Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost
September 8, 2024

Remember the Story of Your Life

Tom Are Jr.
Interim Pastor

Isaiah 40:3–8
Matthew 4:1–11

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Jesus is in the wilderness. Wilderness is not a geographical designation. The wilderness is a spiritual designation. The wilderness is anywhere hatred and violence are practiced. The wilderness is where second guessing the ways of God seems reasonable. The wilderness is where faith must be chosen.

So, the wilderness can be anywhere. It was wilderness time in a high school in Winder, Georgia, this week. It was wilderness time on the Blue Line in Forest Park this week. It is wilderness time every day in Gaza as well as the West Bank.

And what we know is that when we are in the wilderness, we need wisdom, or that which is evil and hateful can shape us. The brokenness of the world will leave our hearts deformed.

Jesus knows that, so in his toughest times he leans on scripture. He knows that scripture tells the story that makes sense of our lives.

So, knowing that we will all traverse the wilderness, I want us to remember the story that Jesus leaned on in the face of temptation. Rather than preaching today, I’m going to tell you the story of the Bible. Admittedly, I’m going to leave a few things out, because eventually you have a Block Party to get to. But first, listen to this story.

In the beginning, the Spirit hovered over chaos. Into emptiness God speaks “Let there be … light and life,” and there was. And it was good. This is not a science story that tells the “how” of creation. This is a love story that tells us why the world was created: creation was an act of love. God wants you to be.

God created Adam. Adam is a Hebrew word meaning “humankind.” So, this — like all the stories in this book — is a story about all of us. Adam is created by God, cared for by God, instructed by God: You can eat almost everything, but don’t eat that. That’s not good for you.

God tells them what is good, but Adam and Eve think they know better. That’s what sin is. It’s not often that we fail to know what God wants from us. We just think we know better.

Sin against God always results in sin against neighbor. So, only four chapters in, Cain kills his brother Abel.

God looks down on her creation, and God tries to wash away evil with a flood. The flood doesn’t change humanity, but it does change God. Never again, God says.

Given how poorly things have gone, God might choose to give up, to wash God’s hands of the world, but we must remember, this is a love story, and this love will not give up.

So, God calls Abraham and says, “Your calling is to be a blessing to the whole world.”

The struggle for people of faith — then and now — has always been to remember that our relationship with God is never for our benefit alone. We are blessed to be a blessing.

The call of Abraham was to “leave your father’s house … and go to the land that I will show you.” In other words, leave life as you have known it and be defined by the life I will show you. Abraham had no map, no website to consult, just the word of this calling God.

He left everything he had ever known and followed.

God’s promise to Abraham would include descendants, but they would not come easily. There was Ishmael, and after time and painful testing, there was Isaac. Jacob and Esau would follow, and then Joseph and his brothers, who became the twelve tribes of Israel. The stories of these families are messy, filled with betrayals and deception. These families will make you feel better about your own family no matter how dysfunctional it may be.

The descendants of Abraham would find themselves enslaved in Egypt. Their oppression is heard by God, and God raises up Moses, who leads them through the sea into the wilderness. The Exodus showed God to be a God who hears the cries of the oppressed. A God who loves her people from the bottom up. They wander in the wilderness for a generation. While there, God gives the Ten Commandments. The commandments not only provide instruction on how to live life, the commandments teach what the good life looks like. That’s an act of grace!

After a generation, Joshua would lead the people into the promised land. There they would be ruled by judges. Deborah, Gideon and Samson were among the judges.

But Israel saw that other nations had kings, and they wanted to be like other nations. That’s always a struggle for people of faith: How are we like others, and how are we different from others. What sets us apart? God was their king, but they wanted a human king, so Saul was anointed king. Then David followed and was forever seen as the king both to be remembered and the king to be hoped for. Israel would yearn for a “son of David” to rule over them in justice and righteousness. That hoped for king was the messiah. After David, Solomon was king. He was wise, and he also built the temple.

The temple would be the center of the universe; the throne of God was in the temple. It was to the temple with both gratitude and hope that the people brought their offerings as an act of worship.

After Solomon’s reign, Israel divided into two kingdoms: North and South.

There was a series of kings in the Northern Kingdom. Another series of kings in the Southern Kingdom. Some kings were faithful, but not many. The problem with kings is that with all that power it is hard to remember that God is God.

