“Flood
Waters”
June
15, 2008
Geneseo United Methodist Church
Pastor Craig Ferguson
Luke 17:26-35 26 Just as it was
in the days of Noah, so too it will be in the days of the Son of Man.
27 They were eating and drinking, and marrying and being given
in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and
destroyed all of them. 28 Likewise,
just as it was in the days of Lot: they were eating and drinking, buying and
selling, planting and building, 29
but on the day that Lot left Sodom, it rained fire and sulfur from heaven
and destroyed all of them 30 --
it will be like that on the day that the Son of Man is revealed.
31 On that day, anyone on the housetop who has belongings in
the house must not come down to take them away; and likewise anyone in the field
must not turn back. 32 Remember
Lot's wife. 33 Those who
try to make their life secure will lose it, but those who lose their life will
keep it. 34 I tell you,
on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other
left. 35 There will be
two women grinding meal together; one will be taken and the other left."
I don’t know
how many of you have had time to keep up with the stock market lately.
There has been enough other stuff to keep us busy, sandbagging,
vacuuming, moving furniture, tearing up carpet, all that fun stuff that we might
call “spring cleaning.” But
something I noticed this week, that I think I need to share with you are two
sectors in the market that are doing good.
Of course you all know that oil continues to rise, but the second area
took me by surprise. Lumber prices
are soaring. I looked a little
closer to figure out what was driving the market and I found out there has been
a huge increase in demand for Gopher wood, (the same wood that Noah used.)
Well I was
going to go in a very different direction with this sermon, but I guess I felt
like I was overwhelmed by our community circumstances to preach about all this
water.
But what can I
say, that makes any sense, what gives us answers, what gives us comfort to deal
with the encroachment of water into every corner of our life.
What helps us understand why we cannot go about our life as usual, why we
find road blocks, mandatory evacuations, sandbags and endless cloudy skies?
I cannot tell
you that I have the answers, but I can tell you that the rain and flood, no
matter how devastating to our lives, afford us the opportunity to look at how we
are living every day, and what is truly important.
In Luke 17,
Jesus gives us a picture of what it will be like when the trumpet sounds and we
see him returning in the clouds. Some
of you have heard of that day referred to as the rapture, or the return of
Christ, here Jesus talks about it as
the day of the Son of Man. It is a
day that is yet to come, a day of great destruction, but a day of great hope.
It is the day that people who believe in Jesus will meet him in the
clouds, see the pearly gates, and kneel before the throne of God; A great day,
and a terrible day, depending on our perspective.
For Jesus to
set the stage in this passage, he referrers back to the five-hundred year flood
of his day, or maybe that should be called the seven thousand year flood.
He brings up the name of Noah. Then
he goes on to tell us how oblivious and unprepared the people were.
The people in Noah’s day were eating, drinking, getting married,
basically going about their daily life as usual, unaware that anything was about
to change. (I might mention, this is
all despite the fact that they can see Noah building a huge ark in his back
yard)
Another famous
disaster Jesus referred to was the destruction of fire that rained down on Sodom
and Gomorrah. Guess what they were
doing to get ready. “They were
eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building.”
Again, going about their daily business, not bothering anyone
Was anything
different here in Iowa over the last month?
What about the people in Parkersburg.
They were just going about their lives as usual.
They didn’t have time to grab their wallet, or any precious
memorabilia. The tornado came upon
them that fast, and the fact that most survived was amazing.
Now the rains
have been a constant burden to us, most of us have had some basement water to
deal with, but the flood of this last week on top of the tornado earlier should
have opened the eyes of many.
In this
passage, Jesus tells us that the day of the Son of Man will be like these days
of disaster, people will not see it coming, they will be going about their daily
lives oblivious to the coming destruction.
Now, I must
say, one thing that I have noticed is that most people have become very aware of
how blessed we are. I spoke with
many people this week who had water in their basement, had to tear up carpet, or
throw out furniture. However,
despite the difficulty, most people realize that their situation is small when
compared to the bigger picture in Iowa. They
even go so far as to say, “these material possessions don’t matter, we still
have our lives and our family.”
