Second Sunday in Lent

Welcome Statement

Good Morning Church, When was the last time you worried about something? Or were stuck in a loop or spiral? When were you last unsure of God’s promise in your life? Was there a time where you felt like God might have not been there? Or it felt too dark to tell? Well, I can tell you I have definitely experienced some or all of these things at some point, and I am a natural worry wort, it takes active mindfulness on my part to keep myself grounded in the present, it is almost like a spiritual discipline of just trying to keep to the present the Lord calls us to live into, instead of worrying about tommorow’s plans. To sort of set the stage, for today’s lesson, I want to read a verse Jesus said during the Sermon on the mount, one that gets overlooked but is pretty important: Matthew 6:34

Matthew 6:34 NRSV

“So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

How many times have we seen the Israelites, the Apostles, the early Church, and all of Church history, groan with agony over their troubles? Israel would fast for example in agony everytime it found itself at deaths door or being oppressed by nations around them. The israelites in the desert for 40 years, despite being fed daily with manna and water, still worried about their futures, where they would be, that very level of worrying that actually held them back from the promised land longer than they needed to be! Note I am not trying to say that God punishes us because of our worries, I am suggesting our worries blind us to God’s providence, will, and his care over our lives. It blinds us to what we are trying to accomplish in his name, it makes it hard to see the little things and gifts that God is blessing us with each day. For example, if you took out a piece of paper and pen, and wrote down 10 things you are blessed or secure in, could you come up with ten things? It is possible that you really can’t, depending on where you are at. Maybe the only thing you can feel blessed in is that you are secure in your salvation, your relationship with Christ. Maybe even that worries you! I want to give a short list of things I am blessed by everyday, to maybe help jumpstart your though process:

I am blessed by God’s presence in my life, through the Holy Spirit even when I don’t see, hear, or feel him.

I am blessed by my wife Olivia, who calls me to be a better person, and chose to live a life with me and build a family.

Im now cheating a little bit, I'm also blessed by Emery who pushes me to be a better person everyday so I can be a better Father, Husband, and Christian.

I am thankful for my friends who I can confide in, who I can share laughter with, and rely on during times of pain or toil.

I am thankful I have food at the table, and can get water anytime I want or need it.

I want to get a little more specific on little everday things that might feel a little more relateable. I am thankful that I can have coffee each morning as a sort of getting ready for the day ritual.

I am thankful that I have unlimited access to music through YouTube, Spotify, the fact I can listen to the wealth of art that humanity has created over the years, brings joy to my soul

I am thankful that each day comes, and provides a second chance to reflect and renew upon yesterday’s problems or mistakes.

I am thankful that I can keep memories, and share good times with people that seem to hold on for everyone, and can be recalled, binding people together in community.

Last but not least, I am thankful for this community we share. Without community, humans would be lost. We see in Genesis where it was clear Adam needed a partner, and the same is true for all of us in a similiar sense, humans don’t work well alone, we need accountability, we need support, we need lifted up during times of trouble, this is what the Church and the Body of Christ provides. A grounding spot, I am certainly thankful for that grounding we get through the Sabbath day.

I hope this list helps you, It took me a little bit to think about, but there’s so many things we don’t think about like modern appliances, heat, cold, medicine, the fact that really our lives in a sense while exposed to many modern, fabricated worries, we really have it a lot easier and better than we can see due to our natural ability to see the bad. With that imagery set now, I want us to look to Genesis Ch. 15, where Abraham is given a promise by God, one that is re-iterated

Old Testament Reading - Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18

Genesis 15:1–12 NRSV

After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.” But the word of the Lord came to him, “This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.” He brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness. Then he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess.” But he said, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” He brought him all these and cut them in two, laying each half over against the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a deep and terrifying darkness descended upon him.

