A Sign Of Divine Protection
Sermon
NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE
Sermons For Pentecost (Middle Third)
There is an American insurance company whose advertisements seek to convince consumers that they are in good hands when insured by them. All companies, including insurance companies, are in business to make a profit, not to do the consumer a favor. They may receive a benefit as a result of your doing business, but if the company is not profitable, it ceases to exist. Capitalism is at the heart of the American society.
The cost of protecting houses and contents, automobiles and boats as well as life itself, escalates on a continuous basis. In fact, the cost is so great until we become insurance poor, just trying to buy a good protection plan. Base salary is no longer the sole ingredient in job negotiations, but fringe benefits have surfaced into a place of great prominence, all because the cost of a plan of protection is prohibitive for the consumer.
In one of our nation's major cities, a group of young males banded together to form a gang. This gang caused fear to be prevalent in the lives of the people in the community. They were aggressive and violent in their activities and tactics. Even the small shop owners, seeking to make an honest living, were afraid of the gang members in anticipation of what they might do. The gang devised their own insurance program and charged a fee for protection. An untaxed, unregistered organization was in fact doing business for profit and yet the service was ineffective as well as criminal.
Families invest thousands upon thousands of dollars in securing the house of their dreams called "home." Once acquired, they are reluctant to leave it or even to live in it for fear of someone breaking in to steal or even kill. Statistics from all over the nation would validate that there are legitimate grounds for the fear. So, families invest additional dollars seeking to protect their investment. All that they do and all that they spend seem inadequate in eliminating the fear of losing all of their acquired goods.
There is no divine protection plan that works without fail. Even in our prosperity, we are the oppressed. Obviously, there is a lesson to be learned from the text. James Cone insists that, "throughout the entire history of Israel, to know God is to know what God is doing in human history for the oppressed of the land." One only needs to have a meaningful relationship with the God of the oppressed and thereby receive a divine protection plan.
In light of the need for help in our lives and as a result of numerous disappointments in business transactions, let me suggest 10 signs of divine protection so that your negatives in life might turn into positive results.
Obedience: The willingness to follow orders. At face value the Great Commission appears to be so simple that even an elementary school child could understand. It requires neither special training nor degrees. The key words, "go," "make," "baptize" and "teach" are easy to understand. Under closer scrutiny it is clear that "obedience" and not "understanding" is at the heart of the message.
The instruction was clear for the children of Israel to follow, just as the divine plan is clear for us today. God said to do the following:
1. "On the 10th day of the first month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household." Scholars believe that the first month represents the first month of spring and not January as the first month of the year. Time is very important because everything is done in time. We are born in time, live in time and die in time. Christ came into the world when the fullness of time had come. The Easter event happened in time. Now each man, not woman, was to take one lamb, not two or more, for his family. The message is quite clear, we are to have enough, but must not hoard by stock piling. There must be equity for all. It is not time whereby the rich can get richer at the expense of the poor who become poorer. We serve a God of the oppressed who protects their well-being.
The centrality of the family is of great significance. We are born into a family. The family might even be considered the most basic and fundamental organism in all of society. Nothing else in the world supersedes the importance of family living. Therefore, it is most profound that God include in the divine protection plan, a provision for the family. A man ought to live with his family. Life with our families becomes a moral imperative. It is the will of God. We are called to obedience.
2. "There must not be any waste. Take only the amount that you need." It seems as though God is speaking directly to 20th century America. We are a great throw-away society. Ecological efforts have not been able to turn around the tendency to throw away. Food that some homeless and hungry person would be honored to have, ends up as refuse to be discarded. Garbage, plain old garbage.
God was most specific in saying that there must not be any waste. There once was an old woman of meager means who had to learn the hard way how to stretch a dollar. She shopped very carefully, seeking bargains wherever they could be found. A major effort was placed on buying essential food items. Her unwritten motto was, "Don't put more on your plate than you will eat; you can always go back for more." In other words, this woman was totally against throwing away food for there were too many hungry people in the world. The same can be said for the world of today. Soup lines are already long and with an economy that lingers in recession the lines of the poor will get longer. God said, "There must not be any waste. Take only the amount that you need."
3. "The animals are to be year-old males without defect -- sheep or goats." God always wants our best. God instructed Abraham to go to the land of Moriah upon one of the mountains and offer his only son Isaac as a sacrifice. Many would say that the moral of this story is a testing of Abraham's faith. The answer is correct, however more than wanting Abraham's only son, God wanted his best. Yet, God never expects more of us than God is willing to do. We must not forget that God gave Jesus up as a sacrifice for our sins at Calvary, allowed him to die even though he was guilty of no wrong. God's best was given for us. The Good Shepherd died in our behalf.
