Many scientists continue to be concerned about global warming. The National Geographic website proclaims: “…the face of the Earth as we know it—coasts, forests, farms, and snowcapped mountains—hangs in the balance.” That sounds serious, and I suppose I should be moved but I’m not. Especially when the same website goes on to cite this as one of the current consequences of global warming: “Some butterflies, foxes, and alpine plants have moved farther north to cooler areas.” (Gasp!) Take cover. We’re being invaded!
Oh relax. I realize that while we in Alberta may not suffer dramatically if the earth’s temperature rises by a few degrees, many other people will. Droughts may become more frequent in Africa for example, and hurricanes bashing into Florida more powerful. But having said that there is a problem more serious than runaway C02 emissions. Sin is polluting this world more quickly than exhaust spewing out of all the dump trucks on the road right now. Global warming may be a serious threat to our future but global warping is a present and real danger. Are you part of the problem? Will you survive God’s solution? These are serious questions that deserve our attention. Let’s find the answers as we turn to our sermon text from Genesis 6.
The world has undergone global warping before. At the time of Noah, thousands of years ago, God looked at the earth and saw “…how great [mankind’s] wickedness…had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time” (Genesis 6:5). How had it come to this? When God finished creating the world only hundreds of years before Noah he proclaimed that the earth and everything in it was “very good” (Genesis 1:31). But in Noah’s day God concluded that it was beyond repair and this grieved him (Genesis 6:6). It’s how a gardener would feel after he poured his time and effort into producing award-winning tomatoes only to have them rot on the vine.
The origin of the disease, sin, can of course be traced back to Adam and Eve’s Satan/snake-induced snacking. But God immediately intervened and separated the now-sinful couple from Satan’s continued dominance the way you sort through a box of mandarin oranges to separate the healthy from the rotten lest in time you end up with a box of awful fruit. But this distinction started to blur in Noah’s day when the believers started to choose marriage partners based solely on sex appeal, not whether or not their spouse would help them in their walk with God. You see not everyone, especially not the descendants of the world’s first murderer Cain, cared very much about God.
Youth group members, Sunday School children, and anyone else who plans on getting married, I wouldn’t be much of a shepherd if I let this opportunity go by without pleading with you to look at what happened to most of the believers in Noah’s day. They lost their faith and fell under God’s judgment because they did not put the spiritual ahead of the physical. No, we’re not usually first attracted to someone because “they really know their Bible.” We’re drawn to people we think are cute, handsome, hot! But that beauty will fade. So you’ll want to find someone who is kind and generous, but more than that. You’ll want to find someone who shares your faith in Jesus because only someone like that will understand what’s really important in life: strengthening your connection to Jesus and thereby strengthening your claim on heaven. If those you date aren’t interested in joining you here and studying the Bible, they most likely won’t change that attitude after you get married. Just look at what happened to the believers in Noah’s time. They didn’t change their unbelieving spouses but were themselves changed and died in the flood. Many were Noah’s own brothers and sisters (Genesis 5:30)!
Yes, we who call ourselves Christian become part of the global warping problem when we forget how Jesus said that we are the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13). We’re to be different and not do what everyone else does even if that makes us “weird” in the world’s eyes. Sure, your friends may think that sex before marriage is OK but God says it’s not. Your friends may be good at guilting their parents into buying them the latest clothes and gadgets but you believers are to be content with what you have. Sure, you could save up your own money to buy these things but why do you want to do that? So you can fit in? Is that a good reason? Tell me, which of the believers mentioned in the Bible “fit in” with the world around them?
Noah definitely didn’t fit in. Our text says, “Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God” (Genesis 6:9b). When the rest of the world could only think about strutting about to show off how rich, how hip, and how awesome they were, Noah humbly walked with God. The most obvious way that Noah showed his faith was building the ark just like God told him to. You’ve seen the cutesy pictures of the ark in children’s books giving you the impression that Noah could have slapped that boat together in a weekend or two. Not so. The ark was huge. It was about as tall as a four-story building and a football field and a half long. It wasn’t until 1884 that a ship of that size was built again!
