I want you to imagine that you are looking into your closet at all your clothes hanging there. Can you picture it? Okay, find me something you would wear to work. Find something? Now pick out something you would wear for dinner out with friends at a nice restaurant. Got it? All right. Now, grab what you would wear to a wedding. Find something nice? All right. Last one. Pick out what you want to be buried in.
It is said there are two things that are absolutely certain: death and taxes. While this is generally quite true, on the basis of our text today, this Reformation festival, we might want to add a third thing to that list. And that is the preaching of the Gospel. Jesus says in our text, The gospel must first be preached to all the nations. (v. 10)
What is the biggest sacrifice you have ever made for someone? Have you given up your seat so someone else can sit down? Have you given up sleep to tend to a sick child? Have you given money to help someone in need? Have you given up a bite of your dessert to your spouse? Have you given one of your kidneys so someone else can live?
On of the techniques used by Jewish rabbis when teaching was the use of hyperbole, or exaggeration. We often do the same. It is not uncommon for us to engage in hyperbole in our own conversations. When we say someone has “tons” of money, we do not literally mean if we weighed all their money it would weigh thousands of pounds. But we would all understand the point being made: that person has a lot of money.
There is something jolting about the opening words of our text, “It is not good for the man to be alone. (v. 18) It is jolting because it is the first time we have heard that something wasn’t good. Up to this point in Genesis, we have only heard the word “good.”. Six times in Genesis 1 we are told that God saw what he had made and it was good (1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25). And once we are told things were very good (1:31). That word “good” is like a drumbeat in the story of creation, beating out a steady cadence.
A number of weeks ago, our theme for worship was “spiritual warfare.” Remember that? We were reminded about our unseen enemy in the spiritual realm, the devil and the demons. We spent some time considering Paul’s encouragement to put on the full armor of God from Ephesians 6. Our arsenal includes truth and righteousness and faith and the Gospel of peace and prayer. Remember that? One of the things we did not talk about that day was the unseen army who fights for us. We are talking now about the holy angels.
The pulpit should never become a place for politics. But given the fact that we are nearing a national election in our country and one cannot use any type of media right now without seeing some candidate’s ad, please permit a simple observation. Long ago I was taught that elected officials are called “public servants.” Servants. Those who aspire to high office should want to be servants who serve the citizens. Here’s the observation. As I see and hear political ads, I don’t often see what I might call aspirations for service.
I don’t know if you have ever noticed a certain little feature in our hymnal. At the top of each page, in small letters, is a word that describes what type of hymn is on the page. There are categories like Christmas and Easter. There headings like Redeemer, Justification, Prayer, and Commitment. I have here the hymnal from when I was a child.
Have you ever stopped to think about what it must have been like to spend time around Jesus? We have all known that person who seemed like they were perfect. That kid in high school. Straight A’s. Star on all the teams. Great hair. Great personality.
If you had been walking around a shopping mall in the 1990s you would have seen a particularly odd type of decoration lining the walls of the novelty shops. These bizarre posters were normal sized, but they didn’t look like much. No people, no pictures, no slogans, just little bits of color all arranged in perfectly random chaos. You might describe them as a “colorful-static.”