Then there is the issue of timing. The animal must not be too young and not too old. The year-old animals without defect had been around long enough for their bodies to mature and not long enough to suffer the tragedies of time. We wear down and out in time. So God instructed the Israelites to be careful and select the right animals to be used in this divine protection plan.
4. "Take care of them until the 14th day." The children of Israel were charged with a responsibility to look after the animals. The assignment was not for long, but it was an important task. We can never take lightly that which God directs us to do. The parable of the talents seeks to speak to this point. The person who received only one talent failed to invest what he had, sought to protect it by burying it and ended up losing it. God told the Israelites to take care of the animals. They were charged with the responsibility to be shepherds just like Jesus.
Could this have been a test to see whether the Israelites were willing to lay down their lives for the sheep? The challenge to be more than a hireling calls upon one to be a shepherd willing to die for the sheep like Jesus.
Jesus tells the parable of the lost sheep. The man with one hundred sheep discovers one missing, leaves the 99 and goes out into the uncertainty of the night looking for the one lost sheep. He stays out amidst the danger of the night until he finds his sheep, then he comes home rejoicing.
God is calling us to be shepherds today. Are we willing to take care of those entrusted to our care and to face the danger of the night in looking for the lost? Nevertheless, God said take care of them.
5. "Slaughter them at twilight." Now, if God would tell Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, and if God would offer Jesus as a sacrifice, it is reasonable to think that God would also sacrifice an animal as a part of the divine protection plan.
The book of Genesis records that there was evening and there was morning, another day. Twilight, then, represents the end of one day and the beginning of another. God is still operating in time. There is indeed a time for everything and even a time to die. At twilight, the animals were to be slaughtered as part of the divine protection plan.
6. "Take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the door frames where the lambs are eaten." Sounds almost like communion. The body and blood of the slain animal was eaten with the blood placed on the door frame. Jesus said, "This is my blood of the new covenant shed for the remission of sins." There is a sacredness involved in this whole experience that causes chills to run throughout our bodies.
Now, remember how Jesus said, "I am the door." God in the text is giving directions to put blood on the door frames as a sign. All houses with the blood will be passed over when the death angel comes through the town. Life will be spared if you have the blood in place. The blood represents a sign of divine protection.
7. "That same night the meat is to be eaten, roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs and bread made without yeast." The entire animal was to be cooked. God is most explicit in giving directions. Whenever human life is at stake, it is most important to be not only detailed, but accurate. God was both.
We are still faced with the question of obedience. Throughout the discourse of giving the directives for divine protection, God demands our obedience. One error along the way would destroy the plan. It is as if 99 and one-half will not do. Only a perfect score is adequate.
The evening meal consisted of meat and bread. Remember, each man could only take the amount needed for his family, for waste was not tolerated by God.
8. "If some is left, then burn it in the morning." Waste is not tolerated, however, if some of the animal is left over, then the instruction to burn it in the morning is given. Incineration is being utilized to discard the remnants. No traces of the food should be left. Eat it or burn it.
9. "Eat with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand." This directive for divine protection highlights the need to eat while appropriately dressed on the one hand and ready to go out to battle on the other. It is most interesting that God would direct the Israelites to eat with the staff in hand. This makes eating more difficult because one hand is taken out of circulation. The person has one hand with which to eat. However, all that one really needs to eat with is one hand. Therefore, it appears that God challenges us to be productive with what we have, to maximize our assets. It is immoral to fail to use our gifts and graces.
10. "Eat in haste; it is the Lord's passover." Time is too valuable to waste on the one hand and God is passing by on the other. Parents normally teach their children to take their time, eat the food slowly, chew it thoroughly before swallowing. Many boys and girls have been reprimanded for eating too fast. Meals that are consumed in haste are hard to digest and therefore oftentimes create indigestion. Yet, God instructed Israel to eat in haste.
The wisdom of God is without boundary or limitation. It was most important for Israel to do as instructed by God. Their deliverance was at stake. Likewise, our salvation is dependent upon our willingness to be obedient to the directives of God. Disobedience leads to death and obedience leads to eternal life. If God says eat in haste, then we should be obedient and do it.
Finally, there is a day of commemoration and celebration. The day was to be celebrated as a festival to the Lord -- a lasting ordinance. God continued to give directives. For seven days, Israel was to eat bread made without yeast and to hold a sacred assembly on the first and seventh days. Furthermore, they were to do no work except in the preparation of food.
In light of all that God did for Israel and has done for us, we the people of God ought to join together in celebration of our divine protection plan. Sunday worship ought to be a joyous occasion. The psalmist has insisted that we make a joyful noise unto the Lord and further declared that everything that had breath ought to praise the Lord.