Don’t you wonder what kind of insults Noah faced as he worked on the ark? We might get an idea from a modern “Noah.” In 2007 a man in Holland built a replica of the ark that is five times smaller than the original. It still cost this Dutchman $1.35 million (CDN). It’s interesting to read the posts about this man’s project. Scoffers talk about the waste of time and effort. I mean if you had $1.35 million dollars, would you build an ark? Why not build a comfortable home instead? In the same way Noah’s industriousness must have impressed his contemporaries as he cut down trees, dragged them to the worksite, and then spent countless hours pounding the wood into place until his hands were numb. Noah also sweated in the sun slapping pitch on the ark so that it would be seaworthy. But what was it all for? A flood? Really?
You too get those kind of remarks from friends who know how much time you spend here at church. And wouldn’t they really question your sanity if they knew how much money you’ve dropped into the offering plate over the last few years? With that money you could have…what? Fixed up your basement? Bought a new quad? Put a down payment on a condo in Kelowna? And what do you have to show for that money now? Not much it would seem. But you could say that you’re building an ark. I’m not suggesting that our church is going to be a refuge come Judgment Day. This building too will burn with everything else in this world. That’s God’s solution for the current global warping problem. But your ark of safety is your faith in Jesus because that’s the only thing that will save you. We spend countless hours here at church and pour thousands of dollars into this place to support gospel ministry so that our faith in Jesus will be built up through Word and Sacrament, that is, through Bible study and the reception of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. And it’s not just our faith that we want strengthened. Noah didn’t just build the ark for himself but for his family. Likewise we invest much here because we want our loved ones and others to survive Judgment Day with us.
But will we really survive the coming judgment and God’s solution for global warping? As I said earlier Noah had brothers and sisters who must have been brought up in the faith but weren’t aboard the ark (read Genesis 5:29 for a commentary on Noah’s father’s faith). What happened? Did they at first take their brother’s warning about a flood seriously but then felt foolish waiting for an event that would never seem to happen? Perhaps some of them went off to college or started careers and so they had no more time to listen to Noah preach – or so they said but still found plenty of time to add a deck on to their own home or to hang out with friends down at the pub. I’m sure there were days that Noah was ready to throw in the towel too. But on days like that Noah just had to picture the place where he bought nails and the store where he sold his cheese all under water. When he was tempted to waste hours in the town square listening to the latest jokes, he just had to picture a rogue wave smashing everything there to bits and burying it under layers of mud.
Friends, we too are living in a world that’s been marked for destruction. Does it really matter whether or not you have the latest tech toy or kitchen gadget? Do you really need to spend hours each week keeping up with the latest from the Sports Network or Home Improvement Channel? It’s pointless isn’t it when you remember that this world is going to burn – all of it, your video games, your house with its renovated bathroom, even the gold and silver you have stashed away in safety deposit boxes. And we’ll end up burning in the fires of hell forever too if we don’t remain focused in faith on Jesus. Just as that ark sheltered Noah and his family from the pounding waves, cold wind, and driving rain, so at the cross Jesus has taken the pounding we deserve for our sins. Only through faith in him are we as safe from God’s coming judgment.
Many are troubled by global warming but it’s global warping they should really be concerned about, and I suppose many are. In fact the Edmonton Journal has been trying to figure out why there has been a spike in homicides this year. But here’s the thing, I’m part of the global warping problem and so are you. We keep sinning and so we’re adding kindling to the fire that God is ready to light at any time. Will we escape God’s solution for global warping? There’s only one way: Jesus. He has wrapped us in his love and forgiveness like a father wrapping his child in a life jacket on a ship that’s sinking fast. What’s that father going to do if his child tries to wriggle free to grab a toy? In his love he’ll call him back. That’s what Jesus is doing today with this text. So don’t let anything, no toy, no hobby, no retirement goals, not even a loved one come between you and Jesus. No one loves you more and it is only with him that you will survive global warping, as did Noah. Amen.