So again, we might wonder if God would give up on us, but this holy love will not give up. So, God sent prophets. Elijah and Elisha came. Nathan was the prophet to King David. Later would come what we call the literary prophets: Isaiah and Jeremiah, Amos and Hosea, and others. They were poets more than anything else. Sometimes prophets are misunderstood as those who could predict the future, but the gift of the prophets is that they see the truth of the present. And they spoke the truth that they saw.

Usually, the prophets had two concerns. They reminded God’s people not to be casual about worship. They often said, you have assumed that God has blessed you for yourself alone. That’s too small. Your faith is never for your benefit alone.

Secondly, the prophets were adamant that God was concerned for the poor. When people are poor, it is a sign that the whole community is broken. The poor are not less fortunate; poverty is sinful.

Israel would ignore the prophets, and Israel would crumble. The Northern Kingdom would fall to the Assyrians. Jews of the Northern Kingdom were scattered across the Assyrian Empire. One hundred and fifty years later, the Southern Kingdom would fall to the Babylonians. Jews would be marched into exile, where they would be captive for a generation.

Exile raised questions. Had God finally given up on them? Was this the time that God would say, “I’ve had enough; I wash my hands of you”? But even in exile this remains a love story. Love requires accountability, but love does not give up.

Israel understood exile to be judgment. Judgment isn’t followed by grace; judgment is grace, because judgment is God’s declaration “That is not good for you. Stop.”

The prophets also remind us of God’s dreams for creation. The prophetic dreams were not small.

The lion lying down with the lamb.

Swords beaten into plowshares.

The law of God being written on the heart so that all of God’s children would live like God’s children.

God never let go of those dreams.

After a generation in exile, the Babylonian captives return home, but how do you live after exile? Some believed their calling was to separate themselves from the world. They built walls to keep foreigners out. Jews who had married Gentiles — they sent their Gentile spouses packing. They believed God was calling them to be pure. But others said, no, we will never be pure, but we can reflect light. We are called to be a light to the nations. This call to be light to the nations echoes the call of Abraham to be a blessing to the nations, and in that was the first inklings of what would later become the church. The first part of our story ends here.

But about 400 years later a bug-eating, baptizing preacher named John strode through the wilderness proclaiming that the promised day of God was near.

Like the Spirit that moved over the deep and spoke creation into being, the Spirit moves again over a Galilean teenage girl named Mary and brings new creation. He would be given many titles, but his name was Jesus.

Jesus would talk of the promised day of God and tell stories of seeds and weeds and surprisingly good Samaritans.

Some found him offensive, even dangerous, but others found him magnetic.

Like Abraham, who was asked to leave all he new, and follow this God, Jesus too called followers to leave their boats and nets and follow him to a new way of life.

He taught them to pray.

And to love one another.

To see the world as he sees the world.

They did their best.

But God’s ways are not our ways, so it wouldn’t matter when Jesus showed up: any nation, any people, any generation would want to kill him.

He was crucified by the powers of the day. But Jesus faced their love of power with the power of love. He redeemed even the most evil aspects of this world.

When the heart of God stopped beating, it might be enough for God to walk away. Creation was a mistake. But no, Jesus was raised, and he came back to us. This love will never leave us.

The risen one began to show up in his followers.

They formed communities that reflected his life and teaching.

Women were respected. Enslaved persons were welcomed. The poor were not the recipients of mission but became members of the family. But these new communities struggled. How do we live God’s life in a broken world?

So, Paul, and others, wrote letters to answer questions, offer instruction, and mostly just encourage them to hold on.

These letters dealt with ordinary issues of how one lives as a Christian in the market, or in worship, or with family.

And they dealt with the most significant issues, like how in a world of suffering do we live with joy?            

Jesus did not bring to completion the dreams of the old prophets, but he did show us what they look like.

So, the followers of Jesus continue to live toward that promised day.

The Bible ends with a promise.

We call it Revelation.

Revelation is not a threat that the world might end but a promise to people hurting so badly their greatest fear is that the world might not end. Revelation declares that this world is no accident and you are never insignificant. The fullness of God’s love will be known by one and all, so do not be afraid but live toward God’s promised day. It is a day when everything that has gone wrong will be made right. It is a day when grace and kindness will be the atmosphere we breathe. It is a day when everyone will be included and there will be enough to go around. It is a day when the burdens and failings and heartbreak of life will all be healed.

Because the love of God simply will not quit.

So we gather here week after week to remember this story. Sometimes we come in joy, and sometimes we come from the wilderness, but week after week this story reminds us there is no quit in this God. This love will never leave us and will never give up.

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Sermon © Fourth Presbyterian Church