It Could Be Worse
Text: Psalm 124
Title: It Could Be Worse
Thesis: St. Luke can witness God’s presence and protection through praise.
Time: Pent, 14 Sun, B
In the children’s sermon, we saw how easily physical growth is measured. A ruler can mark how much, for example, our feet grow over time. In the similar way, a calendar marks a birthday or anniversary, a measurement of time. But how do we measure spiritual growth? What chart or marker is there to measure an increase in faith?
In Psalm 124 we find some answers. Psalm 124 reminds us that spiritual growth follows a pattern. First, there is an awareness of God’s presence. There can be no spiritual growth without an awareness of God’s presence. Twice in Psalm 124:1-2 we read, “If it had not been for the Lord on our side.” Then, comes the reason for faith. Psalm 124:3-4 are descriptions of the storms of life. Faith allows one to come safely on the other side of the storm, noted in Psalm 124:5-6 with an attitude of praise. And then, there is again a confession of faith, an awareness of God’s presence. Spiritual growth is this cycle being repeated over and over in our lives. Each time, being more aware of God’s presence, each time, faith trusting more in God. Each time, giving praise to God. Psalm 124 reminds us that spiritual growth is following a rhythm of being aware of God’s presence, as the maker of heaven and earth, and having faith in dealing with the realities of living in the everyday world.
Where spiritual growth runs into trouble is when we get stuck. Sometimes, God is just some intellectual concept, up in the clouds and far away. A God who is far away is of little help.
Sometimes, we get stuck when we feel overwhelmed. This feeling is described in this Psalm as an enemy overtaking us, or a flood overtaking us. But faith is the ability to remember that God is with us, we are not alone. God will see us through. Spiritual growth occurs when the God who made heaven and earth is continually present with us.
In his sermon, “A Storm-Proof Religion” Rev. Gardner C. Taylor talks about a faith that endures the storms. “What I am talking about today is a storm-proof religion. We need a faith that is stress resistant; that is able to stand difficulty. This pulpit is not interested in a gospel that works only inside these walls. I have called such a “hothouse faith.” Such a plant can survive, and maybe thrive, as long as the temperature is kept moderate and constant. It cannot stand shifts in the temperature. That is not faith worth having. And, if our Christianity means nothing more to us than that, then we need to look for some other way, or we need to look for the way, because we have not found it. Our faith needs to be able to stand stress.
I would say there is no magical formula to spiritual growth. To me, spiritual growth is simply the desire for God’s presence. Psalm 124 says little more than that, focusing not upon the trouble, but upon God’s presence.
The focus is not on the problems, but on God’s presence.
Yesterday, being nice outside, my family and I drove to Pinnacle Mountain, and decided we’d give it a try. We got a guide at the park, which mapped out the trail, telling us the trail to the top of the mountain was divided into ten parts, each part given a metal marker along the way. Marker one came, we crossed a bridge, climbed a few steps made out of railroad ties. Marker two came, we stopped along the way to look at some lizards. Mile marker three came. I noted we’d make it faster than the suggested 45 minutes noted in the trail guide. I think it was around mile marker four or five that there were rocks to climb. Someone coming down the trail told us, you think these are rocks, wait till you get up there. It seemed we hadn’t climbed very much, the trail, I thought is going to have to get a lot steeper to make it all the way up there. He pointed up behind him.
I thought of Psalm 124. I note in Psalm 124 that the description of trouble is being in a low spot. Enemies come and swallow us alive. Some commentators say this is a description of an earthquake. The ground shakes, and cracks. The other image in verse four is that of a flood. Being in a low spot, the rains come and the flood takes us over.
Spiritual growth is moving out of the low spots and onto higher ground. Psalm 124:7, we have escaped like a bird. We take flight.
It’s said that an African impala can jump to a height of over 10 feet and cover a distance of greater than 30 feet. Yet, these magnificent creatures can be kept in an enclosure in any zoo with a 3-foot wall. The animals will not jump if they cannot see where their feet will fall. Faith is the ability to trust what we cannot see, and with faith we are freed from the flimsy enclosures of life that only fear allows to entrap us.
In Psalm 124, faith is confessed in this way, “if it had not been the lord who was on our side. Repeated again in verse two, “if it had not been the lord who was on our side.” It is the past tense of God is with us, what we read in Matthew 1, the word, “Immanuel.”
The climbing got slower after mile marker five. About mile marker seven, we looked and what a gorgeous view. The rocks were big. A clear day, we could see fields and houses below. A plane flew by, it seemed almost eye level with us. Faith does that, it clears us from the troubles below, helping us to have a clearer perspective and picture.
The spiritual journey is like this, the more faith we have, the clearer our vision, and our ability to see above the waters.
In Matthew 1 the cycle begins, as noted in Psalm 124. An awareness of God’s presence. There are angels giving messages, dreams given to individuals, prophecies being fulfilled. One is this, an angel approaches Joseph and says, “A child will be born and you will call his name…” Do you remember his name? It’s the past tense of “God is on our side,” the word is Immanuel, God is with us.
Christ came into the world to help us have a growing faith. Not a hothouse faith that works only under certain religious conditions, as the Pharisees and other religious leaders followed. No, Jesus, Immanuel taught that faith works under any condition. Even the worst imaginable storms people could find themselves in, even in those God would be present. Jesus came to change the world.
About a decade ago, when Apple computer was making it’s way in the computer world, they fell on difficult days. Apple’s young chairman, Steven Jobs, traveled from the Silicon Valley to New York City. His purpose was to convince Pepsico’s John Scully to move west and run his struggling company. As the two men overlooked the Manhattan skyline from Skully’s penthouse office, the Pepsi executive started to decline Job’s offer. “Financially,” Sculley said, “you’d have to give me a million-dollar salary, a million-dollar bonus, and a million dollar severance.” Flabbergasted, Jobs gulped and agreed –if Sculley would move to California. But Sculley would commit only to being a consultant form New York. At that, Jobs issued a challenge to Sculley: “Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water, or do you want to change the world?” in his autobiography Odyssey, Sculley admits Job’s challenge “knocked the wind out of me.” He siad he’d become so caught up with his future at Pepsi, his pension, and whether his family could adapt to life in California that an opportunity to “change the world” nearly passed him by. Instead, he put his life in perspective and went to apple. As a church, we have a chance to change the world. We have the opportunity of changing the lives of those around us one by one as we let them know what a difference Immanuel makes.
As a church, we are witnesses of Immanuel. As a church, we give testimony that God has been on our side. And it’s to share with others how God can be on their side, too. Can you think of someone in our community who is going through the storm, feeling overwhelmed? Perhaps you can share with them how your faith has helped you make it through the overwhelming times in your life, how God has been present with you. Perhaps you could invite them to Sunday school or church, a place where they can witness people praising God and sensing that yes, God is present. As a church, let us continue to pray that God will use us to change the world, to change our community, as we are being changed into the likeness of God.