and what we accomplish doesn’t last very long either.    Our text reminds us of how flowers, the beauty of flowers, quickly fades away.    In the springtime, I love to go up to Afton Villa and see the all the Azaleas, and especially that field of daffodils and buttercups that just seems to explode in March or early April.  A few years ago, my wife and I went up there to see that beautiful sight and take some pictures, but it had been a warm March, and we missed it.  All the daffodils had already died.  As beautiful as they are, they are only here for a short time.  Our youth, strength, and beauty are the same way.    We try desperately to hang on to them, but eventually, these things fade away.  The same is true of all that we create and  all that we accomplish.  They last for a while, and then they are gone.  The other day we went to see the movie, 2012.  As the world is being destroyed, the filmed showed the most famous monuments, statues, buildings, art works, being swept away and destroyed.  We think that all our creations have great permanence, but all we need do is look back at history and see how all things that man creates are ultimately subject to destruction and decay.  Even the empires and governments that man establishes have their day and disappear.    Think of all the great empires that existed:  Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Greek, and Roman, as well as the powerful empires of China and Japan.  When you think of how the United States is only 233 years old, in comparison with these other empires, we are incredibly young.  We like to think that the United States is different, that our form of government will last forever, but we have to face a historical truth.  Most likely we will have our day and be gone.  Our nation can be destroyed by another nation, or changed so drastically from within that it will no longer have any resemblance to what the Founding Fathers had in mind.  No matter how great the empire, no matter how sound the principles of government, like the beauty of the flower, it fades.

            Though we know these things to be true, we still try to keep holding on to things that must inevitably pass away.  In the poetry and letters of the great poet John Keats, we see that one of the sad thoughts that constantly plagued him was that nothing is permanent.  Beauty, happiness, romantic feelings—these things last only for moment:  no matter how hard we try, we cannot make them last forever.    I have been studying in some detail recently the films of the Coen brothers who have written and directed movies such as O Brother, Where Art Thou, Fargo, and No Country for Old Men.  In one of their lesser known films, The Hudsucker Proxy, the movie opens with a narrator named Moses who is describing a New Years Eve in New York City, 1958.  The narrator says,  

Yeah, old Daddy Earth fixin’ to start one more trip around the sun.  Everybody hopin’ this ride ‘round be a little more giddy, little more gay.  Yep, all over town champagne corks is a poppin’.  Over in the Waldorf, the big shots is dancin’ to the strains of Guy Lombardo.  Down in Time Square, the little folks is a watchin’, waitin’ for that big ball to drop. They all trying’ to catch hold of one moment of time, to be able to say, ‘Right now.  This is it.  I got it.’…..’Course by then it’ll be passed.” 

It is true that we all want to hold on to the good times.  We want this moment to last forever.  We want our health, beauty, financial security, happiness, and peace of mind, to be frozen in time, but  it is impossible to do so.  Like old Moses the narrator says:  the moment you think you have it, it is already the past.

            Now, you may be thinking, “Fr. Toms, if you intended to comfort us this morning, you are not doing a very good job.  Where is the comfort in thinking that all flesh is grass?  Where is the comfort in knowing that the beauty of the flower fades?”  First, there can be no comfort unless you face realistically the facts as I have presented them.  We know that “all  flesh is grass” not only because Scripture tells us so, but because the words are obviously true to our own experience.  We may try to live in denial, ignore what is happening to ourselves and others, run away from these words with ceaseless activity, but if you ever slow down and think, you realize,  “All flesh is grass.”  This stark truth, which on the surface may seem so depressing, starts us on the road to comfort.  When we realize that all flesh is grass, all beauty is like the flower that fades, all accomplishments will turn to dust, then we begin to ask the question, “Is there anything that lasts?  Is there anything that is stable and unchanging?  Is there anything in which I can place my trust and confidence and know that it will last longer than grass and flowers?”  It is when we give up on the stability and permanence of everything else in this world, that the comforting word comes to us:  “But the word of our God shall stand forever.”  There is only one thing that never changes—the word of God.  What he has spoken will stand forever and ever.  Since he is eternal and unchanging, the word that he speaks is eternal and unchanging.

 Last week, during our Morning Prayer service, we read those words from Isaiah 55: 10-12:  For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:   So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.   For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”  Here again, is the word of comfort to the people of Israel when they are in captivity.  Seventy years they had suffered under the hands of their captors, but God had promised them that one day they would be delivered.  Do you think that they were ever tempted to give up hope that the word of God was true?  Of course, during trying times, we always face that temptation.  But the Lord is telling his people, “When you look at the Babylonians and the Persians and all of their might, remember this:  All flesh is grass.”  Even the Babylonians and Persians are grass.  Though they seem to be powerful and permanent, they will soon be gone, and the word of God will continue to accomplish everything that was promised.

