Fourth Sunday in Lent - Saved Through Reminders of Resurrection

Welcome Statement

Good Morning everyone. We are inching ever so closely to Easter. It is not time yet for us to give up our patience and hope through this lent season. This is a time for us to stop and rest today, to recognize we are continually in the presence of a greater one than ourselves. Look at the signs up in our church. What do you see in our church that you see that shows as representations of the Father? Of Jesus Christ? Of the Holy Spirit? I’m going to get back to this question after our reading, I want you to think about it and take notice to those signs and visuals in our church of the recognition of those things that represent our faith as we read the following.

Old Testament Reading - Numbers 21:4-9

Numbers 21:4–9 ESV

From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

Reminders of Salvation

This Bronze Serpent is always a peculiar image for us to deal with in the bible. The serpents in the bible as well. So we are going to try to deal with all of that here. First thing’s first. Serpents like any creature, snakes as we call them, are one of God’s creatures that he created. People always think of the Serpent of in the Garden of Eden. This snake was different, as it was a serpent that was under the command of Satan, a worker of his, or was Satan, the adversary, In the form of a serpent. There is scripture supporting this idea of comparing Satan to a serpent in Revelations, so people definitely saw the serpent as connected to the same adversary in Job. That being said, these serpents were under the command of the lord. they were used to punish and to test those who would not stop complaining. It’s not clear where Numbers occurs between the two complaints in Exodus. But for them to say “we loathe this worthless food” to me would make me think they are complaining about the manna. I don’t know about you, but that is insane to me. To be able to always have just enough food to keep you full and never woryy, and loathe it? I understand getting tired of the same food, but I Know how conditions were in that age, we are enormously blessed. Moses is told to create a bronze serpent from his staff. I don’t know how he does this so quickly, so I find that interesting. People are told to look into it’s eyes, and through their faith they will be saved and live. What does this mean? Why the serpent? It almost seems to be an idol at first glance, but this would be a foolish way to look at it, although those who misunderstand the sign, do find themselves worshipping the snake later as an idol of YHWH, breaking one of the ten commandment to not have false idols, you can find this in 2 Kings 18:4

2 Kings 18:4 LEB

He removed the high places, and he smashed the stone pillars; he cut down the poles of Asherah worship and demolished the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for up to those days the Israelites were offering incense to it and called it Nehushtan.

So there is nuance here. One doesn’t want to become an iconoclast and say, you can’t have drawings of Jesus or God, we don’t live in those days anymore, God became man, and so that is why we have paintings of him. But we also can’t find ourselves in vanity worshipping objects over a living God.

The point of the bronze serpent was for the people to have a focal point of their belief, a physical place for them to place their belief in and say to God with action “I trust you”. It’s the same as when we physically come to church, and participate in church functions or donate/volunteer time in the church, we are placing trust with our time and resources into God’s hands.

What do you See as a Reminder?

So what did you See as a reminder of God’s presence?

Colfax: I am reminded of our Crosses we have up front, especially the one by the offering plates, and on the back wall. These remind me of the sacrifice Jesus Christ made for us, that atonement for our sins, that covered every single one of our mistakes, and then subsequently his resurrection, his victory over death, the ultimately battle of good over evil. It reminds me we are safe, in his presence, we are spiritually secure, and we have nothing to fear. It helps remind me of who I’m talking to, giving me a focal point in my prayers, I know I’m not talking to the cross, but the cross gives me a reminder of the character of Jesus, and helps me focus and hone in on Christ with a visual reminder of his presence, a sign as I’ve talked about, of Jesus’s presence in our life.

Levels:

I always find myself looking up to of course, the 3 main paintings we have up front and center. The painting of Jesus as a shepherd knocking on the door depicts Christ as that person who carries the lost sheep, and insists on continually knocking until someone lets him in, not forcing violently, but patiently waiting as a polite guest, to be a gentle, kind soul, to love someone as family. When we pray our Joy’s and concerns, I sit at the pew, sometimes looking up to it, to remind myself of his character in the bible as I pray. It helps remind me of who I’m talking to, giving me that focal point of my prayer. I know I’m not talking to the painting, but the painting gives me a reminder, a sign as I’ve talked about, of Jesus’s presence in our life.