God has given with clarity a sign of divine protection. Let us, therefore, give to God a quality life so that the blessing received will not be in vain. We were saved in order that others might see the light and share in the salvation experience, as they claim the revelation of the divine protection plan.
The cost of protecting houses and contents, automobiles and boats as well as life itself, escalates on a continuous basis. In fact, the cost is so great until we become insurance poor, just trying to buy a good protection plan. Base salary is no longer the sole ingredient in job negotiations, but fringe benefits have surfaced into a place of great prominence, all because the cost of a plan of protection is prohibitive for the consumer.
In one of our nation's major cities, a group of young males banded together to form a gang. This gang caused fear to be prevalent in the lives of the people in the community. They were aggressive and violent in their activities and tactics. Even the small shop owners, seeking to make an honest living, were afraid of the gang members in anticipation of what they might do. The gang devised their own insurance program and charged a fee for protection. An untaxed, unregistered organization was in fact doing business for profit and yet the service was ineffective as well as criminal.
Families invest thousands upon thousands of dollars in securing the house of their dreams called "home." Once acquired, they are reluctant to leave it or even to live in it for fear of someone breaking in to steal or even kill. Statistics from all over the nation would validate that there are legitimate grounds for the fear. So, families invest additional dollars seeking to protect their investment. All that they do and all that they spend seem inadequate in eliminating the fear of losing all of their acquired goods.
There is no divine protection plan that works without fail. Even in our prosperity, we are the oppressed. Obviously, there is a lesson to be learned from the text. James Cone insists that, "throughout the entire history of Israel, to know God is to know what God is doing in human history for the oppressed of the land." One only needs to have a meaningful relationship with the God of the oppressed and thereby receive a divine protection plan.
In light of the need for help in our lives and as a result of numerous disappointments in business transactions, let me suggest 10 signs of divine protection so that your negatives in life might turn into positive results.
Obedience: The willingness to follow orders. At face value the Great Commission appears to be so simple that even an elementary school child could understand. It requires neither special training nor degrees. The key words, "go," "make," "baptize" and "teach" are easy to understand. Under closer scrutiny it is clear that "obedience" and not "understanding" is at the heart of the message.
The instruction was clear for the children of Israel to follow, just as the divine plan is clear for us today. God said to do the following:
1. "On the 10th day of the first month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household." Scholars believe that the first month represents the first month of spring and not January as the first month of the year. Time is very important because everything is done in time. We are born in time, live in time and die in time. Christ came into the world when the fullness of time had come. The Easter event happened in time. Now each man, not woman, was to take one lamb, not two or more, for his family. The message is quite clear, we are to have enough, but must not hoard by stock piling. There must be equity for all. It is not time whereby the rich can get richer at the expense of the poor who become poorer. We serve a God of the oppressed who protects their well-being.
The centrality of the family is of great significance. We are born into a family. The family might even be considered the most basic and fundamental organism in all of society. Nothing else in the world supersedes the importance of family living. Therefore, it is most profound that God include in the divine protection plan, a provision for the family. A man ought to live with his family. Life with our families becomes a moral imperative. It is the will of God. We are called to obedience.
2. "There must not be any waste. Take only the amount that you need." It seems as though God is speaking directly to 20th century America. We are a great throw-away society. Ecological efforts have not been able to turn around the tendency to throw away. Food that some homeless and hungry person would be honored to have, ends up as refuse to be discarded. Garbage, plain old garbage.
God was most specific in saying that there must not be any waste. There once was an old woman of meager means who had to learn the hard way how to stretch a dollar. She shopped very carefully, seeking bargains wherever they could be found. A major effort was placed on buying essential food items. Her unwritten motto was, "Don't put more on your plate than you will eat; you can always go back for more." In other words, this woman was totally against throwing away food for there were too many hungry people in the world. The same can be said for the world of today. Soup lines are already long and with an economy that lingers in recession the lines of the poor will get longer. God said, "There must not be any waste. Take only the amount that you need."
3. "The animals are to be year-old males without defect -- sheep or goats." God always wants our best. God instructed Abraham to go to the land of Moriah upon one of the mountains and offer his only son Isaac as a sacrifice. Many would say that the moral of this story is a testing of Abraham's faith. The answer is correct, however more than wanting Abraham's only son, God wanted his best. Yet, God never expects more of us than God is willing to do. We must not forget that God gave Jesus up as a sacrifice for our sins at Calvary, allowed him to die even though he was guilty of no wrong. God's best was given for us. The Good Shepherd died in our behalf.
Then there is the issue of timing. The animal must not be too young and not too old. The year-old animals without defect had been around long enough for their bodies to mature and not long enough to suffer the tragedies of time. We wear down and out in time. So God instructed the Israelites to be careful and select the right animals to be used in this divine protection plan.