As we have seen in our study of Isaiah 40, this passage was not ultimately fulfilled until Christ came into the world who would free us from the captivity of sin.    God had promised his people a redeemer, but it must have seemed that he would never come.    This same Isaiah had prophesied, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.  Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this” (Isa. 9:6-7).  But 700 years went by, and still, he had not arrived.  Think of it.  During that time the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans came to power.  All but the Romans had come and gone.  It must have seemed that the promised Messiah would never come.   But the word of our God shall stand forever.  Finally, after Assyria, Babylon, Persia, and Greece had proved to be grass, the word of God performed what had been spoken so long ago.  Christ came as had been promised to establish the kingdom that would have no end.

God’s people must always remember that though we are surrounded by a culture and a system of government, that seems to be permanent, it’s all grass.  Kings, dictators, presidents, congressmen, and senators are all grass.  But we belong to a kingdom that shall have no end.  When the angel appeared to Mary to tell her of the child she would bear, he said, “And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.    He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:   And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. (Luke 1:31-33).  After the birth of Christ, even the Roman empire in all of its glory, faded away, but the kingdom of God stood and survived.  Since the time of the Roman empire, we have seen other great empires rise and fall, some of them intent on destroying the Church of the living God.  They have all failed.  The word of our God shall stand forever.  Over the course of history, we will see other great political empires rise and fall, but the kingdom of God will continue to stand, because it has been decreed by the word of God to stand forever.    The writer to the Hebrews said, “His voice shook the earth at that time, but now he has promised, “I will once more shake not only the earth but heaven as well.  The words ‘once more’ plainly show that the created things will be shaken and removed, so that the things that cannot be shaken will remain.  Let us be thankful, then, because we receive a kingdom that cannot be shaken” (Heb. 12:26-28, TEV).    All the other kingdoms, governments, and empires of this world will be shaken.  As a matter of fact, it is the plan of purpose of God to shake all the kingdoms of this world, so that only one kingdom will remain, his kingdom, so that all the kingdom of this world will become the kingdom of our God, and of his Christ (Rev. 11:15).  Always remember that no matter how much you are persecuted, no matter how much you may seem to be in the minority, and no matter how powerful a government may be, all the kingdoms of this world are grass.  You belong to the kingdom of God which can never be shaken.

If my only message was, “All flesh is grass,” then we would be very pessimistic and hopeless. The world would be a meaningless place, an absurd universe.  But what gives us hope in the midst of a transient world is “the word of our God shall abide forever.”    Seven hundred years after Isaiah spoke these words, the Apostle Peter used them in the first chapter of his first epistle: “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.   For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you (I Peter 1:23-25).  St. Peter tells us that the word that abides forever is the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, for Jesus is the Word that stands forever. 

At this Advent season, we celebrate the Advent of the Word of God.  The Apostle John tells us,  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.   The same was in the beginning with God.   All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.   In him was life; and the life was the light of men….And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (I John 1:1-4, 14).  There is no question that the word of God abides forever, and Jesus is that word made flesh.  If we receive him, we abide forever, for he lives in us.   We will abide forever because we have been born again.  Yes, it is true, that all flesh is grass, but those who believe in Jesus Christ are not like the grass that perishes.  We have been born again, and it was the word of God that gave us the new birth.  See how Peter puts it:  “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God.”    The word of God came to us in power, by the power of the Holy Spirit, and we believed that word, received that word, and that word says that all who believe in Christ have everlasting life.  Furthermore, Jesus Christ himself, the Word of God, lives in us.  This is what we celebrate at Advent—the coming of the Word of God into the world.  He abides forever.  He comes to each one of us who believe in him, and we abide forever.   Because the word of God shall stand forever, and because he has promised that those who believe in him will live forever, the word of God that stands forever, guarantees our eternal life, and his word will be performed.  It will accomplish what he says, just as it has always has.  

  Because the word of God that abides forever has taken root in our hearts, then we also will abide forever.  The Apostle John tells us, “And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever” (I John 2:17)  Though a Christian may be like grass in the sense that we will all one day die, we are not like grass in this important sense.  We abide forever, because we have received the word of God.   If this were not so, we would stand beside the graves of loved ones and say, “All flesh is grass,” and walk away.  But at the graveside of a believer we can say, “All flesh is grass, but he who does the will of God abides forever.” Do you want something in which you can really put your trust and confidence?  Don’t put your trust in yourself, in other people, in nations, kingdoms, kings, and politicians.  We must trust in something more enduring, more stable than ourselves and even powerful people—the word of God.  All through history, people have tried to develop a philosophy of life that will help them abide.   There is only one way to abide—believe the word of God.  We shall stand forever because the word of God stands forever.    

