I Know My Redeemer Lives Series

 I

If I were to ask you why you’ve come here today, how would

you answer? Tell the truth, now; you’re in church. What do

you expect and why are you here today?

I’d guess that a number of us would give out what Mayor

Williams calls the all-too-typical D. C. government

employee’s answer: “Idnno.” But I am betting that you do

know. What do you expect and why are you here today?

Now if the truth be told, some of us would have to say, “I’m

here because it’s the custom, it’s the thing to do, it’s Easter,

and that’s what normal folks do on Easter. They go to

church. I am here to do my nod to God.” And if you were to

say that, I would reply, “Sorry, but that doesn’t get it. A nod

to God and a couple of dollars will get you a subway ride, but

nothing more.” I would tell you that I think you really have

come for more than that.

So, if I were to keep on asking why you’ve come today, some

would say, “I’m here to keep peace in the family. My wife

said to me, ‘You could make me a little happier if you would

show up at church once in a while’ and so I’m here to satisfy

her. Besides, if I didn’t come, I might not get any Easter

dinner. So I don’t have any expectations other than for a

short service. I’m just here because she who must be

obeyed insisted on it.” And if you were to say that, I would

reply, “Sorry, but that doesn’t get it either. God does not like

being second best, and does not appreciate being used as a

pawn to settle disputes. So if you just brought your body and

left your heart at home, well, go home and join your heart.”

But having delivered myself of that, I would still tell you that I

think you have come for more than that.

“Well, pastor, if you are asking me what I expect from the

service, I’d say I want to feel something. I want it to be at

least a little bit exciting. I want the choir to thrill me with its

music and I want you to lift me out of my slumbers. Maybe

you can even coax an ‘Amen’ out of me. I want to feel

something.”

And to that I would have an answer too. I would say, “Yes. I

think you do want to feel something. But I think you want

more than emotion. I think you want more than excitement.

I think you want more than rousing music and oratorical

thrills. I think you want to know. I think you have come here

this morning to know, for yourself, that your lives are

connected to something secure. I think that you want to

know that your lives are rooted and grounded in something

certain. I believe that you want to know that your life is

valued by an eternal God, who cannot be shaken and whose

purposes are clear.

I believe that you and I come to worship because at rock

bottom we need to know that our lives mean something. We

need to know that somebody is minding the store.

II

The truth is that it’s hard to know anything for certain, isn’t it?

It’s hard to be sure about anything at all. It’s hard to know

that the things we’ve done will make any difference. It’s hard

to know that the things we’ve created will stand. If we didn’t

recognize that before nine-eleven, we certainly do now.

Who would have thought that those immense Twin Towers

would have tumbled so quickly? Who knew, before that day,

that much would be forever changed? It’s hard to know

these things for certain.

It’s hard to know even at the personal level, even the

simplest things. Yesterday I came home and noticed a pie

sitting out on the stove. I didn’t think anything of it until my

wife came into the kitchen and said, “Why did you take that

pie out of the refrigerator?”. I said, “But I didn’t. It was just

there.” And she said, “No it wasn’t; I put it away.” And back

and forth it went like that until now neither one of us knows

who moved the pie! You see, it’s hard to know anything for

real! (But of course one thing I do know, and that is I know

where I would like to put it, and it isn’t on the stove or in the

refrigerator, either one!).

It’s hard to know very much in this complex world. Nothing is

simple. Young Sally asked her father what looked like a

math question. “If one man can load one hundred boxes