And so, this takes us to our New Testament Gospel Reading, in John:

New Testament Reading - John 3:14-21

John 3:14–21 ESV

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

A Lifted Up God

A Lifted Up Serpent on a Staff saved the men and women who originally complained against God. They were reminded who their creator was. Again. Jesus Christ was raised onto a Cross, and died on a cross. More importantly. He resurrected, with that eternal life in his heart, so he could continue with his mission. The light has come into the world. These reminders of the light are all around us, in our churches, in our homes, in the people in our pews, they are small reflections of that Father we call God in Heaven. What is interesting here, is that it is not the bronze of the serpent, nor anything special about the Cross itself, that does the Saving. It is our belief, in our Lord Jesus Christ, our belief, in the Father Almighty, that saves us. The people that day in the desert were saved by their faith in the power of God to save them from the poison of the serpents, it was a physical showing of faith.

Condemnation of Works

A tougher part of this passage is the discussion of wickedness. Of evil people. Condemnation by God is a serious act. It is something we have to wrestle with when we see it in scripture, it is something only God himself can put forth onto a person, so we have to be wary when we use our mouths to ever talk about this stuff. But it is clear here, that there are people who prefer the darkness in the world due to evil acts, God’s light illuminates all actions, creates transparency, exonerates the good-doer and condemns the evil-doer. God is Perfect, a perfect being cannot stand in the presence of something imperfect. You can almost imagine a person, made out of dirt, being vaporized to dust in the blinding perfect light of the Father. This is the real fear people had in the old testament. This purification required is only realized through Jesus Christ. There is an assurance being put forth here, that there is no risk to our faith. We have an assurance that Jesus Christ loves us, he is pleased to call us his flock, despite our blemishes, to him, we are enough, even when we have nothing to offer. We aren’t just tolerated, by some wrathful God, no, He is a slow to anger, loving God. This is why it is so important our purpose in life is to glorify God. Everything is because of him, not us! We get to experience everything in the world due to his love and mercy, he is why we are afforded the opportunities to experience love, joy, the building of families, the smell of coffee in the morning, date nights with your significant other, all those small moments in life. We can’t ignore this love. This sacrifice. These reminders of the resurrection. This is what saved us, and continually saves us on a daily basis. We owe that much to him, to glorify HIM. Our works in life, if we can help it, in some way, even if it is just that we try to make our work at least honest, or the best we can be, in whatever job it is, even if it is just a completely unrelated secular job. Even if that work you do feels like it’s pointless office work, or labor that feels redundant, do it for the Lord. The lord isn’t bean counting, but this is our physical testament of our faith, that we show God we actually put our money where our mouth is. We not only preach the Gospel, but live it out, in the secular world.

Let us be those reminders to people, that God is still dwelling, in the world, that he is still resurrecting people’s broken hearts and lives. Let us Pray.

Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father, We thank you for the gift of all of these reminders of your bodily resurrection, that you sacrificed the necessary payment of atonement for sin, that ultimate payment required that we might feel guiltless in your presence. That we could once again, step across that bridge, lockstep with you, Jesus, as you reintroduce us to your Father. We thank you for building that bridge you call the Spirit in our lives. We thank you that your immeasurable strength to undertake the onslaught of our sin allowed you to overcome it all and resurrect, leave the tomb, empty, and show us that you are indeed God incarnate. We thank you for these gifts you give us today. Help us to be those examples in peoples lives of transformation, of resurrection of hearts, of lives, that people can be turned towards you, have their hearts lit aflame by that spirit, and pushed towards the light, away from the darkness. We thank you for the Beautiful creation you have blessed us with, as we begin to notice the green and the smell of Spring in the changing of seasons.

I say this in Your Beautiful Name.

Amen.

Doxology / Benediction / Closing

As you go out this week, think about those reminders in your life, those moments where you stopped and looked out for God, or stopped, and thought “Wow, God really is present among us”. Where was it that God really stepped in and transformed a situation that seemed hopeless? Or a situation that felt completely dead and it seemed as if the spirit breathed new life into it? Reflect on that this week. How can we be workers of God to transform hearts? Change Hopeless situations and resurrect believers up out from broken bodies and lives? May you Have a Blessed Sunday, and rest of your Week! Amen!