Each week, I sit before a blank piece of paper, or, more often, in front of a blank computer screen, and I look to heaven and ask, “What shall I say?  How shall I comfort my people in the midst of their troubles and trials?”  This week, the answer was the same one Isaiah received when he asked that question:  “All flesh is grass, but the word of our God shall stand forever.”  Amen.

Advent Preparation–Sermon

Advent Preparation

A Sermon Preached by Rev. S. Randall Toms

On December 6, 2009

At St. Paul’s Reformed Episcopal Church, Baton Rouge, LA

 

The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.   Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. (Isa. 40:3-5).

            As we travel across the United States, we don’t often stop to think how much time, effort, and money has gone into building all the roads and highways in this nation.  Going through some of the more mountainous states, we marvel that roads could have been built in such places.  Think of all the digging, blasting, and tunneling that was involved in the construction of some of those roads.  Think of all the earth that to be transported in and out of such locations.  Though it may seem boring, the history of road construction is quite fascinating.  Building roads and highways in our time with all of our modern, mechanical advances is still a staggering task; but imagine what it must have been like to have built roads in the ancient world without our modern equipment.  What did they do when they built roads and encountered valleys and mountains?

            In our text for today, we find a description of that kind of highway construction.    In the ancient world, a king would sometimes send a message to a city or town that he was going to pay them a royal visit.  We can imagine all the preparation that would be involved in getting ready for the visit of a mighty monarch.  One kind of preparation was the building of a highway for the king to travel.  What kinds of things would have to be done to build such a highway?  In our text,  we read of a voice, a herald of the king, perhaps, who is announcing to the people, “The king is going to come to your city.  Prepare a highway for him.”  In order to prepare a highway, every valley shall be exalted, every mountain and hill made low, the crooked places straight, and the rough places made plain. 

            Last week, we saw that Isaiah 40 describes the time when the children of Israel were in captivity because of their disobedience and unfaithfulness to God.    Isaiah 40 describes that time when the children of Israel would be released from their captivity.  One of the most terrible punishments that God inflicted upon his people was that he withdrew himself from his people.  At our men’s Bible study, we men have been studying in the book of Hosea how the Lord said, “I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early” (Hosea 5:15).  God had returned to his own place, so to speak.  That is, he had withdrawn his blessings.   He had withdrawn the comforts that people enjoy when they are in fellowship with him.  In the book of Ezekiel we have a description of how the glory of the Lord had departed from the temple:  “Then the glory of the LORD departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubims.   And the cherubims lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight: when they went out, the wheels also were beside them, and every one stood at the door of the east gate of the LORD’s house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above” (Ezek. 10:18-19).  In Isaiah 40 we read that God  is ready now to return to his people; but if they want him to return, they are going to have to build a highway for him.   We realize that this is not a literal highway composed of earth and stones  being described:  they are preparing a way for the Lord God himself, not some earthly ruler. Because of their sins, the Lord had departed.  Now he is willing to come back if the people will prepare for him a highway.  This is a spiritual highway prepared by repentance. The Lord had left them because of their sins.  If they want him to return to them, they must prepare the way by repenting of their sins.  William Hendriksen writes in his commentary on Luke, “…’the wilderness’ through which a path must be made ready for the Lord is in the final analysis the people’s heart, by nature inclined to all evil” (203).  Their sins are these valleys, mountains, crooked, and rough places.  These are the obstacles that must be cleared out of the way so that the Lord might return to them.

            Last week, we saw that Isaiah 40 was not really fulfilled in its ultimate sense until Jesus Christ came into the world.  In Isaiah 40, we are not told whose voice it is that is speaking these words, but the gospels tell  us that this speaker is John the Baptist.  Luke writes,  

Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene,  Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.   And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins;  As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.  Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; And all flesh shall see the salvation of God (Luke 3:1-6). 