Genesis 15:17–18 NRSV

When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,

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Abram Worries

A couple of things to note here. Chapter 15 comes before Abram is renamed to Abraham in chapter 17, a name we are more familiar with, I will be using his new name to better reflect how he was made new in that nan, as well as to reduce confusion. But more importantly, this chapter comes right after Abram saves lot and defeats the kings who had taken him captive. Abraham is an interesting person. We see previously how he can be unfaithful at times, but also be a generous and humble person, as he does not take the King of Sodom’s wealth, but simply says he does not want any of it. We see here, he like any of us, worries of his future. He worries how he does not have a legitimate heir, even though God had promised multiple times at this point that he will have a family in a size that is uncountable. Yet he still asks God how he would know this to be true. God recalls how he brought him out of Ur, and moved him here into the land of Canaan. He asks how can he possibly know, so God acquieses that he should provide a sacrifice. Interestingly, we see something similiar we saw a couple of weeks ago on Transfiguration Sunday, Abraham enters a deep sleep. These deep sleeps signify a deep transformation on Abrahams part. It signifies the revelation he receives of the promise given to him, a promise we all inherit and benefit from thanks to Jesus Christ’s payment on the Cross.

When Jesus Christ finds himself exposed to something that would worry anyone, he simply chalks it up to borderline laughter. I want Us to read a small passage from Luke 13 to see what I mean regarding contrasts here.

New Testament Reading - Luke 13:31-35

Luke 13:31–35 NRSV

At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’ Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’ ”

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New Testament Point #1

During this passage, Jesus Is in the middle of preaching on the Sabbath at a local synagogue, healing a woman, clashing with the authorities on how the sabbath should be honored, he also teaches the parables of the mustard sead and leaven, and also talks about who will really be saved.

This kind of comes at the tail end of all that. The Pharisees finally warn him that Herod is going to come kill him and he needs to leave. There are different ways one could interpret this. One could interpret it at face value as genuine concern, after all it is true that some Pharisees like Nicodemus privately supported Jesus. It’s possible there was a mix of concern and a mix of self-concern of the idea that Herod would come to their jurisdiction, risking their own positions or . This does not make the Pharisees uniquely evil, but having the same concerns as anyone does, imagine office politics and self preservation you might enact, I know I have found myself doing things to self-preserve, even if they are genuine. However, if we look to the earlier part of the passage with his clashes over the Sabbath, it’s more than likely the Pharisees are trying to get him out, maybe they think by warning him it is a way to slyly be graceful in a way that bears bad fruit, maybe they are telling him a lie so that he leaves. Regardless, he calls the bluff and sees the message based on his response as a part of the threat. It’s almost as if it is a euphemism of really saying “we are going to call up Herod if you don’t leave”. That is politics, saying the bad thing out loud in a nice way.

He tells them to go tell that Fox he doesn’t care. He will do his mission as God has commanded. This is a huge contrast. In both instances God is doing all of the answering and work, and God is the one upholding the Oaths or covenants in place. Yet Abraham still requires reassurance.

