Sermon Tone Analysis

Title:     Pleasing God

 

Text:     Heb 11:4-6.

Main Point of the Text:  Pleasing God requires that we believe in him.

That means living like it!

FCF:    To the extent that we are unwilling to live as if God is in charge, we deny our own faith in him.

SO:      I want people to live like God is around.

One practical expression of this is simple evangelism.

Opening Joke:

The two boys – “Where is God?”  (“God is missing and they think we took him!”)

Benediction:

Romans 11:33, 36

O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

For from him and through him and to him are all things.

To him be the glory forever.

Amen.

\\ Introduction: (Joke about the two boys)

 

 

Before I begin, I want to read you a little snippet of something from Arthur C. Clarke’s book, /The Fountains of Paradise/.

I read the book last summer, because it is the story which, about fifty years ago, introduced the idea of a “space elevator.”

The basic idea is that rather than using a rocket to launch people into the stars, you would build an orbiting tether that you could simply climb into space.

What’s amazing is that with nanotechnology – specifically something called “carbon nano-tubes,” we are actually getting very close to being able to build this thing.

People have estimated that with one of these you could reduce the cost of getting into orbit from the current $60,000 per pound of mass to a mere $1100.

Can you imagine the immense reward that would accrue to anyone who could bring this thing into existence?

Anyways, the author – Arthur C. Clarke, is a staunch atheist, and he is a fiction writer.

In the book, he weaves several random stories, and one of them had an insight about religion that is pretty profound.

Background – in his story, there is this massively intelligent space probe from another solar system that encounters earth, and engages in conversations with our scientists by means of trading information.

The probe gives carefully selected pieces of information about other worlds in exchange for us uploading information.

For instance, Clarke shows off his hatred for Christianity, when he has this space probe send back a message.

He writes:

‘ I have analyzed the arguments of your Saint Thomas Aquinas as requested in your message 145 sequence 3.  Most of the content seems to be sense-free random noise, and so devoid of information, but the print out that follows lists 192 fallacies expressed in symbolic logic.

Fallacy 1:’

 

And then, Clarke breaks it off, because as he knows its actually very, very difficult to argue with St. Thomas Aquinas.

Aquinas, for instance, gave us what is sometimes called the five arguments for God:

!!!! First Way: The Argument from Motion

!!!!! 1) Nothing can move itself.

!!!!! 2) If every object in motion had a mover, then the first object in motion needed a mover.

!!!!! 3) This first mover is the Unmoved Mover, called God.

----

!!!! Second Way: Causation of Existence

!!!!! 1) There exists things that are caused (created) by other things.

!!!!! 2) Nothing can be the cause of itself (nothing can create itself.)

!!!!! 3) There can not be an endless string of objects causing other objects to exist.

!!!!! 4) Therefore, there must be an uncaused first cause called God.

----

!!!! Third Way: Contingent and Necessary Objects

!!!!! Basically, there has to be at least one thing that doesn’t require something else to come into existence.

That’s God.

----

!!!! Fourth Way: The Argument from Degrees And Perfection

!!!!! Here, Aquinas suggests that you can always tell degrees of perfection.

For instance, you might say that one statue is more beautiful than another.

You can only say this if there is a perfect standard by which all such qualities are measured.

These perfections are what see in God.

----

!!!! Fifth Way: The Argument from Intelligent Design

!!!!! Basically, if you’re walking along the beach and see a watch, you know that the high order in it had to come from an intelligent designer.

That couldn’t have happened by chance.

Fast forward 700 years from Aquinas and we see DNA – something amazing coded.

There is so much order that even after 80 years, a staunch atheist like Sir Anthony Flew has to admit there must be at least some type of Intelligent Designer.

You might wonder why I’ve spent so much time arguing for the existence of God in this sermon and my last.

The reason I’ve done so, is because, as the author of Hebrews reminds us, one of the pre-requisites of faith is that we have to believe he exists.

Now, let me suggest to you this – however.

Believing that he exists is more than a simple mental proposition than the existence of God.

You see, we know that the devil believes in the existence of God.

The real question is, do we /live/ in such way that we evidence the fact that God exists?

Clarke gave me a sting when he asked a question that, if written with equal vinegar was at least a question still worth pondering.

This space ship sends back another message.

It writes:

“I am unable to distinguish clearly between your religious ceremonies and apparently identical behavior at the sporting and cultural functions you have transmitted to me.

I refer you particularly to the Beatles, 1956; the World Soccer Final, 2047, and the farewell appearance of the Johann Sebastian Clones, 2056.”

I hate it when an atheist understands religion better than a lot of people – but I had to admit, the question he asks is at least valid.

What is the practical difference between our devotion to God and those things we profess to be “fans” over?

It’s easy to give the trite answer – namely that unlike the John Lennon who may have thought he was “bigger than Jesus”, God really is God.

It’s worth thinking over in our own lives.

I want to suggest to you this morning, however, that there is in fact a difference, or at least if there isn’t your own life, there needs to be.

But, in order to understand the answer, you have to start with faith.

You see, ultimately, the reason for us being here – by which I mean both in this place today and placed on earth in general – is not for our own purposes.

We were placed here in order to please God.

If you’ve ever spent a day feeding people, visiting to the sick, or genuinely ministering Christ to your neighbor, you know how right you feel.

The author of Hebrews suggests to us here that if you want to please God, however, there are two pre-requisites.

First, we have to believe he exists, and second that God reward those who please him.

In order to make his point, he reminds his listeners of three stories, and I briefly want to look at them this morning.

First off, he mentions Abel.

You’re probably a little more familiar with his brother Cain.

It’s funny how much easier it is to remember those people who did bad, but the Author of Hebrews chooses to focus on the first murder victim rather than the first murderer.

Now, you’ll remember the crux of the story.

Abel & Cain both bring sacrifices to God – they both are acting in a manner somewhat consistent with the existence of God.

Considering that Mom & Dad both used to speak with God directly, I think I’d be surprised if either one was an actual atheist.

Cain, a farmer brings some of his crop, Abel brings a fatted lamb.

But here’s the rub – God likes Abel’s sacrifice, but he rejects Cain’s.

Cain is angry.

He gets so angry, in fact, that he kills his brother.

Needless to say, God doesn’t care for this so much and he sentences Cain to wandering the earth for the rest of his days.

Now, the big question that everyone has is, “Why does God like Abel’s sacrifice, but rejects Cain’s?”

Let me suggest to you that it has nothing to do with the fact of that Cain brought veggies and Abel brought steak.

We know, for instance from Deuteronomy, that God is totally Ok with grain offerings.

You’ve probably also heard of “first fruits.”

Here’s the deal – God didn’t have a problem with what Cain brought to burn, but he did have a problem with the one brought it.

You’ll notice, for instance, it just says Cain brought ‘some of his crop,’ not the best of it.

There is a Muslim tradition about this story that I think is worth mentioning.

–And yes, by the way, you’ll notice that Muslims believe this story is true too!- Muslims suggests that Cain brought the smallest sheaf of wheat he had, and Abel brought his best lamb.

Now, I don’t know if those details are accurate, but it gets at the general sense pretty much every scholar gets who reads this – Namely that Cain was just going through the motions whereas Abel put everything he had into it.

Abel knew that God would reward him for his actions, Cain was living as if God barely existed.

Let me tell you another story – this time about a man named Enoch.

We don’t know much about him, but we do know this.