The Apostle John tells us that when the priests and Levites asked John the Baptist who he was, he said, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias” (John 1:23).    The ministry of John the Baptist was to get the people ready for the arrival of Jesus Christ and his public ministry.  When the angel Gabriel appeared to Zacharias, he told him what his son, John the Baptist would do, “And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:17).  Remember what John’s father Zacharias prophesied after John had been born.  We sang it just a moment ago in the Benedictus:  “And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways” (Luke 1:76).  When we read Luke 3, we see John the Baptist beginning to fulfill this mission of preparing people for Advent–preparing them for the arrival of our Lord Jesus Christ who was just about to begin his public ministry.  How did John prepare the people?  He prepared the people by preaching repentance.  Exxalting valleys, making mountains low, making the crooked straight, making rough places plain are figurative words used to describe repentance.  John the Baptist came preaching repentance.  He was telling the people to get the highway ready.  The King, Jesus Christ was on his way.    John the Baptist went out into the wilderness, in the desert places, to preach.  The very surroundings  in which chose to preach were a reminder to people about the condition of their hearts.  John was saying, “Your heart is a wilderness.  Your sins have made you a spiritual desert, but the barrenness of your hearts change if you will prepare a way for the Lord to come to you.  If you will prepare your hearts by repentance, the Lord will come to you and show you his glory.”

            Just as the people were encouraged to prepare their hearts for that advent of Christ so long ago, we must prepare our hearts for his Advent now.    Each year, we reenact that first advent.  We prepare for his coming.   This time of preparation is symbolized in our Advent wreath as we light each candle during the weeks leading up to Christmas.  Finally, on Christmas Day, we get to light the white candle in the center, symbolizing that the Advent season has been completed for Christ has come.   Christ came into our world nearly 2,000 years ago–his first advent.  We are looking forward to that second Advent, when he will return in glory to rule and reign.  In between those two great Advents, there are other Advents, other comings of our Lord when he comes to us in special and powerful ways to cure our spiritual barrenness.   We prepare for those Advents in the same way—by repentance.    In the Anglican church, Advent is a penitential season.  The liturgical color for this season is purple, symbolizing its penitential nature.  We want to get ready for the coming of the Lord in order that his glory might be revealed.  We get ready by building a highway of repentance into our hearts for the Lord to travel.

            No doubt, we as individuals, as well as the Church and our nation need to prepare the way of the Lord.  Individuals need to repent of their sins.  Churches need to repent of the way they have forsaken the gospel of Christ and substituted other gospels for the true gospel of Christ.  Our nation needs to repent of its national sins, the ways in which we have turned our backs on God’s law and substituted our own man-made laws.  But let me ask you this morning, “During this Advent season, do you need to prepare the way of the Lord?  Do you have any valleys, low places morally in your life that you need to raise up?  Have you sunk low in sin, deeper in sin than you can ever imagine that you would have sunk?  Do you have any mountains that need to be brought low?  I mean, are you proud and arrogant, too proud to admit that you have sinned against God–too proud to admit that you are sinner who needs forgiveness through the shed blood of Jesus Christ?  Do you have any crooked places in your life that need to be straightened out?  You know, the Bible describes obedience to God as walking a straight path, turning neither to the right hand or to the left.  But we twist the word of God, we pervert its teaching, we rationalize our sins, excuse them, and convince ourselves that we are really living in obedience to God. When we do so, we have made the way to our hearts a crooked highway.  Do you have any rough places in your life?  Are there any obstacles, sins that you love so much that you refuse to move them out of the way so that the Lord might find ready access to your heart?

            Building some of these great highways in our country was a monumental task.  We look at some of them and say, “How did they do it?  It seems impossible.”  What I have asked you to do today is impossible.    Our valleys, the depths to which we have sunk or too low.  It is a like a deep gorge that can never be filled.  Our mountains of sins are too high, too massive to be moved out of the way.  We are so deceitful in our own hearts, we constantly pervert the straight ways of the Lord.  If we look at all our sins, how could we ever remove all the rough places?  In our own strength, we cannot do so.  As I said earlier, filling in valleys, leveling mountains, making crooked places straight and rough places plain are just descriptions of repentance.  But repentance is impossible if God does not grant us the ability to repent.  That is why in our Morning Prayer liturgy, when the priest pronounces The Declaration of Absolution, or Remission of Sins, he says, “Wherefore let us beseech him to grant us true repentance….”  That one phrase is an admission that we cannot repent unless God gives us the ability to do so. We love our sins too much.  We must pray that a supernatural miracle would take place—that God would give a true hatred for our sins so that we would turn from them moral outrage and disgust.  During this Advent season, let us take a good look at all the valleys, mountains, crooked and rough places in our lives, and let us pray that God would enable us by his grace to remove every sin, every obstacle, so that our sovereign King, our Lord Jesus, might find a ready access to our hearts.  Amen.