Where in my life do I need God’s assurance? I previously spoke a couple of weeks ago about my concern for my coworkers, as well as concerns for myself due to all the budget cuts. A majority of my income that pays all the bills, the mortgage, car payments, debt, all come from government contracts. While right now I am okay, and I have really zero reason to believe I will lose that source, It is still a scary thought. Most people live paycheck to paycheck, and whatever they aren’t using paycheck to paycheck gets thrown into something that needs addressed. Many people feel the tightening of wallets as things get more expensive but wages stagnate. I say this not for any political reason, it is just reality. Go to the store and see how much eggs are. But the thing is. As Christ recalls, only worry about today, tommorow has enough trouble of its own. Why do I worry about potential scenarios? I rationalize it is because I am trying to be prepared for myself and my family incase something happens. But there is no actual planning, I’m not going out identifying potential job locations, Im not working on addressing my budget other than we really don’t buy eggs now (haha). I’m just ruminating. Worrying about something that may not happen tommorow. I can’t know what way rulings will go in the courts on various issues, until it happens. This is what Jesus is calling out. He is telling us to stop trying to control that which we can’t control. Jesus can’t control Herod, but he can control how he responds to Herod and the Pharisees, by denying them a fear-based response. We live in a world totally composed now of outrage, and fear. This is not how humans are meant to be. We are not meant to be doomleslly scrolling for good news, or allowing ourselves to get so worked up over national policy decisions. It is not that we do not care, it is that we recognize we alone can’t do anything. If I truly cared about the issue, in a way that isn’t self-serving, like as in the case of seeing budget cuts for school lunch programs from the USDA, I would go be packing honey bags, or something of that nature, filling up our blessing boxes as a response to the pain the world is trying to created. But I imagine myself saying something along the lines of “that isn’t enough”. Jesus’s own convictions didn’t save him from the cross, but it saved him beyond the cross. That is where we are at. Our convictions, our faith does not save us from the woes of this world, it saves us beyond it. Meaning, you can rest knowing that those moments in your lives where rest is afforded, they have meaning, and they are meant to be taken. That tommorow’s worries aren’t something to be concerned about in this exact moment. This does not mean don’t plan, but plan to have no plan. You might have plans to get all this shopping and work done around the house, but then things come up. I think about how Judy and Scott and his parents seemed to be on the final stretch. None of us were prepared for Anne Fisher to have another fall. Yet life as Ecclesiastes would say, time and chance happen to us all, let’s read that verse to help us understand the reality of things:

Ecclesiastes 9:11 NRSV

Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to the skillful; but time and chance happen to them all.

Closing Statement

This is the truth, time and chance happens to us all. What matters is how we respond. Do we respond looking towards God’s kingdom, or do we respond by allowing the world to drag us with it? Why is it Paul was the most effective in his ministry during prayer? Why was Joseph able to be such an effective prophet and minister to those around him while being in slavery? Saving so many from a famine? Despite the accusations against him by Potiphar’s wife? The fact is, this is because they all refused to allow worldly situations to throw them aside. They stood in the face of it, not without fear, of course everyone fears, but with the understanding of their heavenly reward, their understanding that there is a future hope, no one knows what tommorow will bring. Some days it will be joy in the morning, others bad news and despair. But we have that contant that Christ will always be here, today, tommorow, and forever. He is Alpha and Omega, beginning and end. There will be a day where tommorow never comes, because we are perpetually living in union with God in heaven. The new Jerusalem WILL come, it will happen. It is a guarantee set forth since the days of Adam and Eve, proven not only once but multiple times to Abraham as God constantly reassures him of the covenantal promise to him and his children. As that old sunday school song goes, “I am one of them, and so are you, so lets just praise the lord”, that is a promise you can hold onto, that you spiritually inherit the promises made to Abraham, a covenantal promise of life in God’s Glory. Let us Pray.

Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father, We thank you that you constantly reassure us just as you reassured Abraham of your faithfulness, that tommorow will be a new day. That the end of days is not something to ever be fearful of, but see as an understanding that rapid change can look scary, as it translates into your glorious Kingdom. Just as you transfigured the son, transfigure us to be prepared for that moment if it indeed comes in our lives. We don’t know the day or hour, we only know that you are with us, Immanuel, help us to remember that name this coming week, that we don’t need to focus on future fear, but on present hope. We thank you for all of these blessings, in Christ’s Name.

Amen.

Doxology / Benediction / Closing

Hear these words from Paul in his letter to the Philippians:

Philippians 3:20–21 GNT

We, however, are citizens of heaven, and we eagerly wait for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, to come from heaven. He will change our weak mortal bodies and make them like his own glorious body, using that power by which he is able to bring all things under his rule.

<Raise Hands slightly to sides> Go in peace, knowing that you are bound to Christ through a covenant of the Spirit, just as God bound Himself to Abraham with a covenant to promise blessings among the nations; Remember, We are indeed part of the family of God. You inherit this promise of life, you will not simply lose it due to tomorrow’s problems. You are a child of God. May you have a blessed Sunday and week. Amen."