That is a new
concept for Americans to think that way. In
some cases it is a new concept for preachers to preach that way; those who
preach the “prosperity gospel,” that God want to bless the faithful.
What do they preach that after the rash of disasters that we have
endured? Is God telling us that
everyone who has been effected is not faithful, or does not deserve his
blessing?
I don’t
think that at all. In my
perspective, it is a good thing that we are able to thank God in every
circumstance, even in the difficult times. But
there is one element of this passage and of our disaster situation that most
people just don’t think about.
You see, Jesus
used these disasters to set the stage for the last day and final judgment.
He told the disciples that on the day of His glorious return, that
humanity will be going about our business as usual.
We will be working, eating, getting married or giving our children in
marriage; He said we will be in the field, at school, working or playing.
Basically we will not be ready. I
think he is right, (I guess it is a good thing that the pastor agrees with
Jesus) because I don’t think most of us even think about that coming day, the
day of the Son of Man.
So let me ask
you a couple questions. How many of
you are ready to see God face to face? How
many of you have all your affairs in order?
How many of you feel like you are ready to stand before the judgment
throne of God? Are you confident in
your eternal residence?
Hmm, are those
questions that you think about every day? I
doubt it. And that is exactly why
Jesus says we will not be ready. We
are going about our daily lives not considering the fact that we are on an
intersect course with flood waters of eternity.
Sure, all that
has happened lately has made me thankful for what I have, but it has also caused
me to, as Don Hayes might say it, “ponder the ramifications of my eternal
preparedness.” Otherwise stated,
am I ready to stand face to face with God?
I am convinced
that no one here is going to get to decide when that day will come.
We don’t know at what age we will stand before his throne.
We may think we can wait and live our life different in a few years, but
we don’t know. In the tragedies
recently, death did not come only for those of a ripe age.
There were 4 young boy scouts and many other young that encountered the
end to their life on this earth. How
horrible, and it flies in the face of the way we think things should be.
Were they ready?
Death is
something we will each face, whether you are ready to admit it or not.
On top of that is this promise that Jesus made, the promise that he will
return. It should frighten us just a
little that Jesus said several times that he will come on a day that we are not
expecting him, we will be going about business as usual.
But here is
the final crux of this passage for me. Listen
close! Jesus said, “I tell
you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other
left. 35 There will be
two women grinding meal together; one will be taken and the other left.”
This passage sets my stomach to
churning. A husband and wife in bed,
and one will be taken, the other left behind.
Two friends working side by side, one is taken, the other is left behind.
What is wrong with this picture. We
may not be ready for the day of Jesus return, but I darn well know that I
don’t want my wife, or myself to be left behind.
I would not want to be working with a friend and have one of us left
behind.
This passage says that people we are
close to will be left behind. You
know, the only way that can happen is if we don’t tell them about Jesus’
love, if we don’t give them the opportunity to hear about the good news of
salvation.
Now I don’t care what you think about
inviting people to church, or sharing your faith with your friends, (That is not
true, I do care) but I do know that I don’t want to be the one in heave
dealing with survivor’s guilt. I
don’t want to be the one who mourns all the people that got left behind.
No matter how difficult sharing your faith is, I would tell you it has
got to be easier than being caught up in the clouds to meet Jesus and looking
down to see your loved ones left behind because they were not ready.
Now Fathers, lest you think that I am
not including you in the message on Father’s day, I am.
As I mentioned in the children’s time, it is your responsibility to
love, to teach, and to discipline your children in the truth of the gospel of
Jesus Christ, to raise your family so that they are ready to meet God face to
face every day.
What about you, are you going about your
life as usual? Have the recent
events opened up your eyes to see that the day of Christ’s return is coming?
Can you look around with a measure of objectivity and realize that you
have friends and family who are going to be left behind?
I pray that the flood waters will not
only make us thankful for what we have, but that they may cause us to do a
little thinking about the future, and give us courage to get ourselves and our
friends a little more ready for the day of the Son of Man.
Amen.