4. "Take care of them until the 14th day." The children of Israel were charged with a responsibility to look after the animals. The assignment was not for long, but it was an important task. We can never take lightly that which God directs us to do. The parable of the talents seeks to speak to this point. The person who received only one talent failed to invest what he had, sought to protect it by burying it and ended up losing it. God told the Israelites to take care of the animals. They were charged with the responsibility to be shepherds just like Jesus.
Could this have been a test to see whether the Israelites were willing to lay down their lives for the sheep? The challenge to be more than a hireling calls upon one to be a shepherd willing to die for the sheep like Jesus.
Jesus tells the parable of the lost sheep. The man with one hundred sheep discovers one missing, leaves the 99 and goes out into the uncertainty of the night looking for the one lost sheep. He stays out amidst the danger of the night until he finds his sheep, then he comes home rejoicing.
God is calling us to be shepherds today. Are we willing to take care of those entrusted to our care and to face the danger of the night in looking for the lost? Nevertheless, God said take care of them.
5. "Slaughter them at twilight." Now, if God would tell Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, and if God would offer Jesus as a sacrifice, it is reasonable to think that God would also sacrifice an animal as a part of the divine protection plan.
The book of Genesis records that there was evening and there was morning, another day. Twilight, then, represents the end of one day and the beginning of another. God is still operating in time. There is indeed a time for everything and even a time to die. At twilight, the animals were to be slaughtered as part of the divine protection plan.
6. "Take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the door frames where the lambs are eaten." Sounds almost like communion. The body and blood of the slain animal was eaten with the blood placed on the door frame. Jesus said, "This is my blood of the new covenant shed for the remission of sins." There is a sacredness involved in this whole experience that causes chills to run throughout our bodies.
Now, remember how Jesus said, "I am the door." God in the text is giving directions to put blood on the door frames as a sign. All houses with the blood will be passed over when the death angel comes through the town. Life will be spared if you have the blood in place. The blood represents a sign of divine protection.
7. "That same night the meat is to be eaten, roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs and bread made without yeast." The entire animal was to be cooked. God is most explicit in giving directions. Whenever human life is at stake, it is most important to be not only detailed, but accurate. God was both.
We are still faced with the question of obedience. Throughout the discourse of giving the directives for divine protection, God demands our obedience. One error along the way would destroy the plan. It is as if 99 and one-half will not do. Only a perfect score is adequate.
The evening meal consisted of meat and bread. Remember, each man could only take the amount needed for his family, for waste was not tolerated by God.
8. "If some is left, then burn it in the morning." Waste is not tolerated, however, if some of the animal is left over, then the instruction to burn it in the morning is given. Incineration is being utilized to discard the remnants. No traces of the food should be left. Eat it or burn it.
9. "Eat with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand." This directive for divine protection highlights the need to eat while appropriately dressed on the one hand and ready to go out to battle on the other. It is most interesting that God would direct the Israelites to eat with the staff in hand. This makes eating more difficult because one hand is taken out of circulation. The person has one hand with which to eat. However, all that one really needs to eat with is one hand. Therefore, it appears that God challenges us to be productive with what we have, to maximize our assets. It is immoral to fail to use our gifts and graces.
10. "Eat in haste; it is the Lord's passover." Time is too valuable to waste on the one hand and God is passing by on the other. Parents normally teach their children to take their time, eat the food slowly, chew it thoroughly before swallowing. Many boys and girls have been reprimanded for eating too fast. Meals that are consumed in haste are hard to digest and therefore oftentimes create indigestion. Yet, God instructed Israel to eat in haste.
The wisdom of God is without boundary or limitation. It was most important for Israel to do as instructed by God. Their deliverance was at stake. Likewise, our salvation is dependent upon our willingness to be obedient to the directives of God. Disobedience leads to death and obedience leads to eternal life. If God says eat in haste, then we should be obedient and do it.
Finally, there is a day of commemoration and celebration. The day was to be celebrated as a festival to the Lord -- a lasting ordinance. God continued to give directives. For seven days, Israel was to eat bread made without yeast and to hold a sacred assembly on the first and seventh days. Furthermore, they were to do no work except in the preparation of food.
In light of all that God did for Israel and has done for us, we the people of God ought to join together in celebration of our divine protection plan. Sunday worship ought to be a joyous occasion. The psalmist has insisted that we make a joyful noise unto the Lord and further declared that everything that had breath ought to praise the Lord.
God has given with clarity a sign of divine protection. Let us, therefore, give to God a quality life so that the blessing received will not be in vain. We were saved in order that others might see the light and share in the salvation experience, as they claim the revelation of the divine protection plan.
